The darkness fell thickly through the forest as the sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves stretched between the trees. A lone figure stalked through the underbrush, hand loosely wrapped around the firearm at his hip. Another, heavier gun hung around his torso, the weight from the strap bearing down on his shoulder. The moonlight fell in thin streams through the treetops, illuminating the forest floor and glinting off of the sunglasses perched on his nose.

The creatures in the woods-they'd always been called non-humans. Never anything else. Most kept to themselves, stayed hidden from mortals, except for one race; the shapeshifters.

The hunters and the shifters had been enemies for centuries, tensions high and hostile attitudes constant. Many times had deaths occurred.

The shifters had long since died out, leaving a few scattered around the world, living as humans, and one last pack, living in those very woods. Long since had the shifters and hunters made peace, although they were anything but friendly towards one another.

And so, they never bothered each other.

Dave Strider was never one to volunteer to go on patrol, but it had been extremely hectic at Headquarters. His first time alone in the vast woods, because of a headache.

Patrol was quite possibly the most boring job to be done. Almost always was it done in pairs, and he was often sent with the most annoying person he'd ever met; a loud and rather mentally ill girl by the name of Terezi. Who also just happened to be blind and took every opportunity possible to remind him of it.

The night was eerily quiet. Although it was a good thing, it sent a shiver down the blond's spine. Normally he wasn't one to be paranoid, but since he stepped out the glass doors of Headquarters, he'd felt...

Watched.

Cussing lowly to himself, he took a second to stop, clicking on the flashlight clipped to the belt loop of his jeans and spinning around illuminating the clearing he'd paused in. Shrugging it off, he turned off the flashlight, continuing down the path that wound throughout the woods. The feeling persisted, and Dave told himself, over and over in his head that he was over thinking things, that he was being silly and unjustly paranoid and totally uncool-

The snap of a twig. Certainly not from underfoot. From behind him.

What the hell...?

He glanced behind him, eyes wide. Tilting his shades down so he could see properly, his gaze swept across the trees, scanning the darkness for any hint of life.

There was suddenly a rustle to his left, and everything beyond that was a blur. Dave pulled out the gun he'd forgotten he'd been tightly holding onto, fired, gasped when a throaty scream erupted from whatever he'd wounded.

His ears rang from the explosion of noise, but he rushed over to where the rather human-like sound had come from, crouching down to find blood coating the front of their right leg, dripping down the exposed skin.

It was a girl, perhaps his age, with long, dark hair (it was difficult to tell with such little light, but he was certain it was dark). He couldn't distinguish much else besides that. Hurriedly removing his red jacket, he pressed it up against her leg, wondering what on Earth a girl'd been doing out in the woods-

And then it hit him.

Is she a shifter? he wondered, eyes scanning over her writhing form, taking in the basic details he could make out with such little illumination. His eyes wandered over her figure until they settled on the top of her head.

Two furry triangular objects, sticking out from the top of her head.

The girl gave a whimper, jolting Dave from his thoughts. Oh shit oh shit God no I've screwed up this time I've really screwed up oh God no.

Panic began to settle in his mind as the girl gave a sharp cry as he pressed the cloth to her wound. Forcing himself to settle down, Dave found himself wondering why she hadn't fully shifted.

Glancing around, he leaned down to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Girl!" he whispered harshly. "Where do you... live, or whatever?"

As a gust of wind blew by, the leaves above shifted, letting through enough light for Dave to notice that she had the deepest green eyes he'd ever seen. He mentally cursed himself that tears shone in them, cascading down her cheeks in seemingly endless streams. She shifted her jade gaze towards his own, lips parted to form her reply.

"I-I don't really... h-have one."

He sat there in shock. Didn't she belong to a pack? Did they abandon her?

Shaking his head, he slipped one arm under her legs, mindful of her injury, another around her shoulders and lifted her up, struggling under her weight. Taking a look around, worrying the others would burst into view any second, Dave took off in a random direction, hoping to find somewhere to take her.

Stumbling the first few steps, he managed to find his balance as he took off through the woods. If memory served correctly, there should've been a cave nearby...

It didn't take long for Dave's arms to begin aching, but he continued on, driven by the whimpers of pain ripped from the girl's throat every time he jostled her a bit too much. She seemed to be losing consciousness, something he found himself becoming hyper-aware of as he tore through the woods, hoping to find his destinations as quickly as possible.

He hoped with all his being she wasn't with the pack; if the Alpha didn't kill him, his brother would for being so careless.

By sheer luck, or some cosmic coincidence, the wind separated the leaves above, sending down tendrils of moonlight.

Straight ahead, barely visible through the trees, was a cave opening.

Being extra careful in the last stretch, he found himself at the entrance a lot faster than anticipated. Dave walked into the cave slowly, one step at a time, ears listening closely for any sounds aside from his heavy panting. Deeming it safe enough, he continued on into the cave, laying the girl down on the cave floor. Fumbling at his hip, he grabbed the flashlight and flicked it on, allowing the light to sweep around the cavern, to the ceiling high above. It was narrow, no more than ten feet across, but it stretched back perhaps fifty feet.

The light settled finally on the girl herself.

Long, matted black hair was the first thing he noticed. Her skin, Dave noticed second, was perhaps at once a golden color, but appeared rather pale, her face gaunt. He wondered how much she'd gotten to eat, deducing finally that she'd either been separated or was not with others like her. There was no way they'd allow her to starve in such a way, to become so thin and frail-looking.

But perhaps she only seemed that way.

Casting aside the thought of the dog ears protruding from her head, he leaned down, quickly pulling his jacket off and bunching her up, lifting her injured leg and letting it rest underneath.

Inhaling sharply through his teeth, Dave wondered exactly what he'd do. He certainly couldn't leave her to die, but on the other hand he couldn't say he knew how to treat such a wound.

There was one option he could think of. Perhaps it was a spur-of-the-moment, not-quite-thinking-straight decision. Or perhaps it was the greatest idea he'd had in his short life of seventeen years.

The plan formulating in his head consisted of sprinting back to his house, hoping his brother wasn't home, grabbing a first aid kit and a medical book, and sprinting back to the girl.

He felt iffy leaving her alone, but he doubted she would go anywhere; his main concern was her dying from blood loss while he was gone.

But if he stayed, she'd die of blood loss anyway.

Casting a final glance at the sleeping shifter, he tore his gaze away and disappeared into the darkness.

homestuck - hussie

im a mega fan of AUs whoops