Hello and welcome to the next chapter of Comfort and Loss. I apologize for the wait but I've had a lot of stuff on my plate the last few months; graduating, looking for a job, etc. Anyway, Balto and all of its characters are owned by Universal. The only thing I own is this story concept and the handful OCs I've created. So without further ado, enjoy.
Chapter 3: Graveside Closure.
The Bone Yard…
Final resting place of all Nome's non-human citizens.
This was not its proper name of course, the humans in their infinity wisdom had long ago chosen to dub this hallowed patch of earth the Nome Pet Cemetery, but to the local canine community such a title was much too bland to describe the burial ground of their fallen friends and family members so they called the Bone Yard. Perhaps not the most respectful of monikers, but it was one that satisfied the majority of the native pooch population and in the end that was all that really mattered.
At any rate, the Bone Yard, or Pet Cemetery, whichever you prefer, was in actuality just a small clearing about four or five miles to the east of town. For reasons none of the four-legged set fully understood the humans were strangely adamant about not sharing their graveyard with other species, so shortly after the town was founded they setup this little plot just for them. It was fairly small, compared to its human counterpart closer to town, and the four to five dozen crosses that dotted its landscape were of a slightly lesser quality than the standard models, but it was more than enough for the dogs of Nome and they were immensely grateful to have it.
On average, this humble patch of land received one or two visitors a week; canines not typically being the sort to visit graves unless they have to. However, on this particular day in early summer, the Bone Yard was visited by five of Nome's local dogs; each with their own purpose for being there.
It was about quarter past noon when the group reached its destination. To an outsider I imagine they must have looked quite odd, after all it's not every day you see a shaggy silver wolf-dog walking side-by-side with a small adorable Pomeranian with three smaller and considerably more adorable Poms following close behind, but at the time each of them were too lost in their own little worlds to be concerned about how mismatched their motley pack appeared.
Balto, as per usual, was at the head of this strange procession; serving as both navigator and pacesetter for the rest of his clan. Though from the look on his face it was difficult to tell if he was actually aware of their presence. His pale-yellow eyes were focused straight-ahead and his expression was so blank and emotionless that one could easily mistake him for one of those wood carvings the previous owners of this land had left behind.
Dixie, also as per usual, was at his side, keeping a surprising lively pace in spite of her short legs. However, what was completely unusual was the fact that her standard sugary smile had been replaced by a look of pure worry. Originally she and Balto had planned to take the pups on a playdate with their Uncle Boris, but for some reason that morning the handsome half-blood insisted that they take a quick detour to the Boneyard. Needless to say, this sudden need to visit the local burial ground worried the little powder-puff immensely, but she decided to just go along with it. She only hoped this wasn't the beginning of some morbid trend.
It had been almost two months since the puppies were born and for the most part life was perfect. Dixie had given birth to three happy, heathy, energetic little bundles of joy who, much to their father's relief, were each the spitting image of their mother; save for a few minor cosmetic differences. This meant that the majority of Balto's fears were finally put to rest; for since his three daughters bore almost no signs of their wolfish ancestry he knew they would have little trouble finding loving homes of their own one day. Unfortunately that one day wasn't too far off; hence the sudden need for a family outing.
Oblivious to this fact, as well as their parents' respective concerns, the three little puff-balls in question were happily scampering about at the older dog's heels; yipping merrily and playing nonsense games involving rolling around in the snow and climbing on top of each other. At the head of this micro-pack was Trixie, the oldest of the trio by a full six minutes. Like all of the pups she inherited most of her looks from her mother, save for her eyes which were the same pale yellow as her father's. Unlike her sisters, Trixie was something of a tomboy; always up for wrestling, tug o' war, or just plain rolling around in the dirt. In short, she acted more like a son than a daughter. Coming up close behind Trixie was her younger sister Daisy. Now Daisy was much more like her mother; almost an exact duplicate save for the tiny patches of silver that dotted her fur in random places. In stark contrast to her older sister, Daisy preferred games that allowed her to stay clean; which consisted almost exclusively of ones that involved others having to call her Princess. However, that's not to say that she didn't enjoy a game of Tag or Hide-and-Seek every now and then. Last but not least there was sweet little Petunia, the youngest of the trio. Of the three, she looked the most like their mother; bearing no visible resemblance to her father in any way. However, what really set her apart from sisters was her eating habits. To put it simply, Petunia was the kind of girl who loves to eat… a lot. It wasn't so much that she was a glutton, it was more that given the choice between eating and playing she would almost usually pick eating. She was always the first at her food dish and would sometimes try to use her cuteness to get Ms. Dorothy to give her a little more than her sisters; which resulted in her being quite a bit chubbier and slower than them as well. Overall however, Petunia was a very sweet little pup in spite of her appetite and she got along very well with her siblings as well as just about every other dog she knew; not to mention a goose, two polar bears, and that funny looking raven that she sometimes saw following her father.
At any rate, when this strange yet adorable procession finally reached its destination, Balto stopped just short of the Bone Yard's edge, effectively bringing the rest of them to a sudden halt. Trixie, who hadn't been paying attention at the time, ran nose-first into the backside of her father's right hind leg.
"OOOF!" the tiny pom said as she tumbled back in the snow. Lightly dazed, she quickly got back on her feet with little more than a sore snout. "What happened?"
"You weren't looking where you were going and bumped into Daddy, again." Answered Daisy in a slightly impish tone. "Because you're a big Goofball~"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Shhh!" said Dixie, instantly ending her children's silly argument before it could escalate into something more heated. "Sorry Sweeties, but you can't do that kind stuff here, this is a special place."
"Oh… okay Mama." Replied Trixie, though she didn't completely understand.
"Yes Mama." Chimed in Daisy, not wanting to get in trouble.
"Where are we anyway?" asked Petunia as she waddled up to reach her sisters. "I thought we were gonna go see Uncle Boris."
"We are Honey, we are. It's just…" Dixie paused for a moment as she wracked her brain for the best way to explain the situation. "It's just that… your Daddy has something he has to do here first."
"Like what?" asked Daisy out of childish curiosity.
"Well… you know… grown up stuff." Answered the slightly larger Pom as she not-so-subtlety danced around this very sensitive subject. "Just a second, I need to talk to Daddy."
And with that said she turned away from her pups to have a private conversation with her mate.
"Um… Balto, sweetie…" the tiny Pom said nervously to the much larger wolf-dog; whispering in order to prevent their children from hearing. "I know you need to do this, but are you really sure you want to this today? Maybe it'd be better if you… you know…waited… at least until the K-I-D-D-S's are G-O-N."
"I've been putting this off for far too long already." Replied Balto somberly, not bothering to correct his lover's atrocious spelling. "If I don't do this now I never will. You and the girls go on ahead without me. I'll catch up as soon as I can."
"Okay… If you're sure." said Dixie, her voice laced with worry, before turning her attention back to her progeny. "Okay sweeties, time to go see Uncle Boris."
"Yay!" the pups all cheered as their mother began to lead them away from hallowed patch of earth.
"But what about Daddy?" asked Petunia as she waddled up behind the others.
"Oh… he'll meet us there in a little bit." The pampered Pom said nervously before thinking to herself, 'I hope.'
In spite of their boundless curiosity, the three young Poms obeyed their mother and followed her as she led them back towards their original destination. Within moments, they were gone and the shaggy wolf-dog was left alone with his thoughts.
'So… I guess it's now or never…' thought the handsome half-blood as he took a deep breath and began to slowly and tentatively make his way toward the heart of the Bone Yard. 'Now or never… Now or never…'
Balto had never been one to put too much stock in silly superstitions, but something about the Bone Yard always made him feel uneasy; almost like someone or something was watching him whenever he came near it. Of course, he knew consciously that this was just his imagination, but something in the back of his mind continued to tell him otherwise. This, however, was not the main reason for his current state of anxiousness. Oh no, this anxiety was rooted in something much more complicated than a childish fear ghosts.
Within moments the noble wolf-dog reached his ultimate destination; the dead center of the Bone Yard. Where, at long last, he came face-to-face with the source of his current emotionally anguish; a single, simple wooden cross with a dark orange bandana tied just above the axis. The cross, like all of the others, bore no name, for some reason the local humans thought it was too much trouble to carve a dog's name into a piece of wood, but it didn't matter. Dogs didn't need signs to tell them where something or someone was buried; they had much more accurate ways of locating these types of things. Scent, for example, was an especially effective marker. In this case, the scent of a certain scarlet husky was pivotal in leading the handsome half-blood directly to her final resting spot.
For what felt like an eternity, Balto just stood at the foot of the grave; not daring to go any further out of respect. Over and over again he told himself, 'It's now or never… Now or Never…' Then, after one final deep breath, the noble half-breed finally spoke the words he had longed to speak for many, many months.
"Hello Jenna," he began softly. "It's been a while hasn't it…"
The wooden cross gave no reply, but then again it wasn't supposed to. Today was not about conversation; today was about closure.
"I guess you're probably wondering why it took so long for me to come visit huh?" the wolf-dog asked rhetorically. "Well, I'd like to say that I had a good reason; that life just kept getting in the way, but we both know that's just an excuse. The truth is I… I…" Balto tried with all of his might to get it out but the words just seemed to die in his throat. Eventually however, he was able to force out the rest. "The truth is… I was afraid… afraid that if I saw your grave I'd… I'd have to admit that you were really dead."
Once again the cross said nothing, so the handsome wolf-dog just kept going.
"I know it sounds insane but… I guess, a part of me hoped you were somehow still alive." He explained, pausing only for a moment to fight back the tears welling up in his pale yellow eyes. "I mean… I go to bed dreaming of the day we have planned and when I wake up I hear from Star that your owners had to put you down because… because… it just seemed so unreal. I didn't want to believe it; I couldn't believe it. So I… I…"
Before Balto could finish, a strange sound cut him off. It was very faint, almost like something very, very small falling into a pile of snow. He spun his head around to look, but saw nothing save for the forest of crosses that surrounded him. So, with no immediate threat to delay him, the noble half-blood continued after letting out a remorseful sigh.
"I just couldn't handle it, so I shut myself off from the world for a while. I guess deep down I hoped it was all just a bad dream and eventually I would wake up… but eventually I had to let go of that fantasy so I started thinking about… well… other things." He paused momentarily to swallow something that had been building in the back of this throat, then continued. "For the longest time I honestly didn't know what to do. Life without you just seemed so… unbearable; I didn't know whether I should try to move on or just give up and, well… join you. If it hadn't been for Boris I don't think I'd even be here right now. Well, I'd probably be here but you know what I mean."
Yet again the cross did not speak and yet again this failed to deter the noble wolf-dog.
"Anyway, once I decided not to… follow you, I thought it might be best to try and replace you." There was a light shuffling in the snow several feet behind him, but he paid it no mind. "No, replace isn't the right word; no one could ever replace you. But I confess I did try to. I tried with Eska and Adelaide and (Shutter) Bubbles, but I see now that it was folly; in more ways than one."
In the distance, the macabre call of a raven could be heard, which earned a startled yip from the mysterious figure wandering about the field of crosses, though once again Balto did not seem to notice.
"After those three failures I guess I tried to overcompensate by looking for someone completely different; though that didn't yield much better results. Sylvie was too forward, Pricilla was too… much, and although I really liked Fifi she didn't want children, so that was just another dead-end. I was beginning to think things would never get better… that is, until I… well, got to know Dixie a lot better."
The shuffling in the snow grew slightly louder as the unseen figure grew steadily closer. However the handsome half-blood was still too preoccupied to pay it any mind.
"I know it sounds bizarre, I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't been living it all these months, but Dixie and I are just, well, perfect for each other." He explained, his tone growing increasingly less forlorn. "I mean, she's not perfect, she can be a little flighty at times, but she's also very sweet and warm and affectionate. It's different than it was with you, but I still love it and I love her, and now we've got three beautiful daughters and our lives just couldn't be better." Balto caught himself in mid-ramble, then adopted a much more somber tone. "Anyway, that brings me to the other reason I came here."
Unbeknownst to the noble wolf-dog, the mysterious figure stalking him was now a mere two feet away and closing.
"You see, these last few months have been so wonderful, and yet for some reason I… I can't help but feel that it's somehow… wrong." He said, his voice positively dripping with remorse. "You died alone and afraid and I end up getting the family I always dreamed of, how is that fair? It's like the universe is playing a cruel joke on me; I get my perfect life at the cost of yours! It's all so…so… perverse!"
The mysterious figure was now less than a foot and a half behind him, though he still failed to notice.
"This new life, our children, none of it could have happened if you hadn't died. Every meal from Ms. Dorothy, every night of unbridled passion with Dixie; all of it comes from your death and it makes me sick!" he lamented as hot tears started streaming from his eyes. "That's the other reason I came. I know it sounds crazy, but if you could just… I don't know… send me a sign or something. Anything! Just to let me know that you're okay with this! That it's okay for me to be happy! Please!"
This time when Balto paused he was met not with silence, but instead with a gentle tap on his left hind leg, followed a soft OOOF and the unmistakable sound of something very small and fluffy plopping down in the snow. He quickly spun around and much to his surprise he found Petunia sitting mere inches away from him; looking both concerned and curious.
"Hey Daddy…"
End Notes: Okay so this is the second to last chapter in this story. The next one will be the end. I originally mean for this one to be the end but I decided to just cut the chapter in half so wouldn't have to wait any longer for my brilliant story telling. With all that said I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion.