Disclaimer: Number one: I don't own the characters that Tetsuya Nomura owns. Number Two: Just a little foreword. When I began writing this story, my dog was very sick, and he has since died. Some of the things I saw, and some of the emotions I went through went into this story, so there is at least a little real-life experience behind what I write. Now, on to the story.
Chapter One
In and out…In and out…Numb, my senses began to return to me. It felt like I had been asleep for a long time. I still felt disconnected from the world, and I might as well have remained that way. But nevertheless, the first to return was my sense of smell. Through the darkness came a putrid stench, the likes of which I had never encountered before. The smell of urine and decay, death and other indescribable odors rushed forth and assaulted my nose, bringing me more to my senses. It struck a chord of fear and dread deep within me, which hung like a black void in the pit of my stomach.
Next, my sight returned, relaxed and out of focus at first, but better after a long moment. Soon after returned the rest of me. The first things I saw were the thick metal bars surrounding me. I lay on my side in a small cage on the ground, a cold metal floor stinging me from below. And the air temperature wasn't much warmer than that of the floor. Beyond the bars, the rest of the room stood silently, enclosed by dull blue metallic walls. The lighting was dim, coming only from two small overhead fixtures, but even so, I could see around the room many other cages like mine inhabited by creatures from all over the world (most of which I hadn't seen before, at least at that time in my life). The cages were stacked upon each other from ground to ceiling, like kennels, and they all had metal flooring like mine, lined with raised edges to form a tray of sorts. The tops of the cages were solid plates of metal so as to act like separators between each row of animals. A man dressed in some sort of uniform, holding a large weapon across his chest, stood solemnly like a stone mountain, at a closed metal doorway across from me, apparently guarding it.
I remained calm outwardly, but on the inside, I was frightened. Where was I? How had I gotten there? What had happened to me? I tried to think back to the last I could remember being in the canyon. My mind was still in a haze from sleep, but I could recall the color blue and a sharp stabbing pain, both somehow related to each other. My hind right leg was asleep, I realized, still numb. I put my head down to think and then picked it back up a moment later, unsure of what to do.
A low, threatening growl from the cage next to mine broke my thoughts. It came from what looked like a Nibel wolf from near home. Its fur was matted and raggedy, and it stood on only three legs, the fourth appearing to have been surgically removed. It continued to growl, putting up a front against me, though I could tell from its posture and where it stood in the far back corner of its cage that its growls were its only defense. It couldn't have fought if it wanted to. In shock at its disfigurement, I tried to avert my sight, but I only found my way to the other cages around the room. In one cage high up, I saw a small squirrel-like animal which was missing its right eye. The same as me. Another animal, a wolf smaller than the Nibel wolf, sat trembling in the back of its cage on the ground across from me, next to the metal doorway. An open sore on its face glistened in the low light. It seemed, as I continued to look around, that every one of the animals in the room, excepting the blue-uniformed man and me, had some sort of physical malady. The Nibel wolf's growls continued on, though in an increasingly subdued manner. It had lain down, and appeared to be tiring.
What in the world had happened to these animals? Such pitiful appearances... With only a single exception, I couldn't remember in all my life having seen anything so disturbing. It terrified me and a gave me a strange sense of helplessness.
The growling diminished and slowed to a halt, and all was quiet for a short moment. I could not get my mind to think through what had happened to me. And hardly any time had passed for me to think when, jump-starting my heart and breaking my concentration, the doorway the man in blue guarded sprang to life and slid rather noisily open. A second and third blue-clad man came into the room, each carrying one end of a stretcher about ten feet long. The second man stopped and talked to the one who had been guarding the doorway. I glimpsed at the side of each of the new guards a large weapon, a machine gun like that of the first guard. The third man also had at his side a smaller gun, not nearly as lethal in appearance as the bigger ones. More like a dart gun.
"Alright then," I heard the door guard say. "So who's up?"
The second guard took out a sheet of type-written paper and, inspecting it, said "Let's see... Thirteen. Red thirteen." The wolf in the next cage began growling quietly, but stopped after a short moment. The door guard looked slowly around the room and then pointed at my cage. Me?
"God, it stinks in here," the third guard said offensively. He and the second guard brought the stretcher over to the front of my cage.
I instinctively backed into the rear corner of my cage, growled, and prepared to fight. The third guard took up the small gun from his side and loaded it above the ceiling of my cage, so that I couldn't see. He then knelt down, coming up close to the face of the cage, stuck the muzzle of the gun between the bars, and pointed it at me. I unsheathed my claws and made a swipe at the gun, but the guard shot and retreated quickly from the cage, rendering my attack useless.
"Whoa, this one's still got some fight in him!" he exclaimed with a laugh.
Someone behind him responded, saying "wouldn't worry about it. It never lasts long."
The third guard tapped my cage mockingly with the butt of his gun, and I could see a malicious smile on his face. "What's the doctor want him for?"
I looked at the spot where I had been shot. A dart stood out from the fur on my shoulder, a tuft of pink fiber attached to its end.
"I don't know," the first guard replied. He fumbled for a few minutes through a large ring of at least fifty keys, trying to find one in particular, and stopped as he came to a large, distinctly shaped key with a triangular handle. "Some big secret project." His voice began to sound distant in my ears, like I was listening from the opposite end of a long tunnel.
"Oh yeah? What about?" I heard someone else ask. I didn't catch who—my mind had lost what little edge it had gained since I awoke. The voices became nearly indiscernible as the sleepy haze descended back down upon me.
"How do I know? ...You think they tell me? ...You are the captain after all... But that doesn't mean anything... Is he under yet? ...Close. Give it a minute to kick in fully... I heard there's a rumor that the Turks are involved in..."
A tranquilizer, I thought to myself, and I slipped away into sleep.
…
Entry Number: 1009134707
Date: 150986 19:39
Project: Red
Class: XIII
Subject located near the Gongaga Area. Arrived at approximately 15:00 hours yesterday, and kept under heavy sedation for 24 hour observation. Initial testing begun today around 15:00 hours. ID given (front and hind limbs). Blood and tissue samples taken for testing and karyotyping, respectively. Genetic compatibility? Sperm collection next shift for gamete study and comparison. Initial observations appear promising, but more in-depth study is required. Physical examination performed today as well. Subject appears physically healthy, excepting extensive scarring over the right eye (eye nonfunctional). Damage incurred early in life (GI War?), as widespread scar tissue is present and wound appears fully healed. The subject is adorned with several decorations, including bangles around each ankle and one or two metal earrings through each ear (possibly cultural in origin). Also, a fire burns steadily on the end of the specimen's tail. I had heard about this characteristic, but it is quite interesting to see in person. How is it that this fire does not burn or scar the subject, or even spread beyond its source position on the tail? I am happy that the pieces of my fine little puzzle are coming together at last. With any luck, our search will be concluded before too long.
END OF ENTRY
…
Blue surf, blue sky, blue bird, blue sea. To the sea I walk—why, I can't say. Just one of those things, I suppose. For the fun of it. The scent of the ocean salt runs deep through my nose at every breath, and the crisp, cool breeze plays lightly across my body, blowing my hair back at every gust. I am standing on the sandy front now, alone at midday, and the sky is clean and blue as far as I can see. How big and blue and utterly huge it all is! I could get lost just looking. And the view that great blue bird must have... I would love, just for a moment, to fly with that bird across the great blue sea and see what lies beyond...
…
I awoke slowly, hoping to find the familiar surroundings of Cosmo Canyon welcoming me back from my sleep. But it was instead the same putrid smell and dull grey lighting which welcomed me. The two guards and their stretcher were gone. My mouth was dry, and the skin on my shoulders and legs burned like fire against the cold air of the room. Through inspection I discovered at the source of the burning, tattoos in strange designs wrapping their ways around my limbs. On my left shoulder I saw, inverted, the number thirteen in Roman numerals. Dried blood clumped the fur around the tattoos together.
In the room around me, all the other creatures appeared at first to be sleeping. A sickening chewing sound emanated from a cage across the room where another squirrel-like animal with a bloodstained face looked to be biting at a wound on its leg. It paused for a moment and its eyes glinted at me, yellow in the darkness of its cage. After a short second, it returned its attention to its leg. Revolted, I looked away and saw the wolf in the cage next to me, sleeping. It had tattoos as well, much the same as mine.
At the metal doorway a different man in blue stood guard. He was taller than the previous guard, but thinner and of a more slight stature. He held a large machine gun at his side and stood silently in place.
I stood to my feet and walked to the front corner of my cage. "What is this place?" I called out to the man. The noise from the squirrel stopped, as though it too were waiting for an answer. The man glanced quickly at me out of the corner of his eyes and then looked back ahead, pretending not to have heard me. "Hey," I called again, making sure he heard me this time. "Man in blue. What is this place?"
He looked back in my direction, and after a moment of apparent deliberation, said flatly and in a quiet manner "I'm not supposed to talk with the test subjects." He looked back ahead, noticeably uncomfortable. I was trying to get an answer out of a brick wall.
"What's your name?" I asked, undeterred.
Again, the guard looked over at me quietly. "...Simms."
My mind worked the task ahead of me, and for a moment my legs seemed to stop burning. "Well, Simms, I have a name too. I'm Nanaki. I live in Cosmo Canyon." He didn't seem to know where Cosmo Canyon was (he made a strange face at my mention of it). "Where do you live?" I continued, getting back to the point.
"How is it you can talk?" he asked, deftly dodging my question.
"How is it that you can talk?" I answered back. I've always resented questions like that. "We're both animals in here. I merely have more legs than you."
"And fur." He retorted.
"What do you call all of your hair?"
Simms seemed amused by this, and said with a half-smile "you're pretty sharp for an animal. I live here in Midgar."
Disregarding his insult, I said "It's nice to meet you, Simms from Midgar. You wouldn't happen to know what time of day it is, would you?"
"It's not. —Day, I mean. I run the night shift here at HQ." He spoke a bit more freely, though he still stood his post more or less at attention.
"Really? Where's the other guy? The one who was at the door before you?"
"You mean Grant? He works the daytime here. One of the perks of being the captain of our unit, I guess."
"What, having normal sleeping hours?"
"Yeah," he said with a slight chuckle. "And here I am, nearly nocturnal."
"Sounds like fun." I detected a hint of envy in his voice.
"Oh yeah. You got that right. Me and Grant changed shifts while you were with the professor in the OR."
"The OR?" I had heard that term somewhere before. But where? After a moment the meaning came to me. "The Operating Room?" I asked in surprise.
"Don't worry. Today wasn't anything big. Just ID tattoos and a DNA extraction. Oh, and some blood tests too. You know, see if you have any diseases."
"And what's the word? Am I healthy?" The question was meant as a joke, but I gathered by his response that Simms missed the punch-line. Not quite the brightest bulb in the barrel, that man. Maybe a good thing in the long run.
"You think they tell me? All I ever get is the work schedule, and even then I don't know exactly what's happening sometimes." He paused. "But speaking of ID, how do your tattoos feel?"
"My legs feel like they're on fire," I said plainly, looking again at the thirteen etched into my shoulder.
"Yeah, those ones do burn. They're special—permanent, even changing fur color. Couldn't remove them even if we wanted to."
"Permanent?" I repeated, somewhat in shock. The blackened fur seemed to darken, even as I watched it. I remembered the stretcher guard calling me Red XIII.
"Sorry," Simms apologized. "But that's nothing compared to some of the other things that happen here."
In the next cage the Nibel wolf stirred and rose on its three legs, reset itself, and lay back down to sleep.
"Why? Why would you do this?"
"It's not my call. I couldn't ever do the things the doctor does here. But I guess it's all in the name of science."
"Then you object to what he does?"
"Yeah, I guess I do. But I'm still pretty new here, so I maybe I'm just not used to it yet."
"If you object, why don't you stop it?"
"It's not that easy."
"Well then why doesn't someone else try? Maybe you could form a group of people... There's strength in numbers, right?"
"Here's the deal: This lab is more or less top secret. Under the radar, you know? And the company wants it to stay that way. They'd bury anyone who tried to expose them without blinking an eye."
"So your doctor...what, he basically has free reign to do whatever he wants in here, doesn't he?"
"As long as it doesn't cost the company too much money."
"And so you just let all this...abuse go on?"
"Like I said, there's nothing I could do to stop it." He watched me with a vaguely sympathetic look.
The conversation lulled, and my "mission" to get some information was accomplished, so I lay back down to sleep. But my mind mulled restlessly over my situation for a few hours. Eventually, a question came to my mind, a strange one, seeming to have come out of nowhere. "Hey, Simms?"
"Yeah?"
"Is there a bathroom hidden somewhere in here?"
The same look of sympathy was his response. The fetid stench of the room hit me again as though it had been waiting specifically for that moment, and I was disgusted. As I put my head back across a foreleg to rest, the sound of chewing, which had halted over the past few hours since my conversation with Simms, began again, reverberating grossly in my ears. The reality of this place began to set in on me. Up to that point, it hadn't really felt like someone had been playing a joke on me but now… I saw the wolf in my mind. What would they do to me here?
A few words escaped me, almost unwillingly, in a small whisper: "This can't be happening. This can't be real. Please, let me wake up soon."
