The Awakening
by Winter

It was the witching hour, nothing so crude as midnight of course. Anyone can be a witch at midnight under a full moon. It was past 3 am and he had been awoken by a hand on his shoulder, shaking him urgently. His eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling and the usual questions of "Who am I?", "Where am I?", "Am I wearing clothes?", filled his head and were promptly banished. A finger pressed against his lips and words were whispered into his ear barely above the threshold of hearing, the voice one of a distant memory his sleep addled brain could not yet recollect.

"I want to tell you a secret."

"Huh?" Not the most intelligent reply, but all he could manage at the moment. "What?"

"Don't try to sit up, you'll just get sick." He tried to turn his head to look at the one who was whispering, but even that caused a wave of nausea to crash and break inside him. It was all he could do to keep from vomiting. "The drugs will wear off soon, just relax."

Drugs? Wisely, he remained still, lying on his back. His thoughts were racing, though. Why was he drugged? And more importantly, who had drugged him? Then it was as if the floor had been pulled out from underneath him, when a horrible realisation hit him with the force of a speeding truck.

He couldn't remember his own name.

Panic began to rise inside him, but before it could break out a gentle hand pressed on his chest, keeping him down. Next a piece of cold, wet cloth was draped over his forehead, and it worked wonders. He managed to calm his mind just enough to avoid going crazy, but a whimper still escaped his lips.

"Ssshhh," the whispering voice soothed. "You'll feel better soon, I promise."

"Wh-where... who... who..." He had wanted to ask where he was, then changed his mind to who the person was, then to who he was. In the end, what came out was a different question, one that hadn't even been on his mind. "What secret?"

"In a moment. Give yourself time to wake up."

"My mouth feels weird."

"I know. Would you like some water?" He shook his head. Water would just make him sick. "You really should. It helps."

He nodded, and arms that felt strong helped him sit up slowly. The nausea had begun to subside, but in return the fear and panic in his mind rose up again. But he relaxed a bit when he smelled the water. Sparkly mineral, he decided with a twitch of his nose. Not too salty. It took a second for his brain to catch up to reality. He could smell the water? How could he smell the water, let alone the flavour of it? Then the glass touched his lips, and immediately water ran down his chin and onto his chest, soaking his pyjamas. No, not pyjamas. When he reached up to wipe it, all he could feel was coarse, damp fur. Why would he wear a fur coat in bed?

The thought was interrupted when some water finally did reach the back of his mouth - why had that taken so long? - and he swallowed. And choked. His tongue felt huge in his mouth, and didn't work the way it should when he was drinking. Another attempt failed as well, it was as if his body took over, and instead of pouring the liquid into his mouth, he started lapping at it.

"That's it," the voice whispered. "That's much better."

"What's wrong with me?" he asked, his voice deeper than he had expected, almost like a feral growl. "Nothing's... nothing's right."

"You have changed. That's the secret I wanted to tell you." This time the voice was slightly pronounced, and he decided that it was definitely male. "Now take it easy, I don't want you to panic."

"Why...?"

"I don't know. It happened to me, too, but I don't know why. We used to be human."

The last few words sent a cold shiver down his spine, a shiver that strangely enough didn't end when it reached his butt, but kept going further and further. Used to be...? What did that mean? Surely he was human, what else could he be? Fear gave way to anger. Someone had broken into his home and drugged him. Made him feel really ill, and what for? To play some stupid joke!

He stood up so quickly that the other didn't have time to react, but before he could do anything he fell over. His legs didn't work as they should, either. There was a thin sliver of predawn light coming in through the curtains of the window, and he could see the outline of his feet against it. They looked wrong. Too thin, too long and set at an impossible angle. Were they broken? There was no pain, but that might be because of the drugs. He tried to reach down to touch them, but froze when he saw his hands. They were covered in grey fur, and where his nails had been he could now see claws.

That was what pushed him over the edge. With a whimper that sounded like nothing a human throat could produce, he curled into a ball and started crying. While he sobbed away, scared and confused, he could feel gentle hands touch him, rub his shoulders while that quiet voice soothed him. In the end, he was able to get back up into the bed, where his crying slowly began to abate.

"W-will my memory return?" he sobbed. "Will I ever kn-know who I am?"

"I don't know. I remember some things. There was... there was a woman. Maybe my wife, or my mother. And I used to have a blue car."

"Blue?" That piece of unexpected information made them both laugh - another eerily inhuman sound - and served to break some of the tension. "What brand?"

"I don't know. But I'm pretty sure it was blue."

"And you don't remember your name?"

"No. I think... I think it might be Cian. It said Cian on my pod."

"Your iPod?"

"No, my pod. The one I woke up in. I'll show you later if you want."

"Cian...?"

"What?"

"I just noticed something." He glanced at the sliver of light on the floor. "How come there's light outside when the clock says three in the morning?"

"Oh, those things are broken. I have no idea what time it is. The light comes from the corridor, it's always lit." Cian stood up, and took his hand. "Are you well enough to walk? We need to find you some clothes."

"Clothes?" He ran a hand down his arm, feeling the coarse fur coat. "I thought I was dressed."

"No, you've been in nothing but your fur since I found you."

"My... fur?" More puzzled than scared this time, he pulled at the coat, and hissed at a twinge of pain. "I have fur?"

"Weird, huh?" They both laughed. "I do, too."

"Cian, was I in a pod as well? Did it have a name?"

"Yes. Your pod said Sean."

"Sean... it doesn't ring a bell."

"Shade your eyes, the corridors are bright."

Sean, if that was who he really was, held his hand up in front of his face as Cian opened the door. The first thing he saw was a bright light, that made him squint. His eyes adapted quicker than he had thought, though, and when he got a good look at Cian he gasped.

Cian was a fox.

There was no other word that could describe him better. But not an ordinary fox, that you would expect to see in a forest or at a zoo. His body was shaped pretty much like a man's, standing upright in spite of the thin digitigrade feet. Red fur covered him all over, except for his lower arms and legs which were dark brown, and his chest and stomach and tail tip which were pure white. Tail? Yes, Sean realised, Cian had a long, fluffy fox tail sticking out of the back of his denim shorts, which were the only garment he wore. It wagged slightly when their eyes met. Cian's face looked more like a fox's than a man's, with a slim muzzle that had a shy-looking smile on it, and large green eyes.

"This is me," Cian said, holding out his arms. The hands, Sean noticed, looked pretty much human. "This is how I looked when I woke up."

"Y-you look..." Sean caught himself. He had been on the verge of saying 'beautiful', but how could he? Cian was a male, just like him! And he wasn't gay, at least not that he knew. "You look like a fox."

"No, really?" They both laughed. "And you're a wolf."

"I am?"

"There's a mirror over here, if you think you're ready for it."

Sean nodded, gritting his teeth. Truth be told he was far from ready, but he had to know. He needed to know what had happened to him. He approached the mirror on shaky, uncertain legs. What he saw wasn't as bad as he had feared. His body was built pretty much like Cian's, and they seemed to be of the same height and weight, maybe 180 centimetres and seventy kilos. But Sean's fur was a light grey, and his muzzle was wider. His eyes were a deep blue; finally something he could recognise. The memory triggered showed those same blue eyes, watching a dark-haired mirror-image shaving the cheeks of a young-looking square face. It faded instantly, though, and he found that he couldn't really recall it. The man he had been seemed to be gone. Left was... the wolf.

Looking down made him blush. He really was naked. In the fur, as Cian had said. Well, at least that's still there, he thought as he reached down and touched his penis. It didn't seem out of the ordinary, just your average cock, about ten centimetres in its soft stage, resting against a ball sac that was lightly dusted with grey fur. He pulled the foreskin back and saw a perfectly normal glans underneath. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, something that made Cian laugh. Next he examined his tail. It was shorter than Cian's, and a lot less fluffy. He tried wagging it, but lost his balance and almost fell over. At the last second he grabbed onto his newfound friend, but Cian wasn't ready and they collapsed into a heap of fur.

"You're gonna have to start over," Cian said as they got back up. "Getting used to the tail takes longest. I kept getting it stuck in doors or sitting on it for almost a year."

"A year?"

"Yeah. At least I think it was a year. I kinda lost count of the days after a while." His smile died away, and there was sadness in his eyes as they met Sean's. "I've been alone for about ten years, before I found you."

"Ten years?" Sean whispered, his eyes wide with shock. "But Cian, you don't look that old. I'd say maybe twenty."

"I don't know how old I am, but I was still a kid when I woke up. I've been really lonely..."

A tear ran down Cian's muzzle, and formed a drop at the tip of his nose. Sean felt a tug at his heartstring, and he took his friend into his arms, hugging him tightly. The dam burst, and Cian cried his eyes out over the next fifteen minutes. Sean did his best to comfort. Ten years alone? The thought was dazzling. But how come he was alone? Why would anyone leave a child on its own like that? He held back his questions until Cian had stopped crying.

"Cian, where is everybody else? What place is this?"

"I don't know," the fox sniffled. It suddenly struck Sean just how young Cian seemed. Not in body, but in mind. "I've never seen anybody, until I found your pod."

"Where?"

"I'll show you, once we've found some clothes."

"Never mind clothes. You've already seen all of me, and we're both guys, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Cian's ears lay back flat against his skull, and he cast a quick glance at Sean's crotch, then hurried to look away. Sean felt pretty sure that the boy was blushing. Should he really call him a boy, though? He had no idea how old he was, himself. The face he had seen for a brief second in the mirror had been old enough to shave, but not much more. Maybe he was even younger than Cian. Still wrapped up in thoughts, he let himself be led up and down corridors that all looked the same. Sterile white walls and bright lights coming from the ceiling. There were no lamps, just glass squares that emitted the light. Every three or four metres there were doors leading off to the left or the right, but Sean had no interest in them right now. They finally stopped after a right turn, in front of a thick steel door.

"I've looked through hundreds of these rooms," Cian said in a hushed tone. "Your pod was the first one I've seen that had somebody in it."

Sean let out a gasp as Cian opened the door, straining against its weight. The room inside was huge, several stories high, and the wall was lined with human-sized pods. No, he realised, not just the walls. There were free-standing rows of pods as well, all made from what seemed to be black-painted steel. They all had small glass windows where the head would be, and they were all empty. Cian walked over to one that was opened, and pointed to a small sign next to the window. '2212-334 SEAN CL-Morph 0224/0500" It meant nothing to him, except for the name. Even if it weren't his name, it was as good as any. So, Sean he was.

"Mine says '2213-334 CIAN VV-Morph 0035/1800'," Cian said, his voice still low. "What do you think it means?"

"No idea. I wonder if the 2212 and 2213 are serial numbers, or maybe years. But that can't be right, I thought the year was supposed to be 2022."

"I think I'm number 35 out of 1800, but I haven't found any of the others. The empty pods don't have signs."

"What's outside this building?"

"Nothing." Cian giggled at Sean's puzzled expression. "Well, there's grass and trees and clouds and sunlight and stuff like that. Even a lake a bit away."

"But no other buildings?"

"No."

"And no people?"

"No."

"What about your blue car?"

"No." They both laughed. "I think it might have been a toy. I can't remember ever driving it."

"What about food and water?"

"At first I ate what I could find, but then I discovered this neat thing."

Cian led Sean back through the maze of corridors until they reached a small room that must have been his home. The walls had been clumsily painted a soft red colour, to take away that sharp whiteness. There were clothes spread all over the place, except for a small bed in one corner. Here and there, Sean could see what looked like toys. It looked kind of cosy, but awfully messy. In the opposite corner from the bed was a grey panel. Cian pushed at it, and it swung open to reveal a keyboard and a screen, which flickered to life and showed a menu of fine text.

"Good thing I knew how to read right away," Cian said with a chuckle. "Otherwise I would have starved when the food in the fridges and the cupboards went bad. Can you read?"

"Yeah." Sean nodded, but then he frowned. "I think so, at least. I could read my name on the pod."

Cian pushed the screen rapidly, then stepped back. A couple of seconds later a second panel opened, and a steaming plate of food appeared. Sean felt his mouth water at the sight of steak and potatoes, with green peas and gravy. A glass of ice cold water made the meal complete. Cian carried it over to the table that was in the centre of the room and set it down, removing a pair of underpants and a shirt. There was only one chair, so when another plate appeared Sean took it and sat down on the bed.

"You can get just about anything from these, but this is my favourite," Cian said around a mouthful of food. "There's one in every bedroom."

"I've never seen anything like it," Sean admitted. "It's like out of a sci-fi movie."

"Sci-fi?"

"Yeah, you know, science fiction."

"Never heard of it. What is it?"

"I'll tell you later." They finished their meal in silence, then Sean asked the question that was foremost on his mind. "Cian? Can you take me outside?"

"Sure."

They returned the plates and glasses to the panel, which churred for a couple of seconds before falling silent. Sean found himself wondering if they were discarded or washed. This time Cian led him through new corridors and up stairs. He found that walking was already feeling a lot easier, and he could even wag his tail without losing balance. After a few minutes they went through a door to a place that made Sean's jaw drop.

He glanced back. The building they had been in sat inside a dome, that looked to be made out of paper-thin glass. But when they trotted over to it and Sean touched it, it felt stronger than steel. Outside was a green, lush field of grass, with birches and oaks and other leafy trees scattered here and there. The sky above was brightly blue, and sunlight made the strange glass shimmer. There was a double door in the dome a bit to their left, almost like an airlock. No, Sean realised, not almost; it really was an airlock. But was it protecting the inside or the outside? And against what?

The doors opened easily enough, and when Sean hesitated, Cian grabbed his hand and pulled him through. The air outside the dome was crisp and clear, and smelled cleaner than anything he could remember. A soft chirp woke him up from his thought, and he saw a brown squirrel hop up to Cian, who threw it some bread crumbs.

"This is my friend. I call him Nutty."

"Hello, Nutty."

The squirrel looked up from the crumbs, his cheeks puffing with the treats, and stared at Sean. Cian repeated the introduction, and Nutty tilted his head as if examining the newcomer. Then he hurried to gather up the last crumbs, and took off. The fox and the wolf walked around for a while, and as Cian had said they could see nothing that looked like houses or people. Some animals watched them curiously; deer, birds and what must be wild horses. When they reached the lake Cian was getting fidgety, and it was clear that he wanted to go back inside. Without saying anything, Sean laid his arm around his friend's shoulder, and they walked slowly towards the dome. Back in Cian's room, they sat down on the bed.

"How come you're not sleeping outside? It's warm, and it doesn't look like it rains much."

"Well..." the fox said, looking at his feet. "I'm... Oh, it sounds so stupid!"

"No, come on, tell me."

"I'm kinda scared. Some rooms I've been in, the doors got locked after I left. I just don't wanna get locked out, away from the food machines and my room and my bed and all."

"I can understand that. And you've found no keys?" Cian shook his head. "What do you do all day?"

"I play some." He picked up the engine from a small toy train set. "And I check out new rooms, that's how I found you."

"I'm glad you did. Even though I've lost my memory and I'm now a wolf-thing-guy, I'm glad."

"Me too." The fox sniffled a bit. "I had no idea how lonely I've been, until I suddenly wasn't. Please don't leave me!"

"I won't." Once more, Sean found his arms filled as he comfort-hugged his new friend. Cian shook a little, but didn't really cry. "I promise, I won't. I just have to find a place to sleep."

"You can sleep here!" Cian said rapidly. "It's small, but it's enough for two."

"Well..."

"Please?"

"Oh, okay."

"Yah!"

With a yip of joy, Cian renewed the hug, but when they broke apart he did something that stunned Sean. He kissed him on the lips. Sean froze, surprise and shock locking his mind and making him unable to move while Cian deepened the kiss. When their tongues met, Sean wanted to snap his head back, but instead found himself responding, returning the kiss.

It was just like when he had learned to walk on digitigrade feet; his body seemed to know things that his mind didn't. And his body reacted in a very positive way to this new and unexpected. Sean felt his cock grow hard, and when Cian touched it they both moaned into each other's mouths. It didn't take long until he cried out, and came onto the sheets. The fox held up his sticky hand and started licking it clean, and again Sean acted on instinct rather than conscious thought. He joined in, and found the taste quite pleasant. They kissed again, and this time Cian did have fresh tears in his eyes when they parted.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that. What happened?"

"It's okay." Sean realised as he said it that it was true. It really was okay. "You surprised me, but I kind of liked it."

The fox beamed, smiling so warmly it made Sean's heart skip a beat. Okay, he thought, maybe the old me really was gay. Or maybe the new me is the gay one. No matter. He reached over and touched the tented front of Cian's shorts, making him gasp. Half a minute later, they were both naked, rolling around on the bed while kissing hungrily. Sean's hand was locked onto Cian's cock with a firm grip, exploring its entire length. It was shorter and slimmer than his own, and with a longer foreskin that covered the head even after it got hard. Sean pulled it back, though, and gently rubbed the tip. Then he rolled over to lie on his back, again acting without needing to think. Cian followed, and ended up on top of him. They kissed again, and Sean moaned when he felt himself being entered. To his surprise it didn't hurt; all he felt was a fullness that he really liked.

Their love-making was urgent and needy, and it didn't last long. Cian fucked him with long, fast strokes, pressing against his prostate with every bottoming-out, and he met each thrust with his hips. After no more than a minute, Sean felt his second orgasm approach, and he clamped down as hard as he could. Cian lifted his head and cried out, and they both came at the same time. Afterwards, Sean could feel a warm sticky liquid run out of him and down his buttocks, while the two of them cuddled tightly together. The emotions shining out of Cian's bright green eyes were almost blinding, and Sean knew without a doubt that he would end up falling in love with the fox. Whether it was because they seemed to be the only two people in the world, or because the feelings were truly genuine, he didn't know, nor did he care. They were there, and they had made love. That was genuine enough for him.

* * * * * *

Sean closed the flap of his backpack, then shouldered it. Right next to him, Cian was bouncing up and down with the excitement of their first real excursion out into the world. Discovering the keycards, just a couple of weeks after the wolf's awakening, had been a major event. They could now enter each and every room inside the dome, and during the past half-year they had explored many where Cian had never been able to enter.

This was Earth, that much they had found out from old files and fragmented computer discs. No alien kidnappings and strange new worlds, just plain old Earth. Part of Sean's mind was relieved, but a tiny bit of him had been mildly disappointed. As for what year it was, and what had happened around them, there was no clue that made sense. The reason for the air-tight dome also remained a mystery. But they were ready to try and find out more. With packs loaded with food, they were planning a trip past the lake, to see what they could find. With the keycards, getting locked out was no longer a concern. And though he was still a bit nervous, Cian was also very excited.

The two of them really were lovers now. After that frantic first night, they had settled into a life together. Sean no longer questioned his sexuality, mainly because it didn't matter. He loved Cian, and didn't care if that made him gay or bi or whatever. The fox had never had any doubts. After finding and opening Sean's pod, he had known that they would be together forever. All he had needed was to find a word for it, since he had never really know neither love nor lust. Sean reached in underneath Cian's backpack and touched his butt, which was still slightly sticky after their latest session. He had stayed naked, seeing no reason to bother with clothes, and Cian soon followed suit. They usually had sex at least once every day, and both were looking forward to doing it out in the open, underneath the stars.

Using Cian's keycard, they locked the dome door behind them, and started walking towards the lake. Nutty showed up and hitched a ride on the fox's shoulder. Maybe he wanted to come along, Sean thought, or maybe he was just begging for food. Or maybe he, too, was curious as to where all the people had gone. Sean was, and Cian had become curious the longer they spent together. In the end, though, it didn't really matter. Even if they found nobody, and got no answers, they still had each other. Sean took his lover's hand, and they walked on quietly towards the setting sun.

Behind them stars were coming out, forming patterns that Sean couldn't recognise. He thought back to the night when he had first met Cian, and wondered what secrets this new night would hold. And tomorrow...

All the tomorrows to come.