Sunny and Moon - New Claws

Chapter 11: "First Training"

The next Ruby woke up groggily. She squeezed her eyes and then opened then, rubbing them with her hands. Sitting up on the bed she looked around and noticed that Carson wasn't there. After walking around the dome for some while, she noticed a note with red ink on Carson's desk. It said:
"Ruby, went out for food. I'll be back. -Carson."
So he was out. Ruby decided to go back to her bed and sleep some more. After all she was pretty tired from everything that happened the day before.

Ruby woke up later, and once again she had a hard time opening her eyes. Except that this time when she finally managed to open them Carson's face was right on top of her.
"ARGH!" She staggered backwards.
"I brought food." He said, holding up a bag with a weird beige-ish paste in it.
"Are you kidding?" Said Ruby, sitting up. "You scared the living hell out of me!"
"Well, sorry." Said Carson sitting next to her. "But I needed you to wake up."
"Why?"
"We are going out."
"Oh, great." Said Ruby sarcastically. "Just what I needed after feeling my heart leave my body and come back."
"More respect to your rescuer." Said Carson playfully.
"I was perfectly fine on my own." Ruby pushed his arm.
"Hey!" Carson pushed her back.
"Ow!" Ruby pushed him back, even stronger.
Carson pushed her once again, but this time so strongly that Ruby fell to the floor, Carson right after her.
They looked at each other for a brief moment, and started laughing. This was the first time Ruby saw Carson smile. It was a weird thing, her being so used to see him serious so often. But it also felt good to finally see him smile. He needed to loosen up a little.
"O-okay." Said Carson between laughs. "Seriously. I need to get you out." He stood up and offered Ruby his hand, but she stood up on her own.
"Fine. Let's go." Said Ruby smiling, and they went outside.

The air was chilly, but the sun was still visible behind a few clouds. Ruby's skin went all goose-bumpy.
"So, where are we going?" Asked Ruby.
"Trust me. I promise it'll be good." Answered Carson.
"Okay..." Said Ruby.
They walked through the woods going past the mint green leaves.
"Um– Carson?" Said Ruby after a while.
"Hm?" He said, keeping his view on the path.
"This may sound very weird, but– I've felt like my whole life the trees have talked to me. I don't know– I never had many friends so I talked to the trees. And–"
"I get where you're going. 'Does this have to do with being a werewolf?'" He imitated Ruby. "Well, actually, it does."
"Really?" Ruby asked excitedly.
"Yes. You see, our great-great werewolf ancestors, the founders of our village, transferred their souls to the trees. They did this to sort of protect our village. That is why every werewolf feels a connection with the trees of the woods. Not that they work much. I mean, what can a tree do? Move its branches? Anyways, some people manage to briefly talk to them. And, yeah, they give them advice. You're one of those people. Why you can talk to the trees, I don't know. Must be a loneliness thing."
"Oh. Um, cool." Ruby smiled. Both of them looked away and kept walking through a path. Suddenly Carson said:
"Looks like we got here."
He pushed away some branches, and right before her eyes Ruby saw the most beautiful lagoon she had ever seen. The water was crystal clear with a tinge of turquoise, and it was so clean the sun made it sparkle. When she ran over to it (being so amazed) she saw little fishies swimming across the lagoon of all sorts of colours. Without thinking Ruby threw herself to the water, forgetting that Carson was there.
"Ruby!" She heard. When she swam back up she saw Carson staring at her with a "what-the-hell-are-you-doing" look.
"I'm sorry." She laughed. "I can't help it. I simply love swimming." She spit some water from her mouth like a gargoyle and began swimming backstroke, the biggest smile plastered on her face.
"Um... Ok. But the lagoon was not what I brought you here for."
"Aww, why?" She was now swimming sideways.
"See, we are here to control you as a werewolf. Now, when you are a werewolf even though being in human form you have an intensified speed and strength. At night that doubles, and in full moon it intensifies even more. So, today I'm making you control your speed."
"Okay." Said Ruby grumpily. She got out of the water and squeezed her hair, then walked towards Carson.
"What do I do?" She asked.
"Okay." Said Carson. "Listen. I want you to run around the lagoon. Run normally first. But then I want you to think that you're a wolf, and that you're running as fast as you can. That should do the trick. It may take you some time, you being unborn, but you'll make it. C'mon. Try."
Ruby stomped to a position to begin running. She began trotting, then accelerated her speed and moved into a slow run. Then she went faster, and faster, and faster, and then she pictured herself as a grey wolf with hazel eyes. Her wolf form. She imagined herself running as a wolf. She kept running with that picture on her mind, until out of a sudden she heard Carson cry in joy which made her stop.
"Did you see that!?" Cried Carson. "You got it very quickly! That's amazing!"
"I did?" Cried Ruby. She was on the other side of the lagoon.
"Come here!" Cried Carson. Ruby ran back to Carson, this time at a normal speed. She felt very tired, for some reason.
"That was awesome. You may feel tired now," Ruby nodded. "Because using your werewolf traits not on a full moon drains your energy. Luckily, I brought this." Carson said proudly, holding up the food from the morning.
"Oh." Said Ruby, taking the bag with a face of disgust. "What is it?"
"Mushroom stew." Said Carson. "It has a bit of meat in it too. It's very good for us werewolves."
Carson opened another bag of the same thing and ate it in one gulp. "It's great."
"Great, huh?" Ruby faked a smile. She opened the bag and tried a little. "It's... Cold. And strong flavour. Oh– there's the meat. Not that bad actually."
"See?" Said Carson.
"Yeah." Ruby ate the rest of the food with some difficulty. But she would get used to it.
"Where did you get it from?" She asked once she left the bag empty.
"Well..." Said Carson, scratching his neck. "I may have stolen it."
"Carson!" Said Ruby, not sure if she was surprised or annoyed or both.
"But I stole it from the rebel rogues. So it's fine."
"Wait. No wonder those Rogues hated you from yesterday."
Carson let out a small chuckle.
"Do you feel better now?" He asked.
"Yeah." Said Ruby.
"Then let's go back. I could show you around the dome better or something."
"Sure."

They walked back to the dome following the same path that they went through in the first place.
Everything was going extremely calm, until Carson saw that the dome's entrance was open.
His face dropped.
Forgetting that Ruby was there with him he ran inside, and Ruby followed him. They went down the stairs. Carson let out a sad gasp when he saw that his whole dome had been destroyed. His papers were ripped and sprawled all over the floor. All his food was gone. His desk had been flipped over. A pillow had been ripped open. And on the wall, with a red substance that looked like lipstick, was written:
"FOR KIDDO. YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE. LOVE FROM P AND HER CREW."
Carson let out a loud growl.
"It's them!" He cried. "I shouldn't have attacked them. They found us."
He then went all around the dome checking if anything else was broken, or if they stole something other than food. Seeing that none of those things happened he went over to his papers. He took them all in his arms.
"All my work!" He cried. "For nothing!"
Ruby didn't know what to do. She saw Carson start to loose himself, crying and shouting and growling. His eyes started turning yellow.
"Carson!" Cried Ruby. "Pull yourself together!" She ran over to him and gave him a hug.
"We can fix this. Reunite the papers, try to fix them..."
"It would take ages." Muttered Carson.
"I don't care. I will help you."
"No!" He shouted, making Ruby jump. "I'm sorry." He said.
"No, it's fine. You didn't deserve this–"
"It's not safe here anymore. I thought we were well hidden, but we're not. Cmon. We're leaving."
"What?"
"Move!"
Carson stomped out of his dome leaving all his papers behind.
"What are you doing? Your papers!"
"We don't need them there."
"Where are we going?" Cried Ruby.
"We're going back to my village. To my family."
"Oh."
"C'mon. We can't waste any time."