A new shiki94 fic time already? ...Well, not exactly. To people that have been following along with my fic that's currently in progress, Running With The Pack, they'll know that Chapter 20 of the fic was pretty much a backstory chapter for my OC Alex Hardy in that fic. And, I was thinking after I read the chapter over (...and over and over and over again...) that maybe I didn't end the chapter in the most laid-out/explanatory way possible. So, that's the purpose of this little addition. Basically this is more of Alex after the night she got hurt by Cody when Cody first turned into his wolf form. I hope you guys enjoy it. =)
Disclaimer: I own none of the wrestlers used in this fic. They are the property of themselves, WWE, TNA, and the various other promotions they belong to. I only own the ideas going into this fic and my OC, Alex Hardy.
It was still such a huge surprise to Alex that the people she now called her family were so...different from other people. After all, not everyone could say that they've seen one of their surrogate family members turn into a wolf...and was hurt by said family member in their wolf form. While it was still a lot of information for Alex's 13-year-old brain to process, she had more-or-less come to deal with it all in her own way; and this way...was to try ignore it. No matter how often she'd see the guys in the house leave in their groups "going to work", no matter how much growling and howling she'd hear coming from the woods, no matter how often she'd see some of the guys come in with really bad injuries, largely ranging from bruises to harsh cuts, she'd just ignore it all. 'It's the only thing I can do to keep my head here, among these...these wolves,' Alex thought.
Sitting outside on the porch one cool October day as she took a bite from one of the cinnamon rolls she had snagged from the many dozens she helped Trish make earlier in the day, Alex looked out at the yard and surrounding wooded area that hid their house from the outside world. Swallowing the bite of cinnamon roll she had been chewing, Alex couldn't help but wonder what else seemed to lie out there. What lurked in the trees? What was out there that the guys were taking down every day? ...And why did it seem like stuff Alex had a feeling she had to know? Laying the rest of her snack on the table next to the chair she was sitting on, Alex got up and walked down the porch steps and into the yard where she walked to the main path that led from the house to the city. Taking a look back at the house, Alex thought 'They won't notice I'm gone for a few minutes. It's not like I'm trying to run away again or anything.' Returning her gaze to the path ahead, Alex took a breath in and let it out before taking her first steps down the path.
As Alex began her walk, she didn't really know what to expect at first; so, to find that there wasn't really anything to worry about was feeling like a major relief to the teenage brunette. 'This isn't...so bad. But...I don't know why…but, I just know that the rest of this walk won't be as calm as it is now,' Alex thought as she continued to walk down the dirt path. Looking around herself, Alex took in the towering trees of different types, the cool shade that the many leaf canopies provided, the leaves that were falling from a few of the trees, and the overall tranquility that seemed to permeate the area.
It wasn't until Alex had gotten part of the way down the path did she hear it.
To her left, Alex heard what sounded like heavy breathing followed by a low, yet somehow loud, hiss. The next thing the teenager knew, she saw a panting Cody standing near what looked to be a large whitish snake. At first Alex wasn't sure what to make of the scene before her; after all, she had never seen a snake that huge before, so she was thinking maybe Cody had killed it to keep it from getting near the house. But, upon taking a closer look at the scene before her, Alex realized that something much bigger had just happened: Looking at Cody, Alex could see that Cody was covered in wet and drying blood, his teeth were sharp points, his fingernails were of an impressive length, and his eyes...his eyes that were normally so blue and soft and kind were a harsh and glowing yellow. Alex couldn't say that she had ever remembered any of the guys looking like this before. If anything, it scared Alex more than when she first saw Cody turn into a wolf…and that's not even counting what happened shortly afterwards when he had clawed her across the face. Trying to stop the trembles that seemed to sweep through her body, Alex slowly backed away from the scene before her before she inadvertently stumbled over a large section of tree root that was in the path. Falling back and landing on her butt, Alex hissed out a quick "Dang it!" as she felt rocks and a couple of twigs dig into her hand.
Cody had been so intently focused on the monster that he had just killed that hearing scuffling and muttering to his left made his senses go on even higher alert than they already were. His gaze quickly snapping to the left, Cody saw Alex on the ground, pulling twigs and rocks out of the palm of her left hand. His senses calming down upon seeing Alex, Cody stepped away from the remaining husk of the beast he had killed and headed over to where Alex was. "Alex? What are you doing out here? Are you okay?"
Hearing Cody's voice and his footsteps approaching her, Alex tensed up a bit before looking up at the blood-covered 16-year-old standing before her. While she was relieved that Cody wasn't the beastly version of himself that she just saw, there was still the matter of the fact that Cody was covered in both dry and wet blood! Curling into a ball as she held her hurt hand close to herself, Alex shook and said "Whatever you're going to do to me…just make it quick."
"Whatever I'm going to do to you? Alex, what are you talking about?" Cody asked, feeling confused by being asked this by the younger brunette.
"I…I saw you…standing near whatever the hell that snake thing was. I'm guessing you killed it, so…just don't do that to me! …Please?" Alex said, her voice raised before lowering in nervous fear.
Hearing Alex say this surprised Cody-and not in a good way. The fact that the youngest and newest member of the pack house family was showing so much fear in the face of what made up their world, it just didn't make any sense to the brunette wolf. Unless...unless... Kneeling down so that he was at Alex's level, Cody asked "Alex? Do you...not know about what me and the other guys here really are? And what we do?"
"Well, I've kinda been able to piece it together that most, if not all, of you guys can turn into wolves. As if that wasn't a bit obvious," Alex said, raising her head and pointing at the bandages that wound across her face.
Biting his lip as he looked down a bit upon seeing the bandages on Alex's face, Cody said "I'm sorry about that. Really, I am."
"I know, Cody. It wasn't your fault. From what some of the others have told me, apparently you were just trying to save me from Jeff because you thought he was gonna hurt me. It's no big deal," Alex said, waving off yet another apology from the brunette wolf. Continuing on with how she was rationalizing things out, Alex said "As for what you guys do...I honestly don't have a clue. I haven't really gotten that talk from Matt or Jeff or Trish or anyone else yet."
Before Cody could offer up an explanation, the sounds of Alex's name being called along with running footsteps coming their way caught his attention. Turning in the direction of Alex's name being called, the two brunettes soon saw Jeff and Gilbert heading in their direction.
As soon as Jeff and Gilbert reached Alex and Cody, Gilbert began to admonish Alex for leaving without letting anyone know she was going for a walk "Alexis. Do you have any idea how worried we all were when we saw that you weren't on the porch?" as Jeff checked his adoptive younger sister to make sure that she was fine.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to make you guys get worried about me," Alex said, scratching the back of her head. "I just...I just wanted to go for a bit of a walk. That's all. I didn't think I'd worry you guys that much by me taking a walk."
"Alex, sweetheart, it's not so much we were worried about you going for a walk. It's just the fact that you didn't tell any of us before you walked off," Jeff said, trying to reason with the younger brunette. "It's not really safe around here. You could've gotten hurt by something."
"Hurt by something? Like what? Other wolves besides you guys? Or giant snakes? Or some other weird thing that you guys haven't told me about yet?" Alex asked, scowling a bit.
"Giant snakes? When did you see a giant snake?" Jeff asked, surprised to hear Alex say this.
"When I was first walking down the path. I only made it to right here before I heard something. I turn to look at it and next thing I know, I'm seeing Cody looking like a bloody Wolverine standing near a giant snake...and it wasn't a normal snake," Alex said. Seeing the looks of surprise shared by Jeff and Gilbert, Alex thought 'Please don't tell this means that I'm going to be kept in the dark about something else now.'
Managing to find his voice, Gilbert then said "Alexis. Come back to the house now."
"Yeah, Alex. We'll talk with you about what you saw there," Jeff said.
"What? Why?! Why at the house? Why can't you guys tell me here?!" Alex asked, a bit of a whine starting to color her voice.
"It'll just be easier for us there," Jeff said, trying to reason with the temperamental teen. "Just...come back home with us."
"No, I don't want to!" Alex shouted in frustration. Looking up to Jeff and Gilbert as angry tears began to roll down her cheeks, Alex said "Jeff, Daddy, please. I really hate that it seems like you guys are keeping stuff hidden from me. It makes me so angry that I don't understand anything about you all or what it is that the guys do...or even what it was that I just saw. Please stop keeping this stuff a secret from me. Just...just tell me, damn it!"
Hearing this tearful plea from Alex was making Jeff and Cody's hearts hurt. While both guys wanted to tell Alex about what their world really was, they couldn't in fear of making Alex terrified of what all existed. With neither man saying a word, Cody just bit his lip and looked away while Jeff took a deep breath and let it out before saying "I'm sorry about this, Alex." Seeing Alex look up at him with tears running down her face and getting soaked up by her bandages, Jeff closed his eyes before reopening them to show that his eyes had changed from their normal green to wolf yellow. Keeping the gaze of the now surprised Alex held, Jeff stared into his sister's eyes before she fell forward into his waiting arms. Picking a now unconscious Alex up and holding her bridal style, Jeff said "I'm so sorry for this, Alexis" before planting a kiss on his sister's forehead.
Seeing Jeff do this surprised Cody...largely because he didn't know what exactly it was that Jeff just did. Stepping forward as he felt his teeth grow and his claws come out, Cody growled out "What the hell did you just do, Jeff?!"
Stepping in between the younger brunette and his rainbow-haired son, Gilbert said "Relax, Cody. Alex isn't hurt. She'll just be asleep for a bit."
"That still doesn't explain what Jeff did," Cody said, a bit of a growl still apparent in his voice.
"It's one of the abilities that us wolves have," Gilbert said, explaining this to the young wolf. "Whether we're in our wolf form or our human form, we have the ability to compel people. Basically what that is is that we can somewhat hypnotize people, depending on what we want to do."
"So, what Jeff just did...he put Alex to sleep?" Cody asked, now having calmed down.
"Yes. Don't worry, Cody. Alex will just wake up at home, completely fine," Gilbert said, sending a reassuring look the younger wolf's way.
"Yeah, she'll be fine, but I don't think she'll be any happier about what happened," Cody said.
"We'll deal with that later," Gilbert said. "For now, just go back on watch for a few more minutes. Jeff and I are going back home so that we can lay Alex down."
"OK," Cody said, nodding his head. Watching as the two Hardy men with Jeff carrying the still-sleeping Alex headed back to the house, Cody stood as a million thoughts flew through his head. 'Alex could see part of the real me and the Serperi I killed? And now I'm learning that us wolves can hypnotize people? These are just more signs that Alex needs to know about all of this. Because, if I don't really know much about our world, how does everyone expect Alex to be comfortable around us?' Turning and heading back into the woods, Cody shifted into his wolf form as he took off at a run in search of something to take his frustrations out on.
...
Lying on her bed in her room, Alex still couldn't believe it. The fact that Jeff had done something to her that made her fall asleep was bad enough; but now that she was back at home, she still hadn't gotten an explanation from anyone about what she had seen earlier in the day or even what it was that Jeff did. Even after asking, she got pretty much the same answer from everyone: "We'll tell you in a bit, Alex. Just wait." The incessant waiting was beginning to drive her crazy because she had so many questions that had been going unanswered. 'Why, why, why?! Why the hell is everyone being so secretive with me?! I'm 13 years old! I feel like I'm old enough to understand this stuff. ...Is is because everyone thinks I'm still too fragile to really understand everything...or do they just have no intent of telling me?' Alex thought, frustrated tears starting to burn her eyes. Tired of waiting around, Alex got up from her bed and headed over to her bedroom door. If she wasn't going to get answers by waiting, then she'd seek the answers out herself. Pulling open her bedroom door, Alex was surprised to see Cody standing outside her bedroom, his hand raised as if he was about to knock on the door. Blinking around her surprise, Alex asked "Cody? What are you doing here?"
"I...I was actually about to come see you. I...wanted to talk with you about some stuff," Cody said.
"You wanted to talk with...with me?" Alex asked, surprised to hear this from Cody. "About what?"
"Well...it's about what happened earlier today," Cody said. Hearing Alex snort and seeing her roll her eyes upon him mentioning that, Cody said "Hear me out for a minute. I'm actually on your side. It's not fair to you that you're being kept so in the dark about what happens here, me and the guys here and what we are, and what our world really is. And...I want you to know about all of it."
Cutting an uncertain glance Cody's way, Alex asked "How do I know you're being truthful about this? How do I know that this isn't something that Jeff or Matt or my dad put you up to?"
"Because I'm just as clueless about a lot of this stuff too," Cody said. Getting a look of disbelief from Alex, Cody said "What Jeff did to you earlier...I honestly had no idea us wolves could do that. And the creatures that we take down and kill, I'm still pretty in the dark about a lot of them. I just know that we have to kill them before they hurt people in the city and stuff. Other than that, I'm still pretty clueless about a lot of the other stuff just like you are."
Taking in everything Cody just said, Alex said "...So. I guess this means...there's two clueless people in this house. What do we do about this?"
Cautiously and tentatively holding his hand out, Cody, with a bit of a shy lisp coloring his voice, said "Maybe...maybe we can be clueless and learn about this stuff together."
Hearing all of this come from Cody was a major surprise to the young brunette. The whole time Alex had lived with Matt, Jeff, Gilbert, and the others, she had never gotten something in the way of one of the guys wanting to be close like this to her, especially now that there was so much more that she had to learn and know about if she wanted to live among and be a part of her new family. To hear that there was a member of her new family that felt just as clueless about what their world held felt like one of the hugest comforts Alex had gotten in a very long time next to the night that she was first taken in by the Hardy men. So, instead of taking hold of Cody's hand, Alex stepped past it and instead wrapped her arms around Cody and gave the older teen a tight hug as she rested her head on his chest.
Alex hugging him was definitely a surprise to the older teen; one that he didn't so much mind getting because, secretly, he had a few slight feelings for the younger teen; but, thankfully, he had managed to keep his feelings secret from the object of his affection. Slowly bringing his arms up, Cody wrapped them around Alex in a hug of his own as he held Alex close to him.
...
"I'm not sure how much longer I can keep suppressing Alex's Sight," a dark-skinned man said as he sat with Gilbert in the front sitting room of the house. "If what you told me is true, then it must mean that she's becoming resistant to the spell that I use to keep her Sight inhibited."
"Isn't there something else you can do to keep her Sight suppressed, Shango?" Gilbert asked the other man.
"To my knowledge, there isn't anything else I can do outside of taking away her ability to see the supernatural entirely," the other man, Shango, said.
"That's not an option I can abide with, Shango. Alexis's parents wouldn't want her to be completely cut off from the world they were a part of and I don't want that for her, either," Gilbert said, firm conviction about this apparent in his voice. Taking off his glasses as he ran a hand down his face, Gilbert asked "What do you suggest I do about this?"
Looking over to the brunette wolf, Shango said "Tell Alex about the world that she is truly a part of. She may not be a true supernatural being like we are, but her ability to see the supernatural, just like what Trish and the other women here have, that helps show that she belongs in our world."
"I...I suppose you're right," Gilbert said, realizing that maybe what Shango was getting at was what he should do. "I just hope Alex will be able to understand all of this."
"Understand all of what, Dad?" Alex asked from the entryway of the sitting room. Seeing her dad sitting with someone else, Alex almost asked who her dad was talking with until she recognized the other man in the room. "Mr. Wright? What are you doing here?"
"Alex, you know this guy?" Cody asked from Alex's side.
"Yeah. He's the guy that I go see every two weeks. Dad, how you know Mr. Wright?" Alex asked.
"Actually, Alex, Mr. Wright here is one of my good friends. We've known each other for a good number of years now," Gilbert said.
"Really? That's pretty cool," Alex said. "So, it's like I asked, why is Mr. Wright here today? I'm not supposed to come visit you again for another few days."
"I actually came out here to visit your father today. He called me about something very important. Something relating to you," Shango said.
"Something relating to me? I'm not in any kind of trouble, am I?" Alex asked as Cody moved a bit closer to Alex.
"No, of course not. It was him that reached out to me to come here in the first place," Shango said. Seeing the confused look on his young charge's face, Shango said "Your father told me about your walk you took today."
Blushing a bit as she looked down at her shoes, Alex said "I know what you're probably thinking. 'Alex has lost it. Time to ship her off to the crazy house.' Look, Mr. Wright. Whatever my dad told you...just don't worry about it. I...I was just seeing things when I was on my walk. It's no big deal."
"Actually, Alex, what your father tells me you saw...I'm pretty familiar with. What you saw, it's completely normal for people in our world," Shango said.
"Our world? Mr. Wright...what are you talking about?" Alex asked, her confusion growing as she felt more and more unwary about where this talk was going to go.
"Alexis. You may not know this...but, you're not like other kids your age. For, you see, you have an ability none of your peers have," Shango said. "You can see a whole new world of creatures and other such beings."
OK. So, I didn't specify up at the top about how long this is going to be. Seeing as how I ended this on a cliffy (of sorts), I'm going to say that this will more than likely be a two-shot. We'll see once I get the next part of this typed up and posted. That being said, I hope you guys enjoy this little trip down memory lane in my Running With The Pack-verse. Don't forget to R&R please. =)