Chapter Six: Who am I?
Alex's fur instantly bristled, and he raised himself up on all four legs, making himself look as big as possible. /Do I look like some newly weaned pup? Do you think I can't tell kin by the scent? Can't tell Silver Fangs by the way they lead others? Black Furies by the way they lead themselves? Bone Gnawers by the way they slip past, taking any opportunity? A Child of Gaia by the way she tends for the earth?
Yes, none of you three have it, a great overwhelming darkness of humans trying to be in touch with animals. But with her... from her father's side, that same darkness, however from her mothers side, a spark, a fire, an inferno. Humans are slow to mature, but quick to die, living among humans, in that weave world, no wonder she has yet to have her first change. But it would have happened sooner or later, no one outruns a wolf. Best that it happens out here, now that I am here to guide her.\
There was another long, pause that Mirri finally broke. "Okay, everybody take a step back, because I'm going to take a shot in the dark. When I was growing up in Corel, there was a legend about the Canyon that existed on the side of the mountains around the town. The canyon was said to be home to werewolves, or for the more occult minded, lycanthropes.
Now with that child's story in mind, let's fast forward a little, I, out of sheer boredom I happened to read some books on the theories of Cetra. Now one of those theories put forward by the book, mentions how Cetra were incredibly close to the planet. Now, Alex says he and his family had lived in Cosmo Canyon for a long time, at the same time Shinra has always been looking for Cetra, yet never finding any, why?
What if we were to get of our high horse and stop thinking that Cetra where just like us. What if Cetra, were lycanthropes?" Alex stopped bristling and nodded as Mirri went through her explanation. /The Black Fury has an exceptionally quick mind. Not all Cetra were... but I think any still alive are, the term we use is Garou. We weren't as susceptible to the taint the Wyrm spread. Also Cetra, they mated very rarely and with few cubs.
Garou can not mate with each other, but they can mate with wolves producing many pups. I think the Garou who survived Jenova, most of them mated with wolves, died and their children did not have the spark and so lived a wolf lifespan as wolves.
I was not an only child, I had two brothers, born without the spark, and my mother was a wolf. I watched them all die, and am thankful that I matured by wolf years rather then Cetra. If that had happened, I would have never had any chance to truly know them. I think there was no greater pain in my father's heart then the death of his wife and my two brothers.
He taught us all the same. He taught us all the same, when my brothers would die in at most a decade. He buried my brothers and my mother, until only we were left. Some said that is the ultimate price we Garou pay, that we, with immeasurable lifespans, must love those who die in a single decade.\
Another long pause passed among the group. Sephiroth felt bitter bile rising up in his chest. His hatred for this entire twisted world, and the twisted people who had made it.
He forced it down however, blind rage was not a luxury which he could afford at the moment. "We can rest here tonight. Tomorrow morning we can drive the vehicles to the town of Kalm, they should have enough fuel in them, we'll walk after that. For now, we just to worry about staying alive and getting as far away from Midgar as possible. Shinra may have forced us into a tactical retreat, but the war is just getting started. "
It was a familiar dream that Sephiroth dreamed.
Once again he was in the basement of the Shinra mansion, once again he poured over book after book, each one written in Hojo's own hand, each one on their own damning. All together, they where an orchestra of sin, a symphony of misdeeds, an ocean turned to muck, grime, and blood. It was beyond words, beyond comprehension.
Sephiroth tossed a book to the ground. Curiosity didn't kill the cat, it simply pointed the cat at the biggest dog the cat had ever seen, and told the cat that the dog had killed his parents. It wasn't just damming of Hojo's soul, it was damming of the President's as well.
Sephiroth had always thought the man had liked him, but he had sat idly by while Shinra had done what they did to him. Beat him, smashed him, cut him apart till he would fit into the place they wanted him to fit, like a mangled puzzle piece. They had broken his empathy, broken his soul, he couldn't feel what others felt, he couldn't even feel the anger he felt for them.
Every nerve in his body was cut, he couldn't feel anything. All he had was what they had given him, a desire to kill. He would go back to Shinra, and he would kill them all. The first book had answered all his questions, but once he started he couldn't stop reading. He was not born in a vat like the monsters he had seen, he was born of a woman who's name was never mentioned's womb, just like everyone else.
But he could draw enough from the books, the woman who had been his mother, was also Hojo's wife, and that made the man he detested beyond all words his father. The man who had tortured him, his father. Not that it mattered, since Hojo showed no care for Sephiroth, Sephiroth saw no reason to care for his father.
Mako was thicker than blood, and plenty of mako had been injected into Sephiroth's veins by his father. There was one small blessing from the books, the voice was gone. It had over played its hand and revealed its purpose to him, it would never return now. Now that Sephiroth knew, Jenova was nothing to him.
But that wasn't enough, he had conquered in Shinra's name, he had helped the people who had done this to him. He knew why this town seemed familiar to him, for a few brief days after being born, he had lived here, he had been created... born here.
He looked at the pile of books, he wanted to burn them all to a crisp, no, more like he wanted to burn the man who had wrote them to a crisp. That he could do something about. He turned his back on the lab and began to slowly make his way out of the mansion. Down the long hallway, up the spiral staircase, through the secret passage, down the staircase and out the door.
What he saw when he left the mansion broke his concentration even if only for a moment. The entire town resembled a scene from the works of Dante. Every single building beside the Shinra mansion was one fire, everywhere he looked he saw human bodies rent apart, dead ones whose flesh was consumed by fire. Dead bodies everywhere, and the one who killed them had been neither kind nor skilled in their work.
Sephiroth knew in his heart of hearts that somehow the reactor was involved in this. Somehow he had to get to the reactor, he did not ask questions or look for survivors, he simply ran.
(FN: Still in Sephiroth's dream)
He flung open the door to the reactor, and finally saw his quarry on the floor below him. He dashed out across the upper catwalk just in time to see him kill Zack with his own blade. Sephiroth jumped from the upper catwalk and landed on the lower one taking the place of his fallen comrade standing in the monster's way.
"You did this just to torment me, did this because I wouldn't free you, well now no one will!" It was one quick slash rather then a long fight. Sephiroth swung Masamune, cutting apart the lower catwalk he stood on. Before the monster could do anything, the two were plummeting into a pool of liquid mako beneath them. The monster was unable to comprehend it, but Sephiroth smiled, for a while he would finally be able to rest.
Aeris also dreamed a familiar dream, but to her it was more like a nightmare. It was a weak and fuzzy dream, but it always made one thing very clear. She was alone in some place in Lower Midgar, very young, and huddled over her dead mother's body.
However this time as she huddled there against her mother's cold body, no human was coming to pay attention to her. Instead a mangy wild dog, white foam dripping from its jaw caught sight of her, and she was struck immobile.
Aeris came awake with a start. She pushed herself up with her arms, and only then she realized it. She had fallen asleep leaning against Alex, the white fur of his chest slowly rising and falling against her head like a pillow. Had she meant to do that? Slowly as if noticing the absence of her weight, Alex came awake as well.
Alex... It seemed odd to be giving him a name, whether because it meant thinking of him as a person or as a pet she couldn't quite tell. A pair of golden eyes met her green ones. /Fenris would be disgusted with me if he saw that. I have lived a very long life Child of Gaia, and have killed very many. I glory in battle, but I have greatest respect still reserved for nature itself. There is great beauty in newborn life coming into maturity. Excuse me, if I intrude.\
Aeris shook her head quickly. "No it's just... all of this, particularly what you told me is sort of overwhelming." A pair of golden eyes pierced deep into her soul. /Yes it is. Let me tell you a story Child of Gaia...\ The golden eyes blinked, and when they opened again they were leaf green. White fur shifted to green and red, paws began to grow smaller, but more elongated. Fur fell away revealing skin. It took only about 5 seconds but it seemed like it took much longer.
When it was done there wasn't anything visible to show that the two beings had been related in any way. Alex had unkempt red hair tied back in an untidy pony tail and green eyes like Reno, but his face was cut along much different lines. He wore a green cloak, with green long pants and a gray shirt. He still looked young, possibly a few years younger then Sephiroth, around 25.
He was not even that tall, at 5'8 he was more or less average height. His voice had an odd accent to it and he took his time with some words, but it was understandable. "I have always detested this body and the things it brings with it. Its teeth are blunt, its paws weak, its claws, nonexistent. I hated everything it brought with it, everything.
I hated it because I was born blind and deaf like all wolves along with my two brothers. I suckled from my mother next to them, and we were all the same. Until the day my father came to me, and told me I was special. That I would have a lifespan to make my brothers look like the flicker of a candle next to the kiss of Helios.
I hated knowing it, and I hated it even more because my brothers didn't hate me for it. Wolves are far less jealous then humans, with a far greater understanding of the rules of nature, including survival of the fittest. What I felt, the humans have a term for it 'survivors' guilt' I believe.
I had my first change when I was two years old, and already full grown as a wolf. After that change, for the rest of my brothers' lives I never shifted again. After their deaths, I just laid on their graves, not moving wishing to follow them to their graves in death. I would have, if my father hadn't intervened.
He grabbed my by the scruff of my coat lifting me up like I was a pup, and carried me north. It felt like weeks, but time had lost all meaning for me. He carried me far enough north that I came to the frozen land where her monsters still breed. He tossed me before one of them, and it moved forward to kill me. I felt its horrid claws tear across my sides, and that was when it broke. I stood back up, and crushed the things neck in one bite.
Its flesh was putrid and only some of it was good to eat, but I ate those parts entirely. It was not the only one of its kind I killed. I gorged myself on their foul bodies, and raised my head in a sky shattering howl to Fenris, the god of war. From that day forward, the pain... it wasn't so bad any more, it was one of the few things I couldn't control.
My father's death.. It does not pain me at all because he died in a way he would have wished to. We can live our lives and be happy with them. I am one of Fenris, my center is cool iron surrounded by the molten heat of war. You are a child of Gaia, if you ever feel that the world may overwhelm you, look down at the ground beneath our feet, look down at the life that springs from it.
There is a beauty to it, I respect that, but I will never worship it the way you will come to. For now, know this. I am happier then I have ever been in my life, for now I will have a chance to set my self against true servants of the Wyrm. The time of the great battle is coming, and we will win."
Aeris drew a slow breath. "How do you know?" Alex smiled as he looked at his hands. "I was coward when I was young, and there is nothing Fenris hates as much as a coward. That is why I can stand this body, because I stopped being afraid of it, had no reason to. Strength is not something you find in jaws, claws, or paws. Strength is something that's in your mind, its how much you trust that you can handle whatever you are faced with.
Wyrm servants have no such strength, but we do, that is why there will come a day when we will slay each and every single one of them. Look around you, and witness strength. The Silver Fang, he is perhaps one of the strongest alphas to grace this world in many lifespans, even of my people. He has much of her strength, if he can resist her taint, he will be an alpha I gladly follow into any battle.
The Black Fury who will allow no collar to be placed on her neck, I pity any fool who tries to raise himself above her. Look at the Ragabash who lies across her legs, like a trained lap dog. A more detestable act it is hard to imagine even for a Bone Gnawer. He has strength, of a sort, beyond any measure I know of. Child of Gaia, he will not turn back against anything. Never underestimate the raw power of foolishnesses combined with joy.
You have great strength Child of Gaia, it is simply a matter of finding it." Aeris looked Alex up and down as he was now, nothing was the same, except for his mind, but that was what mattered. "Thank you, Alex."
Alex blinked and when his eyes opened again they were gold. Red hair and green clothing melted into white fur. Hands turned back into paws, and Alex once again lay down on the ground. Aeris wasn't afraid when she closed her eyes again, she had strength, all she had to do was look for it in the right place.
End Chapter Six
FN: In retrospect, now that I've looked back at this chapter, I feel like I should whack myself with a stick for writing this chapter, and having a lot of these chapters from a lot of different pieces of work that didn't pan out, this one will probably stick in my craw the most because it got posted. To clarify, I despise the way I wrote Alex in this chapter, he comes off sounding too much like Gandalf, bear with me, and try not to make any judgments on his character till the next chapter.
OWAN: Man, though, if Gandalf had been a werewolf, that Balrog would've been just so much kibble. On another note, I'd like to thank all of our wonderful reviewers, and apologize for my long absence. It's good to be back, people.