A long journey was the last thing Lexi desired.

Even with her belly full and muscles rested, it didn't take long for leaden exhaustion to begin pressing at her limbs once more. The bandage at her shoulder could only do so much to dull the stabbing pain. All she wanted to do was curl up and sleep - preferably for a couple of days straight - and just accept the fact that this morning, along with last night's interruptions, had sucked all the energy out of her.

Yet every time those thoughts began to infiltrate her mind and slow her step, it only took one glance at Toivo to chase them away. He moved with a consistent stride, his pace never changing, save from one instant not long after they left Dawn when he slowed to walk in time with her. Determination narrowed his gaze, never faultering.

She'd never seen him so sure of himself. It was only in that moment when he'd spoken to Dawn about how they needed to rescue the others had she first noticed it. There was something new there now, something stronger, and she still wasn't entirely sure whether she liked it.

On the one paw, here was her best friend, who'd been desperate for power his whole life and now finally had been gifted it. Her best friend who now had the strength to push forward a heroism that had always been there but had never been allowed to shine before, dulled by the grey of his former coat.

But on the other... here was a Shadewylf. A wolf who could hunt deer with ease and never seemed to tire. A wolf who had new power, dark power that was something of a mystery to her. Perhaps a wolf different to the wolf she'd grown up with.

Time and time again, she dismissed the latter way of thinking. It was stupidly paranoid. It made her no better than the Wylfire who wanted to kill him for what he was, or the Shadewylves they ran from. Every time it rose again, bringing a fresh shiver along with it.

When the sun reached a point that made its sharp rays cut through the highest branches of the trees, Toivo finally suggested they rest for a moment. She took up the suggestion gladly and together they huddled in a cluster of tight branches, hidden from view should any hostile wolf find them here.

Toivo nudged her side. "You doing ok?"

She nodded, leaning into him. "Yeah. Just tired, that's all. Hope we can find somewhere cozy to sleep tonight."

His tail curled around her, and she let his familiar warmth slide her eyes shut. "We will," he whispered, from somewhere close. "You're more important. We can stay here and sleep, if you want?"

Slitting her eyes open, she shook her head slowly. "We need to make the most of the daylight. I don't exactly know how Shadow power works, but I'm sure it's stronger at night. Even if not..."

"They have the colour advantage," Toivo finished with a sigh. He stared up at the tree branches for a moment, then snapped his head back down, blue eyes wide with excitement. "Hey, what if you rolled in some mud? It would be a great disguise!"

Lexi burst out laughing. His slightly hurt expression made her giggle even more. "I'm serious," he protested.

Letting her laughter fade away, she slapped his flank gently. "That wouldn't work, Toivo. If we could even find some earth wet enough in this dry season, the gold would still be really obvious. Besides, me looking like an Earthwylf won't help much."

He bowed his head. "Alright." It was only when she looked more closely that she saw the spark of sapphire amusement in his eyes. "I hate it when you logic away my ideas."

"You like it really," she said, a chuckle still hanging off the words. Though he didn't say anything, as she leaned closer into his thick fur, she could sense the vibrations as his own silent laughter shook his chest.

Her eyes grew heavy, and she closed them again. Maybe they should sleep here. No Shadewylf could penetrate the comfort of their embrace.

Just as she released a contented sigh, however, he jerked away. She pulled up slower, gaze following him as he jolted to his paws. Opening her snout, she made to ask him what was wrong, but his expression stopped her. A look of deep concentration had swept over his features, wrinkling his snout and shrinking his eyes to narrow slits.

He remained that way for a tense minute. Even when she saw him relax slightly, his shoulders held a new tension. Turning to her, he shot her a look of deep fear.

"That was Dawn," he breathed, assuring her that her assumptions had been correct. "She's having to teleport back to the Twilytra base. She said that... that Shadewylf hunters have found her."

"Is she ok?" Lexi asked, shooting to stand beside him.

"Yeah, she's fine. She contacted us as soon as she heard them. By now, she'll already have left."

"But... that means they're close," she added, meeting his gaze. "Too close. We have to go."

Toivo shook his head. "Only if you're rested enough to."

"I'm fine," she lied, already stepping out of the trees. "Besides, we'll both be a lot less fine if those Shadewylves catch up with us. Was it Jaser?" she added as he hurried to catch her up.

"No. Dawn thinks it was a separate group to the ones that attacked us before."

"How many?"

"At least two. Maybe more." The tremor in his voice was as clear as the shining sun above them. Walking closer, she let her side brush up against his briefly. Her best friend unhappy was something she couldn't allow.

"Come on, we could take on two!" She jabbed his closest forepaw, then jerked away, flicking her tail in a playful wag. "We're hero pups, remember? We can take on any bad guys."

The smile that tugged at his snout was short lived. "I couldn't take on Jaser though. We ran away." His ears drooped. "The heroes in the stories don't run away."

She shook her head. "Not every time, surely? Every hero has got to have a battle they fail at. You just have to train up and everything." Dodging towards him, she nudged his shoulder again. "Besides, you did amazing. I'm the one who hid in the bushes." She couldn't keep the tremor from creeping into her own tone.

Toivo shot her a smile - a real smile, one that lasted. "Thanks, Lexi. You're right. And remember, you're my hero sidekick. You need to train too."

She nodded. "We can train together."

"Exactly. Like a real adventure." He wagged his tail. "Race you to Vendett?"

If it was a race, it was a marathon, and a lengthy one at that. The two of them walked north for every scrap of remaining daylight, sometimes talking, but mostly enjoying the peaceful silence. Lexi tried to let the calm of the forest wash over her, smothering any thought of the lurking danger, but every so often a branch would creak and her anxieties would pour in.

Because they weren't the only competitors in this race. There were more, and they were fast approaching. The Frigyce region had never felt so far away.

Eventually, the silver glow of the moon rose to replace the sun, and they gave in to rest. It didn't take long for Toivo to investigate and find a hole curving down into the earth - most likely the past home of some animal that no longer had a use for it - and together they squeezed into the space. Toivo pulled some stray leaves over to cover up the opening as best as he could, and they curled around each other in the darkness.

"This would be a perfect setting for some ghost stories," he whispered, making her flinch. She jabbed him in the chest, and he yelped, squirming up against the other side of the hole.

"No," she told him firmly. "I think we're living our own scary story. Let's not add ghosts to the mix."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine. Just trying to make this fun."

"You can make it fun without going all creepy."

He didn't seem to have an answer to that. Settling down, she closed her eyes, assuming that he was doing the same. She could feel him shifting, finding a comfortable position. But then his voice pierced the dark again.

"Hey, remember when we tried to eavesdrop on the Wylfire?" he asked. Though his voice was barely a breath, she could feel it tickling her ear as his snout lay beside hers.

Holding in her giggle at the memory, she twisted to reach his ear. "We didn't last a minute. We were terrible at stealth."

He wasn't quite as controlled with his laughter. It burst out briefly before he managed to reel it in. "We couldn't stop laughing, the whole time. Even when they kicked us out."

Sighing, Lexi stared up at the covered opening, fixing her gaze on the pinprick of moonlight slipping through the leaves. "Everything was so simple then." She didn't mean it to sound so wistful, nor depressing, yet it did.

"Yeah." Toivo slotted his snout in beside her shoulder. "But I guess things can't stay simple. This is-"

Though the words were almost soundless already, he still snatched them from the air in a burst of panic. Both of them froze. Lexi's fur prickled as she twitched her ears as little as possible in order to stretch them towards the open night.

Something was moving outside.

A distinct rustling - paws shifting leaves, tails brushing branches - filled the heavy silence. A whisper, quiet yet piercing the cool air all the same. As the sounds drew closer, the whispers became words. Words that slithered down Lexi's spine like a snake, one soaked in the most chilling of icy pools.

"There's nothing here, Zarola."

It wasn't the constant snarl that laced his tone that chilled her bones. Nor was it the knowledge of the black-furred cloak he wore. It was the recognition that sparked within her at his voice, and the yellow of the eyes she knew to pair with him.

Though her flank had been completely healed by Thea's magic, his very presence made phantom pain throb there once more.

"There is," hissed another voice - female, with hostility as sharp as the claws Lexi could hear skittering across the dirt, far too close by. "I heard something, Deimos. Quit being so presumptious."

"Presumptious?" Deimos chuckled. "A wolf with bright gold fur isn't hard to spot, and I don't see her anywhere."

Down in the hole, Lexi shivered.

"What if they separated?" Zarola fired back. "Listen, I'm the hunter here, and I'm in charge. If you want to go search somewhere else, be my guest." The last few words grew dangerously loud, as did the rustling leaves. Both Lexi and Toivo simultaniously flinched as their covering shifted, just the slightest amount.

"Look," said a third voice, far less furious than the other two. He felt a little more normal, of sorts. Then the leaves shifted again, and any calm Lexi had felt at his gentler voice vanished into her cold, terrified mist. The crack of moonlight grew a little wider. "This leaf pile doesn't look natural. They could be hiding here."

"Don't be such an idiot, Acacius," Deimos growled. "Come on. We'll never catch them at this rate."

"Wait." More paws scuffed above their heads. "He could be right."

Lexi's heart stopped.

"What if-"

Zarola's voice faded away, engulfed by blind panic. If Lexi had been afraid before, then this was ten times worse - a fear that clutched at every inch of her quaking body. Once again, her mind flicked back to her first meeting with Deimos, playing it over again, letting her feel those claws stabbing into her flank. This was the same fear that had wrapped around her heart in that moment. Rational thought crumbled away into terror's dark pit, and she had to fight back a whimper.

She pressed her fangs together. No. Fear wasn't going to beat her again.

Pricking her ears as far as they would go, she concentrated, searching for the Shadewylves' voices. It was then she realised that they had stopped speaking. The forest echoed with only the eerie sounds of the night.

A shaky voice broke through the hissing silence. "You feel that, right?"

"It's the rogue." Deimos, voice trembling just the same.

Paws moved. But this time, they were moving away. "Can you trace it to its source, Deimos?"

"Yes. This way." The words sounded as if they were built solidly, but had fallen into the midst of an earthquake the moment they left his tongue. They were followed by the sounds of scampering paws, and then silence swooped in once more.

Immediately, Lexi felt herself relax, as if whatever fog had been constricting her had now dissapated. But she still couldn't make sense of it all. The Shadewylves had sounded so... scared.

Just like her.

Searching for comfort, she turned towards Toivo. "What just happened?" she whispered.

His expression was hard to make out in the dark. "I don't know," he replied. Something in his tone shook with uncertainty Lexi's well-tuned ears could pick up. Old theories and documents she remembered reading surfaced in her mind.

She met his eyes. They glimmered a pale blue in the single stream of silver light. As she opened her snout, she already knew the answer she would hear, even though she prayed to be proved wrong.

"Toivo... did you do anything to them?"

"I don't know," he repeated, the words now flickering with traces of panic.

"What do you know?" She didn't mean for the interrogative tone to slip out. It sounded strangely demanding. She ducked her head. "Sorry. I just... want to figure this out."

He slumped down to the lowest part of the hole, and she followed him, gaze never leaving his eyes. When he did eventually answer, he spoke as a tickle in her ear as he had before. But these breathed words brought her none of the joy that those earlier had.

"I... I just wanted them to go away, Lexi. I wished they'd leave us alone. And then..."

"Then?" she prompted gently.

"Then it happened." He shifted, his tail knocking into her leg. "I felt... something. Like a tug, I guess. A pressing on my chest. And... and they went away. Like I wanted." His snout slid forward, and she felt the wet of his nose touch the tip of her ear. "That's good, right?"

"Yes," she said, her tone purposely firm this time. "It is. You saved us. It doesn't matter how."

Neither of them spoke again for some time. Closing her eyes, Lexi settled in against his fur, hoping that her soundless comfort was enough to tame the doubts she knew must be racing through his mind. She could keep those doubts for herself. There was no need for him to have them, too.

Her wish crumbled as his whisper met he ear again. "Lexi... did you feel it too?"

"Yes. I did."

The tiniest whimper met her words.

Twisting, she stared him straight in the eyes once more - the blue now darkened as its colour escaped the light. Sliding forward, she touched her snout briefly to his, letting their noses come into contact, for only the smallest of moments. His eyes widened. Lexi waited, holding her breath.

His new power meant nothing. Even now, that was still how she felt about him.

His emerging smile was visible even in the dark. "Thanks, Lexi."

"You're welcome." A grin of her own curved her snout. Even as she closed her eyes, it didn't fade.

Her tail crackled. She calmed the electricity before it could take advantage of her emotion and burst out. Instead, it zipped through her heart, bringing with it a new warmth.

Worrying could wait until morning. Tonight, the only thing that mattered was the wolf she'd known for nearly her whole life. No chilling fear could take that away.

We'll stay together, she promised herself. Forever.

No wolf can change that.