The first thing Alfred was aware of when he woke was the freezing cold, seeping in through his armour and chilling him to the bone. So, nothing new there... what was new was the odd throb of pain in his side and a feeling of power coursing through him, quietly, as if asleep. The second thing he noticed was the sound of a low growl, footsteps crunching the snow around him as something moves, circling him. He remains still, pretending to still be asleep as he subtly reaches for his sword, waiting for the right moment to strike...
'I know your awake, get up!' A voice barks in his mind, snow landing on his face, he jolts up.
Blinking up at the wolf standing over him, "Oh shit!" He cries, scrambling away and grasps for his sword, only to be met with air.
"Wha?" He questions, confused, then, he suddenly remembers.
"Ooooh."
'Yes, Oh. Now tell me, what did you just do?' The wolf —Arthur, his mind suddenly reminds him, as if he's unable to think of him as anything else—glares.
"Me?" He wonders. He doesn't remember doing anything.
'Do not lie to me, hu-hu-h-Alfred,' Arthur spits out his name, oddly seeming unable to call him anything but his name, as he is. 'I am a Snow Wolf of the Quivering Mountains, I know magic when I see it. Now. Tell. Me. What. You. Did!' He bites out the demand, anger evident in every word.
"Magic? Me? That's impossible, I don't know any. I have no natural propensity for the stuff. Never have, never will."
Arthur stares, his growl intensifying.
'Then how do you explain this?' Arthur raises his back leg, ripping the bandage free from his side and revealing his... healed wound?
"What? Do you normally heal that fast?"
'No, you idiot! This was you!'
"It can't have been... I'm telling you, I don't know any magic!" Al shakes his head, desperately trying to convince the other.
Arthur pauses, then paws at the snow, seeming uncomfortable for some reason.
'...And somehow I know your telling the truth...'
The pair stare at each other for a brief moment before quickly looking away. The situation is beginning to seriously weird Alfred out. Just a short while ago, he couldn't tell anything Wolf Arthur was thinking, his mannerisms, his thought process, everything about him was a complete mystery, besides his plan to eat him that is.
But now... it's as if he can see inside his head, he can tell Arthur is thinking this through, every possibility is being considered and discarded at such a high speed it's making Al dizzy. And not just that, but that power he felt before seems to grow stronger the closer Arthur gets to him. It pulsates within him, growing and waning with Arthur's anger, it's as if he can...feel him.
That... sounds so wrong...
Arthur suddenly looks back up at him.
'Well, even if you did do something, I guess I can't complain. I can feel a power within me again, one I've not felt since leaving the Mountains, perhaps even stronger.'
Alfred nods, knowing how he feels, he just wonders what it means...
"Well, anyway, we should probably get going now." He decides to change topic, not wanting to linger on this any longer.
Arthur nods.
'Lead the way.'
Home, or what passes for it. The old fort is relatively small compared to others built around the capital, but unlike those which were built to defend against invaders, his is only a glorified outpost at the edge of the kingdoms territory. The gray stone of the eight story tall fort barely stands out from the endless white surrounding it.
"Well, this is it..." Alfred tries to break the awkward silence between then.
Neither of them have said a word since heading out again, and he's beginning to wonder how they'll possibly be able to function around each other for the entire winter like this.
Arthur eyes the fort and open expanse around them warily. From whatever weird connection they now have, Alfred can tell he's been uncomfortable since they left the forest, the lack of cover setting him on edge. He gets the feeling that this is the furthest he's ever been from the mountains.
'This, is your home?' He asks, looking around and sniffing the air.
"Yuuuup." He draws the word out, popping the p at the end, and receives an annoyed look from the other for it, "This is as good as it gets out here."
Arthur slows behind him, stopping before the entrance as Alfred pushed the heavy large oak doors open. In all his time out here, Alfred hasn't seen one other person come anywhere near the fort, so he sees no reason to build a lock into the doors.
Once inside, he heads straight for the hearth, quickly setting the fire going. He sighs in relief at the warmth. He looks back across the large hall, to the open doors, and sees Arthur still standing outside.
"Hey, you coming in or what?" He asks as he comes back over, he needs to close the doors if he wants to have a chance of warming this place up a bit.
Arthur pokes his head over the threshold, eyeing the place cautiously.
'This is what a man-made structure looks like?'
"Yeah. Well, I mean this is a fort, so it's not exactly meant to be very homey, but I do what I can. Now are you coming in or staying out, cause I'd like to close these doors and get warmed up if you don't mind."
Arthur gives the place one more wary look before coming in, Al quickly pulling the doors shut behind him, bounding back over to the fire. He sits and watches Arthur as he moves about. The wolf sniffs every inch of the place, walking slowly as he looks about, claws clacking on the stone floor with every careful step. His large size made more apparent by the sparse furnishings of the hall and the tall walls, making it easy for him to move about unobstructed.
'This place. I have never seen a humans home before.'
Alfred can tell he's both awed and simultaneously let down by it all, though he's not sure what he was expecting.
"Well, make yourself at home. Just don't pee on anything or whatever. I don't want you stinking this place up."
Arthur scrunches his face up at that.
'You are hardly one to talk to me about smell, and that is just disgusting. Why would I pee in a dwelling?'
"I don't know," He shrugs, "ain't that what wolves do, to mark their territory or something?"
'Only at the edges of our territory, not in our homes, that's just filthy.'
"Well, Whatever." Al sighs, turning back to the fire.
He feels Arthur come up behind him, huffing warm air down his neck and causing his hair to flutter about his face.
'What do you think your doing? You promised me food remember?'
"What?" Al tips his head back, blinking up at the wolf, "But you just ate that whole antelope yesterday. You can't still be hungry."
Alfred gapes as Arthur gives him an unimpressed look, their odd bond informing him of the wolfs ravenous hunger, an appetite for meat filling his mind.
"Okay...guess you are then."
'Yes, I am.'
Sighing, but seeing no way around this, Alfred gets up.
"Alright, Wait here. I'll bring some stuff up."
With that, he grabs a torch, lighting it in the fire, and heads down to the pantry. The 'pantry' as he calls it, is actually the small underground dungeon. Given how few people ever come out this far north, he couldn't imagine ever having to use the three tiny cells, so, he repurposed the place. Now the freezing cold down here that was no doubt meant to chill prisoners, serves as the perfect way to preserve food for a long time. Summer here is barely any different than the winters, both are unbelievably cold, long, miserable, and make Alfred wish he could learn some time magic to go back and change the mistake he made that day.
He carefully makes his way down the frozen steps, torch lighting his way down into the darkness, past ventures have taught him to take his time. Once down, he uses the firelight to see the three cells. Each are filled with barrels of food, more than enough to last him through the winter. This was going to be his last venture out to his traps before he hunkered down for another four months of hellish solitude, but now it seems he'll have a companion this time.
"Geez, I must be starved of social interaction if I'm considering Arthur as a companion..."
He voices his thoughts as he moves to the nearest cell. This one is filled with five barrels of salted deer and Recovl meat. If it's good enough for him, he doesn't think Arthur will complain too much, with how hungry he was giving off he'll probably eat just about anything. Balancing torch and barrel, he makes his way back up.
"Okay, you want food, I got plenty of it." He announces as he comes back into the hall, swinging the barrel down between them.
Arthur, who had taken to lying by the fire, stands and approaches him, sniffing the air, it doesn't take long for the wolf to start drooling, eyes lighting at the smell.
'What is it?' His voice excitedly asks in his mind.
Alfred smirks, "Salted deer. Good stuff, and cheap, keeps well too."
He explains as he pulls the lid from the wooden container, slabs of meat and bone of various sizes can be seen filling the insides to the brim. Arthur licks his lips, before, without warning, he jumps at the barrel, knocking it from Alfred's hold and causing it to fall over. It doesn't roll far, as within seconds Arthur has it pinned and is snatching up the spilled meat, before quickly going onto the remaining contents of the barrel. He can just about get his snout in, using his tongue to reach, and smacking the container around, he easily gets every last slab of preserved meat.
Alfred stares, as what could easily have been several weeks worth of food, is gone in mere minutes.
Arthur sits back, having licked the barrel clean, only a few lager bones remain.
'That was delicious.' His eyes are practically sparkling with delight as he licks his lips clean, 'Another three of though's should fill me right up.'
"T-three?!" Al splutters, aghast at the wolfs insatiable hunger.
Arthur fixes him with an unimpressed look.
'Yes, three. You said you have more than enough food to last the winter. So I shouldn't feel hungry for the next four months at least.'
"More than enough for me. For a human, I had no idea you could eat so much at once! You just ate a good two or three weeks worth, there's noway I have enough to keep feeding you like that through the entire winter!" He exclaims. At this rate, he'll be eaten out of house and home in under a week!
Arthur gives him a sharp look, growling lowly, he stalks threateningly towards him.
'You. Will. Feed. Me. Or I will eat you right now, and then have the rest of your food stores to myself.'
He warns dangerously, and just to run his point home that he's not joking, he springs on Al, pinning the man to the ground, growling, with teeth bared above him.
"Okay, Okay! I'll feed you, Gods!" He cries, and Arthur backs off, letting him up.
Resigning to his fate, Alfred repeats the journey down twice more, bringing up the oldest of his stores, whole fermented Calamk and frost beaver, just to spite Arthur with the horrible taste of the stuff. But his plan for revenge fails as the wolf eats it all just as eagerly.
Now finally sated, the Snow Wolf settles by the fire, quite content. Al sighs as he joins him, finally removing his armour. He considered keeping it on, but, with how peaceful Arthur is now, he doubts the wolf will try to attack him again.
Armour removed, he finally can pull his undershirt up to look at his side. The pain from before has long since ebbed into a quite throb, barely noticeable now. Twisting he frowns down at his side, using his hands to pull the skin to see better.
He stares at the sight he's met with.
Where once there had been only pale skin, no longer bronzed under the summer sun of his childhood home in the capital, he sees a marking he never had before imprinted in his flesh. Blue and green spiral together in mixing shades, growing fainter the further from the centre. Six distinct strokes of colour are set in a ring, the top three blue the bottom ones green, the ends of the strokes spiral in on themselves, shrinking and fading to nothing. At the centre it's as if someone had dropped two dyes into water, twining together, freezing them at the point of mixing and then imbedded it into his side, he's never seen anything like it.
Just what is going on here...
Authors notes: So Arthur is suspicious and Alfred is clueless, who would have guessed. The pair finally make it to the fort and Arthur proceeds to quite literally eat Al out of house and home. Poor boy's going to have to find some more food and fast if he doesn't want to get eaten himself. And if anyone's interested, check out my tumblr were I've posted some art of the last scene.
Also bonus scene:
Alfred shifted from foot to foot thinking. The space before the hearth, a raised ledge that quickly becomes wonderfully warm from the fire, is where he'd normally sleep. He had spent quite some time saving up to by the fur skins he uses for his bed, but now, the space is completely taken over and his precious bed hidden beneath the wolf in his home. Arthur for his part, doesn't seem to notice or care about his predicament as he rolls onto his side, warming his back by the flames. So Alfred is left to decide, spend the night cold, or share with a wolf more than twice his size. It's a tough choice...
Arthur cracks an eye open to glare as Alfred climbs up onto the ledge, squishing up beside him. Neither say a word as he moves, quickly realising the only way this is going to work is if he lies on the wolf and so, silently he moves over, lying his back against Arthur's. Come morning, neither will acknowledge that Arthur had rolled over during the night, nor that Al had also turned into the wolf, sleeping peacefully in his paws, head buried in surprisingly soft fur.
R & R people.
Until next time, stay awesome!