Racing across the snowy landscape, Axel felt like he was flying.

He was young, but very strong, and his legs carried him in long, leaping strides. He sailed over a fallen long with the ease of long practice, trailing behind the deer he intended to make his meal tonight.

Axel's kind was called many names – Loup Garou, Lycanthrope, Werewolf - but it all boiled down to the same basic thing. Whether their ancestors had been men gone feral, or wolves that grew to speak in human tongues, all he really knew was that the wolves of his pack had a god, Conri, who they believed granted their wish to become more than what they had been before.

Axel was a more forward-facing wolf. He didn't like to look deeply into the past, because really, what could you change? The past was carved in stone, but the future was an open field, full of endless possibilities. For now, his path kept him with the pack, but who knew? Someday, he might find the courage to leave them, and perhaps see more of the world than just this forest.

The pack moved from time to time, if its safety was threatened, but largely, they remained in the same place, and the young wolf knew he couldn't be content with that forever. He was barely content with it now, but the winter had come, and only a wolf with a death wish in his head would strike it out on his own in unknown territory right as harsh weather was creeping in.

The doe banked a hard left ahead of him, bolting faster in her panic. Taking the turn as gracefully as he could, the wolf let out a rare, soft yip of joy, kicking up his heels slightly.

He always did love the hunt. As a pup, he had only liked racing half as much as this. This was his heritage, and it thrilled him deep down to his core.

Soon enough, Axel's jaws closed around the deer's neck and snapped. The creature twitched, but its eyes dulled, and soon enough, all other struggles ceased.

Licking the blood from his lips, the wolf savored the taste of his kill. If he ate it now, he wouldn't have to share it with-

Suddenly, there came a howl from the distance, and Axel rolled his eyes, pinning his ears back.

"I guess not." Auburn fur shifted and sank away into pale white flesh, and a man with green eyes and fire red hair stood where the wolf had once been. To any onlooker, he was as naked as a newborn, and surely freezing every extremity off right that minute, but his inner wolf kept him warm at all times, so he barely felt the chilling snow beneath his feet, or the little flecks drifting down from the sky, slowly growing thicker.

Rather than dragging the deer home, he hefted it up and slung it over his shoulder. "Stupid Kairi. How does she always know?"

"Because you're a selfish bastard," answered the memory of his sister, as she grinned impishly up at him. "You don't have to feed the pack, but the least you can do is feed me!"

He scoffed, but an unwilling smile tugged at his lips as he made his way home.

To the west, near the center of the forest, there was a large rock formation. It wasn't quite hollow, but it opened up from a small, inconspicuous cave mouth into a vast network of underground caverns and tunnels. The pack kept the main room constantly lit with torches, unless there was a threat nearby, and so most of the wolves would gather there until it was time to sleep.

Axel nodded curtly at the two wolves standing guard by the entrance, and they gave him what he had come to think of as their customary growl. It wasn't menacing, not by any stretch, but he was the only one they offered it too. He didn't care much what they thought of him, but he was in no mood to antagonize them today.

Slamming his kill down on the floor, Axel brushed off his hands. They were caked with dried blood, as was much of the rest of him, and set about licking what he could reach until another wolf came over, looking expectant.

Morphing in an instant, Axel stood over his meal and snarled. The other wolf, a sandy-colored young male, yelped and backed away, his tail firmly between his legs.

"Cut it out already!"

Axel growled as another wolf knocked her head against his jaw, but he stopped snarling. His little sister, a much smaller, more slender auburn wolf, stood there shaking her head.

"Honestly, Axel. Do you ever wonder why no one likes you?"

He snorted. "Demyx is a mooch and you know it. When he starts hunting and sharing his own kills, he can come talk to me."

"Not like you'd share anyway…just be a little nicer?" she pleaded. "He gets enough shit from his family. He's just a little squeamish."

"He's a wolf," the older redhead replied dryly. "If he wants to be more man than wolf, he can go live with the humans."

Somewhere, further across the room, Demyx whimpered. His friend, a smaller, darker colored wolf, glared harshly in Axel's direction, but the red wolf was unaffected.

Humans were enemies to his kind, hunting them and their food while carelessly tearing apart the forests, but some wolves could go among them in their human skins and be perfectly safe and happy. Most were considered traitors then, however, and never returned to their pack's land on pain of death.

None of his pack had ever done such as thing, as far back as Axel could recall. While they owed the man side of their heritage for their intelligence, speech, and knowledge of tools, the elders in the pack looked at the purebred human as a weak, pathetic, despicable race of tricksters, and most of their juniors followed suit.

Kairi sighed. "Fine, whatever. Be an asshole. Now, where is my food?"

With another snort, Axel reached down and tore a small scrap of flesh from the deer's hide, throwing it to the ground beside her. "There. Happy?"

"No! That's barely a mouthful and you know it!" She jumped up slightly, splaying out across his back and biting his ear. Axel rolled his eyes again.

"You know I can overpower you any time I want, right?"

"Yeah, right." She bit down harder, her voice slightly muffled. "But you won't, so I'll let go if you give me a fourth."

He could have argued, but he remembered his mother's last few words to him, and any fight that might have been there flowed out of him in an instant.

"Take care of each other."

"Fine."

With what almost sounded like a squeal, Kairi let go of him. Unwilling to let her go so easily, he reached out and bit at her ear briefly, much harder than she had nibbled him.

"Hey!"

"Shut up and eat already," he said patronizingly, stepping to the side so that she could join him by the food.

As they ate side by side, in silence, Axel listened to the howling wind just outside the cave entrance. Old Man Vexen has predicted a storm brewing on the horizon, one so large that it might nearly block off the cave entrance for a day or so. As such, everyone had been gathering food and filling up as much as possible, in case they wouldn't be able to hunt for a few days. Even when the path was clear, animals would often hide and bury themselves in their homes, making food scarce anyway.

Even the guard wolves were coming in, unwilling to be constantly smacked in the face by the wind and snow. The blizzard was so fierce now that no great force, be it man or animal, could come in and harm them. Their scents and tracks would be wiped away, and any hunter dumb enough to be outside on a night like this would freeze solid before he ever found the cave.

The chatter around the room was picking up some, and Axel caught snippets of conversations about staying in the main cave tonight. Not every wolf or small family in the pack could have their own cavern deeper underground, and the leader, who Axel grudgingly admitted was fairly wise and thoughtful, didn't want to take the extra warmth and security that others might need for himself and his immediate family. Tonight, nursing mothers and young pups would take to the tunnels, and everyone else would huddle together in the main room.

Axel didn't think it was possible for any of them to freeze inside the relatively closed-off caverns, no matter how cold it got, but he wasn't really going to question it. Pack stuff was rarely his business, even if his sister and the others disagreed. He had half a mind to just do his own thing until they finally decided to kick him out, and so far, it was working pretty well. Terra still liked him, even if his council did not.

"Will you be okay without me tonight?"

Blinking, Axel glanced down at his little sister.

"You're going to go cuddle up with Sora, aren't you?" Despite a slight pang of hurt, he did tease the younger wolf often for her obvious infatuation with the alpha's youngest son. Even now, she was just so predictable that despite himself, he smirked at her.

If she was human, the girl might have blushed. "Sora AND Riku!" she insisted. "Riku was stuck with the wall tonight, so we thought we'd go help him keep warm!"

'Suuuure." Axel refrained from reminding her that he was stuck sleeping against the wall as well. A worse wall than Riku's, by a long shot.

With a scoff, the younger wolf turned around and whacked him in the face with her tail.

"Ass!" She yelped and swung it away, as her older brother took a playful snap at it. "I hate you!"

"You do not," he said confidently, shrugging and turning away. "Fine. Go snuggle up with your little boyfriend."

"He's not my- ugh! Forget it!" She huffed and stalked away, as Axel rolled his eyes and struggled not to smile wider. A few other wolves were looking his way, but he ignored them, picking his was over to his designated sleeping spot for the evening.

No one wanted this area because the wall was freezing cold, seemingly touched by the chilling storm outside. It was nowhere near as bad as being out in the storm itself, but it was still unpleasant, and while the sleeping spots alternated nightly, as a basically non-contributing member of the pack, Axel was pretty much in the same, horrible spot every night.

He never complained though, even when he knew he was being purposely shafted. No one else wanted to huddle beside him, other than his sister, and he kind of preferred it that way. He was a lone wolf in almost every sense but the literal, which was all he had the courage to be right now. Sometimes, he really hated himself for that; paining perfectly nice wolves, including Kairi, just because he was selfish.

But Axel could only find the will to care so much. He just wasn't like them. He didn't need a lot of friends; he didn't ultimately want to feel safe and protected, stagnant. The one good thing he would say about humans was that they were constantly changing, and they did all kinds of things that weren't bound by instincts and tradition. Humans ruled the world, even though his kind was stronger, faster, and could readily disguise and infiltrate their ranks.

But Conri, strange and fathomless as he was, had decreed that the wolves should try to live as their noble namesake did, mingling with humans as little as possible. Or at least, so said Xemnas, the pack's resident priest, expert in ALL matters Conri.

Axel snorted, shaking his head slightly. He didn't know if their religion had turned the other wolf into such an arrogant, droning prick, or if it was just his innate personality, but he got along with Xemnas the least. Sometimes, the bastard tried to act in Terra's stead, thinking that he knew better than the alpha.

Sighing, the red wolf settled himself down and watched the other occupants of the cave. It was not quite curfew yet, so many pups were running around, chasing each other and playing hunt. Their parents encouraged it, and their neighbors faced it with varying degrees of tolerance, because they knew it would wear the children out and put them to sleep quickly after they lay down. The young adult wolves were talking amiably amongst themselves, and the elders were getting comfortable, watching the proceedings much like Axel was.

Suddenly, a new figure staggered through the cave mouth, thin and white and shivering. Though his scent was muffled by the snow and ice, Axel caught just enough to make his eyes narrow.

'A human!'