The shots came from the direction Toboe and the humans went. I ran as fast as I could towards Toboe. Tsume and I reached him first. I saw the trail of blood, it led strait to Toboe and Quent. Toboe's back and chest were covered in blood, the old guy had been shot as well.

"Toboe..." He was my best friend, we had stuck together almost all of the way here. Now he was gone. I remembered all the fun we had together, all the laughs we had shared. He was the one who really deserved to go to paradise. "Don't leave me."

I put my hand on his head, his skin was cold already but it hadn't frozen yet. Kiba ran away when the wind started up again. Blue and Hige still weren't here. Hubb wasn't here either, was that where Kiba went?

I moved away so Cheza could pet Toboe. He seemed so peaceful here, in the arms of a human. The very human who had been trying to kill us this whole time. Cheza and I cried Tsume just sat there staring at the body. I sat down next to Tsume and put my head on his shoulder.

Since the day I met him Toboe was like a little brother to me. The pack was like a family. A very dysfunctional family. We protected each other like families should.

My thoughts were broken as Blue and Hige arrived at the scene "Toboe!" "Pops!" They stopped a few meters from the bodies, Blue stepped forward first "He cant be." Hige followed soon after "How did this happen?" Like the rest of us their voices were barely more than whispers.

Hubb and Kiba arrived back a few minutes later. Hubb stumbled toward the bodies of our fallen friends "Oh please no..."

Kiba spoke for the first time since finding the bodies "Toboe" he whispered patting his head. Kiba started the wolf song, Cheza sung with us in her own way. It was beautiful, it was a perfect way to send him off.

It was getting dark when Kiba finally spoke again, "We have to keep moving, he's still out there looking for paradise."

"The tree of all seeds is there on the horizon. It told this one where it is." Cheza was facing a distant mountain.

"There's no time we have to go."

"So what's your plan Porky," Tsume hadn't called us by our nicknames in ages "after coming all this way, what are you going to do? Where are you going to run to this time?"

"I'm not running, I just figured you guys didn't need me any more. I guess you never did."

"None of us is any more vital than the other Hige, nothing is indispensable, not any more." Kiba should have known, nothing was ever indispensable. Not in this dying world.

"Except you. Or paradise cant be opened unless your there. Your the only one of us who can go all the way. Even Tsume must realize that by now."

Blue stood up "I don't care, I'm still going. Even if I'm turned away at the gates of paradise, I'll keep going for as long as I can. So will you" She looked down at Hige "we made a pact to stay together. Stop making excuses, I know you wanna go!"

The ice cracked behind us and the ground started to shake. Kiba held Cheza close to him, I suddenly felt a strong arm around my waist. Hubb stood up, I had nearly forgotten he was with us.

"It's starting to fall apart, even this close to centre." Kiba said when the shaking stopped.

"He's right, we better get moving. You wont have to worry about me, when it starts to look like im slowing you down." He picked up Quent's pistol and checked it for bullets "I'll take care of it myself." He put the gun in his coat "Come on, I wanna see how far I can go to."

"Go on ahead." Tsume's words were meant for everyone but mainly me "I'll catch up, I wanna talk to the runt for awhile."

I waited until they were a good distance away "Dont be to long." I quickly kissed him, it was short but full of love.

I ran to catch up with the rest. We walked in twos Kiba and Cheza were up front, Hige and Blue were in the middle, Hubb and I were right at the back.

The mountain path was hard and long, we started to have trouble breathing a little way up. Part of it was because we were so high up the other reason was that we were exhausted. I wasn't sure about the rest but Hubb and I hadn't had a proper meal in days.

We finally reached a huge tree. The tree of all seeds. "It had been alive all this tim, it has felt the world pain but no longer. It can breath freely now." She put her hand on the tree, it glowed for a moment and lights appeared in the sky "We thank you." The tree went white, as if it were freezing.

Cheza pointed somewhere, "there it is, the first mountain. That is the entrance to paradise."

We began our climb, it was easy enough at first but it got harder. The higher we got the steeper it was. Soon we came to a part that we could jump up but, Hubb was not a wolf "Hey Hubb, do you want some help getting up?" The others had already started to jump.

"No thanks Larka, I wanna see how far I can get on my own." I nodded and started to jump.

It was hard work even for a wolf, I got to a large ledge and took a short break with Hige. He crawled over to the edge to look down at Hubb "Hey mister, are you okay?"

"Dont worry about me, I'll be up there before you know it" I heard Hubb say

"Just a little further is a ledge where you can rest."

Hige came and sat down next to me just as the mountain started to shake. I ran to the edge to see if Hubb was okay. I saw him slip and fall "Hubb!" I screamed.

I went down a little and saw him hanging onto a ledge, Kiba was next to me before I knew it "Don't let go!" He yelled

"So much for the tough talking human, I guess I wont make it to paradise after all. It's to bad. I wanted to see this through with you 'till the end. But, this is as far as I can go. Don't come down. It's okay I'm not afraid of dying." I wanted to go down and help him up but, Kiba held my arm so I couldn't "You wolves will open up the next world for us, I believe that now. More than anything. Larka, thank you for the company. I'll tell Aderes you said hello." Then he let go.

Kiba kept a strong grip on my arm in case I tried to jump down. I wasn't going to. I heard the thud of his body hitting the ground. The human race was no more. Everyone was leaving me.