The Boy Who Cried 'Wolfmon'!
Chapter 8: 'I Promise!'
A pale, raven-haired boy fell to his knees in the middle of a forest. He screamed "Where are you?!" He heard no answer except for his own echos. Suddenly, he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up into icy-blue eyes, and felt that he had finally been found, after being lost for so long.
The tanned boy had messy, brunette hair and wore a red and yellow yukata that was decorated with a fireball pattern. A long, reptilian tail trailed behind him on the ground, and small, dragon-like wings were folded on his back. He smiled down at the smaller boy, and said, "I'll never leave you alone." He helped him to his feet, and introduced himself. "I'm Frei, known as the Agnimon."
"I-I'm Rave," the pale boy studdered. His nervous expression soon became one of innocent cheerfulness as Frei took his hand in his own, and led him through the forest, to a cave hidden in the shrubs and greenery. They ventured inside for hours, until the brunette finally stopped at a point in the tunnel, where there was a rock jutting out from the side of the cave wall that served as a table. On its surface were two plates of delicious-looking food, and Frei invited Rave to sit and eat. When they were finished, Rave brought up a question that had been silently bugging him.
"Why are you doing all this for me?"
The Agnimon smiled sweetly, and said simply. "Everyone needs to be found when they're lost . . . they need to be saved."
"But . . ." the raven-haired boy muttered. "What about my parents?"
"They'll be fine . . .They'll be okay."
Unexpectedly, Rave reached around the rock/table, and tugged slightly on Frei's tail. The brunette chuckled. "Heh, yeah, it's real."
"Um, were you born . . . that way?"
"No," The winged boy smiled softly, remembering the events of his past. "My wings and tail were sort of . . . a gift, a blessing, if you will.
"It was about 3 years ago, when I was traveling these very woods. I had found an old man being robbed by a gang of thieves. I fought them off the best I could, though I couldn't do much and they ended up getting away with the man's valuables and leaving me broken. But the old man smiled, despite his situation. He said to me, 'You have a good heart . . . You never run away when you or someone else is in danger.' It turned out that the man used to be a dragon master when he was younger. He gave me a reward for trying to defend him, even if I was weaker . . ." Frei unfolded his wings and continued. "He gave me these dragon wings, to represent my soaring mind. And gave me this dragon tail, to represent my sturdy heart." The brunette then extended his palm out in front of him, a small fire appearing in it. "And gave me the power of flame, to represent my burning courage . . .
. . . It had seemed like only a second had passed, when actually 7 years had already gone by. Frei and Rave had been living together all that time, happy as could be. Over the years, sometimes on nights of the full moon, Rave had been spotted by villagers, and that's how the stories and legends of the Wolfmon came to be. On the night that Hiroshi Kanbara made the offering to the legendary Wolfmon, Rave had transformed into his wolf self, and appeared before Hiroshi. Whenever Rave transformed, Frei had always followed him, making sure that he didn't get into trouble. Although nothing had happened for the past 7 years, the brunette always took precautions.
After encountering the Kanbara boy, Rave ran in a direction the men usually didn't take on their midnight travels. Nonetheless, Frei followed anyway, figuring that the raven-haired wolf-man was answering the boy's plea for help. Rave was headed toward a barely-sightable trail of smoke rising from a small campfire in the forest. The wolf immediately ambushed the group of people gathered around the fire. They were the seven thieves that had raided the village of Tallatpicka so many times. Rave took out almost half of them, but was shot by a volley of arrows by the remaining few. The wolf howled in pain, and Frei, the Agnimon, made his entrance, burning the thieves to death with a wave of scorching-hot flames. He proceeded to remove the arrows from Rave's body, the wolf not objecting. When they were all out, the wolf sniffed around the camp, and clawed open one of the tents, revealing the loot taken from the village.
The dim light of dawn soon broke above the hills, and Rave shivered slightly, returning to his human form. He smiled up at Frei. "We'd better take this back, eh?" . . .
. . . Another few years had passed, about three or four, when Rave and Frei found a girl lost in the forest. She was a pretty blonde girl, with sparkling green eyes. She was about their age, maybe younger, and she introduced herself as Izumi. The raven-haired man was instantly amazed by her beauty, it might've been love at first sight. Over time, Izumi and Rave became very close, and they planned to move to a village, neither Tsuki or Tallatpicka, and start a family. When it came time to say good-bye to Frei, he almost couldn't do it.
"Hey . . ." the brunette said softly. "Don't be sad, we'll see each other again, I promise. Look . . ." Frei rolled up his sleeve, revealing the tanned skin of his right arm. He pressed his other hand to his arm, and winced, a sizzling noise coming from his skin.
"E-Eh?" Rave said, bewildered. "W-What are you doing?!"
Frei grinned impishly, and removed his hand. On his skin, he had burned the other man's name into his arm: RAVE.
"I swear," the brunette promised. "By the pain in my right arm, that I will see you again. You can count on it!"
Rave smiled, knowing that Frei never ever broke a promise. He extended his right arm as well, and flicked out a knife from his back pocket, he quickly slashed the brunette's name into his arm: FREI.
"I swear," the raven-haired man said. "That's I'll see you again, and save you when you're lost."
Both men grinned, and grasped each other's hand. They spoke in unison.
"I promise!"
Takuya sat straight up, sweat streaming down his face and panting heavily. He brushed his untidy bangs out of his eyes and wiped away the sweat from his forehead.
"Urgh . . ." the brunette muttered, then thought to himself. 'What the hell was up with that freaky dream?'
The teen layed back down and pressed his palm to his forehead. Then, he heard soft footsteps coming towards him. It must be Kouji with the supplies! Just how long was he asleep?
Sure enough, the blue-eyed teen soon came into view, his backpack full. He slipped it off and kneeled next to the brunette. "You're drenched in sweat," he stated. "Were you too hot?"
"N-No . . ." Takuya answered quietly. "I-I just . . . had this really weird dream . . ."
"Was it a nightmare?"
"No . . . I . . . I . . ."
"What?"
" . . . I . . . I think I saw . . . the Agnimon . . ."
"What?! How?"
"I-I don't know," the brunette studdered. "H-His name was Frei . . . "
"Frei . . ." Kouji muttered, then glanced at Takuya's arm, concern dancing across his face. "Takuya, what happened to your arm?"
The said teen nervously looked at his arm, then gasped. On it was burned a certain word . . . a name . . .
RAVE.
END OF CHAPTER EIGHT
Ritina:Wow! Two chapters in one day!Ooooh! More plot twists! I'm having SO much fun!! Yup, I decided to put borders in this chapter, I figured it would be a little easier to see scene changes. Please review!