A Somber Song

[Xavier]

To any passing soul within the Tunnels, the somber tune floating through the cracks of Xavier's door would make them stop and listen. As the depressed form within the room gently strummed the strings of his guitar, he thought back to all of the memories that he had of Sealla and himself, happy together. She had always made him smile, always made him feel like life was worth living. He fondly remembered the moment he had met Sealla, what seemed so long ago in Hogsmeade in that tiny alley. He remembered the rose, and his youthful disguise. He remembered meeting Kage as well, and he smiled slightly as he also remembered turning Kage's feathered companion into Kentucky Fried Chicken. Xavier's mind wandered further towards the present, where he had finally disposed of his false form in front of Sealla, revealing his true self, and explaning his mysterious past to her. He remembered being bitten by Sealla, and his first transformation. He remembered the happy moments in their den, and he remembered their love that they held for each other. Of course, that was all gone now, shattered mercilessly by the black-hearted Chailyn and the rest of the Forest Clan. Life was so cruel, thought the Lycan, so why did it all have to happen to him?

Xavier's son, Sean, slept gently beside him, dreaming sweet dreams of innocent things that only children do. Dressed contrarily to his norm, Xavier wore a set of black clothing, consisting of a loose, flowing tunic, loose pants with a matching leather belt, and a long, silk cape, complete with a pair of black leather boots and fingerless gloves. He never wore this clothing in public, fearing that it would bring back depressing memories to anyone who saw him. Xavier let his fingers glide over the frets and strings of the guitar, gently plucking away with his fingers, creating a softer, smoother sound than what a pick gave him. Although his head was bowed, any viewer would plainly see his tear-stained cheeks and slumped posture. His eyes closed, all Xavier heard, and let himself hear, was his music.

[† Cealla †]

It had been a few long days since the death of Amelia, and it had become quite obvious to everyone that the young lycan was hardly taking it well. Though who can ever really accept the death of their mother? She would never be there to see Cealla grow up, to see her make her first real kill, to see her fall in love and become married, to raise pups of her own.

And she doubted that her father would be there either- based off of his reaction at the sight of her mother's lifeless body, she didn't think he could bear the grief for much longer. Perhaps he would die as well, leaving Cealla and Alissa alone.

But they weren't really alone, were they? Their grandmother still lived, though she obviously had no desire to see them, or comfort them. Sealla. Her namesake, but someone she would never really be close to. Though the lycan woman probably did have the ability to comfort Cealla and Alissa, she had merely screamed at them.

Yawning, the pup meandered through the tunnels with no particular purpose or direction. There was nothing that she had to do, and nothing that she particuarly wanted to do. Just sleep- though even her dreams were more like nightmares.

As she passed Xavier's door, she heard the mournful guitar melody coming from within. Why was he so sad? Was he sad over her mother's death too? Or was it for another reason?

Hoping that she wasn't bothering him, she leaned her entire weight on the door and it gradually opened. Once inside, she could hardly even see the vauge form of a slumped over and rather depressed looking Xavier, as well as a sleeping Sean. For a few moments, she didn't say anything and just listened to him play.

'Hi...] She sent, not even sure if he was aware that she had stepped into the room, as well as unsure if he even wanted company. Well, it was time to find out...

[Xavier]

Xavier's fingers ceased their mournful melody and he raised his head to see Cealla standing in his doorway.

Hello, little one, Xavier said quietly. Have you come to mourn as well?

Xavier had heard rumors that more Lycans had died recently, but he hadn't been sure. The look on Cealla's face changed his mind, however.

Xavier lifted his hand from the strings of his guitar and patted the space beside him.

"Come up here, Cealla. Sit with your grandfather."

OOC: X.x...wow...I almost forgot Xavier was a granddad.

[† Cealla †]

She pondered his words, still wondering who he was mourning. Did he really know her mother that well to be so sad over her death? His face seemed to tell quite a different story, though she couldn't quite fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. She never really knew much about his life, except for the fact that Sean's mother had died in childbirth.

"My mother died." She said quietly, taking a few steps closer to him and trying to be quiet so as not to wake Sean. "But who are you sad about?"

The word grandfather shocked her. She had always considered Xavier an uncle, or perhaps some kind of distant relation... or maybe even a second cousin. But he was her grandfather? Then... how could he not know about her mother's death? Didn't he care?

For a moment she hesitated, not sure if she should get closer to him before he answered all the questions that were flying through her mind. Finally deciding, she jumped up onto the bed and settled about six inches away from him. Her eyes briefly darted to the sleeping Sean, again hoping that she hadn't woke him.

'How are you my grandfather?' She questioned, feeling rather curious. 'Why didn't you ever say anything to me before?'

[Xavier]

Xavier sniffled slightly and put down the guitar beside him.

"I never said anything to you because I didn't want to lose anyone else. I was heartbroken when Sealla left. She was everything to me. Now those traitors in the Forest took her, changed her, completely remade her into a monster. I still have trouble living with that. Your life is so precious, Cealla. I hope you realize that."

Xavier reached out slowly and patted Cealla's head gently.

"I know you probably don't understand what I'm saying, but with time...you might. Now that your mother is gone, and your grandmother is off, far away from us, it looks like it's up to me and your father to take care of you and your sister. Strangely enough, Sean over there isn't your cousin...he's your uncle. He may be just as small, but he needs just as much care, too."

Xavier slowly got up and walked over to Sean's bed, whereupon he leant down and planted a gentle kiss on his son's head. The emerald-haired Lycan walked over to his desk and picked up a steaming pot and a porcelain mug, pouring in hot water and adding a bag of tea leaves. He slowly drank the liquid and looked at his granddaughter.

"Tea?" he asked, attempting to remove his mind from such matters as those at hand.

[† Cealla †]

At first she was shocked. Sean was her uncle? But they had nursed side by side! Such relations were so confusing, but she was perhaps too young to make sense of such things. She'd never really known Sean very well, though she never knew why. Probably because he was always with Xavier, and she rarely saw him either. Should she even be thinking of Xavier as Xavier, or as just grandfather?

"Why did Sealla leave?" She said, not hesitating to call her grandmother by her first name- even though her mother had always said it was impolite. She didn't know Sealla well enough to call her a grandmother.

The pup had nothing but questions, but no responses to Xavier's answers. Yes, she'd been told before that life was a sad thing to waste. And she knew she would never take such a drastic step like her mother had- what of the people she would leave behind? If Amelia could be looking down on them from heaven, perhaps she would see how many lives she had interrupted, how many people she had hurt.

When Xavier offered her the tea, she realized that she couldn't drink it properly while in wolven form. Sighing slightly, she grimaced again and then quickly changed into her human form. By the time Xavier turned around with the teapot, she looked like a normal eight-year old girl dressed in an oversized t-shirt and baggy jeans. Her hair was ruffled and knotted, much like how her pelt looked.

The change was one that wasn't very pleasant for her, probably because she was still young. It was easiest to do it on the full moon, but the rest of the time she was just content to stay as a wolf.

"Yes, please." She said politely, nodding her head as well. She was suprised that Sean was still asleep- he must be a pretty heavy sleeper.

[Xavier]

Xavier poured out two cups of the steaming liquid and carefully handed one to the changed Lycan.

"Why? Because she was forced to. A Forest Lycan invaded our home and took her from her deathbed. Then they implanted the spirit of one of their own dead within her. Then she became a ruthless, bloodthirsty killer. I'll never forgive them for that."

Xavier blew on his tea gently and took a sip, letting the hot drink warm his insides and quiet the turmoil and tension within. Xavier set down the drink and sat in a wooden chair across from the bed, then folded his hands and let his chin rest on them.

"Your grandmother was a wonderful Lycan. Brave and honorable, she protected all of us, even those who didn't need it as much. I met her many moons ago in the nearby village. I was much different then. I was human. Your grandmother changed me one night and I never looked back. I embraced my new life with open arms, knowing that Sealla would be there with me to help me face it. Then she bore Sean and my unborn daughter. Childbirth killed her, and killed a part of me, too."

Xavier picked up his tea and gently sipped it again.

"I'm sorry you're hearing all of this for the first time. I would have thought that someone would have told you earlier."

[† Cealla †]

Sealla, a dangerous killer? Cealla wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion, fairly certain that the woman she met by the lake wasn't a killer. She didn't seem like the type. Plus, if she had wanted, she could have killed the two pups. And Kage, probably. But instead she just sobbed over Amelia's body... can such bloodthirsty killers feel such pain like that? Sealla cried like every bone in her body would break, not like she was simply putting on an act.

"I don't think she seemed like a killer." She said softly, taking a sip of her tea. "But... I don't know. I don't see how she could have just left like that. And if she isn't anything like the old Sealla, then isn't the real Sealla dead?"

She tried to think about it, but found it too hard. Why had her mother named her after Sealla, anyway? She obviously had been fighting with her at the time she died, or else she... she might have been able to talk things out rather than simply giving up. Her mother gave up; gave up on life. Nothing more to it.

"I'm sorry." She said, lowering her eyes and glancing into her still steaming tea. It must have been a hard thing for Xavier to deal with- obviously Sean was his only blood relation left besides herself and Alissa. But the same was true for her. They were all family- somehow they'd get through it together.

[Xavier]

Xavier sighed and shook his head.

"It's all very complicated, little one. Once, Sealla was the life of this clan. She was, however, a bit violent at times. That's how I became a Lycan myself. She bit me one day when I was with your father, Kage. He was turned soon after. She may not have seemed a killer at the time, but she weeped over Amelia and Faith because she was extremely close to them, and the death of anyone close to you, no matter how much you've changed, is going to hurt at least a little."

In regards to the concluding part of Cealla's question, Xavier had chuckled a bit at the thought.

"To answer your other question: Yes, I truly believe that Sealla is dead. Her spirit has passed on, and her body is under the control of a spirit from the Forest clan."

Xavier spat at the dirt floor at the mention of that fact. Parallel to Cealla's thoughts, Xavier had remembered how hard Sealla had fought to stay alive while giving birth. It had been a terrible shame that she had died afterwards.

The male Lycan got up and walked over to the bed and sat down next to Cealla, putting an arm around her shoulder gently as he sipped his tea again.

"But now, my granddaughter, you can live on in her legacy. I know that long after I am dead and gone, you will still be here, protecting those who need it most. I trust, however, that you won't kill TOO many unwise students who choose to wander into our home?" he said the last part with a small smirk.

[† Cealla †]

A bit violent at times? But yet... Xavier had still loved her. That was something she couldn't comprehend, how you could love someone and yet be able to watch them change so much that you no longer recognized them. Her mother hadn't even changed very much before she'd died. Everything had just come so suddenly that one moment she was there... and the next, she was lying cold and pale by the shores of the lake, blood and silver intermixing with the cold, cold earth. Death. Now that was something she could grasp.

The idea of Xavier being dead and gone was something she didn't like to think about. Hopefully he would never leave her or the clan; because then who would there be to step up and rule? Would she and Alissa be old enough to manage such things by themselves? The amount of time that would take was staggering to her, but perhaps not such a terribly long time.

"Well... you won't ever leave." She said, pausing to lean up against him. "Will you? Who will take care of everything here? I don't think I'm ready to. I don't know if I'll ever be ready to, or if Alissa will... and you know as well as I do that Rouge will eventually go her own way again.."

The thought of Rouge and the rest of the lycans made her stop to think. How many of them really ever stayed here for as long as she had? She'd been born in these Tunnels- now that she came to think of it, she was quite certain that she would die here as well. At a young age, she already didn't have much of a desire to see the rest of the world.

"I won't." She replied, almost giggling. It had been a while since any student had come to the tunnels. "I don't even know if I'd ever bite anyone. I think it would be hard to leave a life behind like that, and to start a new one in the Tunnels."

[Xavier]

Xavier smiled and stopped plucking on the strings for a moment to lean down and kiss Cealla on the top of her head.

"No, my dear child. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. I'll be here for you as you grow up. We Lycans don't die off as easily as humans do, remember?" he said with a slight chuckle. "But, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't leave. You're young. You have your whole life ahead of you. Someday in the future, when I have grown old and senile, you may leave these Tunnels and venture out into the world to see and explore everything you can. I'll say something along the lines of 'When I was your age, we never went any farther than the Forest! It was dangerous for us, and it still is for you, you young whippersnappers!', or something along those lines anyway."

And yet, he had already considered leaving more than once. First, when Sealla had died. Then, when he had realized that Sealla was truly gone after his encounter with her in the Forest. Finally tonight, as he had sat there playing somberly. He had thought of taking Sean away from this violent place to somewhere calm and safe, where he could grow up without fear of death by the hands of those who hated their kind.

At Cealla's response to his question, Xavier chuckled quietly and hugged his granddaughter tightly.

"Good. I'm glad someone in here has some sensibility left in them. Biting humans only makes us hated by those that miss them afterwards. Although, I do admit that being bitten by your grandmother was probably the best thing that ever happened to me."

OOC: Gah...crappy...

[Sean]

A light kiss pressed on the top of the grey-furred crown of his. Sean snorted slightly as his body swept itself back onto the floor of reality, away from the dreaming skys. His jaw opened revealing miniature canines in a large yawn, with a breath out followed a little whine. He had preferred to stay asleep in his dream land.

The voices, however, said they wanted him awake. His eye lids opened as he glanced up through his brow to see Cealla and his pappa. So many things had happened recently, and they were obviously discussing it. The black-haired female Lycan pup had always seemed so much older than her little sister, though they were only minutes apart.

"Does it really matter? We're a lot stronger than them," muttered the short-haired pup, with his head now raised to see where they were. His pappa was embracing Cealla. Clambering to his paws, he straightened his front legs and lifted his rear in a stretch to beat all stretches, a chain of cracking vertebrate sounded.

[† Cealla †]

She genuinely seemed to perk up a bit, changing the mood of almost moments before. So, someday she would be allowed to leave the Tunnels and the surrounding Lake area. Someday she'd be able to travel as far as she wanted and come home when she wanted- the ultimate freedom. Of course she would always return home, because she expected that when she was older she would have responsibilities. And maybe even a family of her own.

"Oh grandpa..." She replied, tackling him and playfully batting her paws on his nose. "You know I'll never go too far from home. And if I ever do, I'll always come back here. 'Cause here will always be my favorite place."

As soon as she saw that Sean had awoken, she bounded over to him and stared at him with her silly, puppy eyes. He looked so funny after just waking up- perhaps it was the way his back arched or the way he yawned- but something just always seemed to make her laugh.

"Hi Sean." She said, her voice shifting between being calm and being playful. He was almost like a brother to her, just as much as Alissa was her sister. Plus... they had both lost their mothers. So they were actually more alike then she had ever realized before.

[Sean]

A twinkle in Sean's eye beamed straight at Cealla. The two pups were growing closer together as friends and family. It was only a shame that Alissa wasn't around that much. No one had any idea as to what happened. She hadn't been sighted by anyone ever since the Vampires' attack.

A lop-sided, goofy grin welcomed Cealla from the pup's muzzle, and he leapt up a little to playfully grab her left ear in his jaws, tugging her down.