Wild Child
'Are you running down ancient pathways
Through this dark and deserted land
To where man is once more a child?
Are you running to freedom's fortress
By the side of wide open seas
Where The Wolf is one with The Wild?'
Joyce - Run, Wolf Warrior, Run
He stopped short and sniffed the air for prey. The scent of the wild invigorated him. The forest enveloped him, like a child in his mother's arms. Here he was truly alive.
He didn't know how long he'd been in the forest, living like this.
The Wild Child.
Kyle Gibney.
Was that really his name? The humans had hurt him so much that he wasn't sure what was real anymore. Here he was the Wild Child. Here he could be an animal. Here he could run naked through the forest with his wolf-brothers. Here he could bring down prey without punishment. There were no laws beyond the laws of nature. No people to stare or judge him. Or hurt him. Only the animals and the purity of nature.
It was dangerous, The Wild. But it was far better than sleeping on cold city streets and eating out of garbage cans. That was how he had lived when his parents threw him out.
Mutant.
Monster.
Animal.
You're not our son.
They were right. They were not his parents. Parents love and care for their young. They do not hate them. Beat them. Abandon them.
His mother was Nature.
His father, The Wild.
Here he was among family.
After his par. . . The humans abandoned him, he had been taken by other humans, evil humans. Kidnapped. Tortured. Made into Wild Child.
Made to kill other people. A living weapon.
Why live among humans, if that was how they treated one another? It was not like that with animals. Even the Wendigo killed only for food. Wendigo did not hate, nor was he cruel. He was just hungry. Wild Child had far more in common with Wendigo than with men, now.
Perhaps, in the end, Wendigo was better than either of them.
He often thought of what he was before, even that he would rather forget. Especially that which he would rather forget. He remembered Shard. Her kindness to him. Her death. . . He remembered Wolverine. He would never forget Wolverine. And he remembered Creed. Sabertooth. He could never forgive Creed for what he had done to Aurora.
Aurora. He felt a pain in his heart. A tear rolled down his cheek. He shook his blonde head, willing himself to forget. For now. He stood up and straightened to his full 5'8", (something he rarely did nowadays), and looked around at the pine trees surrounding him. He was handsome, in a way, a slim but well-muscled youth, his skin golden from days spent basking in the sun. His features were angular, and he had been described as looking like something between an elf and a werewolf. His green eyes were fierce and alert. He looked at his hands, slim but powerful, with claws that could, (and had), torn through even Creed's flesh. His feet were also clawed, allowing him to use all four limbs to lethal effect. It felt strange to stand again. Like a man. He had been a boy, once, but the bad men had made him into a monster. A murderer.
They had a name, these monsters:
The Secret Empire.
He felt a dark joy at the vague memory of Wyre tearing his tormentors apart with his bare hands.
Before he turned on him.
Wyre.
But he'd survived. The Secret Empire. Wyre. Wolverine. Sabertooth. Even Wendigo. He'd survived them all. But surviving yesterday did not insure surviving today. And it did not fill empty bellies. He snapped out of his revery.
He scented prey. Elk. He howled to signal his brothers, then returned to all fours. It was far more comfortable to him now. Going on all fours. Grey shapes appeared from the shadows. Wolves. His pack. His family.
It was time for the hunt to begin.
Meat. Raw and warm. Fresh from the kill. Wild Child watched as his wolf-brothers ate and grunted and snapped. He gnawed on several ribs torn from the elk's carcass. He was the Alpha Male. The term could not truly be appreciated by one who had never run with the pack. Alpha Female. . . Even among his brethren, Kyle was alone in that. Aurora. He still loved her, but she could never live as he did. She couldn't survive The Wild as he could.
And she didn't love him. Couldn't love him.
She was beautiful and he was ugly.
He wondered where she was now. Did she even remember him? Maybe she was happy. Maybe she had a man by now. He sighed and pushed the memories away. It didn't matter anymore. There was no reason to dwell on what he could never have. Here he had a chance to forget what he had been. What he had done. He would have to, if he wanted to live. One had to be alert to survive. The past was dead. Only the future remained.
Was he a man?
No. He was Wild Child. He was a creature of The Wild. He had no place among men.
Alpha Flight. Beta Flight. Gamma Flight. X-Factor. Weapon X. He did not belong among them.
He belonged with the pack.
With The Wild.
This was his home now.
The End.
Notes:
The quote is from the Wolf's Rain soundtrack, the artist was listed only as Joyce. I don't know her full name.
I think this might be what Kyle would like. Just freedom to be himself with no one to bother him. But he would doubtless want a woman to share it with. I'm sure one will eventually come along just for him. ( : If anyone wants to write that story feel free. I don't own the character, if I did, he'd be happy and still alive in canon.
Handsome is a relative term. Many might disagree with my calling Wild Child handsome. Except for his time with Weapon X, where he looked like Count Orlok from Nosferatu, Kyle's handsome to me. Of course, I'm a bit. . . Odd.
Wyre was a mutant employed by an evil group called The Secret Empire. His genetic material was used to turn Kyle, (And many others), from a slightly animalistic mutant kid into a feral killing machine. He later felt remorse for creating so many dangerous creatures, causing so much suffering, that he turned on the Empire, slaughtering everyone but Kyle, who escaped.
Wild Child faced a Wendigo in another of my stories. As far as I know, he's never faced one in canon. I may or may not submit the story.
I feel the need to point out that NO, he does Not mate with wolves! And he never will!
Wild Child/Kyle Gibney and everything and everyone else in this story belong to Marvel Comics.
Wolf's Rain and Run, Wolf Warrior, Run are copyright BONES and Alion International Records