"Do you hear that?" Aerya said, tensing slightly.  "Where's it coming from?"

The thudding of the enormous animal's every step echoed through the clearing.  It's a bear, she realized. Every fibre of Aerya's being screamed an instinctual cry at her, Run! Danger! Run!  It increased in urgency when the bear got close enough that a vague outline of its form could be seen through the dense foliage that surrounded much of the clearing. She knew that, to be safe, she would need to get away from Zack and Renn, and anything else that had a lot of honey on it. At the same time, she couldn't bring herself to leave them- what would happen to them? Who knew if they even knew how to fight? Not that she was one to talk. Every time she play-fought, Korven was the one to-

Korven! She thought, eyes widening. He was going back towards the den, there's a huge chunk of honey comb just sitting there. That will definitely attract the bear, unless of course it already... got him.

"We need to do something," she said, mostly to Renn, as she doubted Zack was listening.

~~

Korven could see, from his vantage point, that the bear was an equal distance away from him as it was to the clearing. He knew that if he could distract it, it would give the others time to get away.

It could kill you, a small voice of reason said in his mind.

Aerya, countered the rest of him.

Without debating it anymore, he barked loudly to announce his presence to the bear. 

Renn wanted to scream at Zack for getting the honey in the first place but she knew that he was only trying to help. She turned back to Aerya, "Go! We can take care of ourselves." She said before bolting in the direction of the last stream she had seen. She niped at Zacks ear as she pasted him, "Bet you can't catch me!" she taunted knowing that this would be the quickest way to get him to follow her.

Zack smiled as he bolted after her, "I bet I can!" He yelled as he bounded through the forest. He heard a bark comeing from the oposite direction and he could tell that by how deep it was that it was Korven. He skidded to a hault, "I wonder how Korven liked the honey?" he said as he turned around and started running Korven..and the bear.

Renn turned around just in time to see Zack bolting off in the other direction, "Idiot!" she could keep the words in as she raced after Zack.

Zack heard what Renn said from somewhere behind him and his usual smile turned into a frown. His tail started to drag on the ground a bit but his pace was about the same. He wasn't so much angrey as he was depressed and puzzled at why Renn would say that. She hadn't called him that before except when they were playing and he could tell by her tone that she wasning playing around. He shook his head and continued after Korven.

 He made it where Korven was but not before the bear had. Zack peered over the bush infront of him as he watched the bear saunter in to the clearing Korven was in a look of rage and hunger in his eyes. It roared causing the weaker limbs on the near by branches to sway as if in a breeze. It stared at Korven ready to take his honey but he couldn't see it anywhere. He could smell that it was close by though. It turned it's head looking around trying to find the honey. It finally spoted Zack's light brown nearly honey colored fur. It roared again breathing out heavly through it's nostrils making white clouds before it.

Korven's hackles raised and he bared his teeth at the bear. Suddenly, though, it turned around to face Zack, who must have just arrived. He wasn't sure whether to run and lead the bear away, or attempt to fight it. He knew that either could easily end with him dead.  One thing he was sure of was that the others didn't need to die with him.

"Get out of here, Zack. Run, get Renn and Aerya. Take them some place safe." He said urgently. "I can distract the bear for a bit. After that I'll... come and join you."

He could only hope that the last part would turn out to be true as he began barking again, loudly, trying to attract the bear's attention once more.  He decided he would run back and get the honey to make sure the bear would follow him. Then he would lead it far away.  He didn't know what he would do after that yet. Maybe he would just lose it somewhere in the forest.

Run, he silently urged Zack as he prepared to bolt for his den.

~~

Aerya felt useless as she watched the others. Korven looked like he was going to take on the bear alone. Renn and Zack were running to safety, should she go with them? She was preparing to sprint after them when Zack turned around and bolted in the other direction without warning. What's he doing? she wondered. She knew definitively that what Zack was doing was not part of anyone's plan when she heard Renn screaming after him. 'Idiot', did she say? It sure sounded like it. Maybe he was going to go help Korven fight the bear?

That's not a bad idea. There's more of a chance of us winning if we all fight it together,  Aerya thought. I'll go too, and then I'll get Renn to help. This can work, she thought, already beginning to run towards Renn.

As Renn was running after Zack she saw Aerya running towards her. She skidded to a hault in front of her, "Come one I know where Zack's going." She said as she started to run again. She figured Aerya would be able to keep up she seemed like a fast runner so Renn didn't bother slowing down. As she made it where Korven and Zack were she noticed that the bear was facing Zack. She didn't have time to roll her eyes before her instincs kicked in. She growled and got a running head start as she lunged at the bear teeth and claws ready. She landed on top of the beast but it was still standing. She dug her claws into it's shoulders and mid back as she bit down on it's neck as hard as she could.

Zack heard Renn's paws in the snow before he saw her. He could tell what she was going to do before she even growled by the look in her eyes. He was still sad about what she said about him but she was his sister. He attempted to growl but it's came out as more of a sqwak of sorts as he lunged at the bear. It was standing up now and trying to shake Renn off so Zack slammed into it's side sending them to the ground with a loud thud. He didn't really know what to do after that so he just kept doing his sad attept at a growl as he stood in front of the bear tring to make it confused.

Aerya smiled at Renn as they ran at the bear together. She watched as Renn leapt at the bear and hung on tightly. Aerya decided to try the same. She lunged, nearly missing, and held on to the bear's shoulder. Unfortunately, she lacked the strength to stay like that and was forced to let go. It's a start, she thought. 

~~ 

Change of plans, I guess, Korven thought as he saw Renn, then Zack, and finally Aerya jumping on the bear's back. Fine by me.

He grinned savagely, lips curled back to reveal pointed teeth. A guttural snarl ripped from his throat as he leapt at the animal. He bit down near its shoulder blade, though he wasn't sure he had even managed to draw blood through the bear's thick fur. Still standing, it attempted to shake Korven off. His grip wasn't strong enough so he let go, landing with a thud near the others. Enraged, the bear swiped at them all with its paw. Korven dodged, but it hit Aerya, knocking her to the ground.  

"Aerya?!" he yelled.

"I'm fine," she replied, standing up. "But now I know how you felt, getting hit by that bull elk," she said. "It's not fun."

Korven took his eyes off the bear to watch Aerya as she got up. As he did this, the bear took the opportunity to hit Korven with its other paw. The blow sent him flying, and he landed on Zack, knocking them both to the ground.

Renn was starting to slip with all the thrashing that the bear was doing. She tryed to readjust her grip but she just ended up falling to the ground. She had blood on her claws and teeth and it tasted good. She had only had bear once and it was old because she hadn't killed it herself. She had found the dead body just lying around. She saw as the bear swatted at Korven causing him to tumble into Zack and they both got knocked over like bolling pins. She turned her attention back to the bear as one of it's paws was coming towards her. She didn't duck or jump out of the way instead she bit down on it as it came at her. She heard a loud yelp and roar of pain comeing from the bear and it easly shook Renn off it's paw. She was knocked into a tree causing the wind to be knocked out of her. As she tryed to take a breath the bears a attention was turned back to Zack and Korven.

 Zack tumbled over from the force of Korven being knocked into him. He got up and shook his head and helped Korven. His head turned when he heard a thud as Renn was knocked against the tree and then the bears roar as it started to charge towards Korven and him. His eyes grew wide as he just stood there. He was shooked and confused and didn't know what to do. He just stood there as the bear barreled towards him clwas and teeth ready to eat him.

 Korven, still disoriented from being thrown into Zack like that, slowly came to his senses. When he looked around, Renn was laying on the ground, Aerya was staring blankly at the bear, and Zack just looked terrified. Korven wasn't sure what to do anymore. It seemed all too simple to begin with: just kill the bear together. It was apparantly a lot easier said than done.

It was at this point that Korven realized something. Had his opponent been another wolf, he would have submitted to it long ago. That was saying a lot for Korven, given how incredibly proud he was. He knew that as soon as the bear reached Zack and him, both their lives would be over. Instead of fighting it anymore, Korven simply sat down, putting his body in between Zack and the seemingly unstoppable force that was running at them. 

~~

"Korven, no!" Aerya screamed, running towards them now.  She was quick, but she doubted she would ever be able to reach them before the bear did. Would anything happen, even if she did? She couldn't just do nothing, though, so she ran her hardest in the hopes that she could at least provide a distraction.

((Grrr My post didn't post.))

Renn slowly got up and shook her head to clear her mind a bit. Her legs were spread out wide so she didn't fall as she tried to catch her breath. She looked to see where the bear was now and she watched the bear barrel towards Korven and Zack. She could see the look of horror in his eyes as he stood there legs spread out and tail inbetween his legs as he watched the bear, the thing that was determind to kill him, race towards him and all he did was stare at it waiting for his death.

And Korven. He was sitting in front of Zack also waiting for his death. She had to admire his willingness to save her brother, a wolf he had just met, but there were other solutions to the situation. Maybe he was just scared and this was the only he could come up with at the moment but thats not the point. The point is that they are both just standing there waitting for their death. She couldn't let eith of them die, "MOVE!" She yelled hoping that they might do what she says.

Aerya was racing towards them at the same time Renn was. She noticed this when she heard her yell to Korven. She understood just how she was feeling right now. Scared, angrey, and confused slightly.

((I hate it when that happens xD))

Korven, in the final moments before what he was sure would be his death, could only think about two things. The first was the absolute absurdity of the situation they were in. There was a huge bear hurtling towards him and another wolf, who he had unconsciously decided to protect with his life.  He wasn't sure why he did it at all. In fact, as far as he was concerned, it was this wolf's fault this was happening anyway. He was the one that had to go and eat so much honey.

The other thing was Aerya. What would happen to her if he died? She would be able to cope, right? Maybe she would go live with Renn, and Zack too if he survived.  Or maybe the bear would go on to slaughter the rest of them regardless, and Korven's sacrifice would be in vain. He couldn't bear ((<- unintentional pun)) to think of letting that happen. He was taking the easy way out by letting himself get killed and he knew it.  He had to at least try and stop the beast that was charging towards him at such frightening speeds.

Korven stood up, ready to face his foe.   

~~

At first Aerya smiled when Korven stood up, as she assumed he was going to run away. She should have known Korven would never do that. Instead, she watched as her friend stood his ground in front of the bear.  Just as Renn had, she couldn't help but scream "Idiot!" when she saw what he intended to do.  

Renn couldn't help but roll her eyes as Korven stood up and just stood there. Kind of like Zack except he didn't scared to death. She heard Aerya scream 'Idiot.' at him. She couldn't agree more at the moment. She sped up as much as she could trying to get there faster to do...well she wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do yet but she would figure it out at some point. When she got close the only thing she could think of doing was to knock the beast over but the problem was that she was only a protion of of it's weight and even with the momentum there was only a slim chance it would work but she had to try. She lunged at the creature head long into it's side. It stumbled but it's momentum just caused it to roll towards Korven and Zack like a car with out brakes. It smashed into a tree just missing Korven and Zack.

Zack's eyes followed the bear as it rolled past him still looking like a scared pup. He wasn't sure what to do now either. Was it dead, Unconsious, taking a nap? He wasn't sure if Renn was alive either. She was with the bear the whole time. He shook his head and ran to the bear looking  for Renn, "Renn? Renn!".

Renn climbed out from underneath the bear with a slight limp in her back right foot, "Yeah?" she asks shaking her body to make sure that her fur wasn't cliging to her body because of the sweat.

Korven watched as Aerya slowed down and resorted to screaming at him. Renn on the other hand, sped up and smashed into the bear, actually knocking it into a tree.  He didn't intend to admit it out loud, but he was very impressed. The situation was still just as surreal as it had been when he thought he would die. Only now, there was a bear on the ground because of a wolf that was much smaller than him, let alone the massive beast she had taken down.

Gradually, he felt the adrenaline rush die down as he accepted that he was no longer in danger. The fear and excitement ebbed away as relief washed over him. Relief that Aerya, Zack, and especially his saviour- he didn't like the word, even in his mind- were safe.

"Hey Renn?" he said once she had clambered out from beneath the bear. "Um... thanks. I owe you one."

It wasn't exactly the long thank-you speech he had planned in his mind, but it got the message across, even if he couldn't quite look her in the eye when he said it. He walked over to where the bear was, not wanting to get too close in case it was merely unconscious.

"We both owe you, Renn, that was incredible!" Aerya shouted, not nearly as reserved as Korven. "How did you do it? Is your paw okay? You're limping." She felt a little stupid stating the obvious like that, but she just didn't know what else to say. 

She was being thanked which made her a bit uncomfortable and she didn't feel all that heroic. Her paw hurt and her head did a bit too but now was not the time to complain,"OK yeah your welcome." she said in responce to being thanked, "You guys helped though." she said, "Oh and I'm not sure the things dead either so yeah Zack and I should get the honey off of us and away from the bear before it wakes up." as if on cue the bear groaned a bit but didn't wake up. Renn sat down though and licked her honey covered paws. Her heart was beating fast but it began to slow down.

Zack couldn't help but  nuzzle Renn, "Thank you!" He helped her lick the honey off her.

Renn pushed him away away a bit, "I can clean myself and there's a bear. We need to go." she stood back up again and shook the snow from her fur.

"We should probably get out of here too," Aerya said. "We still have honey in our den, we should get rid of it." She didn't dare look at Zack when she said it, as she was almost sure he would be upset they had to get rid of his gift.

"Bye for now," Aerya said, then lead Korven back to the den. The two were both still in shock because of their experience. They walked in silence, except for the soft crunch of the snow beneath their paws.

Eventually, Korven broke the silence by saying, "What do you plan on doing?"

"Excuse me?" Aerya replied.

"You know, with the honey. What will you do?" he said.

"Oh," Aerya said. She hadn't really put much thought into it. She thought for a moment before answering.

"Bury it, I guess." she decided. 

The rest of their walk back was uneventful. Both wolves were consumed in their own thoughts. Both were thinking of what nearly happened, and what could have become of them. Soon, they were at the den. Korven went right in, but Aerya hesitated a bit.  

"Korven?" she said.

Korven paused. "Hm?"

"Sorry... for calling you an idiot.  But you know, you kind of deserved it." She said, grinning.

Korven smiled back before going all the way into the den to retrieve the honeycomb. He emerged a moment later, maw already dripping with the sweet, gooey honey. He motioned with a flick of his head, unable to speak through the honeycomb.

"Let's go," Aerya said, echoing what Korven had been trying to say silently. 

Bye Bye!" Zack said a smile on his muzzle again. He walked with Renn in the direction of where they remembered a stream being. Zack was rambling on about what colors for some reason and Renn didn't interup with something like, 'Why does it matter?'. She was just happy Zack was still here.

"So what should we do after this?" Renn asked after they had washed up in a stream. The cold water felt good against her still over heated body from running.

Zack shruged as he laped up some water making his muzzle all wet, "Maybe...." He trailed off as he thought about what they could do.

Renn sat down at the dge of the stream as she thought about the subject too. Wgat would they do? Maybe they could just explore? Yeah. That sounded fun.

"How about we just look around the forest?" Renn said. She didn't think Zack would ob
ject but it was always nice to ask.

"Yes!" he nearly jumped out of the water with excitment, "That sounds fun! Really fun! Super fun!" he sarted to run around in the stream splashing the water everywhere.

"OK then." Renn stood up and shook the water that Zack was unintentionaly splashing on her. Renn walked away from the stream Zack prancing along next to her as they explored the place around them.

((I love how this turned into a 1x1))

Korven and Aerya headed in the opposite direction of the clearing that the bear was in.  They walked for nearly ten minutes before they stopped. Korven gave Aerya a questioning look, to which she nodded in reply. He dropped the honeycomb and began digging. Aerya joined in, and before long they had dug a hole big enough to fit the honeycomb in. Aerya nudged it in and they buried it together.

"I never want to see another drop of honey again," Korven said to Aerya. She smirked in reply, then began walking towards the stream, only pausing to make sure her companion was following.

Fifteen minutes later, they were at the stream.  Aerya noticed Korven had become increasingly quiet until he stopped talking altogether. In an attempt to cheer him up, she tried playing, splashing water on him.

"Aerya I'm not in the mood, okay!" he snapped.

"I-I'm sorry," she said right away.

They finished washing up in silence, all the while Aerya wondered what she had done wrong. When they got back to their den, she confronted him.

"What's wrong?" she said.

He glared at her for a moment before his ex
pression melted into a much softer one. "Nothing, really. There's nothing wrong. I'm sorry I snapped at you." he said quietly.

Aerya had decided to give up for now, when he started talking again. "It's just..." he trailed off for a moment.

"It's just the bear. If there was one, there has to be more, right? That one seemed young, too. Does its mother live around here? She might. And who's to say that the one we fought won't come after us again when it wakes up? We barely made it out alive from an encounter with one bear. What if two come at us at once, or three? What'll we do then?" He said.

Aerya had never seen Korven so worried. She said "Don't worry, that one only attacked because of the honey. If we stay away from honey, we'll be fine, right?"

"Right," Korven said, though he didn't sound convinced at all. 

((Ha! Yeah.))

Renn smirked as she tuged on Zacks tail and whe  he turned around quickly flicked snow at him with her tail. She ran behind a tree narrowly escaping th flying snow that Zack had flicked at her. Another thing of snow hit the tree and splatered so that some of it got into Renn's fur. Renn looked from behind the tree and flincked snow in Zack direction just as snow hit her face. She started to laugh as she shook the snow out of her ears. Zack came out from behind the tree and helped Renn get the snow off her face. Renn looked up with a smirk on her muzzle as she flicked snow up at Zack and ran in the other direction. The Snow landed right on top of Zacks head and he laughed as he chased after his sister the snow falling off his head.

Despite Aerya's efforts to reassure him, Korven couldn't help but think about the bear. He had a feeling that it would come back for him, or one of the others. He worried silently for a while, before coming up with a plan. He would go back to the clearing and kill the bear. It was the only way to make sure, once and for all, that it would never attack again.

So while Aerya was busy, he snuck out of the den, muttering something about going to get a drink at the stream. He hurriedly walked to the clearing and found something unexpected. The bear wasn't there. "No..." Korven gasped.

"No, no, no. It couldn't have just left like that! How could this be? It was in no shape to just get up and walk away!" he said, to no one in particular.

Suddenly, the clearing seemed much darker and more menacing than it did before, though it was barely evening. Suddenly, Korven imagined he was seeing all sorts of shapes and images in the bushes surrounding the clearing. Bits of sunlight peaking through the foliage were golden eyes, staring him down. The long shadows cast by bushes were silhouettes of the enormous bear. He sprinted back to the den, breathing heavily from both the exertion of running and from fear.

"...Korven?" Aerya said when she saw him. "I thought you just went to get a drink. Is something wrong?"

"Hm?" Korven said, trying to maintain his composure. "No. I'm fine."

Aerya decided not to question him further, but she did keep a close eye on him for the rest of the night.

That night, Korven slept fitfully. No matter how many times he told himself he was safe, all he could think of was the bear, charging into the den and attacking. You're being paranoid! he thought to himself angrily. Stop! The bear probably only left the clearing to go die somewhere anyway!

Eventually he calmed down enough to allow sleep to overcome him.

~Dream~ 

But suddenly, something wasn't right. Actually, many things weren't right. First and foremost was that he was no longer in the den. Instead, he was laying in a clearing almost identical to the one he and the others had fought the bear in.... Almost. There was something different about it since the last time he had been there. The most obvious change was that there was no moon. It wasn't that there was no moonlight, just no moon. It was almost as if it had suddenly popped out of existence. All the places that would normally have been bathed in soft, silvery moonlight now had fog instead. The thick clouds of water vapour hung in the air, not showing any signs of moving. Korven swatted at the fog with his paw, trying to clear it away, but to no avail. Instead he became enveloped in it, the smoke-like tendrils wrapping him in their grip, which was steely and inescapable despite having no physical form. Korven was panicking now, breathing heavy with his heart pounding in his ear.

Just then, the fog actually began to lift him off the ground. Korven kicked, but it didn't do any good. The fog had only brought him about two feet off the ground before it dropped him without warning, as if scared off by something. The tendrils of fog receded into the darkness of shadows. Astonished and relieved, Korven watched them go. Just then, a voice echoed through the clearing, making Korven jump. 

"I found you," declared the voice sinisterly. Korven didn't need to be told who the voice belonged to. Without turning around to look at the bear, he bolted off in a random direction, hoping he would be able to outrun the bear.

"Korven," the bear said as it ran after him. "Korven." There was something about the way it said his name that bothered Korven. It didn't seem angry, per se. It wasn't calling to him, either, not pleading him to come back. Eventually, Korven realized that the voice sounded concerned. Concerned about what, that he would lose track of him? Korven didn't think so. The next time the voice spoke, it was completely different, and even more frantic. "Korven! Korven!" It said. "Please, wake up!"

~

Korven awoke with a jolt. "Korven!" said a voice- no, not a voice, Aerya's voice. She sounded relieved.

"What... happened?" Korven said, afraid of the answer.

"You were screaming in your sleep. I've never seen you so scared." Aerya answered.

Korven took a moment to let it sink in. In my... sleep? So that was all a dream?

"Want to tell me what happened?" Aerya said.

"I don't remember." Korven lied, a little too quickly. he couldn't tell if she believed him or not. If she didn't, she never called him on it. 

((Sorry this post is so strange. I couldn't think of anything else to do xD I'm not terribly creative.))