Willow Ridge he was perfect, perfect in every way

With silence, Wraith allowed Craw the time to think out his response. The question was already asked and there was no taking it back, but the northerner's mouth twisted regretfully as it seemed a hard one to answer for his friend. He should have simply kept his mouth shut for the pale furred male's benefit. When finally Craw spoke, the brute lay down at his side to listen with rapt attention. Wraith gave a rumble of understanding as Craw explained more what sent him this way. Nothing pulled him South. Rather he'd been pushed from the North. It was the same story that resounded in Wraith's own heart. Empathetically, the wolf reached over to lick Craw's paw in understanding. The one thing that differed between the pair was that Craw had refused to die and Wraith had been too guilty to die. Giving up would have been too easy for the kind of death he felt he deserved at the time when he left his own homelands. His friend had given him something to live for, though the ghosts of his past were still very much present in his day to day life. When a similar question was posed towards himself, Wraith took a similar amount of time to contemplate in silence. Finally, he shook his head. "There's not much left for me to go back to," he murmured quietly. "I killed my family." He said it boldly, stating it as plainly as he could manage. It was the truth he'd been running from since he left his home. "My father entrusted a pack hunt to me," he began, nearly whispering as if his old man would have a chance of hearing and passing judgement upon him for his crimes. "I'd led a few before that, of course, but never so many. Prey was scarce, the weather harsh." He knew he need not expound on that; Craw understood well the harsh world of the North. Winter in these southern lands were nothing in comparison. "It came down to a choice as it always does. Take the harsher, faster path to success or the safer one with less chance of finding anything. I wanted to help my family," Wraith implored, begging for his friend to understand. "I chose wrong. There was a bridge of sorts along the mountain path. I could scent the damned sheep on the other side. I knew they were there." Wraith lowered his head to his paws on a pained whine. "It was my little sister's scream I heard first. She'd begged to go with me on the hunt. She wasn't too young for it, but I hadn't wanted to risk her on such a journey in the first place. I never had been able to disappoint her. 'Til then, at least." Wraith's mouth twisted in a humorless smile while a darkness resided in his amber eyes. "She tells me so every night. The rest of them as well. Even ghosts can't forgive me. I can't possible expect the ones left behind to do what ghosts cannot." And even more, the brute couldn't forgive himself. "No, there's nothing I left behind that I can return to," he concluded.

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

Four simple words, but they carried so much weight. Craw exhaled slowly at hearing them, hearing how level the tone was, how focused the speech; they were four words Wraith must have heard in his head over and over and over. He could not inhale again for several seconds, struck by those words.

The full story came out then. The story of trust and difficult decisions, of a gamble played and lost. Hearing it, Craw knew that their situations were fundamentally different, two disasters which had ended the same but were built on entirely separate foundations. Wraith had only ever spoken of his father with love, those few times the man was mentioned; this was a story of failure, of breaking a promise, of letting down those who were closest and most important. Craw's history hit the same notes, but the tone was different, was dark and insidious where Wraith's was pure tragedy.

If only he could have led his father out onto the dangerous path and watched him tumble to his death.

Wraith was alone. Stuck in his guilt and remorse, he had cast himself off from all that was left for him in the north, a self-imposed banishment from all he had known. What a lonely existence. "I am sorry for your loss," Craw said, quietly, barely above a whisper. It could not have been an easy thing to share such a story, and he understood the significance of it. He could have spent much time sharing condolences, but did not think that Wraith would take much pleasure from them. No amount of pretty words could undo death. No, Craw could only offer understanding. "It is a harsh world to grow up in. It takes, and takes, and takes. We do all we can to endure it, to fight it, and sometimes it isn't enough."

He took a breath, the air rattling through his throat, still staring into darkness. He felt compelled to share pain with pain. "I do not know whether those I left behind are still alive. He - my father - would have tried to kill them, or coerce them into obedience. They think I am dead. They watched us fall. They-"

No. No, it was too much, too soon, too raw - he had to be controlled. If he let it drive him like some feral beast, it would all be gone. Impatience had cost him everything. He could not make the same mistake twice. He calmed again, determined it would be for the last time; it felt strangely good to reconnect with his pain out loud, to someone else, but he had to keep it controlled. Wraith was the only wolf who wasn't directly involved to know any of it. "I still have unfinished business."

'I'm sorry for your loss.' The words, their genuine meaning, clenched at Wraith's heart. He almost laughed, feeling like a whimpering pup in need of coddling. But @Craw didn't make it like that. He was simply there, a quiet comfort where before there had been none. There was no telling him to buck up or forget it, no uncomfortable shifting or trying to talk around the subject. That was Craw; always willing to face things head on. It was part of what the northerner admired about him. Wraith remained silent, though the pale wolf at his side didn't seem to expect him to say more. He'd said more than enough for one night with regards to his lost family. More than he'd ever thought he'd say, if he were honest with himself. Whatever Wraith was expecting from Craw, it hadn't been what came next. The black male raised his head off his paws to look at his friend, eyes softening empathetically. How easily he could imagine it, picture the life before that shaped the male at his side now. It wouldn't have been an easy one. It wasn't based on what he was hearing. Wraith said nothing as Craw silenced himself, fighting for control. By now, he'd spent enough time around him to recognize it. He only waited. 'I still have unfinished business.' He waited only a moment. "You need only ask it of me," Wraith murmured. "If you need help with that business, you need only ask."

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

Just as Craw had chosen to say little and mean much, as did Wraith. The words were pure, sweet honey, and Craw knew that honour and honesty meant much to the man sat next to him, and so trusted their value. Just as when Morganna had asked what she could do, a deep-rooted pleasure ran through the pale wolf's body, the satisfying knowledge that he had found others to once more work on his side - or had offered to, anyway. Neither had yet been truly tested for their loyalty, for right now it was Craw who was playing subservient, was fighting for someone else's cause.

But then, this was the only way he knew how to get what he wanted - to first give others what they wanted. Perhaps for Wraith, just understanding, companionship and reliability was enough. It was an easy price to pay, and Craw would pay it willingly for as long as the man would accept it.

"That means a great deal to me," he said quietly after a moment's silence, and touched his nose to Wraith's cheek. Pulling back, a glint in his eye, his voice took on a playful edge: "I'll always be grateful of the day you ran headfirst into my flank."

Wraith couldn't help but smile at @Craw, trusting that he wouldn't have said such a thing had he not meant it. The brute was convinced now that no matter their challenges, together, they could overcome them and come out stronger for it in the end. He turned into the spider-faced male's touch, constantly reaffirming their bond. When Craw mentioned the way in which they first met, Wraith laughed heartily, the anxieties and overwhelming sadness dissipating just like that. His friend had a talent for making things right, it seemed. "You weren't grateful that day," he recalled with amusement. Surprisingly, the wolf's thoughts didn't turn to the reason he was running so recklessly. They might have yesterday, but not in this moment. Instead, he thought of the companionship built on their journey to this place and every moment since that proved Craw to be a true friend. His first, Wraith realized, who wasn't related by blood in some manner. Lapsing into that easy, comfortable silence that came naturally between them, Wraith took a deep breath and looked on into the darkness of the forest around them. And finally, "Thank you Craw. For bringing me here. For trusting me, befriending me. For everything."

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

The sound of @Wraith's laughter, low and genuine, curled the corners of Craw's lips in pleasure. The pale beast himself laughed, more of a wheezing chuff, at Wraith's retort, not denying it. He had not expected to come across this kind of easy camaraderie in the life after his first, having not wanted more from this era than the effective and total manifestation of his vengeance. Craw had not been raised to value or even understand things like friendship, for his father was a user through and through, seeing other wolves only in terms of what they could do for him. That attitude was epitomized in how he viewed his only son. Craw had rejected much of what his father believed, but that, that he had internalised, had became an integral part of who he was.

And so, while he was satisfied by Wraith's laughter at their shared memory, for it indicated trust, familiarity, comfort, he also found himself pleased by the simple notion that he had given the man some peace of mind... for its own sake. He had seen Wraith no differently to how he had seen any of his other alliances, if with the distinction that they had met as equals rather than the powerhouse with a reputation to match which he had worn proudly in the north, his family's pack's notoriety and strength known in their region. He'd won over Wraith without any of that, without being able to make promises borne from his power - despite being nothing more than another foreigner in Willow Ridge with no authority. Craw had seen it as proof that he was far from finished, that he was still the same, that his goals had no reason to change. And here Wraith was, promising his help. It was everything Craw wanted.

But when, after a few comfortable moments of silence, the dark wolf offered his gratitude again, Craw wasn't sure how to respond to it. He'd made his support of his ally clear; he wasn't used to such heartfelt, repeated appreciation of it. It was so... touchy-feely, so sentimental, and yet it, as with the rest, gave him pleasure. "Of course," he said, unable to bring himself to speak the soppy, unfamiliar words of that's what friends are for, but expecting that Wraith would hear them anyway.

Pushing his forelegs out, he lowered himself to the ground, prepared to rest precisely where they sat; the night was mild, and he had no desire to be with the rest of the pack right then. Wraith's company and warmth was more than enough.

And just like that, there was nothing else to be said. Wraith continued to marvel at the ease of his friendship with @Craw. For a wolf familiar only with the closeness of family, the white male had become that so easily. A brother. He bared no semblance in coat or personality, held not Kael blood in his veins, but he was a brother all the same. Trusted and beloved. And now he'd laid out his worries and concerns, his ghosts and past at Craw's paws and he'd not tread upon them as he'd feared. Instead, he'd listened and responded with empathy for his loss. Together, they had shared a great number of things and Wraith knew he'd not soon forget it. This brotherhood was something he'd fight for against any threat, no matter the consequences.When Craw settled beside him, Wraith took to quietly grooming his fur. The northerner was beginning to realize it was an odd behavior in Willow Ridge. While he still didn't understand how pack bonds could exist without such behavior, he doubted Craw would mind and continued without stress. If the male had a problem with it, he'd say. In that, Wraith could trust. In him, he could trust. Once he was done, he settled his head across Craw's neck. Rather than an action of dominance, it was done simply to provide more contact and protection from the cold as neither of them were interested in going back to the den. Soon enough, he fell asleep as they were.

Burtn @DA & Dawnthieves.de

~thread fade~