when it all comes down

The last rays of sunlight stretched over the horizon, casting an eerie glow upon the abandoned battlefield. Bodies lay strewn across the grass before the college entryway and Gwydion stood there frozen. He could hear the sounds of fighting off in the distance but even that too was dying with the fading light. He had come here after hearing about the evacuation in hopes that he would find Aurora but what he'd found instead he had never truly expected.

He didn't know what he'd expected, but it had never been this.

Gwydion was about to turn and leave when one of the bodies shifted. His heart immediately jumped into his throat and before he could tell his paws what to do he was at her side. A groan escaped the fallen soldier and Gwydion lowered himself to her side. She was caked in dirt and blood but... but her scent was unmistakable. He blinked and pulled back as he began to recognize the misshapen form below him. It was that one woman who had bitten him so long ago. He'd thought he'd never see her again, much less here. What... what was she even doing here? She was no soldier so did that mean she was a Jacobite? He didn't know and he had no reason to care about whether she lived to died but her pitiful cries tugged at his heart. He couldn't just leave her here to die with the rest of them.

With a quick look around, deeming his surrounding safe, he set to work. First, he needed to stop the bleeding. He was no healer but even he knew that. He looked around for something to staunch the blood and found a pile of browned leaves nearby. He grasped a few in his jaws and moved back to her side to press them to the wounds upon her neck. Whoever had done this to her had meant to kill her. He saw the torn flesh upon her hip and thought for a moment he saw straight through to the bone. His stomach churned uncomfortably. "Please don't bite me... I'm trying to help," he whispered softly.

He then questioned her on where he could take her for proper care and she uttered a few words before passing out.

Ruel... Rionna...

It would be a long and arduous journey but he believed they could make it if he could just get her stable enough to move. So long as nobody stumbled across them, he could do just that. He pressed the leaves against her and the bleeding began to slow. Hopefully when she awoke it would stop and begin to clot so that she could move. With that hip it would be horribly painful, no doubt, but she could lean on him. He feared walking into the Mainlands but he had no choice. There was nobody else here to take her. This was all on him.

ONYXIA
FEAR IS ONLY WHAT YOU MAKE IT

Deep down she knew she had no business on that battlefield, and yet the fire that burned in her heart wanted to know why Ruel aided them with supply and money. What was it about the Jacobites that kept him so nose deep in his studies in his office, so much so she had not seen him in months? She would not be Onyxia if she did not go and see for herself.

The way she would regret that choice.

She was keeping up with the battle, watching who was going for who, but the sights were set on her quicker than she was ready for. Fangs napped at the side of her neck, but her bite was venomous too and she felt redemption when her own jaws found purchase upon her attacker's face. What she didn't expect, however, was for there to be a second force. Jaws clamped against her hip with such a fierce grip it caused a yelp to escape her, the crunch of her bones while also being removed from the socket filled her ears and caused immediate nausea. She tried to retaliate, to swivel and bite him as the adrenaline kicked in, while the feeling of pain was becoming numb, but again she would find the skin of her neck in the jaws of her first attacker.

The scent of her own blood filled the air, heat immediately swelled in her hip as her world started to fade to black. The pain was unbearable and all she could do was scream against the battlefield that would drown out her cries. She became limp, so close to death that she assumed they had already thought her to be so and left her alone. She faded in and out of consciousness, and the next time she regained a little she saw a familiar face.

Please don't bite me... I'm trying to help.

"Ruel....Rionna." She pleaded, knowing she only had a little time left before the darkness consumed her.

She didn't feel him as he tried to stop the bleeding. Hours had passed, her body grew cold as she did her best to stay alive. Onyxia lost a lot of blood from both her hip and neck, death was so close, but she didn't want it yet.

time skip

Eyes fluttered open to be met with the man she had met so long ago. She forget his name, or couldn't remember if he gave it to her, but she saw the scene before her. Blood covered leaves, dried and bloodied dirt on the floor, but she forgot the most important thing. She tried to stand, pain shot up her leg and sent her back to the floor as she screamed in antagonizing pain. "Fuck! Fuckkkkkk!" She cried as tears streamed down her face, her orange gaze daring to look at the state of her injury.

Her leg lay limp, unmovable. The bone slightly visible from the skin ripped away from the muscle.

She threw up, unable to hold in the nausea any longer.

They had tried to kill her. The Royalist were relentless, and fought dirty. She didn't have the energy to realize the hatred she would feel for them after the state they left her in.

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It would be a long while before she regained any consciousness and with it would come the agony and shock. As he had tried his best to stop the bleeding, he'd been thinking about his own family, caught up in this war. His father and brother; what if he found them like this... or worse?

His stomach clenched uncomfortably as a nervousness began to rise within him. He hucked the leaves aside to inspect the wound and it appeared the bleeding had stopped for now.

She began to curse as she awoke, no doubt in immense pain, and when she looked at her leg she turned to throw up. He wanted to do the same but somehow he'd managed to hold it in. "Hey, hey," he said in a hushed voice. "Q-Quiet down. They might hear you," he urged, swallowing the lumps in his throat as he lifted his head to look around.

They seemed to go unnoticed and it was time they got the hell out of here. He could still hear the sounds of fighting not too far off. This was not yet fully over and he did not want to be caught in the crosshairs. "We have a long way to go before we reach Rionna, uhm..." he said.

"I'm Gwydion, by the way." he added, realizing they did not know one another's names from before.

With that introduction out of the way he moved to her side and nudged her gently. "I know it hurts. It's bad. Real bad... but we need to get you somewhere safe." he told her, hoping she would not lash out at him for trying to move her.

...

It had been hell.

But they'd made it, somehow.

He stopped on Ruel's step and began banging on the door, not knowing just who this wolf was or if he would even answer. It was someone Onynia knew and someone she claimed who could help her. Oh, how he hoped she was right.

meph

Ruel Darcy

At first, Ruel had chalked up the silence in the manor to the quiet of war. He hadn't seen Onyxia since that one evening nearly a fortnight ago. Then again, he had gone nearly a whole season without seeing her before. Of course, he had caught mention of her in the halls be it through a clump of ebon' fur or her scent clinging to the doorways. This was the first time that he saw only Elody if he saw a soul at all.

One conversation with his dear housekeeper informed him that his fears were right. She was gone. And without so much as a word, according to Elody. The girl had taken flight for one reason or the next. Tempted away by her old life? That was the likeliest option but it seemed so counterintuitive to the woman he had come to know. Onyxia had been a petty thief because she'd had to be. It wasn't as if some dark part of her was calling her to the back alleyways and Drunken Seagull.

So then why had she left? Neglect?

Soon, his thoughts could no longer focus on his work—not that there was much to be done. Suspicions were heightened and he could do very little without drawing attention to himself. In truth, he probably already had. He'd need to go to the Highlands soon, he felt in his bones. It'd be safer there than trying to play court here. Yet he still thought of her.

...

Loud banging shook him from his dreams, shaking what felt like the whole of the house.

Rousing himself, Ruel sprinted to the door and pulled it open himself. It was a foolish thing to do but if they were guards come to take him, he'd greet them boldly. But perhaps it'd be Onyxia.

Nausea welled within his throat as he saw her, his wish answered in the worst possible way. She lay on the ground, bleeding terribly from an ugly wound along her flank and hip. In his doorway stood a young man, eyes widened in horror and exhaustion. "W-what happened—?" Ruel struggled to find his words, suddenly numb.

"We need a doctor—" he started to move, aiming to move past the pair and into the night. "Bring her inside, please," Ruel gasped.

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Angry Townsfolk

Your presence causes catches the eye of two elderly wolves, an old man and an old woman. They both sneer as they catch your scent. Then, in a fit of anger, the old man starts yelling at you. "We do not need your kind here! Leave, get on now! You have brought NOTHING but plague to this land!"


This event affects only HIGHLANDER wolves. To interact with them and/or engage in a fight with them, please post in #updates.

A man -- Ruel, he assumed -- opened the door and took one horrified look at Onyxia before asking him what happened. "She was in the battle at Melrose. They left her for dead," he said solemnly.

He said something about a doctor and then asked that he bring her inside. Gwydion simply nodded his head before reaching for her again. "Come on," he urged her as she came in and out of consciousness. They moved inside and found a place for her to rest. Once she was as comfortable as she could be, Gwydion turned on Ruel. "Tell me where the nearest doctor is and I can go get them and send them your way," he said. He didn't know Rionna from the back of his paws but he was confident he could find his way around well enough to do this for her.

"Name's Gwydion," he told Ruel before stepping back out the door and awaiting instruction. Then, he set off into the night, hoping to find a good doctor to send back their way.

[ exit gwydion ]

ONYXIA
FEAR IS ONLY WHAT YOU MAKE IT

Faintly his voice would travel in and out, he pleaded that she remain quiet though she didn't have much energy to speak back, she would take note of the request. The most important thing she caught was his name as it had evaded her the first time they met. And then her world would go dark again. When she came back into consciousness she felt herself being dragged along as she gave him the only effort she had. Only three of her four legs functioned, but the loss of blood drained everything in her. At a point she felt her body stop, and a familiar voice touched her subconscious.

Ruel. He had found Ruel.

She felt the happiness and relief swell in her, but her body did not allow her to acknowledge where she was. The worry in his voice made her heart sore, the last thing she wanted to was worry him which was why she hadn't told him she was leaving in the first place.

This was worse though, way worse and she imagined the fear and confusion he felt in the moment.

time skip

Her breathing was labored, each one she took seemed more painful than the next. Light shone through the shaded windows, casting a glow on her hip as she slowly regained a grip back on reality. It had been a couple days since she last woke, and as her eyes fluttered open she saw the heavy casting on her hip and the bandages around her neck.

'She's awake!' Orange hues flickered over at the voice, a doctor? She groaned as she opened her jaws to speak, her mouth too dry to form any words. "Water," she managed after a moment as her head rolled back into the comfort of her pillow. When she closed her eyes the flash of battle haunted her. The face of the black and white solider as well as the orange faced, red eyes man who had demolished her hip before the final blow from his comrad.

She would not forget. Never. The pain burned into her memory, the foul play. Yes war was not meant to be light, but she could not imagine aiming to kill. She could not imagine not giving the option to submit, but rather leave someone for dead.

She could not imagine playing so dirty, and ruthless, all in the name of King Adham.

Onyxia was disgusted. A brewing hatred stirred in her heart, one that was unforgiving and she knew very well it would never be a feeling that would perish.

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meph

Ruel Darcy

In the battle...? Ruel could barely believe his ears. His eyes were round from shock as he took in this news, the stranger before him, and Jewels on the ground. But how could you be here? The urge to interrogate the stranger was strong, spurred by a flurry of thoughts he could not focus on. Did she get into my notes? Blood—wait, was she dragged here? Wait— Ruel had no room to think one coherent thought, panic and anxiety was choking out all calm.

The only thing he could do was move, his breaths almost as haggard as the stranger's as Jewels was brought back inside the manse and laid down. Her blood stained the plush carpets but he sparred not a thought to it now.

Yes—yes the doctor—"Madam Grubb, she's three streets over, in a small cottage overtaken by ivy. Next to the," his voice broke off and he supressed a shudder. "—the market."

He barely registered the russet man moving to the doorway and those earnest blue eyes but he caught the name. Later, Ruel would remember it.

...

Ruel's eyes peeled open at the sharp bark of Madam Grubb. The old woman, ever cryptic and favoring riddles in her speech, had been an unyielding presence in the house. She had made a mess of his pantry in the search for herbs and had nearly come to blows with him over having set Jewels on the carpet. Now, hours and hours later, there was daylight—thin and gray—slinkng into the manse. Jewels had been moved to her own room again and left under Grubb's careful watch. Even with cataracts in her left eye, the old woman's gaze had been more discerning than his own. When faced with blood, Ruel had all but turned into a statue paralyzed by fear.

But she's awake.

His heart lurched as awareness brought him to his paws only a second delayed. It was not difficult to find Jewels' room. In fact, he had not gone to sleep in his own bed. He'd just curled up in the hallway just three doors down.

Now he lingered just outside of the door. Already, Madam Grubb was fussing over the wounded guard. He heard water slosh and then the deft clunk of a jug being heavily lowered. If not for the shock, he would have felt a pinch over the rough handling of the pottery. No more could be made, not in this age.

Nosing the door open, he was relieved to find the moth-eaten curtains still drawn and the room no brighter than a silvery twilight.

"Thank you madam," he murmured to Grubb. The old healer simply tutted her tongue and moved past him into the hall, likely on a mission to wrench open more cabinets.

And then they were alone.

"Jewels..." her name felt odd on his tongue. How long had it been since he'd spoken it? "How are you feeling?"

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ONYXIA
FEAR IS ONLY WHAT YOU MAKE IT

Onyxia could barely keep the concept of time and had anyone told her she had been out of it for days she would hardly believe it. As eyes fluttered open she could see the slits of sun peering through the blinds, she groaned, attempting to move as pain shot through her body and caused her to cry out. When she was fully able to open her eyes she took note of Ruel beside her, but what was he calling her? Jewels? Who the fuck? As memory came back she remembered she had never given her actual name nor did she find the time in the months apart from one another. Onyxia made a note that she would have to break the news.

She took a moment, however, to look over her condition. Her leg and hip were heavily bandaged and she noted when she tried to move she had no momentum. "Am I paralyzed?" Her heard wrenched at the thought, and again she would try to move it only to be met with indescribable pain.

Tears threatened her eyes, a stream began to roll down her cheek as she choked up on her words. "Am I...." she shut her eyes, biting down on her lip as she could hardly muster the words. "Am I never go-going to be able to w-walk again?" She inhaled a sharp breath and with closed eyes she remember their faces. The man and woman who had both double teamed her during battle. She wanted to kill them, she hated them, hated what they were! Onyxia began to cough back the tears, "I'll kill them!" She sobbed, every inch of her body hurt even as she cried.

She managed to look at Ruel, surely she imagined her would never see her in such a state and she only could process how long he had been waiting for her. "I'm sorry," she could barely look him in the eye. "I didn't mean to worry you, I just wanted to know what you stood for. I made it my business when I shouldn't have and now? Now look at me...." She tore her gaze from him, her heart hammered heavily in her chest. She didn't deserve to be here cared for him, or here at all.

"I don't deserve this, or you." Her voice was quiet, "I was so intimidated by your presence and power that I wasn't even honest with you about something so stupid, like my name." Her brows knit together.

"My name is Onyxia," she wanted to run away, she didn't want to burden him anymore.

code by claerie

meph

Ruel Darcy

Her amber eyes opened and it was all he could do to stop himself from lurching toward her—and so he just leaned forward, paws flexing on the aged wood floorboards. His dark ears flicked nervously at her groan and, again, he felt the compulsion to act, to race down the halls and fetch Madame Grubb again. The thought of leaving her side, however, was all that stopped him. So he stared, searching her face, heart squeezing at every flicker of sorrow, frustration, and fury he found. In his head, the fear that this was his fault never quieted. No, it lurked in the back of his mind, waiting to skewer him.

At her question, Ruel stopped, suddenly at a loss for words. He didn't know. His heart began to hammer in his chest and he took a step forward—then a step back. Did he even deserve to comfort her? Had I been the reason she left to fight? The reason she is like this? The glassiness in her gaze made him want to promise her that she would be okay. But all the money in his coffers couldn't give her back her mobility if she lost it. All he could get her were more doctors—each a sliver of dismal hope.

Then she started to sob, rage mixing with the tears, and her body shook. It was then that he could no longer stop himself. Soberly, slowly, he made his way to her side. He dared not touch her without her permission—although he yearned to. With each step, he found a new emotion joining his sense of loss and guilt: anger. Fury over the wolves that had ruined her to this extent. And, at last, he thought of something that his money could buy. "Who did this to you?" His voice was low, patient for her and little else. All he needed was a name. Assassins were a dime a dozen in this country, especially during times such as these.

Whether she answered him or not, Ruel would allow her to capture the whole of his attention. Her gaze was wary as if she could hardly stand to look at him. It stung, yet he accepted it as a lighter sentence than he deserved. But she wasn't mad at him.

"I didn't mean to worry you, I just wanted to know what you stood for. I made it my business when I shouldn't have and now? Now look at me...." "I am," he said, voice low yet meaningfully. "I am looking at you." His dark brown eyes searched her face, tracing the beautiful almond shape of her eyes and the subtle gradient of gray that paitned her face.

"I don't deserve this, or you."

At that, his lip curled involuntarily.

"I was so intimidated by your presence and power that I wasn't even honest with you about something so stupid, like my name."

It was this alone that gave him pause so that she could continue.

"My name is Onyxia."

She looked so small and defeated that he couldn't help but lean in close, close enough to touch yet fractions away from it. "You didn't owe me your name, not then and not now." Perhaps this was something he should have been infuriated by and yet he couldn't help but feel as though it was wholly inconsequential. Whether she was Jewels, Onyxia, or Amarantha, she was still her. Theirs was not the type of relationship that had abandoned secrets. But that could always change—no. He glanced at her banadaged hip. The life he lead was too incriminating for him to subject her to that. Even documents poorly hidden had robbed her of her mobility. What would being his do to her?

"You were right to protect yourself from me. I—" he paused, leaning back, expression pained. "—I am so sorry that I didn't hide it better, that I made you curious about me and led you down this path..." It took all of his resolve to meet her gaze. He felt as though an executioner staring at his prisoner. "I will give you everything and it will still be not enough, but you will have every comfort J—Onyxia. I promise you that." This, too, his wealth could provide. She need not work another day if she did not wish to.

"Truly, I cannot believe that I endangered you so," he whispered angrily, albeit more to himself than to her.

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