The Valentine Legacy: A Brotherhood Divided
Welcome back to the Valentine Legacy. Before the heir of the legacy is announced, we are drawn back to the town of Nibelheim. Who was that figure watching the family at the end of the last chapter? Let's find out, shall we?
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Lord Valentine raised an eyebrow as he found Gabriel kneeling before him once more. He was back sooner than expected. The search for the legacy child had been expected to take at least a sim life cycle, for they had the world to search.
"My lord," Gabriel began, "I've found them. I've found the legacy family. The original child has now aged into an elderly man, and Gainsborough's emerald irises have all but died out within them, but from the look of the current heir, I know it's them."
"Excellent work, Gabriel." Lord Valentine hissed. "Never forget how valuable your services are. Now, where are they?"
"They reside deep within the Desiderata Valley, my lord. Their house is easily one of the largest ones in the neighborhood. All of the children's children have reached the age of reason, and he is soon to pick another to carry on the family line."
Lord Valentine's facade of implacability was broken by his brow furrowing. "Then we don't have much time. We must move. Quickly. Fetch Junichiro, and tell both him and my father that there is to be an emergency meeting of the wolf pack in regards to this problem. Make haste, my messenger."
"Yes, my lord." Gabriel replied, running downstairs to find those he needed to seek out.
The following morning, the pack met in what was once Sephiroth's house to discuss what needed to be done. Vincent, as the first one of them bitten, acted as alpha, and was placed in the chair at the head of the group, the very chair where, once, Sephiroth had plotted his death. Riku, as the beta, sat in the same seat he had in Sephiroth's meeting, impatiently waiting for the meeting to start.
"We have been asked..." Vincent began hesitantly, "No, commanded, to go to the Desiderata Valley, and get rid of the legacy family, so that they will trouble us no more."
The edict sent the entire pack into an uproar. Cyd Roseland turned to Amin Sims, muttering, "He's gone mad..."
"I'm sorry, Cyd I didn't catch that." Vincent growled.
"I was referring to Lord Valentine." Cyd amended. "This wolven pack may look no more to him than a band of animals, but we still have pride, damn it! And I, for one, am NOT in the business of murdering pups!"
"He's right." Joseph Benson cut in, his muscles tensing, contracting his tatoos. "He can't ask us to kill innocent people! Some of them are children. I'm not going to have a child's blood on my hands."
The rest of the pack murmured their assent.
"But..." Vincent stammered, "it's not like we have a choice. We won't be able to control ourselves by nightfall, and it's what we've been ordered to do..."
"Have you no shame?" a new voice cut in, rendering all the talking into silence.
The pack was in shock. Riku, the beta, speaking out against his alpha?
Riku took in a shuddering breath, and shouted, "These people you're agreeing to have us kill are your own fucking children, damn it! Your son, and his children! And his children's children! If you ever truly loved Aerith, you wouldn't be allowing us to kill her descendants, and yours!"
"Aren't you all tired of kowtowing to this overlord's sick and evil demands, while he treats us like little more than pathetic dogs?" Riku asked, now inflamed with righteous anger. "Aren't you tired of listening to a man who has done little more than cower behind his own son?"
"I'm not going to remain a slave to these vampires' twisted desires. I'm done with following their orders because somebody doesn't have the balls to stand up to their own child. Think about it. We may not be able to cure ourselves, but damn it, we're still people, and we deserve to live like people."
The pack members nearest Riku were starting to nod in agreement. He was right. There was no point in obeying those orders.
"We can continue to cower and beg like the bunch of broken, pathetic dogs that 'Lord Valentine' sees us as, or we can rebel, and at least recover from all we've lost some pride, some little shred of dignity. It's high time we stopped being slaves. It's time we acted like the men and women we once were, who never would have stood for this sort of treatment! We can be slaves, beasts, or we can be HUMAN."
"Those are dangerous sentiments, Riku." Vincent cut in, squirming in his seat. "Remember, the walls have ears..."
As he said this, his eyes travelled to just outside the doorway, where Junichiro was listening to every word that was said.
Riku stood up rapidly from his chair. "I don't care if he hears. Unlike you, I still acknowledge that I am the parent, and he is my child. I'm not afraid of what he may do to me!"
Vincent calmly, placidly stood up from his chair. "Riku, you're not thinking clearly. Calm down. Think about the consequences before you do anything too rash..."
"'Think of the consequences'?" Riku echoed, his voice laden with sarcasm. "Oh that's rich, coming from you!"
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Vincent challenged, hackles raised.
"Guys, we're supposed to be brothers here..." Cyd tried to cut in, his words lost completely in the anger surrounding alpha and beta.
"You've told me countless times before you 'never meant' for Lucrecia to die. Just like you 'never meant' your son to go mad, 'never meant' for Lucrecia to discover your secret, 'never meant' for my father to go batshit crazy, 'never intended' on him killing the mother of your son. The way you're talking, it's like you 'never thought' about any fucking thing you did!" Riku snarled. "And now you're just hiding behind your son, claiming you 'never wanted' any of this to happen to us. And I bet you 'never thought' of killing your own children, but dammit, Vincent, that's just what we've been 'ordered' to do!"
"Look, I'm trying to do what's best for the pack!" Vincent argued back. "What good would it do any of us to rebel? Fight back, and then what? We die? Losing all that we have left to us? Believe me, Riku, if I had a fucking choice in the matter, my life would've been forfeit long ago. If you try to defy Lord Valentine, he'll kill you, and not just you, but the rest of the pack as well, and your deaths will mean nothing!"
"Bull. Shit." Riku shot back acidly. "You know, Vincent? That's what I'm starting to hate the most about you. You're too passive. All you ever do is stand by and let others run over you. And if you're not gonna fight back, then perhaps someone else ought to take control of the pack!"
The rest of the pack gasped.
"Is that a challenge?" Vincent growled, teeth clenched as tightly as was possible.
"What's wrong?" Riku mocked. "Don't you want to kill me for insubordination? You may as well, considering you've destroyed pretty much everything else in my life."
Vincent drew back at the sight of Riku. The shadow of the wolf had never been more clear on his face- and Riku had never looked more like his father, Sephiroth. "Riku... I'm... I'm sorry..."
"'Sorry' isn't going to fucking cut it, Vincent. Not by a long shot. You killed my grandmother. You drove my father into complete and total madness. You let Aerith be killed. You let your own son transform himself and all the other children into vampires. Do you have any idea what that's like, Vincent? To watch as your own precious children run away from home, to discover your only daughter is in an incestuous relationship with the vampire who's causing all the trouble, to watch, a prisoner in your own mind, as you kill your beloved wife? And of course, lest you forget, you were the one that bit me, forcing Raphael to run away from the only home he ever knew! Every bad thing that has ever occurred in my life has happened because of you!"
And then Riku shoved Vincent, sending him stumbling back several steps.
"Well what the hell would you have had me do, Riku?" Vincent retorted, returning the shove. It was Riku that was now on the defensive, for he now clearly saw the beast within written on Vincent's face. "Abandon my wife and child as soon as I discovered what I was, leaving them alone, without any explanation? Try infinite times to kills myself, knowing each attempt would end in failure? Resist the beast within? You know none of us can do that! You're not the only one to have lost family, so stop acting like you're such a damned saint. As I recall from your own memories, there was a time in your life when Namine wasn't even the dearest thing to your heart, and you betrayed her, never once teling her of your relationship with So-!"
SLAP!
The pack drew in a collective breath. The alpha was never to be struck. A move like that would constitute a challenge for leadership, which was something that was not done, not in times like this.
The broken pack leader took a moment to compose himself before turning back to face his brothers and sisters.
"All right. Fine, Riku. Have it your way. Try to rebel, see how much success you get. But I'm warning you, all of you, if you join ranks with him, you will all die. Even if I were to join ranks with you, it would only be you who would die, for I've been forced to live, forced to watch every twisted thing my son does, helpless and caged. You would all die, and I would live with your blood on my hands. But fine. If you want your 'freedom' you value so much, go with Riku. If you wish to die, follow him. I will return to where I was, where I deserve to be, and wait to see if any of you are around anymore. This meeting is adjourned. Do not forget our orders. We'll have no choice but to obey."
And with that, Vincent stormed out of the room.
The following morning, Riku found himself called before Vincent the II's throne.
"What the hell do you want, you parasite?" Riku asked, arms crossed over his chest.
"How dare you refer to him in that way, you mongrel?" Michiko shouted. "You are to refer to him as no less than 'His Gracious Lord Valentine', do you understand?"
Riku rolled his eyes at the behavior displayed by the younger of the two twins he had sired. Playing at 'royal advisor' was clearly a role he was good at.
"Peace, Michiko." Lord Valentine interrupted. "It is merely a dog. It does not know any better than to bite the hand that feeds it."
"Yes, my lord." Michiko replied, bowing out of the immediate area of confrontation.
"I heard from Junichiro that you were encouraging a rebellion." Lord Valentine stated imperiously.
"And if I was?" Riku challenged.
"You have courage, and it would seem some of your father's leadership abilities have passed down to you. I could use someone like you as a true leader of the pack."
"If you're offering me a promotion," the silver-haired young man sneered, "I disrespectfully decline."
Lord Valentine sighed. "Ah, well. It is to be expected. However, at least enjoy one drink before you leave. I have an excellent wine for you to sample."
Riku grasped the cold, filled glass hesitantly, then brought the draught to his lips, drinking of it long and deep.
As the werewolf drank, Lord Valentine could feel a smirk pulling at the edges of his mouth, though he knew he must remain blank, emotionless.
As soon as he finished drinking, Riku could tell something was horribly wrong. His insides felt as if they were on fire, and as he looked over at Lord Valentine, he saw the vampiric overlord smirking.
"What did you- put in here?" Riku asked him, his veins now beginning to burn as well.
"Ah, silver is such a double-edged sword for your kind." Lord Valentine stated calmly. "Under the moon's silver light, you are beasts, but within you, it is a toxin more deadly than any other on this world. Say hello to your precious wife, won't you?"
Riku's indignation was quickly swallowed up by the blackness engulfing his vision and mind. The last thing he could think of was that Vincent had been right. And then he faded completely.
"Michiko. While Amaranth, Gabriel, Junichiro and I leave with the wolf pack to take care of this legacy problem, you and Edward are to remain here and guard the fortress. Dispose of the mongrel however you see fit. Bury it, burn it, use it for your experiments, I care not. Just get the damn thing out of my sight." Lord Valentine ordered.
"Very well, my lord." Michiko answered, moving towards the corpse.
"The rest of you!" Lord Valentine shouted. "Tonight, my children, we leave our home to defeat what most threatens our lives! Tomorrow, we celebrate, for tonight is the night the legacy shall die!"
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And that's it for this update! Next time, we begin with Generation Three as the heir is chosen, and the spares each face their own difficulties.