Nothing Special

Eight (the last one)

Cliff was white from age with a limp in his hind leg. He padded slowly through the forest that he had grown up in, looking around quietly as he went for an evening walk.

He had found a mate after becoming alpha, a light brown wolf named Poppy. She had given birth to two rounds of his pups, ten in all; six the first time, four the second.

Tree Frog and Fern had died due to a grizzly bear a few years ago, leaving only Vulture left alive out of his siblings. He had gone blind recently and retired from hunting of any kind, as well as stepping down from his role as beta. He had to admit, it was unusual, not having Vulture there to help with choices for the pack.

He followed a familiar trail that led to a low cliff surrounded by ferns. As he sat down on the smooth rock ledge, he heard rustling behind him. Turning his head, his breath caught in his throat as he saw what he had thought was impossible.

Bone stood in front of him. He wasn’t an astral figure like visitors from the Forever Grounds; his eyes and fur were worn from age, pupils dull from life. His fur hadn’t grayed with age, and his throat gaped open in the same way that it had when Cliff ripped it from him. As he stepped closer, Cliff saw that his forelegs were ripped up, skin and fur missing to reveal the eerie whiteness of his bones underneath, as was the case with his lower jaw. Now his name truly was fitting.

“H-how-?” he began, but Bone let out a snarl that silenced him. “The ancestors decided that I should be resurrected,” he growled. His voice was the same as before, slightly rough but just like Cliff remembered it. How he was speaking with his throat gaping wide open, didn’t know. “Decided that, in case there were more born with powers like mine, I could be there to help train them instead of leaving them to figure it out alone like I had to.”

He didn’t let Cliff say anything before continuing. “Why did you kill me?” he asked, voice vibrating with emotion. Cliff wasn’t sure what to say. “Out of jealousy? You couldn’t let me be high in the rankings?”

“You… I… you were going to take the role as alpha,” Cliff said finally, studying his brother’s face. It held nothing but sadness and hurt.

“No, I wasn’t,” he said, voice shaking. “I never wanted to be high in the rankings. I didn’t want to be the center of attention. I never asked for celestial powers beyond comprehension that I have to live with for the rest of my life. I would’ve been just as happy as the omega, low in the ranks, at the very bottom, if it meant that you payed any attention to me. I didn’t want to be the alpha, I didn’t want to be the best. What I wanted was my BROTHER. I would have stood at your side and let you rule, used my powers to help you serve best as I could.

“When I got powers, of course I was terrified and excited at the same time. But I thought… well, I HOPED, that maybe because I got higher in the ranks that you would notice me. I was pleading to the ancestors that you would even look my way. More than anything, I just wanted you here. I wanted my brother, my real brother. I NEEDED MY BROTHER.”

Suddenly he lashed out, driving Cliff into the ground and holding him there, his head hanging over the edge of the low ledge. He twisted around to look up at Bone, who now stood over him, claws digging into his shoulders. “But you aren’t my brother. You aren’t. Brothers would never do that. So I want you to remember something when you arrive in the Forever Grounds like I did the day that you killed me. I want you to remember that it wasn’t your brother who killed you.”

Bone lowered his head and ripped out Cliff’s throat in one swift movement, the same way that Cliff had done it years ago. “It was rage itself.”

- President Loki