Hey all DLW here with a new ep. I'll be back on a regular schedule soon enough. Tomorrow I'll try to post ch7 of "The Week After", which I was supposed to do... long ago. Thank you for all my readers, and reviewers. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Alpha and Omega. Except for the O/C's.
Humphrey the Lone Wolf
Part 1 Valley of Grey
Chapter 3 The Pack
:Where One Belongs:
Humphrey waited patiently for Earnest to return. The old wolf had gone to investigate some odd creature that Humphrey had told him about.
Humphrey knew it wasn't very far away, and only a hill or two separated them. It was bright enough out that Earnest should've been easily able to see what it was.
"What's taking him so long?" Humphrey asked himself. Earnest had been gone for several minutes now. Every moment he waited he felt as though Earnest may have run into trouble.
Whatever it was in the tree, it couldn't have been good. But without knowing what it was Earnest had chosen to go alone.
Thinking something may have happened Humphrey rose to his paws and took a hesitant step forward.
'What am I doing?' He thought. Earnest told him to stay there, but that kind of thing never stopped him before. Even going on this adventure didn't stop him, but why was he hesitant now.
'He could be in trouble.' He told himself, and accidentally took a step on his injured leg.
With one look down at his cast from the momentary pain his thoughts turned once again 'And you'd make things worse.'
With a sigh he sat back down and tapped his claws on the ground, hoping for the best.
Several more minutes passed and he was even more worried.
'I shouldn't have let him go alone.' He said under his breath. As he looked up he struggled with the idea that he was useless to help.
Suddenly just then over the hill that was blocking all but the top of the twisted tree, Humphrey heard something moving. Mentally preparing himself for anything he grit his teeth and saw a figure rise from the hills crest.
With sunlight beaming in his eyes, Humphrey saw more and more of the figure. Soon enough Humphrey could tell it was Earnest.
Humphrey looked up, relieved that he was alive, but he couldn't shake this nagging feeling that there was something off by the way Earnest walked.
For some reason Earnest looked saddened at his find. Humphrey, being the usually cheerful wolf, knew he had to help.
"So," He said as casually as he could, trying to hide his worry "Did you did you find out what it was?"
Earnest looked over his shoulder at the top of the hill and sighed.
"Kid, it was nothing." He said somberly wit a weak and faked smile "Just, some old bones."
"Oh." Humphrey eyed him for a moment, he knew something was wrong.
As Humphrey thought of a way to cheer Earnest up, he felt his stomach grumble.
Remembering the last thing he ate was bits and pieces of the rabbit, Humphrey smiled and looked towards the dead tree. 'Ah well, after a quick snack' He thought.
Knowing that it was just bones Humphrey started walking toward the tree "So can we eat them?"
"NO," Earnest shouted and dashed in front of Humphrey. From the sudden shock Humphrey took a few steps back, eventually falling to his hind legs.
Out of this reaction Humphrey looked up to see Earnest looming over him. He could see a deep, and unknown sorrow from his features as he stared into Earnest's lone eye.
"Leave them alone." Earnest said hastily. He knew he startled his guest, so he had to give his reason. "Kinda jagged, and splintered." He added quickly.
Humphrey continued to stare, he hadn't expected anything like that from hearing about nothing of importance.
Earnest, feeling guilty about this took a few steps back and faced away "You destroyed that tree though."
He waited for a moment until he heard Humphrey get back to his feet. "What'd you do to it?" He asked,
Humphrey recalled the previous nights mishap with the tree. Accidentally uncovering the bones while trying to find shelter.
"I uh, fell into it?" He said as he scratched his head, feeling embarrassed at the occurrence.
Earnest chuckled a bit at the statement, he himself couldn't believe it. "You fell, into a tree?" He said sarcastically.
"Well, yeah," Humphrey said nervously. "Ever tried running around in a storm."
"Plenty," Earnest rose his paw and pointed at his blinded eye "And I can still see fine."
Earnest saw Humphrey look around grimly at the statement, he knew he was right. "You're a wolf, Humphrey, we're adaptable." he stated matter-of-factly
Humphrey knew he wouldn't win this one. Even last night when he stumbled around in the dark Earnest seemed to know where everything was, and with one eye at that.
"I got here just fine." Humphrey retorted.
"One, that's not the point," Earnest shook his head and walked past him " And two-"
"Hm?" Earnest was interrupted by the sound of a low growl. Focusing his ears carefully he heard it come from Humphrey.
"Hungry huh?" He assumed, thinking that Humphrey wouldn't dare growl like that.
"Kinda." Humphrey smirked, knowing full well he couldn't keep putting off food.
Earnest gathered his thoughts, and he knew he would end up regretting his question. With a heavy sigh he cast his head skyward.
"Can you hunt?" He asked bluntly. Though he could already guess the answer he felt the need to give Humphrey a chance.
Slowly Earnest looked back at Humphrey, and sighed.
Humphrey had risen his casted paw, pointing at it and shaking his head.
"Let me rephrase that," Earnest got the point, but he wasn't about to let any excuse fly by so easily "When you didn't bust your leg, could you catch anything?"
In light of the question Humphrey lowered his paw and gave a nervous smile.
He knew it, but still he couldn't believe it.
"Kid,you're gonna have to pull your own weight around here." He said, feeling exhausted from just the conversation. "Or you'll starve." He added as a precaution.
"Wait!" Humphrey knew he wouldn't last long without help, so he did the best thing he could think of then.
"I'm an omega," He pleaded "I can't hunt."
Humphrey knew he couldn't really hunt. He left that for any of the alphas in his pack. Even when he only got the smallest of scraps he was happy without having to hunt for it.
Earnest shot him a glance that he hoped wouldn't soon be forgotten. He knew he had to help Humphrey understand what he meant, so he tried a different approach.
"Kid, I didn't ask you your rank." He said sternly "Did I?"
Humphrey shook his head though he still didn't understand what the problem was.
"You're a wolf, Humphrey, we hunt what we need" He continued "Rank only-"
Once again Earnest heard a low growl, but this time he heard and felt it come from him.
"Hungry?" Humphrey mocked, drawing away the attention from himself.
Earnest, now feeling hungry himself couldn't deny it. He had to hunt something, but he also had an injured wolf to teach.
He looked around and thought of a good place to get food. A place that didn't require Humphrey to run and chase something.
"Alright pup, I hope you like fish," He said with an idea set on their meal "Lunch is on me, 'this' time."
Earnest got back up and began walking. Hearing the eager clicking of footsteps behind him he knew he didn't need to tell Humphrey twice.
With a smile on his face Earnest proudly strode on, thinking back to days gone by 'It's how you learned, wasn't it?'
"A&O A Second Look" Is out, check it out on my profile or here along with "Alpha and Omega: The Series". Type it in after the .net in fanfiction (/topic/118805/74395964/1/Things-missed-in-A-O).
Also for those wondering, I should be posting "Alpha and Omega: The Week After" ch 7 by tomorrow. As such I'll be focusing on finishing that story, and quickly. So I had to finish this episode, but fear not I'm not on hiatus for any of my stories, stay tuned for more.
If you liked this story and have time please post a review. If you want to keep up with the story fav or follow. Questions, comments, concerns, feel free to pass me a P.M... More to come soon. Till Next Time DLW.
