[Ethan}
That night I dreamt of a dark land. I didn't know where I was, nothing was familiar. Everything around me had turned to ash, the sky blackened with smoke. The only light came from small embers scattered around the place.
"In....die?" A charred body reached out to me and I flinched backwards as its burnt fingertips scraped my ankles. On its head was a small tuft of red hair.
"Denton?" I swallowed hard, hoping it wasn't who I thought it was.
"Why?" His burning hand grabbed a hold on my foot, and soon after, multiple hands and vaguely human shaped figures rose from the sea of ash.
"Why'd ya leave?"
"Was it worth it?"
"Must be nice, you suffered nothing."
The voices bounced in my head and left no room for my own thoughts. My heart felt heavy with guilt and the voices hissed at me once again.
"Ethan,"
The voices cleared, my tears leaving clean streaks of scarred skin on my ash covered body.
"Come here, love,"
I was blinded, the hands slipping away from my body like dead weights. And just as the last hand fell away from my arm, man reached up and took hold of my hands and feet.
"Come here, Ethan,"
The voice drifted away and I sunk down into the ground, desperately trying to dig and force my way upwards. "NO, PLEASE, GAUGE-!"
And once more, the Earth swallowed me whole.
"Ethan," voices whispered around me, my entire body going numb as I tried to open my eye. A light shone bright and blinded me, a sigh of relief escaped someone's lips.
"Jeez, can we have a day or two where you don't try to die on us?" Sage asked as he wheeled closer. Ace was the once directly next to me, and in-between the mess of my squad and some witches, I could see Denton sitting up and looking at me worriedly.
"I'm fine," I mumbled quietly, thought it was obvious that was a lie. My hands rubbed along my arms as to reassure myself I was safe, and the movement didn't go unnoticed by my squad. However, they didn't get the chance to say anything about it as Grand Witch Yashka pushed her way through the crowd to reach me.
"Then you are ready for today's list of things to do?" She leaned forward, a look that knew it all was plastered on her face. Of course I didn't admit weakness, that went against everything I had learned in the army.
~*~
Every minute I regretted my decision to go on with the plans, yet what was left of my pride and determination had me going through one more minute at a time.
A loud bang sounded off for the uncountable time in the last five hours, and once more, Terrace had a PTSD attack. He was shouting and taking cover from nothing behind a flipped wooden table. Hotch was comforting him and it seemed he was getting over his PTSD. With every bang, the mages put more and more distance between him and Hotch. In the beginning, Ace had to be sedated since he kept shifting to his Demon Dog.
From my understanding, a potion from the witches was given to him to be in a hyperrealistic simulation of everyday situations. The fact that weres have a survive and adapt ability eased a bit of my worries. I was proud of his progress, turning my gaze elsewhere.
Jess was having a hard time breathing, tears streaming down her face as a bright light coming out of her chest. She was put to running around the field. Witches and wizards were surrounding her, keeping the oxygen tank close by as they pushed her and forcefully mended her lungs and throat.
I winced as she collapsed on the ground, sobbing as she pushed herself to stand and keep at it.
Sage had it mostly easy. He was forced to do our usual training for the first two hours. Light radiated from every inch of his body, and the witches kept giving him potions. Then after those two hours, he had to spend the rest of the time dancing. It was a way to stretch out his muscles again, eventually becoming somewhat fluid as his wobbly movements would allow.
Kell didn't do much, she was just lying on the ground, crying in silence as she was in a hyperrealistic simulation as well. I had to stop myself from going towards her as she grimaced in pain.
Before I could spot Denton, the clear box I was in turned back to its original form. An infinite black box of mazes with dangers lurking behind every dead end. This was the third one I had to go through today, the first one took the longest as I had to learn to rely on all but senses of sight. It was difficult, especially since most of the dangers would leave you a hair widths away from certain death.
Another hour passed and the box went transparent once more as I reached the end of the maze. Everyone was in various stages of resting and talking through the results of their training, but I was more concerned with Denton. When I spotted him, it wasn't a scene I wanted to see. He had shifted to his large wolf, barely moving as signs of explosions littered the ground underneath him.
A few mages were crouched around him, another one rushing up whilst carrying a tub of clear liquid I assumed to be water. When I leaned forward to try and hear their words, the glass box disappeared again and fell to my forward from the lack of support.
"Denny!" My legs were a bit shaky from the injuries I sustained both overseas and the strange box, but I had enough energy to bring them to move me closer to the unmoving canine.
"Please stand back, he lost control several times bef-" I didn't wait for the mage to finish, kneeling down next to his massive head.
"Denny," At that moment, I saw his missing arm/leg was replaced by a metal appendage. It was in the exact shape as is wolf leg before the accident, a few leather straps with strange runes on it held it securely to his body. However, they seemed unnecessary with how flush the new leg looked on his stubby arm.
One second I was looking at his new limb, and in the next, I was pressed into the ground with a pair of solid black eyes pinning me under the weight of an angry beast.
I could feel my shock and surprise settle whilst panic flooded within the mages around me. Faintly, I heard the voice of Kell and Sage, feeling the stares of the rest of my squad.
"D-Denton?" I stared back with an unsure look, knowing it was Denton's demon dog in control. I rarely got to see this part of him, therefore having no knowledge in how to control the situation.
The great beast growled softly, his dry nose pressing against my neck. How was I supposed to react? At this vulnerable position, any wrong move could finally let me meet death rather than brush shoulders with him. When I turned my gaze away, his growls would intensify and would only calm down a bit when I would look back.
That's when it clicked.
He wasn't angry. If anything, he was scared and tired and in pain.
To test this theory out, I carefully and slowly moved my pinned arms from under his fur to gently rub his neck against his jaw. It was a movement that usually calmed him down when we were younger.
His growls turned to vague whimpers, his eyes melting from their solid black to an exhausted pair of pale and empty green eyes. All at once, Denton's body weight fell into of me as he leaned more into my touch, whimpering as I struggled to take full breaths. But as long as he was in a better mood, I didn't care if my chest would be crushed.
The weight changed and a naked, human Denton laid on my chest, cold metal pressing against my bare arm.
"I want to go home," He whispered quietly so only I could hear.
I am not sure what was it with that statement, but a flood of almost unbearable sadness, loneliness, and homesickness filled my hurting heart and lungs. I didn't realize I was crying until Denton wiped the tears away with the palm of his hand.
"Soon." Was the only thing I could manage to say, holding him close in a tight hug.
~*~
The darkness loomed overheard whilst I ran around in the surrounding forest. A few mages followed my every move, monitoring the information collected by the nodes attached to my body.
"His heart rate is increasing. Do we stop?" I could hear them talk behind me, and I quickly sidestepped an incoming tree.
"We are about to reach The Drop. We can stop there and collect the last information." I growled and pushed forward, lessening the strain to my eye by using my other senses.
"Mr. Patel, please slow down a few paces. The Drop is not that much further." I wheezed slightly as I filled my lungs and dropped my speed.
The darkness made it difficult to get a sense of perspective, and I found myself frequently stumbling and tripping over logs and holes.
But then moonlight filled the area, my eyes dilating painfully and quickly enough to blind me for a split second. I slowed down and brought my arms behind my head, standing up straight and tall to catch my breath.
"Ah, thank you," The three mages stepped down from an odd shaped hoverboard, the thing that kept only a few feet between us as I ran.
"You did phenomenal!" The girl smiled, standing before me and checking a glowing screen to read my vitals. "You almost sprained your ankle, are you alright?" Her brown eyes checked me from head to toe, tapping against my body every now and then.
"Hey, leave him alone. Let him breathe." Another mage pulled her away, taking the tablet like thing from her hands. "Let's just collect the info and take him back so he can shower and rest."
I gave a younger boy a thankful smile, pulling away slightly and cooling down my muscles.
~*~
"Alright, we are finished. Would you like a trip back or would you rather go on your own?" The third mage, seemingly the one in charge, gave me a small glance over and waited for my answer.
"I'd like a ride back," I admitted, carefully waving at him tiredly. They had been talking in seemingly a different language based on numbers, measuring every aspect of my body.
"Climb on and we'll be off." They hopped into the snake like hoverboard and helped me onto the back end.
The board hummed to life, the light illuminating the path ahead.
"I'm guessing you want to know what we found?" One of the mages asked me, sitting down next to me. I nodded quietly anxious to know anything about my wolf. "Your human body is healing quite well, your wolf form, not so much." I could feel the weight of the information weigh on my heart, an uncomfortable tightness wrapping around my lungs. "Better than when you first arrived, if that makes you feel any better...."
The breeze whizzing by my face left a bitter cold sensation pricking my skin like needles. The wolf counterpart - the beast form of any shifter - is extremely important to any were. To be without them is like having only half of your body working, a missing puzzle piece to a larger whole.
But at least he wasn't suffering from the aftershocks of the deployment, living in constant fear.... It was the first time my wolf was away from me and I didn't even know how to reconnect.
'One step at a time, Indie. You know patience brings fruitation.'
At least, that was what I kept telling myself to hold a bit of comfort.
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A bit longer, hope you like it
I swear it gets better, I know some of y'all are getting anxious to see where this all goes
I'll write a happier chapter next to lift up your spirits ;]
Any ideas of how the mates meet back up is highly appreciated and welcomed (I'm struggling a bit on that part tbh)
By the way, yes I'm aware that my works are unedited and have plenty of mistakes. Gets a bit annoying with the little "*" 😬
Anyway,
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Arrivederci =]
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