Chapter Two:
'What big ears you have!'
.
.
.
'- Eternal rest for the hefty white wolf,
Who a far-famed huntsman, it tried to engulf,
With vulpine cunning and deceit,
His bullet pierced dark meat,
Huzzah for this feast!
Eternal rest for the beast!'
.
That night, the entire village partook in the festivities and thus the tavern hollered with tributes and merriment thanks to the prize the newly-wed huntsman had toted back home with.
They held a banquette and binged the finest of meat and, with its silvery fur, the huntsman tailored a beautiful coat for himself and his wife.
The next day, as the huntsman once again made his way to the woods for a hunt, he crossed paths with a fair young lass donning a little riding hood made of red velvet over her head.
'Good day, Mr. Huntsman, ' said she.
'Good day to you as well, young miss.'
'Please, Mr. Huntsman, will you chaperon me to my grandmother's house? She is ill and weak and I bear gifts to enliven her.'
'Where does your grandmother live?'
'A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees and the nut-trees are just below.'
'If you allow me a sip from that bottle of wine in your basket I will assure your safety to and fro your grandmother's house.' replied the huntsman.
And so, with the promise to share some of her goods with the huntsman once they arrived, they embarked alongside each other in a journey through the forest.
–
Five years ago, Squall Leonhart made a promise to someone he cherished above all else to stay away from the forest because of the dangers it implied.
Three years ago, Squall Leonhart made another promise, to himself, that he wouldn't cry even when it felt like the world crumbled around him.
Today, Squall Leonhart had breached them both.
The Wolf sniffed the ground and pricked its ears up as it travelled further into the depths of the great forest; searching for the extrinsic presence that had summoned it.
The sound of stiffened, browning, leaves crunching underneath the Wolf's big paws mingled with the chorus of bird song, foliage fluttering in the wind and the faint sound of a child sobbing.
Its sensitive nose steered the Wolf into a modest clearing; towards the hollow trunk of a tree that stood proudly in its midst. The inside of the trunk was occupied by something warm, hominid and breathing, the Wolf perceived as it pushed its snout through the gap in the tree and huffed into the face of the intruder who exhaled a shaky breath in response.
"Wolf... If you're out looking for a snack then please help yourself. I won't mind."
It was a boy who spoke and if the Wolf had allowed its eyes to open it would have descried the crestfallen look that adorned his face following that statement.
For a short moment, only the song of nature and the sound of the boy's shallow breathing betrayed the illusion that time had suddenly frozen as the two figures remained stagnant.
It was the Wolf who made the first move, ungracefully clambering further inside the narrow trunk until it was more or less cornering the boy and then folded its legs underneath itself. Bumping its snout into the boy's chest and shoulder until it found his face, revealing impossibly sharp fangs as it opened its mouth.
Squall felt his heart speed up and swallowed nervously, cursing himself mentally for feeling the slightest of fear when he figured there should be none. After all, he had asked for this. He shut his eyes to steel himself better and told himself to stop.
Stop thinking. Stop feeling.
The pain of the bite, the ripping of skin and the gobbling of his innards – never happened. Instead, a gruff tongue lapped at his wet cheeks followed by a soft, animalistic whine.
It was all it took for Squall to come apart at the seams.
Slinging both his arms around the Wolf's neck and burrowing his face in thick fur, he wept acutely.
"... Why... What did I do wrong...? Why did she... Why did she have to... leave?! … I don't understand... Doesn't she... like me anymore...? Whatever I did... I didn't mean t... to... I'll make it all up to you... just... Please, come back... Sis... "
The Wolf sat perfectly still as it listened to the boy's lament, taking note of how his voice cracked every so often with hints of adolescence.
Squall wasn't sure why he was pouring his heart out to the reputedly feral Wolf and even less why he found comfort in it. Maybe it was because he figured that the Wolf would listen to him without actually hearing what he said. Maybe he wanted to believe that he had found someone who would be able to accept him without judgement.
And so, the boy ended up divulging everything that burdened him to the Wolf.
He talked about how much it broke his heart to let go of his dearest Ellone's hand, knowing he might never see her again, as a strange man from a faraway land had come to whisk her away from him.
How his mother figure was growing weaker by the day and how much it terrified him to lose her dependency. He left out the bit about him being a Sorcerer and how he knew being considered Matron's protege was the only thing protecting him from being put through witch trial; learnings of carefully concealing such information being deeply rooted into his mind.
It was getting dark by the time the boy had run out of tears to shed and confessions to tell.
"I wonder if you're lonesome too," Squall queried as he let the Wolf escort him towards the outskirts of the woodland, "I hear your howls at night sometimes. They always sound so... heartbroken... to me."
The Wolf kept walking in a steady pace, leaving no impression that it had comprehended a word the boy had just spoken but he wasn't expecting it to either.
After another good ten minutes of walking, the pair egressed the forest together and found themselves in a vast field shimmering with bright white efflorescence. It was nightfall already and the pair was presented with a beautiful view of the sun beginning its descent past the oceans horizon.
Squall fought the urge to stop dead in his tracks and just enjoy the atmosphere for a moment as he saw the lighthouse next to the orphanage beckoning him to hurry on home. He had already missed dinner and it was against regulation to be outside after the lighthouse had been lit. There was no need to pile on even more punishments than he already knew was waiting for him.
He turned around to wave goodbye to the Wolf and give a few words of thanks for its aid but was surprised to find there was no over-sized beast behind him anymore but a grown man in its stead.
Squall felt his blood run cold at the sight.
"... Who... Who are you?" He asked cautiously. The man was well-built and dressed in clothes of dark colors, mostly green and brown, with belts crosscut over his chest and around his legs. They seemed old-fashioned to the boy but he wasn't experienced enough with clothing design to pin-point why he thought that.
The man's face was properly veiled by a crimson mask, carved out of wood, which resembled the head of a wolf. It was bolstered by three leather belts encircling his own head, gilded spikes of hair poking out between the gaps in a seemingly jumbled fashion, and the mask's snout protruded forward, creating a bit of distance between the mask and the man's real face.
Around his neck was a barely visible, translucent choke chain which tailed back into the forest behind him and Squall couldn't see the end of.
"Are you... Fenrir...?"
The man took a step forward so he was standing directly in front of the boy, the sudden movement causing Squall to gasp and brace himself - for what he wasn't sure.
"I go by many names and that is indeed one of them."
The man, or rather the Wolf, knelt to an approximate eye-level with the boy and extended his arm out deliberately until his hand landed on a thin shoulder. It was meant as a comforting touch so when the boy recoiled and started trembling the Wolf frowned disapprovingly behind his mask. He found it worrisome that the boy who was barely fazed by the beastly appearance of the Wolf seemed to be petrified by his human form. It was usually the other way around.
"Will you be okay without her?"
The question seemed to help the boy recuperate a bit as he stumbled over his own words to quickly come up with a response.
"... Y" ... "Y-yeah... I'll... " He swallowed thickly, his throat suddenly feeling taut as he was reminded of Ellone. "... I'll do my best... I be able to take care of myself."
The Wolf moved his hand to tousle the boy's clipped hair gently and used his thumb to wipe away freshly formed tears from soft cheeks.
"Then you're stronger than I ever was." With that said, the Wolf rose to his feet and started walking back towards the forest, ignoring the feeling of curious eyes boring into his back.
Squall was frozen in place, flabbergasted by how the man's body blended into that of a grandiose wolf before him as he passed through the barrier of the woods. He followed it with his eyes almost desperately until it was swallowed by the darkness.
That night Squall had been sent to his room without supper and, as he lay alone in his bed, he reflected on the day's events. Thinking back, he chagrined over his blatant display of weakness and cursed his eyes that, even now, battled to push through more tears and winning.
Him? Stronger than the Wolf?
… Impossible. Although he couldn't deny the gratifying boost in self-esteem he had felt at hearing such words.
Strong.
He decidedly wanted to become stronger.
With a final determined snivel and a deep scowl on his face, Squall Leonhart resolved to make yet another promise to himself, a new rule to live by, that he would never ever show his weakness again. To anyone.