Chapter 5

Yet another forest, that's where the fables now found themselves, except this time there was rain pouring down heavily. Yet there was something about this particular forest. It felt familiar, the type of familiar that you'd possibly feel if you revisited something that you hadn't seen for centuries. It was their homelands. They all relaxed upon seeing it again, this particular forest may not have been their home exactly but was close enough and it'd be as close as they'd ever get as far as they knew.

They almost got caught up in all of it until the sounded of whimpering pups turned their attention to a damp cave that sheltered litter of wolf pups and their mother. The group approached the cave and took a closer look at the pups. There were six in total, all sporting various shades of brown, black, and grey fur. This stood in stark contrast of their mother who had a dazzling coat of white fur. Gren snickered, "Okay who wants to place bets on which on Bigby is?"

Woody and Colin immediately got in on this action and placed their bets on two pups with grey coats.

Holly sighed, "Those two don't have the same fur though."

"So? It can get darker as they age!"

Snow crossed her arms as she focused on the litter, "None of these pups are Bigby. Look."

They all looked and saw some movement from under the pile of pups. The mother wolf huffed and nudged a few of her pups out of the way to reveal a seventh, much smaller, pup being smothered. She licked the runt affectionately, "Poor thing. Your brothers crushing you again?"

They pup growled, "They always forget about me!"

"They're only trying to keep you warm. It's not their fault that they move around so much in their sleep." He picked up the runt by his scruff and brought him close to her, "There. They can't crush you if you're here."

"No. Put me back. It's cold!" The pup stood on unsteady paws and tried to squeeze back into the pile with his brothers. His efforts only managed to wake one of them. The other pup growled and grumpily glared at the runt, before reluctantly pulling the runt back into their cuddle puddle. Their mother smiled and rested her head on her paws, "So precious. If only your father were here to see."

Woody chuckled, "So you think that runt is Bigby?"

Snow nodded, "It only makes sense, earlier we saw a memory of Bigby getting sick, he mentioned something about "past faults."

Holly nods, "And the fur matches too."

Gren chuckles, "I ain't gonna let him live this down when we get back."

"Please don't. He'll rip off your arm."

Woody smirked, "No this is good. We can't let this go that easy."

Snow smirked, "Okay, okay. Only a little bit of teasing. And only when he's better? Alright?"

Beauty and Beast gasped while Colin laughed, "You're only agreeing because you want to tease him too. That's cruel Snow. You know what it means to be a runt out in the wild right?"

"What do you mean by that?" Beast asked wearily.

"Figured that'd fly over your heads. None of you are animals. Just wait and you'll see."

When they looked over the pups were awake and the rain had cleared. Two of the pups were missing along with their mother, the other four of the pups were messing with the runt, they nipped at him as the pup whined and tried to scoot away. They all laughed at him, "Ha! Come on Bigby~ Didn't you say you were gonna bite us next time?"

"Yeah! You're the big bad wolf~ If we're angering you than do something about it."

Bigby growled, "You better watch yourselves, lest one day its my fangs at your throats!"

They all paused and looked at each other before they stared laughing with even more vigor. That was until a loud growl came from the entrance of the cave and they froze, it was the pup that had pulled Bigby into their pile earlier. This pup was slightly larger than the rest and had a dark brownish-black coat of fur and had a demeanor that seemed much too old and harsh for his age, "Stop. Now. " That's all he had to say for the four pups to rush away from Bigby to the corner of the cave with their tails tucked and their ears folded back, "We're sorry Brother! We were only trying to toughen him up!"

The pup went over to Bigby and picked him up, "Sure you were. For that, Bigby will eat first. The rest of you will get the scrapes of my kill today." The pup angrily left the cage with a pouting Bigby who only glared at the other four.

Once out the cave Bigby was dragged to their mother and the other missing pup. The other pup and a lighter shade of grey fur, it was the closest that any of the pups got to their mothers pure white, but it was still nothing in comparison. The light grey pup padded over to Bigby and the other, "Oh, you look angry again, maybe we should just call you grumpy!" The darker pup snarled and dropped Bigby close to their mother, "If you even try I'll kill you."

The other pup laughed, "So, Bigby~ Were the others picking on you again?"

Bigby growled, "I didn't need help! I could've handled it myself."

Their mother nuzzled him, "Good, that's the spirit son." Bigby's tail wagged as he nuzzled back and Grumpy scoffed and started tearing into one of the fawns they had hunted.

The grey pup hopped, "Oh yeah! So I was thinkin' about you while we were hunting today!"

"You were…" Bigby stood and stumbled over to him as the other pup pulled over a bird, "I caught this for you! I though if you ate more, then you'd get strong!"

Bigby's tailed wagged with excitement, "For me?"

"Yup, I caught this all for you! So eat every bit of it." The pup sat triumphantly while Bigby inspected his meal for the day.

Their mother stared at that bird and got close to her pups, "Hey, do you know what kind of bird that is?"

All three of the pups shook their heads and she smiles, "Well, that's a dove. They're cautious, and they're dependent creatures. They're also, giving, honest, and patient. We actually share something in common with them."

The grey pup scooted closer to their mom, "What's that?"

"They're Loyal…they mate for life, just like wolves do."

Grumpy scoffed, "Why would you bring up something so meaningless."

She chuckled, "Well son maybe I'm trying to teach you something that is meaningful? Well, now I guess I'll drop it." She pulled away from them and went back to the cave. Bigby and the grey pup growled, "Grumpy!"

"Don't call me that!"

The grey pup snarled, "You deserve it. I'll make sure that's what the others call you too." Bigby nodded in agreement.

Grumpy snarled, "At least shorten it or something…that name is so stupid…"

"It's not as bad as mine." Bigby shot back at him. Grumpy growled, "No it's much worse!"

"Fine. How about Grim?" The grey pup compromised.

Grumpy, now Grim settled, "Fine…it's better that grumpy at least…"

Bigby huffed, "Lucky…I didn't get any say for my name…"

"Your name is too funny to change. "Grim smirked, "And I do most of the hunting. It's fair."

Bigby sighed and looked at his grey dove then to his grey brother, "Can we call you Dove then…?" Bigby offered hesitantly, likely thinking that his idea would be shot down.

"Why Dove?" Grim started picking at his meal again while he waited for Bigby to explain.

"Well… Because… He got this dove for me.. and he's like what mama said about being patient and giving…." Bigby looked at his brother as Grim stared at Bigby with a look in his eye that could only be described as affectionate.

The grey pup's tail wagged as he nuzzled Bigby, "Aw! That's so sweet of you! "He pulled away and stood proudly, "I gladly accept that name! From now on I am Dove!" Grim and Bigby smiled as the three started digging into their food, soon after their other brothers rushed out and ate with them.

Their mother stayed behind and watched from the cave, he looked happy whenever Bigby or the others looked over at her, but deep in her eyes there was something there that was distant and tragic beginning to well up.


Suddenly time in the memory started to speed through the days. And every day the wolf family had a little routine that begun with their mother rousing them from their sleep and taking Grim and Dove out to hunt, then they all ate together in the cave, and they spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing until sundown where they all curled up towards their mother with Bigby in the middle to keep the runt warm during the cold nights. Sometimes small things would get in the way or change, like a crow and squirrel that would eventually start bullying Bigby as he attempted to hunt and their mother taking all of the rest of the pups to hunt with Grim and Dove.

Or bigger red flags, Like the mother slowly eating less and less with every passing day until she refused to eat all together. Soon after she stopped eating, she stopped getting up or even moving really. The pups would try to coax her out but would eventually give up and start hunting without her, and without Bigby. The dynamic in the family had slow switched from her taking care of them to them trying their damnedest to take care of her. And with Bigby being left alone with her on a daily basis, he got to see the worst of it at times where she'd ramble on and on about his father.

Throughout all of this all of the pups had grown quickly, except Bigby, he was still much too weak and small for his age. Grim and Dove would try to teach Bigby but no matter how much they tried, Bigby was always too weak to actually pull it off, while Dove seemed determined to stick with it, Grim was clearly getting frustrated of having to repeat this process everyday with no results.

On one particular night, it began to snow, so all of the pups stayed in the cave and huddled together to keep Bigby and their mother warm. By this point their mother was mangy and malnourished, she looked like all of the life was being drained from her. She sighed wistfully, "Do you all feel that breeze? Maybe he's passing through…He always comes with the cold…"

Bigby growled, but the others were never around for their mother's ramblings, so of course they encouraged her to say more, specifically a brown pup that they now called Night because of a patch of white spots that had developed in his dark grey fur and reminded the others of the night sky.

So, she continued, "Yes… Its snowing when I met him. And he was perfect, dark fur, piercing eyes…You're all so much like him…I'm glad for that… I hope you all mate with others that are perfect like he was. "she nuzzled them affectionately.

Grim growled but let this continue for now, even if though he seemed annoyed by the gesture. Night continued to goad her on, "Oh yeah? What's so special about having a mate?"

"Well…you'll understand when you meet them." She stated ominously.

"What does that mean?" one of the others asked

"There will come a day where you meet someone, and you'll know. It'll be their scent… the moment you find it, your entire worlds will change…. You'll see." She closed her eyes as her pups whispered to each other curiously musing about the kinds of mates they'd want, night and the other three boasted about wanted strong mates 'like their father'. Meanwhile Dove teased them for it and Grim merely growled at them all for being pests.

Bigby on the other hand didn't seemed pleased at all, in fact he looked furious about it all, "Mama…you say that like it's a good thing! "

She looked at him and stares, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Our father wasn't perfect! "

"Your wrong. Your father loved us!"

"He left us! If that's love then I don't want it."

"He had no choice! He had to leave!"

Bigby glared up at her, "If he loved you than he would've taken us with him."

His mother flinched and froze, she stared at Bigby for a long time, like she was only considering this scenario for the first time. She had been so trapped in trying to glorify the north wind, that she refused to acknowledge what really happened until now. She sighs as she slowly stands, "You're right…Unfortunately for me… Your father wasn't a wolf…so one mate would never be enough for him…Hopefully, you'll be luckier than me in finding your mate, or you'll inherit your father's cold heart…." She stumbled to the corner of the cave and quietly curled up by herself there.

Bigby's faced dropped, "Mama-!"

Grim snarled at him, "Leave her be. You've said enough."

Bigby whined as Dove nuzzled him, "Don't blame yourself…you only said what we were all thinking…" Dove tried to cheer Bigby up with little result.

Grim pulls Bigby closer to him and Dove before growling, "All of you just go to sleep. We have a long day of hunting tomorrow." And with that they all tried to force themselves to sleep.


After that the memories started to speed through that winter. That Winter had been rough on the pups, as it was their first. They powered through it relatively well. Grim and Dove always brought an extra kill for Bigby and their mother and Bigby, but their mother never touched it, so that left it all for Bigby. Normally, that'd be very good, but often someone would steal it from him, whether that was his brothers or that stupid crow or some vulture didn't matter. What did matter was that with the cold getting worse and the lack of food had Bigby only getting worse. By the time that spring came around Grim had started to really loose hope for Bigby to actually survive.

So one night Grim took Dove out for a talk, and Bigby followed. Grim started off bluntly, "Dove…We're leaving Bigby with mom."

Dove didn't seem to get his meaning, "Again? We should try to take him hunting again! If we just start him with something smaller- "

"Enough. If he stood a chance then he'd be better by now."

Dove stared, "No…You're not really saying we're leaving him to die…"

"I am." Grim sat, "He's lucky that he's lasted this long as it is."

Dove growls, "No! I get why we're leaving mom…there's nothing we can do for her…But we can still help Bigby!"

Grim shakes his head, "No, we've done all we can. Now it's up to him to survive. Pampering him like you do doesn't actually help. "

Dove stares, "I…"

Bigby didn't stay to listen to the rest, instead he went back to the cave and went to his mother. He curled up against her by himself, she looked at him, "What's wrong son...?" she sounded quiet and tired, it was clear that she didn't have much time left.

"Grim said that they're leaving me…I'm a nuisance. "

She stared at the cave wall, "I'm sorry… I should've cared for you better…"

"It's okay mama… I'm sorry too… "

"Why?"

"Because… we should've made you happy… But we didn't."

She growls, "Stop that. You not to blame."

"I'm not?"

"No. I've failed you and your brothers-"

"You're wrong too. It's not your fault either…he failed you." Bigby looked back at her sympathetically.

She nuzzles him weakly and they sit in comfortable silence for a moment, "Your smart son…and your strong in your own way. Just like I was in my youth. So I'm sure you'll get through all of this. And when you do, live up that that name of yours." She smiled as Bigby nuzzled back.

It was the first day of spring when she died. All of the pups woke to Bigby angrily sniffling. Dove nudged him and Bigby growled, "Last night…" he didn't have to finish that sentence for Dove to understand.

Grim and the others came over and quietly mourned her. But Grim only allowed it for that morning, by noon he gathered them, "Alright. It's time to go. We can't stay here and mope."

"But- "

"No. We're going to find father."

With that all of the other pups except Bigby and Dove perked up. Grim growled, "Let's go." Grim started to lead them out the cave, Dove looked at Bigby with hope in his eyes, "Hey…lets go little brother…"

Bigby shook his head, "No… I'm going to stay with mama…"

"Bigby- "Dove was interrupted by a growl from Grim. Dove looked stared at Bigby but eventually left with grim and the rest of their brothers.

Bigby sat resolutely in front of the cave he had been born in. He was truly alone for the first time in his life, and he was fine with that.


Author's Note:

Okay, five chapter's out now! I've had this chapter planned for a while now. I think this one is the darkest one so far, Winter Wolf (Bigby's mom) is a really tragic character and I hope i did her story justice in trying to depict that. As someone who takes care of my baby sister and has to deal with depression, I know how hard it can be to just get out of bed sometimes and sometimes that also means I can't take care of her, but luckily I'm not the only adult responsible for her. I can only imagine that this scenario would be much worse for a single mother, and that it'd be hard on the kids.

Also, The brothers were a big part in this chapter, i know i said I was taking some elements from the comics, but in reality I'm taking a few and re-interpreting them, since the brother's are all unnamed and get little to no development beyond being described as bullies to Bigby and being the ones that gave Bigby his name. I decided to add some more to them. Grim and Dove especially have major importance here. Also if you're curious, the order that the pups were born in goes: Grim, Dove, the 3 unnamed pups, Night, and Bigby.

Let me know in the comments/reviews what you guys think of the story so far! Anything I could fix narratively? Where do you think the story is heading now?