The Duel
A joint Collaboration
Between TacomaSquall and Astarte
A rite of passage
Waiting for us both.
Soon we will be men.
Soon, we will be SeeDs.
This is it, the moment you and I have been waiting for our entire lives. Soon we will be SeeDs, the elite, forces to be reckoned with. Its all I ever wanted. A SeeD, perhaps even The SeeD. You know what I mean: The one that everyone will admire, the one everyone looks up to, aspires to be. I want to be the Legend, the Hero. I want to be the Knight, someone's knight, the man in shining armour that some dark-eyed beauty will fall madly in love with. I'll be her hero and one true love. If I can be man enough, hero enough, perhaps her father won't mind so much that I'm a no-name orphan, come from some isolated no-place. I will make that dark-eyed beauty mine. I will be the man that everyone admires. What will you be, Squall? Nothing, the way you're going at it.
Before our graduation
I will show you
Once and for all -
I am better than you.
You don't even care, damn it. You have no goal other than to be a good little soldier, Kramer's obedient lapdog. You don't even see when Quistis falls all over you, doing everything but begging for you to love her. Stupid, ignorant, blind idiot that you are. A woman like that is a one in a million find and you don't want to have any of it. She has been trying to make you more than a machine and failing miserably. Of course that's because she's in love with you, she can't bear to hurt you. I don't mind, I'm not so tender. I'll open your blind eyes. I have vision, clarity of thought, that's why I'll always be better than you. Technical skill means nothing in the real world. Enemies don't follow the rulebook. If you don't figure that out soon, kiddo, you're going to die.
As we spar,
Can you sense it?
The reality between us -
Which is superior?
Shame too. After all, you are very, very good. The problem is that you take no risks, you have no vision. Old Cid strangled all the spirit right out of you, all that's left is the ideally mindless automaton. I've got news for you, Squall, real men can beat a machine any day of the week. What are you going to do during the exam, kid? Expect enemy soldiers to follow the rules? And what if they don't, what then? Bitch about it? Hah, you aren't nearly man enough to do that. You would do what you always do. Accept it. You never even try to change your fate. That is why I'm the superior of us. I try to exceed my limitations while you merely embrace them. Even animals test their boundaries but not you, no, you're too content to be just another sheep.
Blade clashes on blade,
You fall in my trap -
I mark you the lesser,
But you don't surrender.
But you are a stubborn bastard, I'll give you that much. Still you never see what's coming. A simple spell and you're down. I bring my gunblade down on you and I've marked you're soul as mine. You belong to me now because if I had really wanted to, Squall, I could have killed you. I actually considered it. Lower and I'd have gone through your throat, ending that pathetic excuse you call a life. I'm actually surprised to see blood spattering the ground. Didn't know machines could bleed.
Terrible agony,
Your counterstroke -
Nonetheless, we both
Know now who is best.
You know that I let you live at my leisure and for once in your life, you feel. You're mad, finally I get a response out of you. I guess that maybe you've still got hope now that you finally learned to give as good as you get. The pain is worth it, the look on your face, the rage and anger. It was worth it. Perhaps I can teach you, kid. Maybe one day, you will be my equal. For now though, we both know that I am the best.
I will be the world's shining knight. You, you won't be anything at all.
Fin.
Author's Note: Full credit goes to Tacoma Squall. He wrote the lovely poetry for this piece. :)