The Second Time Around
Wolf's Rain fanfic
Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain.
This is a continuation of where the anime ended. Toboe's story is going to be told in first person. This chapter is a backstory to his life before he is a human in the final scene of the anime. Enjoy!
Chapter 1:
Toboe
My life has never felt normal. Even as a young cub living in a small pack of wolves, something about my life never seemed right. It was like I was missing something, but I could never figure out exactly what makes me feel like this. It was like there was a part of me that felt… lost? Empty? I don't have the words to describe it. Was I just different?
Even my own brothers and sisters treated me differently. I was never really in the mood for play fighting as a cub. I didn't like violence, even if it was pretend fighting. After a while, my brothers and sisters got the hint that I didn't care about the social hierarchy in the pack. Of course the hierarchy can change when we leave cubhood behind, but it didn't really matter where I stood in the pack.
I loved to spend my time playing in water or just basking in the sun for hours. Life feels so peaceful when I take naps in the sunlight. Whenever Mother Wolf was willing to take us to the river, she would let us play in the water and get our paws wet.
I love my mother. She was the only parent my siblings and I had. The wolf who fathered us was supposedly killed by a hunter shortly after we were born. I don't remember him. I hadn't opened my eyes before he died. Thankfully, the members of the pack were willing to hunt for food and bring it to my mom so she wouldn't starve.
As my brothers and sisters got older, the adults started taking us away from the den to watch how to hunt. I watched, but I didn't pay too much attention to strategies or anything. If I ever got the chance, I would sneak off and enjoy being by myself. It's not that I don't like my pack. I feel like I don't belong here. I keep having dreams or visions of being with a pack of four wolves, including me. Something about these wolves in my fantasies feels warm and familiar. The leader is an Arctic wolf with the personality of an alpha male. There is a grey wolf with a scar on his chest. And the other is a light brown wolf who is a little on the heavy side.
A voice broke my train of thought. It wasn't a wolf. Oh, no!, I thought. I travelled too far. Mother's going to kill me! But there was something different about this voice… no there are more of them, but I didn't know what they were. Curiosity took over and I slowly walked towards the strange noises.
"Hey, Joe. Look!" said one of the humans.
A man whisted. "A red wolf. Would you look at him? He's just a little pup!"
"He must be the runt of the litter. He looks too small for his age," said the other human. He held out a rib he had been eating in front of me.
Every instinct in my body was telling me to run. But that meat looks so good!, a voice inside my head argued. I don't have to kill in order to survive. Humans seem nice enough. Maybe humans can feed my pack and the adults won't have to worry about hunting anymore. I walked towards the meat and the human put it down on the ground. I started eating and I could feel the hunger subsiding. Next thing I knew, one of the humans picked me up by the scruff of my neck. I panicked. I started thrashing and desperately trying to free myself, but to no avail.
"Put him in the crate and we'll take him with us. A pup can't survive alone out here in the wilderness. A predator will kill him for sure," one of the humans said.
I heard a howl in the distance. Mother's howl. She finally realized I'm gone. Maybe if I howl back, she'll come save me. I tried, but it turned out to be a pitiful squeak. I haven't learned how to howl yet. There was nothing I could do to escape. I am going to be ripped away from my pack for good. I sadly listened to my mother's heart broken howls fade in the distance. Good bye. I whispered.