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The rain has been going on for hours now, and doesn’t seem going to stop soon. Somewhere far away, thunder rolls in intermittently with flashes of lightning. He has never been lost like this before, alone and cold.
It all begins when an older member of the Stockade came up to them when they visited for a routine check of the outpost factory. The elder woman sobbed hard as she told them of her lost grandchildren, who she had brought to pick up some Jinchou in the Groove. Ruan Yi had also politely asked them to help the woman, so Endmin felt like he couldn’t refuse. But thick dark clouds had overcast the sky and a storm was brewing as they started their journey to the Groove.
Endmin knew it was a bad idea. Perlica said it was a bad idea. Even Chen agreed with her. And yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that if they didn’t find the young girl soon, they would lose her. The Stragglers Groove is famous for making people lose direction, so the sooner they moved, the better their chance to find the poor girl.
However, unlike many people believed, things didn't always go his way despite being the Endministrator. During their search, he was separated from Perlica and Chen. One second he was looking away, and the next, the groove seemingly had swallowed the other two. Endmin had felt his stomach drop and he frantically tried to contact them, only for the Baker’s signal to go dark as the storm stirred the slumbering blight. As if to laugh to his face, the rain grew quickly into a downpour and he could hardly see more than a few meters ahead. In an instant, Endmin decided his best course of action would be taking a shelter somewhere, before the Groove got flooded. Luckily, he found a small cave in the nook of a cliff, a few jumps up from the ground level.
Settling inside the small damp cave, Endmin sighs. He takes off his wet, heavy coat and tries to dry his terminal. The stubborn signal refuses to give him any chance, the storm still interferes heavily with the comm. In a stroke of luck, a short message from Perlica comes in, giving him some hope before his Baker refuses to connect completely.
Endmin, we found the lost girl. Please stay put, we’ll find you soon.
He can’t send a reply but it nonetheless feels like a heavy weight has lifted off his shoulders. Now all Endmin left to think is how to stay alive so they can find him soon. In the small cave, he leans his back against the stone wall. Endmin closes his eyes as he listens to the roaring rain outside, as he focuses on regulating the originium inside him to stabilize his body temperature.
He falls asleep soon, lulled by the thunderstorm.
. . .
When they opened another factory in an Wuling outpost, Wulfgard was assigned a new responsibility. He has been entrusted as Endfield Industry liaison for Sky King Flats, to regularly check on the production line and help them with the numerous roaming landbreakers. He can still remember vividly the Endmin giving him thumbs up as the man piled yet another work to Wulfgard, probably to keep him from stressing the Arsenal Engineering division more than necessary.
“This is our first outpost outside Valley IV area, Wulfgard. I can’t think of anyone else who can handle such a frontier area.”
Yeah, there is no way Wulfgard can refuse. The Lupo has since realized that he has a soft spot for two people; Rossi and the Endministrator. But he also needs to make sure no one realizes this fact.
That morning, he had returned to Dijiang to get some supplies, as Endmin had his scheduled survey of the Sky King Flats factory complex. However, as he arrives back at the outpost, Wulfgard is met with a worried face of Perlica and Chen, while Endmin is nowhere to be seen. He is alarmed in an instant, sensing that something is wrong.
“Wulfgard! Thank God!” The Lung girl runs up to him, in a rare chance of actually looking happy to see him.
“Chen? Supervisor Perlica? What happens? Where’s Endmin?”
Perlica walks up slower behind her, but her face is full of tension nonetheless. She explains to the Lupo in a hurried tone. “We were asked to find a lost girl at the Groove, but the weather got so bad and Endmin was separated from us. We found the girl, but we still can’t find Endmin. Do you think you can help us, Wulfgard?”
If there’s one thing Wulfgard built his reputation on in Endfield, it is as a tracker in the Talos-II wilderness. And just a few days ago, he had personally promised Endmin that he would protect him if the Luppino family talisman fails.
“Sicuro.”
He lets out a shaky breath. This is the one time he prays to whatever God exists out there, that he will not fail a mission.
. . .
He is dreaming.
In his dream, he is a pack animal. Something canine that looks like a tuskbeast, but larger. Standing on four legs while his two feet are nowhere to be found. He is on a large open grass field, feeling the breeze on his fur as similar canines run around him without a care.
He is strolling calmly around the field when suddenly across the stretching grass field, one such canine looks straight at him. A beast slightly larger than him, with a brown coat and scars decorating his body. A pair of familiar reddish gold eyes that radiates sunset meet his own, as if to say—
I found you.
. . .
It is still pouring when Wulfgard arrives at the Groove, but the storm has finally calmed down enough for the Lupo to sense the forest around him. The water has risen up to his ankle, but fortunately he can still move around easily. Baker's signal is still down, as the blight spikes up from the storm that Wulfgard feels it almost prickling on his skin.
By sheer luck, near a towering cliff as the wind changes its direction, his nose catches a scent in the air—a mix of originium and musk, with a layer of petrichor masking it. A few feet above the ground, his eyes land on what seems to be a small cave. His instinct screams to him to check inside, so he leaps onto the cliff with a few practiced jumps and lands right in front of the gaping hole.
The first thing that catches his eyes is pale skin crackling with mottled golden sheen of originium. Wulfgard’s eyes widened in surprise seeing Endmin shivering in his sleep while the originium seems trying to break free out of his body. His stabilizing mask seems to have been loosened and falls off his face.
“Endmin! Endmin! Can you hear me?”
Wulfgard rushes to the side of Endmin. He fixes the black mask back on, but their leader is still unconscious. The Lupo pulls off his sharp gloves and feels the skin of Endmin, only to find it has gotten cold. The breaking originium must be a sign that he has gone unstable. The best course should be to return Endmin to OMV Dijiang quickly and have Protocol Singularity stabilize him. But Wulfgard’s sharp ears pick up the sound of pouring rain growing stronger again outside. They won’t be able to move out until the storm subsides.
In this kind of situation, Wulfgard only has one choice, to transfer some of body heat and keep Endmin warm. Hopefully it also can stabilize his originium.
Without wasting time, he takes off Endmin’s wet sweater, pants, and shoes. He also strips off his own damp coat and shirt, down to his innermost wear. Gingerly, he picks up Endmin and settles him on his lap. The Lupo holds Endmin in front of his chest and covers the two of them with Endmin’s large coat—its inside has dried, thankfully. He stays like that for hours as he focuses to ignore the icy cold skin of Endmin.
. . .
Wulfgard feels himself drifting in and out of consciousness. The Lupo doesn’t know how long time has passed when he is suddenly startled awake by a slight movement from the body in his lap. The mottled gold of originium seems to have disappeared from Endmin’s skin and his temperature has risen, even though it is still not quite back to normal. His eyes briefly stray to the opening of the cave, seeing that the storm finally recedes, leaving only drizzles. He can’t be sure about the blight though, until they have a good look outside.
Endmin lets out a small groan, as the smaller male starts to stir from his sleep. Wulfgard waits in bated breath, imagining the worst scenario to happen.
“Ahh, what? Wulfgard?”
He exhales a relieved breath, as the Endmin calls out to him.
“Sorry for being inappropriate, Endmin, but your body was unstable. You were cold and the originium was breaking out.”
“Oh… I didn’t realize it was that bad.” Endmin weakly said, his fatigue still clear.
“Do I make you uncomfortable, Endmin?” He asks softly.
“Not at all.” Endmin gives him a tired smile, as he leans back to Wulfgard’s chest. “In fact, this feels quite nice. Can we stay a little longer like this?”
Wulfgard lets out a relieved breath, something inside him grows warm hearing Endmin’s words. The Lupo tightens his hold on Endmin. “Take as much time as you need.”
He listens to Endmin breath getting calmer again, as his leader once again falls to sleep. And he too drifts off in follow.
. . .
He is dreaming that he was a wolf. There’s no wolf in Talos-II but his ancestor has told tales of them from Terra, about wolves being a spiritual kin to the Lupo.
Under a calm night sky, his wolf is resting alongside another one beside him, cuddling and sharing comfort. A male wolf with a dark and white contrasting coat. When his companion stirs, Wulfgard watches, enraptured as his eyelids open up to a pair of intelligent blue eyes tinged with gold dust—just like the sky of Talos-II dancing forever with the sun. Wulfgard feels his companion smiling in content and the other beast shifts closer to him.
Oh. It’s his mate, his instinct told him.
. . .
Chen is the first to find them, spluttering with a red face when she found the two of them almost naked beneath Endmin’s coat. Perlica follows her closely behind—she, on the other hand, is unfazed by the state they were in. They bundle up both Endmin and Wulfgard, hastily teleport back to Dijiang. Endmin is promptly brought to the Stasis Core, while Wulfgard is forced to face the medical bay as they prod him to see whether his oripathy infection gets worse.
For a week straight, he spends time loitering in and out his room in Dijiang as the medical team have him on monitoring period. They ignore him when he says he is fine—Wulfgard knows how it feels when his oripathy is flaring and he doesn’t feel that at all. So he kills time by tinkering on his handcannons, sharpening Khorsyn and Chen’s swords, putting new parts into Avywenna’s spear, fixing arts units for Perlica and Gilberta, and visiting the Arsenal engineering division to help them.
Okay, he might be a little bored. They do not even give him the clears to work tending the growing minerals.
It happens on a usual morning for him, just after he gets an oripathy suppressor shot in the medical bay. Wulfgard decides to return to his room. He sits on his bed, trying to read a fin magazine forced on him by Alesh, to distract him from fixing another weapon. He has only learned about the migratory habit of striped bass when the door of his dorm opens.
Endmin enters his room and greets him. “I hear you’ve been a menace to the Arsenal division.”
“Sorry.” Wulfgard lifts his shoulders, not a little bit apologetic.
Endmin chuckles and goes to sit beside him on the bed. Wulfgard sees a soft smile blooming on his face and the warm feeling that he feels in the cave returns again.
“All better now?” He asks softly.
“Yes, thanks to you, Wulfgard.”
A smile tugs on his lips. “I made the promise to protect you and I intend to keep it, Endmin.”
Endmin nods. “And I really appreciate it.”
“Sempre, Endmin.” Feeling rather brave, the Lupo reaches for Endmin’s hand and rubs the smooth knuckle with his calloused fingers. He brings the hand to his lips and kisses it softly. “For you, it’s as long as I live.”
His ears twitch hearing the hitch in Endmin’s breath.
“Actually… there’s something else that I want to ask you.”
“SÌ. Ask away.”
Endmin takes off his mask. The Lupo, once again, finds himself transfixed as a pair of eyes as blue as Talos-II sky catches his own. He feels a smooth hand caressing his cheek as Endmin closes the distance between them. The lips touching his are soft, almost hesitant before Wulfgard realizes what is happening and returns the kiss as fiercely as he feels. His instinct sings of elation and the warmth fills his entire body as butterflies in his stomach make themselves known to the wolf.
The kiss feels like it ends too soon.
“I’ve wanted to do that since we woke up in the cave.” Endmin admits, as he puts their forehead together. “I really like you.”
Wulfgard pulls him into another kiss, more passionately as he wraps his hands tightly around Endmin’s body, now for different reasons.
“Anch'io, Endmin.”