Chicago sniffed the air for any kind of food. Though her nose was sensitive, it could detect no signs of anything alive for miles, not even another wolf. She stopped at a small stream in her territory to think, and sip some water. The food was all gone; that much was certain. But what could she do? She knew only that she had to survive, which meant one thing: relocation.
Chicago decided that she would find some new land, somewhere where food was less scarce. She started walking north. It was as good a direction as any.
[hr:2f90e69a][/hr:2f90e69a]
Diana walked about. The sap clung to her fur. She sniffed the air. She smelt Freezestar. She ran towards the scent and growled at her. "Get out."
After three days of travel, Chicago found herself in the heart of Diana's land. This was farther into the other's territory than either friend had ever been. There was still no sign of food, but Chicago could hear yelling in the distance. She directed the clouds to form a portrait of her, so as not to startle Diana. It was a crude sculpture at best, but it would get the job done.
Diana growled again. Diana stuck her head in the sky and caught a glimpse of Chicago's clouds. She pushed Freezestar to the side and ran a bit towards them. Freeezestar looked around. She felt herself hit, but did not know where Diana had gone. She shot blindly and smelled the ground for blood. There was none. She sat down and mumbled to herself.
The yelling halted, and Chicago walked in the direction it had been coming from. She had found herself too hungry to run two days ago, part of the reason she had taken so long to get this far. She hoped with all her might that Diana might know what had happened to all the food in the area. Her nose told her there was still no food for miles, in any direction, though the occasional wolf or fox could now be scented.
Freezestar mumbled and stood up in search of food. She could tell she would have to walk. She sniffed the air. Nothing of food quality could be found. Her stomach growled a bit. She stepped onto the leaves and shuffled her feet looking for a rat or a mouse hiding under them. Diana looked around. She lept up trying to look to the sky.
Chicago heard faint rustling. She could now identify two wolf scents. One was Diana, the other, slightly more distant, was someone Chicago had never met. Delerious with hunger, Chicago paused and started gnawing on a tree root before she realized what she was doing and resumed her walk.
Diana lost her footing on the way down. She landed akwardly and continued to jump up. Freezestar padded to the next pile of leaves and began to shuffle through them aswell. She stopped something. She bent over and sniffed it. It didnt smell like food. She left it be.
Chicago looked through fading vision and saw Diana, jumping in the air like she was trying to catch something. A bird, perhaps? A stumble, then Diana was back up into the air, jumping at not a birt, but Chicago's cloud-art. Turning it to face herself, Chicago stumbled forward wearily.
Diana ceased her leaping. She glanced around before looking straight ahead. "Chicago? What are you doing here?" she asked.
Freezestar nosed through the leaves. She was about to turn to sap again. She shuddered at the thought of it.
Chicago collapsed onto the ground, lacking the energy to take another step, or even to continue standing. "All the herds in my lands have moved on... I was hoping you might have some food," she panted, "But it doesn't smell too promising."
Diana bit her lip. "I havent seen food in days..." she said. She took a deep breath, hoping to catch something.
Freezestar shuddered and clawed a tree. The sap leaked out slowly. She licked it and gagged. It was aweful. But it was a needed evil in order to keep moving.
Chicago pried herself off the ground and dragged herself forward. "I have been traveling for three days, and no food for a week before that. I'm glad I made Redhot take the pups to the farthest reaches last month... I wouldn't be able to feed them... Diana, go, while you still have the energy." She collapsed again at Diana's feet, twitching and breathing laborously.
Diana shook her head. "I'm fine," she sniffed the air again.
Freezestar flicked her tounge in and out. "Thats so sickning!" she grumbled as she tried to get the aftertaste out.
Suddenly, Chicago burst into a series of giggles and sat up. She was laughing so hard, she fell over again. After a moment, she sat up, trying to keep a straight face. "Okay, that was just for show. But seriously, I'm starving to death. Where is the nearest stream with anything in it?"
Diana shrugged. She pointed west towards the river. She wasnt sure if anything lived there, but it was worth a shot.
Freezestar walked to the river and drank hard. The sappy taste still clung to the back of her throught.
Chicago nodded and walked down to the river. She ignored the stranger for now and stared intently into to water. She saw a fish, but it was too small to worry about. A larger fish swam by, and Chicago pounced.
Diana growled at Freezestar. "I thought I told you to get your frosty butt off my land!" she spat at her. Freezestar leaned back and rocked on her haunches, not saying a word.
Hearing Diana, Chicago almost dropped her fish. "Please don't make me laugh while I have food!" She growled, trying to hold back a chuckle. She stalked onto land, placed the fish far from the banks, and only then erupted in wild, uncontrolable, insane laughter. "Frosty butt! That's a good one," she howled.
Diana continued to growl with her ears laid back. Freezestar shot a calm glance back. "You have a problem? Do tell!" she sneered. Diana lunged at Freezestar only to be frozen in mid-air. "Tsk Tsk you silly white wolf, what are we going to do with you?" Freezestar chuckled. Diana tensed her legs ready to explode out of the ice.
Chicago shot to her feet when Diana became encased in ice. Electricity crackled, and the few clouds in the sky instantly multiplied and covered the sun, giving the valley a dreary appearance.
Diana exploded and continued her lunge. Freezestar glided to the left and Diana skid on the ground. She flew out and took Freezestar to the ground. She snarled face to face with the dark blue wolf. Freezestar growled back.
Chicago waited until it looked like Diana had eveything under control, then returned to her fish. She sloppily tore into it, shredding it with her teeth and swallowing large clumps.
Freezestar snarled and poked Diana with her nose. Diana froze solid again and Freezestar was able to shrimp out. She left in peace. Diana burst out.
Chicago finished her meal and looked around. Aside from a freshly made-and-thawed Dianasicle, there was a sloppy mess of fish bones everywhere. She licked her lips. There wasn't any more, but her stomach demanded it. Diana was beginning to look a little like a wounded deer...
Diana spat in Freezestars direction. "Keep yourself off my land!" she growled. Freezestar flicked her tail and walked off in search of food again. Diana sat down and scratched herself
Chicago's hungry stare stayed on Diana. She licked her lips, and went into a crouch.
Diana got up and clawed a tree while standing on her heels she noticed Chicago down. "What do you see?" she asked.
Chicago looked up at Diana and licked her chops again. A low growl rose from her throat. The half-starved wolf could only see food wherever she looked. Her instincts told her to go for the nearest moving object, which was, unfortunately, Diana.
Diana stared at Chicago. "IF you try and eat me, ill eat you," she growled trying to snap her out of it.
Chicago crawled closer on her belly. She only half-heard Diana's voice. The rest of her heard the bellowing of a trapped moose, it's horns caught in a tree's branches. She pounced.
Diana jumped out of the way. "Chicago!" she yelled in a shocked voice. "Chicago im no food!"
Chicago hit the tree Diana had been leaning on full force and head-first. For a moment, she was stunned, then she was seeing birdies flying anound her head. Chicago snapped at them.
Diana didnt dare sit down. She geared up to lunge to the side again if Chicago tried that again.
Freezestar wondered again and picked up the scent of a moose. She had covered alot of distance in so little time. She shocked herself.
Chicago suddenly fixed her gaze back on Diana. Her pupils were diahlated, her nostrils flared. She was foaming ever so slightly at the mouth. She laughed, a mad, hysterical laugh.
Diana flicked her tail. "Chicago you need to come back to earth," she stammered. Freezestar kept her chest to the ground as she stalked the food.
Chicago chuckled crazily and spat blood; apparently her collusion with the tree had caused her to bleed in her mouth. "Chicago? No, I don't see any Chicagos here. Just a tasty-looking caribou. I," Chicago liked her lips as more foam sprayed to the ground,"will gladly eat her." She lunged again.
Diana shot out of the way. "Chicago dont make me fight!" Diana stood ready. "Cause i will!" She yelled.
Freezestar's stomach growled as she inched closer.
Chicago lunged, again and again, each time missing Diana, either because Diana dodged or because Chicago simply aimed wrong. With each passing moment, Chicago foamed more and more at the mouth, and every few lunges she would spit blood. Eventually, she hit a tree hard enough to knock her out cold.
Diana watched as Chicago went down. "Thats what you get for trying to EAT ME!" she yelled at her. She mumbled something and tried to decide on what to do.
Chicago sat up, looking a little confused. "What happened? Why does my head hurt? Ow..." She winced and spat out some blood. "What- why am I bleeding?!"
"You tried to eat me then ran ran into a tree." Diana said. She didn't bounce around the topic much.
Chicago shrugged. "Okay, then." She sniffed the air. "Where'd that other wolf go?" She trotted down to the river and sipped some water, then grimaced and spit out blood.
"Other wolf ran away," she said looking up stream.
Freezestar growled at the deer. It began to run. Freeze ran after it.
Chicago started to trot back up to Diana, then suddenly stopped, her eyes rolling back up into her head. She collapsed on the ground, coughing violently. No longer able to support herself, Chicago rolled back down and into the river.
Diana ran to the river. She attempted to fish Chicago out. He paw pads were burnt. She couldn't step in the water. She panicked.
Freezestar let the deer be and sat near the river.
Chicago choked on the water, struggling to surface. Somewhere between Freezestar and Diana, Chicago felt teeth pulling her to safety. Then, blackness.
Diana ran down stream still in a panic state. Freezestar huffed and froze the river solid. She crossed it and sat down on the other side.
[hr:2f90e69a][/hr:2f90e69a]
Chicago was unconsious when her savior dragged her into a cave, but was awake a few minutes later. She coughed, then heard a feminine voice. "Oh, good. You're awake. For a minute, we weren't sure if you were going to make it." Chicago rolled over and gasped. "You!"
Diana bounced from the river to the bank. It stung everytime her feet touched the water. Then Freeze's power took control. Her feet froze, locked in the ice. Diana yipped.
Chicago gaped up at the wolves before her: Blaze and Misty. "You guys! I haven't seen you in ages! What-" here, Chicago heaved with coughs and had to stop talking.
Diana jerked upwards. She yelped in pain. The ice was solid. Freezestar twitched her ears hearing faint screaming. "What the heck is going on?"
Chicago tried to get to her feet. She cold hear faint yelling. "That's Diana! She's in trouble!" Misty laid a paw on Chicago's shoulder. "You're much too weak to go. Let Blaze do it."
Diana jerked up again. Her paws strained to rip out of the ice. She grit her teeth and pulled upwards. "Come on! Come on, break!" she growled.
Blaze rolled his eyes, but left the cave. He ran along the river- since that was where Misty had found Chicago, that was where Diana was most likely to be. Sure enough, Blaze soon found Diana, with her paws embedded in a frozen river. "Hold on! I'm coming!" Called Blaze, but he hesitated at the river's edge. He had always hated dealing with ice.
Diana continued to jerk upwards. If she put enough force into that for too long shed break her paws. She yelled at Freezestar "YOU IDIOT UN-FREEZE ME!"
Blaze tentatively placed one paw on the ice. His power, which raised his body temperature in cold areas, showed immediately as a plume of steam arose. He scooted Slowly across the water until he could see Diana. "Hold still, miss. I'll have you free momentarily."
Diana stopped squirming. "That Ice-type is going down" she mummbled to herself. Her struggle had not casued her to break her bones, but she had ingured some.
Blaze felt the ice start to give. He ran, overshot Diana, managed to get back to her and free her from the ice... then fell through.
Diana shot her feet up. She watched the ice fall through. "Freezestar you idiot!" she growled as it did.
Blaze coughed as he spit out water. "Now I helped you.. it's your turn to help me!" He called as he tried to tred water. "I can't swim!" Then he started to sink.
Diana shot a glance at Blaze. She tunneled her way through the water. It was hard to see. She a a blurry figure and began to propel herself towards it.
"Help..." Bubbled Blaze. He could only barely see Diana, but she was so far away... He couldn't hold his breath much longer...
Diana kicked off the bottom of the river to gain momentum. She grabbed Blaze's scruff and threw herself to the surface. Freezestar stood at the top, nose to nose with Diana. Dianas eyes narrowed. "See what you caused?!"
Blaze found he was breathing air. He gasped for breath and struggled to his feet. "I do NOT want to do that again. Why was the river frozen, anyway?"
Diana growled again. "This smart one..." she spoke in a cross voice. She pointed to Freezestar. Freeze laid her ears back.
Blaze sniffed Freezestar. "No doubt about it. She's most definately a water-type. But you already knew that." Blaze checked that his fire-crystals were still in place, then started to walk away. "Oh, by the way, my mate and I saved Chicago from the river earlier."
Diana nodded. "I'm thankful." She turned her attention back to Freezestar.
Blaze started his jets to jump the stream, but they sputtered and died. "Uh-oh," Blaze muttered," I'm too wet! I can't keep a flame!"
Diana lept out of the water and shoved Freezestar in. "Have fun," she snarled. She sat down and mumbled to herself. She was in her own world.
Blaze sat next to Diana for a while, then tried his jets again. When they still didn't light, he tapped Diana lightly on the shoulder. "Miss, do you know a good crossing spot?"
Diana shook her head. "Not around here," she told him. Freezestar kicked her legs, trying to keep herself from drowning. "Why me?" She screamed to the wind.
Blaze frowned. "Thank you anyway, Ma'am. I'll just have to wait until I can dry off so I can fly across." He sat down next to her to wait.
Diana stood up and moved towards Chicagos scent. She looked down into the den. "Chicago? If I come in, are you gonna try and eat me again?"
Chicago stood up and wobbled out of the den, still a little shakey from her near-drowning and severe headache. She was blushing hotly. "I am SO sorry I did that! I can't even remember most of the time I was doing it." She avoided looking Diana right in the eye, and even looked straight down to keep Diana from looking into her eyes.
"It's fine, Chicago, you were starving," she flicked her ears. Her feather was gone. "Shoot, Don't tell me I have to go looking for that," she mumbled.
Chicago looked sad. "I was starving- that doesn't make it right. I'm sorry, Diana, but this has to happen." Without another word, Chicago went to the top of a hill. The sky darkened with heavy stormclouds, and there was an audible buzz: lightning building up. All of Chicago's fur started swaying and reaching toward the clouds.
Diana flicked her ear again, She heard the buzzing. She knew what that meant. She saw the storm clouds above the cliff. "Chicago, no..." she panicked again. She began to run on her damaged heels.
Chicago turned to Diana, her eyes all a-glitter with tears. "Diana, don't." She whispered, her voice carried to Diana's ears alone by the wind. The crackling grew louder, louder, and yet louder. Chicago's fur was practically pulling itself from Chicago's flesh. "It has to be this way."
Diana shook her head. "Chicago, don't," she couldnt let her friend die. "It was an honest mistake," the words flowed from her mouth. She didn't think about them.
Chicago didn't even pause. Strong gusts threatened to blow Diana back down the hill. A single tear fell from Chicago's eye, and she whispered, "Goodbye." There was a bright flash, loudly accompanied by thunder. Lightning kissed the hilltop nonstop for well over a minute.
Diana was forced down the hill. She struggled to fight it. She tumbled backwards and watched the lighning strike in horror. "CHICAGO!" she screamed. Her eyes softened and her throat burned. The tears came without a second thought.
When the lightning finally died down, almost nothing living sat on top of the hill. Most everything was burned to ashes, nothing remained. The only thing seemingly untouched by the burning that had only just occured here was a plant. It had sprouted where Chicago's tear had fallen. Its soft leaves rustled in the fading breeze, its scarlet shining bright.
It was a red fern.
Diana moved her feet slowly. Almost as if they weighed too much to carry. "Ch-Chiago?" she asked. She knew she wasn't there. She glanced at the plant.
From the base of the hill, Blaze watched in horror. He had at first thought that Chicago had simply used the lightning as a distraction to escape to her own exile, but then he had seen the plant. He thought back to what his old Alpha had told him about the red fern.
"The red fern only grows between two beings that really loved each other if one of them has died."
'Shes gone,' her mind told her. "Chicago..." she said. she sat down beside the plant and watched it. Hoping, that it would move. She knew it wouldn't. But her body was locked like that.
Blaze let Diana grieve. She had lost more than a best friend. She had lost someone close enough to be her sister. After a few hours, Blaze climbed the hill and gently prodded Diana down the hill, leading her clear of the river in case she decided to try anything Chicago wouldn't have wanted her to do.
Diana stuck her paw in the water and poked the stream with her nose. She didnt move from there. She kept her paw down and her head a few inches away. Eska watched from the bushes.
Misty silenly moved close to Diana. She had also seen what had happened, from the entrance of her den. She was prepared to use her powers to save Diana, should anything occur.
Diana stuck her tounge out and lapped up a few dropped of water. They slid down the back of her tongue and made her shiver a bit. Eska moved out her blue star on her hip gave her away. Diana didn't look up to see her.
Blaze watched the hilltop with a distant look in his eyes. He fought to hold back tears. 'I have never cried before, and I don't plan to start now,' he thought. He hadn't even cried when rejecting his own mother, or when his father had died. So why was it so hard to keep from sobbing like a lost pup now?
Diana let her head slip for a split second. It plunged into the water then shot back up. She caught a glance of Eska's eight pointed star. She stared at her for a moment, then laid her head back down.
[hr:2f90e69a][/hr:2f90e69a]
Somewhere miles to the East: Chicago panted hard, but kept up her three-legged jog. She had faced death many times, but never had she found it harder than to do the deed herself. She had jumped out of the way at the last second, then slipped away while everybody else was stunned by the wide lightning bolt. Her chickening out had left her with a badly burned leg, a wound she didn't plan on letting heal. She was planning on running herself to death.
Diana turned her head sideways and laid it in the water. The water rushed past her right ear and reminded her of her lost feather, her only posession. It was gone, as if it's being there was for only as long as Chicago was also there. She blinked her left eye and kept it closed. He nose still lay above water.
Chicago gave up trying to die the hard, slow way and stopped at a stream for a drink. The river slowly trickled around rocks, giving it a peaceful appearance. "Exile it is, then,"she decided, then saw something caught in a rock, some peice of debris from some distant accident. Chicago slipped closer to look, then fresh tears rolled to her eyes. "Di- Diana's feather," She sobbed.
Dianas ears twitched again. She opened her eyes to find Eska leaning over her. She nudged Eskas paw with the tip of her nose and closed her eyes again.
Chicago leaned in to the feather, clutching it in her teeth. As long as she still carried this, this remnant of her friend, she would always have a connection to home. Chicago limped on, following the river.
Diana fell asleep as time passed. Eska scooted under her mothers nose to keep it above the water.
Chicago wandered further and further east, often walking straight through towns and settlements, getting shot at, nearly hit several times. She didn't care, and she barely noticed. She had figured out how to place the feather as Diana had worn it, and now wore the feather, the only thing about her that Chicago bothered to groom. She felt that, now that she was wearing it, she could see through Diana's eyes. With a start, she realized she could. She was fairly certain that it worked both ways, too.
Diana opened her eyes again and looked at Eska. "Let me be," she told her. Eska looked up at her and stayed still.
Chicago sat and watched through her best friend's eyes. One of Diana's pups, Eska, was supporting her chin. Diana tried to shoo her away, but the pup defiantly stayed there. Chicago felt a pang, a sence of loss for her own pups. Looking back through the eyes of her former best friend, Chicago saw that she lay partially submerged in water. Chicago decided to try to contact her through this strange link.
Diana nudged Eska again. She stopped shooing her as she felt something. "What is that? Whos there?"
Instead of "speaking" to Diana, Chicago simply sent memories. The river, finding the feather, exile, wandering, and seeing through Diana's eyes. Chicago didn't want Diana to look for her. Exile was exile.
Diana saw the memories. 'You exiled yourself? Chicago you need to come back!' she whined trying to tell her.
Chicago looked through the link. "Diana, I can't come back. Even if I knew where to go, it was custum in my pack growing up to either kill or banish anyone who even thought about eating another wolf. I actually tried to EAT you, Diana. I... I can't." She terminated the connection the best she could and broke down, sobbing for her lost lifestyle.
Diana lifted her head off Eska. 'Chicago, I dont care, come back! I need you!' she screamed in her head. She stood up shaking a bit. She stood there. Eska looked up at her.
Chicago heard Diana faintly. She sighed, and held her breath to help stop the uncontrollable sobs. She raised her burned paw and sent the emotion from that through the link, helping Diana to feel what she had done, in her last-minute escape from herself.
Diana twitched and fell down into the ground. She cried out for anyone. Her best friend hadnt killed herself, Though she still felt ripped apart.
Chicago cried out with Diana, her own pain forgotten in the pain that came from Diana's mind. It was not a physical pain, but far worse; this pain was the kind that didn't heal, not in a million years, not in a thousand lifetimes. Diana was so sad, it bled through the connection and still radiated from Chicago.
Diana cringed and locked her feet. She didnt feel like moving. She rolled to her side and pressed her ear to the ground. Eska stayed to the river.
Chicago looked up. The sky was dark, tiny stars pointed in to the ground. "Diana, I'm coming home." She said this not through the link, but out loud. She started to run.
Diana cringed again and coughed. The sobby breathes flew out uncontroled. Eska watched her mother. She crept up to her.
The clouds gently funneled down and surrounded Chicago. She jumped, and they came under her, solid as stone. Not really knowing what she was doing, Chicago told the clouds to carry her home, wherever "home" was. She then remembered something that Diana had once told her she wanted to do. Chicago gently pulled Diana's eyes through the connection, and let Diana fly.
Diana twitched again Not knowing what was happening. She jolted her eyes open to reveal she was flying. "Whoa..." she looked around. "How am I doing this?" she asked herself. She then remembered something. She smiled to herself.
Chicago eventually nodded off, but the clouds didn't drop her. They healed her leg, and, since she was connected, Diana's pads as well. Some time before dawn, the clouds dropped Chicago off in Diana's land, just outside Diana's den.
Diana felt her feet heal. "She's home," she whispered. She started to move towards the middle of her land.
Chicago slept soundly through the night. She didn't even stir when Diana approached her.
Diana sat down and waited for morning. Her eyes still filled with tear. Not bitter tears of sorrow. They were tears of joy.
A pair of eyes watched hapily from the shadows. The body it was attatched to had been here through all the events in passing, but had remained undetected. Little dark grey spots sat atop the forehead, while the majority of the body was brown.
Diana yawned and layed down. Her eyes stared out of the den. Fixed on the moon, it was moving down. making room for the sun.
Chicago opened one eye. The other. Saw Diana. Smiled. Simply watched her, without a word. It was good to be home. Chicago's eyes rested on the blank spot just behind Diana's ear, where normally there would be a feather. The same feather that Chicago now wore.
Diana flicked her ear. She rested her head on her paws and watched Eska move in. Eska curled up on Dianas arm.
A slow wind rose. It stirred Chicago's fur, removing Diana's feather. She felt the connection go, not a pleasant experience at all. The feather floated on the breeze and landed on the end of Diana's muzzle, comically balancing there.
Diana took her feather off her nose. She smiled and stuck it to her ear. 'all is well,' she thought to herself. Eska rubbed up against Dianas paw.
Chicago still felt a remaining bit of Diana. "Yes, all is well," she thought, not really knowing why. A thick fog rolled in, and the hilltop from the incident the day before was washed of ash, revealing an almost unburned undershell of greenery.
Diana fell asleep. She whacked her tail on the ground as she did. Eska turned over and rolled off Dianas paw.
As the fog rolled out, Chicago walked with it. "As much as I love you, Diana, I can't stay here. I have to go back to my own lands, my own family." Her voice seemed to echo over the land.
Dianas eyes opened slightly. "Go on, go home," she spoke tiredly. She picked Eska off the ground and back to her paw.
Chicago nodded and ran. She ran over miles, passing deer, elk, moose and caribou, all freshly returned to the land. She ran. There was no time for sorrow, no time for regrets. There was only time for joy, time for new adventures. It was a happy ending, and a joyful beginning.