Waning Unity

Chapter Eleven

With watchful eyes, Fraser followed Lume to where this new wolf was hidden, keeping an eye on the ethereal wolf whom seemed to grow bluer as they drew nearer. From the few words Lume had mentioned of this wolf, she was alone.

Movement flickered in the well-flourished woods ahead and they followed, Fraser sucking in deep breaths until he found her scent, sorting through files of his old pack mates’ smells to see if he recognized her. As he thought, wandering through the library that was his mind, he slowed slightly, distracted by a whirlwind of thoughts, falling behind Lume. He again came attuned to his surroundings and realized his mistake, hurrying to catch up to his mystic acquaintance. His path was intercepted by a strange wolf, her fur a mixture of dark and light brown, her smell marching that of the one which they were following. Fraser paused for a moment, looking at her, knowing that he knew her name but straining to bring it to words, and he could see that she was doing the same.

“Fraser?” she said finally, and he responded with, “Wildflower?”

His guess was correct, because she smiled. Yes, now he remembered- Wildflower had always been one of the kindest wolves of his pack, very polite when it came to his knowledge sharing. But he had thought the same thing about Boa and Harrier, and they had tried to kill him. He had to be careful, he reminded himself, as he gave a sidelong glance to Lume, who had stopped and turned around hearing their voices. Now she was walking back, her fur still radiating a vibrant blue glow that seemed to signify peacefulness.

Wildflower gave Lume a sidelong glance, but despite the mighty wolf’s size, she didn’t seem phased. “What are you doing here?” she asked, more out of curiosity than anything. “Who’s your friend?”

Fraser followed her gaze, shifting his feet just a bit; it was very subtle, but not subtle enough for Lume to avoid noticing and certainly taking note of. It was one of his nervous ticks, similar to fidgeting his tail, averting his eyes, and chewing the inside of his own mouth. He couldn’t help it but it was certainly annoying when wolves could see that he was nervous when he did it. “Her name is Lume,” he told her as she drew closer, looking over again at Wildflower. “She’s helping me find the pack.”

Wildflower tilted her head to the side slightly, returning her warm, gentle caramel-colored eyes to stare intently at Fraser. Her gaze was filled with such gentleness, such earnesty, it caught him off guard. Her attitude was a welcome change from the wild aggression of the outside world. “Why are you looking for the pack, Fraser? Everyone went their own separate way,” she told him, as if he didn’t already know such a thing. Reliving the memory sent daggers stabbing into his heard and he swallowed down a whimper of sadness at such a loss they had faced. But he couldn’t let the dejection and regret drag him down now, not when he was so close. Wildflower was here, right here, and it was finally time to continue his quest of reuniting the pack. Once and for all.

“I’m bringing the pack back together,” he told her.

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Chapter Ten

“No?”

Had she not come with him all this way, gone this far, to help? What did he mean no?

Better yet, how could he say no? This wolf that she had thought to be so timid, so defenseless was proving himself much

braver than she had thought and was standing up to her? Denying HER, of all creatures? For all of her mystery, Fraser

proved to be just as mysterious.

She stared at him, watching his eyes narrow as he dared to hold the eye contact. “You’re

anger isn’t going to spook me this time,” he said with finality. Lume lifted an eyebrow at him. “You mistake my silence for

anger?” He disregarded her statement. “I saw what you did to Harrier and Boa back there … I’m still not entirely sure what

you’re capable of. You change in a heartbeat! One moment you’re peaceful, the next you’re tearing my pack-mates apart,

and then you go right back to helping me?” Lume stared at him curiously, but Fraser continued. “This has something to do

with the way you change colors, doesn’t it? Which — let’s not forget —you change colors! Wolves don’t do that. I’ve never

seen you sleep, or eat, or even show pain. You grow every now and then and I’m pretty sure you hypnotized Boa into

attacking her brother, so I’m not even sure that —“

“Fraser, breathe,” Lume interrupted calmly.

Fraser paused his rant and huffed a few times, sitting

and sinking his shoulders as he recomposed himself. He seemed to be facing less pain as he put pressure on his bitten leg, and his bruising had minimalized quite a bit. He looked better than before, but he wasn’t fully recovered, Lume

knew. Yet, here he was, moving on as if his numerous injuries had never happened, determined beyond a doubt. “You are

observant,” she said, breaking the silence.

He looked up at her, raising his brow a bit. “Am I right, about you changing?”

Lume raised her gaze up to the sky. “Perhaps,” she murmured with a nod. How did wolves ease their nerves? Playing? They

played games. She remained silent for a moment, thinking.

“Since you are set on learning all you can about me, why don’t

we make this a game?”

Fraser looked up at her with a look she couldn’t quite name. Maybe he was unnerved by being

offered a game by a giant mythical wolf who had hardly shown a hint of empathy all this time. “A … game?”

“Yes. We’ve still

got the rest of your pack mates to find. Pay close attention to our interactions, my behaviors and mood. I want to see if you

can learn how I work. Use this next encounter as an opportunity.”

“I said no, Lume,” Fraser barked, returning to his defiant

stance. “I won’t let you kill anyone else.” Lume looked down towards the ground at the single set of essence prints and

followed the trail up to a large gathering of essence prevalent through the trunks and leaves and branches just a

few bounds away. They were being watched.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Lume said to Fraser, still staring their

stalker directly in the eye. “She’s already seen us, and she’s doused in blue essence.”

There. She had just given the curious little wolf his

first clue.

~CL1

Waning Unity

Chapter Nine

Meat didn’t sit well in Fraser’s stomach anymore, after so long of turning to vegetation for his needed nutrients. The leaves, the bark, the roots, all of that gave him strength and sedated his hunger. He seldom hunted, only eating any sort of flesh if it was strictly necessary or if he happened to kill something- usually by accident or through self defense. Of course, though, Lume didn’t know this- how would she?- and now a jackal was dead in front of him, and he could tell that she was waiting for him to eat, and his stomach rolled over at the sight of the blood that stained the jackal’s fur.

“Um…” he mumbled slowly, looking over at the large white wolf. Would she get angry if he turned her gift down? He breathed evenly, thinking through everything that could happen, tracking down every scenario and possible outcome to avoid any harm that could come his way. After careful consideration he decided that the safest route would be to choke down the animal’s flesh and deal with it. “Thanks,” he said, tucking his shaky limbs beneath him and pushing up to stand, wobbling on four sore legs. Lume moved to help him balance, which puzzled him evermore, though he didn’t argue when her vast side brushed into his to steady him. She was warm, soft, her touch comforting, everything that Fraser had been lacking without a pack. He wanted to sink right into her powerful support and stay there forever.

“Are you broken?” the seemingly ancient wolf asked again, repeating her question from the previous night. Fraser thought a moment, turning his eyes away from her. Finally he nodded.

“I’m broken and lost,” he replied with a small frown. That seemed to confuse her, so she countered, “What do you mean, lost? Your home is not far away.”

Looking over at her again he made a realization. She was just as lost as he was, unsure of where to go or what she was meant to do. Her path was muddy and unclear. “Not all loss is physical,” he mumbled finally, looking down at his shaky, bruised legs. “I know where my home is but I’ve never been so lost in my life.”

Lume let out a little ‘hm’ sound, looking away from him and up at the sky, possibly contemplating his words. Fraser watched her do so and sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils. The two of them were lost, lost as could be, confused and broken and weak. But perhaps… perhaps if the both of them were lost together they could be found.

“What happened to your back leg?” Lume asked from behind Fraser suddenly. He paused, turning around to look back at her, cocking his still-wounded hind leg off of the ground. His limbs were better now, luckily undamaged from his fall the evening before.

“Snake bite,” he told her, swishing his tail as he waited for her to catch up. She looked down at his bitten leg, arching her eyebrows before ducking down to examine the now-scabbed bite marks. Fraser yelped, jumping away from her, startled by her sudden movement. She grunted, flicking her ears. “Do not move,” she told him. “I want to see the bite.”

“Why?” Fraser barked, hopping away again, narrowly avoiding landing on a cactus. Lume sat up, scowling at him as if he had wronged her very greatly. “Why do you want to see the bite?”

Lume puffed out a frustrated breath, rolling her eyes before continuing along. For such a stoic and ethereal wolf, she was certainly on the crankier side of things. Fraser hopped after her again, looking around at the rocky outcroppings that surrounded them. The trees were larger and healthier here, with actual leaves tipping the branches unlike those that he was used to. “Where are we going?” he asked suddenly.

“The forest,” Lume responded, pausing to wait for him to catch up. “More of your pack is up ahead.”

Fraser’s light-spirited attitude of the day plummeted into an abyss and impaled itself on a harsh rock, bleeding away into nothing. His stomach flipped and his heart fluttered like a vulture taking flight. More of his pack mates meant more wolves for Lume to kill.

“No!” he shouted at her, stopping in his tracks. She would not kill more of his pack, not while he was still standing.

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Chapter Eight

“Please …”

Fraser’s voice came out as a pitiful hoarse whine. He was refusing to lift his head; he was refusing to move at all, Lume noticed. She looked at him a moment and tilted her head to the side. “Are you broken?” She asked, watching his ragged breaths. She knew most wolves were fragile things, always breaking bones and bruising themselves. The trail of snapped branches lying around them was evidence that the frail little wolf had taken quite a fall, and he was clearly in pain.

He ignored her question and shut his eyes again. “Please, have mercy.”

Mercy? What would she have to show mercy for? “You aren’t in danger,” she responded, raising her brow though she knew he was no longer looking at her.

“So what … you came to save me, not tear out my throat?”

“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to let you hang in that tree and starve if I was content with your death?”

There was silence save for a choir of locusts chirping to one another in the dark of night. Fraser opened his eyes again, looking directly at her. “You said you weren’t here to protect me. Why come back? Why do the exact opposite of what you said?” There was panic creeping into his voice. She couldn’t tell exactly what he thought of her, but she was certain her coat had returned back to its ethereal white tone. What was he so afraid of?

She remained silent, unable to answer the question. Why had she come back? Was it the voice perhaps, calling her back to the surface and dragging her from the bottom of the pit, pulling her back to the light?

He waited for a response, and then saw he would receive none, so he stared start ahead at some brush in the distance.

“Harrier … Boa … did you …” he trailed off. “Are they dead?” He asked with a frightened finality.

Again, Lume was silent. In truth, she hadn’t stayed to see the final result of her dangerous influence, but she knew few wolves escaped the hysteria she caused with their lives intact. Still, there was always the chance of survivors.

Fraser waited once again for a response that would not come. Then, he raised his head, straining against the pain clearly raking its claws through his body. “Won’t you tell me anything?! You made them turn on each other … you made them turn on me!”

At the shock of such anger from the normally timid little wolf, Lume continued to stare at him in the silence, not denying the accusation. “So,” Fraser muttered lowering his head. “It really was you.” His ears dropped with his tone, no longer angry, but deeply saddened. She could see the threat of tears on his eyes as he slowly dropped his head back onto the rock, and she

knew she had wounded him somehow.

Despite his obvious pain and fright, Fraser was clearly not one to give up. He was a survivor, and he was blatantly optimistic.

Perhaps things had gone sour with Harrier and Boa, but that didn’t mean the end of his little quest, that Lume was sure of.

She waited, waited for him to send her away, tell her she was dangerous, something like she had faced in the past, but he said nothing, just kept staring ahead.

Besides his quest, there was something else about her that intrigued him. She had noticed an inquisitive nature about him, an intense curiosity. Maybe it was the intrigue of Lume’s very existence, the mystery of what she was. To be honest, she wouldn’t have minded knowing herself.

The locusts continued to sing and she waited until Fraser’s eyes drooped with sleep before padding off and returning with a jackal dangling from her jaws, dropping it in front of the injured wolf. He would need time to recover, both physically and mentally, from this encounter. She didn’t mind the wait; she had time.

~CL1

Waning Unity

Chapter Seven

There had always been one word that lived on through the pack, as long as Fraser had walked the desert sands. It was always there, always true, constant and consistent in their pack’s history.

Safe.

Fraser had always felt safe. Never once had a day gone by when he feared his safety. His pack was there for him, there to protect him and to guard him and to help him. Everything was safe.

Now the world was falling apart and nothing felt safe.

Harrier’s desperate voice, crying out Boa’s name, followed Fraser as he fled. He wasn’t the fighting type and he never had been, but he knew how to run away from danger. It was his primal instinct, stronger than anything else. He was a peculiar wolf but it kept him alive, and right now that’s what he needed to do. Get away from Lume and stay alive.

He stumbled through the sand, hopping on three legs as fast as he could go, tripping and staggering across the hot rocks. He ducked away from a sudden cliff that loomed up in front of him, struggling through coarse underbrush and making himself as difficult to follow as possible. “Except Lume can track footprints,” he choked out in a whisper to himself. He needed a voice, any voice, even if it was his own, to anchor him. “Can’t she? She doesn’t follow smells, she follows… essence… where am I supposed to go?” He slowed just a little, looking around. He couldn’t go home, not now; Lume knew where that was. But where else could he go? Where could he escape to that the fearsome red wolf wouldn’t follow?

The ground gave way beneath his feet, answering his question of direction. He fell down, down, down, flailing through the air before crashing down into a dry, brittle and leafless tree. Twigs snapped around him as he slid through the branches, falling lower, before gravity decided to still him and let him hang on a wide branch only a few feet from the ground. His back legs dangled down beneath him and he lay limp for a long moment. His entire body was throbbing, and despite his struggling and feeble attempt, he couldn’t lift his head or move his legs. Panic flared up inside his stomach as he moaned out his pain, but his weakness was too much to bare, and his pain dragged him away into the black pit of unconsciousness.

Faint light of nighttime stars leaked into Fraser’s vision slowly. He opened his eyes, eyelids as heavy as stones. He let out a soft, faint whine, the sound wobbling out of his throat like a thread of a breeze. He could feel bruises littering his body and every breath made his ribcage scream with pain. The rattlesnake’s bite on his hind ankle was minuscule compared to the throbbing that encompassed him.

He lay for a moment longer before gentle teeth sank into his scruff. He tried to panic but couldn’t move, so instead he succumbed to hanging like a dead weight as he was lifted out of the tree by a wolf. His nose twitched once and then twice, and as he was laid down on the sand-beaten rock beneath the tree, he knew that Lume was standing over him. His eyes rolled around to look up at her, as that was all that he could manage to move, and sighed out a painful breath as he stared up at her blurry face. He was about to die.

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Chapter Five

“Boa! Harrier!” Fraser barked, tail lifting above his back and wagging thoroughly. All at once his spirits lifted as he cantered over to his older pack mates. These two were just older than he, if he remembered correctly; born just a month before him. They always seemed to let him talk their ears off with very few responses, which made them wonderful companions for him. Although they never looked at him, always around at other things, and made such odd expressions. Similar to now, actually.

They exchanged a twin glance and their expressions did not look happy. “Hey, Fraser,” Boa said, her voice disappointingly monotoned for this being a two-year reunion with their old pack mate. “What are you doing here?” As she asked, Harrier sat up and Boa followed, twitching her tail and watching him intently.

His tail wagged harder and he began happily panting, his entire back half swinging side to side in excitement. This was it! The reunion he had been waiting for! It was finally here, and two of his pack mates were in front of him, and he was about to bring them home. He would be a hero, finally. His waiting for a chance to be appreciated had paid off, and now it was time to pilot his pack into a new future. What a glorious day this would be!

“I came to bring you home!” he barked with a grin. “I’ve protected our home from intruders, and I started eating plants and bugs so that the prey could replenish! And now it’s finally time to be a pack together again.” Fraser couldn’t contain his excitement and he danced closer, fidgeting his paws joyously. He didn’t think that his tail would ever stop swinging back and forth.

Harrier looked at him sideways. “That’s great and all, Fraser,” he said dryly, flicking his ears pompously. “But Boa and I are fine here.” His eyes flicked up and looked at something behind Fraser.

Fraser’s excitement suddenly evaporated. The air around him grew laden with something he hadn’t been expecting. It weighed down his shoulders and stilled his wagging tail. It flattened his lungs and seemed to choke his breath right out of his throat. He might have been bad at reading emotions, but the tensity here was clear as day. Boa and Harrier were angry to see him.

Slowly, he turned his head back to look at Lume, and his body stiffened further as he realized that she was no longer a faint, gentle blue. Now her fur was red, and she looked… bigger? How was that possible? He would’ve loved to delve further into that mystery, but a growl from his old pack mates snatched his attention away from that thought process. He quickly turned his head and found that both Boa and Harrier had sunken into battle stances. BATTLE STANCES?!

Fraser had never fought another wolf before! His fear spiked higher than the moon and ancestors themselves as panic strangled him. He was smart, sure, but he was also skinnier than any other wolf he’d met and lacked any sort of experience or fighting drive.

“Y-you’re not coming back to the pack, are you?” he asked shakily, paws trembling. He began chewing his lower lip and then stopped himself. The pain of their heads shaking was too great and he felt the urge to sink right into the ground and die. But he couldn’t. Some of his pack was relying on him.

Too late did he realize that his trailing thoughts had nearly killed him as Boa and Harrier shot forward, speeding towards him with bared teeth. “Lume!” Fraser barely managed to scream as his former pack mates bore down on him.

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Chapter Four

The wolf behind Lume had been silent for quite a while, clearly a bit unsettled by her appearance. She'd often had that affect on others; she wasn't quite a monster, not disfigured or grotesque as some spirit wolves were, but she wasn't exactly a comforting sight either with her large size and glowing white eyes that could rival the brightness of a star. She had found that often, her silence served better than words. She could still an argumentative wolf by simply listening and looking, and their words would shrivel in their throat. She had just seen the tan wolf do the same as his ears lowered slightly. Now he had yet to say another word, though she could tell he had much more to say.

"I'm Fraser," he offered, clearly hoping to recieve something in response. He looked expectantly at Lume as they continued, still following at her side blindly. "I am Lume," she responded before returning her focus to the trail. The essence that had originally been turning red was going towards a blue tint once again, the only two non-grayscale colors she could see. The two wolves that had left these tracks had clearly started in a state of dissent, likely due to their feelings as they split from their pack, but they had grown in loyalty and trust with each other, brining their essence back to it's bright blue light.

"So ... are you my guide, or here to protect me?" Fraser's voice broke her train of thought, pulling her back to the here and now. Lume looked from the trail to the limping wolf at her side in silence for a moment. "No," she replied blatantly and looked back at the prints. "Not your guide, nor your guardian."

The wolf appeared to be disappointed by the answer, possible because he had more questions that he had begun with. "What exactly are you then?" He prodded. Lume looked back at him. She said nothing this time as she stopped in her tracks and stared down at him. She could not explain to him what she herself did not know.

The look of discomfort and then fear returned to Fraser's face. His posture tensed and his body lowered closer to the ground just a bit. "S-Sorry ..." he said, biting into his bottom lip. He waited until she had turned and kept tracking for a moment before he continued after her.

The prints were giving off more dust, a sign of fresher tracks. They were getting closer. As if to confirm her suspicions, Fraser worked up the courage to pipe up again. "Are you ... bluer than before?"

Lume looked down at her paws, noticing the shift in color herself. She felt heavier and slower, but stronger, like a wall of stone guarding something sacred. "We're near," she said, no longer needed the essence tracks to pin down the location of Fraser's packmates. Apparently, these wolves hadn't gotten that far from their original home at all. She could smell their coats, see the marks of their paws in the dirt, she could even hear them at a distance.

"That's them," Fraser said with a nod, hesitating before descending the short cliffside that led down to the clearing two wolves were lazing in. One sat up and looked in their direction, and the gaze of the other wolf followed. Their esssnce shifted suddenly, spiking into a light, chalky red. Lume could feel her own essence doing the same, and her coat reflected the color change. They stood to their paws defensively as they spotted her, and as their eyes traveled to Fraser their faces changed, not hostile but still clearly displeased. "Fraser," one muttered under his breath.

To her suprise, the red of their essence grew deeper and more vibrant, and again, Lume's did the same. Clearly, though his earlier statements would have led her to believe otherwise, all was not well with Fraser's pack.

~CL1

Waning Unity

Chapter Three

Staring after the mysterious white wolf, Fraser thought. Her words made no sense. How had she found him? Where was she going? Was she really going to try and find his pack after years of them being gone?

It was obvious that she knew something he didn’t. Perhaps she could be the key to bringing them home.

He quickly hopped down, cringing as he landed on three legs and felt a jab in his spine, but for this moment, he didn’t care about his injury. As fast as he could go he hurried after the mysterious wolf, and by the time he caught up to her, his breath was coming in shaky gasps. It had been long since he had run so fast, and his muscles disagreed with him at that decision.

“What do you mean, essence?” he questioned immediately, pulling up alongside her. She was watching something on the ground, following it, tracking it. Fraser took a deep breath but couldn’t smell anything that she could be tracking. His mind swam as he tried to decode such a mystery. What could she see?

“All wolves leave behind an essence,” she told him, her voice painfully monotoned. “That is how I found you. You have quite balanced essence, very neutral.”

Fraser fidgeted his feet, chewing on his bottom lip as he stumbled along beside her. The flinty taste of blood that suddenly danced along his tongue was his cue to stop his nervous tick. “W-what does that mean? I don’t understand!” It was driving him crazy, being unable to understand or even register her words. He could understand everything. This should’ve been easy for him to decode.

Her ear flicked. “Those who do not understand aren’t meant to understand.”

That was his breaking point. “WHAT?” Fraser yelled, jumping in front of her and stopping her in her tracks. “What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense! How in all the stars is that logical? If someone doesn’t understand what you’re saying, it’s up to you to help them! That isn’t… f-fair…” He trailed off as she stared into his eyes, silencing him with just a look that caused his body to tremble. This wolf was frightening- she was larger than any from his pack and certainly larger than him.

“It isn’t my responsibility to help you comprehend things,” she stated, sweeping past him and continuing to follow whatever she saw through the sand. Fraser looked side to side, tail sinking lower than before, and then hurried after her again. He couldn’t resist a good mystery, and this wolf was the most fascinating one of all.

Waning Unity

(A collaberation between President Loki and CL1)

Lume's Prologue

It had been a long time since Lume had been in the midst of such peace. A pack bonded closely together, caring for one another as their own. They all walked past her, around her, almost through her. She had done all that needed to be done and now she was nothing more than a silent spectre standing guard over wolves that didn't need her protection.

She could not bring rain, or lead herds to the wolf dens, or any of the grandiose stories pups' heads were filled with; in all honesty, she couldn't do much good in the midst of trouble and with that realization came the voice:

You can stay no longer.

She did not know whose voice it was, or whether it was really an external force or just the manifestation of her own thoughts, but the voice spoke truth.

It was both the blessing of curiosity and the curse of restlessness, but Lume could never stay in one place long, nor would she try. Two days of quiet life in this pack's plentiful oasis was long enough.

She stood to her paws and turned away from the heart of the camp, padding towards a split in the bushes marking the way out. She had hardly taken two steps when she caught the sound of a stampede of little paws behind her.

"Lu? Where are you going?" A trio of pups stared at her wide-eyed, their little heads cocked to one side.

"Away," Lume responded without inflection.

"Home?" One of the pups piped up curiously.

"I don't have a home." Her delivery wasn't sad or longing, just matter of fact.

"Oh." The pups looked to each other, even more confused. One of them looked back to her. "Then ... where will you go?"

Lume raised her head to the slightly gray sky overhead. "I don't know. I'll keep walking until I can walk no further, then I'll turn around and keep walking the other way." At least, that was the way she had been doing things.

Another pup tackled her, nuzzling her head into Lume's side. "Don't go, Lu. What will we do without you?"

Lume stood to her feet, steadying the stumbling pup with a paw. "I suspect life won't be much more different in my absence." The sound of a voice in the distance drew their attention. The pups all perked their ears at their mother's voice. A she-wolf appeared, stopping as she spotted her pups with Lume. There was hesitation in her gaze, and a twinge of fear. "Come," she said to her pups, still keeping her eyes on Lume. "Back to the den, all of you." The pups moped and sulked past their mother, further into the camp.

"I am leaving," Lume said finally, hoping to put the unease to rest.

The she-wolf's eyes narrowed, and her stone grey fur bristled ever so slightly. "You know, you've caused this pack a lot of pain and death," she said with a half growl.

Lume nodded blankly. "I know." Silence stretched forward as Lume realized an apology was expected of her, but she simply turned and disappeared through the bushes. The moment she stepped out of the pack's camp clearing, something in her lightened, and the blue tone that had shined on her fur before returned to its natural white glow.

"What sort of a heartless creature are you?!" The she-wolf cried from the safety of the pack's grounds. The question echoed through the trees and slipped into Lume's ears, bouncing around in her head. The voice returned once again to put the unanswered question to rest:

You are what you are.

~CL1

Waning Unity

Lume's Epilogue

Lume watched from higher up the creek as a tired old bear snatched one of the unfortunate salmon that had leaped past. It started to turn and lumber away before catching her eye and holding her gaze. There was no animosity, no silent threats between them. Each had seen something similar in the other and that was enough to give them an understanding that very few creatures could match. The grizzly grumbled lowly, and a small, fluffy cub poked its head out from behind a rock, quickly waddling after the mother as she disappeared down the hills.

"You see?" Lume asked, still looking at the spot the bear had once been. "You're safe here. There's no need to worry."

Voices from behind her caught her attention, and she turned to see familiar shapes rise over the pebbled ridge, laughing and chasing and playing with one another as a larger shape trotted and kept watch over them from behind. "Stop biting your sister's tail," Fraser scolded one of the pups lightly, shoving two that were shooting each other scorching glares further up the hill. Raising to her paws, Lume padded down to meet them halfway, a familiar tickling sensation at her heels.

"Have fun chasing rabbits?" She asked, a soft smile spreading on her face as the pups tumbled at her feet. "Yeah, yeah!" One chirped with excitement, "I almost caught one! I would have if Fawn hadn't gotten in the way," she grumbled, shooting Fawn another glare. The other pup simply stuck his tongue out in retaliation. "You tripped over your clumsy paws, Wildflower," he protested. "That rabbit could have taken a nap and still outran you."

Naming the two had been an instant matter for Lume. She'd insisted to Fraser that they be named after his fallen pack mates, the least she could do after the two had lost their lives because of her.

"Alright, alright that's enough you two," Fraser chuckled, placing himself between them. "Did you have any trouble back here?" He asked, looking up at Lume. The much less ethereal wolf shook her head before looking down and meeting the large eyes of the pup pressed firmly behind her. "We saw a bear and her cub. She gave us no trouble... I think we both recognized the look of a mother in each other's eyes." Doe had inherited a quiet and sometimes timid nature, and she was often inseparable from Lume. The other two were quick learners, and she trusted them to easily take care of themselves, but Doe brought out a protective side of Lume that hadn't been active in a long time. Perhaps because she saw the pup the same way she had seen Fraser initially, though somewhat different since she was a mother now.

The word still felt foreign to her... 'mother.' She was still in awe when she looked down at the trio of fluffy little canids that followed them gleefully (or rather shyly, in Doe's case.) Had she and Fraser done this, make these wonderful, funny, unbelievable little miracles? The days of violence and fear seemed like another life, a past that existed only in tales to be told to children.

Despite her reservations, Fraser still entertained the pups of the ancient Moon wolf, of her fierce wrath and graceful protection, of the days he had run from her and run towards her. Per her request, he never revealed the Moon wolf's true identity. In all honesty, Lume no longer felt like a myth. She had lived countless years and watched many lives raise and fade, but now every day was a lifetime for her. Some part of her knew that when the part of her that lived and breathed essence died, her eternal nature died as well. Just as with any other, she would grow old and sick and die.

But there was something else to be said with that: she would grow old with Fraser, and they would watch their children grow together. They would get sick together, and someday they would die and be reunited in the Forever Grounds together too.

So what if Lume was no longer immortal? Now, she was finally alive.

(Now I'm picturing us both watching this all unfold like a movie and you and I just bawling our eyes out in the corner.)

~CL1

[P.S. This has truly been a joy to write, and though I'm sad the ride's over, I'm so happy with the ending (I feel like I rushed the end of Blood War, if I'm being honest, and this was my chance at redemption.) Thank you so much for the collaboration Pres, and for creating the Howlverse in the first place, but now that we're done, I'll kindly have to ask you...

ARE YOU GONNA FINISH BLACK GHOST AND ALH OR WHAT?!

Ahem. That is all. Thank you, and good night.]

EARTH COPIED ARK, ARK HAS MOUNTAINS AND TREES!

ARK COPYRIGHT EARTH!

-HJK

Why do we still exist, what is our meaning in ark? Who created it? Wanna know who? The Government. Because they are trying to do something. And let me find out what, but I know they are up to SOMETHING. The other day, I saw a Government Official Pull up a comm with The galactic Empire. This is huge. How is this happening, a conspiracy right under our eyes! And then, A Hydra agent, said Hail Megatron. This is treachery. And what do we do? Nothing! (Not like...I made all that up, and that's why.)

Xd, bored again.

-SpiritBird8960

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Even if you kill me."

Lume's body took the words as a challenge and lunged at Fraser, jaws tearing open and welcoming the temptation of blood. True to his word, Fraser stood his ground, only being spared a quick and painful end by a pair of bodies crashing into her side. She skidded only for a short while before her claws caught in the coarse dirt, allowing her to ground herself and get back on her paws quickly.

She was met with the snarling faces of Boa and Harrier, bearing a few more scars than when she last met them, but alive nonetheless. Lume rejoiced inwardly that she hadn't killed the siblings, but she had little time to do so before her attention was jerked back to the present as a set of fangs dug into her hind right leg.

With a snarl, Lume's snout turned quickly, catching the attacker by the neck. She recognized them as Mushroom, another wolf that had repacked with Milkweed. The young wolf squirmed in Lume's grasp, whimpering as her grip began to tighten and her teeth began reaching deep below the skin, straining for the vertebrae. Another joint tackle by Harrier and Boa knocked her off balance, losing her grip enough for Mushroom to break free.

"En...ough!" A monster-ish growl escaped Lume's snout as a wave of red rolled through her coat. Her head turned to Fraser, who had started to approach Lume slowly.

"They can-not prot-ect you," the monster snarled, sending threads of red essence flying at the wolves around her. Lume knew that if she were allowed to keep talking, the unified group of wolves would begin to get lost in mass hysteria, tearing each other apart in seconds. Her mouth started to open again before Boa launched herself at the ethereal wolf once again, this time sinking her teeth into Lume's throat. "No!" she snarled over a mouthful of fur as she jerked her head back and forth, tearing at Lume's neck.

"Boa, stop!" Fraser was right next to Lume now, close enough that she could hear his heartbeat. If he was frightened, he handled it extremely well. "It's not her fault," he explained to the infuriated she-wolf, trying her hardest to finish what she'd started. "That's not Lume!"

"Then help me kill it," Boa snarled back, hints of red essence beginning to show themselves both in her and the other wolves, all except Fraser. Harrier leaped at Lume now, aiding his sister's attack as he attempted to tear Lume's neck in a different direction than Boa.

The monster shrieked, finally tearing itself away from the siblings, far from unscathed. The deep gashes in her neck oozed with blood, and Lume's heartbeat began to throb in her head. Then there was something else, itching in the gashes at first, then pain. The monster threw itself to the ground, convulsing as a feeling like a thousand barbs digging into the deep scars filled her body. The semi-circle of wolves backed away, ears flattening and eyes widening as they started at Lume. They seemed smaller now like her shadow could swallow them whole. The pain hadn't stopped, but it was beginning to fade, and she could tell something had changed drastically, enough that the brave warriors that had fearlessly attacked her before were backing away with their tails between their legs.

Fraser didn't budge, a train of panicked thought evident on his face. "I'm not giving up on you Lume!" he shouted. His voice sounded so ... far away. "I meant what I said. You are my pack!" It was getting harder for Lume to think clearly. She had to focus, she had a job to do; she had to kill Fraser.

No, no, that wasn't her. Those weren't her thoughts. It was becoming all too hard to keep solid lines in her mind to distinguish whose thoughts where whose, her's, or the monster's.

It dashed at Fraser again, and again the wolf planted his paws, prepared to stand his ground and withstand whatever it took to rescue her.

That's touching, she thought her own words becoming murky in her mind, but I'd rather keep you alive.

A snarl at her right snapped the monster's attention away from Fraser and towards Fawn. The young, steel-headed wolf was making a beeline to Lume.

It was only when Lume snatched him from the ground and held him up as something else began to tear his scrambling legs from his body and swallowing them did she realize just what that needling pain in her neck had been. She forced her eyes down, control becoming much easier as her thoughts became more poisoned by the beast in her head.

From the gashes Boa and Harrier made had sprung teeth, gnashing, cutting fangs that all ate away at Fawn while Lume and the others watched. At last, it was over and Lume dropped the wolf, now missing all of his legs and his tail as he shuddered on the ground. The gashes began to tear wider as Lume stretched her neck upward, her head no longer able to keep upright as the folds of flesh and fangs accordioned to one side or another. The monster turned back to Fraser, Milkweed now standing at his side.

"Round ... two."

(Word limit.)

~CL1

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty-five

Loneliness chewed at Fraser like a starved beast finally successful in catching prey as he trekked through the sunbaked sands, watching as the sun crested the horizon and threw glorious bands of color every which way, turning the dark night sky to vibrant blue, streaked with near every color on the spectrum. The sounds of nighttime beetles died away as light pierced through the surrounding shadows and washed over Fraser’s dust-colored fur, giving light to yet another day of desolation.

Fraser ascended up a rocky incline, scrambling his way up onto a small plateau, tucking himself out of the sun’s rays in the shadows of a rock pillar, laying down with a sigh as he laid his head on his paws and watched the desert below.

It didn’t make any sense to him. He knew these desert plains better than anything else, so why did he feel so lost? Not the kind of lost he had felt in the past, the kind that gripped his heart with loneliness, the kind that he concealed by burying it underneath layers of delusional ideas that his pack would return. No, this time it was different. This time it was like a pit, and no matter how many lies that he told himself, it couldn’t be filled.

As hard as it was to admit, he missed Lume more than anything in the world. And he just couldn’t find out why.

Movement below caught his eye and he looked down from his high place, watching a pair of deer make their way across the rocky plains with a young fawn at their heels. As he watched them walk, hooves scraping against stones and echoing up to Fraser’s ears, he felt the loneliness inside of him swell. Never before had he wished for a family, never considered the possibility of claiming a mate or producing pups of his own. Even now, the idea was one of untrodden territory, dangerous and unfamiliar. But the mere thought of having someone, anyone, there at his side was enough to make him consider anything.

His chin sank back down to rest on his paws and he watched silently as the deer made their way across the sands, the fur of his tail trembling in the breeze and moving it for the first time in weeks. How he longed to feel it thump against the ground again. When had he wagged last?

Right. When Lume made him smile.

Why couldn’t he keep his thoughts away from her?

The breeze carried a familiar scent to Fraser’s nostrils as he breathed inward and his head lifted faster than it had in a long time. He turned his head and looked in the direction from which the scent came, searching the horizon as hopefulness grew inside of him. He pushed himself to his feet, scanning the surrounding sands and rocky outcroppings until finally, there; the shape of a white wolf approaching.

It was Lume!

Fraser watched her for a moment longer before turning and running across the plateau, following his well-trodden trail and descending the pebble-layered slope, slipping over loose sand as he rushed down. He rounded the rocky corner, inhaling deeply to ensure that he was still going the right way, falling into a dead sprint as he pelted in pursuit of the white wolf.

Rounding a corner, he came upon a small incline, watching her white tail disappear over the top. He hurried up after her, pausing once he reached the top, paws sinking into the sand. “Lume!” he called down to her.

It was Lume. It was Lume. It was LUME!

(Dude this hurts)

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty-Four

She wished she could take it back. She wanted to turn and go back to the river. What if's rang through her head constantly: What if Fraser didn't survive his injuries? What if the wolves from over the river came back and tore him and everyone else to pieces? What if she couldn't make it on her own? That question haunted Lume the most, though she wasn't sure why. She had wandered a life of isolation for as long as she could remember, so why was it eating her alive now? She looked down at the scar of essence that stretched down her face and shoulder. It alternated between red and blue, while the rest of her remained blank white. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she had a good idea of what was causing it.

She stopped walking. Why didn't she just go back? Fraser would forgive her, surely. And as long as she avoided interactions with wolves with red essence, all would be well, right?

'You can't go back,' the other Lume in her head reminded her. 'There will be terrible suffering should you return.'

She bowed her head, once again resigned to her lonely fate. Perhaps it was simply better this way. A rustling in the nearby bushes threw her gaze back upwards. A pair of glinting eyes stared at her from the dark in a way that was all too familiar. Before she could place them, they stepped forward, revealing the same mountain lion that had claimed Wildflower's life, as evidenced by the familiar scars lining its body. Lume tensed as it stepped towards her, but it stopped just out of her reach, staring at her with a look of what seemed to be peace. She could have sworn she saw the slightest tint of brilliant blue inside of it. "You seem to be able to do it," she said to the big cat, unsure if it understood her. "You live a life of solidarity without issue. How?" As if to prove her immediately wrong, there was more rustling behind the cougar. A trio of cubs galloped and tripped over one another before settling next to their father.

A light went on in Lume's head then. Even the most solitary of creatures couldn't live their entire lives on their own. She didn't truly have to keep her distance, did she? Fraser had specifically asked her not to leave him, and here she was thinking he would reject her. The mountain lion gave her a small nod and a slow blink as if reading her thoughts and urging her to go on. She dipped her head in thanks to the cat before standing and turning in the direction that went back towards the river.

'You cannot go back,' the voice urged. Lume hesitated, but only for a second before taking a step forward. She had made her choice.

Almost immediately, the scar of colored essence on her pelt went deep red and began crawling over the rest of her fur. Her back arched in a permanent attack stance and her fangs pointed further from her jaw in an unnatural manner. It was then Lume realized she couldn't move, or rather, she couldn't control her movements. Her paws turned back and launched her forward. Her jaws opened, splitting the skin at the ends to unhinge it further than it should have.

It wasn't Lume that snatched one of the fleeing cubs and ripped its head from its body. It wasn't Lume that grabbed another and smashed it against the trunk of a nearby tree until its head was a mush of shattered skull fragments and shredded muscle and brain matter. It wasn't Lume that fought off the attacks from the furious panther, coming to protect its young.

She watched as her body pressed the cat's flailing limbs to the ground, forcing them down until they snapped. She watched while her jaw unhinged and snapped down on the mountain lion's head in one bite before tearing away from the decapitated corpse. She tried to take back control in vain as her eyes stared down the last surviving cub. She tried to force the word, "Run" from her lips, but her mouth refused to cooperate with her brain. She was filled with relief when her body turned away from the small creature, letting it escape deeper into the brush.

There was a moment of stillness as she tried to figure out what was happening, and then, in the silence that followed, the voice spoke. 'You really should have just listened.'

In that instant, Lume knew that this inner self was not her protector, it was her programming; a sect of her mind designated to keep her a lone wanderer for the rest of her days. It would do whatever was needed to keep her in the cycle of sojourning she was meant to exist in, even taking control of her body in a full autopilot. All of the warnings the voice had given before weren't warnings, they were threats, all alluding to this horrific turn.

And then another realization hit. So long as Fraser lived, she would always have a reason to ignore that programming and go back, so when her body turned back to the trail of essence prints that led the way back to Fraser, she knew immediately what her mutinous body was doing, and she began fighting harder than ever to make it stop.

(Yeah... besties)

~CL1

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty-one

The darkness felt so good.

It enveloped him. It covered him. It stirred all around him like hot desert winds.

The desert. Oh, the desert. What a desolate place. He had been so, so alone. His heart had been slowly dissolving away. It broke, fractured, fell apart until there was nothing left but a hollow shelf of what he had been. And what was a wolf without their heart?

He had known from the beginning that his pack would never come back. It wasn’t the loneliness itself that had broken him, it was the knowledge that the loneliness would never be healed. He would be alone forever, and he would die alone, and the darkness would close in on him and eat away at him until he was nothing.

Except he wasn’t nothing. He wasn’t alone anymore. Because of Lume.

Lume.

The thought of the she-wolf ripped him out of the darkness that enfolded him. He sucked in a desperate gasp, thrusting himself to his feet. “Lume!” he cried, though it came out as a ruptured whine. His legs buckled and he fell back into the ground as burning pain engulfed him, throat tightening and cutting off his air flow. Instinctually he began coughing and retching, stomach bile mixed with blood running from his jaws.

Somewhere behind him he heard his name, carried on a fearful voice, but his gagging filled his ears and he couldn’t focus on anything else. The pale, sun-kissed fur of Milkweed leaned over him, her body brushing against his as he fought against his own lungs to breathe, eyes wide. Tears ran their way down his face as the convulsion continued, stabbing claws of pain through his entire body.

“Breathe, Fraser,” Milkweed’s voice told him from somewhere overhead, voice filled with concern. He could feel his sister’s fear, but more evident was guilt. Not her guilt, he managed to process as he vomited up more blood. Someone else’s.

The form of Lume appeared beside him, pale fur almost white with the faintest trace of blue, except for the stripe of sky blue that weaved from her face down to her shoulder and along her side. Fraser managed to pull his eyes up and look at her, and as their eyes met he found that the she-wolf’s fear was greater than Milkweed’s. “Fraser,” she whispered, voice trembling with worry and guilt.

Everything was on fire. He felt as if the pain, the convulsion, the burning would go on forever. But just when it seemed to hit its peak, all at once his body stilled, muscles relaxing and freeing him from the potentially deadly hold. He panted heavily, open-mouthed, sides lifting and sinking as he regained his breath, dizziness overtaking him. His weight sank into the forest floor, everything growing limp as his eyelids sagged. He couldn’t smother a pitiful, pain-driven whimper.

“Fraser,” Lume repeated his name, moving to lay in front of him with her nose level to his. “Fraser, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

He let out a weak, shaky moan in the form of a response, straining to look at her. Milkweed’s fur swished against his side before she turned to move. “I’m going to get him food,” her voice said, wobbly, as if Fraser was underwater. “Be careful, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Silence followed, the only sound being the wheeze which followed Fraser’s every breath, straining his lungs to a point where he wondered if death would be a far better option. The darkness had been so soft. So warm.

“Fraser,” Lume’s voice whispered finally, after what felt like an eternity passed between the pair. “I am so sorry.”

Fraser groaned out an inaudible response, every piece in his body weak and heavy with burdensome weight. He felt himself begin to tremble as a chilled wind hummed through the treetops, a mixture of cold and his current status catching up to him. He could faintly hear the rustle of Lume’s fur as he moved, but his eyelids were too heavy to force them open and look at her. His heart thumped inside of his ears as a moment passed, when all at once the powerful strength of the ethereal wolf enveloped him, fur brushing against his as she moved to lay down alongside him. Though a simple gesture, he felt his heart swell within his chest. It had been so long, far too long, since he had been able to lay in the company of another wolf. One who cared for him.

“I’m so sorry,” Lume’s fractured voice repeated in a hushed tone. Fraser moaned out a shaky answer, giving up on speaking and instead allowing his muscles to untense completely as he dipped away back into unconsciousness, the vibration of Lume’s heart against his side comforting him to the point of rest.

(They’re besties)

- President Loki

Hmph. Well then, you'll have no problem fixing my spacing now then, hm? I'm definently doing it out of spite now, and not just utter laziness ;)

Waning Unity

Chapter Sixteen

Lume sat on one of the high mounds of dirt and rock towards the back edge of the camp and watched the wolves go by,

socializing with each-other, pups playing with one another.

She had no business being in a pack as well off as this one. There was no need for her to be here when all was well, all she

could do was bring them suffering. But maybe it wasn’t about what she needed. She looked off to somewhere along the side

of the pack’s camp where Fraser spoke to the light she-wolf from earlier and another wolf with a sunbaked coat. He likely

needed this encouragement, and though it was clear his former pack-mates were content with this new family they’d found,

perhaps even just having a conversation with them would be enough to lift his spirits.

“Are you hungry?”

She turned her head slowly to see the dark wolf from earlier standing before her. His name was Mink and from what she

could gather, he was the alpha of this moderately-sized pack. Lume caught a glint of uncertainty in his face. She tilted her

head. “You seem conflicted, even just asking.”

Mink lowered his head slightly and looked around at his pack before turning back to her and lowering his voice to a whisper.

“Food’s been … scarce lately.”

She blinked at him, studying the look of defeat on his face for a moment before replying. “Your hospitality is more than

enough, thank you.”

Some mirth returned to his eyes. “Of course. We wouldn’t dare disrespect the ancient Moon Wolf,” he said with a smile.

Lume could feel herself freeze with shock. “… you know what I am?”

“Our pack was raised on the stories of myth and legend.” He looked back over the pack. “Your legend was a warning. If you

should show yourself, you could protect us, but only a pack with hearts true to one another could have you with them and

not be slaughtered. Perhaps that is one reason we have survived so long, our loyalty in the fear of your arrival.”

The ancient wolf couldn’t help but stare in shock. She’d never heard of herself spoken in such a fearfully reverent tone, and

she wasn’t sure she liked it. “You said food was scarce,” she said, trying to move away from the subject of herself. “Why?”

Mink sighed and shut his eyes. “There is another pack, just on the other side of the river. They’ve been taunting us, pushing

into our territory to see how far they can go. I’ve tried being peaceful, giving them the benefit of the doubt in the thought that

perhaps they were running out of prey, but at this point they’ve taken almost half of our territory. I can’t be much more

peaceful without endangering our own survival … but, I’m not the young wolf I used to be, and my children …” he nodded to

a few wolves around with coats not too far from the dark shade of his own.

“Quoll used to be an avid fighter, but she’s got pups of her own to protect now,” he said, nodding to a young wolf scolding

one of the pups that had apparently hidden a rotting mouse in another wolf’s den while the rest of the pups snickered. He

looked to another, more stoic wolf sitting atop a mound like Lume’s towards the middle of camp. “Dunnart might be able to

take a fight, but Stoat, Sable and Grison,” here he looked to a set of triplets, all in lighter, splotchy coats tussling with each

other. They were small and likely no older than juveniles. “They are all from my second litter. They’re far too young … I’m

afraid they’d be torn to shreds in a fight with a pack as large as the river-pack.

Lume could see the true concern and worry on Mink’s face as he looked at his pack-mates. He seemed to be unable to

afford a war, but the pack wouldn’t be able to survive much longer like this.

She flicked her ears. “Perhaps it’s time I return the favor and live up to my legend?” She looked at Mink. His face was

confused at first, and then a small, genuine smile appeared. “You’ll help us?” She gave a nod in response, and then turned

to look back where Fraser was still speaking with his old pack-mates, now laughing and smiling with them. “Though I should

probably inform him first …”

~CL1

“You beat it with a stick. a StIcK, fRaSeR” Fraser is going feral.

Girl, what is up with your weird spacing? I waste two minutes of my precious day fixing your weird spacing!

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Chapter Six

All it took was a twinge, just a twinge of blood-thirst, and Lume was over the edge again. In her neutrality she had balanced on the edge, teased it with her paw steps on the narrow ledge, never slipping or faltering. She veered away from the precarious danger only when she leaned towards the purity of a blue phase, preserving the peace, but as the hostility reared and the wolves launched at Fraser, Lume could see her paws stumbling and she watched herself slip from the edge, down into the darkness below into very dangerous territory.

The fall, she learned, was only scary until she had reached the bottom; by then, she never wanted to climb back up the ledge again.

“Lume!”

Fraser stumbled back, still struggling on three good legs, as he shouted her name. It was almost a command, throwing her into action as she leapt over him and caught one of the wolves by the neck, pushing her head up and away. The wolf snatched her neck from Lume’s fangs before the ancient wolf had time to snap her jaws shut and starve the younger wolf of oxygen. Immediately, her brother took the lead as he attempted to leap onto Lume.

She braced herself as he lunged, allowing him to touch her only to use his momentum and keep the movement going by lifting forcefully as he landed on her back. He was flung over her and crashed into the ground harshly enough to knock the wind out of him. Lume didn’t allow him the chance to get to his paws. She reached him in a single bound where it should have taken more.

“Lume, wait!” Fraser shouted from somewhere behind her. “I-I just wanted you to help me, not hurt them!” His pleas flew past her ears as she pinned her attacker. She turned, her eyes burning against Fraser. “I am not your guardian,” she reminded him with a snarl. This was not about him, this was about the wolves drowning in blood red essence and dragging her down into the depths with them.

“Boa, a little help!” The pinned wolf shouted to his sister. Lume paused her snarling, slightly amused. “Now why would she do that?” A look of confusion passed over the wolf’s face. “Because she’s my sister. I protect her, the same as she’ll protect me! You wouldn’t know anything about that. I don’t see how anyone could care enough to try protecting you.”

For the first time in a long time, Lume found herself smiling.

She lifted her head and looked to Boa, who hadn’t moved since breaking from Lume’s grip. She stared intently at the myth wolf looming over her brother. Lume tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes a bit, never breaking eye-contact with Boa. “Is that so? Does he protect you?”

“Of course I do!” her brother snapped, clearly infuriated by the question.

“Harrier is always there for his sister,” Fraser shouted at a distance. Lume had forgotten he was there.

Boa too had a look of certainty on her face, but Lume only had to repeat herself to eat away at the young wolf’s certainty. “Does he protect you … always?” Boa’s sharpened brow softened and her face went blank as she retreated inside her head, dwelling on all of the times Harrier wasn’t there. Harrier hadn’t stopped her from stumbling and twisting her paw. Harrier couldn’t stop her from getting sick when illness ravaged the pack. Harrier couldn’t find food when she was starving.

“Can you really count on him?” Lume’s voice hissed through her head.

Eventually, the small petty things became poisonous, spreading their influence through her mind until all the times Harrier WAS there for her simply disappeared. The time he had saved her from falling down a cliffside, the time he had stopped her from getting carried off by a hawk as a pup, even just mere moments ago when he rushed to her defense against the red wolf, putting his life in danger even now; it was if none of it ever happened, because to Boa, it didn’t.

“No!” Harrier shouted both to Lume and Boa, “It isn’t true, you know it’s not! I’d never hurt you, never!”

Lume’s head snapped down to Harrier suddenly. He had just signed a heavily binding contract with his words, words that would be very easy to turn against him. “Never …” she repeated to him, hissing the word in his face. Her head cocked to the side and her face relaxed into an expression of light contentment. “Show me.”

She backed off of Harrier and let him stagger to his feet. He looked at her with heavy confusion for a second. “What do you mean show—“

His words were cut off as Boa tackled him and shut her jaws around her brother’s throat.

~CL1

Waning Unity is such an excellent story that it shouldnt have been hidden away in the clutches of a dye section. Goodness gracious that was a tear-jerking, toe curling ride. THIS is top tier writing. President Loki and CL1 did a phenomanal job on this story.

- Ben