It was late afternoon. The wind was blowing faintly through the pale green meadows, which were full of late-blooming spring flowers. Two wolves were moving across the mountain grassland--an adult and a pup. One of them was old and big and sturdy with a devious cyborg eye, while the younger one was very small and had a brown coat.

Grief overcame Lynn. It had been only a few hours since her father had been brutally murdered. By who? She had no idea. She just remembered stumbling upon her father's torn and beaten body in the middle of the woods, covered in mud, bruises, and blood. There had been no trace of the murderer, but it was very clear that it at least wasn't a human.

But then what did kill her father? Lynn shook her tiny head and blinked away some tears. She didn't want to think about it. Not now. 

Not long after her father's death, the strange gray wolf had found her. He frightened Lynn a lot. He looked so strange, with that unnatural eye and those scars, not to mention his humped back. Yet she had still come with him. Lynn just knew she had. Her father was Running with the Stars now, together with her mother and siblings, and, as a lone pup, she couldn't take care of herself. A lone pup needs to be looked after. Even if that someone is about as odd as the gray wolf she'd just encountered.

And, even though he'd sworn to take him with her, and possibly take care of her, she felt terrible.
"Keep up, squirt," the old wolf said in his raspy, high-pitched voice.
***
One-eye looked over his shoulder for a moment as he shouted these words, trying to look stern. Don't cry. Don't you cry, you stupid! Don't you cry!

The pup wasn't allowed to see him cry. He couldn't do it in front of her. But, now that he wasn't facing her, he did.

After all of those years of holding onto one vow, he had broken it. It kept echoing through his head, in a million different voices, driving him more or less mad. He even heard his own voice from all those years ago, back when he made it. "I will never be able to kill Lone Ones with families!"

He thought of sister at the memory. Great. Another thought he couldn't bare. As if it wasn't bad enough that he had just orphaned an innocent child and thus lost the one and only thing he had ever lived for, the pup also bore an uncanny resemblance to his deceased sister who he had played so much with in his childhood.

True, Laika had been chubbier and more reddish-brown than this pup, with longer hair and markings that already had been defined at a very young age, but she still had been an innocent brown pup. Like the one that was following him now.

What even is her name? One-eye wondered. Did he have to make up one for her? 

No, you idiot. You can't name it! Once you've given it a name, you'll grow attached to it. Let's just dump her with some loving pack and we'll be done with it.

He subtly looked over his shoulder, his deformed spine aching in the process. The pup was walking slowly, hardly keeping up. She kept her black-tipped tail down and her ears were drooped as he saw her blink away a tear.

She's crying. What do I do now? Comfort her? The pup had unexpectedly held her head against his chest back when he first met her, to seek comfort. It was that that triggered him even more, after breaking his life-long vow. 

Do I want her to do that again? I don't know. No, of course I don't. No one touches One-eye and gets away with it! He looked at the pup again. She was still trying to hide the tears in vain.
For now I won't hurt her. I mean, I just killed her father for crying out loud! I wonder if she knows... 

Nah, of course not. Otherwise she wouldn't have asked me to take her with me. Besides, how old is she? Eight weeks at most or something? She's too young to put the pieces together. I'm just a random, ugly stranger to her. 

He paused his own thoughts for a moment. An ugly stranger who is about one of the most peculiar and suspicious-looking wolves ever and also just happens to have fresh wounds. If she'd stick her nose in one of those she'd smell her father. I should've washed myself better! One-eye, you total idiot!

***

Lynn looked up as she heard the older wolf snarl, and became uncertain. Was it directed towards her? At first, back when they'd first met, he seemed very eager to get away from her, though he wasn't mean.

But after walking for only an hour or so, he'd shown his true colors by snapping at her whenever she asked something and mostly just ignoring her. She didn't even try to walk next to him anymore, since she knew she'd only get a growl and a menacing look with that creepy eye if she did so. 

She kept staring at the ground, watching the grass and a few small flowers as they vanished in between her front paws. Usually, she'd be excited. After living almost her entire life in that small clearing, she'd do anything to get out. But now, out of the den, even out of the forest, she felt nothing but grief. 

Lynn lifted her head, hoping that maybe the panorama would give her some joy. It didn't. The meadows were covered with gray, misty clouds for the most part, and thus there was little vista to enjoy. 

"Keep up, kid. We wouldn't want to encounter humans," the old wolf's raspy voice said.
Humans. Lynn's ears twitched and her hackles rose. She feared humans. It wasn't like she'd ever seen one, but she dreaded them nonetheless. 

"Yes, sir," Lynn said, but so soft that even she could barely hear it. "Yes, sir," she repeated, louder. The old wolf made a grunting noise, and Lynn assumed that that was a yes. Silence followed.
"Wh...where would these humans be?" the pup asked, still alarmed. She didn't smell any human scent (although she'd actually never smelled one before). 

The older wolf sounded irked when he answered. "Come here," he said, gesturing beside him.
Lynn hesitated, afraid of his creepy appearance, but obeyed nonetheless and ran towards his side. "Yes?" She tried to look him in the face, since her parents had told her that was basic manners, but his green cybernetic eye and terrible scars still put her off. He didn't look her in the face at all, as if she didn't exist.

"See that?" He pointed forward with his muzzle.

Lynn narrowed her eyes, but the fog allowed her to see little. She wondered if the old wolf's special eye maybe allowed him to see better. "I...I can't see anything. Just clouds touching the ground."

The gray wolf didn't respond. They kept wandering for a couple more minutes, and little Lynn kept trying to see what was in front of them. Then, she saw it.

She didn't know what it was, but it was huge and looked unnatural. It was made mostly out of flat and dead trees, and had very peculiar, angular shapes. It smelled like danger, and Lynn whimpered in fear. 

Around the...thing, there was a strange construction made out of smaller dead trees. 

"What is this?" she squeaked, her tail tucked between her hind legs. One-eye stopped walking and his ears perked up. Then, he looked at her for once.

"I quite honestly don't know, but humans call this an Alpenhaus, or something like that."
"But, what does it do?" 

"I don't know much about humans and their idiotic ways, but as far as I can tell this is what their dens are like."

"Den?" Lynn looked at the Alpenhaus. Was this their den? She could hardly believe it. Dens were supposed to be small and comfortable, and preferably also invisible to strangers to prevent predators from coming near it. This thing was about as huge and unsettling as it could get.
The older wolf lifted his tail momentarily. "Let's have a closer look," he muttered. Lynn yelped in fear. 

***

What am I doing, what am I doing? One-eye had no clue. Coming close to an Alpenhaus was trouble, he knew. Then again, I've never had a chance like this before, to explore one. There's no recent human stench around. I suppose they're inside. And being here will distract me from... 

One-eye let out a cackling laughter, causing Lynn to jump in fright. ...From the fact that I just lost the one thing I've ever lived for! What does it matter if the humans Pang me? What does it matter? I'm worth nothing! Let them stuff me and mount me on a wall, I don't fucking care anymore! 

He laughed again as tears grief and mental pain appeared in his real eye, while his cyborg eye spun around like crazy in its socket. Lynn backed away in fear.

"What the heck are you doing? Stay here, missie!" he shouted, still laughing madly. 

She whimpered.

One-eye ignored her and stopped laughing abruptly. We'd better get ready to die, he told himself. "Come on, twerp, let's go explore this thing!"

Lynn apparently had grabbed the courage to protest. "But just a moment ago you told me to watch out for hu--"

"Well, sometimes life doesn't go as planned!" One-eye tried to calm himself, but hardly could. If he were to die here, it would all be over. Maybe that was for the better. 

He approached the house. Let them have a Pang. Oh, please let them have one. It'll be over soon, Oney. One-eye took a deep breath. 

"Come on, over this thingy, here we go," he said, pointing at the strange, wooden structure that was around the human den.
Lynn sat down, totally clueless as to what One-eye was trying to accomplish. Stupid child! Can't she see that I'm just trying to get us to rest in peace? Forever? One-eye shook his head, trying to make things clearer for himself, to sort his thoughts, but instead they started roaming around randomly even more. His left ear twitched as he jumped over the fence. "Come here, las!"

He is mad. Totally crazy! Lynn, get a hold of yourself and just run away! What were you thinking in the first place? "Hey, my father just died, so I'll just go with the first stranger I meet." Well, yeah, that could work, if they'd be nice and good and all. This guy is a deformed lunatic! I should run...but, then again, if I do, will he come after me? What if he goes crazy and snaps my spine? Oh, Shinwa, what have I gotten myself into?

She put her tail between her hind legs and pushed herself down into the grass, staring at the strange old wolf, who was now at the human's property. Only a matter of time before he dies at this rate, Lynn thought.