Ending: Chapter Eleven

Sparrow talks to Opaque, and gets a strange idea of what to do for the rest of the day. Plus, Hurricane tells Sparrow some unfortunate news.

Stupid calls returning us to life
We say to those who are in love
It can't be true 'cause we're too young
I know that's true because
So long I was
So in love with you
- So I Thought by Flyleaf

A cool breeze had begun to float over the trees, blowing the surrounding foliage lazily.  It was, although spring was more than halfway through, chilly and unexpected.  Spring was normally breezy and rainy, so the cold wasn't what was unexpected.  Instead, it was the fact that summer weather was coming around so soon.

The first time that Sparrow woke up, it was so early that the sun had just barely begun to rise.  Irritated, considering he was not tired at all, Sparrow just ignored the darkness outside and walked out of his den.  That was when he first felt the chill.  Shivering, no longer had the desire to be awake.  Trying to fall asleep again took forever, because Sparrow wasn't one who tired easily, unless he was ill or had been running around all day.  Although he was lying down and his eyes were closed, he was awake.  He couldn't fall asleep knowing that he wasn't tired, because there was a possibility that he might have another flashback or nightmare. 

Not helping at all with that, the wind was whistling loudly outside, but other than that it was completely silent.  That bothered Sparrow, because he knew that wasn't normal.  In fact, some wolf packs even hunted and roamed around at night.  Mountain lions were sometimes up.  And of course, crickets and owls were not uncommon.  But, it wasn't that night (or, very early morning).  It was motionless outside.

The second time that Sparrow woke up, it was brighter outside but not bright enough for his liking.  The unusual darkness told him that today would most likely be dreary and rainy.  Spring showers were nearly non-existent this year, so it had to happen at some point, he assumed.  That didn't mean that he wanted it now. 

When he left his den for the second time that day, Sparrow saw his sister standing down by the tree where fresh kill was stored.  She greeted him with a soft whimper and sat down.  "They're coming soon," she said quietly.  "I can tell."

Sparrow was confused.  "...What?"

"The pups."

Sparrow nodded.  It was the end of April, an unusual time for wolf pups to be born, but when the weather started feeling more like summer than spring.  According to Opaque, the pups would be arriving shortly.  It had been weeks since Opaque had told Sparrow that she was pregnant, and Sparrow wasn't sure how long it had been since she had seen Hurricane. 

"I hope you know I'm still going to kill you for doing that in the first place," Sparrow muttered darkly.

Opaque cocked her head to the side, confused.  "Why?"

Sparrow gritted his teeth.  "You could die," he said snappily, looking down at the ground and looking back up seconds later.  "I mean, giving birth could kill you.  It's probably happened before.  And the pups might not even survive to adulthood, Opaque, so... is it really worth it?"

Opaque looked shocked.  "Of course it's worth it," she told him firmly.  "It gives the pack a higher population, no matter if all but one of them dies."

"But what if all of them die?"

Opaque looked at her brother with a horrified expression.  "Now, I know for a fact that you have no heart whatsoever," she growled.  "How could you say that?  That's... that's horrible, Sparrow!  Why are you even thinking of the possibility that -"

"Because it's happened before," Sparrow said blankly.  "That's why."

Opaque didn't respond for a moment, but she shook her head, frowning.  "...When?"

"Sunset has lost many of her pups," Sparrow told her.  "Snowflake has one left."

Opaque narrowed her eyes.  "But, at least -"

"Why go through all that pain you'll get if there's more death?  What if they're your pups?"

"We should hunt something today," Opaque suggested, attempting to change the topic, and Sparrow shook his head immediately, also seeming to forget about what they had just talked about. 

"You're not coming," he said firmly.

Opaque's eyes widened.  "Why?!"

"Um, you're pregnant," Sparrow told her.  "That's not safe!"

His sister shrugged, her golden eyes slowly drifting away from him.  "Oh well," she said simply.  "That doesn't really mean anything.  I'm not going to get hurt."

Sparrow shook his head firmly.  "Oh, no," he told her nonchalantly.  "I know what will happen if you go.  We're probably going to get injured, and you might end up dying or something.  We don't even want to risk you or your pups getting injured at all."

Opaque looked as if she was about to protest, but Sparrow gave her a "don't-even-try" look and she closed her mouth.  "It's still not fair," she muttered, getting up and stretching slightly.  "I guess you're right, though.  It might not be safe..."

Suddenly, Sparrow's eyes lit up.  "Wait!  I have an idea..."

~ ~ ~

"...Fishing."

Sparrow nodded eagerly as he spoke to the wolves in front of him.  He had managed to get their attention a few moments after they all woke up, and he had just told them his plan not long ago.  Sunset had responded first, and the others were simply standing their with their eyes widened and their mouths agape.

Sunset repeated her statement again, her amber eyes getting slightly wider.  "...Fishing."

"Yes," Sparrow said proudly.  "That's probably the safest way to go hunting."

"But..." Sunset's expression turned into a pout.  "We'll have to get wet!"

Sparrow looked at her matter-of-factly.  "Yes," he said.  "But who cares?"

"Um, I do," the ginger she-wolf said defensively.  "And from what I can see, so do the others."

Sparrow turned around to see the others in the pack still staring at him like he had gone insane.  He gritted his teeth, turning back to face Sunset, and sighed.  "...And your point is?" he hissed.

Sunset shrugged.  "I don't want to hunt, or fish, OR get wet," she protested, but Sparrow shook his head. 

"Too bad," he replied.  "We're going."

Sunset growled at Sparrow, but he ignored her and turned on his heel, walking slightly more towards the rest of the pack.  They were all staring at him now, but their mouths had closed as if they were finally starting to accept this... odd idea.

"So," Sparrow said innocently, "any more objections?"

"Well..."

"Uhh..."

Sparrow silenced the wolves who had spoken, which were Sunset and Opaque, with a glare.  "Besides you two," he muttered.  Looking around for a moment, he was pleased to see that no one had even attempted to protest.  "Good," Sparrow said, and he started to walk off towards where the valley was.  "As you know, there's a lake in the valley.  We'll fish there."

"How do you know that there are even any fish in there?" Sunset grumbled.  "It'll just be a waste of time if there aren't -"

"Oh, don't worry," Sparrow said with his ever-present sarcasm.  "I asked the fish if they would be there, and they said they would."

Sunset cuffed him lightly, rolling her eyes and stopping as they continued to talk.  She continued walking once she reached Opaque. 

Sparrow was wondering when the next time that Sapphire would be able to hunt would be.  He hadn't talked to Moon about that yet, even though he probably would soon.  It felt different without Sapphire by his side at the moment, and he missed them just talking about random nonsense and Sapphire bothering him about how he was a horrible tracker the entire time they were hunting.  Sparrow sighed quietly as they continued walking.  This time, he was one of the only wolves who wasn't speaking with anyone.  Usually, that was different.

Now, everything was different.

They reached the valley after a few minutes of walking, and Sparrow was silent the entire time.  The valley was deserted, so Sparrow knew that it was ironic that he thought they should go fishing today.  He had no idea if they were even able to fish, as wolves, but he had seen bears and bobcats do it.  If they could, perhaps wolves could as well. 

He seriously doubted it.

Sparrow and the others hadn't been in this lake in so long that it seemed weird to be here, but they were anyway.  First, Sparrow had a feeling that he was going to have to learn how to fish, if it was possible. 

He was the first to even approach the water, Sparrow noticed.  The others stayed as far away as possible, appearing slightly cautious of the water.  Sparrow looked at them questionably.  "Are any of you coming in?"

There was no response.

Sparrow rolled his eyes impatiently and stepped into the water.  It was absolutely freezing, but that didn't matter.  He shivered and continued going in.  It was shallow water on the whole, only a couple feet deep, and the bottom of it was rocky and sandy.  The water was clear, yet cold, which was a good sign to find fish.  He spotted one immediately - a large pink salmon was swimming around in the lake, close to the bottom floor in the water.  Sparrow frowned, annoyed that he would have to wade further into the water before reaching the salmon.  But, he would rather get soaked than starve, obviously.

He crept over to the salmon calmly, his eyes on it the entire time.  Once he was close enough, he dove for it, almost submerging himself.  He had missed, he realized, annoyed.  He shook himself firmly to attempt to de-soak himself, but that didn't seem to help much.  "Apparently, you have to be quick," he told the pack, still bothered that they were making him do this before they did - if they did at all.  "And, maybe catch it with your mouth."

Sparrow spotted the salmon again, further away.  He waded out to it and lunged at it, pulling his head up with the frantic fish dangling from his mouth.  Surprised that it was flailing around this much, Sparrow heaved himself out of the lake and onto the bank.  He dropped the fish simply, panting, and watched it jump around pitifully on the land. 

"...What do I do now...?" he asked quietly, and Opaque came to his side.

"Oh, I don't know," she said sarcastically.  "Eat it?"

"I know that," Sparrow snarled.  "I met... how?  It keeps moving!"

"Kill it," Opaque said brightly, and she whacked it with her front paw.  The fish appeared stunned for a moment, but then it got right back to hopping around on the stones by the lake.  Frustrated, she cuffed it again, but that didn't seem to be helping.  "This was not your best idea," she growled at her brother, and he agreed with a hasty nod.

Getting extremely annoyed that this fish would not die, Sparrow cuffed it quickly so it was stunned for a couple seconds and clamped his jaws around it, picking it up.  The fish whacked him in the muzzle with its tail, and he growled, biting down on it harder.  "Thisf is confusfing," he muttered with the fish still in his mouth, dropping it finally as he got tired of it hitting him with its tail in useless efforts to get free.  The salmon began wiggling around again as it hit the ground, weaker since it was now bleeding again.  Sparrow was mad now, and he whacked it with his paw one more time, making the fish fly to the left.  Embarrassed that his fishing plan wasn't working out so well, Sparrow hurried over to the fish and decided that there was an easier way to do this.  He began pulling off its flesh, starting at the head and moving down towards the tail slowly.  Satisfied that the fish was almost dead, he repeated the step, tossing the unneeded flesh to the side.  He had stripped it of its scaly skin, and now it was dead, so he was finally able to eat. 

"Well?" Sparrow asked, looking at the other wolves.  "Go ahead and try fishing.  See how hard it is."

Hastily, the rest of the wolves slowly made their way to the river.  There were many types of fish in the water, and all of the wolves eventually managed to grab one and pull it out of the water.  By the time Sparrow had finished eating, all wolves were trying to kill their fish by biting down on it and keeping it still by pressing it to the ground with their paws.  I wish I would've thought of that, Sparrow thought to himself.

He assumed that Sapphire would want something to eat, so he went back into the water for a second time.  Honestly, he did not want to catch a fish ever again, but, for Sapphire's sake, he would do it one last time.  But after that, he was never doing that again.

After he got out of the water, a voice caught his attention.  He recognized it immediately.  "Fishing, hmm?"

It was Hurricane, and he could tell from the moment the first word was uttered.  "No," Sparrow replied sarcastically, "we're sleeping."

Hurricane rolled his eyes, heading over towards Opaque.  Sparrow had his eye on them as he dragged his newly caught fish over to a corner.  He was going to have to kill it, and then bring it to Sapphire.  This was going to be annoying.  He was only doing this for her because she was injured.

Bringing his attention back to Opaque and Hurricane, he saw Opaque looking both confused and worried at the same time.  She was talking to Hurricane in a low voice, and he appeared to have a problem or something on his mind.  Sparrow saw them both look towards him, and look away quickly.  Opaque whispered something to Hurricane, and he nodded slowly.

They approached Sparrow cautiously, and he was staring at them with an "I'm-not-in-the-mood-to-talk-to-either-of-you-because-of-what-you-did-a-few-weeks-ago" expression.  Hurricane swallowed and cleared his throat stiffly, and swallowed again.  "Um, Sparrow...?"

Sparrow didn't respond, but his eyes narrowed.

"I... I need to ask a favor of you."

Sparrow groaned.  "Oh, what is it now?  Well, whatever it is, no is probably the answer."

Opaque whacked her brother in the muzzle quickly, looking at Hurricane with a fake smile.  "Go on," she said stiffly, glancing at her brother.

"Um..." Hurricane paused again.  "Okay.  Fine.  I was wondering if..."

"Spit it out," Sparrow ordered.

"...Since Opaque will be, um, having her pups soon... Can I stay in your pack?"

Author's Note

RANDOM FACT: I think I listened to E.T. by Katy Perry and Haunted by Taylor Swift 40,000 times each when I typed this up. <3 Tips/comments and suggestions! This was a fun chapter. xD And YES, wolves can fish. Go to youtube and type in "wolves fishing" if you want proof. xD

Reviews

[r]

first of all, "...fishing?" almost killed me. and when i read on i was dying of laughter. oh god, i LUFF Sunset. This whole chapter was fawking hilarious. I mnean seriously, the beginning it was all ominious like an omen and shiz, and then the conversation with Opaque made me roll my eyes at Sparrow. He's so.....depressing and SUCH a pessimist. and THEN they forgot WTF they were talking about! i mean what the hell is with dat? xDlmfao. When they decided to go fishing made me giggle insanely and i loved the line --"Oh, don't worry," Sparrow said with his ever-present sarcasm. "I asked the fish if they would be there, and they said they would.-- THAT made me laugh my F*****G A*S OFF. Ohmaijesus i LOVE sarcasm so YAYYYY. When they actually fished was f*****g hilarious, his pack made him do it first and then he didnt know how da f**k to KILL the damn thing. i mean REALLY?! and then the other wolves figured it out. *rolls eyes8 Sparrow is SUCH a f*****g dumbass. AND OHMAIGAWDTHEENDING!! Cliffhanger...grr WHAT THE HELL. Sure, I left you hanging with the possibilty of my character being dead, but..whatever. xD This is worse somehow. I mean Sparrow...will he say YES or NO? i mean inknow he hates hurricane, but...idk. o.o i wanna know SO WRITE!!

OHBTW, how come everyone posts s**t when im gone? xD nawh, im kidding. i told chu to. but STILL. xP BUT YAYY CHU GOT OVER WRITERS BLOCK but noooo *cry* chu probably have it again.. lolsz. :D I luffluffluffLUFF this chapter and i cant WAIT to see what the heck happens!! yayy. :D

[halflives]

CREEEEEPER.
Bwhahaha fishing :3

[נнα&p..]

I loved this chapter! :D It was funny. xD aRGH, I need to stop reviewing so late. It made me laugh like 50 times. Heheh. xD

[Rayne~Drop.]

OHMYGOD ET IS AMAZING! XD And...I agree with Cheezurt. I almost died laughing to. XD I love how pessimistic Sparrow is...And ohmygod fishing... That was just a LOVELY idea. XD Sunset complains to much. its very entertaining. XD And OHMYFUCKINGGOD THE SARCASM! I. LOVE. YOU. ...nh. lol Sarcasm from Sparrow is always so entertaining and funny and yeah. I love it. So write more. XD

[~dr.nugget~]

great chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 write more. now.