'That boy…he smelled just like her. Why? Is she still alive after all this time? Where could she be? Who is he? He smelled human to me, but her scent was there for sure.' Kiba's thoughts raced as he flew down the corridor. He flicked an ear back to see if he could hear whether or not the man chasing him had given up. Kiba's ears caught the uneven pounding of feet on the tile, and the heavy gasping of the man as he struggled to catch up with the wolf. Kiba took a sharp turn down a narrow side corridor, only to find himself at a dead end, or was it? He noticed a barely visible door in the wall and, taking human form, he tugged the handle and opened the dark door.
Slipping silently inside, he closed the door behind him and sighed. Pausing to catch his breath, Kiba glanced around the room, taking stock of what was all there. He noticed immediately the thick scent of coppery blood hanging in the air. Feeling along the uneven wall, Kiba searched for a light switch. Upon finding it, he flipped it on. As the dim light flooded the room, Kiba's eyes flashed with surprise and anger. Tied in the corner was a teen of about his age. A thick chain attached to cuffs on his wrists and ankles held the boy, and around his throat was a thick leather collar tied to a separate chain that was set into the wall. Blood was pooled around the teen and had begun to dry. Blood still trickled from a wound on the boy's head and a multitude of other small wounds that covered his body.
Kiba knelt next to the unconscious teen, feeling the blood soaking into his jeans. He noted that the boy had short, spiked black hair, tan skin, and a fairly athletic body. 'How'd he let himself get caught like this? Surely he could have defended himself even a little.' Kiba thought to himself as he studied the boy. The boy's eyes fluttered weakly and he muttered something softly. Upon hearing what the boy had said, Kiba felt a shock go through his body. "Ari? What do you know about her?!" Kiba asked the teen as his eyes opened and tried to focus. Taking a deep breath, Kiba ignored the smell of blood, and searched for that same scent, the one that he knew he would never forget, the smell of lunar flowers and pine needles. Sure enough, it was faint but it was there.
The injured teen coughed weakly, and when he saw a person near him, he began to struggle to move away. Kiba laid a steadying hand on the panicked teens shoulder, holding him still, "Relax. It's okay, I won't hurt you, I promise." As the boy met his eyes, Kiba was struck by how similar he looked to the boy he had just seen. "They must be twins or something," he muttered to himself softly. Upon hearing this, the teens eyes widened, "Have you seen him, have you seen John? Is he alright?" he asked Kiba, fighting to sit upright. Kiba helped him sit up and leaned him against the wall. "Is that the name of the guy who looks just like you?" Kiba asked him. He nodded, "That's John. I'm his twin, James."
Kiba rested on his heels as he regarded James. In return, James looked at the man who had found him and studied him. The man, no, he was a teenager, close to James' age, had dark brown hair that was long and slightly shaggy, wore jeans, and a white tee shirt covered by a jacket. Looking into his eyes, James was startled by how similar they were to Ari's. "They're that same clear shade of blue, with the little flecks of gold mixed in, just like Ari's" he muttered to himself. Kiba eyed James with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, "What does this girl, Ari, look like?" he asked the twin. James was silent for a moment. "She has mid length black hair that, at the tips, shades to a silver-white color. Her eyes are just like yours, same shade and everything. Why?" James asked Kiba with a faint smile. "Does she have a blue stone necklace that she always wears?" Kiba demanded. James thought for a moment and then nodded. Surprise had filled the other teens face, "So you're still alive after all this time…I can't believe that I never knew…" Kiba muttered to himself.
James looked at the other teen, confusion etched on his features, "Do you know her? How? Who are you?" he queried of the other boy. "I know her alright, that is if she's the same girl that I'm thinking she is. My name's Kiba, and Ari? Well, last time I checked, if this is the same Ari that we're talking about, she's my little sister." Kiba told James softly, looking at his hands that were resting on his knees. "My twin actually, she was born twenty minutes after me," he told James. "I didn't even know she was still alive, I thought that she died in that forest fire like I almost did that night. Like the rest of the pack. I thought that the hunters had caught her; I never found her trail or anything…or else I would have done anything to find her..." he continued, with a small choked laugh that sounded more like a soft sob.
James eyed Kiba with a new curiosity, 'They do look an awful lot alike' he thought to himself. "What happened? I knew her that she was adopted, but I never found out what happened to her real family. Are you really her brother? She never mentioned you," he told Kiba, this last bit said quietly. As Kiba opened his mouth to respond, the door behind the two flew open. A dark figure stepped into the room, radiating what felt like raw energy. James felt the hair on his neck prickle as the figure entered the room.
"Kiba," the figure in black said, in a deep, yet regal sounding voice. "Darcia" Kiba replied, a snarl that should have looked foolish on a human face, but instead looked like a furious animals', gracing his lips. As Darcia strode further into the room, Kiba stood to meet him. James winced as he struggled to stand, only to find that the chains weren't long enough to allow him to stand. Glancing at James with a cold pitiless stare, Darcia laughed mirthlessly. "You think you're injured now boy, you just wait. You'll tell us what we want soon enough." he told the teen, as blood dripped on the floor from his wounds. Kiba glared at Darcia as the noble turned to face him. "Who said you were to be let out of your cage?" The noble asked the wolf. "You have no power over me!" Kiba snarled, as he leapt towards the man.
Sidestepping quickly, the noble dodged the angry teen. Kiba spun to face him and crouched to attack again. Soon the two were engaged in a fight, Kiba attacking and Darcia blocking him with ease. As the furious teen attacked, James saw a flicker, one moment Kiba was there, the next, a large white wolf, and then back again. 'Just like with Ari that one time…' he thought to himself. Kiba leapt towards Darcia, and the man caught him by the throat and held him so his feet barely brushed the floor. Gasping, Kiba struggled, striking out with his hands and feet. A foot connected with the noble's stomach and four deep slashes appeared and began to bleed. 'How is that possible? How did he make those?' James wondered, surprised. The noble glanced down at the slashes and smirked, "Are you proud that you finally wounded me wolf?" he asked the choking teen. Kiba's lips lifted into a snarl, and Darcia drew his arm back and flung the teen roughly into the nearby wall. Kiba slammed into it with a heavy thud and a cry of pain, and lay still on the ground. His usually calm blue eyes opened and were filled with pain and anger, as around him, bits of plaster floated down. Darcia knelt next to him, and stroked the tangled hair with one hand, as he slide a hand around the angry wolfs' throat, pinning him to the ground, "Now, now Kiba, no need to be so upset." Seconds later, three armed men entered the room with chains. They tied the teen so that he couldn't move and dragged him from the room. Watching them, Darcia turned to a man waiting outside the door, "Take the other one and put him in a cell." The man nodded and moved towards James.
James tensed as the man approached, pressing against the wall. The man crouched next to him as he undid the cuffs that restricted James. He offered a hand to the teen as he stood, and James warily accepted it. Pulling him up, the man slung one of James' arms over his head and wrapped one of his own around the boy's waist to support him. James cast a final look at the proud teen that was now tied in chains as he had been, as he was taken from the room. The man who was supporting James, glanced at him from the corner of his eye, "Bet you're worried about your brother huh?" he asked him quietly. James nodded wearily, having decided that this man didn't mean him harm, "Where is he?" he asked, exhaustion filling his voice. The man smiled, "Don't worry, you'll see him in a few minutes." he told James as they traveled through the hallways.
They stopped at the same door that John's guide had, and the man keyed in the code to open it. The door slid open as silently as ever, and the two walked into the room. James looked at the cells as they passed them. Inside were people, and James felt his heart fill with pity. The majority were emaciated beyond belief and were obviously dying. As they neared the back of the room, they passed two cells, one containing a brown haired kid and a gray haired man; the other held an older woman. They watched silently as the two passed. "Here we are," the man said, stopping to key in the code to open one of the cell doors. He turned as the door opened, and passed with the exhausted teen through the door. The other occupant of the cell, who had been dozing, blearily opened his eyes as James was laid on the floor near him. James felt darkness wash over him as sleep took him at last, away from the pain he felt. The man nodded to John, who was in the cell with James, "Take care of him the best you can," he told John softly, as he sealed the door and left the room.
As the man's footsteps faded away, John's eyes focused on the form that lay next to him. As the figure focused, John sucked in a quick breath of air. His twin lay on the floor next to him, and there were dozens of small injuries covering his body. He tried his best to clean the wounds with strips of his own shirt soaked in the water that was provided in the cell. As he watched James sleep, John noticed several long white hairs that were clinging to his brother's short hair. Pulling one of them off, he looked at it carefully. "It looks like that wolf's hair…" he muttered to himself. John busied himself for the next several hours caring for James, and waiting for him to wake up.