A/N: Aaan I'm back! Don't worry, Keeva's back to her regular wolfie self in this one.
WARNING: Mentions of blood, death, violence, and self loathing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age. I do own my OCs.
Beautiful Soul
The scent of pine needles and dead leaves filled her nostrils. Wearily, she lifted her head, keen blue eyes barely able to make out the outlines of even the closest trees. Frowning, the she-wolf carefully stood, testing the air for any further clues to her surroundings.
A sharp and pungent smell permeated the air, nauseating the she-wolf and filling her stomach with dread. Every predator knew the scent of blood, and knew it well. Blood meant success, victory, in the hunt or in battle. That wasn't what was bothering her.
The corpse was rotting.
It was highly unusual for a body to be left unattended. A lot of effort was made to bring opponents down, and every peice of it should be stripped clean unless...
Keeva's stomach twisted.
Unless it was meant to serve as a message.
Wolves didn't practice cannibalism, corpses of the enemy were left to rot on the fringes of the territory to warn off new challengers. Horrific, but effective.
Keeva stumbled back, away from the offending odor, and tripped. Her heartrate increased when she realized she'd fallen over the body. Her eyes watered when she found herself staring at the bloodied cinnamon furred back of her protector.
"Ribar." She whispered brokenly. She didn't have to look at her face to know, she'd know her best friend's mother anywhere. "Oh, Ribar."
With a soft sob, she dug her nose into the elder wolf's scruff, breathing in the familiar scent. It was tainted, but it was hers, and there was nothing Keeva loved more than breathing in Ribar's scent.
"What's the matter, parasite?" A familiar voice chuckled snidely. "Lose something?"
Keeva squeezed her eyes shut tight, willing her not to be there. She shouldn't be there, not at a time like this. When she lifted her head, Aura was there, standing in the shadows of two trees. Pretty eyes glowing in the dark, Keeva thought, not for the first time, how unfair it was for someone so cruel to be so beautiful.
"Aura?" She croaked, wincing at the sound of her own voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Finishing the job, of course." The silver female glided our from between the trees. "Clearly, I'm the only one competent enough to do it." She circled her darker rival, eying her with a calculating stare. "Sage proved herself too soft." Aura rolled her eyes. "Kygo failed me." She stopped before Keeva, the only thing between them being Ribar's body. "And Luca let you get away, too distracted by this-" Aura paused to spit on the deceased. "Filth. But, I, oh I've wanted to kill you since that very first day we met."
"You think, I'm just going to lay down and bare my throat to you?" Keeva challenged.
"It would make things easier." Aura agreed. "But you're probably too stupid to keep it simple, so-" She shifted her stance, baring her teeth in a malicious grin. "Let the games begin."
Keeva tensed, ready to spring away as Aura lunged, but another body slammed into the silver she-wolf midair. Lapis irises widened, jaw slacking, as she watched her Head Alpha tear into her puphood bully.
A high pitch whine cut off with a wet, choking sound, and Keeva knew Aura was dead. Her father raised his head, muzzle stained red, dark eyes burning straight through her.
"Luca." She breathed, shivers dancing down her spine. She shook her head, ears slanting back, as she backed away from the brown male. "No."
"Finally found you." He smirked. "This time there's no one standing in my way."
Involuntarily, her eyes strayed to Ribar, laying on the ground. Still dead.
"She was a fool to try and protect you." Luca rumbled, bringing her attention back to him. "And you were a fool to waste the time she bought you. She would be ashamed of you, Keeva."
"No!" Keeva half wailed. "She wouldn't! She loved me!"
"You?" He laughed. "No wolf could ever love you. Pity perhaps, but nothing so gracious as love. That's why you imprinted with that rat, because you know you're not worthy of an honorable courtship."
"That's a lie!"
"You're lying to yourself if you believe that." Luca sneered. "Should've killed your mother the moment she told me she was pregnant, could've saved myself a lot of trouble." He shrugged. "Better late than never."
Luca rushed her, killing the distance between them in seconds. Jaws locked around her throat, Luca using his momentum to slam her to the ground with a dizzying force.
"Lu-ca." She croaked. "Stop."
He tore away from her, taking meat and for with him. Keeva gurgled as blood filled her mouth, and allowed her head to loll to the side. Just pas Luca's foreleg, she saw Ribar's lifeless figure, and she knew she'd be joining her.
Closing her eyes, she sobbed openly as her heartbeat slowed, then stopped...
"...eeva!" She barely heard the words, teetering on the edge of consciousness and sleep. "Keeva!" Someone was shaking her. "Wake up lass!"
The She-wolf woke, eeupting into a fog of broken sobs. Buck, hands still gripping the soft fur of her cheeks, stared down at her in alarm.
"Keeva?" He ventured cautiously, stroking her cheeks gently. "Lass, can you speak to me?"
He received a hiccuping sob in response. His ears laid back in dismay. He'd never seen her in such a state. If she couldn't talk to him, he was going to have to talk to her. He needed to calm her down, before she had a panic attack or worse.
"Keeva." He spoke soothingly. "It's gone now, whatever you saw, it's gone."
"No-o-o!" Keeva groaned. "Ne-ver gone."
"What?" Buck leaned forward to catch the words.
"Never gone." She repeated, voice breathy.
"What's never gone?" Buck pressed, wiping a few more tears from her face.
"Ribar!" She whined.
Buck's mind reeled. Had she ever told him of Ribar? No, he didn't think so. Clearly, they were important to her, he wouldn't forget something like that.
"So sorry." She whimpered. "So, so-sorry."
She was breaking his heart, talking like this, being like this. "It's okay, lass." He murmured. "It's not your fault."
She whimpered, trying to bring forth more words, but all that came out were stuttering sobs.
"Shh." He shushed her. "I've gotcha." He assured. "I've gotcha."
It took well over an hour for the She-wolf to ride out her grief.
Buck never left her in that time, for which Keeva was eternally grateful. As her sons quieted, the only thing she allowed herself to be aware of was Buck's gentle touch, at least for a few minutes.
"M'sorry." She muttered after some time. "You shouldn't have had to see that."
"S'alright lass, as long as you're okay now." He hesitated, but asked anyway. "Do you want to talk about it."
Keeva stayed quiet for so long that Buck assumed she either didn't want to talk, or had fallen back asleep. He was surprised when she released a long and weary sigh.
"I've...never really talked about it before."
"And you don't have to now." He assured her. "But, it might do you some good."
"I don't know where to start." She confessed.
"You mentioned someone named Ribar." Buck said. "Why don't you start there."
Keeva pauses for a beat, then nodded. "Okay."
"Ribar was my best friend's mother." Keeva started. "She treated me like I was her own pup, and in a lot of ways, I felt like I was." Keeva smiled, but it does with her next words. "She was killed, trying to protect me." Her eyes ached, but she was all out of tears to cry. "She shouldn't have done that."
"Keeva-"
"No." She cut the weasel off. "She shouldn't have had to die, Buck. Luca was right about that much. I'm not worth dying for."
"Wait just a minute!" Buck snapped, taking her chin into his hands. "I don't care what this Luca guy said, you are very worthy of protecting."
"You're very biased." Keeva rebuked. He was her best friend, of course he'd say something like that.
"I'm sure she was too." Buck said seriously.
"Yeah." Keeva swallowed. "She was." The she-wolf laid her head across her paws. "She tried her very best to keep Yule and I out of trouble." She dared to grin again. "We didn't make it easy for her."
"I can imagine." Buck grinned back. "You are a handful!"
A weak giggle bubbled up out of her throat.
"I wish you could have met her, Buck." She said wistfully. "She was so beautiful, and not just on the outside." Her grin turned into a soft smile. "She has the kindest soul, but the fiercest spirit I have ever seen." She sighed again, but it wasn't sad, just reminiscent. "I miss her."
"It's alright to miss her, lass." Buck reaches up a hand to scratch her behind the ear. "Just don't go wishin' yourself in her place." He smiled gently. "You've got a beautiful soul too."
"Thanks Buck." She drawled lazily, sleep was calling to her again, but she was still warmed by the weasel's words.
"Get some shuteye." He said warmly. "We've got a busy day tomorrow, chasing down Rudy!"
Keeva snorted, but was too tired to work up a snarky reply, and simply let her eyes slide closed in sleep.
A/N: whew! That was emotional drainage right there, but it felt good to write. I hope you guys enjoyed it!
See you next time!