Amaroq: Fin.

Credit:
Sirius(For alot of IX) Mentioned characters in the Story: Shadow of
Shadows, Arawn, Blackwind, Sirius.
The rest of the story, and the rest of the characters are mine.

Introduction

She had scince left Shadow of Shadow's side, yet had not been able to free
herself from the corruption. It, and SoS had turned her mad. She had been
through many fights with her enemies, her ex-friends and untrusting family,
herself, random strangers, and a few trees she mistaked to be dragons, or a
long deceased son of hers called Arawn. It had weakened her considerably,
in both mind and strength. She knew the final days were approaching, and
looked forward to them...

So, after a long time of isolation, she wandered to search for those she
knew, to see what had happened to them. After finding them, trouble, and a
chain of deaths began, caused by her return, as there were a few out to get
her, and were willing to kill anyone to get to her, and be able to see her
die.


---

I

The shadow of a ruined soul staggered through the forest as though trying
to escape from something, haunting cries echoing through the still night.
The wolf collapsed with a whimper, torn, useless black wings folding around
her to try and protect her from whatever was disturbing her. Ashen fur was
in short patches, the rest burnt or ripped up, with gaping wounds and dried
blood tainting the flesh. Her body was thin, starved, dehydrated, shaking
from fear and cold. The ice blue eyes of the wolf, barely recognizable as
Amaroq, were maddened, a mad far beyond the chances of being helped.
Another cry rung out, she yelled at someone, whom truly was only there in
the visions her mind tricked her with. The words were slurred and barely
intelligible. They spoke of her demonic son, Shadow of Shadows, though what
she said made little sense. To her, SoS was there, drawing nearer through
flames that engulfed the earth, licked at her body maliciously. He was her
worst fear, the one who made her go mad, the fault of her mind's
obliteration.

In reality, the claws dug into the ground, she threw her head back and
cried out. Her body went rigid, the hairs that remained raising, eyes
rolling back into her head. She didn't breathe for a while, then, fell over
onto her side, chest heaving, body writhing again. Exausted, she stilled,
eyes darting either way, paranoid, frantic. Tongue lolling from her opened
jaws, body still shaky. A murmer escaped, near inaudible.
"...I...failed...again...?" Pain and despondancy etched itself on her
features.

She closed her eyes, trying to block out the visions around her. It didn't
work. Amaroq wished silently, to die, knowing this torture wouldn't end
until she did... she held her breath, refusing to breathe anymore. Her
lungs pained her as they ached for air, her eyes opened again. The visions
began to vanish, as darkness--death reached out to take her.
Something called her, from somewhere, trying to urge her to rise, to slip
into partial, temporary sanity. In her false reality, something, unseen,
was driving her 'son' away, trying to save her. Amaroq took a sudden gulp
of air, panting, choking, gasping. The visions vanished suddenly. Reality
returned. She gathered strength, stirred, choked up blood, forced herself
into a sitting posistion, fell over again, repeated, rose to her paws,
nearly stumbled, regained her balance, and staggered forward, then loped
towards the den where her only living daughter dwelled.

Her mind tried to drag her down again, stop her from reaching that place.
The dead loved ones screamed at her, blaiming her for their deaths. She
tripped, fell to the cold earth, weakly rose again, stared off across the
feilds. The hollowed out old oak tree was visible. Two figures were infront
of it, she stepped forward slowly, then, fear gripped her, stopping her a
moment, before, yelling a name, she bolted forward on weary, trembling legs
that threatened to give out on her.
---

II

The white female wolf sat with one claw pressed against her throat, a dead,
younger male laying before her. "Curse you... taking the only thing I had
left away." She mumbled, then tilted her head back. "Forgive me mother, for
accusing you of Taran's death...it wasn't your fault... it was,
corruption... Shadow of Shadows... i'm sorry... that I must leave you
now... I can't go on..."

She was talking to nothing; well, she thought so atleast, until she her her
name screamed. Her eyes widened, as she saw Amaroq running towards her,
stumbling, gasping, trying to fight back tears. "Mother... goodbye..." She
said, with a sad smile.
Tears rolled down Jyou's face, falling to the earth. As her mother was just
about to reach her, she became the cause of her own death, with one swift
movement. The body fell. Amaroq slowed, stopped. She looked around, yelled
at someone who wasn't there, eyes watering yet tears never falling. She
walked up to her daughter and nuzzled her, looked to the male, who she
realized was her grandson. Her muscles tensed, then every single one jumped
forward, urging her to run, on, away from the scene.

She had torn another wound open exerting herself as she was. Blood poured
to the ground, she fell to the ground with a thud, choked on words, closed
her eyes, and lay still. Visions returned, madness consumed her again. Pain
surged through her body. One paw raked at the earth, then went limp.
---

III

Flies gathered around the wolf's body. Something observed sadly from the
surrounding shadows. It went forward, circling her, nudging her
occasionally and whispering to her. It seemed worried. Amaroq stirred, and
opened her eyes, staring into the glowing golden ones of the creature. Her
own eyes were wide and fearful, yet not at what she saw, but what she had
seen. "Hecate..." She mumbled. "Why are you here?"
"Amaroq. You won't last much longer..." It, betrayed to be a red-gold
colored gryphon by a beam of moonlight,said. "...I am here to help you go
somewhat further, which is how i'm going to pay my long overdue debt to
you." A grim smile crossed the beak. "I was looking for you. Caliban is
coming to kill you. Stay here, he is coming soon. I'll be near." The
gryphon shot into the air.

Sure enough, a huge navy and black form blotted out the moon. The enormous,
mixed breed dragon landed before the now standing form of Amaroq, golden
eyes staring down at her, seeming to laugh at the pathetic, futile
determination shown in the wolf's eyes and body stance. Huge wings folded
around both of them, and it reached it's neck outwards, jaws opening to
show the deadly rows of teeth, able to rip her apart with little effort.
Amaroq, with some leftover strength, summoned a lightning bolt to strike
one of the dragon's wings, tearing through it easily. Caliban roared in
pain, reeling. At that time, Hecate swooped down, talons grappling at the
dragon's soft underbelly, the only place not protected by scales, she
ripped furiously, before being slapped by the long claws of the dragon.
This continued for a long time, the two locked in battle.
Fire swirled through the air, blood now covering the dragon's stomach. The
fire was gone, the dragon grabbed one of Hecate's talons in his mouth,
trying to break her leg. The claws dug into the back of his throat, soon
beginning to choke him. He tried to pry her away, she grabbed on tighter. A
burst of flame erupted from his mouth. The talons loosened.

Hecate lay on the ground, still alive, barely. Caliban's eyes rolled back
into his head, he choked up blood, then fell. His body crashed to the
ground, atop of Hecate. Amaroq stood, watching. Her legs gave way, and she
just stared, mouth agape and eyes wide. Both were dead... both were dead.
Caliban... Caliban was dead... Hecate. She only realized the presence of
another when it was too late, something was atop her. A paw struck her in
the head, and darkness took over everything.
---

IV

First thing she realized: she was losing conciousness a ridiculous number
of times lately. Second thing she realized: something heavy was laying on
top of her. She kicked it off, then looked at it, wide-eyed. "Nails?!" She
yelped, shaking her head and sobbing pathetically. "No!" Nails was dead.
What happened? How? She looked around. Caliban's body lay there, dead. She
remembered being attacked by someone suddenly, and looked back at her
sister. "You..." She murmered. "...protected me... but... from who?"
Someone was out to get her, that wasn't too surprising. Something gripped
her heart, making it hard to breath, she couldn't stay near her anymore,
tears and blood from a new wound on her head fell onto her sister's already
bloodstained white fur, she turned sharply and hurried off.

Paranoia returned, voices called to her, fear and false visions came once
more as her mind began to weaken again. A feeling of freezing took her, and
she began to run. A twig snapped nearby, only making her quicken her pace.
Pounding of paws nearby filled her ears, and she knew that soon whatever
was chasing her would intercept her. She ran in a semi-circle, and was soon
going back the way she came, something called sharply her name. This was
not false reality, for once. She grew tired, slowed, panting and looking
around in fear.

The shadows seemed to dance and move, one seemed to be progressing towards
her. Then, half of it turned white, and orange eyes within the odd shadow
stared into hers. It took shape. She stopped, then rushed towards it.

---

V

She remembered him, she longed to know if it were real, or just another
illusion cast by her mind. She stopped infront of him, pawed at him, then
nuzzled him. Excitement filled her, and suddenly her troubles seemed to go
away. They would resurface soon enough. She shifted her weight from paw to
paw, grinning broadly and trying to greet him, but being too excited to do
anything more then stammer without the old friend able to comprehend
anything she was saying.
The panther nuzzled her. "Mittsume..." She whispered hoarsely.
He frowned. "Amaroq... it's been too long."
"So it has."
"I have to get you away from here... it's ruining you."
"I'm already ruined."
"Please, if you stay here, you'll die..."
"Then let me die."
"I can't, I love you."
"I'll only hurt you." Suddenly, her voice became scared. "Mittsu...
S...o...S..."
Mittsume looked around... "Amaroq... what are you talking about..."
Her voice shook. "He's behind you..."
Mittsu spun around. Nothing was there. "Amaroq... please... don't do
this..."
She stepped back, shaking. He looked back at her, came towards her. She
fell to her rump. He embraced her, nuzzling her.
"Please, let me take you away from here..."
"But... Blackwind..."
"I need you."
"So does he."
"Amaroq..."
"Wheres Taran?"
"Amaroq... he died a while ago..."
"Don't say things like that."
"What happened to you?! I can't stand this. Amaroq, you have to leave this
place, now!" His voice was shaking, yet demanding.
---

VI

She pushed him away, got up, and snarled. "Bastard!" She smacked him with a
forepaw,claws cutting him across the muzzle.
He stared into her eyes. Suddenly, he knocked her away. A wolf,was in a
crouched posistion where she had been standing, it rounded on Mittsume.
Amaroq whined and shook her head. "Kavik? Y- you were the one who killed
Nails!"
Kavik laughed maliciously. "No, i'm afraid you're mistaken there, dear
sister... but I will be the one to kill you."

He lunged, Mittsu stepped inbetween them. Kavik knocked Mittsu to the
ground, the two slashed and bit at one another violently. Amaroq leapt on
Kavik's back, trying to get him off of Mittsu. She bit into the back of his
neck, and dug her claws into his back. He shook her off easily, she being
weak from all her injuries and all that she had gone through lately. Kavik
approached her, as his claws and warm breath was felt on her hindlegs, she
kicked out, much harder than she thought she could, actually. When she
heard bone crack, she thought it was her own, until she heard Kavik's yowl,
as
he pulled back his claws cut a deep gash in one of her legs, and she
yelped. Hearing this, Mittsu attacked again. Kavik got him a good solid
time across the chest before Mittsu slammed a paw into his skull, killing
him.

Mittsu came to Amaroq, panting and grinning. Blood that had poured, and
still did pour, from the deep wound, staining his chest. Amaroq tried to
get up, failed in her attempt, moaned, and looked up at him. Her eyes
became worried as she noticed something, she tried to speak, but choked on
the words, her eyes widened. He nuzzled her, then suddenly, he roared in
pain. He spun around, and there, bronze and brown, stood a large, muscular
wolf with narrowed, enraged viridian eyes, poised for another strike. Koto,
other than his build, favored his father, Taran. Mittsu was taken aback a
moment by the resemblance, uttered Taran's name, shook his head, then
lunged.
---

VII

Mittsu's jaws locked around the wolf, mouth soon filled with blood. Koto
shook him off, pinned him to the ground, and stared into his eyes with a
cold smile playing on his face. He bit into the panther's throat, yet, with
a powerful kick in the stomach from Mittsu, was knocked away. The panther
leapt to his paws, circled, then lunged again, striking the wolf's flank
then dodging an attack and grabbing a leg, the wolf latching onto a
shoulder. Both bit down, then, as the other began to get towards the
muscle, tore away from one another. Koto's paw connected with the side of
Mittsu's head, flinging him to the ground.

The panther's leg was cut on a rock as he skidded across the earth. He
yowled and writhed, trying not to let the wolf know that he was aware of
the approaching attack. As Koto went for Mittsu's neck again, Mittsu delved
his claws into Koto's throat, who pushed himself down further into the
attack. He did the same to Mittsu. Both their eyes narrowed, painful grins
on both faces.
Koto coughed up blood, onto Mittsu's face. Mittsu was growing weak quickly,
and
soon had to withdraw from his attack. Koto sunk his claws further into
the throat of the cat. He would have killed the panther then and there if
his attack had not been interuptted by Amaroq, who threw herself into his
side. His paw slammed into her chest, cracking a rib. She was standing over
him, staring into his eyes.

"It was you... who killed Nails..." She murmered, with a low growl.
He smirked, weakly. "Yeah."
Without saying anything else, she bit onto his throat, and swiftly
annihilated him.

She turned towards Mittsu, who was staring at her with a serene smile on
his face. She went towards him, and nuzzled him gently and sorrowfully. The
inevitable seemed to be coming more swiftly than she wanted. Tears rolled
down her face.
---

VIII

He nuzzled her. "I'm sorry I tried to pry you from Blackwind... it was a
mistake..." His eyes rolled back into his head. She licked his face,
sobbing pathetically. "No, no... Mittsume... I..." It was no good, he had
already died. Darkness closed in on her mind, which was currently telling
her that SoS, and, the rest of the world, for that matter, was laughing in
satisfaction that she had finally gone completely mad.

Amaroq limped through the fog, head hung low. Nothing mattered anymore, she
didn't care... everything was on fire around her, and everyone was
battling, everyone was dying. None of it mattered. Blackwind shunned and
grinned at her pathetic pessimism. A pain stabbed at her soul, coursing
through her body, more potent and more tormenting than ever. She staggered,
and fell. Rolling onto her back she stared at the stars. They seemed to
flicker out, dying embers... dying friends. Darkness, nothing, the
universe, the ground, everything, gone. Waves of sickness crashed over her,
she went into a coughing spell and passed out.
When she awoke it was near dawn. She still felt alone, weak, helpless, the
only remaining being in the universe. Though it seemed pointless, she tried
to get up. Her body refused to move. She struggled. It took about an hour
before she finally was able to get up into a sitting posisition, and
another half hour before she could stand. She moved slowly over the terra,
aimlessly and not truly caring what was going on around her. It never
occured to her there was someone waiting for her, longing to see her again.

Yet, even so, she didn't want to see him, she just wanted to die already.
It had been too much for her. Besides, how could she face him, in the
mental state she was in now?

---

IX

This is what had the most purpose and significance, this is what all her
torture had been leading up to. One last meeting with him. All her hopes of
being able to avoid him proved futile, as, somehow, even as she hoped she'd
be able to go without having to say goodbye, she knew they'd still meet. He
was in wretched condition, worse than she, perhaps. It was depressing,
seeing him as she had to, but she suffered through it anyway.

Amaroq had sighted him, mistaked him to be Shadow of Shadows, decided she
just didn't give a frog's butt anymore and went forward. Then, she realized
who it was and stopped. Her heart skipped a beat as her mind turned away
from the subject of herself and the world laughing at her, suddenly coming
to the question 'should I flee or not?' she seemed to have little say in
the matter though, as something forced her forward, even though she did not
want to talk to him.
She studied his injured body with little sympathy, yet curiousity and
greif, regretting that she had gone away at all to allow him to get this
bad off. "Blackwind." She called, her voice monotone, in a near whisper. He
turned to look at her, eyes red as blood seeming no more than the last
desperate fire of death in the empty sockets of a corpse, they had sunken
so far into his skull. "Amaroq..." His voice, more ragged than his tangled,
scorched and blood-matted coat, sounded barely intelligible. Halfway rising
from where he lay, he stared at her intently, sure he was hallucinating. It
was quickly obvious that he could not rise the rest of the way; only one of
his legs was fully functional, and given how thin his unusually tall frame
had become, it was a wonder he was alive and sane at all...or as sane as
Blackwind ever had been, anyhow.

She stopped when they were near touching, nuzzling him hesitantly, as
though he would suddenly vanish, or turn out to be someone else. Quivering,
she forced a hopeless smile. How she was still living after everything she
had gone through so far was a wonder, though it seemed obvious she wasn't
able to handle much more. Amaroq seemed ready to lose conciousness any
second. Worry seemed to take over what little joy she'd found in finding
him again, remembering a conversation with Mittsu before she last passed
out.
"What happened to you?" She questioned, voice fading halfway through
'happened', so they could hardly be heard. He returned her nuzzle, starved
limbs quaking with the effort of keeping his thin form partially upright.
His eyes, though dead inside, were as proud as ever; his body and heart
were shattered past repair, but nothing could ever break Blackwind's
spirit.
"You don't want to know," he said with a slight smile that seemed almost
more like a grimace of pain. His blood-crusted brow furrowed. "And you?
What...?"
"To make a long story short, everything." She said this with an apathetic
grin. Amaroq was concentrating on keeping sanity, so she could atleast have
a short while with him, though sanity was fading fast. This was proven, a
few moments afterward, as she added "I saw Arawn a few days ago... he
wasn't in a good mood... muttering something about Tai." Blackwind swayed a
bit and almost collapsed again, thought it was evident by his glazed look
that this was not related to her statement.
"He's alive again?" the wolf asked dully.
"He never died..." She said, voice seeming confused. "...i'm worried about
you." Of course, the odd thing about this was that Amaroq and Blackwind
hadn't even been on good terms during the time Tai was alive, much less
mates, but, when someone is mad and thinks they are in the past, a few
details tend to be disregarded. He blinked repeatedly, and collapsed in a
bleeding heap of tangled fur and shattered bone. Red eyes blinked
confusedly up at her.
"Never died...I saw...Shadow of shadows..." He was silent for a moment,
brow furrowed. "Kill him."
She muttered "Who...?" shaking her head and backing off a few steps,
nervously. Of course she could remember her greatest fear existing still,
though not truly by name at the present moment... she just knew it was
there, that she loathed it, and that there was really nothing she could do
about it existing, and, also, that she beleived it was her fault that it
was.

"Never mind," he said tiredly. "I've missed you, love." She reluctantly
dropped the subject, nodding in agreement and her mind returning to the
present, though still not very clear.
"Same here...it's nice to see you, again. For a while I thought I
wouldn't..." Amaroq didn't add that she had wished that she wouldn't of
seen him again, for obvious reasons. She gave a wary inspection of the
surroundings, then looked to him again. "...Mittsume died." She said,
flatly. "Along with Nails, Kavik, and Jyou." Another wary glance around the
land, as though she expected someone to attack them at any given moment.
"It was my fault. Really... I don't care much of Kavik's death... but..."
she didn't say anything else, just stood there, staring blankly at
Blackwind's paws, just to have something to watch.
Most of the bones were removed from one of those paws. A grieving sigh
escaped the wreck of a wolf. "Everyone...." His eyes drifted closed, then
opened slowly. "Sirius's alive...that's all...I think..." His eyes closed
again, and he nuzzled her gently. "I'm sorry, Amar."
"Don't apologize." She rested her head against his neck, closing her eyes.
"It's agitating, though, watching everyone you know die around you...the
very thing to top off a lot of stupid mistakes that caused many of them
harm." She would've spat in her own face, had that been possible.
"I know," he murmured tiredly. Several of his more severe wounds were his
own doing; he really did know how she felt. "I'm glad you came....didn't
want to die without seeing you again."
"Neither did I... " She leaned against him now, as though she'd collapse if
she didn't. Amaroq sighed sadly, she'd be departing soon enough, so she
would have enough strength to go somewhere that he could not follow her to
watch her die. She shuddered at the thought of leaving him.
He was actually thinking along the same lines. "I don't think...we'll ever
really be separated." His eyes closed again, and didn't open, his sides
rising and falling raggedly.
Tears brimmed her eyes. "No, never..." She murmered, licked him
affectionately, then turned and limped away without a goodbye. She had not
the heart to say farewell the last time they'd meet in the living world.
Amaroq never looked back, never regretted leaving at that moment.

He tried to get up to follow her, or to go somewhere else himself; he was
half-delerious, and couldn't decide which, but it didn't matter. He could
not stand at all.
---

X

All her energy had been spent, and she could go no further. The sun was
just beginning to rise over the horizon when she collapsed in a small cave
dimly lit by sunlight through gaps in the stone ceiling above. Her
breathing had become shallow, and her body trembled lightly. Her mind
screamed and clawed at her skull, visions of SoS still flashing through it,
all the mistakes of her life, her last conversation with Blackwind,
everything. Finally, with her last breath, she murmered. "What was it all
for? For...him?" Then, every muscle went limp, her mind stopped it's
frenzy. Unseeing eyes stared towards the dawn sky. Never did the mangled
body stir.

Somewhere else on the mountain, at the same time that Amaroq took her last
breath, a pheonix perched on a cliff ledge spread it's blue flamed wings
and called a final, mournful call to the new sun on the eastern horizon, as
the flames that engulfed it's body, and it's existance, faded forever along
with the power of the wolf it had thrived off of. The ashes that remained
of the great bird were carried off on the wind, where each particle
exploded into a tiny flame that only lasted a fraction of a second.

"Why did I exist? Was it to hear those final words from him, and speak my
final words to him, to leave cherished memories in the minds of companions,
the only ones that still hold the traces of me ever existing? To become
immortal knowing that I shall always be remembered? To be a part,
significant or insigificant in some huge plot beyond my comprehension?
Or... does no being exist for a reason, they just... are?"

Fin.