Alex and I stood at one edge of the werewolf town, looking out in search for the enemy we could smell, but not see.
He remained human, while at his suggestion I remained a wolf.
Then, on the horizon we saw them coming fast. Not a single opponent, but a fair sized group – and there were Heartless with them.
"I have to alert the pack," Alex said, "but I can't leave myself open to attack..."
I returned to being human and summoned the keyblade. He understood instantly, turning back into the wolf that had been my guide and letting loose a loud howl.
The wolf's howl is more than it seems to be. It can convey a great deal of information in just a few instants. Think of it as a kind of news feed.
The howl he sent out let everyone know what had been sighted, which way they were coming from, and who was on the scene. Just me and him, in case you're wondering.
I heard several other howls from within the village raising the alarm similarly. For a moment, I worried about Kairi, Donald and Goofy, but I also knew that the others would protect them. It was what the pack did for it's members. If they couldn't help me, then I'd keep them as safe as possible, so the pack would do the same in my place.
The first of the attackers reached us before Alex finished his howl, leaving me to hold them off. Vampires, it seemed, were just as vulnerable to the keyblade as Heartless was. A few well-placed strikes against them caused them to vanish, apparently defeated. I was wrong on that score, but didn't find that out until later.
One of them had a sword though, and blocked me. She laughed at me, striking back and holding my attention, letting others into the town.
She was skilled, no doubt about that. She managed to disarm me and for a few moments it looked like I was in trouble, but then Alex, in the towering hybrid form, was there. He struck at her with the same strange attack I'd seen back when I first saw a hybrid form. I mentioned that earlier, so I won't repeat myself here.
Unlike the vampires I'd been hitting, this one turned into dust when Alex gave a sharp downward jerk of his hand.
"I'm alright," I told him in answer to his unspoken question.
"Concentrate on your own enemy," he told me, meaning the Heartless. "Leave the rest to us."
"Easier said than done," I replied, causing another vampire to vanish.
By the time the Heartless caught up with the leading edge of the attack, the vampires had already made it into the town. There were sounds and sights of werewolves taking out vampires all round, and struggles to harm the Heartless. Just as I couldn't harm the vampires properly yet, they couldn't hurt the Heartless.
Alex and I worked together. He cleared a path through the vampires to each bunch of Heartless, then kept them off me while I dealt with my own long-time foes.
I discovered that the pack had made arrangements for the safety of the young in case of exactly this. Each of them would remain with three adults, take up one of several houses that was more carefully constructed, and guard it against anything. In ordinary circumstances, I should have been in one of them – but I had the keyblade.
One of the empty houses we passed had been set alight. Several pack members were holding off the attackers while others worked to put it out. I caught Alex's attention, signalling toward them. There were more Heartless than vampires there – they needed our help.
It was as we were handling them that I started to worry – they were willing to use fire. The entire village was made of wood, thatching, flammable materials.
Including the hotel.
I trusted the pack of course, but it was a clear problem for me. If something happened to them...
Just about every werewolf would be able to pick up on that, and a fair number did. They supported Alex's efforts until we received word that there were no further Heartless in the town.
Then my worry became very real – I heard a cry for me that I'd have recognised anywhere, werewolf or not. Every face that didn't belong to a vampire or werewolf fighting one turned to me.
If I'd been an adult in my other form, I'd have changed to it and bolted for the hotel, but I couldn't.
"Alex. I need a lift."
"A... lift? I don't understand."
"Just change to a wolf, and be ready to head where that came from," I told him.
He still didn't quite understand, until I also changed and jumped up on top of him. I think I surprised him a bit with that actually, not to mention everyone else. There were a lot of curious looks from everyone else as he took off.
Neither of us changed back when we entered the place. All the doors upstairs were open, and all the guests that had been there – all three of them – were backed into a corner with our dear friend, Commander Valgor stood over them. It looked to me like nothing any of them could do had done anything to him, and like he was getting ready to feed on them.
He looked round sharply at the sight of us coming in. I wouldn't – couldn't, actually – change in front of Kairi. Instead, as Alex dug into the carpet to stop (destroying it in the process, as well), I braced myself, then jumped. His forward momentum and mine together were enough to carry me right onto Valgor's chest. I dug in my claws, then bit down hard on his own neck – giving him a taste of his own medicine, so to speak.
He struggled underneath me, trying to throw me off, but I held firm.
A wolf's natural instinct in this case is to bite hard, then jerk sharply from side to side in a tearing motion. For an adult wolf at least, it's a highly effective way of making sure the foe is dead. For a young wolf, it's not as good, needing more energy to do the same, and in either case it's normally used on creatures being hunted.
Valgor was my prey, though I doubt he'd have made a decent meal. I knew he hadn't fed for a long time because I could taste very little blood, and even he didn't have much taste to him.
I kept up the tearing at him until I finally achieved what I wanted – all four paws on the floor and a heap of dust underneath me. It'd taken me a lot of work, but I'd done it.
My friends looked at me, seemingly stunned and afraid at the same time. A part of the pack behind also looked on from all three different forms.
Alex recovered first, nodding once to me and then sent another nearby werewolf running for the pack-leader.
I was about ready to curl up and rest, but someone else had other ideas. I should have known it was Kairi who picked me up, called me brave and then cute – which is deeply embarrassing for a wolf, incidentally. Fortunately werewolves are a little more tolerant of things like that, being at least part-human. I did have to put up with a few carefully hidden laughs from those present though.
Then our pack-leader was there. He didn't need to push through the crowd even while still human, they simply parted around him so he could stop nearby and examine the scene with a grave look about him.
I just looked helplessly at him from Kairi's arms. Alright, yes, it was kind of nice like that. I'll admit it right here. I just hope she doesn't read this. She might have had something to say about it if she knew it was me.
He looked from the dust with my paw prints in, to Kairi and then to me without a change in his expression.
"Kitcha!" he barked to the other members of the pack. The rough translation is 'Return to what you were doing before this happened'. It also implies one of two things depending on how it's said. If said with a harsher tone, it suggests that what happened was a bit of a crime. On the other hand, if said firmly but not harshly, then it's a command to do it quickly. Obviously, harsh and firm is both.
In this case it was only said firmly. I wouldn't have gone through that little explanation except to show how the same word can mean different things in the wolven language. There's one word that has about twenty different meanings because of that. It makes it a bit difficult to learn if you don't want to become a werewolf.
Anyway, when the others had cleared out to ensure the rest of the town was clear of vampires, he turned back to Kairi.
"An interesting event," he murmured. "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Kieran, the chief of this village. I believe you know me already," he nodded to Donald.
"He's Donald," Kairi answered for him. "This is Goofy, and I'm Kairi."
"Kairi?" he asked, an almost unnoticeable change in expression showing his surprise. "It is an honour to meet you. You are Sora's companions, are you not?"
"That's us... and who's this little puppy?" She held me up again. Believe me when I tell you she can be very embarrassing at times like that. I'm sure I did look cute and everything, but I was a wolf... and I had just killed a vampire in front of her. I'd have tried to look a little more vicious, but I was fairly worn out still, and I didn't want to scare her.
"He has yet to receive a name," Kieran answered. "When he becomes an adult, he'll be given one."
"Why not sooner?"
"It is our custom, and we take our customs seriously. May I?" he asked, holding out his own arms. Kairi handed me to him somewhat reluctantly.
"He saved me from that creep," she told him with a note of pride. "He kept talking about feeding or something."
"His kind is not exactly human, but must feed off humans by taking their blood... it is not pleasant."
"A vampire? Seriously? I thought they were just... myths."
"They are not. You saw one defeated before your own eyes. Did he harm you at all?"
"No, we're fine thanks. Just a bit shaken."
"Good. Please excuse me now. I must make sure this little one is also unharmed."
"Wait – do you know what happened to Sora?"
"I'm afraid not, but I believe he will turn up safe. My people here will ensure that everyone is accounted for, and will find him for you. I ask only that you trust me to find him."
We left then, headed of course for his home.
"Quite the adventure you've had, I hear... and now I see as well."
I couldn't really say anything. I was sure he'd understand me, but he seemed to know what had happened already.
"The town is safe, in case you're wondering. Thanks to Alex's warning, we met them head on. I've yet to get all the details, but so far it seems we made it with no losses at all."
That was a relief to hear. We passed the house that had been set alight along the way. There were several scorched areas, and a few holes in the thatching, but it too had survived.
"I was surprised to see what you'd done. Never before have I heard of a young wolf bringing down a vampire. Then again, the pack's instinct is to protect the young from the threat, so there's no chance of it happening normally. You're far from normal, I know."
We reached his house, and he let me drop to the floor so he could open the door.
"I've some bad news for you, by the way. Your keyblade didn't destroy the vampires. Only delay them."
"Delay them? How?" I asked, forgetting I was still a wolf.
"When something that would normally kill a human hits them, they simply vanish and reappear somewhere else. We've never found out where that is, unfortunately."
"And the attack is broken?"
"As far as I'm aware, it is. All because you were there to protect Alex while he raised the alarm."
Something had been weighing on my mind, and he could tell. He gave me the time I needed to properly think how to put it to him.
"I killed him because he was threatening her," I told him. "I did it, but I should have let another do it because they know how to achieve it quicker than I did."
"That's true. But the pack knows how much she means to you – as do I. I perhaps know more than the pack does."
"How is that possible?"
"Think about every werewolf you have met and their names. What do they all have in common when spoken in the human tongue?"
"They all begin in the same manner?" There's no actual way to specifically say 'They all start in K', so I had to improvise.
"Exactly. And every name has a meaning. Mine, for example, means 'The Wise One'."
"Her name has a meaning too, doesn't it?" He nodded, but didn't say anything.
I thought hard. I still hadn't heard much of the wolven language, but I figured that if I knew some things apparently without reason, then there had to be something behind it. I may have said it before, but I still don't know what exactly it is. It worked though.
Kairi's name turned out to mean something rather special, and disturbing.
"'The Companion of the Last'," I said out loud.
Kieran nodded again, "It may only be a coincidence, but we seldom put much stock in coincidences. The only way to be certain would be to ask at the next ritual."
"May I ask that it be asked at that time?"
"I think I can do better than that. You admitted yourself that you killed that vampire. There were members of the pack there who witnessed that."
I knew what he was implying, but I also knew it wasn't quite right, and I felt I had to point out, "This was not a hunt. I was acting to protect her from him."
"Is that what you believe? The one Alex sent to find me told me of what she saw. I asked others along the way what they saw. The general agreement is that you followed a trail from something you heard to where your prey was, then caught and brought down your prey. You had a specific, single target in mind, and eliminated it. You hunted him."
He let that sink in. I knew what it meant just as well as he did, even if it did seem like a technicality.
"Go on back to her as yourself," he told me. "I will send word to you when we are ready for you."
I nodded, then got up to leave through a flap in his front door.
He opened the door after me and called, "Sora!" I turned to see him looking at me meaningfully.
"Thanks," I mumbled after changing back again. I'd completely forgotten to change, of course.