Chapter 1: A hero's welcome

A/N hello there is first story is have ever written and posted on this site I must warn you all I can understand and spell most words but just can't grasp the concept of punctuation fully (I know right) . but now that my intro to the site is done here is my story please review and let me know what you think of my first story constructive criticism always welcome

(Warning balto x Jenna don't like don't read)

Disclaimer I don't own any balto characters or the story line of the movie they all go to their respective owners

A brown wolf-dog by the name of balto ran through the snow and ice each time his paws hit the freezing substance below them a jolt of pain shot through his entire form as he had been running nonstop for 2 days along a precarious path but he couldn't stop he wouldn't stop the children of Nome needed the precious anti-toxin that him and the other sled dogs were carrying. As he jumped over a small embankment of snow he saw a wonderful spectacle, on the side of one of the hills that bordered the small Alaskan town he saw the aurora borealis, or at least a very good replica of the natural wonder. And it was at that point that he remembered that the only 3 people who could have possibly known how to create the wonderful sight before him: was the wolf-dog himself, his long deceased mother and the most beautiful canine in existence that he loved with all his heart ,"Jenna" the wolf-dog said barely containing his smile.

as images of the beautiful cream and rust coloured husky entered his mind he couldn't supress the primal instinct deep within his being the instinct that had made him climb up the cliff with the medicine in tow after both him and said medicine went over a cliff and the instinct that had helped lead him to the small town, it was the instinct of the wolf. So he didn't even try to stop himself he lifted his head to the heavens and let out a mighty howl that under any other circumstances would have made the other dogs on the sled team run away with their tail between their legs but today, today was different for the howl the dogs heard was not one of a blood thirsty, ruthless and merciless killer as they had always believed him to be.

No this was the howl of a courageous, brave & fearless leader that they were all proud to have on the team. As they continued their trek across the frozen lands all of the residents of Nome had awoken to sound of a wolf's howl, some of the men had already grabbed their guns and had headed out on to Nome's main street in order to protect the town from the supposed impending wolf attack but a look of shock and disbelief spread across their features as they saw the missing anti-toxin team come bolting into town with a very peculiar lead dog. By the time the team had made it into town and stopped outside of the hospital most of the small town's residents were up and out on the main street greeting the returning heroes thanks to one of the gun wielding locals shouting "their back! Everyone the serum team is back!".

As balto finally got a few moments to recuperate his lost strength from the past 2 days of nonstop running he saw the large crowd of humans approaching and backed up into his team mates, tail tucked between his legs, scared and whimpering.

the other sled dogs saw this and some laughed or snickered at the terrified wolf dog ,but

kaltag seeing the genuine horror on the wolf-dogs face called to him and said "balto go ahead they want to thank you not hurt you!" the brown wolf-dog looked back at the tan husky with a look of uncertainty but the husky just gave him a smile and small nod urging the scared canine to take a step forward and receive the praise he deserved.

As balto looked around he realised no-one had attacked him or even made an aggressive gesture towards him. Taking this as a sign that he was not going to be assaulted or attacked he took small tentative paw-steps forward slowly raising his head that had been parallel to the ground since the human crowd had approached. As soon as the crowd realised that the wolf-dog had become comfortable enough for them to approach they did just that. they all walked forward cheering and whistling for the returning canine's as the first set of human hands reached balto the feeling of uncertainty washed over him once again and he began to shy away remembering all of the times those hands had beaten him or thrown things at him but he then decided that if the humans had wanted to do any of those things they would have done it already.

So with a renewed sense of courage he stood proudly forward muzzle held high and chest puffed out. A local man took hold of the harness balto was wearing and slipped it off of him. After the straps of the harness had been removed balto felt a lot more comfortable as the straps had dug down into the wolf-dog's fur and skin leaving an imprint in his scruffy brown coat. After what seemed like an eternity to the wolf-dog but in reality was only a few seconds the hands of the humans made contact with his thick brown fur. The sensation was strange to the wolf-dog as the only human who had ever shown him affection was rosy but, the wolf dog enjoyed it thoroughly none the less .a full minute of being petted and receiving treats later, a doctor and 2 local men stepped out of the hospital. The doctor immediately went to check on the anti-toxin and after seeing it was fine, apart for 2 vials that had been dropped in the ice cave, he ordered the 2 men that came with him to get Gunnar the knocked out musher of the team and the box of anti-toxin vials.

After both tasks had been carried out and both of the aforementioned things had been carried into the hospital the praise of the sled dogs continued. After another full minute of the strange feeling of human hands on him the wolf-dog heard what sounded like some-one falling out of the sky balto looked up and saw Boris ,his adoptive father plummeting towards him. As the Old Russian snow goose landed he wrapped a wing around balto and cried out "not dog! Not wolf! But a hero!" planting a kiss on the head of the wolf-dog at the end of the sentence .balto chuckled at the old goose's show of affection and then heard his name being called he looked up only to see a ball of white barrelling towards him.

The next thing the wolf-dog knew he was being partially smothered by two polar bear cubs by the name of muk and, his older mute brother luk. after managing to escape the vice like grip the wolf-dog turned and looked at the hospital only to see rosy's father a middle aged man named Thomas step out of the hospital and address the wolf-dog "come on boy there's some-one who would like to see you" Thomas said in a voice full of kindness and caring towards the wolf dog.

Balto started making his way towards the hospital but, before entering fully he turned to Boris to make sure that it was ok for him to continue .as he got a confirmative nod and, a playful flick o the wings as if to imitate the shooing of a bird. He turned back and looked inside the he walked through the door of the bustling building he looked round and saw many doctors and nurses rushing around trying to administer the anti-toxin as quickly as they could. Balto also saw many happy families embracing and crying tears of pure joy overjoyed that their children were safe.

Balto felt incredibly proud as he knew that the happiness of these families had been primarily caused by him and the other sled dogs. As balto neared the bed of young rosy he spotted the mushing hat that he had saved from being trampled by Steele and the others several weeks before and he picked it up in his muzzle making sure not to bite so hard that he tore through the material but just enough to keep the precious item securely in his jaws. As he padded up to the bed he saw that rosy had only just awoke from her deep slumber and was rubbing her blurred eyes trying to clear them of all the sleep that had amassed while she was unconscious. After she proved victorious in her task she looked around her and saw her family she was instantly enveloped in hug by her parents which she gladly returned. After withdrawing from her parents shoulder's rosy looked just behind her mother and at the sight of balto her face and eyes lit up "Balto!" she whisper yelled as balto put both of his forelegs on the side of the bed to let the grateful girl hug him and she did just that as she whispered "I'd be lost without you."

the young girl did not chose to whisper but rather she was forced to as raising her voice even slightly higher would result in a very painful cough as her voice had not fully recovered from the deadly disease named diphtheria that had plagued the small town almost a full week ago. The hug was cut short by some-one clearing their throat behind balto.

Balto Lowered himself to the wooden floor of the hospital and turned his head to see who had caused the interruption but, as he found out just who had done it a smile wider than Alaska itself spread across the canine's face .no less than 5 metres away stood the husky of his dreams "Jenna" he said as he started walking towards her and as he got closer he broke into a miniature run. His paws still hurt but the thought of Jenna completely overpowered the feeling of pain his brain was trying to convince him he had. As the two canines got close to each other they began jumping around each other barking and yipping happily and after they had both calmed down a bit they just stared into each other's eyes for what they felt like was an eternity but was in fact only 5 seconds. They hadn't even noticed that their noses were touching until they both blushed and looked away for a split second chuckling nervously and shuffling their paws.

Finally they had both given up trying to hide their feelings for each other they both didn't care what their public image did anymore after 4 and a half years of them knowing each other they finally understood how they felt about each other. On that day after balto's heroic deed Jenna knew for a fact that she loved him. And balto well, he had always loved her so without so much as a second thought they both moved forward and nuzzled each other passionately only breaking the canine equivalent of a hug to look on in awe as the whole town (even the humans) had surrounded the two and were cheering for the town hero and his canine lover even the dog sled team was there and kaltag being kaltag said "he has the most endurance, the most fidelity, the most intelligence, the mo-" but as usual was cut off by his team-mate star who said "they should build a statue of him!". Star realising that he had just cut kaltag off again cowered in fear as he thought he was going to be on the receiving end of a paw smack in the head courtesy of kaltag but what happened next surprised him kaltag put his shoulder next to star's and replied with a "you said it!" star being completely dumbfounded by his team-mates actions let out an involuntary "I did?" but in return kaltag just looked at him and smiled.

balto and Jenna chuckled at the small display before them before turning to each other, locking eyes and saying the three words they had always wanted to say but just couldn't

"I love you"

A/N this is not the end and I will post more but only if you guys would like but since I'm new it might (emphasis on might) be at least a week gap between chapters and they might not be as long as this one as this account is just a little thing I do on the side of all my other daily activities. If you guys would like more please review and remember constructive criticism is always appreciated just remember not to hate me as it is my first story and I don't fully understand punctuation. If you would like me to add anything to this story PM me and I will see what I can do I also give full permission for people to re-write later chapters if they wish

Until next time.

TH3L0NEW01F out.