FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Hey... are you okay?"

"W-what?" Startled, my younger brother opened his eyes, sitting up in his bed. As soon as he saw me, his startled expression disappeared, replaced by an expression of complete disinterest. "Oh... it's you."

"Yeah, it's me," I said. "We need to talk. About you."

"About me?" His brown eyes darted around the room, his face now bearing a rather confused expression. "What about me?"

"I think you know what." I stood in front of his bed, looking down at him in hopes of getting my point across better. "It's this whole loner thing that you have going on. All you've been doing for the past month or so is sitting in your room by yourself. Now, I don't know what brought on this new habit of yours, but it needs to stop. At the very least, you could tell me why you've been doing this."

My younger brother blinked. His expression fell, a look of sadness appearing in his eyes. "I... I'm sorry, Eliza," he said, standing up slowly. "I... really don't think that I can talk about it..."

"What do you mean, you can't talk about it?" I stepped in front of the door, making sure that he couldn't leave. "Eric, what is wrong with you? You didn't used to be like this. You used to be happy, outgoing... and now you just sit in your room and mope all the time. What's going on?"

Eric sighed. "Please, Eliza... just leave me alone." Before I could react, he pushed past me, running out into the hallway."

"Eric!" I immediately ran after him, catching up to him as he started to go down the stairs. "Don't just tell me to leave you alone! I want you know what's going on with you, and I want you to tell me right n-"

"Will you SHUT UP?" Eric's voice rang in my ears, filling me with shock. He almost never shouted like that. Whatever was wrong with him, it must have been something really bad.

Before I could respond, though, Eric had already disappeared down the stairs. I groaned, deciding that it was probably best to do as he asked for now. Returning to my own room, though, I couldn't help feeling sad about what had happened. Up until recently, Eric had been someone I could really respect. He had a ton of friends, he always got good grades, he was friendly, outgoing, caring... he seemed to have everything together. But now... he just looked utterly defeated all the time. He wouldn't come out of his room, spent most of his time moping around, wouldn't talk to anyone... it was awful. To see him change so much in such a short period of time was just... heartbreaking.

About an hour later, I got up once again. It was close to dinnertime, and I was getting pretty hungry. I started walking down the stairs into the kitchen, hoping that there was something good in the fridge. But just as I had opened the fridge door, I suddenly heard a noise. It almost sounded like someone... crying? Frowning, I shut the door and went into the living room to investigate. But as soon as I entered the room, I stopped dead in my tracks. Lying on the couch was Eric, and he was crying his eyes out.

"Eric?" I ran over to the couch, kneeling next to him. "Eric, what's wrong?"

Eric looked up at me, still sobbing. "P-please..." he cried, his eyes filled with tears. "Just leave me alone..."

"No!" I grabbed his face, turning it towards me. "Eric, I need to know. Please, just tell me what's going on..."

"No, please!" Eric's eyes had gone wide with fear. "You can't know... nobody can know..."

"Eric, it's okay." Now I was really worried. Whatever was happening to him, it was clearly very serious. "You can tell me. I won't talk about it to anyone, promise."

"Stop it!" Eric's hand suddenly reached out and hit my arm, slapping my own hand away. "Please... just go away. I don't want you to know..."

"Eric, please... don't worry about it." I lifted his head up, sitting on the couch next to him. "Listen to me. You can trust me, okay? I would never try to do anything to hurt you, okay? Whatever is going on with you... just know that I'm here, and you can talk to me about it, okay? Now, what is it that's bothering you so much?"

"Eliza..." Eric blinked a few times, some tears still remaining in his eyes. "I... I really want to tell you, okay? But... I don't know if I can. It's just..." I noticed a few tears running down his cheek. "I... I don't know if I can. It's... kind of a secret, and... I don't want to put you in danger."

Secret? Danger? Now I was really interested. "Listen, Eric. If you really don't think that you can tell me, that's fine. But the way you've been acting lately... I'm sorry, but I just can't stand seeing you like this. I'm your older sister, so it's my job to look after you. And if there's even a slim chance that telling me could help you... then I think it would be worth it. Don't you?"

"Well... okay." Eric stood up, still looking down at me. "I'll... I'll tell you." He started walking away, toward the staircase leading upstairs. "Can you come into my room with me? I.. think I'd be more comfortable if we talked up there."

I nodded. "Okay," I said, following him up the staircase.

When we got into his room, Eric sat down on his bed. He took a few deep breaths, probably trying to psych himself up a bit. Finally, he turned to me. "So, um... do you remember those books we used to read? Those, um... those Animorphs books?"

"Animorphs? Um... yeah." I looked over at Eric's bookshelf, where he kept his massive collection of books. On the bottom shelf sat all of his Animorphs books, neatly lined up in a row. I could still remember the two of us when we were younger, lying on the floor of our living room and reading those books to death. "I'm the one who got you into that series, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" I looked back at Eric, seeing a bright smile spread across his face. "Do you still read them now?"

"Um... no," I replied. Though it was me that introduced them to Eric, and though I did enjoy them quite a bit, I never seemed to enjoy them as much as Eric did. I could still remember him staying up long past his bedtime reading them in his bed before he went to sleep, even though our parents tried to get him to stop. I had since lost interest in the series as a whole, but I wasn't sure if Eric ever did.

Sure enough, Eric's smile fell as soon as I answered. "Oh... that's okay," he said.

"You did always love those books, didn't you?" I said to him. "Is that what you wanted talk about? Did someone make fun of you for liking them?"

Eric shook his head. "No, nothing like that," he said. "But... I did want to talk to you about them." He walked over to the bookshelf, kneeling down in front of it. "Do you know what really drew me to these books? It was... it was the concept of transformation. Just... the idea of becoming something completely different... seeing the world through the eyes of something else entirely... " He looked back at me. "I mean, isn't it intriguing?"

"Um... I mean, yeah," I said. "I'm pretty sure that concept was one of the main selling points of those books..."

"Okay, but listen." The serious tone in Eric's voice was enough to shut me up. He never got this serious unless something was really wrong. "These books... they drew me in because of that. That's why I kept reading them... because of that concept. And eventually, I just got so engrossed in the whole concept of transformation that I..." his voice trailed off.

I walked over to him. "Are you sure you want to talk about this?" I asked. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay," he said. "What happened was... I ended up going on the internet. Seeing if there were other things out there... things that dealt with the the concept of transformation. And... well, apparently there are a lot of other things dealing with that concept. Like, a ton of other things."

"Really?" This was getting interesting. Could a concept like that really be so popular?

Eric nodded. "I'd go as far as to call it an entire fanbase," he said. "Seriously. There are pictures, stories, photo manipulations... all revolving around this one concept. They've even got an acronym for it." He turned his head back to the bookshelf, closing his eyes. "I eventually found myself getting really involved in the fanbase. I mean, I thought that I was weird for being into this kind of thing, but when I discovered the fanbase... I felt like I was right at home. Like I belonged." He looked back at me. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

I looked back at him. "Um... yeah, sure," I said, still trying to wrap my head around what I had just heard. A fanbase built around transformation? Sounded a bit unorthodox to me. "Is that what you wanted to tell me about?"

"Not... entirely," said Eric, closing his eyes again. "You see... after spending some time in the fanbase, I became... frustrated."

"Frustrated?" Now I was confused. "Why would you be frustrated? Didn't you just say that you felt like you belonged in this fanbase?"

"Well... yeah, at first," replied Eric. "But as I spent more time in it, I started becoming more invested in the other people in it. You know, other artists and writers, people who do a lot for the community. The more time I spent, the more I... wanted to be like them. I wanted to show other people what I could do for the community. Only... I couldn't. I couldn't seem to do anything, no matter how hard I tried." His entire body began shaking, his breathing becoming more stilted. He looked like he was on the verge of crying again. "I... I wanted to do something. I wanted to draw, write... anything. But no matter what I did... it just never turned out right. Never the way I wanted it. All I wanted was to fit in, but..." Tears started rolling down the sides of his cheeks.

"Eric..." I put my arm around him, in a desperate attempt to comfort him. "I... I'm sorry. I had no idea..."

"You don't understand!" Eric immediately stood up again, his tone more serious than ever. "The frustration... I could feel it welling up within me. The more time I spent in there, the more I felt it... eating away at me. Every night, I prayed for something... something that could help me stand out. That's what I wanted more than anything." He stopped for a moment, attempting to breath deeply again. But the more he tried, the more stilted his breathing became, He was clearly upset, but he also looked... nervous? "But... every time I prayed, I... felt something. Something inside me, growing along with the frustration. It felt like... it felt like it was struggling. Struggling to be free, to... make itself known to me. I tried ignoring it at first, but... it just kept growing and growing, and... one night, when it finally felt like it was about to burst, I... looked out the window, and... and..."

He fell silent. Whatever it was that happened, it had clearly become immensely difficult for him to talk about. But I had come to far to turn back now. I had to find out for sure what was bothering him. "Go on," I said. "After you opened the window, what happened?"

He shook his head. "This was a mistake," he said. "I never should have agreed to talk about this." He started walking back over to his bed, sitting down on top of it once he got there. "I'm sorry, Eliza. I... never should have brought you into this..."

"What?" I walked over to the bed, sitting down next to him. "You can't just leave me like that! You're just going to stop talking after telling me something like that? Why?"

"Please... just leave." Eric got up once again, walking over to his bedroom window. "I need some fresh air in here..."

Now it was my turn to be frustrated. I was so close! So close to figuring out exactly what was wrong with him. Sure, I'd gotten some insight as to why he was so upset, but there was clearly more to this than he had told me. "Eric, come on," I said. "Like I said, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I'll listen to whatever y-" As soon as I noticed him again, I stopped. He was standing in front of his window, completely frozen. Not moving at all. "Um, are you okay?"

"No..." I could barely hear the word, but I could still make out the absolute terror in his voice. "How... how is this possible? How did I forget that it was... tonight..."

"Eric?" I walked over next to him, looking out the window. The full moon was shining in the night sky, its white light matching Eric's pale face. He looked horrified. "Eric, are you okay? What's the matter with you?"

"I... I..." He could barely get the words out. His entire body seemed to be shaking, his face white as a sheet. Suddenly, his entire body collapsed. His eyes seemed to darken, and he suddenly went limp, falling down to the ground like he had fainted.

"Eric!" Immediately, I knelt down next to him, checking his pulse. His heart rate seemed faster than normal, but it was definitely there. Suddenly his eyes opened wide, filled with panic and terror. He began clawing at his shirt, as if he was trying to get it off. And when I looked at the skin underneath the shirt, I immediately saw why.

Fur. Pure black fur was sprouting on his torso, and it was beginning to spread. Soon it was covering his entire stomach area, and was spreading to his chest as well. He turned over, and I could see that his back was almost entirely covered in this fur as well. "Eliza..." he said weakly. "Please... you have to get out of here..."

"Eric? W-what's going on?" My brother was sprouting fur, almost like he was... transforming into something else entirely! "How... how is this possible?"

"Go!" Eric cried, his voice heavy with fear. The fur was now covering his arms as well, which seemed to growing larger and stronger. His hands also appeared to be growing larger, and his fingernails were pushing out, sharpening into deadly claws. With a sickening roar, he grabbed his shirt and ripped it off his body, showing off more of his fur and growing muscles.

"Eric! It... it's okay!" I leaned over him, looking him in the eyes. "I'm here, okay? You're going to be fine." Even though I had no clue what was happening, I knew I had to comfort him somehow.

"Get out!" His tone was so violent it caused me to jump. "Run! Get out of here!" Now he was grabbing at his shorts, his claws tearing through the fabric. The fur had already spread to his legs, covering them and causing them to grow and strengthen like his arms had. I heard a loud ripping sound, so I looked behind him... and gasped. A long, furry tail had emerged from his backside, ripping his shorts apart. Tattered, they finally fell off his body, leaving him without any clothes.

"Eric, no!" I looked back down at his legs, watching the fur completely cover them. His feet were next to change, and as the fur covered them, they began growing in length. The toes fused into three and thickened, while the toenails lengthened and sharpened into claws. They now resembled paws, which made me shudder, but I couldn't let myself get distracted by that. "Just hold on, Eric!" I cried. "You'll be fine! Don't worry!"

"Eliza..." Another tear rolled down his cheek, splashing into the fur spreading up his neck. "I'm... sorry..." As the words left his mouth, the fur began sprouting on his face. I watched his face push forward into a muzzle, his nose blacken and round out, and his teeth sharpened into fangs. His ears grew large and pointy, and his hair shank, becoming more fur. With that, the transformation was complete. He had become a complete werewolf.

He blinked. Slowly, he began to stand up, balancing easily on his new wolf paws. Cautiously, I stood up as well, noticing how much taller he was than me. I was normally taller than he was, but he absolutely towered over me in this form. I started to turn around, getting ready to run before he could pounce. But before I could do anything, the werewolf looked down at me, and... smiled? "Hello, Eliza," he said.

I just stood there, stunned. Hello? That wasn't what I had expected at all. Was he trying to lure me into some kind of false sense of security? "Um... what?" I said, confused.

The smile vanished. "I said hello, Eliza," the werewolf said. "What, did you suddenly forget how to be polite to your own brother?" He smirked, looking down at himself. "Although, I don't blame you for being shocked. I'll bet you had no idea this was possible in real life, did you?"

My own brother? So... was I talking to Eric after all? Then why had he yelled at me to get out before? I was so confused. "Um.. no? I mean, no. I didn't know it was possible," I said, trying to play it safe for now.

Eric grinned once again. "Well, take a good look, sister," he said. "Seriously, look at me! Look at how cool I look!" He looked back at me, a small glint in his eyes. "You're jealous, aren't you?"

To be perfectly honest, I was a little jealous. Between the pure black fur, claws, tail, and wolfish muzzle, Eric did look pretty cool. But there was something about the glint in his eyes that made doubt his intentions. Something about it just seemed... sinister. "Um... not really, no..." I stammered. "Um... just so we're clear... I am still talking to Eric, right? You're not just some... other kind of werewolf that's completely taken over Eric's mind, are you? I mean... you're not going to try and eat me or anything, right?"

A frown crossed the werewolf's face. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "Of course I'm Eric! How long have you known me for? Also, do you really think that I'm some kind of vicious monster just because I'm a werewolf? If you ask me, that's awfully close-minded of you."

"But... but..." I had to chose my words carefully here. "But why were you yelling at me to run away while you were changing if you knew that you weren't going to attack me?"

"Well... my human self was probably a bit... frightened of this form," said the werewolf with a sigh. "I mean, this is only my second time in this form. Still, though, did he seriously think that I was just going to go off and start attacking people? God, I hate that cliche so much..."

I took a step back. Personality wise, it certainly seemed like this werewolf was truly Eric in both mind and body. But I still didn't fully trust him, especially since he had just referred to his "human self" in third person. "Well, that's good to know, then," I said, turning around. "I'll just leave you here to do... whatever it is you do as a werewolf." Quickly, I began walking over to Eric's bedroom door, hoping to get out as quickly as possible.

But as soon as I started moving, I saw a black blur shoot past me. Before I could react, Eric was standing in front of the door, preventing me from leaving. "Oh, you're not going anywhere," he said, grinning.

I took another step, this time away from the door. "What do you mean, I'm not going anywhere?" I asked, my voice shaking. "What do you want from me?"

Eric laughed. "Well, I never finished that story I was telling you, did I?" he asked. "Where was I... ah yes, that's right. So when I looked out the window, I could see the full moon in the sky, much like tonight. And when I looked at it... I felt whatever was inside of me spread throughout me. And then... I felt them. The changes, I mean. I felt them take over my body, changing me until I was... well, this. And the moment I felt all of this... power, this energy... I knew what I had to do. Because, as it just so happens..." He looked down at me, the glint in his eyes having turned malicious. "...I can spread this gift to other people, too."

Before I even knew what was happening, one of Eric's massive hand-paws shot out, knocking me to the ground. The next thing I knew, he was on top of me, a massive grin plastered across his wolf-muzzle. "Congratulations, Eliza," he laughed. "You get to be my first victim!" Without another word, he reached out and pressed one of his claws into my forehead. I felt it cut into my skin, felt the sharp, searing pain as he dragged it across my forehead, like a knife digging deep into my flesh. Finally, he lifted it out, wiping the blood off of it. "I know that a bite is the classic method," he said, still grinning like a lunatic. "But I prefer doing it this way. It's much cleaner if you ask me."

Cautiously, I raised one of my hands up to my forehead. I could feel the blood running down my face, dripping down between my eyes. But as I tried to wipe it away, I suddenly noticed my hand. Thick, silver fur was growing on it, and my fingernails were sharpening into claws... just like Eric's. "No..." I gasped, realizing what was about to happen. "No!"

Eric laughed again. "And so it begins!" he said. "My first victim, well on her way to joining me! How does it feel, Eliza?"

The fur was already spreading down my arms, which, along with my hands, seemed to be growing much larger. I could feel the muscles in my arms swelling up, nearly ripping through my shirt. "How could you do this to me?" I cried, unable to believe what was happening. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm pretty sure I explained this to you already," said Eric. "I told you that I was frustrated because I couldn't contribute to the transformation fanbase. Well, this is how I'm contributing: by bringing transformations into the world of reality!" He laughed to himself before continuing. "Of course, I knew that I could transform others as soon as I changed, thanks to my new instincts. But I also didn't think it was a good idea to just go out and start changing other people right away... at least, not without some backup. And that's where you come in!"

"I... what? What are you talking about?" Now the fur was spreading across my torso, which was also bulking up with muscle. I realized that I was growing larger and taller, too large for my shirt to stay on. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed it and ripped it off of my body, surprised at how easily it came off. Clearly, I was much stronger than I had been before.

Eric seemed pleased by this. "That's it! Get those clothes off! Embrace your your wild side!" Laughing, he turned to face me again. "Anyway, you're going to help me find... other people. People who we think would make good werewolves... or, you know, whatever we end up turning them into. Then, once they've been changed, they can search for people to transform too, and pretty soon, we'll have changed everyone in the world! So, what do you say?"

"You're crazy!" I cried. "I'll never join you!" As I said it, I began struggling with my pants, trying to get them off. I could feel something growing behind me, and I didn't want them ruined like Eric's. Sure enough, I looked behind me to see a tail sprouting from my backside. It was small at first, but it began growing bigger and bigger until it was almost as big as Eric's, completely covered in silver fur.

"You'll never join me?" Eric seemed amused by this. "Oh, I think you will. Once you've fully changed, that is. After all, that's exactly what happened to me. Even though our human sides might... disapprove of what we're doing, we'll still be able to transform as many people as we want when we're in these forms." He paused for a moment, his grin disappearing. "You know, now that I think about it, that might be why I was yelling at you to get out while I was changing. My human self didn't want this to happen to you, I guess. Oh well, it's too late to think about that now!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I cried. Our... human sides? Was my mind going to change like my body? I looked down at myself again, watching my legs change. The silver fur was spreading across them, and they looked like they were growing, just like my arms had. Sure enough, I soon felt the swelling muscle rip through my pants, destroying them before I could get them off fully. As the fur spread down to my feet, I began feeling them change as well. They started growing larger and longer, the toes fusing together and thickening and the toenails growing into claws. My feet had become wolf paws, just like Eric's had.

"You'll find out what I mean soon enough," replied Eric, staring at my new paws. "I must say, you're coming along quite nicely." His eyes scanned my body, looking over the fur, tail, muscles, and paws that I had gained. "Only the head to go... and then we can begin our transformation spree! Aren't you excited?"

"You... you..." As I spoke, I started feeling the fur spread across my face. "Y-you..." I felt my face stretching into a muzzle, my teeth sharpening into fangs. My ears grew larger, stretching out and becoming more pointy. I felt my senses of sight, hearing, and smell increasing, becoming far sharper than before. And then, in that instant... I felt everything around me change.

Well... it didn't actually change. I was still in Eric's room, and he was still standing over me in his werewolf form. Everything just... felt different, like it was being presented to me in a different way. Eric stood over me, the glint in his eyes as strong as ever. Only it didn't look malicious anymore... in fact, it actually looked kind of welcoming. "You feeling alright?" He asked, holding out his paw to help me up.

"I feel..." I took his paw and got up, steadying myself on my own paws. "I feel amazing!" It was true: I felt better than I ever had in my entire life. Everything around me felt so much clearer, thanks to my enhanced senses. I could see, hear, and smell in far more detail than before! My body felt far stronger than before, too. I felt like I could run for the entire night and not get tired at all!

"Glad to hear it," said Eric, turning toward the door. "So... you ready to transform some people?"

I grinned. "Absolutely!" I said. After all, I felt more amazing than I ever had before. Why wouldn't I try to share this with the rest of the world? What kind of person would that make me?

As we were leaving, though, Eric turned back to me. "Just so you know, you're probably going to regret this when we turn back," he told me. "Like I said, our human forms... don't exactly approve of this whole thing."

I thought back to how I had reacted while I was changing... before I had realized how superior this form was. "Well... that doesn't matter much, does it?" I asked. "I mean, our human forms are weak. And frail. I mean, who cares what they think?"

"You probably will, when you change back," replied Eric. "And don't forget, we spend most of our time in those forms." He grinned again. "Don't worry too much about it, though. Like you said, those forms are weak. We'll find some way to overtake them, once we get enough support from the other people we transform. And make no mistake, they will support us." He looked back down at himself. "I mean, what kind of person would choose humanity over this? Nobody, that's who."

I nodded. "You're right about that," I agreed. "Now, how about we get right to work? I really want more people to be able to experience this!"

"You are so right, sister," replied Eric. "Now, let's go!" With that, we ran out into the night, ready to change the world... permanently.