Ending: Chapter One

Author's Note: I'm aware that the whole beginning part is freakishly long and boring, but please read it, okay?  :)  It tells a lot of information about what happened in between June-December.

Angel of mine
Can I thank you?
You have saved me time and time again
Angel, I must confess
It's you that always gives me strength
And I don't know where I'd be without you
...Without you...

- Angel of Mine by Evanescence

The months of June through December had passed by in what seemed like a few days to Sparrow.  His injuries, all of them, had healed ages ago, and nothing serious or tragic had happened since then.  Boring, he thought, as he stared down at the forest floor that morning.  Nothing ever went wrong anymore since Isis and the rogue wolves were finally defeated at the start of June.  The rest of the summer was hot and dry that year, but that was the only problem that they have faced during that season.  There were frequent droughts, but since the North Lake was even slightly close to their territory they didn't suffer throughout that period of time.  When summer ended and fall began, the drought stopped abruptly and it poured for a few days straight.  After the end of all that rain, autumn was also an uneventful season.  It was strangely warm that year, but towards the end it got slightly colder.  Winter began as a dry season, but it snowed first in the middle of December.  Throughout that month, the pack had gone hunting several times to give themselves a decent supply of food for when it got even colder.  No one had died in six months, an uncommon thing in the wild.  Usually at least one wolf died every couple months from something, whether it was a disease or a hunting injury, but the pack had never let that stop them before.

The morning after Isis had died, Sparrow and the pack were still recovering from all their losses the night before.  That was the only day that Sparrow could remember since the night of the attack; the days in between were blurred and blank in his memory.  He couldn't remember more than a fragment of each day, no matter how hard that he tried.  Sparrow wasn't sure if Sapphire was still angry with him now, but she didn't appear that angry the morning after the battle.  But now, Sparrow definitely knew that their relationship wasn't going to be the same anymore - it just wasn't possible, considering their last fight.  He knew Sapphire had meant what she said when she said it, and that she couldn't take it back.  He knew that he meant what he said as well, and that he couldn't take it back no matter how much he apologized.  His words had hurt her as much as her words had hurt him in that fight, but they hadn't said anything about it in the months after it. The beginning of every day resulted in awkward stares at each other as they left their dens, and they didn't speak unless it was absolutely necessary to.  Sparrow missed what they had been like before, and he hoped that she did as well.  He wouldn't ask her, however, because... he just wasn't strong enough to do something like that.

Sparrow didn't have any dreams during that period of time.  Every time he closed his eyes at night, he fell asleep quickly yet got up earlier than usual every morning.  His sleep was never interrupted by anything anymore, no matter if it was a thunderstorm or an annoying cricket.  Sparrow was well aware that this was most likely because his life had gotten so much easier since Isis had died... he didn't have to worry about her or mostly anything else since the battle.

But he couldn't stop thinking about the wolf he dreamed about about a year ago.  He still remembered it... the blazing, furious eyes... the look of hatred... the way it attacked Sapphire...

Shaking the thought away from his head quickly, Sparrow went back to thinking about his dreamless sleep that he had the night before.  He did wake up that night, but for no apparent reason - no annoying noises, dreams, or anything.  He just happened to wake up, and when he did, he was panting and his heart was pounding very hard.  He wasn't sure why, but he sensed something was nearby... watching him.

Sparrow sighed, turning over and finally getting the strength to get up.  He was always lazy in the morning, never feeling like getting up the moment he awoke.  But this morning, he felt the need to go on a small hunt.  Winter wasn't over yet, and he wanted the pack to have enough food.  January had started a couple days ago, and the weather was freezing and icy so far.  They hadn't hunted since the last day of December, so they had just finished up the last bits of their most recent kill, a whitetail deer.    

"Hello?"

Sparrow had immediately walked up to the edge of the meeting cliff as soon as he left his den that morning, sitting lazy with his front paws dangling over the edge.  As soon as he spoke, most of the wolves in the clearing looked up, and Sparrow spoke again.

"We should really attempt to go hunting today, considering that our food is almost gone," he said.  "It doesn't really matter what we catch, but... we just need something to eat around here."

Muttering in agreement, one of the wolves spoke up.  "Is the entire pack coming?"  It was Sunset who had spoken.

"Yes, except Moon.  She obviously can't do anything for us involving hunting, because she has three legs."

"Right..." Sunset grimaced and looked at Sapphire questionably, who was standing next to her.

"Anyway..." Sparrow continued giving Sunset and awkward stare.  "I suppose we'll hunt deer today, or something."

While Sparrow continued to explain their plans for the day, Sapphire lost all focus on him.  She began to feel slightly uneasy and unsure about the current day's situation - nothing had happened in six months and something had to happen soon.  And, if it had to, Sapphire had a feeling that it was going to be today and the weeks up ahead.  Anxious for the moment that all bad things would be over and out of her head, Sapphire began to think, even though she didn't want to, about death.  Death was common in the wild, not at all something the pack wasn't used to.  No one ever mourned anymore after Dawn's death - it was as if they had lost the will to grieve in the time they'd spent waiting for Isis to kill them.

For some reason, Sapphire shuddered at the thought of Isis yet again, even though she was dead.  Every single time Isis was even mentioned for a split second, everyone in the situation grew quiet and things got awkward.  If they spoke soon after, they'd seem nervous and uneasy.  The past years, from Isis' return to her death, had been so traumatizing for the pack that they didn't know how they could even think of it without feeling some sort of strong emotion.

Sapphire's attention somehow drifted back to Sparrow and the rest of the pack in the middle of her thoughts, leading to her thinking of how badly Sparrow must have felt and how terrified he was during the months when Isis was alive.  Sapphire shook the thought away as soon as it came to her head - she was tired of the constant worrying she'd been doing over the last year.

"I'll give you a few moments to rest, or whatever you want to do, before we go," Sparrow told the pack as he made his way off of the meeting cliff.  "I... I need to talk to Opaque for a minute."

Sparrow headed to his sister's side just as he finished, considering that he was already off the cliff.  He was mildly nervous about cliffs or other rocky, elevated areas, since he had broken a few of his ribs from a fall off a cliff sometime last year.  But... that was also the place that Isis and him fought, and where Blizzard lost his life from falling.  Sighing as he thought of this, Sparrow was traumatized by nearly everything now, because every single thing reminded him somehow of the battle.

Finally reaching Opaque, Sparrow had a few things to ask her that had been on his mind for a while now.  "Okay," Sparrow said.  "Have you had any... dreams lately?"

"No."  She looked at him questionably.

"Good," Sparrow said.  "I was just wondering, because... sometimes dreams are either a warning that something bad is going to happen, or they are somewhat predicting the future."

Opaque looked at him with confusion, in which Sparrow replied with a hasty "Moon told me."

"Oh," Opaque said coolly.  "Well, no.  I didn't have any strange dreams lately, but a day after the battle I had a dream about..." She gulped, lowering her voice down to a whisper.  "Hurricane."

His eyes widening, Sparrow knew this was slightly unusual.  Opaque had never mentioned Hurricane after the incident nearly two years ago where Opaque first spoke about Hurricane.  "W-what happened?"

"He told me... that... Well, he said, 'it will come back,' but I knew that he wasn't talking about Isis or anything considering that she was dead."

Sparrow was silent for a few moments, wondering what Hurricane must have met in the dream.  Opaque was right - Isis was dead, and there was no way that she would ever come back.  It wasn't possible, and that was an obvious fact he and the rest of the wolves were very well aware of.

"...Odd," Sparrow finally responded.  He looked at his sister curiously, and she sighed.

"I still have no idea what it was about," Opaque admitted to Sparrow.  "I just... I missed Hurricane already before that dream, but now I'm not sure what is going on."

Sparrow frowned.  "Did you talk to Moon about it?"

Lowering her voice again, Opaque shook her head before she spoke.  "I can't tell Moon," she hissed.  "You are the only one that I've told about Hurricane."

"Right..." Sparrow mumbled.  "Look, just... tell me if you have any other strange dreams.  We're going to go out to hunt now, and you're coming because I said so."

"I was going to come anyway," Opaque muttered, turning and walking away from her brother.  Satisfied, Sparrow headed after her and walked to the front of the wolves, underneath the meeting cliff, where they could completely see and hear him.

"Let's go," he ordered, and the wolves behind obediently followed him.

Sunset followed him closely behind, nudging him to get his attention.  When her leader turned, she asked him, "So, we are hunting deer, right?"

Sparrow replied with a nod, too anxious to speak.  If he did, his voice would come out all rushed and too quick to understand anything that he said, so he chose to keep his mouth shut.  Sunset nodded in return, turning around and heading back to the middle of the pack following Sparrow, beside her sons Blaze and Fire.  They were her only older offspring now, and Sunset was even more protective of them then before, even though she had given birth to a litter of four several months ago.  Their names were Ginger, Scarlett, Copper, and Birch - three females and one male, Birch being the only male.

The pack hadn't walked far before Sapphire ordered them to stop and sniffed the air, her eyes narrowed in concentration.  "There's a deer up ahead at the lake."

Sparrow sighed with relief.  "Good, we don't have to walk anymore!"

"Right."  Sapphire rolled her eyes.

~ ~ ~

Sparrow didn't know how long it took for them to attack the deer, which had been peacefully drinking but stabbed at them with its massive antlers as they attacked.  As far as Sparrow knew, no one was seriously injured, because he crept away before they could take it down.

It started because in the middle of the attack, Sparrow scented something strange.  It was the unfamiliar scent of another wolf, but it did not have the scent of a wolf from his pack or somewhere in the South.  Sparrow assumed it must have been a lone wolf, but that wasn't what was interested about the scent.  Otherwise, he would have ignored it.  The strange this was that... he could smell blood as well, and it wasn't from the deer.

Making sure no one saw him, Sparrow looked in all directions before taking off into the forest.  They had reached the valley again by the lake for the hunt, which led directly back into the forest.  His eyes narrowing as the scents grew stronger and stronger, Sparrow's eyes widened and he stopped running immediately.

There was an injured wolf, lying on the ground, with a bear trap latched onto its head.

Sparrow was so overcome by disgust by the state of the dying wolf that he questioned whether he should turn away or see if the wolf was even still alive.  He assumed that the wolf was careless, not looking where it was going, and that it tripped over something and fell face-forward into the bear trap.  The sharp "teeth" of the bear trap were dug into the face of the wolf, and it was bleeding severely, its face, although hidden, a complete bloody mess.  Sparrow's mouth dropped open slightly, about three seconds from running back to the valley to escape this gruesome sight forever, but something told him to stay.

The wolf was panting rapidly, yowling in pain as it attempted to get free of the bear trap that was latched tightly around its entire head.  Sparrow's eyes followed the wolf's movements as it thrashed around in the bear trap.  But there was no way out of it - obviously, the wolf was going to die, and there was no way else to put it.

Sparrow couldn't help the wolf - no one could.  A bear hunter had obviously set this trap, and a wolf had killed itself in it.  Sparrow wasn't sure what wolf this was, or if it was a loner or anything, but he didn't stay long enough to find out anyway.  Taking off in the direction towards the valley, Sparrow was thankful that he hadn't eaten yet that day - otherwise, he would have vomited at the sight.

Seeing the remainder of his pack, Sparrow quickly ran over to them, noticing that they had taken down the deer.

"Yes, um... WHERE DID YOU GO?!" Sapphire asked him furiously as he approached them. 

"I'll tell you later," Sparrow mumbled.

"It's good that you came, because Sunset was stabbed by the deer's antler," Opaque said quietly.

Sunset was sitting in the center of the valley where they were, and protesting to the wolves.  She was bleeding profusely, but told the wolves surrounding her, "I'm fine, okay?"

Ignoring the rest of her words, Sparrow went up to Sapphire and Opaque to tell them what he found.  "It's hunting season for bears," he told them quickly.  "Watch out for bear traps.  I kind of... saw a wolf... that fell face-forward into one."

Looking disgusted, Sapphire let out a gasp, and Opaque shuddered at the thought.  "Oh..." she muttered.  "Let's just eat before something else happens, and get out of here."

"Oh, no," Sparrow told her firmly.  "I am NOT eating for several days.  If I do, I will throw up, because of the thing I just told you about."

Sapphire rolled her eyes, walking over to the place where the deer lay dead.  "Let's take it home, then," she said. 

"DON'T go through those woods," Sparrow told her quickly.  "That's where... it was."

"Oh... oh." 

~ ~ ~

She was there, and he knew it.

But... where?

Her memory was still there.

It would be for the rest of his life.

But did it have to linger there for so long?

Author's Note

Tips/suggestions and comments please! I would've had this posted sooner, but I kinda had writer's block for a while and got over it this morning, but started getting it again towards the end of this chapter.

Reviews

[r]

I-I-I.....I AM F*****G SPEECHLESS. Warning, this is going to be a long review [kinda] and will take few minutes. SO LETS GET STARTED:

Firstly, I did NOT think the beginning was boring at all. It's nice to sort of explain everything that's happened, especially if it's been like half a dang year. And I wonder what this new threat is!? ITS DRIVING ME NUTS! I wanna know wtf it is. But alas, i have to be PATIENT. which I am NOT. T^T Anyway, wehn I reread the thing about heights, I DIED inside. DIED because I remembered that BLIZZARD IS DEAD. D: And because of those spoof interviews yu did, I have realized and decided that Blizz is my favorite. o.O well... WAS now. And DAMNIT MADDIE, It's taken you long enough to post a new chapter! I MEAN FOR GODSSAKES UR MY FAVORITE WRITER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!! AND WHAT DO YOU DO!?! YOU MAKE ME WAIT FOREVAH UNTIL IM DEAD TO POST ANOTHER F*****G CHAPTER. so I HATE YOU...well, not really. cause i could never hate you BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

And eww! That thing with the bear trap is GROSS. and ROFL. I LOVE Sapphy so much. "Yes, um... WHERE DID YOU GO?!" lolol it made me LOL. xDD And the ending, as usual, was awesome. I love those little thought thingies you do. And I cant WAIT for the next chapter. SO F**K YOU WRITERS BLOCK. GO AWAY.

*ahem* Sparrow sure has changed since the beginning of the series! I MEAN SERIOUSLY. O.O ITS DRASTIC. And aww. D: I want things to be happeh and sarcastic and lovey-dovey between Sapphy and Sparrow again!! I WANT MY COUPLE BACK DAMNIT. D:< okay okay...i THINK i said everything i wanted to... And if i turns out I didn't, I'll jsut spam you about it in our message. (: LOVE IT MADDIE!!! :D

[halflives]

I'M SPEECHLESS AS WELL. Holycrapthatwasgood.

[Rayne~Drop.]

I laughed. So hard. Cuz you ACTUALLY KILLED SOMEONE WITH A BEAR TRAP LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD...And Ithink iim insane...Or i ave a ick and twisted sense of humor bcuz i found tha very hilarious...XD AND CHEEZIT PUT EVERYTHING I WUZ TO LAZY TO SAY INTO WORDZ. XD And I WANT MAI SAPPHY AND SPARROW LOVE AND BICKERING BACK TO! I MISS DA SARCASTINESSSS! XD ......Yeah. XD ...I still love the bear trap...So fummeh...XD

[נнα&p..]

Cheezit said EVERYTHING that I had to say, and I'm not even lying. she. said. EVERYTHING. that I wanted to say. The bear trap thing was pretty disgusting. xD, but disgusting stuff is AWESOME. ANYWAY... READING ON!!!!