Chapter 2: Broken Masks

So, after 4 hours of cleaning the cabin with no breaks Dex and Daina are now sitting at the table side by side to each other in the kitchen with cups of hot cocoa. During their time cleaning the kitchen they managed to found a box of abandoned hot cocoa packets barely fresh and had brought of some other types of food based on what they had in their backpacks.

All Dex had was a few loafs of bread and meat he had taken from his village on the way out. Daina before she encountered Dex had some packs of water, and fruit in her bag. This was supposed to last for days before she had to go in places hidden and take food in the shadows before any spotted her, but she didn't have to worry about that right now since she is enjoying her new friend's company. Daina then starts to speak after Dex downs the last of his drink.

"Well that was refreshing although later on in the morning one of us will have to leave to get breakfast from the small market" She said.

"Yeah that's true. I'm kinda regretting that I didn't pack any extra food in my pack before I left" Dex replied with his ears dropping down a bit. Daina gets a good look at his ears thinks they are adorable because he looks like a cute puppy of course she would never say that out loud though.

"I notice that earlier during cleaning you were able to hide your tail and ears like they were never there at all, are they invisible or am I imagining things?" she asks with a curious expression. As soon as she said Dex entire body froze in fear, he then started shaking as he thought back to his old village where he was picked and looked at with tons of eyes full of hatred. His breathing started to go faster and faster to the point where he was hyperventilating and felt like he was trapped until a hand settled on his shoulder. He was back in reality and saw Daina looking at him with worry in her eyes.

"Are you alright Dex, you seemed really scared for a moment?" Daina asks worryingly.

"Yeah, I'm o-okay no problem at all really, I'm good". Dex lied standing up and putting his cup in the sink. In all honesty, he was afraid, he wasn't ready to tell her who he was—no what his people called him a monster, beast, demon, anything hurtful all because he could hide his own tail and ears and shift them to become more human. Dex always kept a mask on him in front of others to show he didn't care but he did. It made him feel unwanted and alone like he never belonged with them to begin with. All those voices in his head kept repeating the same words making him want to disappear like he never mattered in the world. He was afraid of telling Daina because what if she thought about him the same way they did?

While Dex was thinking, Daina has been watching his form in silence. She knows the signs of depression all too well. She experienced them before when she was little. She felt unwanted by her mother after her father passed away from illness when she was 6. Her mother blamed Daina for his passing and ignored her while growing up. Daina heard her own voices in her head too until she decided she was going to continue living life whether her mother or village cared or not. To her all that matter was beating depression and not falling victim to it.

Daina stands up placing her hands on her hips and looks at him sternly. "Dex I'm only going to say this once and you better answer truthfully, are you lying to me?"

Dex stands there seeing Daina's glare telling him "Don't you dare say no". To him he had no idea why but he felt that if he said no then things would end badly, not like bad to be hated but to the point where he would be in a world of pain. Dex slightly shivered at the thought and just told her what he had to.

"Yes." Dex said silently.

Daina keeps her eyes on Dex wondering why would he lie to her but she could understand a bit since they both had trust issues. Daina then closed her eyes as she sighed heavily while Dex sighed in relief after getting the eyes off of him.

"Dex why would you lie to me about you being fine when you're not?" Daina asked with hurt in her voice. She knew they met each other hours ago, but she felt like she could trust him already. It hurt her to see that he didn't trust her as much as she trusted him.

Dex was silently angry at himself for hurting Daina. He didn't mean to hurt her, he just didn't want her to judge him because of what he was, he knew it was selfish of him to think she's like the others but he's not sure anymore. His thoughts were then interrupted by Daina.

"Look I understand if you don't want to tell me but you didn't need to lie to me. I think I'm gonna go to the couch and read for a bit ok?" Daina with hurt in her voice. She then turns around to head out before Dex called her.

"Wait Daina!" Dex yelled

"Dex I just want to be alone for a bit.." Daina said before she felt hands grip her shoulders and turn her around to face Dex and see sadness in his eyes.

"I didn't to mean to do that to you Daina. I'm gonna be honest right now, its not you it's me. I do trust you enough to tell you things it's just that what I was thinking about was what really hurt me to the point where I didn't care anymore and just wanted to be alone and that day was really hard for me. I didn't have anyone to look at for help because they hated me for a stupid reason. My own father hated me as well and didn't help the hole in my heart. He even tried to kill me a few times but I always survived. So that's why I didn't say anything, I'm sorry Daina but please don't turn away from me like the others did please." He pleaded.

Daina listen to Dex's problem and now understood a bit of why he was wary of people. He was alone, all by himself. His own father didn't even help him and that made her angry but hearing that he tried to kill Dex made her furious. She kept those thoughts to herself though so she wouldn't think that her anger was towards Dex.

"Dex I'm sorry I didn't know you had to go through that. Ok but if you and I are going to get along we can't have anything holding us back from talking to each other ok?" she said softly.

"Ok yeah I understand that." Dex said.

"Ok, but Dex what happened with your father and why did he try to kill you? Where was your mother in all of this, why didn't she help you? Sorry for asking this but you just said your father and didn't say anything about your mother?" She asked heatedly.

Dex froze the first few seconds when Daina asked him about his mother. That was still something he didn't like talking about. He then also noticed Daina's anger towards his mother and that confused and anger him. What did she know about his mother, she had no right to criticize his mother?

"Hey leave my mother out of this ok, she had nothing to do with it." Dex argued.

"Well then where was she? She should've at least protected you from what you told me or did she also tried to kill you as well?" Daina argued back before you felt a fist hit the wall near her face. She looked back at Dex whose eyes were shadowed by his hair.

"Don't you dare say anything bad about my mother. What the hell do you know anyway or did your mother do something like that to you? Dex said with venom laced in his voice. Daina was still shocked at what Dex just did and saw he was dead serious and angry with her. She then thought she may have took it a little too far.

"Dex I'm- " Daina said trying apologize.

"Just don't ok. I'm going into the living room." Dex said looking at the ground instead her while removing his fist from the wall before walking off still angry at what had just transpired. Daina stood there silently thinking about what she had just done. She didn't mean to relate Dex's mother to hers. After her father died there were times where her mother would hit her but she would mostly ignore her.

" I can't believe I just said that. I didn't mean to go that far or accuse his mother. I thought I… wait a minute did "she" make me say that stuff?" she thought to herself.

"Actually no, this was my fault I said those because of my own hatred for my mother and took it out on his. I'm need to talk to him and tell him I'm sorry but not right now." She thought. She was in the wrong and now she may have lost her first friend. She then decided she would apologize to Dex but not before giving him time to cool down. She then smelled something that she didn't like; it was blood.

"I'm not bleeding or anything so why is there…. oh right Dex. He punched the wall right near my face and cracked it leaving a crater the size of his fist. His hand must've be injured seeing how there was blood dripping from there to the floor." She thought.

She then got a few paper towels to clean up the blood and then put her hands together as cobalt blue aura surrounded her and she started enchanting some words.

"Time Reverse!" she enchanted. Aura surrounded the wall and then started sealing up the cracks returning to how it looked before Dex had hit it. As the wall fixed itself, Daina removed her hands and her aura vanished. She sighed in relief, she hasn't used that spell for a while and was still training with it but before she could continue her current thought she then remembered Dex and walked to the living to talk to him.

She saw him looking at the fireplace not even worrying about the cuts in his hand but she did see wince a bit when he stretched out his hand. While Daina was watching him, Dex's been thinking about the conversation between them earlier.

"Maybe I was a little too harsh on her. She may have not known my mother but she didn't need to accuse her of stuff like that. Maybe her mom did that to her and she hated her for it and didn't like how my mom sounded when I didn't even mention her. I think she was just looking out for me and was worried about me. I didn't like what I said to her before I left. I didn't mean to say it either but I let my anger get the best of me and now I may have lost my first friend. She's probably upset at me for almost hitting her and yelling at her. I should apologize to her when I'm not all angry. I hope she can forgive me for this." he thought.

Dex's been so deep in thought that he forgot about his hand bleeding or that Daina was sitting right next to him.

"Tch. Dang it, I forgot my hand was bleeding. I'll heal it up later I need to go talk to Daina." He thought before he felt a hand tapping his right shoulder. He turned and saw Daina with a sad smile on her face. Dex then frowned at smile Daina was giving him, what he said really hurt her and it was fault.

"Daina I need to talk to you." Dex said.

"Me too Dex but you first since you brought it up." Daina told him.

"I'm sorry for what I said back there and how I reacted. I didn't mean to be harsh or almost hitting you. Anytime I had a conversation with anyone or try to they would always refer to me as the monster they see or hear about and shunned me. You're the first friend I've made and I don't want to lose you because of something I did. So, Im really sorry Daina and I hope you can forgive me for what I did." Dex said.

Daina was a little shocked at how Dex was taking this. He saw this mostly as his fault and like her was afraid of losing a friend. Daina knew it was her fault in the beginning but he's taking all the blame for it and she didn't like that but she was a little happy that he was willing to do that for her.

"Dex if its anybody's fault it's mine. I went out of line with you mother and had ro say in it. I was just worried about you because I didn't want to think that you had no with you in your life to help you grow. You had no one and I just expanded hurting you when I accused your mother of being just like mine." Daina said.

Dex's ears perked up at the sound of soft crying at he sees tears welling up in Daina's eyes before she wipes them away with her gloved hand.

"One day i'll tell you the whole story but I'll just tell you what my mother was. She hated me after my dad died and there were a lot of times where she ignored me. The times she didn't were when she would hit me and I hated it. And…..and" Daina said before she started crying.

Dex wasted no time in wrapping his arms around Daina and rubbing her back comfortingly as she cried in his arms. If Dex didn't feel as bad as he did before he felt much worse now. He unintentionally brought up bad memories for Daina. He wished he could take it all back if it meant not seeing her cry.

Dex then felt Daina pull her head up to look at him, he took his hand to wipe away the tear marks left on her face.

"I'm so sorry Daina. I didn't mean to bring up stuff from the past." Dex said sadly.

"It's okay you didn't know." Daina tried to reassure him.

"NO IT'S Not. I had hurt you without even knowing at looked at what happened. You were crying because of me." Dex said shouting at first before lowering his voice.

"I guess people were right about me being an emotionless monster." Dex said while looking at the ground with tears going down his cheeks. He then felt a hand lift his head up by his chin before the other wiped away his tears and saw Daina smiling sadly at him.

"Dex you're not a monster and you do have emotions. Those who say that you don't have no heart. I mean if you didn't let me in to stay with you and not outside in the rain or comfort me like what you've been doing right now then you they would've been right but there not." she said firmly.

"You showed me and yourself that you're a good person at heart and that's what I like about you." Daina said.

Dex then chuckles a bit. She was right people had no idea who he is but she did. Dex then smiles at Daina.

"Thanks, Daina. I guess we both hurt each other unintentionally huh" he questioned.

"Yes we did. So are we still friends?" she questioned holding her hand out to him.

"Mmhmm. We're still friends." He answered grasply her hand with his bleeding one. As they shook hands, Daina noticed his hand was a little red and she then remembered the blood stain on the wall. She then took Dex's hand into her to inspect it.

"Sorry I forgot your hand is bleeding." She apologized.

"Oh right sorry, I guess I forgot about it. Don't worry though I'll let it heal on its own." He told her.

"No I'm getting your hand wrapped in bandages so it doesn't get infected." She argued.

"Daina, it's okay its no big deal, so just calm do—.." he said looking at his hand before looking bad at Daina who had a sweet smile on her face that felt weird while blue aura was flowing around her. Dex started shaking a Dex then figured out that if he doesn't let her help him his hand won't be the only thing that will be in pain.

"Ok ok you win just please don't hurt me." Dex said still scared. Daina's aura then vanished as she kept the smile on her face. She then took out some bandages from the medical bag and wrap them around Dex's hand. After wrapping up his hand, Daina looked at Dex and wanted to ask him about his parents from their conversation from earlier but still felt like it wasn't her right to ask him about it. So she chose her words carefully before speaking.

"Dex?" she called.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Can I ask you about your mother from earlier, I know nothing about her but I want to ask you about what was she like? Daina said carefully. Dex frowned then looked at the ground.

"I don't know that much about her" Dex told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because she's dead. She's been dead since I was born." he told her keeping his gaze on the ground. Daina froze at what she just heard, his mother was dead and he didn't even get to grow up with her. He only had his father. Daina was sad for Dex. She had the chance to grow up with both parents before her father passed, he had to grow up with one.

"Dex I'm sorry I asked. I didn't mean to" she said before he interrupted her.

"I…just don't want to talk about it ok, I'm not really comfortable talking about it yet." He says hesitantly while looking down at the ground

Daina then smiles sadly at Dex and places a hand on his shoulder while her other lifted up his chin to make him look at her. "You don't have to talk right now, but you have to talk about it sooner or later." She starts. "Just remember if you ever need to talk, I'm right here ok" she says with a smile. Dex smiles a little bit and says "I'll try and thank you."

"Now that that's done I think we should get some sleep" She says then yawns afterwards.

"Yeah. Goodnight Daina" Dex says sleepily

"Goodnight Dex." Daina replies

Two Hours Later:

We find our ginger-head fox and grey-blue haired hound sleeping on the couch and chair. Dex was sleeping on the couch because he offered Daina the bed in the bedroom that had a surprisingly comfortable mattress so he would take the couch. Daina would've said no but she took his offer and pretended to sleep in the bedroom. She planned on watching Dex after he fell asleep. She was still worried about his state of mind from earlier, she wanted to watch over him in case any nightmares came up. After the first 45 minutes she heard nothing but his silent peaceful breathing and decided to get some sleep herself hoping for a peaceful night but she was wrong.

She was soon woken up by irregular breathing. As she opens her eyes she looks over to Dex who was sweating in his sleep. She immediately got up and went over to his side, he seemed to be having a nightmare. She then placed her hand on his head running her fingers through his grey-blue locks hoping it would work to comfort him. While she was doing this Dex was reminiscing about his past.

Dex's Dream:

Dex was being assaulted by a ton of people in his village that seem to have caught up to him. He was running from them as fast as he could with his tiny 6 year-old legs. His village finally had enough of him and is now trying to get rid of him.

"We have him trapped now. Let's kill him while we still can." Said a villager

"Kill the monster" , "Slay the beast" said more villagers.

He keeps running and running from them and tries to find a place to hide. He goes into an abandoned house and looks for something anything he can use to be out of sight.

There coming in closer and closer and all Dex could do was huddled himself in a corner wrapping his arms around his knees waiting for what's about to happen next. Tears continuously flowed down his cheeks as darkness huddles around him.

"No please don't hurt me please!" Dex screams

They then raise their swords, knives and sharp weapons at and charge at him with malice in their eyes as they go in for the kill. That was until his body started glowing red and tendrils started coming out of him flowing around and started hitting people.

"What is that thing?", "It's the monster hybrid", "Run away" villagers shouted.

The tendril then wrapped themselves around some of the villagers and crushed them into nothing while absorbing their life force.

Dex screams in agony as darkness then covers the entire area eating everyone within range.

Reality:

Dex is thrashing around in his sleep making Daina freak out what his nightmare is about. She tries to keep comforting him whispering soft words to him and continue her ministrations in stroking his hair. After a few minutes, he starts say no in his sleep until he finally wakes up in fear.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dex shouts

Daina yelps back a bit from his scream but then straightens herself out and grabs his shoulders trying to calm him down. "Dex calm down its okay, it's okay. You're here, your safe!"

Dex continues shaking and shouting as Daina tried to help him. He wasn't seeing her, all he saw was the tendrils and burnt houses and injured villagers. Daina then did the only thing she could do. She pulled him into her arms and hugged his head close to her chest to try and free him from his nightmare.

"Dex listen to me, you're not there anymore. Your right here with me please wake up." Daina whispered in his ear while he struggled to break free.

"Dex please" she pleaded. Daina sees that he heard her voice when he stop struggling and his breathing was going back to normal. Daina then released him from her but she still didn't let go of him and settled her hands on his shoulders.

Dex slowly calms down and realizes he was back in the real world and was wide awake. He then feels wet trails on his cheeks wondering if he is still crying but before he could do anything to them away Daina's hand reaches his face first and wipes them away.

"Hey" she said sadly.

"Hey" he replied with sadness in his voice.

"Are you ok, how are you feeling, do you want to talk about your dream?" asked Daina

Before Dex could answer her he could feel a lump in his throat waiting to be released. More tears flow down his cheeks as he starts to sob slightly feeling the mask on his face starting to crack. He then feels himself being pulled into an embrace by the silent worried fox girl. She puts her hands around him, one on head and other around his back and pulls him back to her chest feeling his tears soak her top.

"Ssshhh it's ok. It's okay to cry, I'm right here." Daina said softly. Daina comforts him while trying to hide her own tears. She hated seeing Dex like this, it wasn't the same person she met earlier, this was someone else. She felt Dex pull back a bit but he was trying to avoid looking at her.

"I was there, back at home." Dex said while looking down.

"Why were you having a nightmare about that, what made you think of home?" Daina asked while rubbing his back.

"I don't know but I hated it. I was running from villagers with intent on killing me after my father left me.

Daina froze at his sentence. "They…tried…to…..kill you?" She also wondered why his dad left but that's for another time. So she went back to listening Dex's nightmare.

Dex nods his head after a few moments. "After they cornered me I thought I was going to die until it happened. I didn't know what it was but, even though it protected me it was scary. I had red bloody tendrils coming out of me and grabbing people, and it-" he paused as tremors went through his body.

Daina noticed this and kept rubbing his back to keep him calm. "Dex we don't have to continue talking about it. If you want, we could talk about tomorrow morning when your-" she said before he interrupted her.

"I killed them." Dex said with fear laced in his voice. Daina gasped at his answer.

"I know it was a nightmare but it all felt so real that it makes me wonder if I did that." he said as tears ran down his face again.

He then asks her "Why, why are you being so nice to me, I…..I don't…I don't deserve to be something someone should worry about, I'm different from other people and looked at with nothing but hatred. So why, why do you care for me, I'm not worth it. Maybe you'r better off without me."

Daina had enough of what Dex was saying. She had enough of what he was calling himself because of others. She wasn't going to let this affect him, not now or ever. "Dex, look at me." Daina tells him but he kept his eyes down instead of looking up at her. He then felt her hands cupped his face making him look at her.

"Don't you dare say that ok? It doesn't matter whether your different from others or not. You are who you are and no one change that. To me you're the first friend I made that hasn't ignore me or looked at me as an outsider. I thought that I finally found someone who's like me and knows what's it like to be alone but unlike me you've hidden all your emotions beneath a mask. I've told myself that no matter what happens, no matter how bad things get I will never look at you any different because to me you look like a normal fun loving person. I promise won't leave you." Daina told him.

Those words made Dex fill warmth inside his chest, it also broke the dam on his mask that's been holding all his anger, rage and sadness over the years. He then finally sobbed uncontrollably wrapping his arms around Daina's waist holding her like she was a lifeline. He was glad to have a friend like Daina around, she trusted him and he trusted her. He wouldn't know what happen if he never met her?

Daina was holding Dex slowly rocking him back and forth while running fingers in his hair giving comfort. She was glad she could help Dex, when they first met he was a calm, kind-hearted and cheerful boy but that was a huge difference to how he is now. The boy in her arms reminded her of how she was before; a scared child would be feeling unwanted and unloved by those who refused to give it including family. She refused to let what happen to her happen to him. She refuses to let her friend put himself down influenced by others actions.

After a half hour of the room filled with Dex's crying, she felt his breathing slow down and return to normal sensing he calmed down. She then takes a moment to release him from the embrace and looks straight at him. His eyes were red-rimmed from crying too much and it looked like he could go to sleep at any minute. Daina decides to take him to the bedroom in case more nightmare come.

"Come on let's get to the bedroom, you'll be more comfortable in there and I'm not taking no for an answer, you need it." Daina told him comfortably while standing up and holding out her hand. Dex did want to say that it was hers for the night but he was too tired to worry about so he accepted her offer.

"Okay" Dex said while taking his hand in hers standing up feeling a little light-headed. Daina notices his movement and tightens her hand in his, pulling him with her as the make their way to the bedroom. As the entered the bedroom Daina helps Dex lays down in the bed that was big enough for two people. As she pulls the covers up on him and turns to leave she feels a hand gripping her wrist. She looks back at Dex and see the slight fear in his eyes worried that she'll disappear and everything that had happened today was just a dream.

"Please Stay" he pleads. She then softly smiles saying "Of course. Move over a bit." Dex moves over letting Daina getting in pulling up the blanket covering both of them. As they look into each others' eyes, Dex feels his eyes being droopy slowly starting to close. As he go to sleeps he feels Daina grasp his hand underneath telling him "It's ok. I'm not going anywhere, go ahead and get some sleep." Hearing her words of comfort, Dex finally lets sleep take him.

Seeing that Dex is asleep, Daina stays awake for 10 minutes before feeling sleeping herself. Before she closes her eyes she plants a soft kiss on Dex's forehead.

"Sweet Dreams my little puppy" she says unconsciously before letting sleep finally take her.

Next Time:

Chapter 3: Traveling Partners