Lost without Y O U

[Symph<3]

SYMPHONY
So watch my chest heave
As this last breath leaves me

How had it come down to this? She had lost her home. Her beloved home. Gone. Destroyed. Vanished. And along with it, it seemed, the love of her life. Her ears twitched and pinned back to her head as her body trembled. Each shudder caused the collar around her neck to rattle, the spikes dragging it's weight left and right.

She felt...so alone. So lost. And utterly destroyed for the first time in a long time. Tears streamed from her golden eyes and she moved, her lithe body darting over the lands as fast as her legs could carry her. She had to go somewhere, anywhere. Though...anywhere seemed empty without him. Her ears pinned to her head before she stifled another sob, letting herself soon just fall and skid. She didn't care she was getting her luxurious pelt dirty, she didn't care about anything. Why would she matter to herself when the one that always made her feel better about herself wasn't there?

Her head tilted back, a howl leaving her jaws sadly, echoing over the land and carrying her pain before she dropped her head back to the ground. Her paws covered her face, and the tears began to fall faster and faster. Her heart was shattered, her mind was numb. She wanted nothing more than to just melt down into the ground and stay there for the rest of whatever miserable life she had left.

[Rallan]

A quick glance back at the death-black smoke that billowed from what seemed like miles and miles away was the last look Rallan ever cast at the Forest of Lust. The beautiful lands, suddenly gone in an inferno of a wildfire, all started by freak chance. A couple tears strayed down his muzzle as he tore his gaze away form the charred trees that were left behind and let his paws take him through to the nearby forest. How could this have happened? Everything had been so perfect and so peaceful, for so many wolves. And now... So, so many lives either destroyed or lost... Rallan had to choke back another sob and a wave of nausea as he shook the thought of the terror from his mind. His smokey gray and white fur was even more grayed and blackened from the ash and soot, and even singed on the ends in some places. Every now and then, when he'd been trying to help others escape from the labyrinth of burning trees and embers, he'd only narrowly avoided getting burned. His breathing was slightly shallow with fatigue and raspy with the smoke he'd inhaled, but his temporary injuries didn't bother him. No, what hurt him the most was his broken heart at the loss of everything he had ever loved. His home, his friends, his only remaining family member, and...

"Symphony..." he whispered softly beneath his breath as he walked onward, voice choked from the soot in his throat, making him cough slightly to clear it out. His muscles ached, the adrenaline of the sudden disaster having long worn off and leaving his body and mind tired, weak, and utterly spent. Still marching onward like the trooper he was, Rallan blinked a couple more tears from his eyes, whispering a silent prayer for those wolves who had been lost in the blaze, and another for those who had survived, wishing them the best in their new journeys.

And then he heard the howl.

Ears shooting skyward on top of his skull, Rallan's head snapped in the direction the sorrowful howl came from. Perhaps it was a survivor in need of help. Either way, his job wasn't done yet. He had been a protector in the Forest of Lust, and he was no different now. Turning his body, he bolted off after the crying wolf, running as fast as he could. How long he ran, he had no idea. Time mattered nothing to him anymore. All the same, he arrived soon upon the form of a wolf collapsed on the ground. "Oh no..." he muttered to himself as he quickly trotted up, "Excuse me... miss...?" he asked in his damaged voice, not recognizing the female wolf with her face on the ground and dirty pelage, "Are you - alright...? Did you just come... from the Forest...? May I be of... some assistance...?"

[Symph<3]

Her fur was mussed, matted slightly from soot, and blackened from it's beautiful golden tinted color to something grayish black and nasty. It was hard to tell it was even Symphony, even from close up. The long luxurious coat was singed slightly on the ends in some places, mainly from the jump she had made to escape the ruined city that had been caught ablaze around her. The one she had narrowly escaped from. Her throat felt frayed and ragged from inhaling the smoke, and she coughed, letting her paws fall from her face as she trembled, recovering her energy. She needed to rinse off, clean up in some water source, but that was something she couldn't even bring herself to do. It was a miracle that she even had a will to go on at the moment.

Her eyes opened as she heard a raspy voice, and she looked upwards, managing to stagger to her feet slightly, sitting up if anything. The male before her was just as sooty as she was, his voice raw and rough. Had he gotten out of the fire too? Her ears shifted and she shook her head, coughing before frowning. Could she even talk without it hurting? She'd have to at least try. "I'm...not. But...I did...escape," she managed to choke out. Her voice was not her own, and most certainly, her body wasn't, except maybe the shape. And there was nothing this male could do to help her, because she was definitely not alright. She was heart broken and utterly lost. "You did...too...?" she asked, wincing when she spoke more than a few words. It scraped her throat raw. How long had she inhaled smoke in her sleep? Her eyes shifted back to him as she swallowed roughly. Her mouth was dry, but she hadn't gotten the drive to even go looking for something to drink.

[Rallan]

Rallan took note of the female wolf's body language and words. She was broken, more than just physically drained, but in a very clear emotional way. She must've lost someone very dear to her in that forest fire. Her words were choked by coughs, much like his. She must've been caught in some of the worst parts of the fire before she'd gotten out. At her question, he gave a small half smile and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I got out..." he said softly, trying to keep from crying again in front of her, "I helped as many... as I could get out..." He shrugged his shoulders at that last comment. Though many would have said what he did was heroic and brave, he just thought of it as the right thing to do by nature. Though he needed to tend to himself as well, his concern was for this wolf first, who seemed to have given up on life. He needed to help her get back on her feet. "Can you get up...?" he asked, tilting his head to the right slightly as he always did when asking questions, "Maybe we could get you... to a river... Get a drink... Wash up... Maybe you'll find someone you know there..." Ever the optimist and good samaritan he was.

[Symph<3]

Symphony looked at the male, her ears laying back slightly. The collar that was usually so easy to spot on her neck was buried in her fur, tangled in the sooty black mess, pulling on it slightly as she stood up slowly. "Noble...thing...to do," she rasped out, coughing before wincing, breathing in through her nose. "I..can," she said, her paws reluctantly holding her up. She noticed him tilt his head, and stared at him. "Are you..." she trailed before she shook her head. For a moment, she imagined it was Rallan. "Nevermind," she uttered, letting out a sigh. "I doubt...I will...but alright," she agreed. Her hope had long gone when she saw the fires eating at the forest, tearing it down, as well as the city. Her paws led her slowly forwards, knowing even a pup could keep up with her and outrun her if it wanted to. It wasn't long before the sound of a river was heard, and she moved towards it, watching the water run by. "Maybe...you should...clean up...as well," she mentioned to the male, looking to him before forcing herself forwards and into the water. The cooling water was soothing to her, rinsing away the soot and ash as she stepped further into it, lowering herself before ducking her head under. When she lifted it back up, her fur was once more it's white and golden color, and she sighed, opening her jaws in the river to just let the water rush into and down her throat, soothing the parched feeling.

[Rallan]

Ducking his body down to her level, Rallan offered the female support to get back to her paws. Once up, he gave her a quick curious look when she began to ask him something, but mentally shrugged it off when she told him to disregard it. Whatever it was she had been about to ask him, must have not been incredibly important. He stayed close by her side the entire trip toward the river, making sure she didn't collapse along the way. It was a slow going process, but she must've been exhausted from her endeavors. His heart went out to this poor wolf who had lost so much. Soon they came to the smoothly flowing water. The summer heat hadn't been so unforgiving to this land as it had been to the unfortunate Forest of Lust. He sat on the bank of the river as she waded in, ears perking up when she said he could use some cleaning up too. He glanced down at his dusty, dirty, singed fur and chuckled softly. "Yeah, I suppose I could..." he agreed, padding into the water as well and dunking his body under, resurfacing and taking a long drink to clear his throat. His pelt now clean and back to its mostly normal state, he glanced over at his new acquaintance - and his mouth dropped open. The white and gold fur, it had to be her! "Symphony...?" he asked hesitantly, brown eyes wide and hopeful.

[Symph<3]

The water rushing through her fur normally would have felt good, and in a way, it slightly did, but that was it. There was no other feeling, no rush of exhilaration for the clean feeling, or anything really, emotionally anyway. There was just a blank feeling that was blanketing her being, settling over her like a muffling cloud. She sighed, lifting her head slowly as the fur matted around her collar, but untangled from it at last. Her head shook as she stepped out, followed by her whole body, sending droplets everywhere before she sat down, still slightly weak. Her head dropped for a moment as she took in a breath, her throat relatively better, but she still coughed from the smoke that had temporarily screwed up her lungs. Though, when she heard her name, her ears twitched, and she turned her head. She didn't remember telling him her name...unless..."Rallan!" she shouted the instant she saw him. Tears sprang to life in her eyes and she ran through the water with a burst of energy she didn't think she had, burying her face into his wet fur as she sobbed. "I thought....I thought I lost you," she whimpered, pressing as close to him as possible.

[Rallan]

To Rallan, time had all but frozen around him after he'd spoken her name, praying this wolf was his Symphony. Two seconds seemed like tears to the poor brute as he waited for some clue of recognition from her. And then he saw her ears flick back and her head turn. It was her; he'd just known it was! A huge smile spread across his muzzle as she shouted his name, tears welling up in the corners of his brown eyes as the female he loved with all his heart bounded through the water toward him. "I thought... I'd lost you too..." he whimpered softly under his breath, nuzzling through her wet yet soft fur, taking in her scent, as if he'd been gone from her side for all his life, "I tried to get into the City, I swear I did... I just... I couldn't... I'm so sorry, my love... I'm so sorry..."

[Symph<3]

The tears poured down her face, dripping down into the water under them as she tried to press to him as much as possible, her sobs softly penetrating the air as she trembled against him. He was here right now, and that was all that really mattered to her. That he was standing here with her, not gone forever where she would never find him again. "It's okay Rallan...you're here. That's all that matters. We're both right here..." she whispered, her muzzle burying into his fur again before she licked along his own muzzle, her ears laying flat on her head. She couldn't touch him enough, couldn't be close enough to him. She wanted everything and anything at once, but she couldn't get it all like she wanted. Soft whimpers fell from her jaws as she nuzzled and licked him, her body rubbing his more as she tried to just coat herself in his scent, her lithe body trembling gently.

[Rallan]

For once in his life, Rallan truly didn't know what to say. All he could do in response was press his body as close to Symphony's as was physically possible and take in slow, shaky breaths as he sobbed quietly in joy. He eagerly and happily returned all of her affectionate nuzzles and licks, his soft, warm tongue running over the length of her muzzle. "I'm gonna stay here, Symph... Just you and me... forever..." he whispered in reply, voice shaking but his promise more resolute than any other declaration. He had her back, and that's the way he planned to keep it. Her at his side, for all eternity, where they could rebuild their lives again in this new land. Together.