she'll lie and steal and cheat and beg you from her knees
make you thinks she means it this time
The chaos of the time following the release of the disease was such a stark difference to the previous days where the world had been made sweet with reunion. Pyxis had not pretended that she was anything but overjoyed when Daemron had led her to Malis. She could not pretend to be anything but relieved, but completely overwhelmed. She had not hesitated to rush into her sister’s embrace, pressing her nose into the velvet of her neck, tears running down her cheeks as she had wordlessly tangled with Malis.
All of a sudden, none of it mattered.
The years separated.
The years running.
Everything that had happened to them both.
Nothing mattered except the feel of her wild sister next to her, the bruises in her eyes fading away as they reconnected without a word—without missing a beat. The time after had been honeysuckle and Pyxis had savored it slowly, listening as Malis shared what she was willing to divulge, watching her trickster of a son romp around them. It had been beautiful and perfect and if Pyxis knew anything about perfect…
It didn’t last.
And, thus, this moment didn’t last either.
The vision came and, with it, chaos. Malis looked to her, coming undone underneath the weight of her fear for their family, and she wordlessly accepts her child as her ward. Her heart leapt in her throat when Malis turned and fled into the darkness, but she checked herself from running after her into the fray. Maybe once she would have. Maybe she would again. But now there was more than just her own safety to consider and she felt herself curl protectively around the lives blossoming in her swelling stomach.
She feels emotion swell in her throat when Daemron sends his companion flying after her sister without another word and she looks back at him with it raw in the blue of her eyes. Silently, she moves to his side, nodding at his reassurances and making sure that Malis’ boy remained tucked into her sides. They move quickly through the night, protected by Daemron’s pack. Her antlered head rises and swivels as they go, delicate nostrils flaring to drink in the forest. To Tephra. To a safe place. To family, of a sort.
She doesn’t say anything until they reach the border and place the child down to rest, doesn’t say anything as they step away for a moment. Exhausted, running thin on fear, she steps into his embrace. He smells like the woods and the wolves and the earth, and she drinks it in, comforted by his steady presence. “I’m okay,” she lies, the practice of it so innate that the words slip off her tongue before she can stop them.
Pausing, she takes a deep breath, pressing her forehead into his neck. “I’m not. I’m worried.” There are so many fears that swirl in her belly now. So many things she cannot express. The weight of so many things that she had spent so long trying to avoid. “I’m worried for Malis. I’m worried for you. I’m worried for us.” Her eyes widen a little when she realizes what she let slip and she pulls back, clearing her throat.
“There is going to be an us, Daemron.”
She doesn’t know that it will be more than just one.
She doesn’t know that it will be sooner than even she expects.
She only knows that she can feel the life swelling in her.
But she doesn’t give him much time to digest what she says because her eyes are sliding away from the glowing silver of his toward the patch of grass where they had let Lupine rest. She draws in a sharp breath, pushing away to rush toward the now empty space. “Oh no,” her voice is tight as she lifts her wild gaze to the horizon, to where they had just come from. “Lupine!”
she'll tear a hole in you, the one you can't repair
but I still love her, I don't really care
he is GROUNDED.