Silvershore

Chapter Three

Although Loki remained calm on the outside, she was still having an immense amount of difficulty believing what had happened a few nights ago was true.

When she was growing, up she was part of a quite large friend group. It contained her, Evelyn, Aries, Daruk, Misa, Wood, Kiara, and Keaton would tag along with them sometimes, although he had his own friend group he spent more time with.

Now, half of her childhood best friends were dead. Evelyn was killed by a cougar, Kiara was murdered by Daruk, Aries had been completely emotionally and mentally broken by Daruk, and finally, Daruk was dead to her.

It was odd to her that Daruk had straightforwardly told everyone that Loki had been previously meeting up with Aries, but no one had said anything to her about it. More than that, she couldn't believe that Daruk had known all along, and was planning on eventually turning her to the same state Aries was in. And, even more than that, Daruk had started to turn Stormjay into that.

Despite everything that happened in this week alone, Loki felt almost nothing. It was like she had gotten used to everything going wrong. There was now an uncomfortable silence to Loki's soul - she was fall leaves under frost. She felt the chill in her blood, coldness bringing the synapses of her brain to a stand still. She wasn't being calm about everything - she was just simply empty.

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"Isn't it such a nice summer day?" Sky chirped, feeling the gentle breeze brush through her pelt.

"...Are you really still happy?" Kenya flattened her ears. "...How do you do it?"

"Huh? It's not that I'm particularly happy about everything... it's just that it's a really nice day!"

"Our beta is a freaking lunatic, and you're going on about the weather...come on." Kenya sighed as she walked off, heading towards her den.

What's her problem? She thought. Hope she's okay...looks like she wants to be alone.

"Hey, Sky..." A slightly deep, smooth voice snuck up behind her, startling her a bit.

"O-Oh... ya scared me, Jupiter!" Sky complained.

"Ah, sorry..." Jupiter chuckled awkwardly. "Um...you doing okay?"

"I'm happy as ever...kinda." Sky giggled a bit.

"You don't sound like it." Jupiter flattened his ears. "We talked about this...you don't have to force yourself to be happy all the time. I'd offer to take you on a walk...but y'know..."

"Um...but I really am happy! Super happy!" Sky forced a giggle. "I really am..."

"Sky...you're a bad liar." Jupiter sighed.

"Hmph... I know, I know..." Sky pouted.

"Why don't we head to my den...?" Jupiter suggested. "We can talk about what's bothering you..."

"Okayyy, let's go." Sky huffed as the two of them started walking north to Jupiter's den, which resided right next to Stormjay's.

Clouds formed a perfect line-up in the blue sky above them, as if they were boats safely mored in celestial harbour.

"Well, here we are..." Jupiter flattened his ears as the two of them stepped into his den, which seemed significantly less dark than most other wolves' dens.

"Jupiter, the thing that's buggin' me is the same reason as everyone else! I want Daruk back. I miss him!"

"Oh, Sky..." Jupiter wrapped his tail around her gently, as Sky felt a sudden jolt as her heart rate increased. "Sky, we don't want Daruk back..."

"Well...why not? He's really nice...when I was little, he'd always take me on patrols with him and he taught me a lot of battle moved and stuff...and I remember he took my brother, Kenya, Bright Moon and I to the ocean...I miss Daruk, I want him to come home...!" Sky vented. She was so confused, she was having trouble thinking clearly.

"Sky...Sky, do you know what he did...?" Jupiter flattened his ears. "He's not the wolf we thought he was...he isn't very nice at all."

"I was trying to pay attention during the meeting, but I couldn't follow along...then I saw a butterfly, and couldn't pay attention even more!" Sky whimpered. "Why do butterflies have to be so cute?"

"...Why do you have to be so cute?" Jupiter smiled.

"H-Huh!?" Sky flattened her ears as she felt her cheeks start to warm.

Jupiter began blushing heavily. "I-I'm sorry...I...wanted to make you feel better and...I kinda spoke without thinking. J-Jeez...this is embarrassing."

"W-Wow...I didn't expect that out of you at all, th-that was...kinda smooth, for someone like you..." Sky flicked her tail. "A-Anyway! I'm just really confused. Daruk was a good beta...why did it have to change to Roscoe? Not that I don't like Roscoe, I think he'll be a good beta! I like him, don't worry, I'm not talking bad about your friend. It's just that Daruk was really good at his job! Everyone loved the guy...he was so sweet, why'd he get kicked out? Or did he just leave?"

"Um...if Daruk didn't leave the pack, he would have... one-hundred and ten percent be kicked out. Like, guaranteed to be exiled. After what he did, he can't stay here..."

"But he's been here forever! Can't we just forgive him? He's a good guy!"

"Sky...you at least have an idea of what he did, right?"

"Um...he...um..."

Jupiter sighed. "Okay...I was there when it happened, so I'll give you a quick summary of it."

"You were there!?" Sky gasped. "I-I didn't know that! I was worried about you when you went off to find Nyla, but you saw the thing everyone's all depressed about!?"

"Yeah...it's so awful, Sky... it's hard to even talk about, because I really liked Daruk too. But, I'll tell you. Just really try to listen carefully, okay?" Jupiter cleared his throat. "I won't go into detail...I don't want to make you sad. But...basically, Aries...isn't really a bad guy after all. Daruk is the real bad guy. You know what's been happening to your brother? The episodes where he just goes unconscious and numb? That's...Aries all the time. I mean, all the time. And Daruk made him that way. He did some really awful and disgusting things to Aries over the course of his life to just put him in that state forever. But what's different about him and your brother is that while Stormjay doesn't react or respond to anyone, Aries takes orders from Daruk. He will do whatever he asks, no questions. So, Daruk has been telling Aries to do all the bad things he's been doing this whole time." Jupiter took a deep breath before he continued speaking. "So, it isn't really Aries we need to look out for, specifically, it's Daruk."

"W...Why? I'm still so lost..." Sky sniveled. "He's supposed to be the beta, why would he do something so mean?"

"Because...because...he is mean, Sky. This is a lot to take in, I know... but basically everything Daruk has ever told you is a lie. I don't think we'll be seeing him again for a while...but we just need to be careful. I'm sorry..."

"Hehe...hehehe...don't be sorry." Sky smiled. "D...Daruk should be sorry, not you." Sky approached Jupiter and nuzzled his neck gently before walking towards the exit of Jupiter's den.

"Sky, where are you going...?" Jupiter asked.

"...Thanks for telling me, Jupiter." Sky smiled over her shoulder at him.

She turned back to the exit, and let out a deep sigh. "I'm...gonna go lie down now."