DISCLAIMER: I do not own Wolf's Rain, only the idea for this story.
Chapter 11
~O~
Celest
The mountain, it was so close, the mountain, I needed to get there, I had to get there. Why? I stopped suddenly. Why did this mountain matter so much? I don't remember ever being here before, so why does it make me long for it? It was strange.
"You okay?" Forest asked. I nodded yes and trudged forward again. Breeze and Copper had taken the lead, scouting ahead for any dangers or whatever. I was walking with Snipe, Brook, and Forest. Forest seemed to do all the talking, I just listened and Brook didn't say much at all, and Snipe, he just grumbled to himself. Maddy was in front of us, close enough so that we could make out almost every detail, but just far enough that she couldn't hear our conversation. Blaze, he was behind all of us. I had begged him to join us, but he refused. I had also asked him if I could walk with him, but he told me no. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him. After that fight was Snipe a few days ago, he just hadn't been himself.
As I was thinking about our arrangements, I didn't notice the rock and I tripped, thus the shock sending me into transformation mode. My wolf came out and the others rushed to make sure that I was okay.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," I reassured them. When we started to take off again, Forest gasped.
"Celest, what's up with your leg?" Forest asked.
"What? What's wrong with my leg?" I turned and was fully shocked. On my right back leg, the star that ended the swirl was red and the swirl was red, too. I tried to lick it off, but it was my fur. Why had it changed? What was going on? Why did I want to go to the mountain?
~O~
Snipe
I sat on a rock, head in my hand, elbow on my knee, and thought. Night had fallen and Celest still hadn't figured out the mystery of her fur, but forget that. Blaze was spending the night alone, yet again. I sat there, staring at him, but he didn't notice. I sighed and turned my gaze towards the rest of the pack. They were all huddled together for warmth. It seemed that the closer we got to the mountains, the colder it became. The cold didn't bother me though. I had never really noticed it, just the others.
I stared at Celest the longest. I remember when I first saw her
2 years and 4 months earlier
I was wandering the streets, not sure how I got in that town or who I was, just a sense that told me to stay with the shadows. So, I stuck to the dark alleyways and corners. Eventually I learned how to disguise myself. It had been a normal day, me walking around the town, trying to find something to eat, when my nose picked up an unfamiliar stench. It smelled lovely, but dark, so I followed. Down the street sat a woman with lightly curly blond hair, but she was a wolf. Any fellow wolf could see that. She never seemed to notice the white haired guy with the scar staring at her in the middle of the street. Something was drawing me to her, telling me to protect her and keep her safe, so I did. I came out of the shadows and started to follow her, helping her without her knowing, because I was too scared of what she might think of me. This went on until he came.
2 years later
I had awoken early to make sure that Celest was okay. She usually slept in most mornings, so I was usually okay. I stretched out my back and heard a yawn. Celest had got up and started to stretch, too. She was lying back down, probably to go back to sleep, when she started growling. At first I thought she was crazy, but as I looked, there was another wolf. I could already feel the hatred for this other wolf growing with each second I looked at him. Celest had soon stopped her growling and was talking to him. It just made my hatred grow.
1 week later
I had decided to follow the two as they traveled for Paradise. Something told me to just laugh at the name, but I kept silent. I had accidentally shaken a bush and Celest had noticed my presence. I took another step forward, careful not to shake a bush, but I stepped on a twig. Blaze pounced and we fought. I was just lucky that Celest felt some compassion for me after all. She let me join their little duo in order to make a trio which soon became a pack when Maddy came. I was actually happy when Blaze died, but Maddy came and brought him back which made me hate her, too, but she was just too like me to hate. She was secretive, like me, calm, also like me, and a list of other similarities. I went out of my way to make her smile and all that, but I never forgot about Celest.
Present
I sighed. It wasn't love that I felt for Celest, it was more like duty, like I was supposed to keep her safe, but as it turns out, that job sounds easier than it really is.
~O~
Shadow
Twitch
Twitch
Twitch
My hand flew up and touched the cheek that was twitching. I just felt so… so… so anxious for no reason. It had all started a few days ago. It had only been a twitch every now and then, but now, it was every second of every hour and it was driving me mad. The shadows must have sensed this, so they kept their distance, not wanting to get on my bad side and be destroyed. I was glad for this peace. I had to get it together. I was the keeper of darkness, the dark side of the coin, the guardian of the underworld. Guardian, ha! Those guardians the creator had were useless. They were practically strays that had died and should have come to me, but that blasted Athan stole their souls from me, turned them into his guardians to protect Paradise. I only knew a little about them. One of them died in a forest fire, one in a flood, one got lost in the woods, and one was torn to shreds by a tornado. Of course he had that witch and that knight with him, too. The witch, I have no idea where he got her from. He could have just stolen one of my shadows and mixed it with a form made of light to create her, I'll never know, but that knight, he was swallowed whole by an earthquake and died in the halls of an abandoned copper mine. I know how they all died, I know how every living thing that has ever existed or ever will exist had died or will die, just one of the perks of being the keeper of shadows.
The Keeper, that was my given name by mother universe. I wonder how she's been doing all these millennia.
Twitch
"URRRRGGGHHHH!" I growled. "You, come here. I want you to find the cause of this nuisance! Now!" I yelled at a nearby shadow. If only I had my guardian. I fear the worst has come of him. I never knew what happened to him after he left with my sweet little star.
Sorry that this chapter is short. Please read and review. :-)