Thank you MelanaAdara and Den of Meade for reviewing last chapter! I really, really do appreciate your support! I'd also like to thank each and every reader that took the time out of their day and read this far! You guys are wonderful!

Den of Meade: I apologize for the way my last reply sounded; I know you weren't accusing me of anything. I really didn't mean for that to sound like I was angry at you for anything. What I was intending is to get across to everyone is that my story is not a rip off of iceandfire's story.. So I apologize if I came off angry.. I really do appreciate the feedback you give me and I do look forward to seeing your replies.

As for Genn's comment last chapter... Yes, I will expand upon that in a later chapter when things slow down a bit event-wise. I don't want to bog down the story's pace too much with a lot of background information.

Aaaanyway, apologetic rant aside, please read and review and I will see you guys next chapter!


Wrong. Everything tasted, smelled wrong. From the water in the small, pitiful bowl her captors had so thoughtfully provided to the chopped up meat that served as food. They all tasted stale and full of plants that could kill her. There was no way she was putting that crap in her mouth.

That had sounded good in the beginning, anyway. Now, about two days after she and her denmate had been captured, she was beginning to really reconsider her strategy. Hunger clawed at her belly and she was so damned thirsty that the bowl was looking really good.

"Eat." Her denmate had taken up a 'do or die' attitude and happily consumed whatever was given to him. A few hours ago he had begun to smell different; more like that human male that visited them often. Now he was pressuring her to do the same, but her pride would not accept anything less than a running stream and fresh meat torn from a deer.

"You starve, fool. You eat. Drink. Feel better."

A weak snarl that was half a whine was his answer as she opened a pitiful emerald eye at him. Her stomach seemed to echo his sentiment, grumbling painfully and she could not hide her wince. He huffed and pushed her bowl of plant-laced water at her with a paw. He gave her a look that clearly said 'drink or I will make you' and she glared back at him for a moment or two before dragging herself to her feet and drank the bowl dry. Before she knew it she was being pushed towards the food pile. Another glare made her eat all she could stomach.

All the bitter-tasting herbs made her head swim and her stomach churn as she dragged herself towards her blanket and collapsed on it. A low whine escaped her before sleep claimed her consciousness.

When she woke again she felt like she had slept for days. Stretching her long limbs, the she-worgen noted that her freshly-scabbed wounds had been healed completely, leaving bare patches in her fur. Snorting, she clambered to her feet and found yet another bowl of water and a glare of 'you better drink that or else' from her denmate. Rolling her eyes, she cautiously sniffed at it, lifting a lip at the herbs still lacing it, and dutifully drank her fill. Unlike last time, the herbs didn't make her head spin, but she hung her tongue out in an effort to get rid of the bitter plant taste.

A movement out of the corner of her eye made her whip her head around to stare distrustfully at the young male watching them. She lifted a lip to expose her sharp fangs in case he decided to try anything funny and contented herself with pacing her cage. She could feel his burning stare on her and it discomforted her to the point of barking her unease.

"Stop looking!"

The male startled and his hand flew to a dagger strapped to his hip. She growled lowly and paced quicker as the urge to run tugged at her paws. A quiet chuckle brought her attention back to the flame-headed male as he crossed his arms and stared at her in amusement.

"It really is you Jeanne."

Jeanne. That name was so bloody familiar. Why was it so familiar? The utter rightness of the name made her pause and cock her head at the male. He stared at her right back before shaking his head and repeated the name.

"You need to come back Jeanne. Cerdic. I need you both to come back to me…"

She felt her denmate tense as the name washed over him and, presumably, the same recognition she had felt. Her soul, the part that was buried so deeply inside her, recognized it, called out in joy for it, much like the sight and smell of this male did. She and her denmate knew this male and knew him well. She, for the life of her, just could not recall where from.

She felt her denmate come up beside her and rear up on his back legs to stare down at the human. The human switched targets and the two males stared at each other for a long time. Her denmate jerked so suddenly that the she-worgen froze in alarm. He slowly shook his head and kept blinking, as if coming out of a long sleep, eventually grasping the bars of the cage with both front paws. He squinted at the human, who had frozen with an odd expression, and the she-worgen watched as her denmate's face morphed from confusion to recognition.

"A-A-Amm—on…?"


What?

"…Cerd..?" Did he really just..?

"A-Am-mon." The worgen -Cerdic- repeated, forest eyes boring into his own with a light that was entirely human. "I-I k-know you. I-I'd know y-you anywhere."

"I-I-I," Ammon backed up, wide-eyed and flabbergasted, "I-I'll be right back."

With that, the rogue turned tail and sprinted back to town, intent on his destination. He skidded on the loose gravel in front of a modest house near the outskirts of town and didn't hesitate beating the door down.

"Gwen! It's Ammon! Open up; it's important!"

As soon as he called the sentence out the door opened and Gwen Armstead stood on her threshold, arms crossed and an annoyed frown on her face. "Why in the bleeding hell are you beatin' down my door at high tea? What's so bloody important?"

"It's Cerdic! I think he's regaining his mind!"

All traces of annoyance bled from her face and was replaced with a potent mixture of excitement and hope. "When did this happen?"

"Not long ago. Come on! We need to help it along!"

Gwen made to follow him out the door but paused at his words. "Has Jeanne shown similar developments?"

"No."

Gwen pursed her lips and a concerned look crossed over her face. "We need to increase her dosage. The potion diluted doesn't seem like it's working."

"How are we going to do that?"

Gwen set her face in a determined expression as she shut the door behind her. Ammon fell in beside her as she led them from her house and deeper into town.

"We're going to need more men for what I have planned."

Gwen rallied up four more men, all having the bulk of a warrior, and they proceeded to the barn, where they found King Greymane already there waiting for them.

At their surprised looks the old king gestured to the worgen standing before him and stated, "I heard the news. Congratulations Ammon."

"Thank you, Sire."

Genn turned his attention to the she-worgen still pacing, her ears flickering back and forth nervously, and asked, "I assume the plan is to give her a full dose?"

"Yes it is, Your Majesty." Gwen supplied, looking the hazel worgen up and down before catching his eye. "Have you really come back to yourself Cerdic?"

The worgen seemed to be a bit startled at being addressed but recovered with a hesitant nod. "I… I suppose… Miss. Armstead, where exactly am I?"

"Duskhaven, Cerdic. We've transported you and your sister here for treatment. It's obviously successful on you."

Cerdic looked puzzled and turned his attention on the silver female staring up at him. "That's…. Jeanne? Truly?"

"…Yes…?"

Horror dawned on his lupine face and he backed himself into the corner, staring at his hand/paws as if seeing them for the first time. "I'm a worgen? We're worgen?! H-how can this be?!"

Before the situation could get more out of control, Genn cleared his throat and drew the worgen's attention away from himself. "Cerdic Delroy, will you aid us in attempting the cure on your sister? I fear she may be rather uncontrollable until we get her properly restrained."

Ammon thanked the Holy Light for his king's insight; his brother needs the distraction from his… new self. Thankfully, Cerdic nodded and Gwen jumped into action.

"Cerdic, I'm going to need you to grab her as soon as I open the cage. Matt, Ivan, get in there and get something over her muzzle. The rest of you will help wrangle her into the stockades."

Everyone nodded and took their positions. Ammon sighed inwardly and braced himself for the struggle of a lifetime.

"Everyone set? Ready…. GO!"


Ammon was right; getting Jeanne out of the cage was a momentous feat in itself with how much she thrashed, snapped and lashed out. The thirty yards to the stockades was even more of a fight since Jeanne had a habit of unconsciously calling the plants around her to aid in her fight. They had to deal with both a struggling worgen and the foliage trying to trip them up at every opportunity. It was a miracle no one was bitten or seriously injured.

Now the group (minus the four men Gwen hired for help) stood around a thrashing, yowling Jeanne as they waited for Aranas to come back with the potions.

Cerdic was standing off to the side a little ways outside the main group, ears pinned back at the racket Jeanne was making. His eyes darted from person to person nervously as if expecting someone to attack him when he wasn't looking.

Ammon kept his expression a neutral calm, though inside he was deeply hurt that his own brother didn't trust him to not attack him on sight. Sure, they often didn't see eye-to-eye on things, but this was his brother, his own family. After another moment of this, Ammon sighed gustily and approached Cerdic, who shrunk back from him slightly.

"Don't you dare hide from me Cerd," the younger man hissed, "I fought too damned hard for you to let you go and do this to yourself. It is no fault of yours that you are what you are. Stop acting like it."

Cerdic leveled at him the most furious, most desperate glare he has seen on his brother's face. "I am a worgen. A fucking worgen, Ammon. I am one of the beasts that killed so many of our people! For all I know I could turn on you, on all of you, at any moment and I'd have to live with the guilt that I murdered my own family! I never asked for this!"

"You're wrong Cerd." Ammon stepped right up to the worgen and pounded a fist over his brother's heart. "They didn't have the heart, the will that you do. I know for a bloody fact that you'd never hurt your family or your friends. Even when you weren't yourself you never hurt a single hair on me. You had plenty of opportunities to, believe me, but you never did. That says a lot."

Cerdic still looked unconvinced but remained silent as Aranas came bustling in carrying a crate full of flasks of semi-transparent blue potion. With a gusty sigh, Ammon gave Cerdic a last look before rejoining the group around Jeanne.

"Hold her down so she doesn't end up choking on it," Aranas ordered without preamble, taking a full flask from the crate at his feet and popping it open with a practiced motion.

Both Ammon and Cerdic took places on either side of her and grabbed her head; Ammon took fistfuls of her mane and fur at the base of her head while Cerdic wrenched her jaws wide open. A garbled snarl was all she voiced before Aranas upended the bottle down her throat and Cerdic snapped her jaws shut until she swallowed it all. They waited a few minutes for any sign of change to no avail. The only change they saw was her going limp, as if suddenly exhausted, and the plants calm around them.

"Another." Ammon ordered on a breath and Aranas was on it, only needing assistance in holding her head up at a better angle. Two more potions went down like that and there was still no change.

"She's had enough to kill a horse," Genn mumbled, regarding the still worgen with concern.

"It's time to put this one down." Lord Godfrey, who had shown up at one point or another, sneered, wrinkling his nose disdainfully at the trapped worgen. "It's protocol."

"Excuse you," Ammon snarled, leveling a nasty glare in the older man's direction, "No one asked for your bleeding opinion. If you know what's good for you, you'd do well to keep your trap shut."

Godfrey flushed in rage and spun on his heel to stalk off. Ammon watched him go before turning back to his comatose sister still fully feral.

"It's up to you Ammon. Giving her this much can potentially kill her. Or it can cure her."

Ammon glanced at Cerdic then back at Aranas. "Give me the bottles. She'd never forgive us if we didn't go all out in trying to get her back."


Is this what death is like? This is oddly… pleasant…

Jeanne mused as she felt cocooned in a blanket of warmth and bliss. Her eyes remained closed and she had no desire to open them to see what was laying in the Beyond. Faint voices filtered through the blanket of bliss, muffled and unimportant in her mind.

I wonder if that's Mama and Papa. Light knows how much I've missed them.

The voices got louder and clear enough for her to sluggishly recognize the speakers.

That's not them… Ammon? Why are you here?!

A spike of alarm cleared any traces of bliss from her mind and she struggled through the suddenly suffocating darkness in her desire to know more.

No! You can't be here! I need to know you're okay!

"Come back Jeanne… Please…"

I'm coming! Hold on Ammy, I'm coming!

She fought through the darkness with renewed vigor, feeling as if her body was moving through an entire field of mud that didn't want to let her go. She opened her mouth to try and yell for help when she swallowed an entire mouthful of whatever she was slogging through. She felt the liquid hit her stomach and a freezing wave coursed through her body from the inside out, as if her insides had been dumped into a bucket of ice water.

Gasping, she opened her eyes in shock and lurched forward, shivers running up and down her body. Churned up mud and stone came into focus as she fought to regain her breath. She groaned as the pain of cramped muscles hit her, not truly registering the lower pitched voice as her own.

"Jeanne!" She jumped at the volume of the voice and the face of her twin swam into view.

"A-Am-Ammon?"

The normally calm and collected rogue beamed at that, his face filling with relief and joy.

"Yes, Joanie, it's me! By the Light it's good to have you back!"

Jeanne blinked at that and made to stand up straight only to find that both her hands and neck were immobilized.

"Where am I?"

"In the stocks at Duskhaven."

Jeanne jolted in shock from that, ignoring the protest her aching muscles gave at the sudden movement.

"Why am I here?! Oh, Light help me if Cerdic finds out I'm here of all places…."

"Actually, Jeanne… I'm right here…" The tone of that voice made her heart sink a split second before the foreign timbre registered in her mind.

"Cerdic? What happened to you? You sound funny."

A monstrous brown worgen walked into her line of sight and she panicked, struggling to get up and cast until this thing is dead before Ammon patted her on the cheek.

"It's alright. He won't hurt you."

"Won't-?!"

"Jeanne, it's me." The worgen said, the same voice from before, though now tainted with sorrow. "It's Cerdic."

A sad smile wormed its way over his lips, an expression she instantly recognized seeing before on her older brother, as he continued, "As for what happened to me… The same thing that happened to you, dear sister. Though I believe you were bitten before I was."

What? You mean to tell me…

"I'm a worgen." The statement was flat and full of shock. "You're a worgen! How—? What-?"

"Yes, we are worgen." Cerdic's voice was now tinged with bitterness as he snorted in a mocking manner. "Welcome to the club of the cursed, Sister."

"Cerdic!" Ammon snapped, turning to glare at the worgen. Cerdic held it for a few moments before breaking it with a huff.

Ammon turned back to Jeanne, pulled the pin on the stockade and lifted the wooden arm to set her free. She hissed as she straightened up and rolled her sore shoulders back. It took a few moments before she realized she was looking down at her twin and a shiver ran up her spine at the unnaturalness of it all.

"…Hey, I'm finally taller than you."