I'm on Christmas break so I'm going to try and get this story done before I have to go back to school.

Disclaimer: I dont own Wolf's Rain but I do own Rexy.

Chapter 20. HeartBeat of the Black City

"Ugh, this place is a dump..." I said as we finally exited a tunnel and into a very lower poor level of Jaguara's city.

"Yea, but Hige how did you know that this entrance was here?" Toboe asked as he ran out. The others slowly emerged to.

"I dont know I guess my instincts just told me..." Hige said.

"Okay, so where is this keep anyway..." I said taking a look at my surroundings, this lower level really was a dump.

"We need some sort of plan." Toboe pointed out.

"Unlike the last time…" Hige whispered. I growled, but it was true. Last time we barged in and almost got killed, but its not like we're not doing that again.

"We could split up." Hige suggested. I shuddered at the idea of splitting up in this big city.

"It would be less noticeable." Tsume agreed, obviously I'm alone…

"I don't know…" I said quietly. "It's a very big city…"

"Have you every been here?" Toboe asked. I smirked.

"No, but my parents have, long ago…" I said.

"Okay so me, Toboe, and Rexy will go look for some food." Hige said.

"Me and Tsume will go and try to find a way into the keep." Kiba said. We all nodded and Kiba and Tsume ran off in the other direction.

"This way." Hige cheered walking the opposite direction from Kiba and Tsume. We walked threw the lower level of the city, and it was enough to make me sick. It was dirty and the smell of sickness filled the air. Lines of little tents or just a ratty blanket tied to a poll lined the ally.

"Do these people live here?" Toboe asked shuddering.

"Yea I guess…" I replied. Hige started to mumble something so I leaned in closer to listen.

"You turn at the corner and there should be a stairway…" He mumbled. Toboe looked at me worriedly and I just shrugged. Soon enough we came to a corner, so when we turned me and Toboe were surprised to see a staircase. I made a sort of nervous growling noise. I really don't like this city… We began to climb up the stairs when the sound of wheels met our ears.

"Now what!?" I snarled getting angry. Two guys on skateboards came flying down the staircase and almost ran us over.

"Watch out!" Hige yelled also annoyed.

"It seems like this town have people like Tsume too…" Toboe said. We continued up the staircase and came to an ally.

"Ah, the endless maze." I said.

"And there should be an elevator past that…" Hige mumbled. I was becoming uneasy. Toboe gasped when we came an elevator.

"Wow!" He cheered. "Hige was right again." We got on the elevator and it began to take us up.

"Weird…" I mumbled. The elevator came to a stop so we got off. We walked through a few more alleys and then came out into the streets of the city. We all gasped the city was huge. Bigger then I could imagine.

"Hige how did you know about the elevator and all that other stuff?" Toboe asked.

"I don't know instincts I guess." He said with a smirk.

"Where do we go next?" I asked inhaling the scent but there was none.

"Yea." Toboe said. "Theres no scent." He noticed it too.

"Maybe this noble lady is a clean freak." Hige said with a shrug.

"Well its just too weird." I added. "No smell at all…"

"So now what?" Toboe asked. I looked around.

"I got nothing" I said. I turned to Hige.

"What do your instincts tell you?" I asked with just a tone of sarcasm.

"I don't know let me think…" Hige lowly growled, he was rubbing his temples like he had a headache. I cocked my head to the side. How odd?

"Hige what's wrong?" Toboe asked worriedly.

"Nothing!" Hige growled running off. Toboe ran off after him, and I just stood there for a minute before running off after them.

"Wait up!" I caught up to Toboe but Hige was still running off. I guess it was better then just standing in the street not knowing what to do. We caught up to Hige he was standing in front of a statue, staring at it with either awe or fear. Toboe and me froze to.

"Is this Jaguara?" Toboe asked, staring up at the statue. It was of a woman, so that was our best guess. Hige then grabbed his head and yelled out. I jumped at the sound. Hige ran off again.

"Quick!" Toboe said running after him. "We have to follow him!" I ran after. Hige ran across the road, and Toboe was about to follow but I grabbed him by the shirt, stopping him in his tracks.

"What are you! Crazy?" I growled. "You'll get crushed out there." Toboe looked up at me with innocent eyes.

"What about Hige!?" He asked. He turned to the road.

"HIGE!!" He yelled, and of course there was no reply. I sighed.

"HIGE!" I yelled to, no reply.

"What are we going to do now!?" Toboe asked.

"I don't know…" I whispered.


"We're lost…" I growled as me and Toboe wondered through countless alleys through the city.

"What do you think is wrong with Hige?" Toboe asked. He couldn't stop worrying about him, and I didn't blame him I was beginning to worry about my friend as well.

"I don't know…" I replied. "This is a crazy city, makes you lose your mind." I shrugged. Toboe looked at me.

"How do you know so much Rexy?" Toboe asked. "Since you never really been to all these places…" I shrugged.

"My parents also looked for paradise…" I said. "And they told their stories to Me and my Sister…"

"Wow, sounds cool." Toboe said. We walked another corner and I sighed because we came onto another street.

"We're walking in circles!" Toboe complained. I looked to my left and let a whine slip out of my mouth, there standing in the distance was the statue.

"I wish there was some scent to this place!" I snarled. I ran into an alley with Toboe on my heals, I hopped up to the nearest pipe.

"Come on maybe if we get up high enough we can see where we are." I said.

"Good idea!" Toboe cheered, hopping up to where I was. We ran on top of the pipes, and of course I was winging it. I was looking for something to get us higher up. I heard a click then looked behind me, Toboe was frozen in place. I walked cautiously towards him.

"It's the old guy." Toboe said happily. "I'm so glad he made it." I looked down at what Toboe was staring at to see the wolf hunter. What was his name? Quent? He aimed his ever-present gun at us.

"Good for you!" I said to Toboe grabbing his arm. "Know lets go before we get shot!" I pulled him along running. The wolf hunter was here and that was not good. I eventually let go of Toboe but he was stumbling to keep up and when I let go he tripped. He fell down to the alley.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yea…" He said getting up, I jumped down to where he was.

"Sorry…" I mumbled. Toboe then gasped, which made me jump back in surprise.

"I know where we are!" He cheered. He pointed to the end of the alley, I followed his gaze to see the elevator that got us up here. I didn't know what we were going to do about Hige but maybe if we got to Kiba and Tsume, they could help us look. Toboe got up and we began to walk towards the elevator.

"Good I would rather be down in the dump, where there are smells then this city!" I growled. Toboe nodded agreeing with me. I heard a clink sound behind us, it sounded like a can being kicked. I whipped around to see a soldier. Toboe gasped, and I put myself between them.

"Now what are two kids like you doing wondering around the city alone?" He asked taking a step closer. We took a step back. I didn't like this guy's tone, his voice was rather low and he was armed. Since I couldn't rely on my sense of smell, he had snuck up on us. I listened intently and I heard many more soldiers. Had they been following us?

"We were just…" I started to mumble, but I decided not to say anything when I noticed that the other soldiers had shone themselves.

"What do we have here?" One of them asked. "A couple of wolves!" I let out an angry snarl and launched through the air. Toboe looked lost not knowing what to do, He turned around and noticed that we were now trapped, with soldiers on every side. He let out a terrified howl, one of the soldiers that had a shield gun sent out a pulse that knocked Toboe out, he landed with a hard thud. I must have known that fighting back was not an option, I just weakly clawed and bit the soldier in front of me. I was weak from chasing after Hige, and then just wondering around for hours. I soon felt the painful waves of the shield gun, and I just gave up… I collapsed onto the pavement. I managed to get a glimpse of the pipes, and up there staring with horror was Blue and Hige. I took a painful blink and they were gone…

'This wolf…' I heard a soldier say, it was muffled because I wasn't fully uncontious. I was still awake trying to fight to stay awake.

'Has the mark of the…' I struggled to keep awake, I could barely hear now.

'Is it one?' Another voice.

'No but…' I couldn't stay awake anymore. I wondered if I had dreamed that, I shut my eyes and the darkness that is sleep came over me…

Ooh a cliffhanger aren't I evil? Well I don't think I will update again until after Christmas. (Since tomorrow is Christmas Eve)

Happy Holidays!

R&R!!!