17 losing control

"Wait." Alaric says, stopping Hope from going into Sosuke's bedroom.

"What?" Hope asks annoyed, walking over to the teacher.

"MG, Rafael and Landon are all missing." Alaric tells her.

"What, but tonight is a full moon." Hope says worried.

"Yeah. We have to find them." Alaric tells her.

"I don't know why my locator spell wouldn't work." Hope says worried as She and Alaric are walking through the woods minutes later after Hope tried to find them magically.

"Either someone is cloaking them. Or... Or they're dead." Alaric replies.

"Why would they leave campus? What possessed them to be so reckless?" Alaric asks annoyed.

"They wouldn't. Unless I caused this." Hope says fearfully.

"What?" Alaric asks, squinting his eyes.

"Remember. I told Landon. He was so angry, he might have tried to leave or something." Hope says worried.

"We should have brought Sosuke. I know given the love triangle between you him and Landon it wouldn't be ideal, but his skillset would be really useful right now." Alaric tells Hope.

"Our... complicated emotional state has nothing to do with why I didn't want to get him." Hope insits, only half believing herself though.

"Oh, why not then?" Alaric asks curiously.

"He needs to sleep. After the oneiroi... and then the slugs it's already hard for him to sleep and if we yank him awake every time..." Hope tells the headmaster.

"Did he tell you that he has trouble sleeping?" Alaric asks.

"He doesn't have to." Hope replies.

"Maybe you're right. And hopefully nothing is wrong anyways." Alaric says.

"Dr. Saltzman." Hope says, pointing over to the side and he points his flashlight in the direction, a hurt and scared looking Rafael cowering in a corner against the school's fence.

"Raf. Raf, are you OK? What happened?" Hope asks the teen.

"MG. Landon... I can't remember." Rafael replies shakily.

"We need to wake up Sosuke." Hope says with a sigh while they bring Rafael into the house.

Rafael is almost immediately diagnosed with lunar psychosis by Emma and Alaric, meaning his mind is trapped between human and wolf right now.

Emma explains that it's a very rare thing and only happens with a premature reversion, when someone shifts back before the full moon is over.

Shortly after Emma gives Rafael something to help him stay calm and get rest, Sosuke and Hope show up at the boys door.

"He needs to rest, but he said that they were going to MG's parents so he could talk to his dad. And that Penelope Park cloaked them from being tracked before she left." Alaric tells the two teens.

"How are we doing this?" Alaric asks Sosuke.

"Why are you asking him? You're the one supposed to know what to do." Hope says emotionally.

"Hope. It's all good. Just stay calm." Sosuke tells her, squeezing her hand supportively.

"You know who his parents are right?" Sosuke asks Alaric, who nods in response.

"Good then you try to follow their steps from there, while Hope and I will start at the end and track back Rafael's steps." Sosuke says.

"Oh and maybe grab Kaleb. In case you need some more firepower." Sosuke adds after considering what state MG could be in.

"Wait right here." Sosuke tells Hope and heads back to his room to get some better clothes and gear.

"This is my fault isn't it?" Hope asks Alaric shortly after Sosuke left, feeling a concerned look coming from the man.

"Landon pushed MG to talk to his parents because he learned of his mother. But it's not your fault or your responsibility to look out for Landon's reaction to hard news. Especially when you are struggling yourself." Alaric tells her.

"That's the worst part. To some degree I am glad that he reacted the way he did. Because I wouldn't have to choose anymore." Hope says choking up a little.

"Hope." She hears Sosuke's voice from behind her. She turns around just in time to see his saddened face after hearing what she confessed to their headmaster.

"Let's go." He says calmly and she sees his all too familiar stare he usually had before he was freed from being compelled.

"Go. We'll find them." Alaric says, giving her a light push to snap her out of her worried mindset.

Sosuke takes her hand and leads her outside where she then brings him to the spot they found Rafael.

"Sosuke. About just now..." Hope says worried that he hasn't said more than 2 sentences since they left the school and fears he's going to abandon her too.

"It hurt hearing you say it out loud. But it's not like I didn't know already." He tells her, stroking over her faintly.

"Now, let's focus on the task at hand." Sosuke tells her after giving her forehead a kiss.

"There are two options. Option 1: You trust yourself enough to track his scent backwards in wolf form. Option 2: I track him normally." Sosuke says.

"I think I can do it." Hope says, nodding her head after calming down her irregular breathing.

She then proceeds to take off her clothes, laying them on the ground behind Sosuke as he turns around. Once she's done she transforms into her nearly white wolf form and howls loudly. Sosuke looks at her while he puts her clothing in his backpack and watches her cautiously.

"Can you track him?" Sosuke asks, looking for any sign of her understanding and she nods before taking off in the direction her sense of smell tells her to go.

Sosuke runs after her as fast as he can, luckily finding her waiting for him the three times she was too fast for him to follow and about two hours later they reach their destination.

Sosuke checks on MG who is lying on the floor, shaking while stammering nonsense with a bite wound on his arm.

"Hope I need your blood." Sosuke says, knowing that Vampires won't survive a werewolf's bite for long.

When he turns around, expecting to see her back in her human form after she disappeared behind a tree he is instead greeted to the sight of her snarling at him in her wolf form, stepping over slowly while looking ready to pounce.

Sosuke steels his nerves and crouches down in front of MG to shield him.

"Hope." Alaric says, arriving with Kaleb and they see her growling at Sosuke.

"MG was bitten. I don't know where Landon is, or why she's like this." Sosuke tells the two newcomers.

"Hope. Calm down. He is our friend." Sosuke tells her when he sees her get ready to jump and moments later she pounces at him and MG, her claws digging into his left arm as he tries to keep her away from MG. Sosuke is awkwardly holding onto her as if he were hugging her beneath her front paws and this works for all but 2 seconds before she bites Sosuke in his left shoulder.

"Hope, let him go." Alaric says worried and readies his crossbow.

"Don't you dare pull the trigger." Sosuke warns the man while he grabs onto Hope's neck's fur and gets up with a painful yell, her teeth digging further into his shoulder.

He steps away from MG with her, Hope clawing at him wildly and he pins her against a tree, trying to limit her movements until Landon's voice is heard asking "What are you doing? Is that you Hope?"

Hope in her wolf form relaxes and stops wailing, turning back into her human form,trapped between Sosuke and the tree.

"Hope I need you now!" Alaric tells her sternly and takes her over to MG. He cuts her hand with an arrowhead, giving the vampire her blood to cure his werewolf bite while Kaleb speeds over to help Sosuke, who keels over against the tree, bleeding badly.

"I need to take him outta here Dr. S." Kaleb says.

"Go. I'll take care of them." Alaric says, looking at the wounded Sosuke worried.

Hope notices her state of undress after MG drank her blood and sees Sosuke's bag, taking out her shirt and pants and quickly puts them on, noticing the blood on her only once it smears onto her white shirt.

"What happened?" She asks, freaking out when she reaches up and feels blood all around her mouth.

"Did I bite him?" Hope asks Alaric guiltily while looking at MG.

"No. You bit Sosuke." He tells her disappointed and worried.

"Why would I bite Sosuke? The last thing I remember... Is your corpse." She says looking at Landon.

"I don't know either. I just woke up in a pile of rock." Landon tells her and Alaric when they look at him.

"Show me." Alaric says and Landon shows him a human shaped cocoon of hardened ash.

"I think I know what you are. Have you ever heard about the phoenix?" Alaric asks Landon, whose eyes widen in realization and he gasps "No way."

"Dr. Saltzman, what did I do?" Hope asks again, looking at him with confused eyes.

"Let's get you all home first." Alaric says and he as well as Landon help MG to shaky feet and bring him to the car, Hope following them while carrying Sosuke's backpack.

In the Meantime Kaleb is rushing back towards the school with Sosuke on his back until he feels drained and falls over exhausted.

"Why did you let her do that to you?" Kaleb asks Sosuke, not understanding why he would let her hurt him like that.

"I had to protect MG. But that doesn't mean I should hurt Hope." Sosuke says.

"Hey. Aren't we near a grocery store?" Sosuke asks, seeing a mile marker on the road they are following.

"Yeah. Why?" Kaleb asks.

"Do you think they will miss some juice?" He asks with a smirk, his electrical tendrils rising from his fingers.

"I don't care if they do." Kaleb says, on board with the idea of Sosuke using electricity to heal himself.

The two boys then head to the transformer behind the shop and Kaleb breaks its lock with his vampire strength. Sosuke sends his tendrils into the transformer connection and Kaleb watches contently when Sossuke's wound fills up and his skin regenerates while the lights in the shop flicker.

"I'm good, now let's bounce." Sosuke says once he's fully healed and the two hurry off in time before a clerk steps outside to check on the transformer.

Kaleb and Sosuke then make their way to the road and follow it at a relaxed pace until 5 minutes later they hear a car honking and see their friends and headmaster pull over, letting them in.

"Uhh. What?" Alaric asks Sosuke confused when he gets into the far back of the van with Kaleb while Landon is riding shotgun and MG as well as Hope are in the middle row.

"Sosuke. They said I hurt you..." Hope asks him weakly, looking at him worried and sees his blood soaked and shredded clothing, bringing tears to her eyes.

"I'm fine. I healed." He tells her, pulling up his shredded sleeves.

"How?" Alaric asks.

"Ma boi can siphon electricity to heal." Kaleb says, patting Sosuke's shoulder proudly.

"You can?" Alaric asks shocked.

"Yeah. I found it out when I was brainstorming with Kaleb and MG the other day." Sosuke answers while Alaric drives everyone back.

"So you both heal in a dramatically weird way." Alaric says.

"Both?" Sosuke asks.

"Apparently I'm a phoenix." Landon informs Sosuke, still shocked about this himself.

"And Hope seems to have fallen into a fugue state when she saw his dead body before he revived." Alaric tells Kaleb and Sosuke.

A 20 minute drive later the group pulls up at the school and everyone leaves the car, Kaleb taking MG with him.

"Thanks for coming looking for us." Landon tells the group, giving everyone a hug except MG who is hanging off Kaleb's shoulder still delirious.

Sosuke and Hope walk to their rooms in silence and both disappear behind their door without another word.

After each of them cleaned up, Hope sitting in her bed, her knees pulled to her chest.

When her door opens she looks up and sees Sosuke come in and join her sitting on the bed, wordlessly pulling her into his side with an arm around her.

"Why are you here?" Hope asks quietly.

"I told you. I could never leave you." He says, brushing through her hair comfortingly.

"I hate myself for what I'm doing to you." She says, balling her fists.

"I'm not happy about some of the things that happened either, but that doesn't change how I feel about you deep down." He tells her and lies back in the bed, pulling on her shirt gently until she is also lying back next to him.

"How can you say you still like me? I almost killed you today." She asks tiredly.

"Hope. You put too much weight on your shoulders. As the tribrid. As a leader and as a girl. Everyone who goes to this school is screwed up and everyone here also will screw up continuously." He tells her.

"How about we do not talk about everything and just be together, do you want that?" He offers, intertwining one of their hands.

"More than anything." She replies.

"Good." He says and leans over to her, kissing her lovingly for a while before turning her around on her side and pulling her against him, spooning her before falling asleep in record time.