"No no no." Niles backed up even more, ears remaining pinned back. Why? What? They didn't know each other... did they? The world as he knew it could have crumbled in that moment. For as soon as those accusations met his ears, the younger wolf knew that he should have made himself scarce. Hadn't his parents taught him anything? Even if this was his older brother, Niles was certain that his sibling could have lived without knowing who he was.

"Tell me." Another demand. Niles was not sure if he could obey. He shook his head with more force than before, not even wanting to speak any further. "Tell you what?" he whispered, his voice barely audible to even his own ears.

"WHY IS HE OUT THERE ALONE? WHY AREN'T YOU HOME? DO YOU EVEN CARE?"

Niles' jaw fell and his tongue curled as he gaped at his older brother in fear. He had seen his mother mad on only a handful of occasions, but this sort of ire radiating from the older man was definitely something to be reckoned with. The yearling stumbled back even more, his back feet slipping about in the snow until he splayed his legs and lowered his head. He tucked his chin as he winced.

He knew it was his fault, for indulging in Angier's words to take one grand trip to see the rest of their family in Renegades Reach. He knew it was his fault for persuading the patriarch to search for the way to Torbine instead. He knew he had done something wrong. What he did not know was that he had to repent for it, even if no amount of words would make it all right again. For anyone. He had been Angier and Elettra's youngest boy, the eldest among a pair of girls. He had been allowed to get away with just about everything; back then, their eyes had all been trained on Skoll and all those wicked deeds he had done with all those double-edged words he spoke.

Niles Archer Lyall knew nothing of consequence.

Never had he ever had to say 'sorry' in his life. He didn't know if it was even appropriate at such a moment like this... with his sibling so angry and so little else he could do when their mother and father were already gone. Niles' head lowered, his eyes closing as he braced himself. What could he do? He fell limply to the ground, rolling to expose his vulnerable white underbelly.

"Niles," the older Lyall enunciated every single syllable in his first name in such a way that made the younger male quiver. In fact, Niles did nothing but quake and tremble on the ground with his eyes closed tight and his tail curled about his right hock. More questions came. More pointed, condemning words. He had an inkling now as to which brother he had come to face: this could only be Asriel or Deacon. Of all the first-borns to Elettra's legacy, Niles had to be the most pitiful one; and this was to say that he was truly his father's son. Given the age, sense of maturity, and build, he couldn't help but try and pin "Deacon" onto the rogue. It seemed fitting, but he wouldn't try to pull the name from the man just yet. He had promised to tell Niles who he was, and he figured he would know soon enough just who he was dealing with.

The youth could just sense his sibling drawing closer, even when the crunching snow had stopped somewhere at his side. This was going to be Sven all over again; he could just feel it in the air like static. "Understand?" Another whimper rose from his chest. Niles knew nothing of hell, but he knew from his father's stories just what this sort of torture this was meant to be.

At a loss of what to do, the younger Lyall began to cry and whine. "They're gone," tears seeped from his eyes. His nose and ears began to burn. "Dad... H-he... I we-ent to check on him an'-I thought-" This was too much. Between the sobs he was trying to hard to keep back and the bout of noncooperation he was having with his (neglected) adolescent larynx. "He wasn't asleep." Again, his head shook from side to side. "An' Mother- she- I- she wen' with'im."

She didn't even look at me, he wanted to lament. I was attacked. I came home, but I wasn't home anymore. His right forepaw came up and he shielded his face with the backside of his wrist. It was never meant to have come to this but it had all come and gone, and then - after moonset and sunrise - it was all in the past. There was nothing he could have done after the fact.

"BOTH of them?" for the older Lyall to growl and roar at Niles was too much. He should have just lied, but where was the honor in that? Hadn't his father always told him to be just as the Archer and Lyall family code expected him to be? To be just, diligent and honest? There was a silence that settled over the both of them and Niles merely laid there, anticipating the snap of his brother's jaws, the pinch of sharp teeth digging through his already thinning winter coat. This was his fault; the passing of his parents warranted some sort of consequence on his part.

Another whine fizzled into a forlorn whimper before Deacon continued, "Where will you even run to?" Niles' immediately thought of that place that @Castel had mentioned - the Fields - and how he sorely wished he hadn't gone off to scavenge on his own. "Home doesn't want you, you said so, and you can't hide from anything forever." He should have followed her to get something to eat while on their way back 'home.'

He wasn't going to tell his brother where he was going; he did not want to be followed. There had to be some sort of honor in the sense that he would be keeping Cas safe from the renegade that was his older sibling. The brother that was all bark with the threat of a bite, half-Archer and half-Lyall down to the very core. It took a fair amount of energy to right himself again and when he came to face Deacon, Niles cowered. It went without even a second thought that he was going to distance himself from him, too. Niles owed him nothing; and, as @Sven had already proved, he wasn't one of them. He had lost that privilege long ago.

"N-nowhere," he managed with a hoarse throat. "Let me leave; you'll ne'er hear of me again." Oh, if only Angier and @Elettra could see this... how quickly their little family crumbled in their absence. So much for the whole ideal of 'blood being thicker than water'... If they had been alive, they would have never let their youngest boy be subject to this.

"You're going somewhere," Deacon stated. Niles hastily shook his head to deny it. He would never share a place with this brother if he could help it. If he was going to admit it to himself, he was almost certain that he would have preferred Skoll to be standing before him instead. In that way, it wouldn't have been anything new. For as long as Niles could remember the dark Archer had always despised him, spooked him constantly in the night, and made clearly dominating displays whenever they met in passing. It was where Sven had learned all those terrible, cruel things from; the realization of this made Niles hate them both even more. Now, he could cast the same judgement upon Deacon.

"I'll find you regardless, Niles."

The youth grit his teeth, eye flitting upward to where his sibling stood before casting them away completely. He held his breath, willing himself to mentally steel his every wit and bone. Just like his show-off with his nephew, he would cast this meeting away, too. If he had believed enough, perhaps the Old Gods would have spared him, but he didn't. Life was just... as it was, and he was here, now, at his older brother's mercy.

He awaited the sound of retreating footsteps, but, first, there came a whisper, "Leave" It gave him a good jolt and had startled him enough to start running as soon as Deacon had nipped his ear. Niles did not even see the rogue also begin his departure, his eyes were focused on the spaces between the trees, all the places where he could dart towards. The sooner he got back to @Castel, the better, and he would never return to this part of the Lore again...

(Exit.)