Running With The Wolves (A Nuts-and-Dolts Wolfwalkers AU)

Chapter 13

There was so much blood, Qrow had just been shot and he was bleeding everywhere.

"Hold on, Uncle Qrow, please don't die! Please please, stay awake!" Ruby cried, hugging his head, her face buried into the fur of his neck.

"Oh my god, Uncle Clover, what have you done?" Penny mumbled anxiously.

She kneels by where Qrow was shot and presses her hands to his wound to slow the blood flow. Penny tried desperately to access her healing abilities, but she didn't know how.

"Come on, heal! Dang it, please, heal!" Penny begged, her hands quickly becoming soaked in blood.

"Penny! Get away from those beasts!" Clover shouted, pointing his gun at Yang.

Penny runs up to him, rips the gun out of his hands, and throws it to the ground.

"You're the beast! You shot him! You shot Qrow!" Penny yelled at her uncle.

"I had to! I was trying to protect you! I had orders!" Clover replied in defense.

"Is following orders all you know how to do!? Can't you think for yourself for once!?" Penny asked, clenching her fists at her side.

Before Ruby could try to use her healing abilities on her uncle, Qrow's wolf form turns into it's wolf-shaped spirit form and flies off towards the den where his human body is, leaving behind the bullet that struck him. Ruby, Yang, and the wolves follow after and Penny remembered that whatever injuries happened to the wolf body transfers over to the human body. So, that meant Qrow was laying in the den bleeding to death. She tried to run after Ruby, but Clover grabbed her and held her back.

"Let me go, Uncle Clover! I have to go with them, Qrow will die if I don't try to help!" Penny shouted struggling against her uncle's hold on her.

"No, Penny, why!? I don't understand!" Clover said, not letting go.

"Because I'm one of them, I'm a wolfwalker!" Penny told him.

"Please, Uncle Clover, please let me help my friends." she begged.

"No...Penny, no, please. I don't wanna let you go." Clover said, hugging Penny to his chest.

"Uncle Clover..." Penny sighed, pressing her forehead against Clover's chest and gripping his shirt.

As Clover held her, Penny turns into her wolf form, leaving her human body, letting it go limp in Clover's arms. Clover stares at his niece's unconscious body then stares at the ginger wolf with emerald eyes standing a few feet away.

"Penny?..." Clover gasped.

The ginger wolf gives a sad, apologetic look then turns and runs into the forest.

"Penny!? Penny, wait!" Clover called out, cradling Penny's human body.

He sighs sorrowfully holding Penny's body closer. Then he caresses the back of her head and presses his forehead against hers, crying...his tears falling onto her cheeks. 

"What's going on!? What happened here!?" Ironwood demanded, riding up on his horse.

"Penny...she's...she's gone." Clover whimpered, crying.

"Uhg, someone chain this useless b*stard up! We'll deal with him later." Ironwood growled.

Clover looks at the general in disbelief and betrayal as a couple soldiers placed a shackled collar around his neck and attached the chain to the saddle of Ironwood's horse. 

"There's a fresh set of tracks, let's move on!" Ironwood told his army.

"And burn these woods to the ground!" he added.

Marching through the forest, the general's soldiers left behind a trail of fire. Seeing the destruction, Clover felt unimaginable guilt at not listening to his niece.

"Oh, god...what have I done? Penny...please wake up, please, I need you." Clover wept, carrying Penny's body as he was forced to walk beside the Lord Protector...as his prisoner.

Penny catches up with Ruby and enters the den to see Qrow in his human form, bleeding everywhere, groaning weakly. Ruby immediately runs to him and presses her and against his wound. Then Yang jumps into her human body and joins her sister, kneeling on the other side of Qrow and pressing her hands to where Ruby's are. The sisters' hands begin to glow as they activated their healing powers...but it didn't seem to be doing much.

"Oh dear, we've never healed anything this bad before." Ruby said nervously.

"Just keep at it, Ruby, it's gonna take time." Yang told her sister.

Qrow lets out a pained groan, his breathing becoming harsher.

"It's okay, Uncle Qrow, we're here." Ruby told him.

"And we're not leaving you." Yang added.

Penny's wolf ears twitched when she heard gunshots and cannon blasts in the distance. Next, she smelled smoke and fire. 

"The general's men are coming!" Penny warned Ruby and Yang.

"If they get to the den...Uncle Qrow won't be the only one who dies...we'll all die." Yang said.

"I'll hold them off!" Penny declared, running out of the den.

"Wolves, follow her!" Ruby ordered the wolves.

Ruby turns her attention back to her uncle and focuses harder on healing him, biting her bottom lip worriedly.

"Don't worry, Rubes, we won't let him die." Yang assured her little sister.

"He's not the only one I'm worried about." Ruby replied, her voice trembling.

"Hey...Penny will be okay too. After all...she's strong and brave, if anyone can fight off those townie b*stards, it's her." Yang said squeezing her sister's hand.

Standing at the edge of the cliffs where the den resided, Penny watched as Ironwood's army were coming into the clearing with their cannons and fire.

"We can drive them back! We're wolves!" Penny shouted, addressing the pack.

"They may have guns and cannons, but don't be afraid! They are in our forest! So, if they want a battle, we will give them one!" she told the wolves.

The rest of the pack howl in agreement, ready to fight alongside Penny, to defend their home and their lives. Penny tells the wolves her plan to outsmart the soldiers and send them running in fear. The plan was to stick to the trees and draw out their gunshots, then to attack from the shadows while they reload their guns. Being in her wolf form gave Penny the confidence that her plan will work, she feels much stronger and braver as a wolf. While Penny and the wolves put their plan into action, the general and his army continue to march their way towards the den, unaware of the wolves' upcoming attack. And in the den, Ruby and Yang try their hardest to save their uncle as he inches closer to death.