Chapter 3 – Unknown Again

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for all the support. Since we, sadly, didn't get a backstory for Woodie yet, I made up one of my own. This is based on clues and hints found in the games and the animated shorts.

Heads up, heavy angst ahead!

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Wolfgang's mind went blank. Despite the very real, towering beast standing in front of them, standing where Woodie once laid, he just couldn't accept what he was seeing.

It's just impossible.

"Someone, please tell me I'm dreaming," he heard Willow stammer. The beast was swaying, as if disoriented. His glowing eyes found them again and he reached out his large trembling hand to them.

"S-stay back!" Wilson swung his torch and the flame caught the beast's hand, making him pull back and bellow in pain.

Without thinking, Wolfgang threw his right arm around the two survivors and picked them up, running in the opposite direction as fast as he could. At some point he was sure Wilson dropped his torch, but Willow kept a steely grip on her lighter and it was the only thing keeping the darkness from swallowing them up. He heard the scientist crying for him to slow down, but he didn't have the mind to, not when his every thought was busy fighting against what he had seen back there.

It didn't make sense. Woodie was gruff, kind and most definitely human. He was no scary monster, and certainly not the one that had been plaguing Wolfgang's sleep all this time. That just couldn't be real. It had to be another trick being played on them by the shadowy monsters, surely!

A memory that felt so distant suddenly resurfaced.

"I'll be heading out tonight. I have something to check on,"

No…

"O-oh, well. I got a feeling we won't be seeing him around any time soon,"

No!

"It's…just a gut feeling. Trust me on that, eh?"

Please stop.

Yet it all came flooding in no matter how hard he tried. The absences, the excuses, the footprints that stopped abruptly, as if the huge creature had vanished into thin air, the way Woodie grew anxious whenever the subject of the Moose Man was brought up, and the fact that he never seen the two at the same time…

All of it was falling into place now, while everything around Wolfgang was being shattered into pieces.

The light of the camp finally came into view and he stumbled over in front of the frightened librarian, dropping the two winded survivors on the ground and falling on his knees. He winced as the action shifted his broken arm.

Wickerbottom looked between them at a loss. "What happened? Where is Mr. Woodie?"

"He…" it took him a moment to realize his cheeks were drenched with tears, that he had been crying all the way here. Something inside him broke all over as the truth settled in. She kept staring at him worriedly waiting for an answer, but he couldn't get the words out. "He's…"

Woodie was the Moose Man, was his greatest friend, was the same ruthless creature that-

Fresh tears filled his vision and he buried his face into his fist, sobbing.

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He was running on all fours, kicking dust everywhere. No clue where to, but he knew had to get away. At some point, he was dashing through the forest. The smell of pine filled his nose. Branches snapped. Bushes trampled on. The sharp stinging in his hand brought him out of his hazy, buzzing thoughts, but those frightened faces kept flashing in front of him over and over, and his numbed mind couldn't understand the sheer panic and dread they invoked in him.

Screwing his eyes shut to block them out, he felt himself collide with something hard and for once he welcomed the darkness that came with the pain.

The next time he woke up, he groaned and pressed a hand against his throbbing head, hissing when he touched a sensitive spot there. Even the hand he used felt no better. He could make out pink splotches on his fingers. Through his grogginess, he heard a few startled gasps and whispers as he shifted on the ground. He opened his eyes wide enough to see the blue sky through the thick canopy. He recognized this part of the forest, where their camp was. He was laying on a bedroll under the shade of a tree.

"Welcome back,"

Blinking, he looked over to see the old librarian closing her book and eyeing him with an indecipherable expression. "Mrs. Wickerbottom?"

"Willow found you when gathering mushrooms in the forest…despite my incessant warnings not to go there," she mumbled that last bit in annoyance. "You seemed to have run into a tree and knocked it over,"

Before he could process that, she reached for something out of his field of vision. "I believe this is yours. You dropped it at the fields,"

He perked up a little when she showed him Lucy. "Um, thanks, but I still have no idea what's going on,"

"I'm afraid that's what we would like to know from you, Mr. Woodie," she went on. "We couldn't risky bringing you back to our camp when we understood so little of the situation, so we brought you here instead,"

He was surprised at the curtness of her responses so far and was growing a bit frustrated with how cryptic she was being with him, but then memory of last night's events rushed through his foggy mind; changing in the middle of the camp, running away into the darkness and being seen by the others. His eyes widened in alarm, icy dread rushing through his limps. "W-Wolfgang? Where is he?" he quickly asked.

She grimaced and sighed. "He's…still shocked," she glanced over to the camp itself where Wilson and Willow watched them tensely. He panicked when he saw Wolfgang hunched in front of the firepit, still like a statue and never once looking his way. It was so uncharacteristic of his usually carefree friend and sent his mind reeling.

They knew. They all knew!

Woodie's stomach twisted and his mouth went dry. This shouldn't be happening. He wanted to run away, to fall back asleep, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything.

"We only have questions for you to answer. Everyone is waiting,"

"I…I don't think I can," he said, nearly pleading her to let him stay here.

"I think the sooner we get some answers the better," she said with a certain firmness in her voice.

Gulping, the lumberjack nervously stood up, his legs still wobbly and weak from the transformation.

This was surreal. Everything around him faded away him as he followed her to the camp, a chilling anxiety hanging over him. Wolfgang gave no reaction to their arrival while the other two seemed uneasy. All could Woodie managed was a meek 'hi' when the silence stretched for too long. Willow was hugging her arms, looking away while Wilson had put on a helmet upon seeing them. He could see his eyes darting over to the spear nearby. "You really know how to make a guy feel welcomed in his camp," Woodie said, eyes locked to the piece of armor.

Thrown off, Wilson's face reddened. "It's just a precaution!" he huffed. "The reason I ended up in this world in the first place is because I trusted someone I knew nothing about. I refuse to make that mistake again," his eyes grew wary. "Now, who are you really?"

Woodie groaned, realizing they were treating him like a stranger now. "Cut it out, Wil! You already know who I am!" he snapped defensively.

"But what we've seen tells us otherwise!"

"Alright, enough," Wickerbottom rubbed her temples and gestured for them all to sit down. She faced the lumberjack. "Please explain what happened to you last night,"

Feeling small under their expectant gazes now, Woodie tried finding his voice. He knew he should be careful with what he tells them now more than ever. Otherwise, it might make the situation worse for him. "It…it usually happens whenever there is a full moon or when I eat monster meat sometimes,"

Wilson was ready to retort, but Wickerbottom shushed him. "We still need more than that. According to you, the moose creature was the cause of Wolfgang's injury,"

"It was an accident!" he immediately blurted out, the consuming guilt that had been eating away at him all this time returning once more. "I knew there was gonna be a full moon that night, so I went to hide it out in the woods. When I heard Wolfgang in danger, I tried to protect him from those monsters, but I lost control and I- I'm so sorry…" he said, resting his face on his hand. There was no going back now. After everything, he owed them this.

The three exchanged unsure glances with each other. Wilson frowned thoughtfully. "But what is the cause of this condition of yours? Why you?"

"I don't even know what it is, okay?!" he snapped and regretted it. "Sorry. This…thing has been in my family for ages. More of a curse than anything. I don't know where it came from. I think my gramps had it too, but I'm not sure. They all tried keeping it a secret from me for a while,"

He still vaguely remembered from his childhood how pale his mother went when he told her of some of the strange dreams he kept having. There were also the nights when he would be in bed, and he would think he seen…something in the room with him. It was large, hairy and hunched over with pale, glossy eyes and glinting teeth. Its long, long arms were nearly reaching his bed all the way from the dark corner.

Whatever was wrong with him, it kept drawing closer to the surface as he grew older. He became jumpy and moody during moonlight nights. He would absently chew on wood without noticing it and wonder how his teeth remained intact.

The truth came out eventually when the curse finally took its form.

"One day, I went to chop down a tree in the forest near my cabin for some lumber, but I'm not sure what came over me. One became a dozen, and I hardly remember doing it," he gave a wistful laugh. "Heh, imagine my surprise when I found out I ravaged the woods as a giant beaver,"

"Wait, beaver?! I thought-"

"That was my first one. The curse somehow got stronger when I came here, and I gained a few others, the moose being one. I might end up with more given time, who knows," he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Sounds like a case of lycanthropy, though it is the strangest I've heard yet," Wickerbottom said, brows furrowed.

"I didn't have much control over it. I stumbled upon some campers one day while I was changed and they all freaked out. After the locals spun a lot of rumors about me, I tried my best to stay outta sight,"

Life hadn't been the same for him and Lucy. After he woke up during a full moon and bit his way through their cabin, he made sure to spend such nights in the woods away from any houses or people. Lucy was distraught but had the patience of a saint and welcomed him back when he returned, confused and ashamed of what he did to their house. He made no mention of this incident to the survivors though.

"You said this curse has been growing stronger after you came here, I wonder why that is," the librarian noted.

Woodie shrugged. "Beats me,"

"Hold on, I'm not sure about all of this. What he's suggesting is that magic and monsters could exist in our world, not just here, and work under the same rules?" Wilson argued skeptically.

"Eh, doesn't really surprise me," Willow spoke for the first time, catching their attention. She caressed the head of the worn teddy bear in her lap, eyes distant. "When I was little, I remember being haunted by shadow monsters all the time. I didn't know what they were back then, but nobody could see them except me, so they all thought I was just imaging things, or a 'nutcase',"

The scientist rubbed his shoulder. "I…I didn't know that. Sorry,"

That made Woodie feel a bit better, knowing it would support what he said. He frowned when he noticed Wolfgang still sitting glumly, having not moved from his spot since they began talking.

"Buddy? Hey, it's okay. Look at me," Woodie said gently and saw him tensing up. He tried smiling to put him at ease. "Wolfgang, I'm really-"

"I don't believe you,"

Woodie should have seen that coming, but he still felt as if he had been struck. The rest of the survivors were at a loss as well.

"Please, listen-"

"NO!" Wolfgang shot up and turned to him for the first time with an angry, pained look he never dreamed of seeing on his friend's face. "Wolfgang always listen, always believe Wood Man and never ask! But Wood Man always lies!"

Flinching back, Woodie stood up and met his gaze. "Alright, alright. I admit it. I did lie to you a bunch of times, but I was only doing it to protect myself. I can't just walk up to people and tell them about my curse! Do you have any idea how many came to my forest searching for me?" he recalled the panic that would overtake him whenever some eager stranger had knocked at his door in hunting gear with a truck full of traps, asking if he had seen the 'were-beaver' nearby.

"And this?" Wolfgang pointed at his cast.

Woodie stiffened. "I already apologized for that. What more can I do?"

"But Man in Suit said-"

"Forget whatever that jerk said! Think of everything we've done together since we met. Do you really think I didn't mean any of it?"

Wolfgang looked away gritting his teeth before reaching down for his backpack.

"Wait…what are you doing?"

"Leaving," the strongman said, much to their shock.

"B-but it's dangerous out there, dear. You can't go, especially in this condition!" Wickerbottom stammered. Wolfgang gave no reply and began walking away.

"No, wait!" Woodie found himself running blindly and grabbing hold of his leotard. He didn't miss the way Wolfgang physically flinched from his touch, and even though it tore at his heart, he kept pulling desperately.

"Let go!" the strongman demanded.

"Wolfgang, please. You have every right to be upset with me. You don't have to believe a word of what I said today, but remember what I told you at the fields?" he asked. "You really are my pal and I would NEVER hurt you on purpose! I'm…please, believe me on that at least. Nothing else matters,"

Wolfgang froze and averted his gaze, face twisting with raw emotion. He then finally looked at Woodie, misty-eyed.

"I don't,"

Woodie's hands let go and hung limply at his sides as he watched his friend disappear between the trees.

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A/N: Thanks for reading!