It started with a dull roar upon the blurred horizons of the burning sky in the sunset of another night just outside the red flickers of Cosmo Canyon. A wake of dust clouds swirled up behind a slick motorcycle that cut through the fading light upon the ground, a figure hunched over to control the beast. 'C'mon Fenrir...' the man thought to himself as he had been staring blankly forward, traveling towards his newest destination with what seemed to be his only friend in the world.
Mako-infected cerulean eyes stared forward through goggles that fit snugly across a slender and handsome face. Not that many would know unless the fierce blonde spikes that whipped back and forth, flailing in attempts to reassume their natural wild positions were to uncover most of it. But that's how he liked it. The hair - when standing still - usually casted a dark shadow upon the gentleman's face now-a-days, now that after-the-fact of saving the world, the man no longer wanted to be recognized.
Had he done the right thing? Had he truly saved the world from his insane Puppet Master? He himself hardly noticed anymore. He figured the planet was angry with him, casting a dark and horrid disease into his left arm that he chose to keep hidden. But that was Cloud, always drifting, always hiding. A lone wolf of sorts, and that was the animal he had come to know.
He had taken the symbol with deep loyalty, his shoulder-plate upon his left shoulder that connected a half trench coat was marked with the head of a wolven figure - in the mouth was a silver ring of loyalty. A symbol that had come to represent the ex-mercenary... The 'would-be' ex-SOLDIER member. Aha. Could he even call himself that anymore? Hardly. He had reduced himself to a mere delivery boy.
Strife zoned out from his self doubt thoughts and glanced up in time to notice that in his drifting mind he had forgotten there was a cliff's edge awaiting to greet him. He grunted in a sudden shock, yanking his wrist back on the handle to suddenly drag the bike with the breaks. Fenrir roared and jerked forward before it slowed down suddenly, leaving deep slashes in the red dirt to slow down the momentum. Fearing he wasn't going to make it, he suddenly yanked his body-weight to the side, turning the massive machine completely on it's side to help the wheels grip the ground below.
Stopping and putting a foot down just at the edge of the drop off, he glanced over the edge and lifted both eyebrows slightly in a 'huh...' sort of fashion. The half coat that had been whipping about settled to the side of his body - the single coat-sleeve that covered his left arm fluttered to rest once more against his toned yet seemingly hurt limb. He bad been babying that arm lately, cradling it to his stomach when he could and glaring upon it when it caused him an unknown pain.
The mark of the World's Anger... Star Scar... Better known as Geostigma had infected him, a secret that kept him away from the orphanage he had taken refuge with an old friend of his. Either way he kept is covered, leaving his other arm bare and exposed up to the leather gloves that covered his wrists down.
It hadn't even been upon the brink of winter, yet so far North, large tracks were imprinted upon the crystal snow fields. Pads of a large breed animal were heard drumming along the ground in a three-beat rhythmic matter that broke the silence of the gentle falling slow; pants of the beast aided the sounds as the breath of the creature lingered upon the crisp evening air yet to the human eye...
The sounds of a wolf didn't match as there wasn't one around at all... But a mere teenage boy sprinting as if his life depended upon it. Dressed in plain sneakers and blue jeans, a white plain t-shirt, and a leather jacket the male figure seemed to move too swiftly and almost ungodly, as if he were propelled by more than just his two slender legs.
Fist-clenched hands swung with his arms to help thrust his human figure forward yet if one were to pay attention, every time his two feet hit the ground - there was a faint sound of three steps, like an echo of a third foot was flirting with the sounds of the dead plains. It hardly made sense at all.... But that wasn't the only thing strange.
Why was a teenage boy outside in the bitter cold? He looked almost wild, like a runaway. Chocolate brown hair that was nearly shoulder-length fluttered every-which-way, but his speeds were causing unnatural winds around his body which forced the tresses backwards. Through the whipping locks, blue-gray.... almost.... dull eyes pierced through the falling night yet that wasn't what was truly there.
A wolf. A Wolven. Those creatures of folklore that humans thought no longer existed. They had plagued their minds with too many sadistic stories of Little Red Riding Hood - the rumor of wolves being deadly and nothing more than mass murderers grew thick in the air, solid in towns. There wasn't a place that Kiba couldn't go where he had to take on this demeaning and disloyal figure of his pride. His wolf pride. He hadn't even wanted to take this form of some sort of caucasian male... a trick of Wolf's Magic for the humans.
Because they were naive. They would have seen a boy running out in the middle of nowhere yet any other animal with that sort os Sixth Sense would have known better. The rapping of three paws hitting the ground was truthfully Kiba - the White Wolf. The wolves that would lead all wolves to Paradise, that's what he was searching for after all. A pure white wolf that even made the snow below him seem tainted.... not quite as pure as the wolf it so dared to try and freeze in its icy clutch.
The eyes in fact were not blue and gray of a humans, but almond-shaped and that of a wolf's..... bright sunfire yellow and indeed very much wild. He had never been tamed - caught..... but not tamed. Kiba knew of tame wolves and used to look down upon them - even if he, himself, used to travel with an Indian's Clan..... his old pack.... Of humans.
But they were different in his eyes. Compared to those humans that lingered around Tsume, Toboe and Hige - his humans were one with nature. They had that sixth sense and took Kiba in for what he was. A wolf. Not this stupid outfit that he has to masquerade in to stay alive while looking for her.....
Her.... The one of the flowers. The scent was strong - even in the winds around him. His powerful nose could smell her. It was the Flower Maiden that he barely knew of her name yet seemed to want to protect her at all costs. She was the key... She was the key to the Wolf's Paradise. Ahh.... The idea of Paradise always made his coat bristle excitedly - more or less goose-bumps in a human's fashion. Although.... Somewhere in the last town he had lost his new-found pack of misfits and his Flower Maiden, Cheza.
Could Darcia have gotten to them first? Hn...... A man that wanted to become a wolf. NOW he had heard of it all. But that didn't matter as long as his 'friends' and Cheza were alright.
Narrowing his eyes, the wolf suddenly slowed down and skidded to a stop by locking his powerful legs and sliding in the snow until he gave a faint prancing jump out of the four awkward dents in the thick frozen liquid and land gracefully atop. Massive paws carried him to the edge of the top of the canyon, down below was the next town over as he had been instructed - he felt fatigued but he would have never shown it. He couldn't let Pops and Hubb (Who had been in hot pursuit of the wolves to obtain Blue) catch up to him.
Thick ears swiveled forward in curiosity as he glanced down and took a good, long, hard look towards the town. A black nose twitched, picking up the scents of the humans - yet there was a faint scent of the Midnight flowers and his scruffy pack of rejects.
A villager glanced up to see a boy standing tall and almost proud atop the canyon walls, glaring down at the city but not with a mean look at all. His face was innocent - his eyes showed wisdom beyond his years. Maybe that's why Kiba was the quiet one of the group? Ahh, it didn't much matter. He was there to find his wolves and his flower - he would take the human form for as long as needed.
No matter how much it hurt his sense of pride as a wolf, Hige had been ride about one thing... Better to appear human than to be recognized as a wolf in this world.
The Child's Prodigy - that of which children all over the world strived and idoled, saying they would grow up to be just like Edward Elric. That would have been fine and dandy and all... if they had known the true story of the kid. Sure he sacrificed two limbs in attempts to make up for one big mistake, misunderstanding..... Call it whatever you wanted. Edward had fucked up - and he had paid the ultimate price for it. Well.... Not the ultimate... But he had lost enough to shape up and go upon a never-ending quest to find the one stone believed to be able to make all of his mistakes right again.
It sounded perfect. It was a great plan. He and his loyal brother Alphonse would travel and find this stone, fix things and be out of the Military he had decided he MUST join within two clicks. That was five years ago. Five years ago when a twelve year old was full of ambition and spirit, ready to conquer anything to bring his brother's body back.
Edward was now seventeen. His old uniform that didn't want to give up barely seemed to fit - the collar of his shirt was no longer clasped yet he still adorned his red coat. After all that had been through it wasn't his original of course. But another coat that Izumi tailored for him to make up for the ripped to shreds red fabric that used to symbolize Edward in the military.
Sure he still wore it, he refused to get into that military dress-up junk... He would be no better then that damned Mustang. Ugh. A strange relationship he had come to have with the man though. Nothing intimate, mind you - it simply wouldn't have been. A guardian more or less. Roy had become Edward's older brother in his eyes. A person that no matter how much he tried to claw down and wipe that damn smug smile off the bastard's face, he would go to and talk..... When they had their nice moments.
Ahh but they never lasted long. Mustang would find something to say that he could tie into the conversation to attack Edward's height and the kid would lose it as always. He had become more mature, but his temper was still a mere switch, a deadly flaw that the kid hadn't overcome.
No, Edward still had a problem swallowing the fact that he was a bit smaller than his co-workers. It never dawned on him that he was still growing and they, by now, were in their thirties. Nope. In his eyes he was a man. He had been since the day he set a torch to his house and walked away without looking back by the side of his armored brother. He had made a promise and he wouldn't go back on his word.
Nothing would stop Edward! He would prevail and get his brother's body back! Not even Death or the Homunculi or the Military could stop him! He was invincible! He was flawless! He was..... hungry!
"Arrrrghhh!!" A tenor voice cried out as a slender body flopped down on a barstool upon a outdoor restaurant, much like those in Liore, he thought. "... Damnit, Al... We've been chasing our tails on this case all around town and the only thing I've gotten from it is an empty stomach..." He grinned almost stupidly at himself s his arms were stretched out over the bar top - sprawled on his chair with a pathetic look upon his slender face.
He may have been Seventeen, but for a kid that wasn't allowed to have a childhood and grow up properly, he still had a few priorities that he needed to work out. While his braid flopped over a shoulder in such a position, he blinked when there was no clank of armor sounding off next to him. He had gotten used to the sound and truth be told he felt awkward when he didn't hear it. ".... Al?" Golden orbs curiously glanced to the side and over his shoulder before they turned into a flat-browed expression - half way in the middle of pointing out his order.
Sure as hell, his brother was lagging behind - petting some child's cat. Damn cat.... Edo hated them. Why? Their claws of course! Ugh.. Stupid, useless things.... yet his brother seemed so in love with the furrballs that he often found himself surrounded in them. It wasn't the cats though that made him angry when he saw them... It was a memory he had of one he tried to save.... and Mother said they couldn't. He gave a sigh then shook his head. "Yo, Alphonse! Don't get too attached to it!" He called out yet was completely distracted as a bowl of steaming food was placed before him.
Glimmering hues widened slightly before he grinned and snatched up the chopsticks in his left hand and the bowl in his right. A soft clinking noise was heard when the glove-covered fake limb gripped the bowl in which he urked faintly. Ahh, he would never get used to that sound though.
Inhaling and seeming to pause in his complete movements - like Mustang had been fooling with the Edovision Remote Control again - he quickly dipped his head down and started shoveling the contents of the bowl in his face, more or less his gaping mouth with the chopsticks in a quick manner - scarfing and soon forgetting that his brother had been playing with another cat. Oh well. Least that one belonged to someone and would be tucked away in Alphonse's armor, right? Right. Damn this was good.
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depressed
contemplative
pissed off
crushed
betrayed
Raped of Innocence