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It had been a very long time since he had been home. Yet White didn’t feel very excited to be returning. Why should he? He had only spent a small portion of his life living in the colony before being plunged into the cold uncaring world. The rest of the colony would have changed by now into something that he wouldn’t be able to recognize.
Of course that wasn’t really relevant to his situation now. He needed a safe place to raise his two adopted pups, and the colony was the safest place that he could think of.
Approaching the colony though, he noticed that something was wrong. The field in front of the gargantuan tree that the colony resided in was empty. The sound of pups playing in the field catching batflies was absent. There were no hunting parties leaving to go acquire food for the rest of the colony. Even the light at the top of the tree seemed to have dimmed.
He pressed forward through the field, feeling the assault of memories from a time long past. Over there was where he had met his first crush. She had always been a very mischievous pup, and she had always led them both into getting in trouble with her little pranks. On the other side was were a green lizard had grabbed and had taken him to its den to be eaten. He had only barely managed to escape its grasp, and it where his pears had given him the title of ‘Survivor’.
He had come to accept that he would never see anybody he had ever know again, but seeing these places and remembering his time here, it still made him sad. He still wanted to see the rest of his family again.
Finally approaching the base of the tree confirmed what he had already expected. The colony had migrated, there was nobody here. For the first time in a long time he felt, empty. Everything felt wrong. This was supposed to be the place where slugcats would go to and from their respective duties. That was where the pups would go to be taught, and over there was where they would go and play. He had never seen the tree be so still, so lifeless. Things that he had at one point considered insignificant now stood out. Each one calling to a memory of a better time, when he was surrounded by friends and family.
He glanced over at his pups. It appeared that the two had a disagreement over who would get to eat a bluefruit they had found on the ground. Grape had tackled Mint to the ground and it appeared that he would win the little competition the two were having. Neither of them seemed to notice or care about the emptiness of the colony, nor did they seem to realize that their adopted father’s sadness
Perhaps the reason for their lack of reaction was due to them being born outside of the colony, and as such they wouldn’t have any knowledge of what once was. Perhaps it was better that way. Sure they wouldn’t ever get to know the joys of being in a colony, nor would they have peers to give them a title, but they wouldn’t have to deal with the burden of losing everybody they once knew.
The sound of fighting once again reached his ears, and looking over he saw that Grape had taken his sister’s bluefruit and she was now swearing a bloody vengeance. Now would a good time to intervene, besides the sky was beginning to darken, and while the tree didn’t experience rains like those found towards the east, they still needed their sleep.
Breaking up the two quarreling siblings he led them through the tree. Passing by an area filled with drawings depicting various slugcats heroic feats he was struck by memories of story time, and how Yellow always fell asleep on his shoulder during it. Perhaps he should take up the task of writing his own story upon the wall of stories, if only he was good at drawing.
So lost in his thoughts was he that almost didn’t recognize that they had arrived at their destination. Resting in front of them was a nest. Not just any nest, but the nest that his own family had stayed in while they lived at the tree. Sniffing the nest he could still pick up small traces of their sent, and staring out at the expanse in front of him, he could see the entire field that he had crossed and could even see the place that he fallen down so long ago.
Memory upon memory came slamming into him near instantly. From staying up past the time that they were supposed to with Yellow as she questioned whether she was a good sister to him. To the other times were he was cuddled up with his family, with his parents wrapped around his siblings and him.
For the first time since he fell down that hole he couldn’t contain his emotions anymore as a tear began to roll down his face, then another, and then another. In a short order his calm and collected composure broke down and he began to cry.
He felt a paw place itself on his side, and soon after another one was placed on the other. Looking over he was greeted by the faces of his two pups as they took the initiative to hug their father. It reminded him that he had a new family to take care of, and that they needed him to keep them safe.
He stood in the embrace for just a bit longer before lying down the nest that his parents had once made for him and his siblings. It would now serve as the nest for his own pups, and become their new home, As his pups joined him in the nest he wrapped himself around them and fell asleep.