'...re...'

'...ke up...'

'...Al...p...'

Alfred groans at the distant sounds drifting through his mind. He can feel warm air moving over his face, coming in long puffs and smelling oddly familiar...

Hmm, something is nudging him...

'...wake up...'

The sounds gradually become clearer, and he swears he can hear something whining by his head, gently nudging him again.

'...wake up Al, please...'

Something about the desperation in the voice and the sad whine acts as a trigger, pulling him back into the waking world.

"Urrrgh... uuuhhh?" He blinks, vision blurry as he looks up.

A large white object sighs in clear relief as it looks down at him.

He blinks a few more times, eye's focusing, and finally sees it's Arthur's head.

"Aarrr?" He tries to ask, but his voice comes out as a slurred mess.

'Lie still, your alright.'

Mind still not fully up to speed, he just blinks up at the wolf, eyes catching on a splash of red on his muzzle. Not really thinking, he lifts his hand up, arm feeling weirdly heavy, to touch the red.

"'Ooouurr 'uuurrt." He tries to talk, but Arthur just shakes his head, nudging his hand back down.

'I'm fine.' He assures him, but this makes Al frown.

"'Oouu 'aavvee 'uuudd on 'oouur 'aaccee." He tries to say, pointing out the red, now knowing it to be blood.

Arthur's face doesn't give anything away as he simply says, 'It's not mine.'

His eyes begin to drift shut, feeling incredibly tired for some reason, but Arthur nudges him again, forcing him to stay awake.

'No, you mustn't sleep.'

"Mmhh... 'iirr'dd..."

'I know, but you can't sleep now.'

When his eyes start to close again, Arthur grows more agitated, sounding panicked, shaking him a bit roughly, 'No, no. Al, don't sleep. Don't. Please, please, don't sleep.'

He groans again.

Arthur's barely making any sense, only continuing to beg him to not sleep, over and over again.

It's like he's scared...

Al frowns, forcing himself to focus on their bond.

He is scared.

Al can feel his own heart begin to race from the wolfs fear.

Suddenly he doesn't feel tired anymore. In an instant, all his thoughts become solely focused on his friend. He forces himself to sit up, turning and crawling over to the wolf, he doesn't know why, but he feels like it's the right thing to do.

He reaches up and wraps his arms around Arthur's neck, hugging him.

"It's okay. I'm okay." He feels the wolf stiffen at his touch, before releasing a shaky breath, lowering his head onto the knights back, returning the hug.

"See? I told the damn beast you'd be fine. But did it listen? No!"

Alfred jumps back at the voice, turning to see Sadık standing at the entrance to the stables, right arm in a sling and left leg bandaged.

At the man's presence, Arthur jumps to his feet, growling threateningly, ears flat back and ready to strike.

"Wha? Arthur calm down." He stands wobbly, leaning on the stable wall for support.

'Get away!' Arthur snaps, diving at the man, Sadık raising his left hand, ready to use his magic.

"Arthur, stop!" And like that time back when they met, he does as told, halting mid step.

Al pushes himself forward, switching from the wall to leaning on Arthur's side.

"Look, whatever happen, it wasn't Sadık's fault. He's a good friend, and I know he'd never do anything to hurt me. So chill, Alright?"

'...'

Though he looks unconvinced, Arthur dips his head, standing down, choosing to simply glare at the masked man instead.

"So, uh, what did just happen? And what happen to you?"

"Your idiot wolf happened!" Sadık fumes, before sighing, "He attacked me after you passed out. I tried to tell him you'd be fine, but no, he wouldn't listen." Al's eyes widen at his friends claim.

"Artie, did you attack him?"

'He hurt you! He made you go into an un-waking sleep!' Al blinks in surprise, taken aback.

Since when was Arthur this defensive about him? He thought the wolf didn't really like him, so where was this all suddenly coming from?

"Artie, your not making any sense, I just passed out, right? No big deal."

Now it was Arthur's turn to look surprised.

'Not..? But... you wouldn't wake!'

Now Al's beginning to understand. He smiles gently at the wolf, patting his side as he lessens his weight on him, feeling more steady on his feet now.

"I get it. I suppose out in the wild, there's not a lot of things that'll make you pass out." His smiles softens as he fully understands, Arthur's previous fear now clear to him, "It'd be dangerous. But don't worry, I wasn't going to die. And I'm fine now, see? No need to worry."

It takes a moment to sink in, but once it does, Arthur sighs, anger gone, he drops his glare. Wolf now calmed, Al turns his attention back to his friend.

"Sorry about him, he was just scared."

Much to the knights relief, Sadık grins.

"Yeah, I got that. And while you were out, I did a bit more reading. I should have realised sooner that he can only understand you." His grin morphs into a smirk as he continues, "But the bites were worth it. You'll wanna see this."

Without any further explanation he turns and heads back out.

Curious, Al follows, with a cautious Arthur right behind.

The few people milling about give them weary looks as they pass. Al thinks it's because they know Arthur attacked Sadık. But when they've walked a few steps away, the man turns, gesturing Al to look back.

What he sees makes his jaw drop.

Rising up out of the stables in jagged pillars are dozens of giant icicles, several feet wide and dozens more in height. It's like the stables have been turned into a massive ice hedgehog.

Alfred's mouth opens and closes, unable to form words. His first reaction is to look to Arthur, but the wolf also seems impressed, so he looks to Sadık for an explanation.

Seeing the knights gaping stare, he smirks and, in the most casual of voices says, "Yeah, that was you."

His mouth flaps uselessly for a good minute before he's able to squeak out, "me?!" The sound making the man laugh at his shock.

"Yup, you."

"Okay, explain it to me again."

Sadık sighs, tired of trying to get Alfred to understand.

"It's simple. That ice was created by you tapping into your connection with the wolf."

"Arthur."

"Yeah, him. You did all that by accessing just a tiny part of the power. But since your not used to using magic, you let out to much of your own energy along with it, that's why you passed out."

"Okay, I get that but I don't get how? I've never had magic before, so why would I just suddenly have it now?"

"That's what I've been reading. This gift of yours is your magic. That's why you've never been able to learn any, because you never needed to. Think of it like this; your body is a container for magic, but you can only fill it with so much at one time. This gift of yours has been filling you this whole time, so you never had any room to learn anything else. But now that you've tapped into it, you've popped the lid off, so now there's more room. And the first thing that's filled this new space is the link between you and him." He nods his head to the wolf, Arthur lying out in the snow as the pair talk in Fredric's house once more.

"So what? Now I can talk to any creature? Or just Arthur?"

"That's the thing, for all the books detail, that part was oddly lacking. It could be that you can only communicate with wolves, or it only work for Arthur, or maybe you just need to unlock it to work on other creatures."

Alfred frowns, thinking back, "Well, I was only able to start to talk to Artie when he was trying to eat me. And I really don't want to replicate that just to be able to talk to something else."

"Good point. And it did say you can only bind with one at a time, so you may not even be able to as long as your bonded to him."

"Urgh..." Al groans, slumping across the table, "Don't remind me. How did I even manage to bond with him?"

"Hehe, seems like you accidentally did the Bonding ceremony."

"How though?"

"Simple, you asked for his name and gave yours in return. Seems that that's all there is to it."

"That's no fair! This power should come with a warning: don't ask for names unless you want to be stuck together forever."

"Hehe." The man laughs at his predicament, "Come on, it can't be that bad, oh Beast master."

"Stop calling me that..." He mumbles into the table.

"Or do you prefer Domino bestia." The man laughs more when Al only groans louder at the official title.

"This sucks. What kind of rules are these, asking for a name seals a deal?"

"Hehehe, since when has the rules of magic ever made much sense? We live in a world were men can become like gods with enough training, what part of that makes sense to you?"

"Mmh..."

Sadık let's him wallow for a moment longer before changing the subject.

"So, what now?"

Al just raises his hands in a shrug, head still planted on the table.

"Oh, come on. You must have something you want to do now that your a free man?"

"What part of this makes me sound free to you?"

"The part were your not exiled anymore?"

Confused, Al finally lifts his head to look at the other. The man is grinning at him, knowing Al hasn't realised it yet.

"What do you mean?"

"Do I have to spell everything out for you?" He makes it sound like he's annoyed, but his cocky grin shows he's just toying with the knight, "You told me before, your King's decree when he exiled you. 'You will remain there, until your days end, or until you discover your true calling.' This, Al, is your true calling. Your a Beast master, the proof is playing with a bunch of kids just outside."

"I... I'm not exiled anymore?"

"Nope. You've found your true calling, so you no longer need to guard that crummy fort. Your freed from your obligation, your debt has been paid."

Al stares, letting this sink in...

He's free, he can go home again...

He can go home.

"And you have been, ever since you met that wolf."

"..."

"Well?"

"...YEEEEESSSSS!" It's no exaggeration to say that Alfred's shout of joy could be clearly heard all around the town, the walls shaking from the sheer volume of his voice.

Sadık may just have gone deaf in one ear, but that doesn't stop him grinning as his friend topples his chair as he dives out the door, talking rapidly to the wolf who tilts his head at him in wonder.

He smirks, eyes sharp as he watches the knight even as he casts, warping away without another word.

"And where the hell have you been?"

His smirk grows, "Ooh, you'll want to hear this."

Authors notes: Mwhaha, Oh Turkey, what are you up to? So a bit more explanation on Al's power, and things are starting to happen elsewhere. But now Alfred gets to go home after two years away. What'll happen from here on out? You'll just have to wait and see.

Look at me, updating two stories at once, what ever happened to 'updates will be slow'? Reviews. Reviews happened.

And no, I haven't read the Inheritance Cycle, but I did see the Eragon film once. But any parallels between this and that are purely coincidental, I assure you.

On a slightly unrelated note, would anyone be interested in a fluffy romance-ish usuk / ukus Christmas fic?

R & R people.

Until next time, stay awesome!