The day after Thomas and Nikki offered their flesh to Skoll and Luna, Fenrir walks into their rooms to find they are completely healed from their wounds. Fenrir tries to hold back his tears but lets his emotions out.

Skoll and Luna both run up to him and hug him. Fenrir is confused. He thought they would be mad for almost killing them. He pushes them away and looks into their eyes as if trying to figure out if they really are his siblings, or if they had been replaced by replicas. "You aren't mad at me?" Fenrir asks.

Skoll and Luna exchange glances. "Of course not." Luna is the first one to speak. "We know it wasn't your fault. We barely remember it anyway."

Fenrir raises an eyebrow wondering how they could possibly forget a traumatizing experience like that. "We remember bits and pieces," Skoll says. "But that's about it."

Fenrir is about to ask if they remember how painful it was. But he refrains from doing so in case it brings back those memories. Fenrir wipes off the tears that are still running down his face. "Why? I don't understand why you don't blame me."

Luna grabs Fenrir's shoulders and tries to shake some sense into him. "You're our big brother, act like it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. If anyone should be the crybaby it should be Skoll."

"Hey, that's not nice to say." Skoll snaps at her.

"Get over it." Luna snaps back. "We're not kids anymore. We're almost teenagers."

After Fenrir gains his composer, he tells them everything that happened while they were out. Skoll finds these new details concerning. Even his imaginations fail to see how they could gain these powers in such a short time. However, Luna knows that If Fenrir can do it, they can do it as well.

"I'm not fond of them taking our power, but sacrifices need to be made in order to survive." Fenrir puts it bluntly.

"They better give it back to me once we win," Luna smirks. "I'm not working that hard over something I can't keep."

"How do you know it's permanent?" Skoll asks. "Why wouldn't it be possible to regain these powers once they are taken? Or are they really taking it from us instead of harvesting the temporary effects?"

Nikki knocks on the door to announce herself. "All of you look like you're back to your original selves." Nikki gives them a warm smile. "Especially you Luna, you are looking pretty as ever." Luna blushes and thanks her for the compliment.

Skoll whispers in Fenrir's ear. "Let's get out of here before they start talking about girl stuff."

"I was just going to say the same thing." Fenrir whispers back.

Fenrir and Skoll manage to sneak out of the room without Nikki or Luna noticing. They make their way down to the training room. They both know they don't have time to play around. Fenrir tries explaining exactly how his powers worked. However, he had such little time to play around with it, he figures out that he knows almost nothing about it.

"This might be a waste of time." Skoll remarks. "Sure, you did it once, but that doesn't mean Luna and I can do it."

Fenrir scoffs at his comments. "What happened to all that imagination you had? Just imagine yourself using these powers. Who knows, it might work."

"Fine." Skoll goes along with his plan. "You know I only did that stuff because I was bored, right?"

Fenrir laughs at him. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that." Fenrir's tone changes when he sees how serious Skoll is being. "Really. And here we thought Mother dropped you on your head when you were young?"

"That's not funny." Skoll raises his voice. "I can't believe that you were able to use magic before me when I was the one who always dreamed of using it."

"Using it to save the princess from evil. Yeah, I know the story. It's from a book Mother read to us years ago. There are easier ways to get girls." Fenrir ponders for a moment. "Or you might be into guys. Do you like getting pegged in the ass?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you today?" Skoll takes a step back in disgust. "I'm starting to remember why I don't talk to you."

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"Relax." Fenrir changes his tune. "I'm just messing around. You don't need to take everything so seriously."

"Righhht? Coming from the guy who does exactly that." Skoll gives Fenrir a skeptical look, knowing him to be the one to enforce the rules.

Fenrir sees Skoll doesn't buy it and tries to shift the conversation. "Anyway, we should get started. The most important thing is to figure out how to manifest these powers." Fenrir says as he picks up a dull training sword off the many racks.

"You're going to use that?" Skoll asks with a slight shiver in his tone.

"My claws would be sharper," Fenrir explains. "Besides, I've always wanted to learn how to swing a sword."

"You. A swordsman?" Skoll laughs. "Aren't our claws sharper than swords?"

"That may be true." Fenrir swings the sword a few times to get a feel for it. "However, swords have a longer reach. If you and your opponent are equal in terms of skill and speed, the one with the longer-reaching weapon will always win."

"It just seems weird." Skoll adds before dropping the subject.

Fenrir takes a playful swing at Skoll while his guard is down. Skoll manages to dodge it just in time, and gives Fenrir a look of confusion and anger. "What the fuck are you doing?" Skoll asks as his voice cracks.

"You can't let your guard down in the middle of a fight."

"WE'RE NOT FIGHTING YET." Skoll shouts. "You could have seriously injured me."

"That's the point," Fenrir explains. "I can't take it easy on you just because your my brother. If we don't figure this out soon, they'll do much worse to you and Luna."

"Fine. I'll go along with this for now."

"That's the spirit." Fenrir says as he swings the sword at Skoll again.

As Fenrir swings his sword faster and faster, Skoll finds himself struggling to dodge. Fenrir tries to swing for his vitals, making sure not to aim at the same spot twice. he goes for the neck, but Skoll back out of the sword's range just in the nick of time. "I've always been faster than you!" Skoll exclaims with a smile. "I never thought this would be so much fun."

Fenrir squints his eyes and bares his fangs, his anger ramping up the more Skoll enjoys this fight. "This isn't a game." Fenrir raises his voice. "Take this seriously."

"You're the one that's not taking this seriously," Skoll says. "Otherwise you would have hit me by now."

Fenrir grits his teeth and forces his body to swing the sword faster. He swings it downward, aiming for Skoll's head. Unsurprisingly, Skoll is able to dodge it. Before the sword reaches the ground, Fenrir takes a step forward, trying to pierce Skoll with the tip of the blade. Skoll sidesteps the attack, spinning around and backhanding Fenrir in the face.

Fenrir growls while rubbing the injury on his face. "Damn you." He says in a low voice. "If I didn't have my magic stolen from me, I would have beaten you by now."

Skoll reaches out to touch Fenrir, but he pulls his hand away knowing that Fenrir might cut his arm off. "This isn't a competition. You're just helping me, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. Just give me a sec." Fenrir says while he's hunched over. 'Why does it bother me this much?' He thinks to himself as he falls to his knees. 'Why do I hate being this weak? I need to kill Donovan. Nobody will care, he's only a human after all.'

Fenrir stands up and regains his composer. "Let's continue."

"Are you sure you're ok?" Skoll asks feeling concerned that something is wrong with him.

"I'm fine."

Ten minutes later. Fenrir is lying on the floor after Skoll started fighting back as if it was a real fight. Skoll wonders if he had gone too far, but Fenrir keeps getting back up to strike again and again. "I think we should stop," Skoll says after noticing that Fenrir is having trouble standing. "You don't look like you can continue."

"I'm not stopping until I win," Fenrir states. "I'm your older brother, and I need to be strong enough to protect you."

Skoll lets his guard down and speaks from the heart. "No, you don't. We have to protect each other. Not you, not Luna, all of us. You can't place this burden all on yourself. At least not before you get your magic back."

"You really think they'll give it back to me?"

"I don't think they have to." Skoll points out. "It's your magic after all. It came from inside you. Who's to say you lost it forever?"

Fenrir drops to his knees and claws at the ground. "I hate being weak. I hate not being in control."

"Yeah, most people are like that." Skoll points out. "That's something that you just have to accept."

"What's going on here?" Nikki says as she strolls up to them with Luna. "Us girls are gone for half an hour and you boys almost kill each other."

"Tha's not exact-"

Luna cut him off. "Did you beat Fenrir in a fight? I thought he was stronger than you?"

Fenrir stands up and acts like nothing had happened. "I felt weak ever since my magic was taken. It seems that Skoll is the strongest out of all of us now."

"Congratulations, Skoll," Luna says. "I know how much you wanted to become a hero, and now you're becoming stronger."

"He's not." Fenrir points out. "Didn't you hear a word I said?"

"Luna and I had a wonderful time discussing hobbies." Nikki says after everyone ignores Fenrir. "There aren't any women to talk to here, so it's a nice change of pace."

"Look what she taught me to do." Luna holds up a knitted scarf. "I only did part of it, but I'm getting the hang of it."

"I'm surprised how much progress she made in such a short time." Nikki adds. "You wolves must be special."

"Some of us more than others." Luan whispers under her breath.

"What was that?" Skoll raises his voice after hearing part of it. "I may not be the smartest out of all of us, but that doesn't mean I am retarded."

"Woah, hey." Nikki tries to de-escalate the situation. "First of all. She didn't mean it like that. Second, that's not a word someone your age should be saying. Third." She turns to Luna. "You shouldn't say stuff like that about your brother."

"Doesn't that make your first point invalid?" Luna asks. Nikki is lost for words, the only thing she can do is to shush Luna.

"Really?" Fenrir says. "You're going to complain to us about using bad words like fuck, or shit? I've seen Thomas kill a man right in front of me. That's worse than us using or hearing the word retarded in a hon hateful way.

"He killed someone in front of you?" Nikki asks.

"To save my life." Fenrir responds. "Yeah, now the whole country is after us. I'd say he's retarded for saving our lives, but I'm grateful that he did."

"Messing around I see." Donavan had walked up on them without anyone noticing. "Thomas is doing a fantastic job not being here to save you."

"You're not helping," Nikki says. "Get out."

Donavan holds up his hands not wanting to incur her wrath. At least not more than he's going to after telling them important information. "I came here because there's news pertaining to their mother."

"She's been captured, right?" Skoll asks.

"They killed her." Donavan says with a straight face. "I won't lie to you, I was told that her death wasn't quick."

The wolves' faces and hearts sink into their chests. Skoll and Luna take the news the worst. They manage to hold back their tears, but everyone can see they are distressed by this news. Fenrir on the other hand had already prepared for this. He had suspected that this was the most likely scenario.

"More bad news." Donavan says without giving them a break. "The army is only a few days away. However, they will most likely make camp just outside the city until reinforcement arrive.

"You can't expect them to unlock their magic powers by then." Nikki raises her voice.

"That's not my problem." Donavan says with the same cold look.

They all glare at him as Donavan walks away without muttering another word. Nikki wishes to kill him. However, his new powers and everyone here that will protect him, it will surely spell her death. "Where the fuck is Thomas?"