This is a sidestory of my fanfic 'Dimensional Travels'. All those who are reading it should know Lupa. This is her story, telling of how she was bullied as a kid to the point where she first met up with Violett, the hedgehog that asked Sonic and co for help so that she could stop Lupa from unintentionally destroying the thirteen dimensions.
For all those who haven't read it yet and now have questions like 'what's up with the thirteen dimensions?', go read Dimensional Travels. The answers are in that story.
I would do a disclaimer, but since none of the Sonic characters appear in this chapter, I don't really think that's necessary. Therefore I can only hope that you will enjoy.
Chapter 1 - The pup called Lupa
The sun was already setting and that gave the entire world an orange hue. Only the clouds had a small tint of pink to them. Even though it was a beautiful evening, it wasn't enough to cheer Lupa up. It was warm outside, even though it was already so late. She should probably head home, but she didn't want to. The only thing she had done for the half an hour was to sit on the swing and stare at the floor and that's the only thing she wanted to do for the next few years. It was a stupid thought, sure, but it wasn't like anybody cared.
Why her? Lupa didn't understand. There were many other pups in her family, so why was she the only one who had white hair and red eyes? It would haunt her all her life. The other kids would always tease her, always bully her, always exclude her from everything. She wondered if there were any other pups out there that were born with red eyes or with white hair. Maybe even with both. Or maybe with completely white fur.
Wolves were usually dark furred, mostly black or brown. Some were red, a few were blonde. Unlike any other kind of animal, wolves usually didn't have fur colors like green or blue or purple unless they were a really dark shade. The only thing that happened every now and then was that a wolf with white hair or fur was born. One of them was her.
Wolves usually had black or brown eyes. Some were green and a few blue. Other colors only appeared when they were dark. Bright colors didn't often come with wolves. Only very few wolves were born with red eyes. One of them was her.
There were other animals there, but none of them dared interacting with the wolves. They were too powerful for that, too mighty and too old. To most other animals it seemed as if they were from a completely other world. A world of magic. That's the world Lupa grew up in.
Lupa's family held a record. They were the eldest family of mages in all thirteen dimensions. And not only the eldest, but the most powerful as well. And the biggest at that. The wolves had been there for eons, more millennias than Lupa could count. They were famous, renowned, so powerful that there was only one King and one Queen they would ever have to bow to.
Lupa was the pride of that family. She was a prodigy in a family of prodigies. The grownups said that she was the family's new pride. They all had high hopes for her. Someday, she would be at the top of their packs head. The wolves were a big family. They lived throughout all thirteen dimensions in packs like the one Lupa lived in. Her pack was one of the biggest. There were many grownups and many pups. The grownups loved her, the pups hated her. But in everybody's eyes, she was a freak. And she was only a four year old girl.
Wiping away her tears she jumped of her swing and started walking. She would have to go home, whether she liked it or not. If she didn't come home soon, her mother would be angry at her and take away her favorite toys. She always did that. Because Lupa was so talented, they all thought that they had to raise her more firmly than the others. After all, she was the family's biggest hope. Lupa didn't mind the tight schedules. It made sure that she didn't have time to think about the fact that she didn't have any friends. She only wished that they wouldn't punish her so hard when she did something wrong.
She didn't jump, like all the other kids did. She didn't run or jog or even look at the clouds. She walked like a scared little kitten would, cowered together with her gaze firmly on the ground in front of her. She didn't see the trees around her or the buildings or the people walking past her only to turn around and take a look at the famous prodigy of the famous wolves. The freak with the white hair and the red eyes.
"Lupa!"
Was she already home? She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed. Lupa looked up. No, she wasn't home yet. She was still in the middle of the streets. But her mother was here anyways. She had gone out looking for her, that's why she was here. The pup had sat on that swing a bit too long after all. She was bound to be punished now.
"There you are, Lupa. I've been looking for you. Come on, child. There's something I have to show you."
Lupa looked at her mother with big, red innocent eyes. She was a beautiful woman. Her fur was a dark shade of grey mixed with light brown. Her hair was long and curly and her eyes were pitch-black. She was the most beautiful woman in the entire pack. Her magic abilities weren't too bad either. Her specialty was defense magic and she had already saved many lives with it. When she was young, every man had wanted her, trying to make her their partner. She chose only one and that was Lupa's father.
Lupa was very proud of her mother. Every time she saw her she thought that someday, she wanted to be like her. She would definitely become like her mother; strong, beautiful and popular. When seeing her, Lupa smiled and stretched out her arms, showing her mother that she wanted to be carried. Her mother smiled weakly and picked her little daughter of the floor, carrying her back to the house.
The daughter of her grandfather's cousin was just giving birth. There would be new pups in only a moment's time. The rest of the pack was already there, but only the other pups saw them coming and scooted away immediately. They always did. They didn't want to get too close to the freak. But today Lupa didn't mind. New pups were about to be born and that took all her attention. She sat down as close as possible, watching with big eyes.
The soon to be mother seemed to be in great pain. She was moaning and panting and sweating and screaming. Lupa wished she could help her, but her auntie already did a great job.
They came. Lupa only saw the tip of a tiny head at first, then a pair of ears popped out. The eyes were next, the nose and the mouth and then the entire head was out. Its body came right after. It already had fur, but it was wet and there were spots of blood on it. Lupa ears perked up when another head started coming. Once that was out, another one followed and another one and one last. Four pups were born that evening. How many of them would survive their first year? Lupa knew that she used to have five siblings, but she was the only one who had survived her first year. Her mother used to have two sisters, now she only had one left and that was the one taking care of the new mother.
Exactly that mother finally had her pups in her hands now and licked them off tenderly. The pups were so small, much smaller than Lupa was and they were so helpless. Their eyes were closed and they could hardly crawl. Yet, they were already making their way to her breasts to drink some milk. There were four pups and only two tits, but they managed nonetheless.
The pup that had come out second was the first at the teat and was already drinking when the others came after. The one that had come out first got the other teat and the other two were fighting for the Milk. The one that had come last was ultimately pushed away and rolled helplessly to Lupa's feet. Lupa's eyes went wide and she wanted to pick the little newborn up and bring it back to its mother, but her mother stopped her from doing so. He would have to find his own way back.
The little cup unrolled himself and for the first time, everybody could see that the very tip of his tail was white; white like Lupa's hair. Lupa's eyes got even bigger at that, if that was possible. The newborn tried bring himself into a crawling position, but toppled over his own feet. Lupa giggled. It was so cute to watch it. Finally, it managed to stay on all fours and sniffed. It couldn't see yet, so it had to find another way back to its mother. But it smelled something even nicer than its mother clumsily made its way towards that smell, topping over every now and then. Luckily, it wasn't far until it reached the source of the scent and it scratched on Lupa's leg.
All the other wolves seemed shocked at that. They gasped and whispered and some even took a step back. Lupa looked at her mother and smiled widely when she nodded. Without saying a word, she picked up the newborn and giggled when it cuddled its head into her fur. She walked to its mother with a wide smile on her face. Of all the wolves in the room, she seemed to be the only one who wasn't shocked at her pup's actions. She just smiled at the two gently.
"What's its name?" Lupa asked.
The mother stretched out a hand and brushed over Lupa's pearly white hair.
"Why don't you give him one?"
"Me?" Lupa's eyes got as wide as the eyes of a child could get. "But I don't know any names."
"That's okay. Some mothers are looking for the right names for months, so you have enough times to learn some."
"And can he be my new friend?"
"If he survives his first year then he can."
"Really? Then I'll make sure that he survives his first year. Is that okay?"
The mother chuckled weakly and smiled at the young female wolf.
"If you manage to do that, then yes. But don't be too disappointed if he doesn't. Newborns are very, very weak creatures."
Lupa nodded enthusiastically and held out the baby for his mother to take. She took the invitation and the newborn was soon in his mother's arms, fast asleep. The other cups soon fell asleep as well and the entire litter was safely protected, surrounded the warmth of their mother's body.
"Come on, Lupa", Lupa's own mother said. "It's time for you to go to bed. The sun has already set."
Lupa took one last glance at the packs newest cups before she followed her mother. She had finally found a friend. This was the best day ever.
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The elders had nothing to complain about when they were training Lupa. Tasks the others always had problems with had never managed to get Lupa to break into sweat. At the age of three she had been far ahead of the others. Now she was training separately. The grownups said that the other cups would only hold her back if she trained with them.
"Well Lupa, what can you see?"
What Lupa had to describe was what she saw when her eyes were closed. In the past half a year, they had trained her in something they called 'the second face', the ability to see with your eyes closed. The things you saw with the second face were different then what you saw with your eyes. You could expand the second face as far as you wanted. You could focus on seeing only one thing or see everything in a huge area. The way you saw things were different as well. You didn't see the skin or the fur of something, but the aura, its very presence. If it was a living thing you saw then you also saw its soul.
Lupa was far past trying to see the souls of the wolves inside the room. She had to expand as far as she could and focus only on what she saw there. And so she did. Without losing focus for even a minute she told the elders what she saw. She told them about the river on the outskirts of the city, about the different kind of plants and trees living there and about the animals that got pulled back to nature.
The elders were impressed, as always. The river was almost three miles away. For a child of the age four to be able to look that far was something that had never existed before. Nobody had ever been able to have such control at such a young age.
They announced that this part of Lupa's training was finished. If she ever needed to look farther, she would be able to do it with a bit of practice. They would go on to the next part of training. But not today. Lupa had been training for three hours now. She needed a break. The day was almost over anyways, let the child have at least a little bit of fun.
The pup bowed politely before she turned on her heels and stormed out of the room. As fast as she could she ran across the grounds and stopped at the part of the house where she would find her new friend. She knocked on the door.
"Auntie Melanie, can I come in?"
The question was answered through the opening of the door. The packs youngest mother was standing in the doorway, gesturing the young female to enter. Lupa smiled and walked into the room. It was the same room where the pups had been born three weeks ago. One had already died, now there were three left. The one with the white tip on his tail was amongst them.
"Shane!" Lupa cried happily.
The young wolf's ears perked up at the voice calling his name. About a week ago, the pups had opened their eyes. Lupa had been disappointed to see that his eyes weren't red, but pitch black, just like most of his fur. The white tip on his tail was an extreme contrast to that, but it made him look cool. But Shane was still too young to worry about that. He just crawled to Lupa, squeaking in delight that she was here.
He was the smallest out of all the pups, the most fragile. And yet, he was the liveliest of them all and the only one that wasn't scared of Lupa. On the other hand, the other three newborns stayed away from him as well. It was probably because of the white tip. But Lupa didn't mind that, just like Shane didn't seem to mind her white hair and her red eyes. Of all the wolves she had met, he was the very first who liked her the way she was.
Even her own mother had problems excepting her appearance every now and then. It was clear that she loved her, but Lupa really wished that she would love the way she looked as well. That she didn't mind that her daughter was different.
"Auntie Melanie, can I play with Shane outside?" Lupa asked.
"Only if you promise me to take good care of him. And don't leave the wolves' property, get it?"
Lupa nodded enthusiastically, heaved the pup up and ran outside. Shane was already fighting to get down again. He was a moody child. Sometimes he liked being carried by Lupa. Then he would roll up and cuddle into Lupa's dark grey fur. At other times he would only allow her to hold him for a few seconds before he would struggle to get back down to the ground. But he was always, always happy to see her.
It was evening again, pretty much the only time of the day Lupa got to spend without learning or training. But the sun was warm and there was no wind. Shane was in no danger to die through a cold or even the flu. The female put Shane down and started walking away from him. He followed immediately.
"Come on Shane. Try and catch me!"
Shane didn't have to be told twice. As fast as he could he crawled after the elder pup. She walked slow enough not to frustrate her new friend and make him cry. Whenever he toppled over she would run back to him and pick him up. Then she would pat his head and cuddle with him a bit until he was laughing again. After that, the game continued.
If only the other kids wouldn't have so much time. They were already approaching again. No doubt they would come to bully her, like they always did. There were elder pups, such who almost couldn't be called pups anymore and even one that was younger than her. Usually, Lupa gritted her teeth and handled them as good as she could, but this time Shane was with her. The tip of his tail was white. Was that enough reason for the other kids to bully him, too? If it was, she would have to make sure he stayed safe. After all, he wasn't even a month old.
"Look who's here; the freak", one of the older pups said.
"And she has another freak with her", another one of them added.
Lupa just stared at them untouched. She knew from experience that it was best not to show how much these words hurt. Shane was off good for now. He didn't understand what they said yet, so words couldn't hurt him. He just stared at the other kids with his big, black eyes.
The oldest pup, a female, walked to her and pulled on her short white hair. Lupa screamed in pain and gripped the hands, trying to get it off her hair, but the grip was firm and there was nothing she could do.
"Look, everybody", the girl snickered. "Isn't that beautiful hair?"
The others snickered with her, not caring that their victim already had tears in her eyes from the pain. But she gritted her teeth, determined not to show how much it hurt. They would never get the better of her. Another one, a boy this time, came close as well and looked deep into young female's eyes. The grin on his face was huge.
"Don't you just love these eyes? They have the color of blood. I wonder if freaky here is a vampire."
He was about to poke into Lupa's eyes, but she closed her eyes tightly and turned her head away. When the boy wasn't expecting it, she turned back and bit him as hard as she could. He screamed in pain and she could taste the blood of his finger. That's when she let go and spit the blood in the boy's face.
"I'm not a vampire", she spat. "I'm a wolf, like you!"
The girl with the grip on her hair pulled on it and pushed her to the ground that way. She refused to make a sound, but she started panicking when Shane crawled to her and barked cutely in worry over her friend. She would have to bring him away from them or they would pick on him, too. She couldn't. The boy she had bit pushed her to the ground with his foot, assisted by all the others, except for one. That one was just grabbing Shane's tail and heaving him up the ground by that.
"Look, there's freak junior", he sneered and all the others joined.
That went too far. Up until now, she had never tried to defend herself, knowing that they would just go at her even worse. Her mother said that what drove them was not only her looks, but the fact that they were jealous at her talent. If she ever used magic against them, they would do horrible things to her. But now they weren't only bullying her, but her only friend as well and that friend was a newborn baby. She had to do something.
She concentrated everything on the mana inside her body, something that only she was able to feel. All the others couldn't do that yet. And she knew that, if she released it all, they would be pushed back fiercely. She had tried it before on her doll. If it was to protect Shane, then she would go so far. That's what she did. And it had the effect she wanted. All the kids pushing her down got blown away and landed painfully on their backs. Lupa released some more mana and her fur and hair fluttered as if there was wind. Then she stood up and glared at the boy holding up the crying Shane. She was only four years old, but she looked so dangerous that the boy put him down gently. Then she stepped in front of Shane and glared at the kids that had bullied her.
"Go away and leave us alone", she ordered. "Leave us alone or I will do much, much scarier things."
The oldest girl stood up and glared back, trying not to look impressed by Lupa's threat.
"Like what?" she asked.
In an instant, Lupa had summoned even more mana and threw it all at the girl. She yelled and flew ten feet backwards before she landed on her back again. That's when the others stood up and ran. Only one stopped to help the girl up, but once that was done, they ran as well.
Lupa stumbled. Never before had she used so much magic at once. She felt like she had run a twenty miles marathon. Too weak to stand upright, she let herself fall on her knees. For some reason, she was suddenly hungry. Did that have to do with her using magic?
Shane pulled on her fur. Lupa turned around when she felt it. He was crying silently, obviously scared. Never had he been treated like that. Lupa smiled sadly and took him into her arms, were he rolled into a ball and cuddled against her chest. He was sobbing silently and she stroked his head gently. She should bring him back to his mother. As she walked back to the house, she hoped that she would still be allowed to play with Shane. After all, he was her only friend.
There we go. This was the first chapter of the first Chronicles. The first? Yes! I'm already working on the next one, namely Blaze's story. I plan on doing Chronicles for most of the Sonic characters that appear in my Dimensional Travels.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you have any suggestions, feel free to name them. If you have any critique, feel free to tell me. If you have any other reasons to review, please do. Thank you all for reading this fic.
Sheelaflower
