Ending: Chapter Fourteen

You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
Don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?
- Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri

She opened her eyes with strain, the sun shining in her face.  Disgusted, she closed them again.  She had never liked the sun, and she had a reason to.  

Ignoring all the pain that she was still feeling months later, a small smile highlighted on her face.

She felt whole for once, just knowing that she was going to be fine.  She could do it.

She could win.

~ ~ ~

It had now been two weeks since Opaque's pups were born, and they were just beginning to open their eyes and see their surrounding world, as all wolf pups would eventually do.  Sparrow decided the second after he woke up the morning of the start of the third week that he was going to go and bother his sister about the pups.  He didn't even know if she had named them yet.

"Morning," Sparrow called into the den.

Opaque raised her head up from the ground after hearing her brother's voice.  "Hello," she whispered, sounding rather annoyed.  "Now, be quiet, because the pups are still asleep."

"Whatever," Sparrow muttered, turning and heading completely into the den.  "Have you even named them yet?"

"The pups?  Err, no," Opaque admitted, and Sparrow rolled his eyes.  "Help me?" she asked calmly.

"With naming?" Sparrow bit his lip.  "Opaque, I'm not exactly good at things like tha-"

"Great!  You'll help, then," Opaque said hesitantly, trying to get her brother into the situation before he attempted to get out of it.  "Well, I was thinking of... These three are female, and this one over here is male."

"One male?!"

"Yes."

"That is SO not fair...  I only have one pup to be best buddies with?!"

"Yes."

"Damn..."

Opaque chose to ignore her brother after her last words to him and began furiously licking the female to the left of her, who opened her eyes lazily and yawned.  Even Sparrow had to admit that these pups were adorable.  

"So, names," he said coolly, dropping down into a sitting position.  "...What...?  Names...?  Now?"

"...Yes," Opaque said, not quite sure what her brother had just said.  "Well, let's name the male first, because -"

"Ash," Sparrow muttered, resting his head on the ground.

Opaque stared at her brother, who shrugged in response and grinned.  "...Male names come easily to you, hmm?" she asked sarcastically.

"...Very," Sparrow said slowly.  "Now, what about the others?"

"Well, this one is pitch bla-"

"Midnight."

"...And this one is a bit lighter than her, but not too mu-"

"Lilac."

"...Why named after a flower?  The last one is black-ish..."

"Charcoal."

Opaque was staring at her brother with wide eyes by the time he finished.  "Um," she said, "so... Midnight, Lilac, Charcoal, and Ash?"

"Yes," Sparrow said.  "Do you like them?"

"Sure," Opaque admitted, "but shouldn't I ask Hurricane?"

"No," the black wolf replied simply.  "He's not important here..."

Opaque rolled her eyes.  "...Can you get me something to eat?" she asked quietly.

"Sure, whatever..."

"Well, if you're too lazy to, I can get it myself," Opaque muttered.

"No... Sit down... I'll get something..."

~~~

Sparrow returned to Opaque's den moments later, nothing in his mouth.  "There's no food," he said simply, and Opaque groaned.

"Well.  What am I supposed to eat?" his sister asked, clearly annoyed by this.

"Um, for the moment, nothing," Sparrow replied quickly.  "Make Sunset catch a mouse or something... I can take the pack out hunting, if you want..."

"Please," Opaque said quickly.

"Fine," Sparrow responded casually, turning away.  "We'll be back whenever... Probably soon, but I'm not sure when."

"Fine with me," Opaque said coolly.  "Just... have fun?"

"Sure," Sparrow said sarcastically.  "Hunting is fun.  Very fun.  Super fun."  His eyes shifted nervously to the den opening.

"...You're using me as a distraction so you don't have to go, aren't you?" Opaque asked flatly.

"No!  Yes."

"Just go!  For me...?"

"Fine," Sparrow growled, leaving, disappointed that he had to do something today instead of sitting around like usual.  Suddenly, he collided with a certain furry grey-and-white-she-wolf...

"Sapphire!  What are you doing here?" Sparrow asked sharply as he picked himself off of the ground, shaking his coat off firmly to remove any dirt from it.  "Moon told you not to leave..."

"I snuck out," Sapphire said brightly.

Sparrow laughed, sitting down outside of the den.  "You're stupid," he said, his expression turning from amused to deadpan.

Sapphire raised an "eyebrow."  "How am I stupid?" she asked flatly.  "I just... snuck out.  Where's Moon?"

"I have no clue," Sparrow told her.  "Is that why you snuck out?"

"Yes..."

Sparrow looked at her firmly after rolling his eyes.  "We're going hunting."

Sapphire's expression quickly and noticeably brightened.  "Wow!  Let's go, then."

"Whoa, hold on," Sparrow said to her, "that didn't mean that you could come."

"But Spar-"

"No."

"Won't you just-?!"

"I said, no."

"But I'm not even hurt anym-"

"And I'm not risking that again," Sparrow said loudly, putting an end to the she-wolf's protests.  They both fell silent for a mere number of seconds, until Sparrow spoke suddenly.  "Look, I know you're almost fully healed, but -"

Sapphire interrupted him harshly.  "I - AM - COMPLETELY - HEALED.  You shouldn't be worrying about me all the time!  Stop telling me what to do, and let me do what I want when I want to.  Okay?"

Sparrow was already glaring at her halfway through her sentence.  "I know that," he said.  "But none of us in the pack can afford to go without you.  If you get hurt again, our hunts won't be successful."

Sapphire frowned.  "That's what I just said.  If I go hunting, our hunts will be successful.  If I don't go hunting, they won't.  So I should come!"

Sparrow rolled his eyes.  "If you get hurt because of hunting, I'll never forgive myself."

"But -" she paused abruptly, finally sighing.  Just as she looked like she was going to agree with him, Sapphire spoke again.  "I'm coming, and I don't care what hap-"

"Coming where?" a voice cut in.

Sparrow and Sapphire turned around to see Moon.  The three-legged silver she-wolf was already awake, which wasn't unusual for her.  She was staring at Sapphire with a firm expression on her face that clearly showed she met business and wanted to know exactly what was going on.

Speaking again, Moon repeated her last sentence after not receiving an answer.  "Coming where?"

Sparrow answered for Sapphire.  "Oh," she said simply, a fake smile spreading on his face.  "Well - um..."

Moon sighed.  "Sparrow, it is early in the morning.  It's too early for lies."

"It's never too early for lies," Sparrow muttered under his breath, assuming that Moon had not heard him.  "Moon," he said in his normal voice projection, "I'm not lying."

"Then where are you two going?" said she-wolf replied.

"I was talking about going hunting later on today," Sparrow told her quickly.  "You know... with... everyone..."

Moon glanced at Sapphire, slightly concerned.  "And... does Sapphire want to come with you?" she asked quietly, her eyes a bit darker.

"Well, yes," Sparrow said.  "But I was worried that she would get injured again if she went with us."

Moon frowned.  "Well..." Her expression became deadpan.  "I'm not sure that... I must say, I somewhat agree with Sparrow."

Sapphire growled.  "Why does everyone want me to stay here?!  It's been months since the fire.  I got hurt in the spring, and it's just about summer now.  I'm not going to get injured again, okay?  And if you're so worried about me getting hurt, go fishing again."

"You know about that genius idea I had?" Sparrow asked sarcastically.  "Not one of the best decisions I ever made.  They gave us enough food supply for... what, two days?"

"About that much," Moon said flatly.

Sapphire rolled her eyes.  "I don't care how long it lasted," she said.  "My point is, I just want to go hunting.  There are some wolves in this pack who only go hunting because you tell them to, and otherwise they hate it.  But when wolves like Opaque and I actually WANT to go hunting, and one of us gets an injury which is already healed, they can't go?"  She paused abruptly.  "Now, tell me how that actually makes sense."

"It makes perfect sense," Sparrow said stiffly, trying to think of a reason as quickly as possible.  "I mean... I don't want you to get hurt again, okay?"

Sapphire groaned.  "I'm not going to get hurt!" she yelled out.  "I have never gotten hurt seriously when out hunting - the worst that's ever happened was -"

"There's a possibility of it happening," Moon admitted.

"I don't care," Sapphire snarled to the two wolves in front of her.  "Just let me come, alright?"

"I'll think about it," Sparrow said simply, knowing he wouldn't think about it at all.

"Right," Sapphire grumbled, knowing this.  She stood up and stretched, yawning widely and heading off further into the clearing while she still had what was left of her dignity, which wasn't much.

Sparrow and Moon remained behind, the silver she-wolf muttering under her breath.  Sparrow caught the words "foolish" and "leave," but that was all that he could hear before a loud roar suddenly shattered the forest, echoing loudly over the trees.

Sparrow flinched as soon as he heard the noise, knowing what it was right away.  "We are NOT going hunting out there with THAT thing," he snarled, turning around in a huff.

Moon shook her head, sighing.  Sparrow had a good point, however.  They probably shouldn't go hunting when there was possibly a grizzly bear only a few hundred yards away.

Reviews

[halflives]

AMAZING CHAPTER. I can't tell you have writer's block, actually, it was a brilliant chapter. The beginning was... fhghgig amazing. I mean, I was laughing my head off at, "Oh, I'm not good at names", then she barely begins to say what they look like and he's rambling off names. GAWD ME LOVES SPARRY.

YAY SAPPHY IS BETTA. She's back to her old self again, thank the Wolf Gods or whatever. "I - AM - FULLY - HEALED" (orsomethinglikethis). OHHELLYES.

Like Rayne said (me thinks that's her name) below, I'll kill you because you want me to... *gets Death Note* What's your name again?

[נнα&p..]

OH MY GOD I LOVED DIS. :D

I FAIL AT REVIEWING. I NEGLECTED YOU. I'M SORRY. Dx Don't kill me, please. Okay? Kay. =3

I LOVED IT. xD I'M GONNA KEEP WRITING! I mean, reading. Holy s**t. i can't type and think at the same time apparently. o.e

[Rayne~Drop.]

...OKAY! I'll kill chu...BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU WANT ME TO! XD lol jk

...Um...What was I gonna---OH YEAH. XD

LILAC IS SUCK A PRETTYFULL NAMEEEEEEEE! :D And...Um...SPARROW ISN'T LYING! He's just...Exaggerating the truth! XD And he is right. Its NEVER to early for lies. XD

...Bear. YES! WOLVES ARE GONNA GET HURTED! XD ...I think. And hope. :D ...Pweeease? o.o XD

...God. Wow. Cheezits review was WAAAAAAYYYY off topic. lol XD

...FUZZY WUZZY WAS A BEAR. FUZZY WUZZY HAD NO HAIR. FU--- *shot and killed* ... :D

[r]

Lmfao, yeah I could tell you have writer's block. I know you too well. MUWAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA *shot* Anyfuckingway, THANK JESUS THAT YOU FINALLY POSTED SOMETHING. Or, not Jesus but...The writing queen of epicsauce. YEAH. No...

COFFEE CHEESE SPANISH NURHGH. I liked this chapter, actually, it was funnyyy. I love them soooo much. I love the beginning specially. So...MYSTICAL WITH MAGICAL FAIRIES AND- *shot* I really gotta stop doing that... Hopefully I'm the first reviewer, unless someone else reads it and posts theirs before I post mine. -.- But at least there arent any REVIEW STEALERS!!! Stupid stalkers.

Wow, that was way off topic.... I'm guessing you left the male's name blank 'cause you havent thought of one yet? Lol, I loved the Sapphy part. It was funny. And I should totally write a SOOPERDOOPERLONG review since you havent posted something in FORFUCKINGEVER but I dont feel like it. so whatthefuckever. OHEMGEE ITS A F*****G GRIZZLY BEAR!!! IT SHOULD KILL SOMEONE!!! I cant f*****g wait 'til Chapter 17. So, like, write faster 'cause I'm impatient!!!

LOVEITLOVEITLOVEITLOVEIT. NYAHHH~!!! FLYING FRUITCAKE.

'Kay, I'm done now. LOVE THIS RANDOMNESS CHAPPIE!!! :D