The Dog-Eat-Dog World We Live In

The morning was bright and the bed was warm. All was right except for this wriggling little monster disrupting Ariel’s slumber. As mildly irritated as he was, the dog was on cloud nine. It adored being so close to something it had created. It now saw the beauty of what he’d made. Ariel didn’t know what he was supposed to say to it. One day Risé would want to fly the nest. Ariel would let her. He’d have to, even if he didn’t want to. The dog had already decided it wanted to look after its pup, watch it grow and finally let it roam on its own. The pup had Risé’s werewolf-life planned out in its head and now it was bombarding Ariel with its disjointed thoughts that made little or no sense. At least he wanted to try, though. That was the main thing. That didn’t mean Ariel was going to let it though. Risé had her own life. It was up to her to decide how she wanted to live it.

Ariel growled playfully in her ear as she continued to wriggle. Finally though, she settled and He squeezed her gently, moving closer towards her radiating warmth. Later, with flaming cheeks, Ariel would put his actions down to being delirious and half asleep. He opened an eye when he heard Risé’s voice and realised with an acute amount of sadness that he wouldn’t be sleeping in like he’d want to. Ariel watched Risé curiously, his eyes flicking between her and her fingers which were creating circles above Fenrir’s bite. Ariel was completely floored by her boldness and was transfixed as she touched the bite on his ribcage. His eyes went to search hers, only to find them glued on his wound. His eyes flicked down to her chest as she reached up into the shirt he’d gotten for her and suddenly there was a flash before his eyes.

Ariel pulled away as if he’d been burned. He sat up and pulled his shirt up, twisting his body around to look at the wound that was trying to escape his sight. His breathing was laboured and laden with shock. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to her. Ariel dropped his shirt down and sank back against the pillows, pulling at the covers once more. He looked over at Risé and rolled onto his side. He tugged at the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up. He stopped just below her breasts though, looking up at her and seeking her permission. “I just want to see,” he murmured. There was change in his. It seemed lighter somehow, more serene. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it usually did either. It was like someone had put an icepack on it.

Ariel pushed the shirt up further and his eyes fell immediately to the gaping hole in her chest. Her breasts did not sway him for there was something else entirely that he was interested in. He moved closer to her and lifted his other hand to touch the wound. It felt better. The layer of skin was there not that it was much help. Ariel took his hand away and licked his thumb. He wiped it across the wound, hoping to reinforce the skin to a degree. He didn’t exactly know if it worked but he’d heard whispers that it did. “I’ve never experimented with links like that before,” he murmured, rolling her shirt back down. “That looks a lot better though. Much, much better. Now you just need to avoid breaking the skin.”

The last thing Rise had really expected from him ,was to sit up so suddenly, twisting to see his bite. She nearly rolled off the bed in shock, but suddenly he had dropped down back onto the pillow, and was tugging up her shirt. She gasped and put her hands down, keeping the shirt below her breasts, when he said softly that he just wanted to see. Her eyes flickered up to his, and rested for a moment there, before she very slowly let him pull the shirt up so he could see the wound there. She looked down and bit her lower lip, it didn't look nearly as bad as it had done before, and now he was just staring at it, completely unphased by the breasts on either side of the wound.

When he licked his thumb and ran it over her wound, she shuddered and felt an odd pulling sensation around her middle. Her head suddenly burst out into random thoughts that felt all mumbled and confused. Her eyes flew open and she looked up at him, her lips slightly parted in shock. He had rolled her shirt back down, but she was still staring at his hands. "It's so odd... knowing what I am.. and not knowing how it feels yet.." She said suddenly, rolling over so she was laying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "I just.. I want to go home.. but I know that I can't.. I just.. can't.. "She said softly. "My siblings.. my parents... I'm a halfblood. .what would they do if they knew what I was? Probably kick me out.." She said her eyes staring straight ahead at the ceiling.

"Ariel... what am I going to do? I can feel it.. tugging on my mind.. at night.. it almost feels like it's running free with my memories, my thoughts, my dreams.. it's taking every single one, and tearing into it, pulling them apart, and making me realize... I don't have a future anymore.. werewolves.. they are prosecuted.. they... they can't do anything in the wizarding world.. can't get jobs... or have anyone take them seriously.. it's like, everything I've worked for my entire life.. has died.. and I just don't know what to do." She said and flipped over onto her stomach, laying face down in her pillow and wrapping her arms around it, her face still deep in the pillow, a soft whimpering noise escaping her lips. It had been the most words she had ever said to him since they had met. Other times it had been disconjointed words, none of them forming a real sentence.. but suddenly she had spoken to him, and it was like a small barrier had been broken down, her admitting that she knew she had to trust him.. because her life was no in his hands.

The lifelong aim of a werewolf was to find a mate, reproduce and run in that pack; or do the latter one first and then complete the first two. Rarely did werewolves start creating willy-nilly. Fenrir was the exception but unless they were incredibly lonely, werewolves rarely went out of their way to create a companion. Ariel didn’t know what his reasons were anymore. Panic, naivety, stupidity...the words were loaning themselves to his actions, his thoughts and his feelings. He’d ruined much more than the simple beauty the girl had. He’d ruined whatever path in life she was going to take. He was stumbling down a path of disaster on his own. There were no lights, no company. Ariel wanted to keep it that way too. He didn’t want anyone to have to do what he would eventually have to.

When Fenrir died the pack was Ariel’s, his responsibility. Everything that mattered to the pack would have to matter to him. People would have to be turned to keep the numbers up and add to the strength of the pack as a whole. The children born would have to be kept safe until they were old enough to lose half of themselves to a disease. He’d have to think about where he was going to move them and what to do if the pack got caught. He’d have to be thinking all the time. He’d have to decided which villages to pillage from, what modes of transportation they’d have to take. It was like relocating hundreds of homeless people to a place they could inhabit. Risé didn’t have to be one of them, either. She had her whole life ahead of her. Wherever she wanted to be he’d get her there whatever it cost him.

Ariel sighed. “I...” he lost his train of thoughts and bit his lip. “I will look after you, Risé.” Ariel promised her. “I don’t know how just yet but I will support you. I’ve ruined your life. I should at least help you build a new one. I’ll get you a job. I’ll buy you a house or something. I will get you back onto your feet, Risé, whether it’s the last thing I do because it is my fault you’re like this. I want you to live the life you wanted to live. It might be a bit different now but I want to get it as close to what you wanted in the first place as possible.”

Rise kept her face in the pillow as Ariel talked of getting her back on her feet, and for a long moment she didn't move. Finally she rolled over and looked at him silently. Her large brown eyes looking into his pale blue eyes. She started to say something, but stopped and had to think carefully about her next words, a small furrow appearing between her eyes as she frowned. "I don't know what I want Ariel.." She said very carefully. "In school... I was just getting things done.. doing homework, taking classes, it was just.. there, I was getting an rounded schooling, because I hadn't picked what I wanted to be when I got out of school." Rise rolled over so that she was laying fully on her back, and sighed, her hand going to her scar between her breasts without much thought, her fingers running over the rough surface there.

Rise stared at the ceiling for a long moment and then sighed slightly. "I just don't know.." She said carefully. "Can I just.. stay here a while? Please?" She looked at him and she knew her eyes were watering, which didn't help the whole ordeal. She didn't want to cry, but there they were, unconscious tears. "I don't know.. I feel safe around you... maybe because you created me.. or maybe because before I was... well before I was taken.. even after I was taken really.. I was a shadow.. no one looked at me.. I was ignored.. by my family... I had a few close friends, but even they would ignore me sometimes.. and when I was taken, I was just another girl.. nothing special. But when I got here... it's like I just woke up after a REALLY long sleep.. and I realize just how much I hate being ignored like that.." She said and sat up slowly, her hand falling to her side as she looked around the room and pulled her knees to her chest. "I don't want to be ignored any longer.. and you.. you don't ignore me." She said her eyes looking over at Ariel carefully, a small tear finally escaping her eye and leaking down her cheek.

Every day would need to be today and only today. There couldn’t be thoughts about tomorrow or yesterday because tomorrow wasn’t there yet and yesterday was long gone. Ariel propped his head up in his hand, watching Risé as she ran her fingers over the skin that was marred and destroyed. Ariel found his hand going to it himself and he replaced her fingers with his own. Instead of skirting across the top of her shirt, though, he brought his hand underneath, grateful for the room that there was there. The soft pads of his fingertips gently caressed the wound. He continued to do so as he listened to her, taking in every word and sorting it in his mind. She had been getting her life together and then she’d been picked up by Fenrir. Ariel felt worse if anything. She hadn’t know where she was going but it was going to be down a good path. Then life had pulled her to her knees; or rather, into Ariel’s arms.

It felt oddly nice to have that sort of connection with something he’d created. The dog within him was quite content with it all. In fact it was at peace with everything. It was close to something that shared its DNA so to speak. Yet another Greyback werewolf would be running around during the full moon. That prospect terrified Ariel but excited the dog. It couldn’t wait. It wanted to play. It wanted to learn about the wolf that would be released from Risé. Touch was as close as they’d get for now. Ariel was happy to indulge the creature as long as it proved not to be any trouble for him or Risé.

Twenty-four hours and she was already attached. Twenty-four hours and he was already attached. Ariel took his fingers away from the bite and let his hand rest on her stomach as he laid there, contemplating yet another addition to the overflowing house. He knew what his decision was before he’d even said the words. “You can stay for as long as you want.” His hand fell from her stomach as she sat up and he sat up with her. Ariel leaned over the side of the bed and pulled the blinds up. “Greeted by morning,” he murmured. “Every sunrise is a promise of change, Risé. We just have to take every day at a time. There’ll be highs and lows, generally in my case it is more of the latter, and there’ll be moments when you don’t even want to live another minute. But there are people that look, Risé. They stare and they care. They care about whether or not you live or die. People do care. I care about you. I don’t know why but it would feel wrong if I didn’t. And to be honest, I don’t think I could ignore you if I tried. The fact that you’re in my bed on a Sunday morning is hard to miss.”

Rise felt his hand sneak up her shirt and touch her wound and she shuddered, half wanting to pull away, but almost to shocked to move, so she lay there, feeling his fingers gently caress around the wound, and she bit her lower lip, her head turning to the side to look at him carefully. He wanted something more from her, something she wasn't ready to give, she could feel it. After she sat up, his hand fell away, and she was happy, she felt a bit.. uncomfortable with him like that, it just didn't work very well, not yet anyway. "Ariel... I was.. nothing... before this... I didn't have anything... my family felt I was a waste of space.. well except for my grandma..." She bit her lower lip and felt the want to cry overcome her. She gulped and shook her head. "But... In some way.. it is almost.. nice that something odd happened to me.. sure I hated the beatings.. and now I'm in the lowest of low people that you can get in the wizarding world.. but... I won't be ignored anymore.." She said and then felt a slow smile cross her lips.

"I appreciate you letting me stay here... I don't have to stay to long.. just for now.. I want to stay." She said and then suddenly moved so she was closer to him and she rested her head on his shoulder. She wrapped her hands around his arm and curled up closer to him. "Do we have to get out of bed though? I'm so tired..." She said softly, her eyes looking up at him carefully. "We can just sleep.." She said and then laid back down and put the pillow over her head, laying on her stomach so that the blanket that HAD been over her, was now around her waist, her shirt had come up and her lower back was open to him, her head stuck up under the pillow so that she couldn't see him. "Mmmmm..' She grumbled loudly and stayed like that, waiting for his answer on whether they could just stay in bed.

Ariel dropped himself back down onto the pillows and pulled the covers around him, a yawn escaping his throat as he curled up. He listened to Risé once again and turned slightly when she described werewolves as, quote, ‘the lowest of the low’. “Yeah, cheers for that.” He remarked sarcastically, turning back. “Nice to know that you’re glad the lowest of the low did you a favour. It’s really nice to know. It must be so hard to be in that band. The lowest of the low, I think, would actually be the Muggleborns because no one likes them!” Ariel continued scornfully. “Lowest of the low we may be but the ability to wipe out scores of people is in your bones now. It’s never going to leave your bones either. Respect is what we should receive but instead we get fear and scorn. We’re an oppressed race, Risé. It’s not flowers and fairytales. It’s a shit. Every single bit – f-cking shite. But it’s funny really because what they don’t realise is that if we set our minds to it then we could take every single one. If the packs didn’t squabble and actually became allies...the wizarding world would be defenceless. But they’re naive.”

Ariel shrugged non-comittedly and leaned over, pulling the blinds back down. He yawned and dropped his head back down onto the pillow. He pulled the large duvet over them in an attempt to keep the cold out and he yawned again. “Sleep is good,” he agreed. “Sleep ‘til breakfast...” He mumbled.

Rise looked at Ariel with a small amount of shock. He was angry with her.. she hadn't meant to make him angry! "I.. I didn't mean it like that.." She said softly, her voice going quiet for a second, watching him. "I didn't mean it... to sound like that.." She said and watched him, with a small trace of fear in her eyes. She knew what happened with people got angry with her... it had been drilled into her head for months, and now, even when the danger was passed... well bad habits are hard to break, and she was afraid of another beating, being ignored, anger.. it all happened with people got angry with her, and she hated it. It appeared though, that he wasn't going to be totally angry, but he had turned his back to her, and it made her whimper just slightly, not wanting him to turn away from her.

"I'm sorry.." She said and pulled her head out from under the pillow to look at him, her hair all messed up now. "I didn't mean to make you angry with me..." She said and turned over so that she was staring at the ceiling. She lay silent for a long moment, before she turned over so that he back was to him, their backs facing each other under the blanket. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, and she knew she probably wouldn't get any more sleep now. She hated it when people were angry at her, and now.. the one person who had been nice to her.. well in a very long time, and she had just offended him, made him angry. Rise pulled the blanket up over her head in defeat and curled up into a ball, her butt just an inch away from touching his side, and if he were to move, he'd touch her, but at this point, she was making sure they weren't touching under the blanket.

Quietly, Ariel was fuming but he couldn’t stay angry at Risé. She had every right to resent...well, his people. Ariel knew that he resented them too but he was one of them, he couldn’t just turn his back on everything he knew, everything was and everything he was about to become – it didn’t work like that. Sighing, Ariel sat up. He pulled the covers away from him and threw his legs over the side of the bed. He planted them down firmly on the dark carpet ad stood up. He reached over and pulled the blinds up again. Penny and Orion were in the garden playing with the rabbits. The sight of them made Ariel smile. He chuckled to himself and stretched, turning away from the window. He looked down at Risé and leaned over the bed. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and pushed more of the bedclothes towards her. “I forgive you,” he murmured in her ear, the smile evident in his voice. “I know how you feel. I’m going down to make breakfast, okay?”

Ariel pulled away and trudged across the carpet. He opened his bedroom door and walked out onto the landing, leaving door open behind him. Ariel trundled down the stairs and wandered through the living room. His hand went to the door handle of the kitchen. He pulled it down and pushed the door open. Ariel entered the kitchen, his bare feet hitting the cold tiles, and hissed in surprise. He lifted his eyes off of the tiles and looked up to see his uncle standing by the sink, a mug of coffee in his hands. His eyes were fixed at something beyond the counter and Ariel’s eyes followed his uncle’s line of sight.

“Good Morning, son,” Ariel’s eyes widened to the size of saucers and he shot over to the back door. He slammed it shut and locked it, thinking naively that that would keep his father from his siblings. Fenrir chuckled and rose out of his seat. “I won’t hurt the little ones; they’re far too cute for that. They look a lot like your mother, actually. Anyway, did you get my little gift? I can hear her upstairs. How is she? Well I hope? She was awfully nice – a little bit flat for your tastes though, hmm? How’s that little thing in Gryffindor that you have a taste for? She’s well too I hope?” Fenrir sat down again and picked up the mug of coffee by his elbow. He sipped it and gestured for Ariel to sit.

“What are you doing here?” Ariel asked, lowering himself into the seat his father had gestured to. Fenrir shrugged non-comittedly. “Naomi is upstairs if you want to talk to her.” Ariel commented. Fenrir smirked and shook his head. “Alright, fine. What do you want -- breakfast? Risé will no doubt be down in a minute. How do you think I’m going to explain you?”

“You don’t have to, she knows who I am doesn’t she?” Fenrir replied smoothly.

“She’s terrified of you.”

“Yes, I did rather notice.”

“So?”

“So, what?”

“Are you going to leave?”

“No. I’m here to visit. Now, didn’t you say you were going to make breakfast?”