I tossed once after I woke up and heard Dani say "We have a visitor." I wasn't fully awake, but I rolled over to see what was up. Seeing that everyone else was up on their feet, I thought I should be too. I stood up, still a little wobbly from the battle with the bear, and trotted over to Dani's side. "Are they a friend of yours?" I asked quietly. "It's unfamiliar, their sound. Go get Sky and Ariel," Dani instructed. She seemed so serious. "Kay," I turned around and hopped to where Sky and Ariel were and cautiously walked up to them. The sobriety was so thick in the air you could have suffocated. What was up with them? "H-hey, you guys?" Ariel turned her head while Sky continued to stare off into space like she hadn't heard me. "What's up Asuka?" Ariel asked, "I thought you were sleeping." "I was," I replied, thinking about my dream, "But someone's here, Dani wants you two to come up there in case they're an enemy." Ariel stood up, "Alright, c'mon Sky." Sky nodded and stood up as well.
When we got back to the group, I noticed the hair on Dani's neck was standing almost straight up. Did she feel like she had to protect us? Because Gray, and everyone else were injured in some way? I wasn't going to accept her standing up to another enemy on all of our behalf! I ran over to her side, knowing a bit more what to expect, and stood poised to launch my small foxcoon body at an enemy. Ready for anything, I was surprised to find a dragon sweeping down toward the cave opening saying, "Don't attack! I'm a friend!" Who's friend I wondered. The raven-black dragon landed directly in front of the cave and changed into a beautiful tall girl with very long black hair. I gasped, a little disbelieving. Another half-breed? Really? "My name's Io," the dragon girl started, "I heard there was some fighting going on here earlier."
Continue?
____________________
Sorry you guys! I couldn't resist! I HAD to post! CF is just soo addicting to me! 
HalfwayVamped, I hope I got Io's personality right! Can't wait to hear from you!
~~~This is from Dani's perspective~~~
"What's wrong with all of you? I get the battle with the bear has shaken us up but that isn't it, is it?"
Suprised at the outburst, I turned my head away from the fire and looked at Kara. "Oh, did I look sad?" I asked, tilting my head, "I'm fine." I said smiling, sipping my hot sauce, it was my comfort food, or should I say sauce. "But then again I do have a little pain in my back, but nothing to worry about." I said, rubbing my back with a little frown.
Gray winced as if hit. I turned and gave him a reassuring smile but his hurt expression didn't change.
"That strange, I didn't see you get hit there." Lucy said looking at me inquiringly.
"You should be more worried about yourself," Kara said, looking at her, "Is your rib broken?"
"I-I don't think so." she said looking down, "I just think it's heavily bruised."
"Gray, let me look at your wound," I said, he hadn't let anybody touch it, I guess I had to give it a try. He turned his head away from me, "Gray..." I said in a commanding tone. He sighed and took his shirt off, I heard Lucy behind me draw in a quick breath. I looked at the four long scratches, or gashes I should say,it looked bad. I inspected it closer and with a sigh of relief I saw that it wasn't as bad as it looked.
"It'll heal, it doesn't look like it will scar. Thankfully, the bear only managed to graze you." I said and rummaged through my bag to the bandages and some anti-bacterial cream, I walked over to him and started to treat his wounds. "You should have let the others treat you," I whispered to him, "I know you have a hard time forgiving yourself, but at least give them a chance," I looked up to his eyes, two sorrowful, bottomless pools of gray that gave no answer.
I finished treating him and sat back down, getting out a puzzle, the one with the rings you had to separate. The puzzle was hard and I had a fun time with it, every so often I looked up at everyone else and they all had sad faces, faces that all knew the meaning of pain. I guess their pasts still weighed down on their shoulders. I was happy but it didn't mean I didn't know how they felt.
An hour passed and I heard a faint sound. I turned to Lucy and Kara, they were around the fire, Asuka was smiling in her sleep, Sky and Ariel were sitting silently away from the fire and Gray was sitting down by the cave wall with crossed arms. But where was that sound coming from? I put down the puzzle and turned into my wolf form. Everyone looked at me in surprise, "We have a visitor." I said.
__________________________
I tried to get Io into the story as soon as possible. I don't want you to feel left out HalfwayVamped!
I think this is my longest post ever, I'm still kind of new to posting. I left some hints here and there about Gray and Dani, I hope you caught them!
Hi, my name is Io; my mother, wherever she is now, named me after a moon of jupiter. Living in the mountains is hard, sometimes there is no food, or sometimes there is too much. As of right now, I'm trying to find this cave someone told me about. My friend Keelyan, a raven, flew by and saw a bear and some other animals fighting. Well, it's not much of my concern, but i do want to see if everythings alright. What is that filckering light? it's a fire! mabey that's the place i'm looking for. I should be there within the hour. I hope nobody is hurt.
*i'm sorry if this breaks away from the story line! i just needed a way to meet you guys, so i figured this would work... i hope this is okay!
Ariel crawled my way after the fight was over and asked me if I was alright. I was still really shaken and hadn't even realized I was human again when I sort of nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little dazed..." Then I noticed something. She looked really worried. Did it really matter to her that I was ok? She should be more worried about herself. I looked her over and noticed her limping with every step she took toward me. "Are you okay?" I surprised myself with my concerned tone, "You're limping!"
She was probably a little surprised herself, I usually can't get a sentence out without studdering at least a couple of words, "It's no big deal, I just twisted my ankle is all. I'll be okay, nothing that I can't just walk off." I shook my head disapprovingly, "Maybe we should wrap it." I guess she didn't see any need to argue with a stubborn person like me, so I wrapped her ankle up.
We built a fire and surveyed everyone's injuries. Gray's were the worst by far even though he wouldn't show it. Seeing Ariel go off in a corner to sleep I followed. I switched back to being a foxcoon, curled up and was dozing pretty quickly.
Next thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a field. "I was just in a cave," I thought aloud. It was a beautiful field with wildflowers of every color growing all over the place. The sun was just setting, creating what I thought was the most perfect place in the world to be. If only my brother were here to see it I thought. Then I heard rustling in the grass behind me. I jerked my head around and quickly asked, "Who's there!?" "It's just me," a sweet, gentle voice from my childhood answered. "A-Alex?" I was almost speechless. "You were very brave today Asuka," my brother sat down beside me and pulled me so that my head was on his shoulder, "I'm proud of you." He began stroking my hair and asked me, "Are you glad you have friends now?" "Y-yes, very glad," I was still shocked to be seeing him again, "But I miss you." "I know you do, I miss you too," he closed his eyes and sighed, "You need to move on Asuka. You can't depend on me to be there for you always." "But Alex, this is so nice," I was panicing now, afraid he'd leave me again, "You're my brother, I need you!" "But Asuka," he stopped stroking my hair and turned me toward him, "You're 16 now, you're on your way to Harmony, and you're making friends that can be there for you right now. I can't be there now." "What do you mean?" I asked, a bit confused. "I'm only here..." his voice trailed off like he was thinking, "Maybe it was a bad idea for me to be here with you now." "No! Please don't go again Alex! Not yet!" I felt the tears rushing to my eyes. He looked at me gently, like he did when I was younger and had had a bad day at school, with his big soft brown eyes. He sighed, grinned, then said, "Ok, just a couple more minutes."
He stroked my hair a little bit longer. Alex was always more like a mother to me since I had never truly met my mother since she died soon after I was born. In fact he was also like a father too since he left us in his own depression to fend for ourselves. "I love you Asuka," he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes and said, "I love you too," I reached to hug him, but when I did all I felt was cold rock. I opened my eyes to see my lovely wildflower field gone, only a big cave surrounding me. I sighed, then tried to go back to sleep in hopes that I'd have that exact bittersweet dream again. But instead, I tossed and turned the rest of the night.
Continue?
________________
I figured since everyone's been telling the age of their characters I'd incorporate that in my post. And Alex is about 21. Their father left them when Asuka was 4 and Alex was 9, so he was able to take care of her through most of her childhood. Alex left for war when he was 17, making Asuka 12 when she started living on her own. I'll post her pic eventually!
I sat by the fire as one of them went over to Sky and Lucy. I turned my attention back towards the fire. When was the last time we had a fire outside? I stretched my memories to try and remember.
It was a year ago, at least. It had also began raining just as they started the fire. Kovu had laughed and ran around in the rain as the older children ducked in the cover of the trees from the rain. I chuckled to myself.
I looked around at the others who seemed to have grim looks. I frowned. Why was I the only one remembering something nice? I sighed. "What's wrong with all of you? I get the battle with the bear has shaken us up but that isn't it, is it?" I asked.
<>
Curiosity killed the cat- er mongoose.
~Kara
