This part was inspired by
Twilight town
Epilogue Part 1
The Differences that Separate Us
According to Tarot, the moment my brother and his friends left on their journey she immediately went to solve their most pressing issue. What i understood from it was that she used mental suggestions to all of their parents to explain to where they went for the duration of their journey. Fido and Sabrina were under the cover of visiting Sabrina’s dad out of the country, while Fox was said to be part of a K-9 exchange program with Boston. For King’s story Tarot implanted the idea of King finally meeting his old owner so that he legally sign him over to the Miltons into the members of the wolf house, while my Peanut won three tickets to a pridelands screening in california in a fan-art raffle and obviously took Grape and my brother.
Hearing it for the first time made my head spin, all i really needed to know was that it worked and everyone could try to live some kind of semblance of a normal life. That is except for me. After everything I’ve been through wrapping my head around a normal life is practically impossible. There’s no plausible way to deny it, everything happened. From leaving mom to passing five years in nothing but inky black darkness to ending up here in Babylon, it’s all a reality. That reality now includes my other half, my brother. It’s been exactly three days since I’ve seen him but Kitsune insists on keeping an eye on him in an abandoned house somewhere here in Babylon while i inconspicuously take his place in Peanut and Grape’s house. I’ve tried looking for the house he mentioned once or twice but came up with nothing no matter who i asked. I wanted to find that house because I was curious but mostly because I wanted his examination to be over and done with so that we could see our mom again. I still have no idea on how to explain everything to her though. That’s a bridge that I’ll cross when i get to it.
As for everyone else, namely Grape, Fox and Fido, they’ve more or less kept their distance from me. Whether or not it comes from them still being unsure about me or they’re still afraid of me is still pretty much in the air. All i do know is that they’re still very wary of me and whenever Grape’s parents are around she only acts like she’s not uncomfortable with me being under the same roof as her. Whenever our eyes do meet all three of them look at me like I’m going to revert into some kind of primal monster or something. So what else is new?
“Fen~ er Other Fen? Sorry it’s a little hard to keep that in mind. Anyway, did you get all of that?” Peanut cut my thoughts short causing me to shake my head and snap myself out of it
“Sorry, I, uh, blanked there for a sec.” I grabbed the paper bag and put it on my head “Uh can you explain it to me again but in less detail. Just the general gist of it should do.”
Peanut’s tone didn’t shift in the slightest as he didn’t seem to mind being ignored “Well, to put it in simplest possible way i can… You’re a kid who’s just gotten lost up in the mountains, for whatever reason I’m not sure. He didn’t really explain what that kid was doing up there in the mountains anyway. Just act naturally, the game has a lot of liberties when it comes to the main character, heck we don’t know if it’s canonically a guy or a girl.”
“Okay, I think I get it.” I said before Peanut could go on any further
“Great, I”ll go down and set a few things up.” Peanut said as his voice got increasingly distant “I’ll call for you when I’m ready.”
Now that Peanut was gone and I had more time to think again, i let my thoughts flow wildly free. It was odd being around Mr and Mrs Sandwich, not that they were scared of me, there was just nothing but indifference, it certainly was something new to me. To them i was just another dog, one that temporarily lives with them yeah, but still. Normally people notice my fangs and out they go, but to them I was normal. I was actually surprised to have them want me for dinner. It was nice to feel like i was a part of the family.
“Alright Other Fen, I’m ready and waiting!” Peanut announced from the bottom of the staircase
With Peanut’s go signal already clear I felt my way towards the staircase “Wait! I forgot to ask, how on earth do you guys see through these things!?” Unfortunately i asked that question far too late and was instantly met with a plummet down the stairs, it hurt, but I’ve been through much worse “Nevermind.”
“Howdy!” Peanut announced happily seemingly unaware that i fell down a flight of stairs “I’m ~ … ya know what, forget this. Imma just start chuckin’ these friendliness pellets at ya. Here catch!”
Since i couldn’t see i braced myself for something to hit me. It could’ve been a ball, a plate, really anything solid. Instead i felt a small ball of paper hit my snout and bounce harmlessly off rather anti-climatically. In hindsight i guess i should’ve seen it coming, he did say we were playing pretend, Imaginate i think he called it. Still something felt wrong about my right wrist and i think i needed to have it looked at. So with my good hand i removed my bag to find Peanut holding a pile of crumpled up papers ready for use.
“Peanut,” i sighed but he still continued pelting me with his wads of paper, it was harmless but it got old really quick “Peanut, Stop!”
“I do not know this Peanut!” he yelled back “I am flow~” Peanut momentarily halted his attack before calling out “GOAT MOM, DO SOMETHING! I think i have him down to almost one HP. Don’t you care for this poor defenseless child I’m about to force to restart the game!?”
Grape’s response came in the form of a blue metal star hitting peanut in the face, but due to its small size it did next to nothing “Aw c’mon Goat Mom, there’s gotta be something better up your sleeve. He’ll have to watch the opening cutscene again, with no skip button! The horror!” when no answer came Peanut’s ears began to drop “Is it because I’m playing with Other Fen?”
“Sorry, it’s not that it because I this strange thing didn’t show up on our door step with my name on it.” Grape sighed from the living room “And who the heck is T?”
Hearing this Peanut instantly abandoned his paper bag mask and ran towards Grape in the living room. With a frustrated sigh i gingerly picked myself up off the floor and followed them all the way to the living room. In front of Grape was a box the size of a small safe with a lock firmly attached and keeping it shut.
“Ooh What’s inside!” Peanut already had his nose on the case trying to sniff out whatever could be inside
On the top of the box was a small note which Grape read aloud “To replace something that you’ve lost. Whatever you do with it is up to you. T” she flipped the back of the note and found no return address, no courier responsible for this delivery or anything only a blank side “Well whoever this T is, he must not be very smart. He put a lock on the thing without sending me the key~....” Grape stood silent for a few seconds before facepalming “Right, I’m an idiot.”
With her hand held out purple flames sparked to life before coming together to form her keyblade. Now that she was properly armed Grape focused the blade’s point at the lock. Not a second later and the tip of Grape’s keyblade lit up before shooting a small beam of light that immediately undid the padlock.
Carefully Grape opened the lid and peered inside with me and Peanut joining her “Rocks? Is, Is that it? Rocks, really?” i asked taking a small piece out of the box
“White and shiny rocks.” Peanut corrected once again sending in his nose to see if there was anything he could learn from it
Aside from the two traits Peanut mentioned there was nothing else that stood out about these rocks. Granted the one in my good hand did feel a little light considering the proportions but other than that nothing. These were just white, shiny and lightweight rocks. Why would someone go through the trouble of sending these to Grape anonymously?
Before we could think about it any further a doorbell ringing cut the process short “I’ll get it!” Peanut yelled before running off “Oh Hi there. Come in.” Peanut then returned with Kitsune lagging slightly behind him
From what I remember from Sabrina and King’s, memories this nine tailed fox was usually pretty upbeat. Now, even though he was supposed to be a celestial, he looked exhausted as if he hadn’t slept in days and it was finally taking its toll on him. He still tried to hide it behind his usual grin and carefree attitude, but now that facade was far weaker and the cracks in his mask were almost transparent.
“Do you two mind, if i speak to Other Fen privately.” he said with a weak grin
“Of course not.” Peanut responded almost immediately “C’mon Grape let’s give them some space.” He grabbed Grape by the wrist and lead her out while she had the box in tow
“Wait, this is our house, why are we going out? Can’t we like go into the other room?” she complained as she was dragged out
“Nah, our walls kinda suck. I could probably hear through it, besides I’ve been meaning to ask Tarot what she thinks of my new keyblade anyway. Remember Other Fen our parents are in the groceries right now so if you need anything, their number’s on the fridge. We’ll be back soon.” Peanut reasoned as he took Grape out the front door leaving me alone with Kitsune
Kitsune took a moment to sit down on the couch as if he needed to gather his words. It made me curious as to what he wanted me alone for. Was there something wrong with my brother? Can we finally get to see our mom again? Why was he being so distant right now?
“I’ll just come out and say it.” i sighed as i took a seat next to him “Can we finally go see our mom now? You‘ve had three days to get a look at my brother. That should be more than enough time right?”
Kitsune leaned back onto the couch “Look kid about your mom, you can’t just go see her right now.”
“Well why not?”
“For starters your brother’s condition is serious. Sure on the outside he’s fine, but it’s the inside the has me very concerned, and due to the circumstances I may be the only one who can help him.”
“Its that bad?”
“I’m trying everything i can think up of to help him but nothing seems to be working. For now he looks stable but I’m not sure if it’ll last.”
Kitsune then snapped his fingers and caused a set of papers to materialize on the coffee desk in front of me “second there’s this matter. The mortal law doesn’t really give you much of a choice in the matter anyway.”
Cautious of what i could find i slowly picked up the set of papers and gave them a thorough look over. On the very top of the papers it said was the title Pedigree Papers and underneath that was written my name. The title had me curious, I didn’t know anything about my birth parents since i was found abandoned and i would’ve like to know a little more than their breed but something was better than nothing. According to the papers my father was a cross breed between a German Shepard and an Alaskan Malamute, and my mother was a full blooded wolf. My eyes continued to study the paper and i found a certain phrase highlighted in red ink.
“German Shepard blood percentage: 7%, Alaskan Malamute blood percentage: 7%, Wolf blood percentage: 86%”
Kitsune let me have a moment to process my bloodline “While looking after your brother he told me about a vision he had, mentioning about a white dragon putting some sort of spell on the two of you while you were pups. The only clue i had to work with was that it was meant to hide your other half. I got curious and looked into it and found traces of a spell that wore off some time ago, four to five years ago give or take. So while disguised as a mortal i had your blood tested under the mortal’s own science and got these results. As you can already see these are vastly different compared to your old ones that just said unidentifiable breed.”
“What’s this got to do with anything?” i finally said after taking a few moments to reread my mother’s side of my heritage “Kitsune, please it’s been five years. I ~ We need to be with her again.”
“In this world the US Officials banned the practice of breeding wolves and dogs together. Keeping one as a pet is illegal. You are considered a feral animal and if found in your mom’s custody she will be arrested and you will be sent into the wild.” Kitsune said bluntly
I found myself trying to process those words “Are you telling me that there’s no way i can be with her again?”
“Now i didn’t say that.” Agrin formed on Kitsune’s muzzle as he snapped his fingers again and this time two sets of papers appeared with the title ‘GOE application’ “The GOE, or General Obedience Exam, is a test that they give out to any feral animal that decides they want to live within the human society. If you pass you can live with your mom again. However, the process does take time to fully complete, so you will need to wait out a little bit more.”
I didn’t know whether or not i should whack him upside the head with my keyblade. On one hand i was happy there was a chance that me and my brother could see mom again so i didn’t care all too much, but on the other hand Kitsune phrased it as if being together with mom again was almost impossible. Kitsune must’ve read the inner turmoil from my eyes because a few moments after i had that thought he began to laugh.
“Sorry about that, it’s just a force of habit to mess with you mortals.” He ruffled my head fur before standing up “Now I’ve been delaying my report to the higher ups long enough. Your brother seems stable enough for me to be gone for a little while. Hopefully i don’t get my tails chewed out on this.” Kitsune was about to snap his fingers for a third and final time but he stopped “Oh, do me a favor and let him in. He’s just waiting outside.” and with that final snap of his fingers Kitsune was gone
As soon as Kitsune was gone i rushed over to the front door and took a peek out of the the peep hole. Sure enough my brother was sitting on the porch with nothing but an eyepatch on his left eye and a black scarf wrapped around his neck for warmth. Not wanting to keep him waiting any longer than he already has, i immediately undid the locks and opened the door.
“T-T-Took ya l-l-long enough.” he laughed in between shivers
“What’s with the eyepatch?” i pointed to it and found that the strange blue mark underneath his left eye had stayed even after we reverted
“I-If you really want to know, let me in, C’mon I’m freezing my tail off.” He rolled his one visible eye
I responded with an apologetic grin “Sorry about that, Kitsune was messing with me so i didn’t get much of a choice.” instinctively, i reached out to him with my right hand but forgot that it was feeling weird after that tumble down the stairs, the result was me pulling back instantly and gritting my teeth
“What’s wrong?” He asked after he shut the door behind him
“I, uh, took nasty spill earlier.” I gingerly rubbed the wrist to ease the pain “I’ve been through much worse as you can atest to.”
“Here let me take a look.” my brother eased me into a sitting position while following me down to that level
My brother was careful in inspecting my wrist. He didn’t jerk it around but he did poke at it a little. When I responded with a few winces he knew what to do next. Carefully he wrapped both hands around my wrist and closed his eye. Not a moment later and a slight green glow flashed from between his hands. Once that was done my brother then poked at it a little more aggressively. This time there was no pain.
I stared at him for a while “How did you~
“Do that?” he finished my sentence for me “Kitsune says that I’ve been using the keyblade as a power crutch. I could do those spells all on my own, but it takes practice and time, usually years to get to some of the high level spells I’ve been using. The keyblades just boosts what’s already there.”
“Alright mister mage, now what’s up with that eye of yours?” i shot him a slightly annoyed look as i lead him into the living room
“Oh right this thing.” he undid the string that was keeping it on his face, revealing this his left eye was still a sky blue color to match the strange mark underneath his eye “Kitsune tells me it's something called the Scout Eye. With it i can see long distances but since i don’t know how to control it yet the eye just makes me nauseous.” he redid the eyepatch on his head almost immediately “Though i don’t need it to see this.” He picked up the GOE papers Kitsune left behind
I took the other set that was probably meant for me “He probably already told you didn’t he.” My eyes fell on the first item on the list of questions, name “How are we going to work around this? Our names, i mean, we can’t both use the name Fenrir.”
“Well no duh. Aside from it being the name of the demonic mute who’s tried to kill us a few days ago it’ll just make things way too confusing. I mean three wolves with the name Fenrir, it's going to be hard when we’re all in a room together.” I found it weird when he laughed at the fact that he mentioned our lives were in danger not too long ago, i guess it has it happened so often that it's already become a joke to him.
An awkward moment of silence began to settle in between the two of us. I remember this kind of awkwardness happening with me and dad, but seriously? We must be pretty anti-social if we can’t socialize with each other considering we were once the same dog. er wolf, uh Wolfdog?
“Hey, speaking of names,” he said all of a sudden to break the tension “did you know that wolves don’t name their pups? When they reach a certain age the go through this whole ceremony with trials and everything. And at the end the wolf pup gets to name himself not only as a way to coming to terms with who they are but what they can connect with.” he began fidgeting with his collar as an uneasy look was seen from his eyes “I, uh, was thinking that we should eventually go through this thing eventually considering what we are. I even found a book where we can draw inspiration for our names.” he pulled out a small pocket book from his collar that was titled guide to norse mythology for idiots
I took a quick look through the pages and found a few names already underlined in blue pen, probably ones he was thinking of adopting as his own. Some of them were the names of heroes, and some of them were the names of other wolves or Canines like Geri and Freki. On those particular two a red line was scribbled underneath the blue one. Maybe he wanted us to have a twins theme going on.
“Y’know for someone who’s been spouting nothing but knowledge at me for the past few minutes, it’s weird that you’d be carrying a book with for idiots in the title” i grinned at him while i pointed at the cover
“Shut up, it's the only one small enough to take along with me anywhere i go.” he blushed as he tried to grab the small book from my hands
Fortunately i was fast enough to pull away and hold it just within arms reach to taunt him “No the world must see your proclamation that you are indeed an idiot!”
“Dude C’mon!” he argued as he tried to get the book back
While i was able to keep the book far from his hands it didn’t take long till i was eventually backed into a corner. From there all i could do was shove my hand into his face so that he couldn’t reach the book even when he was still so close.
All our horsing around however didn’t last very long as another doorbell cut it short. We paused for a moment and only began to move again when it rang for a second time. As quietly as we could me and my brother made our way towards the door and to the peek hole. On the other side of the door was a man with bleached hair, knocking on the door. Parked on the curb was a large white van with the letters L.A.R.C. painted onto its side. At a glance he didn’t look all too promising, a tattoo was visible on the side of his face that was mostly Celtic knots and from the looks of it the tattoo goes down even further.
“My name is Tyler Matthews and I’m with the L.A.R.C. I was told this was where i could find Fenrir Rodriguez.” When he was given no reply again he began knocking on the door “Mr. and Mrs Sandwich? Is anybody home?”
“What do we do?” My brother whispered
“Did you forget what we do when we see strangers at the door? We call mom, but in this case we call Mr and Mrs Sandwich.” i responded as i quietly made my way to the fridge
It didn’t take too long to find the number and even less time to input the number into the phone. Soon the phone began to ring as me and my brother shared a calm look at each other. Given our past experiences there’s no question that we could take this guy on. The problem was that we couldn’t use our powers. Plus the GOE was hanging over our heads, if it got out that we attacked someone, it probably wouldn’t do well for our score on the test.
“Hello?” his voice came after a few rings “Peanut we’re just paying at the cashier we should be home in twenty minutes tops.”
I cleared my throat before speaking “Mr Sandwich, it’s me Fen. You wouldn’t happen to know a Tyler Matthews would you? You know a guy covered in celtic themed tattoos, with bleached hair.”
“No why?” his voice suddenly took a turn for the more concerned
“Cause the guy i described is looking for you.” i responded as quietly as i can but the continued knocking and doorbell ringing was probably heard over my voice “Says he’s part of a group named L.A.R.C.”
Mr Sandwich’s voice just jumped from being concerned to being completely protective “Listen to me boy, there’s a number on the corkboard near the fridge. It should connect you to a house that belongs to Bill Lindberg. Once he or his dog picks up tell him to engage protocol J Zero Three One. We’ll try to reach Bill on his cellphone. Me and My wife will be home as soon as possible, and whatever you do; do not open that door.”
I didn’t even get a chance to respond, he just instantly hung up on me “Seems like overkill don’t you think?” My brother said as he handed me a second number to dial in “I mean he’s just one guy.”
“You’d be surprised.” I sighed as i punched in the number
This time it took more than a few rings before someone picked up, and when someone did answer the phone loud party music and laughter could be instantly heard in the background. It took a few seconds until i noticed someone was on the other end trying to talk to me.
“HELLO!?” Fox yelled through the noise
“Fox it’s me, Oth-”i paused if i told him which one i was I’d only be slowing down our conversation “Fen.” i corrected
“Hold on,” he sighed before shouting at the top “WOULD YOU GUYS KEEP IT DOWN!? I’M TRYING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION HERE!”
Miraculously the phone was close enough to the second voice that i could actually understand what he was saying “Aw rookie c’mon we finally tore you away from those weird scrolls you got from this mysterious tutor of yours. Enjoy yourself a little and celebrate! By the way, who’s T?”
“Wait you got something from T also?” Again it was a miracle i could hear Fido’s voice
“Augh nevermind.” Fox sighed as the party music was slightly muffled after a door shut “Sorry about that Fen, the guys from the station are throwing me a welcome back party and i think they may have gone a little overboard. So, what’s up?”
As i talked I heard the sound of him sipping some kind of drink but i decided to ignore it for now “Look apparently there’s this guy on our doorstep who’s looking for me, er me and my brother, but we don’t know who he is. When we called Mr. Sandwich he said to call you and engage something called protocol J, Zero, Three, One”
Fox did a spit take which instantly killed the muffled music outside “PROTOCOL J, ZERO, THREE, ONE!?”
The door Fox shut was instantly pushed open and Fox shoved aside, much to his dismay, for a new dog to answer the phone “THIS IS SERGEANT RALPH HEAD OFFICER OF THE K-9 DIVISION!” his voice was so loud that i actually had to pull my ear away from the phone “AM I RIGHT TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE INVOKING PROTOCOL J, ZERO, THREE, ONE!?”
“Uh, yes.” i answered meekly
“Give me the details on the perp as well as your location.” he demanded instantly
His orders were so sudden i didn’t really have much time to process what was happening “I’m sorry?”
“Give me any details you can give on the stranger standing in front of your house as well as which house it is.” he responded with a frustrated sigh
“Oh uh, let’s see,” I recited almost afraid he was going to yell at me again “he has bleached white hair, a Celtic themed tattoo on the side of his face, drives a large white van that should be parked right in front of the Sandwich household.”
“YOU HEARD THE DOG! EVERYONE TO THEIR STATIONS, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!” And like that the line went dead
“Hey, uh Bro, you might want to take a look at this.” my brother called from the living room
When i found him in the living room he was staring out the window with the curtains wide open. From the looks of things Tyler got tired of waiting for the door to open so he just sat on the curb. That however was not what caught our attention. In the distance we saw a large number of dogs quickly piling out of a house a few blocks down the street. Tyler didn’t see it cause his van was blocking the way.
A few seconds later he was then tackled to the ground by a muscular doberman. Meanwhile each of the other dogs went to different houses and began knocking and checking inside. Soon a German Shepard accompanied by Fox arrived on the scene as Fox placed a handcuff on Tyler’s wrist that was connected to his own.
“Okay so this might be slightly overkill.” I said astonished by the sheer organization that was happening before us, seriously that response time was less than two minutes
To say that the weirdness of the day ended there was complete and total lie, since the sound of a bird chirping could be heard in the room. Me and my brother shared a confused look, the birds shouldn’t have migrated back this early, it was far too soon for them to be back. The second set of chirping called our attention to the top of the fireplace, where a black hummingbird continued to sing.
“Birds shouldn’t be back at this time right?” I asked my brother as i edged closer to the bird,
“That’s no bird.” My brother brought out his keyblade “That’s a heartless.” My brother gestured to one of his books to float near me
The one with the feather on the cover drifted closer and opened its pages for me to read. According to the book this was a heartless simply known as Magpie. A heartless that has an eye for objects imbued with sentimental value. While it may be small in stature now the heartless will continue to grow the more sentimental objects it gathers and hangs on to.
Bringing out my own keyblade, me and my brother stared down the Magpie cautiously. Now that i’ve had a better look at it I did finally notice the emblem on its chest as well as its cold lifeless red eyes that shimmered for a bit before dying back down to its normal state. It took me far too long to realize that the shimmer i saw was the Magpie finding its target.
As quickly as it showed up the Magpie spread its wings and took to the air. Since it was so small it was almost impossible to hit as it was easily able to dodge our attacks. After flying up a little higher i saw it ready itself to divebomb for the journal floating next to me. Acting accordingly i pulled the book away before it could snatch it, but it instead went for the book with a star on it.
The moment its claws snatched the book out of its orbit the Magpie began to grow steadily. Knowing it was planning to escape I rushed to cover the window while my brother took to guarding the entrance to the kitchen. With nowhere else to go the bird was cornered and the heartless knew it. It began to fidget and panic eventually becoming desperate enough to snuff out the flames in the fireplace and go for the chimney. Unfortunately the bird was still small enough to fit through the chimney and made its escape.
Me and my brother continued to stare at the chimney in disbelief. The bird had just snatched a book from my brother and escaped with it. I may not know a lot about his books but they were powerful and if they ended up in the wrong hands it could spell trouble. In addition to that the sentimental value my brother had for that book fed that heartless and made it much more of a threat.
“We should probably go after that.” he blatantly stated the obvious
I slapped him lightly on the head, which he seemed to take in stride before rushing to the front door“No duh, genius! We’ve got to go.”
“Uh, where do you two think you’re going?” Fox’s voice threw the two of us off guard
I needed a moment to process what i was seeing. Not only did Fox get into the house without a single sound, but we just saw him outside the house in front of the lawn. I even took a quick peek through the peephole and found him there with Tyler boarding a police truck that had just arrived. So if that was indeed Fox, then who was this?
My brother was a little bit faster on the curiosity scale “How did you~”
“Fen, I have a keyblade, let that sink in.” he sighed as he got in between us and the door
“Not that,” I corrected “We just saw you leave on a truck outside with that Tyler guy. How are you even here?”
“You heard about my scrolls right?” the two of us nodded “Well it turns out they’re legit. I’m a clone of Fox, he made while practicing. I just came to make sure you guys stayed put before your assigned guardian gets here as per the protocol instructions.”
“Okay, one that’s awesome. Two, forget protocol a heartless just stole one of my books!” My brother protested as he pointed to the chimney
I reached out to the journal and turned it to the page my brother showed me before handing it over to Fox’s clone “If we don’t stop it now, there’s no telling what it could do.”
“Alright i guess that’s a valid excuse,” Clone Fox said after he took a brief moment to read through the page i showed him “but you’re going to have to~
Without any warning whatsoever the door Fox was standing in front of swung wide open. Naturally because he was in the way Fox got caught in the door as it slammed open into the wall it was beside. Due to the sudden and extreme pressure he was forced to endure on such a short notice, Fox suddenly dissipated into nothing more than smoke. This left me and my brother with extremely bewildered expressions on our faces.
“Yes! Didn’t break down the door this time!” A large muscular black dog cheered, but immediately stopped when he saw our shocked expressions “Please tell me someone wasn’t behind that door.”
This next part is inspired by
Sinister Sundown and
Sora's twilight town battle theme
Epilogue pt 2
The Illusion of Time
“I gue~” My brother blurrted out before i clamped his muzzle shut
“Nope!” I tried to laugh it off like it was nothing “No one was there!”
The dog seemed to buy it for now but just to be safe i stopped laughing “Well, that’s a relief. Anyway, I am Mungo, your short notice appointed guardian throughout the entirety of your J Zero Three One experience.”
“Yeah, yeah, procedures and whatnot,” This time a black cat with a bell on his collar strolled in past Mungo casually “can I go now I’ve been looking for Grape all morning.”
“Silly Maxie, you know the rules, we have to stay inside. Weren’t you there at the assembly when they made this policy?” Another dog strolled in, this time female whose fur was mostly white with brown on her forearms and legs.
Maxie, or i guess Max, rolled his eyes “But they already caught the guy.”
“Even so, he could have accomplices waiting in reserve.” Mungo warned as he shut the door behind him as gently as he possibly could which still made a loud slam “It’s better to be safe than sorry. After i receive the okay you can find your girlfriend, while i take Sasha to her boyfriend.”
The white dog noticed me and my brother as was just watched them argue amongst themselves “Oh, where are my manners, I’m Sasha, nice to meet you.” she shook my hand before moving on to my brother “and who’s this mysterious rebel? A masculine scar running along his chest and an eyepatch to boot.”
My brother began to blush as he instinctively covered up his scar all while laughing uncomfortably. Figures he’d act like that, outside of mom we’ve never really had the chance to talk to girls all too often, even more so with female dogs. I think I’d probably act the same way, but luckily i wasn’t the one messing up so i could keep a cool head.
“Could I talk to you for a sec?” I pulled my brother aside while he still continued to fumble with his words “Dude, that heartless is on the loose and we’re the only ones who know about it.” I shook him to help him snap out of it “We can’t leave with them here, what are we going to do?”
My brother began scratching his chin a little before he snapped his fingers “I have an idea!” He suddenly announced catching Mungo, Max and Sasha’s attention “Sleep!” he raised an open palm over them and suddenly their eyes drooped before they all fell to their knees sleeping
“Okay, that solves our current problem and creates a new one entirely.” I face palmed
Completely oblivious to the consequences of his actions my brother could only look at me in confusion “If we leave that police officer here asleep, they’ll think he fell asleep on the job and probably land him in hot water.” i moved to the corkboard and took one scrap of paper that didn’t look too important along with a nearby pen and began writing “We’ve got to take care of this first before we leave.”
“Oh and what do you suggest?” he complained before i handed him a piece of paper and proceeded to move everyone to the couch “Practiced my hypnosis on you and it worked. If you wake up before we return we went to look for my watch so i can undo the spell. my bad. Wow you really thought this through huh.”
“Someone has to, now help me with this guy, he’s as heavy as he looks.” I grunted as i struggled to move Mungo
While it took the two of us to position Mungo on the couch me and my brother could handle Max and Sasha on our own. From there it was only a matter of discreetly slipping the note in Mungo’s collar and exiting the house inconspicuously. Once we were out my brother immediately went to work searching the skies with his new scout eye, while i focused my keyblade’s magic around the door and locked it shut.
“Did you find it?” i asked once i was able to join him
He kept his left eye trained on the sky before widening “There!” he pointed to a back smudge in the sky before giving chase “It must’ve hung around to look for more stuff. It’s gotten way bigger than last time i saw it.”
“Where’s it headed?” I asked as i kept pace with my brother
My brother was already in the process of redoing his eyepatch before he placed his hand on my shoulder as we ran “It’s headed into the forest, this oughta help us make it in time.”
All of a sudden i felt myself move faster than normal, as my weight didn’t seem to bother me that much any more and my footsteps felt lighter. With our increased pace it didn’t take long to pass the limits of the suburban area and into the forest. Since my brother was the last one who saw the bird, he lead the way the woods. The more we continued to run, the more the trees began to peter out and make way for more rocky terrain and higher altitudes. It made sense, that heartless needs a nest in a high place and maybe these trees just weren’t cutting it.
Suddenly, my brother skidded to a halt and since he was in the lead i had to stop along side him “What’s wrong.”
“THAT!” he pointed to a large black bear blocking the path, who already noticed us
Before i could try reasoning with it the black bear fell onto all four of its legs and began charging at us. In order to avoid the bear’s attack me and my brother split into two different directions, he charged directly towards the bear, only to slide under its belly, while i jumped over it and ran across its back. As i ran I noticed the heartless insignia decorating the back of the bear, explaining why it was hostile towards us in the first place and why it attacked in a feral manner.
“What’s the plan?’ I asked my brother as we regrouped while the bear was trying to regain its bearings
“Attack!” he announced with his keyblade in hand, only to be stopped by me stomping on his tail
“Are you crazy!?” i yelled while i held him back, “that is a freaking bear! You’ve got to have something else up your sleeve.”
He glanced at me like i was the crazy one out of the two of us “I do, with our attacks we force it off the cliff.”
Due to our arguing, we didn’t notice the bear heartless close the gap between us and with both of its claws raised me and my brother were forced to act on impulse. When it came down to it, me and my brother still are the same dog to a degree. That meant our impulse actions were pretty much the same, so in that instant of a moment we slid underneath the bear’s wide open stance. With our dodge successful, and the bear completely open from the back we were free to unleash our attacks onto the bear’s back.
Since it was huge and bulky, it took more time than necessary to turn around and face us. By that time we were able to deal a lot of damage to it. It was enough for my brother to finish it off with a ball of flames that exploded on impact, taking the heartless with it.
“GET GANKED SUCKER!” My brother cheered with his hands raised high
I could only look at him with confusion “Uh, what does gank mean?”
My brother took a breath in as if he was about to explain, but paused “I don’t know.”
Cutting our celebration short was the caw of the hummingbird heartless that we saw a while back. Since we let it be for more than we should’ve the heartless was allowed to grow to easily ten times its original size. We couldn’t let the thing anywhere near the town, but the problem was that we couldn’t reach it from where we were. If i broke my keyblade i guess i could use the masquerade form to reach it from here but I’m still unsure if i can control myself in that state. Our only hope is to use my brother’s spells to shoot it down from here before it gets too far.
“Okay here’s what we do,” i paused when i found my brother floating somewhat but struggling to stay upright “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?”
“Look, we don’t have much of a choice. Its getting away, so help me reach it. I’ve nullified the effect of gravity on myself, you have to fling me towards it ” he held out his keyblade
With a frustrated sigh i hooked my keyblade on his own and started off with a little spin to build momentum. Once i was sure i had enough i finally let my brother go and flung him towards the magpie before it got too far away from range. Thankfully my aim was on point and my brother was able to hit the bird in mid air and allowed the two of them to plummet towards the ground. Not wanting him to get overpowered unexpectedly by the magpie, i decided to immediately give chase. When my brother and the magpie made contact they weren’t all too far from where i was, but still. The appearance of both heartless made me cautious of what could be out there.
“Hold still, and give me back that book!” my brother’s voice echoed through the woods
Tracing the sound of his voice i finally found him latched onto the bird’s back desperately trying to pull something out while the bird struggled “Well, what are you waiting for, Christmas? HELP ME!”
It wasn’t like i could jump onto the magpie whenever i wanted. The heartless kept flailing about, and finding a clear opening was harder than it looked. However after four tries, i finally got onto the bird’s back and climbed to where my brother’s hands were tightly gripped onto. Adding my own hands to the mix i felt the book budge a little, but it was hard to be completely sure when the bird kept moving. To get better leverage i jammed my keyblade into the bird’s side and kept my grip around it tight.
Eventually after persistent pulling the book came loose as did one of the pages from the book “Aw Carp!” my brother yelled in frustration before the page lit up
The next thing i knew was the air around me disappearing before my face planted directly into mud. Almost instantly i got up from my position spitting out any traces of mud that managed to get into my mouth. When i finally calmed down a little, i noticed my surroundings had completely changed. Aside from the vast amounts of mud surrounding me, the forest was replaced with an odd smelling swamp. Since the canopy was so thick there was barely any light and I could hardly see a thing.
The first thing i had to do was to check myself for any possible injuries, but aside from the mud all over my coat I didn’t feel much. That instantly changed when i checked my left forearm. Underneath the sleeve was something squirming and throbbing against my arm. Rolling my sleeve up all the way I found a strange creature attached to my elbow causing my skin to crawl just from the sight of it. As fast as i could i yanked the strange creature off and threw it as hard as i could.
My next priority was to check if my brother was anywhere nearby. He was fairly close to me when that page lit up. The chances of him being here along with me was fairly high.
“BRO!?” i called out “Are you there!?”
When no response came i put my nose to work. While somewhat better than human eyes my eyesight was severely limited here, instead i had to rely on everything else. Sadly i didn’t pick anything up on my brother’s scent since the swap was teeming with various other scents and my sense of smell wasn’t that good. As for sound the only thing that could be heard was the sound of many different insects.
I was always told by mom, when I’m lost I should probably just stay where i am, and help will eventually come. Knowing my brother, he’s probably already frantic and looking for me. Though if i was going to stay put, i needed it to be somewhere more strategic. It’d have to be in a place with more light so that i could be easily seen, but also so i could see any incoming danger should there be any.
As quietly as I could i moved through the swampy waters. Every now and again I’d accidentally make a few large splashes by accidentally stumbling into deeper water, but I could still be mistaken for a native creature. My progress was slow and since the canopy was so thick, it felt like finding a spot where there was considerably more sunlight looked to be impossible. I searched and searched, and after what felt like hours I finally found a place.
Something stood out about the spot, not only was it drenched in sunlight but instead of murky waters underneath the trees, it was actual land with a beautiful collection of flowers gathered into one spot. At a glance it looked like every shade of every color was present underneath this one spot of sunlight. The flowers were in full bloom and their sweet alluring scent finally broke the strange smells of the swamp, and tending to this magnificent garden was a single black wolf crouched down to harvest some flowers.
In under a seconds the air of tranquility was shattered. My hands began to shake, I knew that frame, the messy and thick coat of fur, it was impossible to mistake him for anything else. What really gave it away was the chain cuffs on his wrists. I was faced to face with Fenrir, my namesake, the cause for my life taking such a drastic turn. If it wasn’t for him Jormungand wouldn’t have gone looking for us and eventually we’d just get caught and sent back to our mom. Without my command even being given i felt my keyblade manifest in my right hand. Now my body began to move on its own and began to charge forward. I didn’t need to think, i didn’t need answers; it was all his fault.
“YOU RUINED MY LIFE!” I yelled as i got closer and closer
Once i was close enough i took a big leap and was already in the process of slashing my blade horizontally. As i did though, time began to slow to a crawl. My blade was only inches away from hitting Fenrir but instead of moving to guard against my attack, Fenrir only faced me. His eyes were still obscured by his messy head fur but the smile on his muzzle was unmistakable. It was genuine, warm, compassionate, the complete opposite of what i saw back on that battlefield.
Time suddenly resumed its pace and my blade finished its arc through Fenrir’s body. However Fenrir and the beautiful garden he was tending to was gone without a trace. Instead of hitting Fenrir my keyblade made a clean cut through a thick tree and it was falling in my direction. In a fraction of a second i abandoned my keyblade and jumped backward to avoid the tree falling on top of me.
The moment i was safe, i couldn’t help but concentrate on what i just saw. There was no questioning that it was Fenrir, but why did it include that garden? Why did i see it at all in the first place? I shook my head to get rid of these questions. It had to be something else, I’m probably just panicking too much, or it’s just swamp gas. Fenrir really wasn’t here and I’m just seeing things. Still, that vision made me seriously uncomfortable with this swamp. Almost like someone’s watching me. Regardless, the sooner i get out of this dog forsaken place the better. The only problem was I couldn’t find my brother.
My thoughts were temporarily halted by the sight of my right arm, from my sleeve came a soft glow. Curiocity called me to roll up my sleeve only to find three new symbols forming underneath my brothers, a bone, an ankh and the king chess piece. Shortly after they finished forming they projected copies of themselves out into the air to present to me.
I was hesitant at first. This was a dark power, one that came from using the strengths of others rather than my own. Do i even have the right to be using this, even if it’s for a good cause. Even if it was my own, i have no sure way of knowing if I’d still remain in control. I just got rid of the shadows that once imprisoned my heart, I’m not sure if i can go back. I can’t go back.
Almost as if it heard my thoughts, my brother’s mark began to pulse ‘if you ever need me, just call out. I’ll be there.’ his words replayed in my head
With a newfound courage i held out my hand towards Peanut’s symbol and grasped it tightly. What used to be shadows was now replaced with light as it began to work its way up my arm to wrap my entire body. The transformation was over in less than a second and i found myself on all four legs like a feral wolf with my eyes covered by a blind fold. I took deep and slow breaths. I was in control, this power is now mine to hold and no longer will i be imprisoned by my shadows.
As i breathed i noticed a few things. First my back felt heavier than it once was and something was in between my shoulderblades. When i reached my thoughts out to it i heard a flapping sound, and i remembered it was my wings. Aside from that my hearing was now much better than a few seconds ago, and even though i couldn’t see it I knew where every tree was, where each hanging vine hung. It was like seeing with my ears, i could even tell there was a small bird perched on the tree behind me. Even my sense of smell got a boost. The scents were still there but now i could pick them apart, and tell which ones i could focus on and which ones i could ignore. For now i focused on what i could hear.
“OH DOG, THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!” the sound of a fiery explosion blasted past my ears “WHY DID YOU BRING ME THIS WAY!?” My ears twitched at the direction of my brother’s voice which was directly behind me
Wasting no time, I spread my wings and gave one flap with just enough strength to push me to the nearest branch. From the way he spoke, my brother sounded like he was in some kind of trouble, and following someone. Whether or not this person is led my brother into a trap or just unfortunate circumstance I still decided to being stealthy in my approach to them. If i do end up attacking someone innocent I’ll apologise as much as they want later, for now i had to assume the worst.
Once i reached the edge of what i could “see” i found myself unable to tell where the next tree branch was. The only thing i did know was the direction of my brother’s voice, and even that was still a ways off from where i was. If i could “see” from my ears then all i had to do was make a sound loud enough for me to hear my way through to my brother.
Intaking as much as i possibly could i let it all out in one loud and mighty howl. My howl seemed to do the trick since i could once again tell where the next branch was and how far away i was from it. Not only that, my howl managed to make its way towards my brother. From what i could tell, he was alone in a clearing without any trees. Now that i had my path plotted out once again i took off.
After jumping through multiple trees i finally reached the clearing where my brother was staying but was immediately met with hostility “Stay back!” with my enhanced hearing i heard the pages of his book flip rapidly
Using that information i quickly jumped out of the way before my brother summoned a large cyclone that began tearing through the forest behind me. Once i landed he locked on to me quickly before firing off a lightning spell that i was able to block with the use of my wings.
“Whoa, whoa, it’s me it’s me!” I yelled before he could fire off another spell “I’m in control!”
He paused “bro?”
“Do you know anyone else that can pull this look off?” i said sarcastically
“Sorry, instinct i guess.” he laughed, completely ignoring the fact that he shot two spells at me, and the cyclone one was still going from what i could hear, hopefully no one gets hit with that one “How were you able to find me? You’re wearing a blindfold.”
“I dunno how to explain it; it's like seeing with your ears I guess. But that’s beside the point i heard you talking to someone who was it”
“I don’t know who it was I couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a green hood. He didn’t attack me so i guess he isn’t with Jormungand.”
“Wait so why did you scream?”
“Oh, uh, it was spiders. Lots and lots of spiders.”
“I would laugh right about now but we’ve got bigger problems. How are we going to get home? We don’t even know where the howl we are.”
“I do have my book, the only problem is i don’t know which one leads to home. If only we had a wayfinder, just one would be enough to point our way home.”
Silence began to creep in on the two of us as we tried to think of ways to get home. If one page is equal to one path to a different world, then we can’t just try one randomly. There’s no telling what could be waiting for us on the other side. We’re just extremely lucky that the two of us wound up on the same world with relatively no dangerous threats hanging around.
As we were busy putting our heads together, my ears picked up on a pair headed towards our direction. I strained my ears for further details but all i could really pick up from the two of the incoming was the one was heavier than the other and they were closing in on us fast.
“hey ,” i whispered over to my brother “there are two unidentified coming our way.”
“Do you think they’re enemies?” he whispered back
Once again i strained my ears but found only the same info “Its hard to tell, but just in case, get ready for anything.”
“Gotcha” his book was flipped open and at the ready once more
Both me and my brother stood our ground ready for battle. There’s no telling on who they could be. Best case scenario would be our friends realizing that we were gone. Worst case scenario would be Jormungand and Fenrir themselves, but really the only way we were ever going to find out was if we stood our ground.
“HEY!” Cried the voice of a male “FEN, AND OTHER FEN! Really that’s his name?”
“I dunno ask them.” said the second of the pair
“We were sent by Kitsune to pick you up!”
At that moment i felt my strength fail me as i reverted back to normal. Soon my coat replaced my wings and my enhanced senses returned to their normal state. Since i was weakened i had to rely on my brother’s support to stand but i was safely able to use my other form without reverting back into the shadow wolf.
Now that my blindfold was gone i had a good look at our rescuers. They were both brown wolves geared up in their own unique armor. The larger one had a chainmail shirt and a pauldrons on his shoulders while a two handed great-sword hung on his back. The smaller one on the other hand was robbed in what looked to be silk with intricate patterns in the center of it while a staff was rested in one hand.
“Who are you?” my brother asked, beating me to the punch
The larger one smiled “I’m Geri and this,” he patted the shoulder of the smaller wolf who smiled and nodded to us cooly “is my brother Freki. Kitsune sent us to pick you two up and from this point onward we’re your body guards as well as your trainers.”
My brother and i shared a look of confusion before looking to the two wolves “As much as I’d love to explain the entire story in the middle of a godforsaken swamp, teeming with all kinds of irritating bugs and vines. Kitsune’s expecting us, so we should really be on our way.” by tapping his staff on the ground twice a portal appeared behind us which he proceeded to walk into alongside his brother “Or we could leave you two here if you like.”
Without another word me and my brother chased in after the two wolves leaving the swamp behind us.
(Still too long, hopefully this doesn't count as spamming it cause i literally cannot condense it into one post)
