Chapter 4

Boris went to town the next day, where he heard that Balto had attacked Steele. Rumors were flying about, all of them bad. Although Boris wouldn't know exactly what was true and what wasn't, at least not until he got back to ask Balto. He knew one thing though, Balto wouldn't be safe in the town for a while, maybe not ever again. Not that it had been safe before… but at least he hadn't had everyone wanting a piece of him.

Even the humans were angry. Most notably was the owner of Steele, as it was his dog that had been bitten by the hated Balto. He had said, and Boris had heard it with his own ears, that "I'm going to hunt that mutt down and shoot it." That was a nice way of putting what Boris had heard. The goose had managed then to escape from town, the new information weighing heavily on his mind. He'd barely averted a disaster last night with Balto, and feared that he'd only delayed the inevitable. It was very possible Balto was a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off.

When he reached their home again, he found Balto still sleeping peacefully in his place. The wolf-dog looked so peaceful, and so innocent; undeserving of the horrible treatment that everyone bestowed upon him. He could understand Balto's feelings. The wolf-dog felt that his situation was lose-lose. If he was good, he got tortured, if he was bad, he still got tortured, but maybe he felt that by being bad, he could make them feel a little of his pain.

As Boris watched as the wolf-dog slowly uncurled himself, stretching and letting out a soft 'hmmm' as he did so. Balto's yellow eyes looked around unsurely before settling on Boris.

"About what you said last night… you are right. But… I've already attacked Steele." Balto said, keeping his eyes averted from Boris.

"I know."

"You do?"

"I went into town this morning. Everyone wants a part of you Balto, you're going to have to be careful for a while, and hopefully this will cool down. Maybe we should search for a new home?"

"Who's we?" Balto asked suspiciously.

"You and I of course!"

"Oh no, I would not allow you to leave your home because of me."

"Well then I'd follow you. You need someone to take care of you." Boris teased.

"Yes, I know. Thank you."

"Oh, it's nothing Balto."

…

The next weeks passed by relatively slowly. Balto had very little to do, and had taken to running. He often found that jogging down the beach and letting himself run, feeling the cool ocean breeze as it blew through his fur, the fire in his lungs as he ran… it was amazing, and often a very good stress reliever. Balto was also forced to do a lot more hunting. He still wasn't too good, but was slowly improving. There wasn't quite enough prey around his home though, so he was often forced to go further than he would've liked.

It was on a hunt such as that when he caught scent of something he hadn't found for almost four months. It was another wolf. Where the fields stopped and the forest started, about three miles outside of town in any direction, and on the north side of said town was where Balto found the sent. It was only a few hours old, and it frightened him a bit. A town full of spiteful dogs and people was bad enough, and he surely didn't need any more potential abusers. Though he still had the lingering hope that maybe they'd accept him and make him part of their pack, Balto knew better by now that the possibility of that happening was next to none. So he simply turned around and hurried back to Boris to tell him the news.

When he was still a little ways off, Balto heard a shrill cry that sounded like it was coming from Boris. He sprinted the rest of the way, kicking up dirt behind him. He climbed the plank with one leap, and found two polar bear cubs. The larger one was busy hugging Boris, and said goose didn't like it one bit. He was grateful when Balto showed up, as the bear dropped him almost immediately upon seeing Balto.

"Who's this Uncle Boris?" the smaller bear asked, looking slightly weary.

"Muk, Luk, this is Balto."

The bigger bear, the one who'd been holding Boris pointed at Balto and mumbled something incomprehensible to both Balto and Boris in companion's ear.

"That's right we've heard that name before! There was someone just yesterday; he asked us if we knew anyone who used the name of Balto!"

Balto glanced at Boris, who looked just as confused as he was.

"Who asked you this?" Boris inquired, hoping to get more information out of the bears. Muk looked back at Luk, who spoke again in what Balto assumed was his own form of language.

"Yes, Luk remembers. He was a big wolf, and he scared us at first. He had fur as black as night and the most striking green eyes you'd ever seen! He asked us if we'd seen anyone by the name of Balto. We told him no but that we'd watch for someone with that name. Now we've found you!"

"What was his name?"

"He didn't tell us that… and now that I think about it, he didn't even tell us where we could find him."

Balto's ears lowered in disappointment. He was hoping that maybe it was one of his parents or relatives searching for him at long last. He didn't remember much, but a black wolf… it just didn't sound right.

"I'm sorry Balto." Muk said compassionately, seeming to know what Balto was feeling, "If it makes you feel any better we lost our mother too… so I guess we can all be outcasts together."

"Yeah, I guess so." Balto remarked, feeling slightly better. He had two new friends and someone out there who cared enough to search for him. He briefly wondered if the scent he'd found earlier was the same as the wolf these two bears were talking about, and if it was then that meant he was getting close. Balto wasn't sure what to feel, on one side he felt extremely happy that he was being searched for, but on the other… Well, there could be more than one being with the name of Balto, and what if they were searching for him for different reasons?

His caution coupled with the experience of his life had taught him to be weary and extremely cautious, and he would be with this situation. It was very possible that this wolf wanted to kill him, perhaps for a deed committed before he'd been born? Boris noticed the puzzled look on Balto's face, and asked him what he was thinking about.

"When I was out hunting, I found a scent trail of a wolf, one I've never scented before. I'm wondering, if you two don't mind, could you come and see if it's the same wolf you met? If you remember that is…"

Luk nodded enthusiastically, and Muk followed suite. "We'd love to help you Balto!"

Balto led the whole group to where he'd found the scent trail. They talked along the way, and Balto learned that the two bears had more in common with him than he'd previously thought. They were brothers, had been separated from their mother at a young age, and were outcasts just like he.

"Here it is." Balto said when they reached the trail.

Luk put his nose to the ground, his brother standing beside him, looking quite anxious. After a minute, Luk stood back up and said something else.

"He says it is the same wolf!"

"What do we do now? Do we try to find him, or wait?"

As much as Balto wanted to search for the wolf, something in his gut told him that doing so would put not only he, but all of his friends in danger too.

"I say we wait." Balto said, his tone suddenly turning quite cold.

The group turned around, going away from the area as Balto instructed. In the forest, a black wolf yawned, showing off all of his sharp, pointed white teeth.

"The last of Storm's wretched spawn," Night growled, "will soon be dead."

The black wolf turned away, a pure evil glint in his eye.

"I can't wait to tell the pack about this…"

Night's eyes glinted with an evil light as he turned to go back where his new pack was. After his banishment from his previous home, he'd taken the time to formulate a group, vowing to return and destroy Storm, the dog that'd stolen Aniu from him.

He had arrived only minutes after the hunters had gotten done ravaging Makota's pack, and he'd found the old alpha wolf dead among his pack mates. Storm and Aniu had escaped, only for the stupid dog to fall into one of the traps, which then let the hunters catch him and the pup he'd been carrying. He'd told Aniu to run, and she had done so, carrying the other pup with her. The white wolf had then hidden her son, knowing that if she didn't it was very likely that both of them would die. That was where she'd been wrong.

No one had counted on Night showing up. He and his group were able to turn the hunters away, only taking one loss. What they had gained though far outweighed the wolf they'd lost. Distracting the hunters had saved Aniu's life, and they had then taken her as a prisoner. She was treated exceptionally well, but not ever given enough food so as to keep her weak enough to subdue if the need ever arose.

The white wolf still had won small battle though; her son was still safe of Night's wrath, as by the time they'd been able to force his location out of her the little pup had already wandered off. He wouldn't be safe for much longer, though. Night would have some fun telling Aniu they were finally going to catch him.

When night got back to the area where the rest of his group was staying, most of them rose to greet him, and all of them were alert. They were almost as excited to catch Balto as he was. Night had picked his group carefully, choosing those that hated dogs and wolf dogs with as strong a passion as his, and thus wouldn't have any problem killing them. It wasn't that Night really hated dogs… only when they strayed outside of where they were supposed to be. Like Storm had. That was the real reason Night was after Balto, he wanted every trace of that pathetic husky's blood cleaned off the earth.

Twenty two wolves, excluding Aniu, rested their eyes upon Night, waiting patiently for whatever he had to say.

"We've got him." That was all Night had to say to cause the group to go wild. They had no idea of their leader's personal hate for this wolf-dog; they simply liked killing the pathetic things that they thought made their world so horrible. Night's eyes met Aniu's, and he saw the fear and horror in her very soul. It was the first time that made him really stop and think.

Why am I doing this? Do they really deserve this? If I had really cared about Aniu wouldn't I have been okay with her choice?

These kinds of questions ravaged his mind, and the wolf's brow furrowed as he thought, the evil in his eyes fading, being replaced by the old kind and gentle Aniu had once known and seen. A small bit of hope burned in her chest, so desperately praying that Night would realize what he was doing.

"When do we go sir?"

And with that question, any and all of the good left in Night vanished into the now black pit of his soul. His name described it, a soul as black as night.

"Restrain her."

A few wolves grinned happily, taking Aniu over to a chain they had found. It was what they used to restrain Aniu when most of the group was going to be out. The white wolf struggled and fought with everything she had, but her malnourished self was no match for the four that held her down. The chain wrapping around her neck seemed to choke her as the four backed away quickly.

"You two," Night ordered, pointing at a couple wolves, "stay here and watch her."

The two nodded glumly, upset that they wouldn't be able to take part in the main event. Aniu pleaded and begged, but it fell on deaf ears as the rest of the group turned away to go find Balto. She tried howling, but she was too weak to manage even that, taking to lunging and tugging at the chain around her. It jerked her back every single time, slicing into the fur around her neck, staining her whole chest in dark crimson. This didn't stop the white wolf; she just kept at it until she could do no more, falling to the ground. Even then she still jerked at the chain. The wolves who were watching her decided it had gone on long enough, and stopped her from harming herself more.

Aniu could only hope now that Balto would be able to get away.

...

They're still alive? Yes, they're still alive. Just a short part in here, as we're only going to see them next chapter, but I wanted to show that they are still alive. Just me tryin' to keep all the interest so y'all will continue to read. If I continue with my plan now, Night is no where near done in my series.

On a completely random note though, I was looking through A&O crossovers today, and found one called 'Gateway', written by Samsonite Wolfe which is crossed over with another Valve game called Portal. I'd just like to say that if you're reading this Samsonite... please update that story! I wanna see Kate in the world of Portal!

ANonymouS