The two bears were finally starting to wear out. King swung wildly, but without much heart. His paw bounced harmlessly off Stone’s chest, and even though he laughed at the effort, the other bear did almost exactly the same thing – swinging a paw that pitifully met its mark and did absolutely nothing.
They stared sour faces into one another’s eyes. Rogue and Fury exchanged a glance of resigned consternation more than anything else.
“What happens now?” Claire asked, looking to Draven for advice as the two massive half-bears collapsed, holding one another erect with nothing but the weight of their own bodies and the fact that they both have massive legs. “Do we just keep going and waiting for someone to kill someone else? Do we go look for Eckert and demand answers? Or can we please just act like fucking adults and stop trying to murder each other?”
Fury sighed. Rogue gave him another look of resignation. “I’m thinking,” the smug-smirking bear said to Claire, “eventually we’ll come to that. For now though, we better avoid antagonizing them.”
Draven nodded, gravely serious. “That’s a good idea. We’ll need to figure out a plan for the rest of the bears anyway. If what they say is true, then almost all of the clan has survived, although some might be a little the worse for wear.”
“We’re finished here,” King said, as soon as he regained enough of his strength to stand on his own, no longer supported by the other alpha, who he was so irritated with for existing. “They can survive on their own, if that’s their wish.”
Rogue heaved a heavy sigh, not even bothering to pretend he wasn’t completely unimpressed with the whole situation.
“We’re done here,” Stone announced, almost at exactly the same time, and in almost exactly the same voice. “They can go right on doing whatever they wish. I’m saving my people.”
“But brother,” Fury said, though Draven was trying to shush him. “They want the same thing. You’re being an idiot.”
Being called on it didn’t have much effect except for causing the massive bear to frown deeply, in a way that reminded Claire of a surly teenager.
“Fine then,” Fury sighed just like Rogue had. In fact, the similarity was so close that Claire, Jill, and Draven exchanged a glance, and more than one eyebrow was arched in response.
There were a lot of stolid glances, a lot of pissed off glares.
And then, all at once, Stone and Fury rose, grabbed Claire, and that was that. They were gone. As they went, Fury let out another sigh so deep and so audible that it could be heard even as they disappeared from eye-shot into the forest.
-17-
“I really wish someone would just tell me what the point of all this is.”
-Claire
The walk into the woods was long, slightly damp, and very cold. Claire wished the whole time that someone would tell her what the hell was going on, and why there seemed to be no end to the walking and the hiding and the secrecy.
Finally, when her feet had started bleeding from the constant hike, she sat down on a stump, pursed her lips, and said, “I’m sick of this shit.”
Stone arched an eyebrow. Fury smirked slightly. “What shit?” he asked. The grin he wore continued to spread until it was a full on smile. “The slinking through the woods and not knowing where we’re going and the constant whining and fighting?”
“Uh,” she looked at him, slightly confused at the hilarious pointedness of his words. “Yeah, actually that’s about the long and short of it. And aside from that I just remembered that I was supposed to call this guy and go on a date with him. That was before I got abducted by two magical bears and run through the woods into a bunch of psychopaths in gasmasks and... I’m honestly just glad Fury managed to bring Cleo back, otherwise I don’t know what I would’ve done, knowing that she was forgotten back at home.”
On cue, Cleo lapped at Claire’s outstretched fingers.
“There’s something else, too.” Fury’s face tightened. He was worried about something, Claire could tell, even with their very limited time together, this bear didn’t hide his feelings well. “Something more that we need to figure out. I ripped that man’s head almost clean off from his body. How could he have possibly survived? And that’s to say nothing of the other issue. Claire,” he finally noticed, apparently, “why are your clothes all torn up?”
She chuffed a laugh, smiled, and just started shaking her head.
“What?” he asked. “What is it? Is something the matter? None of them tried to hurt you, did they?”
She tilted her head back, letting the sweat-wet portion of her neck taste the cool, calming wind that carried through the woods. “No,” she said. “No one tried to hurt me except those gasmask guys, and when they did, I turned into a bear and ripped a couple of them apart. Or at least, I think I ripped them apart. They didn’t really react like they’d been hurt, and there didn’t seem to be bodies left.”