Sapphire © Spirit_wolf12, I hope you like this fic!
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“Sapphire…C’mon, time to get up”
……
“Sapphire?”
“Okay, okay…”
Sapphire slowly opened one eye drowsily. She groaned and pulled herself to her feet, even though her little body wanted to lie down some more and rest. She yawned and stretched. The cave seemed empty; her brothers and sisters must have already gone outside to play.
“Momma?”
“Hm?”
“Um…Where’s Daddy?”
“Outside, with your brothers and sisters.”
Sapphire’s face lit up instantly, she loved to romp and play with her father. She ran outside at once, leaving her mother to smile to herself in the den. The pup was so full of spirit, and it was hard to keep her still.
Sapphire bounded outside, and started inching her way towards the dark gray form of her father. Ambushing was one of her specialties, her father had said. Closer…closer…get ready…POUNCE! Sapphire was giggling as she leaped upon her father’s back, nipping him gently. He grinned and cried out,
“Oh, no! Help! Someone save me from this horrible beast!”
Sapphire giggled again, her father was so funny at times.
“Dad! It’s just me!”
Niko stopped yelling and slowly opened one eye with fake cautiousness. Sighing with relief as he smiled at Sapphire, he said,
“Phew, I thought I was a goner. You were so quiet; I couldn’t tell you were there!”
“Really? Wow!”
Sapphire smiled as she puffed out her chest as if she were the Alpha Female of the world. Laughing, Niko lightly pushed Sapphire, making her fall over like a tiny leaf. Holding back a snort, he helped her up.
“Oops…Heh, heh”
Sapphire blushed as she stood up. Laughing some more, Niko nudged Sapphire and bounded off, yelling,
“Race ya to the river!”
Laughing along with her father, Sapphire bounded down the trail leading to the river. Naturally, Niko won. Panting, Sapphire plunged her muzzle into the cool river water, letting it flow over her, cooling her body. Niko waited patiently, taking a quick drink himself. After a short rest, Niko showed Sapphire the silver fish that were darting around the calmer areas of the river. She watched them in awe.
“Daddy, how can they move so fast like that?”
“Well, they have to be fast, to get away from bigger fish who might want to eat them.”
“Bigger?”
Sapphire cocked her head.
“Yes, there are even bigger fish then these, these are only babies”
“Oh…”
Smiling, Niko got up from his previous sitting position.
“I can show you some if you like”
“Really? Oh, boy! Can we, pleeeease?”
Sapphire leaped up, exited to see the ‘bigger fish’. Laughing, Niko replied,
“C’mon, there are some over by the lake”
Sapphire followed her father to the lake, where some fish were leaping out of the water, trying to catch the bugs that were flying close to the glass-like surface.
“Whoa…Why aren’t they all silver colored, like the babies?
“The babies are born with that color; it changes as they grow older”
“Cool!”
Niko’s head suddenly snapped up, looking at the forest behind them. A horrible scent had reached his nose, and he didn’t like it.
“Sapphire…”
He said, fear in his voice.
“Yes?”
Sapphire said, looking up at him quizzically.
“Sapphire…Run back to the den. Now.”
“Huh? But, dad-“
“NOW!”
Without another word, Sapphire ran as fast as she could up the trail, when a terrible noise reached her ears. The noise was a short *BANG* that frightened Sapphire even more than her father’s fear-filled voice. She stopped to look back.
Blood.
Lots of blood. She had seen blood before, but not as much as this. It oozed over the dirt, staining it red. But…Where had it come from? Shaking, Sapphire continued running to the den.
But she wasn’t ready for the sight she was about to see.
A wolf lay on the ground next to the gaping mouth of the den. A wolf that looked strangely like…
“Mother! Mother, wake up! Daddy’s in trouble! …. Mother?”
The wolf didn’t move, nor did it make a sound. It just…lay there, as if it were asleep. Sapphire nudged the wolf’s body, but all she felt was the icy-cold body of a dead wolf. Eyes clouding over with tears, Sapphire ran back down the trail to her father, even though he had told her to go to the den. Her little paws splashed into the pools of blood that were now making the lake shore red.
“Daddy!”
Sapphire yelled, but the gray wolf was nowhere in sight. Tears now streaming down her cheeks, Sapphire ran up the trail, leaving little bloody pawprints following in her wake.
Her parents couldn’t be dead…This must be a dream, a horrible nightmare…Sapphire bit herself over and over, trying to get herself to wake up.
A flash of gray sped through the forest, increasing speed with every stride. A crescent moon on the running figure’s cheek gleamed in the sun’s dying rays. A now full-grown Sapphire slowed as she came to the edge of a cliff. Panting, she lay down, gulping in the fresh air. She looked down from the cliff to see a lake, the smooth surface occasionally being broken by the fish, witch were leaping out of the lake to eat the bugs that were flying low over the surface of the water. Sapphire blinked, and wings appeared at her sides. Spreading them wide, she leaped into the air, and glided down to the shoreline, landing with a soft *thump*. Looking around her surroundings, she noticed a small trail leading into the woods. Sitting near the edge of the water, Sapphire’s wings disappeared.
Then, noticing something in the grass nearby, a shocked expression crept over her face. A single powder-blue flower had grown over the place where her father had left the living world. Standing near the flower, Sapphire whispered,
“I love you, too, Daddy”
A large breeze came through the forest, and in the distance, a faint howl could be heard.