The Odd Couple

It was well past the setting of the sun when Atl practically came barging into his and Escalus' suite in the castle. Tlaloc was surprised that his ranting and raving and pounding on the door didn't wake up the entire castle, much less bring guards to the scene. The panther blinked the sleep away from his twilight eyes as he watches his fuming friend pace the parlor, muttering on about something or other. Tlaloc wasn't sure if it was the sudden tousle out of sleep or what, but Atl was not making any sense.



 



The Lord of the Wood turns to look over his shoulder. Escalus stifling a yawn, leans against the doorway to their bedroom watching the wolf with an almost frigid glare for being rudely woken.



 



Tlaloc's smile broadens as he watches the sleep tousled faun stifle another yawn. Escalus turns his gaze from Atl to look at the panther. The prince smiles sleepily at his lover as his hand instinctively falls to rest on the growing bump, a sign from Toci, a gift, a promise, that life would return once more to the ravaged woods left in the wake of Itzpapalotl's destruction and deluded attempt at claiming Tlaloc for her own.



 



Their eyes met and the look that passed between faun and panther needed no translation: He's your friend, you deal with him, I'm going back to bed.



 



Tlaloc nods and turns his attention back to the black panther. The quiet click of the bedroom door closing, the only indication that Escalus had left Tlaloc to deal with calming down the irate wolf. The Lord of the Wood sighs as he prepares for the same old conversation to begin with the same accusation of "Do you know what that damnable lust fae did?"



 



"What did Mercutio do now?" Tlaloc asks as he takes a seat in the parlor, placing elbows on knees and chin in hand.



 



Atl pauses in his pacing. "What?" He growls out. "Are you even listening to me?"



 



Tlaloc stretches as he yawns. "What?" He parrots. "You're complaining of Mercutio, aren't you?"



 



"What?" Atl repeats, slightly confused as he is forced to pause in his diatribe. "No." He shakes his head running a hand through his Mohawk as he begins pacing once more. "Would you listen to me."



 



Tlaloc sighs. "Can this wait until the morning? Being a marriage counselor between you and Mercutio requires more than a couple hours of sleep."



 



"A what?" Atl pauses in his pacing to stare at his long time friend. He shakes his head in confusion. "Would you shut up and listen to me."



 



Tlaloc raises his hands in a placating manner as he leans back in his chair. "Okay, I'm listening." He stares for a moment at Atl. "Wait. Aren't you suppose to be in the Woods helping Chimalma prepare for the Spring Rites?"



 



The return of the Children of Toci to their home has been a slow and arduous process. In the first year only a small number of families returned, hearing Tlaloc's call. They arrived fearful and distrustful of the fae that were there to help. It took a lot of consoling and soothing on Tlaloc's part to ensure the Children of Toci that the Outsiders were there to help with the back breaking job of removing the vines and hunting down the chupacabra. Itzpapalotl may have been cast out of the woods, but she left her minions in her wake to continue the Unraveling.



 



Then, slowly the packs began to return. There weren't that many, yet. Atl estimated about ten of the lower ranking packs had returned and only half of one of the higher ranking packs. Like the the Children of Toci, the packs were leary of the Outsiders, moreso and they refused to work alongside any who were not kin of wolf. By Chimalma's last report, there had been half a dozen fights that had broken out between wolf and fae.



 



Tlaloc sighs. There was nothing he could do about the wolves. They were a sovereign people and they did not acknowledge Tlaloc as their lord, leader or ruler. They nearly stripped Atl of his Alpha status and head of the Reed Pack when he became Tlaloc's confidante, fearing that the Lord of the Wood would attempt to interfere in the affairs of the Great Pack. Atl had to prove his right as Alpha that day. The Gauntlet had nearly killed him, but at the end he stood in the blood of his enemies victorious (Author's Note: this totally makes me think of gladiators, which if I ruled the world I would totally bring back into practice *nodsnods*) and earning Atl the right to keep his Alpha status, leadership over the Reed Pack and the respect of the Elders in the Great Pack.



 



Despite the low numbers of wolves and the squabbling going on between wolves and fae, it was deemed between the pack leaders that normalcy would return and that for the first time in one hundred years the Spring Rites would be held where the young adult wolves would prove their metal and right to mate and claim, if lucky, the first mark of Alpha.



 



"I am." Atl replies. "Or I was."



 



"Then why are you here and not there?"



 



Atl sighs. He throws himself in a chair, long legs stretched out and head resting against hand. Accusingly he points his other hand at Tlaloc. "This is your fault."



 



Tlaloc stifles an amused smile as he looks over at his friend. Exhaustion pinches at the corner of his sulfur colored eyes while lips are pulled tightly into a frown, Atl's permanent look as of late.



 



The past several years have not been kind to the black wolf and he is beginning to show his age. In truth it has been in the last two years that Tlaloc has begun to notice the changes in Atl: not as quick to heal; his black markings, the sign of his status as an Alpha, are not as vibrant and black, almost as though mellowing, dulling; his acerbic nature becoming even more cantankerous and a feeling that most of the time Atl is only going through the motions, doing what he knows is expected of him.



 



There were times in the last hundred years where giving up and giving in seemed alluring. Tlaloc understood better than anyone how exhausting the fight for survival was, how tempting it was to just let go. If it was not for Escalus, he would have succumb to Itzpapalotl's tantalizing song and the woods and him would have ceased to be.



 



Absently, Tlaloc turns to look at the closed door. He smiles fondly before turning his attention back to the scowling wolf. "What's my fault?" He asks, though already knowing the answer.



 



Atl glares for a moment. "This. Me. Being bound to that ... that ... to Mercutio." Atl stands and begins pacing once more. "Don't get me wrong, when he isn't jumping all over me, groping me, grabbing me and invading my personal space I don't mind his company. In fact, I may even go as far as admitting that on rare occasions I have even enjoyed his company. For an Outsider, he isn't too terrible." He pauses, taking a breath as he begins pacing once more. "That being said, there have been things I was unprepared for when I agreed to bind myself to him."



 



Atl sits back down. His elbows resting on his knees as he leans forward. "You tricked me into saving his life."



 



Tlaloc sighs as he studies his oldest and most dearest friend. He bites the inside of his cheek as he contemplates on telling Atl the whole truth. A part of him wanted to. After all, Atl deserved to know the real reason why Tlaloc asked him to bind himself to the lust-fae. But the other part of him, knew Atl would not want to hear it, would refuse to acknowledge the truth.



 



One hundred years ago, Atl's lifemate, Anacaona was killed, murdered by Tlaloc himself during a fit of madness while under the spell of Itzpapalotl. Atl could do nothing, ordered to stand down and bear witness to Ana's death by his friends hands. That moment when Ana's heart was ripped from her chest and squeezed to a stop, it should have killed Atl as surely as having his own heart torn out. Their souls were inextricably bound, the fate of one was the fate of the other.



 



Why Atl continued to live once his lifemate was gone was a riddle that remained unsolved until a faun became lost in the woods and put a stop to the Unraveling. The answer; however, did not reveal itself until Atl nearly gave his life trying to defeat the Dark Lady, Itzpapalotl.



 



It was during his long healing process that Atl and Tlaloc had the longest and loudest row of their entire friendship. All the anger, pain, grief and even hatred that Atl had been keeping pushed down over the years finally spilled out. When the black wolf ripped the bone talisman from his neck and made the dramatic claim that he would no longer wear the leash of any master, something deep within him broke and the will to live was gone.



 



Perhaps it was selfishness on Tlaloc's part, an unwillingness to have to go through life without his oldest and dearest friend by his side, but the Lord of the Wood could not watch helplessly as his friend and confidant slowly died. And so, a plan was hatched and put into place and two lives were saved.