Wolf-blood

Caring Leader vs. Wise Leader

Black. That was all I could remember from my time as a coma patient: the endless blackness. No matter which way you turned, there was no light. I didn't know where or who I was. Then I heard a voice, quiet and echoing, as though it was from another world.

Artio...

Huh? Who was Artio? Why does that name sound familiar?

Artio.

Wait... Isn't that my name? Where am I? (The darkness around me was slowly turning to gray.)

Artio! Wake up!

Wake up...? Am I sleeping? Is this how sleeping normally feels? What is going on?

Come on, you can't leave me, not yet... Artio. You have to wake up.

Who is making that noise? Their voice sounds familiar...

Indie? Who the hell are you?! Get away from her!

This new voice is different... Who's Indie? Is my name Indie too?

Look, I don't know who you are, but I do know that the last time Artio saw you, she lost it. And I don't want to see her like that, ever again. So I suggest you stand back.

Are you crazy? Who is Artio? Indigo is my best friend, I won't leave her here in the care of a rogue scoundrel. 

Rogue scoundrel...? Why does that make me angry? Aren't I a rogue? Is my name Indie, Indigo, or Artio? What is going on!?

As I felt my drive for answers grow, I could see the light slowly growing around me to a near white. The voices around me got clearer, and I could pick out who they were.

"Move. Now," I heard Mikey growl. 

"Never going to happen," Orvar responded.

I took in a deep breath and started to cough. I could barely hear shouts of "Indie! Are you okay?" and a soft cooing of "Calm down, Artio, you're okay, you're going to be just fine," over my hacking. I opened my eyes a slit and saw Orvar in front of me. "Orvar?" I asked shakily. His face broke out into the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face.

He pulled me into a massive hug and I hugged back as he said, "I thought I'd lost you before I even had you... Dear God, if you ever do something like that to me again, I... I don't even want to know what I'll do..." His voice was muffled, presumably because he had just buried his head into my hair. I looked over his shoulder and saw Mikey standing there, looking like a lost puppy. I pulled back from Orvar and looked into his ice blue eyes.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," I whispered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mikey look down at the ground and turn so he wasn't facing us. But I didn't care. I didn't care that I had hurt his feelings, or that I had used the same line to comfort him only two years before. I didn't care, because he had done maybe the one thing that could have made me leave: tried to kill me. I broke out of Orvar's grasp and grabbed an arrow from his sheath. Slowly and dangerously, I grabbed his bow and faced Mikey. "I suggest you leave."

"No," Mikey said simply. I felt Orvar start forward and put a hand on his arm. He stopped and took a few steps back.

"Why?" I asked.

"I'm not leaving without you." I locked my arrow into the bow, but didn't raise it yet.

"Why?" I again asked.

"What do you mean, 'Why?'? I'm not leaving you here with the rogues-"

I swiftly raised my bow and said, "Tread lightly, Michael, or you may have a new head dress before this meeting is over. Choose your words carefully."

He looked a bit shocked and hurt. "Uhh, well, you have a family that misses you, Indigo-"

"And I have a family here, thanks, and my name is not Indigo. You are not my friend, you have never been my friend, and you will never be my friend, and unfortunately for you, I mean every single word I am saying. Don't try and tell me you've always been there for me when you very nearly killed me about a month ago because I referred to you as Mikey. Why did I always call you Mikey? You asked everyday and I answered that I was too stubborn to change it, but that wasn't true, no. I called you Mikey because I thought that if I never changed what I called you, you would never change and we could still be those little kids playing in the garden playing tag. And you could still be the little boy who promised me forever with a dandelion," I could feel tears falling down my face, and I took a couple steps closer to him. "And you backed out! You promised me that we'd be friends forever and you backed out. And I have had to live with the fact that it was all a lie. You never really promised me forever, you were never my friend, and the first chance you got, you tried to kill me! You are not my family! You are not my friend!" By now my arrow was a few inches from  his throat and tears were falling freely down my face. "Why did you promise me forever and then take it away?" I asked in a tiny whisper.

For a second, he was speechless. He then pushed the arrow away from his throat and grabbed the bow from my hands. I didn't protest. He threw them onto the cement next to him and slowly wrapped his arms around me. "I never broke my promise," he whispered into my hair, in much the same way as Orvar. He leaned back and dug around in his pocket. When he found what he was looking for, he said, "Friends forever, yeah?" He then took my hand and put a dandelion gently in it. I looked down at the little weed, so small, yet holding the biggest gesture he could have ever made.

He gave us a dandelion... I told you he still cared...

Wait... But he tried to kill me...

You said he tried to kill you. What are you doing?

I don't know anymore...

"You tried to kill me..." I said and looked up into Mikey's eyes. I lost any pretense of feeling cared for as what he did returned full force. "What kind of sick game are you playing?" I spit as I throw the dandelion on the ground. "You try to kill me, invade my camp, try to kidnap me, and now you come here saying that you never stopped being my friend? You have a very messed up definition of friendship, Michael."

"Please, I didn't do any of that!" Michael pleaded.

"Then who did, Mike? Because it looked a hell of a lot like you!"

Stop swearing at Mikey!

"Vox! Shut up! I don't care that you believe an attempted murderer over me, I don't care that I swore, and I don't care that you have been in a bitchy mood ever since they tried to kill me! I don't care that you can't accept that our old family is evil and that we have a new family now that actually cares! I don't care that you're the wisdom wolf, just please let me be angry at a man who tried to kill me and I will deal with you later!" I shouted, and immediately felt guilty. "Oh, shoot, Vox, I didn't mean that, please, I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry... Could you maybe-" I cut off and clutched my head.

OH, NO, WHY SHOULD YOU BE SORRY? I'M JUST A BIG FAT KNOW-IT-ALL WHO THINKS A MURDERER IS OUR BEST FRIEND!! OH NO, DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, I'LL JUST GO MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE SWEAR WORDS YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO SAY, BECAUSE THAT'S ALL I DO, RIGHT? RIGHT?!

"Vox... Please... I didn't mean that, just please... I'm so sorry..."

"Hey, are you all-" I cut Mikey off before he could finish his sentence.

"Please, just," I sighed, thinking of everything I had screwed up in the past twenty four hours. I looked to Orvar. "Can you do something with him? I don't care what, just don't kill him, okay? I need to take a walk."

Orvar nodded with a caring expression on his face. "Thank you," I told him sincerely, and climbed up through the rubble of what appeared to have been the pack house. As I reached the top, I looked around and walked towards the woods, tears  streaming down my face.