* * *

"WHAT?!" Sage bellowed, it had hardly been a few days since she stood up to Remus. And while he addressed his suggestion in the easiest of ways, his mate did not settle back down in her seat since it was mentioned.

"You want me to—to leave?! Why?!" He repeated exactly what he said the previous two times, but this one he was lucky to have Hayes present in an attempt to calm her down. "No sense! I don't want to leave!" She said in a panic, and it was up to her father to wave his hands in an effort of a white flag.

"You're not leaving forever, Bubbles. Just for a few weeks—They won't know where you're off to. Mystic Grimm is too obvious so they'll try to look in White Paw and Grey Hallow after they find out you're not in Crescent Moon. We want rumors to spread and confuse them...Don't you want to see your brother and Hardin?" The helpless whine caused either male to buckle, it was clear that using her emergency plan was making her wolf antsy and scared.

"This is a precaution, sweetheart. So you're not in trouble or danger. We're getting you and the pups out of harm's way. Alright?" At the mention of the pups, her true fear started to buckle—

"Easy, easy there, hun...Come on, let's sit you down, alright? The pups are staying right with you, hun. No question about it." A sniffle suggested that she understood that portion of it all, but she truly did not like this plan.
Every wire in her body caused her to throw her denials and reasonings to stay, even throwing in her gut feeling. Yet neither male could trust that it was just simply Sage's method of pushing a want out.

Even now Remus was starting to feel the worriment of it.

Sage hardly lied, especially to get farther or to get what she wanted. And while he discussed it with the others, they decided it was for the better. That the group heading off to Mystic Grimm would be perfectly fine.
It wasn't like they were driving all the way there.

With the fact that Sage was feeling so untrusting to her own plan, they decided to add an extra couple to the mix. Besides Blake and Raven with their pup, Jackson and Aurora, her father of course—But it was the presence of Liam and Ally that started to make her feel slightly better.

But only slightly.

The light banter coming from Jack and Liam could bounce off each other for hours on end. Since they were waiting until after the birth of Blake's pup, they would remain another week—And if not, Blake claimed he would simply escort Sage and return on another flight to get back to Raven.

With all these plans in motion, Sage truly felt like everything was flashing by her without a pause or break. She hardly got a taste of nice Remus, and sure they rekindled a part of their relationship, but it was still a heartache thinking they would be so far away from one another—Far from the pups.

They were making strives each and every day. Ronan was on his way to taking his first two steps before falling. And Remus was determined to not miss this milestone, not when he didn't know when exactly Sage and everyone would return.

History had been made with the birth of a former Rogue child with a witch—both former inmates of the Underground. They welcomed Bellamy Warren into the world. As Blake never grew up with a second name following his own.

Nor could he take away his son's birthright of his magic and place in the coven.

With the little pup witch born, the true count down for the group's departure was weighing thin. Especially when Sage inherited her mother's stubbornness that instantly slowed down the processes.

She quickly learned that her Alpha voice did not work on her father the same way it did with her mate. And besides that, Hayes' tone was the only one that her wolf would be submissive.

It was uncomfortable to witness on Remus' behalf, especially when the final night together had. Curled up beside one another completely bare.

"Remmy...?" She called out.

"What's up, munchkin?" He whispered back, sleep surely lacing each syllable he produced. "What if I get my Heat in Mystic Grimm...Kenzie said I can get it after three months?" That word surely sparked familiarity in his wolf, but it was a legitimate concern that Sage was having.

Especially when the first time he hadn't been there and the second went along and produced pups.

"I'll fly right over, and once it's done I'm bringing you back—If the moon Goddess gifts us pups anytime soon. We're ready this time, yeah?"
"Or we wait until war end?" She questioned and it was, once again, a very important conversation.

"You want to wait, hun? It's okay if you do. It's probably a good idea with everything..." She nodded. "We have our sweet peas."
"I knew you were going to pick that up from Luke." Sage soon fell silent once again, just staring at her mate attempting to get some sleep and enjoy the last night he had with her for a while.

"I wish I can take Luke too."
"Not this time. You need some sleep, munchkin—We can FaceTime every night when you're in Mystic Grimm. Okay? Just like what we did when I was at the Alpha meeting." Sage felt content with that mention, but it didn't fill the gap in her chest that was bubbling with anxiety. So instead she wiggled her way closer just under her mate's chin.

"I love you Remmy."

"I love you too munchkin, you, the minis, and the future minis...It'll be alright hun. Just a few weeks." She sighed aloud to express that she heard him. Though her stress had finally clicked on a blessing of exhaustion for her to fall asleep properly on their final night.

However when morning finally filtered through the window, blessing them with the sunlight—Sage was not happy to see it. She loved the sun just as much as the moon and stars, but today she felt violently sick that she graced a hand over her stomach.

Darius? What's happening?

I don't know sweetheart, it's not anything I can understand from my end. How about you talk to Rebekah?

Sage had a mission that morning besides getting the pups ready. Yet seeing the entire party at the ready—All eating breakfast at the Alpha's house, it made the Luna at ease that Rue was in her arms.

The last-minute decision of Rebekah and Enzo was on the fence, as Harlow didn't know the stakes in inviting another witch and a vampire to his pack. But the alliance of Summit branched off to the Ember circle. All three of them being members allowed them to have a pass...Not a permanent one, but for the current moment at least.

With the suitcases on the way to the tarmac as they sat in the living room, listening to the final orders from the Alpha placed them under Hayes' and Sage's direct orders until they arrived in Mystic Grimm, while their privileges would be as guests—There was no need to see this as a vacation or act out.

Remus and Sage set the twins in the booster seats in the truck, driving off alone to the plane—She liked that he was driving slower than normal. Especially when he soaked in all that he could from the pups.

"I might not survive more than a week hun, just until the target is off your back. Alright?" She was silent as her head bobbed up, not trusting her voice not to crack.

Seeing the wolves helping pack the plane, truly cause Sage's to choke by the sob in seeing that this was it. "Hey...Hey. We're okay. If you really can't take it, hun...We'll figure something else out, but I need to know that if this was a real emergency that you'd be able to do it. Alright?" Seeing her eyes close in defeat with tears scurring down her cheeks in rage caused him to frown.

"Call me when you land? And tonight...And take all the videos you can. When they talk—Walk? The pups should meet Hardin when they're young hun." Another sniffle escaped her as she leaned forward with her arms extended, and Remus pulled her in without hesitation.

"Mamamama? Jaja."
"That's a plane, Rue, I don't think you're going to like it that much but it won't be that long of a flight." Neither pups understood their father's words, but their attention was strictly on him until he stopped talking.

"Why don't you cuddle up with the pups, sure you can sleep on the plane if Rue is in your arms." Sage nodded, liking that plan but not wanting to move from her mate's hold.

A knock came on the window and Sage turned away from her father peering in. "We have to get going, sweetheart." Hayes softly demanded and Sage nodded. Making the move to kiss Remus' cheek all before taking the step down from the truck.

Their luggage was already sitting in the plane, waiting. All that was needed was Sage and the pups.

Luckily, it took little to no time to get the car seats out of the car and depart towards the plane—Yet Remus needed to say goodbye to his pups one last time, if he hadn't trusted Hayes or Mystic Grimm he would never have pushed this option.

But he rather have them alive and well than suffer at his expense and inherited name.

"Talk on phone tonight?" Sage whispered and Remus growled in reply. "Every night if we can hun, just a little while. And you're right back home." A solid nod came in reply as she palmed his cheek and pulled him down to allow her a final kiss.

"Love you." He chuckled. "I love you too, munchkin. I know you don't want to go, but you have so many wolves going with you, yeah?" She nodded and took the first step up into the plane.

No part of her was able to look behind her, not when she turned to hear the small chatter in the cockpit to her left. She smiled in seeing the pilots getting things ready, however, she followed in pursuit to her regular seat in the plane and instantly curled up to get comfy.

"Come on Sagey, it's like vacation," Liam teased, before knocking his head off towards Blake. "It's where you found this one." The comment caused Blake to retaliate with a small tussle, of course, either of their mates threw around their own comments about male egos.

"Absolutely fucking not! Opposite ends now!" Hayes bellowed the second he came onto the plane, nodding off towards the pilots and turning with one final wave before turning to shut the door.

With it closed, Sage finally exhaled the breath she was holding and pulled the blanket up further while the pups were protected within their little carriers in the same way little Bellamy was.

It wasn't that the take-off was bad, but it certainly wasn't the best with three little pups within their midst. It made sleep unattainable for anyone, no matter how much attention they received.

Rue absolutely hated the popping in her ear, and it was starting to drive the others up the wall. Which was a rather brutal introduction to the world of parenthood for either Raven and Blake, but Sage adored seeing the two bond over their son.

Yet the couples all had one another, those two—Jack and Liam all were looking for the comfort of their females. While Sage simply had a firm grip on her knee from her father, it helped, sure.
But it wasn't Remus.

Nothing would amount to Remus.

"Come on sweet pea, give me a lil smile—Mama's right there," Liam said, trying to get a wailing Rue to see reason. But nothing would make matters better until they were back on solid land.

"What's wrong, Bubbles?" It took a moment for Sage to realize her father was asking her. Which she shrugged with—Something he was familiar with when Haylee started to run into the teenage years.

"Don't like idea." She said, her sentence having taken a moment extra but Hayes smiled at the progress.

Her grammatical errors were starting to lessen, of course there was always a small correction here and there. Yet the extra couple seconds at the beginning of her thoughts would allow a better response.

"Harlow's excited to see you—Jade too." Hayes reminded, and while she eyed the pups in imagining the idea of the twins meeting their uncle and cousin for the first time really made her heart warm. It didn't take away that hole in the center of her chest.

Luckily the pup's managed to settle down, or rather they pushed themselves to exhaustion from all the cries. As it wasn't possible to land just yet, and with the growing silence and a small pup in her arms—Sage managed to close her eyes and rest.

SAGE?!

A sharp gasp escaped her and caused those to look at her in confusion, especially little Rue. Who pawed at her mama in relation at being jostled out of the blue.

What? Why can't you say good morning before you—

Where the hell are you going?!

Mystic Grimm to see my brother, Darius you know that.

You're going the wrong way, who's flying this damn plane?!

Sage's eyes turned to Hayes in pure fear, having not known how this beast of a vehicle truly operated considering she didn't master a simple car.

Dad? Who's flying the plane?

Uh...Bret and I forget the other name, why do you ask, hun?

Cause Darius says we're going the wrong way.

Hayes' nose flared and stood up, but it was Sage who held him before he could really see what was wrong. She shook her head and turned to Liam.

Le, who's flying the plane?

Think it's Bret and Dillion. Why?

Hayes winked with this new information and started off towards the cockpit, tapping at the door before entering. "Hey, what's our ETA?" He questioned.

"About forty minutes sir, there was a storm and we're trying to avoid it—We have plenty of fuel. Full tank." Hayes nodded and carried along back to the main area of the plane.

I've met Bret and the other one before, that's not them. Nor is the plane's tank half full for this long of a trip. I told Remus to keep as much fuel as he can.

You—You think the plane's highjacked?

Hayes was unable to reply as the door slammed into the male and pushed him against the wall—Dazing him to fall out of the fight.

Both Sage and Liam had been the first up to retaliate, a solid kick disarmed the strange male—Not that he smelled like a rogue, as he held hints of a pack scent to him.
From Coldridge no doubt.

Hayes heard the small click, knowing full well that the pilots were going to use the aircraft to keep everyone in their seats—Yet this was suicidal for them all.

EVERYONE SEATBELTS, NOW!

Scrambling to do just that, it had come just in time while the lone terrorist to fling his unconscious body to the back of the plane to battle the drop in altitude.

The screams and cries of both adults and children were not at all a hazard, what was was the threatening was the pistol being aimed at either Sage or Ronan.

"Any of you move, this bitch gets—" The male had mistaken the Luna to be at all forgiven or wasteful of an offered second while his attention was away. She whispered a small Latin phrase 'Veni' as it came flying into her hand and was able to settle the matter without further complications.

With a quick reload, Sage turned over towards Rebekah and Raven. If there was any leeway in getting out of an aircraft a thousand miles up in the sky, it would be through magic.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking...We're about fifty minutes to our destination—Moon Valley. Please—" Sage stormed the door, but of course, it was locked. And no matter how much her foot pounded at the metal, it would only dent it in. Not smash it down.

As it was designed to allow anyone in without permission and access.

"Sage, step aside..." She did just as Rebekah commanded and readied her pistol while Hayes had no issues just using brute strength. However the Vampire had stood just a step behind his young mate, a silver bullet was not as lethal to a Vampire as it is to a werewolf.

Though it didn't void well, anything in the realm of a silver weapon was still considered dangerous to the supernatural world.

A wolf's aircraft was not built to withstand the use of magic, so when the door had slid open at the account of Rebekah's raw magic—The two pilots were left readily unprepared.

There was no hesitation from either Hayes or Enzo to snap his neck and leave him with their other dead friend, and while Liam and Jack were attempting to identify if they truly were from Moon Valley or not—Enzo took Captain's chair.

"Ever fly something like this before?" Hayes said, already feeling each and every damn spike in turbulence. "Not for ages no, I have a pilot's license from—"
"That was from the late thirties!" Rebekah shrieked, causing Sage to look in awe at the entire dashboard.

The she-wolf hardly knew the buttons in the car, but one she noticed was a radio. The devil's tool that she absolutely hated, yet the static on the other end meant one of a few things.

The hijackers had disabled it, along with the GPS and radar to have any indication as to where they were going or what direction...Hayes let out a brutal yell, affecting the majority of the wolves in the aircraft as he sat beside the Vampire in the next seat.

"I want everyone in their seats, this is—"
"Look! Water! Land in the water!" While the former Alpha attempted to take control, he looked off to Enzo and nodded. This was certainly a better idea—The safest, they held a much better chance at survival than blindly flying a plane.

"Think you can manage something with the water, Sage?" Enzo said, descending to the large body of water. While the plane itself wasn't big, the shallowness of said water couldn't be based on judgment this far away, they would need to act with Sage and be on the same movement.

"I don't know, I can have water catch us?" She asked in the form of a question, causing Enzo to grit his teeth—It wasn't his safety he was worried about, he was immortal and would heal. Everyone else didn't have that luxury.
Especially his mate.

"How do you suppose you can do that darling, we're running out of time." Biting her lip she moved closer to the front of the plane to the point of her father holding onto her, her eyes scanned down in search of where the water might give off the natural indication as to where was deeper.

"Left, left is deeper...We crash into the water wall." Sage spoke with a lot more conviction, and Enzo pieced together what she had meant. Diving down was not an option, not with so many young ones in the plane.

Hayes locked his daughter into the seat with him, making sure her arms had enough space to act just in the way she needed them to. It was hard to imagine how his pup was managing to remain calm to try and meditate to feel the water from where they were sitting, but it was a blessing nonetheless.

Enzo had done his best to try and attempt to follow what the plan was, however, there was no notice when the wall of water had erupted. "Fly through it...HOLD ON BACK THERE—WE'RE LANDING IN WATER!" He yelled off behind his seat and got a small view of everyone binding themselves to the small metal seats with a small belt buckle.

Sage's breath was even, and while it took a majority of her nexus to engulf the entirety of the plane in her water wall, it swallowed the metal beast just as Sage intended it to.

However, what really jostled everyone was how the sudden drop surely didn't except them from a swift and careful landing—Though anything would've been better than solid ground.

The rumble and crashing waves started to bumble against the windows and the plane began its descent into the water. "Uh...Sweetheart, we're sinking." She huffed, her father's voice causing disruption in her concentration.

"I can't hold...Need to leave." Enzo instantly ditched his seat and threw open the small closet and throwing the supplies found there into the main room. "Love, we need to take everything from the plane, we need to leave! Strip it!" The vampire said, zipping and zooming across the majority of the plane and doing just as he instructed the others to do.

The wolves knew the intent of survival, holding the limitless bag open to pack anything that could be used—The last thing Enzo had seen was that they were in Utah. Deathly close to Moon Valley and in the center of Coldridge packs.

Sage had stood up to her feet and felt dazed, holding the plane up to the surface was taking its toll on her. Hayes held her up by her waist and carried her out from the cockpit. Settling her down into a chair as she needed to remain calm.

The chaos erupting around them was short-lived, especially when Blake caught the first sight of blood coming from the Luna's nose.
It was time to leave the aircraft, with the pups all secured in their booster seats, and the majority of them sitting in the inflatable slide—Hayes had carried Sage and handed her off to awaiting Blake who settled her down in.

Sage losing consciousness was a given, holding something of that magnitude had soon fallen flat once she slipped away in her subconsciousness. Hayes had hardly made it as the timely metal beast had soon started to sink quicker. Especially with the opened latch that allowed water to invade their vehicle.

Now lost and stranded, the group made their attempt to get to shore.

Once they recollect all that's happened in the last ten minutes, they'd evaluate what could be done.

______

Date: 04/18/2022

Time: 8:53

Words: 4016

Author's Note:

And the real fun begins!
Moon Valley has a vengeance and will not be sitting on the sidelines. But this might kickstart Summit into acting.

So I just came to the realization that on April 6th, 2019 is when I first started this story. Three whole years ago.
I cannot believe the story has come this far
(And a lot farther considering I have things planned, just not written out)

I initially meant for Sage's story to be one book, and it was just going to be called Lacking Humanity. But as the story grew more in-depth and I've built up more than one common enemy, it sort of took over all on its own.

With covid, I was able to spend more time plotting and writing it than I ever thought I could. It's kind of bittersweet, and I'm glad I found it in my notes this afternoon.

ANYWHOOOOOO

Four more chapters. I repeat--FOUR MORE CHAPTERS!

How is the group going to survive in unknown territory?
Better yet, how is Remus and Harlow going to react when the plane doesn't land when it's supposed to?

For my 'Luna of Crescent Moon' readers, I might not be able to post this week's chapter as I've been going over one of the plots, and I don't think I like it as much as I did while writing it. With that being said, it will be delayed until I can get around to figuring out a better turnaround. So sorry about that!

I hope you have a great week and I'll see you friday!!