Chapter 11: Phase One- Complete

 

 

        “Hello, Lieutenant Zorin. So nice of you to finally join us all here.” Major smirked.

        “What are all of you, well almost all of you, doing here? And seriously, what is that smell?” She asked, then took notice of your condition and smirked. She didn’t like you, at all. She didn’t see why you were chosen to be so important to their plans. To her, you were just another maggot under her boot, and she enjoyed seeing you in pain. But she had to admit, that smell was too intoxicating to stand. She was almost drooling at the sight of blood dripping from your shoulder, like everyone else was in the room.

        “If you would be so kind as to restrain yourself from sucking our poor Fräulein dry, that would be most appreciated.” Major politely asked. Zorin tried to restrain herself from a certainly delicious meal, but she obediently obeyed his orders. It wouldn’t be wise to cross him at this time. She shook her head to clear her mind of any tempting thoughts and regained her composure.

        “What did you even do to her? She looks like a puny trembling human stuck in the middle of a forest during a cold winter.” She replied evilly.

        “We did nothing. In fact nothing in this world did this to her.” She gave him a questioning look. Major chuckled at this. “Remember that little ‘talk’ we had earlier??” Zorin nodded, then finally realized what happened to you. “Well, it happened earlier than expected. Hehe.”

        “Ah, so this is the point where she dies and I say, ‘I told you so’.” Schrödinger and Rip immediately glared at Zorin. She gave them a layed back evil smirk, like she hadn’t done them any wrong. “What? You know it’s the truth.” Schrödinger felt his body start to shake more, out of fear that you would die, and out of anger. He then lowered his head, trying to hide his glare from the prying eyes of Zorin.

        “Shut the fuck up.” He said darkly.

        “What was that, Schrödinger? Would you like to say that a little louder?” Zorin taunted with a sneer.

        “I said.” He replied calmly, in fact, too calm. “Shut. The fuck. Up!” He growled, and his surprising aggressiveness pissed Zorin off to no end. She didn’t like his attitude one bit. The scent of your blood was still driving her and Schrödinger mad, which was only driving their anger more. Zorin growled, but before she could do anything else, Major stopped them.

        “Now, now you two. As much as I’d LOVE to see a fight, we shouldn’t add to our current… ‘problem’. It would only make it worse, and we simply can’t have her dying on us when we’ve come so far.” They both knew what he meant. Your blood’s smell was beginning to really intoxicate almost everyone in the room, only getting stronger as more dripped from your wound. It was getting harder to use all of their strength to restrain themselves, and a fight would crack everyone’s little self control they had left, and it would not end well for anyone.

        Schrödinger and Zorin scowled at each other one last time before looking away to whatever else they found interesting at the moment. For Zorin, it was a wall, and for Schrödinger, it was you. That’s when he noticed you weren’t shaking as you were before, and immediately put his gloved hand on your heart to see if it was beating. He felt a natural ‘thump thump’, signaling that you were still alive. You had a steady, relaxing, and most importantly normal heartbeat. He let out a breath of relief, which didn’t escape Major’s ears.

        “And what was that for Schrödinger?” He looked at Major.

        “What are you talking about?” He asked rather quickly, evading the obvious answer to his question. Major chuckled. Schrödinger was, for once in his life, not too happy with Major, and he didn’t want to play any of his games at the moment. Plus, he was still trying to think about why he was so worked up in the first place. “I noticed that she stopped shaking so much. I think… that she beat it.” Major looked at you and noticed the same thing Schrödinger did. He appeared satisfied.

        “She has met our expectations then. Although, if it was all there was to her fears, she would be ‘awake’ by now.” To Schrödinger, there was something off about the way Major said ‘awake’. He was about to question it, but Zorin spoke before he could.

        “What does he mean by ‘it’, Major? Why would ‘it’ be so hard to defeat?” Major smirked.

        “Let Doctor explain it for you. I’m sure he could summarize it well for you.” Doctor groaned, annoyed that he had to explain everything. She walked over to his computer, and Doctor showed her everything. Meanwhile, Schrödinger and Major were having their own discussion.

        “What other fears does she have, Major?” Said man leaned  more into the back of the chair he was sitting on.

        “How should I know?” He answered playfully and shrugged. Schrödinger was not happy with this answer, but before he could inquire anything further, he felt something start to burn him, and he quickly realized it was you. Your body was heating up, and fast. Unfortunately for Schrödinger, he had to let you go, otherwise he would’ve burned with you. He stood up next to Rip, which confused her until she saw you. Major had already stood up and backed away against the wall.

        “I’d suggest you all do the same. She will most likely be waking up at any second, and we wouldn’t want to… get in the way.” Rip and Schrödinger backed up against the door, while Zorin and Doctor looked at you and backed up against the closest wall near them as well. They all stood attentive, and ready for whatever was about to happen. Major chuckled maliciously.

        “Let the show begin.”

 

Your POV

        Your whole body felt engulfed in searing pain and burning heat. It hurt a damn lot, like you had been stabbed by thousands of fresh fire pokers. But that wasn’t all. You saw nothing but bright white light, as if you suddenly went blind. You felt like something was changing, your entire body, even inside you. You felt like you were growing bigger, your shoulder where the battle wound was, was clenching shut. Your wings felt taller, wider, and stronger, your eyes felt like they were becoming slits, and your ears were bigger and more sensitive to sounds. You couldn’t hear much besides your own heavy panting and occasional whimpers that managed to escape your lips. It was all you could focus on, and you could hear nothing else but yourself.

        You tried to move around, but it only made everything worse. Your eyes twitched, your knuckles cracked, and your new sharpened teeth grit. Time seemed to slow, making your agony worse. You gulped, but it felt weird. There was just something different. It felt like you weren’t in your own skin. You couldn’t even complete your own thoughts without being disrupted by different bursts of pain.

        For the second time in your life, you felt horribly terrified. Here you were, writhing in complete agony, blinded, and not just moments ago you were suffering your worst nightmares. You were completely helpless, vulnerable, and weak. It was something you loathed, and it angered you more knowing that you couldn’t do a thing about it. Unfortunately, that anger was washed away from the excruciating pain still coursing through you. You let out a loud whimper, asking someone, anyone to help you.

        Your eyes felt like they were glowing, and you lost control of your body as you stood up, weirdly as if you were on all fours. Your head was lowered, and your jaw was hanging open like a ravenous dog. You growled in a deep voice, and rose your wings slightly. You expanded your bigger wings to their new full wingspan, then raised your head and howled.

        Then, in the blink of an eye, everything disappeared, and you regained control of your body. You kept your wings mostly outstretched, with white still clouding your vision. The pain then completely vanished. You still felt warm, but not burning, and your eyes closed and shot open again.

        Just as quickly as the pain vanished, your memories of the burning house and the beam about to fall on you flashed through your mind. Your eyes widened, and thinking you were still going to get crushed and burnt, you flung yourself to your left. You fell off of something and landed on a hardwood floor, and was choked by something around your neck that pulled you back into whatever you fell off of. You were about to start trying to get whatever was around your neck off you to escape the fire that you still thought would consume you, but you realized you felt no more heat on your skin, there were no flames surrounding you at all. You weren’t in the burning house anymore.

        Relief overtook your senses, and you were frozen wherever it was you lay. Your wings stretched over your body, your breathing was no more than quiet shallow panting, and a new swirling of colors surrounded you. Your ears picked up unrecognizable and undistinguished voices, and you couldn’t make out what they were saying. Though, you didn’t even want to try. You had no energy.

        Footsteps were heard leaving the room, but one pair of boots was headed towards you. Whoever they belonged to had a peculiar scent to them, and it strangely drew you in. The scent somewhat calmed you, made the random moving colors in your vision less crazy, and lessened the tension you felt throughout your body.

        The footsteps stopped, and you felt a somewhat familiar presence next to you. A gloved hand was placed on your belly, and your muscles instantly tightened up, but just as soon relaxed into the welcoming touch, as it started to comfortingly stroke your stomach. For some reason, it sent blissful sensations up your spine, and it calmed you. Although for some reason, your skin felt like hair or fur, but you paid no heed to it, as you were more focused on the strange yet comforting touch.

        Even with your new now calm state, you were still frozen in place. You couldn’t, and didn’t want to, due to your exhaustion from earlier. The gloved hand continued to rub your belly, until at one point it stopped. Loneliness immediately evaded your senses, which caused you to feel worried again. A moment later, that same presence was back, and something was being nudged to your mouth. It felt like plastic, and you didn’t know what it was. But nevertheless, you slightly lowered your bottom jaw open where the plastic like object was placed on your tongue. The next thing you knew, water was sliding down your throat, which you didn’t realize was so dry, leading you to quickly gulp more of the clear cool liquid down your parched throat.

        When there was no more water, the plastic object was removed from your mouth, and your senses fell drastically more into place after all of the water began to settle into your system. A voice then called to you, trying to calmly, lull you out of your daze. You felt the presence nudge your head, and somehow an instinct rushed through your body that caused it to start to change again. You thought you heard a purr, but it could’ve just been your imagination. The transformation started to make you tired, and your eyes became heavy. You wanted to stay awake, afraid that you would encounter more nightmares. Plus, you wanted to still feel the comforting presence next to you. It just felt somehow… nice. The voice continued to call out to you, though you still couldn’t make out any words. Just before you blacked out, you couldn’t help a thought that ran through your head the more you heard the voice. It’s… beautiful. 

 
Schrödinger POV

        She woke up! My God she woke up! That was all I thought as I saw her transform. Her whole body shifted into that of a giant wolf’s, so fast you could almost barely see it. Her once (H/L) (H/C) hair and clothes formed into black and candy red fur, her wolf parts that were already there grew bigger, especially her wings, her already half sharpened nails grew to full on claws, her mouth grew to a muzzle, her half sharpened teeth all grew to gleaming canines that could rip anything into shreds, and her eyes changed to match her head’s shape. Her new fur was messy and frizzy, and her wing feathers were ruffled, her whole form looked deranged, yet alluring.

        Her eyes started to glow an intense bright red that matched some of her fur, and she rose on all four with her new huge paws. Her wings were slightly lifted, and her head was bent over as her jaw hung open, and she heavily panted like a ravenous dog about to attack. With a low growl, she outstretched her wings as far as they could go, and her body began to glow a little lighter red than her eyes. She raised her head with a loud and powerful howl. It was majestic to say the least, and it was beautiful to watch. When her voice ran out and she lowered her head, her eyes snapped open to reveal her still brilliant, but now glossy, (E/C) eyes.

        She let out a gruff pant of breath as she snapped her newly formed head from side to side. She let out another gasping yelp and flung herself off the bed, but the leash that was still attached to her collar pulled her back to the side of the bed on the floor, choking her in the process. Heavy breathing and a rapidly beating heartbeat was all that came next. I let out an astonished, silent breath, and I noticed the smell of her blood was gone too. Her wound must’ve healed then, just like Major said.

        “Hmm, that wasn’t as… interesting as I’d hoped. But, C ‘est la vie.” Major sarcastically shrugged, and I shot him a small glare. What more did you want?

        “What the hell was all that about?” Zorin muttered. Doctor adjusted his glasses.

        “She needs to be brought to my lab for testing immediately.” Major chuckled.

        “Settle yourself, Doctor. I don’t think she is in any condition to go through anything in this state. Subjects are usually best kept… sane, at least for the time being.” He chuckled again. Me and Rip didn’t dare say a word. We were too focused on the slumped form at the side of my bed, while Doctor and Major carried on their conversation.

        “Yes, I suppose. But will you seriously leave all of her care this furball?”

        “He is more than capable than anyone else here. I can assure you that.” I looked at Major suspiciously. That tone he used in his voice sounded like he knew something. But, what does he know that I don’t? I shook my head to clear these thoughts, as I’d have to think about that later, since Major was right. I have to take care of my Fräulein. That was my top priority. 

        “You never specified what she actually is. Will you finally tell me now, Major?” Zorin suddenly asked, to which Major merely snorted.

        “Of course of course First Lieutenant.” He turned around and lifted his hand up as a signal for Zorin to follow. “Come come everyone. Let’s give Schrödinger and our little Fräulein here some alone time, shall we?” Doctor picked up his laptop and walked over to Zorin and Major by the door. Major stopped in the doorway. “That includes you, Lieutenant Winkle.” At the sound of her name, Rip reluctantly turned her head away from her ‘sister’s’ new form and nodded her head. “I need to… have a chat with you too, so come come. We certainly aren’t getting any younger just sitting around here all night.”  They all left the room without a second glance back, and shut the door. It was just me and my Fräulein now.

        I sighed, and walked over to her trembling form. She was lying on her left side with her completely ruffled wings outstretched over all of her frizzy fur covered body. She looked so shaken up, and it didn’t sit right with me. I put my hand on her belly, and felt her instantly tense up, but it just as soon faded as she relaxed, and she let me stroke her fur some more. If dogs liked belly rubs, I assumed she would too, given her… current form.

        She looked so tired and almost forlorn, it was pitiful. I then remembered that she got dehydrated easily, and thought that some water might bring her more to her senses. I lifted my palm from her body and got some water. When I came back with a pouch, she was trembling again, but worse, so I quickly gave her the water before something bad happened. Thankfully, she drank all of it, and I removed the nozzle from her mouth, as she returned to a more normal state.

        Her breathing was more shallow, her chest barely rose with each breath, and her eyes were already half closed and glossed over. Of course, I wasn’t just going to let her sleep on the floor, she had to sleep with me on the bed. She just needed to change back into her humanoid form so I can lift her up easier. I knelt down to her head level, and gently called out to her.

        “Fräulein. Fräulein, don’t fall asleep just yet. I need you to do something before you close your beautiful little eyes, okay?” I whispered softly to her. I couldn’t tell if she heard me, but she seemed to know I was there, as she was looking straight at me. Her eyes still held that glossy look, so I assumed her senses must not have fully returned. I leaned in closer to her ear. “Can you hear me, Fräulein? C’mon my little pet. You have to change back to a human now, if you want to sleep somewhere other than the floor, that is.” I nudged her head with mine and kept it there, and I felt her start to change back to her original form. I closed my eyes and purred in satisfaction, telling her to keep shifting. “Good girl. That’s my Fräulein.” When I opened my eyes, I saw she had fallen asleep and changed back to her original self. Her ears were bent back, her now slightly sweaty (H/L) (H/C) hair stuck to her neck, her (S/C) skin was paler than usual, and the clothes she still had on appeared baggier than they were before.

        I slipped my arms under her and lifted her up bridal-style, with her frizzy tail hanging limply from her body. I climbed onto the bed and sat down with my back pressed against the backboard. I set her down so the back of her head was resting on my lap. I gently stroked her hair and occasionally scratched behind her ears, which I was always rewarded with a soft purr from her. She curled the tip of her still ruffled and messy tail over her legs to her lower stomach. It was adorable. You’ve been through a lot today, my Fräulein. I’m impressed. You’ve definitely earned this rest. I smiled, and continued to stroke her hair as I waited for her to open her eyes once more.

 
Rip POV

        “Wait, you mean that Schrödinger and-?” 

        “Yes. Though it is just a theory, that is, until we attain more evidence, of course.” Major answered my unfinished question. We were walking towards the main control room, and he was explaining what my Lil’ Sis was, and his little ‘theory’ on her and Schrödinger, to me and Zorin.

        “So what. I don’t care what she is or whatever, she’s still a weak little girl who doesn’t know her place.” This angered me.

        “If you truly believe what she is, then you’re in no position to be saying that she’s beneath you, Zorin.”

        “Watch your mouth, Rip. You’re only talking that way because you’ve gone soft and got attached to her. Her purpose here wasn’t for you to get all dolled up with.” We stopped and turned to face each other so that our foreheads were touching. With her being taller, I was looking up and she had her head bent down to look at me. I pointed an accusing finger at her chest.

        “You can’t even admit that she’s stronger than you!” She pressed her forehead more against mine.

        “That girl isn’t stronger than me by a long shot!” This time, I pressed my forehead more into hers.

        “Then why did she best you when we were at her human house, and how did she kick your sorry ass to the point where me and Schrödinger had to step in!?” She looked appalled.

        “Why you little-“

        “Lieutenants! As much as it is amusing to watch you squabble like silly little children, you shouldn’t just stop in the middle of the hallway like you are now.” We both sent one more glare towards each other and turned around, walking with Major again. “Shoving each other down each other’s throats. And for what? Some little girl now ranked no more than a pet who doesn’t even know who she is. Quite a show.” Even though I couldn’t see his face, I could tell he was smirking. We walked in silence, with me and Zorin sneaking quick glares at each other the whole way down to the control room.

        Once we got to the platform, we saw many different commanders and some soldiers of different ranks busying themselves with whatever tasks they had to do. Out of the top soldiers present, it was just me, Doctor, Zorin, and of course Major. Only one was missing. 

        “Major. Where is Captain? Shouldn’t he be here with us?” He hummed in response.

        “He is not able to… attend… at the moment. I’ve ordered him to avoid us, so he can’t meet the girl. It would give herself away, and we would be at such a disadvantage then if she knew what she really was. She already knows the name Luna, so we can’t allow her to hear anymore clues.” I still didn’t fully understand. If anything, I thought Captain would be glad to meet her. But, Major did have a point. “Didn’t you want to go ‘take care of something’, Lieutenant Winkle?” I perked up. He was right. I can’t believe I almost forgot! I looked over at Doctor to see that he was currently occupied. Perfect.

        “Thank you Major for, reminding me.” I smirked. I heard him chuckle, and he waved a hand for my dismissal. I turned and stalked off out of the room, putting my plan into action.

 
Your POV

        Your eyelids began to open ever so slightly. You were still laying on your side, but you somehow felt more comfortable. You could strangely the soft material of clothes on your head. You snuggled deeper into whatever your head was on with a sigh of satisfaction. You heard chuckling, and felt something vibrate behind you, and you let out a long soft exhale of irritation for being woken up. You felt a hand stroke your hair, and you started opening your eyes more. With each passing second, all of your senses began to come back.

        You blinked, your eyes now fully open, and you noticed that you were laying on someone’s lap. You started to panic a little, and turned your head over your shoulder. You saw a smirking Schrödinger staring down at you with his all too familiar violet pink eyes. You blushed, as you realized your head was resting on his lap. Plus, the last time you saw him, you pushed him out of the way of a flaming beam, after he had said some nasty words to you. You didn’t know what happened when you were in that world, and since you could get hurt there, you thought it was all real somehow. After everything that had happened, you were not all too comfortable being in Schrödinger’s presence. You bent your ears back as you looked forward again, and went pale as you tried moving away from him. He only gripped your shoulders and held you in place.

        “Calm down Fräulein.” He started teasingly. “There’s no need to-” You tensed more under his touch, and he seemed to notice this, as his hands froze in place on your shoulders.

 
Schrödinger POV

        Something was wrong. She was so tense, over panicking at everything, and looked as if she was sick. It was almost as if… if. As if she was afraid of me. I didn’t understand why she would be afraid of me. She wasn’t before, so why is she now? I didn’t have a single clue to what was happening.

        It hurt me. Somehow it did, to know that she was afraid felt more awful than I would’ve expected. I stared at her back that was still facing me with a sorrowful look, trying to figure out what the problem was. Wait, she only started acting like this after she woke up from this phase thing of hers. Maybe… was I in there? And if I was, did I do something to her? That was it. I knew what was wrong with my Fräulein.

 
Your POV 

        You layed there on your side for a few moments of silence, wondering what Schrödinger was doing, or thinking. You flinched when you felt arms snaking around you and lift you up, where you were pressed against a surprisingly strong chest. Schrödinger’s left arm was wrapped around your waist, and his right was around your head, which was what was pressing you against his chest. He placed his chin on the top of your head, and you blushed at all of the contact, which you never experienced before. You could even hear his heart beat. It’s so slow, almost non existent. How come I’ve never noticed this before?

        “Was I in your nightmares, Fräulein?” You froze. Your eyes widened, and you hung your head in guilt, not wanting to admit what had happened. You awaited Schrödinger’s next action.

 
Schrödinger POV 

        Her silence told me everything. So that was it. I wonder what actually happened in there to make her act like this. I hugged her rigid form closer to me. She hung her head to hide her face more.

        “What did I do in your nightmares?” I asked in a gently tone. She cringed, and curled her body more, telling me that she didn’t want to talk about it. I let out a quiet breath of air, and rubbed my left cheek against her head to calm her. “You don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to.” I felt her raise her head, just a little. “Just know, that those were only your fears. I would never do anything that would cause you to act like this. I promise, my Fräulein.”
 

Your POV

        You were shocked at Schrödinger’s words. You didn’t think he was capable of saying such emotion. He kept a firm grip on you, and he held you even closer to him. To your surprise, you didn’t struggle or protest one bit. He’s right. He wouldn’t say any of that to me. But I wonder what he meant by ‘those were just my fears’. I’ll ask him later. For now, I’ll just… You sighed and snuggled in deeper to Schrödinger’s chest, to which he purred in reply. You smiled in content, and closed your eyes as you let Schrödinger’s now increasing, yet still slow, heartbeat lull you into a sense of comfort.

 

 

*Meanwhile*

        A dark, red cloaked figure stalked through a hallway of a beautiful mansion. Huge, arched windows lined all across the wall beside them, showing the almost full moon. It shone brightly through the translucent glass, breaking the shadows in the hallway just a bit. The figure’s boots made a loud thump with each step as they walked across the old wooden floor of the mansion. Suddenly, the figure came to a halt, and they turned their gaze to the direction of the moon.

        The figure sensed something rather important to them, something that they were expecting for quite a bit. They raised their lips to a purely smug smirk, showing off their unnaturally sharpened canine teeth.

        “Phase One: Complete.”