Of Legends and Myths *open*

[ღE/m/i/l/yღ]

"No story has a happy ending." Youssarian said, his voice taut with confidence. It was true; every story had tragedy. Every story had pain, or death, or sorrow. There was no such thing as a happy ending. If there was, it would be a fairly screwed up life. "No, Raja. Happy Endings aren't real. If they were, I would be dead right now." His eyes showed truth, but his heart was racked with doubt. He loved his life, he did- He was an Alpha, he had a beautiful mate, he was strong- those things were all great. But some wolves didn't have that. In truth, Youssarian would give up anything and everything, except his mate, for a poor wolf to have his spot. It was best, and it would make him happy. But, unfortunately, things weren't like that. They would never be like that, in this cruel world. He looked up, at the ceiling, for probably the fiftieth time in the past five minutes. It was a sad world, it was. Penori was a sad land. Why couldn't things be better? They never would be. His eyes went shifty, as he thought about Penori and Happiness. What if this land was a little more happy? A little more giving? Every wolf would have something to eat, every wolf would have pride in something. All the horses would be safe from predators. All wolves would be safe from survival. That would be nice, if it were the truth of things. Was there even a land like that? This world was so screwed.

[<3Kodi]

Raja closed his eyes as Youssarian spoke. Apparently the wolf felt the same as himself. No happy endings for anyone. In the end there was always some sort of tragedy whether it was disease, war or even mortality simply coming to claim its victims. Every story had a happy time, or at least some did. But happy times ended and darkenss would take over. Opening his eyes, Raja angled his head to stare at the cave ceiling. He missed his happy time, the innocence of ignorance, the ease of simply healing and helping because he knew he could. That had been when he had been sure he could help anyone simply because he meant no harm to anyone and just had the pure will to help anyone. Mangy loners or high-bred alphas. It had made no difference to him back when he'd been young, a mere apprentice learning the ropes of life.

Turning his sad gaze to Youssarian, Raja nodded and heaved a great sigh. "I want to find a story with a happy ending" he murmured, his voice soft but echoing in the cavern. "Even if it'll never be my own."

Raja let his gaze wander away from Youssarian, staring into the darker corners of the cave, scanning the tunnels leading off the cavern into some unknown network of darkness and veins of fine gems and minerals. Turning to look back at Youssarian, Raja flicked his ears forward toward the male again.

"If you do not believe in happy endings, what do you think of forgiveness or even mercy? Do you think Remus's sacrifice for Flashfire was worth it? A young wolf wanting to help the sick only to sicken his family? Both the young wolf and Remus were wrong in their decisions and came to poor ends but...do you think there is mercy or forgiveness waiting for them?"

For years Raja had hid behind the illusion that he'd only been trying to help, help anyone but almost every time he had come out to be the fool. His family had fallen ill. Those he helped were ungrateful. Sometimes Raja would doubt his goodwill, wonder if he was simply born to play the fool. It was a sad part, but one someone had to play.

[ღE/m/i/l/yღ]

Youssarian pondered quietly for a moment, looking down at the floor of the cave rather than the ceiling. "Yes," he answered slowly, his mind wheeling. "Yes, Remus's sacrifice was worth it, because he did a good-great-deed, and therefore he is a hero, hooray." His tone went bitter, his eyes closed. "But, mercy and forgiveness. I believe Flashfire was stupid to be Skeptical about Remus, and that he should have mercy for him. And I think that Remus, wherever he is, should forgive him. It's a vicious circle, but it works somehow." He looked into Raja's eyes, his brain spinning out of control with thoughts that normally wouldn't enter it. "Raja, what do you think about mercy and forgiveness? I have heard your side on Happy Endings." He looked at the male thoughtfully, his eyes settled on something farther away though.

[<3Kodi]

Raja looked away from Youssarian, debating his reply. "I think" he began slowly, "mercy and forgiveness equal pain and suffering for the giver." His golden eyes grew dark, glazed with memory. "They all want more. They want the cure, they want justice, they want you dead. They want you to pay." A shiver rolled down the big brute's spine making his pelt ripple. Raising his eyes, Raja met Youssarian's gaze, his own eyes sorrowful and dark. His bulky form seemed to grow smaller as his confidence and former bright personality faded as if swallowed by the shadows in the cavern. Looking at his paws, Raja swallowed hard.

"I have a story for you Youssarian if you want to hear it. I have never shared it with another since it was told to me. No one has ever wanted to hear it because it is about a giver that gave but recieved only hate and seperation from those he had called friend and family." Raja stared into a corner of the cavern past Youssarian. "Do you want to hear it?"

It was only a half lie. No, Raja had never told the story to anyone else but then again, he had never freely offered it like he offered it to Youssarian. No one had ever actually asked Raja. No one ever asked for the story of the storyteller. They recorded and remembered centuries of stories, tragedies, dramas, comedies. All sorts of stories. They remembered them all and passed them on to pups and adults alike. Storytellers gave up their homes and the security of a pack to give to others the stories they knew. But for all their stories and legends, it seemed they never shared their own. It was just something Raja had never really thought about. Who would want to hear him? Wolves wanted war stories, stories of valor and triumph, not darkness and mercy, betrayal and innocent tries to help.

[ღE/m/i/l/yღ]

Youssarian had experienced that. He had given too many, and many had spit on his pelt and ruined his homes. He nodded. "Yes, Raja. And after your story, I have one to tell." He looked away for a second, and then he closed his eyes. "About me." He wanted to melt away, like a snowflake on a rock. Sometimes, disappearing was the only way to go. He had run away from many places, and run too resources he had forgotten about long ago. He met good wolves, the ones who had stuck with him until they eventually found mates, or founds packs, or simply died hard. The bad wolves were the ones who attacked from the confines of the bush, or who hid behind rocky outcrops until they saw you pass by casually. The ones who had ruined many things for him, the ones who had left scars on not only his skin, but also on his mind. This would be one of those stories.

[<3Kodi]

Raja nodded, accepting Youssarian's terms. Looking into the darkest of the tunnels leading off the cavern, Raja's eyes glazed as he fell backward in time, his mind flicking through events. "A healer is a giver, by nature and can not watch suffering. In the mountains far from here, a young healer offered aide to an ailing wanderer much to the unhappiness of his pack. Within three nights pups became ill like the wanderer. Though the illnesses were different, the pack would not see reason. The wanderer was killed but the sickness spread from wolf to wolf, brought by the pups not by the wanderer. Day and night the healer toiled trying to make right his mistake. Wolves began to die, one by one howling in pain, too weak to do anything else."

Darkness clouded Raja's gaze and he was far away from the Rainbow Jewel Labyrinth. Instead he stood in a dark hollow watching a pup gasping for breath at his paws, dying slowly and painfully while others all around moaned and begged for help. Herbs were useless, winter was upon them and deep snows blocked all mountain passes. The herds had not come this year, the pack was dying.

"Seeking order and content the alpha called the healer whom was his nephew. For being of no use to the pack, the healer was banished. Three of his own friends helped to chase him from the territory into an unforgiving blizzard. One of those wolves went as far as biting his neck to try and kill him rather then let him simply flee. The healer lost all hope in his craft, not trusting himself to aide another canine ever again lest he do more harm then good. Once he was free from the mountains, the healer chose a solitary penence to try and make up for his mistake. A mistake made of an act of mercy had turned his life against him but no one cares to ask to what end the tale came."

Heaving a sigh, Raja let his story fade and his eyes cleared. He wasn't on a rugged mountainside fleeing his best friends but instead in a cavern miles away. Shaking his head, Raja sighed. As he turned his head, the neck on his fur shifted revealing a scar that ran along his neck, a scar from wolf fangs. Turning to look back at Youssarian, he waited for comment or the next story, his heart heavy.

"It's sad" Raja murmured. "The healer never came to hate his pack. To this day he could not hate them even if it may be wiser to hate them."

[ღE/m/i/l/yღ]

Youssarian nodded, his eyes thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, that is sad," He said slowly his eyes black with the story he would tell. My story is a little different." With a deep breath he began to tell another sad story, perhaps this one sadder. "I was young, about 4 years younger than I am now. I lived in a place called Finito, which had three rival packs- the Corpins, the Trinxes, and the Bintrats. I was apart of the Bintrats pack, and I regret it. Our packs always battled till blood soaked the ground and we were to exhausted to even sleep. It was then that our Alpha decided that we should battle more often, that we should try to kill off the other packs." His eyes went filmy as he recalled what happened next. "We were battling the Corpins one night, and my pack friends, the ones I had come to trust, were losing their lives over a stupid battle. I helped one wolf, Torniks, out of the battle field- he had two broken legs, and he was likely to be killed easily or trampled. I dragged him to the bushes, where I thought he would be safe, and thank me. Instead, his exact words were 'leave me alone, mongrel. I can help myself!'. I watched over him, staying away from the continuous battle, until he eventually took his last breath." His tone went bitter. This was the end of his story. "I brought him to the camp the next day, so we could mourn properly. I expected the wolves to respect me for bringing him home to his family so they could say their last goodbyes to him. Instead, they mistook the whole situation. They thought I killed him, out of jealousy, because he was a higher rank then me- he was Beta. The Alpha was outraged... he ordered the pack to attack me, to kill me. Forunately, I escaped." He looked away. Was he going to cry? He never cried.

[ღE/m/i/l/yღ]

***bump***

[<3Kodi]

Raja laid his great head upon his paws, ears swerved forward to listen to Youssarian's tale. It was indeed as promised a rather sad one. Massacre and bloodshed, things Raja would never understand. Disease. He understood that. Grief. He knew it too well. Meaningless death however was something Raja never wanted to understand. He knew more stories then he could count about war and all its gory violence but Raja seldom retold them unless specifically asked. Most of his stories he spun off the top of his head, dreaming up fanciful things to take others away from such violences but he still knew their importance to wolves and to their past. Wolves were thought of, especially be equines, as warring creatures that wanted nothing but blood and flesh. Raja knew most wars ran for deeper causes then that but still, to him no reason could be deep enough to take a life.

Bringing his head up from his paws, Raja closed his eyes and shook his head sadly as Youssarian ended his tale. "It is a sad story the one you tell me" Raja barked finally, his voice somber. "But it is one I have heard before and one I will hear again no doubt." Raja heaved himself to his paws, shaking out his gold and mahogany fur. "The time for dark stories is over my friend, at lest for now. Time to leave the dead to their graves I suppose and keep walking."

Inclining his head, Raja glanced between the two tunnels branching off the cavern they sat in. One tunnel Raja had come from and the other Youssarian had come from. Obviously the one Youssarian had come from led to an exit to the labyrinth. Raja padded toward the tunnel where Youssarian had come from, deciding it was time to get out of the caverns for a while and go out into the surface world perhaps for a hunt. As he neared the tunnel, Raja paused and turned his pale eyes on Youssarian.

"Remember your story isn't over Youssarian. It can be a tragedy or a victory, whichever path you choose. For now, I'm choosing the surface world for a while if you'd care for a quick hunt."

[ღE/m/i/l/yღ]

Youssarian nodded, not wanting to be alone once again, especially in the echoeing, somewhat creeoy caverns."I could use a hunt," he said aimlessly, following Raja out of the odd caves and twisted passageways. He had the sudden crave to bring something down, for his claws to sear into soft flesh, for his teeth to sink into a throat. He lifted his head to the wind and sniffed hard, taking in a few scents: Flower, other wolf, lake, horse... deer!. He let out a low wolf for Raja, and began signaling his ears for the sound of the hooved creature.