Jazzy - In the Shadows

Wolf swallowed. He sat back against the hay, and watched. Tony still didn't stir. With a hard flash of pain and energy, he felt himself instantly change. His teeth became normal, his eyes changed back to his regular sight, and his mouth realigned again. As if someone was pulling on him, he came back to his reality. It made Wolf feel almost that his animal side knew - it realized - even it had gone too far.

The instant change wouldn't go without a side effect, and a painful one for that matter. His legs grew numb and his stomach twisted; he clutched his side. The agony of the pain was twenty times worse than his normal cramps. As before, he had never changed so rapidly, but at least this time his animal side wasn't fighting.

He felt nauseous. The barn started to spin, the hay felt like daggers against where he had pressed his hand for support. Everything was spinning so quickly. He shut his eyes in a desperate attempt to regain his composure. The pain from the change and the fatigue he felt made him sway. As hard as he tried against it, he still blacked out and fell back onto the hay.

Someone screamed. That's all he heard. His eyes flew open and he sat up. Instantly regretting that quick move, his gripped his head and tried to rid himself of an awful headache that throbbed in his mind. He felt like he was hung over; he couldn't remember anything and he was nauseous again. The scream. He suddenly remembered hearing a scream.

"Oh no," he mumbled quietly to himself. The full moon. The full moon is up! "Oh, cripes!" he said, a little louder. As the words left his mouth, his headache grew and he winced away. It hurt to talk. His mouth hurt horribly, especially his jaw and teeth. He rubbed them as he caught a glimpse around.

The full moon is up? he thought again. But how can that be? He felt really strange. He had never been himself to actually see the moon, except for when he was a little cub. Through a broken board in the loft he could see outside to it. It was beautiful, but it wasn't calling to him. He felt joy, but then guilt. For some reason, he felt guilty. Wolf didn't want to know the reason why.

A hay loft? he thought curiously as he glanced around. How did I get here? Wolf looked around the hay and finally down to the ground. He saw a girl leaning over Tony, muttering and whispering, shaking him a little as she spoke. As if ice cold water was being poured onto him, he hazily remembered Tony falling to the ground, and the girl hitting him, with an ... axe.

Sure enough, as if his dreams had come to life, Wolf looked at his bruised and bloody arm. It wasn't a dream he'd had; it was a horrible nightmare that had come true. Wolf touched it, and instantly winced away; it throbbed and stung, just as his head still felt.

He made his way to stand, but fell back. His legs were weak. He tried again, this time with better success. Hanging on the beams above him, he made his way to the ladder and carefully walked over the side and onto the first step. Samantha glanced up to where Wolf was and did a double take. She stood up and stood over Tony.

"Stop right there, Wolf. Just leave us alone. You've already done enough." Her voice was thick and she sounded like she was about to break down. The events of the night were catching up to her and she couldn't take much more.

"No," he replied weakly. He had to convince her it was the real Wolf. He tried to get more out of his mouth, but nothing would come. His throat hurt terribly. His whole body ached and what made things worse was knowing that Tony's probably did too. He started to come down the ladder, slow but sure, step by step.

Samantha went back over to Tony in a hurry, trying to wake him as fast as possible. Wolf saw it, and felt worse. They were afraid of him. He hated when people ran away at the sight of him and feared of the times he changed. He didn't really want to know what he did that was so bad. He was afraid of what he might do to himself if he did.

"Stop." He sounded raspy and dry, it wasn't a demand, it was a plea.

"What?" Samantha asked, completely confused, as she watched him descend the last few stairs and onto the ground. He had to hold himself up by the ladder, worried that if he let go, his legs would give out. He looked horrible. His hair was a complete mess, his clothes were covered in mud and hay and he had deep bags under his eyes. His eyes. Samantha noticed. They weren't full of rage and anger; they were warm and soft. The same eyes she'd seen when he'd entered the village, except much more tired.

"Please," he got out with a gasp. He grabbed his side again as another wave of pain flew over him. "I won't hurt you." He knew that was what she was worried about, and so tried to convince her of it.

"How do I know you're not lying? The moon is still up," Samantha asked.

"You don't, you'll have to trust me." Wolf brought his hand up and rubbed his mouth gently, it hurt so badly. He wanted to lie down and go to sleep, but knew he couldn't.

Samantha hesitated. She thought that perhaps it was just a trick for her to come over there and then he'd grab her. But, every time she'd have a doubt, she'd think about the difference in his eyes. He was right; she'd have to trust him.

When she started to move over to Wolf, she heard a groan from behind her. Tony was waking up! She paused, went back over to Tony, and helped him sit up.

"Are you all right, Tony?" she asked.

Tony rubbed his head, front and back, and opened his eyes. As he focused his eyes flew open as he caught sight of Wolf.

"Whoa! Samantha, come on!" He tried to stand, but the same ailment that held Wolf had him too. His legs gave out before he got halfway up and he came back to the floor by Samantha. "Ooh, my back." He slumped back to the ground and huddled back over to Samantha as he saw Wolf watching him. He was like a little child, scared of the bogeyman in its closet. Afraid it would come and take him away. Wolf swallowed again as he felt the pain in his heart returning again. Seeing Tony frightened of him hurt him more than the moon could ever do. For once, he was extremely happy that Virginia wasn't there.

"No Tony, I think it's okay," Samantha said calmly. For the first time since Tony awoke, he turned away from Wolf and over to Samantha. She nodded and gave him a small, confident smile. He looked at her, completely confused, and then turned his attention back to Wolf.

Wolf was in worse shape than before. He needed to sleep. He was totally relying on the ladder for support and was practically asleep on his feet. Trying to prevent blacking out again, he kept shifting his weight on his feet, thinking that if he kept moving, he wouldn't slip into unconciousness.

"Are you sure?" He heard Tony ask Samantha quietly. She nodded as a response. With much help from Samantha, he stood and hobbled slowly over to Wolf.

"Wolf?" he asked.

Wolf opened his half-closed eyes fully and smiled at Tony. "Hey Tone," he replied weakly. With that, Wolf groaned and fell forward. He was caught just in time before hitting the floor by Tony and Samantha. They pulled him over to the pile of hay in the middle of the barn and let him sleep. There would be time to talk in the morning about what had happened. Samantha and Tony finished cleaning Wolf's arm just as the sun began to rise. A day they could continue their journey, but also remembrance of another day lost.