Hi guys! Sorry it took so long for a chapter to come out, but school started so it's hard to find time to work on my story. It might take longer for me to post another chapter. Sorry again, but enjoy this chapter!
"Hello!" I called out when Shane, Hunter, and I walked in through the front door. Hunter and Shane were still helping me get in the door when mom came to the door.
"You're back," she said to me me relieved. She turned to Hunter, "Thank you for helping him."
"Of course, but Shane made it a lot easier to bring him back," Hunter said as he looked to Shane.
Mom looked to Shane with a glare. "Luke wouldn't need the help if you didn't attack him in the first place," she pointed out with an angry tone. Shane flattened his ears; he's already had a rough day, and this is not making it any better. "But…" my mom continued, "thank you for helping him home. It was very humble of you." Shane's tail started wagging, happy that she's not completely mad at him. "Come on in. It must be tiring carrying Luke around."
Mom…" I groaned. She just laughed.
"Dinner is ready. We were waiting for you to come home," mom told us.
"Cool," I said as Hunter and Shane helped me towards the kitchen. My stomach was still hurting pretty badly. Maybe some food would make it feel better. It has in the past.
We entered the kitchen, and I could smell the caribou. My mouth began to water. I looked to the see that everyone was there except Joe (obviously) and Jupiter.
"Where's Jupiter?" I asked mom.
"She's with Joe," grandpa answered. "She said she wasn't hungry." He turned to Shane. "Hello Shane, glad to see that you're in your right mind."
Shane's ears flattened against, a guilty expression donned his face. "yeah, " he muttered, "I did-" grandpa interrupted him.
"Let's not worry about that right now. For now, let's just enjoy dinner," he said in a gentle tone. Shane relaxed a little. He was still tense, which made sense, considering everyone sitting down was staring at him. I would hate to be in his position, but hopefully this will help him learn to never lose control of himself again. I may feel bad for him, but he has to learn, even if it's the hard way.
Shane and Hunter sat me down then sat down next to me. Dinner was uneventful: we just ate in awkward silence. Nobody said anything the entire time. Shane would get some stares while he just looked down to his food.
Mom was the first to leave the table, bringing her plate to the sink. Adam got up next, and Sarah shortly followed him. They both went off to help mom count and restock her herb stock. Soon it was just me, grandpa, Ian, Shane, and Hunter.
We all sat in silence for a few moments before grandpa finally spoke up. "Would you like to see Joe?" grandpa asked Shane.
Shane gulped, "Y-yes," he hesitated.
"Alright," grandpa said as he got up, "follow me." He and Shane walked towards my room. I tried to get up by myself, but it was too painful. Luckily Hunter and Ian were there to help me up.
We followed grandpa and Shane into my room. I stopped at the door. Jupiter was laying in bed with Joe, who was still unconscious. She just layed there motionless until she heard all of us walk in.
Jupiter slowly turned and looked at Shane. She quickly got up and stood in front of Joe, there was a mixture of fear and determination on her face. "What are you d-doing here?" she questioned, her voice shook, full of emotion.
"I…" Shane stammered, trying to come up with something tangible. "I came t-to see J-joe." He looked down at her feet instead of her eyes; his tail was slightly in between his legs.
"Why?" Jupiter challenged Shane, her hackles raised, "so you-"
"Enough!" grandpa growled. "Jupiter," she turned to face him, but she didn't let her guard down, "Shane's not going to harm Joe. He's calmed down and he came to see if Joe's alright. No one is going to harm him."
Her fur lowered slightly as she calmed down. "Alright," she huffed. She moved to the side so we could see Joe. He looked just as bad as he was when I last saw him. Shane took a step forward only to get a growl from Jupiter; he stopped moving. I've never seen this side of her before. Hunter gently let go of his grip on me and went towards Jupiter. He put an arm around her to calm her down. Her growling ceased.
Shane kept walking towards Joe. He took a few more steps until he was standing right in front of him. He gasped when he got a good look at Joe. His tail drooped and his ears twitched. I noticed his bottom jaw began to quiver. "What have I done," he whispered almost inaudibly.
Shane slowly lifted up his arm and moved it towards Joe. Jupiter's growl came back and she took a step towards Shane, but Hunter held her back. Shane hesitated, but he maneuvered his hand towards Joe, but as he was about to touch him, Joe grunted.
Everyone froze when we heard that. Was Joe waking up? We sat there silently as I saw his brown eyes open. He looked a bit disoriented, his eyes were out of focus. He mumbled something that I couldn't understand. He was still mostly out of it.
"Joe," Shane's voice broke. He closed his eyes, "I'm so sorry."
I saw Joe's mouth twitch a bit, forming a small smile. Did he hear what Shane said?
Shane touched Joe wound, not even realizing that he did. Joe's smile turned into a pained face as he silently whimpered. That was all Jupiter needed to hear.
Jupiter's growl came back as fierce as ever, while she shoved Hunter out of the way. "That's it!" she howled. "Get the hell out!"
Shane took a few steps back in fear. He backed up into me, which in turn made me fall over Ian, who was still supporting me. I landed butt first out of the room, the pain in my stomach came back almost at full force.
Jupiter took a few more steps forwards towards Shane. Shane just quickly yelped and fled the room. I could hear the kitchen door that led outside open and close. Shane just fled out of the house.
Jupiter's growled faded after a short moment. She immediately went back to Joe, making sure he was safe.
I groaned as Ian and grandpa helped me up. They quickly set me down on my bed. The pain in my stomach flaring up once again.
"Where…" I heard Joe mutter silently. His voice sounded like he was in pain. We all turned and listened to him. "Shane?"
Jupiter's ears pricked as he asked that question. "He's not here anymore. You're safe with me," she told him. Hunter's tail twitched, and my tail flicked. Joe said that to her a while back. Oh the irony.
"Where am I?" Joe asked, not hearing what Jupiter said.
"You're in Luke and Ian's room," grandpa explained.
"Welcome back to the living, bud," Hunter joked, walking up to Jupiter to see Joe better.
Are we just going to ignore the fact that Jupiter chased Shane out of the house? That can't be ignored, I don't think. I know Joe just woke up and all, but that doesn't give us the rights to ignore Shane.
I decided if no one was going to find Shane, then I would have to. Alone.
"You're going to have to be stuck in bed for a week," Jupiter said solemnly. "Then after that, you'll have to take it easy for another week."
"What!" I heard Joe complain, his voice sounding more normal now. "I have to lay down for that long?"
"Yes," grandpa told him, "you're lucky it's only that long. You'll be back in training before you know it."
A lot of the pain faded away, so I thought I was ready to get up. My stomach still hurt like hell, but not as bad as earlier. I silently got up, trying to sneak away. It wasn't that difficult, the others were too focused on Joe that they didn't notice me leave. I looked back right before I snuck out of my room. I saw that Hunter was looking at me. I was caught. He just stared at fe for a moment, then nodded, telling me to leave. Surprisingly, he didn't tell the others. Thank you, I mouthed to him. He just nodded again.
I left the room and went down the hallway. How am I going to find Shane? He could be anywhere. Maybe he went back with Leo and Jordan. I guess I'll check there first.
I entered the kitchen to find nobody there. Good, that makes it a lot easier to not get caught by mom or someone else. I left through the kitchen door and started to look for Shane's scent. It was still very strong, as if he was still here. I looked left of the door, and he was sitting right there. He didn't leave?
I slowly and gently sat down next to him. He was just staring out into the forest. "Hey," I said calmly to him. He didn't respond. I wasn't exactly sure what to say, so I just said what I thought. "Jupiter was just-"
"She was just being protective of Joe, I get it," Shane said, sounding depressed. "I understand completely why she chased me out, and that's why I left. But I can't shake the feeling that she will always be like this from now on."
"Shane…" I had no idea what to say. I guess encouraging words will suffice, "things will work out in the end. She will forgive you and so will Joe. They just need some time alone."
"But what about the others?" he asked, looking up to me. "You saw them at dinner, they all stared at me like I was a monster. When will they ever forgive me!?" he exclaimed, tears welling in his eyes.
"Time will heal all of your problems eventually." I turned around to see grandpa at the door. Shane and I both looked at him. "I know exactly how you feel, Shane, letting all your emotions take over you."
"You don't know anything about what I'm going through, old man!" Shane bellowed, his tone full of emotions.
"Shane!" I yelped in surprise. You don't call my grandpa that! Before I could say anything else, grandpa put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to him, and he just nodded at me. He then looked back to Shane.
"I was young once. I had a childhood similar to yours in a way." He sighed; he's been doing that a lot lately. "My parents were very neglectful to me; it was almost like I didn't have any parents. They acted like I was never there. I didn't stay home for very long: I ran away." Grandpa never told me this before.
"I went to the dojo and learned how to fight. That's when Sensei Dareth took me under his wing. I lived there until I was seventeen, and that's when the war started. My friends and I started the Ninja Wolf team because we wanted to protect the original Lupina from the dangerous humans."
"We were winning the war, and we became the most elite assassins Lupina's ever known. One of the last missions we did we had to capture a human: the governor of New York. We were successful, for the most part. Before we left the governor's house, we ran into a little girl: the governor's daughter. She begged to let her dad go, I didn't know what to do. This man had a family, and I was about to rip it apart, in fact, I already did it plenty of times."
"I was going to let him go, but Victor took the mission into his own hands and knocked out the little girl. We escaped with the governor. When we got back to what is now Fort Stewart, Victor was put in charge of the prisoner; I had no say in the matter."
Shane interrupted him, "What does this have to do with me?" he asked impatiently, and grandpa just ignored him.
"Victor was abusive to the governor, and he would mock him about his family and the whole human race. He did it daily, and it got worse and worse. I've never seen this side in Victor, he was a whole other person. I tried talking him out of abusing the man, but he just ignored me, and one day, I lost it. While Victor was guarding, I attacked him; I was not in control of myself. The next thing I know was he was on the ground, bleeding out. Luckily we got him taken care of quickly, but he was in bad shape."
"Winston, Dakota, and Dante heard about it the next day. Winston and Dante didn't trust me for a long time. Winston and Dante would always argue about what I did. Winston thought I did the right thing - he never did like Victor much - and Dante thought otherwise. Dakota eventually was able to work it out, but it took a long time. They all eventually forgave me, but by then, the war was over because I refused to strike the final blow of the war and kill the president. So we had to flee Lupina, and that's where we split. I've kept this secret to myself for years, but I think you two should know it. I still have a hard time forgiving myself today."
"But what does that have to do with me?" Shane asked. "You were defending someone who was being abused, I did it out of jealousy. You were doing the right thing, and I wasn't."
"I did not do the right thing. I should've got security and have them stop Victor or something, but that didn't happen. And yes, you did the wrong thing, but use your mistakes to learn, I know you already learned. Everyone will forgive you soon enough."
"I hope so," Shane muttered.
Grandpa walked up to Shane and extended his arm," Why don't you come inside." He looked up into the sky. "It looks like it's about to rain." Shane looked up to grandpa for a moment, they both locked eyes with each other. After a few moments, Shane took grandpa's and stood up. "There we go," grandpa said.
We walked into the house to find Hunter standing at the counter with a bowl of goop in his hands. "Hi," he greeted.
"What are you doing," I asked him.
"Making another cake," he answered. "I thought it might help lighten up the mood." Hunter really is like Dakota: they both settle the tensions.
"Thank you Hunter," grandpa thanked. We walked to the living room, grandpa made me lay down on the mattress that Joe slept on. "I noticed that you were able to walk on your own. Maybe if you rest for the night, you might be mostly healed by tomorrow morning."
"Okay," I said excitedly.
Half an hour passed and Hunter finally finished the cake. It felt like forever; cake sounded really good at the time. He cut out a slice of cake for Shane and I, and we took them into the living room.
"Cake's ready!" Hunter called out to the others who were in my room checking on Joe. Shane and I decided to stay in the living room. We saw everybody come out for cake except for Jupiter. She never left the room; she hasn't all day.
Hunter, Shane, and I we talking between the three of us. We talked about multiple things: our lives, our weapons, and Shane talked with Hunter about Call of Duty. I guess Hunter was familiar with it.
During our talk, I had four slices of cake. Hey, it wasn't my fault; I was distracted by the conversation, and Hunter's cake is really good.
A few hours passed by and we were settling down. We were all tired. Hunter and Shane were still talking, but I had my eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. I decided to sleep on the mattress that Joe slept on; Ian can have my bed, I don't mind.
"Hey," I heard Hunter say before I could fall asleep, "did anyone grab my weapons when I left to find Shane?"
I turned to him and thought about it. "No," I told him.
"Shit," Hunter said, getting off the couch. "You wanna come and help me find them?"
"No," I told him. It was his problem; besides, I didn't want to overdo myself, and I was tired. Let Hunter deal with his problems. Shortly after Hunter and Shane went to look for his weapons, I fell asleep.
So Nikolai revealed his secret no one knew about. Joe and Luke are recovering just fine. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I appreciate reviews and I'm still taking OCs, so pm me one if you want it somewhere in the story. See you next time!