Foreword: I found this while cleaning some older files. It is the only FFX thing I ever attempted to write and you'll quickly see why. ;)
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~ Immovable ~
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Their squadron was headed for Mt. Gagazet. The garrison marched along the rugged terrain, uneven and broken. He tried to steady his footing as the earth crumbled beneath his feet. War was never fought around convenience. The rations were running low and supplies had been drained by the destruction of Kilika. Half of the men were severely malnourished - the other half tired and broken. It was a perpetual battle, a war with no end, against an enemy that breathed eternal damnation - eternal Sin.
Whose sins was he fighting for?
He was not a part this war - this war was theirs, not his. He was drafted a Knight just the same. Now it became his duty. A duty he would have gladly forsaken to see his family again. They were gone now and duty was all that remained.
They had advanced over the last few nights, laying low during the day, using the stealth of darkness as cover. Now he stood at the bank of a river. It was cold and ice ridden, but with a sweeping determination, it forged its way down the mountain's side.
He did not like the water; it was a fear since his youth. The current had swept him away once. His brother and sister had also known no better, none of them understood of the dangers of the water. It was just a beautiful moving entity to them. But his mother was there, watching. She witnessed the whole thing from the bank. She had saved him then, but who would save him now?
As feet sank into the mire, his mind could feel the undercurrent sweeping him away. He could feel the arctic water racing against his body. He could feel himself gasping for that last breath as the bitter liquid stung his lungs. For a moment, he thought his legs were going to give way. It was a nightmare he could not relive.
He wouldn't do it; he would not cross that damn river.
The Captain was approaching and he understood the consequence for disobeying orders. The man yelled, but the Knight stood his ground. Even duty had its boundaries, or maybe he wasn't the Knight that they had wanted to believe.
He was just another faceless soldier to his superior. But that's all right, the Captain was another faceless solder to the Knight. He knew what was coming, but he wouldn't back down.
He would not cross that damn river.
The blade of the sword flashed brightly in the sun. It only took a second, but in the end, he would help his platoon in one way or another.
"Damn bird," the Captain spoke without remorse looking at the fallen bird. "Tonight we dine on Chocobo."