Disclaimer-I do not own Wolf's Rain. The incredible BONES do. The only thing that is mine is the new charcters and the added plot. If you never seen the series, then, I guess that you don't know what I have added. Too bad! Read it anyways!
A/N: This is my first fan-fic. Please be nice...or I'll stalk you and then shred you to pieces and feed you to the rats! J/K...no really. Please leave a comment tho! I would really appreciate it!
Princess Of the Wolves
Chapter 1-Artemis
As he hid behind the trash bins, she slowly walked up to him with a gentle, warm tone in her voice saying, "It's alright. I won't hurt you. It seems that you haven't eaten in awhile. Please, don't run away." She had her hand out with a piece of freshly sliced meat for the wolf to recieve. The young wolf slowly started to walk away from the bins and closer to the girl with the treat. "See. It's ok. I'm not a bad person at all." she reassured him. He finally got close enough to reach his head out and grab the meat. The girl had a smile on her face as he did so. "Thank You!" she heard out of no where. "Did you say something little wolf?" she asked him. He scampered off with a little less of a hole in his stomach. "Odd. I could of sworn that he had said something to me. Maybe it was someone passing by saying it to another."
She is not your ordinary girl. For some strange reason, she sometimes thinks that she can communicate with animals. She usually finds some other rational explanation to why animals seem to be saying something to her or to someone, or something else. Her name is Artemis. She was adopted by a not so dear father, and a ever-dearing mother. She was left on their doorstep when she was the littlest infant. She was left at night on a full moon with animals all around her protecting her from whatever that may come to harm her.The animals knew for some reason that she belonged here to the people who lived in the house, so they let them take her inside when she was found.
Because of the crazy way that she was found, the mother decided to call her Artemis after the Greek Goddess. The father wasn't so crazy of keeping her. Mother always got her way though.
So Artemis grew up in the couple's care not knowing that she was left on their doorstep. Until she was 8 years old, her mother died from a illness that was threatening her life for many years. Her dying wish was for her husband to raise their child and to be a loving father to her. It seems that the father is not what you would call "father-material." He didn't like children and he didn't like the fact that he had to raise the child all by himself. But for his wife, he obeyed.
Nine years from now, Artemis grew up a strange and hard life. Her father was a strict man and she seemed to posses some kind of animal commuincation power. Her daily life usually consisted of getting up early in the morning, wash-up and get dressed, go out to the barn and feed the horses and the chickens, go back to the house and make breakfast, clean-up, go to school, come home, feed the horses and the dogs, do the laundry,make dinner, clean any other mess, and then study and go to bed. Sometimes on the weekends, her father would shove her off to the marketplace to get groceries and other household needs. She didn't complain though. She always said that she's doing it for her mother, to make her proud that she isn't a bad child.
On the days that she's in the marketplace, she stops by an alleyway where she feeds stray animals in need of nourishment. That's where she happened upon the young wolf. She knew he was a wolf. She could tell by his phyical characteristics from what she read in books. She wasn't afraid obviously, but she couldn't believe that they really existed. She liked learning about wolves. She always had a fascination for them ever since her mother showed her a picture of one she said she took unexpectantly. She loved their graceful posture, their physical structure, the color of their coats, and of how they stayed alive when they weren't extinct. You could say it was almost an obsession. Too bad her father gave her so much work to do that she had no time for obsessions or friends or even almost any time for herself. She knew her place was in the house and she obeyed.
One night her father came home drunk and he's definetly not a funny-drunk. When he walked through the front door, he was angry and hysterical. He threw things across the living room, he shattered pictures, lamps, and went into the kitchen and broke dishes and anything else he could smash away. All this commotion woke up Artemis and she came out of her room to see what was going on. Her father saw her in the hallway and clumsily went straight for her. She asked what was wrong and he just yelled with his hands flying all over. "I can't believe you! You waste my money on filthy animals and little children that can't get the sweets they want. You give my money to the pieces of shit on the streets when it's their own Goddamn fault that they're there. You run off to the library to get books on animals that dont exist when you should be here cleaning the Goddamn house! I raised you to be the submissive little girl that you are. You're just another fucking mouth to feed and another to waste my hard earned money for when I should be spending it on what I want. It's no longer what your mother wants! Wait! She isn't even your real mother! I'm not your real father! You were dropped on our doorstep when you were the tiny shit you were. See...not even your real parents wanted you! So why should I have to put up with you either! Get out of my Goddamn house you twit and go live with the dirty bastards on the street! Get out now!"
She ran as fast as she could out of the house and into the barn. She heard more things break and a lot more cursing from her hateful father. "I...I can't believe this. What am I going to do. I have no place to go and...the things he said! I was...left on a doorstep? Why didn't they tell me? I...I just...oh God." She sat down against the barn door and pulled her knees up and buried her face and wept.
She could hear voices, but they weren't her father's. "Hello? Is someone in here?" She got up and wiped her eyes and walked towards the back of the barn. "Hello?" she sniffled. "Over here darling." said one voice."Please come here dear." said another. Both female voices, yet she somehow recognized them. She was pulled to the voices and she was led to the horses. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry. We heard the whole thing. I just want to kick the man sometimes ya know!" It came from the chesnut horse."He's always had a temper. It finally got out I see. Sorry that he blew up at you! You don't deserve it darling. You do so much for that man and look what he's done to you!" said the white arab. "What am I supposed to do? I have no place to go!" Artemis said while she puts her hands to her head. "Now I'm so hysterical that I'm talking to horses." "But you are darling. It ain't no lie. We knew that you could hear us when you'd talk back a few times. It really was us darling." said the white arab. "I guess, somewhere in my brain, I just knew that I wasn't right in there. Am I crazy? What would people think if they knew that I can somehow talk to animals? Why don't I just die now. I've already failed my mother as a good daughter." said Artemis. "Now wipe your tears little missy! I've got a good idea!" said the chesnut. "You're gonna bust us outta here and we're gonna get you out of this dump!" "Good Idea Lina, but how can we do that unnoticed?" said the white arab. "Well, we just do it!" said Lina. "Don't worry Sue, just trust me."
"Are you sure that's ok?" asked Artemis. "Who cares lets go!" said Lina enthusiastically. "You better get us packin' darling because we got to go before mister hellman finds out!" said Sue. "I just hope we don't get in trouble by the law." Artemis said while getting the horses' saddles out. "Law shmaw! To heck with it! I'm rearing to go!" voiced lina.
Artemis saddled up Lina and packed Sue with bags of oats and alfalfa for the journey to where ever. After an hour, Artemis peered towards the house and decided that it was ok for her to go back for a few of her own things.
She walked slowly and carefully, so she didn't have to deal with her father. The front door was wide open and she walked inside. Her father was in his bedroom snoring, so it was clear for her to go to her room. She grabbed a few things like clothes and pictures of her mother and the one picture of the wolf. She took her books from the library and then went to the kitchen to get a few snacks. All of a sudden she thought that she was going to need some money. She didn't like the idea of stealing from her father, but then she didn't like the idea of starving and dying on the streets. She knew his hiding spot, where he keeps his extra money he gets from gambling. She went straight to the coffee table and felt under the edge and found a rolled up wad of cash. It was worth $1,000, but she only took $200. She felt really guilty when she left. She wrote a note saying that she was really sorry and that she had taken the horses with her and won't be coming back. She also said she not stealing the horses, that they decided to come along with her, that it was their idea in the first place. "Like he's gonna believe that." she thought. So, she left the house and went to pack her belongings on Sue and be on her way.
Artemis mounted Lina and the three of them were on their way. They went to the marketplace to the nearest exit of the city. It was an a couple of hours past dawn and they decided to stop near a couple of abandoned buildings, after losing their way a few times, to plan their next move when all of the sudden they heard a few men screaming about and the sounds of two canines snarling at eachother. Two dogs swiftly went by their group still snarling and growling. The first one was badly hurt, bleeding their crimson blood onto its snowy white fur. The other that went by was a cloud gray with a sort of "X" shaped scar on its chest.
"Now those were a couple of wolves dear. Don't get to close to them or they might bite you. They really aren't the nicest creatures around." explained Lina. "But the white one was really hurt! Maybe we should go find him and try to help him." Artemis said with sadness in her voice. "Don't go chasing them wolves darling. They're only trouble. Besides we have our own journey to attend to. We need to get out of here before your father tries to find us. He's bound to be looking by now." said Sue worryingly. Though Artemis was reluctant to go at first, she submitted herself to what her horses were saying and agreed to find a safe spot to sleep for the night and then plan on what course of action to take. It was hard for her not to follow the wolved because her own instincts told her that one of them might not make it through the quarelling. Artemis was always the type to treat an animal or human when needed, even if she had no time.
They stayed in the buildings until it was the dead of night and headed towards the city exit. They heard a commotion as they were getting close. They saw three men and a young boy climb the top of the city wall, trying to escape the people down below. While the people were trying to climb the wall themselves, Artemis and gang found a nice size hole in the wall where they can slip out unnoticed. Pretty lucky they each thought. Almost like someone knew they needed a quick and undetected escape.
Lina and Sue galloped their way through a snowy desert, never looking back, never planning to return. The chesnut and white arab hold their loyalties to Artemis and will stand by her side for the rest of their lives.