The Wolf Inside of You
It was a dark, dismal night as the blood in Squall's head pounded. He was laid flat out on the rocky floor, beaten and bruised, his body too tired to move. His Gunblade, which was stood upright in the mud, was glinting red from the little light given off by the moon. It had suddenly become clear to Squall why he laid there; it all came flooding back, the fighting, the anger, the pain and suffering. Squall along with five other members of his group, had, just half an hour ago beaten the world's greatest sorceress. They had saved the world from chaos and destruction. Squall looked around; the fight had brought the group to, what looked like, the middle of nowhere. He looked to his left and saw a silhouette of a woman. She slowly got to her feet and her face caught the light.
Squall recognised her elegant figure at once; after all he was madly in love with her. Her long black hair swayed in the wind and her blue eyes shone with tears. Her long blue dress was torn and her beautiful face was scratched, her skin, which was usually golden brown in colour, had turned pearly white. The crossbow which she normally used was broken beyond repair. Her name Squall thought suited her perfectly Rinoa Heartily. She turned and for a split second their eyes met. Rinoa shouted something but Squall's ears didn't seem to want to listen. Squall felt the force of two men picking him up until he could support his own weight. He swayed a little but stood tall and proud surveying the rest of the group.
Everybody seemed to have stayed alive in the struggle, although the entire group made a sacrifice. Seifer who was usually a good fighter had accumulated many injuries. His coat which was usually white was now a dusty grey and his prized possession, his sword, was slashed in half. Quistis, Seifer's girlfriend, was rummaging through the dust on the floor apparently looking for her glasses which were smashed to pieces a few feet away. Her long blonde hair which was usually tied back had gone wild and was sticking up like needles on the top of her head. Zell looked nearly as bad as Squall, his 3 quarter length jeans hung loosely at his side as his belt had split in the fight. His blonde Mohawk which he usually sported seemed to have caught on fire by one of the Sorceress's attacks. His fists, which were Zell's only weapon, had turned a bluish black from the fight and his face had swollen to twice its normal size.
Nobody moved for a few minutes, they all seemed to be swallowing up the fact that the sorceress was dead. The silence was broken however by a squeaky voice. Quistis had managed to find her glasses, one lens had been smashed but the other one was unharmed, she quickly put them on and spoke in a voice quite unlike her own,
"Um, we better get moving, it'll soon be morning"
"Spose" replied Zell shrugging. Squall nodded his head in agreement but he felt so tired and sick that he stopped very quickly,
"Wass'up Squall?" asked Zell
"Nothin," Squall replied but as he spoke, he vomited all over the floor. It happened so suddenly, first Squall experienced a cold rush, then a hot rush and then dizziness, his head was pounding as he vomited again. Rinoa screamed as Squall fell to the floor unconscious.
Squall heard muffled voices; he opened his eyes to find that he was laid in a hospital bed. Rinoa, who had been watching him, got up and wrapped her arms so tightly around Squall that he chocked
"Oh, sorry," Rinoa hesitated but she let go of Squall and instead sat down on a seat beside Squall's bed,
"How long have I been here," Squall asked
"Oh only about three hours," Rinoa replied. Squall reached to pick a bag up,
"Has that got my clothes in it?" Squall inquired,
"Yeah, they are clean," Rinoa looked up at Squall,
"You can't go Squall," Rinoa stated, but Squall was already up. He got out of bed with great difficulty and started to put on his clean boxers under his hospital clothes. As Squall went to leave Rinoa grabbed his arm.
"You've got broken ribs and you need to rest," shouted Rinoa. But the minute she let go of Squall, he went straight out of the room and walked towards his dormitory in the campus.
The campus was packed with trainee fighters who were all laughing as they talked with their friends. Squall hated socialising, he hated being with people he didn't know. He got to his dorm, opened the door and locked it behind him, he was dreading the nighttime. Squall hated socialising because he was so different from everyone else. He had nothing in common with strangers, or even his friends. And every night for two days in each month Squall would do the same. He would lock himself in his room, not to get away from people, but to protect them. Because two days in a month he wasn't human, he was a werewolf! Squall had gotten bitten when he was 15 on a mission to capture a werewolf that was running around the town of Balamb. Squall had been successful in capturing the wolf but had gotten bitten in the process, and so for three years he had gone unnoticed in his room as he changed into a wolf. The only people that knew were Zell and the Headmaster, Cid upon hearing the news hadn't expelled Squall, but the security measures he had were very intense. Squall's door had several bolts on it and the door itself had been made of strong iron.
Squall sat in the corner of his dorm, the only possessions he had in there were his bed, a shelf on the wall and a cabinet made of steel to put his clothes and sword in. Squall changed again but this time took off the hospital garment and put his clothes on properly. He opened the door to return the hospital clothes, when he came face to face with Rinoa, she obviously had been waiting outside for him. Squall hesitated but asked Rinoa to accompany him to the hospital. She took his offer, so the two of them walked to the hospital. Squall dropped his clothes off and argued with the nurse and with Rinoa about staying in the hospital overnight. Squall shook his head and checked his watch, it was 5:30 and to be completely safe Squall had to be in his dorm at 6 so he could change in peace before the wolf took over. After Squall said goodnight to Rinoa and kissed her, Squall ran to his dorm and locked the door behind him.
Night time fell and for the first time in that month, the full moon shone brightly. Squall could feel it, he could feel the wolf inside him, trying desperately to get out. He took off his jacket and shirt and sat alone in a corner of his room. It was very painful, first Squall grew hair on his face, then all his body changed, the nails on his hands were growing sharp and pointed and his teeth were long and razor like, Squall screamed but found that he howled instead. His ribs were almost at breaking point as the wolf growled menacingly, the beast ran into the iron door desperate to get out, desperate to get its huge paws on any unsuspecting victim that happened to pass by. It ran around the room banging into the bed and the walls, frustrated that such a power should be locked up. It stopped, and almost as if it was thinking, starred at the iron cabinet in Squall's room. The wolf backed itself into a corner and lunged at the cabinet with all its strength, sending it toppling over a few feet away. The creature then made a move for the inside of the cabinet that was now showing, it slowly moved its paw, stalking its prey, but as it moved in for the kill it seemed to stop. The wolf howled in pain, it had splintered its already injured ribs, it snarled and its own blood dribbled down its yellow fangs. The creature's breathing had altered, it wasn't able to take long breaths like it was used to its breath was sharp and painful. It tried to run the pain off, but that only made it worse, in the end it laid down where it was, giving up defeat.
It was nearly morning as Squall woke up feeling dizzy again. He couldn't remember what happened that night. Whenever Squall transforms he blacks out and the wolf takes over. Squall was laid on the hard floor breathing heavily. He was tired but relieved that by this time tomorrow he would be free of the wolf for another month. He slipped on his clothes and tried to get up, but quickly sat back down again when an excruciating pain in his side made him realise that he had splintered his ribs during the night. He got up with great difficulty and opened the fallen cabinet in his room and pulled out a roll of bandage which he wrapped tightly around his ribs. He would turn the cabinet the right way around when he got back later, he thought. He put his top back on, unbolted his door and stepped out to again find that Rinoa was stood outside his dorm.
"Will you stop doing that!" shouted Squall as he walked through the door and proceeded along the corridor, Rinoa at his heels.
"What were you doing last night?" asked Rinoa, "I tired to see you but when I got to your door, it was bolted"
"I was…er…sleeping," replied Squall unconvincingly,
"Sounded like there was a dog in your room" questioned Rinoa, "Something was banging very loudly, are you sure you were asleep?"
"Yeh…sure" Rinoa looked unconvinced but she shrugged and carried on walking. They met Seifer, Zell and Quistis at the training centre. They still looked bruised but they seemed to be fine as Seifer took his frustration out on a Behemoth, a horned dragon, with his gleaming new sword. And Zell was wearing boxing gloves and air sparing. Squall didn't feel like training, he went and sat down with Rinoa. He watched Seifer win his battle with the Behemoth as he dragged his sword clean through its neck, chopping its head off. The head rolled a few paces then stopped and Squall felt a horrible twitch as the eyes of the head seemed to look straight at him. They stayed in the centre till late and Squall checked his watch to find that it was 8:30pm.
He panicked and ran to his dorm, leaving Rinoa, Quistis, Seifer and Zell behind. Squall slammed the door shut and looked out of the window; the moon was hidden behind a group of puffy clouds. Forgetting to bolt the door Squall took off his top and slung it in a corner of his room when he felt it. The beast inside him was calling to get out. Squall felt the hair grow on his arms and legs, his yellow fangs were growing, he screamed and again found that he howled. He felt alive again, like waking up from a long sleep. He scooped up the chair that was laid on the floor and with enormous strength, flung it against the window, which smashed into sharp pieces. The door opened and Rinoa stepped in,
"Squall" whispered Rinoa, as she turned she saw the yellow fangs. She screamed but before she could open the door, the wolf flung himself against the heavy cabinet and it fell to the floor with an almighty crash and skidded towards the door, blocking it from opening. Rinoa was trapped in a room on the top floor of the building, with no weapon and no ware to go. She backed into a corner, shacking, she noticed the broken window and thought that Squall must have jumped out of it to get away from the wolf. The wolf snarled and slowly moved closer. Rinoa screamed louder than ever and someone banged on the door. The wolf turned its head towards the door as Seifer spoke,
"What's going on, Rinoa, is that you?"
"Seifer help, please, hurry, there's a wolf in here!"
Seifer continued to bang the door; the wolf seemed to know what was going on as it backed into a corner and charged at Rinoa. Its massive paws collided with Rinoa's face and she looked up, tears in her eyes. She looked directly at the wolf, trying to figure out what its next move would be, when she noticed something. The wolf's eyes seemed so familiar to Rinoa, she didn't know why but she could have sworn that she had seen these deep brown eyes before. She prepared for the worst, as the wolf got ready to strike again, the wolf backed up, it growled and it got ready to pounce when Seifer rammed his shoulder into the door and barged in, sword drawn. Rinoa watched in horror as the wolf leapt on top of Seifer.
Zell, who was trudging towards his dorm, herd the noise that was coming from Squall's dorm and immediately new what all the commotion was about.
"Damn, Squall!" he said aloud and ran as fast as he could to Squall's dorm. But he was too late, with one almighty swing Seifer dragged his sword clean through the wolf's heart. It let out a howl of pain and fell to the floor. Zell stood there, speechless, he didn't dare move encase it was all a dream. All he could see was Rinoa, sat sobbing on the now blood stained floor, and Seifer looking down at the wolf smirking.
"It wasn't too difficult to beat was it," smirked Seifer, "What's up with you Chicken-Wuss," Seifer called to Zell.
"You idiot, you stupid idiot," cried Zell
"What are you on about Chicken-Wuss?" called Seifer, "I killed the wolf, right, I saved Rinoa, I think I could at least get a thank you."
"If you'd only realised what you have done," screamed Zell, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"What are you talking about Zell, what's wrong" asked Rinoa, shakily.
"The wolf that Seifer just killed was Squall" sobbed Zell.
"What…" replied Rinoa, shocked.
"Squall is…was a werewolf, remember that mission, back when we were 15, he got bitten by the wolf he caught. He couldn't tell you, he thought you would stop loving him if you found out that he was a wolf." Zell spoke.
"Squall….Squall" Rinoa repeated, "Squall….is…dead."
The words seemed to echo wherever she went, 'Squall is dead'. She cried in the corridors and in her dorm 'Squall is dead', and she had helped kill him 'Squall is dead', what would she do now the love of her life is dead.