Damascus finished his buisiness and started walking back, only slightly traumatized. He hummed a bit to himself as he walked toward the clearing, only to stop and look around wildly. Wait. Where was the campsite? None of the trees looked familiar.
He started to run, only to step on a pine cone with full force, eliciting an ear-splitting shriek from the back of his throat. Crumpling the forest floor, he was left clutching his foot once again.
A shriek pierced the night. Boris froze. No sound followed immediately thereafter, but that did nothing to still the shock. It only meant that whoever had screamed might not have been capable of making sounds, anymore.
He really had only brought up the bears thing as a joke, honest to God, but now, now only grisly pictures filled his child mind.
"...Was that Damascus?" said Boris, in a small, cracked voice.
Bad souls have born better sons, better souls born worse ones -St Vincent
Engel stared wide-eyed at the trees, silent and shocked after the shriek. He'd known a lot of people in his town that had disappeared into the wilds and disturbed the wrong creature. Damascus wouldn't even know any better.
He broke into a run as he dashed towards the sound, moving as quickly as his feet could carry him. "Damascus!"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Boris watched in silent terror as Engel ran out into the dark, after Damascus. No. Not both. Not both of them.
Go! he thought. Go help them! he shouted at his stiff legs.
Damascus was a demon. Maybe he'd be alright?
Boris cursed himself for having even had the thought. Damascus was his brother now. It didn't matter, it didn't matter what he was, it didn't matter that there was nothing he could do against a bear, Damascus was his brother now, and he could not abandon him.
Every second that Boris remained still tightened the vice around his heart, until he had to throw all sensibility to the wind, and run after Engel.
Frightened tears laced the edges of his vision, blurring what was already dim.
No. Not now. I have to make it to my brothers. I have to-
Bad souls have born better sons, better souls born worse ones -St Vincent
"Wait, I don't think-" Edward started to protest, but Boris and Engel had already gone running after Damascus. Schadel looked over at him and met his gaze for a moment. They were barely friends, but he found something comforting about sharing that little moment.
"I think he just got hurt," she declared, folding her arms and nodding to herself. "He probably stubbed his toe on a tree."
Edward nodded in agreement. He wasn't really scared, per se, but he didn't want something to happen to Damascus because he had gotten the wrong idea about what had been the cause of the scream. "Are you sure?"
"99.99% sure!" Schadel said. A sheepish look came across her face a second later. "'Cause I always worry Blanx when I get hurt like that - I tend to scream in surprise, and it sounds just like that! And I did it a lot back when I first tried using a human form around the shop, so I bet Damascus is having trouble looking human right now."
Edward looked into the dark woods, and then back at Schadel again. "Engel and Boris think something is wrong," he pointed out.
She nodded.
"But even if you're right," he slowly added, "doesn't that mean that there's two more people out in dark, unfamiliar woods? And that they can get lost because they're running around and not paying attention?"
Schadel paled. "Oh no."
"We should probably follow them," Edward decided, clutching William close to his chest. He wasn't that fond of the idea of doing that without a light, but then Schadel rushed to the edge of the clearing. He went to follow her, but all she did was grab a particularly large branch, return to the fire and stick the tip in. The wood began to burn brightly in the dark of the night.
"There!" she said. "Now we have a light."
She turned back to the forest and darted in the darkness. Edward had to rush to keep up with her.
James watched in panic and confusion as Boris, Engel, and then Edward and Schadel ran off into the forest to find Damascus. His hear began to pound in his chest with panic at the thought of them getting separated - and even worse - lost out there in the forest. They had to have a way to get back, so he looked around anxiously before his eyes landed on the bag of the white puffy things the others had been eating.
If the bag magically replaced itself as the others said, then he could use it. So he grabbed it and ran after them, dropping one of the soft, sweet-smelling squishy balls onto the ground every few feet. He hoped it would work as a trail to follow back.
Damascus winced and stood once again, now hobbling himself around in circles as he tried to find his way back. He heard something rustling in the distance, and soft noises. His heart beat fast as he tried to make as little noise as possible. What if it was a bear?
He stumbled, coughing as he struggled to catch his breath. He tried to call out again but due to his inability to breathe he was unable to. The boy fell to his knees as another barrage of coughs bombarded him in response to his attempt to yell.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Two notable things happened in the following few minutes: Schadel had gone back to her true form to cover more ground, and, likely as a result of this, she had managed to somehow get separated from Edward. By the time that she had realized that he had fallen behind, they had already gotten so far apart that she couldn't make out a single outline in the darkness. It was just her and her little light.
She felt incredibly sheepish about the turn of events, but what could she do? She wasn't even quite sure of where she was now, so it wasn't like she could turn around and go look for him. She'd just have to-
Wait.
Did she hear someone - or something - nearby? It sounded like a person, and they were breathing heavy and coughing, too. She slipped over to the direction of the sound and stood on the very edge of the forest. She could make it so the rest of her body faded away like a partial's would, but she was sure the shadows of the trees would hide her! (She didn't think about how the makeshift torch would illuminate at least some part of her body.)
All worry left her the minute she saw who it was.
"Oh, thank goodness," she said, letting out a relieved sigh when she realized it was Engel. "It's just you. I was worried another person ended up here, too! I don't know what I would have done if an adult saw me like this."
In her moment of euphoria, she failed to notice how she was speaking in Grimish instead of German.
xXx
He was lost.
Like really lost. He had no idea what direction he had come from, and without the convenience of Schadel's light, he was starting to worry that he wouldn't be able to find a way back to the campfire. He was starting to panic, and while he knew it wasn't good to do that, he honestly couldn't help it. His lip quivered. He trembled. He could feel shivers racing up and down his spine as he searched for one of the other kids - his new siblings, he reminded himself - and he wished he was back at the comfort of the site.
And just as he was already starting to get terrified, he heard something moving in the darkness.
Something that wasn't uttering a single word.
Edward froze up and stared into the direction it was coming from. He knew that he should stay where he was or even run away, but his legs were already bringing him over to the source.
Damascus first sensed something approaching, and then heard them- the slow, steady footfalls of a preadator. He hid behind a tree, face ghastly pale in fear. Trying not to cry or breathe too hard, he braved a glance around the trunk just as a figure broke through the undergrowth.
Another high scream pierced the air and he threw up his arms in defense, hardly noticing when his form slid back to his own. He was left cowering, his dark leathery skin, horns, and talons on full display.
"No! No, please no, for all that is good, don't eat me!" He begged, rapidly begging and chanting in his own language.
Boris, in his blurred haste, had become very lost. All the trees looked the same, there were crunches and slithers and footsteps coming and going in several directions at once. There was a mysterious light in the distance. Boris squinted at it, in bewildered fright, until he heard more footsteps from behind, more careful, more close than the others.
It was one of his brothers! Boris immediately turned and ran toward them before he had time to even register which one it was.
"D-Damaskus, bist du das? Woher kommt der Schrei?! Wir müssen ihn finden!" He cried out, in one confused stream.
("D-Damascus, is that you? Where'd the scream come from?! We have to find him!")
Bad souls have born better sons, better souls born worse ones -St Vincent
"A-ach!" he yelped in surprise and fell back, unable to form a coherent sentence due to the lack of oxygen. It took him several moments of surprise and momentary panic before he recognized her. "S-Schadel?" he rasped.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Edward didn't know what he had found, but it was absolutely terrifying. He let out a scream and clutched William as close to his chest as he possibly could. He had never seen anything like it before! It wasn't a bear. He knew enough about the wilderness to know that bears didn't have talons and horns and leathery skin! This was something else, and, seeing that he had already encountered people like Damascus and Schadel, wasn't it possible that he was looking at some sort of monster? One that, from the way that it screamed at him and started uttering things in a language he didn't understand, must have had some horrible plan for him!
A sob left his shaking body. In a desperate attempt to get away from whatever it was, he started to hurry back into the forest. But then he backed into a tree's massive trunk, and he knew he was done for.
He let out another sob and fell to the forest floor, holding William close to his chest as his body continued to heave with tears and whimpers.
xXx
She nodded. "Uh-huh!"
Now she stepped over to the trees and went over to join him. Grasping the torch in one hand, she held out a shadowy hand to Engel to help him get back on his feet. Now she was starting to realize that she hadn't been speaking a language he'd understand - the translation thing only seemed to happen when they close to the campfire. She frowned, or did the closest that she could in her natural form. Weird! But then the frown faded, and she made sure to switch to her first language: German.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "Your breathing sounds funny."
Damascus unscrewed his eyes and lowered his arms slowly, confused. It sounded like the figure was crying, but that couldn't be. His mouth gaped as he finally got a look at what had tracked him. The familiar shape of a boy and a teddy bear was illuminated by the light of the moon fromwhere it was sprawled in the leaves.
"Edward! D- don't cry! There's nothing to be scared of." He reached a hand out to help the other boy up, only to realize that it was him the Edward was scared of. "N- no, I'm not- I'm.."
Did Edward even understand him? In a panic, he attempted to shift, but only managed to project a weak impression of skin before his concentration completely vanished. He was too upset to shift into such a new form.
"It's me! Damascus! I won't hurt you. Please listen to me." Burning tears filled his eyes in sympathy with Edward's.
