Introducing another pairing and a piece of plot that is rather important. Had trouble keeping everything flowing smoothly, ugh. Some of the italicized words in here are actually a slight time skip. It's like…reflecting on Demyx's skewed sense of time passing.
Enjoy~
Roxas had never visited the werewolves before. He had assumed they would be holed up in some cave or something, but instead he found Axel's scent coming from an older apartment, not wrecked but not the best. As he approached, he coughed and wrinkled his nose at the obnoxious wolf fumes coming from nearby. It was honestly pretty gross, at least to him.
He was only feet from the front when someone came up to him and brushed a hand over his shoulder, and he looked up in surprise to see a big brawny bald guy, completely unsmiling. "I'm afraid this is a private complex, and I don't recognize you," he said darkly, and Roxas's eyes widened in slight fear. This guy was huge. "Please leave."
"W-Wait," Roxas stammered, taking a step back. "I need to talk to Axel."
The guy's eyebrow rose from behind his dark sunglasses. "To Axel?" He stepped back as well and looked Roxas up and down. When he stopped, there was still no smile, but he seemed less tense. "I see, you're that one."
"What one?" Roxas answered, but he didn't get an answer. Someone came flying out the front door and slammed into Roxas, swinging him around. "Roxy!" The blond was definitely not expecting to get pulled around and see a stick-thin redhead grinning in his face. He had long, straight hair pulled back in a ponytail and tattoos under his eyes like small red checkmarks. "Axel has told me so much about you! Come on, get in here, don't let big bad Rude scare you off."
At the moment, Roxas would have preferred Rude. "Uh, who are you?" he asked tentatively, glancing around once they got inside and noticing a few cursory glances from the occupants.
The redhead's grin rivaled that of the Cheshire Cat. "Oh, right! I'm Reno, Axel's older brother. I'm also sort of the head General around here, I guess you could say. Next to Tifa and Axel, of course." He lead Roxas around the building like a child, arm looped around his neck almost to the point of restraint. Suddenly he leaned down and whispered in Roxas's ear, "Sorry about this, kiddo, but if I don't keep you close, the others might get antsy."
Even with Reno dragging him through quickly, the blond had noticed a few wolves getting tense. "Uh, right," he grumbled. "Thanks."
"No problem. Now, Axel's in a bit of a pickle, so it's great that you came over here. I'll let him explain it to you."
Without further introduction, Reno shoved a door open to reveal a messy office with a map on the table in the middle and Axel standing over it, eyes focused, then pushed Roxas in and shut the door behind him.
Roxas looked back over his shoulder at the closed door then back to Axel with wide eyes.
Axel smiled a little. "Reno's a bit of a strange one," he said.
"I'll say," Roxas grumbled, moving further in. "He really your brother?"
"Yup, by blood," Axel answered, a bit absently, as he looked back down at the map.
Roxas wandered over and leaned on the edge of the table, looking down on the map as well. "So, Reno said you have a problem. What's up?"
Axel hummed and crossed his arms. "To be honest, I don't want to get you involved in this, and I'm not sure there's much I can do. But I just…I'm so worried, and I don't want to leave him out there alone—"
"Axel," Roxas interrupted, placing a hand on the werewolves that lay on the table. "Just tell me what's going on. I'll do my best to help, you know I will."
Axel looked up at him, eyes slightly rimmed with red, and Roxas got worried. Axel never cried, ever. "Not crying," the redhead grumbled, like he knew what Roxas was thinking. "Just stressed." He looked away, then back at Roxas again. He apparently saw something in the werecat's eyes, because he sighed and sat down in the chair, tugging lightly on Roxas's hand. The werecat hesitated, then complied and sat in his lap, nuzzling his head under Axel's chin with a quiet purr. Axel pressed his face into Roxas's hair and finally told him. "Demyx has gone missing."
...
It was bright. Like, ridiculously bright. Demyx rubbed at his eyes blearily, trying to sit up and nearly falling as his muscles came up more exhausted than he was expecting. He sat and rubbed until he realized he wasn't in his room. He didn't really know where he was.
The room around him was stark white with cold metal in places, and the bed he was on was the same cold metal. No mattress, no blankets, just burning cold. He tried to jump down, and froze when his muscles protested sharply. "Oww…" he whined, lowering back to the bed.
The door clicked, and he looked up sharply, ears perking and facing the door. When an unfamiliar person entered, smelling of chemicals, a low growl filtered up through his throat and he jumped up, fur bristling, tight muscles forgotten and ready to protect himself.
The scientist looked up from the clipboard in his hands, then looked back down. He grabbed at his white lapel and spoke quietly into the microphone there, a white mask blocking the movements of his mouth. Demyx didn't hear most of what he said, but he thought he heard the word "sedative." Another growl tore from his throat, and he backed away from the scientist, suddenly hyperaware of his unclothed body. He bared his fangs and crouched slightly, prepared to charge the scientist and attempt to break free.
Before he could move, he felt something akin to water trickling through his veins, and he swayed, then collapsed on his tailbone. His growls fell weak and he blinked blearily at the scientist as he approached. "What…did you do to me?" he asked, voice gravelly.
The scientist ignored him. He started looking over Demyx, lifting arms and legs and his tail and generally checking him over. Then he moved away, scribbling words on his clipboard. Demyx tried to pull away, tried to fight, but the drugs, whatever they had given him, were working well and he could barely move, never mind fight back.
The human returned, this time with numerous utensils.
Demyx's eyes widened and he snarled.
I hate this place.
It was still ridiculously bright. Demyx groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes again. He heard the door click open and whined sharply, ears flattening to his head as he looked up nervously. This time, the scientist had pale, slate-colored hair, long bangs pulled back behind his ears. He looked up at Demyx, and his pale blue eyes were unreadable.
The blond werewolf snarled quietly and jumped off the bed and scooted into the far corner, his muscles still just as weak. "Leave me alone," he growled. "Please."
The scientist's eyes flashed, but he didn't answer. He began to walk towards Demyx, and the werewolf loosed a quiet growl, tensing. He paused again before reaching over towards the microphone.
"No!" Demyx snarled, trying to jump forward and change. But he felt a sharp pain and fell to the floor, writhing. The pain faded slowly, and he realized he felt the same trickling feeling. "No," he whined quietly, trying not to cry. "Please, not again."
The scientist began writing things down quickly, walking around Demyx and examining him.
"What are you doing?" the blond rasped, shivering slightly as he attempted to get away.
"We're simply seeing how you are responding to the drugs," the scientist answered blandly, and Demyx's eyes widened in shock. "Clearly the change barrier is working."
"Drugs? What drugs?" He vaguely recalled being injected with something last time while being examined. "What're you doing to me? What's going to happen to me?"
"We're going to cure you," the scientist answered, still in the voice akin to a medical professional. "Try not to struggle too much. We don't like giving you sedatives."
"I don't want to, I don't want to," Demyx began whispering, still trying to scoot again. His tail was now tucked under his belly, and he curled around it, impeding the human's progress. "I want Axel," the werewolf murmured. He didn't notice the scientist stiffen.
"Axel?" he queried, suddenly pausing in his work. "That's the Beta of the werewolves, isn't it?"
Demyx curled further in on himself, and didn't reply. "I don't like this," he whimpered. "This isn't right. You can't cure us, there's nothing wrong with us."
The scientist straightened sharply, and then began walking away, grabbing several utensils on the table. "You are humans that act like and turn into beasts," he said calmly, grabbing a syringe. "This is for your own benefit. By the time we're done, whether we succeed with you or not, we'll be able to save the other werewolves. They'll be able to live normal lives—"
"I am living a normal life!" Demyx exclaimed, ears flattening to his head. "Axel said this is completely normal, what we do…Werewolves are more common than any other species, and some are even born this way." The blond was more reciting what his Beta had told him than actually talking to the scientist. "So…please don't."
The scientist tapped the syringe, adopting an expressionless face. He walked over to Demyx and grabbed his arm, tugging slightly. "Come on, we just need to give you some more of the chemical, it'll be over before you know it."
Demyx glared up at him through shining blue eyes. He could barely see through the coming tears, but he felt the human freeze up. "I hate you," he whispered, the chill in his voice completely foreign to him. He had never hated anyone before, but he felt an insane amount of animosity towards this human. He knew it was most likely born more from fear than actual hate, but he was too confused to care. "Get away from me."
To his surprise, the human actually stumbled back. He murmured something, then placed the syringe back on the table before taking it with him when he left the room. Demyx didn't pay much attention to the strange behavior; he was just so glad he hadn't been touched or injected.
Please, I don't want this...
The next time, it wasn't the same scientist. This guy was bald with dark skin and kept most of his face covered, but his yellow eyes were nearly as piercing as Axel's green. They reminded Demyx of a hawk circling its prey.
This scientist had no qualms about fighting down Demyx, and injected him without saying so much as a word. Then he packed up the syringes and jars and left again, leaving the blond shuddering in the cold room, still in the same corner. He hadn't moved since the slate-haired scientist had left, and he wondered absently if they were going to begin force-feeding him.
The door whisked open, and he looked up, blinking a bit in surprise; he only ever got visited once a day. To his further shock, it was the scientist he had just been thinking about, but he wasn't wearing a doctor mask today, and, while he had a clipboard on hand like usual, he seemed more interested in Demyx than writing.
The human walked over to a corner and pulled the metal chair away from the wall, the chair Demyx had never paid attention to before. He settled into it and pulled out a pen, looking over the clipboard. "I'm going to be evaluating your psychological condition," he said in a clipped, professional manner. "Please answer all my questions concisely."
Demyx stared at him through bleary eyes. Finally, just as the scientist opened his mouth to begin, he rasped, "What? What's psychological? Sounds like crazy logic. What's concisely?"
The human lowered his clipboard, and Demyx got the feeling he was being examined like an actual, thinking individual for a moment. Then the feeling was gone, and the scientist lifted the board back to his face, brushing his bangs out of his face. "Psychological means your mental condition. Concisely means giving a lot of information in a few selected words. In other terms, be thorough with your replies, but quick." He flipped a page over. "What's your name? You do have a name, right?"
Demyx was offended enough to answer, his lip curling. "Of course I have a name! My name is Demyx! What's your name, or do you not have one?" he snarled.
The scientist looked startled again, but it was brushed aside quickly. "You may call me Ienzo," he answered briefly, jotting something down. "How have you been feeling, Demyx?"
The werewolf almost snapped a reply before he choked on his words and shut his mouth, giving Ienzo a calculating look. He didn't want to cooperate with these humans. He would rather die than help them make their stupid drug work. "Fine," he said coldly. "Concise enough for you?"
Ienzo ignored him. "Why haven't you been eating? Are you not hungry?"
Demyx cast the tray of food near the door a cursory glance. "Not hungry," he echoed hesitantly. He didn't want to admit that he wasn't eating because of a mix of feelings: he was too tense to be hungry, and he didn't want to ingest even more drugs than what they were already giving him.
Ienzo hummed, and rattled off a few more basic questions that Demyx answered as vaguely and normally as possible. But finally, he broke out the tougher ones. "Are you feeling itchy?" he asked, still looking over the words on the page. "Any sexual urges?"
Demyx burst out laughing, but it wasn't a pleasant sound, and he stopped quickly, coughing a bit at the rasp in his throat. "No," he snapped shortly.
Ienzo looked up for the first time in a while as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't. He just watched Demyx, and the blond werewolf glared back, daring him to make a move. He'd be in pieces on the floor before hawk-eyes could be in the room to save him.
But Ienzo didn't say anything or move. He looked back to his clipboard and began writing furiously, ignoring Demyx in his concentration.
The werewolf desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. He spoke, slowly. "Why are you here?" he asked quietly. "You're different from the others. I can tell. Why are you working with them?"
Ienzo bit his lip and glanced at the door before sighing and lowering his writing utensils to look Demyx full in the face. Despite the situation, the werewolf blinked at the startling cuteness of the scientist's face, and he wondered how old the human was. Certainly no older than eighteen! "I work here because I'm interning here before moving on to more governmental projects," he admitted. "I like science. I'm good at science. And this place offered me an internship for a good salary, and then I'm going to transfer to a place in another state and work there."
"Government projects," Demyx answered blandly. Ienzo winced. "So this doesn't even count as a government project. My life is just an internship to you."
"No!" the scientist retaliated quickly. "That's not true. I do care about this, I want this to work. I want this drug to become something that can cure the werewolves, and maybe from there we can work towards curing the vampires and werecats, too—"
"How do you even know about us?" Demyx asked. He felt so tired. "Werewolves are very careful with our secrets."
"Humans aren't stupid," Ienzo answered, shrugging. "A lot of people know about the other species, but we keep it quiet, too. Don't want mass hysteria. But you're too dangerous. We can't have you running around killing people."
"I've never killed anyone, much less a human," Demyx answered sharply, his lip curling again. "The only ones I've even remotely fought were vampires, and I had a good reason."
Ienzo clasped his hands, examining Demyx. "You seem to be the exception," he finally said quietly. "I am sorry about all of this, Demyx. But this is for the good of humankind."
Demyx snarled from deep in his throat, retreating further back into his corner. "Screw you and humankind," he said darkly. "I just want to go home." His voice fell into a whimper. "Just want to go home…"
Ienzo left.
Ienzo is different, but not better.
Demyx felt himself slipping away sometimes. He would be sitting in his corner of the room, and would feel a sort of…shift. Everything would suddenly look dull and gray, and he would feel sluggish, lethargic. The first couple times it happened, he panicked once it wore off. When Ienzo entered for their session, he practically attacked the human, demanding to know what was happening. The scientist told him nothing, only writing something down and sedating Demyx. After that, the werewolf accepted that it wasn't going to stop, that the humans didn't care enough to help him.
It was one of those days. He was sitting in the corner, eyes staring blankly across the room, hands lying limp in his lap. His fur was unkempt and his hair practically drooped with neglect. When Ienzo entered the room, Demyx didn't even react, not even looking over at him or blinking. It was too much trouble.
"Demyx, I need you to look at me," the scientist said. Demyx heard the tremble in his voice and sighed slowly through his nose, rolling his head around a bit so he could stare at Ienzo. Those pale blue eyes looked somewhat worried. Demyx couldn't bring himself to care. "Demyx, what are you feeling?"
The werewolf frowned a tad, but that was too much trouble, and the expression relaxed off his face. "Nothing," he finally murmured in a quiet exhale. He blinked slowly at Ienzo. "Is this…your cure?"
Ienzo looked away, but Demyx didn't care. He continued to stare at the scientist because of his head position. The human swallowed hard, wringing his hands together. "No, Demyx. This isn't…wasn't supposed to be our cure."
The werewolf exhaled slowly. "It cured me, though," he murmured. When Ienzo looked at him sharply, he closed his eyes, too lethargic to give definition to his answer. He vaguely understood that he meant that it had cured his animalistic tendencies, but it was too much trouble to speak.
He didn't hear Ienzo asking him more questions, and never knew he left.
...
"Axel, you need to calm down," Roxas hissed urgently, watching the werewolf pace back and forth. "We can't do anything for Demyx at the moment, we have to focus on—"
Axel rounded on him with a quiet snarl, cutting the blond off. "We can't do anything? Didn't stop you from hunting down your brother, did it? I can't abandon him, Roxas, not right now. He's the closest thing to family I have left. I have to find him, and I have a hunch where he is."
"You do?" Roxas echoed, eyebrows raising. "Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it's insanely dangerous," Axel sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. "And I'm not sure of the exact location he could be at, anyway. I think…I think he's been captured by some humans."
The werecat snorted. "Humans? They could never catch one of us, and what proof do you have of this, anyway?"
"You forget about the scientists, Roxas," Axel said quietly. "They know about us. They are completely prepared with ways to take us down. They are always hunting for new subjects to experiment on." He sighed, flicking his tail dismissively. "As for proof, it's simple. The whole area where he disappeared stinks like vampire venom and chloroform. Both alone are enough to weaken a werewolf, but together they could knock one out cold for days."
Roxas tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Ok, ok, so humans, human scientists nonetheless, have Demyx. Where do you think is, and how do you plan on getting him out?"
"That's the thing, I have no idea," Axel groaned, sitting back in his chair. "No answers for either of those questions. This is stupidly difficult, and I have no idea what to do."
Roxas stood and hugged the redhead, nuzzling his ear. "We'll figure it out. Besides, Demyx is smart. Maybe he'll get himself out, and you're worrying for nothing."
Axel hummed and hugged Roxas in return. "Maybe. He's like my brother, Roxas." The redhead sighed heavily. "I can't let anything happen to him."
...
Demyx sat in the corner of the room, eyes staring blankly ahead. He wasn't curled up in a ball like usual, just splayed about like a ragdoll. His ears twitched as he heard raised voices outside his door, but beyond that he didn't react.
"We can't keep doing this!" That sounded like Ienzo. "If we keep giving him the same drug, his body is going to shut down. He won't even eat anymore! This isn't what the project parameters were."
"You're right, the original experiment was to test out drugs to nullify the werewolf curse, if you want to call it that. However, we happened to find a drug that at least calms them down, makes them complacent. That's good enough for the head of operations. Now the werewolf is useless. It's time to put him down."
"What?" Ienzo practically screamed, making Demyx's ears twitch again. "We're supposed to be curing these people, not…making them into slaves!"
"You're more interested in this project than I thought," the other voice said, tone becoming challenging. "Do you really care that much? His kind killed your parents, after all."
There was a tense silence. Demyx attempted to struggle to his feet, but he could barely even shift position. The drug in his system was making him completely lax. He groaned quietly, wishing Axel were around, or any other werewolf for that matter. He just didn't want to be alone, staring at the wall, anymore.
"I know," Ienzo murmured, and the blond's attention returned to the humans. "I know what his kind can be like. But he isn't like that. He can be cured, I know he can. I want to try, because maybe this way we can return the werewolves to normal."
I am normal, Demyx wanted to reply. Maybe not human, but I'm normal.
"We don't have the resources to keep a pet werewolf around," the other voice answered condescendingly. "We're pulling the plug on this one, Ienzo. End of story."
Demyx's ears twitched again as the door opened, revealing the dark-skinned man with golden eyes from before. The werewolf vaguely remembered him, but not as something important. As the man stalked forward, the urge to run began to overpower the drugs somewhat, and Demyx managed to turn his head, fear glistening in his eyes. He looked over at Ienzo in the doorway, who was gazing at the scene with tense trepidation. "Help me," the werewolf whispered. It was all he could think to do, and he felt pathetic for having to ask help from a human, but he didn't want to die.
Ienzo's eyes went wide right as the other scientist grabbed the werewolf's jaw and turned his gaze back to malicious golden eyes. "Hello, mutt," he said calmly. "My name is Xehanort, not that you really need to know. I run this laboratory, and you are my property. Now that your usefulness has more or less come to a close, you are costing me money. As such, I think we'll use you for some entertainment." Demyx's eyes widened with fear and he began to shiver. "With a click of a button, we can sky-rocket the amount of drugs in your system. I think it'd be interesting to see what happens when the experimental drug begins to overpower you. What do you think? Shall we see?"
Demyx gave a piercing, dog-like whine of terror, ears completely folded back against his head. He couldn't answer because of the hand on his jaw, and he was kind of glad; he was pretty sure his words would have consisted of pleas and begging.
Xehanort's grin widened. "Good." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a slim silver remote. His thumb hovered over one of the buttons as he reached up to pet Demyx's hair in a mocking display. "There, there, mutt. Soon you won't have to worry about anything."
Demyx let another whine loose as the finger pressed down.
The trickle feeling swept through him. At first, he didn't feel any different. But the trickle continued rather than stopping, and he felt his muscles begin to tense. A groaning erupted from his jaws and he collapsed, beginning to seize. He didn't know this; all he knew was a sort of lethargy clouding his mind, and the need to sleep. He couldn't fight the overwhelming urge to just close his eyes and let go. It hurt so much, in a dull, throbbing way.
Am I dying…?
The lethargy began to fade suddenly. Demyx slowly opened his eyes, groaning painfully at the tightness of his muscles. He relaxed carefully and looked up to see Ienzo standing in front of him, remote in hand. Xehanort lay nearly on top of Demyx, collapsed, eyes closed and glass shards sprinkled around him and in his hair. Demyx could see blood on his head.
The werewolf looked up at Ienzo in confusion, and the human held out a hand towards him. "Come on, Demyx, we need to leave."
Demyx hesitated. Despite what Ienzo had just done, the werewolf couldn't bring himself to trust the human. He drew away from the offered hand. "Don't touch me," he whispered urgently.
Ienzo flinched and drew away. "…Ok. But we need to hurry. If they find us, we'll both be in serious trouble."
Demyx's gaze lowered to the man at his feet, and his hesitation evaporated. "Alright. But how will we get away?" He clambered cautiously to his feet, staggering slightly.
Ienzo threw away the broken beaker in his other hand, apparently trying to hide the concern in his eyes, but Demyx saw it. "I have a plan, don't worry. Unfortunately, you'll have to stay unclothed for now. And…" He sighed heavily, his slate bangs blowing out with his breath. "You need to trust me, Demyx. I know it's a lot to ask, but to get you out of here, I need your trust."
The blond gazed at the human thoughtfully. He didn't know what to think; but he decided to follow his instincts. They usually lead him in the right direction. "Ok, I'll trust you. But after we leave this building, I take the lead."
Ienzo nodded once and lightly grabbed Demyx's wrist, clutching the remote in his other hand, before walking out of the room, steps confident. He led the werewolf down the hallways, and Demyx got his first good look at the building. It mainly consisted of sterile, white tiled hallways with glass-walled rooms built off of them. A lot of the rooms had people experimenting in them, but others had offices, usually with a layer of warping over the glass walls. He gazed around in slight horror; the whole place was so cold.
Demyx could feel the tension in Ienzo's grip on his wrist. They passed a couple other scientists who threw them glances, but said nothing. After a time, they began approaching a metal door, and Demyx felt Ienzo begin to relax.
"Ienzo!"
The human swung around, fear glinting in his gaze for a moment before being masked. Demyx turned more slowly, moving so he stood slightly behind Ienzo in a submissive gesture.
Approaching them was a blond man with a strong face. He seemed kind enough, if a bit stern. "Ienzo, where are you going?" he queried, glancing at Demyx with curiosity. "I was under the impression that that experiment was being terminated."
Demyx's blood ran cold at the terminology.
"I am simply taking him out to use the restroom," Ienzo sighed, sounding irritated. "He keeps going in the room, and I tired of smelling the cleaning agents."
The man tipped his head slightly. "Right. But he's going to be put down soon, so you need not worry."
Demyx felt the human's thumb rubbing comforting circles on his wrist, and realized he had become tense, and Ienzo was trying to relax him.
"If he is put down with a full bladder, he will excrete after he passes. You know this, Ansem," he sighed.
Demyx felt himself shudder again at how coldly they were talking about him.
"Very well," the man replied amiably. "Return quickly."
Ienzo dipped his head slightly in gratitude before pulling Demyx out the door. Once they were outside, he took off for the compound gates, his steps quickening.
"Ienzo?" Demyx murmured, feeling his voice rasp.
"We need to hurry," the human hissed. "If Ansem finds Xehanort, we're dead. Even though I'm human, they'll kill me, too."
Demyx wrenched his hand free, and Ienzo turned to him, afraid and worried. But the werewolf smiled. "This, Ienzo, is where I come in." Before the human could reply, he began to change. His bones cracked loudly as they reformed, and he groaned quietly at the bizarre feeling of his body rearranging. Within moments, he stood on his paws, tail flicking behind him. The wolf shook and snapped his jaws, reveling in the power of his body. He turned blue eyes on Ienzo and blinked at the terror he saw. He rolled his eyes somewhat and lowered to his belly, glancing at the human with feigned patience.
Ienzo stared for a moment before he slowly began to approach. "Demyx?" he whispered. "You're…Demyx?" He watched the wolf tilt its snout in a positive reply. He reached out and brushed a hand along the golden fur, and Demyx huffed happily. Ienzo cautiously climbed onto the wolf's back, and Demyx suddenly stood. The human reached forward, thrown off balance, and wrapped his arms around the wolf's neck.
Demyx yipped gleefully before kicking his feet up and sprinting towards the wall. Alarms suddenly began to blare behind them, and he sped up further, ears lowered and eyes narrowed against the biting wind as he ran. He noticed Ienzo clinging to him with terrified desperation and coughed out a laugh. He reached the gates and leapt over the barriers with ease, bunching his legs as he landed before pushing off and running again. He reached the forest and instantly felt safe, but he continued at his break-neck pace, enjoying feeling his fur wave as his muscles smoothly pulled.
There was a loud retort of gunfire, and pain pierced his thigh as Ienzo gave a yelp. Demyx snarled and moved sideways, hiding more in the brush. There was another gunshot and a tree near him splintered, but the wolf ignored it. He ran.
After a time, it became clear to him that they had gotten away. He slowed, limbs aching, to a trot and walked slowly, head lowered with saliva dripping from his panting jaws.
"Demyx," Ienzo suddenly said, voice tight with pain. "We need to stop for a moment."
The wolf agreed readily and halted completely where he stood before collapsing onto his belly, taking gasping breaths. He felt Ienzo climb off and turned his head to gaze at the human. Ienzo was grasping at his shoulder with a scowl, blood sliding slowly down his fingers.
Demyx whined quietly and nudged the hand, but pulled away quickly at a hiss from the human. He stared at Ienzo worriedly for a moment before deciding he could do nothing, and turning to bathe his own wound with his tongue. He heard a rasp of cloth and turned back around to see the human wrapping his shoulder with his torn shirt sleeve before settling back.
"Good thing it's a graze, huh?" Ienzo said weakly. Demyx whined in response. "How's your leg?"
Demyx huffed like it wasn't a big deal, turning slightly so the human could see the slice in his thigh. It was deep, but not life-threatening.
"Man, they have bad aim," Ienzo chuckled weakly, lying back. "How long should we stay here, do you think?"
Demyx blinked a moment, thinking. Then he began to change back until he sat before the human with his yellow tail wrapping around his waist for a modicum of modesty. "We can stay for a while. At least until you feel a little better and I can completely catch my breath." He leaned back on his hands, head tilted slightly and ears pushed forward with interest. "Why did you help me?"
Ienzo paused, closing his eyes. "…I don't know. When you looked at me and asked for help, I just…felt my heart stop. I couldn't leave you like that, I knew, or I would regret it for the rest of my life."
"But I'm not normal, according to you," Demyx said without any bitterness, but Ienzo still flinched slightly. "I'm your experiment, I'm not supposed to be cared for."
"Humans are experimented on all the time, and they're cared for," the scientist sighed. He avoided the other point. "If anything, they should be cared for properly so a good conclusion can be achieved." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the remote before punching another command in. Finally he stopped, throwing the remote off to the side. "There, the drug dispenser is aborted. You should release it next time you use the restroom."
Demyx made a face, but all he said was "Thank you." He stood and made his way over to the remote before smashing his foot down on it, relishing in the slight pain and loud crunching that accompanied the action. "Stupid fucking drugs."
Ienzo winced. "I…am sorry. I still would like to cure werewolves, if I could, but…what they were doing to you was wrong. I'm sorry."
The blond rolled his shoulder a bit before shrugging. "I'll live. Hopefully there aren't any lasting effects of all this. But once I rejoin the pack, it should be okay."
The human curled his legs up and wrapped his arms around his knees, cringing slightly. "I…don't know what I'm going to do," he murmured, gaze downcast. "I can't return to being human, they'll pursue me relentlessly. But I can't be anything else."
Demyx bit his lip. He really didn't want to offer sanctuary, he honestly didn't, but he couldn't leave the human who had saved him to the metaphorical dogs. "You could…come with me."
Ienzo immediately shook his head. "I can't be with the…with the Pack. They'll try to kill me, and I can't guarantee I won't feel the same way."
Demyx huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, there's no other place for you to go, except deep into hiding, which I doubt you have the resources to do. And you're gonna have to get over this thing against werewolves and the others soon, or you're not going to survive in the long run."
"Plenty of humans make it out fine," Ienzo defended, even though he knew it was a silly argument to make.
"They don't know we exist. Once they do, they either fall in line or they don't survive. Or, of course, they remain our enemies." The blond's voice was hard. "I don't want you as my enemy again, but if you won't give up this...attempt at curing us, I can't let you go free."
Ienzo's arms tightened around his knees in a defensive gesture. "I…see," he answered quietly. "I suppose I have no choice in that case. I will go with you, and I will do my best to envision the situation through your eyes."
Demyx was not pleased by this, but he wasn't upset, either. He took it with a degree of equanimity and moved on. "Ok. We're going to have to move soon or they'll catch us, but I don't know where we are…"
Ienzo pointed to the south. "That way is Traverse Town, about twenty miles or so. We're more or less in the middle of nowhere. There's a lot of forestation."
Demyx nodded slowly, building up a mental map. "I think I know where we are. Let's go, then, Ienzo." He changed back to a wolf, trying not to groan as his bones popped and cracked. Once his fur grew out, he shook himself and stretched, then gave Ienzo an expectant look.
The human walked over and sank his fingers into rich golden fur, then paused. "Demyx…I would like it if you would call me Zexion. Ienzo was my nickname from my colleagues."
The wolf was instantly full of questions, like why it mattered and where the name Zexion came from, but since he was in wolf form, he couldn't articulate the sounds. He gave a frustrated grunt at the human for waiting until he was more or less mute to voice his opinion, but let the scientist onto his back in any case. He shook his shoulders, both to get himself accustomed to the weight and to throw off Zexion a bit in retaliation for his frustration, then planted his paws and began to run once more.
One quick message: Take advantage of the review system! It isn't just to inflate my ego-tell me what you hate, what you love. Tell me which characters you want to see more of. I use reviews to cater to the people who are reading this, and add in information that YOU guys want to read about. For example, soriku will probably more or less fall to the wayside a bit in favor of akuroku and zemyx, because akuroku is the main pairing and zemyx is important. However, if you want to read more about Sora and Riku's relationship, let me know. Also if you want to hear about a pairing that is not currently in there, let me know. I won't just throw it in there arbitrarily, I'll work it into the story.
On another note, I think I'm going to remove Cleon from the lineup. I recently watched a series of scenes of Crisis Core and am favoring Zack WAYYYYY more than Leon at the moment XD Not to mention Cloud is not as important of a character, so I doubt I'll be using him much (again, unless you want me to). Speaking of which, I'll probably start on a CloudxZack story soon based entirely around the Crisis Core and FFVII events. I'll make sure it doesn't make this story stop, but I really want to try my hand at Final Fantasy, and healing my heart from watching that…rather devastatingly sad/beautiful game.
Thanks for reading!
