For those who actually follow my work (very few) I'm back in the writing business and will be updating most (If not all) my stories soon.
For those that are new to my work, welcome! It's a pleasure to see you reading (and hopefully enjoying) my work! With this story, I'm hoping to steer away from the emotionless badass pattern of my characters and look on a more emotional sense. Let's hope I can achieve my new goal of better fight scenes, better romance, more description of character's emotions and a lot more.
Without further delay, please enjoy the first chapter of An Unlikely Hero.
Have you ever had one of those nights, where you lay in bed and can't process what's going on in your life? It's true...the last three days have been fucked up beyond recognition. So much has been lost...yet something has been gained. An opportunity...an opportunity to fulfill her wishes. Beacon isn't going to know what hit it.
~Journal of Shayden Tidus, age fifteen
"Shay?! Shay!" Called a voice. It was female, and belonged to a young woman, looking to be in her early twenties. It was none other than my delightful sister Bella. She had fiery red hair, that flowed long and straight down to her waist, and had a fringe that curved down to cover her right eye. Her pale skin and curvy figure was covered up by by a white sleeveless shirt, with the top three buttons undone, showing enough cleavage to have pretty much anyone staring. She wore dark blue skinny jeans down to her knees, the ends of them turned up to show the light blue innards of the denim clothing, On her feet she wore sandals, the soles of them as blue as her eyes, which shone in the sunlight as she tore open my curtains with a metallic "CLINK!".
"Are you awake?" She sighed, turning to the warm cocoon of my white bedsheets and placing her long slender hands on her hips. She stormed over to me, yanking the sheets off of me and looking at me with a scowl. "You have school to go to, don't you?!" I flinched a little, still groaning in displeasure as the sun bore down on my eyes. I had been asked to go on an induction thing to Signal, a preparation school for hunters and huntresses in training to prepare them to go to Beacon. I don't know why I'd be invited, even if it was for induction. It was a ridiculous idea, I had no endurance, no stamina, and I can't even cross the street without feeling even a little scared.
But it seems that I'm the only one that thinks that getting me involved with anything hunter/huntress related is an awful idea. Everyone thinks I have potential; but what potential? I've literally got next to no talent, and my physical conditioning is far from the peak of what's expected of a hunter or huntress. I'm a fucking stick, I don't really have any good looks to be charismatic, and I have the intelligence of a brick. I was bullied relentlessly throughout my early years...I don't want a repeat there at Signal...and Bella will be left alone. Our parents passed away when we were little...well, just after I was born, in fact.
Our dad was in Vale's military force, a special forces unit called V.S.S., no one knows what those initials stand for, nor do they actually no what the V.S.S do. But according to Bella one night our mother had put me to sleep, and had rested me in the crib at the foot of her bed. There was a knock on the door, and Bella had answered.
At the door there was a man, he had hair was black with gray streaks. The same could be said for the large bushing beard that came down to his neck. He wore black sunglasses, they looked like they were almost glued to his eyes. His black and gray hair was tied in a pony tail, that flowed down to the top of his back and kept the hair out of his yellow predatory eyes. He wore a black short sleeved t-shirt that hugged his torso, and according to Bella he was ripped. He wore a darker version of cream colored cargo trousers, accompanied with black hiking boots with gray highlights.
He looked at Bella, asking her to go get her mother. Bella did it obediently, wondering why there was a stranger at our door. She went and got our mother, who came downstairs and seen the man, quickly shooing Bella back upstairs, who hid on the landing when our mother back. Our mother walked slowly down the hall, anxious and scared to hear what this man was here for. The man's eyes softened; his mouth moving in a few words, and then our mother fell against the wall, sliding down it as she silently sobbed.
That was two days after I was born, a few hours after my birth, my father was killed in action.
Two days after that news was received, my mother was found dead. She had committed suicide and had left Bella alone with me.
And to this day, fifteen years later, I continue to hold Bella back. She had done so many things to keep the two of us afloat. Begging, stealing, prostitution; she did all these things until she finally got a job at Junior's club. There she made enough money to even keep herself happy. Although I still didn't like it's source. But I'm not complaining, she's happy.
She kept up the stare as it slowly turned into a glare. "Shay! WAKE UP!" She grabbed my bare leg, yanking me roughly and causing me to yelp and hit the floor with a loud "THUMP!". I groaned, rolling over slowly and nursing my back, rubbing it gently with my right palm. "Do I have to go?" I pouted, looking up at her. My dark blue eyes met hers, causing her to smile a little. We shared a few features; dark blue eyes, pale skin and skinny frames. Her smile was gentle and loving, almost angelic. Well, it was angelic...
"I know you don't want to; but you need to go somewhere. I can't just leave you at home while I go to work; and this way you'll be able to get a job...just in case you ever move out." She smiled, kissing my forehead affectionately and going to the door. "Get dressed, we need to leave in two minutes." She left the room, leaving an air so thick nothing could cut through it. "Two minutes?!" I yelled, freaking out and shooting up to my feet and towards the wardrobe, ignoring the shooting pains in my back.
I grabbed random clothes and threw them on, genuinely surprised about the outcome. I wore a black tank top and a white hoodie with the sleeves rolled up. Over the white hoodie was a red and black checkered shirt, the buttons done up until the last three and the sleeves rolled up. On my legs I wore black skinny jeans that had the knees ripped out and they hugged my legs. Black skater shoes covered my feet, muffling the noise of my running as my spiky and messy brown hair going into my eyes. I landed roughly onto the landing, jumping the last few stairs and running out the door, sprinting towards Signal.
After about ten minutes of sprinting, stopping and starting again I reached Signal, panting loudly. My lungs burned, my legs ached, and I was sweating already. I leaned against the wall, continuing to pant before I walked inside. I was directed by a dark blue haired woman with brown eyes towards a large hallway, filled with potential students.
I looked around, seeing people my age all covered in armor, or laced with weapons. Or even both, to give a small variation. But seriously...how was I going to compete with these people? I didn't belong here, not at all. Why would Bella send me here? She knows I can't fight, she knows I have no courage...is she trying to embarrass me? To torture me? Is it payback for all those years I held her back?
I sighed, going into one of the dimly lit corners while ignoring all the odd looks I was getting. I leaned against the back wall, staring at the stage while someone, presumably the head master of Signal, gave a boring and droll speech. The speech went on for twenty minutes and I could feel the life draining from me. It was getting ridiculous. But I was saved by the claps and cheers of a seemingly ecstatic audience. My eyes shot open, seeing the headmaster leave the stage and the audience disperse. I didn't know where I was going, but was somehow almost immediately starting to get tugged and pulled by the crowd.
I sighed, deciding to go with the crowd before I was pushed into a splinter group, which headed for a second gym. I was pushed and pulled with the crowd until we went through a pair of auburn security doors. We stood in front of some guy, who looked at us with almost eagle like vision, he had hair was black with gray streaks. The same could be said for the large bushing beard that came down to his neck. He wore black sunglasses, they looked like they were almost glued to his eyes. His black and gray hair was tied in a pony tail, that flowed down to the top of his back and kept the hair out of his yellow predatory eyes. He wore a black short sleeved t-shirt that hugged his torso, and he was ripped. He wore a darker version of cream colored cargo trousers, accompanied with black hiking boots with gray highlights.
He had his hands on his waist, and he seemed shocked when he saw me, but he quickly hid it. No one but me seemed to notice. He looked around the crowd again, scanning each member systematically. Some he looked like he saw potential, some in disgust, others in contempt. He clapped his hands, making pretty much all of them jump. "Alright fresh blood! My name is Cobra! And I am going to be your CQC instructor over the next two years!" He looked around, seeing that he had scared a few of us, including me.
But a few were defiant. "What kind of name is 'Cobra', it's so cheesy." A boy snickered to his friend next to him. In almost an instant, Cobra was in front of him. "Do you have a problem with my name, David Winchester? Cobra's are swift, powerful, deadly and they strike when you least expect it." To seemingly to put emphasis on his statement, or just for the fun of it, he quickly slammed his palm into Winchester's chest plate, causing the boy to launch backwards a bit and slam onto his back with a loud grunt.
Cobra sighed, putting his hands on his hips and looking around slowly. "Does anyone else want to challenge the lethality of a cobra? Or is it just Winchester here?" The room fell into a deaf silence at those words, everyone stiff and silently begging not to be the target of his attention. "Now, get into pairs." He said, turning around with a smirk. Everyone scrambled into pairs, going for their friends and whatnot. I was left standing alone in the middle of the room awkwardly, everyone in the room was staring at me.
Cobra looked at me, taking off his sun glasses and hooking it onto the 'V' of his t-shirt. His yellow eyes glinted a little as he looked at the students. "So I guess Tidus here is the only one with the balls to stand up to an instructor? You should all be ashamed! Any hunter or huntress worth my time would jump at a chance to face off against an instructor! You maggots better train, and you better train hard!" He roared, looking at me as the others started throwing hits wildly at each other.
Cobra sighed, looking at them, seemingly embarrassed to be in the same room as them. He looked at me, smiling a little. "Now, shall we?" He raised his arms, one hand slightly bent, but outstretched as much as possible, the other close to his chest. I sighed, knowing there was no way out, so I took my hands out my pockets and balled them into fists. He upturned his right arm, doing a 'come at me' motion before setting it back into it's original position as I charged. I gave a weak battle cry as I ran forward, the canvas shoes thudding on the wooden floor. I threw my fist forward, and everything seemed to go in slow motion.
He sidestepped it, then he reached up and gripped my forearm before before spinning around, his boot sailing through the air and cracking into my jaw, sending me careering backwards a few meters as I thudded onto the floor. I grunted, sprawled out as he shook his head and turned away. I could hear the class members laughing at me, and I could tell he was disappointed. Hell, even I was disappointed. But I refuse to go down that easily...Bella has never gave up...why should I?
I grunted, standing up slowly and spitting blood out onto the floor. "I'm not finished..." I growled, causing him to turn in shock before a slight smile appeared, and the class had gone deafly silent. "Is that so?" He smiled, falling back into fighting position as I got to my feet. I looked back on the last minute, remembering the details. I had a plan, and I hoped it would work.
I roared, charging forward, the exact same way I did before. He motioned to grab my arm again, but this time I dodged it, tackling him to the floor, pushing all of my weight on top of him. The sudden weight and the speed of it didn't give him time to prepare as I slammed into him, he grunted as we hit the floor, and kept grunting as I slammed punch after punch into his face. I stopped only when I heard a gun clicking from the doorway.
I turned around slowly to see all the guys (and some girls) staring at the doorway and drooling a little, blushes heavy on their faces, and I could see why. There was a tall, curvy woman, who had curves in all the right places. She had long flowing black hair and violet eyes. She wore a tight leather suit, something you'd only on deep sea divers. She held a sniper rifle in her hand, it was white, and it had no scope, the barrel of it was trained on my head. I gulped a little as the man chuckled and pushed me off gently. "Easy there Dragon, Shayden did well." He smiled, before scowling at the class. "Class dismissed, you'll have lunch and then you go home."
He looked at me as the class dispersed. "You stay here...we need to talk." He looked at Dragon, who raised an eyebrow before holstering her rifle onto her back. "How did you get pinned down by a boy?" Her voice was amused, yet the overall tone of it was seductive. Cobra chuckled, looking at her, and what he said next changed the woman's facial expression completely for some reason. "He isn't an average boy, it seems his father's talent has passed on...maybe raw talent, but it can be refined. He is the son of none other than Rysen Tidus."
Dragon's reaction turned to complete shock as she looked at me. "THIS is Wolf's son? An average brat?!" She started to look angry. "THIS is all a legend left behind?! A boy that can't even throw a punch right?!" I felt each and every insult dig into my skin like a knife, her anger only getting worse. But Cobra seemed to have enough of it as he turned to her. "ENOUGH! You would never have spoken to Wolf this way, yet you'll taunt and insult his legacy, his memory?!" Cobra roared. Dragon looked a little shocked at him snapping as she looked down, seemingly disappointed in herself. "You're right..." She looked at me. "Well...son of Wolf...I guess we've got to get you up to scratch..." She smiled, dropping her holster. Oh fuck me this is going to be a long afternoon...
/Four hours later\\
I waddled out of the gates of Signal, wincing in pain with each step. I looked up, seeing the sun set. As usual, it was an oh-so-beautiful color, it's mixed colors of yellow, orange and and a fiery red filled the distant horizon. I turned my vision back to the ground, and seeing the person that meant the world to me. "Sis!" I smiled, jogging up to her as she looked at me, a loving smile on her face as she spread her arms.
I ran into them, smiling brightly as I hugged her tightly. She smiled, one arm wrapping around my back and a hand placing itself on the back of my head, stroking my hair gently. "Hello Shay, how was your day?" She smiled, hugging me tightly to her chest. I smiled, feeling the pain seep out of my body as she pulled away. "It was...different." I smiled, looking at her. "I'll bet." She giggled. "I think we need to get pizza to celebrate." My smile got wider. "Yes! Pizza!" I jumped up happily, causing her to laugh. "Alright, c'mon." She said through the laughter, unlocking the car.
I got into the passenger's seat, closing the door and putting my seatbelt on. Bella, smiled, looking at me as she got in, putting her seatbelt on and starting the engine. She pushed onto the pedal gently, taking off slowly down the street as she did so. After about ten minutes, we reached a takeaway. She got out, smiling a little. "Stay here, I'll be back in five minutes and I'll be right inside the shop." She closed the door, walking to the door before two men grabbed her roughly. I jumped a little, seeing them as they dragged he into the alley beside the shop. "Hey!" I opened the door, starting to run after them.
They turned the corner and I sprinted mindlessly towards it, grunting as a fist hit my chin. "OOF!" I cried out, falling onto the floor. "SHAY!" Bella cried out, reaching towards me and struggling with the man that held her. The man that had hooked me grabbed my shirt with both hands, lifting me up and starting to punch me. I grunted, regaining breath only for it to be punched out of me a second later. y sister struggled more...and the man that held her did something unforgivable.
He shook his head, drawing a pocket knife. In one swift movement, he drew I across her throat. I looked in horror, my eyes wide as blood splashed onto the ground. It was fake blood...it had to be...all this is staged...just a mean prank...she'll get up and say sorry for scaring me...the men will be some friends from work...any second now...any...any second right?
But Bella didn't get up. The blood wasn't fake. The men weren't friends. This wasn't a mean prank. Bella was really dead...I had just watched my entire world collapse. I felt something snap in me, something through the heavy veil of tears. Something through the dark void of despair and oncoming loneliness. It was bright. It was roasting. It was blinding. What was it?
I saw my sister's killer, standing there. Blood dripped from his knife, it had sprayed onto his right hand, and the floor in front of him. I felt my captive's tight grip on my upper arms. Bella's killer kicked her corpse, scowling indiscreetly, making his negative feelings know. "Fucking stupid bitch, lousy son of a whore." He growled, looking down at her body. That was it. The light in the void became so searing, so intense...so blinding... I had to let every bit of it out.
I growled, a crimson aura started to rise up from the ground and walls, it came out of my body, it came out of everywhere. An eyeless white mask formed around my face. It burned...it was blinding. Then white gauntlets formed onto my arms. They burned...it felt so destructive. Last but not least, white knee high boots appeared on my legs. They burned...but I felt as light as the wind.
The man that held me yelped a little, jumping back and blowing on his hands. "You killed her..." My voice was mangled and warped. It was one voice, but sounded like many. Rage resounded through those voices, the rage of all the victims...the victims of these men. I could see them...how every one of their victims had died...these men were monsters...
I let out a strangled roar, grabbing the man that held me captive by the throat, he screamed, the flesh of his throat burning as he looked into the faceless mask. No...as he looked into the rage...the rage of the families of all his victims. All of it...all of it was my rage now. I squeezed the man's throat, causing him to gag before I threw him into the wall. There was a sickening crack as many bones in his body broke, and his eyes still wide open as he was forced to lay there, paralyzed as his life slowly slipped away from ruptured organs.
I looked at my sister's killer, seeing him fall onto his back and scramble into the wall. I started walking over slowly, my hands clenching into fists before I heard various guns clicking around me. "Freeze!" I heard a voice call, and that's when I snapped back into reality. The aura disappeared. The armor disappeared. The rage disappeared; to be replaced with sorrow, guilt and loneliness. I ran over to Bella quickly, hugging her corpse into my arms tightly, not caring about the blood seeping into my clothes and dripping onto my skin as I sobbed loudly.
With my sister gone, I had nothing left. Nothing to look forward to. Nothing to be happy about. Nothing to dream of. Nothing worth waking up for in the morning. My world...my Remnant within a Remnant, was destroyed. Destroyed by criminal scum.
I heard footsteps, but I ignored them, I continued sobbing, cradling Bella in my arms and rocking back and forth. My rocking stopped as I felt a pair of long, slender arms wrap around my neck from behind, and a warmth on my back as a hand stroked my hair gently. "Sssh..." A voice cooed gently, the voice came from Dragon. She kept stroking my hair, her touch soothing as I felt myself melt into her, gently putting Bella down and sobbing into Dragon's chest.
I heard someone clear their throat behind me, and I turned around quickly. It was a gray haired man. He had brown eyes, and wore a green suit with a dark green ascot. He had round spectacles, and carried a cane on his person. "Mr Tidus." He looked at me. "I'm...terribly sorry for your loss...and you have my condolences." I nodded, saying a silent thank you in response. But he had more to say on the matter.
"I'm going to be blunt here. I know you want revenge. I know you think it was just these two common criminals. But you're wrong. These two are part of a much grander, bigger scheme. And that's where we share common interest." He looked me in the eyes. "Come to Beacon, and I will give you the means seek the revenge you desire. It will be a hard road, but if you are your father's son...you may be the key to unraveling it all." He said, looking like he was in distant thought.
I thought for a few minutes. Unravel what? He's willing to help me? I'm far from the right level to enter Beacon...but...Bella wanted me to go there...
I stood up, my fists clenched as I peeled away from Dragon's embrace. The feelings in my heart were sorrow, depression, loneliness, despair...but in my eyes there was a fire. The fires of determination...and something else. "Where do I sign up?" I looked at him, holding out my hand as he smiled and shook it, seeing the fire in my eyes.
"You've got fire in your heart Mr Tidus...the fire of an unlikely hero."
That's chapter one in the bag. Next chapter, it's onto Beacon!
What do you think of Shayden? What do you think of Cobra and Dragon?
Can you guess his semblance? And yes, Shayden is still going to be depressed, but will hide it mist of the time. Although you will see more of his back story.
See ya!
