{"sf1_id":851454,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Gone Is The Past","author":"Niniju","words":1952,"posted_at":"2015-04-23T03:08:00.000Z","tags":["Bear","Diapers","Dragon","Fox","Husky","Leopard","Niniju","Panther","Snow Leopard","Tiger","Wolf","diaper","nightmare","red fox"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/851454-gone-is-the-past","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/851454","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=851454\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n(Friz's Point of View)\n \n   I woke with a\nstart, accidently squeezing Ghast when my body had a spasm. Ghast woke at this,\nand I relaxed when I realized where I was. I breathing was heavy, but not\nlabored. For once in my life, I felt safe. My breathing slowed and Ghast just\nlay there, eyes closed, pretending to be asleep or actually trying to go back\nto sleep.\n \n   \"Thank God, it's\nover.\" I sighed. I hugged Ghastillo tighter. \"Thank you.\"\n \n   \"For what?\"\nGhastillo asked, not moving or opening his eyes. \"All I did was open a door.\"\n \n   \"You did oh so much\nmore than that, Ghast. You liberated me from my doubts and regrets.\" I\nexplained. \"I was trapped emotionally by those feelings for the past couple\ndays.\"\n \n   \"Friz?\" Ghast\nasked. I had closed my eyes to relax. I acknowledge him. \"Was I really inside\nyour head?\"\n \n   \"I'm not so sure\nmyself.\" I answered. \"I'm just glad you were there.\" I felt closer to Ghast now\nthan I ever have before. He's been in my mind and has walked around in there.\nHe saw me at my worst. He helped me out of the darkness. I could trust him, I\nwas certain.\n(Timler's Point of\nView)\n \n   I looked around and\neventually was able to slow my heartrate when I remembered where I'd fallen\nasleep. I saw Regir next to me and decided to snuggle next to him. He was still\nasleep, and I was thankful that we were both okay. I then noticed how tense his\nmuscles were and thought better of it.\n \n   \"Regir?\" I said.\n\"Regir. Regir, wake up. Wake up, dude!\" I shook him violently. His face was\nscrunched in agony. \"Regir! Regir!!\"\n(Regir's Point of\nView)\n \n   I heard echoes, but\ncouldn't make out words. It was like listening through several feet of water,\nand to top it all off I couldn't see or breathe. The words that had leapt off\nthat page still traveled through my body. It apparently found something very interesting, but I didn't see what\nit did find so interesting. Maybe it was the quantity rather than quality it\nsearched for. I felt memories forced before my eyes and knowledge thrust into\nmy head. I couldn't think clearly. It was horrible. I could do nothing as the\nrunes violated me. The echoes were getting louder, and the voice clearer. It\nwas Timler's voice. I wasn't abandoned, at least.\n \n   Amazing knowledge\nflashed before me. The ability to age others to dust. The ability to shrink\nthem to newborn with a wave of my paw. It was horrifying, what this book was\nshowing. Soon, I was able to connect the tome with a voice. It was mixed into\nall the knowledge. I found the demon holding me, and I resisted him with all my\nmight, shoving him from my head. The letters receded and I had no time to react\nbefore everything went black.\n \n   I jolted awake and\naccidentally head-butted Timler. We both winced in pain, rubbing our heads, for\na good few seconds. When Timler realized I had awoken, he tackled me in a hug.\nThe nuzzling that followed shocked me, but I didn't oppose it. Timler kept\nrepeating how glad he was I was okay. This had awoken Nick, Gary, and the rest.\nWhen asked what all the commotion was about, Timler explained.\n \n   \"Regir and I had\nthe same nightmare. We were in my personal hell, but we beat it! Or so I\nthought.\" He glanced at me. I mentioned how the demon in there was violating my\nbody and mind, showing me things and making me feel things I didn't want. I\nshivered at recollecting the memory.\n \n   \"How strange.\"\nJulio commented. Fluhr and he looked so tired, that I suspected what had\nhappened before it did. \"We both had a nightmare as well. One of separation\nfrom each other.\"\n(Fluhr's Point of\nView)\n \n   \"Wh-what the hell?\"\nI wondered aloud. I was in a large expanse of white, but color was quickly\nreplacing the lack of visual stimulation. I was in a jail of some sort. Bars\nsurrounded me on three walls with the back wall being part of the one that kept\nthe building standing. In the cell opposite mine across the hallway stood\nJulio, gazing at the window in the back of his cell. I call his name and he\nturned towards me, calling mine. \"What the hell is going on?\" I asked.\n \n   \"I was gonna ask\nthe same.\" Julio said with a sigh. There was a sadness in his voice. I sighed\nas well. Suddenly, the floor behind Julio began to open, revealing a pit that\nhad no bottom. My eyes widened, and so did Julio's. We both yelled each other's\nname and pointed behind our companion. We then both turned to see the same fate\nthat awaited our friend awaited us, as well.\n \n   \"No, no, no.\" I\nsaid, repeating the phrase rapidly. I decided to focus on Julio in a panic, and\nreached through the bar as far as I could stretch. \"Julio!\"\n \n   \"Fluhr!\" Julio\nreplied, reaching as well. The floor kept receding, and fear consumed my heart\nas the floor drew closer and closer to Julio's paws. At the last second, by\nsome miracle, my vision blue-shifted as a sudden burst in speed and change in\nform phased me through the bars. Julio did the same, and I saw it. He had\nturned into the wind he commanded and slipped right through. I might've done\nthe same, judging by Julio's reaction to it all.\n \n   \"What was that?\" I\nasked, staring at nothing in particular. I couldn't believe what I just did.\nSuddenly my vision changed and I was awake, still staring out the window. Timler\nwas absolutely livid about Regir waking up and my reflex thought was that I\nhoped this wouldn't become a regular thing.\n \n   As I explained the\ndream to them, I stopped at the phasing thing. I hesitated and said, \"We then\ndid something...amazing.\"\n \n   \"And what was that?\" asked Feir. The\nFallenoak twins leaned forward in anticipation.\n \n   I searched my mind\nfor the most accurate words to describe it. \"We...became ethereal, for lack of a\nbetter word. My vision was tinted blue and I felt weightless, and then I just\nslipped right through the bars.\"\n \n   \"I felt and saw the\nsame the things. And we have a better time describing it 'as we became the\nwind.' After all, we witness the other doing it.\" Julio said with a tired\nexpression on his face. My expression was more bewildered and wondrous. The\nothers were enthralled as I described what it felt like, but Julio was finished\nexplaining things and fell asleep against the window sill.\n(Friz's Point of View)\n \n   \"Hey, Ghast.\" I\nsaid. He made a noise to acknowledge me. \"What's your full opinion of me?\"\n \n   \"That's...hard to\nexplain.\" Ghast admitted. \"Although...\" he held the word out for a length of time\nas he sat up. I follow his motions. \"...I will say it's much different than my\nfirst impression of you, which was big and scary.\" He was speaking as much like\na child as he looked. His posture was more or less childish, if that's\nmeasurable, and his tail swayed as he spoke, showing that he felt no discomfort\nin the fact the he was wearing a rather wet diaper. I found that I didn't\neither, and only now noticed that I had wet again in my slumber. \"I'd say that\nmy opinion of you is like this. I trust you more than I've ever trusted another\nhuman being. No matter what you've done, the worst of which I've seen, and no\nmatter what you say, I will always feel like I can trust you with all of my\ntroubles. I can't say that for very many other people. Including my late\nbrother.\" He spoke with such certainty that I had trouble doubting him. I'm not\nsure of the reason, but I found myself a little uncomfortable at the fact that\nI felt the same about him. I've never been able to disclose my deepest regrets\nto my mother or brother, and they never did the same back. I said this to him. \"I'm\nglad to hear that, actually.\" Ghastillo replied, \"I'm not sure what I'd have\nfelt if you didn't trust me as much as I trusted you.\"\n \n   \"Well, all I can\nsay is I'm glad we met.\" I replied, smiling. We then hugged a brotherly hug\nspontaneously. Neither of us gave any hints. It wasn't planned. We just hugged.\nI thought about how I could get used to feeling this way. Love. A love that\nmakes me sure that I don't have to fully protect him. That he can take care of\nhimself, and I can focus on enjoying his company rather than spending my time\nmaking sure his company will be there to enjoy. I suggested we go change to\nprevent a rash, and Ghast had no objections. We walked into the bedroom amidst\na vibrant story being told by the Fallenoaks about when they were still in the\narena. I was able to keep an ear out as I changed both Ghast and myself in the\nbathroom. It was after this that it occurred to me how much you have to trust\nsomeone to let them change your diaper when you're an age past the expected age\nof wetting oneself. I mentioned this to Ghast, and he just said that it felt\nnormal. A raised eyebrow from me evoked the explanation that he wet himself\nwell into his ninth year and stopped near the beginning of the tenth year of\nhis life. I nodded in understanding and helped him to his feet. I washed my\npaws before exiting the bathroom to a peculiar sentence.\n \n   \"And we were all\nthree there at once inside my own head!\" Gary was saying. He was explaining a\nnightmare that he, Feir, and Nick all shared. Apparently every other pair in\nour group had a nightmare with their companion, so this was a normal sentence\napart from Gary's involvement. The story consisted of Nick's former master, the\nGhoulCaller, coming back with friends. Gary's persuasion had kept the\nlesser-minded ones at bay while Feir's fire and Nick's righteous light smote\nvarious corruptors. Gary then added suspense as he described their almost\ngetting run over.\n(Gary's Point of View)\n \n   There were so many.\nA demon carrying a whip here. One holding a flail of skulls there. And so many\nundead that I had trouble seeing the space between them. My confidence was\nbeginning to falter as my voice became insufficient in keeping the ghouls back.\nPanic reached my chest, and my heart began to race. It reached my throat as a\nghoul touched me and I screamed at it in shock. A force came from my vocal\nchords and blasted its brains out. I then had the idea to scream as loud as I\ncould in a single direction, slowly turning. I found that my breath capacity\nwas amazing, my voice could raze through many a demon, and my vocal chords didn't\nseem to tire from this. When I felt I had gone in a complete circle, a shield\nof light was protecting Nick and Feir had stayed away from the line of fire. My\nvoice was powerful, that's for sure. I awoke soon after that...\n"}