Hello! I have never written a Balto fanfic before, but I am going to write one now! It focuseds around my favorite character in the series, Aleu! Ironically, I portray her both in a good light and a painful one in this story, as she, on her way to rejoining her family after saving her pack, spends so much energy in both cases that she undergoes a hideous case of cardiac arrest, as the title might give away! Can she possibly survive, even with the aid she's given? We'll find out in this literally pulse pounding story! Though it's not for the faint of heart(HA, HA, GET IT?!).

Things To Note:

This story takes place two weeks after the events of Balto III: Wings Of Change.

I own none of the characters. They all belong to the Balto franchise.

Aleu's Heart Attack

Things had been going quite well for Aleu lately. In fact, it was almost as if the forces of fate and karma had permanently shifted themselves entirely in her favor. For one thing, she had, over the course of a few weeks, become a superb, efficient and just pack leader who was beloved as much as respected by her followers. Additionally, she'd not only led successful hunts and also fought off more enemies than any other member of her pack, though they'd fought off their share of foes, too, but still, but she also had made it so her pack was able to thrive just about anywhere at all. That, and she'd always found the perfect spot for taking care of anyone who was ill, tired, injured or anything of the sort. She also knew how to avoid danger which they couldn't fight off, such as hunters and bears and such. Truly, it seemed as though the good lord himself smiled upon her, especially since, with each passing week, she won fights, saved lives and/or caught food even better than she had before.

Unfortunately, a cycle of events occurred which would alter her life drastically. One day, Aleu learned of something. Something she wasn't expecting, but was glad about. Niju, it turned out, had recently rethought his life and decided to atone for his past mistakes and find a way to adjust to change if said change was at least for the better and wouldn't make him justified in his fear of it. In the end, he had indeed redeemed himself, though he was never what one would be wont to consider TRULY evil to begin with, but still, and not only did Nava find out before any other individuals, commending Niju for it and welcoming him back, plus letting him know all he needed to know and assuring him changes around here were for the better and he needn't fear any of them, but Nava was sure to inform Aleu. This pleased her and the rest of the pack, who subsequently welcomed back Niju. Sadly, it would go from good to bad to worse from here, as that night, an enormous avalanche and blizzard occurred. And while it did not kill any of these wolves, it did separate them all due to how cold, blinding and fast it was and there were two groups of wolves in the end. The small one of Niju, Aleu and Nava, and the bigger one of the rest of the pack, who were so far away from their three friends(and in a place they didn't even know of, no less, since they didn't know where they were now)that they quickly learned they had no choice but to move on, select a new alpha and pray Aleu, Niju and Nava were going to survive.

Likewise, Aleu, Niju and Nava had gotten lost and could not see any of the rest of the pack anywhere, and although they frantically searched about, which the rest of the pack had done, of course, but with no success, these three had no success, either, and came to the hard, painful realization that their only option was to move on, try and find out where they were and how to find a way to survive and hope to God the rest of their pack would be lucky enough to live through all of this. Ironically enough, Aleu soon saw a very familiar sight after they got to being on the move again. "What the…?" she said, stopping abruptly. "Aleu, this is no time for you to be getting astounded!" Niju told her. "Yes, for though we all did all we could to find the rest of our pack, you were at least thrice as frantic, eager and fanatic about is as me and Niju were!" "What do you expect? I'm the alpha, or at least I was the alpha, and I had some damn responsibilities, dammit!" Aleu shouted at them. It was quite true…Aleu had been pushing herself to her limits and stopping long after Niju and Nava had been forced to accept there was no hope of finding the rest of the wolves. She'd been running, sniffing and trying to fight her way through the blowing snow as fast as she could, and when she barely dodged the powerful avalanche that came at her in the end, ran far away from it and subsequently finally accepted with much reluctance that there was no hope or point, she got incredibly enraged with herself and showed it quite vocally via growling. That was obviously before now, in which she was astonished with what she'd seen.

And what had she seen? Why, that somehow, someway, they had, during their ordeal in which they tried to fight their way through the blizzard and keep up with their pack, along with moving forward once it was a moot point, managed to wind up at the edge of an iceberg that was about to break off and flow to Alaska, Aleu's original home! She excitedly, with her heart racing even faster than it had been before(and that was saying a lot), told Niju and Nava: "Guys, we've only one place to go now that it's just the three of us! I've ignored how much I miss my family and vice versa all this time, since I had responsibilities as an alpha. But now, as the leader of this group of three, since we all need a place to live and can't just live in the wild as a trio, for some very obvious reasons, and since you, Nava, being as old as you are, will need a nice, peaceful and calm place to spend your last years here on Earth, I can think of no better place to go than back to Nome! I mean, I know my family's wanted me to come back despite thinking that it would not happen, and it's our best bet under circumstances like this! So come on! Let's move it before that iceberg drifts away!"

Seeing no reason to argue with her, and understanding her valid point in that the best hope they had in their current situation was to return to Nome, Nava and Niju nodded in full agreement, and all three leapt onto the iceberg just before it floated off. By the time they got to Alaska, there was barely enough left of the iceberg for all three to stand on, but that was okay, for they had reached their destination. They all jumped off, and Niju asked: "So, Aleu, I'm guessing that, since you lived at Nome before, you know how to get to it from here?" "I sure do!" Aleu said. "Follow me!" She ran fast, and Niju and Nava were barely able to keep up with her as she did not stop to pause for breath once and kept sniffing the air to make sure they were going in the right direction.

At the end of it, Aleu, Niju and Nava got back to Nome, and they also were able to so very easily find Balto's home, where Jenna, Kodi, Dusty, Ralph, Kirby and Boris also lived, along with Muk and Luk, obviously. It is quite worth noting, by the way, that on the way back to Nome, the three wolves were attacked by various foes numerous times, and although Niju and Nava were able to fight their share of them off, it was Aleu who beat down and fought off the most threats and adversaries, without pausing to catch her breath once after resuming running or when in a fight. Anyhow, as soon as they were there, they were lucky enough so that Kodi was looking out the window at the time and saw them. He alerted the others and they all ran out, all elated to see Aleu, but surprised to see Nava and especially Niju, though Aleu quickly and very thoroughly accounted for that by explaining everything, along with explaining why they were back and what she meant to happen, and after a lot of discussion, patching things up with Niju and vice versa and negotiating, which Aleu made sure was covered completely in every nook and cranny, it was agreed Aleu, Niju and Nava would live here from now on, and jobs would be found for them which agreed with their age, physical state and strengths.

Of course, they also all agreed to a celebration about the new era which was about to unfold, along with how Kodi and his team filled Aleu in on everything she needed to know of in terms of what had been going on at Nome and Balto did the same for Niju, while Jenna did the same for Nava. Unhappily, no sooner was this finished than did Aleu howl to the sky in joy and happiness of being home…at the worst possible time she could have done so. I know this sounds surprising and confusing, so before we continue, let's recap a few things here.

Aleu had, over the past matter of weeks, fanatically been fighting off foes, hunting down food when needed, leading her pack, helping those in need, keeping clear of danger when it was possible and all other things an alpha are supposed to do, determined to live up to her status and all of everyone's expectations. Additionally, she had, most recently, been pushing herself to her very limits in trying to save her pack during a huge blizzard and avalanche, and when the latter happened, she'd put all her energy into dodging it and running off, as she otherwise would have been nailed by it. And before that, she, Nava and Niju alike had been trying their hardest to help find any lost pack members, sadly with no success, but she'd put easily the most effort into it in every way, including nonstop movement and grueling running, along with much signaling via howling and calling out names and/or locations. And after that, she'd gotten angry about what she was forced to accept, and growled to show it, plus gotten excited about suddenly realizing there was an opportunity to make the most of this and get back to Nome, not to mention how she'd eagerly jumped onto the iceberg along with the other two. And finally, when they'd all gotten back to Alaska, she led them back to Nome with nonstop running and sniffing, as well as how, when the three fought off dangers, she fought off the most of them by far and put what was by a long shot the most energy and determination into it, as well as the most aggression.

And, besides the fact she also showed the most excitement out of the three to see her family again, for the very obvious reasons, and had eagerly made sure all was said and done as it would need to be for this to work, let's not forget that everything after those weeks before she met up with the changed, better Niju and Nava, right down to her big howl of happiness she was doing now, happened in the same day. Seeing as how she was also howling her lungs out, and seeing as how she'd kept up without keeping track of how much she was tiring herself out due to how fanatic she was about all this, plus she hadn't been resting at all during all this and had very obviously been exerting herself phenomenally and been through a lot of stress both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, what do you think all of this combined to? What do you think such a combination as you've just read about would mean? Would result in? Would cause? What do you think Aleu, in her hellbent eagerness to make everything right, had inadvertently set herself up for? What kind of heart rate do you think she had by this point? What do you think so much pressure, stress, exerting, running, fighting, anger and excitement in so little time would amount to and build up to for her, despite the way she was perfectly young, fit and healthy, did not have high levels of cholesterol or diabetes and was certainly not overweight, and, before such a time as this, her blood pressure was just fine?

That's right, readers! You guessed it! This huge howl of joy she was letting loose was the final step Aleu would take to suffering cardiac arrest! Her heart rate had been speeding up quite a bit all day long, just as it had sped up to some extent in the past few weeks in an on and off kind of way, but now it had been speeding up nonstop from all you just read about and her motivation behind it, however noble it was. And now it had sped up to such an extent that despite her youth and ordinarily good health, she was about to undergo the worst heart attack that a wolf of Nome had been subject to in a long time. The rapid, grueling beating of her heart turned to pain. Her endless exertion and the hard work she'd been doing nonstop without a bit of rest or time to get her breath back caught up to her at last. Her entire chest suddenly felt like a torture chamber, and her howl was cut short both by that and her suddenly cut off breath and oxygen supply. She gave an agonized look as her head came back down, and gasped as she also choked a bit.

"Aleu, what's wrong?" asked Kodi. Aleu's eyes opened widely as the pain in her chest worsened, and she exclaimed, realizing what this was: "Oh, my God! I'm having a heart attack!" "Well, of course your heart's pounding fast! You're happy as can be!" Niju said. "I mean, you just pulled off laudable stunts and feats galore and reunited us all with…" "NO!" Aleu screamed. "I'M REALLY HAVING A HEART ATTACK!" Just then, the agony got worse two fold, and Aleu could only scream as her shortness of breath was followed quite swiftly by the utter lack of oxygen and blood flow to her heart and lungs causing her to pass out both from the pain and the lack of air. Her heart failure was massive, and she collapsed in a heap. She was pretty much as close to being dead as someone could be while still being alive.

"Oh, dear God!" exclaimed Balto. "We have to get her to a vet. FAST!" "Put her on my back! I owe her that much!" Niju said. So they did, albeit gently so they wouldn't increase the chances Aleu was going to die, and all of them ran as fast as they could to the nearest vet clinic, Niju all the while making sure to hold his speed while also seeing to it the comatose Aleu would not fall off of his back. Once they got there, they all started barking, and it worked like a charm. The door was opened, and one vet said: "I say, I've never seen this many dogs at my door in my life! What can this…" They all motioned their noses to the out cold and barely clinging to life Aleu, making the vet realize exactly what they were here for.

"Good heavens! I must see to it she is treated at once! Whatever happened to her is quite serious and severe!" So they ran into the vet's place, and once everyone was inside, the door got shut and Aleu was quickly taken to the emergency room, where this vet and some of his fellow veterinarian workers were able to tell Aleu had suffered a heart attack, and they got right to work doing all they could to make sure she wouldn't die. It was, for Balto, Jenna, Niju, Kodi, Nava, Dusty, Kirby, Muk, Luk, Boris and Ralph, two long, excruciating, frightening hours. But when the lead vet finally opened the door to the emergency room, prompting all of them to shoot their heads up fast and look to him, he said: "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, she is going to live. It was no easy task getting her heartbeat back to normal while also making her able to breathe and see to it her body calmed down enough so she could function as she was in the time before she began her hurried ordeal, but we were able to, and she is going to pull right through, and in fact come to in a matter of minutes now." All of the canines, along with Boris and both polar bears, breathed a humongous sigh of relief, knowing Aleu was not going to die and they'd not lost her.

"But though I do hate to spoil this happy moment, I regret to tell you that the bad news is she is still going to be weak as water and unable to stand, much less move, for at least two weeks from now. So you're perfectly allowed to visit her once she's awake again, but you're going to have to leave her here and come back two weeks later to pick her up, by which time she'll be able to move again and will be eagerly awaiting joining you and returning home with you all. But in the meantime, she needs to recover, take it easy, rest and be gently cared for, so visit her and keep her company for a bit, but then respect her needs and give her privacy and solitude. Are we clear?" They all nodded, and the vet said: "Good. Come right this way." He led them down the hallway to where Aleu's room was, and once they were inside, he sat down to wait until they were done, and then lead them back out so they could go back home while Aleu was tended to at the times she needed to be.

Soon enough, Aleu awoke, slowly opening her eyes as she regained awareness and felt no more pain in her chest. As soon as her eyes were fully open and she sniffed the air, she could see and smell something quite familiar. "Mama? Papa? Niju? Kodi? Boris? Muk? Luk? Nava? Ralph? Dusty? Kirby? Am I seeing things right?" "You sure are, Aleu." Balto said as he and the others gathered around her bed. "And in case you're wondering, no. You're not dead. Your heart has been treated and your condition cured." Boris told her. "There ain't no problem, pain or any kind of blockage any longer, and you're back to normal." Dusty said. "That's 'there is no problem', Dusty, but thank you, all of you, for making this clear to me." Aleu's voice was, at this time, barely audible, since despite being back to normal she was weak and unable to move and of course would need time to regain her strength. But she could still be heard clearly enough, and she then noticed there were bandages galore wrapped around her chest and belly. "Bandages?" she asked. "The vets put them on after they performed heart surgery on you." Kodi explained. "And believe me, they did an exemplary job treating your ticker." Nava let Aleu know.

"I see…" Aleu acknowledged. "Anyway, you're going to need to stay here for two weeks, but after that, we'll be able to come pick you up and you can return home with us as you were originally planning to do before this life derailing ordeal befell you." Jenna informed her. "That's good to know…" Aleu smiled. "Though there is one thing we'd like to point out…" Muk told her. "Yeah?" asked Aleu. "The reason you suffered cardiac arrhythmia and subsequently a severe heart attack was because you ignored your limits and pushed yourself as hard as you did, not once stopping to rest or catch your breath." Niju told her. "Yes, you have a strong, healthy heart, and yes, you're in no way overweight, having of high cholesterol and/or blood pressure or anything of the sort, diabetes, cancer or otherwise." Nava put in. "But those are not the only ways one can suffer a heart attack. Stress and over-exhilaration can cause it, as well." "And you put yourself through the worst kind of over-exhilaration and stress today." Kirby said to her. "It goes without saying, therefore, that as altruistic, brave and steadfast as your intentions were, you have to remember your limits and what can happen if you ignore them." Ralph added in.

"I hear you loud and clear. I'm definitely gonna learn from this and not exert myself so excessively from now on." Aleu told them. "Thank you for helping me in my time of need and making sure I wouldn't die." Luk then made some noises, and Muk translated it: "Luk just said that he speaks for everyone when he says that you're very welcome, he does." Aleu just lay on back to enjoy the glow and breathe softly and quietly after hearing this, now that the damage was undone and she just needed to replenish her energy. Her blood was flowing just fine now, and it was never clogged with lipids, so it wasn't hard for it to get back to its normal rhythm and pace after her operation. Of course, Aleu noticed she was on life support and that her heart rate was being monitored, and she said: "Say, what are these?" "Oh, that's just the equipment for your life support system." Jenna explained. "This screen monitors your heart rate, and those tubes and such keep you in a regular state while you recover and make sure you get enough oxygen and comfort." "Gotcha." Aleu said. "But my heart attack must have been as life threatening as you are all telling me, if I need life support for it."

"Yeah, intensive care is only for the most extreme situations." Balto told her. "But hey, it's only going to be this way for fourteen days, and even so, you're perfectly safe and nicely recovering, so take heart!" Ralph smiled. Kodi then growled upon hearing the last two words and smacked Ralph with his paw. "Hey, what did I say?" Ralph exclaimed. "Don't play dumb. And don't insult my fucking sister again unless you want me to bite off your balls." He then turned to Aleu and said: "By the way, try to speak as little as possible for a while. It's better for your body and will get your strength back sooner." Aleu nodded and lay down, letting herself get lost in the bliss of comfort and stillness she was in and would be in while on the road to recovery. Then she was surprised to hear the voice of Kirby say: "Incidentally, I'm glad we could save Aleu and see to it she'd live to be with us again! After all, it wouldn't be the same without her, especially due to how she's all heart!" Dusty then slapped him across the face and snapped: "What the hell did Kodi just finish telling Ralph?!" "But I was complimenting her!" protested Kirby.

"You most certainly were NOT." Dusty spat. "It was the worst kind of sugar coated insult and we both fucking know it." "Surely, now, you don't have the heart to cause Aleu discomfort at a time like this, do you?" Boris asked. "Don't tempt us to give you a whack, too, Boris…" let out Kodi in a snarl. "But…but guys!" Muk cried. "We've already gotten to the heart of this matter, and it's ended perfectly for all of us! Why discuss it any further now, especially in this way?" "Wanna find out just how soft and juicy you are?" hissed Dusty with a bloodthirsty shine in her eyes. Muk fell over in fright and said: "I didn't mean any harm by what I said! Honest!" Luk then made some sounds, with Muk translating: "Oh, right! Luk just said we really should not be bickering about this, since Aleu's had enough trouble for one day, and that it would be really heartless to keep this up, as a result!" "LUK! NOT YOU, TOO!" exploded Kodi and Dusty both at once, which made Luk fall over in startled fear even faster and harder than Muk had. "My God, I bet Aleu would beat us all up in a heartbeat if she could at this point." Kodi said, but he quickly realized what he'd inadvertently let slip out and went: "OH, DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! NOW I'M DOING IT, TOO!"

"If we keep this up, Aleu will be heartbroken that we've turned so nasty over a trivial matter!" Dusty tried to reason with them, but opened her eyes wide at realizing how she'd said this and banged her head against the wall, going: "NO, NO, NO! I JUST DID IT MYSELF!" "Look, guys, I think we all need to get a hold of ourselves and give Aleu and the vet a heartfelt apology for such a thing as this…" Jenna began, but she rolled her eyes just then and went: "Oh, dear God…now I've started doing it…" "Everybody, Aleu is probably embarrassed to even so much as know us, much less be related to us, by this point…" Balto said, "…so what say we do her a fucking favor and get hearts out of here?" His eyes shot open widely and he groaned: "I'm doing it with the rest of you…what's wrong with me…with us…?" "Let's just get out of here…" Jenna sighed, speaking for all of the rest of them. "Aleu, we are so sorry…" "Can you forgive us for this?" Balto asked. "Of course…" Aleu replied. "You all saved me and showed how much you care, and I could have died without your help. You're my family, and I'm not embarrassed about any of you at all…"

All of them smiled, and Nava said: "Ah, those words really touched my heart. OH, NO…" "Not again…" Niju bitched. "And right after we just finished being told by her she wasn't embarrassed by, and in fact was thankful to, all of us, no less…but at least she did make that clear to us, and knowing that and how she's going to be all right is so heartwarming…AH, CRAP! Now I've done it!" "I think it's time we got going more than ever, guys…" Balto said. "Aleu, we are glad you're recovering and thank God you're okay. We love you, and look more than forward to seeing you again in two weeks." "I love you all, too, and thank you again. I'm glad my life isn't over, and though I anticipate when I finally enter my new life with you all, I will still, in the meantime, keep you all in my heart for the whole of these two weeks…" Then, suddenly realizing what she'd just said, both Aleu and everyone else burst into laughter, though in Aleu's case, she quickly calmed herself down, since she wanted to take it easy on her fixed, but still currently delicate, heart. When the others stopped laughing, they looked one last look at Aleu as she dozed off to sleep and then made their way out of her room.

THE END

So, how was it to you? Rate and review, please, everybody!