#crusaderwolves

DO NOT SEPARATE THEM!!!!!

More crusader wolves bc I woke up this morning and @amen-and-a-tank showed me these????

They were crusaders alongside Charlie and Matty but they kind of had their own thing going on so the paths didn't cross super much initially.

Isaak was the first to die on the battlefield actually, which prompted Vargamor to appear to him and offer him another chance at life if he pledged his allegiance to her as his heathen saint. Isaak, however, is SO steadfastly catholic that he said no, he's gonna bleed out on his own terms thank you very much.

So Vargamor was like hm. Alright. Hey James!

And James said yes immediately because he's religious alright, but he's also deeply in love with Isaak and he'd do anything for that man. So Vargamor got James' soul instead and still brought Isaak back bc hey, a deal's a deal.

This is also why she went for that approach to get her hands on Charlie later on, she didn't exactly expect for Matthew to come to her of his own accord as a result but hey. Two for the price of one there!

Anyway, Isaak and James continue on their merry crusade and like. It becomes blatantly clear they're in love with each other, except Isaak is not dealing well at all bc he's absolutely terrified of letting himself succumb to that kind of sin.

James, however, is a little self-serving and also he wants Isaak to be loved without having to suffer, so he basically says, Isaak. If I steal your rosary from you, and I take it by force, did you commit a sin because you let me have it?

And Isaak says ....no?

And James takes the rosary from him and goes good. I'm not talking about the rosary.

So essentially they do manage, as long as they keep up the pretense that James is totally making Isaak do this, right. He's totally got no other choice, really, James is totally not the one person who best knows the difference between Isaak saying no(no) and no(yes).

Anyways they do a bunch of mental gymnastics, each in their own way, to keep this operation going right. They're doing FINE.

There's also Peter btw, he shares their tent and just witnesses all of this, much to his chagrin, but hey. He's not about to get involved, he's just gonna grit his teeth and carry on.

So eventually bc James is not concerned with his own sins at all and really only cares to keep Isaak from being (perceived as) sinful, the church authorities are like bro. This is your one and only warning to get your shit together right now, stop whatever it is you're doing and submit to our fucking rules.

James however does not do that bc what he needs is to keep Isaak safe above all else, and if he needs to get punished for it, fine.

And punished he will be, because the church decides he's entirely too unwilling to listen to them, which is dangerous if you're the church and wanna keep up your authority, so they sentence him to death on the pyre. Mainly for the dramatics honestly.

So up on the wood pile James goes and Isaak is in the crowd absolutely distraught to the bone because he doesn't know that James sold his soul to a heathen saint back on the battlefield. All he knows is that the love of his life whom he never even told that this is what he is, is about to die a horrible death because he decided Isaak was worth it to become this much of a sinner.

And then they do the whole "you are sentenced to death because you're evilbad and you're going to die and go to hell for it" spiel, at the end of which Isaak can no longer bear it.

So our little tortured catholic soul climbs on the pyre where James is tied up and kisses him straight on the mouth because for fuck's sake, he loves this man and if James is going to hell for this, so is Isaak. Isaak can't save him, but he can go where James is going.

So Isaak gets tied to the pyre as well, hey efficiency right, they set the whole thing on fire and presto, there they go.

Except James is part of Vargamor's pack now. He's a wolf under her protection and as such he can survive a lot more than Isaak can. So he lives, though badly burned.

And he goes to Vargamor afterwards like "please, let me die, let me be with Isaak" and she's like lol no. This was the deal, James. Your soul, in servitude to me, for his life. I can't make him immortal, if he dies after I brought him back that's not my problem.

James of course does not like that one bit and attempts to attack her, except that's a really, really bad idea and is also how Attila learned that you do NOT openly defy Vargamor if you're meant to heed her.

James spends some miserable decades on a metaphorical (and sometimes literal) very short leash in Vargamor's pack, until one day he's just kind of left by himself to wander aimlessly through the countryside and he comes across a very, very old man.

This old man takes one look at him and goes, oh my Lord. James. I don't know what you did or how it made you end up here, but I know it wasn't a good thing and I also know that you did it for Isaak at some point in time.

And James is like, please. Can you just kill me man, I can't do this anymore.

And the old man says I can try, but I'm too old to bury you.

So James digs out his own grave and carves a stake from a treebranch, and then he goes to lie down and hands Peter the stake, and Peter promises to put Isaak's rosary right over James' heart before filling the grave back up. Because of course James kept that. It used to be silver, but the fire turned it black.

And that is how the crusader companions reunite in death :)

《ALIVE OR UNDEAD》

Charles Greywolf trauma simulator

Due to @spilosomakai I drew more Crusaderwolves. Except I have to make it angst. But don't worry!!! Matty's got him.

《ALIVE OR UNDEAD》

Did someone say WTMSR backstory intermission? Yes, and it was me.

《ALIVE OR UNDEAD》

And that's how the boys joined Vargamor! Well, Charles did. Matthew essentially went and offered himself up to her as soon as he found out what happened. Ain't no Charlie without Matty and vice versa.