Butterflies in Winter

::Chapter 36:: Destination

Only when Kit reached Matthew and his group, did Kit even think to look back. To see if they had followed.

Now in wolf form, he strained his eyes, trying to catch sight of any of his party. His heart dropping when he was unable to see anyone familiar.

At first, it hadn't appeared as though anyone had pursued him, and his heart dropped. Then on the horizon, he could just spot the tawny feathered Max against the grey skies. Shortly after, Vic and Romany running towards them.

More assured that they weren't going to do anything stupid, cut off the nose to spite the face. Kit turned his attention back to Matthew and his group. Ears twitching forward for a moment, he had no intention of shifting just yet.

They working with a deadline, and Kit would do everything he could to make sure nothing slowed this down.

Plus it was much easier to run for one's life on three legs then it was on two.

Before long the rest of the group had joined them. They could have been running faster than light, and it wouldn't have been quick enough for Kit. His tail dashed from left to right, seething with impatience.

Once Max, Vic and Romany had finally reached them. Matthew spoke for the first time, "Did you manage to get the antidote to the main land?" He asked.

Vic nodded, "Yes. We managed to get it their ok," he replied.

"Good to see you back on your feet by the way Kit, you doing ok?" Matthew asked, clearly as a second thought but Kit didn't mind too much. He was very aware that he was at the bottom of the priority list at the moment, something Kit understood fully.

If Matthew had noticed the distinct awkwardness between Vic and Kit, he didn't bring it up. Seeming to find everything else going on of more importance than any group tiffs that might have gone on.

Jess on the other hand wasn't as merciful.

"What's happened?" She asked quickly, her arm crossed and eyes narrowed. A low grumble coming from her throat, she waited like a patient vulture. Making it apparent that she wasn't going to let them out of this.

"I wasn't born human," Kit came out with it before he thought to stop the words. Now that the truth was out, he felt no need to try to keep the secret which had once ruled his life. When he received the looks he had no come to assume, he explained as quickly as he could whilst keeping the necessary depth to be understood.

By the time he was finished, the men and women before him didn't entirely seem to know what to say about it.

No one spoke for what felt like an eternity, Kit could feel their eyes boring into him. Burning holes through his skin with their astonished gazes. Had the circumstances been different, he would have shied beneath their stares. But now he stood strong, for it was not a time for cowardice.

When at last the silence was broken, it was Matthew who chose to speak first. "What do you want us to do about it?"

It was not the question Kit had been expecting. "Right now there is nothing to be done, and no time to do it in, we get this finished, and then after we figure it all out." Kit's answer was firm, and apparent that he wasn't going to listen to any arguments otherwise.

"Fair enough," Matthew replied. Giving Kit a little bit of encouragement that someone else agreed with his way of thinking. There were many things higher on the priority list then holding a circle time to talk about their histories.

Shifting from one paw to the other, the extensive talking was making him impatient. The longer they talked the more the chance that something would go wrong. Every instinct he had told him that time was of the essence.

"What's the plan?" he asked as softly as he could, forcing away the growing annoyance. "What did you find?"

"I don't know what we found," the honesty wrapping around his tone should have made him sympathetic, but it scared Kit to the bone. "All we know is that it's not good."

"Can we walk and talk?" growled Vic, the impatience leaking through his tone much more than Kit's. "I'd rather not have to do this all over again."

Matthew looked frustrated and annoyed by the bear's words, but even he had to admit that Vic had a fair point. Despite the urge to scold Vic for being insubordinate but he didn't. "Let's go," he said.

Soon the entire group were making their way across the island, in the direction of the lookout camp. It wasn't long before the familiar sight of the hill began to appear on the horizon before them.

"Whatever gave you guys your powers, we assume was the same thing which stopped the beasts from being able to leave the island. So we found the equivalent from the mainland, and reinstalled it."

Kit nodded, absent minded, as they walked.

"But it wasn't that easy, the natural protection which stopped anything from getting to it, the buildings which caved in during the disaster. Are no longer there, the only place close enough to the centre of the island to provide enough protection. Is not safe enough, we could reinstall it, but it wouldn't be long before it was destroyed again and we'd have to go through all of this once again."

It felt as though his heart had lurched into his throat, Matthew hadn't outright said it, but the feeling of dread was already beginning to set in.

"Unless we are able to set up something that will protect it sufficiently, a group are going to have to stay back and continue the work that the original survivors were doing for the last five years."

The group exchanged a look, everything that had been revealed that day forgotten in the space of a second. No matter how they had changed over the past couple of weeks, they were back to being the scared young people from the first day after the disaster.

Now they were back were it had all begun, with so much more at stake. No one knew what to say for a moment.

A shiver went down Kit's spine, as he looked at the people he had considered his brothers and sisters for years. Very aware in that moment that they were all sharing the same level of fear in that moment.

That they were going to have to return to their world of isolation.

"We just need to make sure we can protect it sufficiently then," Max forced his voice to sound as self assured as he could. No one fell for it, but appreciated the gesture he had attempted to make.

Kit brushed his shoulder against Max's, a reassuring gesture for the youngest member of their group.

In that moment, all the years that the eagle shifter had gained prematurely in his time on the island, were gone. He looked all of the kid he truly was, and it sickened Kit to the stomach to see it.

Looking back to Matthew, raising a questioning eyebrow in silence. No words were needed for the meaning to be conveyed between the two men.

"Of course, don't think for a moment that we're going to give up a second less then we have to," he said definitively.

Max forced a grin onto his face, in spite of everything that smile was genuine as he said in a low voice. "What's the plan then?"