Previously: secret reduced echos time to 1 week(currently 5 days). frosts reaction made her furios and she refused to speak to her, at least very much.

echo woke up with 5 days left and glared over at frost, who met her gaze, raising her eyebrows to say 'what?' she glared and turned away, absentmindedly flipping thru he journal. still to angry she threw it down and held her ankle, glaring at the mark. what did it mean?! was it maybe not bad? the lions thought so, but they she didn't know about them either. they weren't trying to kill her, but in the place of the wolves they probably would. 

what would happen if she changed? it depended on who she believed. altho really the lions hadn't told her much, so all she had to go on were the wolves. and she believed them. she still wasn't speaking to frost. and if frost wasn't taking her exploring, she would literally waste a fifth of the life she had left. but also she was furios. so no. she sighed and looked back into her corner. an hour or two later secret cae in, interrupting her thoughts. secret greeted her by sniffing noses.

"you smell like lions. why?"

"i was patroling the border and met one, we had a standoff. we didn't get into any actual fighting luckily, but we were nose to nose, did some postruing and she baited me, pretended to attack and stuff. i wasn't really able to do anything."

"alright. they didn't come on our territory?" frost looked down awkwardly.

"i... er, i may have uhh gone on their when i got frustrated." secret frowned down at her.

"that was weakness. they could have killed you for it."

"i know. it wont happen again."

"see that it doesn't." echo turned back into herself.

"stop moping. you can do something you know." frost stood over her, so she stood up, grabbed her stuff, and went to a different corner. frost followed.

"or dont. its only a fifth of your life you're wasting."

"d you want me to talk to yo?"

"yeah, sure."

"ok, then get this, i hate you, you cant be bothered with anything other than your stupid pack and you cant understand me." she glared at frost, who shrugged. it infuriated her. frost was totally unfazed.

"no. i think i understand you, you wanted to do something with the rest of your life. I'm offering to take you to do something."

"i would rather stay here then be with you."

"ok. your problem, not mine." frost pointedly smiled at her and left. she was incredibly close to attacking her. didn't she get that echo wanted her to react? to be angry or upset or actually care at all that echo was angry? if frost turned into a wolf and threatened to bite her itwould be better then just not caring. wait, she was doing it on purpose. frost never smiled like she had when she left, she was just proving a point. well, echo could to. she would show frost that she didn't care either. so she smoothed over her enraged face and returned to her corner, now focused on appearing...what? content? no. happy? certainly not. apethetic? no, she wasn't frost. sad? exactly what she was trying to avoid. angry? also avoiding. her face ended up confused. well, it wasn't good or bad per say, so she stuck with it.

she spent the entire day ignoring frost, and frost had absolutely no reaction. why? they were friends, frost used to care, have emotions, in fact 6 months ago she did. but now she was more dominate and structured and... alpha like. she was changing, just like she had said, so that she would have to be bound soon. echo wanted old frost back, who laughed and smiled and was sad and afraid and lonely. the frost who knew her and how to understand her, not the stranger who didn't even care she was dying in less than a week. she turned away, hiding her face and the tears slowly falling as she remembered her frost.

the special smile frost had whenever echo was excited and free, when she was out in a meadow running from flower to flower in wonder, or when she was talking about magic and her frost said her eyes lit up like the full moon, and she had never seen anyone else do that. frost had only smiled like that once in the past month(halfway thru last month, not the beginning of the marked month). her frost had been ready to fight anything to the death if it hurt echo, when galaxy accidentally made her cry over something probably stupid, or when bullies pulled her hair, or even when a mosquito bit her. and now when echos life was on the line frost wouldn't lift a finger. and they had shared everything with each other, never lied or kept anything from one another. of course, it turned out frost was keeping the biggest secret of all time from her. and how frost would always take hold of her dreams and give them wind, tell her she could do anything, everything was possible except magic. when she was little and wanted to be an astronaut, then a princess, then a pirate, then a fairy, frost told her to go for it. except for fairies, she told her fairies weren't real. and how happy she was when they became freinds.

a girl was sitting alone at a full table, she had been trying to bark at other kids. they were calling her names.

"weirdo, doggy girl!"

"frost has dog breath!"

"she thinks shes a doggy!" the girl sat with her platinum blonde hair hiding her face, ashamed.

"of course I'm not a dog. I'm a wolf! or i will be someday!" everybody laughed, but not echo. she ran over and sat by her.

"hi, I'm echo, whats your name?"

"wolf girl!" a random little boy sneered from the next table.

"I'm frost. who are you?"

"echo, do you want to be friends?" 

"yeah!" galaxy walked over.

"hey, echo- whos that?"

"wolf girl!" galaxy stared at her and their eyes connected, fyre between them.

"This is frost, my new friend!" they broke apart, and galaxy smiled, as if it was hard.

"that's wonderful, echo, but i needed to tell you that acacia wants to talk, so i have to sit with him."

"i do?" frost glared over at a brown-haired boy, a year older than them. she nodded.

they had been 6 at the time, ever since then frost had loved her like a stray dog taken in and saved. she and galaxy never got along, and echo never understood why. and her frost was a warrior, she was always strong and brave and loyal. echo could always fall back on her to support her. but no, not anymore. the new frost had yanked it away and now she was falling and couldn't see the bottom. or maybe she could and it scared her so much she pretended not to. where was her frost now? the pack's frost didn't care about her, or how she felt, or about feeling things at all. was there any way to get back her frost? 

what if frost was thinking something like that about her? no, she wouldn't go there. she couldn't fathom the new frost. she turned back to her awkward confused look and bravely faced the cave again, unaware of a solitary tear on her cheek. frost was aware. for a split second, she looked concerned, but she turned away and back to her cold stoniness instantly. echo sighed. that was how it was to be now. the new frost wasn't her friend, no matter what she claimed. friends looked out for each other. but then, the pack was her family. and shouldn't her loyalty lye with her family first, then her friend? but this wasn't the same. echos life was on the line, and even if frost couldn't stop it, she could try. but then, if echo changed frosts family was on the line and echo was miserable forever.

but she could at least care. she could at least say that even tho she didn't know what echo was going thru she knew it must be awful and she felt bad for her. she could at least say she cared. but she didn't. she wasn't frost anymore, the only reason she would ever help her was if it would be good for her pack. but did she really want to die hating her best friend? no, but her friend was dead, replaced by this wolf. and the wolf wasn't her friend, she hated it. 

she went to sleep, and the next day she spent also thinking about the past. what if she had taken the bus home, or walked a different route so she didn't trip? what if frost had told her before and maybe they could have kept her herself? the fourth day she thought. and then she went to sleep. and the third day, she wondered if she could save her frost, if frost was still somewhere inside with special smiles and full of memories. and she sleept. and the second to last day, she wondered who new frost was, and if she was sort of her frost. and then she sleept, and woke up on the last day.