Other Name

A twig snapped in the woods, and they all froze. Disk was chilled through his fur. He began to twirl his cheek fur around his fingers, and backed away to hide under Forward’s stomach with Rewind. “What was that?”

Forward sniffed. “Upwind from us, whatever it is…” she grumbled. Ears pinned and teeth bared, she took a heavy step towards the noise and stared into the darkness.

A million horrible possibilities ran through Disk’s head in the seconds that followed. Was it a feral animal? A void? Did voids prowl the woods?!

Forward’s ear flicked, then angled left. “Ah. It’s you again.”

A grey wolf, slightly taller than her, strode out from the darkness. “Did I startle you?”

“You startled them,” Forward said, “And as their guard I don’t appreciate that.”

Pause responded with one curt, humorless laugh. “My condolences.”

Rewind poked his head out between Forward’s forelegs. “What do you want?” he asked. He’d done an impressive job of hiding the tremor in his voice.

“Really? We’re still doing that? I thought you would know the drill by now.”

“I’m getting tired of you. State your business,” Forward said. She let her lip curl up to expose her teeth, and Pause laughed again.

“Oh? Threatening me, are we?”

“Warning you, more like.”

“I see only a cub acting bigger and smarter than she is,” Pause said. Rather than a mean-spirited snarl, he sounded dejected, maybe even… nervous?

Forward tossed her head, throwing the locks of her wig off her eye. Fearless, she stalked up to the grey wolf until they were shoulder-to-shoulder, until their breath intermingled, and snarled, “Don’t forget my other name. The title is behind me but the skills I earned it with are not.”

Pause sniffed. His face remained impassive but there was an odd sparkle in his eyes—not magic, something else. Pride? “I haven’t,” he said. His look darkened, and he brought his teeth too close to the ruff of her neck, “But you’re living up to your new ‘name’ too well for my liking, cub. Is that your plan? Go on this suicide mission with these worms? Fast forward through your whole life? It’s almost like you don’t know what’s at stake.”

“I know what’s at stake,” Forward snarled, “That’s why I’m doing this. Do you know what’s really not helping,Pause? Your stupid cryptic hints.”

Pause moved so fast Disk thought he was about to attack, but he was only stepping away. He raised his huge head and licked his lips. “That’s unfortunate, because it’s all you’re getting from either of us.”

“Speaking of which.”

Disk and Rewind nearly leaped out of their skin. The mountain lion, the supposed “First CD”, had appeared from nowhere right behind them. One paw was the size of Disk’s head. He hoped there were no hard feelings about the title stealing thing…

“We know where you’re headed next,” the giant cat continued, “Let me offer you some words Media would never give you.”

Pause narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t get her killed.”

“It’s nothing like that. Just this: Many eyes watch you, some are truthful in their intent, others lie, and most would see you harmed,” as she said that, she cast a glare into the forest, and in a ball of pink-ish magic drew a helpless surveillance drone towards her. It sputtered and coughed, the lens of its camera contracting and dilating as it struggled against the insurmountable force surrounding it. “Speak carefully. Move swiftly. Be a shadow in the night, to your kin, to your government, to She Who Raises the Void.”

Before anyone could speak, Not CD and Pause were gone in a puff of pink and periwinkle.

Just as fast, the drone surged to life as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, thank goodness! I thought this thing had broken,” a monitor’s voice came from the speaker, “I guess the signal is just kind of poor here? Did you guys see anything?”

“Nothing too out of the ordinary,” Forward answered just as Disk opened his mouth, “Just a drone smacking into trees.”

“Oof. Hopefully nothing was damaged. Anyway, that’s all. Carry on with your work.”

The drone floated away.

Forward silently gestured for them to leave, and when they were far, far away from the drone, Disk whispered.

“You lied.”

“I did. Is there a problem with that?”Forward whispered back.

“Kinda. Isn’t that, like, illegal or something?” Rewind asked.

“Look,” Forward stopped and swung her head around to face them, “Their hints, as annoying as they are, have never been wrong before. Sometimes we didn’t know what they meant, but they weren’t wrong. I’d be a peabrain to not let them keep coming and giving us answers.”

That logic seemed to track, but it was also concerning. What did those mages know that would lead them to giving out such advice? And how? “Alright,” Disk said, “But what about that other thing?”

“What thing?”

“Your other name?”

Forward laughed. “Oh. That. Don’t ask or worry about it.”

Every verified Median had another name once. That in and of itself wasn’t odd, but something gave Disk the feeling Forward’s last name was more than what her parents called her when she was born. As curious has he was, he could live without knowing. He wouldn’t have pushed his luck with a regular wolf, let alone one who would stare some weirdo, potentially omnipresent mage in the face and let him put his teeth so close to her neck.

“Alright,” he muttered.

He wanted to say that he was starting to find Forward dubious, but was he any better? It was starting to seem like the only one without a secret or a coincidental attachment to the void curse was Rewind. And it wasn’t like the mages were coming to Forward only, they showed up randomly to all three of them, sometimes when they were alone, sometimes when they weren’t. From the outside looking in, Forward, Rewind, and himself were all suspicious. Or, they would be if anyone ever found out about this.

It seemed like CD had stopped the drone from working completely, so for now they were safe. But what if the secret got out some other way? Would Forward’s excuse work on a government official?

Disk shook his head. Best not worry about it now.