The Girl and The Fox

Pacing up and down, the leader ran a hand through his flaming hair. How could his daughter just betray him after all these years. He had taken care of her, day in day out, he had fed her and made sure she had everything she needed and wanted. Apart from one thing. A family. That is all she had ever wanted.

A door slammed shut, brining the man out of his thoughts and resurrecting new ones. He looked up to be met to a smiling red and green eyed brat. Sighing and shaking his head, he led her out of the room and through the maze of halls only a true leader could memorise.

'Um... Eric?' Meeka questioned, hesitating the slightest bit. She didn't want what happened when she was younger to happen again.

*flashback*

Locked away in a tower, forced to not fight in the battle, a small girl sat. She was by the window, old and crumbling, but her eyes were only on two figures, fighting among their army. They were the only ones not in their animal form, but it didn't seem to matter. They were just as skilled with their swords as they were with their wolf form. They twirled the sword around their fingers, somehow being able to tell the difference between their wolves and the enemy wolves, defending themselves by cutting off three wolf heads with a smooth stroke of their blades.

The young girl's breath hitched in her throat, eyes widening in shock. A wolf snuck up behind her parents, transforming into her beautiful black haired human form and stabbed them both through the back, going right into their chests. She leaned in close, swords still plunged inside them, and whispered something the girl couldn't hear, but she could just make out what her mother's last word was. Meeka. Her hand was out stretched, reaching up towards the tower with fear in her eyes. The Alpha's eyes followed. She look up the tower and her eyes rested on the girl, tears streaming down her face like blood was streaming out of her parent's wounds. The ruthless killer looked away and jerked her weapons out of the lifeless bodies, now on the floor for both the packs to see. Quickly, she transformed back into her wolf self and ran away from the bloodshed with the rest of her pack.

A fox emerged from the shadows, only a second too late, just able to see the enemies fleeing from the murder scene. He transformed into a human and walked up to his now dead friends. He scanned them over and, seeing they were dead, swallowed the lump forming in his throat and told the pack to bury them. He turned around, the tower catching his eye, and smiled at the girl inside it. Turning into a fox, he ran over there, breaking through the door and finally, when up the stairs, turning back into a man.

'Where are your parents?' He asked her, crouching down to her level. He looked into her eyes, surprised that they weren't the same colour.

'Dead. You already saw that though. So now the pack belongs to me,' Meeka replied, rather protectively.

Eric chuckled, and said, 'Come with me,' and with that, he walked out the tower, not glancing behind to see if the girl was following him. They eventually reached his castle in the fox portal and then he turned around to see a confused Meeka, eyes darting around to this unfamiliar place.

Meeka kept shooting questions at the fox, like, 'Where are we?', 'Who are you?', Where's my pack?' And 'Why are we here?', but they were all met by the same answer.

Eric replied, 'You'll see.' The red head soon got bored of her asking questions and, his patience completely run out, grabbed her wrist and dragged her into an empty torture cell.

'I'll let you out when you learn not to ask so many questions. When you are fit to rule your pack, but until then, this cell is now your home.'

Meeka sat there for weeks, crying her heart out until she completely lost her voice. The fox leader had given her one glass of water a day and one small meal per week, making her wither like a once beautiful flower, deprived of sunlight and water.

Eventually it got to a day when she couldn't stand this treatment any longer. Out of rage, she shifted into a wolf, slipped through the bars and pounced on the guard, tearing out his liver. She was seething, her blood was like eggs boiling in a pan, banging on the lid trying to get out.

Eric was coincidentally walking by when this happened, took a look in, then fully opened the door, a mad smile on his face and his eyes sparkling.

'Now that is the type of ruthlessness we need for a leader. You're ready.'

*End of Flashback*

'To the training grounds, of course,' Eric replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He opened a door, and they had come out at the back of the castle, right where the training grounds were.

'Wait... you mean that all this time when I've been going completely around the castle to get here, I could have gone through the castle and it would have been way quicker?' The foxes ally gaped, dumbfounded.

Eric answered, 'Yes, but I couldn't be bothered to show you until today.' Meeka's reactions was a mixture of confusion and anger. They both averted their gazes from each other and watched both their soldiers training, the matches going on forever!

Finally, cracking the stillness, he stated, 'Their ready.'