Animal Instincts

Psycho Llama

Disclaimer: Mike Mignola owns all but mousy. Yes, that does mean Mike Mignola owns the world. Flee; flee for your lives!

There, at the end of the branch sat the bird's nest. The eggs were supposed to hatch today. Over the rim of the twiggy nest, she could see one of the eggs start to tremble, the bird inside ready to emerge. If only she could get a little closer, see a little more… the height did not daunt her. She tried to inch closer to the nest, praying that the branch beneath her would hold.

She was almost there. The bird broke through the shell, cheeping shrilly. The girl smiled, steadying herself with one hand on an adjacent branch. The bird reminded her of herself, emerging into a new world, beginning a new life… in a new country, even.

She felt the branch give under her weight, she leaned to the other side to avoid falling with it. Her arm swung wildly in the air, trying to find something to anchor itself, but failed. She slipped off the trunk, falling into the sky.

She didn't scream, she didn't move. All she could do was watch the branches rush away from her, her breath whisked away with them, 'Will it hurt a lot, before I die?' she wondered briefly.

Then she felt someone catch her, arms wrap around her waist in an attempt to slow her decent. Well, they tried to catch her. She felt the two of them thrown backwards from the force of the fall.

'I'm alive?' the young girl blinked in amazement, staring off into the distance. The person's arms were still wrapped around her… were they okay? Groaning, she sat up. There was a cut on her forehead, she noticed, touching the bleeding wound lightly with her fingertips.

The person beside her grumbled wearily and sat up, cradling their head in their hands. The girl blinked, staring at the person who had saved her life. He was exactly her age, if not a little older. The boy stared back at her; she didn't know what to say.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"What were you doing up there?" the boy frowned, "In a dress, climbing trees?"

"I wanted to see the birds hatch," the girl replied softly, wrapping her arms defensively around her knees. Her dress had been torn in several different places due to the fall, her father would be furious.

"You aren't from around here, are you?"

The girl looked back to the boy, "No, we arrived on Tuesday. How did you know?"

"There is only one school in this village, I did not recognise you."

"We moved here from England. My father grew up here… it was his idea to move," she sighed, looking at the ground.

"You should be at home, won't your mother be worried that you're out so late?" the boy cocked his head to the side.

"She died when I was four."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. She died in peace," the girl smiled distantly, remembering what her father told her, "What about yours?"

"Both of my parents died the year before last," the blonde boy replied sadly.

"Oh…" the girl looked down at the ground.

"Where do you live?" the voice sounded oddly distant. The girl looked over to where the boy was sitting, but the vision faded away, darkness invading her dream and pulling her into the conscious world.

Melissa opened her eyes, the sight of the BPRD room she slept in greeting her with cold familiarity. The shape-shifter searched her mind for that presence she felt when Abe was with her, but found nothing. She supposed him to be asleep, as she had just been.

She rolled over, hugging the sheets tighter to herself. Was what she had just seen one of the memories Abe had unlocked in her mind? Melissa drew in a shaky breath. The answers the dream had given her had only brought on more questions. The boy in her dream seemed important to her dormant past. Were they once friends? If she found him could he tell her who she was?

'Thank you…' she whispered in her head, thinking of the sleeping psychic that had given her back a memory; a clue to who the heck she really was. All she wanted to know in the world.

A/N: Thank you very much to Nightcaster and epalladino for your reviews, you guys are so nice:)