Fade To Grey (Working Title) (STILL IN PROGRESS) By Ricky Galahad Ricky, Dolores, Cain, Butch, Charles, Guile and anything else associated with his universe are © Ricky Galahad. All Road Rover names, situations, or anything associated with the Rover universe are © Warner Bros. This story is meant solely for not-for-profit entertainment and is not meant to infringe on any copyrights. Sierra © Elista Adkins Spirit © Connie Smernos Huntress © Greywolf Lupous Any comments, concerns, questions or support you’d like to fling my way may be sent to daily_bread@hotmail.com All original poetry or lyrics found herein belong to me and if you feel it’s good enough to post someplace, please give me at least a little credit. "I fade into the shadows, For I fear my own. That every trailing beast, With it’s dark lies and truths, Is never beaten Only stalled by this truce." -Simon Howes The florescent white moon is set brilliantly against the empty black sky. Not a single sound can be heard in this dead of night. The forest below is completely devoid of life. Suddenly a lone shape emerges from a group of trees. It lingers momentarily in the luminescence, but remains indistinguishable. It then disappears once more. After a few moments, two more shadowy figures appear and stop in the middle of the clearing. "This is too dangerous," whispers the large male figure on the left, "we should have brought reinforcements. Cain is a killer." His voice is shaky as he pants slightly. The sleek female form on his right quickly shoots him a sharp look, eyes cold. "There wasn’t any time Ricky," she utters in a thick British accent, "we would have bloody lost him completely if we hadn’t chased after him." Ricky’s head turns slightly, his face now visible in the crystal moonlight. His facial expression screaming his silent frustration. He appears to be a wolf-Sapien with light azure fur, but with a gentle disposition that gives him not only a pleasant temperament, but also a charming demeanor. He stares warmly yet with deep concern at his companion, her silky brown fur manifesting itself elegantly in the sparkling moonlight. "Then I’ll go after him myself while you call in to RRMC. There’s no need for both of us to risk our lives recklessly." "Yeah right guv," his female counterpart chuckles, "like I’m gonna leave you here to face this bloke alone. As Exile would say: fatty chance comrade." Ricky glances down solemnly, his dark feelings of fear and pain contorting his normally handsome face. His attempts to be forceful are lost in his wobbly speech. "Please Colleen," Ricky verbalizes in a near sobbing tone, "I don’t want to see you get hurt. He almost took you from me once, and I won’t give him another chance. I won’t..." Overcome, Ricky is unable to finish his sentence. He tries to look away to hide his emotions, but Colleen catches a glimpse of his eyes as they begin glazing up. She feels her own throat go dry as he licks his lips slowly and methodically. Ricky’s eyes acquire an enchanting sparkle as the moonlight glistens off them. Colleen takes his right hand in both of hers and rubs it slow and soft. "Look," she says gently, "I appreciate your concern, but I’ve been doing this for a lot longer than you’ve been around. The team will not be able to work effectively if you don’t learn to trust us to take care of ourselves." Ricky’s looks as if he is about to say something, but his words get caught in a lump at the base of his larynx. He turns his head and he locks eyes with Colleen’s elegant gaze. "I just..." Ricky begins ardently, his voice trailing off, "...want to protect you. Shelter you in my arms. Make sure you never get hurt ever again. Because... love always protects." Colleen’s eyes widen after the last three words, her mouth gradually opening. Ricky languidly drifts away and averts his eyes, teeth finding his bottom lip. "I... I um..." Colleen gets out as she tries her best to converse through the shock. Before she can say anything else however, Ricky bolts toward her hastily and puts the fingertips of his right hand on her lips. His touch, though abrupt, is soft and soothing and instantly silences her. "Please, don’t speak," he gets out quickly, "you don’t have to say anything. I know that you feel differently and I-" Unexpectedly, Colleen collects Ricky’s hand from the edge of her mouth to within her paws. She holds it for a second in front of her, then lets them drop. Her motions catch Ricky by complete surprise and he simply stares at Colleen as she takes a step toward him. "You have spoken the words I have longed to say for so many months but never had the courage to speak," Colleen lets out nervously, "but now you will get to have your song on my lips forever. Because... ... I’ve always loved you too..." Ricky’s jaw is about to drop, but before it can, Colleen wraps her arms around the back of his head and brings his trembling lips to her sweetness. He immediately loses all control over the thoughts in his head, which soon begin spinning around madly within the confines of his bewildered mind. The wind against his skin, the trees looming over them, the perception of the glimmering moon shining down, all of it fades away. There is no longer anything but the sensation of soft, warm Collie, flattened against his tense frame. Colleen’s tepid body presses up to his longingly, her luscious mouth softened against his wanton lips. He runs his fingers through her silky brown hair and cradles the back of her head, nuzzling her neck with his muzzle. Ricky breathes hotly across Colleen’s left cheek, whispering delicately into her left ear. "I should have said something the very first day I we met. I knew I loved you the instant I saw you." Colleen moves her chin off Ricky’s shoulder and looks up tenderly into his captivating eyes. She gets a loving look in return as she uses her right hand to clear his bangs away from his face. He moves his hands down, wrapping his arms around the small of her back and bringing her in close and tight. She sighs with content, he smiles bursting with restrained pleasure. She speaks with perfect sincerity and joy in her voice. "My life begins today..." Colleen and Ricky kiss once more, a meeting of desire with less force but increased warmth. He can sense the idyllic feel of the moment as he closes the cave of her mouth with his own. When they finally break apart, they remain in each other’s arms, sharing a stare of love. "Colleen, I have never..." Ricky suddenly stops mid-sentence as his ears perk up and he quickly looks to his left. He sniffs the air a few times attentively, checking for anything that he finds suspicious. The sounds of rustling bushes and crackling leaves resonate around them. Colleen stares off in the direction Ricky is looking, then glances back at him with confusion and anxiety. "What is it Ricky?" "Don’t you hear that?" "No. My senses are not as enhanced as yours." "I can sense him watching us..." Ricky and Colleen come apart and stand a few feet away from each other. They stand back to back, looking in opposing directions. Both take defensive stances, their hearts racing as they take quick, labored breaths. A lone bead of perspiration dampens Ricky’s forehead, his eyes flickering to capture even the slightest movement. He glares and points off to his left. "That way," he lets out in a low whisper. They lock eyes for a brief moment, Colleen then giving him a tiny nod. Both vanish silently into the surrounding trees. A tiny squirrel emerges from inside a rotten log and scurries into a small clearing. It stops to inhale the crisp night air, its tiny nose twitching as its thin whiskers trying to detect the minutest vibration. The sound of approaching footsteps can be made out. The squirrel instantly dashes across the forest floor into a portion of the surrounding shrubbery. It pops its head out to try and make out the commotion. A huge shadow passes over it, then is gone. Before long, Ricky and Colleen appear. The former clears a stray bang out of his eyes, shining in the moonlight. "He’s close..." Colleen barely hears him, her heart pounding like a jackhammer. Her normally rock solid courage unable to overcome the memories of the last time their paths crossed with Cain. Suddenly, Ricky glares and begins running toward her. She turns in a split second, just in time to catch a glimpse of the back of a very large and muscular paw as it travels across her face. There is a sharp pain, a flash of light, and the sensation of flying back ten feet. She cringes as her back collides with the trunk of a tree. Through a dazed blur she sees Ricky plant a foot right in the chest of the Burmese Mountain dog, and send it reeling backwards. Her mind fills with rage as her tongue samples the bitter tang of the blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. She feels a deep growl seep from her muzzle and begin rumbling in her chest. She bolts to her feet and stands side by side with Ricky. He takes to her with concern. "Are you all right?" She nods with anger. "Let’s teach this bloke a lesson." With Cain stunned, the pair charges simultaneously, pummeling the much larger mutant with a potent sequence of punches. Colleen finally downs him with a spinning kick that wallops him right on the side of the head. With Cain on his hands and knees, the duo stand over him. Ricky smirks and acts like Samuel L. Jackson. "You are NOT in control!" Colleen gives him a dirty look. "Just stop it." He laughs. "Sorry." Cain notices their moment of distraction and quickly lunges forward. With his inch long claws drawn, he takes a nasty swipe at Ricky. The wolf reacts fast enough to catch the wrist of his attacker, but not quick enough to stop the nails from ripping through his chest. He screams in pain as he twists Cain’s arm and flips him over his shoulder in one fluid motion. The aberration smacks upside down into a rock. Ricky drops to one knee and clutches his wound, fangs bared. As he curses under his breath, Colleen goes down with him to examine the extent of his injury. "Is it deep?" she says in fear. He licks his teeth and feels the warm blood as is oozes out from between his fingers. "Don’t worry about it." She tentatively nods. Her eyes fall into shock as she looks back and notices Cain is nowhere to be seen. She does a 360, but sees nothing. Nothing, before it’s too late. Cain drops down from overhead and lands on her, knocking her on her face. He then seizes her collar from behind and tosses her away. She lands hard on the ground. Cain turns and grabs Ricky’s shoulders as he’s down. A knee disappears into the latter’s stomach and he feels the wind knocked out of him. He crumples in Cain’s grasp. "You never should have betrayed me Ricky. Once you’re in my pack, you’re for life! Time to collect on that!" He throws Ricky like a javelin, his shoulder striking a thick overhanging branch. A sickening crack on impact gives evidence that the bone broke. As he falls to the ground, he’s unable to lift his right arm. Cain picks him up again and promptly drives his fist into his enemy’s muzzle. The wolf is laid out on the dirt in pain, spitting intermittently. A dark pool of red starts spilling out onto the ground from his mouth. Ricky coughs and gags as he starts choking on his own blood. Cain is about to attack again, but is quickly struck from behind. He whirls around and a boot meets his face again, driving him back. Our hero spots Colleen doing her thing, so he leaps forward and latches onto the mutants leg, trying to drag him down as he sinks his fangs into the dog’s leg. Cain howls out and reaches down to dig his claws into Ricky’s back. He lifts him this way, and kicks him hard with his foot. The nails on Cain’s feet scratch him across the face before sending him soaring away. When he finally lands, he’s near unconsciousness and bleeding badly. He attempts in vain to get back up, but his body betrays him and he sinks down to his knees. His eyes are near swelled shut, but that doesn’t save him from the horror of seeing Cain grasp Colleen by the neck with both of his monstrous paws. "Game over!" Cain hisses. Ricky tries to plead against it, but he is too late. With his remaining strength, he releases an agonized scream as Colleen’s neck is snapped gruesomely in two... "Nooooooooooooo!" His powerful howl meeting silence. Ricky snaps up from his seat in a cold sweat, panting furiously. He’d never understood how a dream could be so vivid, always so real to him, but this one always was. The wolf gently rubs his eyes, a slight shiver racking his body as the cold morning air slips through his white chest fur to grace his skin. Ricky rubs his furry blue arms, hoping his winter fur will come in soon. He then falls back into recollections of his too fresh nightmare. "It’s always the same. Every night, every time..." he laments. His eyes slip into two watery emerald pools, the tears beginning to cascade down his cheeks and muzzle. He tugs up on his faded blue jeans; suddenly wishing they weren’t so baggy, then remembering the regular ones were too tight. "I swear," Ricky pouts, "jeans are living proof God has a sense of humor..." Ricky sighs and opens the passenger door, climbing out of his ‘69 Ford Mustang convertible. His toes curl slightly as his feet touch the moist ground. He stops momentarily to examine his hind paws, wondering why he had been fated to be the outcast in the family. Why he was the only one in his litter whose wolf traits were dominant, while all his brothers and sisters looked more like the loving mother that had raised them. He lightly pads to the back of the car, deep in thought. Ricky’s mother was a beautiful Husky mix, half Alaskan and half Siberian. Her lavish raven fur was the envy of all the dogs that saw her, and all his siblings benefited from the same gorgeous fur. When it came time for them to be given homes, family after family came and took them, leaving Ricky alone for many weeks after the last had gone. Ricky felt a certain shame and disgust at how he had turned out, taking after the father he never knew. The grey wolf that fathered them all then left without a trace. Their owner was furious, from what his mother told him. And every time he was treated less favorably than the others were, his mother would simply lick him on the cheek and explain how it wasn’t really his fault. He was just the unfortunate reminder of the "mistake" she had made. In truth it always made him feel terrible, but he never told her that. He didn’t want her to feel worse about it than she already did. Eventually, the man did sell him. As a... a... his mind freezes, tripping over the thought of it, and becoming too disgusted to complete his reminiscence. As bad is his childhood was, at least he could stomach it. But the last thing he wanted to do was remember the last two or so years of his life leading up to this point. There were too many bad feelings, too much bitterness. He quickly smothers it in the back of his mind and reaches down in the trunk to pull out what could only be described as a powder blue polo shirt, though it really isn’t. He slips it over his head and returns to the driver’s side of his car. A flashing red light on his dashboard catches his eye. He sighs apathetically, knowing it can only mean he has a message. A message from Road Rover Mission Control. From Hubert. Asking where he was and when he was coming back. Again. He hated being subject to anyone, especially another dog. Especially one that followed a... human... Ricky shuddered. He sighs again and slowly leans forward, his gaze searching over all the various electronic mechanisms before reaching out for the yellow button situated just below a small viewing screen. "They ruined this car by putting all this high tech crap in it..." he growls unhappily as he presses the switch. The screen blips and then turns on, revealing a Bloodhound Sapien in a white Lab coat and a red bow tie. Ricky rolls his eyes, a tang of annoyance in his voice. "What do you want this time Hubert?" The Hound flinches at Ricky’s tone, but his eyes dismiss it, almost like he’s used to it already. Hubert clears his throat, speaking as sternly as possible. "I want you to come back to RRMC. We didn’t finish all the examinations I wanted to do." Ricky frowns. "Listen Hub, I’m sick of all your ridiculous tests. If I had known you were going to use me to try out your stinkin’ altered transdogmafying process, I never woulda agreed to get inside in the first place!" "Ricky," utters Hubert indignantly, "it is absolutely crucial we get you back here immediately. We need to know all that you’re capable of, it’s too dangerous to let you walk around without know-" "THERE IS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT ME! Don’t you get it, I’m nothing! I’m just a plain old Sapien! I don’t want to go flying around in jets and stuff, trying to stop maniacs from taking over the world! I just want to finish my 'business', then retire to somewhere I can be alone with a beautiful lady and write all day, okay??? Why not go check out how many times Hunter can run a mile in 60 seconds? I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of that. But personally, I have no time for these inane games!" Hubert growls. "Listen here Ricky," he says in a harsh voice, "you healed WAY too quickly from the injuries you sustained in your fight with Cain. You should still be getting bed rest from your injuries, but you left here weeks ago! We need to learn how and why. Something like this could be invaluable to the Road Rover project. And let’s not forget about this last test! Your scores in relation to telepathy were off the charts! There are also signs you have some type of psychic of telekinetic ability..." Ricky’s mood grows dark. "Hub," he says solemnly, "the LAST thing I need is to be told that I’m able to predict the future." "Why? H-h-have you seen things???" "None of your business. Look, I’ve gotta go. If I’m ever in the area, I’ll stop by, but I’m not going to drive all the way back just so you can tell me I’m not like everyone else." Ricky sighs. "I’ve always known that..." "Ricky, please drop this ridiculous quest of yours! Colleen confirmed you were near dying when she found you, and that Cain was nowhere to be seen! They never found him! He’s gone Ricky, he is!" Ricky glares. "Please Ricky, come back. Colleen would li-" "That’s right," Ricky breaks in, "they never found him! If he were dead, they would have retrieved his body from the bottom of the falls. Instead, all they found was my cross hanging from a tree. How do you explain that, huh?" Hubert says nothing, shrinking against Ricky’s sneer. "And don’t EVER bring up Colleen again. You don’t have the RIGHT to use her against me." Hubert looks as though he is about to respond, but Ricky terminates the connection. He leans back in his seat, shaking his head in disgust. After a moment of chilly silence, the Loupus looks down at a tiny piece a paper with scribbles on it, taped on a bare place on the dashboard. "Neverdon City..." Ricky grasps the ignition key, but stops from turning it, dropping his head against the steering wheel. He succumbs to his tears. "I’m so sorry Colleen, I didn’t want to leave. I just... couldn’t stay. I can’t-I can’t afford to love... anyone. Not until... until I know he’s really gone..." Ricky starts the engine, his red eyes visible in the rear view mirror. "I wish you and Hunter all the happiness... ... ... I can never have..." Ricky sniffs slightly, guns the engine a few times, then speeds off down the road, disappearing within seconds.