The Unified Soul

Ears and Tails

It had several hours, the next day arrived quickly, and slowly the pain from Aphmau's transformation was getting easier to handle. But of course, it wasn't just Aphmau who was feeling the pain from her werewolf transformation.

Airis had been biting her tongue to take in the pain so that her mother would be spared from the worst of it. Even so, no matter how much magic she contained within her little body, Airis still couldn't take it all away from Aphmau. It hurt her so much, both physically and mentally to take in that pain, but she did what she had to for her mother's sake.

The three slept in the same bed, comforting each other throughout this experience. When the day began, Aaron sat up in bed, stirring Airis from her slumber.

"Aph, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Hungry.." Aphmau replied weakly.

"I'll make you something to eat. Airis, wanna help?"

Airis nodded and yawned, following her father to the kitchen to help him cook something for breakfast.

"She seems to be better than last night." Aaron said, "Hopefully the pain is starting to subside."

"Mama's a strong woman, Papa. She'll get through this." Airis added.

"I know, Airis.... I just want her pain to end soon."

As the two continued cooking, the sounds of staggered footsteps rushed to their ears. Their ears twitched and their heads followed the direction of the sound, and at the foot of the staircase, Aphmau stood pale and weak.

Airis ran over to her mother and grabbed her by the hand, "Mama, you shouldn't be out of bed." She said with concern.

"I'm... hungry though." Aphmau replied.

"How are you feeling?" Aaron asked.

"Still hurting... a lot. But I feel like... I can move around."

"Are you sure?"

"I mean... it's not as unbearable as it was before. I can feel my strength picking up. But..."

"What's wrong? Are you still in pain?" Airis asked.

Aphmau teared up, "Are my ears and tail... supposed to look like this?"

Aaron and Airis looked at her new ears and tail, and sure enough, her werewolf ears were still closed a little and her tail was still frumpy.

"Well, well your tail makes sense." Aaron confirmed, "When werewolves are puppies their tails look like that."

"They do?"

Airis nodded to further confirm, "That's right. Papa once said that my ears and tail looked like that when I was a baby."

"And your ears... I mean, this is the first time I've ever known someone to be bitten by an Ultima." Aaron said, "We had no idea what might have happened."

Aphmau groaned in pain and Airis carefully led her to the kitchen table to sit down.

"Don't worry about a thing, Mama. This transformation just takes a little time, so your ears and tail will change and look much better when it's all over." The little girl smiled.

"Airis is right, so let's just keep our ears up until then." Aaron quickly noticed his slip of the tongue, "I mean, uh, hey, guess what, food's ready? Come on, let's get you something to eat. You, too, Airis. Go sit down with your mother."

Airis nodded and sat right next to Aphmau as Aaron served them both some eggs. From the corner of her eye, Airis kept a close watch on her mother's movements. She was moving slowly, but she wasn't cringing in pain as much as she did the other night. Airis smiled to herself, seeing as her powers were working just fine.