raised as a wolf and I very well will live like one; as a pack.

“Wherever we end up Destiny, just know I’ll always be there” He said with a sheepish grin.

His words comforted me as I returned the grin replying: “Thanks Cyan, I appreciate it”. I looked up to see it was late in the morning giving us plenty of time. “Say, how about we race to Balto’s place huh Cyan?” I challenged.

“Well that’s fair seeing as I have no idea where that is” He responded sarcastically.

“I guess you’ll just have to come in last” I teased.

“Oh it’s on!” said Cyan with immense anticipation.

“Alright then; Ready, Set, GO!” We both launched ourselves towards the direction of Nome as our cave started to shrink within seconds.

 I looked out to my right seeing Cyan right next to me, “Try and keep up Cyan!” I provoked, he simply gave me a wide grin in response. The outline of Nome was beginning to appear as we made our way through the forest and within moments the ever so familiar snow covered hills were before us. Turning around to check on Cyan noting he was only lightly panting, “Come on, just a little bit further” I said before I ran off in the direction of Balto’s ship. Cyan let out one last sigh forming a small misty cloud of air as he began running as well.

Approaching the stern of the ship Cyan let out a comment: “Balto lives <I>here?”

“Yeah” I responded. “It’s not too bad”. Padding towards and up the plank placed on the ships broadside me and Cyan stopped. “What’s that sound?” asked Cyan.

“It sounds like… humming?” We stood and waited on the deck trying to figure out what it was as the “humming” got louder and louder accompanied by a sweeping noise.

“Hmmm, doo do do doo…”

The source of the sounds approached ever closer from the compartment that lead into the bowels of the ship by the captain’s wheel. An unfamiliar scent followed… one that smelled of a certain avian variety…

“EEEK!” shrieked a middle-aged goose with ruffled feathers. His eyes met mine, then Cyan’s. “So you wolves think I am easy prey eh?” the goose spoke with a Russian accent. “Well I’ll have you know that I’ve tangled with grizzly bears, two of the most evil polar bears in all existence and maniacal red-eyed moose before!” he warned. “Not to mention my body is stronger than steel from all the battles I’ve had with the legion of teething wolf dog pups! “

“So I say this: WHAT YOU SAY?” as the goose took a Popeye fighting stance waving his clenched wings around as if ready to box. In the middle of the gooses odd warning a familiar voice come from the trapdoor opening. “What’s with all the noise Boris?” sighed Balto as he made his through the opening in a tired tone. “Balto! Defend yourself! We have guests!” responded Boris. Balto looked over to a reluctant me and a confused yet hysterical Cyan. Balto let out a sighing breath. “Calm down Boris, their friend’s, well family actually” prompted Balto. “EH? How so?! I found you by yourself when you were young!” questioned Boris.

“It’s a long story Boris,” Balto lifted his paw and pointed at me; “But in short: that’s Destiny, she’s my sister”. He shifted his paw leftwards, pointing to Cyan; “And that’s Cyan, her mate” explained Balto.

Boris’s expression changed from vexed to surprised and then to glee after Balto explained the details. “Today is happy day! Family reunited, pasts intertwining…” proclaimed Boris as he made his way over to us. He then wrapped his wings around the base of our necks and pushed us together. “But the stories I told you of are still true”

“You can’t be serious right?” asked Cyan chucklingly, “I mean evil scheming polar bears? Legion of PUPS? That sounds ridiculous!”

“I am telling you the truth!” responded Boris wide-eyed. “You need to see these beasts at work first hand! They’ll never sto—“. Just then a voice in the distance echoed towards the ship. Everyone turned to attention at the direction of the voice. It came again. “… Uncle BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORIS” echoed the voice with an emphasis on the O. Out of the tree line shot two white blobs dashing towards us. “AHHH THEIR HERE! AGAIN!” shrieked Boris. Hurriedly Boris began picking up some of his belongings (not that he had any) as if ready to hit the road. The calling got louder “… UNCLE BOOOOOORIS”.

“You’re not going to leave behind your two favourite nephews are you Boris?” asked Balto in Boris’s rush. “No. Not favourite nephews. ONLY nephews” corrected Boris. A large thud hit the ship as a small blur followed by a larger blur blazed past me and Cyan. “UNCLE BORIS!” screamed the smaller blur mid-air as it leapt. “NOOOOOOOOO—“. The two blurs collided into Boris head-on, clearing him across the entire ship’s deck to the other end. Upon looking through the trail of feathers in the air, there were two polar bears sitting next to Boris. “Did you miss us Uncle Boris? Did you?” blurted out the smaller polar bear.

“I think these are the polar bears he was mentioning earlier” whispered Cyan. I nodded in response. “They don’t look all that menacing”.

“NYET!” shouted Boris. “MUK! How many times have I told you? Uncle Boris does not enjoy it when you come crashing in here! More so when you end up crashing into ME!” During Boris’s lecture to the smaller bear Muk, the larger bear had inched towards the left ending up behind Boris. “Now you and your brother need to stop doing that!” finished Boris “Now that I mention it… where is Luk?” Luk had then let out an incomprehensible squeal as he leaned down from behind Boris and gave him a bear hug, and judging from how Boris was reacting, it didn’t feel too good. While focusing on giving the bear hug, Luk had started losing balance and started falling backwards towards the railing. “LUK WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!” blurted Boris promptly before Luk went over the railing with Boris in hand and landed in the snow causing a large polar bear-with-goose-in-hand imprint. “Cannonball! Weee--!” shouted Muk as he went running towards the railing as well jumping off.

Sounds of playing and Boris strongly disapproving echoed in the air as things had quieted down on the boat.

“Sorry about that Destiny, but as you can see Boris sure loves visits from his nephews” said Balto with a laugh.

“Haha, yeah I can see that” I replied. “Well without further ado,” gesturing my paw towards Cyan, “I present to you Cyan my mate from two nights ago. I don’t believe you’ve formally met each other yet”

“Hello Cyan” said Balto with the same warm tone in his voice. “Nice to meet you”

“Pleasures all mine Balto” replied Cyan. As they exchanged greetings, I noticed the sounds of Muk and Luk have yet to cease nor did Boris’s complaining; ‘Family love huh?’ I pondered. “Hey Des, it’s your turn” called out Cyan.

“Hey Balto,” I approached.

“Hey Des”

“It’s been great meeting you Balto” I said; “I mean I’m really grateful for the miracle I found you at all… it’s just after seeing your pack, I started feeling that I wanted that too—“

“It’s alright Destiny, I understand” Balto said in a gentle tone. “It’s been great meeting you and Cyan as well and I hope what you find in Cyan is like what I found in Jenna”

Tears started forming around my eyes; “Thank you for everything Balto” I said softly.

I started to pad my way towards the plank, turning back briefly and saying: “Send Jenna and the pups my best wishes, and to Copper that I’ll tell him the stories about my scars some other time”

“Will do Destiny, make sure you visit… and uh, take care out there” replied Balto in a more compassionate manner.

I nod. I turn to Cyan: “Let’s go Cyan” I said. He responds with a nod and accompanies me down the plank. As we silently made our way back to the tree line a lone howl erupts from Nome’s direction; it was Balto. A small grin forms along my face. I look to Cyan raising his eyebrows for a brief second, shortly after we turn to Nome and respond with a howl of our own.

As the howling died down Cyan and I proceeded into the forest with one realization in mind: we were embarking on a new chapter in our lives.

-END-

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Copyright © Universal Studios: Balto, Jenna, Boris, Muk, Luk

Copyright © redwolf03: Destiny, Cyan, Kaila, Copper, Chase, Dusty, Mark, Roan, Soran, Jaydor

Part 2 in the series is a long way out; I actually worked on this in May-June in 2011 and then never really got around to finishing it as a whole. So I'm going to be doing this in a series, no ETA on the next part but hopefully a burst of passion comes some time soon.