Jupiter

back-dated to before she broke her ankle at os.

"Can't you help?" Jupiter asked the little girl. She looked up at him. He didn't want to drag such an innocent young pup into this... They were like siblings. He felt like her older brother, with the job of protecting her. She glanced at her paws for a moment before looking up again at Jupiter and Spruce. "I'll do it." She sighed with finality, and the boys couldn't help but sigh with relief. There was another warrior on their side. Small, the smallest one they had yet, but every fang counted. Rosebud had shied away and every other slave he didn't trust enough to ask. But they had to see, he had a good reason. He knew it was a good reason! It was so they could stop the line of cruel clueless leaders with someone smart who actually knew what they were doing. Once the beta was out of the way, Coal was sure to replace the deceased man with Jupiter. Jupiter knew he would make a better alpha than that idiot. And he knew Coal would never discover what the threesome had done to Orange.

The loner woke up at the base of the mountain. Her pupils were dilated, her hackles risen, and she was panting. What had happened? The dream hadn't been a fight or chase, just a decision. A very important decision though, the decision of whether to keep her conscience clean or become a killer before she was half a year old. The kid had mistakenly chosen the latter, and hadn't tried to talk Jupiter out of this. Maybe if she had, he wouldn't of killed him, and his ears wouldn't of been viciously torn off, and he wouldn't of been made a slave. But even then, they still wouldn't all be together now. The forest fire would've still happened, and she would still be stuck in an unfamiliar Wilds, with many more wolves than the Far North.

The assassin was travelling to the Silvertip Mountain, something he hadn't done in a while. He hadn't visited the lonely mountain in ages, for it brought back fond memories of Jinx and Lecter. But he pushed them aside. There was no time for sentimental thoughts. Not now at least.

Kaname was going to climb the mountain and explore his old packlands, but stopped at the sound of panting close by. A startled kind of panting, the type you get when you are frightened. The dark pelted wolf walked over to the sound, eyebrows rising when he saw the little wolf curled by herself. "What's wrong with you?"

She looked up in surprise to the voice of a dark brown man with icy blue eyes. "I had a-" She was about to say dream, but if she really reacted this much, it couldn't be. "Nightmare." She finished after a small pause. The loner wasn't sure how one would respond to that, it depended on their personality. So she looked up at him and waited to see how he'd respond.

Nightmare. He had had his fair share of those earlier on in his life, and if there was one thing he gathered from it, it was the curse of guilt, of fears manifesting subconsciously. You could tell a lot about a person by learning what their dreams focused on.

"Whatever it was, it's nothing but your mind creating something from your subconscious. There's no need to be so uppity." His tone could be considered rude or condescending but he really didn't care. It was true, and she needed to know that, especially one so young. "But still, what are you doing her at the mountain?"

She found herself a bit lost on his use of the two words subconscious and uppity. The kid was still six months, and despite the things she knew, if something wasn't talked about much in the slave camp, she didn't know it. She decided it probably wasn't too important, she didn't like the tone he had used anyway. "I'm just findin' a place ta crash for the night that isn't dominated by some pack." Then she thought of something. "I'm not tresspassin', am I?" She said nervously- today she just wanted a break from trouble. Save chaos for tomorrow.

He chuckled softly. "A few months ago, yes, but luckily for you the pack that used to live here moved during the summer." Had this been back in the early months of the warm season, this little runt would have been killed by Jinx and one of her lackeys and her body would have been strewn about the borders by Lecter to warn other wolves away. A morbid practice, but efficient.

The assassin noted the wolf's crude manner of speech and her perplexed face when he used larger words like subconscious. What, was she some backcountry invalid? And what was a small wolf like her doing all alone? Did she want to get herself killed?

"Okay, cool then, dude." She sighed in relief and chilled out. "So," she began, but paused for several seconds, looking for a conversation starter. "How's your pack? What's it's name? 'Cause I've been thinkin' about joinin' someone, but I don't know who's got the best stuff overall, y'know? Also, who leads ya, bro?" She said. Honestly she would probably of heard about many packs sooner or later. Everyone she came across said a girl as young as her would die if she was alone on her first Winter. But the ex-slave knew she could make it, if she just tried hard enough...

She asked a lot of questions in a short period of time. His instincts warned him, and he was instantly suspicious. What was she trying to gain? "Ouroboros Spine. We're lead by Mordecai." And himself, kind of. He tried to help, but it seemed like no one interacted with him. They just ignored him. But he left that alone, it wasn't like he truly sought out their company either.

"Cool. Do ya think your the best one?" She asked. Of course he did. Nobody would disrespect them by saying their pack wasn't- at least, that wasn't what would happen in Coal's pack. Actually, in Coal's pack, they wouldn't of talked to any wolves outside the the pack, even if they were outside the borders. They would be ignored. But she didn't want any moment of awkward silence, in case neither of them knew what to say.

"A biased person would say yes." He chuckled. In certain ways he did believe his pack was great, but didn't everyone? "We have our flaws, but our pack works hard and we cooperate. I guess that's pretty good in its own way." There wasn't much infighting or tension between them ever since Ptarmigan died, from what he knew. So that was something at least.

"Cool. Cooperation is good. I used ta cooperate with my fellow slaves. But then I left. I don't cooperate much with anyone now- 'cause I find that I'm often accidentally trespassin'!" Okay, that was a bit of a lie- she liked to get on pack wolf's nerves by trespassing, and when she did, it was intentional. Either way though, she was glad that she wasn't today. She was taking a break from fighting today.

Fellow slaves? He blinked at her curiously. Was she a former slave, released for whatever means, or an escaped one? If she was, were her owners looking for the defiant runaway, bent on returning her to their possessions and punishing her. "What's slavery like, huh?" He asked curiously, wondering what she could reveal about her past, to see if there was any danger for anyone to accept her into their pack.

She shivered, but it wasn't cold. "Terrible. There's a lot of painful stuff and it's hard ta make it through. I think the only reason I was spared was 'cause I was Coal's personal slave, so without me he didn't have one primary slave. Owning your own slave made ya seem more powerful." She said. She had been tortured just a few times. Most of the scars were either gone or hidden and grown over with fur, except for the one that ran from her back onto her haunches. "But there was a fire and I escaped in the midst of it, so I'm free now." And on the run.

Slavery was a reoccurring trait he saw in packs. Whether they were slaves, concubines, hostages, omegas, they were always present in pack life in some way, the lowest of the low. They were there because they had to be, because someone deemed themselves higher than them. Property. And wolves did not like to have their property stolen from them. She had, in a way, stolen herself from this Coal character. And he suspected her master was not happy about that. "Is he chasing you?"

"He could be after any of us. He owned three slaves, so he could be after one of the other two. He could be after me, but he's probably after Spruce. Spruce is the one male slave he owns, although the pack's slaves in general are also his, but some belong to other members. Spruce is eight months and pretty strong, and helped to kill Coal's beta a while ago." She didn't reveal that she had too.
Spruce was of the most value, then came Runt, and then Rosebud. Rosebud was a tiny little thing with eyes that were almost a reddish color and creamy pale fur. She was very weak and little, and although she did everything she was told, she couldn't always do it that well.
She had at first been worried about Coal following her. By now she thought he would probably be nearing the Wilds if he was after her. Also there was another factor- "For all I know, he could've burned to death in the fire, so I'm not sure."

She had a vague idea of what happened of to her owner, and the other slaves. It was not surprising, since she did leave during a fire. Chaotic things that. The assassin shrugged uncertainly. "It is possible. But you should find a place to stay for the winter. If he does catch you, then you don't want to be starved and cold." He wasn't necessarily suggesting she joined his pack, but it did seem a good idea.

"That's true. I've been lookin' for a place, but I'm not sure which one yet. I don't know if they'll like me either. But I'm on the lookout, so I'm good." She paused for a moment before she decided to finish up their little chat. "I should go. G'bye!" She told the dark brown man. Then with a glance into his icy eyes for what she thought would be the last time, she took off and away without waiting for the goodbye from him, if he would've returned one at all.

you get my hundreth post! ^^ Edit: wrote in a ending. Gonna archive this.