A/N: Okay, I know I haven't updated in like FOREVER but let me explain.
First off, I got grounded from the computer during the school year.
Second, on the website I RP on, Gaia, I've had to prep two of my guilds for the new school year (they're academy RPs.)
Third, writers block has been kicking my butt.
Fourth, and finally, I have become addicted to anime. Especially Hetalia: Axis Powers…
Anyway, I apologize for taking forever and a day to update.
Please, forgive me! Have an apology cookie. *Hands you a cyber cookie*
This chapter is dedicated to the amazing people who have been helping me and kicking my butt to get the next chapter in.
Warnings: There is something farther into the fic that is not for the faint of heart to read. It's a bit descriptive of the wounds and such on Jaclyn's body. If you don't like, just skip it.
By the way, I'm thinking of bumping the rating up because, as it stands, the violence and blood that has already been written in the fic has managed to scare off kids in my class so…yeah, tell me what you think in a review on whether or not the rating should be bumped up.
Now, ONTO THE FIC~!
10. Running From Her Past
Jaclyn curled into a tight ball in the back of the tunnels of a cave. The temperature had dropped drastically and she had been forced to seek refuge from the cold. Her breath hung in the air of the chilly cave, turning into a light cloud of fog with every exhale. She'd lost count of the number of days it'd been since she ran away from Forlan na Sello. She attempted to move her left hind leg but whimpered weakly. She'd run into a fox a while back and it had attacked her, now the wound was infected. It was inflamed and pus was dripping out of the wound.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid," She mumbled to herself. "You're cag mag to think you'll make it away alive." She shook her head and tried to move her hind leg again.
She let out a sharp shriek of pain and whined. "Can things get any worse?" She said to herself before setting her head down on her paws.
She thought of her poor mate, Hailin, who was still stuck with those awful wolves. Why did she leave him? She knew she had to get away but she'd left without even saying goodbye. Of course, how could she have said goodbye? She'd been imprisoned in the compound for treason which was true; she'd sent an owl friend of hers to warn the clans of what those awful wolves had been doing. She remembered that night, clear as day.
- - - - FLASH BACK - - - -
Jaclyn scanned the slope nervously, waiting for Gwen to show up. She held a tiny bone in her mouth that she'd carved herself. Although she barely knew anything about carving she had to get this information out. Soon a snowy owl alighted on a branch near Jaclyn.
"Gwen!" Jaclyn hissed, her name coming out distorted seeing as she was speaking through a bone. The owl turned its head 360 degrees to face Jaclyn. The red she wolf shuddered. That had always disturbed her, it seemed so unnatural and it looked as if her friend was in pain but Gwen had assured her on multiple occasions that it was quite alright and she wasn't in any sort of pain when she did so.
"Here," Jaclyn said, holding the bone up toward the owl.
Gwen took it gingerly in her talons and laid it against the tree branch. She quickly scanned over the text and then gripped it with both talons and flew off the branch.
"Where do you want me to take this?"
"To the MacDuncan's, they're our only hope now." Jaclyn whispered hastily.
"May the wind be at your back,"
"And yours as well, my friend."
Then Gwen turned and flew away quickly, making no sound as she whizzed away.
Jaclyn turned back and began to walk back toward her den when two wolves, black as night, pinned her tiny body between theirs. She heard two loud cracks and felt a searing pain in her ribs.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Said a wolf as she walked up to Jaclyn. When she came into view Jaclyn's heart dropped to her paws. It was Nadine. "I expected more of you, Jaclyn. Much more," Nadine shook her head. "It's sad your little owl friend had to die."
Jaclyn's eyes widened and she looked at Nadine with a mix of horror and sorrow.
"What did you do to Gwen?!" Jaclyn shrieked as she tried desperately to wiggle her way out of the bond of the two jet black wolves.
"Well we couldn't have her delivering that bone could we?" Nadine asked as she lay down in front of the injured and helpless she wolf. Only now did Jaclyn notice that Nadine's muzzle was soaked with blood.
"Y—You ATE her!" Jaclyn shrieked in horror.
"Yes," Nadine replied. When Jaclyn said no more Nadine sighed.
"Pathetic, I really did expect more from you Jaclyn. You're bright and talented; I can't believe you'd condemn yourself to death." She looked at the two black wolves. "Take her to the spare den and guard the door. Her Tearing shall begin tomorrow at sunup."
The two wolves stepped apart and Jaclyn fell limply onto the stone hearing another sickening crack and felt another explosion of pain in her chest.
"She has very brittle bones," Nadine observed. "Be careful with her, we want to make sure she'll be able to stand for her Tearing." The guards nodded at Nenin. The silver she wolf turned around and ran back to her own den. One guard grabbed Jaclyn by the scruff of her neck, like one might pick up a disobedient kitten, and just dragged her back to the den. They paid no mind to the sharp rocks on the ground or how many cracks they heard coming from Jaclyn's ribcage. Finally they reached the den and they simply threw her inside and Jaclyn heard the fifth crack but this time it came from the paw she'd landed on.
She whimpered quite loudly but the wolves didn't care about her pleas for mercy or help with her wounds.
Jaclyn managed to limp over to the small puddle of water that had pooled on the floor of the clammy cave. She looked down into the reflective pool and saw her reflection that horrified her. The entire left side of her face was torn up, covered in dirt, and had stones and other things embedded in the torn up flesh. She gently lowered the left side of her face into the cool water. She immediately felt relief from the burning pain that the dirt in the wound had caused.
She then paced back and forth in her cave, despite all the pain in her ribs and paw. She limped terribly and she seemed to walk in quite a weird way due to four of her ribs being broken. She had to get out of here or else her Tearing would commence in the morning.
"How do I get out?" She mumbled to herself. She glanced at the entrance and saw her guards mumbling among themselves. They were talking about needing sleep and how Nadine worked them to death constantly.
Bingo, she thought and slowly crept toward her guards.
"Why do you stay then? Get some sleep, it's not like I can escape anyway."
The wolves looked back at her and for once she had their attention.
"No," one growled, glaring at her, though his growl was weak and cracked. It was as if these wolves had been deprived of sleep for days…
"Kalone," the other said, his voice deep and rumbling.
"Hm, what is it?" The one—Kalone—asked.
"We need sleep, Kalone, or else we could fall asleep while guarding the Queen."
The wolf's eyes suddenly widened as he thought of the consequences of falling asleep while guarding their Queen.
He sighed and then relented, both wolves giving Jaclyn weak glares before trotting off to their shared den quickly.
A smirk spread across the she wolf's muzzle. While Nadine's guards were strong, they were hopelessly stupid.
Now, time to escape.
Jaclyn limped out to the camp, glancing every which way nervously. She had to hide in the bushes of the encampment to escape multiple guards' rounds.
The pain, while it was searing and only increased when she moved, the she wolf ignored it and focused on getting out of that place.
Eventually she saw an opening, after observing the guards for an hour she realized that when they changed shifts every half hour, the entrance was vulnerable…
She used that to her advantage.
- - - - - END FLASH BACK - - - - - -
Then, the memory was gone…All she could comprehend after that was the blur of sharp barking, pain and howling into the cold night.
Letting out a soft sigh, the she-wolf was prepared to give up. That was, until she heard the voices of two wolves inside the cave. Her ears perked up and she slid farther back into the cave with a whine, hearing an energetic and happy female wolf going on about this being the 'perfect den.'
Jaclyn simply stayed silent and hidden, waiting for an awful long time. Then, after maybe two hours of waiting, the she-wolf emerged from her small tunnel in the cave, limping toward the entrance. As she reached the mouth of the large den, she noticed the male and female wolf from before lying together. From how the she-wolf's rib cage was rising and falling calmly, Jaclyn guessed she was asleep but the male remained vigilant, surveying the area in front of the den with narrowed eyes. As Jaclyn moved to sneak around them, a sharp pain went up her leg and she couldn't help but let out a yelp at the feeling sent shudders through her thin frame. The wolf whipped his head around, snarling low in his throat at the intruder.
He slowly stood up, making sure not to wake his mate.
Then, he bolted to the injured she-wolf, pinning her to the cold floor of the cave.
"Who are you?" He snarled.
Jaclyn winced at the sound of his voice next to her sensitive ear.
"J-Jaclyn…an outclanner…please…let me go…I'm inju—" She was cut off by another sharp pain in her ribs, causing her to whine and squirm in an attempt to get away from him.
"An outclanner? What are you doing here?" The enraged male growled his lips peeling back to reveal the sharp teeth that could easily shred Jaclyn's hide.
She winced yet again at the pain and then squirmed a bit more in an attempt to escape.
"I-I just…I needed a place to rest and I found this den before you arrived. Please! Let me go! You're—" She was cut off yet again by pain.
After it had subsided, she whined softly and said. "Please get off me; you're making my wounds worse."
The male slowly stepped away and noticed the damage done to the she-wolves' body.
"Dear Lupus," he mumbled with his eyes wide.
The wolf he saw before him surely didn't look like a wolf. Her pelt, which at one time may have been duller red with white somewhere, she was now just covered in bright red splotches and her fur was matted with both dry and fresh blood. She hadn't eaten in possibly weeks, by the look of her. You could clearly see the she-wolves ribcage, hip-bones and pretty much every other bone in her body.
Dirt, rocks and other substances covered the poor she-wolf.
All in all, it was as if she were marked for death.
Resisting the urge to gag at the sight, Falwyne managed to choke out.
"What's your name?"
"J-Jaclyn…" The she wolf replied shakily.
Falwyne nodded. "I'm Falwyne," he said, just as the silver wolf at the mouth of the den stirred.
"Falwyne," she mumbled sleepily. "What's all the noise?" The silver wolf raised her skull from the cold ground, looking over at Falwyne…then Jaclyn. She shrieked in horror and shot up, stumbling toward the injured she-wolf.
"Oh my…What happened?" The silver female looked between the two of them as Falwyne explained the situation.
She then nodded and began to look over Jaclyn.
"Y-You…" Star choked on her words. "Y-You don't look like you'll make it through the night." She whispered and Jaclyn just stared in horror as oily tears slid down her mangled face.
"Then I have to tell you…everything I know…" She replied. "Please, get comfortable…this will be a long night." She said, taking in a ragged breath.
The red she wolf then launched into her story of Forlan na Sello.
Each trial she was forced to endure, their evil and cruel tyrant of a Queen, the abusive 'Generals' that dictate who gets what, the 'survival of the fittest' society…Everything the she wolf could get out was said and, as the night began to give way to the morning, the she wolf's words grew weaker…the light in her eyes slowly dimming.
"Nadine has one weakness, though." She rasped, drawing in a labored breath. "It's…it's…" Falwyne moved his ear next to her muzzle as the last of the sentence left her lips, his eyes widening in pure shock of whatever information he'd been given.
Then, the she wolf gazed off at the den wall, a distant look appearing on her features.
"I…see…Skaarsgard." She breathed out, not even audibly. The last of her life left her eyes, like a final flame being snuffed out.
The two wolves simply gazed at the corpse of the wolf before them…there was a tiny smile on the red wolfs' muzzle though…as if she were happy she was dead.
Falwyne managed to drag the she wolfs' corpse out to a tree outside the den, digging a hole and then putting the body in, covering it up by kicking the dirt back on top. Star just sat at the mouth of the cave, her eyes glazed over with a thin layer of tears.
That she wolf had given her life to warn the Beyond of the existence of this cult…and she would not be able to see how it all ends.
But Star had to remind herself that Jaclyn, this beautiful soul, was now in Skaarsgard's realm with the Star Wolves and all her passed family. She would be happy and run and play as if she were a pup again for all of eternity.
"Thank you," Star whispered, looking at the sky as the sun just began to rise. "Thank you for your sacrifice," she then walked over to the now covered up grave of the she wolf and gave the Last Rites.
"I wish that you will be happy and free in Skaargard's realm when you are reunited with your kin, Jaclyn. You are no outclanner…you are a member of the MacDuff's in death…" Star said, ending the rites and bowing her head, allowing the oily tears to slide down face steadily.
The rest of that morning, Star just sat next to the grave and stared at the ground, continually crying over the loss of the brave wolf.
Little did either wolves know that of this tragedy, an even greater one was to occur.
The death of Jaclyn set the wheels in motion.