Talue

Talue hadn't even been tired. He hadn't been sleeping. But alas, one second he was looking at the cloudy sky with a blissful smile on his face, and the next he was shrouded in darkness. The initial shock of it made his fur stand up on end, his forelegs spread out under him and eyes narrowed, light yellow gaze flicking in and out of the shadows. He could feel and ever present feeling surrounding him, as if he was being watched, but he couldn't bring himself to think anything of it. He heard no breathing, no sign of an actual physical creature behind him. That was the most disorienting thing about this, was the lack of flesh and bone to pair with the gaze burning into his pelt.
 
Letting a growl rumble through his throat, the male spun around and snapped at the empty air, his jaw now clenched and eyes darting back and forth for any sign of the creature. "Show yourself!" He barked out. He was no fighter, that much was true. His leg ensured that he was actually pretty bad at it, but he had recently become a guardian in order to learn how to deal with the injury. Maybe he could end up being more useful when he wasn't having others depend on him with their literal lives. So of course he regretted his decision the second the words left his mouth, and he could only stand there praying to himself that no would would morph out of the blue and grey mist at his request.
 
"Tally?" The voice made his ears perk, and the male straightened up stiff. He blinked once, his gaze moving to look where his blind spots were not. He couldn't see anything, and frankly he refused to turn around to see just who was speaking.
 
"State your name and intention..." he demanded, trying to hide the fear lacing it's way into his tone. He heard a disembodied sigh behind him, and the chills that were sent down his spine were less than pleasant. "Please," he continued.
 
"I am surprised you don't remember me... And to think, you left me alone." Talue ceased to move then. He knew that voice clear as day, but he couldn't place it with a face.
 
"No disrespect meant, but I can't see you."
 
"Turn around." He obeyed, and when he stopped he found himself with a sweet black face. He didn't have to see anything else but those deep golden eyes for his jaw to drop to the forest floor, his subconcious totally blocking out the dark stares at his back.
 
"Lida..."
 
"Oh look, the fool can remember names." Her voice was bitter, not at all like the sweet as honey sing song voice that belonged to the mother of his pups. It made him back up slightly, his head shaking in the process.
 
"You're not Lida..." He whispered.
 
"Oh of course I am, silly!" The black female chuckled, a blissful smile plastered on her lips. "Why would you even say I am not?"
 
"Well for one you are not even acting like her. Second of all this isn't the real world. I am dreaming, and the second I will myself awake you will be gone again, leaving me alone, again." Lida blinked, but other than that she didn't seem phased as she took a step forward, and then another, until their foreheads were touching. Despite looking for the most part like a spirit she was still able to make physical contact.
 
"A dream... I will give you that one, Talue, but don't think you can just close your eyes and you will back to your silly pack." Talue narrowed his eyes. This was not the Lida he knew. This was not the she-wolf he had fallen in love with. Lida smiled, a wicked smile, one he would never again wish to see on her face. "And need I remind you of something?" With that she pulled away, and for a moment all Talue could see was darkness.
 
"What's hap-" he was cut off when a blinding light made him squeeze his eyes shut, and he could feel soft fur brushing against his shoulder. He opened one eye to see Lida standing beside him, a worried look plastered on her face. This was not the fake Lida, and he was not in that dark world. He was being thrust into a dream world of his past.
 
Lida turned to look over her shoulder, her gaze softening as she cooed something Talue couldn't see behind him. He turned his head as well, jaw opening slightly when he saw four young pups sitting in the snow behind him. Three daughters and one son.
 
He remembered this all too well. It was a blizzard and they had found themselves in the middle of an open field with no sense of direction towards home. Talue had left Lida and his pups to find suitable shelter for the night, as it was getting dark, but when he had found shelter he had collapsed, unable to get up. And when he awoke days later, he had gone searching for his family, only to find his black pelted mate dead in the snow drifts, with no sign of his pups anywhere, though he could only assume the same fate had befallen them.
 
"Is this what you wanted me to see?" He whispered to no one. The dream wolves couldn't hear him, but the black mist standing in front of him could.
 
"You abandoned us..."
 
"I fainted... I couldn't go on any further..." He heard the growl only a split second before the blunt teeth began to dig into his shoulder, though it was a brief bite that caught him off guard before he heard the snapping of jaws, and the pressure was gone. Lida, spirit Lida, had bitten down on her own teeth, obviously out of whatever mojo it took to touch Talue physically in the first place. Shaking her head, she straightened up and fixated the male under her piercing gaze.
 
"THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT!" Talue was shaking his head.
 
"We both know you really don't believe I am at fault here..."
 
"Certain circumstances have forced my paw in shifting the blame..."
 
"Circumstances? What circumstan-" He was cut off when the world turned dark once more, and with it, the vengeful ghost of Lida was gone. Talue looked around, his jaw clenching. "Lida!" He said in a forced whisper. "Come on, you jerk!" It wasn't a challenge to her, but she could take it how she wanted it. He got no response though, which he supposed was a good thing, for the wound she had left was real, and the blood dripping down his leg was beginning to grow noticable, despite the fact he had ignored it before now. The male fell back onto his haunches then, running his tongue over the torn skin and bit of exposed muscle, wincing at the pain.

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This is what Lida looks like (click!)