Thursday, July 30, 2009

A burial was made shortly after the battle as we wished away the ones that have fallen. The wolves gathered together as they mourned for the two wolves that were loved and lost. One was an elderly male wolf while the other was a young mother, whose cubs were now orphans. The atmosphere was filled with grief and anger as the wolves were determined to avenge their fallen members. Shinn had come back from his despair of losing Stellar to the Lab. His eyes no longer shone of the happy innocence that had once filled them. Instead, they were bitter and bent on revenge. “Athrun,” he growled. “We need to take revenge against the creatures of the Lab, who've hurt and stolen so many of us,”

There was a howl of chorus as the wolves chimed in, agreeing with their leader. “We have to work harder and become stronger to protect everyone dear to us and also free the ones that were taken captive. But to do that, we must train until our strength is nearly depleted. Then, we will have a chance to deliver justice upon our foes,” Shinn declared.

“Yes! Bring down the unnatural and save our kin!” Tristan, one of the male wolves cried out and another chorus of agreement was heard.

Shinn nodded his head. “Tonight, rest up and tend to the injured, for tomorrow, we will not rest until the vile creatures are defeated!,” he said before dismissing them.

As I went inside the cave, I saw Cagalli on the cave floor, bandaging the wounded wolves with scraps of my abandoned jacket. Approaching her, I brushed my hand on her shoulder as she looked up at me. “How are things going on here?” I asked as I nodded to the wolves who were licking each others' wounds.

Cagalli frowned slightly. “I guess that we should be grateful that the injuries are nothing major, but they will take some time to heal, and I'm not sure how much time we'll have before we face off against the Lab,” she admitted.

“I see. There's nothing we can do to speed the process of healing. Only thing now is to prevent others from being injured,”

I brushed my hand through the soft fur of a young she-wolf who was injured in the battle. I could tell that she was hurting, but I tried to soothe her as Cagalli brought up her injured paw and bandaged it. As she did so, I noticed a hiss of pain escape her mouth as she moved her injured arm. Touching her gently on her shoulder, I stopped her. “Here, let me go it; my wounds aren't as bad,” I said as I held the abandoned strip of fabric.

Sighing, Cagalli and I switched roles as she comforted the she-wolf while I bandaged her. When I finished, Cagalli broke the silence. “Athrun?”

I looked at Cagalli who called my name. “What about him?” she asked looking past me.

I turned my head to see Nicol's still unconscious form lying on the cave floor. I frowned as I inspected his wounds. His arms were bleeding heavily where Kira had bit him. Perhaps they were even broken. As I studied his wounds, I realized that I was forgetting something. Turning my head back to Cagalli, I called out, “What happened to Nicol's bracelet?”

“I placed them in my pocket to study them later,”

“Can I see them?”

Reaching out, Cagalli placed the two broken fragments into my outstretched hand. It was a cool metal bracelet that had a piece of glass down the middle. As I recalled Nicol wearing it earlier, it had flashed colors of red and green, but that was gone now. “Why do you think Nicol and Kira came today?” I heard Cagalli ask.

“I don't know; there could be many reasons,” I flipped the bracelet over onto the other side, but found nothing that would indicate its meaning. “Perhaps, we can ask Nicol when he wakes,”

“Ask Nicol?” Cagalli asked, clearly surprised. “Won't he try and kill us all when he regains his consciousness?”

I turned towards her. “He would probably attempt it,” I agreed. “However, he seems to be badly injured, so I highly doubt that he would want to be moving much. You see, only direwolves, such as I, or any higher-level creatures have the ability to heal under the moonlight. Nicol doesn't have that ability,”

Cagalli said nothing to that as she absent-mindedly stroked Basil, a young male wolf, who fell asleep on her side. “Do you think he'll tell us anything?” she asked after a moment of silence.

“It's possible. Sure, he hates me, but I'm sure that he's not particularly fond of the lab either, due to all the experimentation on the subjects. Who knows, maybe he'll turn back into his old self,”

“His old self?”

I nodded. “Nicol wasn't always like this; he was a kind-hearted boy. Though he was stronger than the average wolf, he was still the weakest compared to the other Nobles,” I told her. “Nicol and I, we grew up together as close cell mates along with the others that you've met. When we grew older and stronger, the humans separated us into individual cells,”

“We would only be allowed to see each other during experimentations and fights, where the humans would study our abilities as we fought each other. Though Nicol was forced to, he loathed violence and would never attack, only defend. But I guess everything changed after I escaped the Lab,”

After I finished summarizing the Nicol's characteristics, Cagalli suppressed a yawn as her eyes moistened from doing so. “You should get some sleep; you've been through a long day,” I told her. “I'll be staying awake to keep watch,”

Cagalli nodded as she shifted towards the wall, so that her back would be leaning against the cave wall and closed her eyes. I could tell that she was fast asleep due to her heavy, rhythmic breathing, which I was familiar with. Getting back onto my feet, I exited through the mouth of the cave. Bending down, I sprung up like a spring and did a back flip into the air. I landed on my feet carefully, but stumbled as I felt pain going up my spine as I did so. Shaking off the pain, I looked upwards towards the night sky, which was partly cloudy. Only a small amount of moonlight could be seen, but I guess that would have to do for now.

Stripping off my top with great difficulty with one uninjured arm, I felt my wounds close as the walls of flesh began to piece themselves together. However, before the wounds were a third of the way closed, the regeneration halted due to the limited amount of moonlight that was shone. I sighed. It seemed that I would need a few more days before my wounds would completely heal. At the very least, I would be at full strength by the next full moon. Sitting down, the pain in my tail bone where Kira has bit down was gone. Anything that was probably fractured had mended itself during my healing process.

As the silence and darkness wrapped around me, I was left to do some recollecting of earlier events. When Kira and I had been fighting, Nicol had interrupted our match. “Hades! Chairman is calling us back; we've been gone for too long,” he had said.

When Kira looked as though he was about to ignore him and continue with the fight, Nicol snapped at him, “If we don't get back now, even you will be punished, stupid!” and with that Kira lashed out at him, ignoring the fact that they were comrades.

I frowned at the thought of Kira attacking anyone and everyone. Judging by the today's earlier results, it seemed that he was willing to hurt anyone who got in his way, regardless of whether they were friend or foe... No, in this case, everyone would be his enemy. His anger never seemed to cool down, but what was it that made him so angry? I sighed as more and more questions popped in my mind.

Jumping down from the top of the cave, I was once again at the mouth of the cave where I had left Cagalli. As I entered, I suddenly halted when I realized that another was also awake. His amber eyes studied me as I began moving back inside. It was Nicol, only that he had reverted back to his original form. “Why am I still alive?” he growled deeply.

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you prefer not to be?” I asked in return.

His eyes narrowed. “Being in this state, it's rather obvious that I'm no match for even you now,” he spat, eyes full of disgust. “You could finish me off at any moment,”

As I opened my mouth to answer, Nicol answered his own question. “Ah I see. You wanted to keep me around to answer your questions. So, playing the interrogator, huh?” Nicol said as he read my mind.

I ignored him. “You can keep reading my mind for all you want, but realize that having a one-man conversation isn't very entertaining. So either you answer my questions or shut up and let me have some peace,” I told him.

“And why should I tell you what I know?”

“Because you hate living at the lab,”

Nicol paused as his eyes turned to slits at my words. “What's it to you whether I like living there or not?” he questioned.

“I don't understand why anyone would enjoy being in that sort of place while being electrocuted or having dozens of wires being inserted into you,” I retorted. “I believe that you aren't in that category,”

When Nicol didn't reply, I decided to be reasonable. “Regardless of whether you decide to be of some help or not, our plan of taking down the Lab will still continue to take progress. If we had some information on the lab, things will go a lot faster,” I told him.

Nicol raised an eyebrow. “Take down the lab, eh? Well, either you are courageous or foolish. The chance of you getting out alive-”

“I know the chance of surviving is slim,” I cut in. “But it has to be done. If I can bring it all down, set everyone free, but die in the process, all is not lost,”

A sigh of exasperation echoed throughout the cave. “Once again playing the hero of justice. That aspect of you never really changed,” Nicol said.

I shook my head at his words. “If the lab goes down, then I will also have my long-awaited freedom. And you as well,” I told him.

When Nicol said nothing, I could tell that he was thinking my words over. It was not a lie; he really did want to be free. When we were just kids, when everyone else was fast asleep, Nicol, who laid next to me would often talk about his dreams and what he wanted the future to be like for him. He wanted to be free to roam around, whether to be chasing after deer in the forests or making friends and living among humans. If he was no longer used as an experiment, he would be satisfied. Even now, when he had changed dramatically, I knew that he wasn't the type to give up on his dreams.

“So, will you answer a few of my questions? Why were you and the others come here today?” I asked, studying Nicol carefully. “And how did you find us?”

He made no sign of surprise at my question. Nicol stared off into space and remained silent for so long that I had thought that he was not going to reply. “Like I told you not too long ago, after you left, everyone went through a gradual change, to become stronger. As you are already well aware, not every subject is a successful one. So, many of the subjects died in the process, decreasing rapidly in numbers. The Chairman wasn't interested in figuring why they couldn't survive, but was intent on getting better specimens for his experiments. The weak that cannot survive is not needed,” he said bitterly.

“So, he sent you out to gather more specimens?” I asked, a growl rising in my throat.

Nicol simply nodded. “Humans and wolves alike. As for how we found you guys, that would be thanks to Hades' enhanced senses. At around 50 km away, he picked up the scent of a pack of wolves and steered us towards this direction. Though I was rather surprised when I saw her-” his glance dropped on Cagalli's sleeping figure. “-here among the wolves and your scent all over the place,”

As he gave me his brief explanation, I couldn't help but catch some hatred in his voice as he spoke about Hades. Did they not get along? They were teammates... “Just because we are on the same side does not mean we are all buddy buddy with each other,” Nicol snarled as he picked up what I was thinking. “In fact, I would like nothing better than to skin his hide and use it as my wall decorator,”

“That guy... he is superior to all of us in Lab, in everything; strength, agility, senses, regeneration and intelligence. He has the humans all excited about his existence and even the chairman is wrapped around his finger. Yet, he lives as though he is an angered zombie who cannot rest in peace; no emotions but anger, icy both in his heart and his eyes,” Nicol growled. “He has everything that one could wish for, but what is he unsatisfied with?”

From what I had known about Kira was the fact that he was a happy, benevolent boy, who loved his sister very much. But now, all trace of happiness was sucked away when Kira was turned into Hades. Was it possible that he was angry for the fact that he was turned against his will? Or was it because any trace of his freedom had been locked away when he was captured? I frowned. There were so many reasons why the Lab had to go down, but even now, I was a little doubtful on whether I'd be able to pull it off. “Damn that guy, I want to get even with him for attacking me,” Nicol added angrily.

“Oh, right. You're injured,” I said, remembering that fact. “Let's take a look at your wounds,”

I took a handful of jacket strips and brought them over to Nicol, who was trying to get into a sitting position, but with difficulty. With one hand, I lifted his shoulder and pushed against it until he was off the ground, ignoring his glare. As I reached out to hold Nicol's injured arm, Nicol shrank back and slapped my hand away. “I can do it myself!” he snapped as he snatched the bandages from my open hand.

I took a step back, a little surprised but then hid a small smile. Though he tried to look mature and cool, he was still very much of a kid on the inside. I watched him as he clumsily bandaged his injured arm with the other arm. In the end, it was messily bandaged, but it was bandaged at the very least. Reaching into my pant pockets I took out Nicol's bracelet fragments. “By the way, what are these? You never had them before I left,” I said as I held out my palm to show him.

Nicol scowled darkly as he eyed the broken pieces with distaste. He turned his head to the side, avoiding my glance. “That was my power gauge,” he said quietly.

“What does it do, exactly?” I raised my eyebrow in curiosity.

“They temporarily increase the strength and power of the person who wears it. The humans at the lab can monitor our battles and abilities that way. These things also tell us when we are to go back when the energy is too low or when we are called back by the humans,” Nicol explained. “But as you can see, it won't work now,”

“Now, since I've told you what you wanted to know, it's my turn to ask the questions,” he said, meeting my glaze. “What do you plan to do with me?”

Truthfully, I didn't know what to answer to that question. I had wanted him to join our side to take down the Lab, since it would be beneficial for both of us, but whether he wanted to go against the ones that he had grown up with was another question. It is true that he wanted to be free more than anything, but I couldn't force him to make that decision now.

“We will not tie you up or torture you. Instead, you will be free to walk wherever, but I warn you now; go back to the Lab and I will not hesitate to take you down along with the others,”

Labels: gundam seed, wolf rider