DON'T YOU JUST LOVE IT WHEN EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER? XD
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Chapter 10: Keith's Wolf
The four Paladins were traveling through the dessert. It was not the desert surrounding the Garrison, but instead was the Sahara, or something. Keith couldn't remember. It was so hot out here that he had tied his sweatshirt around his waist. "It's too hot."
"Keith, we live in the middle of a desert." Shiro pointed out. Keith sighed. His face was flushed, and he had sweat pooling all over his skin. "But at our dessert, the hottest day of the year is still just 102°. It's like... 108° out here!" Keith complained. "Why are we even out here?" he questioned.
Blue held up a hand, and shushed them. Looking around, the dessert was a beautiful sight. It was mostly flat, with a few hills here and there. And all around the four Paladins were random columns and walls, made entirely out of sand. It was a strange sight.
"The energy in this place has become unstable." Blue explained.
"It's building columns with no roofs, and stairs that go nowhere. It's out of control." Shiro backed her up.
Hunk stepped in front of them, and smiled. "Then we better get over there!" But before the Paladins took two step forward, they heard a loud noise, almost like an animal. Keith looked around. There wasn't anything. The Paladins didn't share his concern. "Let's go." Hunk said enthusiastically. He took off towards the source of the magic.
"Keith, stay here. Keep a lookout." Shiro commanded, following after Hunk.
"What if something eats me?" Keith called out towards his friends. But they were already out of earshot, except for Blue. She had stayed with him.
She ran a hand though Keith's mullet. "Don't worry, wet one." She withdrew her hand and slung his sweat in his face. "There's nothing out here that can hurt you." Blue patted his shoulder, before running after the other two Paladins. Keith scowled after her. Wet one... he thought with disdain. What kind of nickname is that?
He walked over to one of the giant columns, and sat on the shaded side. He took a couple of deep breaths, and closed his eyes. Why does the desert always have to be so hot?
Keith heard the growl again. He peered around the the sand. He didn't see anything. "Nothing can harm me." he said to himself. "I am the wet one." Then, he finally spotted what the source of the noise was. A wolf. Keith stared at it.
It was huge. At least eight feet long, and five feet tall. It had thick, shiny fur, and it was pink. But even without the huge appearance, or the pink fur, there was still something strange about it. It was covered in little patches of different shades of pink, each one forming a symbol. The symbol looked familiar, but Keith couldn't put his finger on it. All in all, this definitely wasn't a normal wolf.
Keith wasn't afraid of it until it turned it's head towards him. Its eyes were completely yellow, and glowing.
Keith's breath hitched, and he ran behind the column. Alright, I need a plan for escape. he decided. Before he could finish is thoughts, the column hiding him vanished completely. Keith turned, gasping as the wolf had appeared behind him. He backed away, tripping over a rock. He landed on his butt, but he continued to back away, up until he found himself pressed into a wall made of sand. This is it.
But the wolf didn't hurt him. Instead, it just stared at Keith. Keith's eyes darted around. Was this thing going to attack him, or what?
It just sat down, looking like it was asleep. Keith stared at it. So, it wasn't going to eat him. Did that mean it wouldn't attack if he got closer? To test this theory, Keith put his hand behind the wolf's ear. When the wolf didn't immediately bite his hand off, Keith began to scratch it. The wolf opened its eyes. Instead of the pure yellow he had seen earlier, he noted it was just the irises of his eyes that appeared yellow. The pupils and whites were pure black, like pools of mercury. Keith looked into the wolf's eyes, and sat down in front of it. It put its head in his lap.
Keith's face heated up. He continued to scratch behind its ears.
What are you? He wanted to ask. But before he could get the words out, there was a loud explosion, and a cloud of sand expanded across the desert. The cloud passed quickly, but it was thick enough to cover Keith and the wolf in sand.
Their heads quickly broke through the top of the sand blanket. Keith could hear his friends coming.
"Hunk, you need to bubble that away." said Shiro.
Hunk scoffed. "No way! I beat it, so I get to keep it. Those are the rules. Right, Blue?" Blue nodded. "Those are, in fact, the rules."
Shiro sighed. "Fine. Just don't let it touch the sand again, or else it will rebuild everything." The Paladins looked to the spot they had left Keith, before gasping. "Keith! What is that?!" Shiro asked, startled. Keith turned to his friends. "Don't worry!" he said, smiling. "He's totally tame!"
"You don't know that!" Shiro said, alarmed.
Keith glared at Shiro. "Yes I do!" Keith protested. How do I prove he's tame? he wondered. Then an idea came to him. "Look! I taught him to say I love you!" Keith put his hands on the wolf's mouth, moving its lips like a puppet. "I love you!" he said in a deeper voice.
Shiro raised an eyebrow. He looked ready to say something, but Hunk spoke first. "That's so sweet!" he giggled. "I love you too!" Shiro face-palmed.
Blue put her hands on her hips. "Keith, get your hands out of his mouth. That's very rude." she scolded. Keith withdrew his hands from the wolf's face. "We should get the Desert Glass away from here." she finished.
"I got it!" Hunk said.
Shiro snorted. "Keith, you coming?" he asked the youngest Paladin. Keith nodded. He looked back at the wolf. "Bye." he told him, before running after his friends.
"Hunk, you need to find a way to contain that pillow." Shiro said. Hunk smiled. "I already have the perfect idea." he said happily.
...
Apparently, the perfect idea was to build a pillow fort in the living room and stick the Desert Glass on top. Hunk and Keith were sleeping inside the incredible pillow fort when Keith heard a scratching sound. "What's that noise?" he asked, delirious.
Hunk shifted so that he was lying on his belly. "The only noise I hear is you." he replied, equally delirious. "I thought gems don't need sleep." Keith observed. Hunk adjusted his position again, so now he was on his side. "We don't. It feels good though." Hunk explained.
Keith got up, and walked over to the front door. Something outside the shack was making that noise. He yanked open the door with an angry "What?"
He felt annoyed that someone would come all the way out here just to interrupt his nap, but that feeling completely vanished when he realized who it was.
The wolf.
Keith gasped. "It's you!" He came outside, shutting the door behind him. "What are you doing here?" he questioned. The wolf answered by pressing his face into the door behind Keith. "You can't go in there. Hunk is pretend sleeping." Keith explained, blocking the door. The wolf continued to press towards the door.
Keith scowled. "Are hungry or something?" The wolf looked down at him. Guess that's a yes. he decided. "Come on. I know the perfect place."
...
Keith and the wolf came up to a bright shop. The sign read "Balmeran Pizza." They made delicious pizza, and Keith would often come here with his friends. He led the wolf up to the door. "Wait here." he commanded, and walked inside.
The inside was just as colorful as the outside. Keith walked up to the counter. "Shay, I need an extra large meat-covered pizza." Shay was a very tall girl, with short hair she kept pulled up into two buns on either side of her head, almost like Princess Leia. Another defining characteristic were the large hoop earrings she always wore. She was probably the literal nicest person in Garrison.
"You must be very hungry." she observed. Keith smiled. "It's actually for me and this giant wolf I met earlier today."
"And howled did you meet him?" Shay asked, inputting the order.
"Out in the desert while on a mission." he replied, ignoring the terrible pun. They continued to talk for a little while, before Keith's pizza came. "Enjoy!" Shay told him.
Keith walked out of the store, ready to share the delicious pizza with the wolf. Except he wasn't there.
...
Keith walked into the shack, and looked around. He set the pizza in the kitchen. Keith had thought that if the wolf had gone somewhere, maybe it would come back here, but he was wrong. He left the kitchen to go back to the pillow fort. And there was the wolf. It was standing next to the fort, staring off into space.
"What is it?" Keith asked. The wolf didn't look away from the fort. Instead, he blew a giant burst of air from his mouth. The gust of air smashed into the fort. Hunk, who had been sleeping inside, didn't even stir as he was thrown into the back walls with some of the pillows.
Keith turned to the wolf. "Why..." he trailed off as the wolf picked up the pillow from the desert mission in his mouth, and took off towards the door. Keith, panicked, chased after him. He grabbed the pillow just as the wolf made it on the porch. The two had a tug of war game with it before Keith yanked it out of the wolf's jaws.
But Keith had pulled too hard, and it slipped from his grasp, landing on the sand. It began to build its sand structures once again.
Keith ran out to grab it, but it built a giant tower to put itself out of reach. More sand structures, columns, walls, stairs, began to build themselves across the lake shore.
"Keith!" Shiro called out. The Paladins all came out on the porch, and stared in horror. Keith could hear them argue, but he was more invested in the mess in front of him.
"Don't move! We'll come get you!" Blue instructed. Keith had an "okay" on his tongue, but a thick cloud of sand swept around the lake side, blocking Keith's view. Keith looked around frantically, before spotting the pillow. He had to get to it.
As Keith desperately climbed up stairs and structures, the other Paladins made attempts in break through the cloud. It was just too thick, and it was constantly building walls to protect the Desert Glass. There was no way to get inside to help Keith.
...
Keith was barely holding onto the ledge. Below him were large, sharp spike. Crap. Keith thought. His grip was about to break, his eyes were burning, and he could barely breathe.
Just as he slipped, though, he felt himself land on something soft. It was the wolf's back.
The wolf landed away from the spikes, and his eyes darted towards Keith. "You came here to protect us, not steal from us, right?" he asked him. The wolf, did nothing to reply, but Keith could practically hear the "yes." What happened next was mostly a blur to Keith. He rode on the wolf's back like it was a horse, and the wolf blew his gusts of air into just about everything that made its way towards the two. Eventually, the wolf managed to get to the very top of the pillow's tower, and Keith snatched it off the sand.
Every structure around them dissolved back into sand, and Keith landed on the ground with a thud. Shiro and the others rushed over to him. After confirming he was okay and bubbling the Desert Glass, Keith walked back over to the wolf. "Well, thanks." he said to the wolf. He expected the wolf to leave then, but instead, it plopped down on the sand, and curled up.
"Do you want to stay here?" Keith questioned. The wolf did not move a millimeter, but Keith got the "yes" sense again. "Okay then." Keith said happily. He sat down next to the giant pink wolf, and scratched behind his ears.
"Should we really let him keep that?" Shiro asked Blue. Blue shrugged. "We kept Hunk." Shiro and Hunk stared at her for a second before what she had said sunk in. Hunk crossed his arms, an angry look on his face. Shiro, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "Kept... Hunk!" he laughed so hard that he had to clutch his sides. "Blue... you are hysterical!"
Hunk scoffed, and walked over to Keith. "So, what are you going to call him?" Hunk questioned. Keith shrugged. "He'll tell me his name when he's ready." Keith said.
"Nope. That's not a thing." Blue said, walking over to them. She placed a hand on the wolf's back. "We should name him Cosmo."
Keith opened his mouth to protest, but the rest of the Paladins chimed in their agreements. "Fine." Keith caved. "Your name is Cosmo." Cosmo stared at Keith for a moment, before giving off a new feeling. One that could only be described as "friend."