I awoke lazily at the coo of a nearby dove. I looked around and yawned. It was then I realized Raion was no longer at my side. I frantically scanned the area and felt my heart freeze in place.

"... AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Where the heck was I?!

As I looked around me, the only thing in sight was water. No trees, no grass, no land at all.

As I began to panic, my heartbeat picking up, pattering faster and faster, I heard a cry out, far from me, but close considering there wasn't land around--- well not that I could see. I whirled around as a voice cried out my name and felt a gasp escape my lungs. "Raion?!?" There, just at the horizon, was a long delta of land--- and running across it was none other than Raion himself. "Auryn!!!" He called out to me again. "Raion! Help! Please!"

"I'm coming, Auryn! Hold on!" With that declaration, he ran farther, desperately trying to keep up with the strange wooden draft that continued to carry me down stream. He ran farther, and the stream continued to pick up, Raion falling behind. "Raion!" I called again for him, desperate. "AURYN!" At his shout I turned, just as I fell over the steepest waterfall in the West.

-----****-----

"Auryn? Auryn, please wake up..." I heard a desperate voice reaching out to me. Raion...? I tried to open my eyes but they wouldn't budge. So I just sat and listened. "Oh, Auryn... Please... This wasn't supposed to happen... Wake up..."

What? Supposed to happen... Was this planned to happen?

I felt a muzzle press against my neck in despair. "Please... I'm already in trouble... Don't make it worse... Get up... You have to... Please..." Just then, another voice came into the conversation. "Raion." I didn't recognize the voice at first, but the depth of it supposed it was alpha. Was it Lon? I guessed it was when it said, "Son. Let her go. She's gone."

I tried desperately to show some sign that I was alive, but I couldn't move a muscle. Even breathing wasn't easy. Raion... I thought; thinking was all I could do; Raion... I'm here... I'm so sorry...

I took in a deep breath, hoping it would show them some sign of life, but when I listened I didn't hear a reaction. Instead I heard a plea that broke my heart in two. "Please," Raion pleaded. Pleaded for me. "Please don't let her die. PLEASE, father... You know I can't let this happen... Not when this is my fault."

His fault? Did Raion...?

"Raion, you know there ain't anything I can do. And it's not your fault... You were just trying to help her."

Help me...? Oh no... Raion, it's not your fault... Please...

I tried desperately to find my voice, but nothing came. Again, I felt a face on my neck, nestling in my thick, and red fur. His voice came again, and as it did, I felt tears seep in and dampen my fur. "Auryn... I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry..."

Not at all expecting my voice to return, I absently murmured, "Raion... I'm the one who's sorry." I felt my eyes shoot open at the sound of my own voice and turned to meet surprised glances with Raion. "... Auryn!?" I almost instantly felt his fur mix with mine as he pushed against me--- a wolffish hug. "Auryn... I thought I lost you..!" Managing to move, I hugged him back, and I'd never been so thankful. "I'm so sorry, Auryn, it's all my fault..." I pulled back to look at him. "No... No it's not you're fault... Please don't blame yourself. I'm fine."

His face stayed in my fur when he spoke, "No, but it IS my fault, I..."

"Raion...?"

"...."

I looked at him seriously.

"Did you put me there...?"

He paused for a moment, then shook his head.

"W-well, no, but..."

"Then it wasn't your fault."

"... But... You were set adrift... Because someone didn't like that an omega like you was with an alpha... So it is my fault."

I thought about what he said, chewing his each and every word.

I sighed. "Maybe if the world was different. But Raion, please... Don't blame yourself for this. I'm fine now, so it doesn't matter."

"...."

"Please."

He sighed. "Fine. For you."

"Thank you Raion."

"... Welcome.."