Did you miss me did you miss me did you miss me did you miss me

The Legend of the White Wolf

Chapter 2

"A few years after the founding of the village there was a seemingly endless winter, having lasted many months longer than normal. Many had already perished due to starvation, disease, and the freezing temperatures. The atmosphere of the village was oppressing, the air heavy with death and grief; many had started to wonder what they had done to anger the Valar. Though there were always those who could endure whatever was thrown at them and bounce back, the young children of the village who ran and played in the fluffy white snow.

On a cold day, no different from the many before it, a group of the village's children went into the woods to play. Some of their elder siblings, old enough to understand the pain and grief their parents were feeling, went with them to keep them safe. They stopped in a clearing a reasonable distance from the village to play, the youngsters chased each other across the clearing, threw balls of packed snow, and were the picture of innocence. The older children smiled at them, their hearts lightening at the sight of their pure hearts.

After a few hours snow started to fall once more, the older children quickly gathered the others knowing that what might be flurries one moment could become a blizzard the next. After gathering everyone they set out back toward their home, they made good time nearly reaching the tree line when the snow started to pick up. What no one noticed is one small boy slip away from the group and headed back into the woods.

He had dropped his mother's necklace on a log after it had come undone while playing, he had intended to grab it before they left, but had forgotten. His mother was gone, he didn't know where, Pa had only told him that she had gone on a long journey and that he couldn't follow her but as long as he kept the necklace he would see her again. Retracing his steps back to the clearing they were playing in, the boy looked for the, now snow covered, necklace not at all concerned about the falling snow.

After finding, and retying, his mother's necklace the child turned to go home only to find the tracks gone, covered by the freshly fallen snow. Fear and confusion gripped the child's mind as he looked around at the white haze swirling around him; biting his lip he started walking in the direction he thought would lead him home.

But with the whipping snow and howling wind, the boy was unaware he had become disoriented and was walking in the wrong direction.

After walking for awhile he was freezing, he couldn't feel his toes or fingers, and was shivering violently. Tears were cascading down his cheeks, though they froze before they could fall, his vision blurred as he continued to stumble through the forest. At one point in his agonizingly slow walk he tripped over something under the snow, he fell to the ground and didn't get back up.

The youth lay there unable to find the energy to get back to his feet, in a daze he stared at the towering bare trees dark against the falling snow. He listened to the howling wind, and as time passed he began to feel hot he tried to ignore the heat since his mother always told him not to remove his cloak in the snow, but the heat became unbearable and he lifted his arm to unclasp it. But something pressed his hand back to the ground. Realizing he was no longer alone he struggles to lift his head to see his savior, only to freeze in horror when he did.

Towering over him was a wolf as white as the snow swirling around them, and it was huge, the size of a bear. Its eyes were two balls of ice that seemed to stare into his soul. As the icy wind pulled on its thick fur the little boy didn't see a woodland creature but a demon, made out of snow and ice that wanted nothing more than to kill him. With a scream of terror, adrenaline surged though his veins and he escaped the demon's grip and tried to find his feet. Due to the numbness in his limbs he stumbled over himself in his haste to get away, resulting in him falling back into the snow. It was then that he realized that he couldn't escape the monster above him and laid still resigning himself to his fate.

But the wolf's fangs never met his flesh; instead they hooked into the back of his cloak and tunic, around his mid back, and lifted him out of the snow. The child closed his eyes waiting for the wolf to toss him or shake him, like he'd seen some of the town dogs do with rabbits, but instead he started lazily swinging occasionally bouncing off the creature's chest and legs as they moved forward. As they walked he realized that standing on its hind legs the wolf would be taller than his Pa, the tallest man in the village, and to it he was nothing but a hare, he was even being carried like one. The returning thoughts of rabbits brought his thoughts to his Pa bringing home rabbits for his mother to cook.

At the thought of his Pa he started to struggle against the wolf's grip once again, until the beast dropped him. With renewed energy he found his feet and took off into the forest, tripping and stumbling but not stopping. But the snow was still falling heavily around him and he didn't get far before he tripped again. Throwing his hands out in an effort to catch himself, they met something warm and furry, halting his descent.

After finding his footing once again, he slowly brought his gaze up to what caught him, brown eyes met icy blue. The wolf helped steady him when he tried to run again, and lost his footing. As he stared at the large animal in fear, his eyes only reaching the wolf lower chest, the canine's ears fell back and it lowered its head, and then nosed the boy's numb hands, tail slowly starting to wag. Staring into the wolf's eyes the child found nothing to be afraid of. Slowly he started to shake and before he realized it he had thrown his arms around the wolf's neck and was crying into its fur. "I wanna go home!" he wailed.

The wolf gazed down at him for a few moments before rising to its full height once more; it shook the snow from its fur and started to walk away. The boy stared after it for a few moments before realizing that he was being left alone. "W-wait!" he cried reaching out towards it. The wolf paused and looked back at him, twitching its ears forward it took a few more steps before looking back again to see the boy not following. At this the wolf returned to the scared, cold child. The boy's large sad wet eyes followed the wolf's movements as it reached down to pull at the edge of his cloak. Realizing he was to follow, the boy started forward taking shaky, unsure steps as quickly as he could to keep up with the wolf, his hand was curled into the animal's shoulder fur so he didn't lose it in the snow.

He didn't know how long they walked through the snow swept forest, but the cold had seeped into his limbs once more, and he felt himself growing tired. Soon the warmth returned and he wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep. Within the next few steps his legs gave out and he fell into the snow violently shivering. The wolf looked down at him, before gazing out into the surrounding forest seemingly agitated, but then it lay down next to the child. It pulled the boy to its chest and stomach away from the cold snow covered ground, then it curled up, completely covering the child in warm fur. After looking up at the falling snow once more it laid its head down closing its eyes.

While the wolf and boy lay in the snow a group of men were fighting their way through the storm a few miles away.

"Sir! We can't stay out here! We'll die!" one of the men called to their leader, the village chief, who was at the head of the group facing the full brunt of the storm.

"My son is out here!" he snapped back, wind whipping up his hair and cloak.

"I know that sir but us getting lost or freezing to death will not help him" the man tried again coming to stand next to the worried father. The chief looked out into the darkening wood, then back at his men who were shivering and looking at him with pleading eyes. Suddenly he was caught between two different parts of himself, the worried parent who is willing to sacrifice everything for their child and the village leader who had to protect his people no matter the cost. Looking back at the snow covered forest he sighed knowing deep down there was nothing he could do at the moment with the snow falling as heavy as it was.

"Alright we will begin the search again after this storm stops" his voice was strained as the parent within him screamed in outrage and fear. Since it knew, as they all knew, the chances of finding his son alive in the morning were near nonexistent.

Elsewhere a wolf raised its head and looked in their direction before laying its head back down into the snow, as it was slowly being buried.

Morning came with the end of the storm, as the search party set out again there were only a few flurries falling from the sky. The mood of the group was solemn as they knew they were most likely looking for a body. The chief's eyes were dull and lifeless; this winter had taken everything from him, first his wife and now their only child.

The group searched for hours and they had seen no sign of the boy. One of the younger men, barely out of boyhood himself, commented that they wouldn't find the boy and that this whole search was a waste of time. The boy's father, their chief, rounded on the man; his eyes were lit with rage, stalking towards the man his mouth opening to start a tirade… but he paused at the sound of shifting snow a few feet away. Turning back toward a snow drift they watched as the snow fell away from what had been encased.

A wolf as white as the snow around it stared at them with cold ice like eyes. All the men unsheathed their swords or notched arrows in their bows. The animal just gazed at them uninterested; the only outward reaction was the flattening of its ears; then ignoring them completely it stood. When it did some of the younger, inexperienced men gasped in horror at its size, the chief and two others, who had seen the war mounts of the orcs, were unfazed for while this beast was larger than normal, it didn't compare to the size of the wargs.

The wolf stepped out of the hole in the snow that it had created and shook the snow out of its fur. It looked toward the men again for a brief moment before it turned away and disappeared into the snowy landscape. Leaving the men confused as to why it seemed unafraid and had just walked away uncaring. But then a soft noise sounded from the depression in the snow that the wolf had just left behind. Stepping forward with extreme caution they looked and saw a small body curled up in the snow shivering.

His father cried out in joy at the sight his living son. "Pa?' a small voice asked as he was scooped up, and held tightly to his father's chest.

"It's me my son, it's me" the chief whispered into the child's hair, as said child curled into his father's warmth. As the child did, his father looked up into the woods his eyes being drawn to a rocky outcrop a little ways away. There the wolf stood watching, the man didn't know what possessed him to do so but he mouthed 'thank you' to the animal and was shocked when it dipped its head before turning away to disappear into the woods. But as it did the village chief caught sight of a large jagged scar on its shoulder and neck.

After that father and son returned to the village, the child grew ill but recovered quickly. He told the entire village the story of the icy wolf demon that saved him. By the time the long winter had ended the entire village knew that the large white wolf with ice blue eyes and a scarred shoulder was a friend to the village.

This had only been the first of many encounters between the village and the wolf; each and every encounter had brought them closer together, to the point that now the wolf often walks the village streets checking it for any of ill intent. He became our protector, our guardian, our friend…" the old farmer finished just as the sounds of the village ahead started to reach their ears. The elves looked at each other unsure of what to make of this new information. The possibility of it just being some crazy story that has passed down through generations was entirely possible, and that the current 'wolf' was nothing more than a large stray dog, but something just didn't feel right...

Did you miss me… sorry sorry I'm done. Anyway my deepest apologizes for the wait this part has actually been done for quite awhile, but I was trying to get the rest of this part in so we could get to the fellowship but that didn't happen. I've been very busy with school work, actual work, a frozen water main, a demon cat (who is currently looking over my shoulder), being sick, my computer crashing, and plain laziness. This has been written on loose leaf paper for awhile so has part of the next chapter so sorry.

About this chapter, kind of boring I know but it needed to be written so… The next chapter will hopefully be more interesting; out favorite Imladris elves meet a living legend. After that enter the fellowship.

About the fellowship there will not be nine walkers but at most eleven at any given time, there will only be one OC who is necessary, remember no romance besides Aragorn and Arwen. I'm not a fan of stories that require OCs, but Legolas' character development it's needed.

Thanks to all my reviewer, favorites, and followers you people are awesome, you have no idea how much they mean to me so thanks ;)

Warning rant ahead, cursing, and insulting random people sorry ahead of time!

Okay, to start off to all who live in warm climates… screw you! Okay its MARCH, not only is it March it's the first day of spring, well it was an hour ago, why the hell is there a fucking blizzard outside! We've gotten five inches of snow today FIVE! That's not right. I'm someone who loves winter and snow but it's getting out of hand, we had lake effect snow Wednesday, I don't even live the damn Great Lakes. What the fucking hell! I'm sorry I'm with snow and we're supposed to get more next week I just want to die anyway that was my rant.

So sorry for the long AN hopefully the next chapter will be sooner than last, and no more snow would be nice. Anyway see you all next time!