* * *
The Sky is Crying
[Before meeting Remus]
* * *
It had been a rather tiring day for Sage and the rest of the Elwood family. Camilla had decided to treat the family to a picnic, and while it had been rather uneventful for the brothers—Sage had been all smiles and laughter the entire time they had traveled and set things up.
The she-wolf couldn't get enough of the outdoors, the smell was too addictive. Even Luke had caught on that Sage would keep her windows open at all times of the day, even facing the summer heat to get the chance to hear the birds chirping or the bustling of the tree growing up beside the house.
After a wonderful run with Jackson and the rest of her brothers, she had decided to take her lunch out on the porch. Her current sketch in progress right beside her and sighed in utter relief that she had a moment to herself.
Luke knew that the she-wolf didn't like being dotted on every moment of every day, no, she needed her time alone. And that is why he told his mom to take it easy on the family ventures. That with a house full of wolves constantly, it could turn overwhelming—especially when Sage was so used to an isolated lifestyle.
The freshly made pot of tea and her drawing book was all she needed—Though a cooling scent had shifted through, and it had caused Sage to tilt her head in confusion. It wasn't her tea that had caused the air to cool, or the shift in winds. Nor did it help that the sky above had started to turn grey, but by no means did it mean that night was going to be upon them.
Not at four-thirty.
Sage huffed in irritation, her day ruined that there wasn't enough light to work on her sketch and instead went inside and took use of the kitchen bar. And almost instantly had Liam come in to get a bottle of water. "Hey! What're you up to?" He asked, and she offered a kind smile.
"Drawing wolf."
"Drawing me?" He cooed out, turning the corner and hooking his arm over her shoulder to pull her in. Things had been going well and with the help of Casey and the rest of them, they were giving her a better vocabulary. Which had turned for the better, considering she didn't just hold up her notebook like the last few times he's asked.
"Can I join? Bet I can draw a nice flower." It caught Sage's curiosity, the only person who ever offered to join her was Casey. "Flower book?" She questioned, capping her thin marker in order to get up.
"Nah, I can get it. Is it on your bookcase?" She nodded, repeating the word bookcase, docking another word to her arsenal. But in waiting for him, she made up the station beside her and pushed her markers to the middle, and smiled to herself.
This would be fun.
Liam returned in a hurry, holding up the book in his hand with a wide grin on her face. "Hmm, I think I'll try and draw this." He said, pointing to one of the offered designs, featuring heavily of a Sage and a Rose.
Which Sage laughed at.
"Draw me?"
"No! Drawing flower you. I don't think I'm that advance to be drawing people." He teased before turning his focus down to the blank paper beside him. And the comfortable silence swept through the room, only breaking when he asked to pass her a color—Even if he was doing that on purpose to try and get her to identify them in passing.
Granted, she was doing well—Very well, in fact.
"Maybe we can sit outside someday, that way you can look at the real thing and draw it." She nodded, but her idea had been ruined because it got dark outside. And she simply pointed out through the back door, catching his attention.
"Ah, yeah...It's supposed to rain a lot tonight. Better make sure the windows on the truck are closed, otherwise, mom is going to beat my—Mom!" Sage smiled over towards Camilla, with Casey trudging along behind her with a bag of things.
"Sagey! We have more tea!" He cheered, and she smiled in thanks to the pup and helped him with the bag. "There's a lot more in my car if you two want to lend us a hand," Camillia said, completely out of breath and exhausted from the day's errands.
Liam knew that look all too well and gripped Sage's hand and hurried along outside. "What wrong?" She questioned and the male chuckled.
"Mom's getting stressed. Best way to help is to do things like this, here...This is probably dinner for tonight anyway, and a whole bunch of snacks. We help her by carrying it inside." Sage understood, and took a great deal of bags in her hands with ease, and when Camilla stepped out to get another load, she smiled to see both of them getting the remaining set.
"Don't think you're getting an allowance just because you're helping me today." The mother chimed in, and Liam laughed. "The pack pays me now mom!" It was true, the male was getting a hefty check at the end of the week, and a bit more, considering the Beta felt like it was necessary, given that he and Luke went through a traumatic capture and lived to tell the tale.
With the bags inside, it turned into a sort of game to put things into their proper places. And it gave Sage the idea of what the pantry and rest of the kitchen had in stock, just in case she was hungry.
"What's for dinner, mom?"
"Whatever you feel like cooking, or maybe that big pack check of yours could order out?" With no concept of money, Sage hadn't understood the better half of the conversation and only caught the idea of dinner.
And dinner meant food.
With Camilla busy speaking with Liam, Casey had gone forward and gone out the back door. And Sage knew quite well that the young pup couldn't go out unsupervised, and thus she followed him out. Wrapping her arms around her waist tightly, not liking the shift in the clouds.
"This sucks, we can't watch the stars tonight." It had been cloudy in the past of course, but nothing like this. No, Sage thought the clouds looked almost angry if that's what one could call the dark masses were white ones used to be.
With the groceries put away, both Sage and Liam continued on with their activity—With Casey now joined in, and at the dinner table. While Camilla was bouncing around the kitchen in hopes of making something that could fill up eight hungry wolves.
As the time ticked further, Sage continued to keep track of the darkness lingering outside. Shivering at the fact that the heat from this morning was turning bitter without warning. "You cold?" Liam asked, and she nodded.
"Mom? You have a jacket down here?" Camillia peeked her head up and nodded, pointing off to the closet and Liam had returned with it—And it smelled highly of their mother's scent.
It had been that long ago when Sage had made pancakes with her brother in the kitchen, and it caught her attention well enough that Camilla was doing something similar.
So she capped her marker and watched her in interest. "Do you want to help, sweetheart? I could use it."
"Help?" It caught her off guard, of course, but with a quick explanation and a very patient she-wolf. Sage had gotten her first lesson in the kitchen, and she felt utterly pleased with herself by the time the rest of the household had returned.
Sage had gone forward to help Luke with the plates, but Camilia shook her head. "Who doesn't cook gets to set and clean, remember that." She said with a pointed look, and Luke smirked down at Sage.
"You cooked hun?"
"I help." He hummed, going to kiss her crown as a sign of greeting, but that didn't stop the record of how proud he had turned for all that has happened. He had heard that Liam spent a good chunk of the day with her as well.
Talk even!
"I bet it tastes great." He encouraged, and another smile blossomed on her. Even to the point that her eyes closed in gratitude.
The conversation was light throughout the meal, and Camila couldn't stop gushing that Sage had helped in her the kitchen—Leaving another comment to pass over her head that caused the rest of the males, besides Casey, to look down at their plates in shame.
Clearly, Camila was head of the household and managed its upkeep. And for the first time in ages, someone had offered to help. That someone being Sage, caused Leo to fumble that everyone had just come home.
If they had started cooking now, they would be eating near seven!
"I just want some help around the house once in a while—I have the perfect idea, you all are cooking tomorrow." She decided, and Leo had instantly dropped his fork.
"Cam—"
"Nope. Between the five of you, I'm sure you can manage something." There was no getting out of this, not when the female was eyeing for a challenge. Though her gaze was locked on her mate, the one who could only nod in agreement.
"So what are we ordering?" Liam chuckled, and Caleb had sucked in a breath.
"If I get one whiff of something bought and not cooked—"
"We'll manage just fine, Camilla...Right boys?" They all grumbled an agreement and the female had smiled off to Sage. The mother had wanted to do this for awhile now, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.
Throughout it all, Sage had been eyeing the movement that was appearing outside. It seemed like whatever it was, it was falling down and it continued to fall down—Not once—Not twice—Goddess she could keep up!
Since things were settled and the others were finishing the last bites of their meal, they hadn't caught Sage move from her seat to walk towards the window.
There had been a puddle building up to the side, where the grill's tarp was meant to be on the grill instead of on the ground. But the small droplets had caught Sage's attention once more, and when she pressed her hand onto the glass, she realized it was on the other side.
What was happening to the angry clouds?
She turned back to the table, seeing that the males all speaking and discussing their options for dinner. While Camila was cleaning up Casey and his messy face.
Leaving Sage to turn back and left to wonder.
"Yeah, we have plenty of steaks in the freezer—Camila, is it illegal to take a recipe from you?"
"I suppose...Sage? Hun, are you okay?" All eyes had turned to Sage who was now standing in the corner, and so she pointed outside. Hoping that they would explain what in the world was happening.
Caleb came up to see what caught her eye, and he instantly cursed before heading out into the rain. "Fuck! Who forgot to put on the tarp?!" He shouted, and Leo huffed, claiming that he had just bought it this summer.
But that had not answered Sage's question, nor offered any support to her confusion. Though she did stand in the doorway to see that the cool air did pick up, and the movement was water.
She pulled her hand forward and felt the sensation of dozens of droplets. It reminded her of the shower, but this was natural. This was built into the earth much like a lake would be—Or how the sun shone directly over the earth.
Inhaling the air had been a much easier prospect as she took a step outside and was instantly bombarded with the touch of the rain. She twirled around to see if she could see anything wrong with the clouds, but their color remained.
Dark and moving forward past the house.
And a thought appeared, as she was thinking that if the clouds were angry, then perhaps this meant that they were turning sad. And as she brought her hands back up to see the droplets stick to her hands and run down them, an instantly tear had blended into the mixture on her face.
Was the sky...Crying?
It wasn't that advanced of a thought, and as Sage had continued to walk forward down the porch's steps. Determined to figure out what was hurting them to make them feel this way.
"Sage? What are you doing?" Luke questioned, while he and Liam headed out to help Caleb cover and move the grill and the rest of the porch furniture underneath the coverings to keep them dry.
Curious as to where she was going, Luke caught up to her side and pulled the hood of her jacket up. "Probably not fun for a night run, maybe tomorrow morning if this clears up." He offered, but through the smell of the rain, he caught the slightest bit of salt.
And that could only mean one thing. Tears.
"Sage?" She sniffled, looking back out into the horizon with the intent to make things better. But Luke held her back, knowing that his mother would blow the final fuze of the night if they all tracked in mud.
Let alone forget to cover the porch furniture.
"Hun, are you—" She pointed up to the sky with a small whimper. Her emotions getting the better of her, which ultimately caught Liam's attention from then on.
"Sky crying," Sage whispered, and that caused the males to still. With how well things have been going for the last few days, they had failed to account for the fact that Sage did not know what rain was.
How it looked, smelled, felt, or tasted like.
And her first thought had been as pure and innocent as she was.
"Sky sad." She tried again, her mouth trembling as she started to shake. And that is when Luke had come forward and wrapped his arms around her—Encasing his body with hers. "It's okay...The sky isn't crying, this is rain."
"Rain?" She repeated, and he hummed, soothing out her worries and trying to work up an explanation that she would understand. She pieced it together as best she could, but in all honesty, they should have expected this.
The she-wolf had been introduced to so many things, that this one was out of the ordinary.
"Rain is—Well, it's a type of weather. Like how it's sunny or cloudy. This is when things start to cool down because the cold season is coming. It can't always stay hot out." She understood the day and night cycle, how the night was dark and offered the moon while the day was controlled by the sun—And within that time it could be cloudy.
Cloudy to the point of being saved from the sun's heat or the moon and stars be covered from view.
This was an additional possibility, that the hot came the cold. The dry came the wet.
Luke tugged her jacket and pointed off to his mother's potted plants. "The rain helps feed the world, every tree, every plant needs water. And there isn't always someone who can do it. That's how the world works. Sunlight feeds, water feeds. Nature has always had this cycle, and it knows that we needed the rain." Sage wiped her eyes, though that did little to change the many droplets on her face.
"Sky not sad?"
"Nope. Rain is kinda fun, the thunder and lightening can be cool too. There is nothing to be sad about, promise." Her trembling lip had turned into a pout as she felt rather foolish in believing that the sky was indeed sad.
But didn't it look like it?
As she took a step back from her brother's embrace, he still kept her tucked into his side. "You know what could be fun?... Playing chase in the rain." He said, a grin widening on his face as he took the easy hop down from the porch and taunted back. "Think you can catch me, Sagey?!"
He roared over the rain that was starting to pick up, but Sage liked this challenge—Not being able to smell out her brother meant she would have to focus on direct movements, so she followed down the porch and sprinted after him.
And that soon meant that the rest of the brothers had taken pursuit of the eldest. But given that Sage had the lead start, it hadn't taken that long to catch up with Luke, and she gave a victory shriek when she had managed to wrap her arms around his neck and jump onto his back.
"Now it's your turn, we have to chase you." Tag had been played only a few times, and in fur, so when the directive had been set—Sage dropped from her brother's back and darted off into a separate direction.
And for such a skinny female, she was running circles around her brothers without a hint of tiring out. They groaned their frustration and tried to box her in, only for her to take a leap of faith as Liam went for a tackle at the same time she had gone to jump over his person.
Leaving the chase to restart all over again.
With night finally coming to make things dark, Luke had called it time to head inside. But they had all stalled at the porch, given that their feet were wet and muddy—As were the rest of their bodies.
Sage had smiled up to her brothers, all of which were taller, mindful of Cameron, who was still growing into his height. She wiggled at the memories and rush that she felt during the game and sighed.
Feeling content.
Even with her hair soaked, and a chill running through her body, Sage's happiness was enough to keep her warm. As were the offered towels Leo had offered up to them.
"Give them a good chase, sweetheart?" She nodded, and Leo shook his head—Both proud and humored by the fact that she could keep up with the rest of them.
"Rinse off the mud, Camilla already set towels here." That was easily done, and when they had come in—All standing on a set of two towels laid flat on the ground, Sage had stripped from the borrowed jacket and wrapped the extra towel over her shoulders.
However, in looking at the jacket, she realized it was all muddy and drenched with dirt and water. Guilt had wracked in her eyes as she turned to Liam and held up the jacket.
"We'll throw it in the wash, it's okay...That's what jackets are for." She held it tightly to her chest, it still smelled faintly of Camilla—And speaking of the female, she came downstairs with her hands on her hips.
"Pups! All of you!" She shouted, and Sage pouted once more. Not understanding what this type of scolding had meant. But Luke had taken the majority of the heat and wrapped his hand over Sage's shoulder.
"Sage didn't know what the rain was." Leo stopped his next action in pouring himself a glass of wolf whiskey and turned, thinking back to the last few weeks—He supposed it hadn't rained for a while.
"She—She didn't—" Camilla started, and Sage looked down at the jacket in her hands before looking back up to her adoptive mother. "Sorry..." She held up the jacket in question, and the mother closed her eyes.
Clearly, she raised her boys right if they were taking the time to make things enjoyable for Sage's first time in experiencing things. Who was she to judge?
"It's okay sweetheart, stay on the towel so you can dry up." Was all the mother said, a soft voice that usually was reserved for Casey had popped out. But it was somewhat necessary, given that Sage seemed readily misplaced on how to come down from her excitement to this.
After drying off the best they could, their nightly routine had ended in a much similar way as the nights before—both Luke and Liam said their goodnights and they all headed into Sage's room for the chance to get some rest.
*
It didn't happen often that Sage would wake up in the middle of the night, but she had the urge to use the restroom and managed to get out of her room without much of a fuss from her brothers. As they were just as tired from the chase as she seemed to be.
However, just as she was finishing up—A flash of lightning and thunder had coursed through the home. Crackling and causing Sage to shriek and gasp at the roar coming from outside.
The lights in the bathroom began to flicker before turning off completely. Leaving her alone in the darkness, safe for the few flashes of lightning—But after a few moments gone by, a roll of thunder returned.
Leaving Sage frozen in place, once again confused as to how rain falling from the sky wasn't the clouds beings sad—Didn't this mean they were really angry now?
Casey, who's bedroom is right beside the bathroom in question, had come forward with a miniature camping lantern—All decked out in his matching pajamas as he caught Sage looking outside in absolute fear.
"Sagey?" He called out, rubbing his eyes as she had woken him up right beside the thunder.
And the rest of the home remains sleeping, undisturbed, and going completely unaware of Sage's fear and introduction to something so violently loud.
"It's thunder...It's okay." The pup offered, and he soon reached forward for her hand and guided her to his bedroom. Setting the lamp down onto the counter and crawled into his little makeshift tent that was right beside the porch's double doors. "Thunder can't get us in here." He claimed, and that had sparked a sense of safety in Sage's mind as she squeezed underneath to join him.
The pup grinned and set the lantern to a lower mode as they watched from the entrance of the colorful tent as the rain started to pick up against the balcony just before them. Yet when the lightning returned, Sage huffed, still not liking it.
"When we see the light, we count—So we know how far away it is. And we know how far away it is, we can try and see if it's staying or leaving. Watch." The pup patiently waited for another set of light to fill the room, and once it did, he started a small chant. "One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi. Four-Mississippi, Five-Missisi—" Thunder had cracked right then and he held up his hand to show his count.
"Five. Almost five miles away. See, we're okay." There were only a few people who would trust a pup to that magnitude, but when another streak of thunder and lighting came—It turned out to be eight miles away, and significantly less noise than the times before.
And only turned into bits of lighting here and there, with no rolls of thunder to be heard of at all.
With how stocked and ready Casey's tent had been, with both stuffies and pillows, it was easy for the pup to get the blankets from his bed and manage a comfier sleeping arrangement for him and his sister. And Sage didn't hesitate to embrace the pup and curl around him, thankful for his explanation and help through something that was downright horrifying...
The next morning, Liam groaned—sore from the day's work of training for his Enforcer test, in addition to the playful chase late last night. His body ached, but in a good way.
A non tortuous way than he has experienced in the past.
When he turned over to reach for his phone, he huffed in seeing that he had an extra few minutes before he had to get up for the day. And he took the time to actually start to move and wake up—Only to realize that the bed was empty.
"Sage?" The male called out, looking to either side, he caught Luke's warning growl. And it was only a matter of time before the eldest's alarm would go off as well.
"Did you hear Sage leave?" Liam had turned properly to look at his brother, who was fuming at the fact that this is how he was spending his morning to sleep in. "She probably went to the bathroom." That was all he said before rubbing his eyes and throwing his legs over the couch, there was only so many more days he could manage to sleep here in the room altogether.
No, he would need to start using his own room again.
"Her pillow is cold...You don't think she's outside again, right?" Luke was on the verge of saying 'course not,' but when it came to Sage—There was no end to the possibilities the she-wolf would do.
There was nothing wrong with being naive, not when she had innocently thought that the sky was sad and crying—So she felt compelled and moved to cry as well.
No, the male hated when the female cried—Everyone did.
So Luke bolted towards the door and hurried down the stairs, seeing their mother and father over a cook book as the female was trying to give him some advice—Given that the grill needed time to dry after last night's soak.
"Have you seen Sage? She wasn't in the room." Liam ushered, not even saying a 'good morning' to either of them. But panic had sparked up towards both Leo and Camilla as they explained that they had just come downstairs within the last half hour or so and didn't see her.
"We would've heard the front door..." Camilla whispered, worry setting out that Sage was out in the pack grounds on her own.
Jack, man, you up?
Luke called out, his hand going through his hair in a record of stress—How was it that they never predicted that her curiosity would give her the confidence to leave and explore on her own.
Something that she hadn't be able to do on her own just yet.
Y-yeah, just about...Something wrong? Did we have an early run planned with Sa—
Sage is missing, we woke up and she wasn't in bed.
Uh—Where could she have gone? I don't think she would get up and leave like that...I'll be over in a few minutes. We'll take a look around, better to start at the house and not raise it up with Eli or Remus. He's still hosting.
Luke groaned and explained to the rest that Jack was coming over, and he was utterly thankful that the Delta didn't fool around and came as quickly as he could.
"So when was the last time you saw her?" He easily managed, but his eyes were locked onto Luke, who was beating himself up over not realizing that Sage had left.
"Last night, we all went to bed early after—Playing tag..." Liam whispered out, while Cameron had come forward with a bag over his shoulder, ready to head to school.
"What's going on?" He questioned, seeing and smelling the fear that filled up the room with ease. "Sage is missing." That had taken the male back, recoiling.
"I thought I just saw her in Casey's room...They're in his tent." Both Luke and Liam barreled passed their brother and bolted up the stairs, throwing open their youngest brother's door to reveal the two still sleeping ever so soundly.
The lantern was giving off a soft glow onto Sage's face as she was curled ever so tightly to fit underneath the tent with Casey. A sigh of relief had released all the stress that built upon Luke in the last twenty minutes, while Liam remained utterly stoic—Not liking the mini heart attack over the fact that she had just gone to join him in the middle of the night.
He didn't like how it overtook his sense of direction and was replaced with panic. Panic that fueled his own brother and parents, only to discover that she had been right here the entire time.
Luke had kneed down beside the tent and shut off the lantern, only for Sage to huff at the annoyance. With a quick peek up, she smiled instantly at Luke. But didn't move as she was mindful for Casey's position on her stomach.
"He has to get to camp soon, better wake him up hun." She nodded and managed to nudge him in the side, giving him the push he needed to start waking up—And what a grouchy pup he turned out to be.
Or had been, until his excitement blossomed in the memory of last night.
"Sagey didn't like the thunder and lighting! I found her in the bathroom and we slept in my tent!" He exclaimed, and Jack remained by the doorway and waved off towards the female.
"Good morning, you wanna take a run hun?" And that is how Sage had spent the morning, though Camila had offered to make a small breakfast, given that the brothers were still subjected to the freak-out they'd endured.
With Carmon at school, Casey at camp, and Leo at work. It was Liam and Luke who were getting the lecture with their mother, and the female was hoping that they could start giving their sister some room to breathe.
That this overprotective brotherly act needed to slow down, and sleeping in her room together was just the beginning.
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Date: 06/24/2022
Time: 10:13
Words: 4916
Let me know what you think!