There's always something left to lose.

A broken and desperate wolf, Quicksilver picked his way across the tundra in search of any sign that @Reiko might've gone home that way: a scent, a trail, anything at all. Having had first-hand experience in the aftermath of rejection, he hated the idea of the snowflower suffering alone through that most vulnerable time.

The winds blew snow into his face, unforgiving. He powered through for hours, feeling as though he deserved a far greater punishment despite how his paw pads nipped and how his muscles screamed for relief. There was no greenery that Quicksilver could see for miles and as the storm continued to cloud his view, he was so drained that he was forced to seek shelter.

He found a hollow where the glacier met the mountainside and crept within. A quick shake rid his pelt of accumulated snow, but the dampness made his skin tremble; the druid was not yet accustomed to such low temperatures.


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She had arrived home late in the morning. It was easier not o push through with a smile with all who approached her for where she had gone the past few days, using the excuse she thought to have caught Haruki trail even if that was far from the truth. It was simply easier this way than to admit the shattered pieces of her lingered in the wind of Ira’s mountain side. Scattered to the wind in her trail as she wandered aimlessly to find herself again.

Her heart sank even further as there was no sign of Tobias either, no news on when or where he had gone.

This morning she checked up in @Gyrfalcon and apologized for being away so long before heading out to the gardens to continue storing away herbs before they rotted for the season.

It was a bad day to go the glacier - but she needed to get out of the parkland fur just a little longer. To Busy herself with something else than linger and let her mask crack around everyone else. Believing the snow would settle in only a little bit of time, Reiko couldn't be more wrong. As she arrived the blizzard picked up, blowing hard winds into her face, stinging her eyes and nearly tossing her lithe frame over in the gusts.

Amidst the sweeping snow she found a little cave to hide into, shaking off her thick pelt and completely ignorant to the other figure within the shelter with her as she occupied herself with warming up a bit. At least this was a good distraction for the pain she still felt in her chest.

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Quicksilver moved stiffly toward the rear of the little cave, a sterling ear canted backward to listen for the howl of frozen wind beyond the threshold. There, he shifted to press his flank and the side of his face to the wall of the cavern, scraping its glistening layer of ice as his limbs gave way in a desperate bid for release. He crumbled, at last, and sleep crept up on him despite the chill that seeped into his aching bones.

He didn't know how long he'd nodded off for, but he was suddenly alert at the arrival of another. He lifted his tired, bloodshot eyes and pointed his snout in the direction of the hollow's entrance, where he saw her.

Reiko, softened by her grief but seemingly uninjured, drew him back to reality. He pulled himself upright and swept his tail in low, nervous sweeps. Gently he whined to her, the sound of his voice echoing around them. His expression was solemn, apologetic, and his gaze sought the snowflower's lovely face. “Reiko,” he said, hushed, “please, do-don't go...”

He gathered onto shaky legs and felt the pull to go to her, but he was afraid of spooking her.


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The shelter provided little warmth within it, at least with the wind no longer pushing her around and stealing what little warmth her diminutive body could offer - it was a welcomed change of scenery as she shook off the snow and watched the blizzard howl from the mouth. It was beautiful - every so often she would forget the power within winter's wrath. How unforgiving it could be in its beauty - and as a whine stole her attention away, a single ear twisted to its direction before she too would follow to gaze on the familiar stranger she wished to forget.

He pleaded for her to not leave, and yet her feet wouldn't hold still. The last few days were spent to stabilize what little control she had over her emotions, and just like that they all came crashing down. Every effort, gone in the wind as the blizzard wrapped its frigid fingers around her once more. Almost as if the unforgiving storm had suddenly more comfort than that of the cave, all because of a single face.

“Why?” It took everything to keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks, every ounce of effort to keep them within their rightful seats.

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When she looked at him, he stared right back. He owed her more than the guilty hunch of his slim shoulders and the a downcast gaze while he fumbled for the right thing to say. After last time, he doubted there was any such words. Reiko had been right, then: no matter what decision was made, someone would be hurt. What she didn't know, however, was that she was not the only one to carry those woes.

“Because,” the druid started, thinking sadly of Izumi and her own confession of a budding love for him, “I never meant for anybody to get hurt. But you did, and... I did.”

But she had run from it, whereas he had not. He had permitted himself to feel the pain, not knowing how it would break him and how he would turn to reach for the tentative affection of someone else. Quicksilver swallowed the lump as it started to gather in his throat and resisted the urge to try and gather her to him by lowering himself into a sit. He doubted his touch would be welcomed.

“I don't know if you can ever forgive me for that,” he carried on, hoping that she could try to, or at the very least be honest and tell him if she didn't want to, “but if-if some higher power were to give me a second chance at that night, when we were alone at the wedding, I-” The druid paused only to inhale deep, “I would do it all over again.”


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In the moment the chill that ran down her spine was welcomed. It pricked at her skin and threatened to freeze the tears that welled up in glistening eyes. Why did he come here again? After all that was said in their previous encounter, after all the hurt they both had endured recently - why would he keep returning?

He spoke and the words still cut through the whistling blizzard that threatened to take her away. Where the rushing snow danced all around her and for a moment she wished to disappear within it. To fade away from here in the whiteout.

She would run again. After all she had endured last year, she had no more weight to bare. No more strength to go through another season with heartache. As much as she wanted to leave, the woman was rooted to the spot, just out of the shelter and into the storm that mimicked her internal feelings.

“There is no such power.” And so they had to move on. “I am too late, I have to accept that - and you, must leave me be if you do not wish to take me after all. At least — at least grant me that peace.”

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“But-” he held his tongue for a moment, reminding himself not to sound too judgemental with, “I was too late, before, was I not?” And she had left him to wallow for week upon week, dying a slow death as his heart pined for the closeness of hers. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes until at last he glanced down.

For the first time, then, he wondered what might've been the driving force behind the change in Reiko's feelings. Fear tightened his chest at the sudden question in his mind of whether or not she'd told Tobias of his confession at the Vanderfell wedding; would he seek to harm him if their paths crossed? Had Tobias turned the snowflower away with sharp words for her honesty and driven her into his arms in doing so? Quicksilver wanted to ask what happened, but the timing was inappropriate. It was her own business, and he'd done enough damage already without prying for more.

He blinked up at her again, a tear trickling down the length of his pallid muzzle and a sob catching his throat as he took in her grim expression; he was so exhausted that he crumbled to his elbows. “I didn't want you to make a decision then and there, because... because you felt like you had to. This isn't about just you and me, I-”

Quicksilver stopped there, and he realised that this desperate attempt at trying to explain and understand all at once could only end in further heartbreak. Had he not shown her how he cared, by trailing her through the waste in search of her purely to be sure that she was alright? Reiko hadn't given him the same compassion when she left Vanderfell at someone else's side, hadn't even planned on confessing her own feelings until she happened to cross his path on his home's neighbouring spires. Time and time again he tried for her but he was never brave enough, never strong enough, never good enough.

If she wished never to see him again, then that was her choice - he would let her have that, but take no comfort in knowing that he'd done what he could. The silverwhite pulled himself up from the cold ground and limped forward on delicate, travel-worn paws. “I'm sorry, I... I'll go,” he promised as he stepped gingerly into the storm, alongside her briefly as he lowered his crown to prepare for his long, painful journey home.


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This time she kept her mouth shut. Averting her gaze as he admitted to being late earlier on before expressing his feelings. Oh how that nice drove deeper - remembering the regret, the sorrow she felt for him that day. The thoughts that flooded her head thereafter, questioning if what she was doing was right.

Tobias had to have picked up the change in her heart, the doubt, the uncertainty - and that was why he left, she was certain of that. She wasn't even granted the time to apologize, instead she would wallow in this regret. In the pain she caused both men - this would be her hell. The woman wilted further, feeling the weakness tremble in her legs. A snowflower who blossomed brightly only to fade overtime, it seemed right.

“But —” Calling out as he prepared to leave, this time she could bring herself to look his way like last time. Shielding her gaze from the previous gaze he gave her, Reiko could only stare at the ground. Watching as the snow danced in the wind. To hold back anything now would only leave more regret. What more could be brought than possibly easing some confusion? Maybe if she just spoke up now instead of holding it all in as she normally would, it would make things better. “I had. The answer was you. But, I could not bare to harm Tobias, I was afraid. It seems I have regardless, he has gone before my return...” I'm sorry Tobias, wherever you are. As if he had heard her from the winter landscapes within the mountains, he had vanished.

“It did not feel right because... because it meant choosing to hurt another. Because I knew in my heart I could not fully, truly, truthfully only love him; and it was wrong.” As if she was holding the dagger against them, choosing who to plug the blade into.

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He didn't think she would demand his attention again, not after pleading with him that he let her be. Quicksilver paused to hear her words, those which rose above the wind that whipped at the pallid furs of his cheeks. He turned his head to squint through the snow even though it nipped at his delicate eyes, and he sought the face of a she-wolf who still held his heart. She told him the answer had been him because it'd always been him, but the silverwhite didn't understand. He felt a dull ache begin to throb in his skull and a muscle tightened along his jaw as he considered her silence and her distance between then and now.

A month. For a month he had been tormented, a shell of who he was. Still the wounds of her rejection bled free, unable to be stemmed, and with Reiko's own heartbreak he swore there was nothing left of him to give.

She could not stand to harm Tobias, so she'd let him suffer instead.

“I told you that I loved you,” he sighed, “and you... you left. And I never blamed you for that, for making that decision, but I thought that meant you didn't want to see me again.”

She had gone to Tobias because she had chosen Tobias. It'd been Izumi who encouraged Quicksilver to keep his head above water, Izumi who'd offered a shoulder that he was afraid to lean on, and he thought of how he'd tiptoed around his intentions with her, too. He had hurt them both, albeit unintentionally, and in not knowing how to repair their fragile relationships he prepared himself for the possibility that neither would even desire to rebuild with him.

“My feelings for you haven't changed,” he admitted, “but in trying to make peace with losing you, my heart has been trying to make room for... for someone else.”

And so it was his turn to choose, and he knew they would not wait forever, but there was there really so much shame in making space for them both if everyone was willing? “If you wanted to love us both, you could've told me. If that was what you'd wanted, I... I'd have given you anything, Reiko, I-” Quicksilver smoothed his ears back, “I want you to be happy. If you found that with us both, then... then maybe we could've found a way to make that work.”


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“Quicksilver... I am not perfect, I did not know what to do. I was confused, I thought I had hurt you and believed you did not want to see me.” He was so reclusive after all. So quiet until now. Why wasn't he this chatty before? Why couldn't he have opened up when she had urged him to speak to the woman earlier?

Then the second bomb fell. Now he would tell her there was someone else, after all this. Making room for someone else, to push her aside now after she had spent the time figuring out what was best - who to chose, and now Quicksilver had placed himself quickly with someone else. Then did he truly love her as he said? If he could not wait them to speak again, for time to settle, for the pain to dull so they may speak on more neutral terms.

He would simply move on to another that quickly.

“If you can move on to another that quickly, then you have never truly loved me.” To her, the conclusion was clear. After she had exposed herself, it had given her nothing but grief. “I am not that selfish to want you both, I want you both to find happiness and so —” She would do what he could not grant her earlier with Tobias. “I wish you and her happiness together.” Even as the tears rolled freely and her throat felt tight, painfully so, she once again let the corners of her lips lift.

Even if she had to force it, she would be happy for him and his new soon to be wife. “For the sake of your relationship, your feelings for me must change.” It hurt, it tore her up from the inside and the words nearly babbled from her lips as they trembled - yet she tried. Even if he had been tormented for months, she was given that hope that maybe he just within reach if she had extended her paws - but when she did, he turned away. Into the arms of another.

The snow caked along her sides in a thick blanket; the Empress felt cold, as though every ounce of warmth was stripped clean from her bones and she was left exposed to the elements. She'd let him go if that was what was best.

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Among the sadness that'd left him feeling hollow for so long, anger threatened to roar. He was exhausted to be going in these vicious circles, over and over and over again, round and round until his head spun and his chest ached. Why did she think him to be some sort of mind reader? How could she stand there and question the truth of his love, when she'd given him nothing of herself until now?

After he'd been kicked to the gutter, his heart shattered. It hadn't been his plan to turn attention on another, and had only newly recognised the flutter in his chest when Izumi - enough to remind them that there was some small sliver of hope for a future that'd seemed so dark.

A hope that was ripped away as soon as he thought to reach for it.

“Love is the only thing that time cannot touch,” the silverwhite managed when the dove suggested he learn to feel differently, knowing that it was something he would carry with him always.

He was tired, cold, and frustrated. Quicksilver simply didn't have the desire or even the energy to argue with her, and she'd made it clear multiple times that his presence was unwanted. So with one last, lingering look he turned his face away toward the cold and pressed on through the storm, reluctance in his stiff stride.


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With his final words, she still couldn’t grasp what in the world he wanted from her. She had told him her feelings, and he fled to another soon after. What did he think she would say when told that?

She would not watch him leave, instead she would turn to return home. To her den, and once again try to put these events past her. Despite wanting to reach out, to console and comfort him, to promise her own feelings were as pure as he wanted them to be - it was best if they parted ways.

She would no longer stand between him and happiness, if he has found it within someone else she would let him be.

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