“Yes,” he cut her off his deep voice gentle, He was quiet a moment before continuing, “and I am also your biological brother,” he saw the eyes pop out of both of their heads. “But!” he interrupted, raising a hand to draw their attention, “We can talk about that later, what it means for you right now is that you need my help. Your Spirit is in there trying to escape, and since in almost 18 years you have never traded spaces, coupled with the fact that your spirit survived, she needs out or else your body won’t be able to contain her. I can hear the storm inside you, and I am worried neither of you will survive.”

Being reminded of her inner war brought clouds to Lydia’s amber eyes.

Terrance crouched down low in front of her,” bringing his amber eyes level with her own, seeing them so close together, Darryl was inclined to believe his brothers far-fetched story, their eyes looked like gems cut from the same stone.

‘Or sap hardened from the same tr-’

‘Shut up Lapu!’ Darryl scolded mentally.

Darryl noticed what his brother was doing right away, he was going through the steps used to get injured packmates to make the shift.

‘Are you-’ he reached out to his brother, but barely got a confirmation before he was shut out mentally, Terrance wasn’t just going to encourage a shift, he was going to force it. ‘You can’t force a shift if there is no spirit, and if it is also true that she is their sister, then she would have to be-’

“What is her name?” Terrance’s voice brought Darryl out of his shocked musings. A strained keening noise left Lydia’s lips in response, and Terrance tried again, but it was causing her physical and emotional pain to be drawn out like this. There was something there, blocking Terrance, almost like a lump of tar in her mind.

Darryl reached out and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder and pressed in next to his face, catching Lydia’s trance, Darryl had never done this before, it was dangerous to force a shift without proper guidance and understanding.

Terrance was reasoning that that would be the case even more with someone who had never made the shift. Terrance was attempting to object. However, within moments of Darryl taking her, her keening stopped, and she was only moaning softly.

“Lydia,” Darryl pried, “Lydia, please let me know your other name,” he called. “I need her name, or we can’t help her out,”

Lydia’s mouth opened, and her throat worked, but there was no coherent sound. “Then let me in,” he said and impulsively reached his fingers over to her neck, settling them into place, Terrance was caught off guard, he tried to intercede but was not fast enough. They had made the connection; he just hoped his brother could handle the dark tangled mess that was in her head.

Darryl immediately knew that it was a dangerous choice coming here. Lydia’s brain was stuffed so full of white noise and shadows that there was barely enough room for her own self. Let alone her Spirit companion. ‘Lydia,’ he called gently from inside. Part of her stirred, hearing a new voice, there was nothing audible about it, more like a pulling sensation, like how a spider knows it caught its prey. He followed the chord deeper until there was a small shadow curled up in a dark cave-like corner.

“You must be Lydia’s spirit companion,” he coaxed, “I want to help you both, I just need your name so I can lead you out,”

“We can’t go out,” came two voices, one from ahead and one from behind, he turned and there was Lydia, her form distorted and covered in the dark sticky goop that was permeating this place and barring in the spirit companion like an animal on display.

“You can-” he started, but Lydia started keening and the spirit clawed its way deeper into its pseudo-cave, trying to escape. She had been clawing her way out. The barrier in the mind was weak and torn. She wouldn’t have lived much longer; their bond was fraying.

“Please,” said Darryl, “Spirit, not that way, you’ll tear her apart!” it was in earnest, but with the gentlest tones he could manage as similar images of Lydia’s rent skin filled his memory. “I can lead you both out safely, I’ll protect you! I swear!”

“But-” Lydia said, looking past him before sludging her way to the side, distracted.

“I just need her name, I can free you both with her name,”

Lydia’s form wobbled on her feet, pulling at the sticky mess haplessly. He turned to his friend, getting as close as he could without touching the strange environment.

“I know you’re tired and scared Lydia, I can take over from here, but only if you let me,”

There was a moment that lasted an eternity and then time was moving again, Lydia sloshed over. Pulling back the shadows from the Spirit’s entrance with mostly useless hands, making room for him to reach in without touching the chords of slime. Inside he felt a familiar brush of a spirit. A spirit who shuttered from lack of contact, and he heard the wind whispering through leaves, and felt the long tendrils hanging around him and smelled the sweet moist air trapped beneath the boughs, with tiny flourishes of fresh breeze flitting through. Then there was the soft touch of the little flowers and the firm sinewy stalks.

He had her name, all that was left was to draw her out,

Following the path that pulled him in as far as he could, he called out to his own spirit, Lapu. The sturdy echo of his Spirit sounded, and he traced it out. As Darryl withdrew out of the chaos and into his own mind, he gave a violent shake, from the top of his head down to his fingers and toes, as if shedding excess water from his skin, but never breaking eye contact. He tried to ignore the rending pain in his heart when the two let him go, no questions asked, as if leaving them alone after offering help was the only expected outcome.

Steeling himself, Darryl groped beside him, pulling his brother closer, knowing that his experiences as a pack coordinator would be needed to pull her out of that sticky mire and Darryl had already risked his own bond to enter her mind’s space.

“Willow,” Darryl breathed, passing her back to Terrance. “She is trapped, burrowing in fear, but there is a path,”

“Willow,” Terrance called as gently as he could. “Willow,” he chanted her name growing firmer and more direct with each call. Finally, like a fish on a line, he could feel her, his voice had revealed the path to her, and she had taken a single step.

“Darryl?” he heard, her voice was just as wispy as her name, hope had started seeping into her.

“He’s out here, he wants to help you and Lydia,” he coaxed.

“I want my brother,” she whimpered, and he could tell by the mental shifting that she meant someone else entirely.

“Oak is here too, he’s with me inside, he wants to teach you how to come out safely,”

“He doesn’t want me!” she cried, shrinking back.

“Yes he does,” Terrance said, voice cracking with emotion, “We want you so bad that we gave you up, we want you safe, we were young, it was the only way to protect you-” Terrance’s voice faltered, and his very confused brother laid a hand on his shoulder, helping how he could.

“Promise?” the whisper was more fragile than the thinnest ornamental glass.

Terrance let Oak come forward as much as he dared at this phase and together, they swore their sincerity. He felt her leave the darkest shadows, the sticky tar-like tendrils making her moves sluggish and faltered.

He called to her, leading her. Voices and flashlights ebbed closer, and they had to be silent for a while, hearts beating like thunder. However, they were deep in the shadows behind the fallen tree, eventually they passed on and he continued his guidance.

Oddly, her eyes never changed. Staying just as bright amber as ever, but the shape. Terrance missed it, but Darryl saw, the Iris’s grew, filling more of the space and showing Willow at the front of the mind. Darryl had seen the hint of orange in the spirits eyes and knew instantly she was there.

“She’s ready,” he breathed, letting his brother know he saw the physical change.

Terrance shed his temporary pants, moving quickly much the way his brother did to stay modest. He felt her close but wasn’t sure until his brother acknowledged a change. ‘She must be the rare type that has a separate tell’ Oak acknowledged.

“Willow. Lydia. You need to work together here, Lydia you must share, she can’t come out if you don’t give her the space to.”

“Hurts,” Lydia said aloud, the eyes constricting slightly,

“Only when done incorrectly, Oak wants to teach her,”

“No,” tears formed in the eyes.

“Why Lydia?”

“Alone.” The tears spilled, the eyes contracted more, and Darryl signaled to his brother to wait, but Terrance knew.

“Lydia, I was wrong, I won’t leave you alone again, neither will Darryl and Lapu, please let Willow out so we can be a family again,”

“Family?”

“Yes. You two are our sisters, please.” he begged.

This time he saw it, the shift in the eyes, followed by his brother’s signal, “You promised-” Lydia trailed off.

Terrance began the process, letting Oak take over and latch onto Willow. When Darryl saw his brother’s eyes darken and Oak take over, his body quivering to hold back the change, Darryl moved to help his sister remove the clothes that would prevent the shift. He withdrew scissors from the satchel his brother had grabbed in the mad dash, and cut up the back of her shirt, eye contact could not be broken, he knew Oak would be explaining the process to her mentally and that their breathing and heartbeats would become one.

When the last bit of clothing was removed, Darryl felt the static rising and knew the change would happen, the air began to shimmer and there was a groan from deep in her throat and the change began. Darryl couldn’t take his eyes off the two forms, traditionally the change was over in moments, the haze too thick to see any clear details of the shift, but Darryl could feel that he was in the cloud of the static and the change was happening so slowly it was as if time had come just short of a stop.

It might have been disturbing if he had no understanding of the change, limbs adjusting their size, joints rotating in their skin and entire organs adjusting their form and placement. The sounds were nothing new to him, but rather than a single chord it was a melody as each adjustment was made. The muscles twitched down the length of her back as a sheen of hair seemed to fall over her, the dark color glistening in the shadows, almost identical in color to his brother’s.

The two of them were nose to nose, panting hard. The shift wasn’t painful, but felt like a good deep stretch, and used a huge number of calories.

“Welcome to the family,” Darryl said, and shifted himself also.