| I closed my eyes and tried to sense Will as I flew away from Der. 'He's shielding...really hard but I can still find him,' I thought and headed south towards the mountains. By now, it was close to dawn but not close enough that the sun had started to peak over the horizon. Even the sky was the same as it had been so it was more of a feeling than an observation. Glancing downward, I saw a small speck of white sitting on the edge of a cliff that fell off into a wide river that ran along the bottom of the rock formation. 'Bingo'. I banked and touched down about twenty feet from Will who was sitting on the ground cross legged, wings hanging limply and muzzle pointed to the ground. It'd be lying to say that he looked fine; he really looked this side of horrible. 'Wait for him,' I told myself and simply stood there, watching the starlight reflect off of his coat, not moving and barely breathing. 'Don't try to push him, you don't know---' "I tried to shield you," Will said softly, not moving. "I was looking for you. Our link can't be blocked completely." Will turned his head, giving me a profile of his face. His ice blue eyes in his wolf morph were so different than his usual green that it made me flinch. "Why were you looking?" I shrugged, raising one shoulder, my wings rustling behind me. "When I woke up, you weren't there so I went to look. That's what friends do, you know...to be 'Barney' for a brief instant," I smiled and Will's serious face broke into a smile as well. "Come on over here," he said, still smiling and I walked over, sitting down next to him and looking over the landscape. We were facing away from the coming sunrise so the sky was still inky black where the Great Hand of the Galaxy hadn't tossed a star formation or nebula. Silence sat between the two of us before Will turned and faced me from the side. "Does it still hurt?" he asked softly and I knew what he meant; our memories of whatever individual trauma we had experianced. "Not as bad," I started and then realized how unemotional that sounded. "What I mean is...well...it's like I've been set free. I still feel sadness but it's not a deep pain like it used to be." "And that doesn't bother you?" As I considered his statement, the end of my tail twitched and I crossed my arms. "I know that...my father wouldn't want me to grieve as long as I have so I feel like that I'm honoring his wishes in some way," I answered and ice blue eyes locked with mine. "You lost your father?" he asked frowning and the intensity of his eyes made me look away towards the skyscape again. "You've met my mother...she's full Native American. My dad is...was black," I began softly. "People in Southlake don't like that too much..." The white WolfAngel sat perfectly still, waiting for me to continue. "My dad was also a lawyer. When I was seven, he put away some gang members for shooting this store clerk but they got out a few months later...appeals and all that. My dad went to take me to school and they pulled up and...and they shot him dead in front of me. They thought I was dead too because he had covered me with his body to protect me so he took every one of the 37 bullets that were put in his body. Bullets that were ment for me. He died that day...his life blood on my hair..." My past flowed out of my body and I couldn't stop it but in some ways, it felt right. Strange, but right. A claw, warm and strangely soft touched my forearm. "Saying 'I'm sorry' seems...not enough...but I mean it just the same," Will said gently and I nodded, turning to face him. "If you don't mind me asking, who did you lose?" Pause. "My brother." "Ah." Silence returned as I waited for him either to explain or changed the subject. 'Hell, I shared with him,' I thought, hiding a frown. 'He could return the favor.' "My brother was four years older than me," Will whispered and shut his eyes. "We were best friends. We grew our hair together just to see how long it could get, we played trumpet together, raced motorcycles..." A shiver ran through the fine muscles of his shoulders and I grabbed the hand that still rested on my arms, squeezing it. Will allowd a ghost of a smile trace his wolf features before continuing. "One day we got into a fight. It was over something...so stupid I can't even remember. But anyway, he stormed out...he had this motorcycle that we painted. His had a dragon on it and was blue and mine had a tiger and was green; Yamaha racing bikes that costed a year's tuition at college. He got on his and rode. It started to rain and he lost control and hit a truck. He died instantly and I...I never got to tell him I was sorry.." As Will's voice trailed off, I felt my insides go cold. 'All the regret he must feel. He hides all this pain...how?' "I...I'm sorry," I started to say, unsure of what to offer him but my hand and a gentle voice. "But why are you upset about what happened last night?" "Because," Will snarled, snatching his hand away and walking a few paces from me. "My brother's death shouldn't be washed away by some blood sucking vampire. I should FEEL it and I feel just sad thinking about it and not---" "Destroyed?" I offered and I could feel his power roll off of him. "Yes." "Would your brother want you to walk around a shell of his fomer self?" A growl filtered up behind me as Will's power level spiked but I still didn't move. "How would you know?" he growled and I stood to turn and face him, finally angry. "How can I know?" I hissed and Will's power quieted as mine rose, my lips pulled back into a snarl. "I think you know how I can know something like that. I have decided to live in my father's honor but all you've been able to do is follow your brother into death." I narrowed my eyes and morphed down into my animalistic form, dropping on all fours, my wings gone. <I'm going running,> I stated and took off into the trees behind Will, leaving him looking confused and hurt. 'If he follows me or not, that's his decission,' I thought sadly. 'I can't make him do anything. And that includes him understanding me.' |