North Wind's Castle, location unknown, The Homelands, 1400s.
Bigby and I were padding down a hallway, enjoying our anticipation of the moment when we would killed North.
It had been a couple of years since our encounter with The Woodsman and during all that time, Bigby had decided to focus on humans as his choice of prey, not only to enjoy the challenge of hunting down and killing something that was as cunning as he was, but also to impress me for choosing something much more difficult to kill.
Bigby slaughtered entire towns, butchered armies, and killed a dragon with no mercy and grew from six feet to eight feet tall, becoming the Big Bad Wolf of legend.
Once, when I stumbled upon the aftermath of Bigby's carnage, I had realized with a growing horror that because of my need for revenge, I had crossed the line by turning my son from a sweet little cub to a savage monster. I knew that if Winter could see this, she would be horrified to see what we had become. It was too late to turn back, because Bigby and I had gone down a path that was completely unforgivable and we would have the blood of innocent people on our paws for the rest of our lives.
At first I thought about forgetting North and moving on from this hatred that had festered inside me, but I was in such a dark place that I couldn't let go of what North had done to us.
One time, when I looked at myself in the lake, I saw Joseph Seed looking back at me and I realized that I had become no better then him because I had brainwashed my son into following me down my path of revenge. Since I was too far gone to be redeemed, the only thing I could do was finish this.
After years of training and preparing, I knew that it was time to face North and get revenge on him for all the pain he had caused us.
Bigby and I left the forest and headed north. We traveled for weeks before eventually finding ourselves approaching a castle that was build into the side of a mountain. The temperature was dropping and the overcast sky was darkening, showing signs of a rapidly impending snowstorm. Following North's scent, we went entered the castle and encountered three little blue imps, startling them with our sudden presence.
"Hey! What are you wolves doing here?! Master North didn't invite you! Get out of here you mangy beasts!" one of the imps exclaimed. Bigby and I snarled horribly at the imps for the 'mangy beast' comment and still growling, we backed all three imps into a corner while they screamed in terror.
"If we weren't so focused on your Master, we would kill all three of you for your insolence. We're going to be generous by sparing your pathetic little lives but if you insult us again, we won't be so merciful next time. Now run," Bigby growled menacingly and all three imps ran away in fear.
Feeling satisfaction at seeing the imps running away from us, we focused on North's scent again and tracked him down to a balcony outside.
"Breeze! Mistral! Gust! Where are you!" North called out above the storm in concern for his attendant winds.
When his attendants didn't show up when he called for them, North went looking for them, hoping that nothing had happened to them.
As North was looking for his attendants, he thought about Winter, feeling guilty for having left her.
"Forgive me Winter," North thought sorrowfully.
When his six sons showed up years ago, begging him to teach them about shapeshifting and how to control the wind, North was overjoyed that his sons wanted to learn from him but he was concerned that Winter and Nathan weren't with them. When one of his sons had told him that Winter had died and they left their brother and Nathan behind, he was heartbroken to hear that his mate had passed on from this world and that Nathan was devastated by her loss. North knew that he was the cause of his mate's death and he hated himself for it. North was worried about Nathan's mental state since his son Greyheart had told him that Nathan always expressed hatred whenever North's name was brought up. North feared for Nathan and he prayed that his friend hadn't chosen to go down a path that he could never come back from. North was horrified when he found out that his sons were planning to test their abilities by slaughtering an entire village. North couldn't talk them out of it and he regretfully banished them to the woods below so that they would learn a lesson. After that, his sons took many horrifying shapes over the years, trying to impress him, and he knew that his sons were corrupted by evil.
"Where are my attendant winds?" North asked himself in concern as he returned to the balcony.
"They are all hiding old man," A deep and gravely voice spoke out with a tone of hatred.
Hearing the unfamiliar voice, North turned around and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw Nathan in all of his eight foot tall glory and a black wolf that was the same size. He knew that the black wolf must be his seventh son Bigby and he was surprised at how big he had grown.
Seeing the looks of vengeance in their eyes, North braced himself for what would happen next.
I felt no small satisfaction when I saw North staring at us with a look of surprise on his face.
"Nathan? Is that you? It's been so long my old friend," North said calmly.
"Not long enough I'm afraid," I replied evenly, feeling like I wanted to eviscerate this son of a bitch.
"I know. I see that my seventh son is with you." Turning to Bigby, North said proudly, " You've grown so much,"
"Yes he has. You know why we're here?" I asked.
"You brought my son here so he could meet me, correct?" North asked me.
"No North, we're here so that we can get a quick meal before we leave, and our meal is standing right in front of us," I said menacingly.
"I see, I'm truly sorry to hear that Nathan. I had hoped that things wouldn't turn out this way. You know that I am not going down without a fight, old friend," North said regretfully.
"Oh I hoped you would fight back, it would make killing you much more satisfying. But I'm not going to kill you, I'm giving that honor to Bigby. If he fails, I'll finish the job myself. We're going to make you pay for the pain you caused us," I growled in rage.
I stayed back as Bigby lunged at North. Instantly, he was stopped in midair when North held out his hand and surrounded him with wind. With a single gesture, North sent Bigby flying away from the castle, I was shocked that my son was overpowered so easily and I tried to convince myself that Bigby had simply been caught by surprise.
"It was a fluke, that's right, North didn't just defeat Bigby without touching him," I thought in denial.
After Bigby got his ass whooped by a simple gesture from North, I realized in horror that we were dealing with someone who was much more powerful then we had thought and the only way we could defeat him was if I fought him. I launched myself at North, determined to get my revenge. I fought like hell, but he easily overpowered every attack I could make. After a few hours of combat, Bigby found his way back and tried to join me in fighting North, only to be tossed away from the castle again. Four more times, North and I fought for hours until Bigby came back to join the fight again, and North tossed him away every single time. The next time Bigby returned, he slumped to the floor in exhaustion.
"Please cease this, I don't want to hurt either of you. I am truly sorry for what I did to Winter but Nathan, Bigby, please stop this madness, Winter wouldn't want this, so please surrender before I am forced to do something I'll regret," North pleaded to us sorrowfully.
Hearing him say my mate's name caused something in me to snap and snarling lividly, I wanted to rip out North's entrails.
"Don't you dare say her name you bastard! It's all your fucking fault! She's dead because of you! I'm going to rip you limb from limb!" I roared out in grief, attacking North yet again, ready to lay out my righteous fury.
North shook his head and raised his hand, but I inhaled quickly and blew a gust of wind out, sending North flying into a wall and crashing roughly to the ground. I shifted into my anthro stage and ran at North, slashing my claws at him, forcing him to back up quickly to avoid being gutted.
As I kept swiping at him, North kept backing away to avoid a gruesome death. When North's back hit the wall, I rushed quickly at him with a bloodthirsty look on my muzzle, raising my claws to eviscerate him.
"Enough!" North yelled angrily, sending out a huge burst of wind that sent me crashing into a wall, knocking all the breath out of me. I slumped to the ground, reeling from the impact, gagging for breath. It felt like all of my ribs were broken and I could barely move.
"I told you that I didn't want to do this, but you're forcing my hand Nathan. Just give up. There is no point to this," North said sternly.
My eyes widened in fury as I let out a roar and began to shift into a much bigger shape. My fur sucked into my body as my skin morphed into black reptilian scales and my paws snapped and reformed into three-toed claws. Wings folded out from my back and lifted me into the air as my tail and my neck stretched and grew. Sharp spikes emerged all along my spine from my neck to the tip of my tail. I sprouted large, sharp horns on my newly reptilian head. My body enlarged into an enormous barrel shape with powerful back legs and devastating forelegs. When my transformation was complete, I was the size of a large building. Before North and Bigby's eyes, I had shapeshifted from an anthro wolf, to a very large and very pissed off dragon, I looked down to see North and Bigby looking up at me in awe.
"Incredible. To shapeshift into a dragon should take years, if not decades, of practice, and Nathan transformed perfectly," I heard North mumble to himself.
I glared at North and I took off into the air inhaling deeply, I saw Bigby running away in panic before fire shot out of my mouth at North's location. North's eyes widened before he was engulfed in flames. After expelling all of my breath in flames, I stared at the blaze where North had stood and let out a victorious roar. I flew down and landed on what was left of the balcony and started examining my new shape in astonishment.
"My God, I feel so unstoppable. That's right North, let's see you stop me now," I thought gleefully. I saw Bigby approach me, staring up at my powerful new form.
"By God Father, you look incredible," Bigby said in awe.
I just grinned, enjoying my new form and I wondered how many more shapes I could change into. Years ago during my training with North, I had discovered that I could shapeshift into many species. I was able to transform not only into any kind of animal or human I could think of, but also choose gender. Now that I had discovered that I could shapeshift into different mythological species as well, I gave thanks to whoever or whatever had given me this body.
Suddenly a huge gust of wind with the force of a hurricane came out of nowhere, causing a sinking feeling to form in the pit of my stomach.
I looked at where I had last seen North and saw him in the form of a white dragon. Glaring at me, he roared out in fury.
"Jesus fucking Christ! What the hell is he made of?! How hard can it be to kill someone?!" I thought incredulously.
"This is really becoming tedious Nathan! I'm giving you one last chance to surrender now or you'll give me no other choice but to make you surrender by force!" North yelled at me in frustration.
I gave a stubborn snarl and I flew at North, ready to dish out pain.
"So be it," North said in disappointment before he charged at me. When we collided, a huge shockwave rippled out into the surrounding countryside, flattening trees as far as I could see.
Some time later, I was back in my wolf form, panting and gasping in exhaustion from the continuous fighting. Even though I healed quickly, I was covered in cuts and bruises. North was looking no better. He was breathing hard and trying to stay on his feet. It had been days of non-stop fighting. I had taken many different shapes to try to get an advantage over North. When that hadn't worked, I had used my wind abilities to try and blow North away but he had held his ground. North had tried to use the same tactics on me, but I just wouldn't go down. Now we were barely standing and about to pass out.
"For the love of God Nathan! Can't you see this is pointless?! We're not getting anywhere with this fight! Just stop...please!" North begged me.
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. We were too equally matched and this fight was completely pointless. As I thought about Winter, I realized that getting revenge wasn't worth it anymore and that what I was doing was an insult to her memory.
"Oh God, what have I become? Winter wouldn't want this. I'm so sorry my mate, please forgive me," I thought regretfully with tears running down my muzzle.
"You're right North, this is stupid. This isn't solving anything. I'm done," I said in defeat.
"Thank you Nathan. For what it's worth, I am truly sorry," North said.
I nodded and we turned to Bigby who looked shocked that we had stopped fighting.
"Father, why are you stopping? I thought we were going to make North pay?" Bigby questioned in confusion.
"Bigby listen. I was wrong about so many things. I realized that this is not what your Mother would want and she would be devastated to see what we've become. I was so angry and hateful after your Mother passed and now I realize that because of my hatred I never recovered from my grief. I took us down on this foolish path of revenge and turned you into a monster because of it. I'm so sorry Bigby, I failed you and I failed your Mother, please forgive me," I said, sobbing brokenly.
Bigby didn't say anything but just put his head on my shoulder to comfort me.
After a few minutes of breaking down, I managed to recover and Bigby and I looked at North, who was watching us sympathetically.
"You know you two can stay. You're family and you're always welcome here," North suggested, but Bigby and I shook our heads.
"I'm sorry North but we can't, things are too fresh right now and we still hold a lot of resentment toward you. I may be willing to let bygones be bygones but I still won't forget what you did to Winter. Maybe we'll visit when the time is right but right now, I just want to go home," I said with a frown.
North nodded, letting me know that he understood that I needed space. Bigby and I left the castle feeling beaten but I knew that one day we would meet North again under better terms.
