Kurogane eyed Fuuma and the Scavengers' leader as they conversed laughing at some joke he could not make attention flickered towards the woman standing a few paces behind the leader, Souma. Kurogane had been a little surprised when she had emerged at the Liberalists headquarters in a burst of black smoke a little before midnight, but having already seen so many alternate versions of people he knew, he barely twitched at her appearance. Souma had offered a polite greeting to the room's occupants which included Tomoyo, Nixon, Fuuma, and Kurogane himself. He didn't miss the way Souma's attention lingered on his mechanical limb, but she had the tact not to comment. Given Nixon's tendency to annoy the leader with his presence alone, Souma had requested for only Fuuma to accompany them to the Scavenger base and Tomoyo had conceded despite Nixon's protests.
Souma had brought them to an underground cellar with a narrow, barred window near the roof. A sliver of moonlight split the dark shadows on the floor until Souma switched on the lights, and Kurogane's eyes watered at the sudden brightness. He scowled at the amused look Souma threw his way, her gaze once more dropping to his mechanical arm before she turned away. Scowl deepening, Kurogane crossed his arms and waited for the Alpha's arrival, taking the time to observe the cellar. Thick metal bars sealed the way towards the stairs, though the door leading that way was left open. Chains as thick as the bars were attached to a single link drilled into the floor ending in shackles on the other side. Looking around, he noticed that these chains were drilled into the floor at regular intervals with enough distance between them that whatever they held would be unable to reach the next set.
Kurogane barely twitched when the leader turned out to be Touya, an alternate version of the king of Clow. Fuuma strode over to greet the man while Kurogane held his spot. Wonder if the princess is around here somewhere too, Kurogane thought as he glanced past the new arrival, towards the empty stairway that led into the cellar.
"So this is the daring Kuanos," Touya said as he turned away from Fuuma and cast a predatory grin at Kurogane. His eyes gleamed with a hungry light as his gaze flickered to Kurogane's prosthetic arm, and Kurogane's scowl deepened in response. Unease settled in his and he grit his teeth to keep from lashing out at the man. His prosthetic limb had drawn attention in the worlds they'd traveled to before, but somehow, Touya's attention made Kurogane want to snap."Something tells me that has quite a story behind it." Touya smirked as he offered his left hand for a shake.
"One I'm not going to share,"Kurogane grunted, staring evenly at the proffered hand until Touya retracted it, still grinning wolfishly.
"No need to get touchy," Touya chuckled. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine by me. I just hope you're not too attached to it."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You'll see soon enough." Touya waved dismissively as he turned to Fuuma. "Souma can drop you two back in the morning. We've got a room set up for you. I doubt you'd want to be here for what comes next."
"In that case, I'll be taking my leave for the night."Fuuma nodded. "Good luck, Kuanos. You'll need it."
Touya waited until the man had disappeared with Souma before returning his attention to Kurogane."Any time you're ready, Kuanos," he said, gesturing towards the set of chains next to Kurogane's feet. "I'd recommend taking off your jacket and shirt before you put them on though. I don't think you brought any spare, did you?"
"Like hell I'm going to put them on," Kurogane snapped.
"Then I'm afraid there won't be any transformations happening tonight," Touya replied, a hint of frost creeping into his tone despite his pleasant expression. Kurogane's hair stood up on end as the aura around the man darkened to something unnatural. It was similar to what he'd noticed around the mage whenever the idiot had let his vampire side loose in a fight, but something about what surrounded Touya rippled danger. "I've tried being welcoming to you, Mr. Kuanos, but you seem to have a problem with me. Now, normally I couldn't care less what that was. Tomoyo has requested my help and I fully intend to fulfill that request, but not by risking my family. So either you put those chains on or Souma can escort you back to your headquarters."
Kurogane glared at the man but Touya stared back evenly until Kurogane grit his teeth and shrugged off his jacket. Pulling off his shirt he knelt on the floor and reached for the chains.
"Before I took over," Touya said as Kurogane snapped the first shackled around his right ankle, "this is where The Company used to hold Lupines when they weren't working in the mines. It doesn't matter if you're transformed or not—these chains are strong enough to hold Alphas. This is the safest place for you to undergo your first transformation."
Kurogane said nothing as he snapped the second shackle around his other ankle.
"Leave your prosthetic arm free," Touya said, stopping him. Kurogane switched hands and put it around his flesh arm instead which left behind two shackles still. "You still need to put on that one around your neck. It'll keep you from hurting yourself as you turn."
Biting back the disgust he felt at tying himself up like an animal, Kurogane put on the collar, which restricted his movements far more than the other shackles put together. The chain on it was only long enough for Kurogane to be able to sit upright once the metal had locked around his throat. It hung loosely around his neck, no doubt meant for something bigger, but it did its job in restraining him.
"What now?"Kurogane raised his chin in defiance as he heard the sound of footsteps descending the stairs behind the Lupine. Had the bastard invited spectators to witness his transformation?
"Now Mr. Kuanos, we begin," Touya said as he turned and tossed a set of keys to the newcomer as he swung the barred door lock clicked in place as Touya twisted the keys and the newcomer moved out of the shadows into Kurogane's line of sight.
Kid...
"You're alive." The words were past his lips before he could think on it, only belatedly realizing that the kid wouldn't be able recognize him in disguise. He couldn't risk letting the Alpha know that Kuanos was in fact Kurogane, given that Steel had known Touya when he'd been alive. Though, he could probably talk to the kid alone later on and explain the situation if he could clue Syaoran in to who he really was. The kid would recognize the way he spoke at least. "Kid, is the manjuu with you?"
Syaoran looked at him, but with the way his eyes turned glassy, it felt as if the kid was looking through him. Which didn't make sense at all. The kid was smart enough to make the connection. He knew he couldn't have mistaken the kid for an alternate because he had seen the boy with the mage all those weeks ago. And if the Cavahall's original Syaoran had been alive, they wouldn't have been able to come there. So why was the kid looking at him without a spark of recognition? Despite his new face, Kurogane still had the mechanical limb and his eyes. The kid should have shown some comprehension instead of that horrible glassy stare. His expression mirrored the lost look the princess had gotten whenever she'd been about to recover a memory of the kid.
"You know him from somewhere, Syaoran?" Touya's question was directed towards the kid, who appeared to shake himself out of his stupor and turn his attention towards the Alpha.
"I've never met him before."
Kurogane's heart sank as he caught sight of the strange characters tattooed to the boy's collarbone. The Company did this to him."When did you find him?" Kurogane demanded as he made to get up, belatedly remembering the collar around his neck when he stumbled and landed on his knees.
"I really don't see how that is of any relevance to you," Touya replied. Kurogane clenched his fists to keep from striking the man. Alpha or not, he was really stretching the limits of Kurogane's patience.
"I know him," he snapped."He can't remember me, but I know who he is. We're traveling together. Now tell me, when did you find him?"
"Syaoran has been a part of the Scavengers for over a year now," Touya said. "You must be confusing him with someone else. He grew up in Cavahall and as far as I know, he's never traveled. There aren't many places to go beyond the wastelands after all."
"Bullshit. I saw the kid The Company's custody a few weeks ago. He's got their tattoo," Kurogane said, not missing the way the kid's hand strayed to his chest, resting lightly just over his heart.
"I really hope you're not insinuating that I'm a liar, Mr. Kuanos," Touya said as he came to tower over him. Touya's tone remained civil, though it carried the barest hint of a growl, a silent warning for Kurogane not to make things difficult for himself.
"I'm not insinuating anything." He scowled, noting the way the kid had absently begun to massage the spot above his heart. "I want to talk to him once we're done here."
Touya's eyes flashed as features shifted into something halfway between a wolf and a man.
"Didn't your friends warn you about crossing an Alpha on a full moon?" he growled, sharp canines gleaming in the moonlight as he crouched in front of Kurogane. "The decision to talk rests with Syaoran himself." Touya's savage grin was all teeth before the Lupine lunged for him. Reacting on instinct, Kurogane raised his free arm to block to snapping jaws only for Touya to bite into the mechanical arm and snap the elbow joint in half.
Sharp needles of agony shot through the nerves in his shoulder as the electric synapses went haywire. Kurogane bit back a cry as white flashed before his eyes. Touya spat out the destroyed arm before grabbing hold of the remaining limb in his maw, tearing it right out of the socket. Kurogane jerked back in shock only for the collar to jerk him to a halt before he could get away. Amber eyes glowing, Touya spat out the remains of his arm, yanking him close with the chain on his collar. "If you survive, you won't need that anymore."
And that was all the warning Kurogane had before teeth tore into his shoulder. Poison seared through his blood, and he burned as agony ripped through him. He could feel the blood flowing down his side even as the venom spread through his veins. It ripped him apart, like thorns tearing him apart from inside out. He tried to swallow a scream and barely succeeded. Unbidden, a groan slipped past his lips as he lost control of spasming muscles and fell on his mangled side. Lightning shot through his nerves, overwhelming all his senses as the poison sank into his bones, robbing him of the sense of passing time. Every cell in his body was aware of the moonlight washing across him, stretching and tearing and mutating beyond what he had been born as.
His body burned with fever, the cold floor smeared with his blood providing no relief even as he writhed and convulsed. He dug his nails into his palm as his resolve to hold back his cries weakened with each bone that broke. He could feel his skin crackling, shrinking like paper in a fire pit, flaking away like ash as something wrong wrong wrong took its place. Garbled cries that were half human, half animal slipped past his lips when his ribs started to break and oh Kami, it was a hundred times worse than the time he had lost his arm. His heart threatened to give out as it struggled to pump the venom that ate through his veins, rending and ripping away everything he was and there wasn't enough air and he was choking and dying and the world was nothing but fire.
Eons passed between each breaking bone and he couldn't breathe and his chest was nothing but a thorn-filled mass. His irregular pulse pounded in his ears, adding to the pathetic whines that filled the air and there was something wrong and he wasn't supposed to be this way. Darkness danced at the edges of his vision, tantalizing, yet out of his reach as the agony ripping through him pulled him back. Each crack was followed by a pitiful whimper as he felt it shift, bit by painful bit beneath his skin. Something new was taking shape in his mind, scared and angry and full of hurt and it was not right not right not right...He was a mess of emotions with no name and the world was wrong and then slowly it wasn't. The moon dropped lower in the sky, the first rays of sunlight touching the horizon as the world was made right again and the Lupine pushed off the cellar floor.
Standing on all fours, he threw back his head and howled. His ears pricked. He could hear a rustle. And breathing. Slowly drawing closer. His nostrils flared and his nose twitched as he smelled the air. Damp, mildew and blood. But now there was a new scent. Like wet earth and danger.
He gave a low, threatening growl. He turned his ears towards the sound. He could hear the Other breathing. Harsh but steady as a powerful heart pumped blood. Dirt crunched beneath feet, the Other drawing nearer. He growled in warning.
"That's enough out of a mutt like you." The Other made strange sounds in the growl. But he knew what they meant.
Hackles rising, he bared his teeth and snarled. The Other was like him, yet he moved on two legs. He shifted, something heavy circling his paws and restricting his movements. Sound of jangling filled the air but he paid it no mind. He was strong. He could break free and tear apart the Other. Power, danger clung to the Other, but it wasn't enough. The Other shouldn't be there.
"I said that is enough, Kuanos," the Other growled.
The Other pushed through the cage, a high screech filling the air. It hurt his ears. He snarled a warning and scratched his claws against the stone. The Other drew closer and he narrowed his eyes. Bending his knees, he settled into a low crouch. There was no fear in the Other. Only arrogance and superiority and a sense of danger.
"Can't say I'm opposed to putting you in your place." More sounds. He held his breath and stilled, stalking his prey. "Just remember, I did try doing this the civilized way."
The Other stepped in his range and he pushed off the ground with a snarl. The air whistled past his ears as he flew but the weight around his throat jerked him mid-attack. Something hard shattered his ribs and he crashed into the floor. His ears rang painfully and he let out a whine.
"Mutts like you don't stand up to Alphas," the Other snarled. Claws grabbed the scruff of his neck and he shrank back. The aura of danger surrounding the Other had intensified, and he knew what the Other was. The Other was stronger, an Alpha. His Alpha. He could not win against the one that turned him. It could not be done, his instincts screamed, and he listened. His ribs slowly mended themselves, fixing the damage dealt by his superior's single strike. He could not win against the Alpha.
"That's right," the Alpha said without letting go. "Now change back."
Change back? The fire and pain was still fresh in his mind. He whined at the thought. He could do it. He could turn into the two-legged creature as his Alpha had, but it would hurt. He flattened his ears against his skull in submission and let out another whine.
"What's this?" his Alpha growled and dug his claws deeper into his neck. "Shying away from a little pain? If you didn't want to hurt, you shouldn't have asked me to turn you, Kuanos. The pain is a part of who you are. Now change back or I will end you."
But it would hurt. His bones would break and he would burn. Everything would be wrong and not right. There would be an eternity of pain before the world could shift.
"I was told you were brave, but you're just pathetic. And pathetic has no place in my pack, Kuanos. Remember why you chose this path and change back or die!"
Remember? A pair of startling blue eyes flashed in his mind, followed by an amber and a green pair, an echo of laughter.
Family...
The mage and the kid and the princess. That was right. He'd chosen this for them. Because the mage was trapped and needed his help. But he wouldn't be able to help the idiot if he was dead. He had to change back because he'd chosen this path. He was not going to die here. Not now. Not before he had saved the idiot.
Growling low in his throat, he reached for the part of him that was just like his Alpha and latched on. His world dissolved into agony but he held fast. He couldn't die here. Not like this. The mage needed him to stay alive.
An eternity of agony swallowed him whole, but he did not let go, clinging to the memory of the mage and the kid and the princess. There was fire and pain and he wanted it to stop. Oh how he wanted it to stop. But he couldn't stop. Not when the idiot was counting on him. If he stopped now, he would have to do it all over again and the pain would still be there. He just had to hold on and it would be pass. It would be over. It would be—
Kurogane regained his senses as he lay panting on the ground. Shaking his head he sat up, pushing aside the ache in his muscle in favor glaring at Touya. The bastard had pushed him around like a worthless mongrel. Back in a human mindset, he could quickly process what Touya had done when Kurogane had been transformed. The bastard had come downstairs, fully human, masking the aura of an Alpha behind human flesh. To the wolf's senses, it had been just another wolf. A wolf coming into his territory and so he had acted to defend it.
And then just as he had charged, the bastard had partially transformed to confuse and subdue him. His reaction to an Alpha's presence had been instinctive. Even now he could feel that presence of danger but shielded by his human mind, the wolf's instincts were muted. And so, he lashed out with his fist, hearing the satisfying thwack of his knuckles meeting the other's jaw.
"That's for my arm," Kurogane spat as Touya massaged his jaw. For a moment, the Lupine appeared too stunned to react as he stared at Kurogane before throwing his head back in mirth. Kurogane glowered even as Touya wiped tears from his eyes and looked down at him. There was a hint of grudging respect in his eyes, something that surprised Kurogane immensely.
"It usually takes several tries for a newly-turned wolf to change back but you did it in one go," Touya said as he withdrew a key from his pocket and threw it towards Kurogane. "I have to admit, I'm almost impressed. Must be one hell of a reason for you to bulldoze through the transformation like that."
Without even thinking about it, Kurogane caught the key with his unshackled arm, realizing only belatedly that the limb was not metal and wiring but flesh and blood. Eyes widening, anger gave way to surprise. He stared at the tanned flesh reaching up with his shackled arm to feel if it was really there.
"Lupines can regrow severed limbs," Touya said, sounding amused at Kurogane's surprise, but Kurogane found that he didn't care. He had his arm back. Kurogane probed it all the way to his shoulder, feeling the motley of scarred tissue around the spot where he'd slice through with Souhi. "It leaves behind scars, but you wouldn't have chosen to become one of us if you cared about that."
Still a little dazed, Kurogane flexed the fingers of his unbound hand, marveling the way he could feel the movement. Touya was right, though. Kurogane didn't care about the scarring. For someone who had had to make do with a prosthetic, having his original arm back was more than he could have asked for.
"Syaoran has decided to talk to you after all," Touya informed him. "I still think you're mistaking him for someone else, but he has agreed to hear you out. Just don't take too long. Souma will be here with Fuuma to take you back soon."
-0-
Syaoran couldn't help it. He stared at the strange man. He was all too aware of the grit digging into his skin through the thick material of his jeans, the cold stone leaching the heat from his body. But even so, he hung on to every word that Kuanos let slip and tried to picture himself in place of the boy this man claimed to know. It was a fantastic story, and he tried, he really did, to fill in the empty spaces in his memories with what he was told.
It didn't work.
He knew there were gaping holes in his memory, like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Yet the pieces presented by this man, Kuanos, who claimed to know him, did not fit. This boy that Kuanos knew and the person Syaoran was rediscovering himself to be were world apart. Touya was right. This man was confusing him with someone else.
The story made sense in a twisted kind of way, but it didn't feel like his story. If what Kuanos claimed was true and he was the same Syaoran, then why did nothing click? Even with missing memories, there should have been a hint of something, a spark or a jolt or anything at all. As things were, hearing about Kuanos's journey was like listening to a bedtime story. It did not put him to sleep, but it had all the elements of a fairy tale. A princess in need of rescue, a young devoted knight in shining armor, a disgraced warrior, and a good-natured magician. There was even a talking, magical creature to help the group on their quest.
Sure, he could believe the man about magic and distant dimensions vastly different from Cavahall. But if what Kuanos claimed was true, how had Syaoran ended up with the Scavengers? And what reason would every one of them have to lie to him? Why claim that he had lived his entire life in Cavahall? They had told him that he had lost loved ones and carved out a new home for himself here at the outskirts of the city. There was nothing for them to gain by lying to him. The holes in his memory made it hard for him to remember, but he knew the Scavengers better than he knew this stranger. And knowing what he did of them, they were good people. They had no reason to drag him into such an elaborate hoax.
True, Kuanos claimed to have lost touch with him and their mutual magician friend after arriving in Cavahall. But his only explanation for Syaoran's amnesia was the claim that The Company had done something. The Company was powerful, and they had held him captive- he'd have been an idiot not to know the meaning of the tattoo on his chest - but even they did not possess the power to take away someone's memories. Although...
A pair of feathers, green and brown, keeping the comatose Lupine alive in Emeraude's secret room flashed through his mind. He frowned in thought.
"The princess's feathers, what did they look like?" he asked. There was a possibility that Kuanos's story held the truth if the description of the feathers matched. Maybe he'd felt attracted to them because his subconscious had identified him as the Syaoran from the tale.
"They were white with red markings," Kuanos replied and Syaoran felt a pang of disappointment in his chest though he tried not to let it show. Not the same.
"I see." Syaoran sighed as he stood and brushed off the grime from his pants. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kuanos but I don't think I am the person you are searching for."
"Kid, I told you," Kuanos said, sounding annoyed, "there's no way for two copies of the same soul to exist in a single dimension. We wouldn't have been able to come here at all if there was another you running around in the city."
"Maybe your friend never made it to the city in the first place," Syaoran replied, trying to keep his own irritation from showing. Despite the fact that Syaoran was not a 'kid' in any way, that was all Kuanos had called him. How could he trust a man who refused to acknowledge that Syaoran was not a child? At least with Emeraude, it made sense when she called him Little One. She was literally hundreds of years older than him. What excuse did Kuanos have? "What if your friend couldn't come to Cavahall because I'm still here? For all you know, the boy you know is still stuck in the space between dimensions waiting for you all to leave. You said it happened once before, didn't you? Maybe the boy is with your dimension hopper, unable to find his way into Cavahall because I'm not dead."
Kuanos opened his mouth to argue before closing it again with a snap. Syaoran could tell from the set of his jaw that his argument had made the man think. Which was a good thing because he was certain he wasn't the person Kuanos was searching for. Hearing footsteps approaching the top of the staircase, he inclined his head towards the man. "I wish you good luck with helping your Magirius friend, Mr. Kuanos."
He waited for man to acknowledge his goodbye, but Kuanos appeared lost in thought. Shaking his head, Syaoran turned away, nodding a polite good morning to Souma and Fuuma as he ascended the stairs. Given all that he had learned about the other Syaoran - and wasn't that an interesting thought? Someone out there had the same soul as him - put things in perspective for him.
The princess had been too young to read the signs and try to mend her relationship with the boy she cared for. And then she had lost him. Syaoran might not remember loving Meiling, but he had cared for her deeply, according to Touya. It wouldn't be fair of him if he did not at least try to mend the gap in their relationship. As soon as he got off mine duty, Syaoran decided that he would sit down with Meiling and talk things out. Even if he lacked his memories of her, Meiling deserved for him to make an effort to regain what they had.
A/N: Hey everyone. I'm finally back with another update. I hope you guys enjoyed the little Lupine transformation for Kurogane. And the scene with Syaoran and Kurogane after that. Was that evil of me? :3 I made them meet right after Kurogane almost ran into Mokona in his last chapter. How do you think life is going to change for Kurogane now that he himself is a werewolf. He's got his flesh arm back but his eyes are no longer crimson. I put up a picture of Fai's gladiator team on my deviantart account under the title of The Gladiators. If anyone is interested in having a look at the three Unnaturals in all their glory, look it up under the username Nimmxx.