Klaus

                                                                                       "Is someone listening? Please."
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Among the ranks of the Moonlit Wayfarers, there aren't too many rules. Just enough for the pack to maintain some kind of order. Leaders are chosen by fate, blessed by the moon, and when a pup is born with the marking of Her kiss on their forehead the pack celebrates said event. That was at least, up until the night Klaus' mother gave birth to two pups, both carrying the blessed marking that the moon had been supposed to only give to the pack's future leader.

For obvious reasons, the pack fell into pure chaos as the news of the two chosen pups started to spread. That was quickly followed by them getting to a simple conclusion: One of them must've been an impostor. After a long discussion, they decided to let the pups grow, closely observing the direction they were going to take and keeping them in the dark about their theory. 

The problem came back after only a few months when the moon long stopped talking with the current leader of the pack, and neither of the pups seemed more powerful or knowledgeable of the other. At the end of it though, a decision was made, and Klaus' sister, Keto, was abandoned in the woods and left out to die with the intent of not welcoming a false prophet into the pack.

Afterward, Klaus grew fast. He was told his sister had unfortunately died in an accident, and he had grieved for a long time, wondering how he was the only one doing that. Training came soon, and he was allowed in the secret of what his future position in the pack was going to be. Klaus was excited, that was sure, but he just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that everyone seemed to expect him to somehow be able to communicate with the moon in some way. In the beginning, he thought of it as a story pups would listen to before sleeping, but as time went on and no one dropped the whole thing he started to believe more and more that something must've been wrong with him.

Confused, one night Klaus approached one of his older brothers and asked him for an explanation. While speaking, the young wolf could hardly keep his eyes off the ground, his voice was shaking and his tail hiding between his legs. There was silence after his words, and it lasted too long for it to be good news. His brother had never been one of many words, but the few that he spoke that night forever haunted Klaus' dreams: "You're gonna have to lie, then."

That night, Klaus learned what really happened to his sister and with that, the awareness that they definitely had killed the wrong pup loomed over his head. There was no other explanation for his lack of connection, and even worse, he was left with the choice to come clean and let everyone know they were officially lost and without a leader or lie and give them hope while trying his best to keep the pack afloat. Guilt began eating him alive, slowly, the thoughts of what his presence there meant hardly ever stopped swarming his head. He knew he could be nothing but a mortal, expected to act and behave like someone who could not die. Someone the moon protected, while in reality, he never once felt her warmth. But despite all of that, he lied.

And despite all of that, She watches, silently. She calls for him every time he closes his eyes because when awake, She knows she cannot reach him. It feels like a fever dream, he sees the faces of all the ones he ever lied to. And then he sees Her. They cheer because they've won; because he is there because he saved them again. His scars are the proof of that, and yet, he doesn't feel like he won at all. But Klaus takes the cheers, devours the glory, and hates every second of it. It leaves a bitter taste in the back of his mouth that will not leave until the one of blood will take its place.

That is how it works. That is how it has to go. They either win and tell the story, or lose. They need to win, to survive, to fight in Her name for as long as She needs them to. Klaus thinks it feels like it should be harder. It feels like it should be heavier. But it's not. It's simple. And even if it wasn't, he wouldn't have a choice in the matter. Losing his life isn't something he's worried about, it'd just prove his point, but he worries. He worries for the others, the ones that rely on him and the powers he doesn't have to survive too.

In the darkness, at the back of his den, there is blood. So much blood. And there is the knowledge in the silence that follows that he will hear the howling of the wind coming from outside. The moon is watching but he doesn't meet Her eyes. She is old, She saw it all, She knows what will happen to her so-called heroes.

Klaus is young and his bones ache. He thinks of the battlefield, of the cries, of the blood. How he isn't sure what exactly is matting his fur at that moment. How he doesn't seem to mind anyway.

Outside, the pack celebrates another victory and the moon watches as their champion almost wishes he hadn't won.