Silvershore

Chapter Nine

Wood and Fawn arrived back home very late that night. The once salmon and lavender sky transformed into a vast expanse of jet-black, the night laid down a blanket of darkness. When you would tilt your head skyward, there were clearly millions of bright stars dotted on the black sky night, the thick gloomy clouds shaded over the luminous moon covering its entirety, the sky full of glistening stars but no moon. The sky grew darker over time, painted blue on blue, one stroke at a time, into deeper and deeper shades of night.

"...Hey, Wood..." Fawn nudged Wood gently. They were now in their den.

"Hm?" Wood sat down in front of her, pulling her close with his tail, putting them in the same position they were earlier that day.

"...I-If we're gonna be together...there's things y-you need to know about me." She let out a tiny sigh.

"Alright, I'm listening."

"W-Wood...I-I'm not who you think I am..." Fawn lamented.

"What do you mean?"

"I...I...I've lied to you...a little bit a-about my past..." She mewled. "I-I can't go on like this without telling you w-who I really am."

"You can tell me anything." Wood whispered, resting his head on top of hers gently.

"W-Well...I'm afraid you're going to think of me a-a lot differently after I tell you."

"There's really nothing that can change the way I feel about you." He reassured her. "I love you."

"I-I love you too...b-but I've done some r-really bad things in my life. U-Unforgivable things. I-I'm...not who I pretend to be."

"Fawn. Look at me." Wood directed. He lifted up her chin with his paw, compelling her to make eye contact. "There is nothing you can say or do to make me love you any less than I do, and I would never judge you for anything you did in the past. Do you understand?" He didn't mean to, but the tone of his words turned out a bit more aggressive than he wanted.

"Y-You say that now...but when you find out all the s-stuff I did...I-I don't know how you'll feel."

"...What did I just say?" Wood blinked. "The person you used to be doesn't change the way I see you at all, because I know who you are inside."

"...I-I guess I should stop stalling and g-get this over with..." Fawn trembled. "I-I...I guess I'll start from the very beginning, just like you did earlier...first of all, I-I was born as the youngest sibling from a mother who had a few different mates. M-My siblings and I all had different fathers. M-Me and my oldest sister, Aiko, were as close a-as you could be...w-we'd stay up talking so late at night w-we'd get in trouble...a-anyway, when I was around s-six months old...a-a group of w-weird wolves started h-hanging around close to my mother. I-I didn't know why t-they were there...but w-what we figured out is that t-they were watching all of us pups i-in order to scout...p-potential hitmen for their pack."

"...Hitmen?" Wood questioned.

"Y-Yeah...t-they threatened to kill my mother, and siblings and I if she wouldn't g-give up one of h-her pups for them...t-they had their eyes on Aiko...b-because she was a-a lot m-more talented than I was...b-but she was so kind and s-sensitive...t-that life would have d-destroyed her...s-so I w-went with those wolves in her place. I-I had no idea what was coming to me..." She took a deep breath. "There was this pack in the tunnels leading to the mountains at the end of the East Forests, w-who were really s-set on destroying T-The Pack of the Fire...f-for some reason...I-I never knew why...b-but th-they called themselves 'T-The Pack of the Water.' C-Cause...y'know...water gets rid of fire. A-Anyway...t-that was the beginning of...t-the beginning of hell. M-My training as an assassin for The Pack of the W-Water...i-it was so...so difficult...I-I would v-vomit e-every single day, a-and cry every night...i-it's where I d-developed my h-habit of crying about everything. I-I was b-beat up all the time i-in order to learn h-how to put up with t-torture...a-and I learned how t-to die quickly i-in case I f-failed a mission...b-but I endured it...knowing Aika w-would die if s-she was put in my place. D-Despite her b-being physically s-stronger than me...I-I could withstand t-things like this better than h-her. S-So I did it...all for her. T-Then...m-my first mission came. T-To...kill a specific member of The Pack of the F-Fire that posed a th-threat to us...lt-they threatened to f-find and kill the rest of my family i-if I didn't comply. I-I just couldn't do it...s-so I told the wolf to run away and I'd help them hide from the pack. I didn't get commissioned to kill anyone else, but I did help younger wolves train to become assassins...I-I was...r-really good at my job...even though I didn't kill anyone," Fawn wiped away a tear and continued on. She began sobbing as she spoke, and Wood pulled her closer to his chest as a response. "L-Later on...I-I learned that...I-I learned...t-the wolves that took me...h-had still killed the rest of my family...e-even after they scouted me a-as an assassin...a-and they d-did this to a-a few other f-family they took p-pups from, too. S-so...I escaped. I-I escaped with a few other wolves...a-and we were immediately accused of stealing food f-from The Pack of the Fire. A-And that's when...I was kidnapped. And th-they killed the o-others I escaped with. A-And Loki eventually f-found me...and n-now I'm here."