Chapter 13 In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade.
Alex inhaled deeply. It was a human expression, but like most human expressions that remained over long periods of time, it was an apt one. In this case "there's no place like home" rang firmly in his ears. Three straight days of driving since they had left behind the last town, but they were finally back.
The smell of the canyon was enough to make him wonder why he had ever left. Of course a few moments later his task was brought back to him, and he knew why he had left. "We're sorry, but the canyon has no room for outsiders at the moment." The Silver Fang had been leading, but he stepped aside so that the guard could see Alex. /These humans are with me, and it is sad indeed to see the hospitality of my homeland so diminished.\
Alex didn't know the name of all the humans who lived in the canyon, but there was hardly a child who didn't know who Alex was, a fact made all the more obvious by the stricken expression on the man's face. "Oh! Excuse me Alexander, was your mission successful?" Alex nodded; his mission had been a self appointed task, but it was critical nonetheless. He had succeeded in his mission, and the worst possibility had been proven true.
/Yes I was. It saddens my heart to say it, but I will not be long to rest here. In times of war those of Fenris make up the vanguard of Gaia's forces.\ The man nodded, whoever he was he knew a good deal of how to interpret Alex's "words". "We thought as much when it took you so long to return, some even said you had died." Alex scoffed as best as he could with a wolf's vocal chords. /Don't call a wolf dead till you see its bones bleaching in the noonday sun. Are my chambers prepared?\
The man stood to the side and nodded. "Yes of course, no one has disturbed them, shall I prepare rooms for your companions?" /Later, for now there is something they must see.\ The man moved to the side and nodded. The Ragabash apparently could smell the same sense of freedom in the air that Alex could.
That or he was about to make some remarkably Ragabash statement. "Let's see, we've been: ignored, electrocuted, shot at, sneered at, scoffed at, and just plain hunted. About time that we finally find a place in the world where we get treated like nobles. Granted, we were pretty well treated at the Gold Saucer, but still, this goes a long way towards making up for Junon!"
------------------------
Niro followed Alex as he led the way, they had spent close to a week together now. If Alex wasn't exactly friendly he clearly wasn't making plans to kill him any more, which was doubtless a step in the right direction. Of course that could just be the pacifying effect that the Canyon seemed to have.
Alex led them through various tunnels that seemed to have been carved right out of the living rock. It somehow was even more impressive then Midgar, because it had the feel of being done without tools. Just pure human effort, or something close to it. Niro would have to ask Alex how, particularly while he was in a good mood. After all, besides the fact that he could produce any weapon he needed, his other main strength in battle was turning into ferocious monsters.
If some kind of monster were the cause of this canyon's creation out of what once was clearly a mountain, he should know about it. Particularly if records still existed of them, or, better yet, skeletons. Something that could carve these tunnels could easily tear through a Shinra reactor as well. Eventually, they entered the last thing Niro would have expected Alex to call his home.
It was a room filled with various switches, and books stacked on high bookcases. If it belonged to Alex he would have expected bloodstains, dead bodies, partially eaten animals, and suchlike. Granted, the room looked like it hadn't been touched in a year or more, which went along just fine with Niro's conceptions of Alex.
Alex padded his way over to a small switch and pulled it. A moment later a holographic image of the world, or at least a fairly good facsimile appeared. /This is powered by nothing less then pure gnosis, or spiritual energy. Gnosis is normally used as a spiritual battery for the use of one's power. Sadly the art of transferring Gnosis into power for actual machines is long lost to the world. However, the machines are still functional and can be recharged with gnosis, even if even I am not quite sure how. The exact specifics of this device are not the issue here, this world is. This entire world, exists through a delicate balance.\ As he spoke Alex gripped another lever with his teeth and pulled it down, causing green lights to begin to dance across the image of the world.
/If you disregard bones, blood, and the like, then there is something that fundamentally makes all things the same. Understand?\ James took off his hat, and began to scratch his left ear with his left hand. It was a gesture that Niro had grown used to seeing, it was also one of the ways that nature warned you about what would come next. Like when skunks raised their tails, or the quiet before a storm. In this case the warning was that a very Firecat moment was coming.
"You mean like grey matter, or in my case red matter, or Niro's black matter?" Red matter, that was a good one, it ranked right up there with "The world wouldn't be in such a bad place if guns where free, but bullets cost 100,000 gill each. That way if anyone was going to shoot someone else, they would need a DAMN good reason to spend that much."
Alex growled under his breath. /No Ragabash, something is out there; everything in the world from the smallest bug to the tallest tree has something in it that makes it live. A force that enters into it and makes it live, and leaves when it dies. No one has ever known what the true name is, but it makes up the blood of the planet.
The Planet's blood is called 'The Lifestream' it distributes spiritual energy to everything in creation. Recently, I have felt a weakness of my gnosis, and I was far too young for such a thing to happen. I went out to find out why, and I found my answers in Midgar. Mako power, disgusting beyond my wildest dreams.
What they do is nothing short of murder, taking Gaia's lifeblood, changing it into something to run machines. Do any of you realize just what this means/ Sephiroth clenched his fist and gave an impressive growl for a human set of vocal chords. "I knew that mako power was bad for this world, but never that bad. They keep at it, and this entire world will shrivel up and die."
Mirri shook her head, slowly. "Mako power drains the earth, yeah. But apparently none of you have ever lived in Corel when the coal power was going. Ain't anything particularly friendly to the world about it, either. So is it just me or are humans just plain destructive to the world regardless what we do?"
Alex seemed caught as if half of him had been expecting that and half of him hadn't. /Humans. Do not blame yourselves for the failings of your kind. Suffice to say however, long ago, this world was at peace, even the Weaver, the force of order and the Wyld, the force of nature were in, if not harmony, then at least balance.
But then a third force came to act on this world, the Wyrm. I believe you know her as Jenova. She exists to bring catastrophe to this world, and since she has come to this world, she has had but one goal: to destroy it. To those ends she has influenced the Weaver, making it dangerous to this world.
Only the Wyld remains pure to its original purpose. This war you fight against the Weaver, it has gone on since before you can possible comprehend. Know that you are fighting against a being with cunning beyond human years. We may not have her cunning, but we have our strength. Let us stand together in these dark days. Days when ancient evils are once again released into the world, and Gaia herself grows weak. Do not cling to hope, for it has forsaken this world. You may go now.\
They began to exit, Sephiroth first, eyes blazing despite his outwardly regained composure. Aeris followed, looking not quite sure what to make of what she had heard. James and Mirri left together. Which just left Niro and Alex. Niro closed his eyes, and turned into a panther, a panther with eyes and fur as black as night. With a panther's vocal chords he "spoke". "You don't trust me."
Alex growled in response. /Do you speak wolf?\ "Not like this, and I prefer this form to a lupine one, but I understand it. You speak cat?" Alex flicked an ear in disdain. "I speak the language of every animal in the world." Niro looked Alex right in the eye, black eyes meeting golden.
"Very well then, just making sure we understand each other. Now, you don't trust me. There is a saying among humans for times like the ones you have described 'we must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately.' Now when I'm like this, I have all the animal abilities you have. Like being able to tell emotions by smell. It's not just me, you're suspicious of this entire group. Why?"
Alex let out a low rumble in his throat as he looked at the door through which the others had left. "There is a reason the Shapeshifters no longer exist in this world. Jenova created a great many monsters in this world, including those like you. However, in the end she made something even more treacherous then you, humans."
"So that's why you don't trust them. You're off living in your own paranoid world. Who needs to worry about a Shapeshifter when you can't even look around without seeing monsters." "Humans are a race most hard to understand. At least with you Shapeshifter, the line is well drawn." "Yeah, we're the best of enemies."
Alex nodded his assent to Niro's statement. "Humans have no connection to nature. Their minds are clouded and unable to see the strands and dangers of the corrupted Weaver. You move along those strands like a spider. The true danger of the humans is their inability to see the dangers that lie beyond every single choice. So tell me Shapeshifter, what do you think of humans?"
Niro padded over to the lever that was still causing green lights to flicker across the globe. He then gripped the lever with his teeth as he had seen Alex do, and pulled it up causing the green lights to stop. "I am here to kill. I'd say that makes me just as much a part of your system as anyone else." Alex made padded over to Niro, and pressed a paw on a button and made the world vanish.
"Fair enough. The Ragabash--- James, do you feel like him? You can't tell humans apart from anything else, or you don't care to. Predators exist to kill and mate, intelligence makes no difference. Humans use their power to subdue instead of to kill, and that is why they are dangerous. Let us kill, Shapeshifter."
Alex growled from deep at his throat and then suddenly leapt at Niro, it was an action Niro had seem coming just in time to plan for it. Niro leapt to meet Alex, and the feline blur of black met with the canine one of white. Alex's claws dug through Niro's skin, and Niro did the same, fending Alex's jaws of with his front two paws. He tried to rip a chunk from Alex's front but soon discovered a major impediment. Wolves were not exactly known for having manes the way lions did, but Alex's was deep enough.
All Niro managed to rip was a chunk of white fur. Then the two slammed to the ground and rolled away from each other. Both of them where bleeding in various places, though where exactly was more obvious on Alex. /You don't shift, I can't regenerate, lets see if you're an animal.\ The two circled each other in the huge room, looking for a weakness. Niro had an advantage at that, he could see where Alex was bleeding.
Alex's wounds where mostly on his belly, which meant that Niro had to get underneath him again. He faked to the left and then dashed to the right, most of his wounds where actually on his right, he had been waving them right in Alex's face. But even with wolf eyes Alex couldn't see dark red blood on night black fur. He came around and Alex twisted to meet him. Alex raised himself up to fall on Niro using his greater weight, (As Alex was a lot bigger then any normal size panther) but Niro was faster then him.
In fact, Alex had just given Niro a clear shot at the target that he wanted to get at most. Niro slammed full speed into Alex as he descended. He raked his claws along Alex's chest as Alex's went down Niro's side. Niro tore a chunk out of Alex' shoulder, Alex snapped at one of Niro's paws, crushing the bones to dust.
Then they hit the ground, they were both much more heavily wounded now. Alex had blood flowing from his chest, and his breathing was more ragged. Not that Niro was that much better off, he almost blacked out each time he put pressure on the paw Alex had attacked.
No more circling, the two glared at each other, waiting to see who would deal a final blow to the other first. "Hey guys, are you have a staring contest?"
Good old James, complete and total disregard for blood being spilled on the floor gashes on fur, mangled paws, and the blood on their claws and jaws. Alex's eyes and ears drooped at James' statement. "Your Ragabash is remarkably good at what he does."
Niro nodded, Alex was still talking rather then sending his thoughts, Niro wondered if Alex knew that James knew wolf. "Yeah, when he actually does something, he does it well. It's the first part that's hard for him." James who had been listening, and understanding the conversation nodded his agreement to Niro's statement. The truly impressive thing was that James, with his set of vocal chords could bark, yip, and growl in perfect wolf.
"Yeah, when a guy has to do something, he might as well do it right even if he only does that thing. But would one of you two mind telling me what I did?" Now that shocked every fiber of Alex's being, Niro could see it in his eyes and smell it. /Did, he just?\ Alex sent that one personally to Niro so that James couldn't hear it.
"Yes he did. James speaks freaking tongues when he wants to." To further that point, James dictated his next masterpiece of mental misfires in the mews, chirps, purrs, and hisses that make up the language of cats, from a human mouth. "Yeah, it'd be sorta freaky if I knew how I do it!"
Niro shifted back to human, slightly decreasing the wounds he had suffered; his sides where still wounded, and his hand would have to be splinted, but at least the bones were there again. "Don't even bother asking James for an answer Alex. It's like asking a cat how they always land on their feet." The chirps, caws, and other things coming from James mouth were quite elaborate, apparently he was talking in bird now.
"So, yeah, if you guys are busy then I'll just be on my way then." Alex pawed the ground either irritated by his wounds or by James words. "Yes, leave us." James nodded and let himself out as silently as he had let himself in. Alex closed his eyes, and though the transformation took more time, the end result was just as complete as Niro's, he now stood before Niro, fully human.
"As I was saying, your Ragabash friend has very deep sleeves, it's too bad no one knows what he will pull out of them." Niro nodded and pulled some bandages from a pocket and began binding his left hand as he spoke. "Yep, after all, Lord knows he doesn't have any idea what he'll do next either. So tell me, you don't trust them, you don't trust me, who do you trust?"
Alex growled slightly as the wounds Niro dealt him vanished completely, damn his regeneration was impressive. "I am on no one's side, because no one is on my side. The Black Fury is right, humans may yet be the death of this world regardless of what they wish. They come with fire and axes to chop down trees, they come with their guns and collars to 'domesticate' animals, killing the inner spirit. What kind of being is this thing called man?" Niro nodded slowly, he had been made by humans, to kill humans, he was well versed with the odd nature of humanity.
"Heteromorphs, nightbreeders, specters, lycanthropes, halfmen, we're all something other then human, we're all Midians. It's something that I think binds us together a lot more tightly then humans ever have been by their humanity. There's just one difference between you and me Alexander. I was made, trained, equipped, commanded, and 'born' of humans. You say the world is coming to an end? I doubt anyone can disagree with you in a world where humans aim to create monsters to use against each other." Alex shook his head as he looked Niro in the eye. "I think not. The world has always been filled with humanity's cheap imitations. You would call yourself a Midian, do so, but remember this: I am Garou."
Niro just smiled at Alex as he looked at the books lining the walls. "Well I say this world has only three kinds of living organisms, animals, humans, and Midians, we who dance on the line between those first two. We have human intelligence, but use it for animal goals, we have no desire for wealth or subjects.
What we just did, that dance of death is our art. There is a war coming, and it is a deadly time for Midians like us, most of all. If we lose this war, then all life can be wiped out in the single blink of an eye. If we win though, there is another danger that we must be aware of. We Midians once fought amongst ourselves, great wars, great battles great heroes, and what did we get in return?
While we where busy burning the world to ash, humans were planning to rise from that ash. The world was stolen from us, humans with their 'Civilization' rose up. We were banished into children's stories and tales to frighten the foolish. When this war ends, it could be no different. There will be no final night for us Midians, only the endless dusk of slavery.
I was valuable to Shinra because I was unique, but what if there where a hundred, a thousand such as me? Wars fought only by Midians for the sake of humans. Your regeneration surpasses mine, and I'm sure you have all other sorts of abilities that you haven't shown any of us yet.
You almost saw your future once, captured by Shinra, I'm sure they would have found someway to unlock your secrets with enough time and depravity. Then "werewolf" becomes a rank rather than a race, your pride and lineage reduced to a distinction within the military. There are those 'righteous' enough to believe that they must destroy us for the sake of humanity. There are those evil enough to want our secrets at any cost. We dance our glorious dance on the edge of the knife, only finding acceptance with those few who lie between the polar opposites. If we insist on fighting each other because of what we are, our last chance goes down the drain. Dr. Hojo made me to answer to him, and gave me the memories that Jenova gave him. I told them to James because he didn't have them. He summed up the war between Jenova and the Cetra in one word: 'stupid.' Neither of us is going to be free until humanity can't pose a threat to us. We can dance forever for love of the dance, or we can dance forever for the twisted amusement of humans. They say wolves want freedom more then anything else, do you want freedom if the only way we can get it is by working together?
Alex looked Niro up and down one more time, as if seeing him with new eyes, or being able to see his true form. "To Midians, that we may dance that dance in freedom." Alex had no cup to raise in a toast, but he raised his hand, and Niro took it. "To Garou, may your song make humans tremble once more."
Alex's eyes widened just as much as Niro's smile did. "I told you, I know your history, which is really our history. Alex released Niro's right hand, and grasped his left hand, and part shook it part ripped the makeshift bandages (made from Niro's trenchcoat) around it to shreds. Niro's blood came in slow trickles but it fell to the floor all the same. Alex seemed pleased with it. "There, Fenris would hardly accept without an open wound on your body to mark your dedication."
OWAN: Another twilight come and passed. I'm not sure what scenes we're missing, but we've been putting together an outtakes reel for the end. This chapter gives you more insight into the way Alex thinks, and also serves as a little chance for Niro to show off. Niro got a little preachy here, but everyone has at least one chapter like that. Enjoy…