Standing there with his eyes closed, waving side to side by an inch or so on his long, white legs, Tiberius could not stop the wave of imagery that coursed through his weary mind. Flowers -- soft purple daphne -- atop freshly turned earth, white fur stained in scarlet, the blank glaze of those pale blue eyes which had once been so bright... There was a stinging behind the wolf's closed eyes, and the pressed them more tightly shut to stop tears from forming. This... This was not how he wanted to remember her -- his little white dove, lifeless and broken.

The quiet words of the stranger, so very close and yet so far away, broke through the boiling pit that was his mind, and Tiberius found his jaw giving a tight clench -- the only part of a flinch his tired body could produce. There was a sincere sort of concern in the stranger's voice, something rather reminiscent -- like the way his mother spoke to him after he'd had a row with is father, or the way Aurelan had sounded when his fur was laced with blood after some particularly brutal training session. It was painful, right now, to think of such a tone on a stranger's lips, and Tiberius felt a very odd surge of rage flare in his chest. He knew it was unwarranted, but, though he was typically quite the rational young wolf, the feeling was beyond his controlled or understanding. It just was.

He didn't answer. Whether his tongue was tied from exhaustion or this irrational anger, Tiberius wasn't entirely sure -- but no word came to the tip of his tongue that could turn this stranger away. He didn't want help. He didn't want concern. All he really wanted in tht moment was to see her shining face, bright and full of life -- but that was impossible. Every piece of him knew the futility of his desire, but, again, he could not help the irrationality of his feelings. For what felt like the first time in his life, he was completely outside that kind of control.

The other wolf spoke again, and Tiberius felt the determination in the tone build with every word. The quiet, slightly anxious voice was more forceful as it told him, quite bluntly this time, that he was not okay -- that he was shaking, still covered in blood, and had willfully jumped into a river in winter. The very rational part of Tiberius' mind told him anyone who had seen all that must think him completely mad. He certainly would have if he had come across a stranger as such. Yet, in all the craziness that surrounded the situation, this wolf still wanted to help him.

Why?

Most would have just walked away and left him alone, but, even noticing all these things, this wolf was doing the exact opposite. Tiberius could feel him getting a little closer, though he had no strength left in his legs to maintain distance himself, and the calm, quiet plea to let the wolf help felt like a coup de grâce through every vital in his body.

Physically, he was done. The quake that ran through his spine at the last of the stranger's words nearly took him off his large paws as his mind repelled so violently, trying to push him away despite the complete lack of control he had over his muscles. He managed to look up, though only just so, and his soft lime and cerulean eyes were darkened with a cold steel -- narrowed and forbidding.

And then... the expression simply vanished. The will to refuse this wolf's help was gone, as was the cold, hard look that had taken so much to muster in the first place. Tiberius was left blank and weary once more -- vulnerable in every sense of the word.

Give it up. You've lost this battle...

He had lost everything.

"Fine..." Tiberius answered, defeated and weak. He would let this wolf give him whatever help he thought himself capable of, though Tiberius knew a great portion of his injuries were beyond healing. There wasn't a healer in existence who could mend a broken heart and a shattered soul.