Muffin blinked awake, his mind swimming. For a good minute, he didn't even know what year it was.
Finally, it came back to him. He'd gone back to make sure Blaza was ok, and a bat had distracted him and the hut...
What if Blaza had still been inside?
This thought caused Muffin to jolt upright, scanning his surroundings with the hope of seeing... well, anything that wasn't a corpse.
He spotted Tbh quickly. Wait, Tbh?
The crab was laying unconscious next to him, and Muffin genuinely had no idea how he'd gotten there. The only reason he could be unconscious is the explosion, but he wasn't there before.
Tbh stirred, groaning as he sat up and looked around tiredly. His eyes locked on Muffin, then drifted downward to his neck. He must've scraped it on a branch when he'd blacked out, as there was a small scrape on the back of it. It only took one glance at the crimson liquid around the scratch for Tbh to realize just how thirsty he was. He hadn't had anything to drink since yesterday...
His eyes turned to slits, and he lunged at the 14-year-old, pinning him to the ground and biting his neck, provoking a scream from the child. It was a solid 10 seconds before Tbh pulled away, terrified at what he'd just done. Muffin had fallen unconscious (seriously, Muffin? You just woke up.), and was scarily pale.
What was it Dino had said? He'd only turn if he bit the back of his...
Tbh froze as his eyes locked on the bite mark.
Two small dots, perfectly centered on the back of Muffins neck.
Not only had he drained the kid of a good amount of blood, he'd transferred the curse to him...
He quickly shifted into a bat, casting one last glance at Muffin before flying off, making sure he was going the opposite direction of home. He couldn't go back... he was a danger to his friends. What if this happened again? He'd lost control with Dino once, and then again with Muffin... no. He was never going back. Not after that.

(—— POV Switch ——)

Woolf rocketed awake, blinking as he tried to erase the- wait, no, that wasn't a dream. The hut had definitely exploded. Unless this was still a dream.
his vision somewhat blurry. The only thing he could make out was a black blur flying away from... was that Muffin?
He staggered to his feet, almost falling over but managing to stop himself and actually stand, which was somewhat surprising considering he'd just had a front row seat to an explosion.
After gaining his balance, he started toward Muffin. He stopped, however, when he saw Blaza among some debris. He was alive!
He quickly rushed over, only taking a second to notice a knife embedded in his shoulder.
/that's not good./ Woolf thought, trying to remember if he knew anything about stab wounds. He'd heard something about bandaging the area as soon as the knife is pulled out so the victim doesn't bleed out... he just had to hope he remembered correctly.
He glanced around, looking for something that could work as bandages. Not seeing anything, and not wanting to leave Blaza in case whoever had stabbed him came back, his eyes drifted to his sleeve. His hoodie was pretty thick, and it might work if he tore a bit off. He bit down on his sleeve, thankful for his sharp teeth as he tore a shred clean off. Then he froze. Something was off...
Why hadn't he heard it tear? Tearing made a noise, right? Shouldn't he have heard that? Especially with his hearing?
His ears were kind of ringing though... maybe that blocked out other sounds? He didn't think that's how ears work. He shook the thoughts off and decided to focus on Blaza. His life was slightly more important then Woolfs ears anyway. Taking a deep breath (unnerved by how he couldn't hear it) he gripped the knife and pulled it out as fast as he could, quickly tossing it aside and wrapping the shred of his hoodie around the wound as tight as he could.
Blood oozed from it, wetting the cloth and tinting it slightly red. Thankfully, it didn't leak through, and seemed to stop after a few seconds.
Sighing with relief, Woolf stood and jogged over to Muffin, kneeling down next to the child and checking to see if he was wounded. He seemed to be fine, aside from the fact that he was scarily pale. If he hadn't seen the rise and fall of his chest, the furry might've assumed he was dead.
He shook Muffin awake, sighing with relief as he slowly sat up. He was okay!
Muffin started mouthing something the second he noticed Woolf, but didn't make a sound. Woolf flicked his ears. 'What?' He tried to say. He could feel his lips move, and he felt like he'd said something, but... he couldn't hear it.

————————

Of all people to be THAT close to an explosion, it just HAD to be the person with dangerously sensitive hearing. This is YOUR fault, Woolf 🙄
Also, another typo in this coatwr :/ it doesn't even look like Chapter anymore...
Also, I apparently can't count as this is very much not coatwr 16, my brain literally erased the number 15 for a second- thankfully I published the right coatwr XD
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