Chapter one

The Fennekin sat and stared at the horizon. He hadn't stopped in two months.

Two months of barely eating. Two months of his fur turning dry from the sun and sticking together in unnatural clumps. Two months of his mouth being parched from lack of water while his eyes were still drenched in tears. He barely drank from the lake beside him, he didn't sit down even when his limbs shook with weariness after standing up for hours every day.

He just stared, stared at the horizon. There was only grass for miles and nothing else, but the Fennekin saw something different. He saw his wife, running. Running with all her fear that her husband might see her like this.

"Tailo?"

Tailo's ears jumped up. The Fennekin turned his head in surprise to see his best friend walking up to him.

The Umbreon was tired. It was late in the day and he had been helping their large pack ever since sunrise. He thought it would do him good to pay his friend Tailo a visit. The Fennekin was the leader of their pack after all.

Shadow the Umbreon stopped walking when he reached his friend's side. He looked up at the large Fennekin, trying weakly to let out a smile. "How long have you been out here?" Shadow inquired. He was worried, this behavior had been going on for a while.

The Fennekin had been here since three this morning, but he didn't say that aloud. "Mid afternoon." He lied.

Shadow knew he wasn't telling the truth. The Umbreon looked down in worry, his ears falling down below his head. It was time to end what was driving Tailo to his own destruction. It was time to end this debate in his head.

Shadow stood as tall as he could, and glared at his friend. "You need to stop this Tailo."
The Fennekin growled.

Shadow had enough. Tailo was the leader of this pack and he couldn't just sit here all day. "You have to do something. You can't just sit here in agony, you have to get over her."
Tailo never blinked. He just stared at the horizon.

"You have to decide something." Shadow pleaded. He was getting more frustrated by the second from his leader's lack of decisions. "Choose something! What do we do Tailo? You've been here way too long. You should've said something months ago. You can't just sit here and imagine that one day your wife will come back! She's still alive!"

Tailo struck him across the face.

The Umbreon stopped and put his paw up to his cheek in surprise. Of course it was bleeding, the hit was intended to rip through his face and end his life. Tailo had never struck anyone like this before.

Tailo snarled at him. "Don't you ever talk about my wife like that again."

Shadow nodded.

Tailo was done thinking. He had been here pondering on this for two months, and still he couldn't get over it. He knew what really happened, there was no hope.

The Fennekin glared at his friend until his hatred burned through his heart. "She's dead Shadow. She always will be. Louara is gone."

Shadow's rings faded. His body sunk towards the ground. How could that be his decision? This was Tailo's wife.

The Fennekin hung his head. He was crying desperately. "There's nothing we can do."

"We could send out someone." Shadow interrupted. He jumped upright. "We can try and look for her. We can still hope that she's alive somewhere. We can just try!"

"No!" Tailo interrupted twice as loudly. "Don't you get it Shadow? The thing was right. I wished for her and now she's gone."

Shadow's ears fell again in despair. He slunk to the ground since his paws couldn't hold him up.

Tailo growled loudly and looked out at the horizon. "I've decided, we've got to let her go. That thing was right. There is no hope. It's been two months. We have to let all this go."

Shadow couldn't believe this. What about what his wife fought for? She had suffered as well. What about what he suffered? What about the pack and their safety? What about Tailo's daughter? She couldn't just let go of a loved one like this, the poor Fennekin was still just a cub. She couldn't lose her mother.

Tailo started walking back towards the pack, passing by his friend without even a stare. "Don't ever tell this to anyone."

The Umbreon jumped back in surprise. "You're keeping it a secret?"

"Of course." Tailo interrupted. "No one can ever know, we can't risk this again. We all nearly died, but we were lucky to survive. I can lose my wife at the expense of the pack."

"But Tailo. She might not be…"

"It's over." Tailo snarled again. He turned around and glared at his friend. "We have the pack we've always wanted. There's thousands of berries in every direction. Just look around you!" He yelled. "This is everything we've wanted!"

Shadow slunk to the ground. This was the opposite of what he wanted. He wanted trust and hope, not fear and lies. Not this, this was wrong.

"Don't ever speak of this to anyone." Tailo commanded. He was the leader here and his decision was final. "No one ever speaks of my wife again, got it? Not you, not your wife, no one. I don't ever want to hear the name Louara again."

Shadow gulped, but then he nodded. He agreed to the plan.

Tailo turned around, and walked off. He was going to go hold a meeting for the pack about how his wife died of natural causes. Shadow watched him go, stuck to where he stood in fear.

Shadow couldn't believe this. There had been hope. They were supposed to have the largest pack in history, they both dreamed of a day when they could feed their cubs without worry of starvation the next day. This fueled their wishes, this led to their doom.

What about what she said? What about two years? What would happen when their time was up? There were so many things to fear. Anger and darkness. Anger and darkness played in the Umbreon's head until they lost meaning all together. What was he supposed to look out for? What would end them all?

And what about his wife? The Espeon was sick, she could hardly stand or talk. That thing had destroyed her from the inside and Shadow feared that he would wake up one day with his wife by his side, no longer able to breathe. They didn't know what was wrong with her, but it might take her life.

What about Fenara? What about Tailo's daughter? The young cub was not old enough, her life would be ruined. She would be scarred for life by the harsh story of how her mother had died, and it was all going to be a lie?

What about him? The Umbreon fell to the ground in his weakness. His paws couldn't hold him up any longer. He could hear Tailo yelling now in his authoritative voice about how a meeting was being held. The Fennekin talked as if nothing had ever changed.

The Umbreon started crying. He wept and covered his face with his paws, glad his two cubs could not see him in this state right now.

It was over. They would raise this pack and hope to survive. They would fight against the inevitable, trying so hard to ignore what was told to them before it happened. They were told loud and clear of their fate.

Beware of anger and darkness. Two years. They only had two years.

Louara… Was dead.