ARGH! she didnt want to obey the moon but she did have stuff to do! and yet echo was coped up in her cave for days. every time she tried to go do something somebody was having a dominance fight. she was so sick of it! she had things to do! and now she had to go to frost when she needed something. great. it wasn't a huge deal with secret, and she perfectly understood how to get secrets aid or get secret to not accidentally destroy the world. frost was unpredictable. they had a past which made echo answering to her awkward, and frost had changed and was now hard to guess at. besides, she would probably try to assert dominance over echo. she was not going to join in their stupid petty heiarchy. she couldn't control frost without... when did she get so manipulative? she felt like a chess player. those were people, not tools, right? but her survival, in a way, depended on her being able to control the alpha to a degree to get what she needed... but that was wrong... wasn't it? yes. but no. she didn't know! she had to control frost... but not her every move or anything, not to further brainwash her. just to get her to listen to echo and give her the aid she needed. that wasn't wrong, right? and frost she could sway emotionally. simply projecting or amplifying emotions to get the desired emotion and thus behavior. like a machine, input emotion, false or genuine, output resources.

that scared her. why was she thinking of a person as a machine? was it the owl consciousness? yes, yes. yes... noooo it was the owl, it was. if she denied the truth it would go away. it wasn't her! but she was so alone... galaxy betrayed her. frost changed. her parents were in another world. she had nothing to ground her, nothing to keep her from this... was this who she was? if she didn't have anyone to hold her back, did she turn into a monster? well, wouldn't anyone in her place? besides, it wasn't her. it was the owl. it was the moon's fault. and even if she did admit it was her, that was the moon's fault too. it changed frost, it changed her, it imprisoned her here and if not for the moon galaxy wouldn't have betrayed her. if not for the moon she wouldn't be... this. if not for the moon she wouldn't have powers... what exactly were her powers? would it be wise to find out? welllll she did know one person who would know. 

she left, passing the wolves doing something clearly ridiculous about dominance.

"echo!" ugh frost thought she was in charge of her. she groaned and turned.

"what?"

"where are you going?" she heard the rest, tho silent. without permission.

"frost you arent my boss. I'm not getting into your stupid wolf thing. i have my own things i need to do and its not your business." great. frost would take it as a challenge. yep.

"are you challenging me?"

"no. I'm not part of your wolf thing. i can do my own thing when i need to. or i can jump off a cliff and kill you all."

"echo, this is who we- how dare you?"

"ah, secret must be so proud. you're refusing to be a person because somebody's watching. how ridiculous." her tone dropped to serious.

"dont try to control me. i will do as i please. you will leave me alone and out of your dominance game, and i will stay out of your heiarchy. if you do try to make me a wolf you will regret it." frost stared.

"fine. go do your thing, as long as it doesnt involve galaxy."

"are you kidding? if it did it would probably just be to rip out her eyes." but she wouldn't. she was beyond caring. "if I'm not aught it will benefit you. if i am it will start a war."

"what?!"

"bye." she morphed into an owl and took flight. oh it felt good to be out of that stupid cave! she flew directly to the lions space and landed by a muddy pond, coating herself in it to mask her scent. she couldn't fly anymore, so she akwardly walked to near the camp and hid herself in a bush, looking for symphony. galaxy and acacia were with china... was he their dad? oh. hmm no symphony. she needed to see what powers he had. wait, no, he was flying in! china told him something... ach her ear feathers were covered in mud...

"we need taller grasses.... they need to be high enough a lion could hide in them but not... grow them. and..... so the.... and burn down some grass at...." well, she had him in view. she cleaned herself as they continued talking, hoping the mud would mask her scent with residue. she ran off and took flight, silently fying high overhead... she had much better vision than a lark, and she could be quiet, she could fly high enough above him to watch in secret. he took flight and she began trailing him to a field, it looked burnt, but old, so new growth was sprouting... and china had symphony burn someplace else's grass. why? wait, she had a science class on wildfires... it was important somehow, oh, because the new growth would be healthier with the nutrients of the old. hm, smart. but there was only a light green fuzz down there.... that was not a light green fuzz. as symphony did something she couldn't make out it rapidly grew and yellowed... to the height of a lion! wonderful, a power! next he would probably get a torch. she followed him to a different field, where he lit it... by magic! but how did he keep it controlled? there were little streams dividing fields... the grass was also so healthy... and healthy grass means healthy prey means the wolves were way behind. and secret was possibly an idiot. clever! ingenios, really.just one more way the sun was superior. 

she trailed symphony a while, but he didn't do anything else, so she returned. hm, frost wasn't there. she morphed back and headed into her room to wash off the remaining mud. frost was there. this would be good...

"so, what exactly almost caused a war?"

she shrugged. "i didn't, did i?" this wasn't her. she was making up a face, a shield, to defend her from her best friend. not anymore...

"irrelevant! anything that has the potential to start a war you should go over with me! pack hierarchy or not, you are my responsibility and you cant just go running around as you please. i know that's not just a wolf thing."

echo shrugged again. "well, i got what i wanted and nobody saw me."

"what exactly did you do?"

"spied on symphony."

"you what?!"

"i needed to see if i could learn about my powers from his powers. i did. i dont see how a successful mission is a bad thing."

"because had you told me i would have forbid you."

"to late now. besides, the lions have a genios method of making their prey healthier and fatter and such. i guarantee you would find the information of value, should i so choose to share."

"you had better tell me and maybe i wont barracade you inside for a month."

"feels like you already did. did you really have to bother secret and start all that nonsense? i really dont feel like dealing with it."

"that was a few days ago."

"yes and I've aged years."

"what did you find out?"

"pushy. they burn sections of their grasslands. by doing that when it regrows the grass is healthier. healthier grass, healthier prey."

"fascinating. i dont see how i could implement it, it would take ages to regrow and trees arent grass."

"what if you found a way to lure their prey to your territory?" she shrugged, dissentrested. was i really about to do this? this was dangerous...

"were in private now. you can say whatever it is you couldn't earlier." ok, you are officially an idiot. play cool and dont show weakness.

"i was reminding you that this is who we are."

"is it who you want to be?" echo you absolute idiot!

"so, your speaking to me again are you?"

"no."

"are you sure?"

"yes."

"that sounded friendly enough."

i snapped. "we are not friends. you need to get it out of your mind that we even remotely know each other."

"i know you. and you know me. I'm just me with wolf instinct." why was her voice so calm and musical? it sounded like a trap. she never sounded this way before. she was lulling me to a state of comfort and ease. weakness. trust.

"no you dont. after you told secret to kidnap me i changed to."

"ah, so your just you with all the extra taken off."

"what do you mean?"

"all of your behaviors. you amplified them. you were confused and you didn't know it. but your core shown thru. and now all that is stripped off and its just you."

"then i dont like just me." what was i saying?

"oh? then your confused again, in a different way. your core is so beautiful, so strong, so alive."

"then its dead."

"hm, yes. yes it would seem dead... but its not. its still there, but its dying. its just a flicker now. you should probably figure out how to save it..." and i will do anything i can to help.

"why do you care so much?"

"your the only thing tying me back to who i was."

this was uncomfortable. i needed something else.. oh, i had been wondering for a while. "what does your bite do?"

"that was sudden."

"well secrets put me to sleep, forests made it so i couldn't talk. what does yours do?"

"i dont want to talk about it."

"that's unlike you." actually, everything she had just said wasunlike her. she was further changed by being an alpha(and i apparently also forgot how to write her for no reason whatsoever. which is bad. character death possibility ahead. wait do i need frost?).

"so? everything i am now is 'unlike me' according to you."

"what do you want?"

"from you? i want you to accept me for who i am now."

"no." frost winced. amazing how two simple letters carried so much power. 

"what else did you learn?"

"what i wanted to."

"which was?"

"irrelevant to you at the moment.youre alpha now, isn't everything about practicality and being completly emotionless?" more power. her words carried so much power... not just with frost. she had so much power over anyone with her words.... it was a power that scared her. she felt the, yes, the owl, not her, so ready and capable of manipulation... it felt manicacal. the one duty she would passionately work towards was keeping it locked away... but it was a tool to use to what she needed, which would ultimitly presumably benefit everyone, right? well, no, not nessacarly. what she wanted was her life back, which was impossible. what might she do instead? 

"fine. good night, Luna Echo." she didnt flinch. the words were intended to hurt, but she was beyond that. but what if that was another step to her core dying? did she really care or belive that? well, kinda yes. frost knew her better than anyone else, at least in that regard. galaxy was different, but had been equal. if frost really was still in there than she didnt doubt that she really was dying inside. so many reallys... questions of truth. what did she know? she didnt know who anyone, including herself, was anymore. she didnt know what she was meant to do, she didnt know what she could do, she didnt even know for sure anything about her parents, if she was adopted. she knew there was an evil inside her, or maybe not. she was falling, and she didnt have anything to catch hold of. nothing to ground her, and nothing to hold her back from who knew what. she was very close to having nothing to lose... and if that happened she might do anything. she did know she was good, right? maybe not... she knew... nothing. but she could just throw herself into something and work towards that with everything in her, ground herself in the task. she could learn magic, for now. but she suspected she would be quick to learn it.

her powers would probably be withering life away and controlling water, and maybe cold. who knew what else. she certainly didnt...