Acquiesce
By: Angelus Erreare
Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOT EVEN THE OC FEATURED HERE! LOL! Gale, Serph, Heat, Argilla, Cielo, Angel, Gui Xian, Long all belong to ATLUS USA.
Vanessa and Kachiena belong to MY super-talented, ubber sexy friend KuDu!
A/N: This fic is a challenge/request from my beautiful and….very, very close friend KuDu who continued to support me and let me feel that she cares. I love you Nessa-chan! This is for you! I hope you like it. And I'm sorry if I took quite long with it.
WARNING: OC, OOC, MODERATE LANGUAGE.
Chapter 1: Vindicated
She stalked through the halls of the barrack with inaudible steps. She graced the cold tiles of the floor flawlessly, as if she had never even stepped on them. The hour was late…but the night was even later.
Her full lips were set upon a grim line…her cheeks steady and firm…She was as resolute as a general in a battlefield, slaughtering his enemy's army. Her face was calm and indifferent. But what her facial façade effectively concealed, her jeweled eyes revealed shamelessly. Her burgundy eyes were flashing angrily…loathingly…spitefully.
The girl-no!-woman narrowed her burgundy eyes.
Tonight someone would expire.
He would not live to see the next dull and grey morning.
Her posture was slumped forward, her torso bent forward slightly, her knees parted and bent. Her arms were spread and her palms touched the wall behind her. Some would say that her posture wasn't becoming of a woman and was more appropriate towards an old one.
But they were wrong, weren't they?
She was poised as an assassin would. She was poised in the language of stealth killing.
She turned her face to the side sharply, her red-wine hair following suit, its tresses moving sharply at its masters' beckon.
'Damn hair.' she thought to herself.
No. She didn't mean that.
Oh course not. Her hair was what made her unique; just like her eyes. Her eyes. She narrowed them into slits. It was because of that fated light that their once dull orbs had begun to shine and acquire a hue of their own.
She wished that that light hadn't hit her.
For if it didn't…
'Then maybe I wouldn't feel like this…' she thought sadly, as she continued to walk along the wall, blending herself within the shadows, never letting the world know of her existence.
At that thought though, her eyes flashed angrily again.
'It doesn't matter.'
No. It really didn't matter. What mattered was that she had been wronged and she was going to collect.
'Time for payback…'
She stopped as she neared the corner of the hall. She frowned and there reached for the goggles that hung on her neck. Without sound, and with the least effort, she donned them on. At that, she marched forward. She stopped right at the end of the wall and took a small peek at the corner.
She smirked; typical.
There, before her, were the invisible lines that her eyes were not capable of perceiving.
'Trip wires?' she thought mockingly as the red lasers revealed themselves to her. Without hesitation, she dove forward. She rolled and jumped and slid through the lasers effortlessly, stifling a low laugh within her.
Why would she laugh?
She wasn't stupid.
A warrior of the shadows knew better than to commit such an error; such a flaw…such a folly. With her breathing still calm, the air passing to and fro from her nose without even so much as a wheeze, she passed the pathetic lasers.
She paused and straightened herself, lightly stretching her muscles. She clenched her hands into fists and continued onward.
Again, she found herself against a wall…
She took a little peek at the other side and smirked.
A camera.
What to do?
She grabbed onto her belt and took out a small can. Releasing the safety pin, she tossed the aforesaid can on the floor as lightly as she could, minimizing the sound that it made.
From where she stood, she saw her little chaff grenade work its magic.
She watched as it scattered little speckles of diamonds into the air…throwing the fearsome ever-watchful dragon into confusion.
'That should do it.' she thought as she pressed onward, walking through the hall, knowing that the camera was disabled.
She then came to the place that she had been looking for.
A door.
She removed her goggles and stared in front of the aforesaid door. She narrowed her eyes. She considered walking through it…
However.
'No.' she thought, 'He'd know.'
Making up her mind, the woman climbed up to the ceiling and crawled within the shaft. While there, she could feel her heart beginning to race as she neared her inevitable destination. Ah, but what was her destination…?
'He is.' she thought fiercely, repeating the mantra in her mind over and over again.
'He is my mission…My target…My prey.' she thought with hunger as she continued to crawl effortlessly.
A moment later, she had reached her designated spot. She dropped into the room below her on her tiptoes, never making a noise; not even in the slightest.
Her hair began to stand on one end as maniacal rage and mirth simultaneously raided her being. There she was; a hair's breath away from her objective…
Without a moment's hesitation, she blurred past the environment of the chilly and spacious room…A room which she knew all too well to belong to him.
A split second later, she found herself by his bedside. She looked at her target's sleeping countenance. There was her target; asleep…
His face depicted no signs of torment…or trouble. All was calm…Even serene.
She felt her blood boil at that. How dare he, he, the murderer, sleep this soundly at night…? Without even having the slight feeling of remorse…? While she suffered greatly!?
Who was he and who was she!? Was he better than she was?!
Her breathing was becoming ragged now, as turmoil and anger began to seep in…
There he was…
There he was…asleep…
Fast asleep…without a care in the world.
She sneered mentally.
'You have been praised for you brilliance…Like a star never fading…But now, I have you. You had not predicted this to come to pass…' she thought haughtily.
'And now…you will die…'
Without taking her eyes off him, her long slender fingers reached for the dangling kunai that hung on a belt on her hips. She wrapped her thin fingers around the blade slowly…meticulously, letting the feel of metallic velvet glaze her manic state…
Like a madman, her eyes flashed in monstrous joy and her mouth parted, in a twisted smile and there raised the kunai above her head, intent on bringing it down upon the unsuspecting victim below.
She brought her hand down with all of her might, breaking that thin veil of silence and of serenity, bringing along with her, the promise of death.
But it never came.
She stopped right when she was but an inch from his chest. Her heart tingled for but a moment, her eyes getting heavier with the budding feelings of confusion and hesitance.
Her hand slightly shook but she screamed at it to remain steady.
Her attempts were in vain as the cool air was shattered.
"Why do you stop?"
She stiffened and saw that the man in front of her spoke with his eyes still closed. She blinked, 'How did he know…!?'
'Was I too noisy…!? The wires…?! No! I did not touch them! It must be…the chaff grenade!'
By now, the green-haired man below her, maneuvered past her and slipped out of the bed, and stood facing her on its other side.
She immediately leapt backward and bent her knees and body forward, her legs drawn apart, her arms outstretched in front of her; her right hand grasping the kunai, while the other was open, gesturing for her opponent to be wary.
Gale regarded the woman in front of him.
Well, he couldn't see her properly as all was dark. But he saw her silhouette just fine. The moon from the window had given the pale illumination that he needed to identify the person who trespassed into his room.
She was a petite woman; a head shorter than him, he'd wager.
"If you are thinking of the flaw that you had just done, then I had best tell you…" he spoke calmly, never taking his calm green eyes off her.
At that, the calm woman broke down.
Seeing him…Seeing that calm face of his…
He had been at the gates of death…and yet, he spoke of it as if none of it had ever happened. He commented on her skills, foregoing the previous precarious situation that he had found himself.
He…confused her.
"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked calmly, holding together her already crumbling cool and collected façade.
She wondered; would he see through her?
Gale blinked. Her actions were admirable. Well, no; not really. They weren't admirable.
'They are expected.' he thought firmly, 'As an assassin, a cool head is needed.'
"If you were to enter a battlefield, you must be cleared and geared for battle." he stated coolly.
The woman narrowed her eyes into slits; just what the hell was this person getting at!?
'But, no matter…I'll kill him!' she thought.
"Enough!" she yelled as she blurred past the surroundings, using her inhuman and extraordinary speed to penetrate the tactician's defenses and overcome his male superior strength.
'There!' she thought as she zipped past through him, arriving at the man's exposed back, her kunai in her hand, ready for the deathblow.
Her eyes widened as she hit nothing but the cool air.
She whipped around, her muscles tight and her eyes peeled, for her target. She found him in front of her, on the other side of the room, regarding her coolly.
"You are simply…attracting attention to yourself."
She gritted her teeth; what the fuck was he talking about!?
With an enraged battle-cry, she lunged for him again, both hands having their kunai. She threw them with deadly accuracy. Her burgundy eyes widened as the green-haired man eluded and evaded them easily.
She ran for the walls and ran on them, eager to get some fighting distance. She made for her handy blowgun.
'Heh; so he can dodge kunai…But that doesn't mean that he can dodge this!' she thought snidely, pride overwhelming her sense of reasoning.
She kept the tiny blowgun in her palm. Yes…It was just that big.
'That fucker would never know it…' she thought, smirking within.
Her face was hardened and he could tell that he had ruffled her feathers. He was disappointed. She was about to crack. He could see it clearly. She was but a child wielding a flimsy twig upon a seasoned soldier.
This was child's play.
He blinked as he saw her preparing to make a move. He parted his lips, ignoring that note, and spoke, "Your scent gives you away assassin."
At that, she tensed.
'S-scent…?'
She scowled; he was lying, wasn't he? He was trying to provoke her so that she may lose her accurate mind and lose concentration. Well, she won't let that happen!
"You bring in the scent of the rain…" he said, nodding, "The scent of which isn't present here." he told her knowingly.
The woman was getting irked. How dare he make assumptions such as those!? But no matter, she wouldn't let his idle banter distract her.
With a firm cry, no longer that shrill girlish one, she summoned the blowgun that was hidden within her left glove and blew the poisonous dart from it.
Gale saw it from a mile away and caught it in his fingers.
At that, the woman froze, wide-eyed…with her heart crushed.
'He…he caught it…Just like that.' she thought in disbelief, 'I…I've lost…'
She knew this to be true.
She could try and try all she might to get every angle about him, trying to get an opening for an attack…only to fail again, again and again.
She wouldn't be able to wound him even if the gods granted them Nirvana. No; she had seen his movements. She had seen how he saw right through hers…
He knew her even better than she knew herself…
And that was why there was no other choice but to…surrender.
With a heavy heart, she sunk to her knees, bowing her head, letting him see the exposed part of the base of her neck.
Gale watched her.
He had expected her to be angry…to let loose all of her emotions, as they were trained not to. He was toying with her, yes…however, this was a reaction from her that he did not expect. What now?
Her submissive gesture was anything but his preconceived scenarios…
"End my life."
He blinked; that was what she said.
"Why?" he asked nonchalantly, yet curiously.
At this, she said nothing but just closed her eyes, a tear dropping from each of them, trailing her childishly pouting cheeks…making their way towards her soft quaint chin…only for them to pool into one, and drop onto her target's floor.
"Why?" he asked again.
Why he asked…?
Why…?
Why not?
She let out a staggering breath, "You've killed him…" she whispered darkly, each syllable laced with malice and hate, each word dripping with ill-intent and spite.
Gale regarded her coolly, "I've killed hundreds of men. To speak one of which that is otherwise faceless to me is pointless. Moreover, for you to waste your time in avenging this man's death is not only pointless, but irrational as well."
"…"
She said nothing.
He raised an eyebrow, "Men and women die everyday. It is but a fact of life. To sit there and ask your opponent to end your life…to end it so that you have the easy way out of your troubles is nothing but cowardice."
"…!" she gasped at that.
'C-cowardice…?'
Gale walked over to his door calmly, turning his back to her, confident that she would do nothing to harm him and opened the door for her, "I know not who this man is…But I assure you that wherever he may be, that he does not like what he is seeing in you."
At that, she snapped. She raised her head, and threw him an angry look, "What the fuck do you know!? Huh!?" she yelled angrily.
Gale blinked again. Burgundy eyes…Granted, that he could only see one of her eyes, but seeing one of them was enough. He saw the pain etched in them…
He continued to regard her nonchalantly, his face never betraying any sort of human emotion, "I know nothing of him…But I do know that if I were in his position, to see the one I care about attempt to avenge my death in a world where death is a constant companion, only to have her capitulate in the end…and to even be audacious and shameless enough to ask for her life to be severed by the very same opponent…I would die all over again."
At that, she gasped again, her heart stopping, her blood running deadly slow.
'S-shameless…' she repeated, aghast at what she had heard and aghast at what his serpentine words implied about her.
"You shame him."
At that, her heart burst.
Gale could tell that he had met his objective. Now, there would be a void in her heart. She would not harm him. No. How could she…?
'She wouldn't because she couldn't.'
"Please leave my quarters." he calmly commanded.
Her head snapped at that and she tilted her confused face to the side, "L-leave…?"
"Did I stutter?"
She felt the flames of anger be rekindled within her but she held her ground, "You're not going to kill me?"
Gale touched his forehead, "It is devoid of reason for me to do so."
'H-huh!?' She was confused. Was he telling her that killing an enemy wasn't rational!? That it contained no reason?! Was he insane?! Or was it that he didn't consider her worth killing?
She stood up quickly and straightened her posture, clenching her hands into fists, "Why let me go?" she asked haughtily, tilting her head upwards, sneering, "I can easily come after you again."
At that, Gale bowed his head slightly and stared at her blankly, "Then do so at that other time…at your own leisure…at your own discretion." He then touched his forehead, "You are a member of the former Wolves. Thus, you are a member of Embryon. I will not have you killed assassin."
"Why not!?" she snapped, angry at his condescending treatment of her.
Gale resisted the strong urge to twitch his eyebrow. There he was, telling her that she was free to go and that no harm would come to her…and yet there she was, insisting that he kill her.
Well, if he looked deeper, he supposed he understood. He saw right through her hate-filled eyes and her malicious words. There was pride within her; pride that was consuming her. That was why she wanted him to kill her.
She had not met her objective.
And so, she would rather have her life taken and ended rather than live life…with shame, every day remembering that fateful and shameful defeat.
Well, that was a malady easily cured he supposed. But he wouldn't administer such a cure.
"Because we have enough killing as it is." he told her.
She gasped again as she considered his words. Enough killing.
There was enough killing; there was plenty of blood, guts and gore to go around…
He didn't want to kill unnecessarily.
"Please leave." he told her again.
At that, feeling totally ashamed for some reason, she took his advice. Needless to say though that she had been wary of him each and every step that she took towards his door. After all, this could be some ploy to get her to turn her back…and kill her.
She then stopped her walk and this earned her a somewhat exasperated look from her supposed target.
"How would I know that you just won't wait for me to turn my back so that you could slit my throat?" she asked tauntingly, each spiteful word rolling off her tongue like alluring poison.
"If I really wanted you dead, I wouldn't have wasted my breath in speaking." he said with slightly narrowed eyes, "I wouldn't be wasting my breath on you now."
At that, involuntarily, her cheeks flushed red and she promptly resumed her walk, turning her face away from him.
As she reached his door, she stopped by its threshold.
Gale was getting impatient. What was it now?
The woman said nothing but just cast her face downwards, her back towards him, and spoke in a low spirit-shaking tone, "You killed him you know? My father."
Gale didn't have time to sympathize. Didn't he already tell her?
That they had a war to win…?
His heart was as hard as stone and was cold as ice…People would say he was cruel, but he cared not. Life was life and death was death. No matter how much one mourned for the dead, the living would continue to breath and experience the breath of life.
Time was a cruel mistress.
And an even crueler executor.
She may brood about her father, but what did he care? She would have to move on with her life, whether she liked it or not.
"I'll kill you, you know?" she asked, her voice gentle.
He nodded, "You may try." He then paused and spoke again, "But under one condition."
"Which is?" she asked, curious as to the strange proposal from her enigmatic adversary.
"Fight for Embryon."
Aa. It was that sort of proposal. She nodded. She would continue to follow orders…but when she had the chance…
"When I see an opportunity, I'll take you down."
"Hn…"
She then resumed her walk. He rolled his eyes. He thought that she'd never leave.
She then stopped again. What the hell did she want now!?
"I'll never forgive you for killing Lupa."
Whereas before, Gale's resolute face was in tact, now it began to crumble. Whereas before his heart was made of stone, not it began to fall…and his heart that was once made of bone-chilling ice had melted.
So, Lupa had been her father.
xxxxx
A/N:
Chaff Grenades: Chaff grenades or Chaff had been used during WWII as a form of radar countermeasure. It's used to confuse the enemy's radar. It works by scattering thin, small bits of aluminum to throw confusion to electronic devices that scan the premises.
Kunai: It was originally a tool used by the masses for the purpose of gardening. It was a trowel. It originated in Japan during the Tensho Period. Today, it's commonly seen to be a mythical ninja's weapon much like a knife.