Disclaimer: See Prologue, I do not own the song in this chapter either, it belongs to Leanne Rimes and is called 'Can't fight the Moonlight'.
Author's Note: Hey all, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, which reminds me, Merry belated Christmas to you all. Please read and review and a big thanks to Trooperx for being the best reviewer ever! You rock. Ciao.
Chapter Two: The First Day
Sirius Black learns the hard way that being in the bad books of Remus Lupin isn't very fun...
Just before dawn the storm blew itself out leaving the air feeling fresh and crisp, as it usually gets after such weather. As the sun slowly made its way up over the horizon, its rays reached across the land until they hit a cliff face where they seemed to stop for a second. Then with the same slow pace the light continued on its course by spreading up the cliff and heading for the two unsuspecting figures slumbering at the top. Morning was well and truly on its way when the light burst over the edge of the cliff, causing the two sleepers to stir as the harsh light hit their closed eyes.
Remus and Sirius began to wake up as the light strengthened, each groggily wiping the sleep from their eyes as they both thought on what a strange dream they'd had, until they noticed their surrounding's that is. Instantly wide awake Remus and Sirius got to their feet and with barely a glance in each other's direction they begun to examine their surroundings.
The cliff they were on was totally without vegetation, water or any signs of life, except their own of course, and was completely desolate looking. It was just a large expanse of rock jutting up into the sky with a vast forest at its base and just visible on one horizon what looked like the start of a desert. Turning around and squinting in another direction you could just see the beginnings of a wide open grassland area and in another direction there appeared to be an ocean.
^This place is so bizarre^ thought Remus staring blankly at the forest, then he saw the flash of what suspiciously looked like sunlight reflecting off of water.
'This is all your fault, you know' came Sirius' voice, breaking into Remus' thoughts.
'How do you figure that?' asked Remus mildly, still staring at the spot where he thought he saw the sun hitting water.
'If you'd just apologise for yelling at me without a reason none of this would have happened' explained Sirius moving to the edge of the cliff.
'Me apologise? You're the one who nearly turned me into a killer!' said Remus incredulously.
'Geez! It was a joke, for crying out loud! Get over it!' said Sirius sitting down on the cliff's edge.
'What are you doing?' asked Remus curiously, deciding it would be best to change the subject because unless he decided it himself there was no-way to convince Sirius he was wrong.
'What does it look like? I'm getting down from here, unless you haven't noticed there's no food or water, so we can't stay here forever' replied Sirius.
Remus in turn moved to the edge of the cliff, though he was about five meters away from where Sirius was sitting, and he looked down at the forest for a second before glancing back up when he heard Sirius shift into a position to start the long climb down.
'I wouldn't do that if I was you' suggested Remus mildly.
'Well thankfully you're not, so mind your own damn business!' said Sirius.
'As you wish' replied Remus, watching passively as Sirius disappeared down the cliff.
Remus stayed where he was for a few minutes, listening to Sirius' swearing as he moved down the cliff, then with a shrug he started down the stairs he'd found cut into the side of the cliff. Even though they were incredibly steep and a little worn the stairs were still a lot safer to use then to try and climb down the cliff itself.
It took Remus a little over an hour to descend the stairs and by the time he'd reached the bottom he was totally exhausted and extremely thirsty but as much as he wanted a drink he decided it would probably be best to catch his breath before attempting to find the stream. So Remus allowed his legs to collapse and he leant against the cliff taking deep breaths to settle his pounding heart. Then upon hearing a rock rattle down the cliff and a muffled yell of "fuck" from above, Remus looked up and noticed that Sirius was already around three quarters of the way down. Glad that he'd found the stairs, for he knew he'd never have been able to climb down, Remus watched as Sirius descended the last quarter to the ground, where he immediately flopped down onto his back and tried to catch his breath.
Once his legs no longer felt like jelly and he'd recovered his breath, Sirius got to his feet and looking around he noticed a perfectly composed Remus leaning against the cliff a few meters away.
'How the fuck did you get down before me?' asked Sirius suspiciously, for he had no doubt that Remus would be unable to climb down the cliff so fast.
'I took the stairs' replied Remus nodding in the direction of the barely visible stairway.
'Why didn't you tell me there were stairs?' demanded Sirius angrily.
'Because you told me to mind my own business' replied Remus calmly, getting to his feet and slowly heading in the direction of the stream he had seen.
'Hey! Come back here, I haven't finished with you yet!' said Sirius, angrily following Remus.
'As much fun as fighting with you over trivial matters is I think I'd much prefer to get a drink' said Remus without looking around.
'You know where there's water?' asked Sirius his anger dissipating at the thought of getting a drink.
'Yes' replied Remus simply as he entered the forest proper, which oddly enough seemed to be a mixture of pine and oak trees.
'Right, well, I'm coming with you!' stated Sirius as though that had been his intentions all along.
'Whatever takes your fancy' said Remus striding purposefully in the direction he thought, hoped, he'd seen the stream.
After two hours with no sign of a stream, Remus was getting absolutely, positively fed up with Sirius' incessant singing; it wasn't so much how bad he was singing as it was what he was singing.
'Underneath the starlight, starlight,
We'll be lost in a rhythm so right.
Feel it steal your heart tonight.
You can try to resist, try to hide from my kiss,
But you know, but you know that you
Can't fight the moonlight.
Deep in the dark, you'll surrender your heart.
Don't you know, don't you know that you
Can't fight the moonlight,
No, you can't fight it.
It's gonna get to your heart'.
Deciding that he'd had enough Remus spun around and was just in time to see Sirius shaking his arse at him.
'Why are you doing that?' asked Remus wearily.
Hearing Remus' question, Sirius stopped what he was doing, turned around and answered in a petulant voice 'I'm bored'.
'So you decided that singing a muggle song while doing the chicken dance would alleviate that boredom?' asked Remus sceptically.
'It's better than looking at your arse for two hours' replied Sirius promptly.
'Why would you be looking at my arse?' asked Remus curiously.
'Because you're in front of me' said Sirius in a tone that clearly said "duh".
'So why not look at my head, shoulders or even the scenery?' questioned Remus mildly.
'Well… I… You… Uh' spluttered Sirius, then he decided it would be best to change the subject so he continued with 'Any how I was thinking…'
'That's got to be a new experience' interrupted Remus turning around and continuing on his way.
'What are you talking about? I always think' said Sirius jogging to catch up, and then he stopped suddenly as Remus spun back around with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
'So let me get this straight, you thought it would be okay to turn me into a killer, did you?' asked Remus in a deceptively calm voice.
'Not as such, no' replied Sirius, quickly backing off.
Remus continued to stare at Sirius for a second through narrowed eyes before turning around and continuing to head in the direction of the water he had seen.
Sirius was unnaturally quiet for the next hour and he was so lost in thought he quite literally walked into Remus, who he had failed to notice had stopped moving. Upon realizing that he had walked into Remus, Sirius took a few hasty steps back and just shook his head at the look of inquiry Remus gave him.
'Why'd you stop?' asked Sirius curiously.
'Because the stream is on the other side of that!' replied Remus nodding at some thick shrubbery that was wrapped around the trees.
'Cool! Water' said Sirius enthusiastically, staring at the shrubs that were covered in greenish flowers and white berries.
Remus continued looking at the shrubs for a minute before walking off to the left.
'Where are you going?' asked Sirius watching as Remus walked away.
'To find a way around the shrubbery' replied Remus mildly.
'That's ridiculous! I'm going to go right through them, it'd be a whole lot quicker' said Sirius resolutely.
'Do whatever you think best' replied Remus as he disappeared around a corner.
'Fine, I will!' said Sirius to himself and he promptly forced his way through the shrubs.
When Remus reached the bubbling brook twenty minutes later it was to find that Sirius had indeed pushed through the shrubs and was currently scratching furiously at the red rash that had appeared all over his body. For last night when they had been taken off their planet, Sirius had been in his pyjamas, which meant he was without a top. Totally ignoring the foul look Sirius was giving him; Remus went straight to the stream and got a long refreshing drink.
'What happened to you?' asked Fabian coming out of no-where and causing both Sirius and Remus to jump.
'He climbed through poison ivy' explained Remus when Sirius continued to scratch while staring sullenly at everyone.
'Why'd he do that?' asked Fabian curiously.
'No idea' replied Remus mildly.
'You could have told me what it was!' said Sirius angrily, glaring at Remus.
'You could have asked why I wasn't going to climb through it' said Remus in a calm tone, not looking at Sirius, who was currently scratching his balls.
'Here' said Fabian holding a crystal goblet, filled with an unknown blue substance, out to Sirius.
'What's this?' asked Sirius suspiciously, taking the goblet and eyeing it wearily.
'It'll get rid of the rash and I also bought you both a change of clothes that are more appropriate for this place, you can get changed whenever you want and you can leave what you're wearing now wherever, the planet will get rid of them' explained Fabian with a friendly smile and he put the clothes he had bought with him on the ground.
Sirius looked between Fabian, the goblet and the clothes before shrugging and downing the goblets contents in one go, the effects of the blue liquid was instantaneous, for straight away the itching stopped and the rash faded away.
'I thought you weren't allowed to help us' said Remus softly.
'I can do this and give you a few warnings' replied Fabian with a shrug.
'What kind of warnings?' asked Sirius, glad for help of any kind.
'First, while this planet has many things from your world on it, it also has things you will not recognize, for this land is designed to help you realize what you need so you can leave. Second, there are other creatures here and some of them are quite deadly and last of all the more you two fight the more dangerous this planets eco system gets, don't ask me why I have no idea. Now the main reason I came to see you is because I meddled with the planets spells to try and change the full moon problem. I'm afraid there will still be a full moon every night but it will no longer affect you, it's this planets original moon you have to look out for, which shouldn't be too hard considering its blue. The bad thing is that because I meddled the blue moon could show up at any time. Its shadow could show up during the day which would force you to change, not to mention it could appear two nights in a row or not at all for six months, depending how long your stuck here that is, so be careful' explained Fabian in one breath, directing the last bit at Remus.
'Don't you need to breathe? No, wait, ignore that! So all we need to do to get off this planet is to mend our broken friendship, right?' questioned Sirius.
'I didn't think I had explained it properly, no it's not just your friendship that needs to be fixed, and you're both stuck here until you both discover what it is your heart's truly desire. Now Remus, I'm really sorry but to change the planets design I had to change your genetic code and I'm afraid we won't know the effects of that until after your first transformation' said Fabian.
'It's okay, you've done the best you can' replied Remus softly and with a sad smile.
'Now if you'll excuse me, it's time I left' said Fabian walking away.
'Hey! Wait a second! What do you mean by what our hearts truly desire?' demanded Sirius following Fabian.
Fabian didn't answer, he just kept on walking and when he reached the tree line he simply vanished, leaving a bewildered Sirius and Remus deep in thought on how they were to survive until they figured out Fabian's cryptic clues, until then they were stuck on this unknown planet where nothing was for certain but everything was dangerously real.