It had been a few days after the big school dance, as well as the capture and retrieval of a dangerous criminal done by a mysterious creature that the local news anchor believed to be a wolf like creature. Most people paid no mind to the story, they were just glad that the crazed psychopath mutant was in jail. But for those who knew of a certain wolf mutant, who wasn't at the dance the night the criminal was apprehended, it was not hard to put two and two together.

Speaking of wolf mutant, the Mansions renegade werewolf was currently residing underneath one of the grand oak tree's that made its home on the mansion grounds. The werewolf had been fixed up from her fight with the crazed psychopathic mutant, still having some bandages roped up her arms and legs and her cheek was stitched up from the encounter as well. The wound on her cheek however did not look like one from a knife of any kind, it looked like a wound from something with claws, some sort of wild animal. In fact, most of the scars that were on her arms and legs, though small thanks to the doc's healing abilities, looked like claw marks or bite wounds. Her torso was bandaged up as well, not wrapped up tightly in bandages as they had been before but having the bandages covering wounds that didn't heal well like the ones around her neck and shoulders..

Emerald sat underneath the tree, staring off vacantly into space, just thinking, about the things that had happened to her in the past few months. She had started not wearing her jacket as often, when she wore it she tied it loosely round her waist just in case if she walked into a cold place. Her muscles were more defined now and she looked a great deal stronger than she was at the beginning of summer. Her hair was longer and thicker, teeth were sharper and in general she looked far more wolfish than she did before..It had been a big change for her to loose her water powers and have to deal with her wolf side without that happy medium of water, but she had managed to do it. But that didn't change the fact she felt so raw, so twisted up on the inside even though she didn't show it on the outside, her emotional pain at least.

In truth, Emerald didn't look like she should have been out of the infirmary just yet, judging by her bandages still having the occasional dried bloodstain on them, especially the ones that wrapped around her upper arms of her tank top clad torso. Yet here she was, dressed in normal street clothes, camo tanktop, camo Capri's and no shoes, with a discarded hospital gown laying down beside her. She had come out here to relax and to escape the stuffiness of the inside, the inside feeling like a cage to her as of late.The wolf girl took a chance to breathe in deeply, and then breathe out. Just Breathe...I'm not inside anymore so I might as well relax Hopefully, no one would find out that she had skipped out on her hospital stay, at least not until she took some time to relax that is.

Homey home home home. It was good to be home and in that spirit Twyla Ashby was taking a solo stroll around the familiar grounds and enjoying the nice day. Soon classes would start again and life would go back to being busy--even busier now that she was a trainee, there was so much to be preparing for besides college. Twyla didn’t want to think about it--the idea of growing up was such a scary thought and such a BIG one to handle. Sure, she’d changed a lot and gotten more mature in the last few years but that didn’t mean she was ready for her last year of high school (she was almost caught up in her studies) and all the Things After High School. It was all too weird to think about. She tried to keep those thoughts from her mind as she randomly wandered about, sometimes pausing to look at an interesting plant and other times to look at the clouds chase each other across the bright blue sky.

The young woman absently twirled a tangle of blond and pink locks around her finger as she made a zig-zag pattern in the grass. It was easier to keep her mind blank if she focused on how she was moving. It was decidedly a good day for a walk--pretty and warm enough to require the girl to be wearing jean shorts and a tank top. Her feet were bare and she watched them carefully land between bunches of grass and flowers and as they avoided ant hills. She was so focused on her feet that she almost didn’t notice the legs under a tree until it was too late. Luckily, she managed to registered the camouflage colored pants before she tripped all over them. Looking to their owner, she let out a tiny breath of surprise.

“Emmy?” She hadn’t seen the wolf girl since she’d left earlier that summer and she defiantly looked different--but that didn’t stop Twyla from recognizing her instantly. It took a moment for her to register all the changes...and the hospital gown--don’t forget the hospital gown. That worried her right away, causing the blond to bite her lip and stare at it in confusion. “How are you?” The girl’s voice was hesitant as she made her way around the tree to plop herself down next to her friend in the grass and pulling her knees in to her chest. “Is there somewhere else you’re supposed to be?” Her tone was less hesitant and more worried mother hen as she held up the robe to show her point.

This did not seem right. Not right at all. Twyla Ashby was totally out of touch with whatever was going on with the wolf girl, this she knew even without Emerald’s replies to her questions. She had missed something Big.

Emerald had somewhat fallen asleep under the grand oak tree, finally being able to relax. She had been asleep for about five minutes when she felt a pair of legs hit hers and trip. Almost immediately, her eyes shot open and she would have jumped into a fighting stance, if it wasn't for who it was. Releasing a sigh of relief Emerald looked at her friend who had managed to trip over her, glad to see she wasn't injured or anything...or flanked by Docprof, who she assumed wouldn't be happy that she escaped again.

Emerald heard the hesitance in her friends voice at first and she inwardly winced, she forgot how different she looked. The wounds on her were probably a give in that she wasn't out playing bunk while everyone was at the dance. "Oh, I'm fine, ya know just doing my normal thing, kicking ass and taking names What about you? Did Gawain show you the dog yet," Emerald replied, grinning a little. She was fine at the moment, mostly, with the exception of the reopened wounds and the minor PTSD.

There was of course the fact that she had a hospital gown lieing beside her, something that her maternal friend was quick to point out. If it wasn't a give in from the wounds and the bandaging, the hospital gown surely was a clue. Lately, Emerald had been freaked out more and more by being in closed spaces for too long and that combined with the hospital fear she had made her a wreck when she was in the infirmary.

Emerald looked guiltily at Twyla, knowing she had been caught. "Yeah Thats where I'm supposed to be, just got sorta freaked out while I was in the infirmary, too much anesthetic scent, too closed in." Emerald explained with a nervous wring of her hands. She then tried to shake it off, not wanting to seem like she was scared, that was the last thing she wanted anyone to think. Emerald's face broke into a confident smile, "Though, I did manage to catch that serial killer they have been calling the Wounder, the one that can reopen any wounds that up to a few months old. "

That confidence hid the problem as it usually did, but Emerald hoped her friend wasn't as perceptive as her adoptive sibling was. She didn't want to seem weak or scared because she was Emerald Lupin and she was supposed to be strong, whether she wanted to be or not.

Emmy was being so herself that it was almost a too perfect imitation of Twyla’s wolfish friend. The chuckle the blond let out was small and almost mirthless as she tried to find a plausible explanation for Emerald’s drastically changed appearance and her bandages. It was hard to tell with the wolf girl--she and the Morris kid were especially good at finding trouble wherever it was, sometimes they even found it together. She was almost distracted by thoughts of the puppy but she managed to keep herself in, even after replying to the question. “Yeah, she’s such a cute girl.” Twyla’s voice was only slightly gooey and this was also because of the worry flooding her mind and chasing itself across her emotions.

She just nodded slowly, the lip biting resuming, when Em told her that she was supposed to be in the Infirmary and why she’d skipped out on it. This would have to change, Twyla’s new mission of the moment was to get Emerald back to the careful care of Doc and to figure out what the heck she had missed when she was at camp. It was funny that her boy/girlfriend hadn’t mentioned anything about any of Emerald’s apparent troubles to her at all...The girl’s brow crinkled for a moment before she refocused herself to her current location.

And then some rapid fire blinking began and a slight and slow shaking of Twyla’s head. It was so typical Em but she hoped it wasn’t true--why was she still going off on her own with these kinda of things? That was stupid, no matter who you are, especially when you were supposed to be a part of a team. The wolf girl was smiling but her friend sitting next to her was frowning, in fact it could be said that she almost looked angry.

There were two things Twyla needed to deal with straight away--one was her friend’s bullsh*t facade that she totally didn’t need and the second was her habit of running off and doing dangerously stupid things all on her lonesome (Twyla doubted that Em had requested any help getting the serial killer guy). A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she looked down before staring the red head full in the face. “Did you have any help?” Brown eyes were hard as they dared blue ones to lie or not answer.

Judging by the way that her dear friend was looking at her she had a feeling that Twyla probably didn't believe her. Inwardly, Emerald cursed to herself for not putting up a better facade of some kind. She didn't want Twyla to worry about her, she had enough to worry about with Gawain/Maya getting in constant trouble. It wouldn't surprise the werewolf if Twyla started leading her boyfriend/girlfriend around by a leash so they wouldnt get into any trouble. Then again thats something that Emerald would be more likely to do if she had a troublemaking boyfriend.

Emerald looked at her friend with guilt in those blue eyes, knowing she had been caught. "No, I did it by myself, "Emerald let out a sigh, her tail drooping a little. "I...sorta got stood up by my date and I needed time to clear my head so I went out and the found the criminal. I knew her fighting style and stuff cause I fought her before." Emerald explained

Twyla had the sudden strange urge to slap Emerald after she told her exactly why she’d gone after the criminal. It was bad enough that she’d been alone--but to go looking for that kind of trouble after being upset? That was freaking ridiculous! What kind of coping mechanism is that? Luckily the urge was a small one and it went away quickly. Instead the girl blinked, took a deep breath, blinked again, and swallowed a sigh. “So what you’re telling me is that you went and got yourself all banged up looking for a criminal...by yourself...because you got stood up? Is that basically it?” She tried her best to keep any negative tone out of her voice, she really did.

“Em, you can’t do that to yourself--that’s not how we’re supposed to deal with things...” She let out a sigh for real this time. “Seriously, you’re on a team, aren’t you? Vigilantism...I mean, going out without the X-men...it’s not how we’re supposed to do things...” Twyla shook her head and felt the wavy blond tendrils around her ears brush across her shoulders as she did so. The blond decidedly didn’t agree with her friend’s methods--especially not now when she was a trainee and everything. Helping people was always the right thing to do but sometimes you have to go through the right channels.

Not to mention Argument No. 2: going out on your own means you’re...on your own.

What would have happened if Emerald couldn’t handle that woman? No one was perfect, no matter how much they seemed to win. She’d have been alone with no backup, no one to call for help, nothing. That was scary. That was why people like Twyla Ashby worried all the time. How often did Em go off like this? Certainly a troubling question. “What if you had been in serious trouble? You were alone out there...”

Once Twyla said what Emerald had done out loud, Emerald realized how stupid it sounded. She sounded like an immature hot headed idiot with a wolf tail, which is how she felt at the moment. The wolf girl let out a sigh, she knew her friend was looking out for her well being but Emerald’s way of thinking on the matters of the “team” Was different then Twyla. Besides she had a reason for going after this criminal in particular.

“Then it would have been my fault I got hurt since its my fault she is out in the first place,” Emerald explained guilt clear on her face, looking down at her feet. Ever since the fall of Fusion Corp she had been finding more and more of Fusionest’s prized pets out and about. While she did do vigilantism on random criminals, more often than not she had a reason for why she did what she did. “She was my partner back in the days of the labs, when I was forced to kill people and when I escaped the labs she got out with me, along with other dangerous experiments, I was sort of already angry when I heard about her escaping prision, so me finding her was not only about me getting my anger out, it was sort of…my idiotic attempt at redemption.”

Emerald’s voice became bitter as she spoke, clearly not believe she could redeem herself for the sins she had done and the sin that she was. Wrath, was a very fitting name for her a very fitting codename for someone like her. A young woman filled with such anger and hatred from all those who had wronged her in the past.

“It was stupid for me to go out blindly like that though, I just was so blinded with so many things, I didn’t even think about it. Two things were strong in my mind that night, Anger and worry, the worry mainly from me thinking “What if she finds the institute or if she attacks someone I care about, it’s my fault shes out, so it’s my job to stop her, I've failed at protecting people I cared about before, it could happen again.” Emerald ran her hand nervously through her hair, as if there was far more to that than meets the eye. Blue eyes lost in thought for a moment, thinking of someone else that was out that could hurt her friends..just like her wounded her. A light breeze flitted across the grounds, blowing both girls hair ever so slightly. “A lot of crap happened while you were gone….I lost my water powers, now I think more like a wolf than I do human a lot of times.” Despite how Emerald tried not to show it, clearly this was a huge blow to her. Dark blue eyes filled with something when she mentioned herself loosing her power, almost as if she was remembering when it happened and what filled er eyes in that brief second was nothing short of pure utter terror. It left her eyes quickly for a more neutral glance but it was there.

The blond bit her lip and pulled in her tan legs, intent on hearing Emerald out (with an open mind) before she made any judgement calls or arguments. Arms wrapped around the legs and the girl rested her chin on the dry knees, her focus entirely on what the wolf girl was saying. Brown eyes remained impassive as they hid the processing that was going inside Twyla’s mind. These were things she hadn’t heard about before and they sent off little shocks to her brain. Impassive blink. Think. Think. Think. Breath in but keep your mouth shut.

It was hard not to argue with Emerald’s logic as she spoke, but Twyla managed to control herself and to carefully gauge the other girl’s emotions. Not flying off the handle was probably best in this situation considering it was obvious that there was a lot of emotional baggage that went with the subject from what the blond could tell.

‘A lot of crap’ happened while she was away? What did that mean? More, apparently, than what the wolf girl was discussing with her now. Twyla stored that tidbit away for further examination later.

A sigh as the girl tried to organize her thoughts. “It wasn’t your fault that she was in the labs--so it wasn’t your fault that she got out, Em...” The lip biting resumed for a minute. “Look, you’re worried about someone else getting hurt when your number one should be you--not in the bad way, you just...er.” She was losing her train of thought and what was coming out wasn’t quite right. “You need to remember that the people you care about care about you too--we’d do anything to help you and...you getting hurt like this because you were on your own and you didn’t think you could get help from me or someone else makes me upset because maybe me or somebody else could have helped you.” Another pause, this time accompanied by a light touch on the shoulder, hesitant of damaged spots. “You’re not alone, Em, and that means you’re not allowed to do stupid sh*t--believe me, I know.” There was a slight laugh in her voice when she swore, but Twyla Ashby was as serious as they get.

Emerald sat and listened to the things that Twyla said, thinking long and hard about them. Deep down, in that part of her brain called common sense, Emerald knew that it wasn't her fault the criminal had escaped and she knew that she didn't have to stop her. Problem was, as of late, the wolf girl was thinking more by wolven instincts than by anything else and what her instincts told her to do was to hunt down her enemies.

Fact of the matter was however, that Alphas weren't supposed to make their pack worry about them. Alphas were supposed to put their packs mind at ease and show that they had things under control. With her being beaten to all hell, Emerald somehow doubted she looked in the slightest bit in control. What kind of Alpha am I? I'm not supposed to let them worry about me. And now that I have a pack, maybe I can finally get some rest. I guess my adopted sibling was right, I'm really not alone anymore...well at least friends wise.

A small smile made its way across Emerald's face, looking at her friend with grateful eyes. "You're right, I shouldn't have gone out by myself, especially after someone who can reopen old wounds and nearly make ya bleed out everywhere." Emerald shook her head at her own actions, before looking at Twyla with a slightly wider smile. "Means a lot to me to know that ya care about me Twyla, I'm not used to having a pack, I have always been a lone Alpha female, but now, " Emerald's grin turned into a more confident smile. She grabbed the hand that had touched her shoulder and shook it with her own bandaged one. "I have a pack to help me out when I need it." She told her friend releasing her hand once she was done.

Emerald truly believed that this pack she was forming was going to last and if she did her job right as alpha her pack would be strong. Her alpha mentality hadn't really changed to much and while there would be occasions she would still go off on her own she would be far more hesitant to do so now that she had a pack to worry about. Being a pack leader of her small pack she was forming would be a full time job, but she was willing to do it.

Slowly, the wolf girl attempted to get up from her sitting position by the tree, only able to get about half way into standing position before bracing herself against the tree, nearly falling. A low growl of pain escaped the females lips as she stood shaking from trying to brace herself. Some of her ribs had been broken in the ensuing fight with her former partner and she was still woozy from the blood loss. Not only that but her wounds were still raw and sore, even with the bandages and when she stood a wound on her ankle reopened causing blood to show up beneath one of the bandages "Damn it, hey pack mate...could you maybe help me back to the infirmary, I probably need to be treated for the whole blood loss and broken ribs thing. Sewing yourself up isn't always the best action to take," Emerald said with pain clear in her voice. Emerald was in more pain than she was letting on and while she still didn't show it fully, the fact she was admitting to the fact that she needed help was most deafinatly progress. "Damn it...the crazy bitch just had to open up the wounds from when Bloodfang found me this summer." Emerald grumbled her voice hitching with fear when she mentioned the name of the person who had caused so much pain for her.

An old habit of Emerald's was because she was so used to being alone, she tended to grumble to herself, however, this time Emerald wasn't alone, quite the opposite. The wolf girl was near a friend who cared about her very dearly and who vaguely knew of her trouble with the male named Bloodfang. The she-wolf looked over at Twyla when the words left her mouth, a look clearly saying. "Oh I shouldn't have have said that." Emerald let out a pained sigh, clenching her fists at her sides weakly. "I shouldn't have blurted that out, las thing I need is someone else throwing themselves near that psychopath because of me."

They were silent for a few very long moments. Twyla didn’t say anything, just let the wolf girl wade through her words and try to make sense of them on her own terms. And then there was no argument--nothing, just a change in Em’s facials and an admittance that the blond sitting next to her might have had a point.

Finally. It seemed like now something had sunk into Emerald’s brain that proved to her that she wasn’t alone and that Twyla and other people had her back. It’s what friends did. To the blond young woman it was obvious, but apparently the red head didn’t see things quite the same way. Still, Twyla was very glad for the progress her words seemed to have made--now she just had to see them in action.

Twyla watched with worry as Emerald tried to get herself up, it was obvious that in her condition it wasn’t so easy. How the hell did she even manage to get out here? The mutant wondered as she bit her lip and watched for a moment longer. Before the wolf girl could finish asking for help her friend had already moved to maneuver the other girl up by holding her midsection and, careful of the bandages, gently help her stand enough to walk so she was leaning on Twyla. “Easy, here we go.”

“Bloodfang?” The girl didn’t like the sound of that name. Before she got an answer Em blanched and basically admitted that it was something to be worried about--elaborated even, saying that someone had already been in the way of it because of her that summer. Twyla stopped their slow pace to the infirmary dead in it’s tracks. “Em, what are you talking about?” Her voice was low, concerned, and strong. A gnawing sense of dread clawed through her stomach. She didn’t like where this was going, not one bit.

Emerald knew she wouldnt be able to weasel her way out of this no matter how hard she tried. The wolf girl let out a heavy sigh, really not planning on telling anyone else about who Bloodfang was unless something happened. Twyla knew of him, Emerald had spoken of him vaguely during their meeting in the kitchen that one time, but she didnt tell Twyla the extent of who he was or what he was capable of. Her friend was a worryer and the fact that not only was Emerald nearly killed during the summer, but the fact that Twyla's significant other tried to stop the crazy bastard would give her grounds to worry more.

Weakily, Emerald clenched her fist at her side looking away, clearly the memory was still fresh and painful in her mind. "Remember that guy I told you about? The one who tried to mate with me against my will, the one who was shown to us in a illusion at that house?" Emerald asked, unpleasant memories making her start to feel ill. Her voice, though strong as it usually was, had a great deal of fear in it, "Over the summer, when I went to Florida to see my parents, he found me while I was driving to get oil for my truck. Truck broke down, I was pushing it and while I was taking a break he tackled me to the bed of the truck, Slammed my face into the metal.."

Emeralds voice trailed off from what she was saying, her eyes lost in her own memories. Remembering this was clearly effecting her and what was bad was she remembered what happened next with startling detail. The werewolf pratically clung onto her friend for support, her grip tighter than she originally intended it, her fangs biting so hard into her lip it began to bleed. "Bastard....Damn him to hell," Emerald cursed, her voice shaking in rage and fear, "He nearly killed me, tore open my stomach slammed me several times against the side of the truck breaking almost all my ribs, mutilated me and had his hands in places that they didn't need to be. A doctor fixed me up, but it was at the cost of my water powers."

Even as Emerald listed off the things he did to her so nonchalantly, trying to hard to hide it, it was clear she was in a lot of pain and not just physically. The girls voice hitched several times, and judging by how she was shaking she still had much fear for this man. Every part of her was violated by this Bloodfang and it showed by how she was acting, something that not even her normal strong act could hide. "When I woke up on the hospital bed after I was taken to the doctor, all I remember doing...was screaming." Emerald's voice sounded as if she was going to cry or punch something

Twyla realized she’d recognized the name as soon as her friend gave her some background information. She shivered at the thought of him being around that summer but she was unprepared for the full and most recent story. The blond felt the other girl’s arm tense up when she was recalling the memories. Obviously this was a tough subject, Twyla understood why, but that was why she believed that Emerald needed to share these things with her friends--that’s what they were there for, to listen.

Brown eyes grew a touch wider when Em mentioned that he’d found her when she was visiting her parents. They grew even larger when the wolf girl gave some of the more gruesome details of her story. Twyla had to look away, she couldn’t bear to watch Emerald’s face--the body language and the emotion heavy in the air were enough for her to take without getting all squeamish. She blinked slowly, trying to get the images from her mind.

Finally, her friend’s story was finished.

The blond fought off the heavy shiver that was creeping up her neck. A deep breath was taken instead, she needed to be strong enough to comfort Em. But there was still one thing, one glaring detail, that the wolf girl left out...Who else had to deal with ‘him’?

Twyla let that thought simmer for a moment on the back burner. “Oh, Em...I...that’s....” A sigh. “My words can’t make it right--I’m just sorry that you’ve gone through such terrible things.”

A pause and a very quiet moment. Then, she just jumped right in with what was bothering her. “That..that wasn’t the full story--who...who else, erm, met with Bloodfang, this summer I mean?” Her stomach turned, imagining things.

Once Twyla asked about who was the other people who got hurt because of Bloodfang the wolf girl instinctively cringed. She knew Maya/Gawain was going to murder her for telling Twyla this but neither of them should keep this secret from Twyla forever. Besides, it was far better for them to tell the truth now rather than later, that way if and when Bloodfang came back, Twyla would know why the mad dog had a beef with her boyfriend sometimes girlfriend.

“Surprisingly, Your Boyfriend and My Older sister decided it would be awesome if they tried to go after him, taunt him and free the prisoner he had,” Emerald told Twyla, irritation clear in her voice. She was not that happy about Them risking their own lives just to avenge the fact Bloodfang beat the ever loving crap out of her. Sure that’s what family did but what they did was just stupid and Chaotic, something that was completely opposite of what her older sister would have normally done. Emerald tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear absentmindly before she spoke again. “I didn’t tell them to do it either, they just sorta did it and once I found out I yelled at them both for doing it and maybe punched Gawain for nearly getting himself killed, Sorry about that.”