I would have run away with you

*developmental thread, tw for blood mentions*

If there was one thing she could not rid out of her mind, it was the date of Reuben's execution. The timing between the solider man telling her that, and when she was captured by Enzo became a messy blur. For weeks she plotted and planned, though it became harder and harder under Enzo's scrutinizing gaze. She was eventually able to gain minimal trust, enough for him to let his guard down for the shortest amount of time, giving her an ample chance at escape.

But she was too late.

By the time she made it he was already on display in front of large crowd, they all cheered and screamed, some even went as far as to laugh. Rayne felt sick to her stomach as she pushed past the crowd, she had been too late to formulate a plan to somehow get him out. Sullivan was nowhere to be seen, and only Reuben stood at the mercy of the executioner. The air suddenly went quiet, whispers and gasps filled the empty air and that was when she she raised her head from pushing past the crowd in desperation. There were so many wolves in attendance she doubted he would have even been able to see her, though she tried so hard to make it there in time to object against the harsh sentence. Surely they would damn her too, but she didn't care, not as she saw everything quickly slipping out of her grasp. The guillotine rose and quickly fell as she screamed against the cold air with all her might, her lungs could collapse from the loss of oxygen—but her screams were drowned out by the roaring crowd. Tears rolled against her cheeks and suddenly the pages of her book flipped slowly.

Their plan to become a fake couple, the night they spent at the lagoon in the comfort of each other's company, the love she felt for him while he showed her an entirely new chapter of her life. The way her body was comforted, loved, and cherished by him. Seeing his true form and finding that no matter how mad she had been at Reuben, she never stopped loving him.

The most selfless thing he'd done was turn her away when she would have been willing to run away with him, because he knew he could not promise her forever.

When her eyes opened the crowd was already beginning to dissipate leaving her with an open view of his lifeless body, blood pooling off the front of the stage. Rayne's throat burned, her skin felt iced over, her heart exploded in her chest. She sobbed into her paws in the middle of the empty grounds, a bystander or two giving her a cool glance as they walked past.

Never again would she be able to tell him that she loved him, and never again would she be able to look into that seafoam green that seemed to burn just a little bit brighter every time he saw her. Reuben was her first love and there was a grim realization in the words he last left her with.

'But my memory only brings you pain.'

And that was now a permanent truth.

art by alz