Snow.
As long as he lived and breathed, the image of snow at his feet would always haunt him. The season would never be the same for him, not like it once was.
And it was those moments, when he could remember, that Grim wished he wasn't all there today. He lost days, weeks at a time, but they didn't matter compared to this. Cold, unfeeling weather made only for torment, and he'd rather the darkness of lost time than this.
The cold, and the hunger....
"It's really pretty daddy! Like the sky is falling extra cold!"
His exhale was harsh and fogged the air, and he began scrunching his face to try and block the images as they flashed by to no avail.
They always happened this way, gentle at first. He would be happy with the gentle moments, they would help him more than they hurt when they weren't twisted.
They were hardly ever untwisted in the end, but he could have a small hope they wouldn't twist again.
"Petal, please, keep your child indoors" He barked, his mate merely raising a brow in his direction with a soft smile.
"She likes the change in weather just as much as you do, Gray." His mate had casually strode up next to him, tucking her head under his jaw as a small comfort. They sat in silence and watched the tiny pup romp through the giant flurries, her siblings sleeping soundly tucked away in safety....
No, no it wasn't going to be a good day this time. His breathing became harsher. He let out a whine, soft at first, but it eventually became a full-on sob from the depths of his chest, and he ducked low under the tattered sheet he currently lived beneath and covered his eyes. It was next, it was next, it was next, IT WAS-
Red. The ground was red, his legs were red, his jaw was red.
So much red, it was invading the white, a taint on the flawless fresh snow.
He felt cold to the bone as the wetness on his fur started to cool, the warmth that once had it pumping was silenced forever, and the tears were falling from his eyes. He retched dryly, but nothing would come up, and his stomach protested soundlessly.
His footsteps were heavy as he walked towards the massacre.
There were no footprints anymore, the ground was nothing but a sea of red.
He heard a sound to his left, and he almost didn't look. Gods above, had he forgotten someone? Please, he had prayed, please let it be another wolf. Not his children, not his mate...
The small white rabbit had hopped out from the sticks that had once been a bush, and Gray had leaped, tearing into the thing like his life needed it.
It took mere moments for him to realize what had occurred, and by then the rabbit was nestled within his stomach, not quite full but not hungry. No longer hungry anymore.
He stared at the remnants he'd managed to leave, more red for the rest of the red, and he laughed. He laughed even harder.
This could've fed them all just a little bit, nowhere near a full meal, but they could've lived a little longer, if he would've waited. He didn't wait, he's barked out loud. He was so close, and he didn't wait.
And now they were all....
He turned back to the carnage he'd left, walking right up to the bodies in the snow, and licked his lips.
He was still hungry, after all.
Oh good. It had ended early this time, but his body still quaked from the thought of it. He knew what it would end as.
He would go there again, but it wasn't today.
He was safe.
For now.
But he had to eat today, his stomach protested. And he wouldn't.
He never did on these days.
