Eleven year old Aiden lay on the bank of the river, watching a butterfly mingle amongst some flowers as the stream babbled by.
Why couldn't his life be like this? Peaceful and serene.
Aiden's life could never be that...
He had the rather unfortunate destiny of being his father's heir. He would lead the pack one day.
If there was a pack to lead...
Their pack was only three people: himself, his father, and his mother.
Aiden's father found ways to blame him for it. He was a hard, unrelenting task master that treated his only son like a dog to be trained.
Now his father hated him for something he couldn't really control. It wasn't his fault that he liked both boys and girls.
His father had said the thing that really hit home though. He must find a woman to give him cubs, or he'd always be alone. The pack would die.
Aiden didn't see why he couldn't have cubs and like boys, but he knew even his mother would never accept that. And what wife would want to play second fiddle?
The fact still remained that Aiden liked boys better, but he wanted their pack to grow. He hated being an only child. He knew he must procreate to grow the pack.
His attraction to boys would just have to be resisted. Buried...
Yet, why not say screw the pack? Why not choose his personal happiness?
The conflict rushed into his head anew with these questions.
What kind of alpha was he going to be with no pack? A lone alpha? Who ever heard of such a thing!?
The hopelessness and doubt returned.
Aiden didn't want to live life this conflicted. He was only eleven, and his bisexuality was already ripping him in two emotionally.
He must choose pack, which would mean one day choosing cubs and a female mate.
Why even entertain the possibility of boys? He would have to leave any boy he loved one day, and would only hurt them both.
Aiden knew there was magic, and he felt that he knew what he must do...
There must be some way to cast aside his attraction, so that it would really be gone. He didn't want to feel it.
His mother knew lots of things about their legends and stories. She might know a way.
With that in mind, Aiden huried home, intent on somehow casting an entire part of himself aside.
Would it hurt? Would he feel it? Would he miss it?
Surely it couldn't be a pain like all this emotional stress was...
His mother did know a way, as it happened, but she was suspicious about the whole thing. She would never want him to do it.
"Do not ask me this my son," she advised, shaking her head. "It is a dark thing."
"I'm not asking for myself," Aiden lied. "I just want to know. Curious... "
"I don't believe that," she said sternly. "That's nothing to be curious about. What is it about yourself you want to discard?"
Aiden wasn't sure he wanted to repeat it. His mother might not know, and almost certainly wouldn't approve...
"What I told dad," Aiden whispered, looking away from her.
If his father had told her- she would know what he meant...
She said nothing, and when he looked up at her, she seemed distant and troubled. Clearly she understood.
"You swear you won't do it?" she asked in a fearful whisper.
"I won't do it," he lied, trying to keep his voice even.
Aiden could tell she didn't believe him, but she told him anyway.
There was once a werewolf named Warrick the Twin Soul that had found a way to cast aside everything about himself he hated.
Most werewolves knew how one could do it, but it was dangerous and could fail. Others had failed doing it.
One must bring themselves to the very brink of death, literally clinging to life, and perform the splitting.
"You will not try it," his mother whispered, holding his gaze fearfully. "I didn't want to tell you."
Aiden turned away from her and started to walk.
"I know," he said quietly.
That was the last words he ever said to her as Aiden, or as truly her son really...
Soon enough they would be enemies, and it would be his father's fault.
He grabbed one of his father's guns and went into the woods. He would have to go far enough away from home, so that his parents couldn't interfere...
It seemed like he walked all afternoon, late into the evening. The orange light of dusk illuminated the trees and the grass.
Somehow that seemed like the time. He stopped walking and drew the moment out forever.
He looked ahead, heart pounding in his ears...
He suddenly didn't want to take the gun out of his pocket, but he knew that he would.
His hand brought out the weapon and he looked at it, trying to numb all feeling at what he would do. It seemed he must do it...
He positioned the pistol against his side, just below his heart- trying to pretend it wasn't a gun.
He was somewhere else, and this was something else...
Vaguely, he felt his finger slide over the trigger.
He focused, willing his attraction to the same sex to gather, like clouds forming into a collective.
The attraction must go from him- into another body...
He focused so hard it made pulling the trigger easy. A sharp pain tore into him as the gun went off.
Immediately, the blood rushed to the spot. His werewolf body was healing him...
He groaned and fired another bullet in, sobbing as the tears leaked down his face freely.
Try as he might, no change seemed to happen. He couldn't make the split take place...
"Ethan," he gasped, as his vision began to cloud.
He began to envision the brother he never had. The brother he wanted more than anything. He was tired of being alone.
There was nothing he wanted more than the creation of his twin- flesh of his flesh. He had never wanted anything more...
He knew though too that Ethan would recieve his same sex attraction. He would be gay. There would be no choice. Could he do that?
It was too late...
Aiden's breathing had grown shallow and frantic. His vision blurred, and his head swam in a dizzy swoon.
The dizzy spinning engulfed him, dragging him down into oblivion. Maybe it had been death...
He was lying back against the hard earth when his eyes opened.
A gentle hand touched his forehead, and a face was looking down at him. It was his face...
"You," he whispered.
"I'm your brother," the other boy said to him in a voice just like his.
They fell into one another's embrace. This was Aiden's brother. His twin. Flesh of his flesh, and soul of his soul.
He had never loved another living person more than he loved Ethan in that moment.
It was strange how Ethan recalled being Aiden, but he said it seemed different. It seemed like he really had always been Ethan in a sense.
With that the two boys returned home.
Aiden explained to Ethan on the way that their father would be mad. He was their father now. Both of them...
"What if dad and mom don't accept me?" Ethan had asked quietly.
"Mom will accept you," Aiden assured him, wishing he could feel that sure. "Dad well... "
Dad would have to get used to it, Aiden had figured.
The twins would never forget what happened when they walked in the door.
Their mother gasped, as her horrified eyes shifted back and forth, clearly not knowing which was Aiden.
"My son," she sobbed. "What have you done?"
Aiden looked away in shame, while Ethan felt hurt that she wouldn't even acknowledge him.
"Mom," Ethan spoke quietly.
She studied him with wide eyes, lips falling open with her loss for words.
"Abomination," she whispered finally.
Aiden felt his heart break like he was sure his twin's must have.
"You're both abominations," she accused angrily, lifting a trembling finger. "I thought I could accept this, so I told you. I cannot... "
"Mom its me," Aiden said helplessly, voice shaking with emotion.
She shook her head.
"Why did you do it?" she whispered. "I was a fool. Your father's really right about you!"
"Mom?" Aiden asked in a hurt voice, but she looked away.
Ethan ran from the room, face buried in his hands, so Aiden ran after him.
They went back to the woods.
Aiden had really done it this time...
Even their mom hated him now. Even she blamed him.
"Poor children," a sweet voice said from the trees.
Aiden jumped. He hadn't even been aware of anyone else there.
Ethan had been silent and unresponsive the whole time.
"Poor boy," the voice soothed, and an older man emerged into the moonlit clearing.
He carried a white stick that indicated he was blind, and wore sunglasses. What was this blind man doing in the woods at night?
Aiden should have noticed that scent before...
"You're like us," Ethan said before he could.
"Yes," the man said. "I am a werewolf."
"What do you want?" Aiden asked with a distrustful glance.
"Why my boy," the man said kindly, like a father figure. "I want to help you. You don't know your power. Your father lies to you because he gets off on bullying you."
Aiden didn't want to believe that was true, but he believed it was.
"That isn't true," he denied.
"You know its true," the man said, making him feel he was being analyzed behind those dark shades. "He's never been anything except cruel to you. Now he won't accept Ethan either. The brother you've always wanted. The other child he says he wants. Your own mother doesn't accept what you've done! Do you think he will?"
Aiden knew the answer to that. This stranger was right. His father would never be happy with him...
"Why should I trust you?" he asked, more out of protest. "I don't know you."
"You're right," the man said with a calculating smile. "I'm Deucalion, and I hope you and your brother will know me better yet. I can be your father. Come away with me... "
With that he held out his hand, and Aiden backed away from it. He exchanged a nervous look with his twin.
"You're not my father," Aiden said.
"Your ally then," Deucalion suggested. "I can give you power. You can be an alpha and not have to be bullied by your father."
"How?" Aiden asked doubtfully.
He knew the answer before Deucalion suggested it, and he'd entertained the idea before...
"Why Aiden," Deucalion muttered seductively. "You know the answer to that. It isn't obvious to you?"
Aiden shook his head with wide eyes, taking another step back.
"Don't run away from me," Deucalion pleaded, sounding really gentle and caring. "You know how a wolf becomes an alpha. By killing another alpha."
Aiden looked thoughtful, and his hate for his father arose anew.
And his mother...
How could his mother have been so cruel to Ethan? She didn't even want to give him a chance.
"Listen to what he says," Ethan spoke suddenly, looking resolute.
"What?" Aiden asked, looking at his twin in surprise and confusion.
"Aiden," Ethan said. "Aren't we brothers? Your love brought me into being. Do you really need anyone beside me?"
Aiden looked into his twin's resolute eyes, and a courage seemed to fill him.
"No," he said, voice becoming firm and decisive. "I don't need anyone else."
Deucalion took a step back, seeming to fade into the shadows.
"You know what to do," he said gently before vanishing altogether. "Come back here when you have done it."
That's what he had done...
Just like he created Ethan out of lonliness and pain, so too they killed their parents from those same emotions.
They had a new pack. The pack was just as much theirs as Deucalion's, or so he said. They were alphas now.