"Tamer," Xavier spat. "Winter wanted to go fight him until you went and stopped her." The edge in his voice sharpened and his eyes narrowed with a condescending sneer. "'I don't want to kill another father?' Don't make me laugh." A buzzing and crackling sound carried over the wind as electricity zapped at his ankles. Winter could feel it snap at her skin as Xavier's hair blasted off his face in the velocity of the imminent shift. "He was never your Father and you know it."

Tamer's expression was stony. "From the sounds of things, you were the same," he replied coldly.

Xavier's upper lip twitched. "I thought you of all people would understand," he growled, fist balling. "You were the one who experienced all this because of him. Of all people, you were the one I thought would take him down."

Tamer's eyes were so focused, Winter was yet to see him blink.

"Don't tell me," Xavier hissed, eyes seething with amber light. "Do you still hold out hope that he'll be your Father? Did someone tell you you were wanted? That a being like that could be reasoned with?"

Tamer's expression darkened. Winter gulped; lightning was coiling around her legs hotter by the minute. The throbbing pulse of her heart sent blood roaring through her eardrums. She could almost taste Tamer's anger – his blood lust – prickling over her skin from their now shared emotions.

"Tamer!" Xavier's voice rumbled with a demonic sounding distortion as something bestial overcame him. White light flashed in her iris as Xavier's form was emblazoned with it; a great black mass clawed open his chest and the human form faded away as an empty shell of light. "You're more like your damn dad than Red!" he roared, thundering after Tamer in wolf form.

Tamer's shift bleached the forest like lightning had struck. He threw the bow up in the air. Catching it between wolven jaws, he began bolting in the other direction.

"Tamer?" Winter shrieked, her skirt flapping at her thighs as Xavier raced past her.

"I'm putting some distance between us so I can try to shoot him with the silver – I'm not going far! Follow me!" he shouted.

Winter ran. Xavier's hindlegs began to shrink into the distance before her. Even further ahead, she could catch a white blur zipping between the trees before fading into the fog onto the horizon.

"Alright, run off to your right!"

Winter panted, sprinting off into the side trail.

"You far off his path?" Tamer asked.

"Yes?" Winter responded, hand strangling the sheath of her sword as she withdrew it.

"All right!"

She could hear the sound of something being torn from the earth. The ground rumbled as something enormous thundered towards them. An entire tree was racing in their direction; Xavier was forced to skirt off to the far left before accelerating once again.

"Where is he headed?" Tamer demanded.

Winter's eyes flashed with a silver hue as she twisted her neck, revealing Xavier's current position to Tamer with their telepathic link.

"To your left!"

Tamer ripped out another one and threw it at him. Xavier was too close to dodge. The mass of wood came smashing into his legs and caused him to tumble. He was fast in composing himself, however; Tamer grabbed his bow and took aim. She caught a flash of Tamer's perspective – the wolf bounded towards him with its fangs bore, dashing out of the arrow's aim like a dark ribbon.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Tamer bellowed, sprinting in the opposite direction.

The beast's jaws closed in on his coat tails. Bounding forward, Tamer was forced to discard it. The beast shook it away from his eyes. Tamer the cover to make a narrow escape.

Sweat dripping off her forehead, Winter retrieved the silver arrows. She gulped. They were far too close; Tamer would stand no chance of even readying his bow if this kept up.
She took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself so she could think.

"Tamer, loop back around! Show me your position and run towards me – I'll stand with my sword out and swipe! At the very least, he'll have to go around me to give you some space!"

"Winter, he's angry at me now but if you attack him he might just change his mind and go for you instead!"

That was true. Her sword trembled in her hand at the thought. She didn't want that thing near her, but she had to. She seriously did not think he could do it alone.

She gnashed her teeth. "Just do it!" she shouted. "You'll be close to protect me if things go south anyway!"

She felt Tamer's thoughts of reluctance and saw his projected vision waver as he shook his head. He was running so fast that the forest was just a sickening blur in his perspective, vision rumbling with each pound of his feet into the earth.

He looped back to her and she caught sight of herself with her sword drawn. Heart in her mouth as the wolf stuck to Tamer's trail, she spread her legs, a single eye of hers visible burning with silver light behind the drawn blade. Xavier's stare scorned her. Her tremors returned as she fought every instinct in her body not to flee.

Tamer whirled past her and the air whooshed as she swung her sword outward. The beast's hair rippled as it only narrowly missed it as it split in the opposite direction from Tamer. Its eye lingered on her for a heartbeat – it definitely considered coming after her. She wanted to thrust an arrow into it's hide, but her body just wouldn't move when she willed it to. By the time she finally unfroze, the arrow pierced only earth instead and she cursed herself.

Tamer bounded over a rock. Xavier was unbelievably close to his trail. He turned, firing a few arrows in rapid succession. They hit their mark but Xavier's speed didn't waver. Panicking, Tamer ran. There was no time to even shift, he'd spent too much time firing arrows. She could see it happening already – the human form wasn't as fast as the wolf.

An ice cold sensation nauseated her body as she realised Tamer was going to be caught. If she'd been brave enough to grab it by the hindquarters and plunge the arrow into it's back, none of this would be happening.

The blood drained from her face as Xavier leapt.

Once again, she froze.

No, no, no, she pleaded, cursing herself, this is way too soon! Do something you idiot!

But she couldn't even look. Eyes clenching tightly shut, her hand reached before her as if to catch the life she was already envisioning slipping away. Something cold electrified her palm. Her heart forcefully restarted.

In response to her desperate plea, a jet of light fired from her fingertips. As an icy shield was now wedged between the two, the black wolf came crashing into it.

She heard the smashing. But it was only as a voice that didn't belong to Tamer echoed in her mind that her eyes burst open. Unable to process what had happened, she stared in her hand in disbelief.

"Winter, it's me, Artemis."

"Artemis?" she gasped.

"Take the bow from Tamer."

Not having the time to question it, Tamer turned and seized the opportunity to fire an arrow straight into Xavier's side. This time, he didn't risk hindering his ability to run.

"But he's..."

"I took control of your body that day at the lake and had you eat the white roses petals so you may use my strength for awhile. You might not be able to hit a moving target, but with me and the god of archery to guide you, I'm confident you'll be able to make use of a bow. Now hurry, I can't talk without using up strength."

Her eyes lit up, shaking with nervous excitement at the thought of being able to help out. I can have Tamer protect me – no, I might hit him if they're both fighting... That's it!

Tamer was forced to run again. Not having the time to shift, Xavier wasn't long in gaining on him.

Exhilarated by her success, everything started to fall into place. Her mind was racing as quickly as her heart.

"Tamer, give me your bow and let me ride on your back!"

"But –"

"Artemis has spoken to me!I can use some of her power to freeze him for a short while. I'll use the bow. That way both of us are safe so he can't get to you through me!"

Tamer hesitated.

"Come on!" she shouted, running towards him. She stuck her sword handle against her waist and froze it into place so she could hold it and the bow at the same time. "If I'm in his way he's going to get desperate and attack me to get to you at some point anyway – this will keep me safe!"

That seemed to motivate Tamer. He handed her the bow and shifted, lowering his body so she could clamber onto him. She knew she'd have some difficulty holding on while he was running and aim at the same time so, shoving the bow under her arm, she froze the top of her legs into place like some sort of saddle. Tamer broke into a run not a moment too soon. Xavier was right on his tail – she slashed her sword outward to keep him at bay. She was far too weak to sweep the ground from under the gigantic beast, but the wound broke his momentum and any silver into his bloodstream would prove valuable. Xavier struck in response -- Tamer's momentary advantage in speed only narrowly saved her from getting her arm bit off. She gulped, barely unable to process how close that was. She'd suggested this. There was no backing out now.

She sheathed her sword in ice and used the cold substance to glue it into place against her waist. A silver beam fired from her free hand froze the ground beneath Xavier's feet; she waved her hand upward so the ice would rise up and clamp his legs into place. As his jaw smashed through it and he kicked his back legs free, she grasped an arrow between her teeth and readied her bow. She fired. To her utter exhilaration, the arrow caught him right in the chest. She never dreamed she could do something like that. Tamer had always hunted for her so there was never any reason to try.

"I did it!" she shouted.

"Well done!" said Tamer.

Xavier wasn't long in escaping. His speed was quite remarkable. Already he was a blur racing beside them. She realised then twisting her body at such an angle would make it difficult to aim, but Tamer was going far too fast for her to be able to unfreeze herself safely. She tried to fire an arrow to test if she was capable of hitting him without using magic. Xavier accelerated and avoided it easily. She jammed a whole bunch of arrows into her teeth and bit down with nerves, tasting wood as she illuminated the forest floor with ice on Xavier's side. As she violently thrust her hand in the air to try to catch his feet again, he leaped. He still had to land on a sheet of ice from a bullet-like momentum, however. As he skidded, Winter summoned a wall before him. He collided with a great smash – Tamer stopped without her even having to ask him too. Splinters prickling her tongue as she bit down, she seized another arrow. Tamer had already broken into a run while it was slicing through the air.

It hit. The beast's growl was so loud she could hear it rumble even from their position. Sweat rolled down her brow at the sound, like she'd disturbed an ancient god. This time, Xavier worked in running in an arch outward, keeping his distance.

She could barely see him apart from the shimmer of his fur in the patches of moonlight visible through the treetops. All there was the glow of his teeth and the furious burn of his eye as he darted behind the tree trunks. He was stalling them, but he couldn't afford to let them get too far ahead either. She fired a beam into the earth but the further the distance, the more magic she had to use. She didn't have enough energy to hit him; Xavier rushed out to the right to avoid the ice before edging back in again.

Her chest fluctuated. Instead of trying to block him again, she fired ahead where she reckoned he was going to be. Unfortunately, she overestimated. The arrow fell flat – she didn't bother even repositioning her arm before shooting a jet at him. The chilled sensation through her veins grew lukewarm. Only a small proportion of the ground beneath him froze and he was able to escape to the distance easily. Winter gulped. Starting to panic, she fired beam after beam like a horde of bullets. Her trembles further hindered her aim and he weaved effortlessly to use the trees as cover. She aimed at his feet, attempting to cause him to skid again, but he easily escaped from her trajectory with numerous leaps and bounds. The remnants of various scattered trees slowed the spread of her ice even further.

Tamer! she cried.

It's fine! he shouted back. You've done more than enough. Keep the rest for an emergency and take out your sword for now.

She did as she was told, slinging her free arm around his neck so he could move more aerodynamically. The space between them and the black wolf began to close.

She held her sword outward. Xavier's yellow eyes grew closer. Frantically, Winter attempted to fling a few arrows like a lance at him, but even when one finally did connect, her arm didn't have the strength to puncture it into the bloodstream.

Not enough oxygen was getting to her brain. Her palms clammed around the sheath, so sweaty, she feared she might drop it. Xavier was quickly gaining on them, eyes locked on her. She was amazed he was still standing – that hide was like armour.

With her weight slowing him down, it didn't take long for him to catch up.  Her nails dug into the sword's handle, teeth puncturing the wooden arrows in her mouth.

Tamer, he's going to catch us!

Get ready to swing! Tamer shouted back.

Xavier lunged at her. The sight of those yellow eyes petrified her – never should anything like her be looking at a beast like this dead in the eye. She screamed. As his claws were just a breath away from her shoulders, she remembered to thrust her arms upward, eyes clenched tightly shut.

Blood rained down her face. Her sword was rammed through his chest, but it still wasn't enough to break his momentum. His back legs came smashing down on her face and knocked her clean off Tamer, the ice holding her smashing.

"Winter!" Tamer screamed.

Her vision blackened as her skull came crashing down onto the earth.

The sword slipped from her hand, staining her white dress in blood. It hurt. It hurt; everything spun as she tried to gather her bearings – a pair of yellow eyes blurred before her. Her heart seized all action as she realised Xavier was on top of her. He shook his head in the confusion and his eyes locked with hers. He bore his teeth, saliva dripping down his lips. She gagged for air, starting to cry. Images of Tamer being forced to bite into her neck flashed through her mind as the ghost of the pain seized her body.

"You motherfucker!" Tamer bellowed, lunging at him.

Tamer's jaw sank into his neck. Blood splattered over her face as he shook his head. Xavier howled, clambering off her as Tamer yanked him backwards. His claws cut through her dress in the commotion, but the relief was so immense that, momentarily, adrenaline spared her from the pain. She was alive – for now.

She attempted to rise to escape but came crashing down as the world flipped upside down. Slowly, she attempted to crawl, dress trailing through the dirt as she attempted to block the cries of pain on both parts. She backed against a tree, hands rammed over her face with only just the courage to peer through her fingers. The two wolves twisted and snapped at each other in a vicious whirlwind of black and white, Tamer's white fur drenched in red.

Tears dribbled blood down her face. One silver bullet had taken Tamer out. This thing had taken numerous arrows and several swipes of a silver blade – it was an absolute monster. There was absolutely no doubt that it was stronger than Tamer. All the silver had only barely evened the playing field.

Xavier shifted back into a human and grasped his free hand around Tamer's snout. He hooked his other hand underneath it as he managed to pry Tamer's teeth from his flesh. He stood up and flung Tamer aside with the strength in his human arm alone. The spinning of Tamer's world made her want to vomit. He collided into a tree and she screamed. Her upper body came crashing forward and she started to hallucinate blood pouring from her lips.

Tamer's legs trembled as he attempted to stand. He shook away the pain.

"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" he howled, charging at him.

She opened her fingers a crack, just in time to catch the two beasts coming together in a harlequin clash. The wolves hissed, snapped, and roared, twisting and turning with such ferocious speed it was like watching some bizarre battle between yin and yang. It was almost impossible to catch anything but a black and white blur, the occasional flash claw and fang. Tamer and Xavier swiped at each other at the same time. They clashed like swords as their claws stuck together. Tail whipping back and forth, Tamer waited as Xavier pried them apart, then lunged.

The black wolf's eyes widened. Not wanting to give Tamer the advantage of being on top of him, Xavier reared on his hind legs. Their claws sank into each other's back; Winter screamed, clutching her own shoulders as the two beasts met in some gruesome embrace. Their back legs trembled as they attempted to push each other over – whoever faltered first would probably lose, vulnerable underbelly and jugular exposed.

Red oozed from Tamer's fur. He howled, momentarily delayed in his lunge for the neck. Xavier dug deeper and scraped, slicing him open easily like his tough hide was butter. Healing affected by the silver, Xavier's back legs started to waver. Tamer's weight began to overpower him. Winter started to see an end in sight. As Xavier began to tumble, what happened next happened so quickly she couldn't make any sense of it.

There was a flash. Both her and Tamer started screaming as pain so intense it was like a white-hot scolding iron carving the flesh out of her. She clutched at her eye, nails digging through her skin. She had no idea what had happened. His mind was an indecipherable chaos.

Hyperventilating, flashes of pure red from Tamer's perspective barricaded her. That's all there was, all he could see. Blood pouring down his face while pain battered them both like the thud of a baseball bat.

"Tamer," she squeaked, attempting to crawl forward. She was in so much pain her senses no longer seemed to be working. She was so numb her body no longer felt like her own.

"I'm here, Tamer," she whimpered, managing to crawl forward despite every nerve in her body screaming in protest. Tamer was panicking. She could hear those ragged breaths signalling some sort of attack, feel her vision getting distorted from the lack of oxygen going to his brain. "D-deep breaths. L-like this." She breathed in, held it, then slowly breathed out.

She didn't know when he'd reverted to his human form. She managed to catch a glimpse of him clutching at his eye, body convulsing as red splattered onto the ground. Xavier was the same, still attempting to stand before crashing back down again.

"Winter?" Tamer rasped. He removed his hand and Winter smashed her hand over her mouth.

There was a gaping hole in his face. Tamer's eye was completely gouged from his socket. Xavier must have swiped there in a last ditch effort.

Tamer grimaced, starting to sob. That pained expression slowly started to contort with anger. Every often she was catching disorientated flashes of his perspective. Crimson obscured her vision like scalding water down her face.

Tamer's jaw clenched. He rose, body quaking in protest. As he stepped towards Xavier, feet crunching into the earth below, his remaining eye started to slowly crimson.

"Tamer," Winter panted.

He ignored her. The steady pace of his walk didn't match the crazed bloodlust burning in his remaining eye. He snarled, revealing every one of his teeth to be pointed like daggers.

"Tamer!" Winter screamed, attempting to rise to her feet.

It seemed that only the pain inflicted by her trying to stand again roused his blood-thirsty state. He stared at her, but there was no trace of understanding on his face. Not even a single non-placid looking emotion. Purely a wolf in a human's skin.

Her heart stopped as she recalled Lorelei's words. At this point, we should be worried about the human form being devoured entirely.

Shaking her head, she spluttered. Tamer stepped towards her.

Every single one of his claws was drawn sharper than she'd ever seen as he took her hand. She grabbed it but instead of rising, she yanked him into her embrace. His body was stiff as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Don't do it," she sobbed. "I know you're angry but please don't do it."

A quiet breath escaped Tamer. She felt something wet plummet into her shoulder.

She withdrew and found Tamer's eyes wide and teary. He touched his throat but no sound came out. Gulping, his hands began to shake.

"Tamer?" Winter whispered.

Rasping, Tamer patted his body. When he confirmed that his face was, in fact, human-shaped, his face paled.

"Can you speak?" she demanded.

Tamer stared at her, grimacing. He did not even shake his head.

"Give him back." She was so scared that her body had transcended beyond actually showing it, tone eerily quiet. "I know that you're angry, but this isn't who I fell in love with. You're scaring me. Please just give him back."

When there was no response, she flung her arms around him, trying to kiss his face to see if that would awaken him.

It seemed to work; Tamer gasped as if suddenly jolting awake. "Win...ter?"

She breathed a sigh of relief but couldn't stop herself from wailing. That was a close one.

"Don't do it, Tamer!" she cried, nails digging into his back. "Don't kill him! That's enough!"

Tamer withdrew, grimacing as a fresh batch of tears began rolling down his bloodied face. "But what else am I supposed to do? If I don't kill him, he'll come back!"

"I-I don't know, we'll figure something –"

"I can't Winter!" Tamer snapped. "Am I supposed to let both him and the king be a threat to us? This was hard enough as it is!" His voice broke. "I'm just so tired." He wiped at his remaining eye with his sleeve. "I'm not strong enough to do something like this again."

She looked into his eye. She wasn't sure what to say. He was right, in good conscience, she couldn't ask him to do something like this again, but the only alternative was...

"You're going to lose your humanity if you don't," she whispered.

She'd been looking into Tamer's eye so intently to assure there was still a person inside that it was only as a shadow loomed over them that she was alerted to his presence. Her pupil dilated.

"Tamer!" she screamed.

Xavier grabbed Tamer and threw him aside. She choked on air as his bones cracked. The light of the shift reflected in Tamer's eye as it widened. She caught the wolf's jaws rushing towards him in first person and flinched; Tamer just managed to grasp both ends of its snout a mere breath away from his neck. He panted, arms trembling as it edged in. It sank its claws into his shoulders and he screamed, strength beginning to waver.

Winter couldn't stand to watch the beast edge. If she didn't do something, she'd lose him. She was so terrified her body felt as though it had turned to stone. But she had to move. They both were as good as dead if she didn't.

It's not real, she thought to herself, battling the agony piercing through her body. Her legs wavered beneath her as she attempted to stand; she smashed her sword into the earth to maintain herself. It's not real. Your body isn't wounded enough not to move.

The world spun before her. The pain made her movements sluggish like she was attempting to walk through quicksand. It inflamed every inch of her body as she staggered forward, feeling as though her legs were about to break.

It's not real.

She grabbed her sword. Xavier's eye strayed upon her. The wolf's eyes bulged as it attempted to escape but Tamer held it in place with the last ounces of his strength as its claws released him. Tamer snarled with determination.

"It's not real!" Winter bellowed, charging forward while her body screamed in protest.

She swung her sword.

Tamer looked over his shoulder and orange light bathed his features.

"Winter!" he screamed.

Just as the swing of her sword made contact with the wolf's neck, Tamer lunged at her, knocking her clean off her feet. The sword dropped to the ground with a clatter. Heat scorched her skin as a giant ball of fire soared over their heads.

Somehow finding herself still alive, she looked up to find a battle-hardened Red glaring at them.