A Sea of Sorrow

Ajax and Lara had not been home in a few days. Joss and Jyriah had also been stuck in the same situation, and with so many bodies in this space, it was getting cramped.

With little to do, they put their efforts into caring for Metas and Myranda, while Joss and Jyriah took responsibility for Syrana and Veltar.

Things weren't looking good these days. The gates to the mountain had been closed up recently, and no one had come in or out when they scouted the area. The medicinals that Myranda had prepared were mostly gone now, and not a single one of them had recovered as quickly as they should have.

Syrana had grown colder by the day, and no matter what Jyriah did, her condition didn't seem to get better. Whatever poison Silas had fed her did a lot of damage to her body. Even if he got her to swallow a little water he dabbed on her lips, she would eventually throw it up in a pink foamy mass that Jyriah would have to hold her on her side for.

He had been very quiet since coming back from the disastrous mission, and his hope only died further as the hours dragged along.

Today Syrana had grown as cold as a corpse, and her heartbeat was starting to become so faint that he had to press his fingers hard against her veins to get any kind of reading.

She wasn't going to live much longer, and he had to accept that. All he could manage to do for now was keep her comfortable, and stay at her side.

"Hey, Jyriah - how about you take a bath? You need a break, and honestly - you really could use a scrub..." Ajax approached him apprehensively.

Jyriah grunted out a reply and avoided looking at the green eyes that stared down at him with pity.

"Sweetie, I think he's right. Why don't we go together?" Joss said gently from his side and put his hand over Jyriah's.

The fiery wolf pulled his hand from Joss and curled up into a ball to shut them out.

Ajax and Joss shared concerned expressions and then looked at Lara as if she had an answer.

"Jyriah - you need a break" Lara insisted sweetly.

"Stop. All of you just stop. I wasn't there for Syrana when Silas was hurting her - and I wasn't here for Myranda when she was suffering great pain. The last thing I am going to do is leave them here alone again. I don't want Syrana dying without me. I have to at least be here for that. I failed at everything else," Jyriah started to sob into his knees and shuddered with grief.

Joss' eyes started to fill with tears as he listened to the deep sounds of mourning coming from his mate's lungs. "Jerrie...you did everything you could for them. You brought Syrana and Metas here. You can't feel responsible for Silas' actions. He's been using her from the start, and you tried to warn her. He tricked her - he tricked all of us."

The icy wolf's soft words only made Jyriah cry harder.

"I don't know where Myranda found that chamomile, or I'd go get more. It was the only thing that Syrana could keep down," Lara muttered to herself.

"Veltar is at least getting better. It's slow, but his warmth and color have returned. We have to look at some kind of win here," Ajax tried to be positive, but that only fueled Jyriah's emotions.

"What good is that if Rana is gone? Who cares? He won't care he lives if she's dead. Why is my family so cursed!? I just...All I wanted was to see my sisters happy and safe. I just wanted to see a better tomorrow. Now I've lost almost everything. What did I do wrong? Why are my sisters paying such a horrible price? I'm so mad, but sad... but so angry...." Jyriah wailed into Joss as his mate pulled him towards his chest with more strength than he should have. As soon as his nose hit Joss' skin, his demeanor turned down from anger and into a tired grief.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I'm here. They're going to pull through. Just keep being here for them. Syrana will come back for her daughter. She loves her far too much to leave her behind," Joss encouraged his mate and gave the top of his head a tender kiss.

"He has a point, actually. Those who are poisoned typically do not last this long. With how bad her state had deteriorated, she should by all accounts be dead. I think she's fighting to stay alive, her spirit doesn't strike me as weak or small," Lara added to Joss' words of hope.

"I will go look for more chamomile right now. My nose is the best of all of us. I don't care what we have to do, we're not going to let your sister die, Jyriah - and trust me, Metas would never let Myranda die. He's been in love with her his entire life. All he's ever done, even as a young one, was dream about meeting his mate. I highly doubt he's going to give her up now," Ajax said reassuringly, and reached over to lace his fingers with Lara's in support.

"We love you, Jyriah - and we're here for you. We may have just met, but it feels like we've known you since we were young. You're one of us, and we always pull off miracles when we work as a team," Lara said warmly, and gave him a gentle look with her sapphire eyes.

While he appreciate their words, it didn't ebb the pain that was growing in his soul. He wanted to say thank you, he did - he wanted to hug everyone and pull himself out of the abyssal sea he was drowning in. He just couldn't. He was paralyzed with suffering and all he could manage to do was grip on to Joss who said nothing as he rubbed Jyriah's back.