To Kill A Mockingjay and I are organizing what will hopefully become the annual Alex Rider Fanfiction Awards. Check it out here: forum. fanfiction .net/forum/The_Royal_General_Bank/93073/ .

Special mentions to Mazken, speechbubble, and zeichnerinaga (you all know why =P ).

Alex woke in the middle of the night, choking back a scream. He ran a shaky hand over his face, wiping away the cold sweat that had beaded over his brow, and sat up, swinging his feet over the side of the bed.

He let his eyes roam around the dark room before pushing to his feet and moving into the hall. Hearing soft snores from across the hall, he smiled slightly, knowing that it was Snake by the soft whistle at the end of his exhale, before he frowned again. He doubted anyone would go through the trouble of recording how someone sounded while they slept, much less two people he amended upon hearing Eagle muttering from the room to his left, next to the window.

So that means I'm hallucinating, I'm insane, or this is somehow really happening... And I'm really not sure which right now, he thought as he quietly went down the stairs and into the kitchen. He got a glass of water then sat at the table, small as it was, shoved against the wall so no more than three people could sit at it at one time.

Alex had a sudden, vivid image of the kitchen filled with sunlight. Sitting across from him was Fox and between them was Snake, Wolf was leaning against the counter next to the back door and Eagle was sitting on the counter near the sink. The men were talking and laughing, but Alex couldn't hear any of it.

He blinked, hand jerking, the image fading as suddenly as it had come, and his vision plunged into darkness. There was the clattered of the glass tipping over and spilling its contents.

Alex jumped to his feet to avoid the water, barely catching the glass from rolling off the table in the process. He cussed softly, setting the glass in the sink before grabbing a towel to soak up the water.

"You should be in bed," startled Alex into spinning, dropping into a defensive crouch at the same time.

Wolf raised an eyebrow at the teen then flipped the lights on. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he answered, straightening. He tossed the towel into the sink. "Sorry if I woke you," he muttered after a pause.

Wolf grunted, getting his own water. "Was outside." He turned to Alex. "Why are you up?"

The blond shrugged a shoulder. "Couldn't sleep."

Wolf paused and lowered his arm again. "Why not?" he asked.

Alex shrugged again.

"Cub..."

"What? What do you want me to say? It's not like it's your business." He scowled. "And what does it matter anyway?"

"You need to keep up your strength."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm not a kid. I'll be fine."

It was Wolf's turn to scowl. He thudded his glass on the counter and strode over to glare down at the teen, an interesting effort since he was only a couple inches taller. "Mentally our Cub or not, that's still his body, not yours, and I know more about it than you do. You need to be careful. He's not very physical, not very forward, and you need to stay calm. There's costs to the ability he has. His is a weak body. If you keep getting worked up like you have been, you could cause some damage. Stop being so fucking stubborn and listen to us, let us help you, take care of you. We aren't going to hurt you, not intentionally."

Alex blinked, backing down. "Sorry," he muttered, looking away. He was feeling strangely distressed, but he had no idea why.

An odd tightness began to grow in his chest; it was a new sensation but somehow familiar - different from when his bullet wound bothered him though, he knew that much. He realized dimly that he had felt it yesterday when discovering his lack of scars, but it had been overridden by shock. He frowned, putting a hand to his chest.

"Cub?"

Alex shook his head, pushing past Wolf to go outside, thinking the fresher air would help.

Wolf caught his arm. "What's wrong?"

Alex just shook his head again, trying to twist free.

The soldier tightened his grip slightly, tugging Alex back against his chest. He wrapped his free arm around Alex's shoulders, keeping him from bending over as he was trying to do.

"It's okay Cub," he said, voice soothing. "It'll pass. Just focus on my breathing. In long and slow and out the same way."

Wolf kept talking softly in between breaths for Alex to focus on. The teen's knees buckled and Wolf eased him to the floor and knelt behind him, keeping Alex firmly against his chest.

When Alex's breathing began to ease, he squirmed slightly, embarrassed. He was pulling away before Wolf had fully released him.

"You okay?" the man asked. At Alex's nod, he posed another question. "What upset you?" He rolled his eyes when he saw the confused look the blond shot him, not knowing that Alex was wondering why he cared to ask rather than how he had known. "This isn't the first time you, or rather, your body, has hyperventilated."

Alex shrugged, leaning against the wall rather than try and stand just yet. His lips quirked into a weak smile when Wolf handed him his glass of water.

"I take it you have everything handled?" came Snake's voice from the doorway.

"Yeah," Wolf answered, not taking his eyes off Alex. He nudged the glass when Alex hadn't taken a drink.

"Cub? How do you feel?"

Alex looked at the older blond. "...Tired."

Snake nodded. "That's expected... What caused the attack?"

Alex shrugged again. "I have no idea, but it wasn't me."

Snake cocked his head then walked over to crouch in front of Alex. " 'Wasn't you'? What do you mean?"

Alex's lips twisted slightly as he frowned in thought. He missed the way both men relaxed at this. "I felt something. Like I was expecting one thing and it didn't happen. But I wasn't. Expecting anything I mean."

Snake nodded slowly. "Well, let's get you back into bed."

"I'll take him," Wolf cut in, stepping closer. He ignored the look of amusement the Scot sent him as he helped Alex to his feet.

Both men smiled when Alex yawned and swayed slightly. The teen blinked and focused on Wolf.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile." This comment, of course, caused said smile to vanish. Alex blinked again then shrugged, starting past them to go back upstairs. He glanced back at Wolf with a soft scowl since the man was closely following him.

Once upstairs, Alex was surprised when Wolf followed him into his room. He turned toward the man who just gestured at the bed.

"Get in."

"What...?"

"Just get in bed before you fall over."

Alex blinked at him then shook his head, choosing not to argue. He yelped when Wolf leaned over and started to tuck him in.

At Alex's wide-eyed stare, Wolf sighed and straightened. "Cub... You're the closest any of us will have to having a child. Cub isn't just a name. It's what you are to us."

Alex shook his head in bemusement. "The Wolf I know isn't like you."

Wolf looked at him. "Maybe you need to get to know him."

"Like I'll get the chance," he huffed. "Even if I could figure out how to get home, he hates me."

"I doubt that." He shrugged at the look Alex shot him. "We can talk later. You need to get some sleep."

Alex curled onto his side. "...Why am I telling you this stuff? Why am I talking about things?"

Wolf paused in the doorway, looking at Alex. "I don't know. Maybe there's some of the Cub I know in you." Seeing that Alex had nothing more to say, he let a small smile cross his lips. "Sleep well, Cub."

Alex smiled back. "Good night Wolf."

Barely an hour later, Alex startled awake again. And again an hour later. And yet again.

Not once was he able to remember what he had dreamt about and he was growing hesitant about sleeping. Because of this, he was up at dawn and downstairs over an hour before any of the soldiers were waking.

When they did wake, most of them assumed Fox was making breakfast considering the foods they could smell cooking. Or, they did, until stepping into the hall and seeing that all four of the men were there.

It took about a second for them to realize either Alex was cooking, something that he had never been able to do even with supervision, or someone had broken in and decided to cook. Either way, the result was the same: the men fairly flew down the stairs and into the kitchen, ready to fight if need be.

What they didn't expect was to startle Alex into hurling a kitchen knife at them.

There was a jumble of yelps and swears as they all ducked, dove, or backpedaled out of the way, tripping over one another. Their eyes were drawn to where the knife was stuck in the wall opposite the doorway.

"Holy fuck," Eagle breathed as they turned back to Alex, eyes wide.

The teen was leaning against the counter, his own eyes as shocked as theirs. Wolf was the first to catch the mostly suppressed tremors going through the small blond's frame and he stepped closer.

All four men froze when Alex flinched slightly.

"I'm sorry! I didn't– Is everyone okay?" he rushed out.

"Cub, it's okay. Our reflexes are better than you think," Eagle tried soothing, refraining from mentioning that Alex's throw had been very close to actually hitting Fox, who had moved around them to keep the food from burning, and only the man's inhuman senses had saved him from losing an eye.

"It is not okay," Alex shot back. "If that had hit in the right spot, it could have killed one of you."

"Nah, Cub, we'd've been fine." Eagle blinked at the look Alex gave him then followed the teen's gaze to the knife, the blade stuck in an inch or so. "Okay, maybe injured, but not dead. Promise."

"How do you figure? Last time I bothered to check, it didn't take that much to kill someone! And why do you get to downplay it, but when I do, I get yelled at?"

They blinked, hesitating, before Snake decided to ignore the last question, gaining a sour look for that. "Cub, don't you know that none of us are human, not really anyway?" At the blank look he received, Snake sighed softly. "I shouldn't be surprised you missed that, all things considered, but somehow, I am."

"What do you mean, 'not human'? What are you then? Aliens?"

Fox switched off the burners then turned to Alex. "Why don't you sit down so we can tell you?"

"And try not to panic," Eagle added, looking rather serious for once.

Alex studied each of them in turn before nodding slightly and easing into a chair. "Alright...?" he prompted.

"First, why don't you tell us what you know about the supernatural?" Snake asked, sitting across from Alex.

"Just the usual stuff from movies and books and junk. Why?"

"So you don't believe it's real?"

Alex huffed out a somewhat bitter laugh. "At this point, if it's something I can see or experience, I'll believe it." He looked down at the table before adding just under his breath. "Kind of have to at this point."

Fox's lips pulled down into a frown, but he let it go for now. "So if we told you that we weren't human?"

Alex shifted to give him a considering look. "I'd ask for proof."

"Did you see the blood in the fridge?"

"I was trying to ignore it."

Eagle smiled at that. "It's Fox's. He's a vampire."

Alex gave him a skeptical look. "He's standing in sunlight."

Fox sighed, rolling his eyes. "Stupid movies. Sunlight is only dangerous to young vampires. I'm old enough that I can go out, but I need to be careful since I sunburn easily."

Alex nodded slightly. "Wooden stakes?"

"It's something through the heart. It might kill me, might not. It being wood doesn't matter."

"Garlic?"

"Love it. As long as it isn't burned." Wolf grunted in agreement to that statement.

Alex blinked and cocked his head.

Fox smiled. "Garlic can have a very strong smell and it's rather pungent when not cooked properly. It bothers Wolf's nose more than mine."

"Why? Werewolf?"

It was the soldier's turns to blink. "How?"

Alex laughed. "Actually, I was being a smartass. Who thought that one up? 'Let's give a werewolf Wolf as a codename'. Isn't that a little cliché? It'd be like calling a vampire Leech or Bat."

Eagle snorted with laughter while the others looked amused.

"Anyway," Snake continued. "Fox is a vampire, Wolf is a lycanthrope, Eagle is a demon, and I'm technically human, but classified as a mage."

"Is that what you did? Magicked me?"

Snake hesitated then nodded. "Yes and no. I used magic to see how you were - I specialize in healing magic - and then I hypnotized you to put you to sleep. The hypnotism was helped by magic, but was something I could do before discovering my magic."

"Healing?"

The older blond sighed, accepting a knife from Wolf. He drew the blade across his arm and let the blood well up and drip onto the towel Eagle had tossed onto the table. Alex had tried to push up and reach across to take the knife before Snake could, but a restraining hand from Fox kept him in his seat.

Snake passed the knife back to Wolf then let his hand hover an inch or so above the gash. A pale, earthy glow suffused his hand, motes of the light drifted down to spread over the wound, and the light slowly faded. He used the towel to wipe away the blood and nodded to Fox, who moved his hand.

Alex was up and around the table quick enough to make them all blink, gently grabbing Snake's arm to look at where he had been hurt. If it wasn't for the bloodstained towel, he never would have guessed that the soldier was hurt. He let out a long breath before glaring at Snake through his bangs.

"What the fuck was that?" he demanded, somewhat surprised at his own vehemence. Apparently he was more attached to the unit than he had originally thought he was. "An explanation would have been fine. I didn't ask for a demonstration!" He shifted his glare to Eagle. "And I don't want to hear that this is why one of you being hit by that knife would have been fine so don't even try it," he hissed, dropping the mage's arm and straightening. He swept all of them with an angry scowl. "I am going outside. Please leave me alone." Without bothering to wait for a response, he stalked out, slamming the door behind him.

Wolf watched through the window as Alex stormed over to a tree and pulled himself into it, settling maybe ten feet from the ground.

Fox huffed, flopping into Alex's abandoned chair. "Well that went well," he snarked.