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The group had been in the forest for days, trying to find a way to get to Scarlemagne's palace to save all the humans he had captured, among them, Kipo's people.
Wolf believed in her best friend's enthusiasm, of course, but she thought that Kipo was a bit too sure about her plan. Kipo had only one thing in her mind, freeing everyone and then start to try and befriend every mute in Las Vistas. But the girl had no plan, and that fact was worrying Wolf. They couldn't just run insto Scarlemagne's palace and demand to get Kipo's people back, they needed to think everything through and then make their way to stop the crazy tyrant.
The group of five was walking under the cover of the treetops, hiding from possible threats like Humming Bombers or other flying mutes that could be hunting for humans. Scarlemagne had sent all of the mute-groups out to captured Kipo and the gang and take them to him, wanting to make them his own personal servants.
He wouldn't succeed.
Wolf was in fight-mode, standing on edge with Stalky firmly in her hands, turning around every now and then to make sure that they weren't being followed. Her eyes wandered everywhere, over every tree and bush thst she could see. She also made sure that her friends were okay, not wanting them to be hurt in any way.
"Wolf? You don't need to keep an eye on everything all of the time, relax a bit." Benson said, having noticed how the younger girl never let herself relax, even for just a second.
She was always tense and on edge, making sure that nobody was around except for them. Her shoulders were up to her chin of anxiety and it made Benson a bit worried. The girl didn't sleep very well either, always watching so that it nobody would try to attack her ornehr friends in her sleep. She had the need to always protect everyone, it was her job after all, but Benson wanted her to relax just for a little bit.
"I can't relax! Anybody could attack at any sec-" Wolf started but was interrupted when her eyes wandered over a few bushes a few meters away from her.
Wolf froze in place. There she was... Margot. The human clenched her teeth and with a roar she attacked the form standing behind the bushes. But she never attacked Margot.
Because there was nobody there.
Leaves spread out everywhere and Wolf just stood there, Stalky in her hand as she stood in a defensive position. A hand was put on Wolf's shoulder and Wolf immediately whipped around and met Kipo's worried eyes.
"Wolf... There is nobody there." Kipo said and Wolf let out a digh of relief before she looked away from Kipo, going back to her place behind Benson and Dave as the gang continued walking.
Wolf didn't understand what had happened. Margot had been there, she was sure of it! Something felt evry wrong and Wolf couldn't put a finger to it.
The gang continued walking for a while before they eventually had made their way to the other side of the city. There was a big store selling beds, though the beds had grown plants in them after 200 years of jsut lying there. Kipo broke the door open with her jaguar-paw and Wolf just stared at it.
Those claws... They were made for killing. Killing stupid little girls like herself that never learns and befriends mutes. A certain memory flashed before Wolf's eyes and she pressed her eyes shut tightly to get that memory out of her head.
A small girl, five years old, was standing with her back against a big stone, wolves surrounding her. Their sharp fangs was barring and they were growling. Sharp claws was dragging themselves on the ground as the pack of wolves made themselves ready to attack the small girl, tears running down her cheeks of anger... Betrayal.
"Wolf?" a voice suddenly dragged Wolf away from the memory and her eyes met Kipo's, the older girl standing in the doorframe, waiting for Wolf to go inside the store.
Wolf cleared her throat before she walked past Kipo and sat down on a mattress to rest her body on for a while. Her eyes felt heavy and she really wanted to sleep, though she knew that she needed to stay up to watch her friends to make sure that they were okay.
~~~
The girl ran through the woods. It was dark and it was a bit hard to see where she was running. She knew that she had to keep running.
Never stop, don't let them get to you.
She was surrounded by the wolves, all growing at her. Tears ran down the child's cheeks as she looked up at the two alphas in the pack. The ones she had once called her parents.
"Why are you doing this? I thought-... Y-you... You said we were a pack!" The girl sobbed as she wiped the tears on her sleeve, more tears already running down her cheeks.
The alpha mother looked down at her only daughter, Margot. Margot gulped as she met her mother's eyes. She knew what to do. Margot turned back to the human who looked at her best friend, hoping that she would do the right thing and step away from her family.
"I-... We're wolves, you're a human!" The wolf got down on all fours and prepared herself to attack.
The human's face turned into anger as she knew herself what needed to be done. And then she did it.
She attacked.
~~~
"Wolf! Wolf wake up!"
Wolf was screaming and crying in her sleep, her face turning as her arms was hitting at anything close to her. Kipo got a form hold of the girl's wrists and held them in one hand as the either one brushed Wolf's heair out of her face, trying to calm the girl down in her panic.
"Shhhh, shhhh, it's okay now, Wolf. It's over." Kipo shushed as Wolf woke up, startled at finding Kipo holding her like that, head resting on the older girl's shoulder as tears ran down her cheeks.
Kipo rocked the girl back and forth as she calmed down, hiding her face in Kipo's shirt as her breathing became even and she could think normally. Kipo brushed Wolf's hair with her hand as she hugged her close to make her feel safe.
"Are you okay? You screamed." Kipo said in a quiet and calm voice to not make Wolf start panic again.
"I-... I had a nightmare..." Wolf sighed, looking down to the ground as Kipo then hugged ehr again.
Kipo was warm and gave Wolf a weird feeling of safety. She felt herself nearly falling back asleep before Kipo cleared her throat and made herself ready to ask something that Wolf might not want to answer.
"What-.. What was the nightmare about?"
Wolf went really quiet, only her breathing proving that she was there. She felt so light in Kipo's arms and Kipo knew that the child hadn't eaten that well these last few weeks, too busy with making sure that her friends were okay.
Wolf thought about that question. Would she really be able to tell Kipo about her horrible and traumatizing past? She honestly just wanted to forget about it and move on, but how do you move on from something like that? They had been her friends, her family and they had turned on her, saying that she was only their prey and that they never actually loved her. Even her best friend betrayed her and she had needed to kill most of them. And now she was wearing their mother.
Wolf took a deep breath and met Kipo's eyes. And she did it, she told Kipo the whole story, or at least everything that she remembered. She had only been around four years old when she was adopted after all, and she had no memories of her real family or anything from before the wolves. She didn't even remember how she was found.
A few tears ran down Wolf's cheeks as she revealed the last part of her past, how she had killed nearly all of the wolves and how she had lived in fear of meeting them again all these years. Kipo hugged her and Wolf let everything out once again, crying into Kipo's shoulder.
"It's going to be okay Wolf, I don't know how but it is. I'll never leave you and I'll never hurt you." Kipo whispered into Wolf's ear.
"Promise?"
"I promise"
And for once, Wolf actually trusted Kipo. She let herself fall asleep in the older girl's arms, a small smile on her face.