Brooklyn remained on Isle Royale for the next few days with his wolf friend, who slowly recovered from her leg injury. He and Winter had formed a sturdier bond over the time they were together. To Brooklyn, this reminded him of a story called White Fang when a boy befriended a wolf dog. But this time it was him, a gargoyle, with a purebred wolf. He didn't think it could ever happen to him to be friends with a wild canine.

He also had glanced at his only loincloth; which looked quite runned down and felt thin from all the elements beating down onto it. Brook sighed. Definitely will need a new loincloth when I get back, he thought to himself.

At first it was just Brooklyn who did the hunting, mostly fish and sometimes a rabbit, bringing them for both him and Winter. He recalled catching that wild hare, which was more difficult than he thought.

But then one day, Brooklyn looked over the bandages after changing them for the past few days. Winter's wound appeared to look alright, better than before. She gave a little woof, looking at it.

"You seem to be healing pretty well, girl. Perhaps it is time to remove those bandages for good, you think?" Brook asked with a smile. Winter wagged her tail, tilting her head.

There were times when Brooklyn thought Winter looked cute quite a lot, wishing she and Bronx could meet each other. But Brooklyn knew he couldn't ever really bring a wolf with him across those waters and to New York, which made him a little sad, but ensured to enjoy his time with her as much as he could.

He then unwrapped the bandages off completely; no more blood showing in the scar now there which would eventually go away. It made the gargoyle look at his own scar where the brand was, ears falling at the thought of that horrible day but grateful still to his human allies in Wisconsin for taking it off for him. Putting the bandages aside, Brooklyn stood up. The wolf kept laying there, unsure.

"It should be ok to walk on now. You want to try it? I'm here to catch you," Brooklyn said gently, standing on all fours, watching to see what would happen. Winter whined a little then began her challenge of getting up. She struggled from not walking but soon found her footing, slightly limping on her front paw, but it was better than the hind one. Her tail wagged at being able to stand again, making Brooklyn chuckle, petting her. "You're welcome. I'm glad you're better. You want to try going hunting with me; fishing to start?"

Winter woofed again, trotting over to the door, and pawing at it. Brooklyn stood on his two feet and opened it, Winter running out, happy that her leg was better. Brook called out to her to take it easy, but she probably didn't listen, running in circles in the yard, even howling once or twice.

A memory of Bronx sometimes being frisky and playful like this emerged up, heart tight. But Brooklyn shook his head of it. He needed to get food or else they'd starve. He tried a whistle, calling Winter who heard him, coming to a halt then following her gargoyle friend to the river.

The two friends made it there a while later, the river flowing along its usual course, Brooklyn already looking forward to eating their meals later. But he still wished for his stone sleep to cure his lingering aches that were still noticeable, mostly from not sleeping on a proper mattress since Barry and Thalia's house, and old wounds from Anthony. He was glad it didn't take away his hunting skills thankfully.

Winter woofed when seeing the water, going to get a drink while Brooklyn climbed to his rock on the water, waiting for the fish to come. Winter glanced at him then down, spotting a fish there too. What the friends didn't know was that some other residences there didn't take kindly to their appearances.

Not too far away, there was a pack of wolves from a different territory that were patrolling their borders and were coming down to the river to get a drink too, but then, their noses picked up scents from two strangers. One of them they recognized from one of their neighboring packs and the other was a scent they didn't know at all, but a strange one. Might be useful for food though. The pack went to investigate.

While Brooklyn was waiting patiently for fish, Winter, who had been drinking and playing around, suddenly smelled something and she began to growl. It startled Brooklyn right into the water. "Whoa!" The splash would have scared away any fish. He stood up, soaked. "Winter, you can't be making noise. You'll scare the fish." He scolded. But then, he saw her gaze and she was evidently looking at something else behind him.

Brooklyn turned to see if he could see what she was growling at. With his night vision, he could make out some many moving shapes moving toward them. "Uh oh. Winter, I think we've worn out our welcome. Come on, we need to go." He said.

He began to get out of the water and head away from the stream. Winter was still reluctant, but Brook called her away with a whistle.

They both were going to head back to the cabin for now but the pack on the other side were hungry and didn't want strangers on their land. They began jumping across the water and began to run to attack the trespassers.

Winter ran ahead of Brooklyn back to the cabin. Brook wasn't too far behind her. But it wasn't long before the red gargoyle was soon surrounded by the wolf pack, over fifteen of them growling at him.

Brooklyn backed into a tree. "We mean you no harm." He said nervously.

The wolves didn't care. They began advancing on him. Now that he wasn't tied up anymore, Brook would make his stand if he had to, and it looked like he would have to, or climb the tree and get away.

Brook let his adrenaline build and he began to growl at the wolves himself and he flared his wings, trying to make himself look bigger. He snarled at the pack, and they were surprised for a moment, but they were too hungry. They continued to stalk him.

A few began to jump at him, and Brooklyn began punching them away or used his talons to scratch deep wounds into them. He also roared his frustration out at them. The pack was soon really fighting him and the two ones that weren't injured finally jumped on him, one bit his right bicep, making Brooklyn cry out in pain, while the other bit down on his left leg.

Ahead, when Winter didn't see her friend accompanying her and she heard the racket behind her, and hearing his cry of pain, it made her go back. Sure, being alone, she didn't want to fight the pack, but she would with her life if she was defending another one that she cared about.

Winter saw the pack of wolves attacking her friend and he was down and bleeding. Brooklyn tried one last time to defend himself with his talons. He got the one off his arm, but the one on his leg was harder to get off. She heard her friend cry out again and that did it for her.

Brooklyn was down and bleeding, panting hard. The one was still standing over him, snarling and drooling hungrily, but all of a sudden, a lone wolf came out of nowhere and began attacking that wolf. It was Winter!

There was a lot of snarling close by and then a yelp of pain. That made all the wolves go running off. The leader of the pack had been targeted by Winter.

"Win- ter..." Brooklyn said weakly. He was holding his wounded arm.

Winter then appeared again from behind a bush. She was okay. She then came over to the hurt gargoyle and licked his face. He giggled a bit. Brooklyn knew he would need to get back to the cabin and get his arm and leg treated.

Brooklyn was just glad his wings weren't all tore up. He managed to push himself up and went back to the cabin with Winter at his side. Now it was the gargoyle's turn to get treated.

He had to sit on the porch and use his water bottle to wash his wounds first before he could put bandages on his wounds. It was easier to tie the one on his leg than when he had to tie the one on his arm. He could only use his teeth and one good arm to get it on there.

He was satisfied when he was done dealing with the bandages. It was the best he could do. The wounds throbbed underneath them but at least they were protected from infection.

"Well, Winter, looks like I'll be staying with you a while longer. Now I have to get myself well enough to travel again." Brooklyn explained to the wolf.

Winter wagged her tail at him. "You'll enjoy that, won't you?" He smiled. She was great company. It wasn't lonely.

Over the next several days, Brooklyn made himself travel to the stream to get more water to wash his wounds daily. Winter was now stepping up and catching some fish for herself and Brooklyn. She knew he was hurt and wanted to be helpful.

Eating food raw was not his idea of eating. His stomach would remind him that he wasn't used to it, but he had gotten used to it somewhat while being here. He just had to eat it slowly. Brooklyn wasn't sure if Broadway would approve of him eating raw fish since he now liked his food baked too.

Eventually, Brooklyn would be well again, and he knew that he would have to leave her behind. Winter would have to make her own way again like she did before. It just wouldn't be safe for her in New York unless she was sent to live at the zoo or a sanctuary. Brooklyn knew better than to risk her safety.

Brooklyn had been glad to make friends with Winter the wolf, but he was more than ready to get off of Isle Royale. He really wanted to enjoy store food again. He was also getting more and more homesick by the day. He wanted to see his clan even more desperately. He wished his wounds could have been healed with stone sleep instead of this long healing process.

He had also been more than happy to not have been seen by any humans. Brooklyn hoped he didn't have to cross too many more states to get home. There were at least a few. If he kept going nearly straight east, he would have to cross at least one more lake aside from this one. He wanted to do it soon. He would also have to say goodbye to Winter.