Chapter Text
Lena let out a string of curses as she tripped over yet another tree root, the forest she was currently stalking though barely having enough light despite it being a full moon to help her avoid any obstacles in her way. In fact, she could barely even hear herself think over the sound of hundreds of crickets and other insects chirping near the lake and around her. The youngest Luthor truly was a city girl, body, mind, and soul, and she genuinely had no idea how people willingly hiked in this, let alone slept out here for fun instead of in the safety of a house.
The only reason the 16 year old even let herself be dragged out to the Luthor lake house in the middle of fucking nowhere (it was a 15 minute drive from some small coastal town that started with an "M") was the chance of getting even an inkling of a tan before the next semester started at her boarding school in Ireland. This however – being in an unfamiliar forest in a town she’d never been in at midnight just because she was mad at Lillian – was not worth even a second of sunlight she’d gotten in the week they’d been there.
Yet another argument between Lillian and Lena took place half an hour before about how Lena wasn’t living up to the "Luthor family expectations" (something about having dyed hair, piercings, and getting distracted by “friends” instead of studying 24 hours a day meant she wasn't living up to the family name) and now here Lena was, being followed by enough insects to feed the local frog population for a millennia and tripping every 4 steps on another f u c k i n g tree.
It was after that trip, though, that had almost brought Lena to her knees, that Lena had realized that the ever present buzzing of insects had stopped cold. The moon had seemed to shine brighter now than ever before, illuminating the small clearing she had just stumbled into so brightly it was as though the sun had risen. Something about being alone in a completely silent forest with a full moon shining overhead made this moment seem… climatic. Like the whole of Lena’s life had led up to this moment.
She felt all the hairs on the back of her neck raise as she was frozen in place, unable to will herself to move. Time seemed to slow as something stalked out of the shadows on the opposite side of the clearing to Lena, its blue eyes seeming to pierce right into her soul as they locked with hers. Minutes could’ve gone by, hours, even, and Lena wouldn’t have noticed. Whatever this thing was… it captivated her. She couldn’t tell what colour its actual body was, as the moon had turned everything around the two of them a blue-ish silver, but judging by what she could see of it, the faint rays of moonlight catching on what looked to be silver fur, it was either a very large dog or a wolf.
Now, Lena was by no circumstances nature savvy. What she was, though, was someone with common sense, who knew this creature could probably run much faster than her and that running would be completely pointless, but she didn’t feel like she needed to. There was a feeling settling in the clearing that this was their world, their moment, that the whole universe had stopped moving for a small time to allow the two of them to meet.
Lena blinked, and it was gone.
The clearing was dark again, the sudden return of cricket chirping almost deafening in contrast to whatever it was she had just experienced.
Had she blacked out? Hallucinated? It was late, she tried to reason with herself that she must just be sleep deprived, but something in the back of her mind knew that this was more than just a lack of sleep.
But then she blinked again, this time being welcomed to the sight of light flooding through thin curtains onto her bedroom floor back at the lakehouse. It had only been a dream... probably caused by Lena getting too much sun. Whatever it was, she should probably stay in the shade for the day.
Her stomach growling loudly caused the teenager to finally will herself out of bed, only for her reflection in her full length mirror to catch her eye and cause her to do a double take.
There she was, same clothes as the night before in her dream, pants covered in dirt, pine needles in her messy hair, and the boots she wore set next to her bed behind her that were caked in mud from walking along the lake.
If it wasn't a dream... what the hell had she seen out there?