Disclaimer: I do not own Wolfblood or any characters related to it.
I will see you again
This is not where it ends
She said goodbye, turned around, and she was gone. The sun was setting on the moors and Rhydian watched as her and her parents faded in to the light of the sunset, their figures slowly disappearing in to nothing. His heart was broken; he didn't want to do this without her. He didn't want her to go…
His best friends wrapped him in a hug and tried to comfort him – they were hurting too – but it all just made the pain worse. Because he shouldn't be hugging his friends on the moors right now, watching as the only person he's ever truly loved faded in to the distance. He should be at home, or at school, or at Bernie's – anywhere but here – hugging her. Hugging Maddy.
This wasn't right. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. He didn't want to say goodbye.
And when Shannon and Tom turned to walk away, Rhydian knew it was time to go too. There was no point in staring at the sunset, hoping to see her figure once more. She was gone, and she wasn't coming back.
"She'll always be with us, mate," Tom said, his voice weak as he wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "Like she said…we'll always be a pack."
Rhydian just nodded weakly and tried to swallow back the tears once more. "This isn't the end." He almost whispered, mainly to himself, staring down at the floor that was moving beneath him as he walked away.
He shouldn't be crying.
He knew he'd never be totally lonely; Maddy had said herself that she'd always be with him. He lay in bed and remembered something she'd said to him on their way up the moors earlier that day, her grip on his hand tightening with every passing second as if she was dreading this goodbye more and more the closer they got to it.
"I'll be the stars to yous," she'd said. "I'll always be here. Even if you can't see me."
Rhydian had nodded and held her hand tighter, because he had no words to say to make either of them feel better.
Now it was midnight after Maddy had left and Rhydian was at home, in his bed, a picture of him and Maddy sitting next to him on his bedside table. He couldn't stop staring at it.
Maybe that was the reason why tears were streaming down his face uncontrollably. Or maybe it was just the fact that he no longer had the option of seeing her properly, in person, right in front of him. He no longer had the option of holding her hand or hugging her or watching her laugh. All that was left now was memories.
His biggest fear was that he would never see her again. What if this had been the end? What if it had been the last time they'd ever see each other?
He couldn't let that happen; he'd promised her he would find her, and that was his plan.
I'm not letting you go that easily.
His words from earlier that day echoed in his head. They'd tried so hard to fix things but it all fell apart in the space of a day; it was all out of their control. It always had been.
He truly could not sleep. It was way past midnight and the tears were still falling, showing no signs of stopping, and he just wanted to hold her. His mind was like a merry go round right now; his thoughts just kept coming back to the same thing.
He missed her.
Three months later
Every day – or at least every week – a new problem seemed to occur for Rhydian and what was left of his pack.
It was like everything had fallen apart since Maddy.
It was midnight again and he was in his room, completely unable to sleep.
He seemed to always be awake at this time of night, and he'd made it a seemingly unbreakable habit to sneak out of his room and head in to the woods by himself for a run.
So, like every other night for the past month or so, he pulled on his jacket and shoes and noiselessly jumped out of his window before running off in to the woods.
The air around him was chilly, but not horribly cold. He ran for what felt like forever; he ran everywhere he used to run with Maddy. Up to the top of the woods where there was a seat that looked out over the town, up past the river, around each and every tree he could remember her ever touching.
There was something about the woods at night that made him feel closer to her.
After a half hour or so of running he stopped by a tree and sat down, resting his head against the bark of the tree trunk. He was totally out of breath but he didn't mind at all. It gave him a sort of rush.
As he sat there with his eyes up to the sky above him, he could hear the wind rustling through the trees; a familiar sound that had him remembering a time he and Maddy had spent in the woods out here once, many months back.
It had been really windy and the leaves were blowing everywhere, whipping up from the floor and in to the cold air. Maddy's hair had been blowing in her face so much that she'd ended up tying it back, and Rhydian couldn't help but stare at her even more. She suited her hair back; it just emphasised how beautiful she was.
Of course, back then, he never told her how beautiful he thought she was (something he regretted slightly now), but still he could remember the way she'd looked at him that day: her head slightly turned to him and her eyes locked on to his, a mischievous and happy glint in them as she grinned towards him. He'd smiled back instinctively and for that moment, the wind whipping their faces, everything seemed perfect. Everything was perfect. He'd suddenly gotten the feeling that, no matter what he went through in life, nothing could ever be too terrible as long as he had her.
And now as he was sitting under the tree, these memories flooding his mind, the thought of it all made him smile. It was a bittersweet smile, tainted with goodbyes and tears but also with happy memories and laughter.
On that windy day in the woods all those months ago, he should have told her.
He should have told her how much she meant to him; told her how beautiful she was.
But he didn't. And he regretted it.
One month later
Rhydian stared at her face on the sketch in his hands.
He had just finished drawing it as he sat at Maddy's old kitchen table, waiting for Jana and his mum to get home from a run in the woods.
The lead from the pencil had made smudge marks on his fingers from where he'd traced Maddy's sketched face with his fingertips. He wished it was real and not just a sketch.
"We know you still miss her," Tom had said to him earlier that day as they walked through the school corridor. "And it's okay to be sad about it, you know that, right?"
"I'm fine."
Shannon sighed and put her hand on his shoulder. "Look, Rhydian, we know you're hurting. You don't have to hide it."
Instead of telling his best friends – his pack – how he truly felt like he should've done, Rhydian had just shaken Shannon's hand off his shoulder and stalked off down the corridor ahead of them, his head hanging low.
Of course he missed her. He missed her more than anything. The worst part of it was not knowing where she was, if she was okay, or if she was even alive.
And the truth was, he needed to talk to someone about this, but it was just too hard.
So instead, he'd been drawing her a lot more; in both wolf form and human form.
Rhydian loved her wolf form. She was graceful and beautiful, but still strong and feisty. Her eyes were the most beautiful shade of yellow he'd ever seen and he missed looking in to them.
But still, as he sat here at the table, staring at the grey outline of her facial features, he held on to the hope that he'd see her again. He knew he would.
Exam results were coming in a week's time, and after that, Rhydian was going to find a way to find her. This was not the end for them; he was determined. Even though he was feeling like his heart was breaking, he was holding on because he knew he'd see her again. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Somehow, someday, he would look in to those eyes again. He would hear her laugh.
He could feel that it was coming. Nothing would stop him.
Rhydian was going to see Maddy again.
Weeks later
Canada was cold, and huge, and the mountains seemed to go on forever.
Rhydian had been trekking for a few weeks now, just trying to find any trace of Maddy and her parents.
Just as he was about to lose hope and give up, he stopped in front of some small rocks and dropped his bag in desperation. One last time before turning and going back, he decided to try something. Something inside of him made him do it; and he wasn't sure what it was but he went for it anyway.
He howled, as loud as he could, and waited for a response.
He got one.
And straight away, Rhydian knew that it was not just any other wolf or Wolfblood replying to him.
It was her.
His eyes shot up to the mountain ahead of him and that's when he saw her, running towards him on two legs, faster than he'd ever seen her run in human form.
"Rhydian!" she called out loud enough so that any Wolfblood within a ten mile radius could hear.
"Maddy…" Beginning to recover from the shock, Rhydian started running towards her and soon they met in the middle.
Their bodies clashed so hard but they didn't care at all, all they cared about was being here, together, their arms around each other.
Maddy's legs wrapped around his waist as she practically jumped on him, her head buried in his shoulder as his buried in to her neck.
Rhydian felt tears sting his eyes and so did Maddy. He'd come all this way to find her, spent all those months missing her and missing sleep because of it, and now it was all worth it because she was here. She was here and he could smell her, touch her, hold her, hear her. It was everything he'd been missing for too long now.
She smelled the same as she always did, if not a bit more wild. He inhaled her scent as he held her body around his. It was all so worth the journey.
"You're here," she laughed happily, a tear falling on to her cheek as she pulled her head away from his shoulder. Rhydian put her down gently and grinned down at her through the tears that were threatening to fall.
Not hesitantly at all, Maddy brought her hand up and touched his face, smoothing her thumb over his cheekbone.
"I missed you," Rhydian said, his voice nearly a whisper.
"I missed you more."
Rhydian shook his head, bringing his hands up to cup her face. "Not possible."
And without giving her a chance to reply, he leaned in and kissed her softly. His lips were slightly parted and she kissed back as if it were instinct, her hand sliding back and getting tangled in to his hair. Her spare hand came up to sit limply on his chest, just like the last kiss they'd shared, and Rhydian smiled as he kissed her.
When they pulled away for air, Rhydian rested his forehead on hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt his come around her body, his hands sitting on her lower back.
"I told you it wasn't the end," she said quietly, as if she knew all that Rhydian had been feeling whilst they'd been apart. Maybe she'd been feeling it, too.
"I knew I'd find you."
"And I knew I'd see you again."
And then they leaned in to kiss each other again, Rhydian's hands falling lower and Maddy's getting caught further in to his blonde locks that she'd missed.
As they kissed, Rhydian suddenly realised that their previous goodbye was never going to be forever.
It was never a goodbye. It was a see you soon.
They always were going to see each other again.
A/N: *waves* hi there! So I'm pretty new to the Wolfblood fandom, but let's just say I got addicted to it extremely fast. Sometimes it scares me how quickly I got so highly invested in this show. Seriously.
Thank you so much for reading, please leave a review to let me know what you think! Maddian is my fave and I wanted to write a slightly different ending to the actual S3 ending because I wish it was Maddy in human form. Also I adore Rhydian and tried to imagine what he must have felt like.
As you probably already guessed, this one-shot is based on a song called "See You Again" by Carrie Underwood. I heard it the other morning and it reminded me so much of 2.13.
Do let me know what you think. :)
Love :* xxx
PS. I am in the process of writing a Wolfblood S3 continuation, multi-chapter fic. Let me know if you'd be interested in reading it!
UPDATE: A few people have asked if I can make this a two-shot and include Maddy and Rhydian in Canada, but I'm actually including that in the S3 continuation, so keep an eye out for that! :) I may make this a two-shot anyway, but I don't know when, if at all.