A Side of Kindness:

            A Suikoden II fic. When Ridley gets ambushed, he's taken in as a prisoner of the Highland Army, for just a short time. This is his story. [TOLD IN RIDLEY'S POINT OF VIEW]

            "I can't believe I was ambushed. I'm sorry Lord Riou…but let not my sacrifice be in vain. For I'd rather see myself die than you…" I thought. As of that moment, I was being brought to see the slayer of the slain, Luca Blight.

            As I stepped into the tent, I swore I could smell the air of death permeating through the room. When I looked up, there he stood. I had never been this close before. He was truly frightening.

            "So this is the State Pig?!" he said laughing. "Have something to say, do you?" he asked, stopping to stare at me.

            "No matter what you do, you will fall," I replied, mouth in a thin line. He laughed again, this time more maliciously.

"Is that so? Well, I'll start with your head!" He laughed mercilessly. "Imprison him. I'll have his head lined up next to Riou's!" Before I could say anything, I was whisked out and back to the tent. I would spend the night there, until my execution in the morning. I was beginning to wonder if this would be the end of me. Late in the night however, after some of the guards had fallen asleep outside, someone slipped into the tent.

"So you're okay Ridley, influential leader of the State's Kobold warriors," he said. I don't think I ever heard that voice before, but I will remember it for the rest of my life. It was coming from a thin figure, not that of Luca Blight, or a man, but a boy, too young to be caught up in war.  There was another man behind him though.

"Who are you?!" I growled under my breath. After the abuse I had faced today, I needed not the verbal abuse from another in my last hours of life. The shadow shook his head.

"Should you be so quick to deny help?"

"You're going to help me?" I asked. I changed my tone of voice. These people were here to help me? Were they from the State?

"I don't think it's your time to die yet, or at least not now," the voice replied. He stepped out into the candlelight inside the tent.

"Jowy Altreidas…!!"

"You'd do best to keep quiet, or the guards will wake up."

"Why?" I asked. The other man stepped out into the light.

"Not all of Lord Luca's followers believe he is the right one to lead the nation."

"Leon Silverburg…!!"

"We met a friend of yours, now come along," Jowy said. The so-called ruthless planner of the siege of Greenhill was none other than Lord Riou's friend, but somehow, it did not seem like he was ruthless at all. What had war done to these poor kids?

"And so you think you're qualified for the job?" I asked. He glanced back, but didn't answer. That face…it seemed so full of sorrow, but yet filled with shining confidence of one determined to make his place.

"I'm not saying that I am, but it would not do anyone good to have Prince Luca lead the nation. Both sides would end up losing, the land would be scorched. Now come on, or you'll be sure to be executed at dawn." I nodded and followed him quietly out of the tent. Most of the lazy guards had fallen asleep at the sides of the tent, using boxes as their pillows. It was easy to slip out of the camp in the shadows of darkness. As we made it out of the camp, a familiar figure appeared.

"Chaco!" I exclaimed.

"Thought you were going to die old man? Lord Riou still needs your help."

"Right, let's go…" I said as I followed him out. Jowy or should I call him Lord Jowy, put a hand on my shoulder.

"I have but one request for rescuing you. Take this letter to Riou for me…and quickly." I took the letter and carried it with me back to the castle. I would soon learn that inside, would be Luca Blight's downfall.