Hello everyone, and welcome to the very last chapter of Silver Snow! Wow, it's been a long time coming, but now things can finally wrap up...er, for the moment, anyway. Sorry about such a late release for such a short chapter. Finals and all. Without any further delay, enjoy the last chapter!

Final Chapter: In The Arms of Snow

One Year Later…

"But mom, I want to play now."

"No, stop being a brat." Luna sighed. Three small pups were bouncing around her feet like they were high, and their mother was starting to actually believe so. The girls looked more like Mick than her, but where they had received their father's appearance, they had gained her personality. Luna often wondered if this was what everyone had to put up with from her for years. It was times like this that made her think humans were right to invent leashes. The sun was shining bright over the snow-fallen land of jasper park. The winter was a bit warm today, but nonetheless, the snow was still thick and darkening clouds suggested that they were due for more soon. Things were normal now. Sort of. There were no more fire-breathing wolves. There were no more supernatural catastrophe's that made everyone do a double take. But even so, after all that had happened, normality would never be the same again.

"Uggh—where is your father?" Luna shouted when the pups began to hang off her like a furry monkey bar.

"He's right here." Mick came striding from the direction of Kate's den.

"Daddy!" The pups squirmed and tackled him over. Mick chuckled and wrestled them down before nudging them aside.

"Go play. Your mother and I need to go." Mick said.

"To go make more of us?" The pups chimed annoyingly honest.

"Not if he wants to keep being able to do that." Luna mumbled loud enough for Mick to hear. He rolled his eyes.

"We have to go see Aunt Snow." Mick said. The pups gave fake, dejected looks, but when they saw their father was serious, they scampered off. Luna shook her head, then looked off towards the path ahead of them. Maybe it wasn't so much a return to normalcy around Jasper Park as it was a return of the routine. Because the mood had definitely been shifted into something dark for the past year. News of Silver's death hit everyone like a brick, and even sent Anna and Kate into a fit of sobs. And Snow was never the same. The damage to her heart was too much for her to bare. She barely ate, barely spoke, and barely left her lookout cliff. At first, everyone had thought she just needed time to cope—that things would get better as she healed. But the healing never happened. The more time past, the more of each day she spent on the edge of her cliff, until she barely hardly came home at all. Every now and then, her friends would go to see Snow—to try to pull her out of her lethargy—but deep down, they knew it was an effort in vain. And that made Luna feel even worse. Her ears hung low and she found herself staring at her paws.

"Luna…" Mick started. He already knew ahead of time how Luna usually got whenever the subject of Snow was brought up.

"Mick, this is all my fault…"

"No it isn't, Luna. We've been through this." Mick nuzzled his mate. She drew away.

"But what if I hadn't upset her..? If I had just left Silver alone, he wouldn't have had to run off and save her…I'm so selfish…"

"Luna, it would have come down to him saving her anyway…" Mick said solemnly, "Now let's go, love."

Luna wasn't convinced. She never was. But she nodded and walked after her mate. The snow crunched fresh under her paws as the two made their way towards Snow's lookout. Before long, they ran into Arin and Bianca. Arin was wearing a nifty blue winter hat and matching mittens with the price tags still on them. No doubt another pair of nick-nacks he had lifted from visiting campers. He had made an annoying habit out of it despite Kate's numerous warnings. In the otters paws was a slab of caribou meat, fresh from the den in which he raided it from. Bianca stood next to him, a tiny blue bird attached obediently to her side. Her mate, a neighboring bluebird in the park, had been forced to stay during the winter on her insistence, even though they were both freezing to the roots of their feathers outside the refuge of Anna's warm den.

"Hey Arin, Bianca." Mick nodded. The years time had changed him. Normally, he'd have cracked a joke on Arin's stolen goods, but growing up and becoming a father had made him more mature than anyone would have guessed.

"How's it goin'?" Arin smiled, "You're going to see Snow too?"

"Yeah," Luna said.

"Then lets go together." Bianca suggested.

"Yeah, she'll like seeing all of us. And I got her something to eat too." Arin brandished the meat proudly as though he was the one who actually hunted it.

"She might not eat it, but it's a good thought. Come on." Mick moved ahead of them all. The group traveled through the thicket of trees, and then up the hill. It didn't take long for them to reach Snow's lookout. The fact that the snow around the area was still fresh meant that the white wolf had stayed overnight yet again. And at the top, they found Snow. She was laying on her stomach, her arm dangling off the edge of the cliff. She didn't move, but her ears did perk up to acknowledge her friends' presence. Mick, Arin, Bianca, and Luna walked over to her and took a seat in the snow. She looked no better than the day she had come home; eyes seeing, but not looking; body alive, but not living. She was starting to thin around the waist, and Mick questioned when the last time she actually ate was. It was saddening just to look at someone who used to be so full with the zeal of living be completely dead inside. Silver was gone and had taken her heart with him.

"Hey, Snow…" Mick started. Snow's eyes glanced to the side at him, but that was it. "We came to see how you were doing. Are you doing okay…?"

What a stupid question. Of course she wasn't, but she nodded anyway.

"look, I brought you something good to eat." Arin walked before her and held the caribou meat inches from her nose. "Yeah, you can thank me later for it, okay?"

"You can put it somewhere nearby…thanks, but I'm not hungry right now." Snow's voice was broken and could only speak in hushed tones. Arin nodded and set the meat on the snow nearby her. For a moment, no one said anything, and when the staring became too much for her, Snow struggled to break the silence. Luna, how are your pups…?"

"As troublesome as ever. They're gonna make me an old woman before long. But other than that, they're very well." Luna said. She hoped she had sounded more cheerful than she felt. She had tried to apologize countless times to Snow, but never felt an adequate amount of forgiveness from both Snow and herself had been gained.

"That's good…" Snow closed her eyes for a long moment, then turned her head to Bianca. The bird's chick hid sheepishly behind his mother. "You brought Chip today…"

"Yeah, he wanted to come and see you." Bianca nudged her hatchling, who smiled shyly.

"Hello, miss Snow." His manners always threw Arin—because Chip most certainly did not get them from Bianca.

Snow nodded, then turned her head away again. The silence had returned, leaving the group to just sit there. This time, it was Mick who broke it, leaning over to look Snow in the eye.

"Snow, it's been a year…how long are you going to do this to yourself?" She looked at him, but didn't answer. Mick looked a little frustrated, but tried to keep it composed. He brandished his paw out over the edge of the cliff. "Why don't you go out on another adventure or something? You always talked about seeing the world. The first trip was a good one, rig—" But that had been the wrong thing to say and he quickly stopped himself. He wasn't trying to be an idiot, but Snow was making it hard for him to cheer her up. She sighed and turned away from him. Everyone shot Mick a "put your foot in your mouth, jackass" look. He shook his head at them, then looked back down at Snow. She wasn't going to budge and there was nothing they could say to her. He sighed and leaned down, nudging her ear.

"Snow…I'm sorry about what happened. But you can't stay like this, drifting through life with no purpose. You have friends that love you…"

Snow's response was a sigh. Feeling that there was no talking to her, Mick backed away and started down off the cliff. No one followed him at first, but knew they would get the same kind of response from her. So they gave Snow hugs or nuzzles before filing off down the cliff. Snow didn't move. She didn't acknowledge their leaving. She just lay there with her face pressed to the cold ground.

"This isn't working…" Luna said once they were well out of earshot.

"I hate to admit it too, but I don't think she's going to open up for us ever again." Arin pulled the mittens back to the edge of his wrists. They were a tad too big and kept slipping off his paws.

"What about finding her another mate?" Mick suggested stupidly.

"Tried that, but she won't have it." Bianca stated.

"Well there has to be—" And Mick's voice suddenly trailed off. It took a moment for the others to see what he had seen, walking up in the distance. But they soon saw it too. And their jaws dropped.

-()()()()()()()()()()()-

Snow knew they were trying their best to cheer her up. But in all honesty, she didn't want to be cheered up. It had been a year, but everyday waking up to a world without Silver was almost too much to bear. She usually slept long, because in her dreams, he was not dead. In her dreams, he was alive, caressing her, kissing her, telling her how much he loved her and that he would never leave her. But when she was awake, reality taunted her with the memory of her gallant lover dying right before her eyes. Every moment of her being awake was like watching her heart break all over again. How long would it be like this? How long would she have to trudge through the day with a hole where her heart should have been? Snow sighed and turned over, away from the edge of the cliff. The view was so beautiful, Jasper park capped with a brilliant sheen of white snow. And it made her sick.

The sound of crunching snow made the white wolf's ears perk up in acknowledgement again. Her friends must've been coming back and she really wasn't in the mood for another round of cheer-up-stuff. She could see a single entity walking calmly beyond the trees along the trail that lead up to her cliff. It was probably Mick. He was like the bad habit that couldn't be kicked, ever eager to help and never knowing when to give up. And though there were noticeable changes in him, he was still as annoying as ever. But as the figure came closer, she realized that its movements were too strong to be Mick's. Maybe it was Kate or Garth on their way to try their luck at cheering her up. Snow knew she would have a hard time sending them away. She was about to pretend to go to sleep—and then, she sat up bolt-right.

The wolf's fur was as black as the midnight sky, save the white that was on his muzzle, paws, belly, and tailtip. His stride was strong and there was a thin, pink scar across his muzzle. He was wearing a black scarf around his neck, and a hip pouch was slung around his hind flanks, as though he had traveled a great distance to get to where he was now. The closer the figure stepped towards Snow, the more she felt her heart become lodged in her throat. She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath until her lungs stung in her chest. What she was seeing just couldn't be real. The midnight wolf's headfur was very long—so long that it was a wonder how he could see beyond his bangs. His stride was like a strong angel, parting the darkness on his way up towards her. And when a single breeze blew through the land, wrapping around Snow like a wispy blanket, it pushed back the on-coming wolf's headfur.

She saw them—clear, honest, strong, loving silver eyes that were looking dead at her. Snow had to be dreaming. She blinked several times, shook her fur, slapped her muzzle, but he was still coming. She splattered snow on her face. He was still walking right towards her. She was going crazy. The depression had finally taken hold of her and she was seeing things. But the closer the wolf got to her, everything was too familiar to be a dream. He smelled the way he always had; he looked at her the way he always did. And now, he was standing only a few inches away from Snow. She couldn't speak. Her mouth was open, but nothing was coming out. The wind had stopped blowing, letting the midnight wolf's bangs fall back over his eyes. He slowly turned the corners of his maw up.

"I heard that you could get a great view of the world from here." He said, "Know anyone who might know a bit more about that…?" He slowly raised his paw. Snow was stunned stupid. She could only watch as he set it down on top of her head, and slowly ruffled her headfur into a mess. "Snow…"

"S…" Snow's eyes widened and she looked to his paw, then back to him. The gesture was a surge of life and Snow felt everything starting to work again. Her heart was beating into overdrive and the familiar warmth was creeping back into her chest. Her ears slowly raised up and her tail began to wag. The corners of her trembling eyes filled with tears and were now rolling down the sides of her cheeks like endless rivers. "Silver…"

"Oh, you do remember who I am." Silver smiled wider, "That's good, I was beginning to feel a little sad—"

"SILVER!"

"Whoa!"

Snow leapt at Silver, knocking him down onto his back. Her arms seized around him as tight as she could, as if he would go slipping through them at any moment. She kissed whatever part of him she could. Every solid kiss was like a reaffirming shock that he was really there before her. And the more she did, the more she cried into his fur. But it didn't matter. She could let all the tears she had been holding in go. Her world was back, ready to piece everything back the way it was supposed to be; making everything the way it should have been al along. Silver closed his eyes and embraced her fully with no intention of ever letting her go again.

"I thought you were gone…" Snow squeaked.

"I would never leave you…" Silver whispered.

"I was so sad…"

"I was too…"

"You won't leave me again…?"

"Never…"

Snow looked up to him, nudging the headfur from his eyes. Her emerald eyes settled into his, searching for the truth that was always so readily visible within him. He wasn't lying, but then, he never lied to her. Silver slowly pressed his lips against Snow's, only to be greeted back with a kiss so forceful—so full of pent up longing for him—that he was knocked back again. He smiled and kept her close, keeping her mouth locked firm to his. The clouds rolled further into the sky before bursting with another winter drizzle. Flecks of silvery snow fell on top of the two lovers as they lay on the ground, exposed to it all, wrapped in a love that would last forever.

"I love you, Silver…"

"I love you, Snow. Always and forever, my heart belongs to you…"

The End

Thank you so much everyone. Thank you for the support of this story. As I said from the beginning, I really loved this story and for me to actually see a story through to the end is quite rare indeed. But don't feel bad that this is the end, oh no, not by a longshot, folks. Because remember, the prequel (And potential sequel?) is going to be underway soon, so be on the lookout for it! Again, everyone, thanks so much for the support and have a good night