So this is a PJO Wolf AU where the characters of PJO have been turned into wolves. The main character of this one shot is going to be Nico.

Alright,just wanted to say that.

Above is a picture I drew for this one shot, I hope you guys like it, it took me 2-3 hours to draw all on my tablet :'D

Also above is a picture of what the pack's camp looks like

Okay then

~ = Time skips

- = Flashback

*******

"Nico, why are you still asleep? Get up! Remember what Luke said yesterday?"

I grunt and turn my head away from the sound of my sister's voice. It's at a whisper so that way she doesn't wake anyone else up. Bianca is trying to coax me out of the den to start the day, but I just bury my muzzle deeper into the spongy moss bedding underneath me. The sound of the other pups and adult she-wolves sleeping peacefully in the den is all I hear throughout the den, the calming sound attempting to lull me back into its gentle, warm embrace. Bianca continues to break the spell by nudging me in the flank.

"Bianca, go away," I mumble, flicking an ear at her to indicate for her to leave. My sister has always been persistent, though. She nudges harder, even nipping me on the ear. I stifle an indignant yelp when she does that.

"Come on, Luke said he would take us outside to explore the territory. Now get up! Remember that you're the one who made me agree to this. Hazel and Will are already outside with him," she demands, her voice more firm this time. She doesn't need to say more. I force myself to my feet, hurriedly blinking away sleep. Bianca knows just how to get my attention, and the mention of the name Will is enough to energize me, if only for a short amount of time.

Will is a blond male wolf pup and is one of the pups of the Head Med wolf in our pack, Apollo. It was so strange how similar he looked like his father. When I had first met him, I wasn't too sure if I would even like him that much. Thinking on it now, it seems ridiculous that I could ever not enjoy his company. But back then, for a while anyways, he had felt too bright and sunshiny and open for me, not at all matching my somewhat shy personality. I still can never understand how any wolf could be so happy all the time.

I warmed up to him eventually though, and I have to admit Hazel had some part in that. I used to avoid Will as much as possible just so I wouldn't have to deal with him and his sunny personality. Whenever the other pups were messing around and playing games with each other, I would just stay by the side watching them. Hazel wasn't having any of it, though. She would nudge me towards the others, and I just couldn't say no to her, so I had reluctantly agreed. As it obviously turned out, Will wasn't as bad as I thought he was. Sure, he was definitely still bright and happy, but he wasn't like that all the time. Surprisingly, he could be thoughtful and reserved when he chose to be.

The two of us emerge out of the den at the base of our camp, and Bianca leads me to where the others are waiting at the entrance. Our group consists of Will, Hazel, mine and Bianca's younger sister, Luke, another blond wolf who looked sort of like an older version of Will, and a black male wolf with piercing brown eyes.

"Who's this?" Bianca asks Luke, nodding in the direction of the black wolf.

"This is Ethan," Luke answers. "He's coming with us."

I had never seen much of Ethan before. He was usually always training with the other fighters in the pack, mainly with the yearling wolves and sometimes a couple of adult ones.

Ethan looks me up and down. His lips curl back into a contemptuous snarl. "Are you sure they'll be able to handle this? They're all just pups, you know."

"It's not like it's our first time being out of the den," I retort, forcing myself to stand taller.

"I'm just saying," Ethan replies, "a fox could easily jump out of nowhere and snatch you all up before you could blink."

"That's not true, you liar," Hazel barks from behind him. She stands defiantly, but I can sense the nervousness she's trying to hide.

"Ethan, don't scare them," Luke chides, though his tone is only half-serious. "You'll make them change their minds about leaving camp."

I throw a glare at Ethan who just rolls his eyes and looks at Will and Bianca. "At least you two are ready to leave, right?"

"We're ready," Will repeats firmly, his chest puffing out and his tail wagging excitedly. Bianca only nods and shifts protectively over to me. I try to ignore the burning feeling under my fur.

"Let's go before everyone else starts waking up," Luke directs, flicking his tail as a signal for us to follow. Heart pumping with mixed excitement and fear in my chest, I follow the others beyond the camp entrance.

~~~

I always knew the forest was big, but seeing the territory beyond camp gives me a new idea of just how enormous the place really is. Some trees with pale or dark brown trunks reach towards the sky, their leafy branches seeming to glow as the morning sun hits them. A lot of the others trees aren't too high up, and I'm able to see the occasional squirrel climb up the trunk. The songs of birds can be heard in the air as they flit around in the canopy.

Hazel is at my side now to replace Bianca, who's gone up ahead to talk to Will. A strange sensation goes through me, but I can't place a name to it.

"This is so amazing," Hazel excitedly murmurs, so low I barely hear her. I turn my head to look at her. Compared to Bianca and me, our fur black and sleek, Hazel's is more of an earthy brown in the shade. Whenever she's in the sunlight, though, her fur blazes golden-brown while her round, bright gold eyes reflect in the sun, making them look as if they're glowing. It's a very noticeable difference to the slightly narrowed and dark brown eyes Bianca and I have.

"Yeah, there are so many new scents out here." I take in a deep breath of air, trying to tell where each smell is coming from.

"It's kind of scary, though...a fox isn't going to get us, is it?"

"We'll be okay, Hazey," I tell her, using the nickname my sister gave her. "Luke and Ethan are going to make sure we're safe."

Hazel wrinkles her nose when I mention Ethan's name. "I guess so," she mumbles. She doesn't look entirely convinced, though.

I can understand how she feels. We had all been planning this idea for an entire moon now, leaving camp to explore the territory, but up until now, I hadn't really thought that it would actually happen. The day Luke presented the idea was still fresh in my mind.

---

"No way. We're not doing it."

"We won't even be gone for that long. We'll look around for a bit, try ourselves at hunting, and then come straight back."

Luke was trying to convince Bianca, Hazel, and I to leave camp with him to explore the territory. The thought of going beyond the camp borders excited both me and Hazel; Bianca was feeling more cautious.

"But we're only pups," she protested. "And Hazel is too young anyways."

"No I'm not!" Hazel insisted. "Look, see? I'm almost as big as Nico!" She pressed herself against me to compare our heights. Surprisingly, she was starting to grow to my height, the tips of her ears nearly coming up to my chin.

"Almost isn't good enough," Bianca said. "Besides, you're only two moons old. You're three moons younger than me and Nico."

A low growl rumbled in Hazel's throat as she flopped onto the ground.

"But Bianca--" I began to say.

"No, Nico. We're not leaving." The stern look she was giving me made it very clear there was no room left for argument. I curled my lips back in a snarl and glared at her.

"How about this, Bianca?" Luke apparently wasn't done trying to negotiate. "We'll wait until you and Nico are six moons old, and Hazel is three moons. She'll be a bit older and you two will be big enough to protect her."

"Who's going to be afraid of a couple of wolf pups?" Bianca scoffed disbelievingly. "You're not even a full grown wolf yourself."

She wasn't wrong. Compared to our ages, Luke wasn't that much older. He was only 10 moons old--barely a yearling wolf. But compared to physical size, he was much bigger. Maybe if I used that argument with Bianca...

"Bia," I told her,"look how big Luke is. Even if we do get into danger, at least he'll be able to protect us." I looked up at Luke. "Won't you?"

"Of course I will," he responded. He looked at me with reassurance. "Plus, I've been practicing a ton in battle training. I'll be able to fight off anyone who tries to hurt you."

"I still don't believe you," Bianca huffed, turning her head away from him.

Hazel and I shared a knowing glance. We had been practicing for this exact moment in case we had to, and there was no better time than now to see if our plan worked.

Hazel nudged Bianca's side with her muzzle, trying to get our sister's attention back. " Please, Bianca?" she pleaded with an innocent voice.

"Hazey, I've made up my--" Bianca turned her head back to see her younger sister staring up at her with wide eyes, whimpers sounding from her throat. Bianca's voice faltered: "Hazel, we can't..."

That's when I joined in too, matching Hazel's expression and thumping my tail eagerly on the ground. There was no way she could say no with both of us trying to beg to her.

She looked up at Luke desperately. He tried for one more friendly look, even lolling his tongue out playfully.

Bianca glanced at me and Hazel one more time and finally caved in. "Fine!" she growled. "We'll do it!"

Our tails wagged happily as we let out barks of triumph. We swarmed around our sister, frantically licking her face and nuzzling her.

"Thank you, Bia!" Hazel yipped, her gaze shining. Bianca just grunted and muttered "you're welcome."

"Can we bring Will with us?" I asked Luke. I'm surprised by my own question. I hadn't even really thought about inviting Will to explore with us; the idea just sort of came.

He absently scratched his ear and answered distractedly, "Yeah, I don't see why not."

I ran off to find Will and tell him what we were doing. The next moon couldn't come quickly enough.

---

Now that we had gotten into a good deeper part of the forest, Luke was demonstrating to us all how to hunt. The first one of us being taught how to hunt is Will. Ethan stands by the side, a bored expression on his face as if he would rather be doing anything else other than teaching wolf pups how to catch a vole.

"Keep your tail off the ground," the larger blond wolf instructs, checking over Will's hunting stance. "You don't want it to make any sounds when you're stalking your prey."

"But it doesn't talk," Will says. "How can it make any noise?"

My sisters and I grin at Will's joke while Luke playfully nudges his head. Even black-furred Ethan has an amused look in his eyes, though he tries to hide it.

"You know what I mean. If you're tail is brushing against the ground, it'll scrape against leaves and grass and let the prey know where you are. So that's why you always keep your tail up."

Luke inspects the blond pup one more time before nodding in approval. "Alright, now we can start with pouncing," he says.

Will nods in return. "So how do I do that?"

"When you're about to leap onto your prey," Luke says, "bring your front and hind legs together like this." He demonstrates the position for Will, tail balanced off the ground and legs brought together. He motions for the rest of us to come do the same. I stand beside Will and copy his position while Bianca helps Hazel.

Luke steps back to look at us all at once. His tail begins to wag when he sees we've done it right. "Now that you're all in the correct stance, you can pounce on your prey," he announces.

He barely finishes talking before Hazel lets out a bark and pretends to pounce on an imaginary vole. She looks up at Luke hopefully. "Did I do it right?"

The blond wolf nuzzles her head affectionately. "Definitely," he answers.

"Great, they got the hunting stance down. Can we leave yet?" Ethan speaks up for the first time since we came out here. His tail tip twitches impatiently. He's probably wishing he could be back at camp, training with the other fighters.

"Relax, Ethan," Luke tells him. "We'll just let them explore for a bit and then we'll head back."

"That's the exact same thing you told me when you convinced me to be dragged along," Ethan grumbles.

"Technically, if I convinced you to come, I didn't drag you along." Luke gives Ethan a smug look while smirking. The black furred wolf just rolls his eyes and huffs.

Will nips my ear, drawing my attention away from the older male wolves. I growl at him and rub my ear with a paw. "What did you do that for?"

"You heard him," Will says. "Let's go look around!"

Hazel barks happily, "Yay! Exploring time!"

"Hazel, wait!" Bianca yelps, but Hazel is already bounding away, her excitement fueling her onward. Will and I are quick to follow, tails wagging in anticipation of what we could find.

"Pups, don't go too far!" Luke shouts after us, but we're too full of energy to stop. We can't stop, not when there's so much around us that we haven't seen and that we need to discover.

Hazel charges onward into the undergrowth. She gives us words of encouragement to keep us going. Bianca trails behind us, her paw steps sounding frantic. While me and Will are chasing my sister, Bianca keeps muttering under her breath. "Stupid Hazel, she's going to get herself killed..."

As if on a horribly timed cue, a shocked yelp travels through the air, freezing me and my sister where we stand. The sounds only prompts Will to see where--or who--the yelp came from. When he rushes after my sister, I feel like my stomach drops when he shouts, "Hazel, no!"

"HAZEL!" I'm startled by the sudden roar of terror. Luke comes bursting out from behind, leaping into action. Ethan comes running immediately after, his eyes widened in fear. Forcing our legs into action, Bianca and I run after the others.

The sight we're met with almost makes my heart stop. Hazel is being pinned down by a large wolf-like creature--a coyote, according to the wolves who went on scouting patrols--and is desperately struggling to free herself. Will tries to help her but keeps getting chased off by two other coyotes. They look like they're protecting the first one, giving him time to do whatever he wants with my sister.

"Quit your struggling, pup," the coyote growls. "Just stay still, nice and easy now. This'll be quick, I can promise you that. You won't feel a thing."

This only causes Hazel to thrash around harder. She whimpers and tries to bite at the coyote's paw, but that only gets her a swift blow to her muzzle. She yelps in pain as something red stains her mouth.

Blood.

That coyote hurt her!

A sudden rush of anger takes hold of me. I join Luke and Ethan who are trying their best to chase off the bigger canines, snapping their jaws and lunging at them. Luke is battling one of the coyotes standing in the way while Ethan fights the other. Despite their size and age, their battle training has definitely been working, but neither of them is able to reach Hazel and save her. I rush past them towards the first coyote. Bianca and Will yell at me to come back, but I ignore their voices. The only thing going through my mind is that I have to free my sister.

I leap at the coyote and close my jaws around the paw he's using to pin down Hazel. He snarls in anger and sharply pulls away, his attention now turned towards me. His eyes glower murderously as he keeps his injured paw off the ground. "You little rat!" he spits.

My anger is rapidly replaced with fear, causing me to back away. Hazel cowers behind me, having gotten up from her spot on the ground. The gravity of the situation hits me as a realize what's about to happen.

He's going to kill us. He's going to kill us. He's going to kill us.

The coyote lunges at me and Hazel, mouth opened wide to reveal glinting yellow teeth. I flinch away and squeeze my eyes shut, preparing myself for the worst.

Nothing can prepare me for the sudden suffocating feeling I get, teeth closing around my neck, almost tearing into my flesh. A yelp of pure terror manages to rip itself from my throat somehow as I'm flung aside. I collide, hard, with the ground, crashing into a bush, and then finally hitting my head on a stone. Pain explodes in my head, making me scream out in agony. I struggle to stay conscious as the world begins to blur and darken, the voices and snarls and shouts muffling together.

~~~

My head is still pounding dully when I'm feeling conscious again. I don't want to open my eyes, scared of what I might see. Hazel's mauled body on the ground, Will being devoured by the coyotes, Luke and Ethan beaten and battered, unable to fight any longer... Instead I see Will's father, Apollo, staring down at me. I must be in the medicine den because I can smell a strange mix of herbs in the air. Apollo's eyes seem to light up a bit when he sees me awake.

"Thank the stars," he murmurs, "you're awake. You took a pretty nasty blow to the head out there."

A flood of memories comes rushing back, reminding me of the three coyotes who attacked in the forest. I jolt upright and immediately regret it when the pounding in my head gets so intense my vision swims. I moan in pain and crumple back to the ground. In response, I get comforting licks on my cheek from Hazel. My chest feels fuzzy when I realize she's still alive and not some spirit.

"Hazel..."

"I'm okay, Nico. I'm okay," she whispers repeatedly. She switches to nuzzling my cheek now, the warmth from her fur bleeding into mine. I'm almost lulled to sleep when another thought comes to mind.

Bianca.

"Where's Bianca?" I hate the way how small my voice sounds when I ask the question.

Hazel whimpers and presses her cheek to mine. I can feel a couple tears fall onto my face. They're all the answer I need.

"What happened? Where's Luke?" I growl.

"I'm right here." His voice sounds low and thick with emotion. Ignoring the aching in my head, I turn around to look at the blond wolf and almost flinch at what I see. A horrible red gash runs over his left eye, causing it to stay closed. His right ear has a couple nicks in it, and there are cuts and bite marks across his side. Ethan seems to have had it worse, his constant whimpers filling the den. Swaths of cobwebs cover his right eye, dark blood staining them a nauseating shade of red that's not entirely absorbed. Will lies beside Luke, a couple scratches on his face and back, but otherwise he's mostly fine.

"Where's Bianca?" I demand.

Luke can't even look me in the eye and lies his head on the ground, turning away from me. I don't bother to ask Ethan who's clearly in too much pain to give any answers. Instead I turn to Will. I'm feeling desperate now as I ask him, "Will, is Bianca okay?" I'm almost too afraid of the answer to ask.

The blond wolf pup lowers his ears sadly. He hesitates before finally answering. "Bianca tried to attack the coyote after it swatted you into the bushes. Hazel got out of the way in time--"

"What about Bia?!"

"Nico, you need to get some more sleep," Apollo says softly.

I round on him, a flurry of emotions stirring through me. "I don't need sleep!" I snarl. "I need to know where my sister is!"

"BIANCA'S DEAD!"

Luke's anguished howl forces everyone into a still silence, even Ethan's whimpering stops. I stare back at Luke with wide, disbelieving eyes. My blood seems to run cold as my mind slowly tries to understand.

"What?" I whisper.

"Bianca died trying to save Hazel from the coyote. It pounced on her, pinned her down and then..." Luke shakes his head, unable to continue. Whines start rising from his throat as his grief takes hold.

I'm too full of hurt and anger to think straight. I force myself to my feet despite my throbbing head. "It's all your fault!" I scream.

"Nico, I'm sorry," Luke whimpers. "I didn't mean--"

"I don't care about what you meant! Bianca's dead because of you!"

"Nico, it's not his fault!" Hazel wails, trying to push me back down. Her tear-filled eyes beg for me to understand, but I just can't.

"Yes it is!" I shout back. "Bianca would still be here if it wasn't for him!"

"Nico, calm down!" Will barks.

Apollo joins in the conversation. "That's enough! There's no need for any of this!"

I ignore both of them, tears burning in my own eyes. I don't let them fall, though. The next words brewing inside me come out before I can stop them, white hot and full of pain and aimed at Luke.

"I wish it was you who were dead instead of my sister!"

"NICO! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Apollo's loud bark echoes off the den walls, forcing everyone to be quiet again. He uses his tail to curl me close to his flank as my breath comes in gulping heaves. Hazel comes to join me, burying her head in my neck. Will stays right where he is beside Luke. I can't tell what his expression is, but I'm sure it's nothing good.

"Blaming others won't solve anything," Apollo says to me in a gentle voice. It's amazing how quickly he can change from a harsh yelp to a soft murmur. "All we can do now is get you all treated and prepare Bianca's body for her burial at sunset."

I close my eyes as tears start falling down my face. I don't want to say goodbye to my sister so soon. I can't say goodbye to her because I don't want to believe she's dead. It seems impossible that a wolf like her could die so easily.

Bianca had every reason to be cautious when Luke tried to convince us to go exploring in the forest. We had lost our mother a several days after she had given birth to us. It was winter then--a bad time for carrying pups. Our mother had fallen sick with an illness after having me and my sister and passed away soon after that.

Bianca had probably been worried about something happening to me or Hazel while we were outside camp. That's why she didn't want us to leave. And I made Hazel help me to convince her to let us leave camp.

I've been blaming the wrong wolf for Bianca's death. Hazel was right; it wasn't Luke's fault. It was mine.

You stupid pup. Look at what you did.

*******

4,000 words dang this is a long chapter :0

I hope you guys are still alive after reading that, I know firsthand how brutal fanfiction can be v.v'

Um

I'm literally not sure what to say anymore.

uh,frick,okay--

Have a happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) and don't drink and drive, kids

ye

~Webs