AN: Ok, so, plan is to just release these from now on once they are completed rather than every Sunday. Hopefully this means it will motivate me to write more often XD We will see about that! I won't go longer than a week without posting a chapter though. In the odd case (like last week) where I can't find time to write because of work (I worked Monday to Sunday last week) and life, there may be a slight delay.

We are wrapping up the main story now but there are still a few story lines left to tie up so tie up, so we are almost at the end! Thanks to those who have stuck with this until now and who will to the end :D You da real MVPs!

Riza scanned Gracia's body critically, taking in everything she could. The wound that she had sustained from her neck had slowly closed, the skin knitting back together. She had worked to remove the blood while Hughes comforted his daughter. Fuery had offered his assistance, although looked like he was going to vomit at any moment. Gratefully, Riza had accepted but when he started turning grey, she dismissed him kindly.

The scout that had come to collect her with Fuery had returned to the battle field once retrieving her. His partner had remained, a smaller female wolf whose coat was the colour of red wine. In any other circumstance, Riza would have admired the colour, but her attention had been diverted to Gracia almost immediately.

Now, all they had to do was wait for the woman to wake up. What frustrated both Hughes and Riza the most was the lack of knowledge they possessed about the transition. Maes had researched it himself, but there were too many factors to consider to write up a general consensus of a human transitioning to a werewolf. Factors such as age, health, and mental strength played a large part. That's why most didn't survive the change. Those who were changed by loved ones, both parties were willing participants, or it was a last ditch effort to stop them from dying. The latter almost never succeeded. The thought was grim in Riza's mind. The latter was the same position they were in now. The blonde hoped and prayed this would be a happy ending. Gracia couldn't die. Not like this. The woman was too good to deserve this end.

A shockwave rocked the cave, a number of its inhabitants crying out in surprise. It was followed by what sounded like a second explosion, then another shock wave. Hughes and Riza's eyes locked. A third and final shockwave shook rock dust from the ceiling, causing it to rain down on them from the ceiling.

Sprinting to the cave entrance Riza and Hughes froze at the sight of the forest before them. The smell of wolfs bane was ripe in the air and purplish smoke shrouded the trees.

"Oh my god," Riza whispered. They had people down there. She had people down there.

Silence seemed to cover the whole world in that moment. The forest was still in its entirety, as if reacting to the shock of those wolfs bane bombs.

Then the screams started.

"Stay here," Riza ordered, taking a step forward. It felt like she was in a daze. This couldn't be happening. Roy. Rebecca.

"You can't go down there Riza!" Hughes exclaimed, grabbing her arm to stop her movements. "That will kill you!"

"We have people down there," she choked out. Havoc. Breda. Falman. Then she remembered those two kids, the brothers who were witches. Bile rose in her throat. "Keep them safe." Riza's met Hughes'. She almost dared him to stop her. With a nod, his loosened his grasp.

As Riza ran down the slope, her wolf paws thundering below her, mimicking the anger she felt towards the Hunters. They better hope they didn't cross Riza right now. She vowed to tear out the throat of any she came across.

She scanned the forest, looking for any signs of movement. Beings had begun to stumble out of the mist, coughing and spluttering. Wolves paced backwards and forwards in front of the trees then backing up as the smoke crept slowly closer. Whines and shouts filled the air, piercing Riza's head.

It was the perfect plan. Lay a trap like this for werewolves and no one would be able to go in a fetch those who were suffering. Both brilliant and diabolical.

The vampires began to venture back in. The incense choked them up, but didn't have as intense an effect as it did on the wolves. Another flaw in the Hunters plan was not accounting for the fact vampires could shut off their ability to breathe. They waked out of the mist carrying unconscious forms and handing them off to a witch nearby, before returning into the now purple forest once more.

As expected, the smell of the gas didn't affect her as badly as the other wolves. The blonde wolf had suspected for some time that this was the case. Whatever that vampire had done to her while under the custody of the Hunters had actually helped her. She had some kind of immunity to the foul poison. Which is why she delved head first into the purple mist, much to the distress of those waiting on the outside of the trees.

Visibility was nearly zero inside the trees. The fog was dense, clinging to her skin. As Riza ran she tried to limit her breathing to stop inhaling too much of it, but it was impossible. The gas tickled her throat as she inhaled, causing a tingling sensation in her windpipe that worsened over time.

A cough to her right had her altering course immediately. A woman was crying out for help. She was lying on the forest floor on her back, a hand clutching her throat. Her face was bright red as the poison slowly killed her. Green eyes widened at the sight of the wolf before her, but didn't protest as Riza lowered her body to the floor and helped her mount her back.

There was no way to track how time was passing. The adrenaline kept Riza moving, but she was beginning to slow. The poison was taking its toll on her. After rescuing her eighth werewolf, she had to change back into her human form. After handing the unconscious male wolf over to the witch before her, she leaned heavily on a tree trunk, wheezing and glaring into the purple smoke. It was beginning to dissipate, but not fast enough. There was already a death toll of two wolves since this attack. And those were the two Riza had heard of. All the Hunters who had surrendered were dead. Apparently the poison affected humans just as badly. The smoke covered a large part of the forest and the training fields. There were a lot of people in that area, or there had been when Riza left with Fuery to attend to Gracia. She didn't even entertain the thought that she hadn't yet seen Roy or Rebecca yet.

"Hey," a male wolf called to her as Riza got her breath back. "Take a break," he softly ordered. "You won't do anyone any good running yourself ragged."

Riza took in his kind face and deep blue eyes. His hair stood up on the left side, indicating that he had ran his hands through it a few times. Obviously a frustrated habit. He looked as bad as Riza felt.

The blonde shook her head. "Not while there are still people out there."

"You have saved more than enough. More than any other wolf here," he reminded her. "The vampires will do the rest. We have a supply of gas masks at the settlement, but we are still waiting on them arriving and being distributed."

Riza nodded. "Get them to any wolves still standing. And if there are any spare, I will take one please." One corner of her mouth quirked up in amusement despite herself. Pulling herself upright, Riza jogged back into the fog.

She only managed to retrieve three more people, two wolves and a witch, before Riza was spent. One of the blonde brothers came running up to her as he spotted who was in Riza's arms.

"Al?!" the boy cried, peering into his brothers face. He grabbed his wrist, placing two fingers to his wrist. "Al!"

"He's alive," Riza panted. "But he needs help." It was an effort to talk now. Airways had closed up thanks to the fog, reducing the amount of oxygen she could take in. After a deep breath, Riza truly valued the sweet, sweet oxygen in the air.

Placing Al on the grass. She waited for a witch to direct her where to move him since a triage system had been put in place. People had been lined up in rows from serious to minor. Those who were most serious were the ones who were unconscious or not breathing. There was a flurry of activity in that row. Shouts and commands were barked as people worked, the witches leading the main healing force. Any werewolf or vampire nearby was commandeered to help save those people's lives, giving the witches as many extra hands as they needed. They didn't have to wait long because as soon as Al was on the grass, a witch firmly pushed Riza out of the way and began to work. The boy's brother remained steadfast by his side, the two witches working together.

Exhausted, Riza removed herself out of the way and sat heavily on the grass. She panted as she stretched out on the floor, lying backwards and closing her eyes. They stung with every movements and had only recently begun to water. The setting sun didn't help matters. It was low in the sky, the orange rays too bright for Riza to handle right now.

After a few minutes rest, Riza lifted herself off the grass. Bending one knee, she rested an arm atop it as she surveyed the carnage around her. The critical row was still a flurry of activity. The row a few feet away was long, but everyone was conscious. Wounds had been tended to and people were talking together. The third row, which had been set far apart, was incredibly small but the sight of it broke Riza's heart. Five bodies lay underneath white blankets. Five dead. Tears sprang to her eyes and Riza didn't wipe them away.

"How are you doing?" It was the male wolf from earlier. He handed her a bottle of water which Riza consumed greedily. The contents were gone within thirty seconds.

"Exhausted," she breathed. This feeling of not being able to breathe would just not shift. "Worried. Afraid. Angry. All of the above, among many more."

"I hear you," he replied, his eyes drifting over to the small row Riza had just tore her eyes away from. "The Hunters are all dead."

Riza figured as much. You didn't set off a bomb like this unless you were desperate. This had been the group's last resort. They would rather have died than surrendered to supernatural beings. Something Riza couldn't understand. They wouldn't have been harmed. Not under Grumman's care. She wasn't sure what would have happened to any Hunters that had survived but they wouldn't have been executed. They weren't those kind of people.

"What do we do now?" she asked, uncertain. The status of her pack was unknown. Grumman could be dead for all Riza knew. In order to stave off this gnawing worry and fear, she needed some kind of direction. Needed something to work towards. Because if she didn't, the intense fear that Roy and Rebecca were underneath one of those sheets would consume her whole.

"We work with the wounded," he replied, letting loose a breath. "We get the situation under control. When the fog clears, we move the most critical to the hospital and take it from there. Then clean up duty starts."

Riza nodded. She could deal with that. She had purpose once more. Dragging herself to her feet, she turned to the wolf. "Riza," she greeted and offered a hand.

"James," he replied with a smile, shaking it firmly. "Let's get to work Riza."

As the pair were directed by various witches about where to move patients, Riza strained to listen for any news regarding her pack, but there was nothing. Apparently though, there were two other groups around the outskirts of the fog. Others had made it out, which eased her worries somewhat. Not by a lot, but enough to offer a sliver of hope that her pack would be all right.

It was nightfall before everyone was organised and the poison cleared. Left in its wake, the trees looked like cotton candy, tendrils of the fog still clinging to the leaves and pine needles. Very, very deadly cotton candy. Wildlife lay dead within the trees. Rabbits hadn't made it out, neither had a few deer. They would have been too spooked to figure out a way out of the fog before it eventually suffocated them. A group of five vampires were tasked with retrieving them then burning the bodies. They were toxic now anyway and couldn't be left for other predators to eat.

Riza helped James pull an old cart that had been lying around the settlement back towards the hospital. On it lay five unconscious werewolves. They weren't critical. Their wounds had been treated and were stable for now. A witch walked by their side. She was there to monitor her patient's condition while they walked.

Once the cart was unloaded, they returned to their camp to begin the process again.

During their four journeys, they encountered wolves and vampires from the two other triage sites, but not those Riza wanted to see. The knot in her stomach continued to grow as the night dragged on. Again, she listened out for news but heard nothing. They were not among the dead in her group. Although, someone very dear to James had been. Riza had comforted the man as he grieved. She had only known the man for a couple of hours but it had felt like second nature to do so. After what they went through, what everyone went through, in a weird way it brought them all closer together. Trauma and desperate times have a funny way of doing that to people.

"This is the last cart," Edward had told her quietly. That was the name of Al's brother, Riza had discovered. The young man still hadn't awoken, but he was stable. Two other unconscious witches were on their last cart, along with a werewolf. Edward had been prepared to fight tooth and nail to escort this cart, but the witch who had been assigned it simply nodded and moved on to another task.

"How is Al?" Riza asked, jerking her head behind her.

"Stable." But Edward continued to look troubled.

"What's up?" she asked, noting his surprise.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

He met her steady gaze with a shocked stare, which turned to a scowl.

"I left him out there alone," he muttered to himself. Either he had forgotten there were two werewolves in his company or he felt so guilty about the revelation that he didn't want to admit it to himself. The boy didn't want to admit that he was the cause for his brother's condition.

"Do you want to talk about it?" James asked.

"No."

Silence reigned once more. Even the birds in in the trees hadn't begun to sing. It was nearing dawn and the forest was eerily silent.

"I just… How could I have been so stupid?" Edward muttered once more.

"Look," Riza offered kindly. "There was no way you could have known this was going to happen. We have all suffered today from this attack. Just focus on helping your brother get better."

His piercing eyes met hers. "Have you got people out there?" he asked.

Riza hesitated, but nodded. "My pack is out there and unaccounted for." Her gaze found the forest floor as both James and Edward stared at her.

"You didn't mention it," James stated. Not accusatory, simply curious.

"At first… I was too afraid to think about it. Too afraid to think about the worst," Riza admitted. "Then we had to help the wounded and I was kept busy."

"At least you would know if they were dead. Death of a pack member is not something you could miss."

Riza met James' gaze. She believed them, but they could be critical. They could be lying unconscious in the grass like Al had been while strangers worked to keep them alive. With all the confusion and fear from the people around her, Riza had been unable to reach out to them. Whenever she tried it, the feeling got lost in the mess of emotions from those around her.

"I hope you're right."

Maes paced backwards and forwards in front of the small hospital room. Elicia sat on one of the chairs by the door, staring off into space. Tears that had fallen were now dry.

They were still waiting on Gracia to wake up. The Healer had stated that because the wound had been so fatal, it would take longer for the venom to work through her system. It had to repair the damage down first before it could work on transforming her into a vampire. Maes had nodded, squeezing Elicia's hand in comfort as she gasped a sob.

Said Healer was in that room now, monitoring his wife. Maes wanted to be in there too, but he had no idea how to change someone. He had been adamant that day would never come with Gracia, so hadn't bothered to look it up. His parents never mentioned and young Maes saw no reason to question it. All he knew was the victim had to be bitten and have the venom of a vampire injected into their blood. But then came the after care and signs to look out for while they were transforming. Maes felt completely helpless as he waited.

"Will she be all right Daddy?" Elicia asked. Maes stopped pacing and turned to face his daughter. Looking at her now, she looked every bit like the child she ought to be. He scooped her up, hugging her fiercely.

"I hope so."

The door opened and both desperate vampires turned to face an exhausted, but pleased Healer.

"It is done." Maes Hughes had never felt relief like it. "She will wake up on her own terms and she will be disorientated so be patient. Your wife may even have trouble adjusting to her new life so keep an eye on her for the first few days."

Maes nodded, offering his hand for the man to shake. "Thank you."

The Healer smiled. "I am happy to help." He turned to his left to look through a set of double doors. Wounded had been pouring in all night from the training grounds. It seemed the man's work was not done yet.

While Maes wanted to find out about the fate of his friends, he couldn't bring himself to leave Gracia or Elicia's side.

"If you need anything just call me through."

"I will. Thank you, again."

As the doors open noise flooded through. People were hurrying backwards and forwards, barking orders and transporting those who were unconscious. Once again, the two were left in the quite hallway before Gracia's door. Turning to face his daughter, Maes nodded and grasped her outstretched hand. It was time to meet his new wife.