Balto: Independence Day

Lone Wolf_fanwriter

**All original Balto characters are copyright to Universal Pictures.

Mike, Angel, Jake, and Ryan are all the property of me.

The lyrics for ‘Independence Day’ are the property of Martina McBride and her producers. The portion of ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ is the property of Garth Brooks and his producers. These lyrics have been adapted for the purpose of this story.

Chapter One- Painful Memories

As the sun rose over the Alaskan tundra, Balto’s ears perked up from a commotion in Nome. His eyes blinked open and he yawned as he got up. Stretching quickly, he padded up the galley stairs to the deck of his old freighter. He peered through the morning mist toward Nome and his eyes widened in surprise. Though the sun was barely rising, it seemed as though the entire town was up and out in the streets. He leapt down and started that way.

In no time, he entered Nome and noticed that most of the attention was centered on the town square. As he drew near, he overheard a small band playing, and the crowd was singing along.

“…o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”

Balto’s ears perked up; he’d overheard this song from his boat a few times before.

Ducking thru the gathering crowd, he finally spotted what everyone’s attention was riveted on; though the pole it waved from was rusted and glazed in ice, the flag at the top fluttered proudly in the breeze. It meant nothing to Balto, but as he looked around, he could tell that the crowd felt some deep emotions just looking at it.

Just then, a familiar whirring sound reached his ears, and he looked up in time to see Russell’s plane bank and fly down the main street and right over the heads of the crowd. They cheered louder. Balto grinned and took off after the plane, hardly noticed by anyone. He followed it for a few moments until it disappeared behind the rooftops, and the sound faded.

Off on another mail run, Balto thought, I’m glad he let me stay behind this time. I need to spend a good day with Jenna.

He turned and padded down the street toward Jenna’s home. When he was not a hundred yards away, he spotted Rosie and her parents leaving. Instantly, he wondered why Jenna wasn’t out to say goodbye to Rosie like every other day. She couldn’t be sick, could she? Then, he suddenly realized that he’d never been with Jenna this time of year. True, he’d seen the flag before, and heard the song the band played, but every year, Jenna had somehow been busy. The closer he got, the more concerned he got, until finally he decided to pay her a visit. He only hoped he wouldn’t wake her.

Yet as he stepped though the flap in the kitchen door, someone was watching him…

“Jenna?” he called softly. No answer. He tried again, this time louder. “Jenna?”

This time, he heard movement, and he turned around just as Jenna slipped through the same flap he’d just come through.

“Balto? Oh, I thought that was you,” she said, trying to mask a sniffle as she dabbed her eyes with her paw. “Is everything okay?’

“I should ask you the same,” he replied, seeing her reddened eyes. “Are you alright?”

Jenna avoided his gaze.

“I’m…fine,” she said softly.

Balto moved her muzzle back to face him with his own and pleaded with her.

“Jenna, if something’s bothering you, please tell me; I can help,” he said reassuringly. Seeing uncertainty in her eyes, he added, “You’re doing yourself no good by keeping it bottled up.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she sighed, stepping back outside through the flap. Balto followed her around the house to the small shed where Rosie’s father kept a coal-powered heater stoked at all times. As soon as he stepped inside Balto felt a wave of heat wash over him and he felt much more comfortable; but more than the soothing heat, he savored the memories that came with this room.

His and Jenna’s first litter had been welcomed into this world here, in the basket in front of the heater. He recalled many a day he spent curled up beside her, tending to their pups. As Jenna nursed them, he would lie beside them to form a warm barrier from the cool night air. He also recalled many a stormy night spent calming the fears of their little ones.

“It seems like only yesterday you were curled up there with our pups for the first time, proud as ever,” he said.

Jenna looked at the basket and smiled as a tear fell from her eye.

She was breathing hard, but smiling. Six little balls of fur; six pups. Though she was weak from labor, she couldn’t contain her happiness. Since the night she and Balto had spent at his old freighter, she had been waiting for this day, and now it had finally come. It would only be a matter of time before…

“Jenna?”

She smiled as the vision left her.

“It was wonderful, looking up and seeing you,” she said, “You looked worried at first, but that didn’t last long.” She turned her head back and nuzzled him. “That was the best day of my life.”

“It was mine, too,” Balto replied, kissing her gently on the cheek.

Jenna glanced back toward her bed by the heater and her smile faded as she remembered why she’d brought Balto here. With a quiet sigh, she padded over to the basket and moved the cushion aside. Balto stepped up beside her and furrowed his brow in confusion; under the cushion was an old faded photo of a red and cream husky playing with a little girl; beside the picture was a singed blue bandanna.

“Jen…I-I don’t understand,” he said, eying the photo, “Is that you and Rosie?”

“No,” she replied. “It’s her cousin Melissa…and my mother.” She touched the bandanna with her paw. “This was hers…”

She began to tear up, and suddenly Balto understood.

“Jenna, is…is she…?”

“Yes, she’s dead; she died three years ago today…because of my father.”

Balto couldn’t believe his ears.

“Y-your father?” he gasped.

Jenna nodded.

“There was a fire in the shed where they stayed next to the general store. She couldn’t get out…” Her breaths became racked with sobs, and Balto stepped up beside her. Jenna gratefully rested her head on his shoulder and shed her tears. “I never saw either of them after that day, but I know it was him. It could only have been him.”

“Jen, I think you should tell me what happened.”

“Alright,” she said, lying down next to her basket, “Well, I was the only survivor of a litter born in Applegate, and my mother loved me dearly, but my father was a different story. For about the first month, he tended to me like any other father would; that was the only time I’d ever seen him smile. After that, he seemed to transform into a different dog. You see, one evening, when I was just over two months old, he had just come back from a mail run…”

Jenna woke to a loud, angry voice.

“Angel? Angel, where are you?”

Jenna raised her head and saw a familiar tan husky standing in the doorway, his black muzzle curled in a snarl.

“Papa?” she said.

Her father ignored her.

“I’m right here, Mike,” answered Jenna’s mother calmly, rising from where she lay beside Jenna’s basket, “What’s wrong? I see you’re home early.”

“Not early enough,” he replied with a snort.

Angel furrowed her brow in confusion and shifted the blue bandanna on her shoulders.

“What do you mean?”

“Where have you been these past two days?”

Shocked by the question, Angel hesitated a moment. It was that hesitation that would seal her fate.

“I’ve been here with Jenna,” she said.

The next moment, she cried out as Mike slapped her hard across the face, leaving four deep claw marks. She staggered back a few steps with a paw over the cuts. Jenna, who had been watching with her paws curled over the basket’s edge, now sank down so that she could only barely see what was happening.

“A likely story!” Mike growled, “I’ve only been gone three days and I come back to rumors of you running around with Henry!”

“Henry?” Angel gasped, “Mike, why would I do that to you when we’ve got a child to raise? You should know that you and Jenna mean more to me than anything or anyone.”

Mike’s eyes lit up in anger and he took a few steps forward as a low growl escaped his muzzle. Angel backed away in fear, but he kept coming.

“That’s not the way I hear it,” he said, “Henry seemed quite pleased with himself, and he mentioned you.”

“Mike, think, please!” Angel said, shaking her head in disbelief, “He’s been jealous of you ever since we got together. Now he’s telling you these lies to split us apart so he can have me! Please believe me!”

“But my father was notorious for two things: Not being very bright, and being quick to a temper,” Jenna said, as Balto lay in front of her, listening intently, “He didn’t believe a word she’d said.”

“Is that so? Well, if he wants your pretty little *** again, I say let him have it!”

By then, he had her backed into a corner, and his eyes glinted as he flashed a toothy smirk.

“Mike, you’re scaring me,” she whimpered.

“Good,” he said, raising his paw again.

Angel saw it and began to shake.

“Please, Mike,” she whispered, “Not in front of Jenna…”

But her plea fell on deaf ears, and he fell upon her in rage. With each blow, Angel sank lower toward the ground until she lay curled up beneath him as he continued to beat and claw her. Finally, he seemed satisfied, and backed away. Angel lay crying in the corner where she’d fallen, unable to move without eliciting some pain from her bruised and bleeding body.

“Why are you- doing this, Mike?” she choked between sobs.

“Still not ready to admit it, are we, Angel?” Mike replied, shaking his head.

Jenna curled down as far as she could in the basket, praying furiously that her father wouldn’t see her. But just then, he padded toward Angel, and Jenna’s worry for her mother overcame her own