Most of the terror dogs have abandoned Strach, unwilling to face Gray Wolf's wrath after their attempts to stop the Searchers went so horribly wrong. Still, he hopes that the information he's brought will be enough to pique his interest instead. It doesn't; Gray Wolf only cares about the fact that his brother is on his way, and that isn't enough to save Strach from his wrath.
As they move towards their inevitable reunion, both Tiger and Gray Wolf reflect upon the past, before the latter launches a deadly trap, setting off an avalanche that separates the Searchers: Golem saves Genki and Holly, but Suezo, Mocchi and Hare are swept away, and Tiger rushes down the cliffside to help dig them out. Gray Wolf and his cabalos then pay a visit to the latter group, 'convincing' Tiger to join them for a pleasant walk and a chance to catch up... in exchange for leaving the rest of the rebels alone.
Once the rest of the rebels reunite, Golem suggests that Holly try using the Magic Stone to help them track down Tiger. It works — but even as they're rushing after them, the brothers get into an increasingly vicious argument that soon comes to blows. Gray Wolf gets the upper hand, but drags the fight out long enough for the other Searchers to arrive. Still, Tiger is clearly on the ropes, only managing to turn the tables at the last possible second by stabbing him with both horns through the chest — and the crest of Muu that rests there.
The cabalos immediately clear out, abandoning their dying 'master'. Hare rushes to Tiger's side and tries to mend Gray Wolf's wounds, but it's a losing battle, only buying the siblings enough time to say their farewells before he succumbs, becoming a lost disc.
The loss does not go completely unnoticed by Muu, either... though he only takes note of it in passing, having noticed how something tried to prevent it. But he hardly cares about the silver wolf's fate, particularly as Captain Weed brings news that they've found what they've been searching for...
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Aloof Big Brother: Deconstructed. Tiger treated Gray Wolf this way in order to encourage him to toughen up rather than relying too much upon him. This left Gray Wolf feeling stuck in his shadow and desperate for his approval, and Muu twisted that into outright hatred.
- Anger Born of Worry:
- Tiger reacts poorly to his brother securing breakfast in one Flashback due to this.
- Implied with Hare after Tiger departs with Gray Wolf; when he explains the situation to Mocchi and Suezo, he quickly falls into furiously muttering under his breath while the heat roiling off his body grows stronger.
- Angrish: Suezo falls into this when Hare and Mocchi attempt to roll his 'unconscious' body towards safer ground.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Tiger insists that he only ever wanted his brother and their packmates to become strong enough to survive, Gray Wolf demands "Then why does everyone around you keep dying?"
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Suezo wants Hare to use the Tear to warm the air up so that he doesn't have to deal with snowflakes getting into his eye. Though Hare rejects the idea, he ends up doing so anyway... after he, Suezo and Mocchi are nearly killed by an avalanche.
- Big Damn Heroes: Golem sweeps in with his Cyclone to stop one of the cabalos from attacking the already downed Tiger.
- Bittersweet Ending: Verging on an outright downer. Tiger of the Wind survives his duel with Gray Wolf, despite being seriously injured... but fatally wounds his brother in the process. Hare's best efforts only give Gray Wolf the chance to die as himself after sharing a few final words. Making matters worse, Muu senses his demise, but doesn't even particularly care about it, far more focused on advancing his plans elsewhere.
- Book Ends:
- The first and final scenes focus on two different antagonists: Gray Wolf and Muu. Both are dismissive of recent developments, as Gray Wolf blows off Strach's warning about the Searchers, and Muu doesn't care about another of his elite commanders falling.
- Strach was abandoned by most of his pack, something Gray Wolf shows No Sympathy for. After he's fatally wounded during the climax, the cabalos abandon Gray Wolf as well.
- Call-Back: Golem's plan to find Tiger is inspired by how Holly told them that her pendant reacted to him before. Hare, who wasn't present for the Internal Reveal, naturally wonders what he's talking about.
- Cassandra Truth: Strach recognizes how unlikely his tale about what happened to his pack while encountering the rebels sounds, but still shares that information with Gray Wolf, desperate to be believed.
- Curse Cut Short: Gray Wolf cuts Hare off before he can finish describing what he sees Muu's version of events as.
- Decapitated Army: Once Gray Wolf falls, the cabalos retreat rather than continuing the battle. Downplayed slightly in that Tiger hears at least one of them attempting to continue the fight, but being rebuffed.
- Dying as Yourself: Thanks to Tiger shattering his crest, Gray Wolf regains enough of his former personality to bid his brother goodbye without it being tainted by Muu's influence.
- Foreshadowing:
- Suezo wonders why the Magic Stone previously reacted to both Tiger and Hare. While he muses that the Tear provides a potential explanation for the latter, his theorizing about why it reacted to the wolf gets derailed before he reaches any real conclusions.
- When Holly uses the Magic Stone to try and track down Tiger, it cycles through various colors — red, pink, gold, silver and finally blue, with the arrow manifesting early and jerking around oddly throughout the process.
- Tiger briefly thinks that he noticed some kind of spark in Hare's eyes while he's shielding the unconscious Mocchi with his body, but dismisses it as a trick of the light. Another flicker occurs when the Searchers catch up with the pack and see that Tiger's been badly injured.
- Sensing the attempt to magically mend Gray Wolf's wounds causes an ancient rage to briefly stir inside Muu, though he ultimately dismisses this as unimportant.
- Gone Horribly Right: Tiger's main goal was to ensure Gray Wolf was strong enough to survive without him. Gray got stronger, alright... as one of Muu's elite generals.
- Heal It With Fire: Hare's healing magic takes the form of flames; it's explicitly noted that he cauterizes Gray Wolf's wounds, and the scent causes Tiger to reflexively react defensively.
- Heroic BSoD: Downplayed; when Hare attempts to heal Gray Wolf, tears start slipping down his face without him realizing it, signaling to Tiger that it's not going well. After Gray Wolf's death, he stares blankly at his lost disc for a bit before belatedly trying to tend to Tiger, then stumbling back to the others when he's rebuffed. It takes Mocchi asking him not to cry for him to realize he was shedding tears in the first place.
- Heroic Resolve: Tiger finds the strength to deal the deciding blow to his brother upon hearing the other Searchers calling out to him, realizing that they'll still be in danger after he falls.
- Hope Spot: Hare tends to Gray Wolf's wounds, but only succeeds in buying him enough time to bid his brother farewell before dying as himself.
- I Hate Past Me: Reflecting on past memories, Gray Wolf notes that he shares his brother's supposed distaste for his younger self, seeing him as far too naive and desperate for approval.
- In Spite of a Nail: Tiger scores the fatal blow against his brother in much the same way, though both of his horns sink into his sibling's chest.
- Internal Reveal: Hare wasn't present when Holly explained about the Magic Stone previously reacting to Tiger and himself, and learns about it here.
- More than Mind Control: Discussed; Following Gray Wolf's accusations, Hare suggests that he might want to believe that Tiger traded him away in order to make his anger more justifiable. He further theorizes that Muu tells at least some of his followers whatever they want to hear, such as providing Pixie and Big Blue with the chance for Revenge upon the humans who enslaved them.
- Mundane Utility: Suezo bugs Hare to use the Tear simply to make their passage through the snowy mountains a little more comfortable by heating the air around him. Hare rejects the idea at first, but later does so, channeling warmth into a rock for him and his companions to rest against.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Muu senses when Gray Wolf's connection to him is forcibly severed, though he doesn't particularly care about the loss. He's somewhat more intrigued by how he also senses the effort made to try and save him, despite dismissing it as useless.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Shattering the sigil on Gray Wolf's chest cut off his connection to Muu's corruptive power. However, the sudden absence of the strength that provided left him unable to recover from his injuries, particularly since Tiger also stabbed into his chest at the same time, with the crest only blocking one of his horns. Hare's healing isn't able to compensate enough to save him; what's worse, Muu senses the attempt.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Rather than finishing his brother off immediately once he's got him at his mercy, Gray Wolf drags things out long enough for the rest of the Searchers to arrive, giving Tiger enough Heroic Resolve for one last counterattack.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: Hare's response when Suezo is pestering him to heat things up.
- Poor Communication Kills: Knowing how harsh their lives were and that chances were high that he wouldn't always be around to help, Tiger used Tough Love in hopes of making Gray Wolf stronger. Unfortunately, Gray misinterpreted this as his big brother disliking him, with Muu eventually exploiting those insecurities to his own ends.
- In one Flashback, Tiger rejects Gray Wolf's suggestion that they find a shortcut since he doesn't want to waste time, especially since he can tell his brother is already struggling. He doesn't explain any of this to Gray, leaving him to conclude Tiger simply dismissed the idea because he had it.
- In another, Tiger's Anger Born of Worry leaves Gray convinced that he didn't appreciate his breakfast plans at all, or what he did to secure their meal.
- Power Incontinence: Downplayed; Hare gets so caught up in muttering about Tiger's Senseless Sacrifice that he warms the air around him and the rock he's sitting on more than he intends to.
- Psychological Projection: Gray Wolf suggests that Tiger rejected Muu's offer to join him out of fear that he'd wind up stuck in somebody else's shadow. Much like how Gray Wolf himself felt overshadowed by his brother.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Hare's frantic whispers swiftly descend into this after the avalanche, as he tries to dig the others out.
- Running Gag Stumbles: Downplayed; Suezo clearly expects Golem to suggest throwing him into the air to search for Tiger, which generally doesn't work out well for Suezo, and is mentally bracing himself for it... only to be taken aback when he suggests that Holly try using the Magic Stone instead.
- Sadistic Choice: Gray generously offers Tiger the chance to choose which out of three of his companions he'll sacrifice to him and his cabalos in exchange for his own safety. Tiger offers himself instead.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Most of the terror dogs outright abandoned Strach rather than return to report their failure to Gray Wolf. The cabalos do the same after Gray Wolf falls, though some seem more conflicted about this than others.
- Tempting Fate:
- Lampshaded; when Genki announces that he's "Got a good feeling 'bout today, gang!", Tiger notes that he apparently hasn't learned about avoiding this.
- As their fight begins, Tiger silently observes that the way that the way Gray Wolf's eyes have changed makes it slightly easier to face him, as he doesn't recognize them as his brother's eyes. They shift back to normal shortly before Gray Wolf passes on.
- Villain Opening Scene: Begins with Strach and two other members of his pack reporting back to Gray Wolf, the rest having abandoned them along the way.
- Villains Never Lie: Sarcastically referenced by Hare while he's ranting about Muu's blatant manipulation of Gray Wolf.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: When he was younger, Gray Wolf sought to earn Tiger's approval with several of his schemes, such as breaking into a butcher's shop overnight to steal some sausages. That plan's success failed to score any points with his big brother, much to Gray Wolf's confusion.
- Windows of the Soul: Under Muu's influence, Gray Wolf's eyes have changed from deep blue irises well suited for making Puppy-Dog Eyes to icy blue sclera with thin black pupils. Tiger specifically notes that this shift makes it slightly easier for him to face his brother, since they no longer resemble the eyes he remembers. After Muu's crest is broken, his eyes revert to their former appearance.
- Wrong Assumption:
- Strach assumes that the Searchers must have been relying upon Hare's hidden powers the whole time, claiming that explains how they've made it as far as they have. In reality, they only learned about them after the terror dogs did.
- Along similar lines, Muu muses that the most likely explanation for what he sensed is that Holly did something with the Magic Stone.
