Ending: Chapter Twelve

Sparrow has to decide if he will allow Hurricane to remain in the North Pack with Opaque; Opaque has her pups.

Oh, holding my breath
Won't lose you again
Something's made your eyes go cold
Come on, come on
Don't leave me like this
I thought I had you figured out
Something's gone terribly wrong
- Haunted by Taylor Swift

Sparrow had been staring at Hurricane for several minutes now with his eyes wide, or at least it felt like minutes.  He was still shocked that Hurricane had suddenly asked him if he could stay with Opaque.  But he seemed as if he desperately wanted to stay with her.  Sparrow still couldn't trust him, he knew, but that could change if he let him stay.  But what if Hurricane...?

Shaking his head free of all thoughts, Sparrow looked at the dark grey wolf standing in front of him seriously.  "You... want to stay... here."

Hurricane nodded, looking at Opaque.  The black she-wolf cut in aggressively, stepping up closer to her brother.  "We've been seeing each other secretly for almost three years," she protested.  "You can't make us keep doing that.  That wouldn't be fair, or very practical."

Sparrow knew that she was right, although he hated admitting it.  "You're right..." he said, sighing impatiently.  "But I'm just not sure if he should stay, because what if-"  His sister looked at him dangerously, and he silenced himself.  A herd of bison had now entered the valley area and were grazing peacefully below, and only a few were actually paying attention warily to the wolves in front of them.  Sparrow, Opaque, and Hurricane took notice, but no one else did.  Annoyed that he had become momentarily distracted, Sparrow turned his attention back to his sister and Hurricane.  "Anyway..." he started, but the two turned their attention back to the bison when one of them looked increasingly alarmed and snorted.  Sparrow, now annoyed, made up his mind and quickly took off away from the others.  He tore straight into the path of the bison herd, spooking them all and making them run in different directions. 

Sparrow returned to their sides when all bison had began to run away far enough for his liking.  He appeared back as if nothing had happened, and cleared his throat.  "Anyway."  He paused, looking at Hurricane skeptically to make sure he was listening.  "...Do you really think that I should allow you into this pack?  Because... I've done that before, with another wolf, and she ended up trying to kill me.  So..."  He smirked.  "As far as it is now, that's not the best ide-"

"Sparrow," Opaque interrupted, "he's been seeing me for years and nothing has ever happened between us."

"That's because you don't see each other enough," Sparrow said eagerly.  "If you did, you would get sick of each other and -"

"No," Opaque snarled, "we wouldn't.  Why can't you just let him into the pack?"

Sparrow glared at her, and turned his attention back to Hurricane.  He shook his head blankly, and rolled his eyes.  "What's the point in arguing with you?" he muttered under his breath.  "Fine.  You can stay... for now."

Opaque nudged her mate's shoulder affectionately, and Sparrow rolled his eyes, heading off towards the rest of the pack.  "Now that the two lovebirds have been reunited," he began slyly, "let's get out of here.  It's getting too hot."  With nods and squeals of agreement, the pack followed him back to their territory without any sign of another animal.

~ ~ ~

It was a few days after the last hunt the wolves had, where they went fishing.  Hurricane had now been in the pack for three days, Sparrow realized, as he woke up that morning.  It wasn't like he had been counting, though, of course.  He didn't care at all what happened to Hurricane, but he knew that Opaque would.  And if Opaque was worried or concerned or grieving over something... he knew that he probably would too.  He was undeniably close to his sister, even though they had days where they couldn't stand each other, but he was here to protect her.  Just because she was a year older than him didn't mean that she made good decisions all the time.  And one of the bad ones that she had made was letting Hurricane into the pack.

Well, no, Sparrow knew.  That was his fault.  He had made the stupid decision of allowing Hurricane to stay in his pack.  But if he hadn't done that, Opaque wouldn't be happy, and he supposed that he wanted her to be happy.  It was hard to tell what Opaque wanted most of the time, because she wasn't very good at expressing what she wanted.  She kept secrets all the time - she had kept the secret about Hurricane for two years until she finally mentioned him.  But if she hadn't told him, Sparrow wouldn't have even thought of the possibility of her mating, and she most likely wouldn't have mated with Hurricane to keep him a secret.  That would be strange to think about.  Because, Sparrow didn't want Opaque to have any problems with her pregnancy, and he got more nervous as the days went on.  What if something went wrong?  He would never forgive himself for that.  But if the day she gave birth was destined to be her last day on Earth, at least Hurricane would be with her to see her one last time. 

Sparrow was also tired of her acting like Hurricane was all that she cared about.  She always spoke of him, and she always mentioned the fact that she was going to see him before he actually came into the pack.  Sparrow was still confused about the fact that Opaque seemed as if she was urging her mate to ask if he could stay in the pack, as if she actually thought that her brother would agree with that.  Sparrow scoffed out loud as he thought of that.  Did Opaque really think that?  He thought that she had known him long enough to tell that he wasn't going to just allow someone else into the pack, like what he did with Crystal. 

Suddenly, Sparrow's thoughts were interrupted with a shrill scream.  Startled, he jumped, his heart pounding as he looked around to figure out where the sound was coming from.  He saw Moon hurry out of her den suddenly, and he ran over to her. 

"What's happening?" he asked frantically.

Moon shook her head.  "You shouldn't worry," she said.  "I'm fairly sure that it was Opaque."

Sparrow's eyes widened.  "Yes, that's a perfect reason not to worry," he said sarcastically, beginning to head over to the nursery, where Opaque had moved to three days ago.  "My sister is having her pups, and I shouldn't worry at all."

Moon glared at him, and the two entered Opaque's den.  She was breathing heavily, and her eyes met theirs with a helpless gaze.  "They're - coming," she stuttered, resting her head on the ground and taking in a deep breath.  "I can t-tell."

Moon hurried to her side, and Sparrow stayed at the entrance of the nursery.  "Get Hurricane," Moon ordered, and Sparrow turned around slowly to go and find Hurricane.  It was just hilarious how he had wanted to be with her when she was giving birth, yet he wasn't there.

Turning left, he began to search for Hurricane.  Sparrow couldn't see him at all quite yet, so he turned the corner of the last den to the left and squealed as he ran directly into Hurricane.  "It's Opaque," Sparrow told him, and Hurricane ran straight past him towards the nursery.  Following him back nonchalantly and slowly, Sparrow had a million different thoughts swarming around in his head but he chose to ignore them all and approached the nursery.  He could hear Opaque speaking to Hurricane frantically, and him telling her that everything would be alright, and Moon was telling Opaque what to do.  Sparrow shuddered at the thought of birth... Sounds delightful, he thought sarcastically.  Of course, he was slightly freaked out about Opaque moments away from giving birth, but he had to think of something else to clear his head.  He entered the nursery den, and Opaque had begun to groan in the pain.  He bit his lip when she screamed out, and Moon turned to see Sparrow.  "She'll be fine," she said simply, looking amused at Sparrow's worried look.  "This is all normal."

Sparrow took a deep breath.  "Well, how would we tell if s-something was... wrong?"

Moon gave him a hasty expression.  "Um, well... she'd be in a lot more pain than she is now," she said quickly.  "She'd most likely be bleeding, too.  That's happened before." 

"Oh," Sparrow grimaced.  "Well... I guess that I'll just leave.  I really don't want to see anything, so... just tell me how she is."

And then, he left. 

~ ~ ~

Sparrow couldn't hide his smile when he met eyes with his sister.  She was alone in the nursery with three black pups and one stormy-grey one.  They were sleeping, as far as he could tell, cuddled up in their mother's fur neatly.  Opaque smiled back at her brother, and he sat down close to the entrance.

"How are they?" he asked quietly, watching as a medium-sized black pup let out a content sigh.

Opaque smiled down at her pups.  "They're fine," she replied, looking back up at Sparrow.  "And so am I, just in case you were worried."

"Oh, no, I wasn't worried at a- Opaque, I thought you were going to DIE!" Sparrow yelped.  "But Moon told me it was normal, and I was thinking, 'how can that be normal?!', but I didn't say anything, and I left, and..."

"I am glad it's over," Opaque muttered darkly.  "It hurt a lot, but at least these four are safe."

Sparrow rolled his eyes.  Of COURSE Opaque was only worried about the safety of her pups.  He was surprised she hadn't mentioned Hurricane yet.  "Well, obviously it was going to hurt," Sparrow told her sarcastically.  "Did you think it was going to be painless?"

"Well, no," Opaque admitted.  "But I didn't think that it would hurt as much as it did."

Sparrow shrugged.  "I know nothing about birth."

Opaque smirked, shifting her weight.  "You're not supposed to," she said.  "You're male.  Males no nothing about ANYTHING."

Sparrow looked at her dangerously, and she gave an apologetic whimper.  "Sorry," she said innocently. 

"It's about time you start showing your brother and leader some respect," Sparrow replied.

Opaque rolled her eyes.  "It's not like you do," she complained.  "Plus, you're younger than me, and the older sibling should  always control the younger one."

"I'm more mature than you, and you know it," her brother barked at her.

"You are not!" Opaque whined.  "I am definitely more mat-"  She stopped suddenly as one of her pups, a small black one, let out a yawn.  It squirmed frantically, and began to nurse from its mother.

"...When do they start eating meat?" Sparrow asked, not taking his eyes off of the pup. 

Opaque shrugged.  "I'll ask Moon," she said simply.

"Moon has never had pups," Sparrow informed her.  "I think.  She wouldn't know."

"She's supposed to," Opaque pouted.  "She's the healer wolf."

"Yes, but -"

"No.  No buts."

"YOU'RE NOT IN CHARGE OF ME -"

"I am older," was Opaque's smug response.

"I would cuff you if you weren't with your pups," Sparrow growled.  "Will you shut up?  For once?"

"Nope!"

"Damn."

~ ~ ~

After he finally got his sister to shut up, Sparrow made his way out of the nursery and to the meeting cliff.  He carefully walked up it, slipping on something sticky.  Confused (and disgusted), Sparrow lifted his paw off the ground and gasped in the sick realization. 

What he had stepped in was a small pool of blood, thickly laying on the rocky surface.  It glimmered in the bright sunlight.  He looked further to the left out of curiosity, and spotted a dead bird of some sort which was twisted up and mangled.  To his horror, Sparrow noticed the cause of the bird's apparent death: there was a deep bullet hole in the bird's torn throat.  It had been shot.  He knew already what a bullet hole met.

Hunters.

They were back.

Sparrow and the rest of the pack hadn't been bothered by hunters after Snowflake and Leader were shot.  Sure, they had seen traps and wires, and even the rare campsite (not many people, even hunters, were foolish enough to camp in predator-infested woods).  But they hadn't seen a hunter or saw any animals who had been injured or killed by them.  "Great," Sparrow muttered.  "Hunters are the last thing we need."

Glad that no one had heard him, Sparrow continued up the cliff cautiously to make sure there were no more pools of blood or dead birds.  There weren't.  With a sigh of relief, he spoke.  "Opaque had a successful birth," he told them, stifling a laugh as he saw Hurricane puff out his chest proudly.  "She had four pups, and I don't yet know their genders."  He saw Hurricane shrug, still showing off in the front of the crowd around him.  Sparrow gave him an odd look and continued.  "Well, three are black, and -" he tried to not laugh again as he saw Hurricane's face fall "- and one is Hurricane's color."  Hurricane's mouth dropped open in protest, and Sparrow could no longer hold back his laugh.  "Anyway," he continued, "I guess we'll need someone to bring Opaque food and whatnot.  I choose... Sunset and Oak."

Sunset's eyes widened.  "WAIT.  Does that mean I have to... hunt?"

Sparrow sighed.  "No.  Just bring something to her from the fresh-kill pile.  Something small-ish, like a squirrel."  Remembering the bird, Sparrow turned around, picking up the dead bird with his jaws.  "Or thisf..."

Ginger, one of Sunset's pups, grimaced at the mangled bird.  "What is that?" 

"Um, a bird," Sparrow said, tossing it a few feet in front of him.  "A Pacific Loon, I think.  It's been shot."

The pack gasped simultaneously.  "Hunters," Sunset whispered. 

"Look who's catching on," Sparrow replied impatiently, an icy tone to his voice.  "Now, listen.  If I found the bird up here, and birds fly, it was most likely shot from the sky and fell down here.  But that doesn't mean hunters have actually found us.  They could have shot it from the sky from farther away, and it fell over here, and the hunter didn't feel like getting it because it fell too far away."

"Err, mother," Ginger asked, "is he right?"

"Oh, no," Sunset replied sarcastically.  "This is just what Sparrow does when he doesn't want us to worry, yet he's worrying his tail off on the inside."  Ginger snickered.

Glaring at the two red she-wolves, Sparrow made his way back down the meeting cliff after picking up the loon yet again.  He approached the path to the valley, and then he was stopped by a questionable voice.  "Where are you going?"

Sparrow dropped the bird, turning around to face Hurricane.  "I'm going to throw it in the lake," he said evilly.

Hurricane rolled his eyes, a hint of impatience in his voice.  "...Why?"

"Because it'll be fun," Sparrow said matter-of-factly.  "I've never thrown anything before."  He picked up the loon.  "Plusf, it giffs me somefing to to do."  He started to leave again, but Hurricane stopped him abruptly. 

"Wait," the grey wolf ordered.  "I'm coming too."

Sparrow shrugged.  The once-loner probably wanted to go back to where he previously lived, or maybe it was just because he wanted to bother Sparrow.  Not caring which was the reason why, Sparrow continued walking and hesitantly allowed Hurricane to follow him to the lake.  Neither one of them said a word to each other (although Sparrow couldn't speak anyway, considering that he had a bird dangling from his mouth).

When they arrived at the lake, Sparrow dropped the medium-sized bird and sat down at the edge of the lake.  Tiny little waves just barely brushed his front paws.  Hurricane remained standing and, for some reason, he was frowning as he looked around.

"Nothing has changed," he said.

Sparrow scoffed, grinning at the wolf's stupidity.  "It's not even been a week since you left," he laughed.  "Why would it have changed?"

Hurricane looked at him firmly, and Sparrow's grin disappeared.  The grey wolf sighed, sitting on his haunches next to Sparrow.  "It has before," he said darkly.

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Yes, it does." 

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does!"

"Where was it?!"

"The wildfire."

Sparrow, who had begun to tear off random feathers from the bird with his teeth, suddenly choked, sputtering and spitting out a particularly chokable one.  "Wha-?"

"My sister Bloom, and I," Hurricane said.  "We were the last two from my pack.  We had been staying here for a few days, and a herd of bison moved in closer, and that made us change our minds.  If one of us got tangled with one of them, we'd never make it out of there.  We moved further east, back to our homeland, and not a day later, the fire happened.  I couldn't see Bloom at all, and I could barely breathe in all the smoke.  I knew I just had to get out of there and free myself."

"Wait," Sparrow interrupted.  "Why - h-how could you leave her?  I'd never leave Opaque, and she's my sister, even if it could cost me my life."  He swallowed.

Hurricane sighed.  "I had to," he answered quietly.  "If I hadn't, I would have died as well."

Sparrow stared at him doubtfully.  "Right," he replied, thinking that the only reason Hurricane left Bloom was because he didn't want to char his pretty little face from the flames.  Clearing his throat with a small cough, Sparrow demanded, "Keep going."

Hurricane frowned.  "That's all I really remember about being in the fire.  We left the North Lake in the afternoon and came east by sunrise.  Hours passed, maybe three, and the fire started.  We didn't sleep at all that night, so we noticed right away.  I tried to leave with Bloom, and I remember nothing else.  Some time later, I woke up from losing consciousness closer to the valley and I ran there.  Bloom was no where in sight.  It looked horrible.  The herd of bison had lost some who perished in the fire, and my sister..." He collapsed, breathing heavily. 

Sparrow had begun to feel sick to his stomach when Hurricane began again, and now he felt even more nauseous.  The memories of what had kept Sapphire stuck in the healer den for months was coming back to him, and he gulped, standing up.  "L-let's go," he responded shakily, picking up the bird.  "The offurs (Author's Note: "Others."  Didn't know how else to write that xD) are probably wondering where we are."

Hurricane agreed with a stiff nod, standing up carefully and turning to meet his leader.

"You can head on back," Sparrow said quickly.  "I'm going to stfay and frow da bird."

Hurricane nodded slowly, looking thoughtful, as if he was trying to remember where the location of the pack was, and hastily turned and headed off left.

"Offur way," Sparrow said glumly, rolling his eyes.  Hurricane looked slightly embarrassed, and changed his direction quickly, heading to the right, towards the territory, again.

Sparrow shook his head dejectedly, wonder how Opaque had put up with this "I-have-no-sense-of-direction-whatsoever."  Throwing his head to the side, he eyed the river slyly and flung the bird as far as he could, watching it land right in the middle of the lake.  Amused, Sparrow turned and started walking to the right.  Hurricane was no where in sight, so he must've already been close to the territory.  It didn't take very long to get there, but it was still time-consuming, which Sparrow was not amused by.

When he ended up back at the territory, the wolves were outside as usual.  Sparrow, of course, usually would be his normal anti-social self, but he was going to be different today and at least attempt to talk with someone about... something.  Well, he wouldn't know what to talk about with anyone, of course.  It wasn't like he had made some fascinating discovery or anything.

And then, it hit him.

Running into Opaque's den, Sparrow nearly collided with Moon.  Letting out a startled whimper, the silver she-wolf glared at him.  "I was checking the pups," she said coldly.  "Can't you watch where you're going?"

"Maybe," Sparrow replied simply, and Moon left the nursery, annoyed. 

"Um, Opa- I need to tell you something," Sparrow began.  "Something... important.  And bad."

Opaque winced.  "Yes...?"

"Um, well, it's about Hurricane," her brother said stiffly.  "Hurricane and his untrustworthy-ness."

Opaque groaned, shifting her weight uncomfortably.  "Oh, no.  Not this stuff about Hurricane again... Sparrow, I'll tell you.  I've known him for two years.  There's nothing wrong with him..."

"Oh, Opaque," Sparrow giggled, "there's something wrong with him."

"Not that way," Opaque growled, rolling her eyes.  "I met that he's completely trustworthy."

"That's what you think," Sparrow informed her slyly.  "Until he told he that he's partially the reason Bloom died in the fire."

Opaque scoffed.  "Oh PLEASE," she muttered.  "He told me that he found her and she was dying, so he dragged her with him and passed out.  When he woke up, she was dead."

Sparrow shook his head firmly.  "That's not what he told me," he said.  "Hmm, maybe your 'completely trustworthy' mate was lying to you..."

Opaque cuffed him on the shoulder, and he pulled away and growled at her.  "No, he wasn't," she snarled defiantly, her eyes bright with rage.  "Maybe he just... forgot.  After all, it happened a couple months ago."

"How do you FORGET someone's death?" Sparrow demanded.  "I remember MY fam- well, my adoptive family's deaths.  Dawn was shot in the head when she was running away from a hunter, Snowflake was shot one night when she left her den for some reason and she didn't tell anyone..."

"My point is he has lost all his family members.  Maybe he just got confused about her," Opaque told her brother firmly.  Before he could protest, she growled.  "No more.  Be quiet - you might wake up the pups!"

"Oh well," Sparrow said simply.  "I'm going to leave, then.  And go bother someone else."

They were both stopped and their eyes drifted to the smoky grey pup, who squealed suddenly and let out a wide yawn.  Opaque smiled down at the pup, who of course was blind, and the small animal squeaked again and then sighed.  It curled up into a ball, pressed against the other pups, all of them together forming a tight circle.  Back on topic, Sparrow turned his attention back to Opaque.  "Since you don't believe me, I'll be leaving."  His sister nodded shortly and rested her head on her front paws.

Sighing to himself, Sparrow went into his den and lied down on his side, facing the back of the den.  There was no point in socializing with anyone if they weren't going to cooperate.  Just because he was the leader, that apparently didn't make it any more believable.

Author's Note

FUCK YES IT'S FINISHED. It took like an HOUR to type this damn thing. -.- I was going to write the birth scene out, but... that would be scary... so I decided not to. It took me like 3 and 1/2 hours to write this fucking chapter... xD I don't know why. I worked on it til midnight last night and started it at 7:20 this morning. I finished at like 9:10. So wait. ...Whatever. Sorry it was kinda long, but I got over writer's block after like 2 weeks of akshfaj in the beginning... I could NOT get past that scene. xD ANYWAY... tips/comments and suggestions.

Reviews

[r]

Before I even READ this I want to tell you that I f*****g LOVE that song "Haunted" by Taylor Swift. 'Kay now you know, now I'll read. :D

Because I feel like commenting while I read it, I'm going to say that part where Sparrow charges into the bison herd and scatters them is so f*****g hilarious!! And how he runs back like nothing had happened "Anyway..." Hehehe, I fuycking love Sparrow. And I loved when he told Opaque there's not point in arguing with her. xD Reading onward to her birth... *cringe* xDDD

I see that you didnt explain it. xDD I thought it was funny when Moon told Sparrow it was just his sister and he said that it was totally something not to worry about. xD I luffles this, and now I'm reading onward...

Hehehehe Sparrow and Opaque fighting and quarreling. I love it, good times good times. xDD im so weird... anyway HAHA SPARROW SAID DAMN. I just giggled insanely for some reason. o.o i have problems. I laughed my head off when Opqaue said "You're male. Males no nothing about ANYTHING." cause that is soooo true. xDDD ANYWAYYYY.

LOLOLOL. "untrustworthy-ness" 'cause that is TOTALLY a word, right!? xDDD I dont know what all to say, 'cept I have a bad feeling about Hurricane - but maybe that's just because Sparrow doesnt trust him. Oh wellz. The pups are soooo adorable, and I thought it was funny when Sparrow was on the meeting cliff-rock-thing and Hurricane was acting all proud and s**t. LOL. I was like "hahhaa....wtf?" xD Ummm, and ....Trying to think... oh right!! The thing where he told them about the hunters was funny "now you catch on" or whatever he said in his cold voice. LOLOLOL. And the way he talked when he had the bird in his mouth was f*****g hilarious. "offurs" xDDD I love that. And how Hurricane doesnt have a sense of direction. xDDD hehehhe. And when he told his sister. D: Apparently being leader DOESNT make it believable, like he said. Oh, and I loved it when Opaque said that since she was older she could boss him around - even though he's da leader. xDDD

And wow, an hour? Seems like it took me that f*****g long to read this damn chapter because i was laughing... or maybe im just retarded. i dunno. ANYWAYYYY, yeahh the birth scene woulda been scary. o.o so you did all that research for nothing, huh? xDDD It took you that long, wow. It's actually not that long of time. It took me a month to write one chapter remember? xDDD Anywayyy, I'm glad that you got over writer's block though SO YAYYYY. And this chapter really isnt that long, but long chapters are bettr anyway. xDDD

So like...yeah. I f*****g luffed that, so now get working and post the next chapter in 1, 2, 3... NOW. Not realllyyy, :D a week? a day? JUST POST IT!! D: This review is ridiculously long. o.o guess i felt like typing or something. xD Anywayyy, I fuycking love this chapter - it was so funny, specially with Opaque and Sparrow - and ...yeah. :D

[halflives]

Holy Cheese this was long. Well, it was definitely worth it. Another great installment in the saga~

[נнα&p..]

Yeah, Cheezit and Rayne stole what I wanted to say. >:( heheh.... i loved this chapter! It was fawking hilarious.

[Rayne~Drop.]

...Of course writing the birht scene would be scary. lol XD And...*sigh* I loff de arguments! lol XD God, Sparrow has trust issues. lol And...Jeesus. I really need to read stuff sooner BECAUSE CHEEZIT STOLE EVERYTHING I WANTED TO SAY! ...Or most of it. -.-And...Sparrow giggling = awkward and bizarness. lol