Kate's One Regret
Kate stared down at the wedding being prepared by many wolves from both the Western and Eastern Packs. She didn't know much of the wolves there, she only knew Mooch, Hutch, Eve, Tony, and last but not least, Humphrey. Ever since Kate and Humphrey had gotten back to their home from their Idaho adventure, he has been acting very unusual. He had a very uplifting attitude but somewhere on the inside she knew something was bothering him. She couldn't quite put her paw on what it was and why it was bothering him, but she knew it was something to do with the recent trip they took. She had assumed that Humphrey had fallen in love with her but she wasn't sure and she didn't want to assume that he did. Humphrey was the most cheerful and happy wolf she knew and it was weird seeing him like this. He dropped his head almost every time she was near him since they got back and every time she said hi to him or asked him what was wrong he just completely ignored her. She didn't have the time to investigate why he was sad or if she could help because she had to stay focused on the wedding.
She laughed out loud. "Damn this wedding! Why does my dad have to control my life and basically choose what I do and what I don't do? All I want to do is fall in love with the one I choose."
She didn't have anyone in mind as she said this but as she thought more, she realized that out of everyone here, the one she would only fall for was Humphrey. She gasped at this discovery as she shook her head. It was embarrassing that she had a crush on him before but realizing that he could be the only one that had a chance with her just made her shiver. She had mixed emotions about Humphrey, he had always been there for her in her time of need and when she left for alpha school, she missed him for only a week or two, and then she had completely forgotten about him. Then he endangered her life twice and pack life once just by being himself. Being the carefree and enthusiastic pup that she loved playing with when she was young, but now she had grown up and he hadn't. He still was careless and irresponsible, and used these characteristics to put other wolves' lives in danger as well as hers. But still, he had saved her and had made sure that she was safe. He even had gotten her to howl with him which was against the law! She also almost had said to him that she had loved him on the train but smoothly dodged it by saying that he was fun.
Then she heard a large "pop" behind her and looked back to see Marcel and paddy flying toward her with smiles on their faces.
"Right on the pin!" Paddy said as he landed in front of Kate with Marcel by him.
Kate was happy to see the two birds that had gotten her home. "Marcel, Paddy!" She said as she pulled Marcel into a hug.
"When it comes to hugs we were are all french eh Paddy?"
"Well I'm English so we don't HUUUUG!" Paddy said as Kate and squeezed him. "But for a first I would say that was a good one."
"I am so happy to see you two!"
"Well we just flew in to see you made it home."
"And what do we find? You're getting married!" They said putting on a smile but Kate knew that they were fake.
She was taken by surprise that they knew she was getting married even though she hadn't told them.
"Yeah! I'm getting married! Who told you?" She asked hoping to get the answer from them but she got it from someone else who she hadn't talked to since two days ago.
"I did." Humphrey said as he walked up to me and looked at the two birds. They returned the glance and picked up their wings.
"Well... uh we should be going!" Paddy said as he took off with Marcel behind him. Leaving Kate and Humphrey alone.
They looked at each other awkwardly waiting for the other person to start the conversation. Then Humphrey started scratching his ear with his fore leg then took out a flower that was in the paw. He then went up to Kate and put it behind her ear.
"It's a little something for your big day." Humphrey said returning to the way he was sitting.
Kate rubbed the flower that was in her mane trying to get it to stay. After she fixed it she looked at him with grateful eyes. "Thank you." She said calmly.
He looked at the floor for a second as if he was about to say something he would regret.
"Just wanted to say goodbye." He said with a tear in his eyes.
"Goodbye?!" Kate said with surprise. So this was why he had avoided her. He was sad about leaving. "What do you mean goodbye?!"
"Well, I don't know Kate. I am thinking about doing a little traveling. You know, seeing where the train takes me. Maybe I will visit our friends the bears." He moved his paws and made a little growl to imitate the bears. "Our old buddies, see how their doing. I'll tell them you said hi!" He said making Kate laugh.
After Kate stopped and laughing she realized that he was being serious. "Wait! You're leaving Jasper?!" She asked already knowing the answer. He looked at her with his icy blue eyes and looked down at the floor again.
He put his head back up and looked back at her. "Yeah! It's a... lone wolf thing." He said putting on another fake smile. She returned the fake smile and tried to think of a way to keep him from leaving.
"What? I thought you had a duty here to keep the peace." She said desperately trying to convince him to stay.
He just laughed. "Well I think you guys got that covered. I mean you're marrying that one Barf dude and uniting the packs so there will be no peace to keep. Besides, there is nothing here for me. The only reason I stayed was because I had thought the girl of my dreams and I had a chance at love. But I guess she didn't like me back because she ripped my heart out." He said dropping his head again.
Kate felt guilt wash over her like a tidal wave. She now knew what was bothering Humphrey. It was her. She was the reason why he had felt the need to leave everything he held dear. She was just speechless as Humphrey turned his back to her and began to walk away. She could feel small tears start to form in her eyes as she watched Humphrey walk away from her. Her mind screamed at her to not let him go and just tackle him and tell him everything thing that she just had realized. She loved every part of him. Everything he said or did was just perfect. She had fallen in love with him so easily but she couldn't ever show it.
Humphrey stopped before he left her behind and looked back at Kate with what Kate thought was tears in his eyes and said his last words to her. "Kate, I hope that you and Garth will have a good life. I will miss you on my journey and will always think of you. Just... can you promise me one thing?" He asked still looking back at Kate.
Kate was still speechless so Humphrey just told her. "Never forget our little adventure we had on our way back to Jasper ok?" Then he turned forwards and walked away. Kate regained her words and put them to good use.
"Humphrey! Don't... don't leave." She almost screamed but she barely kept her composure. He stopped then turned around and looked at her in the eyes again and she froze again. Time started to freeze as her mind battled to decide what to do next. Totally break down in front of a wolf that you would never want to see you cry or try to talk to him and hope that the one in one hundred chances that he would stay would win.
"Kate. It is for the good of the pack as well as my own. Fewer mouths to feed as well as less des needed. Plus, I am just dead weight here." He said and turned his head toward the exit and began to walk toward it.
"Humphrey!" Kate this time screamed. "You can't..." Kate was lost for words now. She was just a stuttering wolf that could nee heal others in their time in need. However, the future lone wolf wanted to hear what he couldn't do according to her, and turned his head around again to face her.
"I can't what? I can't become a lone wolf because I'm too weak?!" He said while losing his little temper. "Or is it that the coyote can't manage to even capture one girl?! Cause hell, I am so up to proving you wrong!"
This not only hurt Kate severely, but offended her. Offended her to the point where she wouldn't be talked to in this manner. She was already fed up with talking to him already. She had tried to be nice but he repaid her by raising his voice. "Well maybe the reason why the coyote can't get a girl is because he needs to know who he is talking to and the respect that is needed to be given! It's not like you can yell at anyone you come up to and expect that they will instantly fall in love with you!"
He chuckled a little, "That's funny Kate! That really is, cause on our way back from jasper, all I got was nowhere near respect. You basically used me to get back to Jasper! I saved your life on our way ba-" He tried to finish but Kate interrupted.
"I wouldn't have needed saving in the first place if the coyote was doing his daily scavenging and found a tiny snack and almost gotten himself shot! The only reason why he didn't get shot is because the wolf that was concerned about her responsibilities and did what she had to in order to help others, pushed the coyote out of the way and gave up her hope in getting home! You know what! Garth was right! You are a coyote! And you will never be anything but that! So just go! Run away like the little coyote you are!" She yelled and after there was a brief silence. She felt good to get that off her chest but her heart began to ache for saying such hurtful words to her childhood friend.
She could tell she made a dent in him because he backed up and lowered his head and clenched his claws into the dirt. She felt so much guilt wash over her and felt the absolute need to apologize to him.
"Humphrey! I-I..." was all she could say before a massive pain struck her face and forced her to the ground holding her face with her paws. Slowly starting to feel and smell blood. She quickly got up to face her love and attacker who just starred at her with his mouth open and tears forming in his eyes.
Before Kate could say anything, her love bolted away leaving behind a swift breeze. Her first reaction was to curl up and cry. Cry out all her locked up troubles and problems in a waterfall of tears. But she knew exactly where Humphrey was going. And she knew that if she didn't follow him and stop him from jumping onto the train, she would never see him again.
Determined, Kate bolted after him. She knew Humphrey was semi agile but he was almost out running Kate. He was able to dodge trees rocks and walls as if it was a walk in the park. But Kate soon caught up to him and tackled him to the floor which was a huge mistake as she realized that they were on the edge of a cliff. Humphrey seemed to realize this as well since he began to get any grip he could in order to stop himself. But Kate and Humphrey failed to do so as they tumbled over the edge, falling 50 meters to the hard rocky floor. Kate could instantly tell that her two hind legs were broken from the excruciating pain she was in. Despite her own wounds, she opened her eyes and looked for Humphrey. Her vision was severely blurred but she managed to see the blurry version of Humphrey not even two feet from her.
"Hu-Humphrey..." was all she managed to choke out in a whisper. It appeared that he was unconscious and Kate begun to panic.
"Humphrey! Hum-Humph..." She choked in a raspy voice. Hearing and seeing no response, she crawled her way to him to be sure he was okay. As the closer she got to him, the more she could make out the details on his body as well as the sudden urge to vomit. His body was covered in blood with extremely sharp pointed rock plunged through his stomach. She looked away and laid her head down and covered her eyes. She couldn't take the stress anymore and began to ball her eyes out with the image of Humphrey's current state implanted in her head.
She softly whispered to herself "How, how could this get any worse."
Right that moment she heard a deep roar of a large animal. She took her paws off of her face to see that there was a bear charging at her with a foaming mouth and razor sharp claws. But at this point, she didn't care. This day turned totally upside down and probably proved to be her last.
She braced herself for pain as the snorting and the stomping got closer and closer until she heard a crunch. She, herself, thought it was her neck being snapped, but there was no pain. She opened her eyes to reveal a severely wounded Humphrey, latched onto the bear's neck with his teeth. The bear withered in pain and jerked its body everywhere and smashed Humphrey's body into trees and the floor, but Humphrey kept on tugging at its neck. Kate, meanwhile, began to try to get up to help Humphrey but her two hind legs gave no support to her and she stumbled and causes herself more pain.
Finally, the bear's neck gave up and Humphrey managed to grip the throat and pull it out, ending its life right there. Slowly, Humphrey released his grip on the bear's neck until the bear was on the floor and showed no signs of life. Kate did not believe what she saw, Humphrey, an Omega, had just taken down a full grown bear even when he was severely wounded. Kate was so caught on what she just saw, that she didn't notice Humphrey start limping towards her.
He stopped in front of her and examined her wounds, "Kate," he said looking for a response. By now, Kate was bleeding out from her legs and her wound from the face, "Kate!" he said with another attempt to get a response. Kate, in turn, shakily raised her head to meet his. "Hum… Humphrey" she managed to say through her pain.
Humphreys face lit up to see that Kate still had time and he could help her and save her. "Don't worry Kate, I am going to get you back to your mothers den and we will get you all fixed up." He said hoping that he could in turn do this. He then picked her up slowly, obviously giving all his remaining strength to do so, and started walking. But Kate's weight was too much for his beaten up body to take and fell down, dropping Kate on the floor. She fell chest first on a rock that slashed her throat, only worsen her state. Humphrey saw this and cursed, then got up again and tried again.
"Agh!" he shouted as he tried again and succeeded on getting her on his back but failed on keeping himself standing up. Kate in turn rolled off and hit the floor again. All of this to Kate was a blurry video of a rollercoaster except in this case; she was being flung off the rollercoaster. She saw Humphrey attempting to get up again but to no avail. Slowly, Kate crawled her way to Humphrey and put her paw on his chest. This in turn alerted him of Kate's presence, and relaxed his muscles and kept his eyes on Kate. His eyes expressed deep sorrow and hurt as he stared into her eyes, hurting Kate further.
"Ka- Kate… I… I just wanted to… *cough* say… *cough* I am… deeply… *cough* sorry… for ever striking you… and causing you to be deeply hurt here… *cough* and now… as well as… when we made it… back to… *cough* " he tried to go on but Kate placed her paw on his muzzle and shut him up.
She tried to say that it was alright and that she loved him so deeply. However all that came out was a wheeze. She looked down at her semi cut up neck and dropped her head. But then she felt Humphrey place his head on hers and said, "See? I caused… all of… this…" then Kate decided to use her actions to show Humphrey what she had tried to say, and cuddled under his arms. This in turn slowed down his breaths as he started to calm down. She then looked into his eyes as he returned the gaze.
Kate thought about why had they fought in the first place? Why had they needed to fight each other to the point where they turned out like this? She could have just told him what she had realized but instead she said the most hurtful things she could think of to him. And now they were here, staring into each other's eyes, both severally wounded and possibly dying. Kate thought of a way to tell him that she felt like a total jerk and that she was so deeply sorry about every negative thing she had done to him. But before she could think of a way, Humphrey decided to close the gap between them quickly and kissed her. She was shocked but too tired to resist so she just eased into it. This powerful kiss was filled with passion and love as well as tragedy and sorrow. She knew that both of them were going to die here and Kate didn't care. She was with the guy of her dreams.
Slowly her vision started to darken and she began to lose her hearing as well. The last thing she heard was a familiar voice yelling "Get away from my Wife murderer!"
She then woke up after a day and realized she was in her parents den. She then remembered all that had happened and tried to get up, however, her hind legs were all winded up in 4 pieces of wood and vines. Then she noticed that her neck felt funny and sticky. She looked down and realized that her neck was covered in a sticky substance that had the mixed color of gold and red. She tried to get up again but fell down again and landed making a big noise. This seemed to alert someone from outside that something was wrong. Then one by one, three wolves entered the den. Her mother, father, and Garth.
"Oh honey! You're awake!" Eve said as she carefully embraced her daughter, Kate returned it and glanced at her father. She tried to say "what happened and where is Humphrey!" but nothing came out. Her father looked at her and frowned.
"It appears eve was right. Her your vocal cords were destroyed." He said dropping his head.
Then Garth looked at him, then back at Kate. "At least she's ok, one second later and she would have been dead."
Kate's dad picked up his head again. "Yes, thanks to you Garth. If I would have known that Humphrey would do such a thing to my daughter, I would have banished him a long time ago." This came to Kate's attention and she pushed her mom from the embrace. Then she looked at her father again and tried to talk again but failed. Then her father noticed this and smiled.
"Yes, Garth saved you from that murderer. I don't know if you remember but Humphrey did this all to you." He said smiling at Garth. Kate knew this was wrong and shook her head to try to tell them this was wrong. Nut Winston took this as the wrong meaning. "I know it is hard to realize that Humphrey would do such a thing to you is hard to believe, but before Garth killed him, he said that all of this was his own fault and that he should die for his wrong doings." He said then Garth finished.
"That's where I didn't believe him and I turned to help you but that dumb dog attacked me!" I tried to get him to stop but he kept attacking. It was to the point where I had to put him down to save you." Kate couldn't believe what she heard. Her love and best friend since child hood was dead! And he was killed by the son of the Easters pack leader.
She wanted to attack him and kill him to avenge her love, but the cast confined her and she just dropped her head to the floor again. That's where her mom looked to the males and said "she's tired and this realization probably took all of her strength away so let's give her some time to rest."
The males nodded and left followed by her mother. Kate retraced what had just happened and did the only thing she could do. Cry. From the looks of everything, she was the coyote. The crying coyote that wasn't strong enough to grow up and tell her love what she had meant to him instead of ensuring her fate of never seeing him again as well as her own voice.
The truth in turn was never realized by anyone but Kate and Humphreys legacy went on to be known as a killer instead of the true, caring and loving wolf that only Kate knew was inside of him. The wolf that she loved. And she never slept without dreaming about him, never spent a morning without crying, and never spent a night realizing how foolish she had been.
Hey guys, thanks for reading this. It means a lot to me since I am rarely writing anymore. But since it is summer, I may have more time to do so. A review would be awesome as well as a favorite. I am always on Fan fictions so don't think I wouldn't see that you did leave a review or a favorite. Thanks again everyone and I hope you have a good day or night. Whichever one suits you.