Hyde returned to the cabin. “Hey, I’m back,” he called out. No answer. He walked into the living room, empty. He raised his eyebrow. “Rune?” Rune’s hoodie laid on the couch. He must be inside, then. He peaked his head through the door to the hallway. “Rune!”

Silence.

He stood in the living room with a thoughtful frown. Where could he be? He wouldn’t leave the house without something to protect him from the sun.

He flinched and snapped his head towards the backyard when he heard a painful cry. It sounded like Rune. He was outside. Hyde yanked the hoodie off the couch and ran to the backdoor.

“If you had never shown up—!” he heard, he pushed the door open.

He stared at the scene in front of him. Raven gaped at him, frozen by his presence, holding a bloody arrow in her fist. And Rune, laid on his stomach on the ground, huddled up and whimpering in pain at the sun burning his exposed skin—his neck and arms—accompanied by a faint hissing sound. Raven stood between him and the shade of the house.

Rage boiled inside Hyde. He pushed Raven out of the way, making her yell and fall to the ground. He threw the hoodie over Rune, kneeled beside him, hooked his arms under his armpits and dragged him into the shade. Rune groaned and hissed.

Hyde sat on his knees beside him and pulled the hoodie off his head. He turned Rune onto his back and laid his head on his thighs. “Hey,” Hyde said, hushed. He saw Rune’s torso, his shirt had holes and blood on it, the wounds had healed already. There was one big bloodstain in the centre of his chest; the hole in his shirt was so big, Raven must’ve stabbed him there several times.

Rune panted up at Hyde’s face. “Good news,” Rune’s voice cracked out, “arrows don’t count as stakes.” He gave him a tired smile and a thumbs up.

Hyde intensely stared at his chest. “She tried to kill you?”

“I think so? Although, sunlight can’t kill me, just makes me wish it could.”

Hyde pulled him up to rest Rune’s head against his chest and hugged him, letting the hoodie fall on Rune’s lap. He glared at Raven still sitting in the grass, unmoving, staring at him.

Rune felt Hyde’s grip tighten on him. He turned his head up to Hyde’s face. His jaw was clenched, he showed his teeth like he was growling. “Hyde?” Rune whispered.

He sat up more in Hyde’s hold. His eyes were intense, his pupils thin. His irises began to grow, along with his body hair and teeth. The hairs on his arms stood up straight like a hissing cat. The fingers wrapped around Rune grew sharp.

Hyde growled. He let Rune go and charged at Raven, making her scream. He jumped on her and pinned her to the ground. He raised his claw to slash at her. She tried to push him off, Hyde bit her arm. She screamed.

Rune watched it all happen. Oh yeah, this was why he was afraid of him at first. Should he stop him? He examined the blisters on his arms and the blood on his shirt, he furrowed his brows. She deserved it. But Hyde might never forgive himself if he mutilated her. Ugh, damn Hyde’s guilty conscience.

Rune pulled the hoodie on and over his head and stood up. He ran to Hyde and Raven. Hyde had slashed at her a few times. He was about to do it again, but Rune grabbed his wrist and pulled him backwards. He grabbed Hyde’s upper arms and pulled him off her, Hyde roared. Rune wrapped his arms around Hyde’s chest and arms and did his best to hold him back as Hyde tried to pull himself free.

“Hyde, calm down,” Rune groaned. “I know you’ll regret this!”

He glanced at Raven. She sat there, her arm bleeding, small cuts on her face and shoulders. “Get out of here!” he yelled at her.

She flinched awake, stood up and ran off.

Hyde roared after her again. He fought harder against Rune’s grip, yanking himself around to shake him off. Rune lost his grip, but grabbed him again in time.

He couldn’t hold him back like this forever; Hyde was much stronger, especially in this state. Rune guessed the only reason he hadn’t escaped yet was because he didn’t want to hurt him. He had to overpower him somehow, without harming him. Rune looked at their feet as he thought to when they first met. Hyde had overpowered him, then.

Rune hooked his foot around Hyde’s shin and tripped him to the ground. They both landed with a thud, Hyde yelped and gasped as the air was knocked out of his lungs by both the ground and Rune landing on his back. Hyde tried to push himself up.

“No, you don’t,” Rune said. He pushed his shoulders down, leaning as much weight on them as he could, forcing Hyde’s bloodstained chin to rest in the grass. Rune pinned Hyde’s arms under his knees and kept him down by his shoulders.

How could he calm him? What triggered this in the first place? Raven did. But not only Raven, she annoyed him all the time. What was the last thing he had said? ‘She tried to kill you?’ Oh, of course.

“Hyde.”

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Hyde growled.

“Look at me.”

Hyde turned his head and laid his cheek in the grass with a scowl.

Rune smiled a little. “I’m fine, alright? You don’t have to avenge me. You helped me, you chased her away. Everything’s okay, you can relax.”

He ran his fingers through Hyde’s hair, making Hyde give him a warning growl. “Oh, don’t give me those empty threats. You won’t hurt me.”

Hyde grumbled and glanced away.

Rune leaned his head to Hyde’s face and whispered, “We can go snuggle on the couch together, if you calm down.”

Hyde whined. His breathing slowed, he released the tension in his shoulders.

“There you go, almost there.”

Hyde pinched his eyes closed, he shifted to normal. All the extra hair shed, his ears retracted into their usual shape. Rune sat up and took the pressure off Hyde’s shoulders, letting his hands rest on Hyde’s shoulder blades.

Hyde opened his eyes again, they were rolled back and twitched for a moment before looking around, then resting his gaze on Rune. He was panting.

Rune smiled. “There you are.” He got off Hyde’s back and sat on his knees.

Hyde pushed himself up to sit on his knees, too. He looked around with a confused frown. He wiped his mouth, then looked at the blood on his palm and fingers.

Rune frowned. “Did you black out?”

Hyde tightened his lips with tears in his eyes. “One moment, I’m holding you,” he croaked out. “The next, you’re pinning me to the ground and I’m covered in blood.” He glanced at Rune. “Who knows what I would’ve done if you hadn’t stopped me?”

Rune shook his head. “Don’t dwell on it, you were protecting me. She’ll be fine. And honestly, if you wouldn’t have had a guilty conscience about it, I might’ve let you maul her.”

“Why?”

“Because she stabbed me a dozen times and left me to burn in the sun for ten minutes or so, it was torture!”

Hyde looked away with a frown.

“Do you really not remember any of it?”

Hyde shook his head.

“So, your wolf was in control, like during full moons?”

“I guess so.”

Rune squinted as he thought. “You said you don’t believe you and your wolf are separate entities, but seeing you like this makes me question that.”

“Why?”

“You have separate memories. You don’t remember full moons, but your wolf does. During a full moon, you remember what happened the last one. You don’t remember what just happened, or even when you fought with your dad, but I’m sure your wolf does. And it seems as if you have separate morals, too.”

“Morals?”

“Your wolf is fine with mutilating people to protect others, but you aren’t.”

Hyde sighed. “Or I’m denying that I’m fine with that.”

“You wouldn’t be so horrified with yourself right now if you were. And even with your feelings for me, it seems like your wolf figured that out way before you did.”

“Huh?”

“During the first full moon, you were cuddly with me, and the one after that in Enath, too. You wouldn’t have done that yet.”

Hyde gave him a confused and lost look. “But—I’ve seen people so in sync with their wolves, there’s no way they’re separate entities.”

“Maybe they’re so in control of it, it seems that way. And you don’t have that much control over yours.”

Hyde stared at him as if he was having an existential crisis.

Rune sighed. “Maybe you aren’t completely separate. You do share a body, after all. And it seems you share desires too, it’s not like you’ve ever fought each other about what you want. Only the method to getting it. And your personality isn’t that different either. You’re both cuddly, sensitive and protective. So, perhaps you are two halves of the same coin.”

Hyde huffed. “You’re giving me an identity crisis over nothing?”

Rune shrugged. “It was only a thought. In the end, you’d know better than me.”

Hyde hummed and squinted. “I should ask my family how they feel about it.” He looked up at him. “But, how badly did she hurt you?”

Rune glanced down at his arms with a frown. “Pretty bad. I’m covered in blisters.” He moved closer to Hyde and pulled his hood out of the way to show him the blisters on his neck.

Hyde frowned. “Should we cool them?”

“I’m not sure how, but probably.”

“I could soak some towels in cool water.”

Rune nodded. “Okay.” He stood up. He held a hand out for Hyde to grab. Hyde took it and Rune pulled him up. Rune grinned, Hyde hummed. “At least the existential crisis distracted you from your guilty conscience.”

Hyde squinted at him again. “Did you do that on purpose?”

“No, but it’s a nice bonus.”

Hyde glared.

Rune chuckled and took his hand again. “Come on, I’ve got blisters to cool and you have blood to wash off.”

Hyde pulled Rune to the couch and pushed his shoulders down. “You sit, I’ll get the towels.”

Rune sat and pulled his hoodie off as Hyde walked to the kitchen. Rune watched him search around the cupboards and cabinets for towels. He grabbed a few and went to the sink. He first washed his hands and face before soaking the towels. He wrung them out. He gathered them all and went back to Rune on the couch. He sat next to him on the couch and placed the towels beside him. “Hold your arms out.”

Rune did so. Hyde wrapped a towel around his arm, making Rune tense up and hiss. Hyde wanted to pull away, but Rune said, “No, it’s fine. Do it.” Hyde frowned, but grabbed the next towel for his upper arm.

He wrapped both his arms in towels, then laid one in his neck. Hyde smiled at him. “Good thing your face is fine.”

Rune chuckled. “I laid face down in the grass the whole time.”

Hyde smiled. “And, thank you. For bringing me back.”

Rune smiled too. “I’m glad I was able to.”

“Of course you were able to.” Hyde pecked his lips.

Rune blushed with a shy smile. “Why don’t you cuddle up to me?” he offered.

Hyde hummed. “No.” He leaned into the corner of the couch and pulled Rune into his chest. “I’d rather do this right now.”

Rune blushed more as Hyde curled around him, keeping him safe in his arms. The protective instincts must not all be gone yet. More reason for why him and his wolf aren’t separate, Rune supposed. He took a deep breath and let himself relax, laid on Hyde’s chest.

Hyde didn’t seem relaxed, though. He tightly held Rune and shook a little. Rune rubbed his thumb over Hyde’s arm. “Are you okay?”

Hyde sighed, he shook his head against Rune’s hair. “I—just the fact that this happened again—”

“Again?”

Hyde nodded. “I thought it was a one time thing.”

“Losing control?”

“Yeah.”

“This is only the second time it happened? When was the—oh,” Rune realised in horror. “You mean…” He ran three fingers over Hyde’s chest in a small movement, tracing where he knew some of the scars were.

Hyde sighed and nodded again.

Rune rubbed his cheek. “It was for a good reason this time. And nothing bad happened, I was there.”

“I bit her arm! She’ll be scarred forever, just like my dad.”

“She deserved it.” Rune pushed himself up to see his face. He held his cheeks, the towels fell off his arms. “You’re not some bloodthirsty monster, you protected someone you care about. And you were still conscious enough to know not to hurt me.” He grinned. “Despite me asking for it, the way I was wrestling with you.”

Hyde sniffed a chuckle out with a small smile.

Rune pecked his lips, then snuggled back into his chest. Hyde hugged him tight.