"You don't want to do this..." Integra pleaded, hoping to reason with her.
But, to no avail. She moved closer steadily, the light dancing in her eyes. He let out a heavy sigh and stared at the ground. Closing his eyes, he began to summon all of his strength and started to pull at the shackles on his wrists. Blood began to leak from his wrists, as he strained harder and harder to get free. Just then, the bonds snapped and one of the chains flew out and struck Karissa off balance. Her hand flew to her mouth and felt a tiny drop of blood. Then, she snapped. She flung herself upon Integra and began to puncture him with her dagger. Satoko watched helplessly, still held by the bonds of Wiegraf.
Karissa's face was flecked with blood, along with the rest of her body. "That will teach you..." she said, kicking him while he was down, literally. Karissa turned to face Wiegraf and smiled gently. But, her neck started to strain and she fell to her knees. Integra was standing behind her, throttling her neck.
"You may have torn away most of my body, but my heart and mind remain intact. I only need those to kill you." And with that he snapped her neck, watching her body fall to the ground. Wiegraf rushed to her side.
"You have killed my prized student, you ingrate. I will have your head." Wiegraf drew his sword, his breath filled with anger.
Integra smiled and said, "You always talked too much..." Integra's hand connected with the bottom of Wiegraf's jaw, and he was lifted off of his feet. Wiegraf soared backwards into a heap of boxes. Integra ran to Satoko and freed her from the bonds. Satoko was frightened and backed away from Integra.
"Who are you?" Satoko asked, her voice quavering.
"Satoko... it is me, Integra..." Integra's voice was filling with concern by the second.
Satoko shook her head, "The Integra that I know would never have done what I just saw... you have changed..."
Satoko picked up her staff and ran past Integra. Integra reached out his hand, trying to grasp her, but took his arm back to his side. "I deserve this..." he muttered, as he watched the light slowly fade from the cellar.
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The next day, Integra sat in complication and thought about all of his mistakes. The only person that truly loved him was now afraid of him and he didn't know where she was. A tear trickled down his cheek. Memories flooded back to him, haunting his every thought. His body was still quite sore from the night before and he had no idea how he had survived. Draping a shawl around himself, he eyed the many bandages on his chest and arms. A rag sat next to him, soaked in blood.
From his back pocket, he withdrew a map of Ivalice. He began to draw out lines of where he should go next. Every so often, he would tattle off and write Satoko's name in the sand. His skin was getting really winded, with all of the scraping sand. His next course would be to the Zirekile Falls; he knew of a Chocobo range nearby and would be able to get another mode of transport. He tied the shawl around his waist and headed south. Passing over the sand dune, he passed a cross in the ground. Scrawled on it was the name "Karissa."
His travels took him into the depths of the forest and the deepest of canyons. He encountered no foes, strangely, and relatively no wildlife. It was as if he was meant to go on this journey... as if the heavens above were safeguarding him. He passed one last hill and looked out over the landscape. Holding up the map, he smiled and pointed to Zirekile Falls.
Zirekile Falls was notoriusly attractive. It had a single bridge that spanned the waterfall. The terrain around it was almost impossible to traverse. Integra focused his eyes a bit more and saw that the bridge was burning. Shocked, he ran as fast as he could towards the falls, to see what was going on. When he came upon the bridge, he saw a bunch of hoodlums poking at a body on the ground. Fearing the worst, he ran to the falls.
Expecting trouble, he drew his sword. The thieves looked up and saw Integra, passing a single glance over him before returning to their torture.
"Let that person go!" Integra shouted, his hand wrapped white-knuckled on his sword.
"Oi, wot ye tink ye gunna do bout it, eh?" one of the lead thieves asked.
Integra's ears perked up, as he heard the body mutter a soft word. "Help." Integra recognized the voice and spat on the ground.
"How dare you do this to a defenseless woman! I shall have your head!" Integra's nails were digging into his own palms. The ferocity was soon to break from him.
Integra ran forth and met with the lead thief. He struck down with his sword, but the thief quickly dodged and stood on the blade.
"Is dat the best ye got?" the lead thief laughed, "No one can beat the mighty Fredrick!"
Integra pulled his sword out from under Frederick, watching him tumble to the ground. Being as quick as possible, he pressed the blade to Frederick's throat muttering, "If I so much as find a single scratch on her, I shall take the life of one of your men for each one. You hear me?!"
Frederick nodded. After this, Integra walked over and lifted the body into his arms. He brought her down to the river side and dipped her hand into the cool water. Then, he splashed some onto her face and laid her down, so that she may revive on her own accord. Integra walked up to the side of the hill where he had fought, and saw Frederick talking to his men.
"You are free to go." Integra sighed, "I am usually not so caring, but I am so glad to have her back."
Frederick was stunned and picked up his things, running as quickly as he could. Integra walked back down to the river bank, to find out how the woman was doing. He lifted her head gently, placing some water into her mouth. Her eyes came alive and she looked into Integra's.
"I am sorry Integra, really, I am... I never wished to do this to you..." Satoko whimpered.
"Satoko... all that matters, is that you are okay and with my protection once again." Integra smiled, trying to console her.
He took her hand into his, slowly interlacing fingers. Leaning forward, he placed a soft kiss on her lips and smiled.
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A deer crossed across the meadow, fleeing from some sort of black shadow. It was moving as fast as it's muscles could carry it. Eventually, it was swallowed by the shadow. Just then, Integra sat bolt upright and was in a cold sweat. Satoko looked at him from across the fire and asked, "What is wrong?"
"Nothing..." Integra replied, not wishing to get her worried.
She crawled around the fire and cuddled up next to him. "You want to talk about it?" Satoko smiled, gently playing with Integra's hair.
Integra let out a heavy sigh and started to her about his dream. He then sighed once more, "I think that I have some sort of big destiny in this world... and it just hasn't made itself apparent yet. That is the shadow and I am the deer, fleeing from my destiny. But, I realized, that I shouldn't run, for the shadow will always catch me..."
Satoko nodded, "Did you see any female deer in there?"
Integra smilded faintly and poked her nose, "Of course, silly."
Integra wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. Slowly drifting off to sleep, Satoko looked up at Integra and new she was safe. She was rejoined with her love and they had reconciled. Just as she nodded off, a pair of bright eyes flashed through the bushes, but were gone before she could see what it was. She shrugged it off and snuggled against Integra, sighing in content.
A large caw was heard and a Chocobo lept from the bushed. It reared up one leg and was looking quite threatening towards Integra and Satoko. It set it's foot back on the ground and kicked some dirt over the fire. Immediately, the flame went out and they were all left in darkness.
