Ever wondered what 4 'o clock in the morning is for? Two things. One is at christmas, and it's the time at which kids always find the noisiest toys they get. The other is for writing stuff like this because you can't sleep.
Anyway. Random fact of the day over with, back to my tale.
The scene was set, and it was almost time. The seating for the arena was packed, and not a few vampires stood at the back, squashed up just for the chance to watch their Master take on the last werewolf. Unawares to them, Kathann himself sat among them, and he and his Mother had both given their support to me. I thought I was about as ready as I possibly could be.
The tensions in the arena seemed to reach a fever pitch. You could barely have heard yourself shout over the noise. I knew what they wanted, and I was not going to give it to them.
Then at last, I saw him, their Master, the first vampire entered the cavern. He did not come straight down to face me, instead going to a podium that had been erected with four seats in a prime position on. There were four people following them. When I saw the first, I felt a momentary doubt again as I realised it was Samantha, and while she looked calm, I didn't need to be a werewolf to see that she didn't like what was going to happen.
My doubt was banished yet again, not by Kathann, but by the other three that followed. Completely unharmed, with no trace of the tell-tale traits of a vampire, Kairi, Donald and Goofy followed.
I'd been in my human form, so naturally they recognised me.
This was a problem as well though. I couldn't change if they were here.
"The normal restrictions don't apply for this night only," Kathann's voice told me, apparently picking up on my thoughts. "Mother has relaxed them for you."
I'd still be left with some questions to answer afterwards, but that was secondary. They were safe, and that meant my primary concern was my prey.
As they reached the podium and took their seats, silence fell gradually. The Master waited at the front of the podium until it had subsided.
"My children, the time has come at last," he began. "It's been a long time coming. We have with us, as you have no doubt already seen, some special guests. Behind me, with my daughter, we have three of the closest friends of our most special guest. And who is that special guest? None other than the last of our enemy, Sora himself!"
Either he hadn't told them what I was, or he was holding it back. The vampires, of course, knew who their enemy was, but he seemed either unwilling or unable to reveal that just yet.
He waited for silence again as the crowd gave another round of jeering at me, which I paid no attention to. I was watching him in case he tried anything.
When it fell silent once more, he continued again. "Long have we fought for this day, and not without cost." He glanced briefly back at Samantha. "But now, you will bear witness to the greatest event in our history since our creation – the demise of the last werewolf, by my hand."
Kairi's expression grew shocked. She hadn't known, and now he'd just explained everything I'd had to avoid talking about. I couldn't hear them from where I was, but I was fairly sure both Donald and Goofy had given some surprised outburst at this revelation. They were silenced by another surprise to them, as the Vampire Lord stepped off the platform, apparently onto mid-air, and descended an unseen staircase to the arena floor. He took to one of the mounds of earth on the floor.
"And now," he paused, for dramatic effect I guess, then went on, "Release the werewolf."
He seemed to be playing some kind of game with me, so I went along with it for now. As the cage was lifted, I stood, then without showing a single sign of doubt, went to the mound opposite him. I did not look at anyone on the podium, at least not obviously.
Silence fell with a wave of the Master's hand.
"You could surrender," he offered.
"We werewolves don't know the meaning of the word," I answered. "Why don't we move on already, and cut to the fight?"
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. I'll give you one you'll never forget."
I don't remember exactly what was going through my mind or what I was expecting to see him do. Up until now, he'd remained exactly the same, looking like just another distinguished old gent.
That changed now however, as I saw what he held back from all others.
Demon came to mind when I saw it. He grew, very literally, into something that was easily twice his previous size. The eyes remained red of course, but that was all that stayed the same. His skin was a bluish-silver, and clearly tough stuff. Naturally, horns were on his head, and fangs on full display. Claws on the hands, and no one could doubt there was physical power behind him.
I had to admit, it was a little on the intimidating side, but I didn't let that distract me. I just crossed my arms, smirked at him and said, "Is that all you've got, old man?"
Now the full force of the power others had talked about was brought to bear on me. I felt a great weight on my mind, like that of Kathann's Mother when she touched on mind, but it was far harsher. Imagine sandpaper rubbing over your mind, multiply it by his age, and you start to get an idea.
She was with me though, even if I didn't realise it, and she pushed back. He recoiled back from this, making the crowd go silent yet again. To them, nothing had happened yet, and this unexpected reaction took them by surprise.
Then he charged at me. I stood unmoving before him until the last minute, then became a wolf and easily ran aside, leaving him to carve tracks in the earth as he dug in his feet to stop. A chance glance at Kairi showed that she was just as surprised to see me actually change form, but I couldn't keep my glance on her for long. I had to pay attention.
He charged a second time, and this time I charged right back. I repeated the same trick I'd used on Commander Valgor so long before, taking to his chest and ripping away. It was tough to get through his thick skin, my own claws only just scratching, nor could I keep a grip on his neck for long for the same reason.
He swung one of his vast hands at me to send me flying off as if I was just a rag-doll. In mid-air, I changed again, this time to the hybrid form. Believe me, it's not easy to change when you're unexpectedly flying. This was more useful to me, allowing me to gain at least some control over my descent again, and land without incident, not only without incident but ready to come at him again.
I had more power behind me in this form, and that was just what I needed. He came at me as well, but I ducked low and lunged into him, pushing him to the ground. He was down, but not out. I had to watch for those massive clawed hands of his, blocking his strikes with them and making my own on him at the same time. Some of the scratches I'd left on him flowered into deeper wounds, but no blood came from them. He hadn't fed for some time, evidently.
He locked his legs around me to try to throw me off with, so I responded by pinning down his arms and going for the neck again. He had more strength than I did, so I was flung off again before I got close enough. He'd put enough force behind it that I was thrown into the lattice not far from the podium, and found he'd neglected to tell me that this side of it also had silver in it. Either he had a private silver mine, or he'd had to pay out a great deal for that much silver. Expensive or not, I caught that burning feeling from it again, distracting me long enough for him to land on me.
Now it was my turn to try to throw him off, but he was not easy to dislodge, and I had to pay attention to his own wide swipes at me. He caught me once – just once – on the chest, and unlike him, I did bleed. The scent of blood, filled my nose instantly and drove me to call on everything I had in me. This time he went flying into the lattice, not as hard as I had done, but the unearthly screech he gave when he hit it was very satisfying, not to mention it seemed to hurt him more than me. It left marks on his back, which was surprising – none of the other vampires had shown this reaction to silver, and they'd come in direct contact with it too.
Very briefly, over the renewed roars of the crowd, I heard Kairi call out to me in concern. She'd seen what he'd done to me, though it was hard to miss really. Thankfully it didn't go too deep, but still...
After only a quick glance at her while he was distracted, I gave her a nod and returned to the task at hand. He was still writhing from the touch of silver, so I took advantage of this. I didn't keep my form, or become a wolf, instead I returned to my natural human form once I was close, and brought out the keyblade that had seen me through countless battles before. My injury showed in this form too of course, and I couldn't ignore that it hurt, but there was little I could do about it.
The keyblade cut deep on the first strike, possibly deeper than I had done before. He must have felt it, because he came to his feet howling and snarling.
Somewhat disdainfully, I blocked the swipe he made for me with the keyblade, and neatly removed several claws from that hand. He didn't seem to learn from this mistake, swiping with the other hand and losing several more. In between the swipes, I continued to make my own slashes and cuts on him. The keyblade was definitely doing more than I had before.
Enraged now and bellowing in some unknown tongue, or just gibberish for all I know, he ducked down, and made to head butt me to try and impale me on his horns or something, but I simply evaded by shifting back to a wolf, and letting him make a fool of himself as he found nothing to hit, falling over instead.
I figured he'd be ready for another attack if I stayed close, so back off a ways to prepare for whatever he'd give next.
I wasn't prepared for what he did though. Instead of making an attack himself, he slammed one giant fist into the floor, then the other. Whatever power he'd tried to direct at me, now went somewhere else, and sent sparks skittering over the floor around his hands. When it came back, it brought skeletons crawling out of the floor.
I don't like the undead, but you probably knew that already. They're unnatural. But no matter what my feelings about them, they seemed completely lost in the heat of the moment. There were a lot of them forming, and more just seemed to keep coming as long as his hand remained in contact with the earth. I shattered them through any means necessary, shifting forms as I needed to keep it up and get close to him. I took one risk then, turning my back on him and making a wide swing with the keyblade to destroy all those behind me, then I tried something I hadn't before, keeping the keyblade as I returned to my Hybrid form. It stayed with me, and gave me the chance I wanted to deliver a powerful blow to his unprotected head. The hands were drawn up hastily and the flow of new skeletons stopped, but the ones that had already formed or were forming were still there. I continued to fight them off, keeping close watch on him in case he got his senses together and came after me.
The skeletons, apparently given orders to home in on me, didn't last long. They might have been armed with various weapons, but they were no match for me. It wasn't long before I stood alone against him again.
Then I saw my chance. The Keyblade had stayed with me when I changed form, though somehow I knew if I lost it, or I changed to my wolf-form, which couldn't wield it, I wouldn't be able to re-summon it until I became human again. It could harm him, and with the power of the Hybrid form behind me, I could deal out the most damage.
I was ready for him this time when he made another charge for me. I crouched low, stood firm, and held the keyblade ready. When he came close enough, I swung it low and followed through when it struck, carrying him into the lattice.
In one single, quick movement, seemingly without even consciously thinking about it, my other hand was there. I'd cut into the toughened skin enough to make Kathann's age-old tactic work on even this ancient vampire.
He froze when I took hold of his heart, and the arena grew deathly quiet. Not a single one of them could mistake what they saw. Out of the corner of one eye, I saw Samantha's shocked look.
Then, with a faint feeling of regret for what I was doing to her, I pulled down and tore it from him.
He did not die instantly. Still pinned to the lattice by the keyblade, he first shrank back to his more human appearance, clearly showing the signs of what had taken place. He looked curious and stunned, then looked down to what I'd done, and back to me. One hand reached out to my shoulder and tried to take hold, but before it even reached me, the dust had settled on the earth.
A vast groan went through the ranks of the assembled as it fell. Samantha had been stood up when she saw me make the fatal move, but now she was on her knees, sobbing, inconsolable. Kairi was with her, but even she didn't look at me the same, it was as if she was afraid. Even Goofy, normally almost completely unshakable, showed fear of me.
There was complete silence for a goodly time, then as has always been done after an important battle has been won by wolves or werewolves, I became a wolf and gave a triumphant howl of victory, tainted only by the costs at which I'd gained it.