CHAPTER NINETEEN
Patience, Kindness, and Their Eternal Rewards
Wolf knew he had to be dreaming when he suddenly found himself standing in a field of stars with nothing under his feet. He also knew he had to be dreaming upon seeing a double of himself standing in front of him with its eyes shut and its head slumped over. Out of sheer curiosity, he stepped toward the double and hesitantly prodded its forehead. The head uselessly jerked around for a few moments before the eyes suddenly slid open and stared at Wolf with a gaze of pure malevolence. Upon seeing how stunned Wolf was, the double viciously smiled.
"Oh, what?" it said in a slithery voice that sounded just like his, but more…sporadic. "You aren't scared of a cute and innocent girl going bad, but you are scared of a double just looking at you funny?"
Wolf gritted his teeth and flexed his claws.
"What the hell is this?!" he demanded. "Who are you?!"
"You, stupid. All that your quest for revenge and glory has made you into."
"No…no, I'm done with that…done with you!"
"There is no escaping the things that you've done. Whether you forgive yourself or not, Ramero was right. You've shed more blood than tears have fallen for those you killed, and trust me, there's bound to be a lot of tears."
"I only kill for self-defence."
"There's this thing called subduing your attacker and leaving them unconscious. It's boring, sure…but it's more sane than the things you've done."
The double stepped toward him, growing thinner and taller as it approached. Wolf's Solid Eye was now starting to work against him, telling him that his heart rate was much higher than it really was and even beginning to glitch his vision.
"What was that thing you said you had left when you fought Krystal?" the double hissed, its voice becoming more booming and slithery the longer it talked. "The thrill of the hunt? Yeah…do you really have any idea what that is? The thrill of the hunt is the euphoria you get from watching something run away from you as you give chase to it. It is the delight in knowing that your prey fears you…that you'll enjoy their screams of agony, their cries for mercy…and their death."
Wolf felt to his knees and looked down at the non-existent floor. His Solid Eye had completely blacked out, and kept getting the feeling that there was something wet slowly rising around him. Did he care? Not when there was a demonic version of himself trying to make him feel more guilty than he had already been.
"I…I never thought that…"
His head was seized and he was forced to look up into the glowing red eyes of his double, which was now nothing more than a thin black shadow towering at least a dozen feet over him. He didn't feel guilty anymore. He felt frightened. More frightened than he ever knew he could feel.
"Why feel so guilty about it, though? If you enjoy so much, why not continue to do so? Shed more blood! Make more people scream!"
The shadow's sadistic and fanged smile was now far too large to fit its otherwise blank face, and it was only made worse as blood began to leak down each of the razor-sharp teeth and drip onto Wolf's head, staining his fur a deep red hue.
"MAKE EVERYONE SUFFER LIKE YOU HAVE! IT'S WHAT YOU LIVE FOR!"
The blood began forming pools around Wolf, and he watched in horror as it began to form into a giant lake. A lake that he began to sink into without any way to breathe. He began trashing all about, but the shadow wouldn't let go. It wanted him to drown in the blood of the people he'd killed. The people whose bodies floated up toward the surface, all staring maliciously and even somewhat gleefully at him.
"IT'S WHAT YOU LIVE FOR!"
That phrase kept echoing from all around him. Wolf couldn't see, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move, and most importantly, he couldn't escape…but no. He wouldn't back down or let this just happen to him. He wasn't a coward, and he needed to let his inner demons know that.
"IT'S WHAT YOU LIVE FOR!"
"NOT ANYMORE, YOU SICK FUCK!"
The tension on his head vanished, the chanting stopped, and the blood and bodies vanished. Wolf was now floating just under the surface of crystal clear water, able to breathe perfectly but feeling too weak to move. As he floated there, though, a light slowly came into view above the waves, coming closer until something pierced through the surface and gently reached for him. A glowing and slender arm, its hand outstretched toward him in an offering manner. He wasted no time in taking the hand and found himself pulled out of the water. The field of stars had grown brighter, and before him stood perhaps the most mystifying thing he had ever seen.
It was a woman, and not only was her arm glowing, but so was her entire body, so much in fact that there was no way for him to make out her face aside from her wide smiling eyes. She was about a head shorter than him, and her tailed swished very slowly behind her as she continued to stare at him, gaining speed when Wolf approached. He smiled.
"That settles it. I'm out of my mind."
It felt good to joke about it, but what felt better was when the ghostly figure took his hands, placing one on her hip. Right away, Wolf chuckled.
"Okay, but I'm warning you: I'm no professional dancer."
Through the heavenly light, he could make out a smile, and they found themselves stepping to a rhythm that began ringing in Wolf's ears. He didn't pay attention to the music and focused on the strange being in front of him. Who was she? What was she? Why wasn't she speaking? Why had she come to be with him? It didn't matter. He shut all of the thoughts trying to confuse him and paid attention to the ethereal beauty in his arms.
They danced about for several minutes, and it was almost as though she could sense Wolf's grief and pain subside. He found himself softly smiling at her the longer they moved in synchronization with each other and gently tensed his grip on her. She twirled around on her toes as Wolf extended his arm to its full length before drawing her back in and dipping her almost to the ground, then pulled her back up. By the time they had done this, Wolf felt so rejuvenated and realized that he'd felt something he hadn't felt in so long…not since he last saw…
"Wait…it can't be…"
The light on the woman's face dimmed just enough for Wolf to get a better look at it, and he was surprised to say the least.
"It's you…"
She smiled again and closed her eyes, her breath slowly becoming more noticable as she brought her lips closer to his…close enough for him to…
…fall out of bed when he heard an extremely loud crash.
"What the hell is goin' on?!" he sputtered as the noise slapped him out of his drowsy state.
Looking out the window, he saw what appeared to be a small fire brewing in the forest of the valley below, and judging from the sound, it seemed that something had crash-landed. Perhaps a satellite or even a small spacecraft.
"Well, no sense leaving it there and letting the animals get to it."
He took a few moments to get dressed before grabbing a flashlight and his machine pistol just to be safe and setting out toward the crash site. It was the perfect night to go for a walk, the stars and moon shining brightly above. Wolf was tempted to stop and stare up at the moon for a little while and take in its beauty, but he was too focused on the task at hand.
As he descended into the woods, Wolf pricked his ears up and listened closely. He could hear the smoldering of whatever had crashed and felt a strong heat, and he scanned the area with his Solid Eye as soon as he saw a faint light. There were no signs of wildlife in the area, probably scared away by the sound and sight of the crash. As Wolf saw exactly what had caused the crash as he arrived at the site, he quickly understood that it was probably good that the animals had run away.
The object that had crashed was, as he had predicted, a small spacecraft. At first, Wolf clenched at his machine pistol with the kneejerk reaction that it had been a member of Star Fox who decided to track him down, but upon coming close enough to truly feel the heat of the wreck's flames, he saw that this was no Arwing. It was a private space-travelling vessel, likely belonging to someone who had official business on another planet. In fact, as Wolf scanned the vessel, he found that this someone was still inside, weakly struggling to get out.
Wolf wasted no time in leaping on top of the windshield and taking a good look at the person inside. The windows were tinted, preventing him from seeing the pilot's face, but it was undoubtedly a woman. He aimed carefully at the cockpit's latch and fired off a single round, allowing him to wrench the cockpit open. The second he did, however, he saw that this night was only about to get stranger.
"What in the world…how did she find me?"
It may have been practically unbelievable that Lori was here, but he hardly cared about the likelihood that this would and more about how her life could have been at stake. She was just barely conscious as she struggled to crawl out of her wrecked ship, but she didn't need to. The second Wolf scanned her body and saw her below average heart rate and the banner saying that she required medical attention, he gently scooped her up in his arm. Other than some nasty looking cuts and bruises, she looked perfectly intact, and her voice sounded strained, but intelligible.
"Mmm…wha…"
Wolf smirked.
"You've got a knack for getting in trouble, you know that?"
Lori shook of the shock of the crash and looked weakly into Wolf's eyes. She remained stunned that he had found her for a brief moment before smiling in return.
"You've got a knack for saving my life…ouch…"
"Easy there. Don't overexert yourself."
"How? By talking to you?"
"Hey, you were in a crash. The definition of overexertion for the moment is basically any movement you make with any part of your body."
Lori stifled a laugh.
"Well, good thing you found me, then…wouldn't want to have some mangy animals pick the meat off of my corpse."
"How did you find me, anyway?"
Lori went silent, prompting Wolf to drop the subject under the impression that she was too tired to talk for the moment. Not so, proven when she looked up the hill as they began to ascend it.
"Is that your house?"
"Yep. Built it with my own two hands."
"Really?! That's OW! Mother of pearl…"
"Hold tight. I'll get you fixed up in no time."
When he meant 'no time', he was heavily exaggerating nearly to the point of lying since he was certainly more than capable of helping her heal up, the issue was that his thoughts on the situation left open the possibility of him taking much longer than he had hoped.
The second they entered the house, Wolf jogged upstairs and gently placed Lori on his bed.
"Alright, you oughta be comfortable there for now. Let me just grab a couple of things…"
"Hey, it's nothing life-threatening…right?"
"No, but it's not like I'm just gonna leave you to bleed on my bed all night."
"Funny."
"Hilarious, actually."
Wolf left the room and returned within the span of a minute with a cold compress, a bottle of peroxide, a large roll of gauze, and a glass of water. As he had scrambled to get these things from downstairs, he couldn't help but think in a manner that he could only describe as that of a scared schoolboy.
"Oh my God...how is all of this happening?"
He had dreamed of Lori saving him, only to wake up and save her in return. Was this someone's sick plot to toy with his emotions or…maybe this was that one good thing in his life that Luke had ordered him to find.
"Oh, man…what do I say? Can't believe I'm more than thirty years old now and I have never once in my entire life sweet-talked a woman…and why the hell am I sounding like a scared little kid?!"
Once he had gotten back into the room, he still didn't know what to say, but he knew what to do and spoke off of that.
"Alright, this is gonna be a little…not really sure how to put this…"
"Dirty?" Lori finished with a light snicker.
"Yeah. I'm gonna need you to take your clothes off. Do it carefully, though."
"Why? So you get a big one from staring at me?"
"No, so you don't hurt yourself."
"Oh…"
Lori obeyed, steadily stripping away every scrap of clothing save for her underwear. She seemed ready to take that of as well, but Wolf stepped forward before she could do so.
"Uhh…I think that'll do it. I…I can see the big ones."
"That's what she said."
"…God damn it."
Lori giggled but let out a light yelp when Wolf pressed a cloth doused in peroxide on one of her many cuts.
"Careful!"
"Sorry. There's really no way to do this without it stinging like a swarm of wasps. ON the bright side, though, that was your biggest one, so it should be smooth sailing from here."
"Good...but seriously, ow!"
As Wolf continued to press the cloth to Lori's wounds, he couldn't help but take great notice to her alluring body. Despite him finding it very weird and even somewhat wrong to praise such a thing, the Stray Dog had certainly won itself a good worker visual wise, though if she was out here in the middle of the night, there were only two possible conclusions, and since going for a joy ride seemed very unlikely…
"I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume you don't work at that strip joint anymore."
"Hell no. I got outta there about the same time you and Powalski turned the place into a warzone. I'm a secretary at Galaxian now. It's boring, but I didn't wanna risk getting my head blown off if something like that ever happened again."
"Uhh, heh heh….yeah, sorry about that."
"Don't be. I kinda hated that dirty old place, anyway. There were always guys giving me dirty looks…and yeah, I know I should have expected that considering what I was, but for fuck's sake, it's like you were the only decent man who ever came into that place."
Wolf laughed. He enjoyed the shy and reserved personality she'd shown the first two times they'd met, but he absolutely adored this one.
"Uhh, excuse me? Ground control to Major Perv?"
"Eh?"
"You, my good sir, have your hand on my breast."
Wolf reeled his hand back and flushed before finishing up with the peroxide and wrapping some gauze around her lower torso.
"Oh God…uhh…"
It was Lori's turn to laugh.
"Don't be so shy about it. You would be a perv if you were staring down there and did it deliberately."
"I know, but I was raised to be better than that."
"Well, I'm listening."
"To what?"
"I told you a bit about me. So what's your story?"
Wolf remained silent and just stared deeply into her eyes like she had just said the worst possible thing she could have ever said to him. It wasn't but it may as well have been. He didn't need her sympathy, but part of him wanted it. He didn't want to seem like a coward, but he didn't want to seem like a prideful brute, either.
"Sore spot?" she suddenly asked.
Wolf said nothing, but received the grace of her hand on his cheek.
"Forget I asked, then. I'm just saying that you kinda owe me after both me telling you what I've been doing and for touching me indecently…then again, you've taken me in out of your own free will. Are we even?"
Wolf smirked. The sour thought were gone in an instant.
"I suppose so." he answered, laying the cold compress on Lori's forehead and trickling a small sip of water down her throat. "You should get some sleep now. We'll get you back to Corneria in the morning. If you need anything, I'll be downstairs on the couch."
"Oh…alright. Good night."
Wolf nodded, but as Lori turned the light off and he closed the door as he left, he felt a strange empty feeling. Not just from himself, but from Lori as well. She had sounded disappointed…like he should have done something with her, but he didn't.
"Wait…she doesn't want…THAT…does she?!"
There was no way she could be that promiscuous. He was a wanted criminal and even he wasn't like that. Maybe it was just the idea of having a woman in his house with him that got him thinking this way. He fully admitted to himself that he wanted to be in love, but was this what that was? Was this how Fox had felt about Krystal? Had he really gotten this nervous when she was within his reach?
Wolf shook it off and flopped down on the couch, slamming his eye shut and silently drifting off to sleep…for about an entire hour. The thoughts wouldn't leave him be. He kept thinking of her beautiful face, her sharp wit, the way she spoke to him, her alluring body…she was upstairs waiting for him, and they had both been so kind to one another…was there really any problem with it?
At last, Wolf couldn't take it anymore. He got up and walked slowly up the stairs, his hands shaking and his Solid Eye clearly informing him that his heart rate was starting to rise very quickly, not that he couldn't already feel it. The second he opened the door and saw Lori sleeping peacefully with the moonlight streaming in on her, he felt his heart skip a beat. He could smell her from all the way at the other side of the room, and it was a scent that drew him closer and closer until he was on the bed on his hands and knees positioned directly over her.
Lori's eyes cracked open as she sensed the added weight, and the second she saw Wolf, she smiled warmly.
"First time?"
Wolf remained silent as she took the cold compress off of her head and laid her hands on his heart. She felt every heartbeat, and the longer she kept her hands there, the more relaxed Wolf became.
"It's okay." she whispered. "You deserve this after all the hell you've gone through."
Wolf smiled as Lori removed what little she had left of her clothing and then proceeded to remove his. She continued to feel his muscular torso, taking in every battle-worn inch of him as he gently lowered himself on top of her, and thus, their hands locked together as they shared a passionate kiss.
From there on out, they let their bodies do the rest.
Wolf woke up a few hours later and had expected Lori to be gone after what they had just done, but much to his surprise and relief, she was still laying on top of him with her head rested against his chest as she slept. After sharing such a passionate experience together, it would be a shame to let it end there. That said, Wolf still had his own sour thoughts on the situation and the kind of commitment it brought with it.
He took care not to wake Lori as he gently moved her off of him, put his pants back on, and stepped outside onto the small balcony to look out at the horizon. The sun would rise very soon, and for once, Wolf wanted to be awake to see it. Hopefully it would calm his nerves for a brief moment.
What had just happened was the most exhilarating thing he'd had ever felt, but he said something to himself that launched his brainstorming.
"As of now, Leon was wrong…I think and feel way too much."
Now he knew that Lori had come here deliberately. He didn't want to say it before, but from how she had said he deserved it after all he'd been through, it was fairly obvious that she'd be planning this the entire time. He could commend her for her craftiness, but he wanted to know why. He needed the answers to all of the questions in his head. Why had she come? Why did she want to seduce him like that…if she had wanted to seduce anyone in that kind of manner, why had she chosen him?
The answers would come soon as he heard her step outside behind him after several minutes. He turned to find her wrapped up loosely enough in the blanket for her to walk. Her wounds had definitely healed from how she walked, but that was of no concern to either of them right now.
"Why don't we get the controversial aspect out of the way right now?" she said with a sigh. "My full name is Lorraine Everly Grey, as in Bill Grey."
Bill Grey wasn't just a close friend of Fox. He was also the commander of the Husky and Bulldog units of the Cornerian Army and was rumoured to be in a relationship with Peppy's daughter Lucy. Getting on his bad side was probably the worst thing Wolf could do if he wanted to lay low, and having an affair with his sister was probably an effective way of doing so.
"Why are you here, Lori?" Wolf asked, trying his best not to sound demanding. "You know who I am and what I've done. Why would you come to find me?"
Lori sighed and heaved herself up onto the metal railing, staring deep into Wolf's eyes.
"It starts with a life story. Most big explanations do."
"…alright. I'm listening."
Wolf sat down beside her and listened intently, becoming enraptured by her story as she told it.
"My mother died in childbirth. The doctors said it was a miracle that Bill and I were born before she bit the dust, but it only got worse because we were both bastard children. Our father was just some guy off the street that our mother was dating, and he ran away the second he found out she was pregnant. So we were put in an foster home and when I got older for whatever reason…all the other little punks that lived there wanted me."
Wolf gritted his teeth and growled slightly. The idea that anyone would lay their hands on Lori with malicious intentions was enough to get him angry, but it only got worse.
"A lot of them said it was all I was good for since I kept making mistakes in school. No matter what I did, I was only rewarded with failure, but I put up with it because Bill was with me. If I ever got hurt, I could go to him and he'd make sure I wouldn't spend the whole night crying about what happened…but then again, I don't really think he understood what I was going through since he was the polar opposite, always getting good grades and actually getting a scholarship to the Cornerian Flight Academy. When I turned fifteen…that's when it got to be the worst. My foster father started taking notice of me 'filling out' and gave me the worst kind of abuse I could have felt at that age."
Wolf cracked his knuckles as a small tear dropped from Lori's eye. Never had a life story been so heart-wrenching to him as it was now. Here was someone who had suffered the same kind of problem he did. Nobody loved her, or at least not enough to notice when she was hurting.
"And I decided that was it. I had to get out, so one night I just…ran away. Didn't look back. I kept thinking of Bill and how I knew he'd be so sad to know that I was gone, but there was just nothing else I could do, and that awful strip joint didn't help matters much what with guys constantly staring at me like I'm a piece of meat…but then…"
Wolf's heart warmed as she smiled and gently laid her hand on his.
"You walked in. Right away, I thought you were a good-looking guy, but as the night went on, I clearly saw that you were more than that. You're a real man, Wolf. You follow what you believe and you don't take shit from anyone."
"…what if what I believe is wrong? I'm a criminal, Lori. I don't take shit from anyone, but I also don't take advice from anyone, and when I do, I always find myself too prideful to listen."
"And that's why I came to look for you."
"Huh?"
"It's because I looked at you and saw something else: a sad and lost soul looking for a purpose. Everyone feels that way at one point or another. That's the way we're all made. I wanted to help you. I want you to feel happy because I can't bear to see anyone suffer the same way I have. That's why I'm here, and that's why we did what we did last night."
Wolf only realized now that there was a tear coming to his eye, and Lori was quick to wipe it away. He now felt an urge, and that urge forced out the one thing he was trying to keep hidden from her.
"You're right…I'm lost without a purpose because the only purpose I had was taken away from me by Kodek Ramero."
"I've heard of him. What did he do to you?"
"He…he murdered my parents…he took my eye…he…he ruined my life."
He started panting audibly and found it almost impossible to speak without choking on his own words. To his surprise, Lori had a sympathetic look on her face and gently stroked his cheek.
"It's okay, Wolf. Just let it all out. Sometimes it's okay to cry."
And that was what Wolf did. Silently, of course, but there was no denying the tears falling from his eyes like rain. Lori soothed him with a tight embrace, and he finally stopped as his eyes began to turn bloodshot.
"…thank you…for everything, Lori."
"Everything?"
"For giving me a reason to keep going. Someone said to me that I needed to find something worth living for because I keep making mistake after mistake, and…well, look where it's gotten me. I'm the most wanted man in the galaxy. Not too long ago, I realized that I'd been wasting my life doing all the criminal acts I did and I needed to do what every man should. Settle down, find a wife, maybe have a kid…and after I saved you on Corneria that one time, I've been thinking about you so sporadically ever since."
Lori listened intently, her smile growing the more she listened.
"Last night…" Wolf continued. "…what we did was the greatest thing I've felt in a long time. You felt so good…not just the physical feeling, but…just being with you, having someone to share my life with. You make me happier than I've ever been."
Lori laid her head on his shoulder and stared up into Wolf's face with the same warm expression she had been wearing for several minutes.
"The feeling is mutual. Tell me something, though. What was the greatest bit of advice someone ever gave you?"
Instantly, Wolf thought of Nina, with James being an honourable mention were it not for the sentimental value that his angel-like mother held for him.
"As long as I keep going, I'll find the answers that I seek."
"And who told you that?"
"My mother. She also said that I can't wait for life to catch up to me, but I can't run away from what'll make me stronger."
"It seems we've both followed that in a different way."
"How's that?"
"I came running to you, and you waited for me."
At last, Wolf smiled and wrapped his arm around Lori's shoulder. He sighed in content and the two of them watched as the sun began to steadily rise over the horizon. In that moment, Wolf realized that something had finally torn a hole in the endless night he'd been wandering through for more than twenty years. He felt more at home now than ever.
"Then this wasn't a one-night stand?" he asked.
"No. Us lone wolves have to stick together."
"Good…I was hoping you'd say that. The second I walked through those doors all those years ago and saw you…I knew that I loved you."
They kissed, and Wolf knew right away that Lori felt the same. There they sat and watched the forest below come to life as all the wildlife awakened, not unlike how Wolf had felt asleep for so long and was just now waking up to the beauty of the woman he held in his arms.
Now his life truly began, but deep within his mind, he remembered that one haunting quote that Ramero had screamed at him. The last words he'd heard him say.
"I WILL FIND HER!'
Wolf smirked, and as though Ramero could hear him, he thought a dare. A command. A challenge.
"Bring it on."
Sappy? Hell yes. Giving you a warm and fuzzy feeling? That's up to you.
Yeah, I cheated you guys out of a sex scene, but I think the Internet has made it very clear that anthropomorphic animal porn is a no-no. What's my excuse? Not being comfortable writing about sex after that abomination Fifty Shades of Grey, that's what.
By the way, involving that Ramero line, reference get?
So yeah, when I said I wouldn't be updating for a while, I guess I meant not until after Christmas. But hey, getting one more chapter out before 2014 officially starts ain't a bad thing, right?
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Perking up the workers' spirits- "Livin' On the Edge" by Aerosmith
Nina's lullaby- "Shenandoah" by Hayley Westenra
The escape plan- "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC
The death of Nina and Rodrick- "Watch Me Bleed" by Scary Kids Scaring Kids
No comfort for the weak and wounded- "The Unforgiven" by Metallica
Escaping Macbeth- "You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell
The Stray Dog- "I Remember" by deadmau5
Wolf and Leon- "People Ain't No Good" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Standoff at the Stray Dog- "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath
Poker night in Hell- "Black Rain" by Soundgarden
Running as fast as God will let him-"Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden
Standoff on Papetoon- "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi
Lost an eye and left to die- "Lost and Found" by Senses Fail
Wolf and James- "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas
Another father gone- "Shadow of the Day" by Linkin Park
Enter Star Wolf- Star Wolf theme
Star Wolf versus the Luna Guard- "Modern Day Cowboy" by Tesla
Escape from the Aparoids- "Scream Aim Fire" by Bullet for My Valentine
Abandoning Krystal- "Leaving Hope" by Nine Inch Nails
Wolf versus Kursed- "The Dark Inside Her" by Velvet Acid Christ
A decision to live- "I Got a Name" by Jim Croce
Dancing in dreams- "Into the Night" by Santana and Chad Kroeger (yes, as in that Chad Kroeger from Nickelback. Give the song a listen, though. It's not half-bad.)
Wolf and Lori- Star Fox Command's ending theme