A loud wailing echoes through the woods. Somebody is screaming in agony. Each yell is briefly interrupted, as if someone is actively getting hit. The shrieking voice makes Daine jump. She’s been searching the forest for Shadow for some time, and now she’s found him.

“SHADOW!?” she shouts, following the sound of his voice. But the wailing doesn’t stop, and she rushes towards him as fast as her legs will take her. She finds him on his knees at the base of a tree. Daine was scared someone was hitting him, but that’s not what’s happening. Shadow is bashing his head onto the tree’s trunk, howling in pain between each hit.

“Shadow!? Are you oka-”

“GO AWAY!” he screams back at her. Daine is startled, but she continues to approach him. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” Shadow shrieks again, grabbing a handful of dirt and shoveling it back towards her.

Daine is very scared. He’s never spoken to her like this before. Is he mad at her? She takes a short breath and turns around, slowly walking away.

“WAIT!”

She turns back. Shadow now faces towards her. He’s reaching out desperately, and for the first time she sees his face. Tears are rolling down his cheeks. A small wound has formed on his forehead. He’s been crying for some time. With a small whimper, he calls out to her.

“I didn’t mean it… come back…”

Daine immediately dashes to his side. He turns around, now sitting at the base of the tree. Burying his head in his knees, he continues sobbing. Daine sits next to him, rubbing his back.

“Shadow? What happened?”

He isn’t ready to speak yet. He continues to cry, as Daine does her best to comfort him. She gives him the time he needs until, slowly, he starts calming down. He peaks his eyes above his knees, tears still welling up in them.

“I found… my mom’s journal…” he whispers.

“You mother?”

“...it was hidden… beneath the floor… in the attic… she wrote horrible things inside it…”

Shadow hasn’t spoken very much about his mother before. Daine knew she was dead, but she didn’t know what happened to her.

“...Mom died when I was just born…” he opens up. “I was too small to remember her… Dad says a hunter killed her…”

The hunters. Daine hadn’t thought too much about them, having lived safely within Nebeous’s barrier. The idea of them terrified her, and she can’t imagine the pain of losing a loved one to them.

“I always wanted to know more about Mom…” Shadow continues. “Dad doesn’t like talking about her… I thought it was because he loved her, but… Mom… I…” He hugs his knees tighter, burying his head into them once more. “...I ruined her life…”

“That’s not true…” Daine quietly whispers, naively trying her best to comfort him.

“No, it’s true…” Shadow chokes. “She didn’t love my dad… she hated him… I wasn’t supposed to be born…”

The weight of these words have now become apparent to Daine. In the moment she could find nothing to say that could possibly ease Shadow’s pain.

“Dad was terrible to her… he hurt her… I hurt her…!”

A silence falls over the both of them. Daine gently leans her head onto Shadow’s shoulder, as he softly cries. That poor child… If only I had known sooner. If only I could’ve done something, anything, for him…!

Daine’s presence gives him comfort. She allows him a moment to just cry. And so he does. He’s allowed the freedom to wear his emotions on his sleeve in front of the one person he was comfortable to be vulnerable with. After some time, he’s calmed down again, and he continues speaking.

“There’s more…” he whispers. “The journal told me why I can’t transform…”

“Really?” Daine says, surprised. “Why?” But Shadow just weakly shakes his head.

“...No… I can’t say it… not yet…” he clutches at his knees. “...You’ll hate me…”

“No, of course not! You can tell me anything!”

“...Not yet… I’m not ready…” He finally peaks over his knees once more. “...I’m scared… Scared things are going to get worse… Please… Daine…” He sits up, looking directly into her eyes. “No matter what happens… please… I’m begging you… don’t hate me…!”

Seeing him plead with such desperation moves her. She gently holds his hand. “Don’t worry,” she says. “I’ll never hate you, Shadow.”

“Vince.”

Daine looks at him, confused. He awkwardly turns away.

“My mom named me Vincent…” he explains. “I know I can’t pick my human name yet, but… That’s what I want my name to be. I wanna be called Vince.”

Daine didn’t question how absurd it was that his mom would have given him a human name. That didn’t matter to her. She just holds his hand even tighter, and looks at him with a bright smile.

“I’ll never hate you, Vince!”