Therian Shifters

Chapter 17: The Aftermath Part 2:

Akira felt panicked and scared. Overwhelmed.

The people she knew were giving her pity. But as she shut her eyes, flashbacks from her past mixed in her head. Everything was ganging up on her. But then, something strange happened. Akira went from her hands and knees to hands and feet. A cloud of black smoke went around her. It swirled a few times and revealed Akira had turned to her form. Tyler noticed something about her wasn't right. Her eyes seemed more wild than tame, as her eyes gave off more of a glow than before from her amber irises. She bellowed, panted and stared at Tyler with unsheathed claws, growling.

"Akira, control yourself..." Tyler softly said as he tried to hide his fear, yet Akira could sense it.

She didn't run towards him, she walked slowly with a gentle stride. She stood tall above Tyler as he gulped. She towered over him with a soft snarl. She doesn't seem like she wants to attack me... Tyler thought as he looked up at Akira. She started salivating as she bared her teeth, strings of it showing her aggression more as she panted and growled at the same time, each one sounding more aggressive than the other.

"She's not in control... is she?" Shade asked Mr Tolfree and Mr Ruddle, as both teachers shook their heads. But out of nowhere, Akira stepped back a little, put her face a little closer to Tyler's and roared in his face, the wind from her roar blowing his hair back as he ran and hid behind Rufus. It was then Mr Tolfree nodded at Mr Ruddle as he approached Akira instead. Even though Mr Tolfree was 6 foot, Akira still towered over him with a stern expression. He stood patiently, as Akira growled at him. She then roared in Mr Tolfree's face. He did not run away, he just stood with his arms folded as he shut his eyes to avoid them from drying out from the wind of Akira's roar.

"Akira.. Look at you.." He said in a soft tone as they maintained eye contact. "You been through.. so much in so little time... You've managed to still come to school and learn even in your dark times. So please... take control. I know you can..."

Akira stood still, frozen in one place. Her mouth hung open slightly, as she started to mildly tremble. His soft words had always been one of her weaknesses. Soft voices were so calming and relieving to her. She quietly pined as a tear ran down her furry cheek. She was about to come into control when something clicked in her mind. She roared again. She hyperventilated and pined as she ran around in panic. But from a wrong turn, she bumped into the tree, knocking herself out with a bloody nose. They all sighed in relief as Akira was asleep. Mr Ruddle then turned to his brown lion form and carried Akira on his back. "Lead the way to the forest room, sir."

As they got there, Akira led on the floor on top of a blanket. Tyler went to touch her head when Akira pined in her sleep and something wet touched his fingers. He looked at them to see a wound on Akira's head. A small but deep cut on her head as she pined, tears streaming down her face as her pining got intense. Tyler wiped off his fingers and stroked her mane on her chest. She stopped pining and started to purr. Shade then got a tissue and carefully patted Akira's nose. A bit of the tissue touched the inside of her nostril and Akira sneezed, a mix of blood and mucus going onto Shade's torso, in which he wore a spare PPE torso apron his mother gave him. "And that's why I wear this!" He said, wiping his face off.

Shade then went to his first-aid kit and got his equipment out as he carefully stitched up Akira's wound. As Akira turned back to normal, she was still asleep. She twitched a little.

After a few minutes, she awoke. But as she did, she looked very pale. "BUCKET, QUICK!" Shade commanded in a small panic as Tyler retrieved the sick bucket from by the door as Akira threw up. As she did, she caught her breath, turned to her form and passed out again.

But as she woke up and came to her senses, she was back in her bedroom. But she then heard voices outside her door:

"Her eyes looked... wilder than usual..."

"It can't be... surely not..."

Akira was confused. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to sleep. But as she did, she felt her whole body twitch and tingle. She jolted awake a few minutes later, but she didn't feel like herself. She had turned to her form, but she couldn't get back out of it again. She whimpered and pined, running around her bedroom in a panic, scratching at the walls and the door as she loudly whimpered in distress. It was then from all the shock and distress, she felt her legs drop as she rested her head on her mattress edge. It was then she saw a yellow, bright pulse of light as she slept. She saw trees, sunlight, blue skies. The birdsong grew in the ambience as she ran through the moors, jumping through long grass and feeling the wind blow through her fur. It all felt so real. She panted as she felt the grass blades touch her ankles. It was then it grew foggy and light pulsed again. Then she ran through a savannah, the green grass transitioned to an orangey-yellow as she ran. It then changed back to a forest. But as she looked back and looked forward again, she felt a thud on her head as she fell over. 

As she awoke, she saw blood. It trickled down her forehead. While in her wild state of vision, she banged her head on her bedroom wall and became unconscious. As her parents and Chase heard the thud, they ran in to see Akira led on the floor with a trickle of blood down her face from her forehead as she twitched and laid still.

She awoke once again in the forest room. The fake grass triggered her senses as she jolted awake and Tyler hugged her in worry. Akira saw she turned back, so she placed her left hand on her forehead to see the redness of blood on her forehead. She tried to run away, but she felt restrained as she went into full panic mode. Shade and Daniel held her strongly.

"Wha! What...!" Akira couldn't speak, she was speechless. She had turned from running through the woods and savannah to being at home, to being in the forest room. "PINCH ME!"

Tyler pinched her leg and Akira was relieved she was in the forest room. But then she looked at Mr Tolfree. She ran over to him in tears as he felt the pulse of her distressed aura and the weight of her pushing into him in emotion. She cried on his shoulder as she embraced him in distress and sadness. He felt something in Akira he'd never felt before. She felt broken like he hugged a cracked doll that would fall apart in his hands at any moment.

Akira then dropped to her knees and faced away from him, as she turned to her form again. Mr Tolfree faced her as she backed into a wall, closing in on her gently. "Akira, calm down." He said softly as she quivered. "It's ok. We're here to help. If you can just calm down for me, ok, then we can solve this-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Akira roared in his face with a mix of tears and salivation, frustration and distress. Mr Ruddle then emerged from the doorway and saw Akira shaking violently. He approached her carefully, as Mr Tolfree stepped back. He looked into her eyes, as they were filled with fear in her enlarged pupils. He then carefully stroked her mane, putting one hand on each of her shoulders as he sighed. "Oh, Akira. What are we going to do with you?" He chuckled softly with a friendly and relaxing tone. "We're not here to hurt you. I understand that there is a lot on your mind at the moment, and you want it all to stop, but you just need to breathe with me, ok? Deep breaths one at a time."

Akira uncrumpled herself from the corner slowly and approached Mr Ruddle with caution as she sat down opposite him. He started with one and she did another. After a few minutes, Akira had turned back to normal and felt calmer.

"There you go." Shade smiled. "Let me get my bandage roll so I can patch up that head of yours, ok?"

Akira went to nod but Tyler held her head still. "Keep your head still while he wraps it, Akira. You don't want to lose any more blood, do you?"

Shade then carefully wrapped the bandage around Akira's head. Akira flinched mildly a few times, twitching and wincing at the stinging sensation on her head, but then Shade got some scissors, cut the end and tied it off. "That's better, isn't it Akira?"

Akira did a thumbs up with her right hand as if to say 'I'm fine'.