When the bird flies;; {Faith & Falcon}

[Faith]

As she walked the path in the forest she knew that each step brought her closer to her own death. Yet she kept walking, the same pace she had walked for well over a few days. Starved and thirsty she was just another meager meal for the vultures. She could hear them, could snese them waiting for her to die. Little did they know that had already happened. The light in her eyes and the hope in her step had died almost three years ago on the day her birth pack had forced her to leave her home and then chased her out of the territory. 'Why, why me?' was the question she has always asked, and in a way, always known the anwser to. She was different, so horribly different. Her pelt was a pure white like newly fallen snow, unlike the entire packs dark colors. Where yellow, green, and even grey eyes were common she was born with pale blue eyes and they had stayed that way. 'Defect' the word echoed in her mind like an unforgettable memory. Yes, she was a defect. Born without the ability to see in the darkness of night. Born with out the sweet sounding howl that the rest of the wolves possesed. Born as a defect, a defect and a reject. 'Alone' No one cared about her, no one, not even her parents and her two brothers. 'Forgotten' She was not lost, never had been, but she knew she would never be found. 'Heartbroken' The one chance for love turned out to be a lie, a trick. 'Hatred' No, she did not hate. She simply feared, feared all wolves. Ever those that looked like her. Fear drove her, kept her alive. But fear could not feed her hunger nor quench her thirst. She had to hunt, had to drink. Fear kept her from hunting, kept her from drinking. Kept her from truly living. Scent markers were nothing to her, and did not make an impact as she had crossed them. She did not care, she only feared for those behind her. Those she always seemed to see chasing her, she could feel them. Hear them, smell them. They were not there, long ago they had turned back and went back into their warm dens to continue their life and let her memory fade from existance. The words replayed in her mind, her name faint amoung them. The small clearing ahead seemed to clear her mind, lift her fear just enough for her to notice the scent of wolf, and the scent of rotting death. The mounds she stood on were graves, like those that humans dug for their dead. The black stone could have only been human, its smooth surface far to clean cut to be natural. It sent chills down her spine, but she had no fear. It was as if this place took her fear away and made her feel safe. It ended as quickly as it had come, the feeling vanishing as the fresh scent of wolf meet her nose. The sound of a branch snapping met her ears a fraction of a second after the scent did, making her turn to face the wolf. Black fur, yellow eyes. She whined as the fear came flooding back in a tidal wave of memories and images in her mind, "No." The word was barely a wispher and she gazed at the wolf with fear scent pouring out of her. He raised his head slowly into the air, letting out a howl void of emotion but distincitivly his. It was a signal. She took a step backwards and then turned, turned and ran as fast as her weak legs could carry her. She was panting as soon as she had begun and she had to stop to catch her breath. Her fear had run out, for to long it had fueled her and now it was running out. She looked back, only to see that the wolf was only a little ways behind her. He paused as her eyes met his, her voice so low he had to strain in order to hear her, "No." The wolf took a single step and paused, just watching her and then she knew. With another step the wolf came closer and her hunger made her feel sick. Her dry throat throbing with pain as she swallowed her own spit, seemingly the only liquid left in her body. She mouthed the word at first and then it slowly became a hoarse whisper, "Falcon." Her view began to fade and she felt herself hit the ground with a empty sounding thud. Her hunger and thirst had finally caught up to her. She could hear her own voice, wheather or not she had spoke she did not know but they were so clear, as if she had just thought them, "My brother . . . " they were either her last words or her last thought because after that she was lost, lost in a void of darkness and not knowing who or what she even was.

[Falcon]

As the female slumped to the ground Falcon watched, when she had spoken his name he knew for sure that his suspicions were right. Looking at her calmly he spoke to himself, "Faith, you have grown so much. I wonder, what do you think of me? What do you remember?" He approached slowly, worried she might attack him for some strange reason. Thankfully she did not move, and she had no wounds that he could see. The steady rise and fall of her side told him that she was still alive. However, her once sleek white fur was matted with bits of dried blood, dirt, and prob ally flees. It was as if she had stopped caring about herself. Her once strong frame now looked weak, her ribs showing clearly through her skin and fur. Her eyes were closed but he had no doubts that they were still the same pale blue as they were on the day of her birth. Her paws were cut and stained crimson with a mixture of her blood and the dirt she walked on. He felt almost guilty for the state she was in. He should have gone with he when they chased her out but he was young, and naive. He didn't fully understand what was happening that day even though he was one year old. As always he had been to busy with other things, like watching the pups of the pack. Now, now all those distractions were gone. That was something Faith didn't know, something he would never tell her. "d**n Rouges." he mumbled under his breath. He wondered how far Faith had walked just to end up so close to their old home, their old territory. The territory now overrun with the Rouges and their putrid scent. Their leader, the face he would never forget. The name that would forever be embedded in his memory. His voice, the hint of evil in it as he claimed his home, as he sentenced his entire pack to death. As far as he knew all the wolves in his pack had died, had been slashed to bit by the unforgiving blood lust of the rouges, as they called themselves. Even though he never was close with many members of his pack, the pups and females were killed one by one. The brutes died while fighting to protect them but the pups, they were slaughtered right in front of his eyes and he did nothing. It hurt to know that he no longer had a home, no longer had a pack. Faith had lived that was for three years, but now they could make a new home. Together, he took another step toward his sister, his ears perked just in case. He barely knew her, he didn't know what that pain had done to her. He didn't know how she felt about wolves, or how she felt about her brother. He did know that she needed food, and water. He closed his eyes, listening to the for the sound of wings in the trees or the sky. He spoke, his voice would have seemed strange and no wolf would be able to understand him since he was speaking not to the wolves, but to the birds. Just a few moments later a red-tailed hawk dropped a large rat next to Falcon. Whispering his thanks to the bird he pushed the rat closer to Faith, praying that she would eat it once she woke up. He sat down, his head tilted up and looking at the bright blue of the daytime sky. They were in a place once inhabited by wolves and he didn't know if the wolves were still here or not. The scent markers had long since faded away and the black stone had a scent of death on it. The scent of death never wore off, so he couldn't tell how long ago that stone had seen the dead body of a wolf. Maybe those mounds of dirt were in fact graves, as he had seen the humans in town dig to bury their bodies. Why then would a human bury bodies of the wolves? The place seemed strange, strange and yet so full of power. So full of hope even when the scent of death had loomed over it. 'Hope, hope.' The word echoed in his mind. "Yes, hope. Faith, you are the hope long lost. Faith, you are my hope." He looked at her, his pup hood coming back to him in waves of fond memories. "Storm, please be alive. Please be alive, and return to me. Return to Faith. Come home." His plea was lost in the air as it seemed to dissipate in the wide open spaces of the forest. Hope had returned, and in the form of a defected and possibly mentally insane female wolf.

[Faith]

Faith woke slowly, her entire body shaking with the fear that had been held in while she was out. She looked up, the scent of the meat filling her nostrils and making her stomach growl and remind her of her hunger. She she ate, afraid that if she ate to fast the food would not fill her up as much. She paused, the sound of rustling leaves speaking to her, warning her of the wolf comming up to her. She looked at him, just staring. She knew who he was, she knew all to well. She felt the anger surge up inside her and spoke, trying to keep her emotions level, "Why are you here?"

[Falcon]

Falcon pulled his ears back slightly, knowing that she probally hated him. Or worse, feared him. "Faith, why does it matter?" He paused, searching for any kind of emotion in her eyes but finding none. A trait she seemed to know well, her eyes were the same color but their emotion so different it chilled him to the bone. Her eyes were empty, empty. Unlike that year he spent with her, a year that filled the eyes with happiness and joy. Now, if any emotion showed in them, he knew it would only be pain, hatred, fear, or an emotion that was just an illusion. Nothing could have made him feel worse than the look she gave him, like he was some sort of scum. "Faith, please. Just listen. I know you probally hate me for what the pack did, but it wasn't my fault." He sighed, "Your right to hate me, but don't hate me for the reason that they chased you out. Hate me because I did nothing to protect you. Faith, I couldn't though. I didn't even know." His eyes were almost begging, begging for forgiveness.

[Faith]

Faith looked away, her own voice still empty while his filled with emotion, "Falcon, I do not hate. I fear." She looked back at him, "You could have protected me, not from them chasing me away but for that year. They teased me, when you did nothing. They mocked me while you just watched. You knew what was happening, you just didn't care. I hate my family, but I fear all the rest. I hate you, because you did not know. Because you thought everything was ok, that I was fine and happy. I wasn't, I learned to lie. I learned to hate, I learned to fear. I learned to live. That is all I know now, all I need. I do not need you, or any other wolf. I am just another loner, just another wolf in this world. No one needs me, and you certanilly don't." She turned, and began to walk off. Intent on leaving him to live his life alone, as she had done for the past three years.

[Falcon]

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words would come. Only his eyes showed emotion, and it was a deepening sadness. "Faith . . . " he sighed, watching her leave. "Faith. You are not the only one that knew how to lie." He looked to wards the trees, a small red tailed hawk sat in the branches and he nodded to it, slowly but a nod none the less. The bird flew in the direction of Faith, its colors vanishing within the dim green of the trees. The green that was slowly changing into the dull and miraculous colors of fall. The bird was his, in a sense. The reason for his name almost. Falcon . . . not a wolf. One of the birds. He could relate to them better than any other creature, could speak to them and understand them. Could love them, could hate. The birds, not the wolves, were his family. Faith, faith was different. Faith was his sister, and the only remember of his family left now. His raised his voice, and it cracked as he shouted into the distance, "Faith! You and I are all that is left! You and I, they are all dead Faith! DEAD! You hear me? DEAD!" His tears came willingly now, as he slumped to the ground his sobs shaking his chest and entire body. Last ones . . . . the pack would die in them. There would be no memory of the Ferges, no memory or their pain. Only the fresh memory of the Rouges. They were there now, eating the last of his pack. Feasting on them . . .. One word echoed in his mind, dead.

[Faith]

Faith stopped as the words echoed throughout the forest, their sound slowly fading into the trees. She looked back, the soft sobs of her brother now meeting her ears. She pulled them back, her eyes drifting towards the ground as the bird landed in a tree behind her. She looked up at it. Her voice low so that Falcon would not hear. "He knows so much, and yet so little. I know they are dead . . . . I always knew. They have been dead to me long before they actually died." She turned, and began walking towards her brother. "He understands nothing, and yet I know that he tries. He is my brother after all. I have no choice but to help him."