No More Bedtime Stories

Featuring Ruben, mentioning Aytan and various other Haven characters.
Winter, Year 767 of the New Age
Bróccán's Gate, Haven, Glenmore

The instant the all-clear was given, Ruben bounded back down the steps hewn from the gate, rushing to his father's side. His wound was still raw, and he nearly fell on the icy ground several times as the vision in his one good eye wavered and blurred. As he came close to the body, he skidded to a halt, suddenly scared to go any closer. Going closer meant confirming his father was dead, and Ruben would have given anything to change that undeniable fact. The young stag blinked rapidly, the lump of tears crawling its way up his throat.

Even with his already impaired vision blurred by tears, Ru could tell that Aytan was dead. He didn't need to go any closer to know that. The body was already stiffening in the cold, legs held up and away from the ground in the unnatural way that only came with death. His brown eyes were glassed over, forever staring upwards into the white winter sky. Instinctively Ru drew closer, closing his father's eyes with the lightest of touches. He sighed shakily, casting his gaze around to look at anything but his father's corpse.

A mess of wood - no, antler - by the stag's head caught his eye. The Captain's antlers had been snapped from his skull, leaving a bloody indent between his eyes. Theon had taken one of the branches; the other lay shattered at Ruben's feet. Ru nosed the largest segment gently, as though it might somehow bring back his father, then picked it up, determined to keep something of his father for himself. If Theon had half the antler, then Ru would have the other.

Ru's gaze travelled down his father's body, lingering behind his front leg. The wound that had felled the great stag was huge, a gaping maw of congealed blood and visible bone. Nothing living could have survived such a wound. Blood still dripped gruesomely from it, adding to the already sizeable pool the stag was laying in.

He winced, using the gore as an excuse to glance back up to the top of the gate, where he could see Elsy and Danzig watching him. Elsy gestured to where Dru and Fenella lay; stags were already working to haul their bodies back inside Haven, and doubtless would attempt the same with Aytan's. But for now, Ru had a few precious moments left with his father, and bent his head to press his muzzle against Aytan's cheek. The young stag could remember spending summer evenings curled up next to his father, listening enraptured to the many magical tales that the stag had gathered throughout his life. It had been many seasons since Ru had needed a story to get to sleep, but in that moment he would have given anything - anything - to hear another.

*quietly spills emotions everywhere*

Art, characters (c) me and their respective owners.