Ana turned her head slightly north, testing the wind. There was a foreign scent in the air this morning: fear. The forest was full of it, shaking and waiting. Trembling. Turning away from the morning light, Ana shook out the stiffness in her limbs and took off.

She was standing on the edge one moment, the next she was a blur through the Anathasian forest. Normally she would thrill in her speed and the thick air biting her cheeks, but not today. Today she was on a mission to stop those who would make her normal, take away that which had made her cursed.

Oh the irony of life. To love what you are and be cursed for it, then hate it and go to destroy those who would turn back the pages of evolution. Ana ran faster, ducking with super human speed and the agile footing of a wolf.

That's what she was, part of what it anyways. A wolf. Not a werewolf, Lord knows, being a werewolf would be easier. Only on the full moon right? What she was, it's 24/7. Her abilities and attitudes revealed her wolf-like self every time she moved, in the shift of her eyes. She knew how wary they were, even slightly yellow at night, it had been that way ever since she went out on her own. Okay, ever since she was disowned.

Thrown out by her own high parents. But she didn't think about it, tried not to. Anger fueled her and right now she needed that anger to make herself destroy her last chance of returning to normal. No more 'lone wolf', no more spirit-like wolves popping our of no where, no more being able to smell what people were eating a mile away. But normal was the easy way out, the loser way out.

So anger spurred her on to James, she would need his support. He was very dependable in a way she could never be, and she never let him know it; he always stuck around. He's the only one who ever has.

She broke out from the trees in pined burst and slowed down to what the average person would call a sprint. Down the hill, rock to rock. The sight before her dulled her mind as she refused to accept it. Her primal instincts were the only things pushing her down the hill now. The little dusting of houses that usually graced these hills so beautifully were, this morning, a hap-hazard scene. Finally understanding the fear and silence of the forest, Ana zipped through the mess, her own fear now constricting her chest. She just had to reach one house, just one. Then it would be okay.

The doorway and walls are basically all that remaind upright. There was no sign of the roof, all windows smashed. For the second time in her life, Ana was frozen to the spot. She could only stare at the pieces of furniture, the wood and the shards of glass.

The blue chair where she had spent so many evenings with James, just staring into the stars, lay crippled and bereft like her heart. Lying there as if to say she should have been there and yet it was okay, because this was not meant to be her fate. That her being alive now has a larger purpose. Fate.

Unable to bear it any longer she pushed her way into the ruble of the house. She didn't enjoy confrontations of fate, her choices were her own. No one controlled her.

"James?" Her own voice sounded so flimsy, broken. She stiffened herself, a mental slap, and tried again: "James? Rosie?"

"Wanna keep yur voice down eh?" The slur came from a dark corner; wading in she found him. She grimaced. "Tha' bad huh?"

Yes, that bad. He was half phased through several pieces of wood, large bruises around each entry, and his lip was split wide, hence the slurring.

"James..." Despairing she kneeled beside him, she didn't care about her tough persona right now, there wasn't enough room in her mind for it. What was the matter with her? She looked down at his bashed face, eyes stinging.

"Not gwon get sof' on me now are ya?" That being just the kick in the butt she needed, Ana snapped back into her old facade like flipping a light switch and stood. " Gimme a han', I'm stuck." He attempted a grin, it was a terrible grimace that sent a sliver through Ana's heart.

From the wreckage of homes Ana freed James, his mother, Rosie, and several other friends. Once fed and watered, they warm up in one of the only places left with a roof and Rosie told the story. Damien came for James, Ana spaced out. He was that far - how had he gotten that far? How had no one seen this coming?

"Thank God you came, it was fate you know, He has everything timed perfectly." Rosie smiled but Ana only nodded stiffly and left the shack of a building. She liked Rosie, but the compassion the likes of what was mirrored in her eyes was hard to deal with. And of course...fate.

And James...her feelings for him she always buried, emotions cloud the mind. But coming that close to losing him, well, nobody's that heartless.

"And where do you think you're going?" James bounded up beside her and kept stride with a lopsided smile...she loved that smile. He looked a little better now that there weren't two by fours sticking out of his sides.

"I have things to do, I can't waste time here. Even as we speak Damien is planning to work on Rae and simultaneously take another from her Earth." She looked at him, "There's a world to save you know."

"Look," James blocks her path, "did you ever think it might not be your job to save everybody? I mean, try to save yourself for once. Oh yeah," he rolled his eyes, "you don't need saving and let me guess, you don't care. I've been around you long enough, I know you care, I'm not blind. So why not stick around and have a cup of coffee," seeing the look in her eyes he amended, "or I'll come with you and bring the coffee. And this, is so you wait for the coffee and me, you can't save the world by yourself."

Then he kissed her and Ana savoured the sensation of her first kiss, even the diluted taste of blood from his cut. The only person she'd ever let close enough...

At 18 she knew there was only one person who cared and she didn't want to lose him.

"Alright, let's not get all mushy in one night. I'll get the coffee and then we'll go." He turned towards the 'house'.

"Cliff?"

"Yeah..."

"I love you." What power in those words.

"I know, I love you too."