whitw2

You lied to me.

I trust you. So you shouldn't have lied.

'Shouldn't', child? There can't be such a dull feeling between us.

You've lied to me too after all, haven't you?

On Carnevale night. You did not kill Agnese's Fang. What was that whelp called again?

L-Lunacub.

You stayed your hand, you wanted to test me.

Because...

The Signori dei Lupi may break their Fangs, but a she-beast will not abandon her children. She may swaddle them in lies, but pure relations made in the wastes will always stay strong.

Both Rhodes Islanders and that tailor... they do not understand the wastes, but you believed their words, and let a hole form in our relationship.

The truth is no longer important, and the same goes for who wins or loses...

This is the humiliation Grandma ought to shoulder, and also your rightful punishment, my child.

I remember this place...

I said before: this is a dream, and yet reality.

The grass here... You taught me how to hide my scent and wait quietly for prey...

This tree... You taught me how to make traps and hide them under dead leaves...

That rock over there...

You used to sharpen that tooth on it, until it became the sharpest dagger.

Every forest, cave, and skeleton we've passed by... this is your history.

You're taking me back...

Where will we stop?

You will know in time.

Are you still thinking about our conversation earlier?

I must.

My heart feels so... messy. I don't get it.

Truth be told, we Signori dei Lupi have played our game too many times to count, yet you have been my most special Fang.

Only you live and think like a true wolf, so much so that you will never manage to assimilate into the humans on this landship, no matter how long you stay here...

You are too pure. You are the truest wolf there is.

The truest...

So, my child. Forget what I said earlier. Forget the hate and blame between us.

Because emotions like those are too complicated for you... you are not to blame.

We're finally here.

Th-This is...

Where we met. I found you abandoned in that grass nest over there. So heavy was the rain that night your cries were almost washed away.

There is where our journey ends, and where everything began.

I will burn that nest, and then, what we have just experienced will have never existed.

I don't understand...

I'll forget Grandma?

I'll forget everything about Grandma?

You will forget the confusion, pain, and grief I have brought upon you, as if I'd never existed...

...I won't have nightmares?

That's right. What a clever girl you are.

Silence.

The young red wolf lowers her head, her knuckles white from clenching her fists too hard. She says nothing, seemingly in the deepest throes of her pain.

The graceful Signora dei Lupi does not move any closer. She decides to give the wolf cub a little time, even if... her own patience has long since withered to near nothing.

Finally, the young wolf looks up.

...No.

Grandma, I don't want it.

Do you hate that wolf, Red?

Do you wish to forget her?

Fear not—we are on Rhodes Island. Your Rhodes Island.

I'd be glad to help you.

I don't know...

You don't know?

That means you don't want to.

I don't want to? No one's taught me how to deal with this...

You're on the mark, Projekt Red.

Your life is woven of betrayal and lies, and pain drives you to wish you could forget.

But it's no use forgetting. Just like pulling out your tendons and bones, turning yourself into an empty shell... is that not a crueler form of violence?

You know the wilderness well. Nightmares will also help you to live.

Um...

Haha, an idea just came to me.

I don't have to forget.

You warned me, I remember your words...

I have to remember hate, to keep my eyes on my enemies, so I won't get lost, so I can keep my blade moving... so I can live on.

I used to take revenge for you... revenge on enemies that never existed.

I'll avenge myself now!

Red kicks up high into the air, a wolf's hunting technique.

In a blink, she slices the Signora dei Lupi in two.

The mysterious dark mist scatters as blood rains on Red, giving her a demonic demeanor.

Her hand shakes violently, as if she does not dare believe what she has just done... and she faints.

But just as quickly, the dark mist converges once more, and the Signora dei Lupi manifests before Red again.

Did the dreamland give you the audacity to act against me? Anything done here amounts to nothing.

Fine, if you don't wish to forget, then live on with all you know of me. Let the nightmares layer over one another, let pain stack on more pain.

That's all well and good...

The old game is no more, but I do not trust Lappland as much as Zaaro and the others do, that she can bring us a new form of joy...

I shall leave you as a lasting mark of this era.

But I dare say I will forget you in a blink, wolf cub.

After all, you are no different from the other Fangs I have broken in the past.

Come out, Vargo. We should go. The stench here is unbearable.

No... this scent. Something's wrong...

Is this a trick of yours, Lappland?

Vargo, did I hear right, hmm? Caesar just questioned the alpha?

Why is Red's scent on me?!

Really? That can happen?

Let me think... what just happened...?

Red wounded you with her blade, and your blood spilled onto her...

Hahahaha. Could it be, you and your Fang switched scents?

That was just a dream I granted her!

Burning it away?

Haha, what heavy rain we have here...

Are you hoping to rid yourself of that odor?

It's no use, my dear Signora dei Lupi.

Agnese told me eons ago, when this land was only wild... The wolves roamed in their packs, exchanging scents to communicate with each other and mark your territories...

It was how you hunted together, and how you hunted each other...

There is no way to rid yourself of another wolf's scent on you, until the curtain falls on your life.

Red's dagger...

That dagger is indeed a keepsake of mine... and I've bestowed an 'alpha's blessing' upon it.

So it was you who taught Lappland, Agnese...

I'm not the only one she asked. I had no idea what she was planning to do with the knowledge.