Book II
Arc 2: The Valley Tournament
Part 1: The One I Follow
Greed:
What makes a great Captain? I asked.
Choco Bars.
Fuckin' what?
I'm joking. What the hell do you think, you damn brat? Asura replied.
***
I stepped onto the vast waters of some massive place. One step after the other, my black boots rippled the water as I stood fully above it—boots not submerged. It was like a cave of sorts, dome-shaped, with water as the floor and, what seemed like, a mixture of gray and blue mana aura swirling endlessly throughout the walls and ceiling. I had been here before—plenty of times.
In the middle, there was a house. It was old-fashioned style with wood frames and simple, intricate designs. The colors gold and brown lighted the place, and the secondary colors—white and red—had shaded it. There was no front door, nor any walls, covering the section of the house I had seen. It was like half a house, completed only by the wide wooden deck that served as both the outside and the inside at once.
There, in the center, was a man in a black kimono sitting by himself, smoking a long black pipe. He sat where the deck and the inside of the house met, and in front of him was a table with a board game he was expertly piecing together. He was inside and outside it, as only part of the roof covered him.
As I walked nearer to the house, the man spoke out to me without even looking—still delicately laying down the pieces of the game in front of him without waiver, "Was starting to think you weren't gonna make it. Took you long enough." he huffed out a white cloud from his mouth.
I said nothing in response at first. Simply staying my pace with my head down and hands in my pockets, wearing what I always did—tatted and in my Black Wolves attire as my dangling cross earrings chimed with each step.
"Is this you complaining? Come on now, for someone who's been absent for five times as long, you're the last person to have little patience," I said, finishing my sentence with a vulgar, middle finger faced in his direction. My head still tilted down slightly, eyes closed, walking in a straight line on top of the rippling water.
The man chuckled, took a long, drawn-out smoke from his pipe, and blew it out in front of him, "Good to see you too, you damn brat."
My face finally lit up, though one could hardly tell. The signifier of my glee was my eyes opening just a bit wider, revealing my small black pupils. My expression, or lack thereof, held a slight smirk as I finally greeted him. "Stupid old man."
***
**Present day, a week after the incident with the Blue Phoenix Knights**
Morning had found its way into my quarters of the Wolves Den. It was like the dew of the early spring as rays petered out through the pockets of the tall, black curtains of my gothic room. My king-sized bed lay messy, with pillows scattered to the foot of the bed. The pillows, sheets, and cover were all gray, monotone. The headboard was black, with intricate carvings. The time was approximately 0651… The sixth day in a row I hadn't woken up on time.
I gave a drawn-out yawn from where I was on my bed, completely naked underneath the gray covers. Tattoos covered my arms, my neck, and the rest of my body. My ink-plastered half-wolf head shifted slightly to my Adam's apple, moving back into place after that yawn.
My right arm was under the pillows supporting my head, and my left arm—its sleeve comprised of skulls and finger-waves all over, leaving no part un-inked—trailed down over and out from the covers and onto someone else who was there with me.
Her platinum-white hair glittered as the sun's rays danced upon her. Her white eyelashes did the same. Her rose skin glowed, and she was just as naked as I.
Unlike my rough, black-inked skin, hers was untouched and smooth, except for the gold ink of an intricate, patterned sun tattooed on the back of her neck. I noticed it the couple of times we had slept together, but I never bothered to ask about it. If I had a pet peeve, it was people asking questions they shouldn't. And I, for one, didn't want to be on the other end of that.
Following the trail of my left arm, my hand disappeared under the covers just over the girl's bosom. When she inched closer to me, the covers over her fell slightly, revealing my tatted left hand gripping her right boob. My other hand, burrowed underneath, bent around to grip her left boob; my peeling black-painted nails were dark against her glowing rose skin. She moaned quietly. It was at this time that I decided to open my eyes.
"Good morning, princess," I said with a raspy morning voice.
"Good morning, my Greed…" she replied, falling back asleep comfortably within my arms.
I removed my left hand from her boob, leaving imprints, and brushed her soft platinum white hair from her face. It was like touching sunlight itself if it had a form. Then, deciding to get up finally, I turned over and sat up from where I lay, but it had felt like I brushed up a pillow from underneath, hindering my movement…
And that's when another voice in the room met my ears.
"You don't ever say good morning to me like that… Hu…"
I whipped my head to where I heard the voice and, through the curtains, the sliding door to the balcony opened. A female with short black hair and a long blonde behind her entered, wearing nothing but a cropped tank and a lace undergarment—gracefully barefoot.
"Ophelia… What are you doing here?" I asked, almost unsurprised.
"What do you mean, Cappy? I used to come in and out of this room all the time… while you came in and out of m—"
"Good one. But don't finish your sentence. I'm with Belle now. That is officially in the past," I interjected before she could get in another Keeperforsaken word out. "So, what do you want?"
Ophelia giggled and tilted her head at the two of us under the gray covers, "Oh, relax, I'm only teasing…"
Belle was still visibly asleep, unaware, or so I'd hoped, of the conversation we were having.
Ophelia was in her usual house clothes—or lack thereof—and just painted nails and toenails. Her infamous black eyepatch that covered her right eye at all times was still distinctly visible, even though her right bangs covered it slightly.
"Don't worry, Greedy, I'm just here to get something, and I'll be on my way…" she said ever so slyly.
"What could you have possibly left here that you didn't already take with you last time?"
"Well, you see… hmm… let me rephrase. 'I'm here to get someone, and I'll be on my way.' How's that?"
"Someone?"
As I said this, I felt movement under the sheets from the 'pillow' I had brushed over. It crawled closer and dreadfully closer in between my bare legs. And it wasn't Belle…
My eyes widened as I pulled the covers off myself quickly, but quietly, so as not to wake her. "Teddy… don't go yet… forgot to give you something…" she said as she opened her mouth wide, inches to my—
"STAR NO!" I snapped, maybe just a bit too loud. I covered my mouth with one hand after I had said it, and the other I used to push away her head, my hand in between her two small, dark gray horns that curved upward from both sides of her noticeably long, pink hair. She was only wearing an oversized red shirt, and most likely, that was it.
"Ophelia!" I whisper-shouted to her, gesturing with my head to get Star out of there.
She giggled and took her time to come over and grab Star away, "Okay, miss overlord, let's go. Let's leave the two lovebirds alone now, shall we?"
Dragging Star out of the bed, she flopped, continuing to sleep even as Ophelia was lugging her out of there on the floor.
"You and Miss Princess have a good rest of your morning now… Bye, Greedy." Ophelia said swooningly, waving a hand, and heading to the door.
But as she opened it, a shorter, younger blonde girl with pigtails stood outside, appearing as if she was just about to knock before the door had flung open. With a dull expression on her face, she held her position as she said, "Well… that explains that. Looks like you are messing around with other girls aside from my sister… Figures."
The younger girl jeered, her baby blue eyes now drifting behind Ophelia and Star in front of her, trailing on to me behind them, and then to Belle, who was still sleeping beside me, back facing where we all were, and then lastly, again, to me.
Fully dressed with a white, cropped tank exposing her waist and stomach, a black pixie skirt, white fishnets, and black knee-high combat boots to finish off, she truly looked the part of a Black Wolf Knight. She even wore a black choker, a bit of eyeliner she never used to wear, dangling silver hooped earrings with a cross in the middle, and, of course, our esteemed Black Wolves jacket, custom-made just for her a few days prior; cropped with puffed sleeves all while forming a nice silhouette.
"It smells like hot, messy sex in here," she scoffed.
"Alice! It's not what it looks like…" I said, trying to save face.
"Sure, it's not… Two half-naked girls sneaking out of your room with my sister passed out on your bed naked. Doubtful that you all did it together—she's quite prude despite her lustfulness for you… I bet you had these two tramps sneak in here after she was out cold. For a light princess, she's quite the heavy sleeper. You can't lie, you walking red flag. I followed them both to your room just to catch you red-handed. You're really not that slick."
Her words cut like flying daggers as I sat there naked under the covers of my bed, unable to defend myself from her falsified facts that seemed to line up in her favor somehow. Of all the times Ophelia decides to use the door instead of just passing through the walls out of here. Of course they're always basically nude. Of course I was, too. And of course Belle was passed the fuck out and facing the other way.
"N-n-no, Alice, you have the wrong idea! It's not like that at all—"
"I don't know what's worse. Your impulsive desires or your half-ass excuses. Honestly, what did she ever see in you… Wake Belle up now, and I'll save you the trouble of explaining the situation to her."
Between her, Ophelia, who was building up a laugh from the situation, and Star, who had begun to moan even louder, "Mmm, Teddy!" I finally decided to stop being meek as I ground my teeth at the three uninvited guests invading mine and Belle's personal space.
"GET OUT!" I shouted. A comical scene.
My voice boomed a bursting wind behind it that seemed to carry them out. Ophelia and Alice brushed some invisible dust off themselves, and Star continued to sleep there on the red carpet hallway.
"Okay, okay… we get it!" Ophelia waved from the other side of the door.
"Come on, girly, let's leave these two lovebugs alone. You like ice cream?" she continued, throwing an arm around Alice, changing the topic entirely.
"I-Ice cream? T-This early in the morning? I-I'm not a kid, you know…" She paused for a second, then asked quietly, "What flavors?"
"All types! Codey makes them from scratch!" Ophelia said, going on as they went down the hall, leaving Star there, completely forgetting about her as she snoozed on the floor with her arms and legs spread out wide.
"Hey, you forgot…" I sighed. "Never mind…"
I got up, put on some boxers, went outside, and tried to pick Star up and lead her back to her room, which was just down the hall. But in a flash, before I realized, she sleepwalked—or rather, slept crawled—over to where I was, standing just at the edge of my room and the hallway.
She giggled maniacally. "Gimme your DONG, Teddy!" pulling my boxers down quicker than I could blink.
"STAR, I SAID FUCKING NO!"
Right then, a sweet voice behind me entered my ears from inside my room, "My Greed?"
My eyes widened, and in that same moment, my foot landed on Star's face, pushing her farther out into the hallway as I shut the door behind me in a matter of seconds. The whole time, Belle was still rubbing her eyes as she sat up, breasts out, on my bed. "What's going on, my Greed?"
"N-Nothing, babe… Just the usual Black Wolves shenanigans in the Den this morning…" I replied nervously as Star banged on the door and her muffled voice sounded from just the other side, "Ding-dong, Teddy's dong!"
"Is that Star? Early even for her this morning," she said so sweetly. And I felt a twitch down below…
"Also…" she pondered, her deep, sky-blue eyes trailing down to my private area ever so slowly. "Why are your boxers down?"
I felt a nervous sweat trail from the side of my face. "Ah… I was just about to get ready to train…"
She tilted her head to the side with an expression I couldn't read, then said, "Are you now?"
I gulped.
But she giggled, putting a clenched hand up to the bottom of her mouth, "Not with that, you're not…"
Pointing down below me, I slowly lowered my head and found myself completely… excited; nervously laughing and unable to take my eyes off her, all the while.
Sitting upright, rosy legs bended to both her sides, her bare feet curled, barely touching her perfectly shaped butt cheeks, visibly naked, her hand positioned under her mouth like that, arm between her exposed breasts, and her big, deep blue eyes sparkling as the sunlight through my black curtains shaped a glowing silhouette of her—glowing her. She was a beauty fitting of her name. She was an angel… Keeper… she was a fucking angel. If now was the time I got saved, this would have been the moment that did it.
"My Greed, come here."
I perked, and so did the lower half of me, continuously growing from my arousal. I locked the door behind me and pulled my boxers back off, gravitating to her like she was pulling me in like a magnet. I prowled to her, grabbing her by the legs and pulling her closer to me. Aggressively. Gently. And she squealed softly as I did. Again, she looked at me with those beautiful sky eyes, but shyly away as she allowed me to do to her as I pleased.
I entered her, and we both entered bliss where the climax was always the repeated goal.
The time was 0701 now… I wasn't going to make it to training again this morning.
***
Outside in the courts and clearing of the Wolves Den, the boys were all ready; Code, Havoc, Brand, and Nash were all there. They had always waited an extra fifteen to twenty minutes for me to show up these past few days, now ever since Belle and I hooked up. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't… And most times I told them to just go on without me, but they always seemed to wait a bit anyway.
At this time, a dirty-blond male sniffed twice in the air toward my room. "Hmm…" he pondered, staring up at the windows of my quarters…
He had a braided rat tail on the side of his neck from the direction where his messy hair fell. His blind eye glistened in the sun and portrayed his nasty scars all over and around it, entirely void. His other right eye was dark green, untouched, unlike its twin, and shifted upward towards the sky as if he was thinking about something. Wearing a white compression shirt with black pants and black combat boots, he stood there, muscles effortlessly flexed, and arms crossed with one hand and two fingers to his chin.
"Yup, hot sex galore. He ain't showin' up today either. We should just start without him. Damn… It's spar day today too. I wanted to fight Cap but I guess I'll settle for the 'android' or maybe 'Mr. Influencer' here," he said as he finished the remains of his canned energy drink that seemed to have no effect.
Another burlier male walked up on his right, wearing the same outfit, arms crossed, a little taller, about six-foot-five to the scar-eyed male's five-foot-eleven height. "Leave him alone. I do the same when I have a chick over," he said, almost stoic, but not quite.
The other male tilted his entire upper body forward and faced the bigger male from the right, looking up at him. "You?" pausing before continuing. "The guy stuck in his room for two weeks at a time? Good one, Nash." He chuckled and jabbed. "Those virtual chats sure are becoming way too realistic aren't they?"
"Fuck you, Havoc. I have a social life—I'll have you know. Only real men have them after all," Nash said proudly.
"Oh, I'm sure! All those followers on your social media are totally your social life!" He turned his whole body toward him now. "You know, just because it has the word 'social' in it doesn't mean it counts that as a 'life'."
"And just because it has a hole doesn't mean you should be fucking it," Nash countered. "When was the last time you dated anything besides an animal?"
"Why does everyone keep saying I fuck animals? Where did that even start?"
"You can thank Ophelia. She got the tea."
"False fucking tea. I have a girlfriend, you know!"
"What species?"
Brand roared in laughter after Nash said that.
Both males continued to butt heads, flaring their nostrils and tossing burn after burn at each other all the while.
At last, another male clapped his hands to interject their tomfoolery. Sporting the same outfit as they, one distinction from this male was that he wore a white cap with the logo of a wolf on it, and his hair was black tipped and ombre'd to white toward his roots. He always carried a double-hilted long sword on his back with the hilts on opposite sides of each other.
"That's it. We're jogging first. Get your asses moving," Code said with a calm yet commanding tone.
Both Havoc and Nash reluctantly nodded, glaring back at each other as they began sprinting ahead. Everyone was to do laps around the Wolves Den and the surrounding area before sparring today. That was his spontaneous decision.
As Code paced himself behind, eyes closed, head tilted slightly down, and taking one last hit before flicking his cigarette to the side, he walked past Brand who was just finishing up his stretch. His screen-like mask had nothing but innocent digital white eyes on it as he watched Code breeze by.
"Looks like another day without the Captain. Better get started." Brand said as his metal skin clinked. His body entirely cyborg, yet there was no hint of any human skin on him.
"Brand," Code said.
"Yes, Vice Captain Code?" he replied, turning around and jogging in place.
"Lead the rest of the sprint when you catch up to them and then have them try to catch up with you… We're gonna go extra hard today." Code said, finally opening his eyes, which were a light gray hue, appearing almost blue in the sunlight. His round glasses gleamed from the sun soon after.
"Yes, sir!" Brand saluted, sprinting off now and gaining higher speed like an engine.
Code, continuing to pace, slowly took his long swords strapped from his back and raised a hand, snapping his fingers and summoning a wooden stand that was replaced by a spec of dirt just ahead of him to his left.
He placed one sheathed long sword on it and took the other out, slinging the bare blade between his belt and pants.
As he readied himself to sprint, a large wolfdog came running from behind, giving him a low, heavy huff from its nostrils as it joined him and the rest of the guys in their morning sprint.
"Good girl, Yuna," he said to her as she passed by, wagging her sweeping tail as he petted her large head.
When she ran off to the rest of the group, he only said a single thought to himself, I'll make sure these idiots stay in top condition. He paused his thought, Actually… I'll make sure we're better than we ever were, Asura… with Greed as the head of that charge.