Hello, Hola, Ciao, Salut, and so on. Here's 4.28 AM, and i'm posting this new chapter. Enjoy.

Oh, and i wanna make a special thank to Rovio. It's nice to know that at least (some)one appreciates my work.

Chapter 6: A Ray of Hope

GRIN's P.O.V.

He forced himself to run straight, without looking back. Tears were flying out of his eyes, blurring his view, but he had to keep his promiset o his mother to go on, and to not come back for any reason in that hideous territory.

After crossing the narrow path standing over the edge, he continued to rush as fast as he could.

He couldn't believe it. He had lost so much in a so little time. He realized he was now all alone into dealing with harsh reality. He couldn't survive for long like that. A little, poor wolf cub that wanders in a unknown, inhospitable forest.

He kept running and running for what seemed hours, trying to find a hidden spot, even a hole, for shelter from the impending rain, and, of course, from an angry crowd that wished to kill him.

A light rain began to pour down, soaking slightly his white-brownish fur. He had to hurry to find some place to hide.

This time luck was on his side: he found a rather small hole between two rocks beneath a fallen log, whose roots almost completely masked hole's hollowed log, and connected two banks of a small river that crossed territory. He didn't waste time, and crawled into the hole, finding a momentary peace. There, he thought of everything that rapidly occurred before, and couldn't help but started to sniff hardly.

"Why did this happen to me? I didn't do anything wrong!" He thought out loud. He really squeezed his brain to find a reason for such a deep hatred for him, but nothing. Tears were completely swallowing his bicoloured eyes. His head was a complete mess.

But the course of his thoughts stopped because he heard someone saying: "That little monster went over here!". He immediately curled in a ball, facing into darkness, and waiting for the inevitable death.

Then he suddenly heard another voice shouting. It was a voice that belonged surely to an elderly wolf.
" You" said with a deep , but proud voice ,"Who do you think you are to trespass our pack's borders, huh?"
"It's none of your business" said the male chief wolf "Get away from us or-" A wolf shouted, answering to him, but he didn't have time to finish his sentence because he found himself lying on his back, pinned down in a blink of an eye, with the old wolf standing over him, applying a certain pressure with his left paw on his throat, ready to unsheathe his claws. "Or…what?" He said, with a bold smile, looking down on him.

Grin was confused. He was sure they were going to find him and kill in few seconds, maybe after a minute. But a rather strange quiet occurred after that shout, and being damn curious, he peeked out the hole.

He was speechless.

He saw a tall, strong, proud wolf, standing on another wolf surprised by something. His fur was black with some shades of bronze on his facial mask and his underbelly, his tail was black in the upper part, bronze in lower part. His eyes were deep blue, but his distinctive characteristic was a long scar that ran all over his face, starting from his left temple, going through part of his nose, and finishing under his chin. He seemed he fought against something really big for having procured such a big wound. Although he was very audacious, it was possible to notice signs of an advanced age:it was possible to notice some white hairs scattering everywhere in his fur.

He let go the trespasser wolf trapped under him.

Wolves around him began to growl to him, but he seemed to be fearless, and with intrepid words, he continued: "I believe that you won't make me call other wolves of my pack… Because, if so,you'll all be dead for trespassing in half an hour" He sentenced, ending with a grin.
Trespassing wolves were a little bit shocked, but, for now, they were about twenty against one.
"Ah ah ah, don't make me laugh. Why do you believe that you and your stupid pack could stand a chance against us?"

"Well" the old wolf began to say "I'm gonna tell you something, but i'm not very proud of it… See what i've done to you before?" The other wolf nodded "Well… in short, think i'm the weakest of our pack"

Wolves gasped and chatted to each other, but their chief said "Liar!"

Then the scarred wolf smiled with a grin and said: "Okay, if you don't believe me, we have a very long tradition of torturing enemy wolves before… before killing them" He licked his lips sadistically. "For example, Joshua loves to separate, limb after limb, vein after vein, heads from rest of their bodies, just for, you know…enrich his private collection… and your head..." he indicated with his forepaw a pearled furred wolf standing nearby"...really looks like one of the last missing pieces of his collection. I think he really would love to...meet you"

Grin thought to himself, making a disgusted face: "Ewww, that's REALLY gross!"

It was possible to see that wolf beginning to cower in fear, shaking visibily and in the abundance of horrible details.

"Then" he continued, turning to face all the attacking wolves, "There's another one wolf which i think it's the most creative of all of us. Her name's Skyrie and… she shows a special appreciation to… Eye balls… she loved to taste their jelly, slimy juices, especially from just dead wolves"

It was possible to see faint a few wolves from his shocking description. Fear was written all over their faces.
The scarred wolf noticed this, and he was ready to give them coup de grace.

"So, take this as an act of charity: i'm gonna give you ten seconds to dissolve yourself and come back to the filthy place you call home, or then we're gonna torture you very slowly until death, and then we'll feast with your dead corpses!"

He turned his back and said:"I'm gonna start counting now: One, two…."

Attacking wolves were withdrawing in a very quick manner. They wanted not endure their madness. They have vanished completely into the thick forest, scared to death from that wolf and his sick companions.

When it was no longer possible to hear wolves's running footsteps, he began to chuckle quietly, saying in a very low tone, as he was speaking to himself:

"Oh, they are all gullible in this world? Or am I too good at acting? Well, I must admit that now have several years that I play the same part, and i have never done more than tell them about Skyrie…"

Suddenly, he heard a faint sniffing sound coming from somewhere underneath him. He followed direction from which sound seemed to come, and he founded himself in front of a small hole dug between two rocks.

So the old, scarred wolf tried to say something: "Hello, anybody there?"

"G-GO AWAY!" a squeaky voice thundered in between sobs.

He tried to readjust his view to look better in that dark hole, and see a small ball of brownish-white fur curled there.

"Hey there, little guy, i'm not gonna hurt you-"
"I don't believe you! I've heard what you and your pack do to other wolves, you're just sick monsters!" Then he began to cry heavily.

"Hey, hey, hey! Listen to me, little gringo, nobody is gonna hurt you, i swear that on my life! That was just a hoax, there's no pack, there's no suffering, it's just me and no one else… I have to act like that because i need to preserve my territory from other wolves menaces. I'm sorry if I scared you in some way" He said, in a worried and sorry tone

Grin's sobs slowly stopped, and decided to get out of the hole to meet this wolf. He slowly crawled outside, lightly shaking in fear.

When Grin was in view, that wolf was slightly amazed. He, in his whole life, had never seen a thing like that.

"What a cool eyes do you have, hmm?" He managed to say with a chuckle

"Oh, where my manners are, my name is Valen, and i've lived in this territory for three years, and i'm a lone wolf…so what's your name, lil' buddy?"

"My name is Grin, i was born two weeks ago in the territory of the pack that was chasing me…" He said, sniffing a bit.

"Oh, where your parents are? I bet they're worried sick for you!"

"Well" he saddened "My mother told me my father died before i was born, and so i've never met him"
"I'm sorry to hear that"

"…And then…" Tears starting to form in his eyes "…My mother, this morning, come into our den and told me that I have to run far, far away from our home. I was hoping she was coming with me, but she never came after me… She commanded me to never come back home, for no reason… She said she'll be forever with me, but she lied!"

Tears starting to fall down to his cheeks. Valen's face was deeply concerned about this pup's present and future, but he has never been faced with such a situation. He didn't really know, despite his venerable age, how to take care of a pup. But now there was no time for whining, it was time to act, at least for welfare of this pup. He might have done some serious mistakes in his past, but this was a perfect occasion to try to obtain a sort of…redemption.

"No, lil' buddy, your mother didn't lie" He said, starting to hug him in a fatherly way "When you love someone, remember they all live with you forever…Here" he pulled away from the hug, took one of his small paws and placed it on his heart.

Grin looked confused for a moment, but after he understood completely. Although not phisically present, his mother will forever remembered in his heart. He smiled at his new discovery, with one of that sweet smiles full of innocence, that would make your heart melt like snow in the sun.

"Okay, it was a extreme pleasure to meet you, but now i have to go… I don't wanna stay in a such near place to those crazy wolves" Grin said, and began to walk away from him, towards another portion of deep forest, but Valen stepped in front of him, and said:
"Oh, you're a tough little guy, huh? But you have to listen to me: you're not going to survive for two days into the wild forest… You don't even know how you're going to get food, am I wrong?"

Grin didn't even think about that. He was only a little, helpless cub. How could he hope to survive in a world totally unknown to him?

"Yeah, you're right, i guess…" He sat down, looking to the ground, with his ears back in shame.

"Hey, don't be dismayed, no one is born able, you just have to learn, that's all… and if you want, since you've nowhere else to go, you could stay with me for as long as you want, and, always if you want, i could teach you some important surviving tricks, and, if you prove capable, I could even … train you to become a little more stronger than a normal Alpha…"

Grin's eyes widened in surprise, and he got really excited: you could deduce it from the furious wag of his tail.
"Really? That's great! I cannot wait to start!"

"So, come on boy, let's get to my…uhm, henceforth it's gonna be OUR den…Ahahah got it boy? Boy…"
Valen turned his head to see Grin had fell into a deep slumber, slightly snoring. He decided to grab him by his scruff and take him to the den.

"Poor boy, you surely had a very stressful day…"

I have a quick hint to say to you. I've compiled a sort of trama with 35 points to follow. In these six chapters, i used only two points so... I wanna say story had just begun.

Remember
To
Review
Please, Please, Please! I WANNA KNOW WHAT DO YOU THINK! Don't be shy!

Arigatou gouzaimasu!