The Shadow Games

Will you risk your life to save the one you love?

"Roxas, I need you to promise me something. No matter what happens, promise me you'll take care of Ventus."

"I will, Dad." My ten-year old eyes looked up at my father. "I promise."

"Don't let him out alone. Always watch him. Keep him safe and fed. And don't ever let him become a Shadow."

"Don't worry, Dad. I'll take care of him. He'll be safe."

"Good." He smiled, which was rare, and stood up from his kneeled position on the ground in front of me, though his hands never left my shoulders. My mom entered the room.

"Ven's asleep," she told Dad.

He nodded at her. "Now, we wait."

Mom hugged me tight, and I could feel tears running down her cheeks. Why was she crying? What was going on?

"What's wrong, Mom?" I asked.

She gave me a sad smile. "Roxas... I'm sorry. We needed food..."

My eyes widened. No... They didn't... They wouldn't... "You stole?" I asked in disbelief.

Dad gave a curt nod, then continued staring at the door.

"B-But... y-you... w-we... they'll-"

"I'm so sorry, Roxas," Mom said. "I'm sorry..."

"No..."

They pounded on the door. Dad didn't let them in, but he didn't hold them back, either. They burst through the door and seized my parents. One put a gun to my mom's head while two others held Dad still. Their leader noticed me and grinned.

"These your parents, kiddo?" he asked.

I shuddered a bit. "Yes, sir," I mumbled.

"Well, you see, kiddo, your parents stole from the Organization. That is illegal. And because of it, they have to be punished." He turned to the man holding the gun to Mom's head. "Kill her."

Dad lunged forward, but was stopped by the two men. "NO!"

I watched as they pulled back the trigger, and a loud bang filled my ears. I saw her eyes dull as she crumpled to the floor. "MOM!"

The leader laughed and kicked her corpse to me. "Say your goodbyes, kiddo. And let this be a lesson for you. Don't disobey the Organization."

I kneeled down next to her. I searched Mom's lifeless eyes, trying to find some sign that she'd be okay. It was too late. She was gone. Tears ran down my face as I lowered her eyelids. A pool of blood had surrounded us, but I didn't care, just wanting to hold her close. My sight blurred, but I could make out the men taking Dad away.

"Wait!" I cried, grabbing the leader's shirt. He turned and looked at me.

"What?"

"W-What are you going to do... to him?"

An evil smile returned to his face. "He's going to have a Shadow-Transformation, kiddo. And then I'd suggest you watch the next Shadow Games this month. He might be the star, after all." With that, he left me alone in an empty house, save my mother's corpse and my brother, asleep in his bed.

I woke up, sweat drenching me, even though I'm sure wolves don't sweat. Panting, I remembered where I was. Tears ran down my cheeks. "Dad... I've failed you... I'm sorry..." He couldn't hear me. That Shadow Games had been my hardest to watch. I'd put Ventus to bed, then watch, panicked, as my father fought for his life. He had made it to the last two, but he couldn't defeat Sephiroth, the other Shadow. I was just starting to think he would survive, that he'd be okay, but my hopes were shattered when I saw Sephiroth grab Dad's neck and bite down. Blood gushed, splattering Dad's and Sephiroth's bodies. I heard a snap, indicating his neck broken. But there had been no Shadow Games winner that year. Sephiroth had committed suicide just minutes later, using his teeth to rip open his stomach. I hadn't been able to watch the rest. It was too much. Dad was dead. I would never see him again. Ever. Not as a human, and not as a Shadow. I had cried myself to sleep that night.

I was about to go back to sleep when the door to the house banged open. A man with muscles the size of Ven burst inside. He had a square chin, straight nose, and sharp cheekbones. His eyes were blue and he had small eyebrows. His hair was auburn and slicked back into rather odd, messy spikes. He wore a gray uniform with white cuffs and a red heart on the chest. Both of the cuffs of his gloves had similar hearts, only blue. I shrunk down, not wanting to be noticed for fear of getting injured even more. In his hand he held an Axe Sword, which made me remember his name: Aeleus, Shadow Trainer. In order to get Shadows ready for the upcoming Shadow Games, he would exercise them and get their strength built up. More strength meant more of a fight, and more of a fight meant more entertainment for the people of Zarc.

His eyes gazed around the kennels, and unfortunately landed on mine. Damn it. He strode over as I lowered myself closer to the floor. Instinct that was more wolf than anything else told me it was submissive to do so.

When he reached my kennel, he sneered, "So, you're the brave Shadow that attacked Dilan? Pathetic. The guy's getting weak, I bet. How could a little thing like you hurt him in any way?"

That sentence brought out another instinct. A stronger one. The killer inside. Blood. I wanted it so bad. His blood. I could smell it from where I was, hear it practically hammering in his throat. I wanted revenge. I was not little, I was not pathetic, and I was not planning on taking this crap, at least not without a fight. Not restraining myself, I took a crouched position, showing I was about to pounce. Instead of backing off like I had hoped he would do, he instead laughed.

"You think you can take on me?" he asked, chuckling. "You got guts, kid, but ya might want to control those anger issues of yours."

That's it. I was sick of this. I leapt at the cage, and was surprised to find it locked. I banged against it, scratched it, bit it, trying to get through and attack the man. He was laughing again at my struggle to reach him.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? I locked your kennel last night while you slept, after I heard about Dilan's incident with you."

I growled and backed away from the door. "What do you want?" I spat.

He stared at me a moment, before saying, "If you said something, kid, I didn't understand you. You're in Wolf-form."

Realizing my mistake, I stared at myself, trying to figure out how to change to another form. Shadows had the ability to be in three different forms: Wolf, the one I was in now, Human, where you looked like you did before the transformation, and Dusk, which was more like a werewolf state. Unfortunately, the Shadow-Transformation didn't come with instructions on how to change forms. Aeleus must have seen some sort of confused look on my face.

"Don't know how to change, do ya?"

I shook my head no. He laughed mockingly.

"Just concentrate on doing it. See an image of what you wish to look like in your head, and become it."

I closed my eyes and thought about being a human. I started to feel my paws become hands again, felt my tail and ears disappearing. Human ears replaced the wolf ones. All of a sudden, I felt extremely cold. I opened my eyes to find myself naked in the cell, in Human-form, right in front of Aeleus. I quickly wrapped my hands around my body, trying to hide myself.

He chuckled. "Forget to think of clothes, boy?"

"Y-You can do that?"

"Yes, you idiot. Do the same thing you did to become Human, only with clothes this time."

I thought about my normal clothes, not closing my eyes this time. I watched in slight awe as a black, zipped up, high-collared jacket appeared. After that was another jacket, this one unzipped and white, with several black block designs and a gray hem on the end of each sleeve. This jacket's collar was red, pleated, and folded back.

Then came the pants, thank goodness. The legs of my pants were beige, while the rest was black. My shoes were colored in shades of gray and black, and had red straps in place of laces. Finally, my wrist band with a black-and-white checkerboard pattern appeared on my left wrist, a plain black ring on my left index finger, and a plain white ring on my left middle finger. I was dressed.

I ran a hand through my spiky, golden blonde hair. The front concentrated the spikes on the right side of my head as if windswept, and the back was smoother and more flaky. Yep. Myself at last. Kinda. I blinked my bright sapphire blue eyes at Aeleus, who was staring at me, face emotionless.

"Better," he said. "At least now you're presentable."

"I have to do that every time I want to be human?" I asked.

"Sort of. Do it once, then every time you want to be human, which happens faster every time you do it, the clothes come with it. That's what I've heard, anyway."

I sighed, relieved. I just hope no girls saw me like that. "So what do you want?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes at him.

He unlocked the door and grabbed my arm roughly. "Head to the training area. I'll get the others."

I nodded and headed off in the direction he indicated, knowing I was in no position right then to fight him. However, I vowed I would get my revenge.