Noble could sense that Mylo and Daley were worried about his sudden weird behavior. Being the good friends they were, they didn't question it. They knew that Noble could be quite dramatic sometimes since he was his mother personality wise. They just walked on the fresh snow that had been falling on them for the duration of their little walk.
Noble's stomach felt somewhat weird, you could obviously point out. The feeling at the pit of his stomach kept busying his mind with unpleasant thoughts. First, it was the utmost feeling of dread. He could feel the pain of something. That something pushed his curiosity to the edge of the cliff of his mind, yet also his common sense pushed it back away from it. Sadly, he couldn't get rid of this feeling until he found himself leading his friends in front of the passage to the great wilderness.
"Noble?" Daley, a few feet away from him, grabbed his arm, snapping him out of his emotionless gaze in his grey eyes. His eyes never left the entrance to the unknown world beyond his reach. Noble was mentally frustrated. There was something calling out in help. He wanted to help so badly. He couldn't, because Noble's feet refused to move one step forward to call back out.
"NOBLE!" Noble felt lips land on his, and he instantly backed away. He wiped his lips from the disgusting touch of Mylo's lips while Mylo had smirked at his abrupt reaction. Mylo soon realized that Noble was just acting even stranger.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you? You've been all out it since the first of school." Mylo questioned Noble as Noble belittled under his best friends' gazes.
"N - noth - " Noble tried to answer, but was cut off.
"No, you're not giving us that B - S, so spill it, pumpkin before we force you to." Daley threatened.
"Y - You promise you won't think I'm crazy?" Noble stuttered, glancing back and forth between the two friends.
"Why would we think that?" Mylo asked before Daley had a chance.
"Well . . ." Noble paused, then continued, "Ever since this morning . . . I've been hearing things."
"What kind of things?" Daley questioned, getting a little too close to Noble's face for his own comfort.
"Well, I heard whimpers all third period, and then it got worse after school. I kept feeling like something bad was going to happen as I said before. I also heard a voice calling out for help, and well, I feel useless. It's not stopping, and I can't stand that I can't help in some way." Noble explained, "While we were taking our little walk here, my feet like I wasn't controlling them. Now, I'm here."
It was silent for a few minutes. Daley and Mylo kept staring at him, and Noble couldn't exactly pinpoint what they felt about his explanation that they most likely didn't believe one ounce of. Noble sighed, running his fingers through his light brown hair.
"Oh my god . . ." Daley cursed.
"What?"
"What's happening in that head of yours, Daley?"
"Noble, do you feel weird? Like, does your stomach feel like a heavyweight?" Daley asked, but before Noble could answer, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, grinning like a madman, "I guess if your face expression is giving off a 'yes', then it means your almost there to meeting your spirit."
"Y-You're not j-joking me, are you Daley?" Noble stuttered, not believing a word out f his best friend's mouth. His grey eyes widened when her smirk just grew as wide as his surprise.
"Congratulations, Buddy." Mylo grinned, slapping Noble on the back. It took all of Noble's willpower to not screech in pure happiness. He wasn't a Beast dud after all! He wasn't as useless as he thought he was! He had to run home to tell his family that he now was a Beast tamer - almost.
"Help," a little whisper pleaded silently. Noble suddenly snapped back into his emotionless state, staring at the front passage of the forest. It was like his feet wasn't in his control anymore. He friends gasped in surprise as their scrawny best friend darted into the white forest, no chance of stopping anytime soon. Noble needed to go. He could feel his friends chase him, but he didn't care. It was a spur of the moment situation, and well, Noble has never felt so a need so great ever since he watched his father walk out of his life for good.
**
Raja wasn't feeling quite normal today. From the moment he awoke from his deep, peaceful slumber, he knew something was going to happen. He didn't know if it was going to be good karma or bad karma for the day. At least he rested quite well last night but had an awful cramp in his hind leg. So relieve his poor leg from its pain, he stood up. Sadly, he made the mistake of cracking it, sending more pain coursing through his lower abdomen.
Ugh, why now when in good mood? Raja thought to himself, but he just brushed it off. He didn't think it would be such a big deal. He had cramps before, and nothing too bad turned against his favor. So, in the meantime, he decided to take a walk out into the snow.
Since those years ago when the last human had visited Raja, he couldn't help but chuckle about the stories the village down in the valley had made up about him. He was only fourteen at the time that incident happened, and he was the size of a normal tiger, yet he was so young. He could have sworn he was bigger than his father, from what he can remember. Looking back at those memories of his deceased family, he couldn't help but frown. There was no denying that he had missed them, and he hated how he was the last of his species alive. Of course, he didn't want to die off easily, so he took the motive to grow stronger each day, including his human form.
Raja was now nineteen, and three times the size of a normal tiger all because of his hard work. He ran each day to strengthen his legs, so he could catch prey faster. In his human form, he could sometimes watch villagers do these types of laying and sitting back up. After a while, he started to notice a change in his lower stomach. He was amazed to find that he had a "six pack" or what the villagers called it. Sometimes, he would trace his fingers across his hip bones and feel his muscles react.
Raja's alterations in his human form transferred over to his lion, and it became bigger than he could explain. He felt like he owned the mountain with the amount of strength he pushed himself towards. It showed when he hunted his prey, once a hard task turning into a play game to him. He glanced over to the rotting deer in the corner of the cave. He was forming an image of himself, and he damn sure didn't regret it. He would rather be the dangerous, mythical Snow Lion of the mountains instead of just another predator.
The mighty white beast of the mountain stepped out of his cave. Fresh snow landed on his pink nose, making him sneeze. Some snow blasted into the air as he sneezed, but Raja thought nothing of it. He just continued to take his daily walk around the woods, his home, for the morning. He licked his lips as he pasted the snow cover trees, and felt content for once in his while.
After an hour or so, Raja felt like he gone too far from the comfort of his cave. That foreign feeling of loneliness took over his senses. No, no, no, no, no, no He kept repeating in his head. his fur stood on end while his tail whipped around wildly. If he could cry, he would be bursting into big baby tears right about now. Somehow, he had forced himself to forget this feeling, that he was fine, yet it still came over him like an unwanted blanket.
Raja wanted to forget his family and the abandonment they made him feel for so long. The word "family" was something foreign to Raja now, and would probably still be for the rest of his life. For the last five years, he had been too little to no social interaction, and nature decided it was the time that the wall he built was to be fated to crash down. The snowstorm, the bad feeling he felt from when he opened his eyelids, roared at him, whipping his eardrums of their sensitive hearing. His ears, in turn, laid on his head in hopes that the sensation of the ringing in his ears would stop.
Help Raja cried out to no one. He had hoped it would catch someone's attention, but to no avail had it reached something - someone's ears. No one could hear his words since he was his true form, a lion. As much as he was powerful, nothing can go against the power of nature. Raja learned that the hard way, and it explained why he had a scar on his back. It started at his mane and stopped to his mid-side. He wasn't proud of it at all since it was self-inflicted.
He was thinking too much. He curled up into a ball in his position as snow swizzled pass him. He was shaking, but no of the cold. He was a proud Snow Lion. Why would be cold? In fact, why would he be scared? He was, he hated to admit to himself, scared out of mind. He was scared for weather. He was scared for his dead family. He was scared for himself.
All movements stopped when he felt a presence nearby. Raja lifted his head slightly, but he no vision inside the rough snowstorm brewing around him. His nuzzle was shielded by massive paws, but he felt a light touch pushing them away. His big blue eyes landed on something he didn't expect.
It was a villager.
It was a villager, the most beautiful he had ever seen. The boy was small compared to Raja, obviously, but he had some kind of heat emitting from him. His grey eyes stared directly into his blue eyes, light, almost, shining in his moon grey eyes. Raja felt like he could through the lion and straight into his soul. Raja almost huffed at how adorable his light brown, curly hair rested on his pale head. The sudden desire into taking in this boy rose in him like heat Raja had been so yearning for all of his life.
"I-I'm . . ." The boy coughed, his voice was raspy like he had been yelling. Instead of telling Raja what he felt, he showed great bravery by lifting his hands from his paws. Light, pale fingers ran through his mane, and Raja purred with no regret. The boy shot him a weak smile, not even intimidated by Raja's size. Had this boy not know what Raja was? It certainly had to if he were living in the village in the valley.
The boy had started petting the Snow Lion with gentle loving, to Raja's surprise. He showed no fear in the frightening beast he was daring to touch. Raja even surprised himself that he was actually responding to his touch. No human had made the move to become even feet close to him, yet this small, frail boy had more confidence than any other? Worry suddenly overtook the white lion when the boy started coughing more and more, trying to keep in his suffering. It even went to the point where the beautiful creature in front of Raja had started spitting blood into the snow.
Raja, in quick decision making, nudged the boy to his torso's direction. At first, the boy looked at the lion in a confused state but soon realized what the mountain guardian was asking for.
"Are you - " Cough, " - Sure?"
Raja nodded, nudging him with more power to pass his message on. Something clicked inside Raja, something familiar. The boy slipped on with ease while he held onto Raja's mane for balance. He also nuzzled his face into the grey fur of his mane, and Raja fought the urge to purr deep within his throat. Why was he acting like this? Did this boy mean something to Raja in a way he couldn't understand? Evidently, Raja roared into the snow-infested air as it echoed into the valley. No doubt that loud roar would reach too far ears.
Raja's main objective was to get this boy to safety. He decided on running down the mountain to the village he lived in, he assumed. He felt energy surge through his system as he rushed pass trees at a speed he had never thought he would successfully accomplish. As he rushed down the mountain, he swore he ran past two life forms he didn't recognize, and it confirmed when he heard two screams.
When he got a reasonable distance from the village, he slid the now unconscious boy from his back. his mouth was leaking blood. Raja didn't give a care in the world if his fur was stained with blood, all he wanted was this boy to be saved or at least live to see the light of another day. Changing into his human form, he easily picked the boy with beautiful grey eyes tightly in his tanned arms. Raja could see the difference between the two skin tones as the boys were extremely pale while Raja was mixed of light and tan.
Pull his fur hood over his head, Raja walked into the village, hoping he wouldn't cause too much attention. His tall frame would probably give him away, so he would have to make this quicker than he anticipated. He ran past villagers who gasped in surprise, but Raja continued forth. He found a big building and decided that this was reasonable to leave his boy at. Raja growled protectively, praying that he would soon be noticed and seen to. His tan thumb brushed across the boy's cheek, suddenly not wanting to leave him. Raja has never experienced so many emotions in one day like this before which freaked him out.
Raja felt lonely with each step away from his source of newfound heat, so he ran back to the god of a boy. He slipped off his white fur jacket and wrapped it around the sleeping boy. His scarf caught his eye, so he decided to grab it gently, pulling it away from the boy. He shivered from the loss of heat but snuggled into the jacket.
The fabric under Raja's tan fingers felt like silk. It was one of the softest things he had ever felt, first being the boy's face. At the bottom right corner of the scarf held a name, "No . . . ble?" Was that his name? Raja tried it out a few times out loud, and soon he felt like it was perfect for the boy. Raja wrapped the scarf around his neck like the boy had been wearing it and nuzzled the faze into the silk. Noble smelled of fine cinnamon, spicy yet sweetening. Perfect.
Raja jumped when a hand grabbed his muscular shoulder, "Hey, are you - "
Raja ran away, scared of what might happen next. His big blue eyes looked back at the boy named Noble, and he felt his heart pounding.
**
Noble's throat felt like he had screamed for hours, and the strange taste of metal ruined his tongue. He tried remembering the last twenty-four hours, yet it was all a blur to him. The light from the window in the room prevented Noble from opening his aching eyes. When he was able to, he was honest to himself. He felt like crap. His grey eyes repeatedly blinked until they were comfortable enough to stay open for more than two seconds. He started to lift himself up when he realized that he was in his own bedroom. A white fur coat was set to his side, and his hands were grasping them like it was his life support.
"Ah, so you're awake." A voice came through the doorway, and Noble jumped. When his grey eyes glanced to the stranger, he found it to be Daley with a bowl of steaming water and a towel.
"Oh . . ." Noble whispered, hugging the unknown jacket to him. He felt an odd, calm feeling being close to this fur coat.
"You know, you're crazy, right?" Daley said to Noble calmly while setting the warm, wet towel on his forehead, "Your mother found you at the school entrance passed out. She's been caring to your needs while you were out. She hasn't slept in three days, so I decided to look after you while she gets rid of those bags under her eyes."
"I've been out for three days?!" Noble gasped, panicking.
"Yeah, and we found you with that coat you're so protectively holding to your body," Daley responded, pointing to the white fur coat. Noble glanced at it and ran his fingers through the fur. The sensation felt familiar too. It felt comforting, protecting, "We were you thinking?"
"What?"
"Running into the forest like that!" She snapped, "Not to mention that a snowstorm prevented Mylo and me in finding you quickly. But like the goddesses and gods that listened to our prayers, you were returned to us." Daley sighed, her stress was like a thorn in her side, obvious and saddening.
"How did I get back here?" I asked, my voice was still hoarse.
"Some of the villagers said that a man, a very tall man returned you back here. They said that you were clinging to him very tightly. Creek found the same guy setting you down in front of the school like you were some piece of very valuable jewelry. He said that he covered you in his jacket, and I assume that he took your scarf. He seemed very fond of it," Daley giggled, " The last thing Creek told me that he caught a glimpse of the man's face. He had tanned skin like he had been bathing in sunlight, and his eyes were as blue as the ocean itself."
Okay, this is familiar. Noble thought to himself. Even though his blackout was a complete blur, he did always see a flash of blue, very bright blue, sometimes. It was mesmerizing, and Noble felt his cheeks turn a shade of red. Sighing, he pulled the white jacket over his face, blocking out any voices or light.
Who was he?