The Don of the North

All characters from Balto are copyright of Universal and Amblimation

Inspired by The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Chapter 1

Nome, Alaska, Late October, 1927

Balto had been waiting for this day, ever since she had been a pup; Balto had been waiting for his daughter, Aleu, to have her wedding day. The ceremony had happened in the yard of Balto’s mate’s, Jenna, house. With the ceremony over, the wedding dinner had been more in the main street than in the small and crowded yard. Everyone there was either in a tuxedo or a dress.

What had it been? Two years since she were a simple minded pup, and she had grown into a fine young female, even if she had looked more wolf than he did, sometimes. Her husband was a wolf, half grey half white and he was also a member of a nearby wolf pack that would be migrating east. Across the ocean, his daughter might never return.

This saddened Balto, even on such a happy day as this, the thought of never seeing his daughter again was unbearable. She looked so pretty in her white wedding dress, a symbol of her honor, an honor that had been protected by Balto with his never ending gaze. No male would dare touch her or anyone else of his family in any disrespectful way, not while Balto was the head of the family.

Three more of his offspring were here at Aleu’s wedding as well, Dingo, the oldest male and oldest of Balto’s children, the animal that he was named and his personality were very much the same, even though he had the coloring and appearance (except for the most of his head which is red) of his mother. He was usually alone, though he was occasionally found in the company of another female, he was in fact, talking with a young female husky that Balto didn’t recognize, probably another conquest of his, or at least she soon would be.

 The second of Balto’s children too be found is Saba, she is the second oldest female next to Aleu; she had the same appearance as her mother, though she was shorter and had an even higher determination of both her parents combined. She was having a conversation between her mother, Dixie, Sylvie, and her boyfriend, Jason. A grey husky which Balto had much contempt for. It had been Saba’s determination to be with this male that had nearly had Saba killed. Balto had fixed everything in the end, but she had stayed with him.

Kodiak or Kodi as many called him was the youngest of all of Balto’s children, he had always lived at the bottom of his family but his father had always been there for him. Balto had taught him to run; he was the fastest of all of Balto’s children, but still not a match for his father’s speed. He worshipped his father, to Balto’s own disappointment.

Kodi was talking with a bunch of his friends, a brown husky named Kirby, a large grey husky named Ralph, and a light grey female husky named Dusty. The two males were apart of a small gang that ran a few gambling games in town, Kirby was at the head of this operation, while Ralph was more his second in command. Dusty on the other hand, was the daughter of a prominent head of an underworld empire. He too was at this wedding, showing his respects to Don Balto.

Oh yes, Balto is the head of a major organization that excels in making money by any means on both sides of the law, they also specialize in problem solving, their own problems being more to the point. Balto was such a wolf/dog, a problem solver, if someone had a problem they would come to him and it would be settled in a reasonable way. He was the supplier of every vice in all of Alaska, Washington, most of Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Hawaii, Western and Northern Canada. He was extremely wealthy but he never showed it, nor like it.

Everyone at this wedding was either an associate of his, an ally, a rival, or someone indebted to him in someway. Every gift that had been given to the married couple had been a show of respect that each person had to him. This is why he had been so disappointed at Kodi’s views of his father. He didn’t want his children to turn out like him. This was something he had been trying to solve, ever since he had learned of Jenna’s pregnancy. He had promised Jenna that he’d leave it all behind. That had been her only condolence to his actions. He had been forced into this business and now he had no real reason to stay in it, no need to endanger his family.

Boris walked over to Balto, which drew Balto’s attention away from the bride and groom. Boris or his full name Boris Goosenov was by every meaning of the word ‘old’. His life had started in his motherland of Russia years earlier, soon turned communist and civil war ravaged the land. Boris had to flee to America after assassinating a public official and had several murder/disappearance investigations starting to lead back to him. He came to America and stayed here. Not longer than a few months later, near Nome itself, he had befriended the young male wolf/husky pup and later taught him the ‘tricks of the trade’, as it were. This was to lift the young guy out of his poverty stricken lifestyle; it would be years before this would happen.

“Balto! Is it but a grand day as your Aleu is now wed” he spoke in a Russian accent, so this wasn't exactly how it came out, even after a few years in America.

“Yes Boris it is. Hard to imagine Aleu not being a pup anymore, without her need for her father” said Balto, a sliver of sadness in his voice.

“Don’t fret Fido, her mate will keep her safe” was Boris’ comfort to Balto’s sadness. “I hope he can” was the reply Balto gave. “Miss Aurora would like to speak to you” whispered Boris

“Oh, where is she?” asked Balto, not whispering like his elder. Boris was slightly annoyed at this but otherwise knew Balto liked to do these things to him. “She said she was heading towards the cemetery” replied Boris, no longer speaking as if it were a secret.

“She would. Very well, I shall see her” replied Balto, just starting to walk away before Boris spoke again. “Mr. Orteze wishes to speak to you too” Balto continued walking but shouted back to Boris “I’ll meet him after dinner on the boat”.

*******

Balto’s departure didn’t go unnoticed, but there was still plenty of time before the married couple would leave so he had plenty of time. The cemetery was nearby, about a few minutes walk, so Balto wouldn’t be long.

As he entered the cemetery, he came across who he had been looking for, Aurora or otherwise known as Donna (Feminine version of Don) Aurora, she was the head of the Sheppard crime family, despite the name, they were not sheep dogs, nor did she have any close family members. She was a grey and slightly black Siberian Husky/Alaskan Malamute mix, blue eyes which with her dress, plus she’s about two year’s younger than Balto.

She was inside a fenced off part of the cemetery, into which Balto entered.  She turned slightly to see him walk up beside her. And he looked down at the names of the five tombstones: Bernard, Shelly, Sally, Crow, and Spencer. They all had the same date at which they died, February 3rd, 1925. Too many of the locals that night was known as the “Night of Blood”.  They were Aurora’s family, at least they had been. Many had died that night, many more were saved. Bernard and Sally were the oldest of the five and were the parents of both Aurora and the children with the remaining tombstones.

“Do you think they would have been proud of me?” Aurora asked Balto. He had been an “acquaintance” of her parents and had known them for most of his life. “Of course they would be proud. Why would you even ask such a question?” asked Balto, “Because they didn’t want me to be this way, they wanted Crow or Spencer in my position, not me” replied Aurora slightly angry and sad at the same time.

Balto put his arm around her and tried to comfort her in a hug. “They loved you Aurora, that’s all that matters” said Balto, she hugged him like she used to hug her father, her head in his chest, sobbing.

“You know I still can’t forgive you for what you did” she said muffled by his tux. “I know, but then it’s a small price to pay to save you from yourself” was Balto’s reply. This however only angered Aurora; she broke off the hug and backed off a few feet.

“I had all of them! All of them! I was going to get my vengeance, Avenge my family and what do you do? You take it all away from me! You kill two of them and send the other away scot free. And you say that you were helping me!” Aurora shouted, tears leaving her eyes. Balto, with a little grin on his face, turned around and started to walk out of the cemetery, he had dealt with her like this before and it always gave him a smile, knowing she hadn't changed after all these years, she had yet to learn what he had: vengeance solves nothing.

“I should have killed you then!” She said to his back with contempt. Balto stopped outside of the fenced in area, turned his head to her and said “Now what would your father say about that?” Balto asked her rhetorically, yet with some slight humor. With that he headed back to Jenna’s house, leaving a crying Aurora behind. “Thank god she’s not thinking like her father, otherwise I’d be dead” thought Balto.

*******

Balto returned just in time to perform a final dance with his daughter before her departure. Everyone gathered around as Balto and Aleu joined together for their final dance, the musicians started to play the song and the two began to dance. It was a waltz; Balto had done