Blood and Roses: A Story of Love, Fame and Sacrifice
I was terrified the first time I met him and it was thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time. He was as pale as a ghost and he has those unfathomable blood red eyes that shone like jewels in the dim light. I was petrified at his gaze; neither can shout nor tear my gaze off of him no matter how hard I struggled. We stood there for minutes, unmoving and speechless, the reason too complicated to say with mere words. My head was throbbing with a bittersweet blend of fear and excitement as violence and adrenaline scented the room like blood and roses. Gripping tightly on my shuriken, I prepared myself for the worst. I might be years younger from him but I believing that lady luck will always, always be on my side, I could take him down.
Finally, I was able to free myself from his petrifying gaze but still, I found it hard to breathe. Tension filled the room as I moved forward and the man in the navy blue suit lowered his gun. "Is he giving up?" I thought as I braced myself to finish off my prey with a limit break I called "Grease Lightning", it was perfect and flawless; there's no way he wouldn't be defeated with a single blow.
Making the first move, I assaulted him in a dream-like trance. Focusing my power at one point, I flew at him spiraling and moving on reflex as if my body was not mine. Then, we were bathed with a blinding aureate light. Just when I thought that the fight is over, he materialized in the opposite corner of the room, intact, unhurt and unscathed like nothing happened. There he was, standing firmly on the ground and giving me an expression brimming with taunt and mockery. Rage filled my senses and winning this battle became a necessity, neither choice nor demand. He gave me the challenge so I didn't hold back.
It took us a split second to get on our feet, a second to brace ourselves for each other's surprises, and a blink of an eye to pull our tricks out of our sleeves. The sound of metal against metal reverberated through the room, sending shrapnel of deflated bullets on the floor. We exchanged lethal blows which were always accompanied with either cracking bones or gushing blood, but if you're really unlucky, you'll get both. I never felt so elevated; it was a real fight which was totally different from trainings. Adrenaline pumped continuously on my nerves as we fought as if we're in a choreographed motion. I felt that we were performing the art of fighting. My katas were never been so precise and perfect and his shots were lethal and accurate. No, I won't deny that I was enjoying.
Then, I realized that shurikens and bullets are alike, both deadly and beautiful on its own charm. My arm acted like the holster while my hand worked like the trigger of the gun and from the sparkle of his eyes, I knew that he had realized the same thing. We performed this deadly dance for what seemed to be like eternity. The sound of metal clashing to metal was deafening but sounded like music to my ears. Unfortunately, my trance began to wear off and a mortifying pang of headache obscured my vision. I began to feel dizzy; I was wobbling, blood gushing from my countless wounds and my limbs ached and protested as I took another step. My vision started to fade in and out due to loss of blood but I can still see the sparkle in his eyes, silently mocking me and stabbing me right down to the core. Until realization hit me that I was bound to die. It hurts my eyes by just looking at him and it was too late when I noticed tears were dripping from my eyes.
"If I were to die at that moment, I would die with dignity, pride, and honor because I died to protect my Wutai and if my life is the only thing it needed to be free, I would give it without second thoughts." I said to myself. My eyelids began to feel heavy as my vision faded in and out then black and white.
Slowly, I closed my eyes completely and thought that I saw my mother for a little while. There was sadness on her face which broke the hope that we would live a happier life together in another life. "She sacrificed her life for me to live, right? Would you waste it just because you're a coward and you're giving up?" These questions echoed in my head like a mantra until I realized that I am about to commit a big mistake. I struggled to surface back to reality, for my life, and reached out to move my hands. I was moaning as I coughed out blood and the pain on my ribs was intolerable. I was perplexed when a cool, soothing sensation relieved me from my agony. As my eyes readjusted to the dim light, I almost cried when I realized it was the blood red eyed man in the dark blue suit that was helping me to recover from my fatal injuries. He was nonchalant and the twinkle on his eyes already faded but when I heard his deep husky voice whispering the words 'You're not dreaming, you're alive.' softly in my ears, I wasn't able to contain myself and cried.
"W-who are y-you?" I whimpered softly. "Tell me why you didn't kill me."
"Valentine. Vincent Valentine." It was all that he said and left.
When I got out of the castle chambers, it was already nightfall and I was devastated to see my beloved Wutai wrecked and stripped off of its former glory. With a heavy grudge on the culprit of this war, I walked away into a faraway place where my town was faded out from my horizon.
As I looked at the stars, the memories flashed before my very eyes. My childhood, my mother, my country; my dreams and my emotions I bottled up inside my heart. Remembering his name, I spoke it one, twice, thrice. It felt funny and foreign in my mouth but it helped me relieve the heavy feeling locked up in my chest. Looking back at the stars, I promised the Gods that I would not forget the man who made me feel I'm alive.
"Someday, we'll meet again."