i feel like i need to appoligize for something. no clue what, so i guess i'll just appoligize for the sudden oddness of this episode (which i do believe will shortly turn into two, no way i could wrap this up in two more chapters, i haven't even reached... nevermind) but as i'm nearly positive i said before, we've stepped into the realm of magic, and that's my home zone, of course, if you have any issues with what's to come (or already has come) just let me know and i'll gladly fix it

i'd also like to let you know that Storm Children are entirely my design, and i do indeed claim rights to them

It couldn't have been more than a minute later when a young girl, probably no older than eight or so, came over. She was pale, had grey eyes, and off all things, short grey hair. After a minute of looking her over, Alice noticed something else that just added to the growing list of odd things about these children. This young girl had a pair of grey fox ears peaking out of her hair, and not only that, she also had a grey fox tail.

"What?" she asked sharply "never seen a fox person before?"

Alice started to answer, but never got the chance.

"Considering where you came from, I don't think you have" the girl said.

"Allie, be nice" Samuel said "there's time for rudeness later, at the moment we need to know if these two are trustworthy."

The little girl, Allie, looked at Alice carefully. "Trustworthy, yeah, and a bit clueless. She's got the blood of the Wolf of Courage running through her veins, if she isn't trustworthy I'd be worried. Though that doesn't account for the cluelessness" she laughed "if only you knew of the things to come."

Allie now turned her attention to the Doctor. "You're a strange one" she said after a moment "and I have no idea why so many people have trusted you. People that barely knew you, they even died for you. Considering what you've done… but that's all in the past isn't it? All the losses, the deaths, all the pain, the sorrow" she winced suddenly and turned away "sorry about that… going a bit too far" she whispered "you've seen it though, seen her, the Baddest Wolf of them all." She looked at the Doctor, expression full of sadness, and then turned back to the children. "We can trust him, he won't try and kill us or anything. I think he's lost too many to let any more go."

And with that, the odd little child walked off.

"Alright," Samuel said "enough crowding, go back to business as usual." Obediently, the crowd of children all turned their attention to something else.

"Umm, Samuel" the Doctor said "can you explain to me exactly what's with you and this group? You're on the run, I gather that, but what for? Who from? And more importantly: why?"

"I'll explain in a minute" Samuel replied "you need to know, for lack of better term, what we are first. So umm, yeah, I'll do a bit of introductions." He started leading them around the clearing and pointing out random people. "Over here we've got Erik and Karl, youngest of the wolf kids, and here's Jeremy, another wolf kid, this is Mel, yet another wolf kid. Over here, there's a few of the fox people, odd type, and that's Juli" he pointed at the girl who had hugged him earlier "you already know that's Allie" he said, gesturing at the other girl from earlier "she's got some psychic abilities up her sleeve, that's Arnold, and that's Lenny" he gestured at a few young fox boys, then he moved on to another group of children "this is Mark and Matt, they're elves" another group of children "Amy, Jeff, and Keith" he pointed first at a girl with wings, then a normal looking boy, and then a younger boy who also had wings "Fairy, wolf kid, and angel. Technically speaking though, he's just a boy with wings." He moved to the last group of kids, all of which were girls "and this is Kathryn, Kate, Rachel, and Samantha" he paused, then added "Kat and Kate are wolf kids, Rachel's a fox, and Samantha's a Storm Child."

Samuel remembered something then, and asked loudly (probably to the entire group) "Anyone know where Stephanie is?"

A silence echoed through the camp as everyone stopped their small talk. No one seemed to want to answer his question. After a minute Juli came over and said quietly to Samuel "she died last week, remember?"

"Oh," Samuel said "right… it's just hard adjusting to the fact that she's gone… she was one of the first"

"What happened to her?" the Doctor asked

"She was a Storm Child" Samuel replied, then noticed the confused look upon the Doctor's face "gosh you are clueless," Samuel sighed "you wonder why they're only called Storm Children?" after receiving no response, he continued "it's because they don't usually make it out of childhood. Storm Children, well, they've got a lot of energy built up in them. They have the ability to control and create storms, and that's a lot of power to have. They've got three different elements bound up inside them, lightning, water, and air. And sometimes… well… it just becomes too much for them to handle. Some storms have just too much energy, and that alone can kill a person"

"I'm sorry" the Doctor said

"Yeah" Samuel replied

There was a minute of silence as that thought settled.

"So uhh… back to my original question" the Doctor said

"Right, well, there's been this organization thing after us for the past few years, trying to solve the 'mystery' behind us all. The entire, half wolf thing, or fox deal, or well, no idea why they would want the elves or fairies. They're convinced that it's not entirely magic and want to know what our secret is."

"So you're running to keep the secret?" Alice asked

"No" Samuel replied "there isn't a secret to keep, we're running so we don't end up getting killed by them or something. But it's getting harder to do now that they've finally got the cloning device working properly, or close to at least. Still can't seem to mimic a heartbeat perfectly yet. But that's good, that's real good."

"And, how exactly am I supposed to help?" the Doctor asked

Samuel shrugged. "I don't know. Helping us reach the next safe zone would be alright, but stopping the organization would be better." He laughed "fat chance that's going to happen though!"

"Who knows, maybe I could talk some sense into them" the Doctor offered

"Yeah, maybe" Samuel said, but he didn't seem to sure of it

It was sometime later, while they we are eating, when Alice started to feel comfortable and started making small talk. "So," she asked one of the girls sitting next to her, it was Rachel if she remembered correctly, "where's this safe zone I've heard about?"

"Just past the forest here and through maybe half a mile of desert. The forest is the entire reason why we picked up Mark and Matt in the first place. They insisted on staying with us and helping us through the forest at least. Personally, I think they've grown too attached to this group to leave anytime soon. Not like I'm complaining though, we could use all the help we can get."

"I've noticed" Alice said "otherwise I probably wouldn't be here."

"Yeah. Um, I never bothered asking, and I don't think Samuel mentioned, but, what's your name?"

"Alice"

"Oh" Rachel made a face "terribly common name that is, ever since… well, ah you probably wouldn't get it."

Alice started to protest, and then laughed "no, I probably wouldn't."

"And who's that guy? What's his name?"

"He's the Doctor"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"That'd be a terrible name"

"I don't even think it's his real name. He just goes by it for some reason."

Rachel laughed "I get it, it's like people who have really stupid names, and so they come up with some cool nickname to go by. Maybe that's what people consider cool where he comes from."

"Maybe" Alice said "maybe…"

Their conversation was interrupted though, when a sudden shout went though the camp. "THEY FOUND US!"