6 Months Later


“C’mon,” Jackie said peering through the back window. “There’s not going to be another full Moon on Halloween until 2077, and I know this is silly, but gosh it sounds too fun to not pass up!”

“Pff,” Ashley said behind us. “You two are weird. Wouldn’t you much rather go to a Halloween party?”

She sat on the couch, adjusting her outfit - she was trying her best to look like Isabelle from Animal Crossing. She pulled off costumes better than I did.

Jackie laughed. “This sounds way more fun to me.”

She gave me a peck on the cheek - which at the current moment, was missing any kind of fur. Jackie and I, if only for tonight, had decided to change back, albeit briefly, to being a human. It was obvious that she did not like it.

“Well get going then,” Ashley said, “My date is going to be knocking on the door and there’s going to be questions if my brother and his girlfriend, well known anthros - suddenly aren’t somehow.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Remember back in like March when even seeing an anthro made you uncomfortable?”

“Yeah yeah,” Ashley grabbed her purse, “this whole thing messed us all up, you two especially.”

Jackie and I laughed, and Ashley just rolled her eyes and began walking to the front door. Dad came into the kitchen from the garage door.

“Did you see the pumpkins?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Jackie said, “they look really awesome Lucas.”

He smiled, but then exhaled slowly.

“Okay,” he said, “you two… just be very careful. Be back before midnight, don’t scare anyone, and please for heaven’s sake, just… don’t push yourselves -”

“We’ll be fine Lucas,” Jackie said. “We’ve practiced this in the lab.”

“I know…,” he said. “I just… I’m getting used to having a family that can shapeshift. Just don’t let anyone see you change. The last thing we need is an angry mob coming to our house with pitchforks.”

I laughed. “Honestly, you’d probably get an angry mob of people wanting us to get pictures with us for their social media. Where would someone even get a pitchfork?”

My Mom came up behind Dad, and licked his cheek fur slightly with her dog tongue. Weird how that sort of thing seemed completely normal now.

“You two have fun,” Mom smiled.

Jackie and I said bye, went out the door, and retreated into the night. We ran along the bike path, and I felt the anticipation building by the time we finally reached the woods.

I brushed aside the branches, wincing as one snapped me in the nose - my normal human nose. I wished I had my improved night vision from being an anthro before we went into the woods. Jackie however insisted that “wasn’t in the spirit of the thing.” All we had instead were our phone flashlights.

“I wish,” I huffed, breathing hard to keep up with her, “that you’d let me do my idea.”

“As fun as it sounds to make a terrifying transformation into werewolves - or weredogs, whatever - in front of some people at a Halloween party, revealing our little secret is a terrible idea.”

“Obviously,” I said, “it would totally screw things up,” I said, “but can you imagine everyone’s reaction? And then we’d howl viciously, and go on a full on rampage and -”

“Get shot?” Jackie suggested.

“Okay,” I said, “maybe… maybe that doesn’t sound like such a good idea.”

Eventually we reached the place that Jackie had picked out, and we put our backpacks down, carefully putting our shoes and phones inside.

There was a thrill building in me as I pressed the soles of my bare feet against the autumn leaves.

“You ready?” she smiled.

“Ready.”

And we began to transform. Fur grew rapidly across our bodies. My spine lengthened into my tail. I eased myself down to the ground, my hands becoming paws. Although it didn’t really hurt - and I actually was growing slightly used to this, it was fun playing it up to be dramatic.

As I became fully canine, physically at least, I wriggled out of my clothes, and then howled at the Moon, Jackie joining in my call a moment later.

She burst out laughing, then licked my face. I licked her back.

“You ever thought reading all those werewolf novels that you’d ever be here?” I asked.

“Never,” Jackie said, “but I remember from a young age that I wanted it. When I was in kindergarten we did a project where we drew a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wanted to be a dog.”

“And what a beautiful dog you’ve become,” I said, giving her more little kisses.

Jackie giggled. “Stop it, a werewolf queen isn’t supposed to be getting all kissy.”

“Oh,” I said, “I guess I need to - speak in a super deep voice because I’m the super buff werewolf guy.”

“Ugh,” Jackie said, “whatever, let’s just have some fun.”

We ran through the trees. Our vision pierced through the darkness of night, and our howls pierced the crisp air. This was only the second time Jackie and I had gone full canine, at the same time at least, and it felt fantastic. I’d gotten to where I could confidently get this far without going into dangerous territory - Mom and Dad still were anxious about it, but why would I want to waste this when I’d literally become a shapeshifter?

Eventually we tired, and we lounged on the edge of an outcropping of rocks.

“Gosh,” Jackie panted, “those werewolves in movies and stuff make running nonstop like that seem easy.”

“The mental effort of not crashing into a tree like an absolute buffoon,” I said, “is just as tiring.”

“It’s a shame that it doesn’t line up really with the fantasy,” Jackie said, dropping her head to lay against the stone.

I walked over to her, and licked the side of her face.

“Oh,” I said, “but the thing about this - it’s real. It’s more amazing than any fantasy could be.”

I laid down on my belly, snuggling up beside her.

“I’ve thought a lot about things,” Jackie said, “even just as we’ve been running through the woods tonight.”

“Oh?”

“I feel like…. I feel happy. Very happy. I now get what you must’ve felt when you went full dog - there’s a freeing feeling to it…”

“Careful,” I warned.

She smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m doing fine. I just… I do feel better as an anthro. I feel like that’s who I am. It certainly helps me feel more at peace with myself. But I don’t think it’s why I’m happy.”

“Could it maybe be that you’re with your super awesome shapeshifting boyfriend?”

She gave me a little lick. “Perhaps. But… when you had changed… when I didn’t have you there with me… I was forced to stand on my own. Stand up to my anxiety, to my self doubt. I had to stand up to the fully realized fear of people mocking me for enjoying who I was.”

She shed a tear - but with a smile.

“And through it all… I became stronger. I became a better person than I ever thought I could be.”

I licked her. She licked me back.

“And you helped me,” I said. “You forced me out of my self centeredness, got me to care about someone else more than myself. And… and you got me to realize that maybe being an anthro is what I wanted all along too.”

Jackie smiled, and nuzzled her snout against my face. We lay there for a while, feeling the cool air blow gently across our fur. We opened our ears to the sounds of the woods, to the rhythms of nature.

And there we enjoyed each other's company, two golden retrievers, lying beneath he light of the Moon, committed to one another till the end.



Previous: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/46249970/

First Part: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/43399487/


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