AN/ So here is my Love At Stake fanfiction. One thing I'm so sad about the actual series is that there are no prequels to the stories of our beloved heroes, so I'm here to give my favourites.

This one is on Phil Jones. We know his mother died and he was banished, lived on his own until he started working for Angus, but I'm gonna write a nice quick few chapter story on the progression. Hopefully I get it right, if there is anything I get wrong from the books, just let me know in a review, and I will go in and correct it after double checking myself.

So please enjoy, and to anyone who reads my other stories, my excuse is the same – just not feeling it, but not giving up on them either.

If I die young, bury me in silence,

Lay me down on a bed of roses,

Sink me in the river at dawn.

Send me away with the words of a love song

~If I Die Young (The Band Perry)

Chapter One: If I Die Young

She had given up.

We all saw it. Our mother slowly deteriorating as time went on, not able to deal with this anymore.

She tried to live for us, but there are some forces too powerful to overcome, and death combined with the need to escape from her prison is one of them.

Howell and Glynis barely saw her, but they were just kids. Barely old enough to completely understand that our mother wasn't going to make it through this illness, so Brynley and I sat with her and tried to make her laugh.

Occasionally, it'd work, but for the most part she smiled a sad smile.

And where was our dad?

The great and all mighty Cadac Jones, Supreme Pack Master of, well, most of North America I'd gather (if not now, he will be soon) and husband of my mother?

Off.

And no, he wasn't gone because he couldn't stand to see our mother in this amount of pain. He was gone cause he had business and that was more important than the welfare of his wife.

I wanted to say something. To scream and holler and shout but I'm too terrified. I'm nothing that can compete with him.

I'm supposed to be the next Supreme Alpha, but I can't be more than a joke where I'm at now strength wise.

It's taking all my concentration to not ball like a bitch as I sit here and watch my mother slowly die in front of my eyes, and I can see the same look in Brynley's.

Neither of us knows what to do.

Mom fell asleep, and now we're just sitting here in silence. I can hear Glynis and Howell outside fighting. Glynis wants Howell to play with her, but he has training to do, but she won't have any of it.

Brynley thought it would be a good idea to leave the window open for mom, so she can hear her two youngest twins outside and being their normal, annoying, charming selves.

The only time they were allowed to come in and see mom was right before bed. They'd come in and kiss her good night. Dad doesn't want them exposed to this and Brynley agrees, but I think it would be good for them to spend as much time with our mother as possible before she's gone.

Maybe that would make her fight again?

No, dad broke her spirit too long ago for even them to fix it. All we as her children can do is be the bandages that holds to gashing wound in need of stitches – keeping it from expanding, but not healing it.

"Mom? Mom!" Brynley cries, and suddenly I'm listening, too. She has no heartbeat.

Brynley shakes her and calls out. I go over and grab my sister by the shoulders and pull her back.

"She's gone," I can't hold it in anymore. My voice is strong, but water pools and flows in my eyes. "She's gone…"

AN/ So how was that? Kind of a depression start to a story, but I hope it sets the mood for Phil's depressing life before McKay.