The Last Hope

Chapter 12~ Rae

"You need to promise me that you won't freak out when I tell you all this. I swear on my life that everything I say will be pure truth. And I also promise it's not a happy tale..." Aria held my gaze in the yellow light.
"I promise." I nod, and then bend down to look in the drawers for gauze. "Well, at risk of being redundant; you're a wolf."
"What!? You've got to be kidding!" I look at her and stick out my tongue.
"You're handling that fact really well." She stated with a smile.
"Well- it'd be pretty mental to try and deny it." I shrugged. "I kinda was one."
"Fair enough." She laughed, then stopped abruptly as I pulled out the scissors and gauze. "Um... you don't need to-" she started as she looked at the disinfectant then back at her arm, sizing up if it was worth it or not.
"What are you so afraid of? I'm just going to clean and wrap it." I teased. I reached out my hand so I could take a closer look, but she pulled away. You'll need to pour that stinging stuff on it..." She mumbled.
"Well, yeah, to make sure it doesn't get infected. Who knows where my other mouth has been." I tried to laugh. She tucked her arm behind her, shaking her head with a 'nuh uh'. I burst out laughing, having to brace myself on the counter. "You're acting like a child! Please just let me help!" I smiled. I don't know why I am laughing, or smiling. With what has just happened; I should feel scared, and panicking, and extremely confused, throwing questions at her rather than smiles and jokes. Something about being in a different form felt... right. I felt free, like I have never truly breathed, or seen a sunrise. It felt undeniably natural in hindsight.
"It will heal fine without the cleaner stuff..." She complained. "Alright; fine! Then lets at least just rinse it under warm water." I grabbed her good elbow and pulled her deeper into the bathroom towards the bath tub. As I brought the gently streaming shower head down closer to her arm she sat on the tub's edge, I asked; "So, you must be a werewolf too, or one of your brothers? Did you make me one? Obviously not by biting, I don't have any bite marks. I wouldn't have imagined you had so much awareness as a wolf, everyone would want to be 'infected' if they knew, probably." She laughed and shook her head at me. "Werewolf? No, no, nothing like that." She laughed again. "Man, you like to ramble on. No, it's something someone is born with. I did expect you would handle that part well; it's an amazing, releasing feeling. The thing I need you to be open minded about is your heritage..." She drifted off. It made me think why my parents never showed me this... "Can you tell me about your parents?" She asked, and I could see her wolf canines through her lips as she speaks. How have I never noticed that?
"My parents? Well, quiet, disciplined, strict, slightly distant... They would be gone for long periods of time throughout my childhood." I never had to seriously describe my parents before, but they don't sound very loving. Then again, I guess they weren't in many ways, or at least in conventional ways. "Why would they have hid this from me?" I asked as I patted her arm dry with a face cloth from one of the drawers.
"Because... I'm afraid they weren't your real parents." She said softly, though the words felt like sandpaper as my mind worked through its meaning.
"Excuse me?" I said slowly. "They're not human, like you and I, but also not shifters. OW! Ech- Rae, your grip." She winced. My eyes dropped down to her arm; my fingers were clenched into her wound. I gasped, dropping her arm immediately.
"I am so sorry!" I frowned.
"No, no, I don't blame you. This is going to be a lot to take in." She nodded.
"Going to?'" I asked, and she just lifted the right corner of her mouth in a humourless smile, almost apologetic. I took the bandage and wrapped it taught around her arm in silence as I thought the words over and over in my mind until I became more numb to them. "This must mean that we're not in a usual hostage situation, then?" We both laughed.
"Did it ever feel that way?" She asked me with a worry sunken deep in her tropical green eyes.
"Well, there was the time I was manhandled into a running van then drugged." We both didn't laugh, the memory far too fresh and painful to laugh at quite yet. "I'm sorry," I whispered as I tucked the end of the bandage under itself.
She wrapped her large hand around mine, leading me out of the bathroom and down the hall way. I expected to still see Abe and Axle in the kitchen, but I couldn't see them anywhere, but the glass door was left open, cool air streaming in, flowing through the color splatted curtain. Aria looked around the corner, but didn't seem surprised when they weren't here.
"They were here a couple minutes ago..." I looked into their unfinished soup, abandoned on the table. "Their meeting Nyx and Jasper." She stated, holding his chin while pacing. "Good. Things have moved forwards..." She looked up at me with a worried, stressed expression and finished; "Dramatically." She put her hand on my shoulder and led me into the living room, sitting me on the far side of the couch as she took the chair next to me. "Looks like I'm going to be the only one here to explain everything to you..." She took a breath as I looked at her curiously. "We will need to leave this cabin very soon, and get far away. You see, you are in danger, that's why we took you. There is a horrible creature from our world that is looking for you. It doesn't wish to kill you, and I won't let it touch you, I promise." She said strongly, placing her hand on my knee, while looking me straight in the eye to help me take this fact a little easier. "They took you and placed you in another home, with different parents. I don't know if they are human folk with altered memories, or working with the monster Dolofono. I am sorry to tell you, they aren't your birth parents."
She still held my gaze. I lost my breath, like the fact punched me in the gut. It would explain why they never showed me the power I hold. I just stuttered at her, wanting to say something; to deny it, to argue with her, to tell her she is lying, and to just stop winding my mind to twine. The only sounds I could make are breathy half words. "Look, Rae, that doesn't mean they didn't care for you. They have had you for nearly 16 years, no one can do that without developing some form of love." I blinked at a tear, "What proof do you have?" I asked, keeping a steady voice.
"I have none about the parents that raised you. I honestly didn't expect them to give you a new family. But I have proof of who your blood family is." She smiled slightly and softly, making my chest feel warmer. When I was younger, I always had thoughts and dreams that I was adopted, that's why my parents were so hard and distant feeling, because they didn't have that added maternal feeling. Those thoughts helped me, then I could forgive them, because they took me in, and loved me rather than bore me, and only half loved me; the two had different feelings to them. "Who is my birth family?" I asked.
"The two people Axle and Abe are meeting with." She smiled.
"So they're close?" I asked, surprised by my excitement.
"Yes, in a way. It doesn't take long to get there, but only by wolf." She grinned, and an image of Running through a mosey night, paws thumping to the ground, clawing at the earth as they hurled my body forwards. The adrenaline and excitement as I throw my head back in a howl. I grin back at her, as though the same picture floods through both of our minds. "When can I meet them? So I can judge for myself." I ask, letting a bit of doubt in my heart to protect it.
"In the morning. Tonight, we need to pack and rest." She stood, reaching for me to grab her hand.
"Pack? Will we not be coming back?" I ask as she pulls me from my seat.
"When you shifted, you released a surge of energy, because you spent so long without changing. Usually when a slider shifts for the first time, there's a slight surge to ether alert the parents, if they aren't right near the child at the time. The longer it takes for the first shift, the stronger the surge. Since you have spent 20 some years without shifting, you sent out a massive surge that non-human creatures in the state and beyond could have felt. This means if the FireWalkers were in the area, or someone who works with them, they now know where we are, and we need to go before they have a chance to get here." I nodded slowly, scaring myself more the more I think about it. She wraps her hands around mine, sensing my fear. We walked down the hallway and back into my room. She opens the trunk at the end of my bed and pulls out a small suit case. Flopping it on the bed, she opened it, to find some small toys inside. With a smile, she removes them, except one poorly made doll with tears on the seams, she tucks it back in after looking at it carefully, like the memory it holds is as fragile as spring ice. I pull out a large, old knitted sweater, a black T-shirt with a faded image on the front, and shorts that fall just below my knees. Aria walks to the left side of the bed; lifting the dress she got me from the stand where I hung it. She carefully folded it into the suit case.
"Will I ever see anyone from the life I had? I did have a life, with people who were important to me, and would like to see them again..." I asked. She stiffened; expression cold and distant as she looked away from me.
"You're talking about your boyfriend." She grumbled.
"Yes, but not only him. I had these two friends that were really close to me..." I smiled to myself as I remembered Auna and Alec.
"Were those the three people that charged at me from the crowd when..." She paused, not wanting to finish her sentence. I didn't remember Auna and Alec doing anything, but the fact they did didn't surprise me. I winced as I remembered Aria's large fist knocking Kota to the ground by his face...
"Kota did. I didn't see the other two, but most likely." I answered.
"I think they worked with the Dolofonos." She said bluntly, not looking at me. I offended her again. I reel back and punch the side of her ribcage, snapping her out of her daze and getting a sharp look.
"You can't just say that! If what you tell me is true, everything about my life couldn't have been lies! They are my friends because of what we have been through together, trusting and enjoying each other!" I yelled.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it so bluntly. Rae, did they confide in you about who they were?" She asked, more gentle now as she held her side. I gave her a confused look and she nodded to herself.
"They weren't human, Rae. The one is a warlock and the other two- I'm not quite sure." I stare at her, surprised. I knew about Kota, which is probably partly why I am so accepting of what she has told me so far.
"How would you know? You've never met them!" I exclaimed.
"When you are near a creature in this world, they give off slight surges that you can feel if you also have ties to it. Every creature has a distinct sensation they give off. My brothers and I all felt them." She let out a yawn. I didn't reply to any of this. There were things they said that never made much sense to me, maybe they assumed I could feel what Aria can feel, and thought I just knew. They aren't spies, though. Aria stepped towards me, a gleam in her eye. "You're so beautiful. I have missed you so much..." She mumbled before wrapping her arms around me. I blush, standing there shocked. It suddenly occurred to me that Aria, Axle and Abe's relation to Echo-er- me, weren't revealed to me yet.
"Aria, who were we? You must have known my family, if you're saying things like you have been." I pull back and look at her face. She gives me a weak smile.
"Our parents were best of friends. We all lived in this cabin they built. You and I were... very close." She explained. I tucked my hand into my back pocket, pulling out the photo of the two children on the swing. Suddenly, every muscle in my body tensed, my head fell back, my eyes open as wide as they could as memories flooded over my vision, and I felt like I couldn't keep track of them all. Running through trees, playing with children my age; my siblings, being tucked in with a kiss on my forehead from both my parents every night, a massive camera in in my small hands as I preserve what I can see. The wooden swing at the cliff edge, every morning with Aria, a mature, passionate love like I have never felt before, the kind that makes your heart swell. They are my family, there was a fire, danger...

I blink, seeing the fabric of the canvas that lays overtop my bed. I sit up as fast as I could, my eyes flashing around the room trying to orientate myself. I find Aria sitting next to me on the bed, wide-eyed and concerned.
"Nyx." I mumbled.
"What?" She asked.
"Amnon." I smiled as big as I could. Aria looked at me, more confused than I was earlier.
"Are you okay? You gasped, and fell over. You couldn't hear me, and you're eyes kept darting and rolling back. You kept mumbling things I couldn't understand..." She spat out quickly, stumbling on her words. All I could do was look at her, Aria, from all those lost memories. I whipped my head away from her and looked at the dresser. I jumped at it, a little unsteady on my feet. I yanked the drawer open and flashed through as many pictures as I could, the memories as fresh as if they were yesterday, printed onto pieces of liniment. I look at her, eyes wide and enthusiastic.
"I remember, Ari. I remember it all!" I exclaimed.
"What? What do you remember?" She moved over the bed to be closer to where I was.
"My siblings! My parents! Your parents! All of these moments!" I gestured to the cluster of photographs in my hands. "I remember you, Aria! My Ari!" I drop everything in my hands and rush towards her, feeling the years I've been gone, wrapping my arms around her neck and tackling her to the bed laughing. All my years of not fitting in in school, detached from my family are coloured in a whole new light. I was taken and waiting to come home. "When I looked at the picture, I remembered everything! The last thing I remember is mom telling us to run. I didn't know why, but they seemed really scared, so we ran to the shed, but I don't remember reaching it." Suddenly I got extremely worried, especially at the cut-off of memories, then now being back here, after being taken. "What all happened?" I tensed.
"Rae-" She started.
"Echo." I corrected with a smile. She looked at me, happy, then something far stronger than happiness. She pulled me tight and held me, when I felt my neck was wet, I realized she had been crying. I put her face into my hand and looked at her in the eye, wiping a fallen tear with my thumb as I whispered "I have missed you, Ari." letting a tear fall as well. She slipped her hand behind my neck, cradling the base of my head as she pulled our lips together. I could feel the leap of her heart, realizing how much she had wanted to kiss me ever since she found me. I pull back for a breath gasping out an apology; "I am so sorry for how I treated you, Aria, something happened to my memories, I..." She cut me off with another gentle, strong kiss. I melted into her, holding her close, and her holding me closer as we drifted to sleep together.