Finally, we reach the end. Before we get into things, I'd like to thank the following peeps: Slytherin Studios, blackrosewitch1996, Ebbi538, MarvelObsessed, Gotta Dance 88, jewels369, antonie,triskova, Abandon All Sanity, roserain1998, Silver as the Rain, Guest(s), and of course MustangLover97 for all your lovely reviews...without them, completion of this story would've been difficult.
Thanks for all the favourites and alerts as well.
And as of today (February 20, 2016) I have four chapters written for the upcoming sequel: CASUALITES 2: Of Wolves and Chameleons.
Maybe I'll see you there?
TWENTY-FIVE: Casualties
Taiga padded alongside Camilla Amhel on their way to Harold Amhel's grave, on the day of what would've been their daughter's twenty-third birthday. Harold's grave was not set in some idyllic spot, it was tucked between two ornate tombstones decorated with daises and red spider lilies, the brightness of the flowers helped take away from the bleak whiteness of the snow blanketed the cemetery. Camilla didn't bring flowers anymore, not when they wilted so easily in the cold; she once toyed with the idea of bringing fake flowers that wouldn't lose their colour but Logan had disagreed. It seemed strange coming from the boy who'd paint pictures of inanimate objects – fruits, flowers, people, animals – hoping they last longer in his memories. A lot of his paintings had been flown down from his cabin, but a great deal more had been destroyed in "a robbery gone wrong".
Bullshit, Camilla thought bitterly. No one lived that far north, Logan had told her so. He wanted the solitude, fulfilling a somewhat cliché motif about artists, but that wasn't the only reason.
While Harold's grave was started to show its age in small cracks and invasive weeds, Logan and his husband Hideki got a decent sized crypt further on the hilltop. Hideki's family was wealthy and Logan made it clear that when he died, he'd be eternally to rest with his one true love. Camilla hadn't expected that to be so soon. They two of them had died in a tragic plane accident, the Mounties found their bodies trapped in the rubble in a forest and oddly enough, the search hadn't taken long.
Camilla wasn't stupid; she knew something else had been going on which explained why there was no grave for her daughter. Theresa was alive, she knew it. The Mounties claimed that a robbery had taken place shortly after the boys' plane went down, Theresa appeared to have fought off her attacker but was ultimately overpowered. They couldn't offer any clues on suspects or motive, there appeared to be no other signs of Theresa aside from Taiga and Camilla couldn't exactly ask the husky.
No.
As she stood in front of the crypt, she knew that one of Hideki's siblings had come by earlier in the day with red roses. But stranger still were the two twigs of cherry blossoms braided together. Camilla shivered. No one in Calgary grew cherry blossoms, the climate couldn't really support them and who would've ordered these in…?
Taiga sniffed the air curiously, walking around in a circle and sitting down, looking down over the hill with renewed interest. Camilla turned as well, pushing her thick brown hair behind her ears.
A few people were moving in between graves near the gates, a couple was carefully descending the hill, meandering around the graves, lingering once or twice. Camilla couldn't place them; she grew to recognize people here given the frequency of her visits. The man was impossible to place with the amount of clothes covering him up, but he had blond hair. The woman had a head of striking blue hair cut close to her head, the same way Theresa would've liked.
Camilla felt her heart plummet into her stomach. Taiga was attentive on the couple, snapping her fingers for Taiga and dashing after the couple. They paused, deliberately, in front of Harold's grave. The woman dropped a white lily on the ground in front of it, trying to appear nonchalant. Camilla stopped herself from crying out as she grabbed the woman's wrist.
"Wait!"
Taiga investigated the man eagerly, his tail wagging wildly.
"Please, wait." Camilla breathed, staring into the woman's face.
She was around the same age as Theresa, her eyes were dark green, like Theresa's were. But her face…
Dark red burn marks crisscrossed her face in ugly lines, one darted down her right cheek, another cut over the left side of her lips. Smaller circular burn marks dotted her neck and chin, a jagged scar roamed across her face, over her nose, from ear to ear.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were…" Camilla murmured, slowly releasing her grip. "I thought you were my…"
"It's OK," the woman croaked. "You look like someone I used to know too."
Taiga started whimpering, trying to get the woman to notice him. She smiled, her eyes wet, and kneeled down to rub Taiga's cheeks.
"I like your dog," she said in a small voice, giggling as the husky licked her face. "He's very friendly." The woman mechanically reached for the dog tag on Taiga's collar, scraping her fingers along the name.
"Taiga, huh? That's cute, I met a dog called Tundra the other day." The way the woman said "dog" was not convincing.
She stood up and took the man's hand, squeezing it and he nodded, his eyes never leaving her.
"My name's Thalia James, this is…uh, Shizuka Hayabusa." Thalia held out her hand, Camilla saw it was shaking.
"Camilla Amhel, I'm sorry for your loss."
"Yours as well, C-Camilla." Thalia bit her lip, pulling her hand back and covering her mouth. "We should get going, it was…nice seeing you again."
Thalia blinked rapidly and walked towards a black vehicle, Shizuka patted Taiga's head and jogged after her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they climbed inside the van and drove off. Camilla fell onto her knees, reaching for Taiga and openly sobbing, a few onlookers came to her side in comfort her but she had it. She knew it.
But did Thalia catch the slip up too?
"Talk about being disarmed."
"Keep it up, Whisper, we'll see if you still have both eyes in the morning."
Thalia sighed as she walked into the infirmary, smirking at Erebus as he sat in one of the beds, trying to find a comfortable position. He couldn't exactly cross his arms anymore, Cobra had thrown his arm into the ocean and no one could find it. There was still the prospect of giving him a prosthetic or trying out a new bionics project, but he was oddly content with the one arm. For now, at least.
Whisper was keeping him company before she returned to her ranch, the two of them were aggressively arm-wrestling, much to the doctor's chagrin.
Whisper grinned as she pinned Erebus's arm to the small table, containing her victory shout as Thalia sat down on the bed, pulling her legs under her. Erebus grimaced, flexing his hand and growling something under his breath.
"Looks like you need some major physiotherapy, given you're not so –"
"Please don't."
"…Handy." Whisper blurted, giggling and clutching her sides.
Erebus groaned and shut his eyes, reaching for Thalia and pulling her further up the bed.
"Save me from her puns, please, I can't take it."
"I don't know, bro, I found it pretty…humerus." Thalia snorted, squeaking as Erebus shoved her away with a scowl. "Oh come on, throw me a bone here."
"No, no more. Out with both of you before my blood pressure rises." Erebus groaned, looking towards the door as Snake Eyes entered. "Dude, your girlfriend keeps punning, stop her before I do."
Snake Eyes froze and Thalia felt her cheeks flush, but the ninja recovered quickly.
"Tibia honest, we aren't actually dating."
"Oh for fuck's sake, go." Erebus kicked Thalia off the bed, grabbing a pillow and whacking Whisper in the face until she finally left the room, chasing by flying pillow.
Thalia and Snake Eyes walked out, walking into the cafeteria and meeting up with the fully assembled Alpha Team and Roadblock's team, Beta. All were dressed in standard military garb and though Duke's face in particular was a little more somber than the others, they all looked rather proud of themselves. Roadblock in particular pulled Thalia under his arm and declared in a loud voice –
"Everyone, meet Fenris."
Snake Eyes raised an eyebrow. Thalia shrugged.
"I think it fits."
"She did gnaw his bone off," Ripcord said in a conspiring tone.
"I did not, I just…grazed it really."
"You had your teeth around his radius bone, I saw the reports." Scarlet pointed out. "Not what I would've done but hey, points for creativity."
"No one's going to give you any trouble here, Fenris, those scars probably help." Flint said mildly nervous tone, stepping away to prove his point.
"Guys, come on." Thalia whined, shuffling away from Roadblock and positioning herself a little behind Snake Eyes.
Lady Jaye smirked. "Of course, being Snake's newest apprentice has its perks too. You aren't coming to the ceremony?"
"No. I'd rather avoid having my face broadcasted again. We'll be leaving for Japan once Erebus is fit for transport."
Breaker, mostly just observing the conversation, suddenly got a bright look in his eye as he nudged Heavy Duty.
"We sure that's a good idea?" he started. "I mean, putting Fenris with Erebus seeing as he's already sans one arm? We might as well name him Tyr."
"You guys are terrible."
Thalia woke up in her room, somewhere in Hokkaido, in one of Snake Eyes's hidden dojos scattered throughout the world. Winter was great here, almost as great as the winters she'd spent as a child. The window revealed heavy wet snow wrapped around the roots of huge trees, more snow got cut in the branches, falling haphazardly in the wind or because of the sheer force of Erebus's fists. She could see him outside in a thin robe, pounding his palm against the tree trunk, leaving a sizable dent. He wouldn't stay here forever, he still had things to do but thank goodness Snake Eyes held enough influence over him.
Thalia rubbed the sand out of her eyes and popped the window open, throwing her head out and breathing in the fresh air. A snowball hit her squarely in the face and she didn't have enough time to recover because Erebus was already gone. Frowning and shivering, she dropped back inside and shut the window, grabbing a black haori and slipped her arm into the sleeves.
Snake Eyes had let her sleep in this morning to get rid of the jet lag from so much travelling, and judging from the aroma in the air, it was close to dinnertime. She yawned and ducked as Erebus tossed a pillow at her, dropping down to pick it back up and returning it to its place in front of the small table. Snake Eyes was in the small kitchen cooking, free of his standard uniform and wearing navy blue pants and a sleeveless, high necked shirt. His bare arms were just as scarred as Thalia remembered and now she knew where all the new scars came from. Her chest hurt at the thought of them, of who inflicted them, but she pushed that aside.
Storm Shadow was sitting in the corner sharpening his swords, he looked up when Thalia entered and nodded his head slowly. Thalia smiled thinly at him and took her seat.
Snake Eyes turned around whistling with his arms full of hot plates, Thalia jumped up and helped him carry everything to the table. Storm Shadow only joined them after everyone sat down, grabbing the teapot from the counter and sitting opposite Thalia. Erebus and Snake Eyes sat on either side of her, watching her face as Storm Shadow got comfortable.
"I didn't sense any killing intent," Erebus noted. "Lovely, itadakimasu."
"You are getting better, Thalia, really."
"Uh huh." She tore her eyes away from Storm Shadow to look at Snake Eyes, smiling a little and sighing deeply. "He brought tea, I'm…happy."
Erebus opened his mouth but Storm Shadow slapped his hand over it with a look, shaking his head as Snake Eyes laughed. Of course, they'd never hear him laugh again, and that made Storm Shadow's face twist uncomfortably – but Snake Eyes shook his head. He reached behind him and brought out a large package in bright wrapping paper. Thalia dropped her chopsticks and swung her head around to look at Erebus who reached under the table and pulled out two boxes.
"What…what is this?"
Storm Shadow reached into his shirt and pulled out a small gift box as well and set it on the table. Thalia shook her head again, and Snake Eyes patted her back.
"One, it's Christmas and we do celebrate here. Second, your birthday was a few days ago; I gave you one of my presents that day."
Thalia felt funny watching his mouth move in sync with his hands, instantly remembering their trip to her hometown….
"And Erebus insisted on celebrating."
"Meaning you open my presents first." Erebus snickered, pushing the boxes over and poking her forehead. "Happy birthday, pup."
"Please don't make that a thing…" She grumbled, her cheeks red.
The first package was actually from Hattori Hanzo, it was the blue kimono she'd worn after they'd rescued Jinx and Snake Eyes. She smiled, making a mental note to send a letter of thanks or something.
The second package was rather squishy and opening it, Thalia pulled out a giant wolf plushy aptly named Fenris as well. She didn't stay mad at him long, hugging the stuffed animal and placing it in her lap.
She glanced at Storm Shadow's gift warily and he put his hands in the air and shut his eyes. Thalia slipped her fingers between the paper and raised an eyebrow at the colourful barrettes, peering at them at length before Storm Shadow picked one up and snapped it open.
"They have tools, like a lock pick. Little daggers…yeah."
"Um…thanks." Thalia mumbled, gathering them up and putting them on the floor.
Snake Eyes's gift was last and she held it in her hands awkwardly, feeling it shift in her hands. Erebus looked like he was trying not to laugh and Storm Shadow was covering the lower half of his face. Snake Eyes's lips were twitching and his eyes sparkled with amusement.
Thalia ripped the paper and raised an eyebrow, pulled out a length of chain with two curved blades on either side.
"This looks like work." She frowned, lifting the blades up. Smaller inscriptions on the blades read Gleipnir Skoll, Gleipnir Hati.
"The naginata was a good basic weapon for you, this is just a step up. It will take time but you've shown excellent work ethic."
"…Gleipnir is the name of the ribbon that held down the Fenris wolf…Skoll and Hati are apparently his children…You guys really like that codename, don't you?"
"You don't like these then?" Snake Eyes wondered, reaching to grab Gleipnir.
Thalia pulled away. "No! It's just…a weird way to gain a codename."
"Storm Shadow is the literal translation of "Arashikage", you have little to worry. And besides, I think it suits you well." Storm Shadow said.
"Yeah! You're a part of a big wolf pack now and you did nearly bite a guy's hand off. Fenris stays." Erebus agreed heartily.
Thalia sighed deeply and looked up at Snake Eyes.
"I like it. Very badass."
"Oh, can it Hayabusa," Fenris snorted.
The End