Just as @Aponi had told her to, Nova was heading back to the Keep to inform her mother that she would be leaving. Even as much as their ma didn't seem to really... care about them -- something that Aponi had helped Nova realize-- Nova did still love @Naira and wanted to say goodbye. Appa and Sagacity too, for that matter. She imagined, or at least hoped, that they had been worried about her sudden disappearance. Her journey down the mountain, while slow, was uneventful.

It took a while for Nova to notice it. The air was still, heavy and humid as if it might rain later in the day. No breeze rustled the trees, and what she could see of the clouds, through the cobwebbed tree tops, they seemed to hang listlessly in the sky as if bored. The forest wasn't utterly silent, birds still chirruping their late morning song, but Nova had never known the ghastly woods to be so... still. It was tranquil at first, but a creeping feeling of unease was beginning to well up inside her as she closed in on the borders of Hollowheart Keep. Startlingly, there wasn't much of a border left. The territory was familiar enough that she knew she was in the right place, but the scents were muted, stale, old enough that it was evident no one had been through to freshen them recently.

The girl's heart quickened, thrumming anxiously as she continued on to the center of the territory. She began to run, occasionally tripping in her frenzy and but continuing to stumble onward. She came across not a single soul on her way to the den, and once she had arrived at the familiar rocky shelter it became clear that it had been deserted. A panicked wail left her mouth as she darted to and fro, ducking in and out of the den, sniffing all around its edges as if she believed her senses could be tricking her.

Eventually she calmed, coming to stand in the center of what had once been the pack's hub. A last resort, she tipped her head back, singing a long plaintive cry for her family. Lowering her head, she kept her wide ears upright, straining to the edges of her senses to hear a response. Nothing. She didn't want to believe it, but all evidence pointed towards the fact that the pack was gone.

Where had everyone gone? And why? Did something bad happen? Or was it just time for the Nomads to move yet again? Guilt began to gnaw at Nova. Was her absence somehow the cause of this? Or perhaps, it was what they had been waiting for, a convenient way to get rid of her by just up and leaving.

A soft susurrus rolled through the forest as the clouds finally opened, rain dousing the woods as if to wash away any evidence that the pack had ever existed.

Nova stood still as the rain pelted down her back and sides, sinking through her fur and soaking her to the bone. She felt like she was waiting, as if everyone would suddenly materialize from the trees yelling "Surprise!" Oh, how she wished this were all some kind of joke. They could even make fun of her for being so gullible, she wouldn't care one bit. She was beginning to feel numb, whether from the shock or the cold she couldn't tell.

Just as she considered finally moving on, a wolf emerged from the trees. Her topaz eyes gaze scraped along the rusty hued male as she thoroughly looked him over, disappointed to find his unfamiliar face. While he said he was a member, he was a complete stranger to her and likely joined while she had been lost up in the mountains. He meant little to her, except in the manner that he possibly, probably held some answers.

"Where's Mom-..." She began to demand before catching herself about to say 'Momma' and 'Appa'. Awkwardly proportioned and dark furred, Nova looked nothing like her parents (for reasons she hadn't yet considered) and this stranger probably didn't know they were her parents. "Where's Naira? And Mapplethorpe?" Nova quickly corrected herself. "And the rest of the pack, where are they?" She snapped.

His offer wasn't tempting in the least, she knew nothing of this wolf and had no reason to trust him. "Thanks, but no thanks. My sister's got a place for me. I just wanted to say goodbye was all." She told him.

Nova listened intently, soaking in his every word as it was the only link she had to her family now. That her mother had gone over the mountains was maybe a good sign, as if she was lucky she might run into them on the way back to see Aponi. But his news about Mapplethorpe was like ice water to the face.

"No." She told him, shaking her head. She even giggled, something she would later regret. She'd heard him wrong, that was all. "No no no. You're kidding. He couldn't be, he's not." She told herself that she was just so worried about everything that she hadn't heard him right. Who would kill the sweet old wolf? It was just too unreal, too impossible. But she knew she hadn't. She watched his face for any crack of a smile or glint in the eye, any telltale sign that he was kidding, but the expression she found there wasn't joking at all, and the small smile that had pulled at her lips dropped away. Instead a cold, hard stare took its place, her batty ears folding back.

Dead, murder. Those words had literally left the male's mouth, and her big stupid ears hadn't mistaken her. It was even more of a slap in the face than it had been that her family was simply gone. Wolves came and went all the time, drifted in and out of her life, sometimes returning, sometimes never seen again. But no one important to her had ever died before.

The girl was afraid and heartbroken. Not only was her family gone, but one of them had been ripped right out of this world before she would even have the chance to say goodbye to him. And now she never would. Maybe if she weren't so stupid and brash she might have had the chance to say goodbye before getting herself lost in the mountains like a little idiot. She hadn't thought to tell them she had gone, originally intending to return, and in those few short weeks the unthinkable had happened.

The hurricane that was raging inside of her needed an outlet, and the hapless wolf who just had the misfortune of being in front of her that moment would bear the brunt of it. Nova completely ignored his question, instead snapping her teeth and starting a growl from deep within her barreled chest. Slobber trailed down from her jaws, and her topaz eyes seemed to be looking right through him.

Her lips flicked and her slobbery tongue lolled as she continued to snarl, her wide set eyes blinking unseeingly. As a distant echo she could hear him talking to her, an annoying buzz of a fly that she just wanted to swat. She wanted to reach out and shake the sound right out of his throat, like a feral beast.

Temporarily an observer in her own mind, captive to a vaguely out of body experience from which her actions were momentarily something separate, Nova pleaded with herself to calm down. She wasn't in a habit of being needlessly cruel, and didn't enjoy causing more suffering just for the sake of it. It wasn't his fault for any of this, if anything she had only herself to be angry at. His submissive posture placated the rage in her somewhat, enough to recognize that her anger was making him react negatively.

Nova's crinkled jowls smoothed and the rumbling ceased, and she was able to focus enough that she was actually paying attention to him once again. She didn't want to look at anyone, rather she wanted to curl up and sleep and forget that any of this had ever happened. All of it was way more than she wanted to deal with, but with Mapplethorpe still out of the ground -- his corpse -- she had to just deal with it. At least she could give him that bit of respect as her send off.

Nova's head dropped down, a sort of defeated blankness settling over her face, and she nodded. "I'd like that." She admitted softly, finally averting her gaze.

The Ghastly woods wasn't known for its pleasant ambiance. It had always disgusted Nova, it's dilapidated state and the constant scent of decay that filled the lungs like molten lead. But under the usual stench of rot that characterized the place was something even more vile and stomach churning. Even without Camio she probably could have found the way, but Nova was at least thankful for the company. Nova had noticed him whine softly, and she wished to comfort him somehow but she just didn't know what to do.

Bones clattered underfoot and Nova was sure if not for the rain the air would have been lousy with flies. Her eyes had been fixed on the ground, focusing on just moving one paw in front of the other. It was only when Camio had stopped did she look up as she came to stand along side him. Her heart felt like it had frozen in her chest as her blood ran cold. Nova didn't know what she had expected, but it was worse than she could have ever imagined. Bloodstreaked and already set upon by rot and the vermin of the woods, Mapplethorpe, or the body he had once carried, was like a poor facsimile of what he had been like in life.

Like her companion, Nova wondered who would do this, and why. What had Mapplethorpe ever done to deserve this? Wordlessly she turned, trying not to stare as Mapplethorpe as she cleared away the ankle deep layer of bones before she could dig. She couldn't help but kick away a fox skull with more force than necessary, relishing the crack of it landing in pieces.

The pair had eventually dug out a suitable grave. Panting, Nova stepped back, her shoulders slumping as her gaze slid over to her deceased parent. They would have to move him. Nova looked Camio in the eye, giving her head a nod to signal that it was time.