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In Shades of Grey: Chapter 2: Rebirth.

The dawn of the next day came slowly that morning, as the light from the coming sun had to fight furiously to break through the thick layer of clouds which blanketed the sky, but eventually, as it was inevitable, the light punched through the clouds and began to bathe the earth in its radiant glow.

Lilly had never slept inside of a log before, but found that, while slightly cramped, the experience really was not so bad. The bugs were the worst part of it, but once she got them all out she had no further problems and was henceforth able to sleep comfortably through the night with no fear of the dark which encroached all around her.

She had tucked herself deep into the log the previous night, so it took a while for the light to finally find her eyes, but when it finally forced its way into her eyelids, she opened them slowly and lifted her head. However, since her mind was not fully awake yet, she forgot where she was and wound up bumping her head on the log above her. She felt the shock of the impact drive down into her skull and lowered her head with a bitter curse.

"Dammit, that hurt," Lilly seethed with eyes pinched.

With a grimace she placed her paws on top of her head and gently nursed the afflicted area until the pain finally subsided.

Finally, the ache dulled and she lifted her head once more, though this time she exercised further caution and raised it slowly so as to avoid another incident, then began to worm her way out of the log and into the morning.

Finally, she freed herself from the log and slowly began to straighten herself out; but as soon as she began to press her body up into its proper, upright position, she winced, finding that her legs were rather stiff from being cooped up in that log all night.

With a groan, she muscled herself up off of the ground and once there, began to stretch her muscles. She rolled her shoulders and lifted her legs, then, once her preliminaries were completed, she turned her eyes out over the forest around her and took a moment to gather her bearings. She had been heading west, in the opposite direction from which she sun rose, so just as soon as she could locate the yellow ball of light, she could continue on her way and maybe find herself some breakfast.

It did not take her long to find the celestial entity which she sought, and once she acquainted herself once more with her proper direction of travel, she took in a deep breath of the crisp, morning air through the nose, then began to walk as she released it from her mouth.

She found with each day that passed, that she was liking this life of solitude more and more. Out here, she could do whatever she wanted without ever having to worry about what other people thought of her. There was nobody here to tell her to sit up straight, nobody trying to treat her like a child, and most of all, there was no longer a shadow in which to live. Out here, she was her own woman, not just the baby sister of the future pack leader, or the second prettiest wolf in the park.

Out here, she was finally somebody.

A small smile crept across her lips as this thought filled her mind, because for her entire life, she was ignored because of who she was, and to whom she was related, so she always felt like she did not really have a name, but now, the name Lilly meant something. Now Lilly was not just an omega, but a proud, beautiful woman, a force to not be trifled with. Now she would have respect from those she met, or she would beat it out of them. Her frail, little voice would know power, and for the first time her body would know strength.

Her smile broadened as she continued to walk, but faded into a look of steel when she saw the rabbit bound out into her path about ten yards before her.

"Perfect," she thought as she anxiously licked her chops anxiously and used her paw to sweep her fur off to the side of her face, out of her eyes.

She crouched low and began to creep up on the rabbit slowly with careful deliberation in where her paws fell so as to not alert it to her presence.

The rabbit, however, felt paranoia creep into its mind and straightened itself up so it sat on its hind paws. Lilly paused as its head cast glances all around, seeing its little nose twitching rapidly as it attempted to detect any other beings which could be a hazard to its survival, and waited, as she had grown to realize that rabbits were not incredibly intelligent creatures, and could be easily captured with the practice of patience. After about a minute, the rabbit lowered itself into its proper position once more and hopped three times before pausing once more to nibble on some blades of grass. Lilly saw this as her chance to move, and crept closer, pausing as she fell within five yards and running quickly through her pouncing technique.

"One," she whispered mentally, tensing her muscles.

"Two," she continued, flexing her shoulders.

"Three!"

With explosive force, she launched herself at the unsuspecting rabbit, closing the gap in mere seconds and leaping at it.

However, as she left her paws, she found that she had a competitor with the same idea. She yelled out, which drew the other wolf's attention to her, but there was no time to avoid the imminent collision, and before either of them realized what had happened, they slammed into each other and tumbled to the ground as the rabbit scurried into the bushes, escaping with its life.

There was a simultaneous "oof!" as the two struck each other followed a pair of soft groans as they finally came to rest on the ground, tangled up in a web of their own legs and tails.

"Gah, what the hell man?" Lilly asked bitterly as she sorely lifted her head and began to attempt to free herself from the strange wolf.

"I'm sorry," the brown wolf groaned as he untangled himself from her, "I didn't see you."

Lilly finally wriggled herself free and pulled herself to her haunches. Since she did not know this wolf, she made a point to sit so that she may keep a close eye on him.

"It's alright," she replied, breathlessly, though in the back of her mind she was still upset that he had cost her her breakfast, "you're not hurt, are you?"

The brown wolf shook his head.

"I'm fine," he replied as he dragged himself to his haunches as well, "what about you?"

Lilly frowned.

"I'm fine," she assured, "it just would have been nice to have that rabbit."

The brown wolf chuckled slightly.

"Yeah," he agreed, "I'm really sorry about that. If I had known you were there I would have let you have it."

"Don't worry about it," Lilly replied dismissively, "there'll be another one."

The brown wolf nodded and turned his eyes down to his paws as an awkward silence filled the air.

"Alright," Lilly began, finally casting the weight from the atmosphere, "well I guess I'd better be on my way."

The brown wolf nodded, but lifted his eyes quickly as he saw her rise to take her leave.

"Wait," he called, causing Lilly to pause as she rose to her paws and sit back down, "I never caught your name."

Lilly sighed and lowered her head slightly.

"Listen, pal," she began, turning her eyes up so they gazed into his once more, "I'm not really looking to make any friends out here, so if you could just let me go my way, I'll let you go yours, and we'll pretend that we never saw each other, okay?"

The brown wolf nodded and lowered his eyes.

"Alright," he replied flatly, a hint of disappointment evident in his tone, "I understand," he continued as he rose to his paws, "it was nice talking to you. Sorry again about the rabbit."

"No worries," Lilly replied indifferently, rising to her paws and watching as the brown wolf sulked away.

However, as she watched him, she felt a temporary resurrection of her former self and sighed, flattening her ears.

"Wait," she called, causing the wolf to pause and turn his head to her, "my name is Lilly."

The wolf smiled softly and turned around completely.

"I'm Collin," he said, moving toward her once more, "it's nice to meet you."

Lilly sat down and invited Collin to join her with a gesture of her paw.

Collin hesitated slightly, fearing treachery, but finally approached and sat himself down at a respectable distance before her.

Lilly did not know why, but even after everything that she had told herself, she just could not find it in her heart to be rude to somebody for no reason.

"So where ya from?" Lilly asked him, trying to strike up conversation.

Collin sighed, lowering his head.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said, lifting only his eyes to her before lowering them once more upon the completion of his sentence.

"Try me," Lilly encouraged with a soft smile.

Collin seemed hesitant to answer, but lifted his head and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm from a park to the south of here called White Forest," he began, "but there were... complications."

Lilly cocked her head.

"Complications?" she asked, now feeling slightly nervous.

He nodded.

"What kind of complications?" she questioned.

Collin sighed.

"If I told you, you would probably think I'm crazy," he replied shamefully.

"What happened?" Lilly persisted, inching back involuntarily.

"I was not exactly popular in my pack," Collin answered, "I have some... shall we say... mental problems, and had made some pretty powerful enemies because of this. Well one night, these mean wolves ripped my family to bits while they slept and then put it all on me. Since I'm not so good at remembering things, I could not defend myself and was banished. "

Lilly's eyes widened.

"You're lucky that they only banished you!" she said in disbelief, "back where I came from, they would have sentenced you to death!"

Collin smiled softly.

"Well, where are you from?" he asked, seeking to change the subject, "anywhere I may have heard of?"

"Jasper," Lilly replied, "back to the east of here."

Collin cocked his head, thinking on the name for a moment, but could not strike any familiarity with it.

"Huh- never heard of it," he said with a shrug, "but what reason would somebody like you have for being kicked out of their home?"

"What do you mean by that?" Lilly asked testily.

"Nothing," Collin replied quickly, "you just seem like too nice a wolf to have done anything bad."

Lilly sighed.

"I actually didn't do anything bad," she said to him, "I ran away."

"Oh," Collin said, lowering his eyes, "can I ask why?"

"I'd rather you didn't," Lilly replied with a sigh, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Collin said, dismissively, "I don't want to force you to tell me anything you aren't comfortable with saying."

A meager grin tugged at the corners of Lilly's mouth.

"Thank you for understanding," she thanked.

"It's no trouble at all," Collin said, causing Lilly to reply only with a curt nod.

Another silence ensued as the two pretended to take interest in the grass beneath their paws.

"So... where are you headed?" Collin asked slowly, daring his eyes to move toward hers once more and finally breaking the silence.

"Excuse me?" Lilly asked, lifting her head, as she had come in about half way into the question.

"Where are you headed?" Collin asked again with a hint of courage this time.

"Why?" Lilly asked him incredulously.

"Well... I have a idea," Collin said, feeling his confidence beginning to slip away from his grasp.

"What's that?" Lilly asked, apprehensively.

"Well, this may either seem like a good idea or completely crazy," Collin began, "but I was wondering... if you weren't planning on going anywhere exactly, if you would want to travel with me?"

Lilly was so shocked by the question that she found herself unable to speak for a moment. She could hear her new acquaintance rambling on softly as she considered the question, trying first to be sure that she had heard what she thought she had heard, then, upon realizing that she had indeed heard correctly, considering her options. She had never intended to pick a destination, or to even meet anybody. Her primary concern so far had been moving as far away from Jasper as possible and looking out for Number 1, but maybe tagging along wasn't such a bad idea. After all, two hunters meant double the success, and part of her felt like if she were to part ways with him, this would not be the last time they saw each other. Call it a hunch, but he seemed to have grown attached to her awfully quick.

"I mean, I know you don't know me, and we just met and all, but-"

"Collin."

"I mean I- um... yes?"

"I'll go with you," Lilly replied, diplomatically, "on the condition that you understand that a relationship is completely out of the question, and that just as soon as you make me feel uncomfortable with or threatened by you, I will leave, and realize that if you try anything funny, I will not hesitate to destroy you."

Collin smiled broadly despite himself and allowed the tip of his tail to wag quickly behind him.

"Great!" he exclaimed happily, leaping to his feet, causing the white she-wolf to jump back in alarm, "you don't have to worry about one thing! I'll-"

"Woah, woah," she said, surprised by his rather child-like reaction, "rule number two, if we travel together, we will carry ourselves in a calm, imperturbable, manner. Alright? There will be none of... this," she concluded, gesturing to his erratic behavior.

Collin allowed his tail to fall slack behind his body and planted himself on his haunches once more.

"Sorry," he apologized softly, lowering his head and flattening his ears.

"No worries," Lilly replied dismissively, "so where are we headed?"

Collin smiled and the tip of his tail began to beat the grass behind him once more.

"I was actually on my way up to Alaska," Collin continued, "you know, look for a fresh start in a place where nobody knows my name. See, I- I've got it all planned out, see," he spewed as his excitement began to rise again, "there's plenty of food and open space up there, and the- the best part is, I've heard tell that the wolves up there are much nicer than the ones are down here, oh yes. They'll be more happy to welcome us than these mean wolves down here will, you betcha."

Lilly nodded as she listened to him speak of his plans, and in this amount of time, it dawned on her that the "mental problem" he had spoken of earlier was likely to be a mild retardation, because he had spells where he acted and spoke like an overgrown pup. It did not always show, meaning that he had probably been taught by somebody, likely his parents, to control himself and present himself as a normal wolf, but she noticed that when he got excited, or spoke more than a sentence at a time, he had a limited vocabulary and strange speech pattern.

She looked at this in a bitter fashion at first, as she met it under the assumption that he would grow annoying pretty quick. It really bothered her whenever people did not act their age, but at the same time, she found that, if her theory was indeed true, it was kind of cute for innocence's sake; and at least, if he really was slow, she wouldn't have to worry about him attacking her. However, she knew that she would definitely have to speak less intricately to him, otherwise he might not understand her, and she did not like having to repeat herself.

She shook her thoughts away and allowed a smile to slide across her lips.

"I like it," she said, rising to her paws.

Collin smiled broadly and rose quickly to his paws.

"Great!" he replied exuberantly, his tail wagging quickly behind him.

Lilly nodded and rose to her paws as well.

"Well, lead the way," she said to him, looking to get a move on.

"Okay," Collin agreed with a nod and trotted around so he was in front of her.

Lilly chuckled softly to herself and followed him, then after she had travelled a few feet, she quickened her pace so she was walking at his side.

"I'm sorry I didn't say this before, but it's really nice to meet you, Collin," she said to him with a smile.

Collin turned to her with a smile as well.

"It's really nice to meet you too," he replied.