Before the Dawn (Draft 1)

Part 1

Sion

Things would never go back to normal, and there were were three things that led up to Sion knowing this.

First, he was looking around for his mother among the front row of soldiers. Where she always stood after a battle while the leader of the rebellion announced victory or defeat. But he couldn't find her. He was trying to keep his fearing mind at bay until he could spot her, telling himself, his eyes frantically flitting around that there was no way she'd died in the last battle. She was probably further back for some reason.

Second, the king started naming fallen soldiers. It was a long list. How long it taken to memorize this? Sion didn't care, because he was starting to feel sick and wish he could escape what was happening. Unfortunately, he couldn't make himself move.

Third.

"Pluma."

Sion never would have believed how easy it was to think senselessly that there 'must have been a mistake', had it not been for this moment, because that's exactly what he did. After the moment of silence for the lost, he still didn't manage to move his body, until he was almost trampled by some other Arietes fox and had to crouch down for him to automatically jump Sion. He normally would have sent a snappy remark after the buck and glared at him as he left, but a truly rare occasion was occuring. Something had happened to Sion that was big enough to keep other things from boiling his blood.

Now that he'd somewhat snapped out of his trancelike state, he realized that he was supposed to... not be standing there anymore. What was he supposed to do?

His mother was gone.

His mother was dead.

The realization felt like getting swatted by a tree trunk. He felt the sudden surge of unhappy come up inside him and an unexpected sob escaped. He immediately hated how pathetic he sounded, and the grief and sadness, out of habit turned quickly to resentment and anger. A snarl tugged at his lips, his gaze traveled quickly around one last time, and he took off.

Sion was fuming by the time he got to the woven dome of willow trees he called home. The anger and hurt was splashing up inside him and he didn't even know where to put it, but he felt like he would explode if he went on feeling this much. The world wasn't fair. The world wasn't fair. He'd taken what it had given him, all of the bad luck and the alienation, and now he'd lost her on top of all of it. It wasn't fair. He juggled between anger and childlike sadness. He was pacing back and forth when he heard something behind him, and he turned around quickly to see a strange vixen, along with a ganglier grey fawn staring back at him. The look on his face and the fact that he hadn't seen him since the beginning of the war made Sion's mind pause.

"Luscin."

"Sion!" Luscin ran up to him, before skidding to a halt and burying part of his face in the thick fur on Sion's neck and shoulder. Sion was surprised at this display of emotion from him, and even more so when he felt Luscin sob into his fur. He didn't speak, but he didn't have to. After all, he'd heard that list, too, and Sion had known Luscin long enough to know exactly what he was saying, not just 'I miss you'- 'I'm sorry'. For a moment, Sion was caught off guard enough to forget what was happening, until he realized the reason Luscin was crying was for Sion and the loss of his mother. He hated it when Luscin cried, and it didn't happen often. He didn't know what to say to make him stop, so he just sat there. Eventually, Luscin spoke.

"Hi..."

"Hey..."

Luscin pulled away with a sniff and wiped his tears away with his tail, looking to the side. Sion had missed him a lot.