An Alpha Twice Removed

Jan 3rd 1994

**********JAN 3RD 1994 SUNDAY FLASHBACK ******************************** 

Excitement visible, Diane proceeded to open up the door leading to her old lonely bedroom shed soon be leaving behind. Walked through the doorway into the large pink bedroom designed for an exceptionally special ice princess. Walking into the oversized bathroom containing a single door leading to her walk-in closet. Shutting the door behind her and pulling off each article of clothing as it clings to her skin hardened by the dry blood left behind from her once open head wound. Diane turns on the shower adjusting its royal shower head as she climbed in. Soothed by the warm water rushing down her back, Diane reaches for her pink washcloth. Lathering it with her bronze warm vanilla brown sugar body wash. Rubbing the body wash into her washcloth with her dainty hands until submerged in suds, she proceeds to scrub the back of her head in small circles leading down her neck to her shoulders. She continued to scrub her torso down to her feet, then moved on to the important parts. After washing her body clean, Diane reaches over to her shower caddy grabbing the shampoo and began working it into her scalp for about 15 seconds before rinsing it through. After rinsing the product out she grabbed her conditioner squeezing out a dab of thick yellow gooey substance into the left palm of her hand. Mashing her hands together to evenly spread the paste, Diane began working the moisturizer all over her soft shiny curls. Leaving them drenched in the yellow soft oily paste. She continued to rinse her hair without washing it all out. Cutting off the showerhead. As stepped out of the tub reaching for a soft hot pink body towel, draping it around her chest covering her breasts buttocks, and knees. Upon drying off and running a bronze comb through her brown curls Diane styled her hair in a makeshift lazy bun topping it off with a few stray curls hanging on both sides of the front of her head. Just above her eyes. Stepping into the closet she began sifting through a few of the hanging shirts and dresses towards the front of her closet, finally settling on a Blue shirt her favorite dark blue ripped jeans, and a pair of black vans. She took them down off the closet hangers pulling them on over her bruised hips still aching from her earlier fall. Diane dressed quickly, throwing and stuffing all her other extra clothes in her black leather oversized duffle bag. She packed up her toothbrush socks and body wash. The deodorant too. Then headed for her bedroom to pack her diary and a few other important toiletries. Zipping it shut Diane pulled herself up to her feet slinging the old black duffle over her shoulder and headed out the door and down the long hallway back to join the others in the sitting room before preparing breakfast. this morning Diane would make breakfast for all four of them. Sort of her own little way to say thank you, you know for rescuing her from her own prison. the only home Diane's ever known. And the guaranteed safety the castle's thick dark and lonely walls provided her. She was finally going to face her fears and get out of that place. Which seemed all too easy now that she's met, Thomas and friends. Diane was no longer afraid of the future and what it had in store for her .. This time Diane's biggest fear was the past and all that comes with it. For the first time in her life, she knew just what she needed to do. And who she would become. The only question is if she even like the person that she was becoming. Diane held her head up high remembering an old quote Ruth loved to refer to so much. 

 "Nothing to fear but fear itself" -1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt  

With that motivation, she tossed her duffle on the brown leather sofa next to a dozing Thomas, headed down the hall to the castles kitchen area to whip up some buttery pancakes eggs, and a few strips of bacon pairing it with a hot black pot of coffee she had heating over the stove. removing some homemade honey buttered biscuits from the oven, breakfast was complete. The incredible aroma coming from the hot a crispy bacon and warm fluffy pancakes filled the air traveling its way down the hall and luring all three sleepy but hungry wolves down to breakfast. Isaac was the first to bust in the kitchen with his nose perched in the air.  

"Mmm.. Something smells amazing!" he declared. As his stomach growled nearly shaking the room. Diane giggled at Isaac's excitement. Reaching for the entire plate of bacon Diane stopped Isaac's hand and said. "Uhn uhn uh ..Not till the others join us first" she scolded. She wanted her last morning in her parent's castle to be perfect. Maybe even make a new memory here that wasn't so filled with melancholy. Just the four of them, Diane her mate, and two new friends. She already felt could be trusted. They were already starting to grow on her. And judging on the way Thomas talks about their crazy childhood, Diane could already imagine what great friends all of them could be . That was something she missed out on most of all, having a friend growing up would have sure changed her whole life.. Perhaps even her personality and the destined heartache assigned to her from the goddess of the moon herself .. 4minutes have gone past with Isaac and Diane just sitting at the kitchen table in awkward silence, awaiting everyone else to join them for a big breakfast feast. Food was getting cold and Diane was just seconds from caving in and letting Isaac dig in without the others in attendance. She was beginning to feel a bit foolish expecting them to come running in at any moment. As every second went by that it remained just the two ..Sitting there at the kitchen table waiting to eat. Isaacs excitement died down 3 minutes ago and he was starting to look almost worried as he focused on the plate of bacon." He probably just realized we are all sharing that plate" Diane thought to her self letting out a soft chuckle Isaac looked up a bit embarrassed as his cheeks turned red and he immediately looked down at his full cup of lemonade, watching a drip formed from condensation to drip down the bottom of his glass. "I think you should have made more bacon," Lisbon says laughing hysterically. Clearing her throat Diane got up to re-heat the now practically frozen scrambled eggs, pancakes, coffee honey buttered biscuit's and of course the bacon. turning the food warmer up she placed each item one by one on the hot plate. Resting the now empty plate down she turned to re-heat the coffee setting the lukewarm kettle down on the stove. Turning back toward a now empty table and Isaac who is now refilling his empty lemonade cup.  

"Soo... Isaac .. what's it like in green land" Diane asked inquisitively. 

*Errrm* He cleared his throat before answering.  

"Well, that depends on what you mean.. or who you ask.. because for me green land always felt so confining. we are part of a small pack in the green land village just 100miles south of the old original Pack of green land wolves. There is South Greenland where Thomas's father Alpha peters reside with his pack of about 40-50 wolves including my family and me who chose to follow alpha peters out there 13 years ago when it was announced our old Alpha stole the seat from under the peters family years ago by cutting off his great uncles head, decapitating him in front of his wife and child raging war between our people".. he paused. 

"There were roughly 8million wolves out on that battlefield that night .. And my grandfather was one of them. He was alpha peters first and most loyal beta ..Well before he was murdered on that night. anyway, my family was one of the many wolf family's that chose to follow alpha peters out of north Greenland. South through the trees many with children and all that they could carry on their backs"...Isaac explained. 

*Boom*  

Suddenly the kitchen door bursts open and in walks Albert with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Followed behind by Thomas looking like he just got up with creases on his face from laying on the sofa, But his eyes lit up at the sight of seeing his beautiful mate more than they did when he noticed the breakfast she placed on the table. "Sure smells great in here," said Albert. "Indeed" Thomas agreed as they all began to pile their plates. Diane sat in amazement as she watch Isaac and Albert stuff pancakes in their face. Not one chew was heard! "Savages . . ." she thought to herself. Looking over to Thomas who was just as bad if not worse! He was chugging down a bottle of syrup like a sippy cup! Diane chuckled trying her best not to make them feel bad. And ultimately decided eh why not and joined in on this meal being shared with some true animals. Albert bit Isaac over the last piece of bacon and Thomas spilled my cup of coffee on my favorite blue shirt, reaching for a biscuit. But all in it was a fantastic breakfast amongst friends.  

After some help from the guys clearing the kitchen table and a bit of help from Thomas washing up the leftover dishes. we cleaned up swept up and turned the light off in the kitchen. Heading back towards the sitting room Thomas turns to Diane.  

"Ready to go?" he asks with a bright smile.  

"Yes! ..I'm excited.. Maybe a little nervous." she replied cheerfully.  

And she was excited, but for the future. Deep down there were things Diane always dreamed to see and do one day when he mother took her along on one of her quests, however as you already know...That day never came. Diane dreamed of the sky and how much farther away it seemed from the library window. She dreamed of diving into the sea like the heroic characters of her book. Jumping in for a refreshing swim on a hot day. Couldn't tell you how many days she spent countless hours imagining being small enough to just dive into her cup of water. Just to feel the freedom of doing something other than her daily day-to-day routine. Diane dreamed of becoming some fancy teacher in a fancy boarding school like the ones in her favorite books. Teaching some bratty teenager all the things she read in her entire lifetime of reading books. She figured one day it would count for something. Diane wanted so badly to be in charge of her future. Dreaming of things she has never seen but only read about in some book. But somehow it all seemed possible to Diane right now. Thee old ancient spear chose her! and only her. She was special. And that was all she truly needed to motivate her. She just needed some slither of hope that she mattered! that she wasn't just left to die or starve trapped behind the walls of that castle. Sometimes people just need to know how much they mean to us. To the world to themselves notice how truly unique and special they are. Diane would soon learn just who Diane was meant to be.  

Everyone was all packed up and ready to head out. Thomas made a few calls arranging our transportation being that the field trip ended 2 days ago and the bus left without them. He scored us 4 plane tickets back to South green land. I still never found out what happened to north Greenland after the war but hey that's a story for another day I guess. Lisbon's awfully quiet which is extremely not normal for her... But still, it's nice so I won't complain.  

Still haven't quite told Thomas the whole truth about His and my destiny and our Future. Or shall I say, Future children? All I know is it's not going to go over well .. I sure didn't take it well. trying to find the right words to say. But how do you say we are only created to be superhuman baby-making machines and not make the person you are telling it to run away screaming!!. Diane didn't want to scare Thomas away this early in the relationship and she was just getting used to Thomas. She didn't want to lose him already she only had just met him after all. Finding the right thing to say was going to be hard. And Diane knew that. Besides she was surely already falling deeply for Thomas.  

They arrived at the airport late boarding their flight with just 2minutes to spare. Thomas had two seats for him and Diane in the very first row, her in the window seat with him next to the aisle. And behind their seats was Albert and Isaac, Albert sitting near the aisle with an eye mask on catching a nap, and Isaac to his left peering out the window at the workers loading empty planes with luggage. As the plane was taking off Thomas took Diane's hand in his as the captain spoke over the speaker. "All right passengers I'm gonna ask that everyone remains in their seats. Fasten your seat belt, looks like grey skies . brace for taking off ..should be smooth sailing ". The plane starts to move as Diane clenches Tom's hand tighter. "It's okay kitten, turbulence is normal" Tom tried to reassure her. And in seconds the plane was in the air. The turbulence stopped and it was a smooth ride over the arctic ocean-going northwest of ice land than flying over the north Atlantic ocean. The views from the plane window were mesmerizing. Absolutely Diane's favorite part of this adventure. Arriving at the South green land airport. All the passengers stood up to retrieve their bags. Thomas stood up first bringing both his and Diane's duffle bags down and carrying them both off the plane no matter how much Diane fussed over her own bag. Still, he refused to allow her to carry her own. Isaac and Albert followed behind closely visibly entertained as Diane pleads with Thomas for possession of her own luggage. She failed miserably so. As he just grunted in return trying to hide his struggle over the heavy black leather duffle bag he had swung over his shoulder.  

"Sheesh, what the hell does she have in here!" Thomas thought to himself .** 

 "You know how women are" Cyrus cheekily responded. 

They had no idea, just behind his back he holds the most dangerous weapon crafted on goddess green earth. That spear in the right hands could slice through iron steel and metal with ease. You could imagine the horrors it can cause to a living being. If not I'm sure Lisbon wouldn't mind telling you a story or two. Inside the large crowded airport, the two pairs of friends marched up the escalator to the main floor where a man stood with a sign by the door that read "Peters". He was dressed in a well-tailored penguin suit with a black driver hat with a visor in the front of it. he lead us to a long lumazine in which we all pilled in one after the other. After claiming my seat beside my loving and caring mate, Thomas turned to me with a big bright smile, and said: "Welcome home kitten". I hated when he called me that. It reminds me of something small fragile that needs protection … But I'm no longer that girl. Nope. I left her back in Iceland. I'm the new and approved Diane .. Traded in my castle for a spear!! I AM A WARRIOR!! Diane chanted in her head.  

"Alright now calm down there brave "WARRIOR" you will still need some training before you wield that thing .. you could poke an eye out!!" Lisbon warned. 

"YoU CoUlD PoKe An EyE OuT!." blah blah blah I mocked. 

"Always trying to mother me. I wonder if one day you'll quit or disappear too." I added. 

"NEVER ONCE LEFT YOU DIANE!!" she shouted back. 

Diane just rolled her eyes back in reply.  

One day she'll be ok. One day Diane will be able to accept that not everything is temporary in her life, some things are recurring some people stick around. And sometimes it's best to just enjoy the moment, the time we have with loved ones now rather than spending so much time pushing everyone who loves you away. In fear of being alone, abandoned, or left behind once more. Some people stick around. Some don't. It is up to Diane to distinguish just who is worthy enough to stick it out. Until then shell be doubting all the people she loves dearly. The ones closest to her could potentially hurt her the most. And it was hard not to remain guarded after all the hurt and abandonment she dealt with in her past. With her mother and father's demise. And the sudden betrayal and abandonment she witnessed from her own pack. The crescent ice pack wolves that were her birthright to lead and protect. Traitors to the crown and the magic they so clearly needed to survive the many wars that they never once suffered through. But, in the end, there was always just Diane .. Alone. Abandoned in a dark dreary castle overrun by vines spiderwebs and old memories of what once was the biggest boldest most powerful Royals known to walk the planet. And their loyal followers. However that all ended leaving the youngest last surviving member to fend for her own in that lonely, once bright and beautiful castle on the hill. Now she too has abandoned her home. All she's ever known. It's a long journey ahead of her if she hopes on ever getting back to normal..Whatever that is anyway. No one is normal around here.