An Unexpected Future

(started 2/27/07 -)

Summary: (Alternate Timeline) What if “Wolf Quest” began with an event that changes everything that you once knew from the Balto sequels? Now faced with a new challenge of being a father, can Balto still live on now that things are suddenly different?

Rating: PG for serious situations and death . . . Very dramatic death, indeed. And there’s blood . . . not from violence, mind you! Perhaps there are some other things, but I don’t know them quite yet.

Disclaimer: Balto, Balto: Wolf Quest, and all characters from the films are the property of Universal Studios Inc.; any fan-made characters and/or names (such as Denali and Yukon for the unnamed two pups from "Wolf Quest") are the property of the author (Juuchan17) and should not be used without my permission.

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Prologue: A Dream of Tomorrow

It was those dreams again that haunted his slumber again that night.  

He had been having them since his mate told him about their future plans. That moment was implanted inside his memory ever since, replaying with the same feeling of joy and expectation as the moment it had happened.

It was a mid-April afternoon when she and her owners emerged from the doctor's office in the center of Nome. The snow from the previous winter had recently all thawed out from the ground, but still her mistress’s father still held the burgundy and ivory husky in his arms as he slowly stepped down the entrance steps of the building. Beside the tall, brown-haired man was his wife and young daughter of only about five or six years old. The man was concluding his conversation with the doctor after he had checked up on both his precious daughter and her best friend in the entire world – especially since the little girl had just fully recovered from her sudden illness from over a couple of months ago and the husky’s attitude was suddenly beginning to change from what it once was ever since she had been hanging around with a certain mutt from the outside of town. 

That male mutt, as if it knew something wonderful was going to happen today, poked his head from a nearby street corner. He was scruffy and in need of some grooming, but it suited his tainted breeding. He was half-wolf, half-husky – his physical appearance clearly showed the spirit of his much wilder ancestors and white-colored dam, while his inner intentions of being a sledding dog obviously came from his lost father. He kept his yellow and red eyes on the three humans, waiting for them to give him some time with the female alone so that they could talk about things.

The small girl turned towards the street corner, noticing the poked-up hairstyle of the familiar wolf-dog ducking back into the darkness of the alleyway. “Come on out, Balto,” she called him without fear. “Come here, boy!” 

At the sound of his name being called by the girl, his ears perked up as his fears lifted off of his shoulders. His coat of grayish-brown shone slightly in the fading sunlight that was beginning his descent into the horizon. The husky smelt the male’s presence and also turned towards him, radiantly glowing with happiness at who she saw. She let out a couple of quick barks, signaling that she wanted to walk on her own. Agreeing to the dog’s wishes, the man lowered his arms, allowing the young canine to run towards the hybrid with total joy.

“Balto!” she barked as she ran towards him.  

“Jenna!” he returned her call with a warm smile as he looked at the delicate purebred, basking in her sudden happiness. She was as beautiful that evening as she always was: her coat was well-groomed, shining with a copper-red and white glow, her fine legs and tiny paws added more elegance to her obvious breeding, but it was her wide amber-hazel eyes that made the half-breed love her more and more each passing day.

The four humans just stood on the white-washed stairs of wood, watching the friendly gestures of the playful dogs as they romped in a circle stopping when their noses finally touched. The girl’s father let out a sigh. “So that’s what she’s been up to lately. I can see why she chose him instantly.” 

The little girl wiped her bangs from her eyes as she turned to the doctor with a look of worry. “Nothing bad will happen to Jen, right? She’ll be okay when it comes?”

The doctor stroked his beard with a smirk. “She’ll be fine, Rosy. Jenna’s got strong support with Balto on her side. I mean, if he’s as strong-willed as he was in saving you and all of those other people by getting that serum . . .” He sighed, remembering how the hybrid let out a long howl, alerting the town of the saving grace that they had once thought was a lost cause; only days prior to hearing the sound, a telegram had signaled Nome that the sled team had missed a crucial checkpoint on their journey home. Thanks to Balto’s quick thinking and wolf instincts, he rescued the team and led them to a dangerous but quicker path to Nome. The doctor patted Rosy on the head; the shifting of her silky, straight auburn locks against her soft skin made her instantly giggle. “Don’t worry so much about her – she’s in good health so things should go smoothly.” 

The girl’s expression was now happier, no longer troubled. “That’s good to hear.” She too let out a sigh. “She looks just as lovely as her mother, Tasha, after her time. Just wonderful!” She giggled again as she and her parents bid farewell to the physician and headed for their own house by the edge of town, allowing the husky and the half-breed to spend some time together.

“Jenna,” Balto nuzzled her gently, letting their muzzles slip underneath the other’s like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. When they released each other from their grasp, the wolf-dog continued with a smile. “You look like your leg has fully healed since the last time you had it checked.” 

“Oh, yes,” she replied, answering him in the same gentle tone that she always spoke with. She lifted her right foreleg, showing Balto her now scar-less ankle. Jenna had injured it while risking her own life to protect Balto from a grizzly bear after following his scent into the wilderness when he went off searching for the lost sled team. “It’s fine now, but that’s not the only reason why I was checked by the Doc.” She smiled, nudging her face closer to his.

“What’s wrong, Jen?” Balto asked. His face showed that he was beginning to be scared for the delicate husky. “You haven’t caught a serious cold or something, have you?” 

“No, it’s not that,” Jenna shook her head slightly. Her face began to turn from white to a light shade of pink blush. “It’s about . . . something else. It’s about us.”

“What . . . what do you mean, Jenna? I don’t understand,” Balto’s confusion made him take a couple of steps back. He had spoken the words loudly that several other local dogs began to whine and stare with curiosity. Both of the lovers could feel the pressure of their nosy eyes glaring on them, focusing on their personal lives. 

“Uh, Balto, is it possible to go someplace . . . private?” The burgundy husky whispered into his dark brown ears, her face still in a slight flush. “Maybe . . . someplace with a view of the Northern Lights, perhaps?”

Balto’s eyelids lowered softly as he gazed into her own eyes. “I know the perfect place.” He motioned his head towards the boiler room that led to a secret place that only the two of them knew about.  

It was a safe haven underneath the doctor’s office; although it was grimy and filled with old cobwebs and dirt, it held one of the most beautiful displays in the world: the Northern Lights. The first time the two of them saw them together was the night that Balto couldn’t stop thinking about how magnificent the purebred looked against the gleam of the make-shift aurora, with its rhythmic and random flickers formed by colored shards of glass bottles and a lantern’s candlelight. Jenna once thought it was nothing more than a silly game when he had first described it as he pushed everything to place. Every time she saw it, it still made her gaze in awe and wonder that such a beautiful sight could be made with two normal things.

Once the two canines were alone underneath the clinic floor, Balto did exactly what Jenna had requested. “The polar ice caps . . .” he nudged the glass shards beside him, standing in front of it proudly.  

The still-blushing husky looked up at the floor vent above his head, smiling at the sight of a bright lantern lighting the opening. “The sun . . .” she spoke softly, walking towards him almost making their noses touch.

The two mates looked into each eyes – red and yellow into amber-hazel – each allowing the other to absorb themselves with their love for each other.  

They spoke the magic words in unison, “And to the North, . . .” They separated in the opposite direction, allowing the vision of the aurora to appear in front of them, projecting against a wall.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful, no matter how many times I see it,” Jenna gasped softly, feeling Balto’s touch pressing against her red-orange bandanna that gracefully draped her neck. 

“And so are you, Jenna,” Balto felt Jenna return the gesture against his own chest. At that moment, it felt as if the purebred was connected to him somehow while she stroked her muzzle against the spot where his heart was pounding with ecstasy. When they parted their nuzzling, he cleared his throat and resumed their previous conversation. “Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me, Jenna? About us?”

“Oh, yes. I remember now,” she patted a section of ground beside her as she lay in front of the glistening Northern Lights. “My girl took me to see