It was with the tensing of my muscles that he pulled away from my flesh. I could feel the way his eyes lingered on the scars, though, and that had me trying to shrink in a little more. I wanted that memory gone. I wanted the mark that held such power in me to disintegrate. I was so wary now about what I did. One misstep and I could twist my spine in such a way that it could snap! again. It had been healed, put back together, but it was still not nearly as strong as it had been before that wretched tree had been shook loose enough by the thunder to be shoved into me by the lightning. A burning tree falling to my frame and pinning me. No. It was a memory I would like to forget. One that did come with the spectral hawk cawing at me, though.

There was an apology that slid from his lips before he began to look around the room, and I shift my weight just a little. One reason was to keep the pressure off of my back, the other was to shift into a position where he could join me. So, I patted my maw against the moss, ears perking and twitching at the sigh that escaped his frame. But, with more shifting he cleared his throat and then lowered himself down behind me, back to the wall. He allowed his neck to crane over my barrel just enough to pull me in closer, into a protected type stance before he was lifting his head again.

He seemed tense, and I could feel his side rapidly expand and collapse as a sigh left his maw. There were faint hoofbeats in the distance, ones that went past the room without coming into it. But, still. He was tense, and I couldn't ask why. Was it me? Was I trying to overcompensate for feeling so broken? Was this desire to actually be around someone who might be stable beginning to suffocate him? As he rested his head against my neck I gently allowed my maw to stretch out and brush against his canon. Delicately, I lipped at his muscles, and then down toward his hooves just wanting to find a way to relax him.

And, if the way to relax him was to leave him alone then I supposed I would. I wasn't normally like this. I didn't normally feel so empty. But I could deal with the extra hole of being completely outcasted should I have to - if it made sure that others had the life they deserved. Even if feeling Alleo's heartbeat almost matching up with mine was a comfort, a weight lifted, I would give him the freedom if my comfort was the suffocation...

I couldn't understand the peace that seemed to wash over me when we were finally calm and not worried about the world around us.

This was the first time I hadn't felt... completely alone.