Shiroi wandered throughout the forest, searching for any signs of where he might be. Branches cracked underneath the weight of his paws, as his eyes looked warily, scanning the forest.

Had the world been reborn already?

If so, where was Kurai? He was pretty sure that the two of them were side by side when they fell asleep. How could Kurai have disappeared? Did Kurai wake up before he did, and if so, where was he now?

Shiroi shook his head in confusion. Whatever it is, he needed to find Kurai as soon as possible. Shiroi's body emerged from the woods, with multiple cuts and twigs sticking from his fur. He had been pursued relentlessly by people, not necessarily soldiers but regular citizens. His energy was almost depleted, but he needed to find a place to rest. A question formed in his head as he was being chased.

Did they really fear him that much?

"Brother!" Rain cried as a figure pushed open the door to their shelter with his snout. Another large timber wolf appeared, lean but his muscles rippled as he strode in. In his mouth he carried two small chickens. He laid them on the floor and went over to where Rain sat.

"Has he woken up?" he asked.

"Yeah he was awake this morning. He thought we were enemies, and attacked me" she started, eying the unconscious wolf.

"He attacked you?" he growled, stepping closer to where Kurai laid.

"No! Wait, it was a misunderstanding. He was looking for his brother, and he thought we took him..."

Hail felt a pang of sympathy for the wolf. He and his sister were the only survivors of the Trail River massacre, as their family died protecting them and giving them an escape route. He and his sister were the only thing he had left, and he could feel Kurai's pain of not having his brother beside him. He walked over to Kurai's body, placing a paw on his flank before noticing the strange engravings.

"Rain, were these markings here earlier today?" he curiously asked.

"Yeah, the strangest thing happened that you would not believe" Rain said as she walked over to him. "I don't think he's a regular wolf. His eyes, Hail... They started glowing blue and the markings appeared on his body soon after."

"Hmm..." Hail said as he inspected Kurai. The black wolf's body trembled and shivered, almost as if his energy was being sapped away. "He doesn't look too good."

"It's the city, Hail. The damned nobles set up the barriers, they're trying to force us out. We won't be able to maintain our disguises if this continues" Rain said worriedly. "When the white wolves come, we won't be able to hide. They'll sniff us out and then they'll kill us! They'll kill us like our family!"

Hail stepped beside Rain and licked the top of her head in a comforting gesture. Rain whimpered.

"They won't" Hail said resolutely. "They won't kill you, or me. I'll protect you, I promise." Hail picked up one of the chickens, offering it to Rain. She accepted it, it's been a while since she has eaten and she was famished. She bit into the chicken, feeling the warmth of it, and started tearing pieces of it apart. She stopped in the middle of her meal when she heard a groan coming from the other side of the room.

Kurai shook his head, and his eyes flickered around the room as if he did not remember where he was. His eyes settled on Rain and Hail before he rose up on all fours and started padding over to them. He glared at Hail in hostility.

"Who...are you?" he said weakly.

"That's Hail, my brother" Rain answered for him. Hail nodded at Kurai, and Kurai accepted his presence with a swish of his tail.

"Where are we...?" he asked.

"Dervish City" Hail replied. He went over and picked up the other chicken and offered it to Kurai. "Chicken?"

Kurai shook his head. "I don't eat"

He started padding towards the door slowly, each step taking a huge amount of effort.

"Wait! Where are you going?" asked Rain.

"I have to find my brother" came the reply.

"You'll get yourself killed if you go out there" Hail sighed heavily. Kurai stopped and looked at them.

"Look, if your brother is out there. The chances of him being alive is..."

Kurai snarled at her, daring her to finish her sentence. "We're not like you wolves. We're different."

"Well, we got that from the get-go" Rain responded, looking at Kurai's markings on his body.

"Okay, suppose you do find your brother. Where will you be going?" Hail asked, looking Kurai right in the eyes. Kurai stared back at the silver eyes with determination.

He took a breath. "Paradise."

That one word echoed throughout both twins' minds. Paradise, what their mother would tell them before they fell asleep. A place where Lunar Flowers blossomed and food was never scarce. Where they won't have worry about being hunted.

"That's bullshit" Hail growled at Kurai. "Paradise doesn't exist."

"It does exist" Kurai said with no emotions. "If you help me, I can show you where it is and how we can get in."

The twins hesitated for a bit. Rain looking at Hail, and vice versa.

"Hell, if we're going to die, we might as well try and look for this 'Paradise'" Rain said.

"Rain, we're not going to die" Hail snapped at her.

"Yes we are!" she snapped back. "Don't you see? Everyday, it's getting harder and harder to get food. Everyday, we worry about some wolves coming here and killing us. Don't you want to get out of this stinking town? If I were to die, I rather die out there, than in here!"

Hail stood speechless. Never had his sister spoken to him in this manner, they were always so close. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Okay" he said with resignation. "What are we going to do first?"

"We're going to find my brother."

"Okay that's very specific. What's his name?"

"Shiroi" Kurai whispered, his eyes gazing into no one in particular.

Shiroi ran from the shower of bullets that were shot at him. He never expected the townspeople of this specific city to be this hostile. Literally every person in the city had guns, and were shooting at him. Several bullets were embedded in his shoulder,sides and one in his leg, causing him to limp. He felt his energy being siphoned off as soon as he entered the city, almost as if the moon refused to grant him anymore power. He ran as fast as he could, trying to find shelter from the hail of bullets that were directed at him.

"Get the white demon!" one voice cried.

"He ran this way!" another said.

"Those wolves killed my family, today I'll avenge them!"

Kill? Shiroi thought. I didn't kill anyone!

His breaths came in heavy pants as he ran into an alley and hid behind a garbage can. The crowd ran past him, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The wounds he sustained were refusing to heal, though. He tried using his powers to mend them, but his markings only flickered a little before dying down. He noticed there was a basement in the alley and he started walking towards it. Suddenly, the door opened and a young teenager with red hair,red shirt and green pants stood staring at him. Shiroi's breath caught in his throat.

"Toboe?" he whispered. Shiroi saw through the teen's disguise, and saw a young red wolf with silver bracelets around one of his ankles. But this Toboe looked at him in an unfamiliar fashion. His eyes glared at him, and his mouth curled up in a snarl.

Shiroi limped towards Toboe slowly. "Toboe...? I can't believe it's you..."

Toboe looked behind Shiroi, then shouted, "Lyra, now!"

Before Shiroi could turn around, someone leaped at him and jabbed something into his side. He let out a cry as he felt his body, as if on fire and he fell onto the floor writhing and twitching. His body no longer responded to him, and he looked up at Toboe and the young female, holding a taser, standing beside him.

"Damn Jaguara's wolves" Toboe spat at him. Shiroi never felt Toboe this hostile before as the red wolf leaned in with his fangs bared. Shiroi could tell Toboe did not remember him, as whatever happened was in the past.

"Toboe...please" Shiroi begged, his crystalline eyes looking at Toboe. "It's me..." Toboe ignored him.

"Lyra, let's take him inside. We have to take him alive so we can question him."

The female called Lyra nodded her head. She gripped the taser and held it up to Shiroi's head. Shiroi felt a blinding sensation of pain and his vision blurred. His eyes turned egg-white as his head hit the ground, and his body stopped writhing. Toboe gripped the unconscious Shiroi by the scruff, and began dragging him into the basement.

Three figures were walking down the streets when a crowd of angry people rushed by them. One of the citizens bumped into the figure with a black trench coat, wearing a fedora which covered his blonde, flowing hair. Blue eyes glared at the person who dared interrupt his train of thoughts, leaving the poor man running away in a scamper.

"Watch where the hell you're going!" he growled at the scampering figure.

"Shush, you're going to get us noticed" the other figure, who wore a jacket with a hood made of sheepskin. He had glasses which fit snugly around the rim of his nose. His brown eyes assaulted the other figure's in a fatherly manner.

"Damn people these days, Joey. I swear if I didn't have to keep this disguise on..."

"Aatu, you know it as well as we do. You take that disguise off and you're probably going to be shot dead" the other figure replied.

Aatu sighed. "I know. I'm not stupid enough to take it off, Fogul. I just don't understand why they're so afraid."

Aatu looked at Fogul, who had red hair and brown eyes, similar to Joey. Although they were brothers, they hardly seemed alike. Joey looked more like a bookworm with his glasses on, while Fogul looked more like an athlete. He wore a red jacket that slid down from his arms, exposing his neck and shoulder-blades. He popped a lollipop in his mouth as he looked at Aatu.

Although they were different species, them being humans and he was a wolf, they cared about each other like family. Although Joey and Fogul's parents were killed by wolves, events in the past allowed them to come into acceptance of their existence. Only one particular type of wolf should be damned if they were to meet one day. Wolves the color of snow, Joey could not take the image of his family being killed right in front of him with wolves that had white fur, bloodied by their parents' blood. It was snowing that day, but when Joey and Fogul came back from collecting firewood for the fireplace, all they could see were the bodies of their family and their blood leaking onto the snow. They saw the moving figures of animals, but they couldn't tell what animals they were. It was not until Fogul and Joey caught a glimpse of them, from the reflection of the moon shining on them, that they figured out that they were wolves. White wolves, to be exact.

Aatu sniffing the air broke Fogul's chain of thought. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Aatu sniffed the air one more time. "There's...a scent that I'm unfamiliar with. I think...another wolf? No, there's two of them."

"That would explain why there was an angry mob a second go," Joey added in.

"I smell blood" Aatu said, his eyes closed as he sniffed the air. "There's the scent of flowers..."

Joey reached inside his jacket, gripping a pistol and clenching the handle. Fogul reached inside his jacket and withdrew a pair of brass knuckles.

If there were wolves this close, then that must those other wolves must be coming Fogul thought

"Where are they?" Fogul asked Aatu. Instead of responding, Aatu broke into a sprint.

"Aatu! Wait up!" Joey shouted at him. Aatu seemed to have forgotten that they were just human, since he jumped up the walls of nearby buildings and following the scent. The form of a black wolf could be seen from where they were standing. A black wolf with specks of white around his tail,paws and ears.

"He's going to get himself killed" Joey sighed.

"Always letting instincts get a hold of him" Fogul agreed. "What an idiot, he even dropped his disguise."

"Guess we're following him then" Joey said, pulling out the pistol that he had in his holster.

Fogul put on his brass knuckles, then put his hands in his pants to conceal them. "It's what big brothers do though, right?"

They smiled at each other as they ran towards the leaping wolf figure in the sky.

Thanks to Johnwolf234 for letting me use three of his characters. If you haven't read his stories yet, Aatu is a character within his stories that he graciously allowed me to use in my story.