A Shattered Heart as Sharp as Glass

[☼ Sunstorm]

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[atrb=background,http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac192/fireb4ashes/Annie-Rose-Petal---BOTTOM.png] 'Thank you. It was years ago. It still hurts, but it's like a tender, sweet bruise, the memory of them, that I keep with me for the good feelings that outweigh the pain.' I couldn't comprehend how it was nothing more than a bruise to him. Granted, he had had so much time to cope with it, and I was still flailing about when it comes to my emotions. I felt like I had twenty ragged wounds sliced across my body, sliced directly where it hurt the most: my underside. Sometimes I could literally feel the grief sink there, as if it were somehow physical. I hoped vaguely that somehow I would experience this soft bruise, but I could hardly visualize it at the moment. Then I protested to him about he and I being more alike that he made it out to be, and I saw through my peripheral vision that he had shifted his head closer to me. He wasn't so close that I had no choice but to look up at him, and for that I was glad. I would very much rather keep my gaze down. 'No, Annie my graceling, I did--at least, enough. But there's still this difference--I only lived because I couldn't escape my own body. It fought for me simply by being the way it is--big, and warm, and strong, and stubborn.' To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by these words, though I didn't have enough courage to ask. Whatever it meant, I knew that he was trying to comfort me and tell me that I was much stronger than he had been, and I knew for a fact that it wasn't true. I stayed silent, absently staring at the ground as I worked on keeping my breathing normal. The wind kicked up, bringing the warnings of winter along with it, and I shivered. I hadn't lived through a winter and remembered it, so this was new. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, though I had thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of the months long before. 'You, on the other hand, have all the challenges I did not. Faced with them, I would have died before my third year. But here you are, holding in your pain, facing it down as if you were better than it, choking down my horrible herbs, and talking, and listening.' Yeah, those herbs had been rather disguisting....My nose flared slightly at the taste that still lingered in my mouth, and my tongue automatically swiped across my muzzle. That wasn't his point, but what he was saying wasn't making me feel any better. I just felt....Well, numb. It was strange to say, but I didn't want him to make me feel any better. I wasn't exactly sure why I felt this way, either. Once again I saw a shift in my peripheral vision, and I took a split second to let my eyes flash up, to see what he was doing. It was the perfect opportunity, too, since he wasn't looking down at me anyway. His eyes were lifted up to the sky, and there was something strange about it. Strange might not be the right word, though; perhaps peculiar fits better? I was unsure, and my eyes flicked to him and back down over and over again, because I didn't feel like looking him in the eye, but I did want to figure out what was going on. 'How do you feel?' Good question, because I didn't even know that. I stopped glancing at him every second, and let my gaze settle on my paws again, which were light in shade to me. While I thought it over, I slowly pulled myself to a sitting position, being careful to jostle as little as I could. I was surprised, but it didn't hurt as much. Whatever Aneirin had done, it was working. I wondered when the stuff I'd ate would kick in, but so far I twitched like I always did. I was just so used to it that I hardly paid any attention to it, even if everyone else always did. "I..." I hesitated, not sure what to say. I was relapsing into my brooding moods, and I suddenly didn't feel like talking that much. But that would be rude, because here Aneirin was, caring for me even though he didn't have to. I should make somewhat of an effort, yes? I also wasn't sure if he meant physically, but I went with that because it was a much safer route and he had just tended to me, so that's what he would be thinking about. "Better, I reckon." There was something I had gotten from my Ma. She had talked in a way differently than Stark had, and I'd picked up on a few things. The word 'reckon' was just one of them. "I'm kinda tired, though." Here I felt a little worry on how exactly we'd get there, because I didn't want to stop, but I was unsure if that was reasonable or not. I wanted to get to his safe place as quickly as we could, but my body limited me from doing things. "When will those gross plants kick in?" I wondered what it would be like to not quiver like I did.

[Stardust]

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[atrb=background,http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/stephers1995/Aneirin---MIDDLE.png] Watching the weariness settle on her was like watching an actual weight suddenly settle upon her. But it only made sense. She had made great strides today, but everything, from the trauma to the grieving to the healing to her body's pain, was a great tax on her energy. This journey would be difficult. But then it would be over, and they could both rest. He knew he wasn't nearly as tired as the young one, but Aneirin still felt the toll that deep empathic connection always took on him. A long sleep in a warm den was what he needed, with the knowledge that Annie was safely beside him. Perhaps after a decent meal, with full stomachs to keep their bodies even warmer. First, the travail. Annie slowly struggled to pull herself up into a sitting position, and he watched her closely from the ground, ready to dart up and catch her if need be, or just steady her. She managed it nicely. "Better, I reckon," Annie said, tentatively, though quietly. "I'm kinda tired, though." Aneirin smiled a little wearily himself, but still genuinely. "I imagine so. If you weren't I'd start worrying I was with a goddess." He pulled himself up as well, first to a sitting position, then standing, stretching his long legs for a moment. Yes, it would be a tiring journey, but perhaps all the better for it. He knew she would make it--he wouldn't allow things to happen otherwise--and there would be the pleasant warmth of limbs freshly worked and then rested to look forward to. The last vestiges of fear and remembered sorrow lifted as he thought of that. Though he knew her emotional path would also still be a long one, it seemed as if he could only get them to his den, everything would be fine. That goal was enough for now. "When will those gross plants kick in?" Aneirin chuckled at the brief but accurate summary. "Chamomile's a little weaker than the herbs I usually use. I prefer lady's slipper or valerian, but they're harder to find out in the open. It should kick in soon, though." He tilted his head slightly, thinking of how long ago she'd taken it, and the size dose she had taken. "In about...the time it would take you to say your name twenty times." He smiled. "It'll start gradually, so you may start feeling some relief a little earlier."

[☼ Sunstorm]

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[atrb=background,http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac192/fireb4ashes/Annie-Rose-Petal---BOTTOM.png] 'I imagine so. If you weren't I'd start worrying I was with a goddess.' Normally my ears would have twitched with a curiousity, because I had not been exposed to that word before. Now, however, I barely responded to it. It wasn't too important, anyway, because I didn't have to necassarily respond to his sentence. I just continued to take inventory on what hurt; of course, mostly everything hurt, but I was just waiting for it to fade so we could start our long journey. After I had pulled myself upright, he did as well, though he took an extra step by raising to his paws. He stretched, a motion that I knew felt good, and one that I wished I could do myself. That wouldn't help, though, so I didn't even try to get up just yet. I continued to sit, my eyes absent as I asked him a question. 'Chamomile's a little weaker than the herbs I usually use. I prefer lady's slipper or valerian, but they're harder to find out in the open. It should kick in soon, though.' I'd never heard of any of the three things he spoke of, but I didn't ask of them. I was just waiting for the 'soon', and I was glad about that. He wasn't quite done with his answer, either. 'In about...the time it would take you to say your name twenty times. It'll start gradually, so you may start feeling some relief a little earlier.' I didn't say my name outloud, instead within my mind, and I silently counted. My eyes closed while I waited, and when I got to about the seventeenth Annie, I felt it. It was the strangest thing I'd ever felt in my life, because I was used to moving all the time. I jerked about without ever meaning to, and everytime I tried to hold myself still, there was an awful gnawing that took place in the pit of my stomach. It was just impossible to not do what I did. But suddenly, it had quieted down. I opened my eyes and looked down at my tail, which was laying rather limply on the ground. It continued to twitch a little, something I was not controlling. But what a difference! "Wow. I didn't know anything could help me...." For some reason, I recalled that Aneirin wasn't the first healer I'd met. Ivonee had been the healer of the Renegade, and she'd been a very close friend of my mother. She hadn't known what to do; if she did, she'd done nothing, but I knew that she wouldn't have done that. "Thank you," I said, grateful yet again. I would never be able to repay him, though I made the mind to try when I could. Slowly, I tried getting to my paws. It was an effort, and at one point, I was sure I was going to topple over. I did stumble, but I didn't want to fall again, and I held my ground. Eventually I was steady, and that medicine stuff was working even better now. I drew in a deep breath, preparing myself mentally for the long journey ahead. "Okay, I think I'm ready."

[Stardust]

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[atrb=background,http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/stephers1995/Aneirin---MIDDLE.png] It was like seeing a flower in earliest spring, a bare and snowy march, struggling to open in the weak morning sun. Aneirin caught himself halfway holding his breath as he watched her, anxious for her to succeed. She held still, as still as she could, breathing deeply; he counted inside his own head with her, and watched as, bit by bit, her shaking eased. Overlaid on the sight before him was the image of petals, quivering under the weight of dew and frost, very, very slowly bending outwards. Success. He smiled. It was not entire, as he'd expected, but it was still something. Her tail continued twitching occasionally, but otherwise lay on the ground, quiet. "Wow. I didn't know anything could help me...." He smiled even more broadly, an affable expression that crinkled up the soft flesh and fur around his mouth, especially at the corners. His tail even gave a brief wag, a big, bushy shifting behind his body, a silver-tinted cloud. "Wait until I can get you some lady's slipper," he said, calmly but enthusiastically. If the results were this good with just chamomile, a decent, regular dosing of lady's slipper would work wonders. She could even be able to hunt for herself someday. "Thank you," she said, quietly. He glanced down at the ground, eyelids lowered, eyes shaded in intermittent spaces by the lashes. He loved giving health and healing to wolves, but would never quite knew what to do with their gratitude. It was one of the few moments when the shy, awkward pup that he'd been, unfamiliar with his too-large body, resurfaced. He looked back up at her, still with a beatific look on his face. "Don't mention it," he settled for eventually, giving a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. Then she began to rise. Aneirin quickly stepped over, not getting so close that he might interfere, but close enough that he could catch her with his body if she started to fall. His ears rode the top of his skull as he watched attentively, and several times he nearly dove forward when she wavered more off center, but she was finally on all fours. He released his breath in one giant rush, still concerned with how the journey might treat her, but glad that at least this first step was accomplished. "Okay, I think I'm ready." He watched her face carefully as she steadied her nerves, steel creeping out from within to bolster the weaknesses of her body. He nodded. "We can take this journey at a slower pace than usual; there are spots we can rest the night, if need be." He turned his head to indicate the path ahead of them, a flat way through the meadows, winding among tall grasses before it disappeared in the foothills. "We're going North and West at first," he said, moving slightly closer so that they stood flank to flank, his bulk ready for her to lean on. "When you're ready, milady."

[¡§LUNAR✮OASIS¡§&#]

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A song that seemed to play forever and ever. A sweet melodic song that would have no climax or resolution to its rhythm but kept you on the edge to hear what would come next. Thats what played within the mind of this wolf. Hardly anything else. Perhaps it was a state of denial. A state of mind that refused to listen to reality. Surely thats what caused this strange behaviour from such a wide thoughtful wolf such as Stark.

Heading back toward the lands where he had met an Angel. It was mer days ago.. days ago when he had seen the sight that shattered his heart. To find the love of your life, your soul mate.. torn into pieces... Completely murdered and helpless as she was. Who would have done it? This large beast known as Stark let the slightest mental image come back to mind, causing him to lean forward in pain, letting whatever was left in his stomach escape.

Looking down into the filth, it was a better sight than what he had seen. Not wanting to ever recall what had happened to his mate. He swallowed painfully hard as he continued along the path. Squinting toward the skies, they were still moving along with the days. But he felt frozen. Like the world around him had come to a stop, tainted with a red hue ever since he laid eyes on his dead lover.

In that instant, he heard a familiar voice. Lashing back his head, looking around. Blinking a few times, a dumbfounded look on his face. Annie. ANNIE! As if the inner connections of his mind changed form. The more commonly known Stark suddenly reborn. The sadness still showed on his face, his eyes telling such a sad story. But how could have forgotten he still had Annie in this world. He hadn't.

Total dilemma had consumed him, but the mer thought of Annie's refreshing and beautiful smile had him suddenly floating on the ground. He was in no correct state of mind, he was dazed and confused. But Annie was becoming a light house, as if guiding him from this sudden darkness and sadness that was consuming him. He gasped loudly, uneasily stumbling toward her voice, and the scent. Did she know?

Coming out from behind thick vegetation. He was short of breath, overwhelmed but then excited. He saw his daughters red tinted fur, but then as if it wasn't completely obvious, a wolf beside her. A young, yet strong silver dusted wolf stood close beside her. Blinking a few times, completed blinded by rage he lashed out toward them. Driving those huge paws against the earth.

It was rumored over Traum, who was the largest wolf on Traum. They have said Dragunov, Kirill, Serena or even Mustang. But they were wrong, deep inside the kind hearted Enchanted lands was Stark. Full of muscle and strength beyond any others. And as if by accident and desperation he leaped between Annie and the stranger. Knocking Aneirin away from her, possibly to the ground.

Ignoring what he may have done, he realized Annie was in some sort of pain. Something must have been wrong. He felt that if anything happened to her at this point he may just drop dead right there. But leaning against her, making sure he wouldn't cause any pain accidentaly, he wrapped his head without putting any weight around her. An hug, he had been desperately just wanted more than likely needed. As his pure golden orbs began to sting.

ooc; sorry i sort of power played there, but stark is completely not in his right mind <3

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[☼ Sunstorm]

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[atrb=background,http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac192/fireb4ashes/Annie-Rose-Petal---BOTTOM.png] 'We can take this journey at a slower pace than usual; there are spots we can rest the night, if need be.' Now that, really, was what I needed to hear. I was far from assured that I could get anywhere before the sun made its trip across the sky, and I was just glad to know that we had time. I wasn't used to feeling that time would run out, but when a life had been torn up and scattered about like it had been a few days (or weeks, I have no idea) ago, then it made you realize that time wasn't as abundant as you thought. I lifted my eyes to look into the direction he indicated, and now that I was standing, I was able to see over the edges of the long grasses, to see the way he pointed to. It looked flat, and therefore easy to travel on. But in the far distance the land changed, and even further behind that I could vaguely make out the outlines of the mountain range. The mountains were beautiful in their landscape, but thinking of how rugged the terrain was did intimidate me. Yes, the great altitudes were wonderful if you were there to simply admire them, but anything more, you had intimidation. He told me that we were heading north and west, and I tried to wrap my mind around that, though I'd never been great with directions. He stood beside me, and I could feel the furs on his side as they brushed against mine. I shifted slightly, my flanks pressing into his as I took comfort that he was there. He would be supporting me every step of the way, and I drew in a deep breath, getting ready to go. 'When you're ready, milady.' Oh yes, I was definitely ready by now. As much as the long distance detered me in thought, I wanted to get it over with so I could rest peacefully in that beautiful place he resided in. I was about to take a step forward, and then suddenly that protective flank disappeared. I was about to look up, to figure out what he was doing, when I felt someone else touching me. Though I should have recognized the scent at once, I was coping with a strange thing called 'shock', and nothing was really working right in my brain. I screamed as the other presence lightly applied pressure across my neck as well as along the length of my body. I started thrashing, desperate to get rid of whoever it was, and I ignored the angry throbs that coursed through my weak muscles. My mind was flying back to that horrible day everything fell apart, the last day I had been with my mother. I had started to believe that I was safe with Aneirin, but suddenly I realized that this was it. Zero came back for me, and I was done. Even though I would have no hope fighting off this huge creature with my feeble body, I couldn't just lie there while he killed me. My screams were completely unintelligible, but I was trying to scream something along the lines of Aneirin's name, a call for any other help, and just a simple 'get off me'. But none of it came out the way it was supposed to. After all, nothing was the way it was supposed to be anymore....

[Stardust]

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[atrb=background,http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/stephers1995/Aneirin---MIDDLE.png] At first, the wolf was just a reflection of white on the horizon, possibly the glint of distant light off the lake, and Aneirin was feeling Annie lean slightly into him, readying herself for the journey ahead. He blinked at the sudden changing of the light ahead, and squinted at it, expecting nothing more than snow on the mountains or a passing bird. The next, he was a vast form barreling towards them, thundering with a look of near madness in his eyes across the grasses. Aneirin was a big male, that was certain, but this wolf was bigger, and he had barely taken a slight step forward in front of Annie before his full bulk was careening between the two of them, sending Aneirin sprawling in a tangle of long legs and thick fur. He landed on his side, rocked back, and immediately rolled and surged back onto his feet, legs planted far apart in his landing as he surveyed the situation. At first, he was confused. The strange male seemed to be gently hugging her where he had been fearfully expecting him to already be ravaging her with teeth and claws. But Annie was screaming. It was a garbled, horrible scream, and she was thrashing with her whole body, despite how exhausted it had been only moments before. No words were coming out of her throat as it seized. "ANNIE!," Aneirin bellowed, a pain-stricken, full-throated roar that hadn't emerged from his chest in over three years. "I'm coming!" He didn't know who this male was, and he was still hesitant to hurt him, but Annie was screaming. Flashes of the scene she'd hinted at by the lake ripped in front of his eyes, and he tried not to imagine her in the place of her mother. Almost worse, he knew she would be experiencing the real flashbacks, seeing the gobbets of flesh that had been her parents scattered on the ground, seeing the first drops of blood flying from her mother's throat and flecking onto the muzzle of her murderer. He would not let that happen again. He could not let his promises of safety be in vain. Gathering his legs fully under him, Aneirin charged. This brute was bigger than him, but he was no weakling himself, and he had the distance the stranger had given him by tossing him aside to use for momentum. He felt it with him as he ran, his speed effectively adding weight and mass to his body, weight and mass that shifted to the front of his form as he traveled faster and faster, making him into a battering ram. When he reached the vivid white brute, he tucked his head to one side, keeping his jaw shut. He still didn't intend to draw blood if he didn't have to, and that brief vision of the stranger reaching down in a hug haunted him with doubts. Nevertheless, he aimed his broad shoulder fully at the brute's side, throwing himself completely off the ground into a desperate leap and bracing for impact.

[¡§LUNAR✮OASIS¡§&#]

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For those few seconds. For that few precious seconds, Stark held his place above his daughter. Eyes closed in anticipation and enjoyment. Her warm body calmed him to the core. It made him smile, as his eyes began to sting. Feeling emotions starting to overflow within him. Stark was extremely emotional and heart felt. Unlike most males who thought of being a male meant you could have no such deep feelings.

But as soon as Annie realized it wasn't Aneirin, she began to thrash. As if being attacked, perhaps didn't know who it was? She must not recognize his scent? He kept trying to reassure himself as he opened his eyes in disappointment. As the sounds of her scream started to emerge. A look of disgust toward himself came over, he must of startled her.

Reluctantly, he began to let his long neck muscle unravel from around her small frame. Blinking a few times, as he cleared away that happy inner emotion tears. He pulled back his head to look at her closely, she was still in fear. "I'm coming!" His words ripped through the sad sounds of her scream. He caused this!

Just as he began to turn around, to try and reassure the other wolf. Annie continued her cry for help, and this young large brute was coming at him full force. Ramming into his side, Stark staggered but held good ground. Being a giant among others has its goods and bads. Considering most were naturally scared of him, but this Aneirin was brave.

Knowing now what he had caused. His mind was jumbled at first, not understanding their reactions. But he cleared that clouded minded of his and realized he was out of order charging into the fragile bubble Annie was rebuilding around herself, was it because of Theravada? "I.."

Just the thought of her delicate and beautiful name caused more water to form in his eyes. His face held the most apologetic expression ever seen. Moving back, taking reluctant slow steps back wards, this took time Stark, he told himself. "I'm... so sorry Annie. That was, unacceptable of me to come raging in like that." He looked away.

"It's just... I haven't seen you in so long. I don't know where your brothers are... I, I thought I had lost everything." Sorrow poured from his mouth. Ears bent down low, as he felt as if his legs were going to give out. Lifting that huge head, he nodded toward the young male. "I am also sorry, I see you were trying to help my little girl." He smiled warmingly.

It was true, he hadn't seen the other pups in so long. Surely they weren't pups anymore, they were free to do as they pleased. But considering this island, Stark would worry the worst. Unlike him, he always thought positively. He would always look toward the light, but just before he had found Annie, he had lost sight of it rather easily.

ooc; T.T aww

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[☼ Sunstorm]

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[atrb=background,http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac192/fireb4ashes/Annie-Rose-Petal---BOTTOM.png] I only vaguely heard Aneirin's voice, and I was trying to take comfort that he would help me however he could, but it was hard to take comfort in anything at this point. I was quite certain that I was going to die, because Zero hated me, and he'd do whatever he could to get me too. I'd seen that irrational hatred flaring in his single crimson eye, and it was a miracle that I'd managed to escape that day. But I wasn't escaping today, because he had me, and even my thrashing wouldn't rid of him. Things happened so fast, and too fast for me to recall the events, but the next thing I was acutely aware of was the fact that I was lying on the ground. I guess I must have collapsed; perhaps I'd even fainted, and I was certain that it might have happened. My screaming had stopped, and now I was dealing with the raw pain in my throat; I'd screamed way too much. It felt like my esophagus had ripped apart, though I knew I was being much too dramatic with that thought. My body was trembling, whether from fear or from my disease, I didn't know. The fear was very much there, though, pulsing through my body and leaving an exshausted wake behind it. Something else was going on in the field around me, but I wasn't able to process it. I heard voices, but I didn't recognize them, nor did I recognize the scent. I didn't look up to the stranger, either. The reason I couldn't bring myself to do anything other than lie curled up on the ground was because I hadn't been able to even process the fact that I was still alive. It didn't make sense. Was this somehow Heaven? This ground? I had no idea. Though I didn't know I was doing it, I started whining as I curled myself up, so I was smaller when one looked at me. I was so overwhelmed at this point that I didn't know what to think, and whatever progress Aneirin and I had made with my recovery, it was shattered. I felt just as I had hours before, broken and unable to pick up the pieces. I hated myself for not being able to get up, and to assess the situation, but there was nothing I could do. It was hard to even clear my head enough to listen to the conversation going on. So this was what shock was like. Except this time, I actually knew what it was.

[Stardust]

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[atrb=background,http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/stephers1995/Aneirin---MIDDLE.png] Aneirin felt himself hit a very solid flank and then stagger backwards; the wolf had taken the hit with little more than a few steps out of the path. He was shaking his head to clear it and about to gather himself up again when he actually focused in on what the stranger was saying--and doing. First of all, he was stepping away, moving hesitantly backwards with a broken look on his face. Whoever this was, he was no cold-blooded, malicious killer, if he had intended to harm Annie at all. Aneirin hovered protectively over her, but uncertain now, his head tilted as he listened. "I'm... so sorry Annie. That was, unacceptable of me to come raging in like that." Something was deeply wrong in this wolf's life. He was barely clinging to a few scattered threads of sanity, holding them together like bits of spider web in a high wind. He seemed to be gathering them more tightly, though, even as Aneirin watched. "It's just... I haven't seen you in so long. I don't know where your brothers are... I, I thought I had lost everything." Realization dawned on the silvery healer, shaky in the muddled pool of hearsay he'd taken in in the last few hours. "Gods alive," he breathed, voice trembling and catching on hooks of emotion, "you're her father? She thought you were dead..." That almost unnaturally large skull lifted on its thick base, and the stranger--Annie's father, he mentally corrected himself--nodded at him, a look of utmost weariness and defeat in his eyes. He seemed to be hovering over legs to weak to hold up his great bulk anymore, and Aneirin was half inclined to encourage him to sit down, but decided it wasn't his place. "I am also sorry, I see you were trying to help my little girl." Then he gave a smile that convinced Aneirin without a doubt that, at the least, this wolf was an Enchanted wolf. He had never seen any of the Order or Revolt wolves give a smile that pure, gentle, and genuinely warm; theirs were always twisted with a certain kind of sadism. Even the wolves of Renegade, Lucifer's and the Realm, it seemed, couldn't quite capture that same look of kindly grace. Aneirin smiled back, though his brow was still furrowed in concern, and he stepped aside slightly, no longer blocking the male's path. "I'm sorry, too, then, for trying to knock you over. I'm Aneirin, one of the healers here; I found Annie this morning, and she told me Zero had killed her parents. She's very tired right now..." He looked to the sad figure on the ground, no longer screaming but shaking violently, and the furrows deepened, making darker gray lines above his pale features. "I was going to take her to my den. It's well-hidden, and I thought she could use a safe place to stay the winter." He looked, a little sheepishly, back at the great white wolf, aware of how much pain he must already be in, and how crushing the disappointment of not being recognized by his own daughter must be. Had he even known she was alive? Aneirin moved more to the side, nodding gently to show that the path to Annie was open, and then moved to her side himself, lying on his belly next to her. "Annie," he began, softly but clearly, no more need to shout over the screaming, "Annie, it's me, Aneirin. Your father isn't dead, he's here--" He stopped, realizing he didn't know the male's name. He looked up at him, inquisitively.