Moonlight Naga Chapter 4

Sephiroth was able to slither, but leaned heavily on Riku for support. He was losing blood, and nearly dead on his coils from pain and exhaustion. The trek was mostly uphill, and the going was slow, but Riku urged Sephiroth on.

“Come on,” he panted heavily “almost there.” Riku was much smaller than his mentor, but he managed to support his weight.

Sephiroth made no response, but for his part acted as though he needed no encouragement, and continued onward. Both knew time was of the essence, and that they must reach the village as soon as they could.

The sun’s light had just begun to paint the world in twilight when they reached the outskirts of the village. The first building to come into sight was the stables. All of the livestock for the village were kept in that barn. There were cows for milking, and chocobo for eggs, and to pull the plows over the crop fields. The nagas were in fact a community of hunters and farmers, working together for everyone’s lively hood.

Some would raise crops, and others would hunt to bring back meat from the forests, while other brought back nets filled with fish from the sea. Most naga hunted for themselves, but there were those too busy with other duties to hunt for themselves, and others who were too young. No meat was raised however, as naga saw no sport in slaughtering tame animals, and those which were kept were more useful alive.

Besides that, the keeper of the livestock was too softhearted to see his animals killed. He had special bond with the chocobo especially, and considered them like part of the family. He was strange like that, and considered one of the stranger pets he kept as his closest friend, although that was rarely spoken of.

The keeper was just bringing some of the chocobo out into a side pasture when Riku caught sight of him, and called out to the fiery haired naga, “Axel!”

The naga turned towards him, eyes widening when he saw the wounded Sephiroth. He hastily locked the chcocbo in the field, and then disappeared into the barn, calling for a chocobo to be hitched up. Riku continued towards the barn, and a moment later, Axel reappeared leading a chocobo pulling a simple wagon.

He came to a stop, and came to Sephiroth’s side, eyes wide with concerned. “Help me get him up on the wagon, we’ll let him lie down, then take him to the healer.” He instructed, and Riku obeyed, helping lift Sephiroth into the wagon. As soon as he was up, Sephiroth’s eyes closed, letting himself finally give in to his exhaustion. For a moment Riku was terrified, but he could see that Sephiroth was still breathing.

“What the hell happened to him!” asked Axel, clearly alarmed.

It made sense. There were very few naga Axel was close to, but if there was any naga Axel cared for it was Sephiroth. For Axel was not really one of their tribe or one of their kind. He was naga, but he was different. While they all had scales of pale silver or pure ebony, Axel’s tail was vibrant red, as bright as his hair, and marked with black patterns. He was taller, and longer than their kind, and though he was strong, he was as thin as a female, and just as venomous.

Axel wasn’t the same type of naga as they were, for he was not born of their village. Everyone in Riku’s tribe had been born there to chosen brood mother. Only female was allowed to breed per season, she was called alpha or mother, and chose her mates among the best of village males. Because of this, many in the tribe were cousins or half siblings, although inbreeding was avoided. Still related by blood or not, everyone in the village was like one family. They were a tribe, and even though Axel had been taken in and raised in the village as a nagling, he would always be an outsider.

It had been Sephiroth, along with Zack, who first brought Axel to the village. They had found him in a chocobo nest, where he had apparently been raised by the birds. When Riku had first heard this he’d laughed, yeah right, raised by chocobos. He thought it was joke made because Axel was such an odd ball, or because of his hair.

However, it was the truth. Axel had been hatched, and cared for by chocobos for the first year of his life, until two teenage nagas sent to gather eggs, for this was before the village had its own supply, found him. Both had been very surprised to see the nagaling coiled among the eggs as if they were his nest mates, and warking like a chocobo. Since they couldn’t just leave him, they’d brought him to village, and given him, along with the chocobo eggs they’d gathered, to Larxene, the current brood mother.

Unfortunately, she’d eaten the chocobo eggs at once, which had frightened the poor nagling out of his wits. So of course, he refused to go near her, which meant he couldn’t be kept in the nursery with the other naglings near his age. Zack had volunteered to care for him, because someone had to, and because he was afraid if he did leave him with Larxene she might get so annoyed with his screaming, attacks, and escape attempts that she might actually eat him.

So Axel had been raised by Zack until he was old enough to go to the care of his mentor. As for how he got into a chocobo’s nest in the first place, no one knew for sure. Zexion’s theory was that his family or village was likely destroyed, most likely by an attack from humans, but Axel’s egg must have kicked away. A mother chocobo found it, hatched it, and then carried Axel, who she thought of as her hatching, on her back as her pack moved on, eventually building a nest of her own where the boys found Axel. If it wasn’t for Sephiroth and Zack finding him, Axel might still have been living in the jungle warking.

To Axel, Zack had been his family, and Sephiroth had been Zack’s lover and so like family as well. They weren’t that close, Axel, though lighthearted and funny, didn’t really have many close friends in the village, and lived alone on the outskirts with his animals, but Sephiroth still meant a lot to him.

Riku understood why he was upset, but still didn’t like the tone. “What’s it look like happened? Stop asking stupid questions, and get that bird moving, we need to get him help.” Really, he didn’t feel like explaining. Explaining would mean thinking about what happened, and admitting that this was his fault.

“No shit, dumb ass.” He retorted, “So why don’t you do something useful?” He removed the cloth bandana he’d be wearing and handed it to Riku. “Get up there, and press this on the wound. You have to keep pressure on it to slow the bleeding, pressure, got in memorized?”

Riku nodded, and scrambled onto the wagon, pressing the cloth to gash on Sephiroth’s shoulder and held there. A naga at full slither could move as quickly as a running chocobo, so rather to weigh down the wagon by taking the driver’s seat; Axel took the chocobo’s reigns and led it forward.

They raced through the gates of the village. The sun had just risen, and everyone was out starting the day, and greeting one another, but when the wagon came into site everyone stopped what they doing to look. Eyes went wide, and murmuring erupted amid gasps.

The wagon came to a stop in front of Zexion’s house. Axel went to knock on the healer’s down, while Riku prepared to help Sephiroth down.

“Let us help!” came two voices in perfect unison. Riku looked up to see two very worried looking nagas racing toward him, Loz and Yazoo. Both were silver haired and scaled, and had Sephiroth’s eyes, their mother’s eyes.

The two were brothers, two thirds of a set of triplets, all hatched from the same egg, the last egg Jenova laid before she’d died. Jenova had been brood mother only a handful of times, and lost more children than she’d hatched. After she managed to lay only one egg in her latest, she’d become depressed and wondered off from the village one night, until she came upon a party of humans who’d she’d attacked. Outnumbered, she’d been killed, though the unspoken thought of many in the village was that it had been for the best, because they felt she’d slipped into insanity from so much loss.

Sephiroth was only eight years old at the time, but he’d stayed with the egg until hatched. When the egg hatched, everyone was surprised to see three. It was rare to see twins, but triplets were unheard of. They were all tiny, the smallest, Kadaj, was tiny enough to be cradled in an adult’s cupped hand. No one thought they’d make it, not all of them at least. Sephiroth had stayed with them night and day, and the new brood mother and other care takers helped as well. So the children lived, and grew.

Though they were of the same egg, the three were far from identical. At twenty three, the only one who looked his age was Loz. He was the tallest, and the brawniest of the group. His brother Yazoo looked slightly younger, or maybe that was only because he was so beautiful. Their nicknames among the villagers were the sensitive one and the girl, Kadaj, who was still the littlest, had been called cutie or baby for a good deal of his childhood because he so tiny and sweet looking. Now no one dared call him anything, but everyone knew he had a bad attitude, most likely compensating for all the teasing he’d received growing up.

Riku nodded to them, and moved to let them help. Loz easily lifted his older brother, crying when he saw the wound.

Yazoo glared at his brother for crying, for although effeminate in many ways, he didn’t like displays of weakness, “quit crying,”

“But…but brother’s hurt.” said Loz, seeming completely shocked by what had happened. The whole village was probably shocked, Sephiroth was the greatest warrior among a society of fighters. Though only a few, the hunters, were soldiers as a calling, every naga was trained to be a warrior, from healers like Zexion and his apprentice, Yazoo, to farmers like Axel, they all were trained and formidable fighters. But no fighter was greater than Sephiroth, and now he was unconscious and bleeding.

Yazoo was looking at the wound as Loz carried him towards the door. “Stabbed from behind, was this an ambush, how many were there?” He asked looking at Riku.

Riku didn’t answer, “I’ll explain later, just get him inside.” The two nodded, and they took him to the door, just as the blue haired healer appeared to open it.
Zexion moved aside to let Loz carry Sephiroth in, and then looked to Yazoo, “come in and wash up. I may be in need of your assistance, can I trust your relation won’t hinder your ability.”

“No, sir.” Yazoo answered, before following his mentor’s instructions and disappearing inside.

Riku moved to follow, but stopped when heard his name called. He turned to see Kadaj, glaring at him from across the street. He looked winded, as though he’d just arrived.
Riku didn’t want to deal with Kadaj. Looking over his shoulder, he considered ignoring him, and just following the others inside. However, he knew he couldn’t, so instead slithered over to meet him. The look Kadaj gave him was one of total loathing, but Riku met his glare.

Kadaj had been Riku’s rival since childhood, and their rivalry had become outright hatred on Kadaj’s part when Riku became Sephiroth’s apprentice. Kadaj wanted nothing more than to be just like Sephiroth, and was jealous that Riku shared a similar ambition but actually got to be his apprentice.

Riku had never understood why Kadaj had such a problem with him. It wasn’t as if he had beaten him to the chance. The fact was, Kadaj couldn’t be mentored by his brother. The rules were clear, when a nagling reached the age of ten they would be take a mentor, and that mentor could not be immediate family.

The reason for this rule was simple. The village did not want dynasties to establish, but hoped to encourage youths to choose paths not based on what their fathers had done, but based on their own talents and ambitions. It also insured every nagling had equal opportunities. It did not seem fair that a nagling born with a father or sibling who was a great warrior should be given the advantage of their training if they wanted that path. Besides, a mentor must not favor an apprentice because of blood, but chose because of talent, because they believe they’re best mentor for the individual apprentice. No relations also insured that no mentor would be too soft on their apprentice, although a strong bond inevitably formed between mentor and apprentice, they were always first and foremost, teacher and student, and it was the teacher’s duty to push their student to their full potential.

No one ever questioned this, because the logic was solid, and the system worked well. Every nagling at the age of ten would be taken as an apprentice for thirteen to fifteen years, after which point they could take an apprentice of their own. Generally, naglings would start to tag along with older nagas they wanted as their apprentice before they came of age to chosen, to improve their chances of being taken on by the one they admired.

The mentorships didn’t always go perfectly, as naglings didn’t always know what they wanted to be when they grew up, or only thought they knew. Axel had been mentored by Cissnei, a female who had taught him the art of gunpowder in making fireworks, cannons and bombs. However, although he still continued this craft, Axel had found as an adult, he enjoyed being around animals, and so he’d started domesticating chocobos, and built the stables with his dwelling beside it, with the help of the other villagers.

Still, in general, mentorship was a good system of education, and all were paired fairly well. Kadaj himself was paired with Marluxia, who was very accomplished warrior in his own right. To Riku, the match seemed perfect for Kadaj, and couldn’t understand what he had to be jealous about.

But, understandable or not, Kadaj had an undeniable dislike for the younger naga, who he’d told on numerous occasions wasn’t good enough to be Sephiroth’s apprentice. As they grew older, they became rivals for other things as well, namely the affections of a female named Xion. She was Axel's apprentice, although she had the makings of a warrior. Riku had liked her, at first, because she reminded him of Sora. He suspected Kadaj liked her because he thought Riku wanted her. Kadaj went looking for reasons to fight and things to fight over.


When Riku reached Kadaj he asked, “What do you want, shouldn’t you be at your brother’s bedside, crying with the others?” Really, Riku wanted nothing more than to be in Zexion’s house with the others to see if Sephiroth would be all right. Well, he would be all right; he had to be all right!

“Shouldn’t you have been useful, instead of nearly getting your mentor killed? My brothers and I wouldn’t need to be in there if it wasn’t for you; I know this was your fault!” he hissed, his tail was swishing dangerously in anger.

Riku bristled, arching back. He didn’t want to give the Kadaj the pleasure of knowing he’d struck a nerve. “There…there was nothing that could be done. It wasn’t my fault.” He lied, but he wasn’t sure if he was lying to Kadaj or to himself. Except, he couldn’t lie to himself, it had been his fault. Sephiroth had been stabbed because he let Sora go.
Why had been so stupid. He never should have let him go.

No, it was Sora, he was to blame. After Riku had let him go, spit him out instead of swallowing him down. Riku had never intended to hurt Sora, he would have spit him up the moment Sephiroth was out of sight, even if the blonde headed one hadn’t arrived. Sora might not have known that going down; after all, Riku couldn’t have aroused Sephiroth’s suspicion. But after he spit him out, Sora had to know he was letting him go, sparing his life, and Sora repaid him attacking his mentor.

Sora had betrayed him, and done a low, underhanded thing, stabbing a distracted and opponent in the back. Sephiroth had been right about humans. They were dangerous, treacherous, and clearly had no code of honor.

“Then whose fault was it.” spat the smaller naga venomously.

“A human’s, the one who stabbed him.” Retorted Riku with equal venom, though his anger wasn’t with Kadaj, but with that human, with Sora. “I thought that’d be obvious, you must be thicker than I thought.”

“Where were you when he was stabbed, hiding like a coward? Or what you couldn’t take care of one human! Hell, it doesn’t matter if there were ten of them, twenty or a legion, you should have been fighting beside him! I would have! You aren’t fit to be his apprentice, hell you aren’t fit to be a naga at all!”

Before he realized what he was doing his hand had curled into a fist, and his arm had pulled back to deliver a blow. Riku threw the punch, but connected with nothing as Kadaj, who saw it coming, easily dodged.

“You can’t even hit me.” He laughed, “Try again, you’re just proving my point: you’re useless.”

“That’s it!” Riku roared, ready to make Kadaj regret his words. He threw and other punch; this time anticipating the dodge, and managing to connect.
Kadaj rolled with the punch, pausing a moment to wipe the blood from his lip.

“Like it?” Riku goaded, “don’t tell me you’re giving up already!” He wanted this fight, he wanted to beat the living shit out of Kadaj, and didn’t mind the prospect of taking some hits himself.

Kadaj gritted his teeth, and attacked, landing a low square in Riku’s draw. Then stayed within reach, only to move out of range when Riku moved to retaliate. Kadaj grabbed Riku’s arm, using his momentum against him to flip him off balance and onto his back on the dusky road. In the same instant, Riku’s tail darted outward, trying to knock Kadaj off balance. He succeeded, and Kadaj too fell, landing on his side.

“Hey!” shouted Axel coming from across the street, as the naga hastily slithered towards them.

Both were too concerned with getting back on up, to notice. Riku sprang back up onto his tail, upright, a moment before Kadaj. They both were back into fighting stance, eyes narrowed with anger and focus.

It was then that Axel’s tail came up between them, pushing Kadaj away as his he put himself between the two of them, and grabbed Riku by the hair. He sent angry looks at them both.

“He started it!” they both said at in unison, still glaring at each other.

“I don’t need anyone causing trouble in this village,” he said addressing them both, before letting Riku go. “Now in case you two can get your heads out of your asses long enough to care, Sephiroth is going to be fine. He’ll need to rest, so why don’t you two stop your little lovers’ quarrel, while he’s resting?”