Indeed, this chapter is so touching-

Yes, indeed-

A continuation of a collab between me and an amazing author, Princess-Shadow

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A knock on the door is heard. "Hey, it's me, Ankáthi! May I come in?"

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And from the other side of the door, called a faint "Sure!"

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Ankáthi twisted the doorknob and stepped in. He seems to be carrying a tray of food.

"Here, Gaia made some lunch and he asked me to bring this to you! I'm sure you're hungry."

On the tray, laid a medium size bowl of porridge with few meat slices as the topping. And of course, with a glass of cold water.

He walked towards the bedside table and put down the tray. Turning towards Balak, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

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"Oh, I'm okay, thanks for the food" the wolf softly smiled

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Ankáthi beamed, happy. Then his face morphed into a thinking one. "Umm... if you don't mind, can I ask you something?"

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Balak chuckled, "Sure, sure go ahead!"

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"Have you ever heard of Water Hemlock?" Ankáthi asked him.

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The said tilted his head and sweatdropped, "Hmm... No? Is it a plant?"

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Ankáthi perked up, stars appears in his eyes. "Yes! It is a plant! But I suggest not to go near any of it since the plant is dangerous- well... more like poisonous" Ankáthi smiled sheepishly while scratching his head.

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Balak was known to may not like poison or anything that can come in dangerous use, but he's always interested in learning more about plants. They'll be useful after learning either way, "Can you tell me more about them?"

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Ankáthi's dragon tail wagged a bit. "Sure! Water Hemlock is deemed as one of the most deadliest plants in the world and also most violently toxic. It also can be confused by others because of its shape almost similar to celery or parsnips." Ankáthi explained.

"The roots of the planet contains deadly toxin that can generate a fatal consequences or symptoms. These symptoms are painful convulsions, abdominal cramps, nausea and lastly death"

"Even if you managed to survive from the poison, you'll end up dealing with amnesia or lasting tremors"

Ankáthi stopped explaining, letting Balak took in the information.

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He was basically gapping both in amaze and astonishment, ". . ."

"That's some new interesting knowledge" He switch up his watch, a hologram appeared as he type in the said information with the holographic keyboard

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Ankáthi grins, practically vibrating in happiness. "There's so much in this world that we haven't discovered yet!"

"Ooh, did you know that English Marigold is also known as a healing plant?"

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The wolf's ears perked, "Ahh! English Marigold, a healing plant that's very bright in color, ranging from yellow to bright orange. From what I managed to gather, the dried up marigolds can lessen the pain of insect bites and swelling. But I've never seen one in person, only in books."

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Ankáthi brighten up. "So that's how it's like? I've seen it somewhere in the wild. Took some home because I found it very pretty. Solaris said that it's English Marigold and one of the healing plants, but he never explain what the plant could do," he pouted. "Thanks for telling me anyway! It really help a lot!"

"Do you have anything that related to healing? I wanted to know more since I lacked a bit in that area. I know more about poisons and stuff, eheh"

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Balak scratches his head, "Ehe... Not a problem!" He swipe out something on the hologram, "Come here, I'll show you"

"I love researching about plants. Especially the healing types, I'm also learning on how to summon them... So is best that I take notes to the most detailed"

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Ankáthi skipped towards Balak. "Yeay, what do you want to tell me? I'm ready to hear everything"

He grinned adorably. Then he remembered something and searched his pockets for his notebook and pencil.

After a few seconds of searching, he found the items he wanted. "This is so I would remember what the is name of the plants and what they can do"

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"Hehe, exactly! Now, let's start with this one." The wolf pointed at a holographic picture, with words underneath as the detail of the plant in the said picture

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--A while later-

"Yay, thanks for all the information about healing herbs, Balak! It's really helping me, eheh-"

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"My pleasure!" The wolf grinned pleasingly

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Ankáthi stood up from his seat and stretched, feeling satisfied hearing the cracks from his joints. He looked at the numbers on Balak's watch and felt his eyes widened.

"Eh, it's already 6:30 pm? Wow, time really go fast, huh? Well, I better go and see if Gaia needs any help with the kitchen."

He walked back towards the door to step out of the room. But before he really do, he turned his head back towards Balak and cheerfully said, "Thanks again for the information! See you later, Balak!" Then stepped out and gently closed the door as not to wake up the pups.

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The door to the guest room was knocked again and gently pushed open. The humanoid, Dragon Ori, popped his head from behind the door.

"Sorry to intrude your day, but I have a question regarding your brother" - Dragon Ori

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Balak- who was leaning against the wall, slid his body up and faced the said, "Oh, of course. You can come in, I'll answer your concerns"

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Dragon walked into the room and walked towards Balak, only stopping at an arm's length.

He crossed his arms, "I know that you had analyzed his conditions, but I know that- that is not the whole truth, no? Tell me the whole truth, little one. And does your brother ever eat? I'm concerned about his hunger"

"If he does skip meals, that would be a huge problem."

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The plant elemental wolf slightly winced as he closed his eyes, ". . ." he scratches the back of his neck

"I... Well... To what I've observed back in our world... He does eat, but just... 'a little'..." having trouble to find words

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Dragon let out a low growl before he calmed himself. He pursed his lips, looking straight into Balak's eyes, trying to find any lie in his words. Finding none, he let out a sigh.

"That's going to be a problem. His stomach isn't suitable for any heavy meals. Now his resting time, do you know how many times he skipped his sleep?"

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Balak morphed a thinking pose, ". . ."

"To Voltra's and Gamma's report... He only takes 2-3 hours of rest... And Voltra once said his longest sleep was only 6 hours... The rest of his time, he spent doing tasks and chores. We tried offering him help, but he'd refuse..."

The wolf lowered his ears, thinking deep to it, he felt horrible for his eldest

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The humanoid blinked. To say that he expected the answer, would be a lie.

"Have you tried knocking him out? I did that when Solaris isn't getting enough sleep"

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Shuddered, "To us, that'd be impossible" Balak confessed

"Either we're too scared to go against him, or he'll be dodging every one of our attacks, OR he's never present in the cave... He's always wandering around the forest...-" He suddenly paused when he realized he was a bit off track...

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"I see.... That's interesting..." Dragon's tail twitched a bit at the information.

"This is way more worse than I thought" (Hana: Bro, pot calling kettle black much?)

"Alright, few more question. What do you guys mostly eat? Do you guys hunt for the food yourselves? And lastly, what meal do you suggest for your brother once he wakes up?"

"No need to be shy or afraid of being blunt with me."

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Balak scratches his head, "Hmm, usually we eat meat or fruits, vegetables are fine too... We hunt for them..."

"And Alpha..." He turned his head to his passed out brother- forgot to mention that he was being piled by the smaller wolves

"I... guess vegetables or fruits are okay..." he shrugged

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Dragon also followed Balak's line of sight and caught the adorable view. He chuckled, "Well, think porridge will do? It's quite light for a stomach that's been too empty"

"I have to say, your brother looked cute with all the wolves pilling around him. Brought me back the time where my children are all nothing but little dragonets"

"Do you think putting a bit of healing herbs good for the porridge?"

(Hana: Man dragon- cool down with the "dad energy" will you?)

(Shadow: *Wheeze-* you're talking to the impossible mate-)

(Hana: I know- *snorts*)

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"Ehe, that would be great actually, healing herbs work well with food after all..."

Exhaled, "Ehe... Alpha looks so peaceful when he sleeps... I wish it would happen more often..." mumbling the last sentence- He swiftly shook his head, throwing the thoughts away

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"'Wish it happened more often', huh? That could mean that he never gets such peaceful sleep often" Dragon thought to himself.

"Hmm... healing herbs.... How knowledgeable are you in this field?"

"Speaking of which, how old are you? If you don't mind me asking"

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Balak softly smiled, "I'm 2000 years old, and healing herbs are my specialties" he winked

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"2000 years old, huh? Wow, you're the same age like the photosynthesis twins" Dragon let out a small laugh.

"What a coincidence, really," He shook his head, feeling amused by the reveal.

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The wolf shyly chuckled, "We wolves are the youngest species existing so far..."

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"The youngest, huh? That's quite unexpected" Dragon blinked, unexpected that the species is the youngest to ever evolved.

"You know, I feel like it isn't fair that I only get to ask questions. You're more than welcomed to ask me too, Balak"

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"Oh! Aha... In that case..."

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Faint voices crossed Alpha's ears, he slowly cracked his eyes open, to see his dragon equivalent having a conversation with his younger Alpha brother

"And he fell off the tree- luckily Voltra was there to catch him-" Balak covered his mouth and wheezed out a laugh, turns out he was back talking an embarrassing story about his Eldest- not knowing that the wolf was awake

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Dragon busted out laughing, " Oh my, that is funny~ Is he heavy?"

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"Nah- He's skinny as paper-" S M A C K "ADEH-!!"

An aura was emitting with a back glare behind Balak- causing the wolf to squeak as he sweat, "Are you back telling a failed attempt story about me...?"

Jumped, "WARGH!! WHEN DID YOU WAKE UP!?!?!?"

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"Ah, good evening Great Alpha," Dragon greeted him with an easy smile, "have a nice sleep?"

"I have to say, your brother is such an amazing story teller"

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Inhaled, snapping his neck up to the mentioned wolf

"Spare me-" S M A C K "AHAK-"

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"No need to be shy about your failed attempts. No one is a great climber at the beginning,"

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"Oh, are you hungry? Gaia had cooked you some porridge. Or do you want to rest more?"

He grinned, "Orrrr... you can tell embarrassing stories about Balak as a payback"

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Alpha proceeded to ignore the first two questions and skipped to the payback, he smirked...

Balak recognized that face very clearly, "Ohhh noooo- not that one please-!"

Alpha, "You see those ears and tail? There's this phase where the wolves have to go through 'puberty'- Balak's first time going through puberty was a disaster in my opinion"

He went on while effortlessly pushing Balak with his feet and a hand covering the wolf's mouth so nothing can interfere him

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Dragon took notice of the ignored two questions but didn't stop Alpha from telling the story. He quirked an eyebrow, "Oh? Mind telling me? That sounds interesting"

Dragon smirked while saying those words. "Balak seems a bit embarrassed about it"

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"Well- when the day came, and it was early in the morning, he started running around and scream- because he thought the ears were bugs crawling in his hair and the tail was a snake hanging onto him"

Exhaled, "I have no idea how he thought it that way..."

"Then there's this time where he tried pulling them off because he wasn't used to having them and they were annoying him. He ended up running himself into the river, lucky him the river wasn't that deep."

Muffled screaming coming from the Alpha's hand- precisely the one covering Balak's mouth

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Dragon snorted, finding the story funny.

"At least, he got the transformation a bit easy" Dragon thought, remembering the time where he had faced the same thing. "Well, he's lucky that he has someone that is there to help him...." He felt sadness crept up in his heart but he shook the feeling away.

He sipped on his tea (wait, where the heck did he get the tea?), and asked, "Oh, and what happened next?"

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"Beliung, who was much smaller size than him has to pull him out..."

Cue Balak grabbing his brother's arm and attempting to pull it away but his grip was too strong

Not mentioning how is he so stable in standing with one leg like he's doing yoga- or he's a flamingo-

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"Really, you had someone, who is smaller than you, to pull you out of the river? Not really cool, Balak" Dragon shook his head while teasing him about the situation.

"And to think that Ankáthi wants to learn more about healing from you"

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Balak has now became a blushing disaster

He screamed through Alpha's hand- producing more muffles that made him sounds like a car engine

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Dragon laughed, entertained by these two brothers. They reminded him of his children who always bickering and teasing each other. But at the same time, it reminded him of his past.

"I wonder, if Mom and Dad haven't made the decision.... Would we be this close, brother?"

He was so lost in his memory that he didn't realised that he hasn't speak anything.

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"Sir? Are you okay...?" A hand waved in front of him

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Dragon snapped out of his thoughts. "A-ah- I'm fine, no need to worry about me." Dragon smiled, though it is clearly the smile is forced.

"Now, where were we?" He immediately changed the subject.

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The hand was Balak's, basically the two brothers had obviously registered the silence

Alpha let go of the wolf to let him check on his counterpart

They weren't buying it when they knew he purposely pressured out that smile and skipped the topic

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Silence filled the atmosphere as neither side talked.

[Knock Knock]

The silence is shattered by someone knocking on the door. Dragon took a deep breath before letting it out turning his head slightly to the door, he called out,

"Come in!"

The door swung open, revealing Fujin, who cheerfully skipped into the room.

"Hey, dinner's ready! Wake the others up or the food will be gone!"

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The two wolves only glance at each other for a moment before Alpha used his two fingers to whistle- The pile shot awake, some barked

"Settle down Pups..." He ordered, to which they obeyed

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Dragon stood up from his seat, "Great. Now follow us, we'll show you to the dining room"

Both Fujin and him led the wolves to the dining room.

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After dinner, Dragon stopped Alpha from letting him going back to the guest room. He looked straight into the Alpha's eyes, the stare now sharpened into a glare.

"We need to talk, O Great Alpha..."

He said with a tone that challenged the Alpha to deny him.

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The wolf blinked twice, much or less he didn't show an emotion and kept his poker face- Dragon's response was only a slight nod

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Dragon gently pulled Alpha into his own chamber. Once they arrived and had entered the room, Dragon immediately locked it, not wanting anyone to enter.

"First of all, what was that?" He asked with a fierce glare.

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Wolf's eyes shifted swiftly from left to right, much to being startled from the sudden tension

"What... What was what?" Poker face still intact

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Dragon growled lowly, angry. He wanted nothing but to let out a roar but unfortunately, the young ones are sleeping, he can't have them waking up to his roar. So he took a deep breath, trying to reign in his anger.

"Don't think I didn't notice, Dear Alpha. You eat a lot of food today" He glared at his counterpart. Note that the word 'a lot' is said with sarcasm.

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". . ." He only got a silent stare as a reply

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He sighed harshly while pinching his brows, feeling a bit stressed about the stubborn child in front of him.

"Look- I hate to do this, ok? But I want you to tell me why you eat so little? Gaia and the others hunted materials that is more than enough food for all of us"

"Neglecting your health is bad for you"

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Alpha unconsciously steps his foot back by an inch, he's being lectured? That had never happened once in his life as the leader of the werewolves...

He didn't want to say nor answer anything, the only thing he could do was zip his mouth shut and stare or look elsewhere- even though he knew he might look a bit impolite...

At least the poker face stays, he thinks he'd be fine- but on the inside, is obviously there was a weird and obnoxious feeling that's rising up

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"......" The elder said nothing gave him a blank stare. His eyes wandered and scanned his counterpart's appearance. The eye bags and those tired eyes...

"Judging from your reaction, you had no one else scolding or lecturing you about this kind of thing, didn't you? Growing up without knowing parental love and care." Said Dragon, eyes betraying nothing but sadness. "Balak mentioned that you wolves are the youngest to ever evolve, meaning that your species is the strongest." He stepped closer as he spoke.

"It must be tiring, no? Being the first to ever be created, and yet you shoulder the biggest burden you've ever carried"

"You are still young, little pup. Think about yourself for a bit, would you? Haven't you noticed your family's stare? They're worried about you" Dragon continued, each word he stepped closer. And by the end of his sentence, he was already an arm's length from the other.

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Touching. His elder self's words hit hard.

To admit, for confirmation, everything Dragon claimed was true, too true...

Born and growing up not knowing his parents, born being the eldest and leader, born to lead the pack and protect them with all his will...

He rises to lead, he stays low to protect...

He never cared for himself because of how much love he passed down to his own brothers...

Yet others underestimated his pack...

". . ." He lowered his head and took another inch back, the mask was slipping as he thought more about those echoing words...

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Seeing the reaction, Dragon knew his words hit hard. For a second thought, he wanted to stop. But his heart told him to continue, to make the wolf realize his mistakes and conditions.

So he continued, "You push and push, doing your very best in protecting your pack. I know that you're the Alpha, the leader.... But what if, one day... your body can't hold on anymore and it breaks? You wouldn't be able to protect them anymore. You can only stay behind, can only command them from the shadows, as your body breaks apart from all the pressuring you've done."

"And what if the pain of the pressure is too much for you that the brain had no choice but to shut the body down?" He asked Alpha. "I'm sure you know what I'm hinting at, right?"

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Alpha's eyes widened, ". . ."

Mask slipped, he exhaled...

His arms unconsciously lifted up, leading his hands to his pointy ears, closing them in- as if he's about to lose his mind

He stood frozen with slight breathing, looking down- someone's about to hit their climax...

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Dragon narrowed his eyes, before closing them. "If that's still not clear to you, then let me be blunt with it. You'll die. Simple as that," This time, he's only an arm's length in from of Alpha. He raised his right arm and landed it on top of Alpha's head- which was covered by his cap, patting it in a gentle way.

"If you do, then who will take care of the younger ones? I know that the other alphas can take care of themselves but the pups and betas? Who will look after them?" The hand is now on the Alpha's cheek, which he used it to raise said person's head so the Alpha's eyes could meet his

"Your pack needs you with them. I can tell that they love you as much as you love them. And I know they couldn't lose someone who is like a father to them"

Dragon smiled sadly, "Take this from someone who had experienced it all"

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Heavy breathing slowly fogged in, liquid formed on the edges of his eyelids- he doesn't know why but his body started shivering

He grabbed his counterpart's arm- as the hand was caressing his cheek, but didn't have the urge to pull nor yank it away

". . ."

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Dragon saw the turmoil that brewed inside Alpha's head. But he didn't say anything, only kept quiet.

"I know how it feels to be at the lowest point, where my body couldn't take any more of the pressure. I don't remember how many times my body broke and I don't even remember who my actual family is. I had lived for so long, that I wanted nothing but to let go. If it weren't for my sons, I would continue to spiral into that path."

This time, he pulled Alpha into a hug. The hand is now at the back of Alpha's head, caressing the coarse hair.

"It also means the same way to you, too. Your pack is the anchor that keeps you grounded."

At the last part, he stretched his wings closed around Alpha, as if protecting him from all the bad things that could hurt him.

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The wolf couldn't take it much longer, his tears flowed out like waterfalls, dragging along the sobs

He'd never thought his time would go this far, from meeting a sick equivalent, offering them helping hands, spilling mental health information to being lectured by them and have this deep conversation about their whole life issues

Due to height differences, Alpha was just under Dragon by the neck- he buried his face into his counterpart's chest and cried out, gripping onto Dragon's arms as he was trying to hug back- but his shivers forbidden it

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Dragon kept quiet, letting his counterpart cry his heart out. Deep down, he knows how hard it is to shoulder all those weights.

He understands it. His children; Raijin, Fuijin, Gaia, Flóga, Yuki, Ankáthi and Solaris are the reason why he's not spiraling into the other path. They are his anchor the keep him afloat and stays in place.

He continued hugging Alpha, occasionally caressing his hair and back as an attempt to soothe him.

"Let it all out, little pup. Let it all out."

"Let out all of your sorrows and pain. No need to hold back,"

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Finally... for the first time in his life, a shoulder to cry on, or in this case, a chest to cry in

Either way, it was clear, the long lecture, the heavy words that hit like bullets and arrows, the figure that was claimed to be Alpha's older equivalent- who is the first species ever to crack open the thick wall that was piled by overwhelming emotions...

Their position went on like this for quite a while...

Until Dragon felt Alpha's breathing slowed down, his grips weakened and his crying seemed to have stopped...

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Once he felt the slackened grip and slowed breathing, he looked down and saw that Alpha had fallen asleep. He smiled sadly, feeling all the burden that Alpha had gone through.

Gently, he carefully hoisted Alpha into bridal style and carried him into the bed.

And when he had put the wolf into the bed, he silently slid in beside Alpha.

He held him like a parent's would in a cuddle.

Taking one last look, Dragon chuckled "Sweet dreams, little pup"

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...To

Be

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