Erased

7 - Mountain Test

Soyeon sat with her back against the headboard, one pup laying on her chest, the other curled up next to her in the bed. Shizuha had been asked to lead a group of trainees through the mountain range, another test of leadership for the pack. Right now, all she could do was worry. In the village it was thunder storming, but she knew in the mountain range it was a raging blizzard.

Mia let out a tiny cough, her fever hadn't broken all day. Which worried her. Sihyeon was sick as well, her fever finally breaking after dinner. Her entire day had been filled with worrying. Worrying about her mate, and her children. A loud clap of thunder had hit, shaking the house slightly. Sihyeon stirred in her sleep, whimpering at the sound. Soyeon sighed, rubbing the little one's back as she clung to her.

"You're okay..." She cooed. "Mommy's here.." She whispered.

Shizuha stood outside of the tent, keeping watch over their campsite. Momo stood next to her, her eyes closed as it was her turn to sleep. She was upset that Yukime had stayed behind, but a virus was running through the village and her mate had gotten the worst part of it. She scanned the area, seeing no threats, she relaxed slightly, until she heard a branch snap behind her.

"South." Momo mumbled, her eyes now opened and trying to find the source of the sound without moving.

"I can't hear where it's going with the wind.." Shizuha frowned.

"Me either." She whispered.

"You stay here.. I'll go." Shizuha stood up from her post, walking through the blizzard to find the source of the sound. She felt a hand wrap around her wrist, pulling her back.

"And let you leave pups behind? I don't think so." Momo frowned. "I'll do it." Shizuha looked up at her aunt, seeing the scars on her face from the war. She wasn't about to fight her, but something in her told her not to let her go.

"No.. We'll go together." She insisted. Momo rolled her eyes, watching her niece refuse to back down. So they went together. Both of them making their way through the still raging blizzard. Shizuha kept the lead, able to withstand the cold a lot better, and see a whole lot better than Momo.

Momo knew she was the perfect mix of Sana and Mina now. Sana's will to be ahead, leading the pack to safety to ride out the blizzard, counting each and every alpha, never leaving any one of them behind. Mina's caring personality, and her traits to see in the dark, through a blizzard while being able to handle the cold a lot better than anyone. She was the perfect leader. It was just terrible that she couldn't fight for the position like everyone else did.

"There." Shizuha pointed at the half covered tracks. The snow was falling fast, covering the giant paw prints.

"Bear." Momo frowned. "It looks like it's heading away from the site.. Let's head back." She instructed. Shizuha nodded, walking back with her aunt to the site. As they walked, she heard a deeper crunching of the snow under them, almost like an echo...

"Auntie.. Two steps left." Shizuha warned. Momo did as told, watching the snow fall to the right of her.

"How did you know there was a hole there?" Momo asked her.

"I heard it." She answered, trying to concentrate. She had focused so much on helping her aunt navigate the snow, that she hadn't realized the one thing. The deep crunching noise was growing louder, deeper even. Until she heard a loud crack. She stopped in her tracks, her breathing turning shallow.

"Shizuha?" Momo called out, she couldn't see through the blizzard, but Shizuha could see her.

"Don't move back.. Keep going auntie." She instructed.

"I don't hear you walking." Momo frowned. She waited until she heard another step, then another crack. "Shizuha?" Momo panicked now, she didn't know what was going to happen.

"Auntie..." Shizuha's voice was raised slightly, terrified of what was going to happen next. "If I take one more step... It's going to break." She frowned.

"No, we can figure this out." Momo frowned, wanting to step closer to her niece.

"No, we can't. I guided you away from the ice.. But I stupidly kept walking.." She sniffed, feeling tears forming now. "Go. Go to the site. I'll.. I'll get myself out of this." She whispered.

"Shizuha I'm not leaving you!" Momo yelled at her. Both of them heard a low growl, picking up on the bear's scent... Obviously them being out there had caught its attention. It was running towards them, Shizuha didn't want to take any chances. She wasn't going to let the bear anywhere near her aunt, or the alpha trainees.

"Go!" Shizuha ran forward, pushing her aunt away from it all, causing the ice underneath her to break open, engulfing her and the bear into the dark abyss. When Momo had lifted herself up from the snow bank, she saw the gaping hole in the mountain side. Tears built up, threatening to release as she stared at it. She couldn't go home and tell her sister that her daughter sacrificed herself on this stupid test. She didn't know how she was going to go home at tell anyone this...

By the next nightfall, Momo had led the trainees back off the mountain side, meeting their pack leader at the base. Sana watched as the entire group walked passed her, the demeanor changing. Usually the trainees were happy to have passed the test... She looked to the end of the group, seeing Momo trailing behind them, making sure everyone got down safely.

"Momo.. Where's Shizuha?" Sana asked her. That's when the tears came out, flooding everything with no explanation. The only thing coming from Momo's mouth were broken 'I'm sorry's and 'She didn't have to go'.