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They had been deep in the woods when it happened. Hazel had needed some special herbs that grew far away from the village and Kai and Autumn volunteered to go collect them together. When they got close to the location that Hazel had told them about, they stopped for the night by a stream and drank from it. When they woke up they were transformed into animals. Now it's been several days since then and they had not been able to get back home. Kai was unfamiliar with the area, and their first day as animals was windy, messing with scent trails that they could've used to guide their way home.
Food became a problem. Not for Autumn, who was able to graze on the grasses and various fruits and vegetables she found. But Kai was a carnivore, he needed meat. Early in the their journey he had managed to hunt some fish for himself, but lately he hadn't been finding much luck. The creatures here were too smart, too fast, or too dangerous for him to have success hunting.
But there was one little rabbit walking beside him who trusted him still. She would be easy prey, she trusted him and was so much smaller than him. The thought of his teeth biting down on her body and feeling her bones crunch felt very good.
The thought horrified him. But that thought, and the many others would continually run through his head. In the old days before they all walked on two legs, lynxes ate rabbits in the wild. In fact they were the species' primary source of food. But he refused to let his hunger or instincts take control of him. He cared about Autumn, and he would not let anyone hurt her, especially himself. But that was easier said than done.
Yesterday he'd finally had a stroke of luck. After several days of eating nothing, Kai ran into a lone Bluggy in the wild. Hunger driving him, he pounced on the creature, tearing open the skin and devouring it with terrifying efficiency. When he was done he looks up and sees Autumn staring at him, foot thumping against the soil and eyes wide. She had witnessed with her own eyes the ferocity he was capable of, if he only got hungry enough.
He wishes he could apologize, or tell her that he won't ever hurt her. But he couldn't speak in this form. He hopes that she sees the remorse in his eyes. But the way she scurries several paces back when he takes a step forward tells him all he needed to know. She would follow along behind him rather than along his side from then on out.
They need to get back soon. He's not sure what the village will be able to do, but it's their only option. This place is dangerous for Autumn, and it's even dangerous for him. But every day that slips by, the more it feels like they'll never make it back.
That night it starts to rain, so they find a small cave to shelter in. There's not much space between the two. He examines her body, which has become dirty since they got transformed. He hasn't been able to take care of her much, but if he could just do this for her, if he could care for her in this way, that would be something. He crawls closer and begins to groom her.
He licks her again and again, his tongue dragging along her body. Her scent is so strong, his stomach so empty, his teeth so close. It feels like torture, holding back a wild beast that strains at it's collar as another eats him from the inside out. But he holds the instincts back as he continues to clean her. He won't give in, he's strong and she needs him.
Then he smells something, fear radiating off her body. Her body trembles, her heart pounds rapidly and she pulls away from him, and stomps her foot on the ground. Then a second time as she looks him in the eye. She's scared of him.
This excites the predator part of him. Salivating, he leans back, getting ready to pounce. She freezes in terror, eyes locked on him. She might be able to make it out of the entry way if she was fast enough, but she won't be, and they both know it.
Then the part of him that is still a person shakes him out of it. She's not supposed to be scared of him, she's not supposed to be scared of him at all. His job is to protect her, and it hurts to see her terrified like this.
He withdraws, and looks away from her, ashamed. Several seconds pass and she bolts out of the cave, vanishing into the grass and rain outside. He wants to cry out, chase her, do something. But he could not speak, and if he chases her he knows it will not go well. So he lays down and lets out a pitiful cry.
It's dangerous out there for her, but it's dangerous for her here too. Although he worries about her all night, he understands. Maybe this is for the best.
Sleep doesn't come easily that night. The emptiness beside him is too loud. He just wishes that he was a person again, back before this all happened. The memories feel distant, dreamlike. But he remembers that they were happy together.
In the morning he wakes up to seeing Autumn's big rabbit eyes staring at him. Still groggy from his lack of sleep, she rubs her face against his. It's a sign of affection.
She came back? She trusts him? A smile comes to his face and he nuzzles his face against hers. It's the closest thing to physical affection they've had since they transformed. He misses it so much
If she trusts him…then he trusts himself just a little bit. They can do this, together.
Several days pass. Kai manages to catch a bird, but it barely satisfies his hunger for the day. All this running around is burning lots of energy and he doesn't have the fat stores to sustain this. He gets desperate enough to try eating some flowers, thinking that maybe all that tea drinking had acclimated his stomach to them, and he throws it back up. It seems his stomach can't stand the stuff
Almost two weeks out (or at least he thought so) they reach the pond. It's a tranquil little place, with plenty of flowers for Autumn to eat and likely some fish for him to catch. But as the two of them are approaching the pond, they see it. A rosebush. Roses don't grow in Grimshire.
The two stare at the roses for a few minutes, looking at it, then each other, then back again. They certainly couldn't have traveled that far in the wrong direction…right? Kai's got a pretty good sense of direction, even with his new body and foggy memories he certainly couldn't have lead them this far astray.
And yet the rose bush stands. Neither of them know what to do. He wishes they could speak, to try and make some sort of plan, but they can't. He wishes he had proper paws again, so he could draw a map or something to reorient himself.
But they don't have either of those. They move on, stopping to get a drink from the water, then Kai starts trying to catch fish as Autumn grazes. Unfortunately he has no luck, he finds fishing in this body to be very difficult and these fish are too deep in the pond. He eventually gives up. Maybe some critters will come here to drink and Kai can hunt them.
He goes to track down Autumn, which is pretty easy because he can smell her acutely. She's at the rosebush chewing on a fallen flower. It's difficult to look at her, to smell her scent because he's so hungry. He doesn't know if he can last much longer like this.
Autumn finishes chewing on the leaf and attempts to stand on her hind legs to reach a different flower. Then her front paw unsteadily reaches for a brace and a thorn cuts her paw. Although it was barely a drop, the sharp smell is unmistakable. Barely holding himself together, that one scent is strong enough to overtake his will. Autumn freezes, seeing Kai's expression and realizes what's about to come.
He lunges at her faster than he thought he could move. Autumn barely dodges to the right, running as fast as her legs can take her into the forest. But he's faster. He pounces, and this time he hits his mark. His fangs sink around her neck and he feels a crunching and tastes blood in his mouth. Her body goes limb, becoming merely a sagging weight in his mouth. He drops her body to the ground. It lands with a plop, her dead eyes staring forward.
Autumn…
Grief and horror hit him all at once. He did this, he killed her. She trusted him, she trusted him and he hunted her down and killed her.
No…
He collapses onto the ground, staring at her body.
He did this.