They say there's no such place... as Paradise.
Even if you search to the ends of the Earth, there's nothing there. No matter how far you walk, it's always the same road.
It just goes on and on.
But, in spite of that...
Why am I so driven to find it?
A voice calls to me...
It says,
"Search for Paradise."
"Hey, calm down!"
"No. Who the hell do you think you are, coming onto my turf, thinking that you can do whatever you want?!"
The grey wolf snarled viciously, baring her fangs at the intruders. Her pack stood behind her, on the defensive as well. The four strangers stood before them. The runt was trying to reason with her. But there was no reasoning with that wolf. There was a reason that she was the alpha in that pack. Any other wolf, male or female, who tried to overthrow her was killed without mercy. Years of surviving alone in the world made her that way. She never moved, never stopped growling. The runt took a step forward. She almost lunged at him and killed him there. But she'd feel bad about it later. He was her age, maybe, but the youngest of them all. He had tan-brown fur and these bracelets on one of his wrists.
"Please. We didn't mean to..."
"Shut up!" The female snapped.
She barked. That of course got the intruders going. The grey one with the scar made a move to bite her shoulder. She whipped her head around and ripped her claws down his muzzle. Blood ran down her opponents face. He snarled at her. Her pack all lunged at the wolves. The runt fled. The alpha followed after him. Once they were far from the fighting he stopped. She was a good distance away from him.
"Why are you attacking us? What did we do?" He asked.
"I don't like intruders." She growled.
"I'm sorry. We can just leave."
"That'd be wise."
"Then we'll leave."
Her large head nodded and he ran. She ran after him to tell her pack to back down. When she got there, the majority of her pack was all slain. The female regretted letting them go. Only six of her battered and bloody pack remained. They rested there.
It was nearly sunrise when she smelled gunpowder. She scrambled to her feet in a rush, barking at her pack.
"Run! Run!!" She yelled.
It was too late. They were being shot at. She was the only one who made it out. She ran away and disappeared into the forest. The humans didn't follow her. They thought she'd died too. The female ran until her legs gave out. Instead of staying there and letting her wounds close, she limped off into the distance. She smelled fire coming from the north. Fire and wolves. One wolf was very familiar, because he was bleeding. She heard voices once she saw the soft glow in the distance.
"Hey, guys, I can smell blood."
"Blood?"
"Yeah. Wolf's blood. And damn, it's strong!"
"I'll go check it out."
The female could go no further. She was so close, but her body shut down. She fell and lied there, bleeding out. She saw a figure running towards her, and then she blacked out.
When she came to, someone was wrapping up her wounds. She opened her eyes completely and saw the runt. She didn't move an inch, just let him finish. Then he looked down at her.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Better. Thank you. I don't deserve your kindness." She whispered weakly.
"Damn straight you don't..." A gruff voice muttered.
"Tsume!" The runt snapped.
The female forced herself up. Not all the way up, but up enough that she could see who was around her. It was the whole group from before. The intruders. The black-haired one stared at her.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Humans. They came and killed off the rest of my pack. I ran away from them when I knew that I had no reason to stick around..." She said.
"I'm sorry." The runt said.
"Don't apologize. They knew it was coming too. They should've listened to me when I told them to run."
She fell silent for a while. Then she spoke up again.
"Who are all of you?" She asked.
"I'm Kiba."
"Hige."
"Hn...Tsume."
"I'm Toboe! Who're you?" The runt asked excitedly.
The female had changed into a human at this point, pushing some hair out of her face to reveal her always yellow eyes. She chuckled.
"Me? I'm Raiko."
"Hey, Toboe?"
"Yeah, Raiko?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure?"
Raiko leaned against a rock. Toboe was sitting next to her. They were watching the sunset. The others were out hunting. She'd done her share for the night, and Toboe just wanted to keep her company.
"Do you think that we'll ever really find Paradise?" She asked.
"I know we will. Kiba seems so sure that it's there, somewhere." Toboe replied.
"Yeah. We'll find it." She agreed.
There was a long silence. The female suddenly sat up. She had a confession to make to the young wolf. It wasn't going to be easy. She continued to stare forward at the sky.
"Hey...Toboe?"
"Yeah?"
She turned to him. He was still watching the sky. She smiled a little and leaned forward, kissing him on the cheek. Toboe blushed.
"I love you." Raiko admitted.
Toboe was speechless. He reached out and grabbed her, hugging her close.
"I love you too." Toboe replied.
They looked at each other, still smiling, and kissed.
"Hey you two, break it up!" Hige yelled.
Raiko growled and chased Hige. Toboe just sat back and laughed. Raiko rejoined him, happy. Hige was yowling off somewhere in the woods. She didn't even touch him.
The wolves were running in front of a truck that held the Flower Maiden and two humans. Raiko ran next to Toboe. But soon, they all had to continue on foot. They changed back into humans and started walking. The poor, wilting Flower Maiden walked with Kiba. They stopped to rest, and one of the humans went off. Blue and Hige ran off together too. Tsume looked at what was left of the group.
"Kiba, stay with Cheza. I'll go after Hige and Blue. Toboe, Raiko, the humans are yours." Tsume said.
"You got it!" They both said, and ran off after the humans.
When they found the old man who'd left, Raiko's hair was standing on end. He was coming. And then, all of the dust disappeared. Toboe and Raiko stood in their wolf forms, snarling at the form of Darcia as he appeared from the dust. Darcia raised a gun at the old man, and the old man did the same. Raiko heard a shot as Toboe lunged forward. Her eyes widened and she ran to the body of her love on the ground, bleeding. Darcia stepped closer and a feral snarl ripped from her chest. She threw herself at Darcia, fangs bared. Another shot, and she was on the ground too, dying. But she refused to give in. She forced herself to her feet and went at him again. He grabbed her by the throat and threw her backwards. She skidded across the ground, leaving a trail of blood. It was there that she went no further. A snarl and then another shot, and Toboe was at her side. He forced his head up and put it beside hers, licking her muzzle. A grin appeared on her face. Raiko licked his muzzle weakly and shifted her body painfully so that she was as close to him as she could possibly get. There was a thud. The old man was lying on the ground, and Darcia was gone. Toboe heard his love whimper. He looked at her with one eye.
"T-Toboe....W-we're...going to....Paradise.....together....." Raiko whispered.
"Yes....."
"I.....love you.......Toboe....."
Her eyes dulled and her heart stopped. Toboe whimpered and weakly licked her muzzle once more.
"I love you too.....Raiko...."
Slowly, his eyes closed. The grey wolf and the brown wolf, their beautiful fur streaked with blood, lay dead beside each other. The other wolves let a howl to the sky. The moon turned blood red.
They say there's no such place as Paradise
All my life I've heard that it's nothing but a myth
A fairytale
But I know better
I know that even in death
We can still find that place
Paradise...