Beast Soul

"Is he alive?" Harold leaned forward and stared at the unconscious body of Noah. His gaze contained a mixture of fear and confusion. 

"I think so…" Gerald, who was sitting next to the sequoia tree, replied, and Harold turned to look at him. "I checked on him a few minutes ago, before you woke up." Gerald decided to clarify. "He's breathing, and it seems like he has no injuries. Well, at least nothing visible. So I guess he's just unconscious."

"... I see," Harold nodded his head. He then awkwardly scratched his chin and walked up to Gerald, who tilted his head up from the ground in order to look at Harold. "And who exactly is that?" Harold asked the question that had been bugging him all this time.

"I'm not sure either," Gerald shrugged his shoulders, unable to give a satisfying answer to Harold's question. He glanced at Noah's unconscious body for a split second before continuing, "But I think he's the monster that fought the spider creature down in the sewers."

"Wh- What?!" Harold's eyes widened with surprise. He then looked around before kneeling down next to Gerald, and began to whisper. "Are you being serious right now?" He asked, and Gerald raised his eyebrows. Harold continued, "You're not messing with me right? How sure are you?"

"Why the hell would I lie about that?" Gerald said as he rolled his eyes. "And like I said, I'm not exactly sure. Maybe like sixty percent…"

"Sixty percent?!" Harold almost screamed out loud, but Gerald immediately leapt forward and covered his mouth with his hands. "Are you crazy?" Gerald pointed his finger upwards onto the branches, where the shadowy figure of the dragon could be seen. "That thing is still there. We don't want to make that thing angry now, do we?"

"It's been lying there for like fifteen minutes now. I don't think it plans on killing us. I'm sure it could've easily done it if it really wanted to," Harold explained. "But forget about that for now. Did you say there's a sixty percent chance that he could be a monster?!"

"Isn't that pretty low of a chance?" Gerald questioned, and Harold shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe in most cases. But when it's about dealing with a powerful monster that could kill you within seconds without wasting any effort, I'd say that sixty is a pretty concerning number."

"I guess that's true," Gerald thought about it for a few seconds before reluctantly nodding his head. "But what the hell are we even supposed to do?" 

"What do you mean?" Harold asked, his face was now filled with tension and anxiety. "Of course, we have to try and escape from these monsters.." He said as he pointed at both Noah and Wolfe, who was up in the branches.

"Keep your f*cking voice down!" Gerald gritted his teeth and pushed his hand onto Harold's mouth once again as he reminded him to calm down. After giving Harold a few seconds to breathe, Gerald continued, "Are you f*cking crazy?! I'm here trying to get to keep your voice down just in case the f*cking dragon doesn't get annoyed and decides to eat us, and you're talking about escaping?"

"Of course I'm talking about escaping, Gerald." Harold said and looked at Gerald as though he was the crazy one here. "Oh, don't give me that look," Gerald rolled his eyes in response. "I'm not the crazy one here. That's all you. I'm the one who's being logical here."

"What the hell is your plan? Trying to make friends with a dragon and a werewolf in hopes that they leave us alone? Well isn't that a cute plan." Harold spoke with a sarcastic tone, and Gerald clicked his tongue in response. "At least that's better than yours, which is just to run away! Do you actually think you can outrun a f*cking dragon?"

"Ugh… What the hell are you guys fighting about?" Alphonso groaned softly as he got up from the ground, and both their attention instantly turned to him. 

"Alphonso!" Harold yelled out loud as he rushed over to where Alphonso was lying down, and Gerald followed him close behind with a sour expression on his face. "How many times do I have to tell you to not yell so loud.."

"Alphonso, you should rest." Harold said as he patted Alphonso on the back. He had a concerned expression on his face, and Alphonso let out a sigh before nodding his head. "What are you, my mom?"

"Look at you, making jokes.." Gerald let out a chuckle as he lightly slapped Alphonso on his back, which made him cough. "You know we were worried about you, right?"

*Cough* *Cough*

"Yeah, yeah…" Alphonso said with a wry smile on his face and he reached his hand back in order to massage him back.

"Now, we just need to wait for Max to wake up," Harold whispered softly under his breath as he glanced at Max's unconscious body, and Gerald squinted his eyes. "We're not running away-"

"I didn't say anything about running away, alright.." Harold interrupted Gerald before he could finish his sentence, and the two locked eyes for a few more seconds before Gerald clicked his tongue and looked away. "Tsk.. whatever."

"Why do you guys sound like an old married couple?" Max's voice was suddenly heard, which made everyone turn their heads to look at him. 

"What's the matter?" Max was still lying on the ground, but his eyes were partially opened, and he seemed drowsy. "Haven't seen anyone as handsome as me?"

"F*ck off, you c*unt!" Alphonso shook his head and let out a chuckle, which made everyone else chuckle as well. The whole group laughed for almost half a minute, and then stopped to catch their breaths.

"F*ck, so we are alive…" Max said in a hushed tone, and Gerald nodded his head. "We are indeed. So I guess your plan really did work, Max."

"Although it was because of you that we were in that horrible situation in the first place, so…" Harold murmured to himself, which made Alphonso knee him in the ribs, making him groan in pain. "Ouch! What was that for? I was just saying that we were even now."

"Yeah, that was a really bad idea." Max nodded his head, his expression now turned grim. "I- I don't know what came over me." He said as he tried to explain his reason for going into the sewers. "It- It's just the voice, it- it made me.. uh, different, I guess."

"Yeah, we saw.." Gerald nodded his head. "But you're alright now, right?"

"Ye- Yeah, yeah, yeah… I- I think I am," Max replied while scratching his head. He then glanced at the three boys' faces one by one, and although he initially seemed reluctant, he eventually opened his mouth to speak. "I- I'm.. I'm sorry." Max's lips were trembling when he spoke those words. "I'm sorry, guys…"

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Gerald walked over to the spot where Max was sitting, knelt down in front of him, and hugged him, which caught Max by surprise.

"It's alright," Gerald whispered as he let out a long and heavy sigh. He patted Max on the back and continued, "You were under the influence of the monster and you couldn't do anything. It wasn't your fault."

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Harold also walked over and hugged the two boys from behind. "H- Harold?" Max asked while stammering. 

"I don't forgive you yet." Harold clarified. "But I do intend to. Sometime later."

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sound of footsteps were heard again, and another pair of hands wrapped around the three boys, which made everyone's eyes widen. 

"Well, you can't leave me out of this." Alphonso said as he hugged the group with a wide smile on his face.

"Al- Alphonso?!" Harold yelled out, his eyes stuck on his legs. "What the f*ck? How are you able to walk?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean after the boulder crashed onto my leg?" Alphonso tapped his knees with his fist and said with a smile. "I don't know how, but I was already healed when I woke up. It was like nothing ever happened."

The group of boys looked at each other, confused by Alphonso's words. But before they could discuss it any further, a loud noise made them flinch in fear.

"Alone!"

"Jesus Christ!" "What the hell? That scared the sh*t out of me!" "That almost gave me a heart attack!"

Confused, Noah opened his eyes, only to find four young boys who seemed to be about the same age as him, staring at him with a bit of fear in their eyes. "What the hell…" Noah whispered softly and rubbed his eyes, before immediately coming to the realization that he could move his hands. "I- I'm back!" Noah yelled excitedly, which made the group of boys flinch and move back a few steps, but right then!

GRRRRRAR!

The loud roar interrupted their motion, and Noah saw Wolfe standing right behind the four boys, staring at him with his adorable eyes.. "Wolfe!" He said excitedly as he gave a thumbs up to the dragon. "I'm back!"