Erich crept through the underbrush, ears perked and attention sweeping the forest around him. He’d already cleared out a handful of the Hollow’s minions and followed their trail back to this dense, remote space in the woods. Already he could sense the Hollow’s reiatsu, scattered and dim but present in a way it wasn’t anywhere else in the forest, good evidence that he was on the right track.

He paused and sniffed the air, listening for anything out of the ordinary, then flattened himself and crawled forward another body-length. It was nearby. He knew it was nearby.

Another body-length. Nudge a bit of underbrush out of the way. Scan the area and then move…

A familiar chitter made Erich freeze and flatten himself further to the ground, ears swiveling to pinpoint the noise. He swung his head to the right then the left, scanning his surroundings. Where was it— there!

Erich eyed the little minion in the tree, waiting to see if the thing had spotted him. But it just chittered a second time and darted off, heading away from where Erich suspected the Hollow was; another scout then, and not something for Erich to concern himself with.

A few more body-lengths and Erich reached the edge of a sudden clearing, complete with toppled tree trunks and shredded underbrush. The debris formed a haphazard pile in the center of the clearing, a crude lean-to that Erich suspected the Hollow was calling ‘home’. A few of the miniature Hollows were lurking around the clearing, perched here and there amongst the debris as lookouts or squabbling amongst themselves.

He opened his mouth and inhaled deeply, scenting the air and feeling out the local reishi. The Hollow was good at hiding — an ambush or trap-type, he suspected — but it still left traces that Erich could sense. Traces that drenched the clearing and told him everything he needed to know.

(This was it. This was where it was hiding out.)

The temptation stalk closer, to creep in and kill it now that he knew where it was, gnawed at his mind. After all the days he had spent defending the village and his people, he wanted to end it.

(If he had found its hideout even a day earlier he would not have hesitated for a moment.)

(But no. A pack was waiting for him.)

(He didn’t need to do this on his own. Didn’t need to risk himself against an unknown foe and an unknown number of minions.)

Erich crawled away. Retraced his steps. Memorized the path he needed to lead everyone down. He would return home and report back to the teens, and when the moon sank below the horizon again they would all return to the clearing and end the beast that had tormented the local villages for nearly a week.

The trip back passed in a blur, broken only by brief pauses to eliminate another few little minions. Before he knew it he was crossing the village’s fields and loping through the streets.

Villagers stepped out of his path and called greetings as he passed, well accustomed at this point to his lupine form during the full moon. Erich glanced at those who greeted him but didn’t pause or otherwise acknowledge them; he had little enough time or energy to do so after so many days of fighting and hunting without a substantial break.

(He was going to sleep for a goddamn week once the Hollow was dead.)

(He was just glad that Mami and Ren had helped him fix his eating habits the past two years. He’d have never survived the past week without his reserves at full and his body healthy from the start.)

Erich reached home and slid a paw into the slot Ren had carved in the door frame, tugging on the door and slipping it open enough for him to enter. Once in, he turned around and grabbed hold of the dangling rope attached to the back of the door, using that to slide it closed behind him.

“I was wondering what that was for,” a voice spoke up from behind him. “Guess it makes sense to have something like that for you, though.”

He turned back and cocked his head, ears swiveling to point at Arisawa. She was watching him with hard, narrow eyes, her arms crossed over her chest and her body tense; her stance was unwelcoming on the surface, but Erich suspected it was mostly posturing combined with her lingering distrust of Quincy in general.

“If I ask you some yes or no questions, will you answer?” she asked.

Erich blinked in surprise and sat, lifting a paw into the air like a student at school.

“You… have a question?” When he nodded in agreement, Arisawa made a ‘go on’ gesture.

He considered how to communicate with her in this form without Ren or Mami around, then whuffed in exasperation and shook himself. Charades it was. He reared up onto his hind legs for a moment, front paws at his side and head cocked in question, then let himself drop back to all fours.

Arisawa chewed on her lip for a moment, expression puzzled, then made a small ‘ah-ha!’ noise. “You want to know why I’d ask now, instead of waiting for you to change back?” She grimaced at his nod and looked away. “It’s… nothing. Never mind. Go change, it’s fine.”

Erich /whuffed again and shook his head. He suspected he knew her reasoning well enough, and he couldn’t exactly blame her for it; Arisawa didn’t know him well enough to read his tells as a human, but canine body language was harder to conceal or alter. It wasn’t impossible — he could lie just as well as a canine as he could in his birth form — but it was certainly more difficult.

The comfort of a canine form in place of a near stranger undoubtedly played a factor as well. Intellectually she understood she was talking to the same man who had sat across from her only hours ago, but the change in form blurred that boundary, like sitting in a dark room and speaking with someone unseen. It was simply easier.

Instead, Erich gestured with his muzzle for her to follow him, and made his way to the back and the shared green where he’d played with Kurosaki and Ishida earlier. He sat down on the grass and cocked his head at her, waiting for her questions.

“You really don’t want to change back..?” Arisawa asked warily, sitting down on the steps. “Well, if you’re certain…” She clasped her hands over one knee and watched him, clearly gathering her courage. “You really don’t hold Ichigo’s heritage against him? Or Uryuu’s?”

Erich folded back his ears and shook his head, giving her a sharp, steady look in response. He’d answer that question in word and deed as many times as it took her and the others to believe it; after what he suspected they’d been through, it only made sense they’d be skeptical of him.

Arisawa gave a quiet sigh of relief, though she didn’t relax. “And it really doesn’t bother you that the rest of us aren’t Quincy?”

Another shake of his head, another quiet sigh of relief in response.

(He liked her. She had the makings of a quality pack leader.)

She paused to examine him again, then said, “I’ve been talking with Ichigo while you were out. I think… we think you should know, so, uhm… this isn’t all of our pack. Most of them are like me, but… we also… there are three ex-Shinigami who we consider pack as well. They’ve helped us a lot.”

Erich stilled at her words. He’d suspected as much, given Kurosaki’s Shinigami nature, but having confirmation was… good. Her wording was curious, though; he hadn’t thought Reapers would choose to live in the Living World, much less help such a mismatched group of teens.

(History spoke loud enough on how Reapers chose to react to outsiders with spiritual powers.)

Arisawa tensed, posture straightening and gaze fixed on him, traces of fear in her eyes. “Is that going to be a problem?”

Ears tilting back, Erich huffed softly and sketched a crude question mark in the ground in front of him, then tapped it three times with his paw and cocked his head.

“You didn’t shake your head so… uhm…” Tatsuki pursed her lips and stared at the question mark. “You want to know why I’m bringing this up?”

He lifted his paw and wiggled it a bit, then tapped the question mark again, starting to regret not choosing to have this conversation as a human. Conveying meaning with people who didn’t know him was always a difficult process.

(Some days he wished the stories about telepathy were true.)

“So… yes, but not your question? Okay. Uhm… then you want to know about them?” She breathed a sigh of relief when Erich nodded sharply, and continued, “It’s a long story and I’m not entirely sure I really understand what all went on, but… about a hundred years ago some asshole decided to frame Urahara Kisuke for a crime he didn’t commit, and then the other two helped him escape and fled with him to the Living World. Things came to light when Ichigo and the others got their powers, asshole got his ass handed to him by Ichigo, and then the Shinigami were all apologetic about making them all exiles for so long and Urahara Kisuke and the other two told them where to shove it.”

Erich ran Arisawa’s story through his head a second time, hoping that his initial impression had been wrong. It sounded almost like the plot of a novel except for the ending, which… he understood. He wouldn’t want to return to a place that exiled him so easily either.

If her story was true… he didn’t know. He didn’t trust Reapers. Had spent his entire existence keeping his head down and his guard up. But Arisawa said they considered the three to be part of their pack…

He whuffed softly and made a ‘go on’ gesture.

(He needed to think it over and to speak with Ren and Mami.)

“Reason… right.” Arisawa licked her lips, knuckles going white as her grip tightened. “I spoke about this a bit with Ren-san already, but… would you be opposed to returning to the Living World with us? To keep helping us?”

The offer startled him. It was almost everything he wanted so desperately, offered on a silver platter and without reserve.

(And suddenly, the mention of the ex-Reapers made so much more sense.)

“Will you consider it?” she asked softly.

He didn’t hesitate to nod.

(It wouldn’t be just the three of them anymore!)

(Oh, how he wanted.)