Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain. –sings- Oh I wish! xD

Before the Red Moon

Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain. Wish I did, though…-sigh-

Before the Red Moon

Surrender, or we'll forget our orders from the Lady and kill you all!

The threat reverberated around like a clanging bell in Ren's mind as she and the others stood, furious, cornered and desperate, their snarls echoing in the large, high-ceilinged room. All of them wore an aggressive stance, their hackles raised, their tails bushed out, lips drawn back to show bloody fangs.

Kiba, his pelt scuffed and bloody stood forward and raised his head, his eyes smoldering defiance and battle fire. "Never!" he hissed, his fur bristling, his snarls loud and his stance threatening. Ren admired his bravery, and from what Toboe had told her, this wolf had stared into the face of death countless times and made him blink.

"Suit yourselves," the iron voiced commander growled, raising the weapon. At the sight of the gun's muzzle pointed at the wolves, Ren's heart pounded. It was an insane idea. But it would be the only thing that would save the wolves. Her breathing quickened, and her eyes were wide. She felt like she was going to take a running dive off a cliff stories high.

But she did it anyway. Leaping in front of Kiba, who stepped back when she gestured with her tail, she turned to look at the troops with icy blue eyes, her slender face turned towards them, her outward appearance peaceful and proud. She took a deep breath and—Toboe obviously realized what she was about to say and yelped, "Don't do it, Ren, no!"—but for his sake and that of the pack, she lifted her head and said imperiously, "I am the daughter of Lady Sheshkemana! Harm me at the risk of your own lives!"

The silence that followed was so loud that she thought her eardrums would burst. But to her surprise, the troops looked completely unruffled as they stared at the small party of angry, desperate wolves. And then, to her horror, the leader started to laugh. A full throated, belly laugh that filled the prison wing. His cohorts did the same, until it was the only thing the wolves could hear until they stopped. Ren was in complete shock. What the hell was going on?

The commander answered her question as if he had been reading her mind. "Silly girl," he said with a trace of a chuckle. "We know. We know. And you want to know a little something? Your mum knows what you've been doing. She found out about the pup. And she ain't too happy."

Then, before any wolf could blink or move, he quickly leveled the weapon at Ren, and then pulled the trigger.

IT happened so fast. I saw the muzzle of the gun flash, heard Toboe scream, "NO!" and then felt the brutal impact of the bullet, slamming into my chest, white hot metal, striking dead center in my heart. I felt a flame of pain, as my blood, bright red against the pale gold of my coat blossomed all over, like some morbid flower, spreading all the way to the edges of my forelegs, and dripping down onto the hard stone floor freely. It was an agony like I had never felt before, intense and unrelenting as I stared in shock at the horrible wound. But for some reason, the pain, though it did not lessen, seemed to be less of a concern to me as I sank slowly to the ground in a puddle of my own gore.

The world around me, riddled with gunfire, snarling and yelling seemed to fade slowly from my hearing. My sight started to melt away, everything becoming a blur…I then saw a shadow over me, and realized thickly that it was Toboe. I could see his bright amber eyes through my foggy vision, and thought I saw tears…something sparkly was running down his cheeks.

"Ren, no, please, don't die!" he whimpered, burying his head in my fur. "Don't die…"I understood his sadness…though I had only known him for a short while, we had become fast friends…and I knew my death would pain him. It was sad, and happy in a way, knowing that someone cared whether I lived or died. My own heart ached at leaving his friendship behind, but it wasn't like I had much of a choice…but at least I could leave him with gentle parting words.

"Toboe…" I said, my voice weaker than I thought. "It's…all right..." talking was much more of an effort than I realized. My heart was slowing, skipping a beat every now and then...I heard him stammer, "No, Ren…just hold on..!" there was a plea in his voice.

But I could not stay. My life was slipping away, like a wave on the sand, retreating slowly. "It's not…like you'll never…see...me again," I wheezed, knowing my time was measured in seconds. With all the breath my heaving sides could hold together, I whispered, "We'll meet again…in Paradise…" with those words, my head thudded to the ground. The last thing I saw and heard was Toboe, throwing back his head in an anguished howl…and then, I sank into a red mist that deepened into black.

But only for a second. I felt strength seep back into my body…I felt no pain. There was no longer hard granite under me, but soft, lush…grass? I opened my eyes, to see rolling hills dotted with wildflowers all around me. A white lunar flower grew near my paw…the sky overhead was a perfect periwinkle blue, the sun blazing overhead with a smile. I stood up, and looked around, my heart pounding. Was this truly…?

Then, on the next hill, a tall, strong shape stepped up, the sun behind him, making his gray pelt flame around the edges with gold sunbeams. His eyes were deep blue…just like mine…and his smile was oddly familiar.

"Father!"

As Ren uttered her last words, a mist seemed to roll from behind her eyes, fogging them over as the light of life left them. All that was left was the body of the beautiful blonde wolf, dead. Toboe threw back his head and howled, his grief-stricken cry reverberating around in the room. His heart needed to grieve his dead friend…he barely heard the fight around him until something heavy slammed into his side and sent him sprawling across the room with a yelp as pain rammed through his skull. He crashed into a cell opposite of theirs, and tried to stagger to his feet, but his muscles felt like lead. He looked up helplessly as the noble trooper was just about to bring his weapon down on Toboe's prone body.

"NOT A CHANCE, YOU BASTARD!" He heard a familiar voice yell. He looked up, to see an enraged cream and gray figure streaking at the troop. The moon marking on the wolf's eye marked him out as Getsuei. The skinny wolf leaped up and sank his fangs into the neck of the noble troop before he could so much as say 'Bob's your uncle'. Blood squirted from around Getsuei's fangs as the noble collapsed in a heap of clanging armor. Releasing the troop's neck, Getusuei turned to Toboe and cocked his head. "You all right?" he asked, helping him up.

No, he wasn't all right. "Yeah…fine…" Toboe said, looking at the ground. "Thanks…" he looked around. The noble soldiers were dead, every last one of the SoBs. They were free to go, until Sheshkemana found them…or just maybe, they could get away without her noticing, but considering their luck lately, there was very little chance of that…

Toboe walked numbly over to his head friend and sank to his knees. Why? Why did she have to go…? She didn't deserve it…he heard the others pad up behind him. Kiba put a hand on his shoulder in comforting gesture, and closed Ren's eyes with the other hand.

"She's dead…" Hige said quietly. "I can't believe it. She didn't even know us very well…"

"It was a waste…that noble thug," Marel muttered, her blind eyes staring up.

Getusuei said nothing. He merely looked somber, and astonished.

Tsume opened his mouth to say something, but obviously thought better of it and closed his mouth.

Kiba stood up straight. "Toboe. There'll be time later." He looked at the pack and addressed them all. "Ren died a true wolf, no matter what her other half might have been. Come on. We can't stay here. The longer we hang around, the better the chance will be that Shehskemana will catch us." He turned and started to sprint for the door, followed by the rest of the pack.

Toboe started to run after them, but paused a second, looked back at the body of Ren, and then pressed on.

A/N: Sorry again. My damn computer spazzed on me and deleted my luverly chapter I worked my butt off to write! –cries- So I had to rewrite the whole thing, but I guess it's better than the old one anyway…Thanks for the great reviews, peeps! huggles Lonegrey, Kristen (Sorry I didn't mention you last time! Accident.), Saberwolfie, Tweak and our new person, Chocolate Chan! Really nice to have ya. And yes, the story will come to an end soon, but yes, a suquel is what I have in mind next. So, be ready! I'm happy you guys all like Marel! I felt bad about the whole Ren issue when writing this, but…x3