DISCLAIMER: I do not own Wolf's Rain, only the idea for this story.

Chatper 10

~O~

Celest

"What is that?" Blaze asked.

"It's a map, just so you know," Forest replied.

"Why do we need a map?" Blaze gave off some attitude on that one.

"So we can see where we're going, duh!" Forest replied and Brook giggled.

"Uh, sorry to rain down on your parade oh great map reader Forest, but I don't think the map is just going to say, take a right at the mountain and you have reached you destination!" Blaze laughed at this, followed by some more giggles from Brook, a suppressed laugh from me, a snicker from Breeze, and a snort from Copper. Maddy had disappeared right after we left the bar. Snipe had gone to scout ahead, even though we were just like traveling by a highway. We had stopped at some rest stop for trucks and Forest decided to pick up a map.

Forest huffed and turned away, pretending to read the map since none of us could read. I could already tell that it was going to be a long day.

~O~

Shadow

I sat on the heap of stone considered to be a throne, yet it was not worthy for a human to be seated upon. As the keeper of the darkness, I should be swimming through a room filled with finery from everywhere and that old fool they called the creator should be looked up in the deepest, darkest part of the universe. I knew his real name; I had been there when it was erased. I had been there when Athan was crowned the creator and I was left as the keeper of darkness. I clenched my fist at the thought. Why did the universe hate me? Millennia after millennia I've pondered on that. Why did the universe hate me? Before I held this title, I had just been a loyal wolf. I had always listened to my den mother and almost never fought with my siblings, but still, the universe hated me. My parents abandoned me when I was a little pup. I never knew why, but they just left one day and all the other wolves of the pack left, too, but not before calling me a demon.

I never understood that. It was just like everyone suddenly hated me. I knew I was different. I had this grey fur with black patches over each of my eyes. None of the other wolves had this fur. Our… their pack consisted of only red wolves with lighter orange wolves and occasionally a brown wolf, but there had never been a grey one. Other than difference in coloring, nothing was different. I had lived a rough life, longer than a life since that fateful day I met Athan. Best friends until the end, he had said. It was all a lie. One day, mother universe came down and chose us two. She picked Athan to go forth and create Paradise while she left me to attend to the demonic shadows that tortured me. I tried to befriend the shadows, but they drove me crazy, that is, until I snapped. I became the ruler over them and they served my every whim because they feared me. They knew now that I had the power to destroy them with a flick of a tail or finger.

After the a few hundred years, I had started to miss Athan, him being my best and only friend and all. I could never hold a grudge, or at least, not until I became the keeper. My hatred for my parents and everyone who had ever dared to invoked me grew and grew, but not with Athan. I had only tried to visit him once and it was out of pure loneliness. I left my darkness for the first time in forever and set out on the road to Paradise. I didn't take me long since I was immortal and didn't have to deal with mortal needs. When the mountain was finally in my view, he attacked. Athan attacked ME. He accused me of trying to steal Paradise. He said that all of my excuses were lies and broke me. Athan broke me, he practically ripped out the shriveled little thing of a heart I had left and tore it up into a million little pieces, and I watched as those pieces blew away on the wind. It was then that I knew the universe hated me. It had gotten rid of that one friendship I had, the only thing I ever held dear, and deleted it from existence. I never went back to try to explain, I never went back to apologize for something I didn't do. I never left that cave in the center of my mountain until that day.

I grew so lonely, I started to talk to the shadow things, and they responded. That was what gave me an idea. I shaped the shadows and put all the will I had left into creating her. Oh, how I miss my little star, my Celest.

~O~

Blaze

"Celest, are you all right?" I asked. Celest was staring off into space again and that was never a good sign. We had stopped by the side of the highway and we all probably looked like hobos or something because cars would stop and ask us if we needed a ride. At first we had thought we could hitch a ride to Paradise, but no human knew of Paradise.

"Hmmm, oh, sorry, yeah, I'm fine," Celest gave a weak smile before staring off into the distance again. I sighed and fell onto my back. The others had fallen asleep a while ago, except for Snipe and Breeze. Breeze had decided to keep watch.

I watched as Celest finally closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep. I stared at her for a few moments, taking in her beauty that radiated from both inside her and outside of her, before sighing and turning away. I found myself doing that often. I sighed way more than usual ever since I left that city. Truth be told, I had actually almost forgotten about it. I don't know how that's possible since that city is where I had the most fun, but that's a lie. Nothing could compare to this. I knew that while I was in the city, I was bored out of my mind. Then I met Celest and became complete. I could have been content with only her forever, but then came Snipe and Maddy. Before I knew it, Celest and I had formed a pack. That pack grew even more when Forest and his pack joined.

I sighed again, quietly telling myself to stop. So much stress was placed on my shoulders now. I had my original pack to think about, plus some. Forest was obviously the leader of his pack and Celest had practically signed me up for it, so there was the question of who was alpha. I would be happy to hand it over to Forest, but he didn't really seem to want it.

"Dude, what's on your mind?" the sudden noise made me jump, but I quickly relaxed when I realized that it was only Snipe. It was Snipe. I silently growled at him before curling up and pretending to sleep. "Hey, I don't know what your problem is with me, but I want to know. What did I ever do to you?" I growled at myself. I didn't even know why I hated Snipe. He had apologized endlessly for practically stalking Celest and I had forgiven him, but there was just something about him. Maybe it was just the fact that Celest had immediately liked Snipe whereas she had threatened me at the first sight. "Tell me," Snipe sounded angry this time. "Tell me what I did that made you mad at me because I want to know!" Snipe growled and nipped at me. I jumped up and nipped at him, too. I snarled at him to try to put him in his place, but he didn't cower away. I growled at him, but he only took a step back before leaping at me. I dodged, but his claws got my shoulder. I winced in pain before ducking as he snapped. His neck was open and I was going for it. I was going to kill Snipe and end this feud now.

Stop! Blaze, stop it!

I stopped my attack and tilted my head in confusion. I thought I had just heard Maddy's, " Ahhhh!" I screamed in pain as Snipe bit my back. I kicked and bucked, trying to get him off, but he wouldn't come off. I was starting to slow down. I started to pant hard. I couldn't keep it up. Then a plan struck. I fell to the ground and after a minute, Snipe released his hold. He was foolish. I sprang up as fast a lightning and knocked him to the ground. I put my front two paws on his chest and pushed him down. He whimpered and I growled. I was tempted to just end it there, bit his neck and take pleasure in watching the soul drain from his eyes. I smiled at the thought. I was about to do it, too, but a sob brought me back to sad reality. Celest was crying. She was crying because of me. I let the flames engulf me.

~O~
Forest

I thought I had seen it all. The sight of another wolf, a wolf jumping off a building, a wolf driving a truck, even a bar fight caused by wolves, but I had never seen this. Blaze had caught fire, but he wasn't in pain. Blaze looked at Celest before jumping off Snipe and growling at us. He walked over to a tree nearby and lay down. No one went to lie beside of him, not even Celest. Frankly, we were all scared to death of him. Breeze got closer to Copper and I snuggled up to Brook while Maddy checked Snipe for injuries. Everyone was with someone, except for Celest. Celest just seemed to stare off into the distance, keeping her sight on a mountain range in the distance. Slight looks of longing crossed her face every now and then, but they never lasted. She sighed before lying down. We had a lot to talk about in the morning.

~O~

Breeze

I hadn't seen the whole fight. I heard growling and whimpers, so I thought we were under attack. I had run back to our camp in time to see Blaze catch on fire. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Unfortunately, I wasn't. Blaze growled at the others before lying down beside a tree. I took that as cue to be quiet, but curiosity is a killer. I tilted my head and made a look of confusion cross my face. Copper returned it with a shake of his head that probably meant later. I sighed and walked over to him. We weren't mates or anything, but I did find him kind of attractive. He was charming and strong and handsome and… OMG grow up! I wiped some drool off of my mouth before lying down beside of him, blushing when he scooted closer to me. At that moment, I wasn't sure if I was a human or in my wolf form, but I sure was in a small version of Paradise.

Okay, just another chapter, please read and review. :-)