Our Endless Shadows of Darkness

Chapter 11 ~ Shattered

Of Grim, and his scent... The past month he had actually been kind to her. Ever since that day he had brought her the white rose, he had taken her out to watch the stars every night. Twilight explained to him, somehow catching his attention, why she left her family in the first place. Each night following, they had stared up at the stars until they fell asleep. The last night, yesterday night actually, she had fallen asleep beside him. Twilight was unaware of how close she had grown to him since the beginning. She had grown closer to him when Grim opened up, and properly explained why he had gone to the rogues in the first place and about his sister.
Before Twilight knew it, they had reached the den. She could feel so much pain in her body, it almost numbed her.
"I've helped mom with her second litter." Rain panted, dropping her on where Grim usually laid. She breathed in the almost stale scent, feeling his fading warmth from the ground. Pain then shot through her and she let out a screech. Her mind now focused, she knew she had to do something unthinkable. Twilight had to do this. She heaved a breath and starting pushing.
"Yeah, just keep pushing. When a pup, um, falls out, nip the sack and clean it. I don't want to taste that nasty mucus on it, so you can do it yourself, no offense." Rain sat near her, but not too close.

Twilight shot her a glare, her stomach convulsing. She gave a shriek and gave a massive push. She opened her eyes, trembling as she looked at the blurry ground and spotted the shape of a pup. Twilight let out a gasp, quickly nipping the sack and bringing the pup closer with one paw. It's coat was silver, yet a bright colour like the stars. And it was a female.
Twilight licked its coat clean, drawing it to her stomach with her paw. Her body started to convulse and she knew another pup was coming. She kept pushing and heaving until another pup slipped out. She nipped the sack and started grooming its coat. He was a male, with a slick black coat like Grim's. For a pup, he seemed quite sturdy and strong.
Twilight had another break to breath before another spasm occured. She was now weak, and exhausted. She watched with blurry eyes her last pup slip out. She was a female, another, with a cream coat.

Twilight slowly started to groom them, one by one.
"Can I look now?" Rain asked, slowly turning herself away from the wall of the den. Twilight nodded, but felt her tail wrap around her pups. Rain looked down at the pups, her face twisting into disgust.
"So when areyou going to get rid of them?" She asked. Twilight's jaw dropped, and she pulled her pups closer to her.
"Are you crazy?! These are my pups! I would never even hurt them, nonetheless attempt their murder." Twilight snapped. How could her sister even suggest something like that?
"I didn't think you actually wanted to keep them." Rain flattened her ears against her head. Twilight felt anger bubbling through her, replacing her exhaustion.
"Anyways, now that you're a, um, mother, we should find a pack. I can't hunt for the both of us, or leave you on your own to do so. A pack would really help us." Rain explained. Twilight wanted to protest, but found no reason to.
"Then it's settled, we leave now. And don't argue with the departure date. " Rain declared, adding with a hint of bitternes, getting to her paws. "I'll carry one of the females. " Twilight hesitantly nose the silver female to her. She grabbed the male and the runt by their scruff. "I know a pack that is a few days trip away, maybe up to a week or two due to any snowstorms. They're beyond the mountains. The packs around here are very hostile, they wouldn't let me join. Rain huffed as they exited the den.

Twilight could feel the two blind pups squirming and whinning in her grasp. They were barely a few hours old and yet here they were, outside of the den. It was dangerous for a newborn pup outside of their den, especially in the cold of winter. The wind blew briskly and it started snowing heavily. Her eyes could no longer be open for more than a few seconds, the flakes blowing in her face and stinging her eyes.

She could only last through this weather for a while, until she could no longer hear one of her whinning pups. The storm had picked up immensely, and snow blew at them.
"Rain, we need to stop!" She called over the howling of the wind.
"I don't see a den!" Rain shouted. Twilight peered through the snow, her eyes squinting against the flakes. In the distance, quite faintly, she spotted a large den. Or what seemed to be a den.
"That's our only hope! Hurry, we must get there immediately." She screamed. She rushed to the large den, but stopped in her tracks right in front of it. It wasn't a den, not at all. It was a human shelter, and bright lights shone from inside. But under the house was a large space, big enough for a grown wolf to fit. She sucked in a breath of air, then squeezed through the tight space. As Twilight crawled through the space, she paused when she reached the other side, where wood planks shunned out the wind.
"Bright, are you crazy?" She saw her sister lower herself to make eye contact with her.
"I-it's warm in here." She stuttered, letting the two pups slip to her belly. Rain crawled through after her, letting our grunts. She dropped the silver pup at her paws, finding a spot for herself. Twilight looked down at her pups, gazing at them fondly.
"You should give them names." Rain said. Twilight scanned them for a few moments.
"Starlight," she pointed to the silver female. "Moonlight," she pointed to the cream female. "And Nightfall." She pointed to the dark coated male.
"I would name him Grim the second, they look exactly the same." Rain snorted. Twilight showed her teeth to her sister, bringing in the pups closer to her.
"Sorry, Bright. I don't like the fact that you let Grim go so easy, when he caused so much trouble and pain. His offspring just screams it, especially the male." Rain let out a sigh, irritation bubbling through her. Twilight didn't answer, merely flicking off the disagreement with her tail. She could hear strange and loud noises above them, and had to coo her pups to sleep. She was exhausted herself, and fell asleep against the rhythmic breathing of her pups.

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Short battle scenes and narrative point of view... sorry guys, I'm not too fond of writting in the first person and I didn't want this chapter in anyone else's point of view except Twilight. So, I just did the narrative. Sorry if it's short, sorry if there are any flaws or mistakes, but this chapter was slightly rushed. I'd really appreciate it if someone left a comment on what they think, improvements, anything really.

Thanks again for almost 300 reads, I really appreciate the support. But please, comment.

~ ABC_Author