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6. Cry of the Wolf
...
He was facing the wolf again. That had been happening more and more since he was locked away in the lab. Most of the time he was insensate, unable to tell the passage of time. Sometimes he was awake and time was a hit-or-miss affair. He might think a day had passed, only to see the date on one of those damn charts and realise nearly a month had gone by while they kept him sedated. The in between times, however, when he wasn't awake but wasn't completely unconscious, were the times the wolf came to him.
He sat across from it, or it sat across from him. Its eyes were golden and far too intelligent for an animal. It waited for him to make the first move with the patience of a predator.
"Well?" he said at last.
Need to escape.
"Well, duh. It's not like I've been sitting on my hiney and watching the grass grow all this time."
This place bad. Has no grass.
"I didn't mean … Never mind. Any suggestions?" He held up a hand. "Any suggestions that don't involve me giving up control of my body to you?"
The wolf cocked its head to one side. Why fight so much?
"To stay alive?"
No. Why fight Alpha?
"I would've thought that was obvious."
Stronger than you. Both know it.
"You're stronger, yes, but only up to a point."
Then why suffer in this place when could be free?
"For one thing, if Hojo finds out he hasn't been on a wild goose chase this whole time, he'll never let us go. Ever."
Then Alpha will eat him. The wolf paused and shuddered. Or not. Poisonous little man. Would make sick.
Zack couldn't help himself; he grinned. His expression became grim when he remembered the other reason they couldn't just leave. "Cloud," he said simply.
Pack-brother? The wolf shook itself, shaggy grey fur swishing in a light that wasn't actually there. Take him too. Important pack stays together.
"We're not pack."
You pack. Pack of two. Soon three.
"You're not my pack," Zack insisted. "You're a … a parasite!"
Like tics and fleas? The wolf growled. Insolent puppy.
"Don't call me that," Zack said sharply.
It paused. When it spoke again, the voice that boomed around Zack was quieter. You think Angeal be proud now?
"Angeal's dead." It still hurt to say the words. Zack had long ago accepted his mentor's death, but saying it so baldly reopened a wound that had never fully healed. What was it with him and killing the people he cared about? Even if he wasn't striking the final blow, he had to watch as they died.
Except Cloud.
He blinked at the wolf.
Alpha not your enemy, it said softly.
"You're not …" Zack paused. "I'm not a regular werewolf, am I?"
No.
"Am I a werewolf at all?"
Yes and no. Can become wolf, but you not wolf. Alpha is wolf. You Zack.
"Alpha." Zack turned the name over. At first, the wolf had approached only enough for him to sense its presence on the edge of his mind. Gradually it had crawled closer. When it first spoke, he had withdrawn so far into himself Hojo's goons had electro-shocked him out of the last stages of reawakening. He couldn't get past the fact that the two instances when he had made contact with the wolf before, it had tried to consume him.
Not consume. Help.
"Some help."
Kept you alive in Nibelheim and Gongaga.
True, but at what cost? Zack resisted the desire to wake up. This had gone on long enough. It wasn't normal, sharing your mind with a wolf ghost, or spirit, or whatever. "What are you?"
Alpha, the wolf said simply.
"I mean, are you a ghost or something?"
Not dead. Not alive either. Difficult to explain.
"Hey, like I've got anyplace better to go?"
Yes. Find Cloud. Escape. Be free again.
"By putting my life in your hands … uh paws. Whatever. The point is, I can't trust you. I don't know anything about you, other than you live in my head and periodically try to take over my body too."
Protector.
"You're my guardian angel?"
The wolf laughed. It was an incredibly odd sound. Position taken, it snickered. But guardian of a sort.
"Where did you come from?"
Always been. As long as has been wolves, has been Alpha.
"So you're, like, the spirit of all wolves?"
Complicated. Difficult to explain.
"Okay then: why me? If you're some great wolf spirit, why not shack up with actual wolves?"
The wolf became sombre. Bad times coming, it stated. Humans will be key. All spirits on the move. Preparing. Choosing allies. Getting ready.
"Ready for what?"
Fight.
"Fight what? The vampires?"
Yes and no. Our world. Fight for territory, but also for pack. Family. Protect pups. It cocked its head to the other side. Even if pups look funny and walk on two legs. It pointed its nose upwards, as if looking into an invisible sky. All around them was bare whiteness. If this was the inside of Zack's mind, he seriously needed to hire an interior decorator. All spirits moving. Vampires upset balance. Need to restore. But dark times coming first. Balance will always be disrupted while –
The whole world trembled.
Zack sprang up. Unlike in the real world, here he didn't need to worry about pins and needles. "What the hell was that?"
Opportunity, said the wolf. It fixed him with its golden stare. Let Alpha help.
Zack shook his head. The fear of letting go, of letting the wolf take over, was so great he just couldn't get past it. Twice already he had almost lost himself. After years of holding tight to his sanity and his sense of self against Hojo's torture, no way was he going to give it up just because the wolf asked.
Not your enemy, the wolf said earnestly. Want to help. Chose you because need to save world. All spirits together. Alpha protects territory and pack. Zack protects territory in here and pack-brother Cloud out there. No so different.
The world trembled again. What was going on out there?
Work together, the wolf said suddenly. Two in here. One out there. Zack see through Alpha's eyes; run on Alpha's feet; scent with Alpha's nose. Alpha already seen world through Zack's senses. Share. Fight together. Rescue pack-brother Cloud together. Escape together. Alpha and Zack bound together. Zack escapes, so does Alpha.
"I don't know –"
This time, the walls of the white world cracked. Through the cracks things writhed, dark and spidery. Zack didn't know what they were, but he knew they were bad news. Wherever they touched, the white world buckled and shrivelled. His head started to ache.
He was out of options. However, instead of the roiling dread he had always felt when he confronted the fact of the wolf, and his ability to turn into it, this time he felt … relief?
He was getting out of here, and he was taking Cloud with him.
Here goes nothing.
"He's a child!"
"He successfully damaged a Level One, sir."
"He's a child!"
"Fifteen, sir. One year off usual initiation age into the armed forces. Plus, he already has experience."
"One fight in a moth-eaten village, which he didn't even win."
"It was eight against one, sir, and at least two vampires were already dead when I arrived on the scene. One was obviously his kill."
"How do you know? Did he say so?"
"No, sir."
"Well did you observe the kill?"
"I was still in transit when it took place, sir. The boy hasn't spoken since we brought him in."
"Not even to give his name?"
"He just … growls, sir."
"Growls? Is he feral or something? You hear a lot of stories about these backwater towns."
"Our team has yet to confirm or deny any theories on that, but based on other behaviours I doubt it, sir, and not many vampires fight each other with wooden weapons."
"Well find out what went on in that place, for Ifrit's sake!"
"Sir, the boy is traumatised. I believe his family were among those killed."
"Boo-hoo. This is war, Sephiroth. Wars have casualties."
"With all due respect, sir, this was not a battlefield and the boy is not a trained warrior. This was one of our own gone rogue and the boy is a civilian."
"Don't you think I know that? Where's Veld? He should be in here. This is his mess!"
"I believe Veld is in a meeting with the president, sir, on just this matter. Shinra's reputation would not be aided by news stories about vampires within its ranks."
"It was one bloody Turk, that's all! You make it sound like we're completely infiltrated!"
"Sir, so will the media."
"Argh! Just … go fix the boy. Come back to me when you have his statement. He's the only survivor, so however long you have to wait, you find out what happened in Gongaga, do you hear me? Maybe we can massage this so it doesn't become a real shit-storm."
"Of course, sir."
To Be Continued ...
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