mikirei's room

he finds you laying back in bed, staring blankly at your computer with a few new bandages on your arm. his instincts scream at him to run to your side, so he does.

he pulls you tight against his chest, shaking just a bit as he coaxes you to cry into him. like this, all you can feel is his warmth and his large body wrapped around your smaller one. you didn't even realize you were cold until he chased the sensation away. i'd feel so guilty for scaring someone so steadfast and sturdy to the point of trembling.

he traces his hand lightly over your bandages, the urge to rebandage them and check the wounds himself nearly overwhelming. if you allow him to, he will. he uses a washcloth and warm water to clear away the blood rather than paper towels, focusing on your comfort. he promises to replace your towel with an even better one if you protest. (he'll eventually come back with one that has a little wolf and a heart embroidered on it.)

he raids your first aid kit for whatever ointments you have, knowing a lot about taking care of wounds due to scraped knees and deep scratches from reckless nights in the forest. he treats every cut with reverence, no matter how deep.

he washes your face, too, gently wiping away dried tear tracks, his expression softening when you lean into the warm cloth. you're left feeling a lot better once he's done.

if you tell him you wish your cuts still hurt, you can see the ache he feels in the way his brow furrows and his eyes glisten.

he keeps you close for hours, maybe even days, always touching you in some way, both for his comfort and for yours. if you're sitting together, you're either cuddling or his shoulder is pressed to yours. if you pull away to go do something, he holds your hand as you walk to your destination, even if you're just getting up to get snacks. if he gets up to fetch something for you, he just picks you up and carries you with him. if you go to the bathroom, he'll wait outside the door and hold a conversation with you the whole time. he'll get up from bed at the same time you do, and makes sure you sleep at a healthy hour. if you cook together, his tail will be wrapped loosely around your leg the whole time. if you head out, he goes with you everywhere, keeping your hands interlocked the whole time. If you need to separate just a bit, like to eat on different sides of a table at a restaurant, he'll just keep his foot pressed to yours underneath it. he'll take a couple days off work, and will extend his stay with you by working at home if you don't want to be alone. he's also just as happy to take you with him to work, he has a comfy couch in his office for you to hang out on.

a year has passed since you've first joined the crew. experiencing countless adventures, traveling the seven seas, and strengthening the bond with the crew.

it was currently nighttime.

sylus and crew found themselves docking at an island to avoid a terrible storm that they would encounter on their current path, the storm had a high chance of recking the ship.

sylus instructed everyone tasks to help prepare for their departure in the morning, having nothing for you since you've done your job in warning him about the storm.

with nothing to do, you decided to explore. there was a forest on the island, so you entered it. you didn't have a goal or anything specific you wanted to look for, you were simply roaming. in hindsight, a terrible thing to do alone at night. regardless, you knew how to handle yourself if trouble came along.

speaking of trouble, as you walked through the forest you all of a sudden, you felt another presence. scanning the area, you try to spot another silhouette of a person, but no one was revealed. you continue to traverse the area, trying your best to ignore the feeling of a pair of eyes on you.

foolishly you tripped, not seeing a long piece of wood on your path. your body crashes into the floor, you feel a mixture of dirt and solid objects on your back.

wincing in pain, you turned you body to the slide, using your hand to grab the object that injured your back. feeling the smooth

it was a bone.

fully sitting up, you see that you are surrounded by bones.

as on cue, you could hear a faint howl in the distance. hearing the howl made your face turn pale as you realize that you alone in the forest with a beast.

scrambling to your feet, you ran. retracing your steps so you could get out of the forest. you could hear extra footsteps rapidly following.

looking to the side, in between all the trees you ran past, you could see a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness. the sight made you run even faster, your breath becoming stagnant as you felt your heart begin to leap out your chest.

it seemed like you've been running forever, but your legs led you to the exit! you could see the moonlight peeking out from the entrance. as your hand was about to touch the rays of the moonlight, a large hand grabbed you by your ankle. pulling you down to the floor.

your body harshly hitting the floor once again, stunning you.

"out of all the prey i've come across, you definitely ran the fastest." you faintly heard a ragged voice as you felt yourself be dragged across the dirt floor. you weakly kicked you leg, trying to get out of his grasp, it was useless.

he let out a low growl, annoyed with you fighting back. he flipped your body around, letting go of your leg in the process.

in front of you was an auburn haired man with wolf ears and a tail to match. his built was massive, as his chest and arms looked like they were bigger than your head. his amber eyes glowed as his grin grew wider. this was your beast that's been watching you.

"you have a lot of fight in you. let's see how long you keep fighting until you get eaten." he says, threatningly.

you take this as an opportunity to get up and attacking him at his torso, landing a punch. his knees bended slightly, as he reached out to grab your shoulders. evading his grab, you used your foot to swiftly kick the back of his knee so he could fall to the floor.

before he could move from the floor, you pinned the lower half of his body by straddling him. using your elbow to pin his upper half down, trying your best to strangle him, so he could pass out.

the beast let out a laugh, "whoever taught you to fight was a great teacher." he placed his hands on your waist to flip your position, him on top and you, once again, on the floor. i hope you can wash out these stains from your clothes.

"i guess they didn't teach you when you should cut your losses, if you know you're no match for your opponent, there's no harm in fleeing. just pray you can get away from them in time, before they kill you." he preached, having that same wild grin from before.

he dipped his head into the crook of your neck, you closed you eyes, waiting for your impending doom as you assumed he was about to bite a huge chunk of your neck.

however, as you laid there, you could hear him, sniffing you?

feeling the odd sensation of his nose moving quickly against your neck. "what are you doing?" you asked, was he sniffing you to see if you were worth eating or not? what's going on?

"you come from the ebon tribe…" he said in between his sniff inspection, his scary intimidating seemed to fade as he got off of you. "you smell familiar, like a woman who came here before, i think her first name was olive? is that your mother?"

you were still laying on the floor, stunned at both his actions and his sudden questioning.

"yes. i'm from ebon… and yes that's my mother." you finally sat up, looking at the beast sitting, his legs crisscrossed. this could not be the same killer beast that was ready to eat you alive. "how do you know about ebon? we are not well known. more importantly how do you know my mother?" you questioned.

"her and a group of travelers came here to take care us wolfbeast. they were here for 10 sunrises, then they disappeared. i see her descendant has taken on the mantle of helping us."

shaking your head in disagreement, "no my mother wasn't around when i grew up so i had no clue she was here." you crossed your arms, "she never came home." you muttered under your breath, yet, the beast heard. feeling sorry that you're not connected with your blood.

the conversation grew stagnant, the only noise present was the crickets of insects that were hidden in the lush bushes. he looked at you, while you were avoiding his gaze.

trying your hardest to not let the idea of your mother helping others while she refused to care for you eat you from the inside. it wasn't the beast fault, he had no idea your difficult emotions towards her.

"valko." he introduced himself, cutting off your thoughts. "wolfbeast, one of the very few that are left." he held out his hand, his claws slowly reverting back to their normal state.

you took his hand in yours, and stated your name and how you were living your life as a pirate.

he was intrigued at your choice to leave your "pack" to pursue such a life. asking you several questions about how it's like, if you missed home, and how it feels to be apart of a new tribe. the conversation made you realize, this was the first time you fully articulated how you felt about your big life change.

while valko shared some history about wolfbeasts, his pack, and his motivation to keep his people alive and well cared for. he was happy to have another person seem eager to learn about himself and his blood's history. he's glad he didn't fall to his predator instincts.

it was nice.

"you convinced me, i'll join." valko said, rising from the floor.

you tilt your head in confusion, as you followed valko, "join?"

"your crew…are you not the captain?" he asked.

"i'm certainly not the captain!" you exclaimed. even though, a part of you felt really flattered that he would think that.

"okay then take me to your captain so i can tell him i'm joining." he starts to walk away.

you grabbed his arm, to stop him, "you can't just tell him, you have to ask, and sylus is extremely picky, so you need a good reason as to why you want to join!"

he suddenly grabbed your face, staring intensely into your eyes, "i want to hunt the people who've harmed my tribe and find ways to keep them protected. is that good enough?"

your words were caught in your throat, you thought his why was good. really good. but valko being in such a close proximity to you made your mind fail. a hint of red appeared on your cheeks. this guy knew nothing about personal space.

finally getting the courage to respond, you were quickly cut off by the sound of heard emi shouting your name, "we've been looking for you for hours! what hap—" she stopped speaking as she saw you and the wolf hybrid. seeing how close the two of you were.

"oh! i didn't know i interrupted something!" emi said turning around, you get out of valko's touch to confront your crewmate.

"it's not what it looks like!" you retorted.

you briefly introduced valko to emi, giving her the run down on how he almost killed you, and how that shifted into learning about him and his plan to join the crew.

"awww! you made a friend!" emi said pinching your cheeks. "and you want him to come with us~!"

"that's what you took away from everything i said?" you pinched the bridge of your nose. "do you think sylus would approve?"

emi tapped her chin in thought, "i don't know. from his aura, i think he would be a good fit, and he looks strong, so it would be idiotic to deny him." she shrugged, "unfortunately i'm not sylus, so you just have to bring him aboard and see from there."

you knew she was going to say that.

"anyway, come on valko, let's go meet everyone else." emi smiled as she began to walk, valko following behind her.

you softly say a prayer. a prayer of hope and protection. clasping your hands together and speaking life into the atmosphere.

finishing your prayer, you sprinted to valko and emi, making sure you caught up with them as the three of you left the forest.

…

"sooooo whose your new friend?" rafayel teased.

"this is valko, one of few wolf beasts that still exist." you say to the crew, valko had his arms crossed, ears perked and tail gently swaying from side to side. yet his facial expression was stoic.

"and you brought this beast on my ship because?" sylus raised an eyebrow.

"i'm joining." valko stated.

sylus chuckled, "a command, not a statement." he stared into valko's eyes, "you certainly brought an interesting pet on board."

valko frowned, feeling insulted.

sylus looked at you, your demeanor was strong as you stood beside valko. traveling his eyes back to valko, looking at him up and down, analyzing him.

"come." sylus commanded valko before walking towards his quarters.

valko, unmoved growled lowly. not listening to sylus' command. you grabbed his human ear and brought him down to your level.

"listen here. sylus, he's the leader, so you have to follow what he says. you want in? you listen!" you whispered, your tone a bit harsh. you wanted to avoid him getting himself into another brawl. letting go of his ear, you hear valko suck his teeth. "please. he just wants to talk to you, i swear if he won't do anything, unless he's provoked." you added.

valko looked at your pleading eyes, taking in what you said and understanding how you're trying to help him.

his head twitched a bit before he followed sylus. entering his quarter, slamming the door behind him.

the crew grew silent as they heard a rough door slam. there was a brief pause.

"i always wanted a dog." xavier commented, leading to emi flicking his forehead, "i was just bringing up the mood." he said rubbing his head.

"i thought i was the ship's dog?" caleb asked.

"now we'll have two dogs." zayne sighed.

"this is what always happens, they get a pet dog to replace the loveable pet fish." rafayel sighed dramatically.

emi rolled her eyes, "so when we call you a pet fish it's bad, but you can do it."

"do you think it's weird he had wolf ears and normal ears?" luke asked his twin.

kieran shook his head, "nah, it probably makes him have super good hearing! he probably can hear what we're saying now!"

"we should ask him when he's done talking to mister sylus!" luke added.

while the crew engaged in idle banter, you kept your eyes on the closed door, wondering about their conversation, praying that he can see the value in valko, holding on tight to the hope of your new friend joining the crew.

a/n: unknown ending because of the state of limbo valko is currently in <\3 i really hope we get valko in game :(