Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight characters, I am merely borrowing them.
Author's Note: I have been a fan of Twilight for some time now but I have to admit – Jacob Black is my favorite character. Thus he takes center stage in this short story. The first chapter is short but there will be a few more - the story, as mentioned before, is short. I hope you enjoy!
Prologue: An End
The snow was hard-packed and mostly ice. This was not a problem for Jacob as he dug his back legs deeply into the ground with every leap forward, running harder and faster. Whenever he began to slide back or skid, he adjusted his weight for the next step forward. The snow beating against his face, whipping past him in torrents as the blizzard around him intensified only made him easier to camoflauge. Part of him noted that his muscles were burning with fatigue but another, angrier part only pushed harder. The pain felt good, made him feel more alive. He knew he could keep running forever if he needed to.
'Someone will think I'm a wind spirit,' Jacob thought to himself. That was another thing – the freedom of being alone sent a thrill through him. There were no brothers or sister to listen to his thoughts, no one whining about the thoughts he couldn't control, no damnable blood-suckers picking apart his every thought. He was finally and truly alone with his own thoughts, as he had once been seemingly forever ago.
He skidded to a stop, panting hard as he lowered his massive shaggy head. The frozen lake spread out before him looked stable enough to hold his weight but some old part of him, the part that used to be scared of the ice, had stopped him. He looked around, shaking his fur to dislodge some of the melting ice. His breath came out in wisps of white clouds, his eyes taking in the beauty around him.
He was surrounded by enormous pine trees blanketed in white powder and the icy lake, which he had thought was only white before, now showed blue and even purple streaks here and there where the snow hadn't quite covered everything. Jacob relaxed, huffing softly as he listened to the trees swaying gently and a distant owl hoot once before presumably shuffling back into his home. A pang of homesickness went through Jacob but he shook it off, enjoying the soft pressure of snow against his back. He flicked his ears a few times and then padded along the edge of the lake.
He looked at the trees as he passed, smelling the crisp air every once in a while. The quiet helped to slow his racing heart. This was good. He had been in so much pain before, running almost blindly away from everything. It had been a long trip, despite his speed and tireless trek, but it was all worth it when he could see what he saw now. The snow was so soft, so comforting. He felt homesick when he heard anything living, such as when the owl hooted, but the blizzard had picked up by now and the only sound was his panting breath.
Jacob eventually found a sort of den under a particularly dense set of trees. Some of the huge pines had fallen, creating a surprisingly comfortable space like a cave with a dense canopy above it to block out the worst of the snow and wind. Jacob carefully squeezed into the small space, curling his massive body into a ball to conserve his heat. Now that he wasn't running, he could feel the cold here and there, surprising and chilling him.
When he finally snuggled his head firmly against his hind leg to keep his nose warm, all of his muscles relaxed all at once. He fell asleep soon after, the sound of the swaying of the trees rocking him to sleep.