The conclusion of the Second Dahlian War meant the conclusion of an era for Hybrid. He mourned the loss of war. During that war, it had been his right, his duty and his responsibility to shed blood. Although this was normally expected of him, during "peace" time, there had been more political restrictions. Perhaps there had been things he had lost during the war because of it, too. Certainly not his morality, but perhaps some of his pride. Hybrid now had a large scar that began above his left eye, followed a horizontal path across his brow and right eye and ended somewhere near his right eye. Although it no longer ached like it had earlier that year, it was still there, a disgusting reminder that he had lost to that traitor.

Suddenly, Hybrid realized he had referred to the traitor by name: Vitium. He had not said his former lover's name once during their entire fight, and now, it had suddenly come to mind. He had not even noticed.

Hybrid snarled, angry at himself for breaking his rule. The traitor was the enemy, a fool for putting the life of some wolf above the clan. He had not just consorted with the enemy: he had betrayed the clan and everything they stood for. And now, Hybrid felt as though he had betrayed something inside of him. Regret weighed heavily on his shoulders.

Hybrid quickly shook himself out of his pathetic reverie. He had no time to dwell on such foolish issues. They were in the past and he had already spent days thinking about the fight: where he'd gone wrong and where he'd made his fatal mistakes. It had been entirely his fault. Now, he had to move on and find something else to occupy his time with until the next war.

He continued through the Forest, taking little heed of the return of spring or the beauty of the world that surrounded him. All he wanted to see was red, and all he could see was green. He continued his disenchanted march through the Forest, grumbling quietly to himself. Soon enough, however, he noticed another being. From behind, Hybrid could not tell if it was Rikka, Corona, or someone else from the clan. So many of the coyotes had the sandy yellow pelt. He certainly did not want to end up talking to that foolish girl again.

He skirted around the other coyote, looping back once he was ahead. He peered through the growth and slowly-budding bushes to see who it was. He frowned when he realized it was a male, and therefore, neither Rikka nor Corona. He approached slowly, trying to determine who it was. The scent was familiar, but he had never spoken to this coyote before. He was an unknown face who he was certain he knew.

"Who are you," Hybrid stated, staring at the other coyote. He was a Hydra. His co-Hydra, in fact, but the coyote's name eluded him. Perhaps the name was on the tip of his tongue; Hybrid didn't know. He knew him; he had seen him. He had seen him fight, and he had been there when they made their trek to Dahlia to burn them to the ground. Hybrid knew this man, but he could not place him.

Hybrid was silent as he grappled with the name. Snake. The boy was named Snake. Hybrid nodded silently in reply, but then frowned at the boy’s next words. He thought it was nice to meet him? Hybrid Holocaust? No one had ever said that to him as far as he could remember. Few were polite to him, and he was polite to very few in return. Well, pause that; perhaps it was not so much a matter of politeness as it was one of interaction. Hybrid very rarely interacted with his fellow clan mates, and he had spent much of autumn wandering through Inferni like a ghost. His only purpose had been to monitor the borders, and he had done that with robotic proficiency. It had been two or three months before he had said a word to anyone, and if he remembered correctly, it had ended with the death of a wolf. The memory brought a small smile to the coyote’s face; he had enjoyed that day.

Hybrid’s confusion rendered him quiet for a few moments. The very fact that Snake had used such words perplexed him in the same way Kaena’s relationship with Vieira had. Well, alleged relationship. He wasn’t too sure what it was. But whatever it was, he had never encountered it before. That is, he had never had a place for such words or thoughts. Snake’s words clung to Hybrid’s mind like a bothersome sap or pollen. He wanted to brush it away, but knew the thought Snake had put into it would continue to harass him.

“Why?” he asked at last, squinting in concentration. Although his face was now marred by many scars, some bisecting his eyes and others drawing thin lines across his maw, they did not inhibit his senses. He was glad; although it was acceptable for a warrior to be hindered by their injuries, Hybrid did not want to be one of those so-called warriors. His purpose was to fight, and the day he could no longer do this, he would die. It was what had to happen.

Suddenly, realization hit. Perhaps Snake wanted to see him, or would somehow enjoy his appearance because of their co-ranks as Hydra of Inferni. Although Halo had not very much enjoyed their meeting, he wondered if this similarity would somehow validate Hybrid’s appearance. He was tempted to dismiss this thought, but somehow, it persisted.

Hybrid’s face twisted into an awkward, incomprehensible expression. He did not know what Snake was trying to say with all of this. Was he being honest or trying to trick Hybrid? He didn’t know. He wanted to know and he wanted to know why Snake insisted on using this “pleasantry” and that sort of rubbish. Hybrid had never used them, and he had done pretty well, hadn’t he? Though, as Snake explained it, Hybrid began to understand it better.

“Submission,” he offered. His words were nonjudgmental, but rather, observing on a commonality that existed between Snake’s words and what Hybrid understood. Offering a superior niceties and “pleantries” was akin to submitting. To show that you were not a threat and that the other was superior or deserving of your respect. Or, simply, that you did not want to die. This, Hybrid could understand.

Snake continued and Hybrid frowned, nodding slightly. Somehow, the two ideas were linked: nice words and rank. Although the ranks in Inferni were dynamic and Hybrid and Snake were in theory equal, they both probably realized it was not so easy in practice. Perhaps it was the fact that Hybrid had been in the second incarnation of Inferni since day one. He was the only one left that had ventured over the mountain with Gabriel. Wherever the rest of them were, it didn’t matter anymore, because their disloyalty made them irrelevant.

Hybrid was about to reply that he worked alone, but then realized this was not necessarily the case. He had killed a wolf with Gabriel and another with Kaena and had terrorized a wolf with Corona and Samael. Although he typically worked alone, and those instances were the exceptions to the rule, he did not know if it would matter to Snake.

He coughed, and then frowned. He understood the intention, but had nothing to say.

“Yeah,” he replied, feeling his lip twitch slightly. “So what do you want?”

“Oh,” Hybrid replied after serious consideration. Snake’s words had confused him and led him in circles. Now that the Hydra mentioned it, Hybrid realized he had in fact been the one to approach Snake. However, the other canine’s “pleasantry” – submission without recognition of rank – confused him. And the concept of pleasantry confused him as well. What was submission without recognition of rank? He would only ever do it if necessary – or to avoid guilt, as he had done with Kaena – but if it was not in acknowledgement of another’s superiority, it was just a canine grovelling.

Hybrid frowned to himself, trying to figure out what point he wanted to reply to. He wanted to address both points, but he wasn’t certain what he thought about either of them. If pleasantry was used to “diffuse” a situation or make things less tense, Hybrid understood it even less. This pleasantry only confused him; it had not helped their situation and had not made him feel more relaxed in Snake’s presence. It seemed useless, as it had failed to achieve its goal.

“You shouldn’t grovel without need then,” he said at last. Then he frowned, trying to think of what else he had to say to Snake. “Fuck ‘em if they don’t like it. The only one who matters is Gabriel anyways. And maybe Kaena because she’s his mother,” he added. The rest are dirt. He itched to say it, but held back. He frowned, trying to figure out the other ideas he wanted to voice. He felt like he had something to add Snake’s other comments, but couldn’t remember what exactly he had wanted to respond with. It didn’t really matter anyways; if it had been important, he probably would have already voiced his opinion. Snake had said something about how Hybrid had initiated the conversation, but at this point, he couldn’t bring himself to care to formulate a response. That, and he wasn’t sure why he had even started the conversation in the first place.

While Hybrid was the master of unconversation, it appeared as though Snake was the master of unemotion; disemotion. Or perhaps, just a complete lack of any thoughts or feelings that could in no way be defined by someone like Hybrid. His grasp on language was poor at best, and he often resorted to cusses and slang to get his point across. Simply, Hybrid was a man of actions; but Snake was not. Snake did not speak or move and this bothered Hybrid greatly. He often examined his prey and allies in light of how they carried themselves. While they were still, he could not see how Snake moved. He could only hear his words, and most of them were useless.

Hybrid flicked his ear forward, then back at Snake’s single reply. He felt his lip twitch in annoyance that Snake was as passive about the ‘art’ of conversation as he was. Usually Hybrid was able to let the other coyote do all the talking and he could pretend to listen. Sometimes he gleaned useful information from them, but he doubted Snake would give him anything to use.

Snake’s question surprised Hybrid, and he tried not to show it. He doubted he could keep his emotions checked as well as Snake did. After all, his emotions were what fuelled his fights and gave passion to his attacks. He could not understand how someone could be without them. Returning to the question, Hybrid pondered his answer. He couldn’t really think of an answer in terms of time, but could in terms of leadership.

“Long time. Since the last Inferni. When Segodi was leader, after the war with Clouded Tears. In Bleeding Souls,” he replied. His sentences came awkwardly as he added each bit almost as an afterthought. “Where were you before?” he asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from him.

Snake’s reply surprised Hybrid; never had he expected to encounter someone who had been a prisoner. Certainly, he had met prisoners before – he had kept one or two of his own in the past. One had even convinced himself Hybrid had cared for him, which was a bit of a laugh considering that prisoner had been a wolf. Nonetheless, Hybrid knew how to turn a strong-willed canine into a simpering mess. He could not understand how Snake had been a prisoner in one world and a warrior in the next. However, that also meant Snake would have a strong grasp of psychological warfare. While Hybrid was not particularly skilled in the art of subtlety, he could see how the other Hydra’s experiences would be useful. All they had to do was learn what had been done to Snake and replicate it against their enemies. Though, the extent of Hybrid’s ‘psychological warfare’ was stalking and smirking, so he certainly had a long way to go.

The sandy canine’s other words meant little to Hybrid. He did not know what was out west aside from his home clan. Or, the clan of his forefathers: where the Massacres, Holocausts, Addictions and Destructions had lived; what a cliché. But even that coyote clan had not been too far away. It had been close enough for him to track his sister back to the shores of Inferni where he had plotted his revenge. But distances any farther were incomprehensible to Hybrid. What possibly could be out there? And why would it matter when Inferni offered one everything they needed? The mere thought of venturing forth baffled him. That certainly contributed to his dislike of Rikka; she had sought to venture forth from the clan when she hadn’t needed to.

“How do you fight then?” Hybrid questioned. If Snake had been a prisoner once, how could he be certain he was not one anymore?

Why would a master teach a slave to fight? It made no sense to Hybrid, and Snake’s reply perplexed him to the point that he wished he had never asked the question. Why in the world would one teach a lesser being how to fight, especially if they were kept in bonds? The entire point of holding another prisoner was to ensure they did not run and to ensure they were not afforded the same rights as the average coyote. While there were no universal rules dictating a coyote’s rights, Hybrid had his own set of laws which he held quite firmly to. And in his mind, one held another hostage for a reason – to obtain information or for the sheer pleasure of it, for example. The premise of fighting was objection: objecting to one’s actions or beliefs, so you would fight them. For this reason, the entire concept of teaching a prisoner or slave to fight was ridiculous.

“Did he want you to escape? Taunting you?” Hybrid inquired, still uncertain as to why Snake was given the opportunity to learn. He frowned at the other Hydra’s mention of technique, wondering why he had bothered to mention it. Nonetheless, he committed the information to memory. His frown deepened when he saw Snake’s stance change and his voice lower. Hybrid did not intend to attack his clanmate, but it would certainly be good to test his abilities. He did not want a weakling serving beside him. While Halo’s emotions had gotten the better of her, it appeared as though this would not be an issue for Snake. Hybrid wondered if this was a good thing.

Hybrid chortled wickedly at Snake’s response. What a fool his leader was! He taught Snake how to break any physical bonds, but acted surprised when Snake used his skills against him. Oh, this was too rich! Hybrid’s chortles grew as he considered the hilarity of the situation. And according to Snake, never had the leader thought he was taunting the young warrior! Oh, that was wonderful: oppress your citizens, teach them to fight, sit back and watch the bloodshed, but never once expect to have your position challenged! Hybrid could see the flaws in this plan, and how it contrasted with the clan Gabriel was running. While Gabriel had taught the younger coyotes how to fight, both directly indirectly, never had he done anything to oppress them as far as Hybrid understood. Why, Gabriel let Hybrid do as he pleased and reinforced his dominance whenever Hybrid forgot. Although those occasions stung a bit, for the most part, Gabriel never threatened Hybrid’s way of life. The system worked beautifully and Hybrid pledged his loyalty in return.

“As long as you keep your loyalty to the clan, it will be of no importance,” Hybrid agreed. He wanted to address Snake’s point about forcing loyalty into someone, as his old leader had, but chose not to comment on it. For once, Hybrid attempted to observe the social convention of letting something go. Instead, he stored that piece of information in the back of his mind where he had filed everything else from this conversation.

Hybrid had not realized he was holding his breath until he let it out in a whoosh. He had paused everything and remained silent to watch the other canine's reaction when he mentioned loyalty. Snake's reply satisfied Hybrid, and so the mangled coyote nodded twice in response. It was sufficient; while he would never take anyone's words at face value, he now had something to hold to the other man in the future. But Hybrid would not know Snake's true nature until he saw it in battle time and time again. No matter how many times he would fight alongside the Hydra, one was only as good as their last fight. Constant blood would satisfy Hybrid, for anything less meant there was a chance of betrayal. No matter how hard the other canine's words were and no matter how well his eyes mirrored this, Hybrid knew he could not believe the words alone. He needed some way to know Snake was on his side. Unfortunately, there was never any way of knowing who was and who was not your true comrade.

Hybrid chortled when Snake offered more pleasantries. He recognized that this was a bid to depart, so when Snake made a move to take his leave, Hybrid returned the other canine's nod with one of his one. Quickly, he returned to his meandering through the forest. Soon enough, he would return to patrolling the border as he always did.