Author's Note: This is my winning submission for a GingaBoard contest where you had to rewrite a scene from GDW or GNG. Please review if you like it!
Weed grimaced as he stumbled after his friends down the riverbank. He could feel that his strength was not yet returned after his ordeal in the river flowing mere feet away, and his legs trembled as he plodded through the snow as fast as his body would let him move.
'Jerome…' his mind repeated over and over. 'How could you be gone? Jerome…'
His eyes watered at the thought of his departed friend, who had succumbed to his injuries only minutes ago after being thrown in the river while attempting to stop Hougen from escaping. He had received the injuries while protecting Weed himself from the icy water's onslaught, and now the young Akita felt miserable on top of exhausted. Had he not had a purpose still, he might have just given up, but every new thought of Jerome that raced through his head brought something more than sadness to him. It brought determination. Hougen had to pay for what he had done!
It was this determination that allowed Weed to keep up with the others, who at the moment had slightly more stamina than he did, having not gotten nearly drowned in the frigid water like him. Suddenly, as he looked up to the path ahead of him, he nearly ran into Hiro, who, with Mole perched securely on his back, had stopped in middle of the path and was looking down at something on their right. His legs still screaming in protest, Weed came to a stop, following his friend's gaze to see what it was. When he got a clear view, he felt a rush of hatred fill him. Lying in front of him, half his deformed body sunken through a hole in the ice, was Sniper. Weed looked at him.
"Sniper?" he said, his voice tired sounding. "How did you get here?"
"Your father put him there after he and Hougen tried to kill him!" Hiro spat, glaring down at the Doberman.
Before Weed could respond to this, Sniper's one good eye panned to him, and Weed could see that he looked desperate.
"Weed," he said in his low, raspy voice, "Please don't leave me here! I don't want to die like this! Not like this!"
"Come on, Weed," Hiro said, beginning to turn around. "Just leave him there."
Weed didn't answer and Sniper clawed a little at the ice with his front paws.
"Weed, I know we've had our differences." he said. "But please, there's something you need to know. I'm not – …"
Then his voice suddenly lowered to an indistinguishable mumble, and Weed leaned in closer to hear him.
"What?" he asked, and took a step closer, not noticing the glint in Sniper's eye.
Hiro, however, did and tensed up instantly.
"Weed," he said sharply. "Wait!"
But it was too late. If Weed had been thinking straight, he would've never fallen for the Doberman's ruse, but he wasn't thinking straight, and the moment he got close enough, Sniper shot his jaws up with lightning speed and grabbed him by the neck with them, latching on firmly as Weed tried unsuccessfully to yank himself out of reach. Hiro quickly grabbed the young Akita by the tail and pulled hard, trying to get him away from Sniper, but only succeeded in pulling the Doberman out of the hole in the ice, allowing him to gain traction once more with his deadly metal rear legs. Once he had, he immediately spun around and kicked the flabby Hiro as hard as he could in the side, making him lose his grip with a grunt of pain and fall back as blood flew through the air from the impact point, Mole sliding off into the snow with a dull 'THUD'. Then Sniper knocked the surprised Weed off his feet and onto his back, getting his jaws around his throat quickly.
"You foolish runt." he taunted, and Weed could feel his fangs digging painfully into the sides of his neck. "Haven't you learned by now that I never play by the rules?"
Weed panicked, choking under the Doberman's grip. Then he remembered Hougen and his father, whom he still had never met, and his strength seemed to return. Kicking out with his hind legs, Weed knocked Sniper's metal legs out from under him, making him fall down onto his chest on top of him and loosen his grip in surprise. Then he rolled, and Sniper was thrown as if from a catapult, landing some 5 feet away with a painful, muffled 'THUD' of his own, righting himself quickly as Weed tried to move at him again. Despite his handicap though, Sniper could be quick himself, and lunging to Weed's right, he grabbed the tiny Mole in his jaws from where he lay and began crushing him immediately, making him yelp and whine in pain as he did. Then he looked at Weed again as Hiro snarled in fury, trying unsuccessfully to get back to his feet.
"Get back on the ground." he threatened. "Get down there and don't fight back or I'll snap him in two."
Weed stopped dead in his tracks as he saw this and looked at Mole apologetically, not seeing another way out of his dilemma. Then, growling as his legs shook once more from the effort, he flopped back down onto the ground, immediately seeing a flash and feeling immense pain in his neck as Sniper kicked him backwards back onto the frozen river's blanket of ice. Then the Doberman was on top of him and Weed heard Mole howling for help as Sniper slammed his head into a nearby rock as hard as he could, and then planted a paw under his lower jaw and began pushing him headfirst down through the hole in the ice, making him wince as he felt the tips of his ears begin to slide into the icy water beneath it. Then, he slid down further and the whole top of his muzzle was submerged, and Weed coughed as the frigid liquid rushed into his mouth, making him choke as he kicked uselessly at Sniper's underside. He felt the Doberman push harder.
"If I can't have Ben," he sneered, a deep hatred evident in his voice, "And I can't have your father…then I guess I'll have to settle for you. It's not a total loss though. You're so much like him that it's sick. And given the fight we already had, and how much you really piss me off…I might just enjoy this even more."
Weed began to black out as more of his head was pushed under, and his grip on Sniper loosened.
'Mother,' he thought. 'I'm sorry. I don't the strength left. I'm sorry I couldn't meet my father…'
Suddenly, as Sniper kept pushing harder down on Weed's head, he sensed a new presence, and the evil Doberman looked up immediately to see why. When he did, he froze. Standing in front of him, his face a mask of utter fury and malice, was Gin. He glared down at Sniper, his teeth clearly visible through his growl, looking less like a noble leader and more like death itself. Then he met the Doberman's shocked gaze.
"Get away from my son." he snarled.
Sniper didn't even have time to react as Gin whirled around and, using his powerful hind legs, kicked him hard in the face, sending him flying backwards through the air to land on his back in the snow, allowing the other Ohu dogs that had accompanied Gin to pull Weed out of what would've been his grave, sputtering and coughing. By the time Sniper had even registered hitting the ground, Gin was on him again, grabbing him by the neck and shaking him hard, slamming him painfully into the rock face of the nearby cliff to stun him even more.
To Weed meanwhile, the world was hazy and blurred, and somewhere in the background, he heard what sounded like a fight going on. After a few seconds, once he finally had gained some control of his exhausted legs, he tried to stand and go towards the noise, but was instantly pushed down again with firm but gentle force by another form, it's identity becoming clear to him as soon as it opened its mouth.
"Stay down, Weed." Akame said calmly. "Don't interfere."
Weed didn't bother arguing, and let the ninja-dog restrain him as his vision slowly started to return to normal. In the background, where the fight was happening, he heard a powerful sounding voice growling angrily at Sniper, who he had felt get knocked off him.
"I gave you chance," Gin yelled in fury, smacking the Doberman across the face with his paw as hard as he could. "After chance, after chance, to change yourself! And you spit it back in my face every time! You tried to kill Ben!"
He dodged a retaliatory bite from Sniper and head-butted him hard in the teeth, sending blood flying as a few of them were knocked clean out.
"You tried to kill me!"
He threw Sniper hard into the cliff wall again.
"You tried to kill Tesshin!"
He grabbed the Doberman by the metal hind leg and swung him head first into the same rock he had smashed Weed's head into with a sickening 'CRACK', sending more blood flying.
"You murdered Hyena!"
Knocking Sniper's metal hind legs aside as he tried to kick him with them, Gin slashed him across the face with his fangs, making the Doberman howl in agony as he did.
"And now, for the second time, you've tried to murder my son!" the elder Akita snarled, and grabbing Sniper by the back of the neck, slammed him back down into the same hole in the ice where he had been before, his metal back end submerged, his front end hanging on for dear life.
Once he was like this, Gin stood over him, looking angrier than most there had ever seen him. He glared down at his arch enemy with no pity whatsoever.
"I am so easy to get along with." he growled. "All you had to do was live in peace, and we never would've had to see each other again. But Hougen destroyed that peace, and being the same opportunistic bastard you've always been, you went right along with every insane thing he did…so I'm done, Sniper. That's the last of my mercy you're ever going to get."
"Gin…" Sniper said.
"No." the Akita responded, cutting him off. "I have had enough of you."
Then, raising his front paw, Gin stomped down on Sniper's forehead, making him lose his grip and get dragged down through the hole and into the rushing, frigid river, an enraged, almost frustrated yell escaping his lips before the water pulled him under and he was gone forever. Then, everything was silent. Less then 10 feet away, Akame released his pin on Weed and let him up, the younger Akita's vision finally having righted itself. As he stood, Weed felt his breath catch in his throat. The dog who stood in front of him was an Akita, like him, with silvery-blue fur and wise eyes that rested beneath three nearly identical scars running diagonally down his forehead. In fact, this dog looked just like him. Weed felt himself trembling again, but this time it wasn't due to weakness.
"F-Father?" he breathed in shock and Gin looked back at him, his demeanor now completely different, calm and almost nervous.
His eyes were wide and stunned as well, and he looked as if he were just noticing that what he was actually looking at was his own child.
"Weed?" he asked simply in a gentle-sounding voice and Weed felt a laugh of pure joy escape him.
"Dad!" he gasped and before anyone knew it, father and son had launched themselves at each other, covering the distance between them in what seemed like a millisecond.
Then everything became a happy blur as they came together in a fierce embrace, holding each other tightly with a front leg as they rested their heads on the back of each other's necks. Tears came from both their eyes and a few feet away, Akame and the others smiled and stayed silent, giving them their space as the violence they had just witnessed was momentarily forgotten. Gin clenched his eyes shut as he held Weed to him.
"I'm sorry." he said shakily, struggling to contain his emotions and failing. "For everything. I wasn't there. I'm sorry, Weed."
Weed nuzzled himself into his father's warmth even more.
"It's not your fault." he managed to say. "You had responsibilities. I know it's not your fault."
Gin hugged him even tighter at this, looking as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Suddenly, they heard a noise and looking up, saw one of their pack mates running at them from back the way they came. It was one of Kyoushiro's mixed breed supporters, and he skidded to a halt in front of them.
"Weed-san!" he panted as Weed and Gin pulled away from each other a little. "It's Hougen! He's headed for the dam down the river!"
They all straightened up at this and Gin turned as Kagetora let out a gasp from behind them.
"The dam?" he said. "Aren't George, Reika, Ben, and Cross over that way somewhere?"
"Shit!" Kurotura exclaimed from beside him. "They are! He's headed right at them!"
"Let's go!" Gin barked, but before he or the others could do it, they noticed that Weed was gone.
Looking around in a panic, Gin finally saw him further down the riverbank, already running after Hougen's trail.
"Weed!" the elder Akita yelled. "Wait!"
Weed didn't listen and kept running.
'I'm sorry, father.' he thought, glancing over his shoulder briefly before turning back with a determined expression. 'But this is something I have to do. Hougen started this…but I'm gonna finish it.'
Then, as they began to run after him, he rounded a bend in the path, and disappeared from sight.