-Black Wolf POV-

The little girl ran around, gathering an entire armful of flowers before she plopped back down next to the wolf again. She grinned across at him.

"More than enough flowers for both of us. Now, just watch what I do."

The girl picked up a white flower. She dug her nails into the stem, cutting a tiny cut in the stalk. Then, she picked up a pink flower, threading the pink flower through the cut. The girl repeated this process, fingers moving deftly as she alternated between colors, before finally-

"There!"

She showed her creation to him. The flowers had become a circle, all joined together by the stems.

"Pretty good, right?"

The wolf nodded enthusiastically, brushing his fingers across the soft petals. It was amazing! Even his sisters couldn't coax the flowers into doing anything like that.

The girl grinned, shoving a flower into his hand.

"Now, you do it!"

The wolf looked at her blankly, fingers loosely curled around the flower she had given him. Do what?

The girl made an impatient sound, scooting closer across the dirt. She grabbed his hands, tugging them forward. She guided him through the motions of cutting through the stem and threading the flower through.

"There. Now, you take the next flower, and you do it again!"

He nodded. He wouldn't disappoint his faithful teacher. Carefully, he repeated what she had shown him, pushing down on the thin stalk of the flower and-

"No! You're crushing the stem!"

The wolf startled, dropping the flowers entirely. The girl glared at him.

"You can't just pierce with your fingers. You have to use your nail. Your nail, okay?"

She sat with him until he had managed to clumsily weave together a flower crown. His fingers moved in jerky, erratic movements. He still wasn't quite used to them, and every time he thought he got a hang of it, he accidentally dropped a flower or crushed a stem again. Still, somehow-

"Good enough!" The girl declared. She lifted the flower crown from his hands, sticking it upon her head. The flowers were already starting to unravel. The wolf reached out to fix it, and-

The girl glared at him.

"It's my crown now. No touching."

The wolf nodded reluctantly. He still wanted to fix it. Maybe if he just-

"I will throw my rock at you," the girl threatened. The wolf quickly retracted his hand. Being hit with a rock did not sound fun.

The girl grinned smugly. She showed him the other three rocks she carried. Just in case, she repeated to him, and the wolf decided he never wanted to upset her.

"Lila! Lila, where are you?" An older human woman shouted. The woman looked right at the two of them. The wolf tensed, reaching for the rock in his pocket. The little girl just sighed, shaking her head.

"That's my mother. Guess I gotta go now." The girl brushed the grass off her clothes. She fixed him with a sharp look. "I taught you how to make that, so you still owe me another flower crown, got it?"

After he nodded, the girl grinned, running off to her mother. The wolf held back, not wanting to intrude upon their family. The mother fussed over the girl, cleaning the dirt off her cheeks and complaining about the grass stains.

His throat grew tight. He forced himself to look away. He walked down the path towards the village, the dirt soft under his bare feet. The sun was finally setting over the village, and the wolf was all too happy to see it go.

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[Black Wolf: Where are you?]

He asked, glancing around. There were all sorts of humans around him. The humans dressed in all sorts of strange colors. Most of them did not carry swords, but the ones that did- his nails dug into his palms. He forced himself to unclench his fists.

These humans were just going about their ordinary lives. He could not hate them for something they had not done.

[White Bunny: Don't worry about it. Where are you?]

[Black Wolf: In the middle.]

The bunny was silent. The wolf winced a little. He knew it wasn't the best answer, but he really didn't know more than that. The village was built on dead dirt. There was no life within their wooden houses, leaving him with no idea where he was. The wolf couldn't understand how any of the humans found their ways around.

[White Bunny: Just stay where you are. I'll come find you.]

The humans cast him funny looks as they passed. Unlike the children, they didn't say anything, just silently skirting around him like he didn't exist at all. His throat stung.

He was human too, so why- the wolf ran his fingers across the smooth rock in his pocket. Flower crowns, he reminded himself. He had to practice really hard to make the most amazing flower crown, one that would never fall apart.

He searched for something he could use to practice. Nothing grew in the beaten dirt, but- there! Spotting the flowers, the wolf walked over. The flowers were already all bunched together, making them perfect for flower crowns.

Maybe he could give the crown to the bunny, he thought. The wolf threaded a fourth flower into his flower crown. He would have to make it smaller to fit her... and she'd have to get here very soon. The wolf hastily put the fifth and sixth flower in, finishing off the crown before it could completely fall apart.

He'd give her the next one. The wolf reached for another flower-

"I hope you're planning on paying for those."

The wolf startled, dropping his flower crown again. Thankfully, none of them had torn. He could put the flower crown back together. He hastily bent down to gather the flowers, and-

A huge man stared down at him. He didn't know what paying meant, but the wolf understood the look in his eyes. He had seen humans with that look before.

Hatred.

"Where are your parents?"

The wolf froze. The man nodded slowly, as if he had expected that.

"Of course. No parents. That's always your excuse, isn't it?" The man sneered, advancing towards him. He held no weapon, but his hands made heavy fists. "Street rats. You're sixteen, seventeen, aren't you? How long are you gonna keep stealing from us people?"

The wolf looked at the man pleadingly, holding his hands out in surrender. He didn't know what the man was talking about. He hadn't meant to do anything wrong.

The wolf barely raised his arms before the man's fist collided with his face. The impact sent him skidding across the dirt, flowers falling everywhere. He coughed weakly for air. His arms throbbed with pain. The man was storming over to him, and-

The wolf didn't think. He scrambled to his feet, and he ran.

[Black Wolf: Where are you where are you where are you-]

The man shouted at him as the wolf tore through the crowd. He had never run before, and it felt wrong, every impact with the earth too harsh, too sudden. He sprinted down the next street, turning left, left, right.

Please please please-

The wolf ran faster. The rows of houses were inescapable, leaving no trees in sight. Every direction he turned, the humans stared at him like he was something wrong. He couldn't run fast enough to escape their pitying looks and disgusted glares.

The wolf gasped for air. He didn't know where he was going. He just kept running, turning every time he saw another human. His chest burned, and finally-

He threw himself upon the white bunny, not able to care about anything else. She seemed startled at first.

[White Bunny: What's going on? Are we still in danger?]

He shook his head, squeezing her tighter. Safe. He was safe, now. He took a deep breath in, trembling dangerously.

[White Bunny: What happened?]

He shook his head again, unable to find the words for the horrible feeling clawing at his chest.

━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━

-White Bunny POV-

The back of the alley was filthy, but he didn't seem to care, desperately clinging on to her fur. She couldn't get a single answer out of him- anything she asked only caused him to curl into himself more.

What was going on?

Faint yellow patterns were beginning to appear on the wolf's arms. The bruises weren't from hitting something; they were from being hit. A snarl built in the back of her throat. She might only be a bunny, but-

Fireball. She didn't know how she could get that spell, but she knew exactly who she was going to test it on first.

She had heard a mage talking about it when she was lurking by the Adventurer's Guild. The mage had drunkenly rambled about how fire devoured everything, and she had known, instantly, that she wanted it.

She couldn't use [Devourer], not yet, so she had stolen the mage's purse instead. Of course she had. The mage was so drunk he crashed into the same wall six times- she couldn't just abandon him like that.

[White Bunny: We should move to somewhere warmer. There's an inn less than fifty steps away- they'll have food and somewhere we can rest for the night.]

She kept her voice soft, not a single hint of anger bleeding through. She still needed a name, but- revenge could wait until the morning.

The wolf was unresponsive. His eyes had gone hollow and dull. She nudged him with her nose.

[White Bunny: Come on. Aren't you cold?]

[Black Wolf: ... you're warm.]

He whispered softly, tiredly. By the time she thought of a response, he had fallen asleep.