{ "submission_id": "984638", "keywords": [ { "keyword_id": "8585", "keyword_name": "armed", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "100" }, { "keyword_id": "247098", "keyword_name": "armed forces", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "6" }, { "keyword_id": "65250", "keyword_name": "augmentation", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "142" }, { "keyword_id": "176274", "keyword_name": "basic training", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3" }, { "keyword_id": "1139", "keyword_name": "battle", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3379" }, { "keyword_id": "3724", "keyword_name": "beast", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3051" }, { "keyword_id": "70012", "keyword_name": "bionics", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "60" }, { "keyword_id": "11395", "keyword_name": "chemicals", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "122" }, { "keyword_id": "899", "keyword_name": "creature", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "5603" }, { "keyword_id": "236", "keyword_name": "gay", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "150419" }, { "keyword_id": "32697", "keyword_name": "gay relationship", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1273" }, { "keyword_id": "1440", "keyword_name": "human", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "108947" }, { "keyword_id": "29199", "keyword_name": "introduction", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "305" }, { "keyword_id": "165", "keyword_name": "male", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1201872" }, { "keyword_id": "10308", "keyword_name": "male/male", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "125378" }, { "keyword_id": "4891", "keyword_name": "mammal", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "59014" }, { "keyword_id": "68849", "keyword_name": "marine corps", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "7" }, { "keyword_id": "6572", "keyword_name": "marines", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "47" }, { "keyword_id": "1421", "keyword_name": "military", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2850" }, { "keyword_id": "942", "keyword_name": "m/m", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "50629" }, { "keyword_id": "948", "keyword_name": "story", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "14091" }, { "keyword_id": "3012", "keyword_name": "story series", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1935" }, { "keyword_id": "1335", "keyword_name": "tf", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "14387" }, { "keyword_id": "1918", "keyword_name": "training", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2647" }, { "keyword_id": "1336", "keyword_name": "transformation", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "43971" }, { "keyword_id": "28699", "keyword_name": "transformation - tame", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "370" }, { "keyword_id": "397", "keyword_name": "war", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1842" } ], "hidden": "f", "scraps": "f", "favorite": "f", "favorites_count": "0", "create_datetime": "2015-12-11 01:39:02.144261+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "11 Dec 2015 02:39 CET", "last_file_update_datetime": "2015-12-11 01:07:48.32975+00", "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "11 Dec 2015 02:07 CET", "username": "Joshiah", "user_id": "90507", "user_icon_file_name": "274258_Joshiah_business_icon.jpg", "user_icon_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/274/274258_Joshiah_business_icon.jpg", "user_icon_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/274/274258_Joshiah_business_icon.jpg", "user_icon_url_small": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/274/274258_Joshiah_business_icon.jpg", "file_name": "1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "200", "thumb_huge_y": "200", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120", "files": [ { "file_id": "1351173", "file_name": "1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.txt", "mimetype": "text/plain", "submission_id": "984638", "user_id": "90507", "submission_file_order": "0", "full_size_x": null, "full_size_y": null, "screen_size_x": null, "screen_size_y": null, "preview_size_x": null, "preview_size_y": null, "initial_file_md5": "b97b0a73bfdfa311ed323f0d314e337a", "full_file_md5": "b97b0a73bfdfa311ed323f0d314e337a", "large_file_md5": "", "small_file_md5": "", "thumbnail_md5": "86242d730e48a21034f0485e6612195f", "deleted": "f", "create_datetime": "2015-12-11 01:07:48.32975+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "11 Dec 2015 02:07 CET", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/1351/1351173_Joshiah_commission_for_darius_1.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "200", "thumb_huge_y": "200", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120" } ], "pools": [], "description": "Today, we have the first of many uploads in a series to come for fa!DariusWhitefur, as part of a long running series that may yet become a full length novel. We'll see where things go, but for today, here's the first chapter of \"The Shadow of Omega Six!\"\n\nIn this first, introductory chapter, we learn a little bit about the future of warfare in the 23rd century, and we're introduced to the protagonist of the story, for now, known only as \"Jake.\" We follow a very brief segment of the turmoil he faced while in training for the Omega Six Marine project, and we get to see how the world is changing for him when he finally returns home for what he thinks is the last time. Jake is quick to find that even in a world where he has helped to achieve peace, it won't be so easy to find his own.\n\nAs always, read, comment and enjoy!", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Today, we have the first of many uploads in a series to come for \n\t\t\t\t\tDariusWhitefur, as part of a long running series that may yet become a full length novel. We'll see where things go, but for today, here's the first chapter of "The Shadow of Omega Six!"

In this first, introductory chapter, we learn a little bit about the future of warfare in the 23rd century, and we're introduced to the protagonist of the story, for now, known only as "Jake." We follow a very brief segment of the turmoil he faced while in training for the Omega Six Marine project, and we get to see how the world is changing for him when he finally returns home for what he thinks is the last time. Jake is quick to find that even in a world where he has helped to achieve peace, it won't be so easy to find his own.

As always, read, comment and enjoy!", "writing": "To bury the memories of such a brutal war is a nearly impossible thing, and to ask people to forget the tragedies that come with the turmoil of combat is unthinkable...\n\n...This, we know to be true, and yet, after over a century of peace, some countries of the world are doing their best to sew seeds of amnesia into the soil of the earth, while watering them with the blood of battles gone by.\n\nJake is a prime example of the same.\n\nDuring the third world war, when combat truly evolved, the only boots that were allowed to touch the ground were those of the most elite fighting forces of every country. Massive infantries were replaced with only the most accurate and the most skillful. Those who were not the quickest or the strongest were not allowed to serve in any sort of military, and yet, those who were the best of the best were still not good enough for some nations.\n\nThe United States was such a nation, and Jake, a member of the marine corps that stood above and beyond the average call of duty.\n\nIt wasn't the fact that combat itself had to evolve that forced Jake to undergo the augmentation that he did, or the fact that wars were being fought more by computers than they were by people.\n\nIt was the fact that the states were determined to win, even if it was at the cost of the humanity of a few good marines.\n\nEnter Omega-6.\n\nSince their inception, most citizens of the United States have referred to the Marine Corps as the fiercest group of fighters that the world has ever known; the first to be called to action when the goings get tough, and the last to leave, until the job is done. Acts of valor, courage and honor alone, however, weren't enough to define a marine, and over the years, even famous personalities like Stanley Kubrick tossed their hats in to the ring, trying to depict the brutal culture that would raise a proper marine into the public eye.\n\nAs terrible as things were in the 1960's and 1970's for the Marine Corps basic training process, they would [b]pale[/b] in comparison to what awaited in the near future, when Omega-6 came to fruition.\n\nThe very first day of training to enter the Omega-6 faction of the United States Marine Corps was a brutal gauntlet that forced most recruits back to the basic, enlisted level after just one attempt. While all branches of the military were known for having [b]grueling[/b] physical training tactics, Omega-6 went one step further: they literally attempted to kill their recruits.\n\nThe human body, while capable of many amazing things, is set on all sides by limits. The point of the Marine Corps was to find men who could push their limits to the next level, and work past them with the right amount of training. Those among the marines who were the most elite were given the chance to opt into the Omega-6 project, but they were given no inclination of what they were truly getting into until they accepted the chance. What awaited them was a near future of training the likes of which even most marines would frown upon, and a series of different injections that would take away what little humanity the marines allowed them to still have. It meant creating warriors that were perfect beyond a level that human beings could fathom. It meant being beyond limits.\n\nIn Omega-6, those who survived had [b]no[/b] limits, but it came at a cost.\n\n[b]Humans[/b] have limits. Jake remembered hearing this almost every during his time in Omega-6 basic training.\n\n[b]An Omega-6 Marine[/b] does not. This was always the next line he heard, and it was burned into his brain by the end of the first week, and with good reason.\n\nFor those recruits who passed the first day of basic training, an obstacle course spanning over ten miles that tested speed, agility, endurance, strength and downright willpower, there was no warm bed to call home when the day was over. Those recruits who failed were bused back to the barracks and shipped off the next day for normal basic training; those who moved on to the next round were subject to something that marines simply had to be ready for at any time.\n\nA [b]needle.[/b] A long, thin, syringe filled with a strange, colorless fluid that those who had the courage to watch the point of injection could see pouring into their bodies, disappearing into their veins, and changing them, though in ways they still couldn't appreciate.\n\nIt seemed a rather harmless and innocent thing, considering the high falls, barbed wire, mud, freezing waters and rocky terrain that the marines had to get through just to pass the first day, but it was just the first shot of many they would recieve...however, after this first day of training was completed, failures were no longer allowed to leave the Omega-6 barracks. \n\nThey would either succeed, or they would [b]die.[/b] Due to the nature of the training, and the nature of the injections, there could be no middle ground...and along with this dedication to such a strict regimen came a 15% mortality rate, just for the basic training group that ultimately created a new batch of Omega-6 marines.\n\nThe first injection brought little change to the candidates of this particular branch, and naturally, they were given no information as to what it was, or what it could do to them, over time. The candidates were marines already to even qualify for the Omega-6 project, and they were trained to take orders readily; something as minor as a needle every couple of days was hardly something to pay attention to...until the changes started.\n\nJake noticed the first wave of changes after just one week, and he was both terrified, and empowered with what he discovered.\n\n[b][i]CRAAACK![/b][/i] The thick, rounded logs that created the wall that Jake was to climb over as part of his training gave way as blind courage and an instinct that he couldn't explain told him to ignore the rope that he was supposed to use to climb up over the obstacle. Mother Nature stood no chance against the tips of Jake's nails, and the very resin that made them a part of his body had solidified well past what a normal human could ever achieve. They felt more like claws, and with another furious swipe, Jake was able to lock his other hand into place as he rapidly ascended the obstacle. There was no concern for safety, no fear of death, no confusion about his abilities. The injections, over time, were augmenting him into more of an animal than a human...something that only knew fear when survival was [b]not[/b] a guarantee.\n\nThis? This was merely climbing a wall, and for Jake to be fearful of that would have made him a failure as an Omega-6 recruit...nowhere near worthy of the decorated life that he was ready to earn.\n\nHis drill sergeants stood by and watched with delighted smiles as the recruits all tried to follow the same example behind Jake, attempting to use only their hands and feet to climb the massive, thirty foot wall. Their ignorance for the rope proved a bold and respectable move for some...and a near certain death wish for others, as those who lost their grip near the top of the wall would ricochet their way back down to the earth...and only a lucky landing could save them from an early grave.\n\nIt couldn't possibly save [b]all[/b] of them.\n\n\"In Omega-6, there is to be no fear of death! There is to be no fear of pain! There is to be no fear of the enemy! You shall learn to live [b]without[/b] fear! You shall learn to live [b]above[/b] fear! You shall know [b]NO FEAR![/b] Do you [b]maggots[/b] understand that?!\"\n\n\"[b]SIR, YES SIR![/b]\"\n\nJake's voice blended in with the other 95 recruits who had survived up to that point in Omega-6 basic training. Classes of only 100 recruits were accepted at a time, and with an expected mortality rate of 15%...there was an uneasy feeling in the barrack every night, with each and every recruit looking at one another for what could be the very last time in their lives.\n\nThat fact, combined with the growing augmentation from weekly injections, made sleep nearly impossible by the middle of the sixteen week course.\n\n\"H-hurts...it [b]hurts...[/b]\" Jake could remember clenching his stomach in agony at night, not from the training, not from the brutal fitness tests, but from the very augmentations that [i]allowed[/i] him to survive the same. The chemicals that were forced into his body with every needle were changing him in a way that he couldn't control, and what was left of the human part of his mind was shriveling up, losing the will to resist what the final augmentations would create. Jake might not lose his name, when all was said and done, but he already felt like he'd lost his humanity...and that it was just a matter of time before his body reflected his mind. \"Make it stop...p-please, for the love of God, make it [b]stop![/b]\"\n\nGroans of pain, like the wailing of the ghosts of old upon a graveyard, filled the barracks of the Omega-6 marines each and every night after week eight of the basic training regimen, but like the ghosts they were sometimes rumored to be, no one heeded their cries; no one came to their aid. There was to be no help for these brave, if perhaps foolish souls, who had gone so far as to accept the call of the most powerful fighting force in the world.\n\nWhen Jake awoke in the morning, there were only 94 recruits left alive to finish the training...and yet, he was no longer afraid for his own life. He no longer felt the cold gaze of death watching over him when he slept.\n\nEvery injection made him just that much more cocksure that he was going to survive the recruiting process...even if no one else in the room would be left to stand with him.\n\n**\n\nEntire fields of desert burned under the guise of bright, orange flames and thick, black oil.\n\nStreams formed where there was no water to carry them; only the blood of the fallen kept the currents moving.\n\nBodies were stacked in piles higher than the men who made them, left to rot in the harsh sun of the African deserts.\n\nThis was war on the continent of Africa in the early 2090's.\n\nThis was the fate of [b]anyone[/b] who dared to ignore the warning that the Omega-6 marines were going to be dispatched to take care of them.\n\nAs life carried on from the ages of attempted diplomacy, moving through the 020's, 030's and 040's, it became abundantly clear to the United States that atrocities around the world were sure to continue, but that the half a century of peaceful protests had prevented not a [b]single[/b] death. People that were willing to commit such violent and grievous acts were unable to reasoned with, because they'd never known or understood peace, and moreover, they didn't [b]want[/b] to. Peace was to be the endgame that they would enjoy when anyone who had an opposing thought had been executed and the world only thought as they did. For the United States, peace was still the same as it ever was; a world in which the military is just a reminder of what we were capable of, but never something we wanted to use.\n\nThat didn't mean, however, that even after the Third World War, people didn't still attempt genocide, commit mass slaughter in the name of false religious beliefs, or turn children into child soldiers to turn their guns on a capitol.\n\nStanding in the whipping winds of a now empty desert, Jake had almost completely forgotten about the injections that made him into the being that he was. To call him a human any longer would be remiss, as simply having a human frame [b]did not[/b] make someone a human being. The body that he had been blessed with, the body that he had [i]earned,[/i] was a gift from Omega-6.\n\nThere was a time, one hundred years before Jake was alive, that human beings were believed to be the most dangerous beings on the planet. They were the most destructive, the most dangerous to other species...\n\n...Omega-6 changed [b]everything.[/b]\n\nAs the planet Earth tried to move away from oil as a fuel source and worked towards relying on wind, solar, and hydrogen power, the very last of the oil on earth became an extremely precious material that only the most opulent people could afford. They used it to power old cars and other machines that were from a time that had passed, but the nostalgia was worth so much to them that they didn't care how dangerous it was to gather the last of the oil from the planet, or how dangerous it could be to try and ship the oil out. Workers from North America found themselves being slaughtered in droves in oil fields in the very north of Africa as they simply tried to do their jobs, extracting the last of the oil that would ever be supplied, and as expected, The United States issued a warning to the small faction of rebels that was trying to hold onto the oil, merely to use it as ransom money:\n\nCease and desist your actions, or you will suffer the ultimate consequence.\n\nThe Third World War had been a costly reminder to all nations that The United States wasn't afraid to stick to its guns when the situation called for it, and just like that, Jake, a decorated hero from the war, found himself parachuting into the cold darkness of a nighttime desert. By the time morning came, there was no need for a sun; oil fields burned brighter on the ground than any star could ever hope to, and within the mess, bodies were already cooking to a perfect, well done temperature, leaving no evidence behind of who exactly had been the victim of their assault.\n\nClaws tore through flesh as easily as fingers through fine sand, and jaws bit down so forcefully upon bones that they cracked under the pressure like mere twigs to the foot of a playful child.\n\nEven as it started to dry in the thin fur around his mouth, Jake licked some of the blood from his face...now much more shaped like a muzzle. It was clearly a beastly shape, but no one beast in particular: the Omega-6 program created warriors that shared the DNA with all of the greatest predators that had ever lived, both canine and feline, and as such, it was hard to tell what animal Jake might best represent...the only thing clear about him was that he was a predator, and when dispatched, his blood lust was allowed to run wild, and [b]no one[/b] was safe from it.\n\nIn that day alone, there were 75 fallen soldiers that died at the claws, fangs and exotic weapons of Jake, all for the sake of protecting and oil field that was never theirs to have in the first place. The very air that the Omega-6 marines breathed was tainted with the smell and taste of freshly spilled blood, and thanks to the very animal nature that they were given, none of them saw anything that they'd done as a negative moment in their lives. They were immune to guilt, deaf to the outcries of protesters that greeted them when they returned home, and impervious to the poking and prodding attempts of the media to find out more about their organization.\n\nMost of the citizens of the United States didn't realize just what kind of monsters were living in their own world, but the international community knew [b]exactly[/b] who they were, and that was the point of their existence.\n\nIn 2209, the world came to recognize over a century of what they called [i]peace,[/i] enforced by the guise of a marine force that couldn't be equaled. Though violence was ultimately the key to achieving it, a united, pacifistic world had been born in the 23rd century, and Jake was just one of the many names to thank for it.\n\nHe was also one of the few Omega-6 marines who would make it home, and the same few who would have trouble readjusting to a world that scorned his very existence.\n\n**\n\nBy the time that Omega-6 was even a concept, sexuality was officially considered fluid in the United States, even if other countries in the world were considered a bit slow on the uptake.\n\nThe important thing, however, was that no one made a big deal out of the fact that Jake wasn't a typical manly man at home who slung a woman over his shoulder like a traditional caveman would, but instead had a very equal and respectful relationship with a boyfriend by the name of Zack. Knowing all of the risks that Jake would have encountered when he joined the military, Zack was every bit as supportive as someone could expect him to be, and even encouraged Jake to follow his dreams of becoming a decorated member of the armed forces, if that was indeed his dream.\n\nNeither one of them could have wished for Jake to turn into the monster that he had become, and certainly, neither one of them wanted Jake to undergo the harsh and confusing process of re-entry into society that was so very common for former military, even in the 23rd century. People had actually become even less adept at handling difficult social issues and violence thanks to the further isolation they put themselves into, and continuing advances in technology meant that human beings could live out their entire lives in America without so much as leaving the house, if they were so inclined and had the means.\n\nThose who did still take to the streets were all too often the kind of scum that were so quick to verbally abuse members of the military that were coming home, despite that their sacrifices were the reason those people could go out and protest in the first place. The irony was never lost on Jake, who never had the opportunity to come home while he was an active member of Omega-6.\n\nWhile the story of every member of the faction was tragic, Jake had perhaps the most painful one to tell.\n\nOmega-6 was a faction that was rare in as much that there was a term limit of two years time of service, because of the gene therapy, augmentation and bionics that troops had to undergo in order to fully qualify. It was dangerous at the very least, and literally deadly at the most. Constant combat didn't leave Omega-6 marines with time to dwell on their fallen comrades, and the animal instincts that were literally injected into their bloodstreams meant that they thought of self preservation first and foremost. Because of these radical changes to the human mind, the two year term limit was almost always enforced...\n\n...Jake wasn't one of the lucky ones.\n\nJake ended up spending three times as long as a member of Omega-6, thanks to his involvement in the war in Northern Africa, and the effects were grisly indeed. Though he returned home as one of the most decorated, enlisted marines of the 23rd century, he also returned with a memento from the marines that he couldn't remove...one that he could never shed.\n\nIt was so deeply ingrained in his body and mind that when Zack came to greet him from his landed plane with open arms and tears in the corners of his eyes, the grief-stricken male didn't notice a single thing different about Jake.\n\n[i]He's back in my arms again,[/i] Zack thought, as tears started to flow, uncontrollably, down his cheeks. [i]And that's all that really matters.[/i]\n\nFor a literal moment in time, Jake himself had forgotten the fact that he was considered to be a monster by the international community, and that just around the corner, there was a wall of protesters waiting to pounce on him, to tell him that he was [b]scum,[/b] that he was the real problem with the country, with the [b]entire[/b] world.\n\nTime, of course, was as fleeting as ever.\n\n\"Ignore them.\"\n\n\"What...?\"\n\n\"Just ignore them,\" Zack repeated, his voice choking on a quiet whimper. \"I-ignore every single one of them. You're a hero to this country, Jake...you're a hero to [b]me.[/b]\"\n\nAfter such a long time being told that he was nothing more than a worthless maggot, Jake didn't know that he'd ever feel pride again, until he graduated from the Omega-6 basic training. As an enlisted, he started to learn pride again; to ignore those outside voices that were trying to tear him down so that he could complete his mission and do whatever it took to make it home safely to the very man that now held him.\n\nTo hear Zack's wavering, tear-soaked voice once again was a relief that he'd truly forgotten the sensation of, and it was just enough to get Jake past the ignorant crowd of fools who had nothing better to do with their time than tear down a man who had defended their right to hate him.\n\n\"GO BACK TO AFRICA YOU MONSTER!\"\n\n\"I DIDN'T VOTE FOR WAR! I DIDN'T VOTE FOR WAR!\"\n\n\"BOOKS, NOT BULLETS! Books...not...bullets...books...not...\"\n\nThe voices were deafening at first, but as Jake settled in to his old habits and tactics from overseas, he found that language wasn't a barrier to his abilities. He'd been ranted at in every dialect on the continent of Africa, and several in Europe, and yet, even in English, the voices were no longer getting to him. He simply had to settle back in, as if he were being deployed to another war zone.\n\nHe didn't have even the slightest clue that his own home, kept tidy and perfectly neat by Zack, would become the front for a new war to fight.\n\n\"That was [b]perfect,[/b]\" Zack complimented Jake as they made it all the way to the baggage claim, past the lines of unwashed masses that refused to give up their protesting voices. \"You didn't give them the satisfaction of a response, and that's all that they really want out of you...just to get a rise out of you so they'd have one more reason to try and shut you guys down.\"\n\n\"It's not like they're entirely wrong, Zack...the military is only really around for one reason anymore.\"\n\nZack shook his head. \"They can call it whatever they want, but society has finally come to accept that 1,000 evil men are worth killing to save ten billion innocent people. I don't care how they brand that, or how they brand you...you're still a hero to me, and now that you're home, a hero who's achieved his dreams...\"\n\nLike all who entered the armed forces, Jake wanted to return home alive. He couldn't think of a single example of anyone who ever wanted to die in combat, even if they had problems to try and get away from.\n\nHe also wanted to return home without the issues of his military experience haunting him.\n\n\"If it was only 1,000 evil men, it wouldn't be so bad, I guess...\"\n\nZack knew better than to ask a member of the military how many people they'd killed. He just nodded with his lover and waited by the baggage carousel as the belt started to turn, and suitcases were deposited from the chute coming out of the bland walls of a typical, United States airport.\n\n\"Well, if no one else says it, Jake...thanks for your service,\" Zack whispered. Even if he'd barely made a sound, Jake still would have heard it, as the beast that he'd become famously known as would never be away from him, ever again. The heightened senses were faltering, and the physical appearances had all changed back to normal, and yet, Jake could feel everything that made him so infamous in combat still creeping around under the surface of his skin, bubbling up in the back of his mind like a boiling pot...\n\n...He could still feel his [i]service.[/i]\n\n\"Thanks for being so patient,\" Jake replied, his voice a bit dull. \"I hope you didn't spend all of your time worrying about me...\"\n\nZack chuckled. \"Well no, not all of it...just the [b]vast[/b] majority of it.\"\n\n\"And did you go into one of your cleaning frenzies like you usually do when you get nervous?\"\n\n\"I couldn't help it!\" Zack admitted. \"Besides, you've been sleeping in tents, sleeping bags, dirt and sand for the last few years. You deserve the chance to sleep in a nice, warm, cozy bed and a clean house...\"\n\nIt was amazing to Jake how much Zack was still familiar to him. Because of the top secret nature of the bodily changes involved in the Omega-6 program, Jake had to go his entire term without ever seeing Zack, and yet, the boy he fell in love with, now an attractive man in his mid-twenties, didn't appear to have changed a bit. He was still a worrywart, but a compassionate soul who only wanted the best for those he cared about, and he didn't care about anyone more than Jake.\n\n\"It will be awfully nice to sleep in my own bed again, that's for sure,\" Jake admitted. His duffer bag finally came around the carousel and Zack, ever gracious, picked it up for him to carry it out to the car. \"W-wait, Zack...you don't have to...\"\n\n\"I've just been working a boring desk job and keeping the place neat until you got home. I could stand to do a little heavy lifting!\" Zack suggested, and though Jake was reluctant, he managed a smile and let Zack take the bags for him. All that remained inside were some of his old clothes from the military, his awards, and a few pictures and trinkets that he'd collected along the way. There was nothing within that would give Zack any clue as to what had really happened to Jake when he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps.\n\nWoozy from the changes that were still occurring within his body and tired from his flight home, Jake slept the whole way home in the hydrogen powered car that he'd fought for, next to the boyfriend who had been waiting for him all this time, in a country that reigned once again as an international super power...a country that wasn't done using Jake to enforce its rule over the rest of the world.\n\n**\n\nThey say that it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.\n\n\"[b]JAKE![/b] Wake up, [b]now![/b]\"\n\nIn the case of someone who might have been part dog at one point in his history, it wasn't a bad idea to try and wake them up, and Zack was beside himself, having leapt out of the bed when he felt the tip of a claw scraping down the side of his arm, leaving a deep, red mark in his otherwise pale complexion, all the way down past his elbow. He'd woken up in a startle and moved away, but it didn't stop the claw from tearing down through the nice, soft, blue comforter on the bed and into the sheets.\n\nIt started as a quiet, subtle [b][i]riiiiiiip[/b][/i] in the night, in pitch darkness. It took Zack a moment to adjust, and when he turned the light on, he wasn't at all ready for what he saw in his bed. \n\n\"J-Jake...is...is that really you...?\"\n\nHuman hands were shifting into something much more deadly, with each digit capped by a sharp, hooked claw that made quick and easy work of the bedspread. The wandering hands, now more like paws, made their way over to one of the decorative pillows, and Zack could only imagine what would have happened if he'd stayed in the bed, as fluff started flying about. Jake tore the pillow in half with ease and brought one of the chunks to his face, biting down on it...and Zack, suddenly feeling himself to be quite the fool, hardly recognized Jake in his moment of dreaming blood lust...and he [i]certainly[/i] didn't remember Jake having such long, sharp fangs. \n\n\"Please...[i]please[/i] wake up...\" Zack muttered, his voice low and weak, thinking it best not to disturb Jake in the middle of his unusual dream, but Zack himself felt that he might be dreaming as one of Jake's eyes kicked open. Soft, lipid pools of blue, the ones that Jake was born with, were completely replaced by irises of molten gold, ones that would be fitting for a wolf...\n\n...Not for a human.\n\n\"[b]RRrrnnnn...[/b]\"\n\nThe deep, throaty rumble from the bed made Zack stiffen up against the wall in fear, a fear that Jake could almost certainly see...and though Zack didn't know it, Jake could [b]smell[/b] the very stench of terror on his boyfriend. It was enough of a human experience for Jake to realize that Zack was of no threat to him, but that fact alone had never spared a life on the battlefield before, and it wasn't what spared Zack from Jake's dreams that night.\n\nIt was the awful taste of the fluff in the pillows, nothing like the delicious blood that Jake was expecting, that started to bring him around to reality.\n\n\"Jake...I know you're in there...you have [b]got[/b] to wake up!\" Zack pleaded one last time, and this time, Jake's head whipped around to the trembling male, staring him down like an opponent in a boxing ring, as if there were no one else left in the world to combat.\n\nNot quite human, and not quite a beast, Jake was experiencing the first wave of repercussions from his time in Omega-6...and it might cost him the only reason that he came home in the first place.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "To bury the memories of such a brutal war is a nearly impossible thing, and to ask people to forget the tragedies that come with the turmoil of combat is unthinkable...

...This, we know to be true, and yet, after over a century of peace, some countries of the world are doing their best to sew seeds of amnesia into the soil of the earth, while watering them with the blood of battles gone by.

Jake is a prime example of the same.

During the third world war, when combat truly evolved, the only boots that were allowed to touch the ground were those of the most elite fighting forces of every country. Massive infantries were replaced with only the most accurate and the most skillful. Those who were not the quickest or the strongest were not allowed to serve in any sort of military, and yet, those who were the best of the best were still not good enough for some nations.

The United States was such a nation, and Jake, a member of the marine corps that stood above and beyond the average call of duty.

It wasn't the fact that combat itself had to evolve that forced Jake to undergo the augmentation that he did, or the fact that wars were being fought more by computers than they were by people.

It was the fact that the states were determined to win, even if it was at the cost of the humanity of a few good marines.

Enter Omega-6.

Since their inception, most citizens of the United States have referred to the Marine Corps as the fiercest group of fighters that the world has ever known; the first to be called to action when the goings get tough, and the last to leave, until the job is done. Acts of valor, courage and honor alone, however, weren't enough to define a marine, and over the years, even famous personalities like Stanley Kubrick tossed their hats in to the ring, trying to depict the brutal culture that would raise a proper marine into the public eye.

As terrible as things were in the 1960's and 1970's for the Marine Corps basic training process, they would pale in comparison to what awaited in the near future, when Omega-6 came to fruition.

The very first day of training to enter the Omega-6 faction of the United States Marine Corps was a brutal gauntlet that forced most recruits back to the basic, enlisted level after just one attempt. While all branches of the military were known for having grueling physical training tactics, Omega-6 went one step further: they literally attempted to kill their recruits.

The human body, while capable of many amazing things, is set on all sides by limits. The point of the Marine Corps was to find men who could push their limits to the next level, and work past them with the right amount of training. Those among the marines who were the most elite were given the chance to opt into the Omega-6 project, but they were given no inclination of what they were truly getting into until they accepted the chance. What awaited them was a near future of training the likes of which even most marines would frown upon, and a series of different injections that would take away what little humanity the marines allowed them to still have. It meant creating warriors that were perfect beyond a level that human beings could fathom. It meant being beyond limits.

In Omega-6, those who survived had no limits, but it came at a cost.

Humans have limits. Jake remembered hearing this almost every during his time in Omega-6 basic training.

An Omega-6 Marine does not. This was always the next line he heard, and it was burned into his brain by the end of the first week, and with good reason.

For those recruits who passed the first day of basic training, an obstacle course spanning over ten miles that tested speed, agility, endurance, strength and downright willpower, there was no warm bed to call home when the day was over. Those recruits who failed were bused back to the barracks and shipped off the next day for normal basic training; those who moved on to the next round were subject to something that marines simply had to be ready for at any time.

A needle. A long, thin, syringe filled with a strange, colorless fluid that those who had the courage to watch the point of injection could see pouring into their bodies, disappearing into their veins, and changing them, though in ways they still couldn't appreciate.

It seemed a rather harmless and innocent thing, considering the high falls, barbed wire, mud, freezing waters and rocky terrain that the marines had to get through just to pass the first day, but it was just the first shot of many they would recieve...however, after this first day of training was completed, failures were no longer allowed to leave the Omega-6 barracks.

They would either succeed, or they would die. Due to the nature of the training, and the nature of the injections, there could be no middle ground...and along with this dedication to such a strict regimen came a 15% mortality rate, just for the basic training group that ultimately created a new batch of Omega-6 marines.

The first injection brought little change to the candidates of this particular branch, and naturally, they were given no information as to what it was, or what it could do to them, over time. The candidates were marines already to even qualify for the Omega-6 project, and they were trained to take orders readily; something as minor as a needle every couple of days was hardly something to pay attention to...until the changes started.

Jake noticed the first wave of changes after just one week, and he was both terrified, and empowered with what he discovered.

CRAAACK![/i] The thick, rounded logs that created the wall that Jake was to climb over as part of his training gave way as blind courage and an instinct that he couldn't explain told him to ignore the rope that he was supposed to use to climb up over the obstacle. Mother Nature stood no chance against the tips of Jake's nails, and the very resin that made them a part of his body had solidified well past what a normal human could ever achieve. They felt more like claws, and with another furious swipe, Jake was able to lock his other hand into place as he rapidly ascended the obstacle. There was no concern for safety, no fear of death, no confusion about his abilities. The injections, over time, were augmenting him into more of an animal than a human...something that only knew fear when survival was not a guarantee.

This? This was merely climbing a wall, and for Jake to be fearful of that would have made him a failure as an Omega-6 recruit...nowhere near worthy of the decorated life that he was ready to earn.

His drill sergeants stood by and watched with delighted smiles as the recruits all tried to follow the same example behind Jake, attempting to use only their hands and feet to climb the massive, thirty foot wall. Their ignorance for the rope proved a bold and respectable move for some...and a near certain death wish for others, as those who lost their grip near the top of the wall would ricochet their way back down to the earth...and only a lucky landing could save them from an early grave.

It couldn't possibly save all of them.

"In Omega-6, there is to be no fear of death! There is to be no fear of pain! There is to be no fear of the enemy! You shall learn to live without fear! You shall learn to live above fear! You shall know NO FEAR! Do you maggots understand that?!"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

Jake's voice blended in with the other 95 recruits who had survived up to that point in Omega-6 basic training. Classes of only 100 recruits were accepted at a time, and with an expected mortality rate of 15%...there was an uneasy feeling in the barrack every night, with each and every recruit looking at one another for what could be the very last time in their lives.

That fact, combined with the growing augmentation from weekly injections, made sleep nearly impossible by the middle of the sixteen week course.

"H-hurts...it hurts..." Jake could remember clenching his stomach in agony at night, not from the training, not from the brutal fitness tests, but from the very augmentations that allowed him to survive the same. The chemicals that were forced into his body with every needle were changing him in a way that he couldn't control, and what was left of the human part of his mind was shriveling up, losing the will to resist what the final augmentations would create. Jake might not lose his name, when all was said and done, but he already felt like he'd lost his humanity...and that it was just a matter of time before his body reflected his mind. "Make it stop...p-please, for the love of God, make it stop!"

Groans of pain, like the wailing of the ghosts of old upon a graveyard, filled the barracks of the Omega-6 marines each and every night after week eight of the basic training regimen, but like the ghosts they were sometimes rumored to be, no one heeded their cries; no one came to their aid. There was to be no help for these brave, if perhaps foolish souls, who had gone so far as to accept the call of the most powerful fighting force in the world.

When Jake awoke in the morning, there were only 94 recruits left alive to finish the training...and yet, he was no longer afraid for his own life. He no longer felt the cold gaze of death watching over him when he slept.

Every injection made him just that much more cocksure that he was going to survive the recruiting process...even if no one else in the room would be left to stand with him.

**

Entire fields of desert burned under the guise of bright, orange flames and thick, black oil.

Streams formed where there was no water to carry them; only the blood of the fallen kept the currents moving.

Bodies were stacked in piles higher than the men who made them, left to rot in the harsh sun of the African deserts.

This was war on the continent of Africa in the early 2090's.

This was the fate of anyone who dared to ignore the warning that the Omega-6 marines were going to be dispatched to take care of them.

As life carried on from the ages of attempted diplomacy, moving through the 020's, 030's and 040's, it became abundantly clear to the United States that atrocities around the world were sure to continue, but that the half a century of peaceful protests had prevented not a single death. People that were willing to commit such violent and grievous acts were unable to reasoned with, because they'd never known or understood peace, and moreover, they didn't want to. Peace was to be the endgame that they would enjoy when anyone who had an opposing thought had been executed and the world only thought as they did. For the United States, peace was still the same as it ever was; a world in which the military is just a reminder of what we were capable of, but never something we wanted to use.

That didn't mean, however, that even after the Third World War, people didn't still attempt genocide, commit mass slaughter in the name of false religious beliefs, or turn children into child soldiers to turn their guns on a capitol.

Standing in the whipping winds of a now empty desert, Jake had almost completely forgotten about the injections that made him into the being that he was. To call him a human any longer would be remiss, as simply having a human frame did not make someone a human being. The body that he had been blessed with, the body that he had earned, was a gift from Omega-6.

There was a time, one hundred years before Jake was alive, that human beings were believed to be the most dangerous beings on the planet. They were the most destructive, the most dangerous to other species...

...Omega-6 changed everything.

As the planet Earth tried to move away from oil as a fuel source and worked towards relying on wind, solar, and hydrogen power, the very last of the oil on earth became an extremely precious material that only the most opulent people could afford. They used it to power old cars and other machines that were from a time that had passed, but the nostalgia was worth so much to them that they didn't care how dangerous it was to gather the last of the oil from the planet, or how dangerous it could be to try and ship the oil out. Workers from North America found themselves being slaughtered in droves in oil fields in the very north of Africa as they simply tried to do their jobs, extracting the last of the oil that would ever be supplied, and as expected, The United States issued a warning to the small faction of rebels that was trying to hold onto the oil, merely to use it as ransom money:

Cease and desist your actions, or you will suffer the ultimate consequence.

The Third World War had been a costly reminder to all nations that The United States wasn't afraid to stick to its guns when the situation called for it, and just like that, Jake, a decorated hero from the war, found himself parachuting into the cold darkness of a nighttime desert. By the time morning came, there was no need for a sun; oil fields burned brighter on the ground than any star could ever hope to, and within the mess, bodies were already cooking to a perfect, well done temperature, leaving no evidence behind of who exactly had been the victim of their assault.

Claws tore through flesh as easily as fingers through fine sand, and jaws bit down so forcefully upon bones that they cracked under the pressure like mere twigs to the foot of a playful child.

Even as it started to dry in the thin fur around his mouth, Jake licked some of the blood from his face...now much more shaped like a muzzle. It was clearly a beastly shape, but no one beast in particular: the Omega-6 program created warriors that shared the DNA with all of the greatest predators that had ever lived, both canine and feline, and as such, it was hard to tell what animal Jake might best represent...the only thing clear about him was that he was a predator, and when dispatched, his blood lust was allowed to run wild, and no one was safe from it.

In that day alone, there were 75 fallen soldiers that died at the claws, fangs and exotic weapons of Jake, all for the sake of protecting and oil field that was never theirs to have in the first place. The very air that the Omega-6 marines breathed was tainted with the smell and taste of freshly spilled blood, and thanks to the very animal nature that they were given, none of them saw anything that they'd done as a negative moment in their lives. They were immune to guilt, deaf to the outcries of protesters that greeted them when they returned home, and impervious to the poking and prodding attempts of the media to find out more about their organization.

Most of the citizens of the United States didn't realize just what kind of monsters were living in their own world, but the international community knew exactly who they were, and that was the point of their existence.

In 2209, the world came to recognize over a century of what they called peace, enforced by the guise of a marine force that couldn't be equaled. Though violence was ultimately the key to achieving it, a united, pacifistic world had been born in the 23rd century, and Jake was just one of the many names to thank for it.

He was also one of the few Omega-6 marines who would make it home, and the same few who would have trouble readjusting to a world that scorned his very existence.

**

By the time that Omega-6 was even a concept, sexuality was officially considered fluid in the United States, even if other countries in the world were considered a bit slow on the uptake.

The important thing, however, was that no one made a big deal out of the fact that Jake wasn't a typical manly man at home who slung a woman over his shoulder like a traditional caveman would, but instead had a very equal and respectful relationship with a boyfriend by the name of Zack. Knowing all of the risks that Jake would have encountered when he joined the military, Zack was every bit as supportive as someone could expect him to be, and even encouraged Jake to follow his dreams of becoming a decorated member of the armed forces, if that was indeed his dream.

Neither one of them could have wished for Jake to turn into the monster that he had become, and certainly, neither one of them wanted Jake to undergo the harsh and confusing process of re-entry into society that was so very common for former military, even in the 23rd century. People had actually become even less adept at handling difficult social issues and violence thanks to the further isolation they put themselves into, and continuing advances in technology meant that human beings could live out their entire lives in America without so much as leaving the house, if they were so inclined and had the means.

Those who did still take to the streets were all too often the kind of scum that were so quick to verbally abuse members of the military that were coming home, despite that their sacrifices were the reason those people could go out and protest in the first place. The irony was never lost on Jake, who never had the opportunity to come home while he was an active member of Omega-6.

While the story of every member of the faction was tragic, Jake had perhaps the most painful one to tell.

Omega-6 was a faction that was rare in as much that there was a term limit of two years time of service, because of the gene therapy, augmentation and bionics that troops had to undergo in order to fully qualify. It was dangerous at the very least, and literally deadly at the most. Constant combat didn't leave Omega-6 marines with time to dwell on their fallen comrades, and the animal instincts that were literally injected into their bloodstreams meant that they thought of self preservation first and foremost. Because of these radical changes to the human mind, the two year term limit was almost always enforced...

...Jake wasn't one of the lucky ones.

Jake ended up spending three times as long as a member of Omega-6, thanks to his involvement in the war in Northern Africa, and the effects were grisly indeed. Though he returned home as one of the most decorated, enlisted marines of the 23rd century, he also returned with a memento from the marines that he couldn't remove...one that he could never shed.

It was so deeply ingrained in his body and mind that when Zack came to greet him from his landed plane with open arms and tears in the corners of his eyes, the grief-stricken male didn't notice a single thing different about Jake.

He's back in my arms again, Zack thought, as tears started to flow, uncontrollably, down his cheeks. And that's all that really matters.

For a literal moment in time, Jake himself had forgotten the fact that he was considered to be a monster by the international community, and that just around the corner, there was a wall of protesters waiting to pounce on him, to tell him that he was scum, that he was the real problem with the country, with the entire world.

Time, of course, was as fleeting as ever.

"Ignore them."

"What...?"

"Just ignore them," Zack repeated, his voice choking on a quiet whimper. "I-ignore every single one of them. You're a hero to this country, Jake...you're a hero to me."

After such a long time being told that he was nothing more than a worthless maggot, Jake didn't know that he'd ever feel pride again, until he graduated from the Omega-6 basic training. As an enlisted, he started to learn pride again; to ignore those outside voices that were trying to tear him down so that he could complete his mission and do whatever it took to make it home safely to the very man that now held him.

To hear Zack's wavering, tear-soaked voice once again was a relief that he'd truly forgotten the sensation of, and it was just enough to get Jake past the ignorant crowd of fools who had nothing better to do with their time than tear down a man who had defended their right to hate him.

"GO BACK TO AFRICA YOU MONSTER!"

"I DIDN'T VOTE FOR WAR! I DIDN'T VOTE FOR WAR!"

"BOOKS, NOT BULLETS! Books...not...bullets...books...not..."

The voices were deafening at first, but as Jake settled in to his old habits and tactics from overseas, he found that language wasn't a barrier to his abilities. He'd been ranted at in every dialect on the continent of Africa, and several in Europe, and yet, even in English, the voices were no longer getting to him. He simply had to settle back in, as if he were being deployed to another war zone.

He didn't have even the slightest clue that his own home, kept tidy and perfectly neat by Zack, would become the front for a new war to fight.

"That was perfect," Zack complimented Jake as they made it all the way to the baggage claim, past the lines of unwashed masses that refused to give up their protesting voices. "You didn't give them the satisfaction of a response, and that's all that they really want out of you...just to get a rise out of you so they'd have one more reason to try and shut you guys down."

"It's not like they're entirely wrong, Zack...the military is only really around for one reason anymore."

Zack shook his head. "They can call it whatever they want, but society has finally come to accept that 1,000 evil men are worth killing to save ten billion innocent people. I don't care how they brand that, or how they brand you...you're still a hero to me, and now that you're home, a hero who's achieved his dreams..."

Like all who entered the armed forces, Jake wanted to return home alive. He couldn't think of a single example of anyone who ever wanted to die in combat, even if they had problems to try and get away from.

He also wanted to return home without the issues of his military experience haunting him.

"If it was only 1,000 evil men, it wouldn't be so bad, I guess..."

Zack knew better than to ask a member of the military how many people they'd killed. He just nodded with his lover and waited by the baggage carousel as the belt started to turn, and suitcases were deposited from the chute coming out of the bland walls of a typical, United States airport.

"Well, if no one else says it, Jake...thanks for your service," Zack whispered. Even if he'd barely made a sound, Jake still would have heard it, as the beast that he'd become famously known as would never be away from him, ever again. The heightened senses were faltering, and the physical appearances had all changed back to normal, and yet, Jake could feel everything that made him so infamous in combat still creeping around under the surface of his skin, bubbling up in the back of his mind like a boiling pot...

...He could still feel his service.

"Thanks for being so patient," Jake replied, his voice a bit dull. "I hope you didn't spend all of your time worrying about me..."

Zack chuckled. "Well no, not all of it...just the vast majority of it."

"And did you go into one of your cleaning frenzies like you usually do when you get nervous?"

"I couldn't help it!" Zack admitted. "Besides, you've been sleeping in tents, sleeping bags, dirt and sand for the last few years. You deserve the chance to sleep in a nice, warm, cozy bed and a clean house..."

It was amazing to Jake how much Zack was still familiar to him. Because of the top secret nature of the bodily changes involved in the Omega-6 program, Jake had to go his entire term without ever seeing Zack, and yet, the boy he fell in love with, now an attractive man in his mid-twenties, didn't appear to have changed a bit. He was still a worrywart, but a compassionate soul who only wanted the best for those he cared about, and he didn't care about anyone more than Jake.

"It will be awfully nice to sleep in my own bed again, that's for sure," Jake admitted. His duffer bag finally came around the carousel and Zack, ever gracious, picked it up for him to carry it out to the car. "W-wait, Zack...you don't have to..."

"I've just been working a boring desk job and keeping the place neat until you got home. I could stand to do a little heavy lifting!" Zack suggested, and though Jake was reluctant, he managed a smile and let Zack take the bags for him. All that remained inside were some of his old clothes from the military, his awards, and a few pictures and trinkets that he'd collected along the way. There was nothing within that would give Zack any clue as to what had really happened to Jake when he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps.

Woozy from the changes that were still occurring within his body and tired from his flight home, Jake slept the whole way home in the hydrogen powered car that he'd fought for, next to the boyfriend who had been waiting for him all this time, in a country that reigned once again as an international super power...a country that wasn't done using Jake to enforce its rule over the rest of the world.

**

They say that it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.

"JAKE! Wake up, now!"

In the case of someone who might have been part dog at one point in his history, it wasn't a bad idea to try and wake them up, and Zack was beside himself, having leapt out of the bed when he felt the tip of a claw scraping down the side of his arm, leaving a deep, red mark in his otherwise pale complexion, all the way down past his elbow. He'd woken up in a startle and moved away, but it didn't stop the claw from tearing down through the nice, soft, blue comforter on the bed and into the sheets.

It started as a quiet, subtle riiiiiiip[/i] in the night, in pitch darkness. It took Zack a moment to adjust, and when he turned the light on, he wasn't at all ready for what he saw in his bed.

"J-Jake...is...is that really you...?"

Human hands were shifting into something much more deadly, with each digit capped by a sharp, hooked claw that made quick and easy work of the bedspread. The wandering hands, now more like paws, made their way over to one of the decorative pillows, and Zack could only imagine what would have happened if he'd stayed in the bed, as fluff started flying about. Jake tore the pillow in half with ease and brought one of the chunks to his face, biting down on it...and Zack, suddenly feeling himself to be quite the fool, hardly recognized Jake in his moment of dreaming blood lust...and he certainly didn't remember Jake having such long, sharp fangs.

"Please...please wake up..." Zack muttered, his voice low and weak, thinking it best not to disturb Jake in the middle of his unusual dream, but Zack himself felt that he might be dreaming as one of Jake's eyes kicked open. Soft, lipid pools of blue, the ones that Jake was born with, were completely replaced by irises of molten gold, ones that would be fitting for a wolf...

...Not for a human.

"RRrrnnnn..."

The deep, throaty rumble from the bed made Zack stiffen up against the wall in fear, a fear that Jake could almost certainly see...and though Zack didn't know it, Jake could smell the very stench of terror on his boyfriend. It was enough of a human experience for Jake to realize that Zack was of no threat to him, but that fact alone had never spared a life on the battlefield before, and it wasn't what spared Zack from Jake's dreams that night.

It was the awful taste of the fluff in the pillows, nothing like the delicious blood that Jake was expecting, that started to bring him around to reality.

"Jake...I know you're in there...you have got to wake up!" Zack pleaded one last time, and this time, Jake's head whipped around to the trembling male, staring him down like an opponent in a boxing ring, as if there were no one else left in the world to combat.

Not quite human, and not quite a beast, Jake was experiencing the first wave of repercussions from his time in Omega-6...and it might cost him the only reason that he came home in the first place.", "pools_count": 0, "title": "The Shadow of Omega Six: Chapter One", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/plain", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "3", "name": "Violence", "description": "Mild violence", "rating_id": "1" }, { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "94" }