[PRP] Searching for answers (Morning Glory) [End]

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

(This takes place after River and Glory are Alpha and the Alpha's mate of the Ash Fallen Pack)

It was early morning and still cool outside before the sun rose too high to scorch the lands in heat. Glory had left to go off on her own for about four days, hopefully less, to journey back to her old pack den. It wasn't far from the Ash Fallen Pack's territory, so she doubted it would take long. Maybe one day to arrive, one or two days to explore for answers, and one day back to her Alpha. She hadn't wanted to leave River with how much was going on, but this darkness that ate at her; she needed answers about who her father had been.

The fear that it was the tyrant Alpha she killed on that dark night made her heart cringe. Her mother never told her the truth. Glory only knew that her mother was an outcast among the pack because she had mated with an outsider after she couldn't give the tyrant Alpha a litter of pups. If the tyrant wasn't her father, then possibly she had a father out there in the world somewhere. She would continue to search for him. Maybe he was still alive and looking for her too.

Morning Glory headed toward the Redwood. Off to the northwest of the Forest, and at the very edge of the Redwood was a hidden cave carved out in the side of a hill. The entrance to this cave is hidden behind fallen, dead logs from once tall, towering giants of trees. As she trotted to her destination, each step closer made her want to turn back around and forget, but the bloody memories were seared into her mind. She needed an ending to this chapter of her past.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

Quite some hours had passed and the sun moved higher into the sky. The land had begun to heat up, and it teetered on the line between being warm and uncomfortably hot. Glory sniffed the air as her stomach growled. She was so focused on the task at hand, that she had neglected her stomach. It was a bad idea to go at a full run for her destination on a light breakfast too, but the quicker she got there, the quicker she could return to her pack.

Scenting a couple of rabbits nearby, Glory lowered herself to the ground and sniffed again. They were close. She figured they'd be on the other side of the bushes a few feet in front of her. This was odd. Stalking closer and closer, one paw at a time, she waited until the last moment to spring herself over the bushes, and she landed on one rabbit. The poor thing squealed and its scent didn't smell right. She glanced over at the other rabbit. It sat there staring at her and didn't run away.

Glory sat up and got off of the rabbit she held down. It quickly bounded away. She brought one paw up to her nose and grimaced at the tainted scent. The rabbit smelled moldy or rotting; it smelled diseased. Her nose scrunched up, she sneezed to try and rid her nostrils of the scent. Then she looked around at her surroundings. The flora here was decayed. The greenery of the Forest started to give way to the dead, cold colors and atmosphere of the Redwoods.

Glory was not far from her old den and her heart sped up. She felt dizzy as the night of the murder flooded her mind, and she couldn't move. She was frozen in place.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

Glory felt the world spin, go dark, and her vision faded to black.

-Time skip to later in the night-

Something was sniffing her ear. Glory's ear twitched as a soft snort disturbed her again, and she slowly opened her eyes. Blinking away the blurred vision, she stayed on the ground laying on her side, unsure if the intruder was friend or foe. She tried looking up toward her head to see if she could catch a glimpse, and she had no such luck.

The creature stamped the ground with a claw and grunted. Whatever it was, it was a big woodland creature and very curious of the wolf. Glory hadn't scented one of these before and it piqued her interest. Her tail thumped the ground and the creature looked. Glory curled in on herself trying to show in some way that she was not an enemy or meant harm.

The creature must have understood and nudged Glory with its head. She slowly moved her head to look at the creature. It towered over her, had fur black as night, with a few white spots here and there, and striking green eyes. They were kind and concerned. The bear looked Glory over and grunted again, sniffed her face, and walked off and away from the Redwood. Glory wondered how long the bear had stood sentinel over her after she had fainted.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

She watched the bear disappear through some bushes.Glory stood up and shook herself, trying to rid her stomach of the dreadful feeling still stirring. Again her stomach growled and she whined, frustrated with herself for not being smarter. Perhaps the heat, the foul smells of those rabbits, and the empty stomach was what aided in her black out besides the horrible memories.

She sniffed around and caught the scent of a fresh kill. Glory followed her nose and trotted in the direction of the kill, away from the Redwood. On the other side of the bushes the bear had disappeared behind were two medium sized rabbits laid neatly side by side. Their necks had been snapped by powerful jaws for a swift kill.

Glory sniffed the rabbits, scenting for the diseased smell. Neither rabbit was foul. She perked her ears up and was on alert as she looked this way and that, searching for the bear. He was nowhere in sight. Glory let out a long, thankful howl that lasted a good minute or two before she dug into the rabbits.

When she finished, her belly full, strength regained, and her determination returned, Glory headed back to her destination. This time no ill feelings stirred in her as she got closer. The memories flooded her mind again, but she was angry instead of scared. She was angry at her dead alpha for being the tyrant he was, her dead mother for not telling her the truth before her untimely death, and at her long forgotten pack because they were all cowards.

She would find out the truth and return to her pack stronger than ever, and she would face whatever truth lied ahead for her.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

It took a few hours before she found the hidden entrance to the old den. Glory was able to slip through the fallen, dead trees and through the mouth of the cave. It was eerily silent and dark, save for a few lights that lit the way from holes in the cave ceiling. These weren't natural. Her tyrant alpha forced a small pack of males to figure out how to create some sort of sky-lights through the ceilings. She remembered many a male had died trying, and who knew how many died being successful.

She shook away the thought and continued on deeper into the cave. Glory passed many smaller caves off of the main path where pack members slept together to comfort each other at night. She searched for her mother's old home and stopped before it. Off to the left, around the corner, and out of sight from the main path, her mother's home, her home hadn't changed from that bloody night. Glory sniffed the air and scented no others. She took a tentative first few steps into her old home and began sobbing.

For all it was worth, she missed her mother. She missed her mother's old lullabies she'd sing to her at night. She missed her scent, her herbs, ointments, remedies; everything that made her mother a successful healer of a broken pack and a loving mother. No matter what, Torn Feather had always put her daughter first and died protecting Glory.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

Glory wiped her eyes with a paw and stepped all the way into her lost home. She searched high and low between natural shelves looking for anything that was out of the ordinary, or not in plain sight. Glory sat on her haunches and huffed in frustration. She couldn't find anything after almost an hour, and was about to give up, when her tail thumped the ground and a piece of the cave floor shifted.

She eyed the cave floor for a moment. Then leaned down and pushed the piece to the side with her nose. Beneath the piece of cave floor was a feather laid neatly in a small hole. It was green and silver. Glory weaved this into and beneath her scarf for safe keeping. She made sure the hard end was weaved through the fabric of the scarf and would stay put. Why would her mother hide a feather?

The tyrant alpha never wore any trinkets. He thought jewelry or adornments of any kind were a sign of weakness because of the sentimentality the objects held for the wearer. So, she knew it wasn't his. The feather held an old, fading scent of a male wolf; that much Glory could tell. This wolf was definitely an outsider too, but as much as she wanted the feather to belong to her father, she had no proof. The only proof she had of the possibility, was that her mother held onto the feather because it meant something precious she held close to her heart. Otherwise, she wouldn't have risked the tyrant alpha's rage by hiding it in her own home.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

She left her mother's home and trotted deeper still into the cave. Glory stopped to look in at other caverns on her way to the alpha's den on purpose. The closer she got, the colder the temperature became. A chill ran up and down her spine.

Glory felt the cold seep into her bones and made her body ache. A heavy weight fell over her as she arrived at the entrance of the alpha's den. She took one big deep breath, exhaled, and dove in without stopping. Glory froze at the center of the den. This is where she would have been raped by her... no, not her alpha. A monster. The tyrant alpha of the pack she wanted no part of, was a monster. She had no choice when she was born of which pack she wanted to be part of. She wasn't even sure her mother had a choice; her mother would have run away if she could before Glory was born.

Glory stared at the dried, ancient blood and the bones of the tyrant alpha. No one had disturbed the body after she killed him, and nothing had entered the den since the day the pack fled from the cave from what she could tell. This place held an evil energy at the heart in the alpha's den.

She didn't know what to feel. Again the memories played over and over in her head, and it became easier for her to accept what she had done was not wrong. The guilt and the shame lifted from her heart, but the weight that fell over her when she entered the den was still there. She couldn't help but to feel she wasn't alone.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

Glory growled low in her throat. Nothing answered her. She stood frozen in place for another minute, closed her eyes, and listened. It was still dead quiet. Glory opened her eyes and came face to face again with the bones of the dead alpha. She let out the breath she had been holding, and got closer to the bones to inspect them. Nothing had changed. There were no marks from scavengers on the bones and they hadn't been moved.

Glory walked past the bones and into a smaller cavern off of the den. There were drawings on the walls. She had no idea how or who could have drawn the pictures because she knew no wolf could. Perhaps the dead alpha had a companion animal at one time that could draw. Glory studied the drawings and noticed there were two alphas representing her old pack. She recognized the dead alpha, but the other alpha she did not. This one had a green and silver feather attached to his ear too. Was he related to the dead alpha? Was he still alive? Glory had new questions swimming in her head now.

The cave drawings depicted the story of the two alphas, how the pack thrived for seasons under their rule. Then one day the tyrant alpha challenged the other Alpha for full control over the pack, and he won. He chased the Silver and green feathered alpha from the pack and deemed him an exile. At least the tyrant left the other Alpha his life, Glory thought and tipped her head to the side. From there, the drawings were less and less and told the story of the pack's downfall under the tyrant alpha, how they became sick from whatever plague had spread through the Redwood, and many died.

The tyrant alpha repopulated his pack by impregnating many pack females, majority was against their will, and the story faded into nothing. The drawings abruptly ended with the disgusting beginning of the tyrant alpha being a monster. Glory was glad it didn't continue. If she had the choice, she'd erase the tyrant alpha from the story and re-write a new story with the silver and green feathered alpha. He was the fair and just one in the drawings.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

The realization hit her that this silver and green feathered alpha could possibly be her father. Still she had no proof and sighed. She turned to leave and came face to face with a menacing, crazed wolf. The glint in his eyes told her there was something wrong with his mind.

Glory whimpered from the shock of seeing another wolf here. "Who are you?" she asked taking a slow step back. "What are doing here? What do you want?"

The crazed wolf grinned and showed all of his teeth, "You don't remember me? You were promised to me after the alpha had his way with you. You're still mine!" he growled and launched himself at Glory.

Glory yelped and sprung out of the way just in time. The crazed wolf crashed into the wall head-first and was knocked silly for a moment. She took that chance to run. With all of her might and strength, Glory ran like the hounds of hell were at her feet. She heard the crazed wolf howl and knew he had given chase; she could smell his excitement.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

Glory knew this cave like the back of her paw, knew when to weave around the corners, and how to stay on her paws from many a time when she ran from other pups that liked to bully her. She didn't slow down, not even when she broke through the entrance and dead trees, and bolted toward the Forest; toward home. A great roar was heard off to her left and Glory glanced in the direction to find the bear bounding after her too. What's wrong with him? Did I make a mistake by eating the rabbits? She thought and slowed herself in time to miss the bear charging into her, but he didn't charge Glory.

The bear charged into and knocked the crazed wolf into a felled, decayed tree. He stopped and stood waiting for the wolf to get up. Glory stalked toward the bear, unsure of what was happening. She yelped to let the bear know she was there and unharmed, but the bear paid her no mind. He was death-staring the crazed wolf down.

Now that they were outside, by the light of the moon, Glory did recognize the wolf. He was her friend and one of the tyrant alpha's sons. They grew up together. She couldn't believe Skipping Stone was alive, and he stood there eyeing Glory with a lewd expression on his face. She took a step past the bear and he shot her a warning glance.

"I'll be okay. I promise... friend," Glory didn't know what else to call the bear, but he had become a friend and earned her trust. "Stone," she addressed the crazed wolf, "How have you survived?"

"It's all your fault! You killed my father! He should've killed you the day you were born! You're not his! He wanted to keep you like were one of his own! He wanted you for his toy! You b***h! Your whore mother deserved to be slaughtered! How dare your mother bring in that exile's b*****d wolf!" Skipping Stone muttered on and on with his crazed ramblings. At first he was mumbling under his breath and it was hard to make out what he was saying, but the more Glory focused and the harder she actively listened, she picked up the part about being the exile's b*****d wolf.

"The other alpha is my father! I had a right to be Alpha of the pack, and you and your father wanted to strip me of that. How dare you!" Glory took a few more steps toward stone and growled. She let out a roar of anger, frustration, and hate at these revelations.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

Stone launched himself at Glory while she was distracted. She was knocked to the ground, on her side, the wind was knocked from her lungs, and Glory was beneath Stone. He stared down at her with a triumphant grin. Glory stared back up at him with a defiant fire in her eyes as she panted; trying to get air back into her lungs. He was not going to win.

Stone tried to maneuver himself over Glory. He was going to try and penetrate her; being a monster and taking what wasn't his by force just like his father. Glory roared and fought him, gnashing her jaws at his throat when he got too close, causing him to pull back out of reach, and grabbed hold of his paw with her teeth when the opportunity presented itself. She bit down hard and didn't let go. Stone tried knocking her over the head, and missed as she shook his paw violently in her mouth. Blood coated her mouth. Glory let go only when she was certain he wasn't paying attention to her hind legs.

She got her hind legs up and underneath his belly. From there she sprung him up and back toward the felled tree once more. She heard a sickening snap as he landed, and she stood right up, ready to attack again. Glory glanced at the bear. There he stood ready to attack at her command. This was odd. She expected the bear to have yanked Stone off of her earlier, but somehow the bear knew this was her fight. Glory had to finish this fight on her terms.

Stone lay there unmoving. Glory stalked toward him, and the closer she got to him, she saw that his spine was broken. "End it b*****d wolf. End it and become a monster," he rasped. Stone laughed manically, or the best that he could. Glory was surprised he was alive with a broken spine.

She looked down at him one last time, "I am not a monster. I am not like you or your father. He deserved to die and you are next," Glory made the kill quick. She snapped his neck between her jaws and Stone stopped breathing. The crazed light left his eyes for good. This time she didn't feel a dark desire to tear into the wolf's neck, there was no joy in the kill, and she didn't enjoy it. Glory was glad the world was rid of another monster and she was the justice to strike him down. Defending herself and her pack made the kill necessary and just, and in this way of thinking, she felt no guilt or shame.

The heavy weight she felt back in the cave was gone. Glory's heart was not burdened by the murder she committed, and she was not burdened by killing this wolf now. She lifted her head to the stars and howled. It was a howl to celebrate an end to the chapter in her past and the new beginnings that lie ahead of her with River.

She was ready to be an Alpha. Before she would have said no, and now, she had found a new strength and confidence in herself. She wanted to search for her exiled father and tell him what had happened to her mother, and how she had overcome the tyrant and killed him. Glory hoped he still lived and would welcome an invitation to join the Ash Fallen pack. Her new pack, her new home, with her new mate.

Glory lowered her head and turned back toward the bear. He was nowhere to be seen. "Would you stop doing that? I know you're out there and you're welcome to join me, friend," she said before journeying back toward the Forest.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

-Time skip to morning-

Glory traveled all night to the longest river that veined its way through the Forest that was just northeast, and came from the ocean to the west of the Forest. She hadn't slept the night before. She was restless from the previous fight and kill, and wanted to see River. Before that could happen, she needed to clean herself up.

She stared down at her reflection. The blood covered her jaws and had splashed up onto her face. Her amber eyes held a fire in them she hadn't had before. Glory walked into the shallow water off the bank and dipped her head into the clear, cool waters. She spent a good hour wading through the water, washing all of the blood from her fur, swimming around, and enjoying the peaceful time of day.

Glory slinked out of the waters, shook herself as dry as she could, then padded over to lie beneath one of the many towering trees. She knew she could fall asleep there. There was a pair of watchful green eyes on her ever since she had left the Redwood and she hoped her friend would stick around the Forest permanently. With one big yawn, Glory curled up and fell asleep beneath the tree. The warmth of the day helped the exhaustion to swallow her up and she fell asleep.  

[Silent~Wolf~Demon]

Glory awoke in the early hours of the evening. She felt refreshed and invigorated, but her stomach growled. Laughing at herself, she lazily looked around to see if her bear friend had dropped off a present for her. No such luck this time. "I guess it is only fair that I hunt for myself now that we're back in safe territory," she said aloud. To anyone else it looked like she was talking to herself, but she scented her bear friend nearby.

Glory stood and stretched. She sniffed the air and separated her bear friend's scent from a doe. Good, she needed a good workout before going home. Especially because she wanted to be able to fall asleep next to her mate tonight. She trotted in the direction of the doe's scent, caught a glance of her prey, lowered herself to the grown, and stalked the doe with skills she had honed over years of having to hunt alone in order to survive.

The chase was short, and Glory was fast as she was smaller than the average female wolf. All it took was one big leap when the doe was within reach, and she took it down swiftly. Glory had learned how to land just right in order to make quick work of her prey's throat when she took them down. She left her bear friend half of the kill. It was fair since he had left her a meal when she really needed it.

With her belly full once again, Glory made her way back to her pack. She arrived with a genuine smile and light heart, and as soon as she found River, she gave his face a good lick and affectionate nuzzle. "I can't wait to tell you everything!"