?Ithurial sat infront of the den quietly. Only pups and one other white wolf were inside and she wanted to make her adopted daddy prout by keeping an eye on them. ?He golden eyes seemed to sparkle like the pup she was. She wasnt near as afraid of everyone as she used to be. The shaking timid wolf had turned out to be less reclusive now. It had been about a month since Sixx's random murder of her mother and her grieving had calmed down.? She'd made friends with afew of the pups while she was here and came to see them as siblings. She stood, smelling the cold air from outside. Today seemed to be off to a great start. The sun was out and the snow blanketed the horrizon, the light reflecting back off it. She wanted to just run put their and play. She set a paw down with a crunch. She wouldn't go very far just at the mouth of the cave. She began to dig up snow untill she had a pile then backed up back into the cave before leaping into the pile. This sent snow fluries everywhere as she rolled. White kicking up and for a second it snowed. Once it settled back on the ground she walked back inside, shaking the snow from her calico pelt. Speak,

Walk | Talk | Think

Dark brown eyes roaming over the little faces present, Mercianne smiled from her curled up position beside the interior wall of the cave, lying upon her side with her head resting next to an outstretched paw. Things were calm on this day after many an exciting ones, though not the pleasant sort of exciting that left much laughter and good tales. No, these past exciting days had been dangerous and severe, weakening the sense of security and trust that the Glaciem could offer visitors to their border. And all because of a couple unstable, mentally-ill wolves who had death on their minds.

It was part of the reason the little creamy white wolf was here. She knew Ithurial was "in charge" but her protective side, wishing to do more for those who she had grown to view as family, she thought to stay behind with her and keep an eye on them all, an adult figure among the youngsters. So timid and gentle, she was hardly a very intimidating authority figure, but she enjoyed being able to watch them and was entertained by their antics. They were so carefree and exuberant, oblivious to the real dangers that lurked outside of the cave they sat in. Their innocence renewed her faith that sometime the rest of them could feel as safe, could continue about their lives in very much the same inattention to the dangers. All it would take was time.

The multi-hued young she-wolf at the mouth of the cave rose and turned as if to leave, and automatically concerned Merci lifted her head to watch. Ithurial was already a year old, fairly old enough to wander on her own, but with her task set within this cave she hardly thought it wise for the younger she-wolf to go far with pups in the cave. She craned her neck gently to stare outward and follow the young wolf's movements, watching as she dug at the snow and brought it closer to the cave before leaping into it and sending fragile flakes of snow flying. The playful gesture brought a warm smile to the training healer's face and allowed her to relax. She hadn't intended to leave. She was merely enjoying her own game.

Not wishing to spoil her fun, Mercianne sighed and lowered her head to the floor of the cave again, letting her attention drift from the young caretaker to her even younger charges.

~*~ Cross was recently returned from his sojourn into the south. Oh the sights he had seen! The adventures he'd had! It had been a blast! He was happy to be home and all - back safe in the old cave - but from now on his soul would be smoldering with a hunger for adrenaline and adventure. On this day, Cross was playing with his elected babysitter - whenever she sat down he was quick to rush over on his big black paws and start hopping back and forth over her tail. 'Hop-snake' he wanted to call it. It was quite fun. Already he'd tried it on his mother - which had gotten extra exciting when she started trying to snap at his ears. Was that after the tenth time she'd asked him to stop? Or was it the twentieth? He couldn't remember. And whatever he did in the cave, whether it was 'hop-snake' or trying to climb the walls, he was spouting out a torrent of story-telling about his time in Seracia. "And the king-! The king is friends with an eagle! Yeah I know! And eagle just like the big black and white ones we see nesting in the trees in summer. Her name was Robin and we talked a bunch. At one point-" but he paused, cut off when he saw that Ithurial was leaving. Rude. He'd been about to get to the best part. But then he saw what she was doing. She looked so silly trying to gather in the snow, but when she 'poofed' it into the air, Cross sprinted over and started snapping at the flakes. He grinned wide and let some of them settle over his pelt. "Ithurial? Can we go on a walk? Maybe down into the forest? Pleeeeeeeeeaaaase." There were lots of other fun things to do outside! ~*~

Kai had been laying low for the past few days. He hasn't been suing with his cousins or brothers; he didn't even play with his Aunt Maka. Last time he was with Aunt Maka he sort of strayed too far from her until his mother had to come get him. Purple eyes scanned the are around him as he walked quietly. White toes pressed gently into the layer of snow as he wandered. His ears which were still a bit too big for his head perked up as he thought he had heard his cousin Cross' voice. Kairos followed the voice until he saw his cousin! And mercianne and another wolf he hadn't met yet was there too! A small smile appeared on his maw as his black tail wagged.

Purple eyes looked at his cousin as Kairos sat himself down. He didn't feel like playing or anything still.....he just felt so confused. He wasn't sure to be nice or mean but both feelings were inside of him. But the boy didn't want to be mean. Was he fighting it? It was so unfair. His brother Tivedious was just like their mother while Pericles was like their Aunt Maka. But who was Kairos like? Was he like their father? But who was his father? In his wanderings he had heard of a black brute with purple eyes...and how horrible he was. The boy believed he was his father...so was Kairos like him? Was he turning out to be just like him? Kairos like Kaios? Maybe so...but the pup would wait until he saw a significant change.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked before casually looking around him.

His purple gaze settled on his cousin Cross who seemed to be a bit energetic or hyper today.

Ithurial gave a laugh at cross's sprinting to play in the snow. She kicked in a good amount of fluffy snoe into the cave. He then asked to go outside. ?She didn't see anything wrong with playing outside for a moment. It'd only be for alittle while. Or atleast untill the pups get tired (witch didn't take very long). Babysitting was fun and she enjoyed watching children play. " I guess we can go outside for a little while. But we have to check with everyone else and see if they want to go to." She glanced back at Karios "Were going outside to play. Want to come? We can have a snow war. " she offered trying to entice the pup into a snow challange. She then looked up at Mercianne. "I call Merci on my team!" she shouted, hoping that would start 'sibling rivalry' Speak,

~*~ Cross saw Kairos coming in out of the corner of his eye. By now the white pup was old enough to understand the roles of family and know that he was technically Kairos's uncle. Weird, weird world.-But! Cross still just preferred to think of his sister Keki's kids as his cousins. After all, they were older than him by a few weeks, which, at their age, seemed plenty long enough. Cross was focused on getting an answer from his assigned pupsitter, and her reply blew him out of the water. "Snow Waaaaaarrr!" Cross shouted. He didn't even stop to see if Mercianne was joining in or if Ithurial was gonna lay out any rules. His mind was already brainstorming battle plans. His head was already ducking and weaving. "Come on Kairos! That makes us partners!" He'd push his cousin if he had too, just so long as he'd get moving! Cross made a break for the cave entrance - flinging himself through the snow drifts on legs that had gotten surprisingly strong during his travels with his Mom. He waited until he was pretty sure he was out of earshot of the den and then exclaimed to his chosen partner "Remember the place where we had the mud wars? Remember the fallen log?!" Cross was making a snow-flying bee line towards that little spot in the woods. And if Kairos was as fast with his mind as he was with his feet, then Cross wouldn't have to elaborate further. He was thinking that it was the perfect place for an ambush. Logs, trees, brush snow. All they had to do was get there before those slow grown ups. ~*~

Sixx had been treckibg through the snow silently. Being carefull not to be noticed. The scent of pups and the angel he'd traumatized earlier leading him. He crouched behind a fallen log as some pup's neared him. He considered just leaping and killing them in one bite. But he looked past them to see itburial running anf playing. And actualy smiling. He couldn't have that now could he?

She turned her back to him and tried throwing snow on a pup. Now was his chance. He glided to her and waited on her to turn around. The second she did he jammed both his lower cannine teeth into her eyesocets, permanantely blinding the young girl. Her screams promoted laughter as he grabbed the scruff of her neck and yanked, shaking anf pulling hard to rip it to shreds.?

The taste of her blood was sweet on his tounge. Her flesh seemed to taste candy. He grabbed her hind left leg and yanked, hearing a pop of dislocating joints and procieded to gash the others. He made quick work on her and turned to face the pups and Merci.?

"Alright" He growled. "I'm in control here. Anyone resists in any way and i kill h-" the girl had gotten up. Horrible mistake. He growled. The foolish girl was facing the wrong direction. She went to turn, leaving her vitals open ?and he struck. Suffocation her to, what he thought and what looked like, death.?

"nevermind. Now that she's dead if any of you resist ill kill her." he motioned tward Merci."?

Ithurial bolted off laughing the whole way and kicking up snow in her trail. She slid to a stop to try a spray snow all over the pups. Her tail waggibg innocently. Her ears flicked back to hear a noise behind her she turned her head with her eyes closed, assuming it was Merci. Then, it hit her. She screamed in pain. Blood searing down her cheeks. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't, her body felt like it was on fire. She felt teeth being driven into her legs and her back. She was feeling herself litteraly being torn apart. She didn't even feel the need to scream any more. She heard sixx's barking and growling. She forced herself up to protect the pups ?but she was faced the wrong way. Her eyes were so torn from their socets it was obvious they'd never see again. The scruff of her neck was shredded harshly anf all four limbs had been gashed severely. So much so it was suprizing she was even standing. " LEAVE THEM ALONE!" she barked, trying to scare him. She growled, but it sounded more like a pup's growl.her ears flicked to hear dark laughter behind her, she spun around and all seemed to be over. The feeling of heat in her lungs overwhelmed her. She realized, she was being choked. (blackout ithurial) Speak,

~*~ One second, everything was happy, everything was beautiful, everything was the same as it always was.... and then - then the white wolf leapt up from behind the fallen log. At first Cross had thought that maybe Miss Mercianne had somehow known about their ambush spot and gotten ahead of them.. but that wasn't it at all. The first strike at the pupsitter was so unreal, so impossible, so quick that Cross couldn't comprehend it. The pup slammed on the brakes, and from then on was unable to move. His jaw gaped open, all hint of a smile gone. His green eyes stretched wide with confusion so paralyzing it blocked out any thoughts of fear. With the blood and screams and the movement, it was just like watching the triumphant moment of a hunt. Exactly like. In what felt like the longest moment of Cross's life, Ithurial was suddenly a broken, bleeding carcuss in the snow. Instinctively Cross took a snowy step backwards, trying to place himself between his friend and cousin, and the bloody mouthed stranger. "-I'm in control here-" the white male said. And Cross felt a tremor run through his little body. He crouched, his belly dipping into the snow. But worst of all by far was the second wave of violence - when the pupsitter rose and shouted in defense of her charges. But the next second she was being ripped apart again. The male moved like lightning! And perhaps that was the most paralyzing thing of all. Cross, like alot of pups, had that naive sense of invincibility. After all, he'd just come back out of the south after fighting a bull hadn't he? He had that vague confidence that so long as he could move his feet and bare his teeth, he could come out alright.... But that speed! It was like magic. Who could go against that? And Creator above! Poor Ithurial. Her puppish growls and screams were to haunt the boy for a long time to come, and in that moment, they went a long ways to freezing his blood. "Ithurial!" he squeaked out, half choking under his breath. This all just couldn't happen. It was like something out of one of his mother's stories. Evil wolves killing good ones. Warriors rising up through the blood to challenge the murderers. Souls so strong they kept going no matter the tradgies they'd seen. But they were all just words. Just stories. And this one couldn't be anything but a story, right? This white wolf was a baddie. A villian. And he'd be taken down in the end too! Cross never questioned that. The only variable was how many of the innocents would die at his paws before then. Perhaps it was precisely because it seemed so much like a story that Cross had the strength in his soul to raise his hackles and say in the shakiest, stiffest of growls: "You're not supposed to be here! What-what do you want?" Perhaps not the most eloquent or logical of statements, but what was a kid expected to say to a serial killer? ~*~

Kairos looked at Cross while he frolicked away and beckoned him to follow. The boy did but slowly and quietly. His purple gaze landed on his rambunctious cousin before a white wolf came into the scene and attacked Ithurial. A surprised and dazed look is what was on Kai's face. He looked around before backing up into a tree never taking his eyes off of the strange wolf. Cross asked the wolf what did he want. I looks like he wanted them....

Then his pure gaze hardened as he took a step forward. A growl emitted from his maw as his lips pulled back in a snarl. The fur on his back arose as he stood there inching his way closer. Kairos knew this brute was here for all of them. Why else would Ithurial scream for him to leave them alone? But the boy had to do something because he was the oldest now. Cross was younger by a few weeks and Ithurial was down...

With a last growl the pup pushed off from the snow and let his tiny legs carry him to the white wolf. He jumped up with his tiny paws with claws splayed out and clung to the wolf. He made sure to dig his claws deep into the wolf as far as the tiny things could go. And he took his mouth and clomped down onto the wolf's skin as well. Kairos wouldn't let go.

"RUN CROSS!" he screamed before clamping down onto the wolf again.

Brave was Kairos yet stupid was he. But he didn't care...he just didn't if he was going to be as bad as he felt he was going to be he could at least do this...at least do something good before the growing darkness in his head overtook him Ann's his innocent soul.

His purple eyes hardened as he growled while he held onto the brute. The pup then took his back paws and went to move them up and down against the wolf's back to scratch his side. His tail swayed back and forth as he did so. He was angry! How dare this wok hurt his friends! And how dare this wolf barge in here! He tightened his grip on the wolf and bit down harder and as hard as he could. Sure he still had tiny claws and some puppy teeth but he could still make this wolf feel a little pain as well.

Six gave a dark growl as a pup latched himself onto his shoulder and tried his hardest to tear him appart. Wasn't working for him too well because the only result was afew ?very minor scratches. He turned his head and grabbed the little brat by the scruff of his neck roughly and tossed him back with ease.?

"You little bastard." he snarled. His bloody aresnal of well used, jagged teeth showed through his black lips. His muzzle wrinkling manacingly. He closed the gap between him and the pup in less than two strides. His head held low ready to crush the pup in his jaws.

Just as his steel trap teeth were about to clamp down on the tiny baby he was swept to the side by a brutal attack. He yelped as he hit the snow. He attempted to get up but was rammed again with more rage and fury. He kept trying to fight back but awaken was too fast.?

He soon found himself procariously pinned on a steak. Fear rushed through his mind. "W-wait! If you kill me now, you'll never know of your past. It'll die with me and when sacrement comes you'll be dead!" He placed a foot on Awaken's chest trying to push him back. "king nexium. Pl- gaah!" he was rammed back on the steak. He screeched in pain and rage before all the breath escaped him. And death finaly took him.?

[ sixx.: Die]

Awaken was currently dragging a small doe back to the pack den. Dragging the deer was easy due to its small size, but every so often he'd have to shift it around in his mouth to continue the treck. He'd figure Merci and ithurial must be exausted with the pups. He knew how rambunctious they could be, they were probably playinb 'jump on the pup sitter.'?

Thats when he heard the first scream. He assumed that it was a playfull scream from a dogpile or something and continued to drag the deer, however. The screa ?echoed again with more earsplitting agony. He droped the deer and took off in a dead sprint. Plowing through snow as if it were nothing.?

He snarled as he jumped from the small cliff and plowed into the attacker's side just before he was about to grab a pup. Awaken's cannines driving into his ribs like daggars and sending him skidding in the snow. Only then did he realize who he'd just wounded. His own ?brother, sixx.?

Rage filled him. He dashed at sixx before he could even get up again landing a direct hit to the chest and throwing him back once more. "You bastard! I thought i told you not to ever come back" ?

Awaken grew angrier and angrier the more and more he attacked. His rage turning to turmoil. Soon he beat the other male down untill he had him against a tree, a sharp limb jabbing into his back, and awaken looming over sixx ready to push him down on it and impail him.

The coward then began speaking babblibg about his past dying eith him. "I don't need you anymore." he growled pushing down. Implailing his brother through the chest.

He lifted himself off sixx's corpse and looked back to Merci and the pups. "is everyone alright? Oh god ithurial!" He rushed to ithurial and licked her wounds. He didn't realize how horribly she was hurt. At first glance she looked dead but every so often her chest would move with breath. "Merci, shes still alive but she wont be for long. She needs a healers help. ?

Walk | Talk | Think

Incessantly the pup Cross spoke, telling without a spared detail the grand adventure he had been a part of. It amused Mercianne how much he had remembered and how he managed to weave every piece into the tale that he told to his babysitter, filling the cavern with the curious descriptions of the Range and its inhabitants. The healer-in-training found herself drawn into its telling though it was not meant for her ears, but how could she ignore it? He was simply so excited about it that she found herself infected with his childlike wonder, and even noted the moment when he had stopped, the moment Ithurial stepped from the cave to bring in the snow.

Her small venture was enough to upset the quiet inside the cave, and just like that the young babysitter's charge was wanting to leave the safety of their shelter. The creamy white wolf glanced toward the young Ithurial with a smile, rising slowly and carefully to her paws where she rested near the cave wall. She was ready to step in, to provide any assistance that she could to the new Glaciem yearling, but she handled things well, even inviting another young pup who had wandered close to join in a game that they would play. To her surprise, even she was included, and with a timid smile and a wag of her tail Merci stepped from the cave to join them in the snowy, open space outside of it. A snow war. That sounded quite fun.

She positioned herself nearby Ithurial, signifying that she was part of the young wolf's team, and watched with a chuckle as the pups took off away from them, seeking their own place to begin their war game. But as she turned her head to set her dark brown eyes upon her partner, she spotted another figure racing toward them. A familiar black and white figure. A figure that immediately made her heart race and her cry of warning to stick within her throat.

He leaped at the unsuspecting young she-wolf and latched onto her face, eliciting the most horrible sounding scream that Mercianne had ever heard. She froze, staring in shock and horror before she scrambled frantically away from the attacking wolf as he practically threw Ithurial away from him, drawing herself closer to the pups. Her body crumbled into a crouch, her ears pinning against her skull. They were dead! She was a healer, not a warrior. She didn't know how to fight, couldn't defend herself let alone the pups who stood nearby. Sixx would end them here, and the pack would be torn by even more death.

Sixx turned on them, pausing just long enough to stop Ithurial as she miraculously tried to defend those present. A pitiful whine slipped from the panicked she-wolf's muzzle, her eyes blurring with tears as her friend was struck down. She felt so useless, so helpless. What help would her meager skills be to her if she died? How might she let her pack down? She backed up another step, moving unconsciously closer to the pups, but they were on the move as well. Cross, hackles raised and growling, confronted the stranger, while his cousin Kairos leaped forward to attack. "No, don't!" she tried to cry out, but her words came out weak and shaken. No, no! She couldn't bear it if they died too. It was like a living nightmare there was no waking up from.

Young Kairos was tossed aside with a careless ease, Sixx advancing forward with the intent to finish what he had started. She parted her jaws, ready to protest, to say something that might give their attacker pause, but before she could he was attacked. Another had arrived, one of their pack, and Merci watched wide eyed as Awaken fought against his self-proclaimed brother, matching him bite for bite and claw for claw until he got the upper hand. Pleas were made by the caught Sixx, desperate words to prolong his life, but Mercianne could see what was to come. She closed her eyes and turned her head, pinned ears trying desperately not to hear the last fragments of life leave the wolf. Criminal or not, death was not a friend to the healer-in-training, particularly violent and gruesome death.

She was still in this position, crouched with her eyes and ears shut to the world, when at last Awaken turned to address them. She almost didn't hear anything he said over the sound of her own blood rushing through her ears. Only the sound of her name drew her fearful eyes open, and trying not to allow her gaze to drift to the prone figure of their attacker she let her attention follow that of Awaken, realizing that it was well overdue that she act.

He was right. As the shaking white wolf neared the still figure of Ithurial, she could see the way in which her sides shallowly rose with each breath, could hear the almost wheezing sound of her breath. Swallowing, she tried to clear her mind, set aside her fear, her sorrow, her shame so that she could act now. And swiftly. "Ithy? Ithurial, can you hear me? It's going to be okay," she said shakily, glancing around swiftly for what she needed. Something for pain. Something for bleeding. What did one use for near suffocation? She shook her head quickly, not wishing to get caught up on questions. That would only slow things down. Instead, she rose, addressing the pups "Sit with her, please," she begged, adding with a swift glance at her patient, "Tell her how brave she was." Turning from them, Mercianne bound away into the trees a short ways until she found the poppy plant she was after. She returned with it, carefully attempting to crush it upon the snow before she tried to force Ithurial to eat it, hoping to reduce her pain. Standing back, she turned to Awaken and tried to keep the desperation from her voice. "Can she be moved? If I can just get her into the den," she stated before breaking off with a glance over her shoulder. Everything she needed was in there, in the little alcove she had chosen for her growing herb stores. With pain medicine administered, she hoped it could be done.

~*~ When his cousin charged the villain, the last thing Cross intended to do was run. There was no thought in his mind other than to protect his own. Like Kairos, he was too naive to recognize the full stupidity of his actions. His paws scrambling in the snow, he tried to make a leap to the other side of the big white male, hoping to distract him from his 'brudder'. But before he even got there, the villain swore and ripped Kairos from his shoulder. Stunned and torn, Cross slid to another stop and stared at the black form of the other pup. He made a sitting duck where he was, but luckily it was then that Awaken came crashing to the rescue. Cross saw everything. Heard everything. His bring green eyes shone with a blank, waxy glow as he watched the Glaciem brave rip into the villain - every scream, every growl, every word. He knew nothing of what it all meant, but it was heavy enough to imprint on his little mind. When looking back later, Cross would forever peg this day, as that day. The day the world turned inside out. The day he changed. But it was over as quickly as it had begun. Extremes had met and exploded and now the survivors were left to clean up the mess of the aftermath. All Cross saw were two dead bodies in the snow - and, and maybe a third! He rushed over to Kairos. The white pup's mouth didn't seem to want to work, but he could press his coal black nose into his 'brother's' fur. He could try to help him up. He just wanted to make sure Kairos was still breathing. Still okay. "Sit with her please. Tell her how brave she was." Despite how sweet the voice, the words grated like metal in Cross's mind. What-what was he supposed to do? What had he just seen? The truth was, he needed consoling too. But, with a clamped mouth and glazed eyes he picked his slow, plodding way over to the bloodstained body of his babysitter. Was she even breathing? He'd tried to keep his eyes away from all the gore and wounds. He didn't want to look at it! He knew that he'd have nightmares enough as it was. But he couldn't help himself. His mind was trying so hard to detach him from all of it, that a morbid curiosity was entering in. He looked at the torn, hanging bits of flesh, and rivlets of blood, the pulsing crimson tissue how open to the frozen air. And he saw all of it amid the chaos of bodies rushing frantically, trying to figure out what to do next. Words still wouldn't - couldn't - come, so Cross just curled up in a shivering ball by Ithurial's head and pressed his nose into her fur. ~*~