Wolf’s Rain: Blues in the park
*All characters owned by Keiko Nobumoto and Bones
*Mature content warning
Awakened by the moon and a familiar scent slowly rising in the air, Blue opened her eyes to the dark, dank and smog filled city streets. Blue’s dream was always the same; a red moon overlooking a crater atop a mountain with a mirrored lake at its core, white wild flowers would rise and smell with a familiar scent, a dead world would become full with life, and a trail of flowers would lead her towards the moon and then a white wolf would appear in the distance calling out a familiar name. In her dream Blue would look at her reflection in the mirrored lake; sometimes a dark skinned, lank haired and blue-eyed human would look back at her, other times a wolf with dark fur and blue eyes would stare back at her filling her with memories of a life, long forgotten, trying to break through the surface of the water.
Blue would always wake up when she reached out to touch the lake’s water; tonight had been no different except for the lingering smell of the white wild flowers echoing through the thickly polluted air of the rain soaked city. Blue had no home, she was a drifter, all her life she had been unable to settle down and stay in one place and so she continuously moved from city to city as if she were searching for that long forgotten life locked away within her. The people who would pass her on the street as she lay in alleyways and building canopies would ignore her as if she were a stray dog riddled with disease.
Dragging herself up from the uncomfortable stone floor, Blue took her first steps out of the alleyway, the scent of white wild flowers still hung in the air as she turned her nose to the sky. The scent of these flowers was her earliest memory; she had come to call them Lunar Flowers because of their haunting glow. Before Blue realised it, she was running; the dull thuds of her heels and clicks of her claws on the wet pavement filled her ears as she chased the essence of the Lunar Flowers over city roads, between buildings, and down alleyways as she headed for the suburbs.
As she ran the scent of the Lunar Flowers became stronger but her body was beginning to tire, her heart was beating rapidly, her legs and paws ached, she could feel the cool breeze blowing through her thick fur and drying the sweat on her brow but still she ran, the smell of the Lunar Flowers was so strong that Blue could almost see the trail from her dream leading her to the moon, she knew she couldn’t stop. With her eyes fixed on the moon and her nose tracing the scent, Blue leapt over a high stone wall and into an abandoned park; even under the light of the full moon the park seemed impossibly dark, only a couple of lampposts flickered with dull amber life, barely highlighting the overgrown shrubbery and trunks of trees lining the park itself.
Blue’s surroundings were in the background of her senses, her legs were heavy and her chest ached and eventually she fell. The cold night air tore through Blue’s throat as she lay on the wet earth catching her breath and feeling her body pulsate. The echo of Blue’s heart throbbed in her ears, it took her a few minutes to slow her breathing and calm her heart; the sweat ran down her face as she lay on the ground her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth from exhaustion, she had no idea how far she had come since the alleyway, she couldn’t see the city over the stone wall of the park nor hear the sound of traffic or bustle of the streets, instead she could hear laughing in the distance…
The laughing was manic and everywhere at once, surrounding Blue on every side. Slowly they came into a view; a pack of dirty, stinking and threatening humans. They were all tattooed, bald, wearing leather and brandishing switch blades, knives, chains and other terrifying foreign objects. Blue’s body shook with adrenaline, fear and exhaustion; with what little strength she had she pulled herself to her feet, her legs were uncertain on the uneven ground, her muscles had tensed making her movements slow and agonising, like a dream moving in slow motion. Blue took a couple of loping strides forward and then felt the muscular arms of one of the humans lock around her chest and drag her backwards. Her attacker’s grip was too strong for her fatigued body to fight against; Blue took a deep breath as best as she could and exhaled with a scream.
A forceful hand covered her mouth; Blue’s muffled scream gave rise to more manic laughter from her attackers as they continued to drag her through the park. Blue thrashed and kicked and lashed out at her attackers with any limbs that she could spare. Soon she was back on the ground under a flickering lamppost; Blue heard the sound of chains being rattled and felt herself being pinned down while one of the pack wrapped a chain around the post behind her. Pulled up by her hair, Blue felt the cold metal of the chain wrap around her neck; her eyes widened and her body froze in fear. Before Blue found the sense to scream another pack member forced a large rubber ball between her teeth and buckled leather straps around the back of her head…
After growling under the gag and clawing at the buckle, Blue’s arms were pulled out in front of her and held at the wrists by the largest, strongest member of the pack. Blue jerked her body back and forth trying to relinquish the harsh grip, the manic laughing intensified as the pack watched her struggle…
***
Quent Yaiden had drank the bar dry again, he had said nothing all night save for the occasional surly order of a refill. Tonight was a particularly unhappy one for Quent; he had woken from a nightmare early in the morning, a nightmare that had reminded him of what he had lost years ago, and to suit his mood the weather had been equally dark and miserable and now his wallet was empty. Quent took the bottle as he left…
Blue fell back to her knees from exhaustion; the pack had watched her struggle, they had laughed as her body had jerked around and had licked their lips at the sound of her muted screams while they circled her; they had wanted a spectacle and they had received just that. It had been a blessed sight to watch her writhe around, her helplessness was delicious; one by one the pack advanced closer to Blue, her barely conscious limp body, their prize.
Grabbing at Blue’s hair and clothes with their claws, the pack ripped Blue’s belongings from her. Blue closed her eyes and stayed still while trying to hold her tears back as she felt the cold air lick more of her damp skin with each garment torn from her. Soon Blue’s upper body was completely bare; forced to her feet by the biggest member who still had a tight grip on both of Blue’s wrists, the pack began to drag their claws over Blue’s body, watching the discomfort and pain in Blue’s face that she tried her best to hide, the pack laughed as one and continued with excitement. It wasn’t long before Blue felt their teeth…
Blue closed her eyes and tried to find the scent of Lunar Flowers in the air and picture the trail leading her to the moon…
The stiff alcohol in his system and the thickly polluted air in his lungs had begun to play tricks on Quent’s senses. Earlier he had sworn that a large white dog had darted across the street like a spirit flitting between realms; looking at it again it had only been a punk kid in a grey coat with shaggy hair running to catch the last bus… and now as he dragged himself along the closed park’s high stone wall he swore to himself that he could hear the sound of another dog yelping and a pack of jackals laughing in the night. Quent had passed it off as the pain of his memories attacking his present through the drunken haze of his mind, but now… it was louder.
The sounds he thought he could hear regressed his mind to the rage he had felt on that day, the sounds he had heard back then and now, they were so… familiar. Rage built up inside of Quent; he still had the bottle in his hand, it was empty now. Dragging himself further down the road he came to the park’s rusted iron gate; he rested against it, raised the bottle up to his mouth and tipped it upside down making sure it was empty, he didn’t want to waste any. Quent listened again through his drunken haze; he was sure of it now, he could hear a dog… and wolves… jackals of the night.
Raging against the iron gate with the full force of his anger infused memories; Quent broke the rusted iron gate’s lock and began stalking his way through the park.
Blue’s skin was raw and threatening to break under the lightest touch; the smell of Lunar Flowers was gone and Blue could no longer see the trail leading her to the moon. Her jaw was aching from the overly large ball gag between her teeth; her wrists were bruised and felt as if they were going to snap at any moment. Her damp skin had been dried by the cold night air but Blue could still feel the occasional trickle of moisture being dried by the light breeze, it could only have been blood. The pack called off their playful recess, their pray was exhausted. Helpless and lying on the floor, Blue watched as her attacker’s hands groped at the lower half of her body and began to tear away what was left of her clothing. Blue was silent and still…
The sound of shattering glass filled the night air. The biggest member of the pack fell to the ground; shards of moonlit and blood-soaked glass adorned his skull like a crown of royalty. The pack turned to the old man with drunken rage in his eyes and attacked him.
Blue weakly rolled to her knees as the old man screamed and cursed at the pack; her clumsy hands unbuckled the belt of her gag, she threw it aside. Tracing growingly numb hands over the chain she fumbled at the lock securing it to the post with weak hands… Unable to free herself of the chain, Blue watched the angry, drunken old man through hazy eyes before falling to the floor unconscious.
As Quent dealt his judicious punishment upon the pack of yelping jackals he could have sworn he had seen a young woman with dark skin chained to the post... After lacerating the skin of another pack member Quent turned back to the post, it was a dog… a large dark haired dog.
A string of choice words and another shattering of glass sent the pack running into the night.
Quent knelt down at the large dog’s side; tenderly he stroked Blue’s fur. Blue opened her eyes; she could smell the scent of Lunar Flowers again but only faintly and she could see their light in Quent’s eyes, buried under regret, rage and loneliness. Blue saw her destiny in Quent; the course of his life, the paths he will come to choose will lead her to her own path where the Lunar Flowers will be waiting for her. Quent continued to stroke Blue’s fur, silently, a bond was forged between them.