Welcome to Gaia! ::

The occurrences that continued to happen on his planet, indicating that something was happening—something beyond his knowledge. Something he was afraid to handle. But... He knew of someone who could help, even more so than the other two he'd invited to his planet before.

Princess Ida. She would know what to do. He liked her, she was sweet and very smart and had helped her own planet with its strangeness.

He waited, perfectly still, perfectly quiet, just like a hunter. He felt like he'd need to be one, to hunt down whatever was causing problems on his planet and CRUSH IT CRUSH IT LIKE THE WAY HIS VERY SOUL HAD BEEN A THOUSAND YEARS ALONE AND NOW—

He bit his lip hard enough to bleed.

Fang perked up when he felt Ida's eternal signature and couldn't prevent himself from yipping a soft greeting from low in his throat—a sound he hadn't made in years. Not since his Chrysocyon family had all perished. He blushed bright red immediately, but simply cleared his throat.

"Here, Ida!" he said verbally. Chasing away the evil thoughts. His friend was here. He could do it. He wasn't alone.

He beamed as she came closer, eyes scrunching shut from the force of his smile.

Fang's tail sped up at the warm embrace. He hugged her back, rubbing his face into her hair and now making a low, grumbling sort of noise deep in his chest.

"Yes," he confirmed, squaring his shoulders as she squeezed them and feeling much better in her presence. "Friend Ida come with Fang, to Fang? Home feel... unsafe. More than before. The bad-scary-dark getting worse. Need to look. Found tracks, see strange things."

Fang grasped her hand with enthusiasm and determination. He was glad she wanted to help. The more he did this... the more he realized he had more people in his life that loved him than he had ever really thought he had before.

He liked Earth. A lot.

But as he remembered his mother's warm hugs, and his other mother's warm tongue, he knew what he was truly fighting for.

Nothing could bring them back, he knew, but his planet—Fang—was still his home. With a deep breath, he took Ida to his home.

The strange darkness enveloped them—and if Fang had had the experience of a total solar eclipse, he would have called it that kind of darkness.

"Stay quiet," he warned. "Don't know what listens."

Fang perked up at the flashlight—letting out a little rrrruff of thanks, before clearing his throat.

"Thank, Ida," he whispered as he took it. He could see fairly okay as it was, but it couldn't hurt to have more light to see with. Slowly, he moved them towards the old village. It was away from where the tracks led, but maybe they'd get some answers from the settlement he'd thought of his secondary home for a while.

He froze when they emerged from the trees to the next clearing—the buildings here had all been... shredded. It looked like a torndado had ripped through here, the way the buildings were collapsed and the wood splintered apart.

Why was the light from the flashlight bouncing around so much? Weren't his hands still?

Fang's shaking reduced down to slight tremors as Ida placed her hand on his, body calming down. He wasn't alone. Never again would he be alone. He had to remember that, to hold onto that thought so deeply that it stuck to his very soul.

"Fang been like this since Fang little boy," he said softly as they trudged towards the old village. "Since Todd watch Fangan-mother die. Sun go dark. World go cold. Little Fang find small Chrysocyon family to stay with, for many year... then everyone slowly die anyway. Fang should... be used to this. But..."

He shivered. "Something different about the dark and quiet when Fang know scary monsters lurk. Nobody attacked for thousand years, not near Fang, not near Fang's little village. But now... Fang see. New tracks. Air... smell different."

Fang considered the question, then nodded, not wanting to think of the implications of the first thing she'd said.

"Look, see, find. Know what we deal with," he said quietly, hoping his voice did not shake in the way his hands did. He kept moving forward.

The flashlight beam fell upon the old village, and he brightened for a moment as memories flooded his brain, and then he realized what, exactly, he was looking at.

Destroyed buildings. The entire small village in this clearing, smashed to smithereens.

The flashlight fell from his hands, following his knees to the ground.

"My friends," he said, staring at the buildings. "They dead, long time, yes, but their houses... Houses built last long time. Houses still good, last time Fang saw. But it been... long time."

He shuddered, leaning into Ida, drawing strength from her presence. She, too, was his friend. An alive one. He needed that.

"....Fang miss them," he said, voice raw and whispery.