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Chapter 6

" You're crazy Shadow!".

" Am I really? I'm not right?".

" Why do you care who I go home to!" she blurted out.

In his frustration, Shadow groaned, and stared her straight in the eyes as he bitterly snapped something Audi did not expect at all.

" Because I don't want you to leave me!".

Then there was a silence. It caused Audi to simply stare at him, with a total loss for words.

" Well I have to leave here Shadow you know that, I can't stay here forever".

" You could... you just refuse to...".

She scoffed lightly, and flickered her tail in annoyance. Shadow saw this, and raised an eyebrow briefly. He couldn't help but feel totally lost with her; if Audi wanted to go back home to another dog, there was nothing he could do about it. There was no way she was just leaving because of a mere boy.

If only he could prove his point, and she would stop being stubborn and admit that to herself...

" You're impossible!"Audi continued with a scoff, and turned to walk off.

" Where are you going!?".

" I told you! I'm going home!" she called back, and took off in a light run. Audi didn't know the way, Shadow knew this, but all he could do was stand there and watch her go.

Should he follow? Or just leave her be? He wasn't so sure.

The young husky continued on her trek, nearly falling on her face, in deep piles of snow as she went. As soon as she got home, she would give Benjamin lots of kisses! Then, she would have to confront Steele.

In a way, she was sort of dreading that; sure she was angry at him, she wanted to know why he did what he did, but she was also a bit scared of him.

She sniffed about, she didn't know how long she had been traveling for, as hours passed. Though she did begin to get a little tired, though all that was around her was miles of snow and high trees.

There was no shelter, there was no Shadow to help her; she had to fend for herself.

Just then, Audi was startled as a brown owl perched on a tree branch above her. She figured if it didn't fly away, why not ask it?

"Excuse me!" she called up to the bird.

At first, it stared at her with a tilted her. With a light sigh, Audi figured she would continue with her question.

"You wouldn't happen to know a way out of the forest would you?" she asked.

After a long silence, the bird spoke in a whispered tone, " You're going the right way. You will soon encounter a frozen river, go across that, and if you survive that, you should find that trail that leads out, to the town".

" Really? Thank you so much!".

" You might want to take a look around here too".

" Huh? Why is that?".

" There was a black and white dog, it looked like you, wandering about the forest, I don't know if you know it" the owl mused.

Audi was shocked, " Steele?".

Just then the bird turned, and flew off into the sky.

"Wait!" Audi called, running towards it, " Where was he?".

" He traveled north from here!" the owl called back before vanishing into the sky.

" Steele..." she whispered softly, lowering her head briefly in a sigh. She had a decision to make, whether to continue on, to go on home for herself? Or try and look for Steele? Why should she? After all, he tried to kill her! He is the reason she was stuck here to begin with!

Why not give him a taste of his own medicine?

She pondered this a moment, before taking steps forward. She decided she would look for Steele. Unlike him, she had a conscious. If he had died out here, and she turned the other cheek, she would be guilty forever.

She couldn't handle that: She didn't want to live like that.

Sniffing about the air, she continued on, the harsh wind and icy sting nipping at her rusty red and cream colored fur. She was a husky, and part wolf; she should have been stronger than this!

That self mental kick by herself had motivated her not to give up.

A light jog made her way through the forest, hopefully while trying to find Steele, she would not get too lost and be on her way home.

As soon as she nearly tripped over a patch of ice, she smiled brightly in relief! Not too far away was the frozen over river! Though it didn't seem sturdy, and there didn't seem like any way to get over it, other than walk off.

Though she was nervous, she gulped, and her expression hardened, as her eyes locked on the task at hand.

Slowly, she made her way to the river's edge. Cautiously, slowly, she made her way across the frozen river, trying to stay away from the patches that didn't feel very thick.

Still, she heard light cracks in the ice.

She sighed in relief as she got across to the end, it seemed like an eternity! Her heart pounded with every step. Though she saw a heavy branch overcasting the river. It seemed sturdy enough for her to quickly leap across and avoid the thin ice near the edge.

With that, she made a try for it, and leaped into the branch. Though what she didn't know, that it was all hollowed out and full of algae. Once she stood up on it fully to catch her balance, she fell right through!

With a yelp, of shock and slight pain from breaking right through the ice, she tried to hang on, pull herself from the hole.

However, it did no good, the current was too strong, and took her with it. Under the ice she went, figuring this was it, she would die here.

Even with her desperate attempts to try and swim, the current continued to pull her.

Soon enough, she was starting to feel lightheaded, and lose breath. She would have lost her consciousness if not had been for a strange yet lifesaving event!

Something barged through the ice, and she felt something pull her through the hole, and drag across the ice bed, over to the snowy land.

It wasn't much better, she was freezing, ice and snow clung to her, she coughed up water and tried to regain her breath, she looked up at the figure above her that must have saved her and was shocked by who she saw.

She figured it must have been Shadow, that he had followed her, but no...

"Steele?".

The dark older husky raised an eyebrow at her, and scoffed lightly, his breath visible in the chilly air.

" What are you doing here? You-- saved--".

He shushed her, before simply murmuring in a blank tone, " The boy needs you, that's why".

" You left me here! If it wasn't for Shadow, I would have been dead at the cliffside!" she shouted in anger, with a light growl.

" Shadow?".

" He's a friend... it's not important!" she snapped with a shake of her head.

" I came looking for you... thinking you were lost. Now I will probably die here...I just want to go home" she began, in a defeated tone, as her legs gave out and she fell onto the ground in a shivering, wet heap.

Steele looked to her, his expression softened, after what he did to her, she came looking for him? How so very foolish and pup-like... but so admirable at the same time.

It was something her father would have done, it sort of made him sick.

With a heavy sigh and roll of his eyes, he knew he couldn't carry her. So he pushed her towards the tree, and laid her under it. She curled up next to her, and laid there, keeping her warm to the best of his ability.