Gunshot of Remorse
Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain.
The echo of a shot…
Oh, how it impelled doom inside me as I listened to it ring across the frozen wasteland.
It couldn't be…
I ran…ran as fast as I could over the snow, nearly flying over it. The smell of blood, lots of it, reached my nostrils. Even from this distance I could tell who it was.
Please…not him.
"Toboe!" I shouted running up to the still form of the wolf, lying in Quient's arms. "Toboe!"
I realized he would never get up no matter how hard I tried to plea. He was already long gone from this world. I looked away, "That stupid kid…" Why did he have to die? Why another one?
The others couldn't believe the shock…they cried for the loss of both Toboe and Quient. The youngest member of our group was gone…after all we have been through, he was the first to die. Gone. His life extinguished by the snuff of a bullet shot. It was all too sudden, and this example showed all of us how really dangerous this situation was. In my mind, death was inevitable. No matter what, I was going to die during this journey. We all were. All of us, except Kiba. Paradise can only be opened by him. He had to carry the biggest of all burdens, to keep living. It's easy to die.
But harder still to live.
I howled, we all did, in their memory. Hubb stayed silent, bearing his anguish silently in the way all humans do. In all our minds we heard Cheza's singing, her final farewell to the lost souls. Her song sparked a thought in me. Even if we don't get to the real paradise, we can always find paradise in death. I was pretty sure the runt was right where he wanted to be. Probably with the human he cared so much about…that "Granny" as he called her.
Kiba's voice broke through my thoughts, "We should get moving." From the corner of my eyes I watched him look over to the mountains Cheza had her blood red gaze on.
"The tree of all seeds," she whispered quietly, "we must go to it."
Silence greeted her remark. We all knew we had to stop that bastard Darcia at all costs. Even if he remembered his past we had to stop him before it was too late.
"So what do you plan to do, porky? Are you going to run away?" I asked him coldly, sending a glare at him. If Hiege was going to abandon us he might as well do it now then later. It hurts a lot less that way…
"I don't know what I'm going to do…I just…I'm afraid I'll end up betraying you guys even if I don't intend to." he said quietly, almost painfully. Hige clutched his shirt, unconsciously grasping for the collar that had been a symbol of his treachery.
"Well I'm going." Blue stated calmly, standing up. "Remember Hige? We promised we would always stay together, no matter what. So you have to go, too."
"But…" Hige started, turning his gaze to our silent leader.
"I don't care what you do." Kiba told him. "If you come with us, Hige, I won't think you betrayed us. But if you attack me, then we'll fight."
"Thanks." he mumbled gratefully.
Suddenly a loud crack resonated through the air and the ice around us shook with repressed power, gradually getting more and more violent. When it finally stopped, I could smell everyone's eagerness to move forward. No one wanted to stay here any longer than necessary and it didn't take a genius to see where they all itched to go.
"Go on ahead…I'll catch up later. I wanna talk to the runt for awhile." I told them, not bothering to move from where I sat. My back was faced toward them but I could still tell that Kiba hesitated a moment before moving away. I waited until their footsteps died long into the distance before I turned back to the kid.
"Look at you, you've gotten so big." I said softly. "When I first saw you, you were just a scrawny, little pup." I paused, lost in thought. My glance fell on Quient, who still had his arms wrapped tightly around Toboe's body. Ironic that it ended that way; the man who spent half his life killing wolves and claiming to hate them, dies with one in his arms. Humans are strange creatures. You never know what they're capable of doing or thinking. They carry out their existence without claws or fur…how do they expect to live long enough with the dull senses they have? It's harder still to believe that all humans were created from wolves.
"I didn't realize how much humans meant to you. I suppose you've always had a soft spot for them…I never understood it. To me, they were just an inconvenience…something to use to get what I wanted." I sighed and touched the area at the base of my neck. "I never got a chance to tell you about this scar. This mark…is a symbol of my sin. My pack and I were ambushed by some nobles. All my friends died one by one, they were slaughtered right in front of me, and I abandoned them. All I could do was run. After I had left the stench of the battleground behind, I met some of the survivors…and they had known what I had done. So they kicked me out…and I got this scar as a reminder for my crime. All I did was betray my friends…until I met you guys." I smiled tenderly at the fallen wolf, hoping that he could hear me. "I wanted to bring you to paradise. You were the one who brought me all the way here."
I stood up, and gazed one final time at the pair. Man and wolf lay side-by-side…doomed to have their fates forever interlocked with one another. When humanity destroys the world, it was up to us to fix it. Up to us to bring forth our "paradise."
"Old man…take care of the runt for me. See ya'."
After that, I ran…ran until I left his body well behind me. The kid was gone. He could never see paradise with us…he could never see anything ever again. I felt the sun's rays on my face as it briefly peeked over the hanging clouds.
Maybe you are in paradise right now, Toboe. Even if you never see real paradise…you can still reach it in death. I hope you're happy there runt. I won't be able to protect you anymore. Thanks for everything….
It's funny how the world works. One life snuffed out by a single shot and yet life continues on, never stopping, never looking back to regard the fallen. It always looks to the future where everything is 'brighter.' To me, it's all just a bunch of crap. The world might not care that a life was taken today, but I do. Everything in his world ended with that shot…and so did mine.
Goodbye…little brother…