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nostalgic~

She was collecting them. In her book, there were pressed flowers and the collection was growing by the day. Nobody knew it yet but she had snuck into her old parent's home, even though she knew that if she was caught, she would practically be kicked out of Deus. But this flower was here. It was the flower, from her old flower garden.. in her very book. Looking at it reminded her of older days..

Her days used to go by with purpose. They still had purpose, just a very different dangerous kind. But she had painted with watercolors.. She learned how to dance (although she was shy about it) .. Saya had done all the hobbies she had wanted to do. At the end of the day, she used to look up at the stars.

Snippets floated here and there. She loved her mom's apple pie. Actually, Saya loved all sweets so there was little point in saying she loved one thing.

The lake left her wishing she could eat it one more time.

Confusion

Sap didn't know where she was at first. She knew she was surrounded by pumpkins, and the remains of one lay around her, glittering in the cool light of the pumpkin sun. She knew she was in Halloween still, and also, that she could look around. She could think. She could feel. She waved her gnarled yet delicately woody fingers in front of her eyes. She could see. She shouted for joy. She could hear. She stood up a little unsteadily. She could move. But how? What? Why? Why was she suddenly so able? She had been a tree only moments before...

Endings

Flames licked at her branches, her roots, her skin, and Acerium - for that was her name - could not get away, though she wriggled. Her own roots held her fast as the flame threatened to consume her.

Hazing... was bad. It had been bad for all parties this time. The older students had taken a dragon into the woods for his test of courage or whatever they called it. They had started beating on him right at her roots, but he had fought back with a breath of flame.

Flame in a forest is a bonfire of living trees. Sap could hear the screams of other trees that were burning, even over her own. She could hear help arriving, with soothing water, but she knew they were too late for her.

Still, she screamed desperately at the unfairness of it all. She was alive, she was a person, she was intelligent, and yet she was trapped by her skin and leaves and bark, unable to act against the fire that devoured her.

She struggled anyway, to no avail. It was her end. When she dissipated, she was a charred stump. The forest fire was out, the other trees were safe, and saplings were free to grow in the space that was left. Her - and other trees - ends were their beginning, as in the human world, so in Halloween.

It was a beginning for her, too...

"Brother, are you okay?"

"Yeah."

The siblings sat alone in the courtyard, the servants busy with their duties. The two rested by the large, gnarled tree that their mother refused to have removed.

"You've been sad for a while, is it because Dad went to his pack?"

"No." Brenna didn't know. She didn't need to know. Whatever lie their mother told her was something he would have to stand behind... It wasn't necessary for his young sister to face the truth that their father was banished. She did not need to know that it was all done with the assistance of their uncle who had wanted their mother, the power of the pack, and everything that came with it. She did not to know that their mother used their uncle. She did not need to know the pain he was going through. Uru's brows knitted together as he let out a sigh. "I just haven't been feeling well..."

[[ Ending ]] [[ Hiding ]]

Everyone would feel hopeless at times in their life. Useless. Without a purpose. Or just destitute. It wasn't common, but that point where one believed they had found the absolute bottom of the world. That it couldn't get any worse. It was a rare feeling for Frostpaw, one he didn't call foreign, but exotic. Yet it was times like waking to find there were many gaps in his memories that he felt it.

He had a lock. He'd heard very basic instructions that he could get back what he'd lost. But not how. There was nothing clear or truly helpful about it. So here he was, stuck as could be... and not even knowing what was missing. That there, was enough to despair over. Because what if he'd forgotten something truly important?

Now, Frostpaw liked to think that he did things purely for the sake that doing those things. Accomplishing those goals. They were all worth seeing the results of for an overall good. That he didn't need to get something out of it. That it was for the common good.

He really, really did.

But the fact remained. There was some sweet personal satisfaction when his success was noted by someone else. When there was someone pointing out just how well he'd done. Because deep down, he was still quite the prideful demon. And he liked recognition perhaps a bit more than usual. Just a bit.