Rainstar x Bravestar [Fin~ <3]

[Firefly]

...why was she here again...?

The Raindrop Royal female looked around the gardens as she sat down, her tails swaying peacefully as she thought about what being at this place meant. It meant pups. Pups meant she would be meeting a male here.

And if she was meeting a male here...

As soon as she realized this, her eyes widened. [Un]fortunately for her, she already knew who that male would be; the leader of another Pack, Bravestar.

"Why me...?"

[1.2]

[Firefly]

Now, this was quite interesting for Bravestar. He knew only that there were five other females back home, but which one of them would it be that he was to meet with here? He hoped it wasn't his Lioness companion; she was... rather boring and wanted nothing more than to just lay around the territory all day, making sure that the EarthSong Volpes stayed on their own territory.

"But I like the EarthSong Volpes..." he'd said.

She'd told him that he couldn't, that they were of different packs and therefore had to remain separate. He'd finally given up on her and just kept to himself nowadays. After a moment, he shook his head as he pondered aloud, "What if it's one of the EarthSong Volpes? What will they think of me?"

And then, he saw Rainstar.

[1.2][2]

[Firefly]

Rainstar looked up as she heard Bravestar approach. "So it is you after all..." she said, her voice fairly flat. "I guess I could have suspected as much, with how Leopardstorm was talking the other day."

She flicked her two tails as she looked the Lion Volpe over carefully. "I always knew that a new pack would start as soon as I heard '-star' at the end of one of your names, but I've only sensed hostility from your Lioness companion. Do you not care for codes such as that which states that packs must keep to themselves in everything except meetings?" she asked.

[1.4][3]

[Firefly]

Bravestar was taken aback by her seemingly callous manner. She didn't seem to care very much for him, which made him a little less sure about this meeting. "Leopardstorm is your deputy, isn't she?" he asked, trying to keep the mood light. "Ashclaw is my deputy, but she seems to think fairly different from me." He said.

When she inquired about how he felt about the standard pack rules, he chuckled. "Maybe it is because I was raised in a mixed pack of rogues, but I do not see the problem with alliances. However, Ashclaw was brought up with the exact opposite beliefs." He said. "And plus, I didn't want to start a pack of my own; I wanted to join your pack, but Ashclaw insisted that it would be best to start our own pack."

[1.4][4]

[Firefly]

Rainstar inclined her head slightly as she replied, "I, too, came from a pack of rogues at one point. Rainfeather, they called me back then. I ascended from an apprentice to warrior to deputy quickly, but nothing could change the fact that I was still, regrettably, unable to become the leader myself because of the other friends that the leader held. They... did not approve of me, you see."

She shook her head after a moment, and then, she replied, "It would be... an unseemly coincidence if you came from the same pack of rogues that I started out in. Tell me, does the name Oakstar ring a bell or two to you?"

[1.6][5]

[Firefly]

Bravestar listened quietly as she stated her previous name, before she had left the pack that she'd been in and become the leader of her own pack. However, it was when she mentioned Oakstar that he jumped up instantly.

"So you're the missing deputy! Oakstar's been going crazy about how you went missing!" he said, his eyes widening as he pondered what this meant. If she had truly left that pack of rogues, then Oakstar would need to find a new deputy, and soon. What was saddening to Bravestar was that there were no suitable candidates--at least, to him.

[1.6][6]

[Firefly]

"You mean he remembers me?" Rainstar asked in shock, jumping up almost instantly. If Oakstar remembered her, then surely that old pack of Volpes still existed. At least, that's what she hoped. "But... then... that means that you were in that pack with me!"

Her eyes widened in shock as she noticed this. "You... you were Bravepool, my apprentice, right? It has been... a very long time since I last saw you. I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble I must have caused when I left the pack." She said.

[1.8][7]

[Firefly]

Bravestar nodded as he said, "That is correct, Rainstar--as I suppose your name is now." He smiled as he said, "I've not gone a day where I've wondered where you went off to, wondering if you were all right and if I would ever see you again. It was truly a trial for us all, at least, until Oakstar placed me in your position."

He lowered his head as he added on, "I'm quite sorry to say I did not do quite as good of a job as you did, but I did a pretty good job, according to old Oakstar. However, I had to tell him that I needed to leave and make my own pack, lest the same thing happen when you left that day. You left the day before my ceremony..."

Was he resentful that he had to have some substitute stand in on his ceremony that indicated that he was no longer an apprentice, but a warrior? Yes and no; he was grateful that Rainstar had been his mentor, but he was also sad that she'd left as suddenly as she had.

[1.8][8]

[Firefly]

Rainstar lowered her head as she said, "I cannot even begin to express how sorry I am that I had to do that. It was either leave without telling anyone and make it out alive, or have a big production made of it and lower my chances of getting out unscarred. I am certain that you faced the same thing, according to what you said, after all."

She sighed as she walked over to her former apprentice. "It still amazes me, how you've grown since I last saw you. It's as if you're a completely different Volpe now; in some respects. You still have that 'I don't care about pack boundaries; why can't we have alliances?'-attitude about you."

[2][9]

[Firefly]

Bravestar lowered his head as he said, "I'm sure you remember Darkheart. Yeah, he kinda wanted anyone that could potentially be in his way of being deputy and then leader gone from here so that he could have it all to himself. It was... kinda annoying, but you've got to do what you need to in those instances." He closed his eyes as he remembered the dark Volpe saying that if he ever became the leader, he would certainly put an end to me."

He shook his head. "Of course, I didn't want to take any chances, so I just quietly told that I was going to leave; that I had no other choice. Shortly thereafter, I ran into Ashclaw. I rather resent that female. She... likes to think of me as her boyfriend." He said.

[2][10]

[Firefly]

Rainstar nodded as she said, "He promised me the exact same thing... and then, he also threatened to harm you if you remained my apprentice and followed in my pawsteps and became the next deputy. 'I know about you two,' he said; 'something that you might not realize, but I can see it. And I can use it against you.' Although, at the time, I did not know what he meant, I figured it out soon enough."

She chuckled as she said, "Once I was far enough away from the 'pack's' territory, far enough away that you would not have been able to trace my scent, I realized that I missed someone from within our little 'family'. Not something, but someone. You." She said.

[2.2][11]

[Firefly]

Bravestar listened as she said this last sentence. However, when the last few words reached him, he was startled, to say the least. "Some... one?" he asked, but when she added on that it was he that she'd missed when she left, he was taken aback.

"Me? But... why me?" he asked, blinking. True, he'd missed the other Volpe too, but he wanted to know in what particular way that she missed him. If it was anything like he'd missed her, then that would seal a way to get Ashclaw off of his back for... well, forever. He'd leave that pack, return to his old name of Bravepool, and live happily forever with Rainstar again.

[2.2][12]

[Firefly]

Rainstar breathed in deeply as she tried to think of a way to word her thoughts for this. "Why you? You were the one soul in the whole pack, aside from Oakstar, that I could trust. And... what Darkheart had said... he was referring to how I felt--and how I still feel--about you. I... I won't lie to you, my dear former apprentice, but..."

Here, she froze up. What was she even saying right now? She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would mean to expose something that she'd thought was forbidden, and that was, by all means, forbidden in the packs as it was now.

"...I love you, Bravestar. I've loved you for... a while now, I realize."

[2.4][13]

[Firefly]

Bravestar blinked as this registered. Now, he fully realized why she had left the way she had; not just because of Darkheart, but because... well, it was frowned upon for a mentor to fall in love with their apprentice, and vice-versa. So there was no way that she could have been with him when she was in the pack, because everyone knew that he had been her apprentice.

"But... Rainstar, what are you saying?" he asked.

[2.4][14]

[Firefly]

Rainstar cleared her throat as she said, quietly, "I'm saying, quite simply, that... I've felt like there's been something missing from me, and I haven't found it in my pack yet. After all, the only person that I trust in my pack is my deputy, Leopardstorm. Heck, there aren't any males in my pack yet."

She shook her head as she said, "I-I understand if you want to stay in your pack, with Ashclaw..."

[2.6][15]