The Mute Runt

Edge of Sanity

"Your infirmary, quickly Danté". Angel told him.

"I...right. Follow me." He replied. Inferno was not sure what had him so confused until she realized that Angel still had clothing, Inferno wondered why Angel still had clothing after shifting but they never did.

As they entered the infirmary one of the pack doctors approached them, she was tall and slim with leaf green eyes and wood brown hair. She looked between Inferno and the girl in Angel’s arms. Her name was Rosary.

"Tend to the girl Rosary, I am not seriously injured. Just drained." Inferno told her. She nodded and had Angel put the girl on a bed. Angel made sure Inferno was seated in a chair before focusing on the girl.

"I can project an image of her bones, I stabilized her in the field but wanted to get her and Inferno to safety. I will not be able to heal all her injuries." Angel told Rosary. "As it is, I healed the spinal break before we moved her to here.”

"Seeing what her bones look like will help a lot, do we know the girls name?" Rosary asked. Her voice was soft and soothing, it had an instant calming effect. Angel looked at Inferno and she shook her head in answer to Rosary's question.

"Ok, Angel? If you could?" Angel nodded and held her hands over the girl. A soft golden light formed then an imaged appeared over the girl, it was her skeleton. 

"Oh my...." Rosary sounded shocked. Angel looked grim. 

"What is it?" Inferno asked.

"She has broken ribs, both arms are broken, and she has a break in her pelvis. But that's not all, I am seeing multiple old breaks. They appear to have healed relatively well, but whatever this girl went through....it was bad." Rosary replied. Angel simply nodded her head. 

"It is possible that she will not survive this. Even if she does...." Angel did not finish her sentence, she just looked at the skeleton then back at the girl beneath the image.

"Even if she does...?" Danté prompted her. Angel looked at him, she seemed to be weighing her words carefully.

"I believe that she may be on the edge of sanity. I can brush against her surface thoughts, even with her unconscious like this. They are not good, they are scattered, dark, and disjointed. That could just be a concussion but....looking at this image? I have a feeling that that is not the case.”

"What can we do to help? She saved my life." Inferno asked.

"Best case would be to forge a temporary link, preferably with her mate, but a general pack link should help as well." Angel paused, "I can help forge the link, when she regains consciousness it will be up to her to decide if the link becomes permanent or if she chooses to break the link.”

"Why preferably with her mate?" Danté asked.

"It is easier to forge a link between mates than it is between an individual and a pack because there is already a type of bond there." Angel explained, "It is also far less likely to be broken." She looked at the two of them then asked, “Inferno, you mentioned before that you thought you knew who her mate is?”

"Our son." Was my reply. Angel blinked, the answer had startled her. "Is there any risk to him should this link be forged?" She asked.

"Yes. He will have access to her surface thoughts, maybe some of her deeper thoughts as well. There is a chance it could drive him to the edge as well." Angel replied, rather reluctantly. "With that being said...if she dies then he will have two other options for mates" 

“Actually, he will not. So either way we risk loosing them both." Danté said.

"Yes." Angel told him, she looked at the two of them then asked, “Why will he not have two other options? Haloing’s always have 3 destined mates.” She paused and looked expectantly at them waiting for their answer. 

They looked at each other, then Danté responded “When Phoenix turned 18, four years ago, his first mate made herself known. She had willingly turned to the Dark and embraced it, she tried to kill him. He was able to kill her instead, but it nearly destroyed him. He met his second mate two years ago while joining a patrol around some human towns. They were attacked by poachers who used silver bullets, one hit her in the heart. They had only met that day and the bond had not yet been fully formed so Phoenix was once again able to recover. This girl will be his last and final destined mate, without her we do not have a Luna.” Angel closed her eyes and bowed her head. This was not what she wanted to hear, there was an option for Phoenix. It was not pleasant but it would be his choice.

"Danté, go get him." Angel told Danté. He nodded the left to go get Phoenix. Angel nodded and then laid her hands back over the girl. "What are you doing?" Inferno asked. 

"Putting her bones in the right places. Doctor, are you able to put casts on the arms? I can fully heal the pelvis, I do not know what you want to do with the ribs.”

"I have a type of splint for ribs that can be put on her once she starts moving around, as long as they are lined up properly I would prefer to leave it off until then. I can heal her arms but I do not have the power to do that, manage the rest of her internal injuries, and still do the ribs.” Rosary told them both. 

“That is fine. Let us get the bones in the right places and put casts on them, we can worry about fully healing all her internal and life threatening injuries now. I will call on Healinggem to help remove some of the scarring, she will also nee to heal the girls wings.” Angel told Rosary quickly. Rosary nodded in understanding before getting to work.

It felt like hours as Inferno watched Angel heal the pelvis and align the arms and ribs, Rosary then put hard plaster casts on the girls arms as she had not been able to fully heal the breaks, the scarring from previous breaks had made it too difficult. Just as they were finishing Danté arrived outside the infirmary with Phoenix.

As Danté and Phoenix prepared to entered the infirmary Danté stopped Phoenix and told him what was going on inside the room. "Listen to me Phoenix, listen very carefully. Angel says there is a chance this girl might not survive, and even if she does she might not be sane." He paused and looked at Phoenix before adding, "Angel says that she can forge a link between the two of you that may aid her in healing both mentally and physically. But, it is only a temporary link that could break when the girl breaks it herself or she might accept the link and it will become permanent then. She is very badly injured, as I told you. What I have not told you is that Angel can brush against her surface thoughts. Her thoughts are dark, scattered, and disjointed. When the link is formed you will have full access to her thoughts, it will be up to you to try and help her mentally while her body heals. There is a risk to you, you might be pushed to the point of insanity while attempting to help her. Do you understand the risks?”

"Yes, I understand." Phoenix told him. He was very nervous about what he was about to do, but he really did not think that he had much choice.

Angel came out of the infirmary, she looked exhausted. Angel took a moment before looking at Phoenix. “I understand that you have met two other mates prior to this. In this case you have not actually met her but you have scented her, creating a one sided scent bond. Only you feel the bond at this moment. Is that correct?”

“I…Yes. Why is that relevant?” Phoenix asked, startled.

“It is relevant because I am able to break that bond, as long as you do not go into that room. The girl in there has been touched by the Dark, she is linked to the Dark. There is a possibility that, if and when she wakes up, she will be a Dark Haloing. There is also a chance that she will not survive at all.” Angel told him grimly.

“I do not understand.” Phoenix told her, “I though that all Haloing’s only got three destined mates.”

“That is true. Each Haloing only gets three chances at a mate. But there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of potential mates. Right now there is only a one-sided scent bond, you have not visually seen the girl. You have not formed a complete bond with her, unlike your first two mates.”

“What happens to her if I allow you to break the bond?” Phoenix asked.

“Most likely….she will die or go completely insane. Without a pack bond her odds of survival are almost zero, at least surviving with her mind intact.” Angel told him.

“No. Absolutely not. She survived everything they did to her, she escaped from that pack, she then protected my mother in the woods. I will not give up on her, I will do whatever I can to help her recover.” Phoenix told her.

“Very well. Come inside.” Angel told him.

Phoenix walked in and froze, horrified at what he was seeing. Winter was covered in scars, they were raised from the amount of times she had been cut in the same place over and over again. “Werewolves should not get those kinds of scars, or scar at all. What caused them?” He demanded.

“She was starved, Phoenix, and cut repeatedly. Who knows what else they used on her. You saw the records, some of those blades were made of silver. The silver would cause scars like these, as would wolfsbane. It is possible that those records are not accurate, there may be things they did to their victims that were not written down.” Angel replied.

“Right. Okay. What do I do?” Phoenix asked.

"Come here, I will place one of my hands on her and one on you. I will then force a link between your two minds. Once the link has been formed I will be able to guide you in either directing her thoughts into a calmer state or trying to connect one thought to another. I am also going to put a barrier between her thoughts and power and the pack, she will be grounded by the pack but unable to influence them.” Angel paused and looked at him carefully, "Are you ready?”

"Yes, let us do this." Phoenix told her. He approached the two of them and nodded to Angel. She placed one hand on his shoulder, and one on Winter. A soft golden light surrounded the three of them then his world went dark.

Phoenix found himself inside an unfamiliar memory and for a moment he was not certain what was going on. Then he realized he was inside the girls thoughts, and this was her memory. She was in a cell, the bars were silver, and she was curled up in a woman's lap. It was her mother, there was the sound of footsteps approaching. A male appeared in her field of vision. 

‘Your child is a runt, we have removed her vocal cords and voice box. Your daughter will stay here, you however, are being sold to another pack. Say goodbye to your girl.’ The male told her.

The girl had been, maybe 3 or 4 years old when her mother was taken from her. This memory was not crystal clear, but fuzzy as it would be for one of that age.

The memory went dark and a new one formed. She was chained to a wall, and was incredibly hungry and thirsty. There was some confusion as to what was going on, Phoenix became aware of pain in her wings as they had been bound so they could not move. A cell door opened and a different male walked in. She looked at the man, only to be struck across the face, "Do not look at me, do not look at any of us." He then put a blindfold on her. "I do not know if you know what is about to happen. But you are a slave, you are also a runt. To be specific you are a s*x slave, what happens from this point forward is what you are meant to be. s*x will likely never be pleasurable for you, it is not meant to be for runts like yourself. To be very, very clear. You are not worthy of a name, you are only useful to be a slave to us and to other packs we will sell you to. You are only useful for the purpose of breeding, so if I were you I would be willing to bear a child to us. Here is what will happen to you from now on. I am not going to tell you, I am going to make you feel it though. If you fight, I will hurt you more." 

The man started beating her, starting at her head and beating every inch of her. Then stripped off her clothing, the sound of a zipper was heard and the sound of clothing hitting the floor. Then pain, lots of pain. He was pounding into her without mercy, beating her, and cutting her. 

‘We need to get out of this memory.’ Phoenix could very faintly hear Angel, it was clear she was trying hard to reach him.

‘How?’ He asked her desperately.

‘Focus on a place that makes you feel safe and calm, any place.’ Was the reply. He obeyed, he focused on a clearing in the forest. It was a memory of a calm day, he recalled butterflies and the sounds of birds. The sun was warm, and the wind was calm. ‘Perfect, hold onto that memory.’

The memory the girl was trapped in shifted, he/the girl was now standing in that clearing. Phoenix felt a sense of calmness overtake him, he no longer felt afraid.

‘Come on back out, the link is now formed.’  Angel told him

As Phoenix opened his eyes he could still sense the girls thoughts and feelings. They remained calm and steady.

"Whenever you sense her begin to slide back into a dark memory all you will need to do is close your eyes and you will be with her in that memory. You will then have to focus on that clearing, that will bring you both to that clearing. Once you get her there you will be able to open your eyes back to the here and now." Angel told me. He nodded in understanding, he felt sick. "There could be a lot of memories like that, you need to prepare yourself.”

"Do you think I will learn her name in one of these memories?" He asked Angel. 

"Maybe, I do not know for sure.” Was the only response.

"Thank you." He looked back at the girl laying in the bed as he felt her mind start to shift away from the clearing and back into a memory of horror. "Here we go again.”

"Good luck." Angel told him, she then left the room One of the pack members guided her to a guest room that she could rest in before she flew on to Fortress Phoenix.

He/the girl was blindfolded again, somebody was cutting him. The knife blade was running from front of the girls/his shoulder and moving down the girls/his chest and stomach. It felt like somebody else was beating the girl/him. Phoenix could hear laughter as the girl/he cried silently.

He did not think that he was going to learn her name in this memory, he focused on the clearing as Angel had told him too. Then he/the girl was back in the clearing. But his view was different.

"Who you?" He turned, he was looking at the girl.  Her eyes were a deep blue-purple.

“No ask again." Her voice was low and dangerous, madness could be heard in her voice as well. Phoenix discovered that he could not leave her mind.

"My name is Phoenix. What is your name?" Phoenix asked.

“Me Storm. She Winter”

“She? Your counterpart, the one that you shift back into out of wolf form?”

“Yes."

“You seem no harm, I watch you. Why you in head?”

“I am trying to help, can you please let me go?”

“No. I no let you go. Why help us?”

“Because I want you to get better, I want to help you recover and get stronger. You were badly injured when you helped protect one of my pack members.” He chose not to tell her that Inferno was his mother, and that Winter was his mate.

“You hurt us, then I destroy you. Understand?”

“I understand completely. I will be here if you get lost in memory again. Are there any memories that are good?" He asked her, truly hoping that the answer would be an affirmative.

“No. No good in past" Storm replied. He felt her release him back into my own mind.*

As Phoenix opened his eyes he found his mother looking at him, he was thankful he was siting down as he was not sure how long he was in her mind that time.

"Her name is Winter." He told his mother. 

"You spoke to her?" She asked eagerly.

"No, I spoke to her wolf Storm." Phoenix replied. "Mom...Storm says that Winter has no good memories, this could take awhile. But, she also said she will try and keep her and Winter in the clearing that I keep bringing them too."

"What is bothering you?” Inferno asked, concerned.

"Even her wolf has admitted that her mind is broken, she is literally on the edge of sanity." He hesitated before adding, "I can hear madness in her wolfs voice as well."

His mother looked at him, then at Winter.  She stood and looked at Winter for awhile, then turned and began to leave the infirmary.

“If her wolf is on the edge of sanity, then her wolf may be close to being feral. You might not be able to bring her back, if her mind cannot heal and she breaks instead...it may be too late for her. You need to warn your Beta that they may need to take over as Alpha. I truly hope that she recovers, if we lose her we will lose you. I know she survived a lot, and saved me, but this may be a risk that you should not have taken.” She told him softly before leaving the room.

"We will not give up on her." Flame informed him.

"No, we won't. Flame, can you speak to her wolf with her like this?” Phoenix asked curiously.

"A little, not well though. Sometimes she is present, sometimes she is not." Flame replied, "I am not certain that she is able to recognize me as her mate as of yet." 

"Okay, well if anything changes with her will you tell me?" 

"Of course, any change and I will tell you." 

Phoenix sat there for awhile and eventually drifted off to sleep while sitting in the chair beside his mate.