-1A/N: You can skip the paragraph below. It is all ramblings and not relative to the story.
A/N: Ah it is that kind of time. The kind in which it is 11 AM and I pour a cup of Campbell's chicken noodle soup, slip on my (homemade) Cali≠Gari sweatshirt and throw caution to the wind as I write fan fiction instead sleeping. I mean, come on you and I both know that I need sleep. I guess that is part of life, making the wrong decision even though you are aware of it. Anyway…the story seems to be more IX than X-2 so I am debating on moving it over to the IX section. I've been playing through IX much to my surprise. Alex (my roommate's boyfriend) asked me why I was playing it if I have already beat it 4 times through. Honestly I don't know the answer. I should be getting back to X-2 since I haven't even beat it yet…But first I should stop rambling and start writing.
(Amarant's POV)
Once again I felt the warmth of consciousness fill me mixed with the pain radiating from my chest. My head was aching to no end as well. Not that I could blame it. Right now my brain was sending a torrent of messages all throughout my body telling it to get back to a normal state. But also on my head I felt a cold cloth padding away any sweat that may have accumulated there. I opened my eyes.
The room was dark but slightly illuminated by a small light nearby. The light stretched outward and shone upon the face which belonged to the gentle hand on my brow. In the darkness I made out a soft visage with short dark hair. Dagger? My eyes finally focused and I found my hypothesis incorrect. A spiral green eye met my own.
"Oh! You are finally awake again." a concerned voice spoke out to me. "I just came in to check on you. I hope I did not wake you…" her voiced trailed off with just a tinge of concern.
I did not say anything just then. Instead I went ahead to the task of sitting up. My right arm went to the top edge of the couch and I assumed a tight grip. With the other hand I removed the blanket which was draped upon me and dropped it to the floor as I swung my feet around. I noticed my feet had been stripped and that the flooring in the room was metallic as my toes met the ground. After a short struggle I was in my desired sitting position. I crossed one leg across the other, took a deep breath, and set to stretching my tired muscles slowly and systematically. First, my neck which I rubbed with my left hand as I rotated it.
"No." I stated quietly and unstressed.
"No?" returned to me as it's owner's silhouette switched on a nearby light.
"You did not wake me."
"Oh." she said nodding slowly.
This young woman took a seat on a nearby bed. She had on a long white robe and fuzzy pink slippers. Too damn cute. She leaned forward and was looking at me whilst fiddling with the damp washcloth. I noticed her eyes as I met her inquisitive gave. One was green and the other blue. Her hair was mid-length and brown, save for one long strand which was bound in fabric.
"I'm Yuna, who are you?" she said with a soft tone. It always seems when one doesn't know what to say they get the introductions out of the way, so I have noticed. Yeah I know that rhymes.
"I'm known by many names. "The Flaming Amarant" being the most infamous. You can just call me Amarant, though." I said as a turned away from her and studied my surroundings more carefully. I noticed my boots, claws, and a few other throwing weapons in a pile. Right now, I certainly was not worried about the threat of a teenage girl, especially one that has healed me and one who wears girly slippers. I slowly rose from my seat and hobbled over to the window.
"Umm…all right…Amarant. Where are you from?" Yuna asked nervously. She on the other hand seemed worried about her safety slightly.
Where am I from? Ha. I have asked my self that question many times. My first memories are of the run down orphanage in Treno. I remember being shunned by the down-trodden children for being just slightly different and I remember stealing apples just to get by. Eventually I gave up on living in the slum and started exploring the wilderness outside the City That Never Sleeps. There I found peace. The flowers never teased me. One day a monk came to me as I set in a tree. He said he has been watching me for some time and asked me to live at his monastery in the mountains.
It was strict but at the very least I was respected. Living there among the monks, ninjas, and outcasts and being trained was my life through my entire adolescence. No one treated me strangely for many were anthropomorphic humanoids, half-orcs, and even a few were ratlings if I remember correctly. Then one day it was attacked by lizard folk, orcs, and goblins with the assistance of many other fiends. In one day it was gone. Master was gone. Nearly everyone was gone. The monastery was over-run and the few survivors fled to Treno. I had vowed to never return to that place of bad memories, so instead I took to traversing the rest of the world.
Eventually I settled down in the quietest place on the Mist Continent, the farming community of Dali. Somehow I ended up working as a farm hand and living in a barn. I didn't mind at all, my life was quiet and that is how I wanted it. The majority of the villagers were neutral to me I suppose. No one asked about my past or my appearance and I did not tell anyone. The only one who really talked to me was the farmer's daughter, Juliet. I was growing into my late teens and she was about my age, I suppose. Though I've never celebrated a birth day, so who knows. Before then I didn't know what love was. Master cared for me and I was glad for that, but Juliet just made me feel different. She was real sweet and would give me glasses of water after a hard days work. Vividly I remember my hair being past my shoulders, straight and bright red. It hadn't been cut since it was shaved a month before the attack on the monastery and she offered to cut it. She smiled her Juliet smile and trimmed it to a short spiky look which she was most proud of. My sweet (and first) friend wanted to take after her mother and become a beautician. And for sooth she would have been a great one if her life hadn't been cut short later that day.
I was the one who found her the next day; broken, dismembered, raped, and murdered at the bottom of the well where she had given me my first kiss. Everyone thought I did it right away despite my vow to find the murderer. It made sense though, a tall quiet foreigner with discolored skin who was the last person seen with Juliet alive. Once again tragedy struck and I fled. The only thing I had was a lock of her hair, braided with mine which she made for me and a few gil I had been saving. I fled to Lindblum and worked as a hunter for a few years, selling the hides to leather manufacturers. This was enough to rent out a cramped room above an old woman and eke out a living in a loud city I detested. Nothing mattered though at that point to me and I vowed never to fall in love again.
It was around this time I met Lani at the bar frequented by the many engineers of the city. I hated her just looking at her. Loud, boisterous, and overly sexual; Lani was the polar opposite of Juliet. The bitch was drinking heavily despite her age and size, trying to gather information about current criminals from the tired engineers who didn't care. She looked at me, read through her list, and then sauntered up to me and said that a small bounty was put on me by Dali village. Pops kicked her out for being a bounty hunter and causing trouble right after she spoke that though. Eventually she caught up to me and drew her great axe. She was no match for me though and she never would be. I hadn't stopped training after the monastery was gone and I had re-intensified my training after Juliet was murdered. I was certainly no slouch and was strengthened from years of farm work. Lani was bested in under a minute.
She tried to fight me several more times unsuccessfully and eventually asked me to team up with her. I became a bounty hunter and followed her back to Treno. Why did I join her? I suppose it was because nothing about her reminded me of Dali. Even though I vowed never to return to the Dark City, I did for I felt that even if I would never be able to find Juliet's murderer at the very least I could bring other sickos to justice. And capture sickos I did do for many years, among other things. The others things I regret, such as being a guard for the Treno Auction House. All that came from that was the bounty hunter being turned into the bounty hunted by a damn monkey-boy. Why did I have to return to Treno?
I clutched the pocket containing the locks of hair to my chest and sighed. Where am I from? The place I hate. It's the only hometown I ever had, but not the one I wanted. I'm sure that my mother abandoned me thinking me the spawn of some dark god from another plane. Treno. That is where I'm from.
"Treno." I said to the window.
"Treno? Where is that? Is it a section of a larger city?" Yuna said, completely baffled.
I looked out the window at the stars and at the giant wheel which was spinning with a blue force which was driving the airship. That's not a steam engine and I'm not aboard the Invincible. The Invincible is blue and this craft is as red as my hair.
"Where on Gaia am I?" I said loudly as I turned to her.
"On? You mean like on the planet?"
"Of course I mean on the planet. Where on Gaia are we right now?"
"What are you talking about, Amarant? The planet's name is Spira!" Yuna said with a mixture of bewilderment and terror.
END CHAPTER 3
A/N: anthropomorphic animal people
I tried to fill out Amarant's past and I think I did a pretty good job at it. Anyone want to draw a teenage Amarant with long red hair? Hehehe…..anyway, I'll get to writing chapter 4 when I get some feedback.
Albums I listened to: Arai Akano - Greatest Hits, Radiohead - Kid A, Dido - No Angel
