Chapter Text
“What the fuck just happened?” Scanlan exclaimed, his eyes wide as Vex stared off where Percy had disappeared.
“Vex?” Vax spoke from the stairs.
Vex turned from the doorway to look at the frazzled members of Vox Machina. She swallowed thickly. The images of Percy’s brutal transformation were burned behind her eyes. “Percy was bit by a wolf, remember? The dire wolves from last month?”
“Those were just wolves, right?” Grog replied, brow furrowed.
“And we all got scratches or bites,” Pike added. “We’re not . . .” she gestured towards the door.
“Well, something must have been different,” Vex responded, her voice sharp. “We need to find him, he could get hurt or-.” She was loath to think about it.
He could hurt someone else.
She held back the worry and gathered herself. It wouldn’t help to panic. Vex’s eyes caught sight of Trinket, having lumbered from a room to join the commotion. “Keyleth, do you think you and Trinket can track him?”
Keyleth nodded. “Y-yeah of course!” She hurried down the stairs and Trinket trundled over to her, the half-elf brushed her hand over his head and took a deep breath before taking to the air as a hawk.
The non-transformed members of Vox Machina followed Trinket quickly into the night. Vex walked beside her bear as he snuffled at the air, she scanned the open fields that led to Emon and the woods nearby.
She waited for a moment, Keyleth in hawk form circling overhead, as Trinket picked up on Percy’s scent. He huffed and turned towards the road that led to Emon’s Southern Faming district, and Vex felt her heart fall. If Percy was caught by a farmer he could be seriously hurt like this, or he could hurt someone else while he wasn’t him.
She followed her bear as Keyleth scanned from overhead, and Vex suppressed the worry, this would be fine, they’d dealt with the worst of Percy before, this couldn’t be as bad.
They were close to a farm, passing by the tall fences that marked the farmer’s land. Trinket sniffed deeply, his nose twitching and Vex knelt to the ground. There were paw prints, a set of four but the front left was clearly leaving a lighter indent in the soft earth. It made sense, Percy's hand hadn’t been the same since he shot it, and if that wound transferred into this form it would be hard for him to put much weight on it. She scanned the surrounding fields, the pawprints led towards one of the farms, veering off the path.
He must have picked up a scent. Vex frowned and stood up as Keyleth landed on the ground, shifting back into her humanoid form.
“I saw him,” she said quickly. “He’s near the sheep pasture.”
“Maybe he’s hungry?” Grog suggested with a shrug.
“Wouldn’t shock me,” Pike agreed. “He’s barely eaten lately.”
Vex had to admit they had a point, Percy had been drinking broth while he was delirious with fever, but she could imagine that wouldn’t be enough to satisfy a fully grown dire wolf.
“We don’t want the owner finding him, c’mon,” Vax urged the group onward and Keyleth took the lead with Vex, Vax and Trinket at her sides, Grog, Pike and Scanlan taking up the rear.
Their dash towards the sheep pasture led to them hopping the lower section of the fences, Scanlan groaned as he fell on his face and Grog picked him up. “We sure this is worth it?” he grouched, wiping mud off his clothes. “We could just let him come back later.”
“He could get himself killed,” Keyleth reminded him.
“Right, right,” Scanlan muttered as they marched through the grass of the pasture.
Vex glanced up at the sky, the moon was full as it crept up overhead. Full moon. Wolf transformation. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew what this meant. What did confuse her was what Pike had said, they had all been scratched or bitten, what was different with Percy’s encounter?
Her ears twitched at the sound of frantic sheep bleating.
“Think he caught something?” Vax asked over his shoulder.
Vex frowned. “Let’s just hurry.”
They rushed the last few yards to the paddock, the sound of panicked sheep definitely loud enough to alert the farmowners, and Vex knew they were on a ticking clock.
There was a herd of sheep, all pressed together near the edge of the fence. A large mutt was growling, protecting the surviving sheep as the wolfish-Percy stood over the one he’d caught.
“Shit,” Pike swore as they halted a few paces away.
The two canids looked close to fighting, one for the protection of their herd and the other for their prey.
Percy’s muzzle was coated with the sheep’s blood, and his hackles were raised as the shepherd dog snapped at him. At a glance, Vex knew she would have seen the wolf as the clear problem here, and that any farmer would quickly get rid of him.
A light turned on in the distant farmhouse, and the dog began to bark fiercely.
We need to get him back to the keep.
“Hey!” an unfamiliar voice shouted. “What’s going on out here?”
Percy’s head swung towards the approaching silhouette of the farmer, and the mutt took the chance to lunge forward, latching his jaws around the thick fur on Percy’s neck.
“Percy!” Keyleth shouted as Percy stumbled back, a snarl rising in his throat.
The wolf was not to be taken from his prey, however, and he reared back, using his right forepaw to smack the dog off and sending it skidding away with a powerful strike.
“Omar!” The farmer’s voice was panicked now as the dog grew silent.
“Stay back,” Vax called. “We’ve got it handled!”
“Who are you?” the farmer demanded, coming to a stop nearby. He held a pitchfork as he scanned the carnage of his pasture. His eyes grew wide at the sight of his dog and Percy. “Did you bring that beast here!?”
“No, sir.” Scanlan stepped forward, hands raised placatingly. “We’re here to get him off your hands, Protectors of the Realm business!”
“Kill it then!” The farmer demanded.
Vex hadn’t let her eyes leave Percy, who seemed to grow more agitated with the new presence. For a moment she thought he would end up attacking the farmer as his eyes fell on the man. Instead, Percy growled before leaning down and grasping the neck of the sheep in his jaws.
The farmer raised his pitchfork and Percy’s lip curled back as he backed towards the fenceline, dragging the sheep with him. The dog on the ground whined and Vex saw Pike’s hands flex as she struggled against the urge to go past Percy to heal the poor thing.
“Get out of here!” The farmer snapped at the wolf, pointing his pitchfork.
“Just stay where you are.” Vax held his hand out, glancing between the farmer and Percy.
Keyleth looked worried and Grog huffed, cracking his knuckles, clearly moments from acting without thinking. Percy was still backing up, the sheep were still bleating, the dog was whining and trying to get back up while the farmer was approaching angrily and Vex had to think.
“Kiki!” Vex called over her shoulder. “Can you use your beast-speech? Grog, make sure he doesn’t get in the way.”
“O-oh yeah!”
“You got it.” Grog moved over towards the farmer who yelped at the goliath’s imposing presence.
Keyleth walked closer to Percy. His ears flattened against his head and blood dribbled from the wound on his throat. “Percy?” Keyleth’s voice was slightly distorted to Vex’s ears, as if there was a second person speaking with her in a lower octave.
The wolf’s ears twitched.
“It’s us, Vox Machina?” Keyleth moved a step closer. “Do you remember us?”
“Sister, what’s the plan here?” Vax hissed in Vex’s ear.
“Just wait,” she whispered. “Trust me.”
Keyleth held her hands out, non-threatening, as she made her way over to Percy. “It’s alright,” she told him gently. “We’re not gonna hurt you.” Her lips twitched. “Or take the sheep.”
Percy’s eyes flashed from Keyleth to the farmer that Grog was standing in front of.
“He’s not going to hurt you either,” Keyleth assured him, though even Vex doubted the confidence of that statement.
Vex glanced over at Pike and ushered her forward. “Go heal that dog while he’s distracted.”
Pike nodded and darted away, giving Percy a wide berth before she knelt at the dog’s side, her golden palms pressed to his fur.
“Percy?” Keyleth’s voice was still soft. “Can you come with us?”
His ears lowered again.
Keyleth reached out a hand. “We’re friends, remember?”
Percy hesitated, before moving closer and dropping the sheep. He put a paw over it protectively and sniffed at Keyleth’s palm before Vex could see him visibly relax and Keyleth smiled. “See? It’s just us.”
Percy’s eyes flashed to the other members of Vox Machina before he leaned down and picked up the sheep again. He limped closer to Keyleth, looking warily at everyone else, especially Trinket.
“There,” Pike gave a sigh of relief. “The dog’s alright.”
Vex could see the dog get to his feet, unsteady but alive and healed as it ran to its owner.
The farmer looked deeply confused and upset as he knelt and checked his dog over for lingering wounds. He looked up at Vox Machina and glared. “I don’t know what in the hells is going on, but make sure that beast doesn’t come here again! And pay for that sheep!”
“Of course, of course,” Vex assured the farmer. “We’ll be out of your hair in a moment.” She looked over her shoulder and saw Keyleth and Pike next to Percy. Pike was clearly worried about the bite on his throat, and Keyleth was trying to keep him calm as long as her beast-speech was active. Scanlan and Vax were hanging back, looking ready to jump into the fray should they be needed.
“Go take him to the keep,” Vex told the others, gesturing to Percy, then tilted her head towards Grog. “We’ll handle this.”
Keyleth nodded hurriedly and while Vax looked dubious there wasn’t much room for argument. “Okay, Percy, let’s go. You can eat at the keep.”
Keyleth and Pike flanked the wolfish form of their friend, who moved slowly sticking near Keyleth as Vax and Scanlan led them away from the sheep pasture.
Vex bit her lip, taking a second to watch as they walked away. Percy had remembered Keyleth, or at least connected her scent with that of a friend, that would make things easier if he would listen to at least one of them. She just had no way of knowing how much Percy remembered like this, or what he was thinking and feeling.
He was clearly acting like an intelligent wolf, but something told her that it went deeper than that. He hadn’t attacked them in the keep, snapping and growling sure, but he hadn’t struck or bitten them. He didn’t seem to have any qualms about it when it came to the dog or sheep though.
Vex took a breath, and turned back to Grog and the Farmer. “Alright.” She put on a smile. “How much for the sheep?”
“That could have gone way worse,” Vax muttered.
Vex, Grog and Trinket had made their way back to the keep two gold lighter, one for the sheep and one for the farmer’s silence. They found the rest of Vox Machina gathered near the keep’s doorway, watching with morbid curiosity as Percy tore into the sheep he’d killed. His neck was still coated in blood, but Pike had apparently gotten close enough to heal him before Keyleth’s beast-speech wore off.
“It really could have,” Scanlan added, arms crossed with a grimace on his face as he watched Percy eat.
Vex took the chance to study the wolfish form of her friend. He was large but lithe, and his fur was somewhat patchy where Vex knew Percy had scars. He was devouring the sheep as if he’d been starving, and for all Vex knew Percy had been. His green eyes nearly glowed in the moonlight, and she caught sight of him glancing at them from time to time, wary.
“What do we do now?” Pike asked. “We can’t just leave him alone.”
“We keep an eye on him,” Vex answered. “The sun will rise eventually . . . We’ll see what happens then.”
“Think he’ll remember anything?” Vax asked.
“I hope not,” Keyleth said from where she was sitting on the stone steps, watching their friend with a concerned eye. “He isn’t . . . He’s smart for a wolf, sure, but he’s thinking like one and not like a human.”
Scanlan sat back on the steps leading to the door. “What does that mean?”
Keyleth huffed a breath, pushing some of her hair aside. “Look at him,” she gestured to the hungry wolf. “He’s got animal instincts, not humanoid. He wouldn’t act like this if he was in there.”
“You have a point,” Vex admitted, sitting down next to Trinket, who watched Percy with a keen eye. “He wouldn’t hunt someone else’s livestock or . . .”
“Eat it raw in front of us?” Vax suggested after she trailed off.
“At least he’s not hostile,” Pike said, projecting hope into her voice. “He’s skittish, but he followed us here, that means something right?”
“He trusts us,” Keyleth added. “I’m just not sure he knows why right now.”
Vex felt something warm in her chest at the thought of Percy’s trust in them running deep enough to transcend his own conscious mind. They’d certainly earned it by now, but it was comforting to know it for a fact. Still, they needed to keep an eye on him, to make sure he didn’t wander off and get into trouble.
“Well, let’s make sure we maintain that trust,” Vex eventually said. “It’s just like any other watch, we’ll take shifts until dawn.”
The sun did rise, eventually. All of Vox Machina was waiting, exhausted from the events of the night, but mostly awake to watch as Percy paced around the grounds of the keep. The hours dragged on, and he was clearly growing more stressed as the moon began to fall, and the stars were blinking out of sight.
“Hey,” Grog swatted Scanlan’s chest to wake the snoring gnome. “He’s doing something.”
Vex bit her cheek as Percy’s pacing grew more frantic, his ears pinned back and he shook his head, as if warding off flies.
Vax sat up from where he’d been laying on a blanket he’d procured from the keep. “What’s going on?”
“I think he’s changing back,” Scanlan yawned into his hand.
Percy was making noise now, and Vex frowned at the faint whimpers she could hear from the wolf. She hated to think of how painful the transformation seemed. She could still hear Percy’s stifled screams as he felt the agony of his body betraying him.
The wolf was panting, his tail lashing back and forth before he let out a low whine and stumbled, falling to his side.
Silence settled over Vox Machina as Percy scrabbled at the ground, whining and panting and Vex saw the start of his change begin as the sun broke over the horizon line.
Vax stood up, gathering the blanket and he’d been laying on and tentatively approached the shaking form of the wolf. He draped the blanket over him, leaving only his head exposed as he struggled through the transformation.
Vex winced at the sounds of bones cracking and reshaping, but couldn’t look away as Percy’s wolfish face changed back to his human one, fur receding and his aristocratic proportions returning.
Just as quickly as the change first occurred, it had reversed, and Percy was back as the sun began to make the morning dew shine.
Pike moved quickly to his side and Vex followed after the gnome, the rest of Vox Machina following a step behind. They were all concerned over their resident tinkerer.
Percy was unconscious, his brow furrowed and lips downturned. Pike reached over and with a glowing palm she moved the blanket back to touch his shoulder.
Percy’s reflexes were quick, his eyes snapped open and his hand curled around Pike’s wrist. His eyes were wide and wild as he grappled with sudden consciousness.
“Percy?” Pike winced at the tight grip Percy had on her wrist. “It’s okay, it’s just us.”
Percy blinked before relinquishing his hold. “Apologies.” His voice was hoarse, and he squinted as he tried to study the group without his glasses. “Is-is everyone alright?”
Keyleth let out a hysterical laugh, and Pike smiled softly. “We’re all okay.” She assured him. “Let’s get you inside.”
He nodded, slow and sluggish. Grog stepped forward and helped the man get to his feet, keeping the blanket wrapped around him to protect his dignity. It didn’t even seem like Percy was fully aware yet, his eyes half-closed and shadowed with exhaustion.
Once inside, Vax and Grog helped Percy up the stairs to his room to change back into clothes. Vex, Keyleth, Pike and Scanlan waited in the dining room, each person unsure of where to begin.
Eventually, Vax and Grog joined them and shortly after came a freshly dressed and cleaned up Percy, still looking like he was halfway to the Matron’s domain.
“What happened?” Percy asked after he sat down and no one spoke up. “I can’t recall anything that makes sense.”
“You’re a werewolf,” Scanlan said bluntly.
Percy frowned. “Excuse me?”
“You turned into a wolf,” Grog answered, grinning. “It was pretty cool.”
Vex frowned, the transformations hadn’t seemed cool, and neither were the weeks of illness leading up to this, though it seemed Percy had recovered from the infection now, even if he was exhausted. “Do you remember the Dire Wolves?”
He turned to her. “Yes?”
“After we fought them you got sick,” Vex elaborated. “Pike detected an infection, but we couldn’t cure it. Then last night you, well–”
“What Grog said,” Vax supplied.
Percy scrubbed a hand down his face. “I . . . I don’t remember that.”
“Probably for the best,” Keyleth said. “You weren’t really you.”
Percy raised a brow. “What does that mean?”
Keyleth waved a nervous hand. “I used my beast-speech to talk to you and . . . you still remembered us somewhat, but it was more like talking to a wolf than you.”
Pike grimaced. “You also might want to avoid the farms for a while.”
“What?”
“You got hungry, de Rolo.” Scanlan leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet up on the table. At Percy’s pale face he quickly added. “You only killed a sheep, no one’s dead.”
“Except the sheep,” Grog sniffed.
Percy shook his head. “I can’t believe this.”
“We’ll find a solution, Percy,” Vex assured him. “There has to be a cure.”
“Maybe Gilmore will know something?” Vax suggested.
“It’s worth a shot,” Pike agreed.
Percy sighed, heavy and tired. He looked miserable, exhausted, tension pulling at every line of his body. “Alright, we’ll go to Gilmore’s. Better to get this all over with sooner than later.”
“And maybe he can figure out why you turned and none of us did,” Vax added.
“Sounds like a plan,” Vex agreed, hoping against all odds that a solution would come easily.
But when have they ever been so lucky?