Seeking Solace

Ch. 11 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elliot remains perched on the tree branch, the sounds of the body being dragged through the forest seemed far louder than the usual symphony of nature, he listens as the twigs snap around the seemingly dead weight, and the body thumps over rocks and logs, as the fabrics rub against the ground in a cacophony of guilt, and it claws at Elliot's moral compass... His grip on the red fox tightens, the upcoming decision starts to choke him, the dragging becoming distant and yet Elliot feels as if he is the one dragging the poor accountant to his eventual doom. He climbs down from the tree, freezing just before his feet touch the ground, "Grey might hate me now."

The fox licks Eliot's chin, he sighs, "I can't coup myself up just because I'm used to it." He says to himself, determination sparks in his eyes, but finds itself lost in the whirling dread that the unknown brings, and he pushes off the final tree branch and takes off back to that frightening place from which he ran.

Lumaire holds Grey's hand as they walk back to his bedroom, he was going to work it out with his mate, for Grey and for them.  He kept having to regrip Grey's hand because despite being nearly twelve, he was small, if not for his speech, one could mistake him for an eight year old.  His sister's mate had been like that, in fact Grey looked almost exactly like his father, with his ecstatic, blue gray hair, and round face, but his Deep, piercing gray eyes and stubborn attitude were a blazing reminder of who his mother was and in the that sense, Lumaire would do anything to make sure he didn't face the same fate as either of his parents. 

They turned the corner to see Lumaire's bedroom door wide open, and he froze, Grey let go of his hand and sprinted to the door, sliding to a stop he called out for Elliot, than he dashed for the stairs, crying.

Lumaire gritted his teeth, his knuckles were clenched and nearly white; feeling a sharp pain in his palm he pulled them apart to see cuts from his own nails, "THAT DAMN FOX!..."  Wrath seeped from his growled voice.  Storming after Grey, he howled to alert the rest of his pack; that fox would be caught and punished for his impudence.

His pup cried out near the entrance and so he made his way there.  He was expecting the wolves that worked in the packhouse to start swarming and rushing about or at least call him, but the house was dead quiet.  He sniffed around, their scents lingered but they were old and he had not noticed the severe lack of wolves bustling about during his rather upsetting morning.  He rushed to Grey much faster now that the alarm bells had set off, "where is my pack!?"

Elliot aproaches the large building,  he hadn't got a look at it earlier so only now was he just noticing how large, domineering and intricate the building was.  It was massive, the entrance grand, preparing you for a rich and plentiful inside, but as the building continued upward and outward it only got more elaborate, ever expanding into a beautiful palace, though small for such a grand title, it was unbefitting to call such a masterpiece anything else.

Elliot gulped, aproaching the door, insides scrambling, thoughts rambling, what was he meant to do as the feeling of an unfair gamble crept up on him.  Beads of sweat roll down Elliots, face, his fluffy ears tilted back tight, unrelenting in there newfound position. 

The red fox yips, snapping the tension in half, like a metaphorical chiropractor as the fear and split second shock took hold upon turning the handle, but it was already done.

Silence!  A massive home, in a little village, normally buzzing with life... but not today.  Few wolves meandered about, confused and lost.  Where had there family gone, why had their world become so deafeningly quiet.  The alpha's howls go unheard as he watches out the window at dazed wolves outside.  He hides Grey in his bedroom, tells him to stay quiet and storms to the door.  Why can't his pack hear him, where have they all gone?

He grips the handle, nearly yanking the door off it's hinges as it opens, and in stumbles a shaking, cedar scented fox.  His big orange eyes swirled with fear as the tension in room started to feel like weights on shoulders.  A low rumble reverbrates in the door way, "what are you doing back here, FOX!"  He speaks fox as though it were a disease, a purple vein pops out of his forehead, making it clear just how unwelcome the fox is...

Elliot gulps, "an-another p-pack set a trap... b-blue shed... is where..." 

The wolfman growls, his eyes look dark, his anger climbing around them, the pheremones seep and Elliot shakes.  The world spins, his conciousness feels slippery and the angry blurr in front of him moves, he yelps, "I kn-know where...  pack is..."  And he's out, dropping to the floor in a pathetic heap. 

Ochre eyes glare down at the crumpled boy, "How would he know where they are?..."  bending down to pick him up the red fox growls at him, firm in her stance Lumaire rolls his eyes and pushes her aside and picks Elliot up.  The red fox wimpers and runs after the pair, yipping and barking like theres no tomorrow, eventually attracting the determination of Grey.

Grey sits in the middle of the massive bed in his uncles room, waiting for his return.  He was told to stay here but he coundn't help but be impatient.  Jumping around the huge bed and fumbling through the blankets; eventually a sound is heard in the deafening silence of the mansion.  Grey, freezes, the silence returns and but he waits, yelps are then heard and they become louder, familiar yelps, at least to Grey.  "Miss Fox!?"

Grey jumps off the bed and flings the door open, "if miss fox is here, so is Elliot." He runs towards the yipping and barking like no tomorrow.  Despite Elliot having left him after promising he wouldn't, he still ran, getting used to hearing so many broken promises, he couldn't seem to care.  If Elliot came back, then he would forgive him like he forgave everyone else... Because he might really have no one if he didn't, and Grey was afraid of that.  Thats why he ran, to see if everyone had forgotten him yet or at the very least remind them that he existed.