Post by Cole on Feb 3, 2006 22:55:03 GMT
I'd been wanting to write this for a while. Not sure it went exactly how I wanted it to go, but I'm pretty satisfied with it, save for the very end, which went awry on me >_< Oh well. This features Dante, Dia and Steven as well, but none of them actually say anything, and hopefully I got them more or less... right, behaviour-wise. Heh... anyway yeah:
* * * * * * * *
Waiting was the hardest part.
It hadn’t been the news that they were going at all, but the excruciating delay in hearing any news; any kind of word as to what had happened. It wasn’t the fact that the territory needed defending either, because to some extent, their territory would always need defending… it if wasn’t one threat, it was another, and there would always be those who went out to do their part. There would always be those who would fight for the safety of the others.
Cole Stanton was not yet one of those fighters.
He liked to think he was on his way, but it wasn’t his judgement that would matter in the long run. It wasn’t his decision. It was to the Alphas that he would look. Their wisdom and approval was what he needed in the end, but he had a way to go yet before he would even actively seek it out. At that moment, as he sat there silently, he had other things on his mind. He couldn’t think about his future. His future was still ahead of him.
Green-hazel eyes wandered almost nervously around the room. Across the distance sat another equally anxious young male, physically identical in terms of age, but Cole actually had almost a whole century on him. Dante wrung his hands together, staring down at them with dark, intent eyes, not saying a word. His dark clothing matched his mood, and Cole noticed how his throat suddenly felt uncomfortably dry, as he sat there watching the other youth. A sigh parted his lips, and he closed his eyes.
The floor was far from the most comfortable place to be sitting, but given the circumstances, he didn’t want to be comfortable. He wanted to be aware, and awake, and attentive. The harsh flatness of the surface beneath him, and the hardness of it, helped him to focus. Leaning his head back against the wall, he felt a hand rest in his hair, soothingly moving through it. Even without looking up, he knew she was watching him. To some extent, they were all watching him… and Dante. All eyes were on the two, and all ears listened for the approach of the fighters; their return.
How the vampires had massed to such a number in order to pose such a threat, no one knew. Not even the Alphas, which, Cole mused, was probably what had everyone so unnerved. After all, the danger had to be significant in order for such a defence to be called upon… the number of the pack who had left to fight was more than Cole could remember in his lifetime. Every fighter the pack possessed had departed, taking with them the Beta pair.
Theodore and Emily Stanton were passionate by nature, and that passion carried into the defence of the pack they lived as a part of. Their shared protective tendencies had always been a comfort to their son as he had been growing up; he had always felt safe, and loved. Whenever danger had loomed, they had protected him. Now, he realised, they were doing it again, but it wasn’t just his life they were fighting for. They were fighting for everyone sitting around him.
They were fighting for Dante; they were fighting for the female stroking their son’s hair; they were fighting for the male who sat on his other side, knees pulled up to his chest. Each and every werewolf in this room had more than a dozen people fighting for their lives at that exact moment.
Cole couldn’t help but wonder how many would return…
His stomach tightened, and he grimaced lightly. Instinct made him panic for a moment, and he pulled his head forward, knees rising as his brow rested down. He exhaled heavily, feeling Dia Mantenega’s hand rest on his back before lifting away completely. He’d made her uncomfortable.
Draping his arms around his legs loosely, almost mimicking Steven Manning up and behind him on the small stone ledge, Cole took deep breaths. For a few minutes, the method was affective, and his heartbeat calmed; his mind quieted. It was only when he picked up on the scent of blood that he felt it all rush back to him… the anxiety and instinctive panic.
Head lifting at once, he didn’t even realise everyone else had detected the approach as well; all eyes were on the doorway, and without thinking about it, Cole rose from the floor in a single, almost fluidic motion. Across the room, Dante mirrored him. The two males moved toward the opening in the wall, breath held and eyes staring.
A single figure appeared, spattered with blood, but otherwise intact. There were some slashes in the fabric of his shirt, and dark staining, but he had healed from whatever injuries had befallen him.
Was it over? Or did they need more fighters? Cole’s brain was filled with rushed, colliding thoughts, and it became difficult to pick out one from the other in the cacophony.
The male, Nathaniel, hesitated in the doorway. Cole saw the male fighter’s chest rise in an exaggerated manner, before he strode forward, lifting his head a little… and meeting the eyes of first Cole, and then Dante, in turn. Something inside the older of the two went cold, like an icy hand had taken hold, and wanted to pull him down. His breath almost caught in his throat, but he would wait.
I’m expecting the worst. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.
Nathaniel came to stand before the two, looking from one expectant face, and then to the other. Quiet for a moment, he addressed the darker-haired of the two first, much to Cole’s surprise. Nevertheless, Nathaniel clearly had Dante’s complete attention.
“I’m… very sorry,” was all the fighter needed to say. Cole heard a struggled breath escape from Dante, before he silently moved from the room. All eyes followed him, each and every pack member in the room mourning the loss of the wolf’s father, but not a single one to the magnitude with which his son would grieve.
And still, Cole waited. With baited breath, he stared at Nathaniel, seeing the older male falter, before their eyes met. Before the fighter had even spoken, Cole’s expression twisted, and his head shook subtly back and forth. The icy feeling spread.
“Cole…”
“No…”
“I’m so sorry—”
“No,” he repeated, eyes closing as his head dropped forward just a fraction, his breath catching as he inhaled. Something had blocked his throat, and he couldn’t feel… anything. It was like something inside of him had stopped working, and everything else had frozen as a reaction. He couldn’t breathe; he couldn’t hear; he couldn’t see… he couldn’t believe.
Nathaniel was talking, but Cole didn’t hear a word. His eyes had opened, the green that was normally bright and inquisitive now dulled and pained. His face was a mask of disbelieving misery. He didn’t feel a single thing until a hand came to land on his shoulder.
“— died bravely…” Nathaniel was saying as the young male’s eyes filled with tears; grief and rage surged in him, and he felt Dia’s other hand on his arm… he heard her soft whisper of condolence, and could only feel one thing.
Loss.
“No.”
Steven had risen from his seat, brown eyes fixed on his friend as Cole’s legs weakened. For only a moment, he nearly buckled, before he caught himself. Unable to take it, he moved, rushed, around Nathaniel, practically hyperventilating. He tried to keep his world in focus; see where he was going, but before long, he was travelling blindly. He was overwhelmed, and not even the internal power from his wolf could clear the haze.
Two figures had followed him out of the room, but he registered neither, too caught up in his own agony to notice. He would think it selfish later, but at that moment, there was nothing he could think about other than…
They’re gone.
Cole suddenly stopped, reaching out and grabbing an object to his right. He tore it fiercely from where it had sat, and heaved it savagely across the room with a pained yell. Tears had spilled from his eyes, but he didn’t even notice. Breathing ragged, he continued, picking up the next object and throwing it, and then the next, and the next… the room was a deafening combination of crashing, glass shattering and yelling. The sound of the fractured glass hitting the floor made the sound of Cole’s choked sobs all the more harsh, and even as he heard the wood splinter against the wall… his knees refused to hold his weight. With a strangled sound of grief, he fell, hands bracing him automatically as his head bowed over.
What would he do without them? How would he survive without the two people who had protected him for so long? How would he survive without his parents? They were gone; murdered, and nothing he could do would ever bring them back to him.
The sound of boots crunching glass underfoot fell on deaf ears. Cole’s jaw was clenched so hard he thought it might break under the strain, and each breath felt like a never-ending struggle. He felt choked, and trapped… he felt alone.
She said nothing. She crouched at his side, hands hovered near him, as if unsure what to do. And then finally, she laid her palms against him; one on his back, and the other under him, on his bowed-over chest. The hand on his back caused a shiver to run up his spine, the motion carrying right through him as something not too unlike a gasp spilled out of his mouth. Teary eyes opened, and angled slightly upward, meeting Dia’s compassionate features. She was by his side; silent, but supportive.
Cole could say nothing… words registered in his mind, but no matter how he arranged them, they would make no sense. She took him in her arms, and he clung to her desperately as it all came rushing back. He sobbed freely against her as she held him. Steven, silenced and sympathetic, simply stood inside the doorway, surrounded by the chaos Cole had wreaked on his own bedroom. His rage and misery had resulted in the complete destruction of almost every breakable object in the room. Cole didn’t care. They meant nothing to him…
But as he knelt on the ground, Dia holding him to her in silent support, he knew he wasn’t alone. Not completely.
Perhaps he never would be…
Somehow… that made the pain a little easier to bear…
~Fin~
