Pine Peak Sanctuary category five

during dis

---

Cliff knew what it felt like when someone left the Sleuth. Indra’s sudden disappearance over a year ago had been jarring.

He remembered the sensation, the sinking in his chest as Indra’s bead of existence floated away from the nucleus within him. That living, breathing core of awareness that sat like an anchor in his chest, pulsing with the life and well-being of each member of the group.

It had been a noticeable thing, like feeling your wallet fall out of your back pocket, or someone swiping a hat from the top of your head. Noticeable, leaving behind a spot that grew cold without its being there.

But he wouldn’t call it painful.

Nothing like what he felt the moment the polar bear’s jaws broke the thick skull and pierced into the brain of the brown bear on the mountain. It was at first a sudden swelling within him, a flood of unease that seemed to pour directly from that node within him. As if that glowing, blooming center had been lanced with something dark and jagged, opening a wound that wept a poisonous kind of dread.

The next wave came swiftly after that, and he hardly felt the way his chisel slipped from the piece he’d been carving, and jammed sharply into the bend of his thumb and forefinger. Hard enough to bite through his glove, the skin beneath. But he did not feel it for the way his chest seized. He may as well have turned the chisel and embedded it directly into his heart.

Cliff wheezed some thin noise as he shuffled back, dropping the chisel and slumping back against the work table behind him. His hand, the blood seeping through the tough fabric of the glove, moved to clutch at the center of his chest. What was this? A heart attack? It felt that way, yet the pain was... not exactly in his heart. Though it hammered, he somehow knew the difference.

It was as if someone had plunged a clawed hand into his chest, wrapped their talons around the bead of Indra’s existence he kept with him, and wrenched it out. Harsh, bloody, and unforgiving.

His ears went deaf to the noise of the world around him, his vision blooming and unfocused. He saw and heard only the beast within him as it reared in agonized pain, thrashing its great shoulders, and roaring a sound he had not know it could make. It took him a moment to realize that he was suddenly on the floor, and that noise was coming from his open mouth.

A hoarse, confused sound, projected by the vise-like squeeze of his ribcage a moment before it burst outward. His shoulders were next, swelling and breaking at their own accord. His clothing shredded, his body giving way in seconds.

Before he could make the choice to maintain some sense of human shape, the bear was swallowing the room. Tables squealed as his mass shoved them aside, a saw crashed to the floor. He could do nothing as he shifted, for the first time in a long time out of his own control.

It was the matter of forty five seconds, and then the bear was rising. Up, up from the floor, onto his four feet, then two. Rising, rising with the soaring spear of horror making its way through him. Because as the King took his most natural form, he became starkly aware of what had driven him to this point.

Indra was gone.

Somehow, he knew in the way that it felt like a part of him had been sundered from within, that his friend was absent from him now.

Absent because he had been taken. He had been killed.

The metal of the garage door to the workshop rattled as the bear’s chest opened into an empty bellow.

Really, there wasn’t anything different about to day than the same old same old. Emmett was busy fixing one of the many fencelines of the property where a post had finally given in to wear and tear when something had caught the bear’s interest.

For a moment, he stood there, gloved hands still on the handle of a shovel as an occasional bird cry down in the property could be heard, the whoosh of wind against empty branches as they clinked together hibernating through winter. And then a more defined sound had him looking towards the main buildings, a beat, and then the shovel was dropped completely as the air tore with the roar of a bear in pain.

Rushing towards the buildings, feet soon found gravel that slid under shoes and flew in all directions as Emmett powered forward with unease swooping through his belly.

Was it the house? He inhaled. The garage. Emmett spun and went the necessary distance, approaching to the scene of the metal door down, but a bear very much inside. ”Cliff,” he yelled, banging on the metal door, already sliding towards the main entrance. ”You okay?”

It came suddenly, a punch to the guy that had Natasha’s breath pulling from her lungs with a low whoosh. eyes flashing an icy blue as her hand slammed against her chest, fingers splayed as she forced her body to react.

Breath. Breath. Breath!

A wheezing gasp as her body finally responded, heart thundering in her ears as intense feelings of pain, hurt and loss filled the entirety of her brain. Felt like she was maybe having an anxiety attack, but the more that the feelings stabbed into her mind, the more she understood.

These weren’t her feelings, they were Cliffs, and while she couldn’t say why she knew this, she could say with absolute confidence that she was right. These feelings belonged to Cliff.

Cliff was hurting.

Cliff needed her.

It was all Natasha needed to pull herself together, jumping from her desk with an urgency she’d never had in her life. Hands slamming away from the desk as she tore towards the door, the echoing of her Kings roar only driving her to push harder.

There was no time to waste, and thankfully, along with the knowledge that Cliff was hurting, her body seemed to automatically know where to run as well.

Tearing across the reserve, she’d arrive to the garage just as Emmett pounded on the door, following hastily behind him as he made for the entrance. No greetings for the boy her age, no real acknowledgement of him as her mind swirled with worry for her King.

"Cliff!" Called with all the pain that she was feeling from him. No time to regret that there was nothing else that she could say in that moment.

His massive body shook with the effort of expelling the sound. He was hardly sure why he made it. Some instinctual call into the void, as if by making enough noise in protest, he could summon that anchor back to him. But he was left with the sensation of a snapped tether slipping through his grip. He could not hold on, could not reach out and wrench back against the truth, even with all of his strength.

Yet as he felt that space grow searingly cold, the others that shared his heart began to warm. He was aware of two direct presences, surging in toward him, crowding his ruptured focus. The kodiak dropped to all fours, much too big for this space, unable to maneuver anywhere without knocking things over. So he swayed, and picked his spinning head up as voices cut cleanly through the sheet metal exterior of the garage.

Focus. Focus. His bears were here, calling for him, worried. He needed them. Now. He needed to see all of them, account for each of their imprints in his heart, see their faces. His chest lurched as he thought of Maxine, as if inwardly wrapping a hand around the bond between them, and hoisting it toward him. He needed her here, now, most of all.

He couldn’t begin to form words. So he emitted a low, agonized sound of beckoning, urging them to enter. He was useless like this, he knew. Whatever threat Indra had been facing, no amount of mass or malice he wielded now could change the outcome.

How could it be so final? How could he know. He often doubted himself, the way he felt and the way he lead the group. But he was never more certain about what he was feeling, now.

Natasha was soon here and he looked over at her with wide, concerned eyes, surprised, but grateful to see her as they made the way to the door together. The bellows rattled around his chest, silver eyes blazing for just how much the grizzly was bothered by it. What they would find inside was worrisome. Cliff didn’t just randomly shift, he was a leader and super insanely powerful. It didn’t just work like that, did it? So something had to have happened and in the shop of all places his mind was thrown to all kinds of workshop horrors.

At the door, he paused only a second before a softer, lower sound was heard from within. That was indication enough that a bear wasn’t about to charge the door. Maybe, Cliff was of sound enough mind Natasha and him wouldn’t be able to face just a bear.

Pulling the handle down, Emmett burst in and was met with the chaotic scene of the shop in disarray with a giant werebear right in the middle making the whole place feel entirely too small. Blood was in the air and his nose wrinkled for it, not sure where it was coming from as he took stock. He seemed to have all his legs at least.

”Cliff? What’s going on,” he asked, a note of concern and panic front and center.

The pain bleeding off of Cliff was even stronger as she entered the room, Mary bellowing in concern as Natasha rushed forward in barely contained panick.

Why couldn't she have the same ability as a King? Why couldn't she force a feeling of calm onto the bear in front of her and get Clifford back. Get some sort of answers to the agony that he was feeling. Have something to guide her in what needed to be done to help ease his pain

She needed contact, needed to offer some sort of comfort to her distraught friend, couldn't wait for him to be human again first. Needed to do it now.

So while it held a chance of being dangerous, Natasha trusted Cliffs control enough to slip her fingers through his coarse fur, eyes glued to her King as she spoke.

"How can we help?" Because there was no doubt that Emmett and her would do anything in their power to do so.

She couldn’t focus. That was how it began. A dizzying spell that caught Maxine’s balance as she left the roadside hardware store, hands full and body slamming her against the bed of her Ford, seeking something, anything, to keep her stable when life seemed to rush out of her legs and the wind threatened to sweep from right beneath feet.

Distress, nausea, and grief were all that flooded her senses. The bond she shared with Cliff tightened and clenched as he lurched towards her from miles away, swirling, affecting how her eyes saw the pocket of forest in front of her. Making it darker, making it grim, making it like death and doom.

On a broken and spinning axis, she pictured the worst in frames per second. Maxine could only know what she felt through him, and she could only believe it was him that was suffering. But despite that all, no amount of her own anguish was able to shield her from the strength of the black bear. Control lashed out like a whip, awakened and hungry.

Dropping every single purchase onto the gravel road, metals clattering in plastic, Maxine whimpered in fear at first, and then at the unknown. The physical pain from the shift couldn’t hold a candle to the weight of her worry, which had her stumbling out, seeking cover and leaving tatters of winter clothes through the untrodden trail into the trees.

There they were, whole and worried. The crowded in, but he welcomed the way they filled his space. Emmett and Natasha. Where was Locke? Where was Maxine? An uneasy rumble shook through him as he held that thread ever tighter, trying to gauge how far she was from him. If she was coming closer. He could only feel ruin.

His black eyes landed on Natasha as she pressed her fingers through his fur, the presence of her bear as comforting as the woman herself. He needed to speak. To gather himself. He felt pulled in a hundred different directions.

”Hhm, uhrm.” He forced his mouth to work, to form around the foreign shape of words, ”Neeehd. To shift bahck.” He said, lowering his head further.

More words. They needed more words. He couldn’t... he couldn’t think of more than, ”Clouthes?” Clothes. He needed to shift back, be dressed, then he could... try and pick the pieces off the floor. He had to tell them. Had to figure out where Indra was. Why he... why... what had happened?

He'll be there soon.

---

Oblivious to it all, Locke was souring down the highway on his way to the sanctuary. He switched over the radio station and tapped his palm against the wheel to the beat.

Life was good in Bear Country. He had a box of donuts in the front seat - pilfered from the office party. The rest were sure to love a little sugar rush.

The chorus blasted out of the speaker and Locke threw his head back, singing along.

Emmett approached slower than Natasha who was already at Cliff’s side with her fingers pushed into fur. The noises coming from the bear weren’t all that great so he kept a step or so back, still ready to help however was needed, but not wanting to get an armful if they gauged the room wrong.

And then, words.

”Yeah,” Emmett agreed. Cliff did need to shift back or they wouldn’t be able to figure out what was going on and that was stressing his stress.

Clothes. ”I’ll get some,” he volunteered, turning on his heel without needing to be asked twice. ”Be right back.” And if there were no words against it, Emmett would dash right out the way he came, this time heading towards the main house where a fresh pair of clothes waited in the locker room just for emergencies.

There was another slap to her face as Cliff spoke, ears ringing as her gut lurched with a new anxiety. A new pain. Again, these were not her own feelings tugging at her heart, not completely, but the feelings of another.

Not quite as strong as Cliffs had been, were, but just as worrisome.

She looked to Emmett then, watched his back as he left, worried that the sight of their King had been too much. Worried that these feelings might have been his and that they’d soon have another bear on their hands. A less controlled one.

But as her gut pulled, and the emotions grew, that similar knowledge from before would sprout a second time.

The source of these emotions was not here. It wasn’t one of the three bears on this reserve, but one of the other three. The question was who?

Locke? No. Indra? No. Maxine? Absolutely.

Still wasn’t sure why the answer was so clear for her, still didn’t understand why she knew exactly how far the woman was, but trusted with her entire being that she was right about it. Trusted that if she were to leave right now, and follow this feeling, that she’d be led right to Maxine as she had been to Cliff.

Was tempted to do it too. Tempted to leave Cliff with Emmett and run to the other bear that needed her. Tempted to bring her home where she could feel safe and loved.

But Natasha was a selfish woman, and leaving Cliff wasn’t something that she could do. Not now, not until she’d been given answers. Not until she knew that Cliff was okay. And so, she stayed, eye remaining that icy blue as her fingers tugged tighter into his fur.

She’d apologize to Maxine later, but for now. She needed to be here.

Emmett was quick to be the solution to the immediate problem. He was grateful for it, but as soon as he was gone, and it was just him and Natasha in the cramped workshop, the sense of helplessness returned. There was nothing he could do. There was no physical opponent with which to use his great and terrible strength against. There was no chaotic scene unfolding outside to throw himself into. There was nothing but the sunken, yawning feeling of great loss, and the downward spiral in which he was falling through it.

There were more questions than answers, more pain than placation. He inhaled a great breath, blinked his charcoal eyes, and searched for something for latch his focus onto. Maxine was an easy anchor, but as he searched for her within him, he was met with the sinking sensation of something coming unraveled. She was unraveled.

It was all he could do not to let his body fall slack and human at Natasha’s feet so that he could come undone. Heavily exhaling, he craned his great head to press it firmly into Natasha’s center.

”Sh... sohrry. Nat.” He pulled his head away, took a narrow step back. ”Something wrong. Indra. Something...” He knew. He knew that this was more than something wrong. Yet how could he give voice to that? How could he announce it to the air around them that this absence was that of permanence. It didn’t make sense. He had to be reading it wrong. How could Indra suddenly, in the middle of the day, be dead?

A foot one after the other took him at a running speed back towards the house he’d passed earlier, the path familiar, the unease ripping through him not. Swinging open the door, Emmett pounded in, the situation drawing every action and thought’s full attention.

He’d never seen Cliff just lose it, especially in the shop. It was wrong. There’d been no assurances or laughs or just general Cliff-ness. Just an ask for clothes. This wasn’t normal, a phrase kicked in as he found his way off to the guest quarters and further into the locker room.

Opening creaking doors one by one, he finally found the cabinet with clothes that might fit. Emmett held the shirt and pants up, squinted. It would have to do. Haphazard wad of clothes in hand, he’d soon turn on his heel and begin heading back the way he’d come.

What did he mean? What was so wrong with Indra that Cliff had been pushed to this state? If the other bear was in pain, or just as distressed as both Cliff and Maxine seemed to be, then why couldn’t she feel him in the same way? Where was his little ping of worry?

Remaining glued to place, Natasha would not stop Cliff from stepping away, even as her bear groaned for his closeness. Instead, she’d push down the want, turn her eyes to his black gaze and search there. Search for an answer to her unspoken questions. Search for the story behind his feelings. Search for any sort of clue as to what might be going on.

There was nothing, and while she longed to bombard him with questions. To get all the answers so that she could start fixing the problem. She’d remain silent, would hold herself back.

Don’t make him explain twice. Be patient. Let him shift back first.

"Don’t apologize. " She corrected softly, teeth biting into her bottom lip as she looked to the door. "Just explain everything when you can."

She needed to be strong reliable second right now, not frazzled little girl Natasha.

He wished he hadn’t shifted. Wished he’d been able to pull himself together before it was too late. But how could he, when he felt like someone had grabbed a fistful of what stitched him together, and ripped it to shreds?

He ached, each new inhale and exhale an exchange he did not want. Not without knowing that the next moment would bring some kind of resolution. Every moment continued to be one in which he felt entirely lost.

Emmett was closing in, and he turned himself toward the door as the younger man walked in. It was then he realized that a similar bead of existence was looming closer. Locke was incoming. He paused to search for Maxine, finding her now beginning to drift closer. He wanted to go to her.

But he had to stay here. It was better this way. All of his bears with him in one place.

He grunted, dipping his head, “I change. You guys, cabin. Be there soon.”

Finally, throwing himself back through the garage door Emmett was met with pairs of eyes on him. He hadn’t taken too long, had he? ”Here ya go, one pair of clothes.”

Confused and looking between Natasha and the giant bear, he put the garments down on a nearby bench as Cliff instructed them on what to do. Well, alright then. Mission complete.

Except, now they both had to leave. God, he’d just come from the house, too. Couldn’t, they at least get an answer? Sighing, his shoulders drooped. ”Kay, sure. We’ll see you there.”

Turning, he’d make for the door again, holding it open for Natasha and already primed with questions to bombard her with.

Body stiff, Natasha would do as was asked if her, turning on her heels to head towards the door.

"See you in a bit then Clifford." Attempted to make her voice sound chipper, failed miserably as it cracked towards the end instead.

Try harder.

Offered the smallest of smiles in response to Emmetts questioning gaze as she waved for him to follow her to the cabins.

Door closing behind them and unease still deeply thick in the air, Emmett lasted all of five steps before looking over at Natasha with questioning.

”Did he say anything?”

He’d been super quick, but surely they hadn’t just stood there in silence. There had to be at least something.

Gravel crunching underfoot, Natasha's head would shake in response.

"No, not much." She sighed, eyes staring down at the path that led back towards the cabin.

"Just that he was sorry, and its something with-" Her voice threatened to crack, so she'd pause, swallowing it down before finishing.

"Indra, but he'll let us know." And because she needed to hear it. Needed it said.

"Everythings gonna be okay."

That didn’t help at all. In fact, his face twisted further, confused and even a tiny bit scared of the uncertainty in the statement.

Natasha reassuring that things would be okay had him waving his arms out in exasperation, needing to push that loose tone right back.

”Of course it’ll be, why are you saying that? Did Cliff get in a fight with him?” He shot a look over his shoulder towards the garage they were leaving behind.

The exasperation wasn't pleasant, but she could understand where it was coming from. Felt the same frustration bubbling up in herself, but now wasn't the time to let it out.

It wouldn't help anyone here. Not Cliff. Not Emmet. And certainly not herself.

An inhale of breath as she looked from the gravel to Emmett. "If I knew that answer, I would tell you. " Hard, but as gentle as she could be.

"But Emmett, I dont know anything right now, and I'm sorry for that but we're both just going to have to wait for Cliff."

Chastised, his face came down with hard lines, folding arms that had been waving against his chest, the bear brooding similarly. There was a very kid want to kick in some speed and stomp at a quicker pace get into the house sooner.

Natasha didn’t know anything and she couldn’t tell him anything more due to it, but for some reason, Cliff was sorry. And was a giant bear. And Indra was a part of it all.

Emmett inhaled, feeling a balloon inflating in his chest before it was exhaled slowly. ”Okay.”

Hand pushing into a pocket, he’d quickly type out a message to Locke.

Something’s up with Cliff, he shifted in the garage

Emmett

Locke would arrive, donuts in hand, with a shoulder nudge to close the car door. It was quiet out in the car park, nothing new there. He whistled two notes and walked up to the front, expecting to do a bit of searching before he found the rest. Cliff would likely be in his workshop, but his brother and Natasha could be anyway.

His bear kindly suggested following his nose. However, all he smelled was the donuts. The big guy was trying to pull a fast one.

Locke dug his thumb into the seam of the donut box to stop any further temptation and continued forward. His phone buzzed. It had done the same just as he pulled in. A message reminder. Locke scavenged it out of his pocket and read the preview.

Uh oh. Emmett didn't text with a serious tone all that often. This wasn't good news. For a split second, Locke considered sending a reply but his legs were already pumping. Racing past the common area, he started sprinting to the private section of the property.

"Shit. What exactly happened?" Locke muttered under his breath, keeping an eye out for another bear.

With that, Natasha and Emmett would make it to the main house. Cliff was the only one who could answer their questions and so he was already resigned to waiting on the windows like a dog waiting for it’s owner to come home. He had to know what happened immediately.

But, the sight of someone… of Locke running from the parking area had him stopping from continuing inside. Instead, he lifted hands to wave him down. Talk about timing!

Twin senses tingling, Locke spotted Emmett as he broke out from around the corner. His hands were full so he ended up holding the box over his head and waving it in greeting.

Pace not slowing down, Locke fumbled his way up the path to follow behind them. Cliff had to be in the main cabin.

From the looks on their faces, this wasn't a joking matter. Therefore, Locke clamped his mouth shut. Nerves often made him spout out inappropriate bullshit to mask the uncomfortable feelings. Something told him it wasn't the right move here.

"Hey" He spoke quietly, hands growing clammy against the cardboard box. Would someone tell him what was going on?

He focused on placing himself in a more human mind. It was a practice in willpower, pushing through the reluctance to turn and face the situation. Once he was on two feet, there was no other issue to resolve. It would only be the emptiness within him, the glaring truth that Indra was gone.

He let the door shut before he inhaled heavily. Slumping down to the floor, he pushed aside more equipment, making room for his mass. Soon, he would take up much less space.

For a brief moment, he lay there, naked and breathing heavily. Sawdust clung to his clammy skin, dust swirling in front of his face with his exhales. If he could simply close his eyes and have this all be over, he would. But the ache was still there, and he could still feel the rest of his bears approaching, and Indra was still dead.

Indra was still dead.

Cliff pushed himself up, brushed himself off, and pulled the clothes on. Only a shirt and a pair of sweat pants, his shoes he’d worry about later. Inhaling thinly, he approached the table near the door, and unplugged his phone from the charger. He almost didn’t want to look at the screen, afraid of what he’d find.

What if Indra had called him, in distress and in need of help, and Cliff hadn’t answered? What if he could have prevented it?

But he forced his eyes to look, and his heart sank further as he saw… nothing. No notification. No indication of what had happened. At least with missed texts, missed calls, then he could have had some kind of idea what had happened. But this was worse. There’d been no warning, no context. He was just… gone.

Cliff swallowed thickly, a hand reaching to rub aggressively at the back of his neck. He had to go in. Had to face his friends and announce the ugly, horrible truth of what he knew in his heart.

He didn’t want to, but he forced his bare feet to move.

When he reached the living area of the cabin, he found his friends waiting. Not just Nat and Emmett, but Locke as well. He’d missed his arrival, but he appreciated it nevertheless.

“Maxine is almost here. ” He mumbled as he approached the couch, feeling numb, directionless. Maxine was coming. She was shifted. He’d made her shift. But she would be here soon.

But they didn’t care about where Maxine was now. Not like he did. They only cared about why the fuck he’d shifted.

“Something happened to Indra.” He forced the words, sinking slowly into the couch cushion, eyes finding no purchase on anything tangible.

”I felt…” He cleared his throat. “We need to check… traffic reports. For crashes. Or. Something happened to him.”

Terror gripped to the very fibre of the bear. She blundered down a decline and into trees that, though usually something so comforting, preyed on her insecurities. The colour green blurred in her peripherals as quick as the breeze itself. Running, running. What was that loss? That plummeting sense of somebody gone with no goodbye? Ripped, torn? She bellowed sounds and calls, the closest thing to a creature that was hyperventilating and frantic, unable to even let herself puncture the idea that it was him that was gone.

Some anguish she protected herself from when her greatest fear slowly subsided the longer their thread remained, as different feelings from him lumbered through her. Confusion, anxiety, a disjointed loss of hope. Numbness. But all signs that she hadn't been cut from him.

Even in the last stretch, Maxine couldn't have been thinking less about hiding herself as all links brought her to the gates of the Sanctuary. She had one country road to cross before she made it there, which she did, snuffling the wire fence upon arrival. Standing up, hooking claws in the diamond gaps, tugging and scraping. A fence that was supposed to keep them safe but in that moment did precisely the opposite for Maxine.

She'd exhausted herself to get here in both mind and body, but she would not stop pacing the front until she had eyes to put on him.

Somebody, anybody. Tell her what was happening.

The whole family was just about here, Natasha offering Locke a small smile as she made herself as comfortable as she could within the main area of the cabin. Finger tapping nervously against her knee as she stared blankly at the door from the couch and waited for the arrival of their King.

Waited for the arrival of answers to the many questions that each of them help. Just about jumped out of her seat when they did.

Opened her mouth to greet him only to immediately shut it as he spoke. Listened intently as she homed in on that newly discovered power. Found the direction of Maxines stress, felt that her pretense was certainly stronger than it had been earlier. Understood that this meant she was near, but unable to quite pin down just how close she was.

She would just have to trust that Cliff was right, and would let them all know when she was here.

Prepared herself to ask the long standing question of what exactly happened, only to instead grab the remote, happy to have some sort of directive, a task that could possibly make things easier for Cliff, and bring them all details sooner.

Impatiently punched in the numbers to the local news channel as she listened to the conversation around her.

He eyed the box, opening the door wide for Locke to get through, mind buzzing with words and questions needing to be expressed that would take form once they were all inside.

It didn’t take long till Cliff was back to himself, somehow a more shrunken version of himself as even his bear seemed dimmer. From where Emmett was perched on chair, he was left with even more questions once Cliff finally spoke. It was just reiterances of what Natasha had said, offering a tad bit more. Maybe, Maxine could slice through this all better than they clearly were getting which wasn’t much! He felt something without letting them know what it was, but enough to cause a shift, but that didn’t nail down really anything else. It wasn’t like Locke or him or Natasha or Maxine felt these things too, right? Or… maybe he was missing out on something here.

”Can’t you do that with your leader brain stuff or literally any of the others?” What would traffic reports even tell them besides TRAFFIC?

Locke's eyes continued to jump from bear to bear. Very little could be read from the pale faces and tight jaws except that something bad, very bad had occurred. Piecing things together proved more difficult with everyone seemingly on the verge of speaking while also scared to intrude. It was only right that Cliff began to give details. Even his words sounded broken. Locke hadn't seen the King as gutted since the fight night against Levka.

He was struck by the intense desire to help, but it was clouded by confusion. What did they know and what did they need to know. As irrational as it sounded, Locke wanted to find the logical solution.

"Of course." Locke didn't know where to start searching, but he could feel the panic behind Cliff's staggered wording and pulled out his own phone to thumb clumsily at the apps. "If Indra's seriously injured we need to look for him."

Closer, closer, she was coming. All of his bears were here, filling his senses, and yet it only magnified the gaping chasm where Indra should be.

Natasha was quick to leap into action, filling the room with sound from the television. Locke, too, who he realized had no context for any of this. But Emmett.

Maybe he didn’t mean it. Maybe he was just as confused and panicked as Cliff was. Maybe he wasn’t thinking about the words he said before they came out of his mouth. But the question rubbed in the direct opposite direction it should have.

He’d asked them to do this, because he had no other idea about what to do. He was utterly baseless, like being swept up in a tsunami, and grasping for anything solid to hold on to. To get his bearings. Find out what the fuck had taken Indra so suddenly.

But Emmett was asking him, what, why couldn’t he just use his leadelry powers to determine where and what had happened? It was hard to even begin to try and understand what he meant by “literally any of the others.” It was pushback that he didn’t need.

Cliff turned his face to the questioning man, bloodless and drawn in pain. ”Emmett, if I knew how to find him, I wouldn’t fucking be here right now.” He said, and immediately, he regretted it. His breath wooshed from his lungs, and he lifted his hands to draw them down over his face, head shaking. Cliff pushed up away from the couch, ”He’s not just-“ He started, jaw tight, stomach doing summersaults as he turned to look over them all.

”I think he’s dead.” Words he hadn’t wanted to use, but the were the ones that were the most true. ”I felt it. It...” He blinked as his eyes stung suddenly, fierce. ”He’s gone.” He emphasized, and moved his hand to clutch at his chest. Just as that tether between himself and his mate tugged taught, the distance between them minuscule now.

”Maxine’s outside.” He stated largely for himself. He turned to head for the door. Someone would have to physically stop him if they didn’t want him walking through that door to go to her.

The question hadn’t been a good one, hadn’t been helpful, and was kind of cruel given the circumstance. It was clear that Cliff was distraught, clear that he was under a great deal of stress, but she supposed the same could be said for them all.

This wasn’t a usual look for their King, wasn’t at all how he typically acted. A fact that only solidified as he snapped back at Emmett. Felt her body go stiff with the altercation as she kept her eyes glued to the screen, searching for the familiar face of Indra.

Nothing appeared though, and as Cliff continued, she started to understand why.

Indra was… Could be… Dead?

The remote cracked within her palm, eyes pulling back to that icy blue as her breath pushed from her body. A third punch to the gut, only this time it was her own pain that she was feeling. Soul plummeting to the floor as the world grew a little hazy. A little slower.

If Indra hadn’t once left the group before, she might have brushed it all off. Assured Cliff that everything was fine, and that he’d just gone back to his family again. Would have offered to call the man in question and set everything back into balance. Made everything okay.

Only, Cliff knew the feeling of a member leaving. Knew what it felt like when a bear left willing. Had felt it once with Indra. With Riley. If this had been the same then there was no way that he’d just assume this outcome.

This terrible terrible outcome.

The rest of Cliffs words were lost on her after that, his make for the door missed as she continued to stare ahead. A chill rushing through her body as the world was suddenly taken up by two things. Natasha and the news channel that she was now searching even more desperately.

They did need to go find him, Locke was right, but going through any of the stationary avenues made zero sense.

And yet, the reaction to his suggestion had Emmett’s walls immediately drawn up. He had been simply giving solutions where Cliff’s had sucked and was repaid by being snapped at.

The bear eyed the other warily as hurt punched through and then more information had him stuck without knowing what to stay.

Indra could be dead.

It was a statement that didn’t feel real and as such, didn’t read as truth.

Cliff got up to go get Maxine and Emmett wouldn’t stop him. Instead, as the door closed and they were left with just the droning of the tv, Emmett looked from Natasha and Locke, moving to flip open the box that had been brought in to grab a donut. ”I’m going to drive around and see if I can find him. It’s too soon to name drop him on anything.”

The atmosphere was suffocating. Locke wanted to head outside himself and practice taking a few deep breaths. It wasn't going to happen, not with Indra...gone.

Locke's fingers flew as he tried to find something, a little scrap of information that might help. He heard his brother making a noise of leaving in search of Indra and Locke looked up to nod hastily. It couldn't hurt to cover every possibility.

Everything moved so quickly. His bear paced worriedly inside his mind. Cliff had to be wrong. There was still a chance, right? He'd take Indra stupidly cutting the group bond over dead. Anything but dead.

He paused on one of his apps, finding a sliver of information that caught his eye. "There is something on Twitter about a bear warning in Grapuel. No way Indra would go up there. Levka would surely chase him out?" Locke looked at Natasha. He needed some kind of reassurance before even attempting to show Cliff. He doubted the King wanted any news, good or bad, at the moment.

She was here, outside, pacing. Panicking. His focus was shattered in every direction, but it polarized on getting to Maxine in this moment. So without stopping for anyone else, he slipped through the door of the cabin, and out into the brisk air.

He ran, willing himself to make it to her as quickly as he could. It was only a half mile, but the distance seemed to stretch on and on unnaturally. Soon, though, the gate came into view, and the bear beyond it.

His own bellowed within him, and he exhaled some chesty noise as he slowed, approaching the gate’s keypad on the other side. He hardly looked at it as he jammed his thumb into the combination, eyes on the bear, on his frantic second half.

As the gate rattled open, he strode toward it, hardly waiting for much of a gap to squeeze through. Then he was moving toward the bear, breath caught in his chest, eyes stinging with tears.

If she let him, he’d reach to cradle her head, pulling as much of her as he could against him. Just to touch her. To feel her, know that she was well and whole.

“I’msorry.” He exhaled.

He just. Needed a second. Then he’d help her shift back, carry her inside. Try and figure out what the fuck he was supposed to do while she slept off the shift he’d all but forced upon her.

Stuck in some sort of dangerous loop where minutes escaped her, he was there on the other side both immediately and not fast enough. Running, slowing, thumbing at the keypad, and he was whole. No gaping injuries, not even a touch or a scrape of blood she'd come to expect. The only wounds were within, which wasn't something she could make sense of then and there.

The black bear angled herself to where she knew the gate would inch open, wanting to drive her way through it before it was even showing any signs of movement. But it was Cliff who broke through first.

With the top of her head to his shoulder, she nudged him around the fence desperately, rubbing her face against him. Disbelieving and relieved, so relieved. So in need of the contact and the reassurances that came with it. Maxine had never felt the bear be so breathless, hadn't even noticed quite how much she was until she began to find some steadiness as seconds passed.

She cried a needful sound to his apology, holding none of it against him when she could declare him safe. It didn't fix everything, it wasn't the solution, but it did mean whatever had led them to this point in time couldn't have been that much more awful than this. Could it? Somehow she knew that wasn't true. Right. Knew that sleep was the last thing she wanted but was the first thing she needed.

The worst was yet to come, but thank god for the fact that he hadn't been taken from her.

She felt so empty. So lost.

And the more time that went by without answers, the more anxious she became. Traffic buildups, storms to come, violence in different parts of the world. All of this didn’t matter right now. None of this helped their current situation and she could feel herself dropping.

Could feel her move shit from something of fear and anxiety to anger and resentment instead.

Why weren’t they getting the answers they needed? Why did they all have to sit here and just wonder and worry? Why wasn’t the goddamn news telling her anything?!

Fingers clutch tighter and she could feel the plastic of the remote creak with effort. She might’ve snapped it in half right then and there if not for the twins. Jerking she’d first turn to Locke, mention of bear having her heart pause as she looked to his phone.

"I-I don’t know." She’d answer, "you don’t think he would, do you? Levka’s territory has been off limits since even before the group was created. " Indra wasn’t that dumb was he?

"What do you think Emmett?" Because he couldn’t leave, not right now when every bear needed each other.

A nod from Locke and he was at the door, practically a few seconds from leaving when Graupel and sightings of bears were mentioned. There was no way. That’d be stupid. How many times had they’d been told to avoid that area if not just by words, but by actions?

Hand on the knob, Natasha’s question kept him in the doorway and he shook his head, looking over. ”No way, he’d be stupid to go up there. He’s probably somewhere else.”

Locke wanted to dismiss the post as well, it was too ridiculous. "Yeah." An egregious mistake on Indra's part if he wandered even close to the other territory. Levka would have run out and nearly bit his head off...

He shuddered and tapped at the thread. A few more posts sharing the news. It was still a lead, but not one he wanted to investigate. "Is it worth mentioning to Cliff?" Locke looked at both of them.

He threaded his fingers through thick, dusky fur, pulling in the smell of her as she pushed into him. If he could have simply gathered her up entirely and placed her whole into the emptiness of his chest, he would have. But he settled for letting her presence soothe the anxiety that everything was scattered to the wind. He had all his bears here, except the one that was missing.

Shuddered breaths made their way in and out of his lungs. He wished he could turn her back and have her conscious, because he needed her now. Needed to hear her voice, see her face. But just having her with him had to be enough for now.

“Something’s happened to Indra. We’re trying to figure it out.” He murmured quickly, trusting her to grasp the words, even shifted.

“I’ll get you inside. Get you clothes. Try and wake you up as soon as I can.” He announced, hating that there was no other option. But they had to get back inside. He had to start helping scour the internet for signs of… something. Had to try and call again. Anything.

If she didn’t protest, he placed a firm kiss against the crown of the black bear’s head, then exhaled with the effort of pushing his will over her. The kodiak rumbled some soothing sound, beckoning the black bear away from the material world.

When she collapsed inward, he was there to ease her shifting body down. Then he gathered her up against his chest, and turned on his heel to hurry back to the cabin, keeping her tucked as modestly as he could.

He was on the other side of the door as it began to open. “Hey, a blanket?” He requested.

"Yeah, I think so." She’d answer to Lockes question, continuing to click through the channels just in case something more solid appeared before them.

"I don’t think he’d go there." Hoped he wouldn’t at least, "but just in case he did. I don’t want to close the option off."

Which perfect timing because Cliff was already heading back in, requesting a blanket which Natasha tore from the back of the couch and prepared to hang off to Emmett.

The truth of the matter was, anything was worth mentioning, but Emmett wasn’t sure how that’d exactly be handled. There was some fear that Cliff would just zero in on it and not see any other angles and Indra would continue to be missing.

Still, he nodded as Natasha gave an answer that felt right and then he was pulling open the door more right as Cliff came up to it, Maxine in his arms…. Who was naked. Oh. His eyes shot up and Emmett gave them a wide berth as they made their way inside. With that blanket cared for, he misunderstood the hand off and instead inched his way out in the open air. There were too many questions and bears and he needed to be doing something or he was useless. And just.

”I’ll let you know if I find anything, keep me updated,” he spoke up to the room, let it trail off as he shared a glance towards Locke and then would try to duck out to his truck inconspicuous like. There was a wriggling in his gut in anticipation that someone would try to stop him, but hopefully that wouldn’t be the case.

There was suddenly a lot of commotion inside again, Cliff came through with a bundled Maxine. Locke's heart leaped to his throat seeing the state she was in. This was affecting so many of them.

He checked back to his phone, clicking links until he got back to the initial post. If Natasha agreed, then it was definitely worth showing Cliff. The blanket handoff missed its intended target, but Locke reached to grab it himself.

His brother was already moving, but Locke caught the singular look. The half a second between them was silent, but Locke understood that Emmett needed space at the moment. They could talk later.

Fingers gripping the device tightly, Locke went straight to the King. His hand raised to show up the lit up screen while the other pass over the towel.

"I found something odd. A few bear sightings in Grauple."

That would be the case.

He didn’t miss it, Emmett’s attempt to slip out. Not when he was so, so aware of where each of their imprints was in his heart. For a moment, they were all with him in one room, his eyes on them, assured that they were not harmed. And he could have let himself try to think beyond this, try to bring logic into the wild scramble to pull his bears together.

But Emmett was leaving. Trying to, at least. Cliff’s heart lurched, and he twisted with tense lips as the man made for the exit. Quickly, gently, he closed the distance to Natasha and made it clear he needed her to take Maxine from his arms. He hated it. Hated parting from her, even if it was to get her bundled and covered and settled somewhere to sleep.

Because Emmett was trying to leave. And he could not let him.

”Emmett.” He called after him as he disentangled himself from his mate. Yet as he made to go after the young bear, his twin spoke up.

And it struck him still, a sharp jab to his already bleeding heart as the words took meaning.

Bears in Graupel. That was all, and yet the terror that opened beneath his feet threatened to swallow him. What were the chances of bears being sighted somewhere almost in sync with one of his dying? In Graupel, no less.

Fuck. He had to take a second. Had to try and think. But he could only focus on the throbbing wound of his friend’s absence.

Once his hands were free, he stepped back, and turned toward the door.

“Emmett.” He said again, the tone shifting in his voice, betraying the forced calm he’d been trying for and revealing the fear within. “I need you here.”

He could not focus if his bears were split, wandering about. If only for the time it took to grasp what was happening, he needed them all here. They were the only things keeping him bound together.

The crunching under foot was loud, but his name being called was louder. His bear bellowed back and Emmett kept marching forward as if he hadn’t heard. He didn’t want to be here, it was confusing for the person and bear and he was still smarting at being snapped at, at the chaos the entire afternoon had tipped into.

Indra was missing. He wasn’t in Graupel, but somewhere else in need of help and no one was doing the one thing that would narrow down a search, actually asking around and looking. Instead of thinking of literally anything that made sense, all they were doing was sitting around waiting for news or a shiny trending spot on Twitter to shed light on something that’d just happened. Get real.

His name was called again, closer, renewed and sounding strained in a way it hadn’t been before. Cliff needed him here. Why? His hands flew up, turning on his heel to look back. “Why? So I can be yelled at again?” The bear shuffled, confused, but Emmett was on a course entirely his own. ”You need to figure out where he is and that’s what I’m doing.” He exhaled harshly before turning around to keep heading towards the truck that felt more like a lifeline than it had any reason to be.

Like sand slipping through his fingers, that was what this felt like. Emmett whirled on him, all teeth and snarling and bucking against his pleading. Try as Cliff might to clench his fists around the meager control he might have of this situation, it kept slipping.

He needed to figure out where Indra was. He was trying. He was. Or maybe he had simply been blindly feeling around in the darkness that had been swelling within him from that moment he felt the tether snap.

”He’s dead.” He said for the second time, voice hollow, but with more certainty than before. The glaring truth, the unavoidable conclusion. ”That’s where he is, Emmett. He’s dead. I felt it.” His head shook, his throat tight, head searing.

”Please.” He said again, even quieter. Just. Please. He needed his friends near. ”Stay, and we can figure out where... Locke mentioned Graupel.” Bears. Bears sighted in Graupel Canyon. Could it be coinsidence?

Words pierced through the space between them and Emmett came to a stop, hands paused in their digging for the keys in his pocket. Dead. It was both a word and a state of being that felt foreign, but cracked to life like a flare in the dark sea.

He’d felt it, but that didn’t… how would Cliff know for sure?

Surprise, grief, all of it swirled and twirled before rushing down the drain to be replaced by a set jaw and clicking metal from his pocket. ”Just let me know and I’ll drive wherever you think he is,” he breathed out, much quieter now as he refused to set silver eyes on anything, but the gleaming blue metal body of Dusty before him.

Giving it a breath, Emmett resumed on his path and if Cliff wouldn’t stop him, he would open the door with a loud creak before climbing inside as the cabin shifted with weight.

Leaving. Still leaving. After Cliff had all but begged him to stay.

He didn’t understand what wedge had been driven between them that Emmett didn’t heed his one simple request. That unity seemed like an impossible thing for him to grasp the necessity of.

But if he forced him to stay in place, what kind of man did that make him? He couldn’t risk losing another bear, in some other way.

Still, his heart guttered, and he shook his head. At a loss, he only said, “Just don’t go where I can’t feel you.” He pleaded, unsure if the young bear was even listening.

He didn’t know what he thought he would find on the road. Indra hadn’t died in Camp Baron. But he couldn’t stand to let Emmett leave the city. Maybe he’d come back when he realized how pointless it was.

But he needed to go back in. Where his mate lay unconscious, where his other friends were still likely searching for news.

Feeling cleaved further than he had ever been, he turned to go back inside, eyes searching for Locke.

“Let me see what you found.”

Locke had been silently inching his way to the door the entire time. He hovered by Cliff's elbow when he got close, unsure if he would need to lay a gentle hand on the King to stop him should further argument break out.

Emmett was...Emmett needed space. It may not have made sense to most at present time, but he knew his brother and the way he handled grief. Emm had to do something that felt like helping, in his own way. He would return to them soon...just after his emotions had time to filter down.

It seemed Cliff understood at some level that a chase would only end in a greater divide. An agonizing choice for the King, but the right one. Locke lowered his hand and waited. Soon, he was called on and silently raised his phone to show the original thread.

"There's been a lot of activity all of a sudden. More than one bear at Grauple, out in the open."

A number of links would display from a small flood of comments. It could be nothing. He hoped it was nothing. However, it was good to narrow down all locations, even the worst one for the Pine Peak Bears.

The request reached him and Emmett closed the door in answer, the engine rolling over and soon he was backing up, refusing to look as Cliff made his way back inside or how his brother stood hovering off to the side of the doorway. Okay, maybe he had looked just to be sure, to double check.

With a switch of gears into drive, Emmett’s attention moved forwards as he made his way down the dirt and gravel path out of the Sanctuary, feeling far from held and comfortable as the namesake suggested. The bear calmed the further they got from the others, from the chaos that had been kicked up and left him off-kilter, but it did sit and wonder back at the human, drifting thoughts of the bears left behind.

It would be smart to check the other parts of the city, to look for anything out of the ordinary. That’s what the intention had been and yet, Emmett took a left at the first crossroads and headed to the heart of the town center to begin following streets within Camp Baron for now. He negotiated with himself that it only made sense to start looking hereand then slowly fan out to one section of the territory at a time until eventually later would come and Emmett could cross the boundary and start on yet another jumble of streets and alleys. But, truth be told, Emmett still respected Cliff who was back behind the gates he’d just left and didn’t want the guy to worry about him on top of everything else.

He was also trying not to think of whatever symbolism that might mean— this wasn’t some Charles Dickens novel or whatever. Life just liked to serve up poetry when itself was not as clearly defined as a line inked by a pen and paid for by the cent. Things would be fine, he just needed the sound of the road to muffle out everything and one goal in mind to work through just this once.