You don't want to watch me die, I just came to say...

It was in the Hospital Wing that Ariel could relax and he allowed himself to without a second thought. He let his head sag into the pillows behind it and he felt the soft mattress and charmed covers take his full weight. They weren’t burdened by it – not that he weighed much anyway – and whatever discomfort he felt disappeared and whatever knots there were in his back were slowly released by the warmth that radiated out of the covers. Ariel moaned quietly and shifted his self so his lower back bore the brunt of the heat. Ariel hummed happily and shifted again, directing the heat to the other side of his back. “That’s nice,” he breathed to himself, a content smile sitting on his lips.

When Jack stepped forward, Ariel opened his eyes. He looked up at her and smiled gently. “Its fine,” he told her honestly. “I can’t feel a bloody thing.” He threw his arm up and put it behind his head, a yawn escaping his throat as he did so. His lips pulled back over the sharp teeth and as he re-opened the eyes and ceased yawning, he saw them in the window. Ariel frowned and put his finger into his mouth. He pressed it against his canine and felt his finger grow warm. Moisture ran across it and Ariel removed his finger to find it stained with blood. He frowned and looked at Jack questioningly. “They’re not that bad are they?”

Using whatever energy he had left, Ariel leaned over and picked up one of the empty potions bottles. He held it up to the light and opened his mouth to see the teeth. Sure enough, they belonged to the wolf. Ariel closed his mouth and blinked slowly. “Um...” At a loss of what else to say, Ariel fell back against the pillows, a look of confusion on his face. It couldn’t be because of that girl could it?

Jack carefully watched him, noting every expression of discomfort and pain and frustration, beating herself up over every single one. It was her fault it was worse than usual. She knew it now. The werewolves had come after hi because she had been there. Maybe they would have tried anyway, but she had kept him from properly being able to defend himself. He had had her to worry about too.

I'll make it up to him, she thought, though she had no idea how at the moment, besides not leaving him while he was in the hospital wing and doing anything he needed. Jack was usually not one to go out of her way to do anything for anyone, but Ariel deserved it. Ariel needed her right now and she was going to make up for ever endangering him.

Ariel touched his teeth and then asked if they were bad. She leaned forward and her eyebrows raised slightly at the size of the pointed teeth. "Wow," she said softly. "Very.. Very wolf chic," she said in a light voice, trying to smirk, though it worried her that they had not changed. He examined them for himself and fell back into his pillow. She chewed her lip for a second and then said, "I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. I'll look it up in the library for you later."

“I don’t want to be wolf chic...” Ariel pouted, glaring at Jack. “I just want to be me. These do tend to create problems, though. It’s happened before. It usually just means that I’m a lot closer to the dog but granted, they’ve never been this sharp before.” Ariel ran his tongue along his teeth experimentally and frowned slightly. “It’s not at all comforting when this happens. At least time though I know what’s woke him up.” When problems such as the teeth dilemma arose, it usually meant that Ariel was, as he said, a lot closer to the dog in terms of mental connection. It was never a good thing, not where Ariel was concerned. It meant he’d done something wrong. When it happened to his father for example, from his point of view he’d done something very, very right. “At least I won’t need a steak knife,” he quipped with a lazy smile.

Ariel yawned and sat up. He felt stronger than usual and he had no idea why. He wasn’t complaining though. Leaning over the side of the bed, Ariel unzipped the bag Ollie had left beside the bed for when he returned. Ariel pulled out a dark shirt and pulled it on before taking out his Kombolói and the satin sleep trousers that only the House Elves could have gotten from his dorm. Yawning, Ariel pushed his legs out. He brought his feet down to the floor and slowly rose from the bed. He took a few steps and found his balance was more or less intact. Smiling to himself, Ariel jumped. He slipped upon landing and promptly fell on his bum but he couldn’t help but laugh. He felt fantastic.

Jumping to his feet once more. Ariel walked over to Jack. He smiled at her and kissed her gently on the cheek. “Thank you for keeping me company, Jack. It was most appreciated. Perhaps I’ll take you into the forest next time, hmm?” Ariel could be content for the moment but he could feel a little presence in the back of his mind that wasn’t his own yet at the same time...it was. It was her. He knew it was. She needed him and he didn’t know how he was going to help her, not yet anyway.