Once upon a time, there was a Godly valley with mountains that could touch the sky and trees that cast long shadows. The people who live in the small mountain town are hardworking and happy, so long as they never stray into the forest where the wolves lurk in the darkness. Adults brave the trees in groups to hunt the vicious pack as they have for decades, the conflict is deep with no sign of victory for either side. But wolves are not the only threat, nor the village's only secret - and the link connecting them is a simple cloak of Red ...
Every night, from the highest peak of the uninhabited mountains, a single Wolf howls to the good folk of the valley – as a warning, as a message, and as a reminder of what they did:
"Beware, beware, the Path where the Witch once stood. Beware, beware, of the Wolf in the Wood."
Aqua's job in the pack was a simple one. But it was important.
She was trusted to know and to read the signs of nature, predict and advise in the face of turmoil. She was the daughter of a healer, she had grown up the first twelve years of her human life around potions and herbs, sicknesses and rituals to see beyond the eyes of an individual, she was the spiritual leader of the tribe. Her teacher had passed on knowledge to her before she ever received formal lessons, her wide-eyed curiosity absorbed more than everyone realised and when their healer died, she stepped up into his role like water into a bootprint. She had been trained for a year, but she had been learning long before that. She was the youngest spiritual leader the tribe had ever had … and recently she was beginning to think that her position was being overused.
Healer and spiritual leader, in dual with her mate. She was glad that times had changed enough to allow him to support her and enter her world of interpretation and uncertainty, though his expertise was far more rooted in the physical world than hers, it only made him more compatible.
Terra growled behind her as he pressed his wolf body against her back. Aqua soothed him with her fingers running through the ruff at his neck, "Shh," she whispered, ignoring the impatient Alpha at the mouth of their den, another of their kin at his side shuffling ruefully. "All will be well," she murmured. Terra leaned into her touch and rested his head on his forelegs, ears perked and one eye always half open.
"Aqua," Angeal sighed, settling with crossed legs with an exhausted expression on his face, "Why did you tell him that?"
Aqua tilted her head slightly "Would you rather he had hurt himself? Intimacy is an interactive and often delicate process, Angeal. Mating through mistakes or force would only hurt them more."
Zack, appearing confusingly guilty and steadfast, said, "I know I said I'd stop them, but he really loves that Hunter, Angeal," he rested a hand on his thigh as he leaned forwards, "And, believe it or not, that Hunter loves Cloud too. I saw it, and I would have never of told them this if I hadn't of been sure he was honest."
Aqua felt Terra raise his head, "You cannot continue to ground the boy. The results are not working in your favour; his spirit doesn't listen to you."
The young woman with the blue hair, dyed blue through ours of working with herbal substances and scented smokes, rested a hand against Terra's maw fondly, "He's right. You know this, separation is not the answer to resolving the problem. Though I hardly see it as a problem, more as a symptom of close-mindedness." She picked up a clay bowl and began to paint the floor into a series of swirls and symbols, "Had we been receptive to his wishes, his wilfulness would not be causing tension in the pack."
Angeal shook his head slowly "As Alpha, I can't ignore the threat."
"The hunter knows about us, and is aware of our general location and yet no hunts have reached within miles of us and no shots have taken the lives of our kin," she raised her head for a moment, "I understand your overprotectiveness, the Alpha in you is strong. But it has been two lunar cycles, and we are still here, undetected and safe. The longer you protest, the more we find your claims lacking, Angeal."
Terra huffed in agreement but said nothing. Fondly, Aqua recalled how he was never one for long winded words. He spoke with his body unless he needed to be direct.
The man before them exhaled deeply, their Alpha looked drained. Aqua considered offering him some liquors to help him sleep without stress. "I am also having doubts … but Cloud forgets that we must move, your predictions, Terra, show that our resources are insufficient to uphold the entire pack with a growing village down below. If we do not leave, we will suffer. But we cannot abandon a wolf, so Cloud dooms us all to starve and suffer by tying himself to one of the hunters." His brow darkened "And when I ask you for your help I see that you have only encouraged his teenage rebellion by instructing him on mating?"
He knelt forwards, leaning to peer them both in their blue eyes, his Alpha's will draw their attentions silently like gravity drew mass to earth. "What good will come of this now? How can I protect us when you send us into strife?"
"Change."
"What?"
Aqua looked down at her clay drawing on the stone floor, "The stagnation over Cloud's chosen has gone on long enough with neither side able to compromise. Nature rarely forces change without pain, and with our actions, we hope to avoid it."
Terra raised his head to Zack, "One of your protégé's has seen reason when you cannot. Your determination to remain unchanged will damage us, Angeal, not Cloud." He yawned, exposing his enormous white teeth to the light, pinkish gums and curling tongue striking against his thick brown pelt. When his blue eyes focused on Angeal again, he continued, "We are a new existence, there is much to be discovered about ourselves, but how can we when we force ourselves to remain the same as our pre-changed selves?"
"Cloud has changed, and his actions, though believed a risk to start with, have proven as trustworthy as his promises," Aqua continued the second Terra had finished his speech "Yet you continue to refuse him."
"His chosen is a hunter."
"Who has never raised a hand against us," Aqua drew a final circle around her drawing, man and wolf as one. "Your stubbornness may rip us apart, Angeal. We are not a fixed people and never have been, we change with the seasons and rise and fall with our worlds. Don't limit us. Don't limit him." she brushed her blue hair out of her eyes, "When your hand is forced we advise you to listen to what Cloud has been saying all along. Test this hunter if you must, challenge him, but don't disregard him. Everyone in this room but you has recognised that the longer you remain in place the further Cloud will break away from us because he has no choice because you refuse to change because he will continue to pull until he has no further need of the pack."
She touched the Alpha's forehead, brushing her thumb over his brow gently, "See them for what they are, they only want you to recognise them."
The Alpha rose to his feet, his wolf tooth necklace rattling as he walked out, deep in thought. He left with a promise to think on things, though it was far more likely he'd go on patrol or on a hunt before his mind was clear enough to consider carefully.
Nevertheless, there was a subtle air around him that indicated that it was not the news he wanted to hear. Beside Aqua, Terra silently considered telling him that an Alpha did not run from difficult situations, but Aqua's hand on his paw dissuaded him, and so he laid back to feign sleep.
Aqua smiled at Zack once their Alpha was out of earshot, "You did the right thing, Zackary."
Zack frowned "Don't call me that, Puddles."
She raised an eyebrow "You humour is refreshing, perhaps you could do us a favour and teach Angeal one?" While Zack laughed, she erased the image of a man and a wolf as a single being with a sweep of her hand across her cave floor, "You will be a good leader someday, Zack. Better than Angeal."
Zack shook his head, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, "No one is better than Angeal."
The spiritual leader smiled with knowledge only she was privy to. "One day, we won't need the strength and stability that Angeal offers. He aims to protect and preserve, he wants to carve out a place of safety for us, but once that is done we will need a leader to move us forwards. Someone who can see beyond today and tomorrow, someone who is open to change, who can readily admit past wrongs, past misconceptions and adapt them," she picked up a cloth and took Zack's hand. She drew an Alpha's tooth upon the back of his hand with the salvaged clay.
"Someone like you, should you continue to grow with your open mind and caring heart."
Zack ducked his head "Aqua … I could never best Angeal, he's done so much for us."
The young healer nodded "He has, and he will do much more for us until his prime starts to pass. We will love and respect him for all he does for us and remember him fondly, and who better to take up his mantel than his surrogate son who can both love him unconditionally, yet see clearly all his flaws?"
"Me?" Zack asked nervously, all traces of humour erased.
Aqua held his marked hand gently "Don't overthink this Zack, Angeal's prime is seasons upon seasons from fading. But you have shown us that you are capable of compromise, of understanding and of adapting regardless of what Angeal ordered. And why was that?"
In her silence, Zack jumped when he realised the prompt for an answer. "Because it was right, because Cloud would have been unhappy any other way, and it would have destroyed him and us."
Aqua beamed "Then you have an Alpha's spirit in you, Zack, and I look forwards to seeing you grow into it." she dismissed him with a wave of her hand, her palms gritty with clay and dust and the cloth she held barely taking the grime from them. When they were alone she dipped her fingers in water and sprinkled some over her tired eyes and face, the coolness soothing her and her mate through their bond.
"How tiring are our days?" she whispered.
Terra breathed deeply, "In times of great change people seek assurance from every source, even us." Their art was hardly fortune-telling, or predicting the future, and yet that was the primary question of their new existence. So many people worried and wondered about today and tomorrow, would they ever see that their guesses were nothing more than opinions?
His snout pressed against her side, and made her jump, "You're tired, you should rest."
Aqua giggled at his suggestion "I can barely entertain the thought, Terra. Angeal and Zack's visit have my mind running like I was physically leaping down our mountain home if I rest now I will not wake with energy."
Terra adjusted his position until Aqua slipped from leaning against his back to laying on hers on their furs, "You should try, Aqua." He leaned into her touch as she cupped his jaw, scratching just hard enough to make him groan in pleasure, his wolf form changing in an instant to cup her hand against his cheek. "Your head is always so noisy."
Aqua smiled, "Why do you think I seek refuge in yours?" Terra was soothing, intense and dark compared to her light, it was like closing the curtains at the end of the day when he trailed his fingers across her mind and body.
Terra smirked, "Get some sleep," he encouraged. But Aqua was not ready for her mate to simply turn human to brush her off.
She quietly praised the seam-master and his helpers for being so slow to create new clothes for their tribe, Terra didn't have a set of his own save for a loincloth, so she always had a lovely view whenever she looked at him. "Lay with me?" she requested, meaning something entirely different.
His blue eyes glinted with the same mischief hers did. Eagerly she sat up and met him halfway in a sweet and desperate kiss, she relaxed against the furs when he lowered them back to the ground, sighing when his hands tugged at the too small shirt and short shorts. "I hope Cloud gets the same honeymoon period we did."
Terra sent her a smirk at her comment, silently sending her mind back to the start of their heady daze that consisted of the other and not much else. Sometimes it was days before they emerged from their cave to seek food and friendly company … oh, the teases they still received for their insatiable ruts.
She giggled when Terra threw her clothes out of reach "Terra!"
He growled against her neck "You won't be needing them for a while."
Running her fingers through his hair, she relaxed and let her beloved mate touch and kiss her all over, thoroughly distracting her from all the worries of today and tomorrow. Silently, but not solitarily, she wished her kin the same happiness.
He had to admit, he had forgotten what it was like to run like this; Red Cape catching in the wind, uneven ground eaten up under his feet, the ache in his lungs as he breathed in deeply. Beside him, Cloud ran as a wolf, his form showing little to no effort for his fast pace and graceful strides, his blue eyes were fixed ahead to keep his path steady, but he snuck half glances from time to time and Leon assumed he was doing well. Cloud could have run ahead, he could have vanished within seconds, but he stayed by Leon's side, guiding him through the trees, making the entire dash appear dreamlike through the ache in his body.
Cloud's ears perked and they slowed to a halt, Leon threw clothes at Cloud and soon the man stood up, breathing a little deeply than normal, but he didn't show nearly the exhaustion Leon did.
The blond smiled, "You're faring well," he whispered as he pulled his knife out, clothes hurriedly tugged on and tied in place though he had forsaken his shoes. "There's a small flock dead ahead, you go left, and I'll surprise them from over the logs."
Leon breathlessly waved an agreement, trying his best to swallow his noises as he braced his hands on his knees. He had missed this, images of childhood races and runs spiralled behind his mind and he resisted the urge to laugh. He couldn't believe he had forgotten something so pleasant, all it took was a recreation to jog his memories, he hoped, one day, he'd have them all back again, once they'd tried everything.
Cloud crouched by him, grinning widely and without sympathy, "Come on, Hunter. Dinner's gonna move on at this rate."
"Go talk to a wall," Leon huffed, finally able to form words with minimal breathlessness. He pulled his own knife out, looking at Cloud's fondly since it had the cherished charm bracelet a young Squall had put together out of love and worry and smirked when he realised nothing had changed.
It had done its job of keeping them together, he was glad.
Cloud saw the direction of his gaze and smiled too, pecking Leon's cheek for luck before he skilfully crept forwards.
The hunter picked a way forwards as quietly as he could manage, envious of Cloud's gracefully silent steps over the forest undergrowth. The wolf in him made him unnaturally quiet, none of Cloud's prey had ever heard him coming, not even Leon.
Ahead of them were three clucking peasants, Leon watched as they jerkily strutted around the berry bushes, pecking and watching in turns like a family …
Leon shook his head, concentrate! He needed to focus on today's kill, not on the niggling issue that had been bugging him for days. Now's not the time, he watched how their heads moved, the direction of the wind and braced himself to wait. An opportunity would arise soon, so long as they exercised enough patience.
Minutes later, he saw Cloud inch his way around the logs and made his move in turn.
It was just a stroke of bad luck that the peasants happened to spot him, Leon's knife caught the light in an unnatural way, and they rose into the air with spooked shrieks that shattered the stillness and caused a general retreat of wildlife from the entire area. Cloud took advantage of their distraction to messily catch one but Leon's was well out of reach by the time he reacted.
He sat down and put his knife in the dirt, damn …
Cloud looked up after he'd broken his kill's neck, "It's not like you to botch a kill like that, Red," he knelt by Leon's side, quietly inviting him to speak if he needed to with a gentle touch to his arm.
Knowing his answer, but being unable to brush it off as nothing anymore, Leon whispered at last "I keep thinking about Edea … I want to tell her."
"About what? About me?" Cloud's eyes widened in alarm "Squall you can't-"
"I know!" Leon glared at his shoes "I won't ever breathe a word about your wolf, but can't I at least tell her about you? About me? I've never kept anything from her, this doesn't feel right …" when Cloud's hand rested on his knuckles he twisted it to link their fingers, already anticipating the response. "I'm sorry," he got in first "It's selfish of me to ask this, I know why we're a secret."
"Red … would she even be pleased with me?" Cloud bit his lip "I'm male."
Shifting to face him, Leon sighed. In his mind Cloud was utterly perfect and handsome, interesting and strong, and yet a simple fact could overshadow all his brilliance to an outsider. It wasn't fair. "I worry about that too … I just … I just want her to know, she's like my Mother …"
Cloud rested his head against Leon's shoulder, he hadn't been able to look him in the eye since he asked. Unbeknownst to Leon, Cloud's eyes were wanting and frustrated too. "I wish I could meet her. The woman who raised you right." He chuckled slightly "I'm so sorry, but I can't say yes to what you want … I don't want to lose you."
In response to the tight grip on his arm, Leon put a hand into the blond hair and stroked the fine locks slowly, "Then … I at least want to tell her about me. That I'm in love with a man, and that I'm happy, but you want to remain private … would you be okay with that?" he whispered.
Cloud was thoughtful, he lowered himself to sprawl in Leon's lap, absently plucking at the string of Leon's boots. Leon swallowed a smirk at how spoilt Cloud had become, like a puppy who just assumed he could lay where he wanted, even in someone else's lap. He wondered when this habit had formed.
Cloud poked at his thigh to get his attention, "I think that'll be alright … but if she starts to react badly you can play it off as a joke, or lie or … anything, just keep safe, okay?" he pushed a bang from Leon's eyes and Leon sighed through a smile.
"Thank you."
"I wish I could meet her …" he made a face "Do you know what happened to your birth Mother?"
Snorting, Leon said "I wouldn't have been a cursed child if I'd have known that. I was left on Edea's doorstep, remember?"
"Ah … and wolf tracks had put you there," Cloud recalled, looking confused "I wonder if it was any of our wolves before the Contract?" he glanced up into Leon's eyes "I don't remember any rumours of a wolf cradle snatching."
Flicking the blond on the nose, Leon said: "I'm sure your wolves would have brought me to your clan if it was one of them."
Cloud shrugged, wondering if that would have been a wise decision, Catholic-raised or Wolfe-raised, Leon didn't have the instinctive magic his people did. In another life, Squall could have been a Wolfe, one without the blood and thus without the need for a Contract to preserve his life … he'd have been alone for years with nothing but animals for company. He stopped his musings to answer, "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know the mind of a pure wolf, I always kept my human memories, thanks to you."
The sun inched it's way overhead when Leon next looked up "I should go."
Cloud protested by laying heavier on his legs "Must you? It's only noon, and you haven't caught anything yet."
"Too bad for me," Leon grumbled "I need to think about what you told me yesterday, remember? And … I promised Edea I'd see her, I haven't for over a fortnight."
"That's why it was on your mind!" Cloud realised in a hushed tone, blue eyes widening slightly "I'll walk you there, maybe we'll be lucky, and we can spot a deer or rabbit to offer her. Perhaps bribe her good graces … if she were your Mother in my pack, I'd be offering her part of my catch to show her what a good mate I was." He jumped to his feet as Leon slipped his catch from his lazy grip.
"Good to know, she'll appreciate this, I heard it's her favourite in a stew."
Cloud blinked a few times before understanding "I didn't mean that peasant! That's mine," he whined, reaching for it as Leon held it overhead and out of reach.
Teasing, Leon mock gasped, "Is it not for her? Then what will you show her to prove your honourable intentions towards me?"
"By the Guardians, you did not just say that!" Cloud groaned from between his fingers, head shaking in his palms and shoulders hunching in either mortification or suppressed amusement.
Chuckling, Leon lowered his arm, relenting now he had the reaction he desired written all over his lover's face. "We'd better find another hunt on our way back, best not break tradition, isn't that bad luck?" he asked, putting Cloud's catch into his arms as he strode off towards the village. Cloud had grumbled behind him before his free arm looped around his waist.
"Oh Squall," he had been calling him that more and more as their intimacy increased, Cloud growled lowly into his ear "You should never tease a wolf, we have a tendency to bite when provoked." And he bit into Leon's neck.
"Cloud!" he covered the stinging mark, no doubt a record shade of purple was blooming under his palm, "I'm seeing Matron in an hour!"
Grinning evilly, the blond skipped past with a gleeful laugh, "Then you'll have the perfect proof I'm invested in you right on your throat, Red."
Leon grabbed Cloud's shirt and pulled him back, pinning him against the nearest tree and kissing his breath away. "I hate you."
Cloud laughed through his nose, nipping at Leon's upper lip before whispering "You can keep the kill."
Story is also available on Ao3 for those who prefer it there.
