Chapter Three

The Next Step In Capture

a/n: Hey everyone, thought I'd update with a bit about what's going on. The ending for chapter two might seem a bit off, and that's mostly because I was falling asleep as I was writing. Also, this fanfic has no definite plot at the moment, so I'm pretty much winging it. I'd love to hear some suggestions if you want to see anything or know anything. It might take a few chapters, but I'll try and incorporate. Reviews are appreciated, even if it is just tell me my writing sucks. (:

Letting a sigh escape her lips, Blue lifted her eyes open. She had been trying to sleep for the past hour, but had been most unsuccessful. She tried shifting around in her human form, but it made no difference. She and Hige had been captured for three days now. When the "officials" had heard that there were actual, real-life wolves, he ordered them to have bigger cages and full service. But Blue still felt nervous and uncomfortable. She had a single, thin sheet and two doggy dishes. She was always careful to remain wolf when men were nearby, but sometimes, it was just easier to take their form.

Hige was holding up much better than Blue, most likely because he had been in worse situations. He could always tell when anyone was nearby with his sensitive nose and warn Blue. He always checked the food and water for any unusual scents, but had found none so far. There was always the chance the poison could be odorless, but Hige didn't seem as worried as Blue in that perspective.

Using her own charm, the little cat, Felidae, now resided in a cage much too big for her across from Blue's. Hige's was situated next to Blue on the right. Other cages were stacked around them, but had no occupants.

Blue shifted again, leaning against the metal know. Their weren't even in any bars in this "cage," just some pretty thick transparent hard plastic had the entrance with a window that could be opened and closed for inserting items. Now as she moved around, she felt no pain, except for some soreness. Her shoulder wound was virtually non-existent, as wolves healed fast. It would have healed faster if the moon had been in view. Blue felt slightly lost without it.

She wasn't actually what sort of plan was needed to escape from here, but it wouldn't be long before the experiments began. Already her lustful blue coat was getting miserable- like a worthless dog's.

She shut her aquatic eyes, breathing in and out slowly. It was difficult for her to think of how meager dogs were in comparison to wolves, considering she had been a dog not lot ago.

But she had never truly been in a dog. She had been able to understand Quent and his commands, and the fire…

A slight knock jolted Blue from her nostalgia. She crouched in a feral position- which was still a bit difficult to do in her closed quarters- but then heard the knock again. She relaxed, it was Hige, but then tensed again, remembering it to be his warning. Humans were coming.

A tall man stepped in a smart, black suit stepped through the rows of cages, two guards at his side. He deemed them unnecessary, and yet, here they were. He stopped, swiftly bending down and peering more closely into a rather large metal cage.

A blue-eyed wolf glared back at him, mistrust clear in every hair on her pelt. She was richly blue, but the man was interested in her. All wolves grew into yellow eyes, yet this one still held the blue eyes of a cub. Interesting.

The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully and walked a few paces to the next cage. This one had been identified as a male Mexican wolf. He was bigger than the female, and more indifferent and colder, in a different way than the female.

The last animal in this section was a… cat?

The man, Mr. William Jay, stared at the Sand Cat with a confused expression. How had this tiny and seemingly insignificant end up near such important animals as wolves? He blinked, but found that he couldn't order her to be put into a lesser section. If it was possible, Jay would have her been put into an even better holding station.

He blinked again as the cat lifted her soft head, her green eyes gazing innocently at William Jay. Shaking his head, he wandered back to the female wolf who had been given the name XX-08. The male was XY-09. And the cat was, well, honestly didn't have a name.

XX-08 had retreated to the back of her cage, dutifully ignoring the Mr. Jay as he inspected her. However, like the cat, she lifted her head and gazed at him. But her survey was penetrating with accusations and pain. Jay held out his hand, and the wolf saw the familiar gesture. She hesitated, then seemed to remember herself and turned away. XY-09 hadn't moved at all.

Jay was curious about the partnership of the two wolves and wanted to do further studies. For that, they would have to be put into the same cage. He turned to his two guards.

"I'm finished with my inspection now. I need further studies on their behavior before I can begin taking samples." He gestured to the wolves. "Remove the metal wall between the cages and set up a camera, one that they can't see, to run full time. I want the tapes delivered to my lab every morning."

The guards saluted Jay. "Yes, sir."

They marched off in a sort of jog, leaving William Jay alone. He crouched beside XX-08's cage.

"You interest me, wolf, and I want to learn more about you. Maybe you could share your secrets with me?"

He hadn't expected an answer, and nearly wet himself when the blue wolf threw herself against the plastic wall, snarling. Her jaws snapped and even William Jay could hear the noise. He regarded the wolf for a moment, then stiffly walked away.

Blue slumped down to the ground, her back against the wall. Her hands covered her face. She wasn't sure exactly what she was feeling. Apprehensive, no doubt, but what else? Guilt? Satisfaction? She shook her head, confused really.

She hadn't spoken or seen Hige in a number of days and was yearning for his comfort. The only way they had come with a system was when they had been in the smaller cages and still able to hear each other. Blue, in fact, hadn't heard a word the suited man had said, but instinct had acted on her and as soon as spoke something to her, she snapped. Literally.

Isolation did not work very well for the wolf. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered memories that she didn't want to, making her depressed or angry.

Mood swings didn't work that well either.

The first wave of memories that hit was when she and Hige had left. Blue closed her eyes and was swept up in that day.

Quent's fever had broken that day on the frozen tundra, and Blue had been by his side when he had awoken. But she was a wolf now, and he could never forget that hatred. The wolves, as humans, began explaining everything, but was put off by the mention of taking him to Paradise. He rejected Blue because of her being part wolf, and walked away like they hadn't spent several years together.

The pain had been almost too much for Blue, and before Quent was out of sight, she had turned and walked in the other direction. She ended up on a cliff, staring out at nothing when Hige appeared. He was still broken himself from the recent discovery that he was no one. A traitor to his own kind.

Blue had started talking, asking where he was planning on going. Before he had gotten in a coherent answer, she interrupted him, saying she was going where ever he was. She then had asked them that he truly had no intentions of going to Paradise, but she herself would still follow him. She had gotten angry at his question of what she was inferring, and then they both said that they doubted Paradise would accept them.

She was close to losing everything, Hige was all she had left. He had to understand that.

What had come next had been the easy part.

A beam had suddenly shot down from the sky, obliterating some place. A raging wind of sand and dirt had suddenly picked up, blasting everything in sight. Tsume had found her and Hige, and a rather blunt conversation ensued.

Blue could still remember that very clearly…

Hige stood in front of Blue, his back to the wind, shielding her. It ended with a final, zestful blow, and then nothing. Turning around, the two were startled to see Tsume just standing there, the bored expression on his face.

Hige spoke first, cautious. "Tsume, what are you doing here?"

"We need to leave. Cheza has sensed something." He paused deliberately. "Kiba figured you would want the chance to say goodbye."

Hige cast his eyes downward, looking tired. There was no sign of the wolf that had been full of life and jokes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, please. You had no intention of going to Paradise from the start. It was just convenient for you to travel with other wolves." Tsume snorted, irritated now.

Hige raised his amber eyes, staring levelly at Tsume. Blue wanted to desperately say something, but she would only make it worse.

"I will admit that I had doubts about Paradise, and still do. The idea seemed too perfect to be true. But I never went with you because it was convenient."

Tsume's eyes bored into his eyes, his voice still blasé. "Oh yeah? Is that the truth, now? Face it, you were always a traitor, even if you didn't mean to be."

Blue watched as Hige clenched his fists tightly, and winced.

"Maybe that is the truth. But God knows I would never betray you guys by own free will. But you're right in saying that I was never going to go to Paradise." His eyes hardened slightly. "Blue and I are leaving. This pack isn't for us anymore. We have other goals to accomplish."

Tsume held up his hands in a shrug. "Very well. I just needed to hear the truth coming from your own mouth." Then Tsume said the unexpected. "We'll miss you, Porky, but you know what you want. The others will be disappointed, but I'm sure they would welcome you back if you two find that freedom isn't as great as you thought."

He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Hige slightly confused and Blue just a bit relieved.

Blue thumped her head back against the metal, silent tears washing down her face. In the months that had followed, Hige had begun recovering his old spirit, but Blue still felt like she was in pieces. She could tell Hige missed his friends, but joining back up with them would mean looking and believing in Paradise. Neither of which he was ready to do.

Blue lifted her hand, wiping the tears away with it. She always did everything silently, learning to hold back any sudden rash words or feelings. For the most part, anyway.

She closed her eyes, blocking out any oncoming thoughts. She couldn't think at the moment, just wanting to be near her mate. She and Hige had a different type of relationship. It was almost like a silent one. They didn't pledge their love every night before going to sleep, but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

Movement caught Blue's eye, but she tried to remain calm. She would appear as a wolf if it was humans. And indeed, it was. A whole herd of them. One opened up the window of Blue's cage, and she was already growling, a low warning.

The man ignored her, sticking a gun through it and pulling the trigger. Blue didn't cry out as a dart hit her, but did jump up and retreat to the back of her cage in a hurry. She sniffed at the dart, trying to reach it with her teeth, but couldn't.

The little window was shut in a hurry and the man hurried to Hige's cage. Blue couldn't see him anymore, but she had a feeling the same was happening to the other wolf. Several men still mulled around outside, waiting it looked like. A few were watching Felidae, who was doing something to entice them.

Blue curled up on the hard ground, ignoring the pointless blanket, still growling with annoyance. Minutes ticked by, but the men remained. Blue was debating on whether or not to snap at them to get them to leave when an overbearing sleep fell upon her. Her head drooped to the floor and then she was gone.

Hige blinked open his eyes, trying to look around, but his vision was blurred and head swam. He dropped to the floor again, waiting for the dizziness to clear up. When it did several minutes later, he was lost. His cage looked enlarged and a familiar scent danced in front of him, enticing him. He looked around and noticed a furry shape on the far side. He rose warily, trotting over to investigate.

Within seconds, he recognized it to be Blue. He fell upon his mate, covering her with licks to wake her up. Blue opened her hazy eyes, and Hige stepped back, understanding her confusion. It took her less time to recover, but she was elated in seeing Hige again.

The two wolves sniffed at each other, exchanging scents to reestablish their hold on each other. Finally, Blue let out a low bark, a short one that showed all of her happiness at once.

Unknowning to the two, a camera stood in the corner, filming their embrace. Neither wolf could fully figure out what had happened, but knew enough to say they had been put to sleep and reunited for some cause. And before they could think about it, they were humans again, sharing each other's company in the farthest corner. The one that happened to be slightly difficult for the camera to catch the light and see.

"Something's going to happen, Blue. Or they wouldn't have done this for us." Hige broke the silence first, gently rubbing Blue's arm.

"I know. And I get the feeling they did this for themselves, not us." She confessed, not ready for the blissful moment to end.

"I've been thinking a lot these past few days, about- everything." He went on, almost as if Blue hadn't spoke. "Everything is still changing in this world. Wolves are still enemies. No matter where we go, we will still be hunted." He shook his head once. "It's times like this that I can't help but think following Paradise at least gave us a sense of purpose."

"Hige, we do have a sense of purpose, but it doesn't belong to Paradise." Blue stated firmly. "That's why we left in the first place, to find it."

Hige let out a weary sigh, a hand running through his messy hair. "You're probably right. Maybe… maybe it's time to find the others. Despite what you say, I don't know what we're supposed to be doing."

A thought came to Blue, growing bigger as she thought about it. "Look around, though, Hige. We were captured with apparent ease along with common animals, but we've meet Felidae, who seems very interested and sure that wolves will be the last to survive. Maybe she is the one we have been looking for. After all, she is an unusual sight here, and seems to be very confident." Blue went on, gesturing randomly to the cat's cage. "Haven't you seen the influence she has on the humans? It's something."

Hige's eyes brightened up as new hope filled him. "Yeah, and maybe it's our job to deliver her and protect." He paused, letting out a breath. "We need to take her to Kiba and the others. This is something, Blue, your right. None of this was on accident. It's a miracle the humans haven't taken a real interest in her."

He stood up quickly, and pulled Blue to her feet. He stared pacing, his hands feeling the walls for weak points. Blue stood there, watching him, and then her expression softened. It looked like she had said something right for once. And if it turned out to be wrong, then it wouldn't be the biggest lose. She took a couple steps forward towards the enhanced plastic wall. Her hands moved up and done the thin line that was part of the window.

Without warning, she swung her fist around and connected it with the spot. It seemed to shake for a moment, but nothing visible happened. Her eyes narrowing, Blue took a couple paces back, before dashing forward, her foot swinging up and jumped, foot first, into the plastic.

You never go
Your always here (suffocating me)
Under my skin
I cannot run away
Fading slowly

I'd give it all to you
Letting go of me
Reaching as I fall
I know it's already over now
Nothing left to lose
Loving you again
I know it's already over, already over now

My best defense, running from you
I can't resist, take all you want from me
Breaking slowly…

a/n: So there you go, another chapter. The song at the end is Already Over by Red. It sounds a lot better when you're actually listening to it. I always listen to music when I write and always imagine scenes with songs in them. I would say the start of the song would be around when Blue was remembering when she and Hige decide to leave and what not and then the last part kind of skips forward to where Blue is kicking the plastic wall (slow motion kind of thing).

Reviews are welcome. (: