Then there was rain
The sky wore a veil of gold and green
At night it was the bright of the moon with me
Time is just floating away
Then there was rain
The sound foundations are crumbling
Through the ground comes a bit of a-tumbling
And time was just floating away
We can watch it and stay
And we can listen
It was raining hard. It would be a brief downpour, but it had soaked her to the bone. Her heaving sides - swollen from heavy pregnancy - shuddered as the breath rasped through her lungs. She would have ran, if she could, but it was all she could do to waddle, albeit quickly.
Her breath steamed as she turned into the path of undergrowth that would lead to her little den. The den she lived alone. It was not the most comforting place in the world. Lonely. Dark. Empty save for her own, sad, beating heart and those of her unborn children.
Poor things.
They hadn't asked for any of this. They hadn't asked for a lunatic for a mother, a female who couldn't care for them. A female who was so afraid of rejection that she'd rejected them first, just to spare her the pain. But it wouldn't work. It would never work for her plans never worked. She fought so hard to protect herself, to surround herself with a wall, but in the end it crumbled easily, leaving her vulnerable to that terrible, heart-wrenching sadness.
Puffing from exhaustion, she was almost to the entrance of the den when it happened. A sudden contraction shook her body and her eyes widened.
"No." She whispered, her throat hoarse. "No. Not now. Not now. I'm not ready. I'm not ready." She gasped, squeezing her eyes closed.
Tears mixed with the rain.
"Please...don't let this be happening." Her body tensed and she wavered closer to the den. The rain had streaked her fur, darkening it a shade. Her eyes were wild with fear. She was alone. She was going to give birth. There would be more cubs and she...she'd lose them. She'd lose them all. She didn't think she could cope with the heartache of more loss. More hate. And they would hate her. Because everyone did, eventually.
The pain came again and she staggered the last few steps towards the den, pausing to cast a glance back over her shoulder.
Perhaps her mother would come back.
Or her brother.
Or her sister.
Or maybe even the love of her life.
But she doubted it. No one ever came back.
And, with an anguished cry, she slipped into the darkness of the den where, soon, five cubs would be born to her. Four boys. One girls. And their names?
Suiken.
Deimos.
Charon.
Taiga.
And, last but not least, Tallua.
/fin.
