Authoress' Note: Welcome back to the world of a werewolf girl living among humans and hating it. This chapter is the beginning of the turning point in young Dawn's life. After this chapter, there will finally be a time skip.

I know that I eluded heavily on the wolves' personalities in the last chapter, but they seemed uncertain about Dawn and where her alliances lie. At least right now anyway.

Nevertheless, it is time to finally finish Dawn's kindergarten year the best way possible: more conflict!

...and feels...

Oh, and I have thought of yet another fictional name of a school 'cause reasons explained in the plot.

~Chibi Mirai Gogeta

Dawn of the Hunter

Chapter 4-Goodbye Hidden Valley

The return to Northbrook Elementary had left Dawn miserable as she continued to get weighed down by assignments that kept her from enjoying the sunlight outside. The only time she had time to herself was when she was at recess, but she spent most of the time being chased by the kids that sang that horrid song.

During the second half of the school year, Dawn found her class taking a gym class along with her fellow peers. During one of their classes, there were ropes hanging from the ceiling of the gym along with other equipment along the sides of the perimeter. A few kids went to the ropes as they attempted to climb up. Others found balls of various sizes and started bouncing them.

As usual, Dawn did not feel comfortable playing with anything until she noticed a few kids lining up on one side.

"On your mark, get set, go!" one of the boys proclaimed as the other kids ran off.

For an odd reason, Dawn had not considered running and decided to jump into the race without being invited. She felt her hair waver behind her as she started to catch up with the back of the group. The other kids were surprised by how agile she seemed to be. Some attempted to trip her up, but she managed to dodge those who tried using their arms or feet to strike at her ankles. Soon, she was close to the leader of the race who shot back a rather perplexed look at her as she began to run past him to the finish line.

"You cheated," the boy that Dawn passed complained. "You didn't even start with us..."

"So? I wanted to run with you guys," the young dark-haired girl stated.

"You're not allowed if you're going to join the race after we start you cheater," another boy told the girl and she felt angry. Why were they accusing her of cheating if she joined right after they started the race?

Dawn spent the rest of the year in gym just running whenever she had the chance. She also swung from the ropes since no one seemed to pay her mind. There was another reason she kept her distance: the smell of sweat seemed to bother her greatly, and she could have sworn a few of them peed their pants during their games.

_______

One day, near the end of April, the kids were issued a stapled packet of paper as they stared at it in confusion. Mrs. Mullen was standing there with a stern expression on her face.

"Today is the day whether or not you are among the gifted or the common folk," the teacher stated in a somber tone. "You will not be allowed to go to recess until you are finished."

Groans of disappointment filled the room. Why was this teacher being such a dictator and giving them that ultimatum? It did not matter to Dawn: the longer she took, the less she was likely to be teased by the other kids.

"You may begin," Mrs. Mullen told the kids and they started their tests right away.

Dawn realized that all the information on the test seemed far more complex than the homework assignments that she had been given up to this point. She glanced back at Mrs. Mullen who seemed unbothered by the fact that she gave the kids something they could not interpret. Rather than take the test seriously, she did what she remembered from Jack attempting to tutor her. By the end of the test, she was the only one left in there, and for once, she was happy knowing that she could escape the teasing one day.

_______

Weeks after the tests were given, Dawn heard her parents talking downstairs almost in hushed voices.

"...still can't believe that our baby girl's going to be going to a private school next fall," Mary moaned in dismay.

"Well, our little light ended up getting a pretty bad score on her test, so maybe if she was transferred to White Oak Academy out in Cincinnati..." John consoled his wife.

"At least my brother Sam offered to take care of our little girl. That way, we wouldn't have to relocate..."

Dawn cringed at the name of Mary's younger brother. Sam Simmons was a bachelor who was better off compared to her parents who lived a modest life in the countryside. The few times that Dawn met Sam, he was rude towards her because he knew that she was not related to John and Mary by blood. He barely regarded her as his adoptive niece because of that reason.

Plus, the idea of moving from the countryside to the suburbs made Dawn's stomach roll. She was not open to moving away from her family to some private school all because she failed a test.

Retreating to her room, Dawn went into the closet and pulled out the brooch she hid in there. She would make sure that she took this with her since she refused to leave home without it. Shutting her eyes, she felt calmer holding onto the crescent moon brooch in her grasp.

_______

Dawn shifted uncomfortably as she stood at the front door of the lavish house that Sam lived in. It was far bigger than her home out in the countryside, and she was surprised that there were manicured bushes and trees on the property instead of animals. It felt completely alien to her, and she felt uncomfortable knowing that her parents were leaving her with this man. John pressed a button and Dawn heard a slight ringing sound before foreign footsteps were heard from within. In seconds, a dirty blonde-haired man opened the door and frowned.

"So, this is the brat you want me to house since she's retarded," Sam smirked. Dawn did not like this man's attitude.

"Sam, you will not insult our daughter like that," Mary attempted to defend her daughter from this man's insults towards the young child.

"Well, she is retarded if she failed a standardized test," Sam pointed out almost though antagonizing Dawn in front of her parents far worse than the bullies at her school.

"That doesn't mean anything, she is brilliant, and you'll see in due time," Mary told her brother.

"We'll see," Sam placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder. She cringed from the touch and wanted nothing more than to leave. There was a distinct metallic smell that Sam had clinging to him, and that made Dawn all the more uncomfortable. What did he do with himself?

"I don't want to stay here pa," Dawn pleaded.

"You have no choice little light," John knelt down at his daughter's side. "You need to get a proper education."

"Mmm..." Dawn felt the tears pricking at the side of her eyes. It was not fair: why was she having to stay with an uncle who did not seem as nice as her parents? Was this her punishment for not doing her best back at Northbrook Elementary?

"We'll come to visit you," Mary promised her daughter, which did make her feel a bit better.

Before Dawn knew it, she saw her parents leave as she stood on the porch of her uncle's house. The moment she saw the car vanish over the horizon, Sam grabbed the girl by the wrist and dragged her inside his home.

"Ow! Where are you taking me?" Dawn complained as Sam took her through the living room towards the staircase leading down to the basement. It was barely furnished with an old worn couch and a naked lightbulb with a pull cord dangling from the ceiling.

"I brought you here to lay down some ground rules for you twerp, so don't go thinking you are staying in one of my rooms upstairs," Sam scolded. "First off, this is your room, so there will not be any form of entertainment here. Second, you are required to clean this house every other day, so I am going to make sure that you follow the schedule. If you make a mess, you will need to clean it up. Break anything and you will go without supper."

"Ma and pa wouldn't..." Dawn started to say, but she was interrupted.

"Third, you are going to be responsible for feeding yourself," Sam continued. "Even if you have to eat the food cold or raw, I can care less about that kind of thing. Lastly, if you ever tell your parents or anyone else about how I am treating you, then I will toss you out on the street and you can go live with someone else who would tolerate your worthless hide. Got it?"

Dawn's stomach ached as she nodded. Sam smiled and pat the girl on the head.

"I'm glad we were able to come to some form of agreement, kid," Sam walked back upstairs and shut it behind him. Dawn realized that she was isolated by her estranged uncle as she heard his footfalls on the floorboards above her. Walking to the couch, she curled up on there and silently began to cry.

_______

White Oak Academy was a large prestigious private school that Dawn would come to appreciate. It gave her the security to escape her problems living with her uncle that treated her like garbage. She kept mostly to herself and spent hours after school studying since she learned the first night that her uncle would only give her a limited window of time to read before he shut off the light in the basement.

Dawn did her homework thoroughly and learned from the mistakes she would hand in to her teachers. As the months passed, she longed for her home, and there were times she even longed to go into the woods near her home in Hidden Valley. Every night, she would go to her suitcase where she had hidden her brooch inside one of the stuffed bears she was allowed to take with her and hold it tight. She was afraid of showing the bear or brooch to her uncle and kept it hidden behind a hole in the shell.

_______

"...make sure you get your permission slips signed so you can go to Kings Island," the teacher, Mrs. Phillips cheerfully exclaimed. Dawn looked down at the permission slip and sighed. It was less likely that she would get a chance to go to the amusement park since Sam was technically her legal guardian. Still, she went home and left the paper on the table before grabbing an apple before heading down to the basement.

Dawn bit into it while reading a book assignment that her teachers had given in class about a girl facing a moral dilemma between lying to her parents and telling the truth after one of her friends stole a garden gnome. Writing down her answers to the questions, she was so absorbed in the task that she did not hear the footfalls of her uncle upstairs until he cleared his throat.

"What's this?" Sam held the permission slip in front of the girl.

"It's just a stupid field trip permission slip, you don't have to sign it or anything," Dawn told the man.

"Good, because that means you are following the rules and not having this signed," Sam tore it up in front of her. Deep inside, Dawn felt almost though he was neglecting her from doing anything besides studying, but she had to follow his house rules. The last thing she wanted was to lose the only other place that would provide her safety.

"By the way," Sam told Dawn, "your grade reports came, and you could be doing better with your classes. You're still failing."

Dawn heard a hint of something in Sam's voice the way he said that she was 'failing'. For some reason, she began to notice the way he carried himself hinted that he did not trust anyone, and he had every reason to lie. Why though?

_______

One afternoon, Dawn came home from school and saw her parent's car sitting in her uncle's driveway. Happiness flooded her as she ran across the yard and inside of the house where she heard her parents and uncle's voices in the kitchen. She thought they were there to take her home, to take her back to Hidden Valley, but her hopes were dashed when she saw the look on her mother's face and noticed her father did not seem well.

"Little light, come here," John called out to his daughter. The girl obediently obeyed and walked over to her father's side. The moment she did, she smelled something foreign on him—something that smelled like decay. Instinctively, she wanted to back away, but she fought against it and stood by his side.

"Pa, what's the matter with you?" Dawn asked her father with trepidation in her voice.

"Little light, recently, the doctors discovered something is wrong with me, and... I don't have much time left..." John told the girl.

"W-what do you mean?" Dawn was confused. What was her father talking about? What did he mean that he 'didn't have much time left'?

"What your father means to say Dawn is that he's dying," Mary told the girl, her eyes filled with sorrow. "We came over because your father will have to go into hospice, and..."

"No! My pa can't be dying!" Dawn denied, but even her sense of smell could tell that there was something deathly wrong with her father. She noticed prior to leaving that he had been losing a bit of weight, but now, he looked very sick. Despite how he looked, he still had a tiny spark of life burning in his eyes.

"Little light, she's right," John spoke with a tired voice. "Your mother and I want only the best for you, and your Uncle Sam's going to make sure that you get the education you need."

Dawn felt the blood in her body freeze up. It was almost though her parents blindly trusted the man to continue taking care of her once John died, but the man had not been pleasant to Dawn in the slightest. Without a word, Dawn ran downstairs into the basement and grabbed the stuffed bear and ran into the downstairs bathroom.

Clutching it tightly against herself, she held the object that hid the brooch and sniffled. Her father, her light, was dying, and she had no idea how to help him. Despite the rank odor of mildew, she stayed in there long after her parents left, and cried herself to sleep.