Chapter 3:Risen from darkness, Embraced in the Light
-Here is the third installment, Happy Birthday to my friend, I made Hige especially cute in this chapter for you! Well here you are, read and enjoy the third chapter!-
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The wind lashed at his face, blades of ice scraping the flesh from his legs, the excruciating pain he could hold no longer. Blood spilled from that chest wound, trudging in two foot snow numbness gnawed at his feet. Clothes weren't even enough to fight away the bitter cold, snow covered his whole body.
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"Wake up will you?" Hige groaned seeing in his sleep Toboe comfortably rolled himself over on top of him over night. With his back lying on his stomach the weight of one so small surprised him for a first time in awhile.
"What is it?" Kiba let out a laugh seeing the scene before him, Hige glancing over and grinning, finding himself helpless with the load over him. "Can't get him off of me," He waved his hand at the stubborn heavy wolf, " Let him rest, Toboe has had a hard time, but he says it is his dreams....that's what worries me."
Hige nodded in agreement, at that run down building, all the little runt could say was 'sorry.' It hadn't reached his mind at the time, but now everything seemed to clear. As if his mind thawed from sleeping in this uncomfortable snow.
" What can we do? There is no way telling who might be dying next," But why even think that, just the thought of losing another was hard enough. Tsume had already passed before the poor kid's eyes, what more could he possibly handle?
"He could lose himself if these dreams get to him, even trying to stray himself away from us," His voice faltered, those blue eyes gazing off into a frosted white land of ice.
"And might even die alone, sickness comes easy to the weak and lost wolves," Both were in dead silence, what would come of them? For now there was nothing to fret, at least Toboe hadn't awoke in a fright from a nightmare.
He stirred, the bangles clinking against each other on his half bare arm. A yawn broke through the thick quiet of the icy terrain. Those amber eyes blinking, half-expecting the light of the city stinging his pupils. The golden orb in the sky was nearly letting out light, as a candle behind thick curtains.
" Have a good dream?" Hige chirruped, Kiba hitting him hard with his elbow. Toboe turned brushing strands of auburn hair aside to see clearly.
" I don't want to talk about it," He said sulkily, those eyes softened releasing a solemn expression to his usual bright face. The three wolves sat in silence, seeing the cave in of ice barely frosted over from the night before. Shivers fell down their spines, the immense cold of the waters...
" Toboe, tell me one thing... are those dreams, turning to reality?" He nodded slowly, the other two exchanging looks of uncertainty. Just to sleep through those nightmares of truth shook them as the cold had.
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Their thick coats kept the cold from freezing their skin, Toboe lapped up water from the open break of ice. The cold liquid stuck to his throat, his mind fogged of all what happened, he nearly forgot of what happened the night before.
Though the loss of Tsume lay heavy in the reaches of his mind...
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"I wonder what Tsume would say if he could tell us how Paradise was like," It pained Hige to hear these words coming from a happy looking teenage boy, if a wolf he could imagine his thick tail wagging cheerfully. What could they possibly say to him? Had they really lost Toboe to those terrible fates he dreamt of?
" He would most likely say 'whatever those wolves were looking for was sure nothing compared to this, and porky could have all the food and women he wanted, Kiba wouldn't be even happier than he already is, and Toboe..' " Hige could feel the watch on him from behind, what would Tsume say about that...?
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Yet again silence fell among them, Hige never finished the end of Tsume's saying of Paradise. Those misted over eyes of Toboe's blank of giving any emotion, losing it all to the wolf he held closest to in the pack. As if they were brothers... Tsume was the only family he had all along, now he was all alone.
" When will me make our next stop? Maybe Toboe would like being in one again," He was soon silent after the predictable look on Kiba's face, "It will just pain him even more, for now let's just keep going."
At this moment Paradise seemed so far from reach, walking miles in the snow for nothing. No even a wail of aching feet from him, or even a sprained heel at that. Since there was no reason to stop the pack continued on their way.
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" That loon over their speaks of wolves, many of 'em in fact," The bar lady said with a laugh to a man sitting on a wooden stool. The residents turned their attention to the sudden opening of the doors, three teenage boys made their way to some seats.
A man in city guard uniform glanced over at the group that just walked in, the word of 'wolves' from a city far from this area caught his attention. The way they were, silent and still, even one wore a dog collar concealed beneath a yellow jacket.
" Smells like trouble," Hige whispered under his breath to the others, eyes glued to the table a mid aged woman came to ask if they wanted drinks.
"Water is fine," Hige said before she could speak, picking at a bowl of mixed nuts at the middle of the table. Popping one by one the salty pieces of food in his mouth, nearly swallowing some whole. Not even a taste of meat was faint on his tongue, even white rabbits were hard to come across.
" I have a bad feeling, about this town," Toboe spoke softly, barely even making a sound, sipping barely any water before him.
" That guy has a hard watch on us," He said quietly again to them, by now he pushed back his seat, the man headed toward there table. Toboe glanced up and gave no look of startled surprise.
Rising from the three wooden seats they headed for the door, Hige quickly taking a handful of nuts before leaving. The sound of boots trudging behind them quickened the pace of their walking. Eyeing around for a alleyway to run off into, only a few more steps and...
A shot of gunfire echoed in the empty street...
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Toboe looked down at the back of his leg, slowly meeting eye contact with the man preparing to shoot again. A fire rose in him, the screaming in his mind, Tsume dying before his eyes. It was too much, he couldn't hold this in...
A whimper broke through his lips, then a deep throated growl came over the sound of defeat. A fire flicked in those amber eyes and a brown wolf brought the guard to his back, blood already trickled down from his lip.
"Don't Toboe!" Hige cried, seeing the wolf snarling over the man cringing in fear, his pupils small in horror and sudden shock. The wolf was deafened to what lay around him, his fangs bared and revealing. The scent of blood tinged in his nose, hearing a cry from the man brought sense into him, those gold eyes wide in shock.
Slowly backing away, tail hung low, his back leg bled and limped in pain, still in shock the man slowly found his voice. "W-what are you? Why are you even here?!" Kiba stepped back, ready for the man to grab attention of the city people.
" We're trying to find our own place, since you humans took it from us," Hige snapped, the man once more breathing in quick gasps. These kids weren't normal, each of them were wolves, but they fool humans for so long?
" Shouldn't you leave?" Kiba said harshly, the guard slowly got to his feet, anger rose inside of his body. The gun clicked once more startling the young wolf and men, the guy let out a shaky laugh.
"You wolves sure have a way of frightening me...but not good enough!" He raised the gun to his target, the side of the wolf's chest, locking onto the body he fired.
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Toboe leapt from the aim but a heavy puddle of blood was beneath him, his tongue lolling out in exhaustion. He didn't wish to be here any longer, there was no way to protect himself any longer...
A growl rose from Kiba's throat, running towards the human he took him by the throat, throwing the man aside as a rag doll.
Now he opened his eyes to two wolves, one feet away from him, but close enough to take him down. The other tired and in terrible pain, a smile spread on his lips. " Get out of here, ya' mangy wolves, doubt the young one will live through..."
The reflection of the guard in his golden pupil, his gums rose revealing those blade sharp teeth.
A cry was all that was known of the finding of a dead body, and supposed dog hairs in a pool of blood.
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"Why didn't you tell us?" Kiba said, not barely amused of even thinking that Toboe knew this was to happen.
"I didn't know about it, he probably heard news from a passerby," Was the reply he received, leaving the subject behind him he carried on the white path.
A howl reached his hearing..
Toboe turned, his clothes ruffled in the wind, those eyes transfixed to the distance, Kiba and Hige had seen this happen before. Could he possibly have seen one that no longer existed among them?
Those amber eyes welled in tears, calling back with a howl to the one he heard, it seemed so far... Hige felt a chill rise up his spine, the feeling of worry rose inside him once more.
Tsume, oh please let it be him, Toboe wished as the skies were empty, the wind no longer carried a stray howl. There was no doubt in his mind that a figure headed towards them, his feet moved, heading right near the person ahead.
"Where is he going?" Hige stumbled on the snow and cursed to himself, " TOBOE!" That call of his name couldn't even pull him back to them, continuing in the cold a picture became more vivid in his mind, someone awaited him....
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A figure collapsed in the snow, weary from the scars over their body the crunching of feet on the snow alerted the person. To weak to move the sound drew nearer, finally a boy knelt beside the stiff body.
A wounded man lay before him, those golden eyes open halfway, looking to the side of him, glass shards in the bloodied scars at his legs. His gray hair wet from the snow and frost covering his whole body.
" Tsume....?"
Those golden eyes looked right into his own and he couldn't find his voice....
" Toboe?" He nodded slowly in tears and embraced him, tears rolled down his face and not another would came between them.
He could see the bullet wound at his chest, the pain surged in him but just to see Tsume gave him hope. The blood around him had seeped into the ice. Never had he felt so overjoyed and saddened in his life...
For in that moment, happiness finally came to him after all...
- Third chapter completed! But the story hasn't ended here, it has still a few chapters to go. Sorry for the long wait, I'm sorry for the trouble and maybe other things I've caused, hope you enjoyed it as much as I typed it! I'll update soon as I can, goodbye for now!-