Facing the Past

Dan and Ohanzee encountered in the air, and fell on the ground, struggling ferociously, biting, clawing... Dan's family stayed in the corner of the room, with no exit, terrified.

- Daniel! Do something! - Paula screamed to her ex-husband.

- But what?! - he yelled back, unsure of what to do. - He's too close to Dan!

Dan tackled Ohanzee, and quickly held his throat with his teeth, strongly, immobilizing him. Aniu stepped closer and her eyes started to glow again. She was going to take them back to Nome before Ohanzee could do any more damage. Paula and Mr. Hawkins realized what was happening.

- Dan! No! – the hybrid’s father called, running towards the canines.

- Daniel, wait! – Paula tried to stop him, but too late.

They were all dragged into the vortex of mist. Their vision was blocked by what they didn’t know if was snow or mist, and the air got colder. The ground below them started to fill with snow, and then it all stopped. They all fell out-balanced, scattered around the place. Surely it was nearby Nome, but it wasn’t the top of the mountain. It was the top of the cliff from which Balto had fallen in the serum run. They all started to rise, dizzy. Ohanzee got up quickly, and looked at Dan.

- I knew there was something more about you. – he said, loud. – You were a human all this time! You’re not just a half-breed, you’re a freak!

Dan snarled angry, and lunged at the wolf. He, in response, counter-attacked, managed to hold Dan’s neck with his teeth and threw him aside, to the edge of the cliff. Dan slid on the snow, heading to the peak. He gasped, and tried to hold the ground with his claws, but there was no use. He slid beyond the limit, and tried to hold the edge, but his claws were not enough to have a good grip, and he fell, his screams sounding lower and lower, until it faded into silence.

Boris was already impatient, walking in circles continuously. The dogs looked at the goose, with no idea of what to say about all that. Luk grunted something to his smaller brother, Muk. Boris stopped his walk.

- Now what the heck is he saying this time?! - he asked loudly, concerned about the time their companions that had gone with Aniu were taking.

- He says he's worried about Dan, Uncle Boris. He thinks something got wrong. - the smaller bear explained, looking to be worried too.

- Flyboy! - they heard a female voice calling over them, as they all looked to the sky to see who had said that.

Stella landed near them and shook the snow from her feathers. Boris' expression got calmer.

- Oh, beautiful goddess of the skies, so long since I last saw you... - he greeted her, taking her wing and kissing it, like a gentleman would do to a lady.

- I'm happy to see you too, Flyboy. But we have no time for greetings. – she said, sounding rushed, like she had seen a ghost. - I just saw that boy, Dan, appearing from the nothing on a cliff.

- Then he got back! - Balto said, happy.

- Yes, but he wasn't alone. With him there were two humans, a white wolf and a black one. This wolf... h-he... - she got suddenly wordless, and started to tremble.

- What, Stella? What? - Dusty hastened her.

- T-the wolf threw Dan from the cliff! - she finished.

The heart of all presents almost stopped. Luk started to cry loudly.

- H-how... - Boris tried to talk, but the shock was too much, Dan had become a very close friend to him in the last days, and that relationship reminded him a lot of the one he had with Balto when he was younger.

Luna broke down in tears, sobbing. Balto tried to comfort her. The goose recovered himself a bit, but they could see a tear rolling on his face.

- What happened to the humans then?! - Boris asked, desperate of worry, drying the single tear he had dropped.

- The wolf called some others that looked to work for him, and they surrounded them. Since they had no chance to fight back, they just obeyed and followed them away from there. – the female goose said. – The white wolf that was with them just… vanished!

Boris looked at the dogs and his adopted nephews, looking for ideas.

- We have no way to know where they are. And Dan is probably dead. - Balto said, lost.

Luna couldn’t stop whimpering. Her boyfriend was dead! Boris looked at the land around him.

- Dan, wherever you are, please, keep holding on. - he whispered.

Dan woke up, and felt he was about to freeze. He found out he was buried under an amount of snow. He desperately fought against it to break free. He couldn’t breathe, and his body instinctively didn’t stop digging, even when his muscles started to ache. Exhausted, he finally reached the surface, and got out of the snow with difficulty, and let himself fall on the cold white ground. He opened his eyes, and looked to the rain of snow that was still falling, and felt the wind blowing cold at him. He closed his eyes again.

- I'm sorry, guys. - he whispered.

He laid his paw on his snout and started to cry. There was no hope. Even if he survived, he would never get to Ohanzee in time, and he would torture and kill his parents. Maybe he had already done that when Dan was unconscious, buried. Suddenly, he heard paws walking over snow near him. He took his paw from his snout and opened his eyes. He saw a gray paw of a wolf. He couldn’t distinguish that wolf’s scent, because he hadn’t any. Was that because of the wind blowing it away? He looked up to recognize the wolf's face, and felt his heart filling with happiness again. Nava was standing in front of him.

- Nava? How did you...? – he started, but got wordless, it was too good to be truth.

Nava looked deep into his eyes.

- I came to help you, Daniel. - he said, with a deep voice.

Surely he was a spirit now, just like Aniu. That made Dan lose his hope again. He laid his head on the snow, sad.

- I’m not gonna make it, Nava. – he said. – It’s over.

A raven swooped over them, throwing a short caw.

- There is always hope, Daniel. – a female voice said, sounding a bit echoed.

Dan looked up again and saw it was Aniu, beside Nava.

– They are still alive. – she continued. - Ohanzee is taking them to his new hideout with some wolves from his group that survived.

Dan sat up. There was still a chance. He turned his gaze to the top of the cliff. It was very far. But if there was any chance for him to save his family, he should seize it. Giving Nava and Aniu a last look, he ran towards the rocky wall and started climbing as fast as he could, being careful not to slip and fall.

With almost fifteen minutes of climbing, Dan was standing, exhausted on the top of the cliff, trying to catch his breath. When he was recovered, he ran following Ohanzee's scent. After some minutes of run, he heard many creatures coming in his direction, and sensed fortunately familiar scents. He looked in their direction and saw Balto, Luna, Stella, Boris and the brothers Muk and Luk, running towards him. Dan, smiling, halted. Boris jumped and hugged him desperately.

- Dan! You're alive! We were all so scared... We thought you were dead! – the goose, suddenly realizing everyone was watching, changed his behavior from relieved to angry. – Don’t you ever do this to us again! You and Balto are always getting into trouble and almost dying! What were you thinking?!

Dan chuckled, and then before he could react, Muk and Luk hugged him, and all he could see was white fur. He broke free, and looked at the other dogs. Luna ran towards him and nuzzled him almost desperately. Her face was wet. Surely she had been crying. He nuzzled her back.