Work Text:
Fester is at the hotel nearby to this vast forest, but I cannot bring myself to sleep knowing that I could use every waking moment to search for her, and to have her back with me. I haven't slept a wink in the past few days since we left Nevermore. My eyes hang heavy as I sluggishly step through the bushes and past many trees, the growl of my stomach echoing into the night sky. The moon is shining down so bright, and the stars are glittering like her perfect blue eyes used to.
Enid would love the sky tonight.
A branch snaps to my right, and I hear a small growl. We are near to Canada now, and there are a plethora of wild animals that might take refuge in this sea of trees. But I can’t stop thinking that it could be her. “Enid?” I turn around, looking in every direction. Please. It has to be her. It has to be. “Enid!” I call again. I hear a sniff, somewhere off to my right again. Running towards it is second nature. It sounds like her wolf. She took me to the Lupin cages with her once, because she knew that I found her so stunning in her other form.
And I haven’t stopped thinking about her. Every single moment we spent together, every soft moment in the dormitory together. We danced at the gala together, and that was one of the last times I ever saw her, but I didn’t know it at the time.
It is really her.
Her blonde and grey (an odd mix, but I find it beautiful) wolf still has streaks of coloured hair in her fur, and her eyes have gone golden, but they have lost the purity and the dazzling light that her eyes used to have in this form. I just stand there. Just for a few seconds. This moment has run through my head millions of times, over and over, giving me the motivation I needed to keep going, and each time I pictured myself running to her, and embracing her. But my throat has closed up and my heart has stopped working, just like my legs.
Her gorgeous eyes start to twinkle again. She is the definition of angelic right now. The moon is still shining through the trees, and covering her in a spotlight. My legs find themselves automatically carrying me over to her, just like in our first year at Nevermore, when she ran to me. My body launches into her furry body, and I wrap myself around her as tight as I can. Losing her meant my sun vanished, and I am not going to allow her to disappear so easily again. If there was one place that would be lucky to be buried in right now, it would be in her fluffy arms. I suppose I am lucky.
Her smell is still lingering; she still has the faint scent of perfume and flowers, but now... Now it is also of moss, rain, and nature. But she is just as pulchritudinous as I remember her being. When her furry arms encase me, she whines, and I immediately feel a strange sensation. Warmth. Warmth is spreading through me, alongside happiness blooming in me, because I am finally back with her. With my radiant sun. We are both safe. And this moment—if it were up to me—wouldn't go any other way. Her whines continue, and they only seem to get louder. Is she crying? Well, I suppose she has not seen me in a very, very long time.
“You’re safe now, Enid.” This only causes her whines to worsen—and her body has started to shake. Just a little, but due to her size, it feels more powerful than it really is. As if there is an earthquake clinging to me. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t worry. It’s all going to be okay now, mio lupo.” The disbelief inside of me is festering. She is a wolf, but I never thought I would call her my wolf. Her whines lessen after a couple of minutes, and her grip even tightens a little.
Eventually, I have to drift away from her intoxicating touch. My body feels so limp and so tired, as if it is coming to the realisation that it has not slept for days. The world is almost collapsing around me as I fall to the floor, tears threatening to escape my eyes. Crying about nothing (or possibly just this moment) is not something Enid will want or need to see after whatever she may have gone through in these past weeks.
She sits down beside me, her big eyes looking down at me with concern. Her sniffs fill the silent air around us, muffling the crickets chirping and hiding in the trees and bushes. But my eyes stay fixed on the floor in front of me, focusing themselves on the mud and small pieces of broken branches and twigs. Her head guides itself to rest on my shoulder.
I’m not exactly sure why, but this triggers me. The tears spill, and they cascade down my cheeks, opening some sort of pit in my stomach. It feels so empty. You’re afraid that your darkness is too much for her to grasp. Enid said that to me when we swapped back to our usual bodies. But now I am afraid of something else: that the darkness will swallow me whole the longer I do not have her back. I am slowly forgetting her face. Once, it was easy for me to say exactly what colours her hair had. But now I could only name pink without looking at her wolf form.
I miss her, and I feel… almost senile without my sweet girl.
My eyes blink away the tears by themselves, and I rub the remaining, wet trails away.
“Kid?” Fester’s voice carries through the void of tranquility contained in this forest. “Where are you?” At the sound of his voice, Enid’s ears perk up, and she immediately starts to look around.
“Here.” I call out, but the voice that leaves my mouth does not seem like me at all. It’s hoarse, and you can hear the fatigue in the one syllable I pronounced.
“Jeez! Should’ve told me you were up for a midnight mission, I would have come! I see you found your girlfriend.” Warmth instantly travels up to my cheeks, and Enid inhales sharply, looking away from us.
“I-I did. Will she… Will she fit in the hotel room?” My main concern is having to be separated from her for longer. It would only be for a few hours, but I have been away from her for long enough. I do not feel the need to be more than a metre away from her again.
Fester gives her a look up and down before replying. “Yeah, I think so. No canoodling, you two.” His manic laugh echoes into the now silent forest. Enid’s happy puppy eyes glimmer, and I wonder how I’ll be able to turn her back to normal. The hardest part is over now: I have found her.
On the way back to the hotel, she lets me climb onto her large, blonde back. Her tail is wagging, and it thumps on the floor a little. “You’re gonna have to climb up. Hotel staff can definitely not see this. I left the balcony doors open earlier.” She seems enthusiastic to scale this building, and before I know it, she has carried me up. I enter first, and it is an extremely tight squeeze, but she manages to get in.
She would break the hotel bed if she tried to get in with me. But not the floor. The faded, grey carpet does not seem ideal, but this is going to be the only sleep I have had in a few days. All I will need is a pillow; Enid radiates enough heat for me to be adequately cozy. She has already curled up onto the floor, like a golden retriever, her head on the floor, eyes staring up at me as I place the pillow down. I lay down next to her, pulling her close.
Her snout buries itself into my neck, and she whines. I don’t think I have ever been so comfortable alongside another person. My eyes flutter slowly, and I try to keep them fixed on her until they grow much too heavy to keep open.
The curtains do not work very well—small beams of sunlight stream through the window, covering the lycan cuddled up to me in… Wait. This is not her wolf. This is Enid. Her blonde and coloured hair is radiant, and she is wearing the same thing she had on when she left me. And, well, everything, I suppose. Her gentle hands are clinging to my back, and her snoring is that of a puppy. A little loud, but enough to be white noise if I focus on it.
“Enid?” I do not sit up. I wait for her eyes to slowly open. Her skin is practically glowing, and when her eyes do reveal themselves, they are just as vibrantly blue, and just as pure as I remember them.
“Wednesday?” Her voice is croaky and hoarse; it is below a whisper. It’s understandable. She has not used her vocals in weeks. “Is this a dream?”
“No, mio lupo.” I bring my hands up to her face to tenderly cup her cheeks. “You’re really here.” Her eyes grow glassy, and yet her smile stretches, her little canines sticking out. Her head finds itself in my neck again, like last night. Perhaps she changed back because of me, or because she is no longer in solitude.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” She mumbles into me, grip tightening as if she does not want to lose me again just as much as I do not want to lose her. Is it bad that I do not want her to let go?
Against my better judgement, I lean down, and press a kiss to the top of her head. “I am so glad you’re back.” I whisper to her. I wrap my arms around her, attempting to bring her even closer to me.
The light seems to shine brighter through the curtains. “Uhhh, Weds—I mean, Wednesday? Your stomach is growling. Like, a lot.” I can’t even feel that. And did she just say… Weds? And I did not even mind it.
“How can you hear that?” I frown.
“I think my senses might be even more heightened now.” She says, pulling away and looking up at me. “Does the hotel have breakfast?”
“Yes. You know, I couldn’t bring myself to eat or sleep without you by my side. And I could not think of anything other than you.” It was impossible to imagine myself doing anything other than being reunited with her.
“How sweet.” She nudges my shoulder, smiling. I missed her face, and her adorable grin. “How long were you looking for me?”
“The day after you left, so did I. My only wish would have been to leave Tyler and immediately come to get you. I am sorry this took so long.” My eyes divert themselves to the wooden floorboards beneath my feet.
“It was only two weeks.” The hitch in her voice is too noticeable for even me to ignore.
“No, it wasn’t. I can’t even think of what you might have gone through in these past days.” I sigh.
“I… I had to kill animals. I had to kill deer, and rabbits. They were so innocent and sweet, and I didn’t want to kill them. One of the deer I had to kill had your eyes. I couldn’t let her get away. I was starving, on the brink of death.” Her throat grows even more hoarse. I’m sure words will not be enough here, so I take hold of her hand. It’s as soft and gentle as it was a month ago at the gala when she danced with me.
The breakfast smells amazing. We both load our plates up, and we practically wolf our meals down. She doesn’t come up for air until her glass of water is empty, and her plate is completely clean, save a few crumbs. “That was so good. I felt like I forgot what real food was like.”
“Do you feel better?”
“Yeah. Way better. Did I miss anything in the fight with Tyler? Shit, I forgot. Did any of your family… you know?”
“No. They are all well. I suppose you’ll want to go home. Nevermore has been shut down.” She scowls when I mention her home. “What’s wrong, Enid?”
“I can’t go back. If I transform again, they might kill me.” She takes a deep breath. “And, I might have, um… They don’t like people like me.”
“People like—oh. My family loves you. You can stay with us.” In all this chaos, I forgot what she had told me after the dance.
*
“Can I, uh, talk to you?” I turn at my desk. She looks extremely nervous, for whatever reason. Perhaps she can’t get her mind off the dance we shared mere nights ago. I certainly can’t.
“Of course. You look anxious. What is bothering you?” But maybe it might also be Bruno’s negative reaction to her rejection. He was not pleased.
“I wanted to tell you that I… I like girls. Only.” I don’t see the problem here.
“Why were you so tense? Is it not normal to express yourself?” My frown and these words seem to bring her comfort, but only for a second.
“My parents weren’t really accepting when I told them before Nevermore. They tried to send me to a conversion camp for ‘werewolves’. Instead, I convinced them to ship me off here.” No wonder she was so worried. I haven’t actually told my parents, but I do know that they would accept any sort of love. I cannot imagine that happening to me.
“I’m so sorry. I never knew. If it makes you feel any better, I also only like girls.” I am not sure how it could. But maybe knowing that someone is like her could help.
“It’s not exactly something I tell people.”
*
It is such a regular thing in my eyes that I did not see a problem with it. But I understand that her family is very religious. Of course, that is no excuse for the way they handled it.
“Would that be okay? Do you have a guest room?”
“Several. But I assumed we would share a room. We don’t have to, obviously, if you don’t want to.” This is extremely strange. I lost track of my words. Why would I do that? I never lose track of my thoughts, or words. Maybe I am too comfortable with her. I shouldn’t think of myself with Enid like that.
She laughs a little at my stammering. “We can.” Her eyes dart up to my face, but they seem to be rushing around the room. Those blue irises of hers are incredible. I could drown in them. But I can’t, because we don’t need to ruin a perfectly good relationship. “Do you want to go?”
“Yes, but I do not think you will fit on Fester’s bike. It is a two-seater. I think we could take a train, and then a taxi. He probably wants to embark on some other endeavour.”
*
Our house is just as I remember it to be. Dark, cold, and perfect. “Welcome. Oh, and there are a few shops near here. We can get you clothes and a new phone soon.”
“Your house is nice.” She says, looking around in awe. “I can see you growing up here. I hope there are some baby pictures of you.” I feel that I must show her the one I hate the most, just to get it out the way.
“That one is the most disgusting. It was captured on a rare occasion—I smiled.” She immediately rushes over to it once I point it out, and she picks the small frame up.
“You have dimples? How did I not know this?” Her own smile grows as she gazes into the image of five-year-old me. “Please smile. I wanna see them.”
“I will not be partaking in such a task.” I cross my arms after leaning my suitcase against the wall. “Ever.”
“Please? For me?” She seems to have genuine puppy-dog eyes. “Weds, come on. Please.”
It seems she has found a way to break me. It is extremely foreign to me, but I cannot refuse her. A smile stretches across my face, and she fixes her eyes on my lips. “I knew you were cute, but I did not know about this!” Did she call me cute? Anyways… I return back to my usual expression: deadpan.
“That was a one-time affair, Sinclair.” She places down the picture back to where it belongs, a little bit of red rushing up to her cheeks.
“What if I can make you smile again?” She approaches me, looking me up and down, a sort of mischievous grin adoring her face.
“I highly doubt that.” Her hands find my face, and she gently cups it. “What are you—” She interrupts me with a kiss. Warmth runs through me, replacing the cold that usually embodies me. I could get used to this feeling. I place my own hands on her waist, and I can hear her breath hitch in her throat.
When she pulls away, I smile. Just a little. “I told you so.” Her grin has widened even more, those small canines sticking out. She looks beautiful. I love her smile so much.