~The sound that escaped my lips then was one that was so foreign that I wondered if it had indeed come from me. Taehyung had spun around at the commotion, and after ordering his men to retreat immediately he ran over towards his brother, who was lying on the ground, the fire edging dangerously near.

His uncle, laughing uncontrollably at the wolf's side looked positively insane, his eyes opened wider than they should have been and they were making his face appear as twisted and evil as he really was.

The Duke began to brandish the blade at his other nephew too, but Taehyung, having the advantage of a clear mind, saw the blow coming and blocked it before it landed.

Howling with rage the Duke picked it up again, swinging it back and forth in an attempt to cut whatever part of his youngest nephew he could manage. Taehyung blocked attempt after attempt, until the Duke finally figured that he would be unable to win against his stronger and saner nephew.

"You would see Fiore crumble! You will be its ruin! I disown you! You are no nephew of mine!" he cried out, Taehyung ignoring his speech as if it was the mumbling of a court fool.

It was then that the Duke lost his footing over a root in the ground and fell. He dropped the knife and Taehyung kicked it away immediately.

"For the crimes that you have committed against the Aryan's, and the isolated prison you've forced your people to live in' I use my right as the heir of Fiore to imprison you," Taehyung spoke coldly, his sword at the Duke's throat. In anger, the older man spat in his face.

"You might as well kill me now boy. I have no regrets, other than not killing your brother the monster!"

"The only monster I see here is you uncle." Taehyung responded sadly before using the hilt of his sword to knock his uncle unconscious.

Meanwhile, the Aryan's had already been spurred into action to put a stop to the fire that was beginning to spread beyond any control. Yet many of their wells had been collapsed by the Duke's soldiers, and it was a long way to the pond by Jooheon's cave, much too far to stop the damage in time.

Once I had regained enough of my senses, and ignoring the heat and smoke from the flames I rushed towards the wolf. Collapsing by his side I could feel the moisture on the ground from his blood while it stained my knees. Unable to do much else I tore of some of my clothing and used it along with the pressure from my hands to cover his wound as best I could.

He looked at me, his eyes full of pain and shock, and he was trembling with blood loss.

"I guess this is what comes from trying to do the right thing," he sputtered. If he was trying to lighten the situation it certainly wasn't helping.

"Don't waste your breath. Taehyung and I will help you. You'll be alright, I promise," I pleaded, the smile of encouragement on my face forced to the point of it shaking.

Taehyung hadn't said a word.

"Rose," Jooheon whispered, his voice merely a shadow of what it should have been.

"Quickly run and get your rose," he said between coughs.

"What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere until I know you're going to be alright!" I protested, more than a little confused with his unusual request.

"I'm not going to be alright Rose. But you already know that, don't you?" He said, his voice fading in and out while he tried to keep conscious.

"I know no such thing. I'm not leaving you."

He smiled then, a little sadly. His eyes closed, and as he tried to breathe deeply he coughed with the effort.

"I must speak with my brother alone, so get me your rose. I don't wish to leave this world without it."

The tears that had been threatening to fall could no longer contain themselves, and soon it was as if a dam had broken while they flowed down my face in a constant stream.

"Why?" I managed to sputter out.

"I would hate for the fire to devour it without me. Run. I will wait."

I had no desire to leave his side, and if he was as wounded as he sounded, I couldn't have imagined the grief I would endure learning that in my absence he'd passed on. Yet I also couldn't bring myself to deny his last wish, as strange as it seemed to me.

And so as if death himself were chasing me I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, ignoring the destruction and horror all around me.

 The smoke from the rapidly growing fire stung my lungs as I tried to take in the air I needed to run. My legs ached with the effort until I collapsed beside my rose. I saw the fire edging ever closer, the wind that funneled through the trees pushing it nearer and nearer to the homes of the Aryan's.

 Without any time to dwell on the extent of the destruction the fire would cause I pulled the rose out, roots and all.

Running back towards Jooheon I couldn't bring myself to look at it, even as the thorns on its stem dug into the flesh of my hand. Perhaps if there had been time, the idea of killing the very thing that had brought me to the Aryan's in the first place would have devastated me.

But at the time my thoughts were only on Jooheon, on his pain and his love, and how I might never see him again.

In the distance, I saw him with Taehyung crouching low next to him.

As I approached, Taehyung looked at me, acknowledging my presence with little more than a sad look. Jooheon didn't even move, I didn't think he could. Putting his hand on my shoulder as I crouched back down beside the wolf, Taehyung left, leaving me some privacy.

Holding the rose in my hand I held it close to his eyes so that he could see it.

"I brought it like you asked," I whispered. His eyes barely opened, fluttered a bit, and then closed.

"Thank you," he said, and I placed it against him so he could feel the softness of the petals.

"I'm sorry that I can't stay here with you like we hoped," he said, his voice breaking up as he tried to get the words out.

"Yes you can," I said, although I didn't believe it myself anymore. He tried to chuff his laugher, but it sounded like it pained him and so I urged him to try not to speak.

"This white rose was our beginning. I thought it only fitting that it should mark our end as well," he said quietly, and with his eyes now closed I began to cry knowing that he wouldn't be able to see me.

"It isn't the end Jooheon. Maybe I won't be able to be with you, but I swear with all of my heart that I will always think of you. I will always love you," I said, wrapping my arms around him and ignoring the chaos all around me.

"Being with you in this lifetime has been more than I could have ever hoped for. Please stay, until I am sleeping. I find myself afraid at the end."

"Don't be afraid. Of course, I won't go away I promise," I answered sincerely.

"I only wish that-" he began, but half way through his sentence his voice faded away. My heart stopped but my arms shook him violently.

"What do you wish, don't leave me Jooheon! Please!" I pleaded with him, crying out with all of the strength I had in me until lying against his chest I felt his breathing stop.

Despite the fact that I knew it was useless I called out to him, again and again, until my voice was hoarse and sore from the smoke and exertion.

He never woke.

Heart-broken and exhausted I wrapped myself under his body, still warm, covering myself with his enormous paw until I noticed the rose laying as a silent testament to his life.

I reached over to it, touching its soft petals for a moment while I recalled how I'd first met Jooheon.

We had made each other so angry, and he had refused to believe that I could be anything but a terrible person. I wondered when it was, exactly that I'd come to see him, not as a monster, but as a friend, and later the one I loved.

Yet it seemed to me that while I had both acknowledged and confessed my feelings very suddenly they hadn't developed that way. As I came to get to know him and trust him, I'd learned that he was the best confidant and friend I'd ever had, and as he bore his heart to me it was impossible for me to not feel for him.

But now he was gone forever, and I'd never be able to sit and watch the stars and the fireflies with him again. Such simple pleasures they were, and they were ones I'd completely taken for granted.

I was so engaged in my memories of him however, that I wasn't alerted to the terrible sound as an enormous tree, set on fire, came crashing down just behind me. I felt the tremor, but couldn't care less to determine the cause of it.

It was Taehyung who finally pulled me away, although I remained completely unconscious to his pleas. Instead, I kicked and screamed and pulled against him, begging him to let me go back to  Jooheon's side. Yet try as I might I was no match for him in strength.

"Get a hold of yourself Rose!" He shouted, bringing me back to reason with a slap across the face.

"Let me go back to him Taehyung! I promised I wouldn't leave him alone!" I screamed, still pulling against him.

"He wouldn't want you do die! Have you gone mad? A tree's fallen and the fire would have killed you!"

Gaining control of myself I looked to see that Taehyung was telling the truth. An enormous tree had collapsed not 10 feet away from Jooheon's body, and it was dangerously close to the fire now. The heat alone would have probably killed me.

"We can't just leave him there to burn, Taehyung," I cried, and he spun me around to embrace me.

"He made me promise to stop you from doing anything rash," he said, and I sobbed harder knowing that it could have been nothing but the truth. I allowed him to support me to a safe distance away from the flames.

"What will happen now?" I asked, both my voice and spirit completely broken.

"I've sent my uncle back to Fiorein the hands of my most trusted men. He will not see the light of day again. He murdered the official heir in cold blood and everyone will know it. Everyone will know who my brother was, and what he stood for." Taehyung's voice was breaking too, and I saw a tear run down his face.

 I wasn't the only one suffering and I'd been selfish.

Along with the Aryan's, we took shelter under a thick canopy of trees and waited out the rain, watching as it slowly caused the fire to diminish until it disappeared completely. It was late, and I was tired, but sleep wouldn't claim me.

Kyungsoo had gone to summon the rest of the Aryan's back home, and alert them of the fire and Jooheon's death. I was desperately relieved to see my family, but the looks of pity they shared as soon as they sa