A New Friend

Chapter 1

Comfort

Disclaimer: I don't own this show, duh, I'm not French.

Aelita ran through the woods towards the hermitage as fast as she could, tears streaming from her face after the accusations directed at her by Jeremy. She knew something was wrong here, knew not only that she had not kissed Herv, but that Jeremy would never accuse her of such a thing if he was guilty of the same.

But right now, she didn't care, she just wanted escape.

And perhaps the Hermitage wasn't the best place to find that, so soaked up in her dreams, but right now, it was the best option.

She jumped over a root, only to be tripped up by a fallen branch, she got up determinedly, but soon enough fell yet again, over a vine this time. This time she fell and stayed down, sobbing into the moss.

She had no idea how long she lay there, though she knew she should be moving. She still couldn't forget her nightmares of wolves hunting her in these woods. If the sun set before she got out of these woods, the wolves would begin their hunts, and their howls may paralyze her for hours more.

But she allowed herself this one small comfort, and continued to embrace the forest floor. She remained as such until the darkening of twilight, before the colors of the sunset lit up the sky. As she sat up with crossed legs, wiping her tears from her face, she looked around to find herself in a familiar part of the woods, no more than two hundred yards from the hermitage. As she stood, she heard a growl from the edge of the small clearing and didn't even have time to look around before she was knocked to the ground by a large, warm body.

She should have been terrified, and for a few seconds, she was. But as she lay on her back with a large, black wolf with piercing blue eyes above her, she felt no fear.

For even as she watched, the wolves bared teeth were slowly disappearing into its' muzzle, the snarl slowly becoming something more akin to a playful smirk. She didn't feel it reasonable to think she could read a wolf so well, but she could have sworn she saw a gentleness in its eyes.

The wolf slowly stepped off of her, laying down next to her with a gentle sigh, it nudged her slightly as it moved closer to her, and despite herself she roped her fingers through the thick fur on its back. The wolf nosed her neck companionably, sending a shock through her at the feel of its cold, wet nose.

She lay there well past sunset, feeling more content than she could ever remember feeling. The wolf seemed just as content to lay there, and she eventually wrapped her other arm around it and buried her face in its warm fur.

Eventually she decided she would need to move, if for no other reason then so the others could find her. Reluctantly, she stood and stretched, the wolf doing the same next to her. As she began to move through the woods, the wolf nudged itself closer to her and she put her hand on its back. When she eventually made it to the hermitage, she heard Jeremy calling her name from inside.

She knelt down next to the wolf, until she was eye level, still feeling reluctant to move despite the increasingly desperate calls from the abandoned house.

"Thank you." She whispered to it.

The wolf growled gently, deep in its throat, and she left it there, watching her from the shadows, impossible to see unless you knew it was there.

"Jeremy." She called as she walked towards the house.

"Aelita," he said with a sigh of relief as he came running out of the house, "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have accused you of anything. It was X.A.N.A., controlling a polymorph, he was…"

She put a finger to his lips, "It's okay, Jeremy, I forgive you." She looked towards the edge of the woods to see the wolf had disappeared, and felt a strange stab of loss.

She knew now she had nothing to fear from the woods, and she also thought she had found a friend, someone to comfort her.

So, this was my random idea a few weeks ago and it eventually flushed out. These first few chapters are the closest to the actual show, in episode 43-45, but after that it takes a dramatic turn. The first three are all being posted at once, and they're all rather predictable, but bear with me and I promise you will be rewarded.