He’d been running for so long now. He couldn’t remember how long. Blood had dried on his jacket sleeves and hands long go, and he could still feel the knife as if it were in his hands, the feeling burning white hot in his mind. He could still see his brother in his vision as he stumbled through the streets, trying desperately to get away. He didn’t know where to, he didn’t know how, he just had to run. Get away from there. He still had no idea what had come over him in that moment, what had brought him to attack his brother like that. He still had no idea where he was, what he was doing. It was a blur. The sun was starting to come up now, but he couldn’t appreciate its beauty. It’s funny, he thought, that something so beautiful could show itself to him after what he’d done. The sun had fully risen by the time he finally stopped running, sitting down on a random bench and ripping off his jacket, rolling it into a ball to hide the sleeves and scratching off the dried blood from his hands best he could. He sniffled softly, scrubbing at his cheeks to keep the tears from falling. In his distress he didn’t notice an older Nankalah walk up and sit next to him. The older of the two couldn’t be much older than himself, only a few years at best. “Hey kid, you okay?” They asked, startling the smaller wolf out of his thoughts. He didn’t respond, just staring at them with wide, horrified eyes, scared that they knew, that they were gonna bring him in, or hurt him or something. But they didn’t…They just smiled at him. “What’s your name, bud? You lost? We may not be much but we can help.” They offered, motioning to a few other Nankalah behind them, all about the same age. “….t-tal..” He managed to squeak. “talutah..” “Want us to call you Tal?” The older wolf offered, still with that gentle smile. Talutah nodded hesitantly. He didn’t want to hear the name Talutah again, it made his heart ache and all it did was remind him of how his brother would say his name in the cutest way… “A’ight Tal, my name’s Aloe, and that’s Rock, Bird, and that’s Bottle.” “mY NAME IS NOT BOTTLE-“ The smallest of them all piped up, huffing. “It’s Bottalie.” “We call her Bottle.” Aloe chuckled, smiling as Bird ruffled Bottle’s hair up. “Now, Tal.. You lost kid? Need help getting home?” Aloe offered, still with that gentle smile as they stood up. Talutah hesitated, looking down. Get home..? How could he go home now? Not with what he’d done, how would Spirit and Ink react? How would Zodiac react? Oh sweet Cirrus Zodiac- If he was lucky he’d lived, Spirit and Ink probably found him and took him to the hospital- right? He didn’t notice that the group was giving him concerned looks until Bottle tapped his shoulder. “I know that look.” Bottle murmured. “You did something and you can’t go back now, can you?” He faltered, then nodded silently, staring wide eyed at the ground. He missed the look the group gave each other. Aloe knelt in front of him. “Hey, Tal… You don’t have to go back, okay? We’ll take care of you, how’s that. We’ve all done some bad stuff before, anything from stealing something to trying to take a life. We’re already a group of misfits but we’re working together to recover. You don’t have to tell us what you did until you’re ready, but if you wanna stay with us, just know you’ll have a home, and we’re there to help you however we can, okay?” They offered, that gentle smile back on their face. Talutah hesitated, then nodded slowly. “okay..” He squeaked, ears flat against his head. “okay…” He wanted to feel safe, and something deep down told him he could trust these people. It took him a moment to gather his strength, he’d been running all night after all, but he walked with the group as they headed down a few streets, making some turns he didn’t recognize, before ending up at a large farmhouse just outside of town. There were all sorts of other Nankalah around, a few humans too but they seemed kind, nothing like the mean humans Talutah had previously encountered.
He didn’t get much chance to look over everything, getting glimpses of the house he’d be living at for the next 10 years of his life as he walked in the middle of the group to the kitchen. There was an amazing smell coming from it, like apple pies. Aloe walked up to an older woman at the counter chopping up apples. “Mornin’ Ol’ Mama!” Aloe smiled. “We got a guest!” Ol’ Mama paused her chopping to look at Talutah. She was tall and strongly built, peppered hair pulled into a bun on her head. She wore a simple flannel and jeans and an apron overtop that had “Kiss the Chef of Apple Pies” embroidered on it. She had a large scar on her face, running through one of her eyes, but a kind smile that countered that image as she walked over and knelt in front of Talutah. “Hello kiddo, welcome to the Farmhouse.” She smiled politely, holding out a hand. “What’s your name, honey?” “um… Talutah, ma’am.. but.. I like Tal..” He replied softly, hesitantly shaking her hand though quickly hiding it in his ball of a jacket again afterwards. He hadn’t gotten all the blood off. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Tal. I’m Ol’ Mama, and honey this is a safehouse. Whatever happened, you’re safe here. And if anyone tries to getcha I’ll fight ‘em.” She smiled brightly, teasingly flexing. Talutah smiled slightly. “Here, Rock can you show him to the empty room? Bout time we got someone in there again after Lumie moved out.” Ol’ Mama stood up with a smile, and the gray-furred wolf nodded, patting Talutah’s shoulder to let him know who to follow. The rest of the group stayed behind to help with chores. Rock led Talutah up two flights of stairs before coming to a simply decorated room with a beautiful view out of the back window. There were two bunk beds and four desks, along with four closets, so room for four people, but none of that stuff seemed occupied. “You can take any bed you want, this room has been empty since my big sister Lumie left for college. I live down the hall with my little brother and Bottle, and someone you haven’t met named Pond. You’ll probably end up getting some roommates as time goes on too, so you’re pretty lucky to get first pick to all this.” Rock smiled, wagging his tail. Talutah headed inside, looking around slowly with wide eyes. “i… I can live here..?” He questioned, looking back at Rock. “I don’t—I don’t have any money-“ “Don’t worry about it! Ol’ Mama takes care of that, you’ll just have to help with some chores. The only rules to staying here are to help with chores and do your best to get good grades if you’re able to go to school. And even if you can’t do that Ol’ Mama can do that homeschooling thing and teach ya.” Rock explained with a laugh. Talutah went back to looking around in awe. “th.. Thank you.” He murmured softly, sitting on one of the lower bunks. He’d probably move to a top bunk later, he figured, easier to hide… “Don’t thank me, thank Ol’ Mama. She does this for any kid who needs help with recovery.” Rock walked over and plopped down on the bed next to Talutah. “It’s gonna be okay, though, just you wait and see. Ol’ Mama is the best at this stuff, and you’ll have all of us to help you!” Talutah smiled for the first time that day. A place to get better. Maybe he could get better, and go home someday, make things right. Just maybe. ------ Blessed AU!!! Talutah and Zodiac belong to @Wolfie05 Blessed AU created by me in the time span of 30 seconds, then another 2-3 hrs to write what I have written so far (much more than just this XD) Art by me Wanted to share this good ending AU I made for Talutah and Zodiac !! Starting w/ how guilty Talutah feels he's a mess sobs
