Tʜᴇ ᴡᴏʟғ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀɴᴅs『ᴛⁱᵍʰⁿᵃʳⁱ ˣ ᴡᵒˡᶠ!ᴍʀ』

XXIII

A ᴡᴇᴇᴋs ʜᴀᴢᴇ

After the sudden visit, it became a regular occurrence that wore M/n out. Now he was hoping and as bad as it sounds he would hope and pray that they; being Cyno and Tighnari would not come to visit him. Zahra took great notice of this change of emotions.
"Dear, why don't you ask them to visit less frequently? It seems to upset you quite a lot. Even your appetite is affected when they're near, it's not healthy."

"I-I....I uhh..."M/n was stumped hearing this from the elder woman, his ears slumped forward like a scolded child and his tail tucked against his leg.
"I understand that you want to have them nearby but sacrificing yourself like this will break you down. You should try finding someone to love—"

"But I already have someone to love...Though, unfortunately, he would never love me as I do him...I loved him before I even gave myself the chance to realize and yet things are so far from my control that I gave up, at least I think I did...?"M/n sighs heavily at this, he can't find the words he needs to say but a phrase he's heard before slips from his lips.
"It's like a never-ending haze...It's never-ending until I see him...My heart breaks though, I feel torn between what I want and what I want to preserve. The last thing I want is to be a home wrecker, ya know?"The elderly woman nods her head, she understands what M/n was to avoid.
"I just...I just want him to be happy. With or without me."

"You're such a good boy. Now, now! Serena needs your help today, she's ready to pop any day now and she needs rest since her husband is in the city for work."M/n perks up at the name and smiles, Serena was such a sweet Catkin from Mondstatd who moved to the woods to be with her lover and now husband.

The wolf rushes off to help the pregnant woman to keep stress away.

As M/n helped the residents of the woods they soon saw him as a grand presence, calling him the new Fairy of the woods much to Yamanu's dismay but M/n was happy with this silly nickname, he grew to love it, and eventually so did Yamanu.

After M/n bolted off to help the pregnant woman, Cyno and Tighnari just so happen to walk onto the scene as the wolfkin jumps off into the forest and out of sight.
"Oh dear! If you two were a bit sooner you could have helped M/n with Serena. But now that you're here, I guess you can wait for him to finish."Zahra said cordially to the two.
"Serena? Who is that?"

"Serena lives here in the woods like many of us. She's pregnant and M/n has been gleefully helping her out, Wolfkins are known to become protective of their close friends and family especially when they're in such a vulnerable state. Ah, what brings you two here?"

"That's a very darling fact to know but We have an invitation for M/n! It's an upcoming party we're hosting for friends. Everyone misses him in the city and we thought why not use a party as an excuse to get him out of the forest for a day?"Tignari added with his usual smile but Zahra could tell I did not reach his eyes.
"Dear, is something the matter? You look a little—"

"GRANNY!"M/n voice crashes into the surrounding room as the door flies open with a thrash! Zahra jolts up a bit from this only to see that M/n was stricken with panic and fear as he held the pregnant woman in his arms. It was then that Zahra caught on and ordered M/n to put the woman somewhere comfortable and asked for Tighnari to get wet rags and for Cyno to grab towels!

🦊🦊🦊

After what seemed like hours a cry breaks into the open air of the hut and everyone breathes a sigh of relief! Cheers and congratulations to the father who made it back home in time for the birth of his twin daughters.
"Oh man, I'm so happy there were no complications!"M/n sighed while holding his hands against his face, he was so worried since Serena had suddenly fallen while he was helping out.

However, as all the joy was spreading around the entire woodland village.....

Cyno trembled quietly away from everyone as something unforeseen happenes in his mind...A memory that was not his own followed up by his trauma...