Jun 09 2015, 10:44 PM
Leon's brain was still frozen, and he found himself struggling even more as Makyna placed her paws with his. He blinked and stared down at their paws, together - they didn't look the same at all, but somehow it just felt... right. He was content to think that maybe it didn't matter much that they weren't the same. Leon had been so afraid all this time that she wouldn't like him as much as Cancer because her and Cancer were both felines; they had the same kind of body shape and probably the same instincts, they seemed to have so much more in common than he and Makyna. And yet... here and now, all those things didn't even matter. Their similarities made no difference in how they mingled in the grand scheme of things. Physical forms did nothing to stop them from sharing thoughts, feelings, experiences...
Time had slowed. For Makyna, mostly; for Leon, his thoughts were still frozen, unable to produce anything worth speaking or doing. But when he found himself staring back into his friend's eyes, he didn't care. It didn't matter - he didn't have to say anything. He was lost in the deep blue of her gaze, and something about it reminded him of... home. Not Pisces. Not even his birth tunnel. It was the sensation. It was his very first memory, before the obsidian chrysalis that contained him had cracked open. It was the sound of underwater, a quiet lull in his ears that filled his head and soothed him. She gave him the sensation of home; it didn't have to be a physical place. It was with her. It was always with her.
The realization had brought with it acceptance and peace. He came to terms with this existence now. He knew what he wanted, and he would crave nothing more; even if he couldn't have it, he would pine, because nothing else could amount to this. And even if this was the closest that he would ever come to achieving that, then Leon would die happy.
He closed his eyes just before she had started to sing. He allowed his one sense to revel in the sound of her voice; a harmony interwoven in the still, misty air, in the oneness that became them, in the beating of their hearts. Mentally, he followed along, but his tongue still did not permit him to speak for fear that he would damage this fragile point in existence. Somehow, he felt he knew the melody, and he wanted to sing with her. But the song came and passed. As her voice faded back to the silence, he opened his eyes and smiled. Finally, he knew what to say. His lips parted, and he didn't care what would come of it, because he was so confident in whatever it was that existed between them that even if he messed it up, she would forgive him. He was so sure of it, so enraptured in this, in her, that even if it all went wrong, Leon would still emerge metamorphosed into what was destined of him. "Makyna, I-"
But it could not be.
A sudden cry rang through the crags. His voice cut off, faltering; without thinking, he had withdrawn his paws from her, snapping his head to the direction of the sound. He had been so lost in her, he hadn't noticed the young leopard cub sneaking nearby until she attempted an escape. Leon looked back at Makyna, and in his eyes now were only worry. He fumbled to his paws and loped towards the source of the noise, where he would soon find a familiar form crumpled into a heap of spotted fur. "Mia?" The bear called, brow knitted in concern. He ran towards her, occasionally casting glances over his shoulder to check and see if Makyna had followed. She's hurt. "Amaria, are you okay? What happened?" Leon skidded to a halt, pacing around her as he looked over the cub while swooping his muzzle down to her head, sniffing in search of blood scent. She didn't seem to be bleeding, but the sound she made suggested she was very much in pain.
Leon huffed and turned his eyes back to Makyna. His heart had twisted. He'd wanted so bad to say something, anything... He had been so certain. Was he truly destined for what he'd thought? Or was this a sign that he was wrong?