Halloween asks - H4, H28? (Why yes, I DID have to roll dice to choose between several...)
H4 here!
H28 - “You’ve been locking yourself up?” They traced the welts on their best friend’s skin in horror, red and raw from a full moon of chafing. Their friend shoved themselves away.
“What the hell did you follow me for? Untie me for? Are you crazy! I could have killed you.”
“You’d never hurt me.”
“All well and good but the wolf isn’t me,” the werewolf snarled.
“No wonder it’s pissed off if you never let it stretch it’s legs.”
“Oh, don’t act like you know anything about it! You found out like five minutes ago!”
You know what I had to do with this. It’s slowly becoming my brand. This could be in universe, but it could also be an au. I don’t know! Enjoy!
Eleven kicked the door in, the padlock clattering to the floor. His extra time training had really started to pay off.
Erik whipped his head around to look over at the intruder. His expression quickly darkened to annoyance, lips turned down into a snarl. Who would be stupid enough to come looking for him?
Eleven. Of course. The guy didn’t know when to take a hint, especially when it came from Erik. His lies had been flimsy at best, and he knew it was only a matter of time before El would figure out something was up and come knocking at the door. Quite literally.
El gasped when he saw Erik sitting on the floor, shackles around his wrists. He was breathing heavy, and his eyes were glowing red. He growled as El approached him.
“Erik? Is that you? Why are you chained up like this, I don’t understa-”
Before he could finish the question Erik lunged, fangs bared. He reached out and swiped at El with sharp claws. That was new. The red eyes, where had he seen that before?
A memory flashed through El’s mind. Him, Erik, and Serena were out in the woods, helping Serena practice her magic. She’d found this weird ancient spell, something about unlocking someone’s wild side, their inner beast. They’d laughed at it, it sounded ridiculous, but nonetheless they’d given it a shot. After a few false starts they were able to gather the energy they needed, and Erik had been the only one out of the three to not know a thing about magic. This meant his role was the test subject. Lucky him.
“It’s fine, don’t worry!” Erik said with a dismissive wave of his hand. There was no way it was actually going to work.
Until it did.
“Oh my, that’s…well that’s certainly something!” Serena exclaimed as they watched from a distance as Erik reared back and howled before ripping his shirt clean off. El stood, shellshocked and slack-jawed. What the hell had they unleashed?
El panicked when Erik had begun to go feral. He tore through the trees looking for blood, and they were lucky he didn’t spot them first. Eleven knocked him out with a sleep spell when they finally caught up to him feasting on a deer carcass. They carried him back home, cleaned him up, and when he woke up it was as if nothing had happened. Or so they had thought.
Eleven took that same course of action now, hitting Erik with a sleep spell once he realized what had happened. He slumped to the ground, claws and fangs slowly disappearing.
El glanced around the room, but it was empty except for the restraints bolted to the wall and a musty blanket tossed on the floor.
He carefully reached into Erik’s pockets, fishing around until he found the key. He undid the shackles and put them aside, laying Erik down with his head resting in El’s lap. He stroked his hands through Erik’s dirty hair - how long had he been trapped here like this? Who had put him here?
An hour quickly passed, and El got up to fetch some food and water. He could only imagine how hungry Erik would probably be when he woke up. When El returned, Erik was sitting up, fingers rubbing circles around his temples. El knelt down gingerly, placing the tray of food down beside them.
Erik looked over to him and scowled again, a warning.
El reached out and took one of Erik’s hands into his own, gasping lightly at the poor condition of his wrists.
“You’ve been locking yourself up?” he asked quietly. El traced the welts on Erik’s skin in silent horror, red and raw from a full moon of chafing.
Erik pulled his hand back and scooted away a few feet. “Why the hell did you follow me back here and untie me? Are you crazy? I could have killed you.”
The thought of hurting El in his wigged out form brought angry tears to his eyes. He’d never forgive himself if that ever happened. El needed to stay far away from him.
“You’d never hurt me,” El said, barely above a whisper.
“That’s true, but the beast isn’t me.” Erik’s fists clenched at his side. The flex of muscle stung, wrists still sore.
“No wonder it’s pissed off. You never stretch its legs.” El said, looking out the window. His attention snapped back to Erik once he heard the biting tone.
“Oh, don’t act like you know anything about it! You just found out I was dealing with this, and if I had a choice you never would have. Ever since that spell, I can’t…I can’t control when it takes over. All I know is that I can’t be out when the moon is.”
El reached a tentative hand out, and this time Erik didn’t back away.
“I’m so sorry.” His shoulders slumped. Guilt weighed heavy on his heart. They’d done this to him and left him to suffer with the aftereffects.
“I had no idea you were dealing with this. I’ll talk to Serena and see if there’s a way to reverse it. This is no way to live. But…” He trailed off, an idea forming. “What if you let yourself run free for a night, somewhere where you wouldn’t hurt anyone? Maybe satiating it will give you some relief.”
Erik thought for a moment, maybe El was right. Maybe a night in the forest would quell the urge to rip anything that moved apart when he was still human. It crawled under his skin, the need to rip something’s throat out, the need to feel warm blood running down his chin. He sighed, defeated.
“Well, we don’t have any better ideas, and now that you know, I know you won’t stop until you’ve helped.”
El gave him one of his dazzling smiles, and Erik’s heart skipped a beat.
“I’m sorry I hid this from you. I should have told you sooner.”
El carefully pulled him in for a hug. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll fix this, I promise.”
