Who I Once Was, Who I am Now

[Ärï]

Eyes burned into Dark Storm but he made no move. His hackles didn't rise. His fur didn't bristle. No growl, no snarl. The two-toned beast remained silent. Half-closed eyes remained upon the stream as it rippled past not half an inch from his paws. Moonlight filtered through the barren branches overhead, dancing on the rippling surface of the creek. Turning his muzzle skyward, Storm let out a long, sorrowful note. It echoed for miles, a heartbreaking sound both beautiful and sorrowful. For long moments Dark Storm held the note before letting it die. Laying in a sphinx pose, head on his paws, Dark Storm watched the water once more.

[Sheera]

She was taken back by the sorrowful note and she let her defenses down in a few silent strides she was next to him.. she was lied down next to him again pressing into his fur.. this time to give him comfort. She groomed his shoulder once again.

[Ärï]

"You are a persistant pup" Dark Storm murmured, still staring at the water. "I've bitten you and even struck you yet you're still following me whether out of hatred or nothing better to do." A soft sigh escaped the ebony warrior. His eyes closed for a few moments and for once he made no move to flee. Storm didn't get it. Most of his life had been wars and fighting, not knowing if he would ever wake the next morning or which of his friends would die next. He was used to the unexpected and being ready for it. This was the last thing he'd been ready for.

[Sheera]

"Why call me a pup?" she murmured. "I'm a bit older than a pup.. by about 6 1/2 moons.." she said and pressed against his fur. Her slim frame proving she was still quite young. She continued to groom his shoulder.

[silverpelt12]

((Aww... shes in LOVe!))

[Sheera]

(( XD Yup yup yup.. yet is he?))

[Ärï]

(uh..he kinda forgot wat that was....too much fighting and war in his past)

Dark Storm didn't look over at the younger wolf. "You're a pup to me" he said coolly. "There's nothing else to call you." Storm shifted a bit, curling his black banner around his side. "But...why are you following me? I'm not a wolf that'll take care of you, I've already proven that." Dark Storm felt his stomach knotting and unknotting. At first he thought maybe the doe he had hunted had been ill but then again, her scent had been clean. It wasn't illness. It was something familiar yet so strange. What was it? All his life Storm had felt, pain, sorrow, fury and brotherhood, mainly because of all the war he had seen, all the wolves he had watched die and killed. The friends and packmates he had lost. Whatever was happening now was definately new and Dark Storm couldn't decide if it was good or bad.

[Sheera]

She chuckled a bit to darkly for her own being. She stopped grooming his shoulder and stated one fact. "Ophelia. Thats the only thing you can call me." she smiled again to darkly but she went on with a story.

"Long.. long ago there was a small femme. This small femme believed life was perfect... yet she wanted one more thing in life: Pups. " she began. "Soon.. one day she got it. In a horrible way." she said in a harsh voice. "A brute stole her away.. mauled her then force bred her..." she said in the same harsh voice. "Soon had five pups.. and had thought the brute was gone for good.." she said. "Oh how she was wrong...." she said looking into an invisable scene. "Soon the brute returned taking two of the largest heirs.." she paused. "I was not among them.. I in fact was the smallest of the five." she again took a breathe. "He brutally killed my mother and the remaining of my siblings... and he deeply harmed me... believing I was dead.. he left." she said. "She got what she wanted.. she got pups.."

[Ärï]

"I'm a brute Ophelia" Dark Storm barked. "All brutes harbor darkness. Some have...more darkness then others. I can't protect you from those that hold darkness. I am one that holds darkness. I can't be a father for you, nor guardian. It would be best if you went back to the old maned wolf. I'm sure the storyteller would keep track of you." Dark Storm turned his head so he was looking away from Ophelia. His tone was flat, dead. His topaz eyes had turned dark, as if someone had put out the flame behind them.

[Sheera]

"I don't want a father." she said in a flat tone. She sighed. "You don't get it do you? You get what I'm speaking of? What I'm trying to get you to say! You don't understand what I'm saying!" she stated the last two sentences. "I want to love someone... not take care from them.. I don't want them to care for me like I'm a pup! I'm not a pup."

[Ärï]

"I forgot what love was a long time ago" Dark Storm muttered, getting to his paws with a tired sigh. "Find someone else. I just want penance though that alone is more then I deserve. I'm a killer. A soldier. Find someone who's not broken." Storm waded into the creek, ignoring a sharp rock that stabbed his paw pad. He didn't run. Just walked. His honey-hued eyes remained on the path before him, tail low. His front left pad left a bloody pawprint with each step he took.

[Sheera]

She growled with annoyance. "Oh save the s**t!" she snarled irritably as she waded in after him. She chased after him. "Listen brute I've seen broken. I've seen them become broken before my very eyes! I've had experiances you will never believe a femora my age would have!" she snarled and lept towards the space next to him. She waded next to him now her fur bristling angrily. "I am broken." she growled under her breathe.

[Ärï]

Dark Storm stopped moving. He was borderline angry again but forced himself not to lash out. The pup was clingy. He couldn't help that and apparently neither could she. "Have you ever fought a loosing war? Seen wolves be torn limb from limb? Had nightmares until you're scared to blink? Have you...ever killed your best friend?" he asked, voice barely a whisper. His eyes were dark and misty. Staring straight ahead Storm looked like he was drowning when the water barely reached past his foreleg. He wasn't drowning in the physical sense, more in the mental sense, drowning in memories and emotions. A shiver ran down his spine and it took Storm a moment before he figured out how to move his paws again and climb the oppisate bank.

[Sheera]

She followed solumnly. Then she spoke. "Yes. I've fought a loosing war. Yes. I've seen wolves being torn limb to limb. Yes. I've had nightmares until I'm scared to blink. No." she said in a raspy tone. "I've never had anyone cloe enough to even call an enemy."

[Ärï]

"You're lucky. The wolves you've seen die...none of them were your best friends, your packmates, your lifeline. They may have been kin but...that's not always the same. You're fangs aren't stained with their blood." His voice remained quiet, subdued. No matter how old he grew, Dark Storm would never loose his haunted look, never forget. Thistle. His best friend. Trigun, Sinica, Fresia, Sudaku and so many others. Best friends. Brothers in arms. Faceless wolves that had covered his back in a fight. They all were dead now. He had left them. Fled. Run like the coward he was. Killing had lost its thrill. That had been the rumor he'd heard from northern rouges when he heard his name mentioned. It was horrible knowing what he was labeled as. Knowing in full what he had done.