Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Wolverine’s Mule

Warning: Equines don’t see red.

She was afraid.

Afraid of the cold. The unknown. The horrible, terrible fear that lurked in the bluish atmosphere. She felt the softness of snow, the chill of harsh winds…But that wasn’t possible. It was still spring. Why would it be winter? She needed to warn her comrades. But looking around, fear began settling in further and further.

Where was she? Where were the companions she was travelling with? Where was the ward she swore to protect?

Her ward…Her ward. She turned left and right, her hooves leaving frantic prints and trails along with the thick, cold snow.

“How unlucky.”

Lady felt all her instincts flare up with great distress and she turned around, her long ears perked up with alarm. Standing before her was the very same woman, the same carnivore who took her ward away. Mornie, the green-eyed wolf. Lady neighed and swung her front legs towards the villain.

Mornie, irked at such a headstrong response and vociferous neighing, growled out a low, dangerous growl. Her abilities had improved to the point of developing the ability to walk within the dreamscape – with this, she could attempt extorting useful information for her King. But who knew, with her newfound ability, she would be stuck with this smelly mule?! It was infuriating and humiliating! To end up in not the dream of that inferior human, but this…this whinnying peasant! Mornie swiped her hand across the air and black smoke trailed along. “Enough!”

The smoke began surrounding Lady. She neighed and began kicking about. But the smoke simply separated and returned to cover her. The smoke consumed her. Devoured her. Darkened her vision.

When it dispersed…Lady saw the world in a different light.

Or, well, colour. The snow was white instead of blue and Mornie’s eyes weren’t green – they were simply yellowish and deadly.

“You insufferable-” Lady paused. She blinked. She looked down and nearly jumped back in shock with what was below her – a brown, flowing dress in tune with the colors of the earth and chestnuts, reaching down to the length of unusual, human ankles. Wisps of wavy locks framed her vision and, when she touched them, she felt a tremor of shock wave through her.

Fingers…

Hair…

She began touching herself, feeling herself. Instead of a beautiful snout and her long, donkey ears, it was simply the same frame as her ward. What did she do?!

She ran for the lake nearby, tripping a step or two by the unusual use of two legs until she finally came upon the edge of the lake. Leaning forward, she gawked at the reflection back at her; it was a human face! Wavy, brown hair the colour of chestnuts, skin as brown as mocha and eyes as dazzling as a pair of shining jewels. Despite the notable signs of old age, crinkled wrinkles and the little grey parts on some of her hair, she still looked good by human standards. She hesitantly lifted her hair, her eyes widening at the loss of her donkey ears being replaced for human ears.

That dastardly, ignoramus…!

“What did you do to me?!” Lady demanded and stood back up to face the woman, who was smirking with glee at the notable fear she sensed. Lady glared and took a step forward closer.

“Oh, come now, not even a thank you?” Mornie commented with a condescending tone, “I couldn’t stand that constant whining you were making. Shouldn’t you be glad you can make proper speech now?”

“Oh, is that how I should feel?” Lady said, followed by a sarcastic tone, “oh, how silly of me to not show gratitude to the same uncultured fiend who not only kidnapped but harmed my ward! How about I show my appreciation with a kick to your derriere?”

Mornie pursed her lips together, displeasure written all over her face as her eyes narrowed with discontent. “I can’t believe I ever thought there was nothing worse than your ridiculous whining – still, it’s amusing to have some peasant, dirt-covered mule speak as if they have some form of class. What a charlatan show you have here.”

Lady scoffed, head tilting slightly up as she smirked with loathing and pride against the woman before her. “You’re one to talk. Bet it’s quite hard for a hog to behave like a human and act as tough as some flea-ridden canine.”

“H-Hog?!” Mornie shrieked, appalled and horrified until her eyes glowed with malicious intent, “I’ll show you who’s the hog!” She raised one hand and snapped her fingers. The wintery forest echoed from the sound and she waited…

…and waited…

…and waited…

…but nothing came.

The shock on Mornie’s face was immense. She snapped her fingers again. And again, and again. But nothing happened and this aggravated the woman even more until she screeched out. “Why isn’t it working?!”

“Did you truly think I’m as easy as my ward?” Mornie looked away from her hand to face Lady, who was wearing a disapproving frown. “I’m not so foolish as to let you take complete control of my dreams.”

As if to demonstrate, she raised her own hand and snapped her fingers. Half of the land, on Lady’s side, had its snow melted away and, in its place, grass grew anew. The trees blossomed with green, healthy leaves and ripe, red apples while the air seemed warmer and brighter. Sure enough, two different atmospheres have split on the same field – one warm and filled with life, the other cold and desolated with its frosted isolation. Mornie growled, her teeth grinding against each other.

“Then all that insistent whining and-”

“Those were real.” Lady’s eyes narrowed at the woman’s words and stepped closer towards the line split between spring and winter. “I’m not sure why but thanks to your infernal dog for brains, I can’t admire my mane in its most wonderful glory or walk in my own hooves.” She brushed down on her dress as if there were some imaginary dust on them, and she conjured up flowers upon her head in a crown of sorts. Sighing through her nose, she faced the irritated wolf with a straightened back and gaze as glaringly hostile as two enemies sitting at the same table. “Considering your attempt – I can only assume you’re up to no good again, mutt.”

One of Mornie’s eyes twitched. The tanned woman clicked her tongue in irritation before placing a hand on her hip, displeased by this turn of events. “I can’t believe I have to be mixed with the likes of you.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” Lady’s smile came out small and cold, “even in dreams, your stench is horrendous.”

“Is that all you can do? Throw petty insults?”

“What were you expecting, a quivering foal? I didn’t even ask to babysit a whining piglet.”

Seeing the tanned woman’s expression shift from offended to rage, Lady knew there was no solution to this. Mornie was a danger, an enemy. If Lady was the one standing in the way between Mornie and her ward, she shall stubbornly do so to her last breath.

“W-Well…!” Mornie flushed slightly, off-guard and appalled by the mule’s wicked tongue, “I never asked to be blocked by some withering, old meat!”

Lady sighed. Surely, there were better comebacks than meat. This wolf was as dim as that man who chased her ward. Who was it? Doris? Dorfus? …Either way, there was nothing else to fret here, not when the wolf seemed too new to this newfound ability of hers.

“It’s clear we’re not going anywhere on this, nor is there any business to be discussed.” Lady shook her head, tired and frankly done in dealing with this…child. She turned her back on the wolf, feet crunching the grass with each step she made. “Go back to your cowardice, wolf – not everyone wants to be as ugly as you.”

Mornie ground her teeth and fangs together, hands curling into balls of fists. This mule was cocky, high on her pride. Such a spoiled mule – Mornie could sweep her face right on the floor! She just needed an incentive, a tug on her emotional spectrum…Just to get an upper hand.

She smirked. “And what if I don’t?”

Lady stopped walking. Mornie’s wolfish smirk widened – Finally, baited.

“Do you really believe that I’ll leave your precious family alone?” She asked, mockingly and disgustingly. She stepped into the warm territory, wilting the flowers and grass along the way. Mornie toyed around, bending forward and trying to get a look at her face. “I have the power to invade their dreams, a gift my Master has bestowed on me! You certainly can’t fight me. Did you truly think I would retreat? To let that elf girl and Child of the Gods reminisce their life together before?”

Seeing how the long, brown hair blocked her view, Mornie stood back up and stepped forward; the silence was simply delicious, a hint of Lady’s lack of rebellion. “Or perhaps you were hoping to consume more berries from that grinning fool...Or even get pampered and be as fat as a pig from the redhead.” No comment. The grass wilted further the longer Mornie walked until the woman stood before her with a malicious, confident, fanged grin. She leaned forward again and her voice, almost growling with glee, whispered lowly to Lady as if she was nothing more than a commoner stained under the sole of her shoes.

“Maybe I’ll pay a visit to that human again. You know, the one with such attachment towards y-”

A hand shot forward and Mornie gasped at the strength, the grip that pulled her closer to furious orbs, burning with the same intensity as the aura of her own Master. The dangerous glint made her body flinched.

“Try.” Her tone was regal, strong and firm. It was just one word. Though some may find it as a speech of challenge, Mornie knew. Her instincts knew. Lady didn’t say that to challenge. She said that for Mornie’s sake, whether the wolf dared to risk having her body crushed under the mule’s hooves just to put a scratch on the one Lady cared for most. The wilted flowers grew once more, and the yellowish grass came back greener than ever. The air was growing uncomfortably warm. Lady turned around and threw Mornie forward, tumbling the darkly dressed woman onto the territory of the cold, back where the wolf-shifter came from. But the ice and snow underneath her melted to water, weak to the brilliant light and glow Lady’s territory had emitted. Lady raised her head high and proud, eyes lacking the weakness preys would hold. For a moment, Mornie thought she looked royal. Important. Beautifully inspiring.

The thought struck her as odd. Uncomfortable. Disturbing. So much so, she ran. She ran from the dream, from the mule woman, from the sense of something unsettlingly familiar in her chest. She ran with her tail between her legs and ended the dreamscape right then and there.

It took a while before she realized that unfamiliar sensation was simply the submission. Submission to someone on par with her Master. Someone…with greater meaning than her High King.

That mule…Best not to get entangled with her.

~ ♥ ~

Lady watched the wolf retreated into a black, smoky wisp. Waiting around, standing guard for any lingering danger, she finally shut her eyes and sighed…

“Lady?”

Two mule eyes opened to the soft call and a gentle touch on her head. Looking forward, there stood her ward with a wide smile and a glorious glow in those eyes that had once been glinted with feelings of pain and sorrow.

“Time to eat, girl. Morkai and I brought some extra paste! You wouldn’t believe how crazy he got to get you some.”

A ringing laughter led to Lady’s ears flickering and listening. The sound of her ward laughing, a sound she had cherished always.

“Huh? Lady, what’s gotten into you?”

But Lady simply gave a gruffy noise in response, closing her eyes and gently rubbing her head against her human’s face. Her ward. Her baby. Her child. Her everything.

And like her ward’s laughter, she shall cherish her dearest human.

Always.