Disclaimer: As before.

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Part Two

"Fellow lupes! This is a time for action! That wretched gelert killed my father! She killed our leader. I know where her pack resides. We attack on the night of the full moon, when our strength is greatest. You -we- have one week to get ready and gather any forces we wish. Dismissed." Rafe's leader-voice echoed and boomed in the cave, and even louder in Sarayou's head. An uproarious cry sounded as one of the dispatching lupes spotted her and Sinya hiding behind the rock.

"There she is! Get her!" a yellow lupe charged at them, followed by cries of "There's the traitor!" and "You'll pay for what you did!"

"Uh-oh." It was the only thing that came out of either of them before they shot off like petpets out of a cannon. They sped right past the stunned lupe pack, including Rafe, and out the front entrance. Neither of them stopped until they reached the cave Sarayou had been in earlier, when she first ran off.

Sinya didn't want to stop even then. "Remind me," he paused for a breath, "why we are here in the first place."

"You know very well why." Sarayou didn't want to discuss those matters. "He's going to attack my pack. And it's all my fault!" she wailed, realization suddenly sinking in.

"Shh! They'll hear you. My family is known for our exceptional hearing. Now what are we going to do about Rafe?" Sinya's voice dropped to a low murmur. "What can we do in less than a week?"

"Hasia." Sarayou named an old childhood friend who happened to be the alpha female of an aisha pride close by.

"Hasee who?" Sinya was totally baffled.

"Not 'hasee' you idiot. Hasia. Hah-see-uh. You better pronounce her name right when you meet her. She can be moody about that."

"Whatever. Who is she?"

"My best friend." Sarayou sounded irritated.

"I see."

"Come on, let's get moving." Sarayou trotted off to the west, with Sinya not far behind.

"Aishas." the lupe gave a small shudder. Before the duo was a field, filled with aishas of all shapes, colors, and sizes. They had been traveling all through the day, and now it was early morning.

Sarayou stepped into the group without a problem. Hi's, Hello's, and Where have you been's filled the air. Sarayou answered as many as possible before everything went silent. The aishas turned their heads to a single point. Then they abruptly exploded in a flurry of hisses, spats, claws, and teeth. Sinya screamed like an scared baby wocky and raced to Sarayou, trying to squeeze underneath her.

"Call them off! Call them off! For Pete's sake HELP ME!"

Sarayou giggled and jumped away from him.

"He's with me," she said, still giggling. The aisha pride immediately backed down, but most remained on their guard.

Suddenly their ears all turned around, followed by their gazes. They stood and formed a path. An obviously important aisha strode confidently down the walkway, muttering greetings and smiling at her subjects. All in all the pride consisted of about fifty pets.

The approaching aisha stopped midway and studied Sarayou, as if trying to remember who she was.

"Sarayou! Oh my gosh! I haven't seen you in forever!" Hasia bounded toward Sarayou, but stopped when she saw Sinya, who had begun to creep out from Sarayou's protection. At the sight of Hasia he screamed and hid again, this time whimpering.

Hasia blinked at him, then laughed.

"Is he with you?"

"Yeah." Sarayou looked at Sinya sarcastically. "Some lupe, huh?" Sarayou laughed again, then hugged her friend.

Hasia was a faerie aisha. But, like Sinya and Sarayou, she wasn't a normal neopet. She was a shadow faerie. Her wings were the same pattern, but the pattern was a translucent black. The background color was the glittering blue-black of a faerie grundo's wings. Hasia herself was blacker than the blackest shadow. There was a birthmark on her forehead. It looked like an upright eye; it was creamy white in color. Her eyes were an electric, glittering black-everything about her was glittering. She was truly a sight to behold.

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"What?!" Hasia's eyes went wide.

"And he's not only attacking my family, he plans to annihilate my entire pack." Sarayou had just recounted their story to Hasia, while Sinya stood outside trying to make a few friends. He had located a mutant aisha by the name of Koveero that seemed pretty nice.

"And why are you telling me this? I have a hunch, but…" Hasia trailed off.

"Your hunch is probably right. I don't know how to ask this…" Sarayou shifted uncomfortably. "I need help with Rafe's forces. I need to help my family. I have to pay my debt to my pack. Then maybe they'll… tolerate me, at least. Even after what I did."

"And what was that?" Hasia's eyes narrowed. "Are you lying to me?"

"No! No, never. I just don't want to talk about it. Will you help or not? The drawback is that we need to have everything going in a week -well, five days now."

"Yes. I'll help. We don't need much training. We just need to explain the situation to the pride." Hasia trotted off to the rock she and her husband, a desert aisha named Toranyo, used for announcing various things, such as a declaration of war.

Sarayou followed, and grabbed Sinya on the way. He started to protest, but caught Sarayou's warning glance.

Hope this goes well, Hasia thought, stepping up to the rock. She began her speech.

"Fellow aishas! This is a time for action!"

Sinya grimaced at Hasia's choice of words. It was the exact same opening Rafe had used. Hasia went on, "You all know Sarayou. Or you have at least heard about her. She is my friend. My very best friend. Always has been, always will be." She turned and smiled at Sarayou, who smiled back. "She has come for our help. Most of you know of Kova's lupe pack, correct?" Quite a few aishas nodded, obviously more than Hasia had expected. Her eyebrows raised a bit.

"More of you than I thought. Well, back to the problem at hand. Evidently Sarayou had pack troubles, and sought refuge there. She attended the puppies, and Sinya found her and asked her why she was there. Thus they met. And from what I'm told, Rafe walked in, accused Sarayou of causing Kova's death, and told her to leave. She did, followed closely by Sinya.

"They went back to make Sinya return to his pack, and overheard a discussion about an ambush on Sarayou's pack and family. They've come to me for help, and my strength is theirs to command. What say you, my loyal subjects, friends, family? Peace or war?"

At this the field that was the aisha pride's home erupted in various response cries.

"War!"

"Take them down!"

"They'll regret ever messing with us!"

"When do we start?"

That was only a few. They were really hyped up. Evidently they have a great sense of loyalty to their friends. Sinya raised his eyebrows.

"Quiet! Please, settle down!" Hasia tried her best to quiet them, but to no avail. Sarayou sent a bone-chilling howl through the air, cutting it off midway with a quick, high-pitched yip.

Once everyone was settled down -and the wait wasn't long- Hasia started up again.

"Toranyo would be jealous, Sarayou. His roar is unmatched -was. He is not here. He's alive and well, mind you, but not here. That is why we must stick together. All on the same side. We have until the full moon to gather our forces and get to Sarayou's pack. Sarayou and Sinya will scout tonight, and warn her pack of the oncoming danger. They should signal us by about this time tomorrow. If not, we head up there ourselves. Until then, practice and hone your skills -your life is on the line."

With that, Hasia turned and bid farewell to Sarayou and Sinya. "Godspeed," She said, and they were gone.

"We're nearly there."

"Huh?" Sinya woke from his daze. Pushing his previous thoughts aside, he went to the side of the path they were on to sniff a scent trail. "We're close," he repeated.

"I just said that. Now quit dawdling. We need to find Axel before anyone else finds us." Sarayou trotted forward, a little faster than usual. I hope he isn't rematched, Sarayou thought. If he is, I'm doomed. He's the only one who ever really trusted me.

"Who's Axel?"

"A friend." Sarayou hid her face from Sinya. A tear rolled down her cheek and barreled to the ground. She shook herself, then stepped into a clearing in front of a cave.

She and Sinya stopped dead in their tracks.

"Oh. Great. The barricade's up. And nobody's here." Sarayou said. "Oh well, Axel might be with the puppies. Come on." She led Sinya through a bunch of thorn bushes, around the barricade. The trail leading to the brambles was short and opened up to a small room. Finally they came upon a big gelert. He was blue. Gently he picked up a little green puppy gelert and tickled him. The baby resembled Sarayou in personality. He was her little cousin, Bonaou.

The gelert put Bonaou down, and started down the passageway Sarayou and Sinya were in. Suddenly he stopped and sniffed the air. His voice was slightly raspy and deep -the voice of a broken heart.

"You've got guts, coming back here. And bringing that mutt with you."

Sarayou stepped out of the shadows. "Can I still trust you, or are you going to sound the alarm? Would you go so far as to betray me, the one who trusted you with her life? The only one who cared enough to keep you out of danger?" Sarayou's voice was strained from trying not to run up and hug Axel, crying.

"No. No, I won't. But why are you here and who is he?" Axel stepped closer. Sarayou saw a fang in the moonlight shining in from a crack in the ceiling.

"He is Sinya. I need to warn you. And the pack. Sinya's pack -all but he- are planning to attack us. I've recruited Hasia's aisha pride to our side."

"Why are they attacking?" Axel's features went from rock hard to alarmed. Sarayou told the short version. Axel led them into another chamber, where they sat down.

"But -Kova- he's dead?" Axel said it slowly, in shock.

Sinya nodded. "Unfortunately. He was a great leader. Rafe took over. I know you knew him. But I didn't know you were friends. Well, such is the situation. We have until the full moon to get ready."

The trio heard thudding paws in the tunnel. Their ears all rotated to the sound. A red gelert popped in the doorway. He had a scar in an X on his left cheek. Sarayou stood abruptly, startling Sinya and Axel. The red gelert looked at her in the eyes, their gazes locked.

"Brother?!" Scenes from the battle flashed in Sarayou's mind. Axel standing over her, her brother attacking him, watching them fight. Sarayou attacking her brother in Axel's defense… taking his life by accident…

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A/N: You who have read my other stories will notice the difference in styles between this one and the others. To clarify any confusion about that, this was my first attempt at a Fanfic. Plus, the thing I wrote it for, one of the rules was that it had to be basically PG13.

Hence the slight kiddie-ness.