Smurfing with the Wolves

by PhantasyPhan13

Lupine Smurf has been raised by the wolf pack of Aluraris all his life. When he follows Papa Smurf back to the village, he finally meets the family that he's forgotten. But it isn't so easy for a wolfish Smurf to settle down into the quaint village life of his kin. And when Papa becomes ill, he may be thrown into a whirlwind of events that will change his entire existence.

6. Chapter 5: Forgiven

Chapter Five: Forgiven

Lupine found himself looking into the face of a very strange-looking Smurf. The person who had pinned him down was wearing a hat made of leaves and a loose-fitting loincloth around his waist. He had a wild look in his eyes and muscular but surprisingly lithe limbs. "Who do you think you are, tackling a poor innocent wolf like that?! Get OFF me, Smurfzan!" snorted Lupine as he squirmed underneath the stranger's feet, which he was using to pin down Lupine with a grip like iron.

"Only if you promise me that you're not trying to take my girl," snorted the figure as he reluctantly stepped off of Lupine and allowed the gasping Smurf to get to his feet. "I've had my eyes on her for AGES; it's not fair that a scruffy, smelly Smurf like YOU would catch her eyes!"

"I'M NOT A DIRTY STRAY!" hollered Lupine at the top of his lungs. He got so mad that steam poured out of his ears as though someone had lit a campfire within them. He started to get that strange sensation again- the feeling that he was about to lose control of himself.

However, something was different this time: the paw amulet was pulsing and glowing with a strange light. The sensation made his chest feel strange and his mind clearer-the amulet was giving him the power to resist!

However, this time, Lupine actually WANTED to attack this weird Smurf-he was so rude and, even worse, he was trying to make him give up Leafette! So he concentrated his senses and tensed his muscles, and in a heartbeat had pinned the Smurf to the ground, snarling and clawing at his chest.

"NOBODY insults ME, the great Lupine; raider of the Treasure of the Golden Phoenix, rescuer of Papa Smurf, warrior of the pack Aluraris!" hissed Lupine as he prepared to bite the Smurf's neck; not even caring that he had just spilled the beans on his secret as his eyes glowed redder than sunset and his claws started to sharpen.

"PAPA! HELP ME! LUPINE'S GOING TO SMURF ME!" screamed the Smurf in horror, wriggling in terror and trying like mad to escape from Lupine's strong hold. "What the Smurf is going on here, Wild?!" gasped Papa as he ran over to where the scuffle was taking place. Concern skittered across his bearded face as he hurried to break up the Smurf-fight.

By this time, everyone in the village had gathered around to watch the fight; several Smurfs were cheering and encouraging Lupine and the other Smurf, who they seemed to be calling Wild. "Go Lupine! Show that ol' squirrel who he REALLY is!" cheered Grouchy, punching his fists enthusiastically into the air.

"WI-LD, WI-LD, WI-LD!" shouted Brainy, amplifying his voice with a loudspeaker that he had just grabbed off of Actor Smurf.

"Poor Wild; he looks like he's really hurt! I can't believe it!" sobbed Weepy Smurf hysterically, blowing his dripping nose emphatically into his handkerchief.

"You barSmurfians! Stop all this monkey business about the fight; you know better than that!" scolded Papa as he pushed his way through the crowd and dragged a snarling Lupine off of Wild, who was looking very angry indeed and giving Lupine filthy looks every angle of 360 degrees.

"LUPINE! I cannot BELIEVE you; why on Smurf are you attacking your poor brother?! I thought you told me that you weren't the sort of person to get into a Smurf-fight!" snapped Papa as he looked Lupine dead in the eye with absolute seriousness. "I am very disappointed in you, I must say; I thought you might prove to be better than all the other Smurf-fight loving maniacs here…"

"This-this CLOWN is my BROTHER?!" gasped Lupine, snapping out of his rage and looking at Wild in total confusion. "I have a BROTHER?! Why didn't you tell me before?!"

"I forgot to…but that's not important now; I'm more interested in an explanation as to why you were attacking him so brutally; if I hadn't dragged you off him at the last moment, you probably would've killed him…"

At hearing this, Weepy started to sob so hysterically that he almost made an ocean. "Oh, what a shame it would've been if Wild had died; he's such an amazing Smurf!" wailed Weepy, blowing his nose so hard into his handkerchief that it flew out of his hands and hit Grouchy smack in the face.

"Me, I hate Smurf snot! Disgusting!" snorted Grouchy, peeling the handkerchief off of his face in disgust and handing it back to Weepy as if he were handling a bomb that was about to explode.

"W…well, I was going to give Leafette a present, and then Wild came over and pinned me down to the ground, saying that Leafette was his, and then I got so angry that…I flew out of control again," spluttered Lupine, feeling a pang of guilt at lying to Papa. After all, he had done it on purpose this time.

"Oh…" trailed off Papa, a blank look crossing his face as if he wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation. "Oh…well, in THAT case…I guess I can let you off, but you have to be VERY CAREFUL in the future; we don't want this happening for a THIRD time, now do we? Besides, this-" he pointed at the amulet hanging innocently around Lupine's neck; no longer glowing and looking like an ordinary gem now-"this here can help you control your anger; it gives you the choice to attack or not. I don't understand why it didn't work this time…"

At this, Lupine started to sweat and his tongue flopped out of his mouth as his heart began to pound; he almost wanted to admit to Papa that the gemstone HAD worked; he had just chosen to not use its calming powers. However, the other half of him said to keep quiet about the issue; if Papa discovered that he had attacked his brother on purpose, then he would never hear the end of it and he might even be booted out of the village, for all he knew.

He was enjoying staying with his family-everything would be ruined if he had to leave and go home to his wolf pack. Besides, he knew that he would never be able to face the pack when they asked why he had come home; he had to get out of this situation right now and leave the crowd of gawking Smurfs.

But what was he going to use as an excuse? He couldn't think of anything good enough to use; sooner or later, Papa would track him down again and question him about the Smurf-fight, and he didn't want that.

As nervous sweat rolled down his face, a sudden inspiration came to him; something so good that he had to stop himself from grinning at the cunning excuse: he would pretend to be sick; that way, everybody would leave him alone and it would keep him out of the woods for a few days before he 'got better' again and Papa would finally come around to grilling him on the fight; that is, if he ever remembered to get to it at all.

Suddenly, Lupine started to stagger around; panting heavily and looking dazed and unsteady. "Lupine? Is everything okay down there?" asked Smurfette in concern as Lupine sat down and clutched his stomach, groaning in pain.

"I…I don't feel very good…" moaned Lupine convincingly as he started to make retching noises. "I…I think I need to lie down for a little...bit….I'm so hot…"

"Do you need help walking or something?" asked Handy as Lupine struggled to his feet and began to stumble home; whimpering and groaning all the way.

"I…I'm okay…just kind of sweaty," smiled Lupine weakly, suddenly coming up with an even better idea that would no doubt get Papa off his tail for even longer. He suddenly started to shake all over; panting like crazy and looking like he was about to collapse any minute now.

"Lupine?! Do you need water or something?! You look like you're about to faint!" gasped Papa anxiously as he rushed to Lupine's side.

"W…water….please…" croaked Lupine, blinking rapidly as if his eyes couldn't focus. "I…I'm so dizzy…I…I need w-water n-now…"

Papa looked as though he was going to have a panic attack, but still he did as Lupine asked and got him a cup of water from the well, his ancient face wrinkling up in concern as Lupine ravenously gulped down the water like it was nectar. "More," gasped Lupine weakly, shakily handing the cup back to Papa as he tucked his tail between his legs and put a hand on his forehead slowly and dramatically. "I think I might black out at this rate…I feel really, really sick…sicker than a dog, you might say…"

"Poor you! Do you think you need a checkup?" asked Doctor concernedly; looking as though he was eager to have a new patient.

"I…I…I…" stammered Lupine, but before he could continue, his legs collapsed and he fell backwards onto the ground; stiffer than a log and completely drenched with sweat.

"Lupine! LUPINE! Wake up!" exclaimed Smurfette as she slapped him on the cheeks in an attempt to revive him. When Lupine still didn't move, Weepy started to go hysterical again and Hefty started to pinch Lupine all over, turning him black and blue with the effort.

Even though Lupine looked as though he was unconscious, he was actually in fact pretending; he was still aware of everything that was going on around him and almost wanted to give up the act when Smurfette and Hefty started slapping and pinching him.

However, he knew full well that if he stayed still as long as he could, it would no doubt raise the village's concern for him and the longer he could stay 'sick', the longer he could avoid Papa Smurf's probing. So he lay still through all the village's attempts to 'revive' him; he didn't even twitch a muscle when Jokey set off a present in his face.

"Guys, leave him alone; he's exhausted and he needs his rest," Lupine heard Papa say as he lifted him into his arms and started to carry him to his house; grunting and groaning with the effort. Lupine felt vaguely uncomfortable being carried as though he was a baby. In fact he would have much rather preferred to have been carried by the scruff of the neck by a wolf with halitosis than to be cradled like a child in Papa's arms.

But again, he knew that if he gave up his bluff now, Papa would start prodding him right now and besides, he might get very angry if he discovered that Lupine's illness was a fake; in fact, he might get even angrier than if he knew about what Lupine had done to Wild.

Lupine was starting to feel a little sleepy, what with the winter sun beating down and the rocking motion of Papa's arms, and Lupine then realized that falling asleep would be the best thing to do: it would take him no effort at all to continue his 'faint', and since he would actually be asleep, it would look even more convincing than before

Lupine slowly started to drift off, but before he fell asleep, he heard Papa mutter, "There's something rather suspicious about this whole 'sickness' thing…if he really WAS sick, don't you think he would've been showing symptoms before all this happened? Oh, come on, Papa….he DID look really awful after all, and he could've just been a bit dehydrated…but still, it does seem rather peculiar…"

…

Lupine woke up lying on Papa's couch, feeling confused and disoriented as Papa leaned over him in concern and swabbed his forehead with a washcloth. "Wh-where am I? Wh-what's happening?" he stuttered as he sat up and blinked in bewilderment.

"Oh, you're awake! You were out for a few hours; I was really worried that something was wrong!" sighed Papa in relief as he wrung out his washcloth and moved even closer to Lupine.

"Wh-what do you mean? I don't remember fainting," said Lupine as he scratched his head and tried to remember what had happened to him. Then it all came flooding back and he groaned; lying back down feebly and feeling like a criminal. What had he gotten himself into NOW?!

It was as if he was caught in a spider's web that he had woven himself, and now he didn't seem to be able to get out. Part of him wanted to confess his bluff and just get the questioning over with; but the other, stronger part of him said to keep up the lie; it may be tough and claw into his conscience, but at least he wouldn't have to confess to attacking his brother on purpose.

"Of course you don't remember fainting; you weren't awake!" snorted Papa, almost laughing as he looked concernedly at Lupine. "Are you alright? Do you need a drink of water or something? You looked pretty dehydrated when you were last awake…"

"I have an awful headache," moaned Lupine as he writhed on the couch and tried to look as feverish as possible. "I feel sore all over; I'm just TERRIBLE…and my back really, really Smurfs!"

"Oh, poor you; I'm awfully sorry about that," said Papa sympathetically, stroking Lupine comfortingly on the arm. "Do you think you need a painkiller potion or something? It'll help numb the pain, and you'll feel much better…"

"No; I'm just a little thirsty and really, really tired…" yawned Lupine, wrapping his tail around himself and preparing to go to sleep again.

"Hang in there; I'll be right back with some water; just try and rest," said Papa nervously as he dashed off like a shot to retrieve some water from the village well.

"Yeah…" said Lupine, stretching and wincing as his back smarted with pain, reminding him that it hadn't completely healed yet. He whimpered and curled up even more; wondering when and if his sore backside would ever heal completely.

Lupine was just starting to drift off when Papa burst through the doors with pitchers of water; hurriedly pouring a cup for Lupine and handing it to him. "I got a lot of water for you because you were really dehydrated last time, and I don't want you to get sick again…try and drink as much as you can," explained Papa as Lupine gulped down the water and drank another cup.

"Okay," said Lupine meekly, but inside he was groaning at the thought, because he knew he wasn't really dehydrated and more likely than not, his bowels would explode with all the water. He couldn't figure out what he was going to do if he had to drink all that water and escape to the bathroom without blowing his cover and making Papa suspicious of him.

"I…I've had enough water now," panted Lupine as he downed his fifth cup of water, hoping that Papa would be satisfied. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case, as Papa handed him even more water and almost made Lupine groan aloud.

"I wouldn't really take a chance if I were you; just try and drink a little more," urged Papa, forcing Lupine to comply.

By the time he had drank his eighth cup, Lupine thought his stomach was going to burst, and he practically had to cross his legs to prevent himself from exploding completely. "I've had enough…my stomach is going to split open if this keeps up," gasped Lupine, hoping madly that Papa would leave and allow him to make his escape.

"You sure? I wouldn't want to take any risks if I were you," repeated Papa, raising an eyebrow in concern.

"Please believe me…I really can't take anymore," pleaded Lupine, his eyes bulging like a frightened fish's. "I'm going to be in the bush all night if you keep giving me water…I really, really have had enough…"

"Alright then; have it your way," shrugged Papa, leaving the room; much to Lupine's relief. "I'm leaving these pitchers here if you get thirsty again…but don't hesitate to Smurf if you need me."

"I won't!" grinned Lupine in relief, waiting for Papa to be as far away as possible. When he was gone, Lupine waited for a half-minute longer to make certain that he was well and truly gone; then he scurried outside behind a bush to do his business.

….

Three hours later, Lupine staggered out of the bush in relief; shaking all over and feeling like a deflated balloon. "That was honestly the worst moment of my entire life so far…let's hope that THAT doesn't happen again," gasped Lupine, staggering back to Papa's house to get back on the couch. However, he was halfway to Papa's mushroom when Leafette happened to pass by him.

She stopped as soon as she saw him and giving him a look of concern. "Lupine, are you all right? Papa said that you were asleep for four hours; I was really worried that you weren't feeling well…"

"I-I'm okay now; I was just a little dehydrated," stuttered Lupine, starting to sweat again. Whether it was from nervousness or from love, he couldn't tell; but a thought struck him in the brain and he smiled at the idea: What better time was there than this to give Leafette his gift; right at the height of her pity?

"Oh, thank Smurf! I would've felt really awful if something had happened to you, you know," sighed Leafette in relief; continuing on her way once more.

"Uh…Leafette! Wait; I've got a gift for you," called Lupine as he scurried after her.

"What is it-? Oh, Lupine…" breathed Leafette as Lupine kneeled before her and held out the opal in an extravagant gesture. "This is simply BEAUTIFUL…wherever did you get it? It's AMAZING…I can't describe it…"

"I stole it off the Golden Phoenix's hoard when Papa wasn't looking," smiled Lupine; so ecstatic that he had pleased Leafette that he forgot his secret

"WHAT?! You stole it from the PHOENIX'S HOARD?! But Papa said not to do that!" exclaimed Leafette, dropping the gemstone and giving Lupine a look of total and utter shock.

"N-no…it w-was just a j-joke," stammered Lupine, backing up and trying desperately to hide his theft. But it was too late; Leafette had fetched Papa and the whole village was gathered around Lupine, shooting him looks of disgust and pelting him with questions.

"LUPINE! So THAT'S why you were able to save me that night…and I suppose you were faking your illness too if you were 'well' enough to get up and give Leafette this blasted opal?!" thundered Papa, his eyes flashing like a cloud in a thunderstorm as he scowled disapprovingly at Lupine.

"Sorry, Papa…and I'm sorry that I pretended to faint and I attacked my brother on purpose," whimpered Lupine, feeling that he might as well confess his other wrongs at this point; it certainly wouldn't do him any good to hold back now.

"You-YOU!" stuttered Papa, looking as though he couldn't believe Lupine. "You naughty little child; I can't BELIEVE you! Go back and give the opal back to the phoenix, and consider yourself banned from the village until you can show that you're trustworthy!"

"I-I…" stammered Lupine, hanging his head low and starting to walk out of the village; unable to believe what had happened to him. His worst fears had come true now; he felt tears running down his face at the thought of leaving his family forever.

He couldn't face the wolf pack NOW and he didn't know who else he could live with. He'd just have to be a lone wolf the rest of his life; his heart cracked at the lonely and heart-wrenching thought as he tucked his tail between his legs and prepared to run far away from his new home.

"And one more thing: I don't think you're entitled to that necklace anymore, so you can give it back to me now," barked Papa, holding out his hand to Lupine.

"No…please, just let me keep SOMETHING so I can remember you?" sniffled Lupine, wiping the pained tears out of his eyes.

"No; give it back!" snapped Papa, forcing Lupine to reluctantly hand over his precious amulet.

"You're so mean! I'm never coming home AGAIN!" squeaked Lupine, running away into the forest and sobbing all the while.

For a moment, there was silence in the village as everyone looked after Lupine; stunned and feeling bad for the poor Smurf. "Dear, don't you think you were a bit harsh on him? What he did wasn't really so awful, you know…" asked Mama hesitantly, looking as though she wished she could go after Lupine and comfort him.

"No; he was acting completely inappropriately; I don't think I can trust him," snorted Papa, wiping some soot off his smoking beard.

"Papa! What happened to your beard?! It looks like it caught on fire!" shrieked Mama in horror, looking at her husband's fiery beard.

"It's fine, it's fine; I just tried to make a potion and it exploded in my face, that's all," replied Papa, hastily beating out the smoldering patches on his face.

"What in Smurf's name where you MAKING exactly?! You shouldn't be going around burning up your precious whiskers, you know!" barked Blue, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"I was trying to make a potion to revive the griffinling's mother; leave me alone and don't act like you know more than me, okay?!" snapped Papa, stomping off to his lab and slamming the door loudly behind him. For a while, everybody was silent.

Then Wild hesitantly spoke up and broke the quiet. "So THAT'S why he was so mean to Lupine…poor guy; he really didn't deserve what he got, I'm going after him…"

"Well, I think Papa DID give him fair treatment; he did a lot of stuff he shouldn't have and he deserved what he got," argued Brainy, but then again he always sided with Papa Smurf.

"Well, fair or not, I'm going after him; if my brother's banished, then so am I!" decided Wild, setting off after his sibling with a determined look on his face; stopping and picking up the opal before he left the village walls and walked along the river to put the stone back in the phoenix's hoard.

….

"Oh, poor, poor me…whenever something bad has to happen, it always happens to little Lupine, doesn't it?" whined Lupine as he scuffled his feet through the fallen leaves; feeling worthless and alone. He'd been hiking for a week now, and spring was starting to unfurl its youthful blossoms. Courageous first flowers were poking their way through the frosty earth; the days were getting longer and sunnier; birds sang and hibernating animals began to wake up, facing the cold world to find as much food as they could.

Normally, this would have made Lupine very happy, but instead it just made him depressed since he had no one to share it with. He sighed and wiped away a tear at the memories of the springs he'd shared with his wolf pack, and for a moment he felt a little better. Then he wondered what a spring with his new family would've been like and that one speck of comfort was shattered like a glass ball. He started crying again for the fourth time this day; that always happened when he thought of the Smurfs and he wished that he'd never found them; or if he had, that he hadn't done all the perfectly terrible things that he'd done.

"You're not alone, Lupine," said a familiar voice; making Lupine stop and stare all around him, wondering if perhaps he was hearing things. "I felt so bad that Papa booted you out of the village; he was in a bad mood and he's normally not like that; usually he's very fair," continued the voice, and a branch rustled and stirred the greening leaves. "

W-who are you? A-am I h-hearing things?!" stammered Lupine, backing away and figuring that he had finally gone crazy. All these days of being alone must've taken a toll on his sanity, or perhaps he was hallucinating because he was so lonely.

"You're not crazy; I followed you because I wanted to give you company and I returned that opal for you," said the voice, and suddenly a lithe figure flew through the air and pinned Lupine to the ground with one of his strong feet.

"WILD?!" gasped Lupine, his heart thumping in joy when he saw his grinning brother looking down at him.

"Yup; it's me and I'm here to stay," Wild grinned as he let Lupine go and dusted himself off.

"Oh, Wild! Th-that's just WONDERFUL! You don't understand how lonely I've been…" trailed off Lupine, feeling overjoyed at the prospect of having his brother around to keep him company. Although it still brought a pang to his heart to think that he'd never see the other village members again, it made him feel better that he'd have a companion, and living as a lone wolf didn't seem so bad anymore.

"So…what do we do next, brother?" asked Wild, snapping Lupine out of his reverie.

"I dunno…maybe we go and find a Wartmonger to chase?" shrugged Lupine, devoid of ideas and unsure of what to say.

"Sure; it'll be fun! C'mon!" laughed Wild, and soon the two were chasing each other around as they searched the forest for a sign of a Wartmonger's den.

Suddenly, a heavenly scent hit Lupine's nose: something that smelled pure and clean and warm and beautiful, as though he smelled gold itself. "That smell…it's wonderful..." Lupine sighed, his eyes going all glazy as he strained to breathe in more of that fantastic smell.

"Lupine? What is it? What smells so good?" asked Wild, giving him a funny look as though he'd just gone crazy.

"I smell…I smell…GOLD!" Shrieked Lupine, suddenly becoming hyper and jumping so high up in the air that he nearly knocked Wild over. "MUST GET THE GOLD NOW!" And with that, he stuck his snout to the ground and began sniffing away frantically. He raced along the scent-path of the gold, wagging his tail enthusiastically the whole time.

"Oh brother…there he goes again; sniffing everything in sight and getting himself into a fix," sighed Wild as he hurried after his excited brother, who was rapidly approaching an old abandoned mine shaft.

As soon as Wild saw the tip of Lupine's tail disappear into the mine, he became worried immediately and poked his head into the mine. He recognized this as a mine that Miner had closed off some years ago because it was too dangerous to mine in due to rock avalanches, and he had no intention of seeing Lupine buried by one of them.

"Hey Lupine! Miner said not to go into this old mine anymore because there's avalanches practically every hour…if you go any deeper, you're going to get yourself killed!" called Wild, but there was no response; save for some rustlings deeper into the mine and a few eager yips.

"Lupine! LUPINE! Get out of there, if you know what's good for you!" Wild shouted again, but still no reply came. After Wild had waited for a response for a half-hour, he figured that Lupine was either too deep into the mine to hear him or he had gotten hurt somehow.

"If only he'd LISTENED…" sighed Wild as he cautiously lowered himself into the mine and hiked after his brother. "He's going to get himself killed in a real nasty way…if it wasn't for that darned gold, I could've gotten him back to the village and maybe Papa would even let him in again…"

After hours and hours of searching, Wild finally found Lupine, but his heart skipped a few beats when he saw the state that his brother was in: Just as Wild had suspected, there had been an avalanche and gray boulders covered the bottom of the mine like scattered marbles. Worst of all, Lupine's tail was sticking out of the middle of the pile, and it wasn't moving.

"Lupine?! LUPINE?! Is everything okay?!" squeaked Wild as he raced to the pile and started scrabbling desperately through the heaps in an attempt to uncover his brother.

"Wild? Is that you?" came a groggy voice from the bottom of the pile. Lupine's tail started to wag slowly.

"Lupine! You're alive!" exclaimed Wild in relief and astonishment as Lupine slowly sat up and blinked; shaking his head as he recovered his senses.

"Y-yes; the rocks landed on top of me and knocked the wind out of me, that's all," panted Lupine as he got unsteadily to his feet and shook himself off; sending dirt and mud flying into Wild's face.

"Knocked the WIND out of you?! Lupine, you're lucky that you're still alive; you could've been killed in that avalanche!" said Wild, wiping dust out of his eyes and glancing towards the exit of the mine to see how long he had been in there with Lupine.

It was hard to tell since they were so deep down, but judging by the light streaming into the mine, it was dusk now and the sun was almost finished setting. "Lupine…it's getting late now; we should leave and find a safe place to rest for the night before it gets too dark," said Wild, gesturing at the exit to the mine.

"Awww; no fair! Can't I just stay in here until I find that gold? It's only a few more miles down; I can smell it!" whined Lupine, widening his eyes and giving his brother a pleading look.

"Don't give me that puppy-dog face; you've had enough excitement for today as it is and anyway, if you keep on going deeper and deeper, there might be another avalanche and what if it gets both of us? Nobody will be there to save you if I get hurt too! Besides, maybe you're just smelling things; we could very well wind up lost and trapped down under here if there's no gold; I think we should just call it a day and get back up to the light…" sighed Wild, giving his brother a serious look and trying not to give in to Lupine's begging. He hated to admit it, but Lupine did a pretty good puppy-dog face. However, he wasn't prepared to let Lupine run off again and so he would try to resist it as best he could.

"Oh, c'mon Wild; when did a little sense of adventure ever hurt anyone? Besides, think of what that gold could mean for us if we got our paws on it!" insisted Lupine, making his face even more innocent than before and holding up his paws in a begging pose. "If we got that gold, then maybe we could buy some stuff at a human village and make a hut for ourselves in the forest! We could get hold of a wand and practice magic, maybe! We could even convince Papa to let us back home if we're REALLY lucky! Besides, it smells so good that it makes me simply DROOL to think of what it'll look like when I actually find it…"

"Fine," sighed Wild, unable to take the begging any longer. "But it goes without saying; if you're going deeper, then I am too! I want to make sure that I'm there for you if you get hurt or we can't find our way out or if anything else bad happens to us! Stay close to me and don't go too deep; got that?"

"I won't, I promise! Oh, thank you, Wild; you're the best!" exclaimed Lupine, jumping up and licking his brother ecstatically in the face.

"Okay, okay; don't get too mushy on me now," spluttered Wild as he tried to squirm away from Lupine's slurping tongue. When he finally tore himself away, however, he noticed something that made him very worried and more eager than ever to get out of the mine and back to safety. "Lupine, when did you get that huge lump?! It looks awful! We should get you out of here and take care of that nasty bump before it gets worse!" gasped Wild, staring intently at a spot on his brother's forehead.

It was true: there was quite a sizable lump on Lupine's head that was at least the size of a small pebble. "Oh, THAT…a rock knocked me on the head when I got trapped under the avalanche; it's nothing," replied Lupine hastily, trying to hide the bump in the crease of his hat.

"NOTHING?! I've been in the village for longer than you have and I've never seen ANYTHING the size of that!" exclaimed Wild, grabbing his brother's arm and tugging him towards the mine's exit impatiently. "I'm not sure what you would call BAD-I'm sure that you've seen worse injuries when you were in the wolf pack-but that doesn't look like anything little to me; I know you wanted to go for the gold, but that lump is giving me the shivers…I really don't think you should take any chances, Lupine; I really DON'T…"

"Aww, don't be a spoilsport, Wild! It doesn't really hurt and I'm sure that there's not going to be another avalanche for at least another hour; by that time, we'll probably be out and somewhere safe before the rocks even start falling from the ceiling!" protested Lupine as he stuck his snout to the ground once more and started picking up the scent lagged behind him and grumbled about how foolish it was that Lupine was risking everything just for a measly nugget and how he really ought to get that lump taken care of before he tried to get the booty; how it might've been possible that the bump knocked the sense out of him, because otherwise nobody could be so ridiculous as he was being right now, and how he wished Papa Smurf was here to show him a little sense and get him healed before the lump turned into a balloon.

However, Wild didn't make any attempts to stop Lupine and before long, Lupine was digging frantically at the soil, sending huge piles of loam flying through the air as he chattered happily about the gold and wondering what it'd be like when he finally got his paws on it.

At first, it was easy to see Lupine scrabbling at the dirt, but by the time he'd been digging for over an hour (for some strange and lucky reason, there hadn't been any more avalanches; Wild reasoned that they must be too far down to have loose rock above their heads), you could only see the tip of his tail sticking out of the hole, wagging so fast that it was a blue blur. By the time two hours had passed, you could hardly see Lupine at all, and by the time four hours had passed, he had disappeared completely into the little tunnel in the earth.

For Lupine, it was very exciting to shift the earth and smell the gold getting nearer and nearer; it was so tantalizingly close now that he could practically picture it in his mind, and he was very pleased at what he saw. He imagined a magnificent golden nugget the size of a ball, glowing like the sunset and smelling more beautiful than anything he had ever seen before.

This vision propelled him on, and he kept up his digging through the many torturous hours of toil, deaf to all but the singing call of the gold and the idea of what he could do with that gold once he finally had it safely clutched in his paws.

Finally, after seven hours of hard work, he had dug up the underground pocket where the gold was nestling, and what a glorious sight it was: Though it wasn't as big as a ball, it was at least the size of Lupine's hands, which were fairly big, and it was shimmering with an essence and glow that made it enchanting simply to gaze upon it with one's eyes. It smelled better than anything Lupine had imagined; it was more amazing than he thought it would be.

"How fantastic…" breathed Lupine as he reached for the gold, his heart thumping in excitement and triumph at the thought of finally achieving his so sought-after goal.

But just as he was about to clasp the lovely object in his claws, disaster struck. A cascade of stone started falling from the ceiling, and in the confusion, he didn't hear Wild's cry of warning to him to duck. He was crawling towards the gold when a huge rock that was at least twice the size of his head struck him full on the forehead, making his lump swell up even larger and stunning him almost to death. "No…I got…so far…" Lupine whimpered as he collapsed on the ground; his arm reaching out for the gold he knew he'd never get now as the world started spinning. "I…just wish…I'd gotten it…before...I died…"

"LUPINE! LUPINE!" shouted Wild, rushing to his brother's side and almost falling over when he saw the state he was in. "ARE YOU OKAY?! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"J-just get the gold….don't w-worry about me," whispered Lupine as his vision went blurry and his head started to throb.

"Forget the gold; we've got to get out of here!" said Wild, grabbing Lupine under the arms and dragging him towards the mine exit.

"The gold…the gold…" babbled Lupine as he staggered towards the gorgeous nugget in a last attempt to snatch the treasure. However, his legs buckled underneath him again and he got no closer to getting the gold than he had been before.

"Oh, all right…fine; I'll get the gold for you," he heard Wild say as his brother stooped over the precious loot and snatched it up in his hands.

"That's mine," Lupine managed to squeak as he saw a huge boulder land in front of him and graze the tip of his nose. Then Wild grabbed him under the arms again and he passed out.

…

Wild was starting to get very worried now. It had been over an hour since he had escaped from the caving mine with Lupine and the gold, and his brother still hadn't shown any signs of reviving.

"Poor Lupine…he probably just died a horrible tragic death, and all for THIS…" sighed Wild as he held out the gold nugget and watched as it sparkled mockingly in the last remnants of sunset, as if it were saying, Lupine thought the gold was more important than YOU; now he's gone and you'll NEVER be able to get him back.

"No…that can't be true; he probably just fainted," argued Wild to himself as he reluctantly tucked the gold into Lupine's pocket and began to drag his brother again, groaning under his weight as he tried to move him towards some village, some friendly woodland cottage, some castle, SOMEWHERE where surely a kind person would take them in and help him care for Lupine.

However, Wild couldn't resist the temptation to take a break every now and then and gaze at the gold. Lupine certainly had good reasons for wanting it so badly, thought Wild as he turned the treasure over and over in his hands and admired its glittering beauty.

Why, with a nugget of THIS size, Wild could probably do anything he wanted! He could travel the world; he could live in a luxurious house; he could gain power, charisma…why, with wealth of THIS value, he might even pave himself a path to becoming leader of the Smurf Village one day!

He'd always thought that Papa Smurf was a little too strict. Under HIS leadership, then maybe Smurfs and animals would work side by side as equals, and perhaps he could teach those good-for-nothing humans a lesson about the lost art of bonding and show them that money wasn't needed to have a good life…

Wild shook his head as he tucked the gold away once more and began to haul Lupine again; he was no better than those humans if one little gold speck meant THAT much to him, and anyway, brotherhood was far more important than a measly little dream. Still, though, he had to admit that Lupine had a gift; he'd picked some beauty of a nugget to sniff out and it surely was worth quite a bit…

Wild stopped as he neared the entrance of the Smurf Village and gulped as he prepared what he was going to say to Papa Smurf as he walked up to his doorstep and told him about what had happened to Lupine. He wasn't sure if Papa would get mad at him or not-after all, he HAD banished Lupine and he wasn't supposed to return unless he changed his ways-but surely he would understand Wild's reasons and at least let Lupine stay in the village until he was healed?

With a pounding heart and nervous butterflies flitting in the pit of his stomach, Wild deposited Lupine gently on Papa's doorstep and rung his doorbell; hoping with all of his might that Papa would forgive them and help him save Lupine's life.

…..

"The blood of a blue wolf; from a pack whose name sounds like a star; his essence shall revive the dead; whether from near or from afar…" Papa repeated aloud to himself as he paced in his lab, trying to decode the final ingredient that he needed to complete the potion that would bring the griffinling's mother back to life.

The mixture that he was using to revive the griffinling's mother was a very special spell; something so secret that the instructions on how to create it were passed down in rhyme. So far, he had decoded all of the instructions and ingredients, but the last line stumped him completely. At first, he had thought that the poem meant blue wolfsbane, but when he had tried to use that herb in the potion, it had exploded in his face and given him a sooty beard. Next, he thought that maybe the verse meant a euphorbia root that had been soaked in blue moonlight, as the nickname for that was blue wolflight, but that combination hadn't worked either. He just couldn't figure out what it meant exactly. He was certain that the answer was something blindingly obvious, but he couldn't seem to figure out what it was exactly.

Normally, he enjoyed a challenge such as this and time wouldn't have been important to him-the longer it took to solve the puzzle, the better, in his view-but the griffinling, although he had been particularly busy and happy in the village, had kept asking him when the potion would be done and he couldn't bear the look on the griffinling's face when he told him that he wasn't done yet. He sighed and wondered if perhaps he should give up. Who knows what his beard might look like when he was through with all his experimentations, and anyway, maybe the herb that he needed had died out by this time or was in another part of the world completely.

A ring of his doorbell snapped him out of his reverie, reminding him that once again he would have to put aside the current task at the moment to take care of more important matters.

"Papa, it's me, Wild! I…." stammered Wild as Papa opened the door and glared at him when he saw that he had brought Lupine back with him.

"WILD! I thought I clearly said that Lupine was banished and if you were with him, you stayed with him! What in the meaning of Smurf's name is THIS?!"

"B-but Papa…j-just listen and give me a ch-chance to explain myself," stuttered Wild again, and he told Papa the whole story from the time he'd joined Lupine to right now. "So I hope you can understand why I took him back here…he's really hurt and you know more about healing than I do," finished Wild, crossing his fingers behind his back and hoping with all his might that Papa would forgive Lupine just this once and let him stay in the village until he was better.

"Well, the last time he 'fainted', he was faking it; how do you know he's really out cold?" asked Papa suspiciously, although a flicker of sympathy was starting to rise like a spark inside him.

"I-I don't know…but he was buried in a rockslide TWICE, and he was really hurt when he blacked out…besides, if you need proof that he needs to be taken care of, check THIS out…" At this, Wild pulled back Lupine's hat and the bump on his brother's head was clear to see; it was twice as big now and looked nastily painful.

As soon as Papa caught sight of that terrible lump, something lurched in his heart and he was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of failure and betrayal. It had been bad enough when he had had to admit to the village that he'd lost Lupine on that wintry night all those years ago. Now it seemed that he had lost Lupine again, and the worst kind of hurt is when you regain something you love and then you lose it again.

Besides, he felt that it was his duty as leader and father to protect his little Smurfs from danger, and if he hadn't sent Lupine out of the village just because he was in a bad mood, he never would've gotten hurt in the first place. He had failed in his duty, and the blame was his alone and would always be for as long as he lived. Tears filled his eyes as his heart throbbed with the pain of heartbreak and guilt, and he had a feeling that this was the kind of ache that would never go away, even if he cried until all his tears had dried up.

"Papa? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" interrupted Wild, snapping Papa out of his misery.

"N-nothing, my little Smurf; j-just got some potion powder in my eye," lied Papa, trying to force a smile onto his face and turning around hastily so that Wild wouldn't see him wiping his tears away. "Of course I'll forgive you and Lupine; that was a foolish and brave thing that you did, and you know full well that I'd never turn away a Smurf in need. You go and get some rest; I'll take care of Lupine and I'll let you know if he's getting better. Okay?"

"Okay," said Wild, but he didn't know how he'd be able to leave his brother's side when he was so injured. However, he felt that it would probably be best to do as Papa advised, and he knew that it would do him no good to mourn over his brother day and night when there were more important things he needed to be doing. Reluctantly, he nodded a farewell to his brother and skipped off to his house to sleep, wondering how long it would be before Lupine recovered.

He didn't see Papa scoop up Lupine in his arms and whisper, "I'm sorry, my little Smurf; it won't happen again, I promise," before he carried Lupine into his mushroom and left his sight.

…

Lupine heard someone calling his name and wondered sleepily how long it had been since the accident in the mine and where he was now. He slowly blinked and found himself lying in bed with Papa and Wild leaning over him; both of whom looked very worried. However, their expressions changed to immense relief when they saw Lupine open his eyes and hovered even closer to him, as though a miracle that they hadn't been expecting had just occurred.

"W-what happened? Wh-what am I doing back in the Smurf Village? Wh-where's the mine?" stuttered Lupine as he sat up, leaning heavily against the bedstead, and looked around himself; taking in his surroundings.

As his blurry vision focused, he found that he was in what he remembered to be Papa's mushroom, and early noon sunlight was streaming in through the windows. "Oh, Lupine, you're awake at last! We were so worried about you, you know!" sighed Papa as he looked closely at the groggy Smurf.

"Wh-what do you mean? Have I been sleeping?" asked Lupine in confusion as he reached up to rub his pounding head. He winced when his fingers brushed against his now-bandaged lump, and everything came tumbling back to him like rushing waters: the gold, the mine, his close call near the exit of the mine, finally getting the treasure, the second rockslide, and blackness. "How long was I out for? And I thought you told me that I was banished and couldn't ever come back!" exclaimed Lupine, feeling more confused than ever at this apparent turn of events.

"Well…that's a bit of a long story; luckily, I've got enough time to tell it," began Papa slowly, sitting down and getting a faraway look in his eyes as he began to tell the tale. "I was working on something important in my lab when Wild came here and dragged you along with him; he told me everything that happened and I knew that I couldn't turn you away; that would have been sheer cruelty on my part. So I took you in and cared for you for these past four days; you were asleep for so long that I was starting to get worried that you'd died; at least until today."

"FOUR DAYS?! I didn't think the lump was THAT bad!" gasped Lupine, suddenly feeling weak as he leaned against the pillows.

"I didn't either; but apparently you got knocked harder than you thought," explained Papa, wincing at the guilt-inducing memory. "Also, I've changed my mind about the banishment; it was really inappropriate on my part to banish you for such minor things and if I hadn't been in a bad mood because of an experiment that I was doing, I would've given you something far less severe as punishment. Since you seem to have gotten punishment the hard way, and since you need to rest for a while until you get completely better, I've decided that you can stay until that swelling of yours goes down; if you still want to stay after you're recovered, then that would make me jump with joy…"

"Oh, of course I'll stay; I missed you too!" replied Lupine; happiness swelling inside his heart. He was so happy that he felt like dancing, but when he jumped out of bed, everything started spinning and his legs buckled from beneath him again.

"Sorry about this, but you're going to have to stay in bed for a couple of days; maybe I should've told you earlier," explained Papa as he helped Lupine get back into bed.

"Oh…well, at least that'll give my back some time to heal," sighed Lupine as he laid back in bed and stared up thoughtfully at the ceiling; wondering how long he'd have to rest for before the lump got better again. He tried to stay awake, but he felt awfully tired and before he knew it, he'd drifted off to sleep again.

…..

It had been over a month now, and Lupine's leg was completely healed and his back was nearly all better; everyone had come to visit him and he was almost certain that Leafette was more in love with him than ever. "Poor you, Lupine; I can't believe you did all THAT for one little piece of gold!" she'd exclaimed when Lupine had first told her the tale of his adventure in the gold mine.

"W-well, it smelled good," Lupine had mumbled embarrassedly; blushing so bright red in the face that Papa had been convinced that he was catching a fever and had shooed Leafette out of the room and fussed over Lupine like a worried mother, much to his annoyance.

However, Lupine was worrying about Papa; he kept mumbling something about a 'blue wolf's blood' whose essence could 'revive the dead from near or afar'. He wondered if perhaps Papa had gotten a prophecy, but somehow he was too afraid to ask him about it. He also wondered if maybe Papa's prophecy was about HIM; after all, he was a Smurf and he did look an awful lot like a wolf. But again, whenever he tried to get up the guts to ask Papa about it, his lips wouldn't form the right words and he couldn't bring himself to ask the question he so desperately wanted an answer to.

Papa always gave him a funny look when he noticed Lupine's attempts to ask him that dreaded question, but he always shook his head and looked away thoughtfully whenever Lupine did that. Then he mumbled those strange words to himself over and over again, giving Lupine the kind of glance you'd give a lab rat that you were about to perform a test on.

That look always made Lupine feel uncomfortable somehow, but then he reminded himself that Papa wouldn't do anything to hurt him. If he didn't care about him, then why would he be helping him in the first place? It just didn't make any sense at all, and even though he ran those words through his head and mused about the connection between the funny looks and the mystic rhyme, he just couldn't understand what it all meant exactly.

Lupine snapped out of his reverie as he slowly swung his legs out of bed; Papa had told him that he could get up now and he was looking forward to being able to run again. He wasn't the sort of person who liked to stay still for long and he'd been feeling cooped up every single day of the past four weeks when he had been confined to bed rest. He sat on the bed for a few moments, trying to gather the courage to stand up again. It felt like it had been an eternity since he'd done it, even though it had simply been a mere four weeks since he'd last walked.

Eventually, he took a deep breath and slowly put one trembling foot on the floor; then the other. He stood for a few moments, testing his balance and getting used to the sensation of standing up. At last, when he was fairly confident that he wasn't going to collapse, he carefully took one step and waited for his legs to buckle. When his legs didn't crumple beneath him, he took another step forward, then another, then another. Soon, he was walking around as if he'd never been on bed rest at all. Triumph flooded through his veins and he howled aloud in joy as he raced outside and stretched his cramped legs in the warm afternoon sunlight.

After he'd raced and pranced and chased his tail dizzily for a few moments, he stopped for a moment and wondered what he should do next. The world never looked as full of opportunities as it did today; although he knew he should be working, he really wanted to say hello to Wild and hang around the village with him. Or perhaps he should visit Leafette; surely she'd be overjoyed to see him healed once more? Somehow, though, Leafette wasn't so interesting to Lupine anymore. She only really seemed to like him when he was hurt and she pitied him or he had done something particularly heroic, and he wasn't entirely sure that she would still like him if another Smurf did an act of heroism.

He had just decided that he should probably choose to visit Wild when a dark shadow fell over his head and a malodorous stench hit his nostrils like a boulder. "Yuck…whoever's here obviously hasn't washed in quite a few moons," moaned Lupine as he rubbed his nose and squinted through the sunlight to see what could possibly be smelling so bad and what was leaning over him at just that moment. As soon as he saw Gargamel's sneering face looking down at him, he let out a howl of fear and ran off as fast as his legs could take him; panting like crazy and wondering why on earth Gargamel was after him again.

He was just starting to think that he'd escaped from him at last when he stubbed his toe on a rock and tripped, sprawling headfirst onto the ground and getting a mouthful of dirt. Sneezing loudly, he tried to get to his feet again and trembled all over when he saw that Gargamel had caught up to him. Azrael was pinning him down securely to the ground with his paw and was licking his lips as he looked at Lupine as though he was a plate of tuna fish.

"PAPA! WILD! BLUE! SOMEBODY! HELP ME!" screamed Lupine in horror as he struggled to escape from Azrael's grasp; nipping at his paw and kicking his legs. However hard he struggled, though, the more determined Azrael became and held him down even more firmly.

"Azrael, can you try and hypnotize that Smurf again? He's become annoyingly difficult and it'll be impossible to take him away in THIS sort of undignified state, won't he?" asked Gargamel with a cruel gleam in his eyes.

"NO! I WON'T LOOK YOUR STUPID CAT IN THE EYES EVEN IF HE FORCES ME!" shouted Lupine back, absolutely determined to escape capture.

"Well…let's see," snickered Gargamel as Azrael glowered down at Lupine and pushed Lupine's chin up with a paw to force him to look him in the eyes. Lupine tried his best to avoid his stare, instead looking over his head and forcing himself not to think of how relaxing Azrael's green gaze was. It seemed to work: after a few minutes had passed, he found to his relief that he wasn't feeling groggy and Azrael seemed to have forgotten about trying to hold him fast.

His grip on Lupine was loosened, allowing the Smurf a chance to escape. He wriggled furiously and soon found himself out of Azrael's grip; he scuttled off as quietly as he could to escape the evil duo and started to search for signs of another Smurf so that he could warn his family about the lurking danger.

"HE ESCAPED! Azrael, we'll have to use force now. GET THAT SMURF AND WHEN YOU GET HIM, WELL…YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!" shrieked Gargamel hysterically, and Lupine found himself running away from the dangerous tabby. Although he tried to run as long as he could, after a while he had a painful stitch in his side that he knew wouldn't go away if he didn't stop, but it hurt so bad that he was afraid that he might pass out from the pain. However, he knew that staying alert was the key to defeating Azrael. I'll just stop for a few seconds; then I'll start running again, he promised himself as he clambered into a tree and clung furiously to one of the branches; gazing back down at Azrael and fervently hoping that he didn't know how to climb.

Unfortunately for Lupine, Azrael DID know how to climb-he scampered up the tree as if he were a furry orange squirrel and took Lupine totally by surprise, and he almost fell out of the tree. That was a close one; you sure don't want to be breaking your back after what happened six moons ago, he thought to himself as he climbed even higher; totally desperate to escape this ferocious feline and wondering if the others had heard his desperate cries. Perhaps help was on the way already?

He was just scurrying onto a lower twig and thinking that he should be getting out of the tree as soon as possibly when he felt Azrael's strong paw whap him on the back, and with a gasp of horror, he fell out of the tree and hit the ground, hard. He lay stunned and winded for a few moments before he got to his feet and started checking himself to make sure he hadn't broken anything. To his relief, he only had a few bruises and scrapes and, best of all, his back hadn't been broken again.

He started to flee when he felt Azrael grab him again and slap him across the face. He gasped again as his head started spinning, and he had a sinking feeling that he was going to black out. I can't let that happen…no furball's EVER going to kidnap ME again! Lupine thought in determination, and he began to struggle again in the hopes that the cat would let him go.

"MRRAAAWWW!" wailed Azrael, surprised that his prey was almost succeeding in his struggle to escape. He was highly frustrated that his paw slap didn't work. Now he had to use his hypnosis, which he wasn't sure even worked! That one time could've just been dumb luck, after all. Still, he narrowed his eyes and gave Lupine a filthy glare, hoping with all of his might that the hypnosis would work at least this time.

It did indeed work- within moments of being glared at, Lupine felt his head spinning once more and his eyelids drooping. This can't be happening, this can't be happening; stay awake, stay awake, he told himself, but once again he was helpless to the flooding tide of Azrael's hypnotism. A few minutes later, Lupine's eyes closed and he had succumbed to Azrael for the second time.