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Okay here is chapter 13 folks! hope you like it... this is a plot related chapter and Xander and Lucas meet for the first time! and we learn a bit more about Lucas! as usual editing is done by Ruth of Pern

Chapter 13- Opening Up

"It's you... you are the boy from my dream!" Xander heard the white furred fox say. He was about Xander's height and build, but he had a hard time telling because the clothes he was wearing were several sizes too big. This must have been the 'Lucas' Greg had told him about... He certainly looked like Erin.

"What are you talking about?" Xander asked him calmly, "What dream?"

The boy who had to be Lucas looked down as if trying to figure out to explain himself. After a little bit of silence Erin stepped in.

"Oh. Silly me forgetting introductions! Lucas bro, this is Xander! Xan, this is my big brother Lucas! The big wolf behind him is his boyfriend Ian. And his brother who I have no idea where he is... is Richard. Now that introductions are done with... what are you talking about Luc?" she asked turning to her brother.

The wolf Ian spoke up next, "Yeah Lucas what are you talking about? What dream? Should I be jealous that you dreamed of a different boy?" he asked confused.

Seeing all the attention focused on him made Lucas a bit uncomfortable it seemed. He was shifting uncomfortably eventually he sighed and spoke up, "It's confusing... I'm not really sure what it was about... I remember seeing Xander in a small dirty room... he was alone until a large bull..."

Xander was horrified at what the other fox was about to say, but managed to stop him. "Stop!" he yelled, "I've heard enough..."

He knew what Lucas was going to say... The boy somehow saw him being raped... Saw it in his sleep... how? He felt somewhat violated... Bad enough Derrick had done that to him, but that somebody saw him at his lowest point? "Can you show me to a shower? I really need one..."

Ian answered him, a quizzical look on his face from the outburst and sudden change of subject, "The bathroom is the room on the right farthest from the stairs... Dad and I stopped by Lucas' house to get some clothes for him and Erin... You two seem around the same size it seems..." he started out cheerfully before pausing and focusing on Xander making the young fox feel very uncomfortable.

Ian was very good looking, tall buff and strong... he seemed to definitely be the dominate type. And that was Xander's biggest weakness in a guy... he wasn't ready for another relationship at the moment and the guy was taken anyway...

"Um Greg, I'm not sure if you know this but this fox is a changeling... I doubt that would have escaped your notice, but you brought a Changeling home?" The wolf continued after the pause.

"What's a Changeling?" Lucas asked confused, recovered at least partly from being interrupted so forcefully.

Erin helped him out in a completely cheerful tone, "A Changeling is when a Mommy Fur and a Daddy Fey really like each other. They fuck each other's brains out. Then the mommy Fur gets knocked up by the Daddy Fey and they have a baby; A baby who is half Fur and Half Fey... pretty rare and technically forbidden."

"Wait, Half-Fey?" Lucas asked confused. "I didn't even know our species could interbreed... I don't get it... our species are so different."

"Fey can shape-shift.... They can take the appearance of a Fur rather easily. Remember the Fey are infamous for being tricksters...But yes sometimes Fey decide to break the law that bans Fey and Furs mating by taking the shape of a Fur and seducing Fur women... or well Fey are pretty okay with sexuality in general most Fey are Bi I think... but anyway these Fey seduce the unsuspecting Furs. Almost all Fey choose Mage Furs I don't think I ever heard of them sleeping with Mundane's... but on rare occasions the Fey accidently let their Fur Lover become pregnant by their seed," Ian explained helpfully.

"Okay... what happens then?" Lucas pressed.

"When the Council or the Seelie Court find out about a Fey knocking up a Fur severe consequences happen... both of the parents of the Fey are taken in after the child's birth. Usually the Fey who instigated the relationship is executed while the Mage Fur has their magic taken and banished from the Clans..."

"Wait... you mean even if the Mage didn't know about their lover being a Fey, they have their magic... taken? You can take a person's magic? Not seal it but take it? How?"

"Yes, the person is banished no matter what sadly. Though it isn't exactly fair, prejudice between Fur and Fey is very common and mistrust between the two races has always been high... I'm not sure how they take a person's magic actually... We've never had a Scottish Changeling in my lifetime so I've never saw how they do it... I do know however it's an ancient ceremony and once it's done the person loses their magic forever..."

He then turned back to Xander for a bit before saying. "Still nice to meet you though, I've never met a Changeling before... but yeah go take a shower mate you need it."

Xander just nodded and excused himself from the rest and ran into the bathroom. He was amazed at how nice it was. Far nicer than any bathroom he had ever seen. Even Derrick's bathroom wasn't anywhere near as nice. The floor was made up of white tile, as were the walls. Everything seemed so clean and welcoming, a far cry from the apartment he had been forced to stay in for past few months.He quickly stripped of his disgusting clothes and stood there naked for several minutes and actually looked at himself for the first time.

He looked awful. His fur was all dirty and grimy and his fur looked like a dull brown instead of vivid red underneath all the grime. He also looked terribly malnourished. He could see his rips poking out of his chest underneath his fur... Sighing he decided to turn the water in the shower on and let it get piping hot and stepped in and let himself become enveloped by the steaming water. He felt... stronger somehow from the water he grabbed the brush and started to scrub his fur trying to get all the grime and dirt out of the tightly packed hairs.

It took forever, but sure enough he managed to get all the grime out his pelt, which felt so nice. He then shampooed himself from nose to tail tip to get it nice and clean. While he was doing this he began to think about life back before everything went to hell... When he was living with his mother she had always been somewhat distant from him. Even before she married that bastard Bill, she had always seemed bitter when dealing with him. But now he guessed why. Because of him she lost her magic and her family... did she know his father was a Fey? What kind of Fey even? Greg told him there were a lot of different kinds of Fey. Things only got worse when Bill showed up. The man abused him horrifically. He beat him whenever he could catch him and was very cruel.

What was worse his mother turned a blind eye and just let him... from eight until he was fourteen, that man made his life a living hell... Then he got outed... the people he thought were his friends turned their back on him while his own mother threw him out... he had nobody. He stopped there. Thinking about it was painful and he didn't want to dwell on those memories. He was brought back to his senses when he noticed the water was becoming very cold. He quickly turned off the water and stepped out and dried is fur. Once he found himself dry enough he looked back to the mirror. He looked a bit better. His was still very malnourished and skinny, but at least his fur looked shiny and clean for once. He found some clothes laid out for him and he got dressed.

They must have been Lucas' clothes as they fit him great, but they were far nicer than what he was used to... these were designer things. This boy had to be filthy rich... once he got the clothes adjusted he walked out and noticed everybody seemed to be gone... well except for Lucas who was sitting on the couch. He was still a bit sure what to think of the other boy. The fact that Lucas somehow saw a vision of him being raped creeped Xander out. But the boy seemed to notice him. "Er... Hi... where is everybody?" he asked the white furred fox.

"They went upstairs for lunch... you've been in the shower for almost an hour... besides I needed to talk to you... in private."

"How come?" Xander asked the other boy who shrugged.

"I have a vision about you and not even twenty-four hours later Erin somehow finds you and drags you back here... who are you?"

"I'm Xander... you know my name... what exactly was this dream of yours?" Lucas looked down seeming a bit uncomfortable. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say. After several long moments he began to talk his voice very soft and sad as he did.

"In my dream I saw everything from your perspective or I think it was. I felt everything you felt at the moment... all the sorrow the hurt and the pain. I felt like I was the one being raped," he admitted his body shuddering at that. "I've never felt as alone as I did in that vision... is that how you really felt?" Luc asked, falling silently.

Xander just listened in shock. This was disturbing... he not only saw Xander being raped he felt it to? Who was this kid? "Yeah, I've felt like that for a long time... what about you? What's your story since you know some of mine? And how did you afford these clothes?" he answered after a minute.

"I don't know your story... all I know is your most recent events. I don't know anything about you. But how I afforded those clothes? Well, my mother is a word famous model while my dad is a high ranking employee in a financial firm in Vancouver, so my family has never had to worry about money." He then looked down, "But Erin and I have been pretty much on our own for nearly seven years... both my parents are always gone on business or a fashion shoot or something."

"Sorry to hear that, but you must have a lot of friends right?"

The white furred fox just gave a cold laugh at that, "Friends? Please, before these guys came along nobody ever gave, a shit about me... From my first day of Kindergarten till now I was always the strange kid, the freak who nobody wanted around... I never knew why nobody liked me... I was always alone..."

"You've never had a friend?" Xander asked. No matter how bad it got at home he at least had friends he could room with if it got to bad... but to never have friends at all? "Come-on you had to have at least one..."

Lucas' face softened a bit before hardening back up and he looked away, "I had one... only one... his name was Thomas Harvey... he was a Doberman... very tall and very strong. He always treated me kindly he was my only real friend. He stood up for me when others wanted to give me a hard time and we did everything together..." His voice was cheerful as if remembering happy memories. "But we just grew apart and he moved away... My life went to hell after he left." He finished sadly, the cheerful tone long gone.

"What happened to drive you two apart?" Xander asked kindly, but Lucas just stiffened.

"I don't want to talk about it..." He said getting up quickly, "Lunch is done I think let's go see..." Before walking up the stairs and out the door leaving Xander confused.

What had he said to make the boy walk off like that? Shaking his head he followed the boy up the stairs he came into the foyer of the house. The house was very well furnished but not gaudy like Derrick's house was, thank God. Everything seemed simple. He walked through the house for a bit before hearing voices and walked towards one of the door and into the dining room he noticed everybody seemed to be sitting at the table sans Greg, including two people he never seen before. One was a young black wolf who looked a lot like Ian... he must have been the 'Richard' Erin spoke about, and the other was also a another much older black wolf but he looked to be in his late 30's... their father he reasoned. He stood there for a bit until Erin noticed him.

"Hey Xan, you look much better now!" she exclaimed, making him blush.

The younger wolf stood up and walked up to him, "Hullo mate, I'm Richard...Ian's brother..." He said regarding the Fox. He gave his paw to shake which Xander quickly shook. A weird look crossed on Richard's face "Hey they said you were a changeling not a Water-Mage..." he said confusing everybody around him.

"Water-Mage? Um... Rich, I'm pretty sure he's a changeling, he can't be both..." Ian spoke up.

Richard gave him an annoyed look, "I think I would know another Water-Mage better than you would bro, no offense... This kid is definitely a Water-Mage." He turned back to Xan, "Tell me, do you feel stronger when you are around water? More energized?" He asked him.

Xan thought about that for a bit. He had felt stronger during the shower... and whenever he was around water back home he felt better, "Why can't I be both?" he asked confused after a minute.

"There has never been an Elemental Changeling in all records... Mages have theorized that the Fey blood does not allow them the connection to the elemental plains where Elemental magic is sourced..." Monet spoke up calmly, "But the younger Mansfield has a point... Now that it has been highlighted, I notice you definitely have the chi alignment of a Water-Mage... How strange, I never met a Changeling before... let alone one with an elemental connection."

"How do you?" Ian asked her before sighing, "Never mind, I should know better to try and getting anything out of you..."

Finally the older wolf spoke up. "It is good to meet you Xander, Greg has told me plenty about you and I welcome you to my home young Changeling... please sit. Richard, Ian you sit as well we will discuss this after tea," he stated calmly.

Richard just shrugged and sat back down between Monet and Ian. Xander took a seat between Erin and Lucas who completely ignored him. He noticed a seat next to Ian was empty and he was starting to wonder where Greg was. "Where's Greg?" he directed the query at the older wolf.

"He is getting lunch ready, he will be out shortly... my name is Jordan by the way..." The man... Jordan responded. "So tell me Changeling... what was a child like you doing running around the streets of Seattle? And why were you being attacked by hunters?"

"I don't want to talk about why I was running in Seattle... No offense Sir, but I'd rather not talk about it... As for the Hunters, I honestly don't know... I've never had problems with them before." He stated kindly looking towards Lucas who was still ignoring him.

Xander was starting to wonder what was up with the guy... he would definitely ask Erin what was up with her brother... he also noticed that Ian kept on making goo-goo eyes at the other fox which surprised Xander somewhat when he saw Lucas smile and blush. The kid had a nice smile but he could tell that Lucas didn't seem to smile often.

"Very well then Xander... Is it okay that I call you Xander, or would it be preferable being called Rose?"

"Xander is fine Sir..." He quickly replied.

Soon enough Greg came in with a plate full of sandwiches and a large pot of tea. "Here we are everybody... sorry I'm not used to cooking for so many people, I usually have help back home..." He stated calmly. After he was sure everything was good he took his seat next to Ian.

After grabbing a sandwich and munching on it Erin looked towards him, "So tell me Xan, how old are you?"

"I'm seventeen... I just turned seventeen today actually..." He answered her slowly. He became nervous when he saw her eyes light up in delight. He was almost afraid to know what was going through this girls head...

"Today's your birthday? Then we have to celebrate!" She announced jumping up and causing the others to look at her oddly.

"Erin, you just met the guy a few hours ago and you want to throw a party for him?" Lucas asked her in a mildly sarcastic tone. 'Greg was right...' Xander thought to himself dryly. 'This guy is as hard as ice.'

"Yeah so? He's been through a hard time, so I think he deserves a good time!" She responded cheerfully ignoring her brother's dour tone.

"Don't you think it's a bit silly? You just met the boy... are you even sure we can trust him?" he asked calmly.

He continued to ignore Xander which was really starting to piss him off.

"I trust him; he's a nice kid... besides I couldn't just leave him back in Seattle... What if those Hunters went after him again?"

Lucas just sighed at that, "And what if those Hunters follow him here? You could have put us all at risk! Didn't you think about that Erin? What if the Hunters follow you guys and attack us here?"

His voice didn't raise so much it stayed in the soft icy tone he had been speaking with but something set Xander off. He quickly jumped up and snarled at the other fox. Everybody seemed to be taken surprise everyone except Lucas that is. His expression hadn't changed a bit, "What's wrong with you? Why are you so... so... cold!? I nearly died! Monet and Greg killed all the hunters who attacked me! I don't know how they found me but I'm pretty sure we aren't in any danger? What's your deal? Who messed you up enough to not trust anybody?"

Lucas also jumped up and looked him right in the eye. Xander could've sworn those eyes flashed a vivid purple for a few seconds before fading back to blue. He fixed Xander in a cold stare before he finally spoke. His voice was low and soft but it had a definite edge to it.

"You want to know what's wrong with me? Do you? I've had to raise not only myself but my sister as well! My parents are never around! All my life I've never fit in! From Kindergarten all the way till now I've been alone! My classmates have never given me the time of day! I was the outcast from day one! I never knew why... what did I do to have everybody think I was a freak? I had only one friend to my name..."

He stopped there for a bit before looking away. "Thomas Harvey, He was the only person who bothered to give a shit about me... we did everything together! And I fell in love with him..." He stopped there tears starting to form in his eyes his voice growing increasingly bitter as he continued to speak. "I fell in love with my only friend and it was killing me... I eventually worked the courage to tell him how I felt... maybe he would feel the same way?"

"Did he?" Xander asked quietly. Lucas just shook his head sadly.

"No he didn't, he hit me... hit me hard and threw me out of his house... called me a fag... he outed me to my entire class... My best friend quickly became my biggest tormentor..." With that he just walked out the door and ran. Everybody just looked out the door after him in shock and Ian quickly got up.

"I'll go get him..." he said before walking out leaving Xander to feel guilty.

"I had no idea... I at least had friends before everything went to hell... Did he really do that to Lucas? This Thomas?" he asked Erin who just nodded sadly.

"Yeah, he and Thomas were like brothers... they were literally joined at the hip... everything was going great. Luc wasn't always like this... he used to be sweet earnest and despite everything he was cheerful. When Thomas turned against him, he changed... he became distant he stopped talking to people. He isolated himself from everybody... he was bullied horribly at school and he pretty much locked himself in his room... 9th grade was hard for him..." She looked away. "Luc is a good guy, he has such a good heart but he hides it because he's afraid of getting hurt again. I think Ian is good for him honestly..." she said.

Xander just nodded. Lucas certainly seemed happier when he was around Ian.

~~~~

Ian walked outside. He sensed that Lucas was in the backyard somewhere and found him sitting in one of the trees near the woods. He seemed to be staring out into space his mind a million miles away. "Hey mate, you okay?" Ian asked him catching the fox by surprise and he nearly fell out of the tree.

Once he calmed down enough and regained his balance on the branch before he spoke.

"I'm perfectly fine Ian, why do you ask?" His voice was soft as ever but there was something behind the voice he couldn't figure out what but it looked like his eyes were a bit puffy.

"I'm worried about you Lucas..."

He laughed coldly at that making Ian flinch, "So now you know, now you understand why I don't really want to get in a relationship... If my best friend can't love me and turned against me how can I expect anyone else to?" He muttered.

"I love you! You dobber! I love and care for you! Let me help you Lucas!" Ian pleaded.

Lucas just gave him an odd look, "What did you call me?" he asked confused.

Ian sighed he forgot Lucas didn't know any Scottish slang, "A dobber an idiot... You are so thick-headed you can't see how much I care... you won't let me help you!"

He noticed Lucas' claws dig into the bark of the tree he seemed to tense up a bit before he started talking again, "Stop saying that!" he muttered quietly leaving Ian confused.

"Stop saying what? What do you want me to stop?"

"Stop saying you love me! We just met! Barely a week ago...How can you be so sure you really do and I'm not just some cheap fling? You, probably tell everybody you love them. And even if you did truly love me... why? Why me? I'm nothing special."

This was starting to make Ian mad... he was definitely sure of his feelings. They had never led him wrong before... all he had to do now was to convince this Kit that he really did care. "Dammit Lucas! Stop being so down on yourself! You are special! You're smart, clever and kind... you have a big heart and you will do anything for anybody. Just let me help you Lucas..." He said looking down.

"I'm scared Ian... I'm so scared that I will start to love you and you'll leave me just like everybody else I loved did... My parents left me and so did Thomas why should I think you any different?"

"Because I won't leave you, I'm here to stay as long as you'll have me!" Ian shouted. "You're stuck with me Kit so come down will you?" he pleaded.

Lucas just sighed started to climb down from his perch as soon as he made it down Ian engulfed him in a massive hug. When Lucas felt his face up against Ian's stout chest something broke and he began crying again. Ian just held him closer letting the storm of emotions flow through him. Eventually the storm past and Lucas started talking again. His voice was harsh from the crying.

"They all left me... I've been alone so alone, my parents and my best friend my classmates. What did I do to have them leave me? And why do my classmates hate me?"

Ian just continued to hold him tight and briefly lifted his head up and kissed the Fox. Letting him feel the love Ian had for him. After a few moments he broke the kiss and continued to hold Lucas.

"See, you have me... and I will never let you go. Just trust me. I'll show you just how much I love you tonight?" He whispered suggestively causing Lucas to blush brilliantly. "Now let's go back and finish lunch okay?"

Lucas just nodded calmly and they walked back in the house. Ian quickly reached and held Lucas' hand causing the Kit to blush again. They walked into the dining room hand in hand and the group seemed happy to see him. Though the look in Erin's eye made him somewhat nervous, he was going to keep an eye on her.

Lucas quickly faced Xander a bit shyly, "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier... I had no right to say what I did. So please accept my apology."

Xander looked surprised at that but quickly recovered, "I forgive you man... I'm sorry as well. I shouldn't have said what I said either. I had no idea about that guy hurting you..."

Lucas just nodded and shrugged it off.

The silence continued for a bit before Monet decided to speak up, "That is all well and good that everybody made up... So can we continue eating? I am quite hungry... and Rose, we will celebrate your birthday as you quite deserve something nice for once. Also I am sure Erin would not let a chance like this pass up." The last few of her words were laced with a tiny bit of sarcasm.

The others just grinned and nodded, even Jordan, as Ian and Lucas took their seats and continued where they left off, and that above anything else let Xander know he wouldn't be alone again.