Sora looked at the sky once more and cursed. It was nearly dark; he'd be lucky to make it through the woods by moonrise if he took the shortcut, and last time he'd done that, he'd gotten lost. The young man sighed, pulling his cloak tighter about his shoulders, and started down the path. Sora was nervous, and kept glancing around. It felt like someone was watching him; several times, he thought he saw the gleam of luminescent green eyes in the shadows. The forest was very cold, and powdery snow still drifted down. The sunset was a muted affair, perceptible only by a sudden darkening. There was no moon. Finally, Sora broke into a run, and didn't stop until he was safely home. But several times, he swore he could make out in the dark, running beside him, the form of an icy silver wolf.
The next day, Sora went into the town for supplies. He was a hunter, but some things—like forged metal—he still needed to buy. It was entirely frustrating. Sora couldn't seem to go anywhere without being followed by girls. Admittedly, many of them were rather pretty, but not to Sora's taste. He had figured out long ago that his preference lay with his own gender. The girls made it difficult to get anything done, with there butter-brained chatter and insistence on following him.
Finally, around lunchtime, he had finished buying what he needed, and could retreat to the forest, ostensibly to hunt. He plunged deep into the woods, headed for a tiny clearing in the depths of the woods. Sora reached it with a sigh, and sagged against a tree, headless of the quiver over his back. He sat there for a long moment, before his skin began to prickle. It felt like being watched. He stood silently, and opened his eyes. Standing in the center of the clearing was a man. His hair was pale silver, the color of new snowdrifts, but his face was young. His eyes were like the winter ice—a pale aquamarine that almost seemed to burn. He was staring directly at Sora. Sora just stared at the stranger for a long moment. The most beautiful stranger he had ever seen. He licked his lips slowly, terribly conscious of the silence. He needed to speak.
"Who are you?" The stranger cocked his head, the motion oddly lupine.
"R-Riku. My name is Riku." The man said. His words were tentative, his voice rough, as though it hadn't been used in a long time. "wh-who are you?" The man's words grew more confident as he spoke.
"Sora." Sora answered, still staring at—Riku? The man's eyes had an odd sheen to them, a luminescence like a cat's eyes. Sora blinked, and the illusion vanished, and there was only an ordinary—if utterly lovely—young man standing in the clearing before him. "Where are you from, Riku?" He asked, just trying to make conversation.
"These woods are my home." Riku answered softly, and Sora raised an eyebrow at that. These woods were dangerous; everyone knew there were wolves here. "And you? Where do you live?"
"Right on the edge of the town to the east." Sora answered, thinking. Riku had an odd accent, rolling his r's slightly and drawing out the consonants. "I'm pleased to meet you." And he was surprised to realize he meant it.
"I'm pleased to meet you, as well." Riku grinned, and his teeth seemed just a little too pointed. Then Sora blinked and the grin was gone. "It's not every day I meet someone so handsome."
"You're entirely beautiful yourself." Sora answered without thinking, then blushed when he realized what he had said. Riku laughed, and paced forwards until he was practically nose to nose with Sora.
"Then you won't mind if I do… this." Before Sora could blink, Riku was kissing him. Sora began to return it, tentatively, and suddenly the entire kiss changed. Riku nipped and bit, as he and Sora fought for control of the kiss. Finally, he broke off, leaving Sora gasping and a little dizzy. By the time Sora looked up, Riku had vanished.
It was like that for several days—Sora would find Riku in the woods, and they would talk for a time. Often Riku would kiss Sora; often Sora would kiss him back. But it never seemed to mean anything to the silver-haired man. Finally, one day Sora just asked him what he wanted. Riku had stared at him as though it were completely obvious, but his answer had been cryptic.
"I want you to run beside me in the snow, share the hunt and sing with me." Sora had blushed and replied that he didn't know how to sing. The strangest look had passed over the older man's face—and he had silenced Sora with a kiss. They continued this strange courtship for nearly a month, becoming first friends, then lovers. But despite their closeness, there was much Sora still didn't know about his silver-haired lover. Riku would never speak of his past, no matter how much Sora begged. Nor would he allow the brown-haired hunter to stay past moonrise. "The woods aren't safe." He would say. "In the day I can protect you, but at night they will come."
"Who are they?" Sora had asked. He had never received an answer. But most of all, Riku refused to leave the forest. Every time Sora asked, he would hastily change the subject.
Now, there were many men in the village that were jealous of Sora. They disliked his skill as a hunter, and hated the good looks that earned him the attention of most of the village's girls. It didn't seem to matter that Sora never so much as flirted with a girl; the jealousy remained. One of his enemies was a clever man named Ansem. He watched Sora, carefully, and soon realized that Sora spent most of his days in the wood. There was only one good path out, and everyone knew Sora had no sense of direction, and always used the path. So Ansem went among the jealous men, and prepared an ambush.
That day when Sora met up with Riku, his silver-haired lover was distraught, and begged him to leave the wood before night fell. Sora refused. Seeing how upset Riku was, he wanted to stay to make him feel better; also, Riku would give no reason why he should leave. Eventually Sora coaxed his lover into forgetting the danger; they fell asleep in each other's arms, and Sora did not wake until nearly sunset. He cursed, and left the woods, without even stopping to say goodbye to Riku.
It was completely dark when he reached the point at which the ambush was set. Men sprang from hiding, surrounding him completely. He was badly outnumbered, but before the men could move, a wolf's howl split the air… and wolves fell upon the men and slew them. It was a bloody battle, but most of the blood was men's. Every man who had been involved in the ambush was slain where they stood, while Sora stared in shock. Ansem was the last to die, his throat torn out by an enormous silver wolf. The wolf was huge, half again as big as normal, and his icy-white coat was dyed red with blood. He paced over and stood before Sora.
Before he could blink, Riku stood in the wolf's place. He was dressed all in white, except where his hair and clothes were stained by what could only be blood. His voice was gentle.
"Why, love, did you not heed my warning?" Sora could only stare at Riku in shock. "goodbye." Said the man, as he began to walk away.
"Wait!" Sora called, "what are you?" Riku turned back to face him, and there was sorrow in his eyes.
"I'm a wolf. I wanted to be with you, so I called upon the snow. Its power granted me human form, but there were three conditions. First, that I would only be human from sunrise to moonrise, and secondly, that I never leave the forest."
"And the third condition?" Sora asked. Riku looked at him sadly.
"If I killed a man, the spell would be broken. It's already wearing off. Goodbye, my love." With that, the air around Riku blurred, and a moment later, cleared to reveal the bloody form of the silver wolf. He raised his head, and moonlight glinted off white fangs and shone in his green eyes. A howl rose through the night air, a painful cry of pure loss, though from human or wolf, none could say. Then the wolf turned and ran, and Sora collapsed to his knees in the snow.
"Goodbye… Riku, love." Sora whispered. Then he lay in the snow and wept.
Sora still lives in the small house on the edge of the woods, but the men of the village wonder at how he has changed. Since the night of the mysterious attack, he has never been the same. Though all the girls pursue him, Sora lives alone. There is something about him, an air of mystery and loss that draws people to him. Sora pushes them away. Often he is seen wandering in the woods, looking for something. When asked, he will only say he looks for magic in the snow.
This is based rather heavily on a song called Snow Magic by Mercedes Lackey and Leslie Fish. In fact, that's where the whole plot came from. The song can be found on Freedom, Flight, & Fantasy by Firebird. You know the shtick; please review or I'll feed you to the plot bunnies…I seem to be doing a lot of very sporadic stuff lately. This is probably not coherent. As I do not have a beta, please let me know how to improve it so I can fix it up and re-post it. Thanks for your time. Toodles!
Dyslexic Angel