Randall didn't know where he was. He was pacing in his mind restlessly; he couldn't shift back and this was worrying him. Never had he experienced this, and it was terrifying being locked in his own mind, not being able to do anything.

Greybeard was furious; he was gnashing his teeth and howling with rage in their joined mindset. He was restless, and desperately wanted to rip a throat or two out. And Randall didn't try to talk him out of those thoughts, because he too wanted that.

"Don't worry, we'll have time to do that later," Randall thought into his consciousness. Greybeard only growled in response.

I cannot move. The voice said, jumbled and almost incoherent. Greybeard's voice was almost like Randall's, but gruffer and gravely. Restricted.

Randall didn't know what he meant by that, but was troubled all the same. Greybeard's memory flashed before Randall; the Knight was sharing his latest memory with his Champion.

Running through the forest, Greybeard followed his nose, relying on it more than ever to find who had done his pack wrong. They were gonna pay.

He slowed to a quick trot, looking around wearily. He smelled the foul and pitiful creatures as if they were right in front of him.

Greybeard stopped, scanning the forest line with eyes that never failed him in all his years. He saw movement to his left, his eyes snapping over in that direction.

He gave a gruff growl and stalked slowly forward, sniffing the air.

Something whizzed past his ear. Flicking his ear, Greybeard gave it no thought as he leapt forward on where it had come from.

In mid-leap, three more sounds emerged from the silence; and they sounded from behind. Greybeard barely registered the pinpricks of pain coming from his back when he landed heavily in front of a man dressed in earthy colors.

Pitiful creature, Greybeard thought before he leaned forward, jaws open, and... fell?

His body thumped on the ground, causing it to shake with his weight. Greybeard struggled to stand up, arms feeling leaden and heavy.

He vaguely processed four more noises and four more pricks of pain on his back. He saw a dozen figures emerge from the tree line, all holding something in their hands that looked like sticks.

Snarling when they got closer, Greybeard struggled again to get up. He heard footsteps coming from behind him.

Pack. He thought, struggling even harder to get up to try and protect them.

The pitiful creatures must have heard them, too, because they were going back to their positions as they were in once before.

Greybeard couldn't do anything but breathe and growl.

He saw out of his peripheral who was walking up to him; it was Spitfire's Champion—the one that Greybeard's Champion was fond of. The one that he saw as a mother.

"Oh my God, Randall," Was what he heard the Redhead said. Greybeard's eyes looked up at the female, then saw behind her one of the pitiful creatures emerge with their deadly stick pointed right at her. He started to growl in warning, but it was too late, she was struck.

Trying to thrash against this unseen power that's holding him, Greybeard was forced to watch as his leader, Tundra's Champion, was struck down as well as his packmate, Timber's Champion, and the rouge wolf, Stargazer's Champion. He wasn't worried about Stargazer, as he wasn't part of Greybeard's pack; Greybeard was more worried about Tundra and his Champion, Timber and his Champion, and Spitfire's Champion, and it pained him to see them like this.

Seeing them all go down, one-by-one.

The pitiful creatures all wondered out of the tree line, looking at the bodies before turning to Greybeard. They were muttering with one another until one, presumably the alpha, came and barked some orders.

They all looked weary-eyed at Greybeard and that gave him some satisfaction—they were scared of a paralyzed beast such as him.

Good. Greybeard thought smugly.

Soon, they were skirting around, grabbing Greybeard by his back legs, and dragging him somewhere. Greybeard snarled and tried to snap his jaws, but they were not cooperating with him. It took four creature such as these to drag him, then six more to help lift Greybeard up and into a back of a plastic box with wheels.

Car. Greybeard corrected, remembering what Randall would have call it. He learned a lot from this Champion, and somethings he'd rather forget.

Soon, Greybeard felt the thing lurch beneath him, dipping slightly under his weight, and began to move. He felt something prick his back again, and felt something pool inside his veins; causing him to feel fire.

Giving out a roar, he tried to thrash, but the invisible power was holding him captive wouldn't let him go.

Hurts. It hurts. He thought frantically until it ebbed away, making his eyes grow heavy.

After moments of this dull pain, Greybeard didn't have enough strength to keep his eyes open; so, he succumbed to the unwanted darkness called sleep.

Randall yanked himself away from the memory. He felt like an idiot. "Why did I let myself get swept up in this mess?!"

He hated himself for putting himself, Greybeard, and his friends in danger. He wanted out. He wanted to get out of this... this subconscious and tear the people behind this to shreds.

When he tried, both Greybeard and Randall were in extreme pain; so, shifting back is out of the question.

"What am I gonna do?" Randall said to himself, his voice bouncing around the darkness he couldn't see, but feel. It was a weird place; being in your subconscious. It's like you can see, hear, touch and taste but you can't all at the same time. Like you were existing and not existing.

We sit. We wait. Greybeard responded, not sounding happy but that was their only option. They had to sit and wait to see what happens.

And that was not one of Randall's virtues.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

We were all back at the Den, in the Hide's Locker room seeing who had chosen Trevor.

"All are here except Cannon Fodder," Lilith remarked. Hamish gave a long sigh. "Great. So, we lost Randall and Greybeard, and now Midnight," He said, pinching the bridge of his nose and tightly closing his eyes.

I wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him. He hugged me back after a few seconds, having to lean down because of the height difference. "It's okay, Mish. We'll get them back," I murmured in his neck. Hamish dug his face in the nook of my neck; breathing deeply for a minute.

"Yeah, you're right," He said, voice muffled. "We will."

We stayed like that until he pulled away and that's when I noticed his eyes glassy with tears. They didn't fall, but they were there nonetheless.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Lilith asked from where she stood by the hide boxes. "Last I recall, they have assassins and now a crazed and reckless wolf there,"

Hamish looked over at me before he spoke. "Easy; we let them come to us," He said.

"What?!" Both Lilith and I exclaimed. "How is that gonna work?" I asked, looking at Hamish like he's lost his mind.

Hamish looked between me and Lilith as he explained. "We let Trevor believe that we are here, which we will be; at least two of us while the other goes where the place is virtually unprotected. Then, when his assassins, or better, himself, come over here, the two of us here will kill them, and meet the other back at that abandoned building,"

Lilith and I were looking at each other, then back at Hamish. "That's a semi decent plan," I said as Lilith said, "I like it, but whose gonna go where?" She said, pointer finger waving around gesturing to the three of us.

"Well, I was thinking maybe you and I could stay back while Mazikeen goes to the building." Hamish said. Lilith didn't like that. "And what if they attack her on the way?" She asked. Hamish gave her a look. "What? I'm trying to be practical!" She exclaimed, defending herself.

"She's right, we have to consider all the possibilities," I said to Hamish. "But I am down for this plan. I mean, their main targets are you two as of now, considering you both still have your hides, and there's still these-" I gestured to the other hide boxes that still had hides in them. "-here." I pointed out.

Lilith was looking at me with an expression caught between impressed and annoyance. "Alright, I guess we can do this." She said. "But how do we know when they'll be here?" She asked, turning her gaze to Hamish.

I looked at Hamish as well, wondering the same thing. "I haven't gotten that far yet," He confessed.

There was knocking at the door, causing all of us to look at one another with confused looks. We made our way out of the Hide Locker room, and the Reliquary, and into the entryway. Hamish opened the door and was visibly surprised.

"What's up, Jay?" He said, stepping aside to let the werewolf inside the house. "He's coming," Jay said frantically.

I looked over at Lilith. "There's your answer," I said as I looked over at Hamish. "This is my que to leave," Hamish gave me a small, simple smile. "Be careful, Lilith nor I will be there to protect you," He said, kissing me on the forehead. I gave him a quirky smile.

"When have I ever—oh never mind," I said, waving what I was about to say off. "I'll be back before you know it," I said as I walked out the door.

I skirted around quickly to the right, and into the forest before the people Jay were talking about knew that I had ran off. Following the path we had just come from, I found myself in the clearing where they had taken Greybeard and Randall and shot us with sedatives. They sky was dark; the moon not quiet up all the way, but just enough to shed some light on this subject.

Looking around, I found the other path we had taken, and followed it to where the building was. This took longer than expected; the moon was now at its highest point and casting a silver glow around the forest as I approached the building.

Walking up to the door, I looked cautiously around, wishing I had my enhanced hearing back. I just had to rely on instinct. Walking inside, I silently closed the door, making absolute sure that it didn't bang shut.

Putting one silent foot in front of the other, I made my way to where I had once been tied up. I saw a huge cage in the middle with a dark-grey heap laying in it. Greybeard! I thought as I forced myself to stay rooted and not run over. I looked around the place.

Everything was quiet.

I walked forward tentatively, making sure to not make any noises to alert anyone who might be lurking. I stopped just in front of the cage to see that Greybeard wasn't dead, just knocked out with whatever they used.

"Enjoying the scene?" Someone said from somewhere behind me. "I know I do," They laughed.

I turned, my eyes going wide.

"I knew you guys were going to want your little friend back, but I didn't think they'd send a little bitch who doesn't have a hide," Trevor said, looking at me with cold eyes. "Guess this makes it all the more fun," His voice was sounding distorted and snarling by the end of the sentence when his eyes flashed a pure, and unsettling, gold color.