The Warriors: We'll Be Back
I could hear raised voices outside my room. Here we go again…
Three days had passed since I had found out about the prophecy and my mother, and the Gullwings and the Warriors were…let's say…not exactly on good speaking terms.
"Will you lot bloody keep it quiet!" I shouted, casually banging on the door. I was sitting near it, reading a book. The voices didn't dim. Instead they got louder and louder until I could hear the words.
"Oh, so you think you're so high-and-mighty, do you? Well excuse me, your lowness, do you really want to try a duel with me?"
Uh oh…that was Gold.
"Well, you try handling a sword as heavy as mine!" Kewa…
"As heavy as yours? Ha! Ours are twice as thick and long, and you say yours are heavier! Aww, poor old Kewa, can't handle a teeny-weeny dagger, rather than a sword. Girly little Kewa…"
I gritted my teeth to stop me shouting at Silver.
"Yeah, aren't guys meant to be 'stronger' than girls?" mocked Gold.
I opened my door and peered into the corridor. The two sets of twins were having a face-off and it didn't look good.
"Guys, don't start off again." Baralai groaned, exiting his room. The whole corridor was looking out of their rooms to see what the fuss was about.
"We're not starting, we're just trying to get the girls off our backs!" Ditsup hissed.
"We're not on your backs. We're annoying you because you're annoying us." Gold replied, pretending to be shocked.
"Gold!" I hissed. I didn't want them to argue either.
"Hey Kewa, catch!" Onyx called, throwing her sword at him so that the hilt was facing him, ready to be caught. Kewa caught it, but tried to lift it and fell straight over.
"Onyx! Not you too!" I shouted, getting angry.
"What? They need to know their own limits." Onyx sneered.
"Hey Onyx, catch!" Kewa and Ditsup both threw their swords at Onyx. Onyx dived for safety, then went to pick up the swords.
"Not so tough now, are we?" Ditsup snarled.
"Yeah well, if I'm not tough, that gives you the brain capacity of a headless hypello dancing naked on a pink shoopuf." Onyx retorted.
This was getting pathetic.
Kewa growled. He really growled. Grrr…
"All right, cut it out!" I shouted, really getting angry now. Suddenly I felt something welling up within me, I didn't know what it was, and I felt like if this thing didn't get out of me quickly I would burst…
Everyone looked at me. "Go on, off to your stations." I told the two sets of twins.
I had no authority to be bossing them about, but Gold and Silver shot me a spiteful look before turning heel and walking off. I closed my door, then gasped and clutched my head. The strange feeling had gone but left the worst headache imaginable in its place.
What was that? It had almost felt like anger, an emotion that was about to escape my body and wreak vengeance. It was like a power bubbling up inside me, a power that I never knew I had and never wanted to know. It scared me…I had figured out I was half Assassin, and I hadn't known what it meant, but every strange thing that happened to me I was able to connect with the Assassins. I couldn't connect this, though.
I looked at the photo again. There she was, my mother, sitting near the middle on the back row. My eyes, my facial features, they were all there. Every single thing looked like me, except I was possibly was a little taller than her.
Onyx had let me keep the picture. I had told her that I thought I recognised some of them, and she had let me keep it to think about. But it was true. Apart from Adenar (my mother) there was a short guy sitting at the front, a girl next to my mother, a guy next to my mother and another guy next to that…I very nearly recognised half of the people in it, making at least a dozen people.
"Hey, Ruby!" I heard a knock at my door and recognised Onyx's voice.
"Come in." I said.
"Look at this!" Onyx breathed. She seemed very excited, and Diamond followed her in, just as breathless. Onyx was holding a picture, an exact copy of my picture, but it had been drawn on. Numerous people were crossed out in a broad red ink, and everyone's names had been scribbled on, and those who were crossed out also had the words 'dealt with' written on them.
"I've got a hunch. Let's have a look at that Assassin encounters list," Diamond said.
I took the sheet and, beginning to grasp on, read out the first name. "Shamadar Benzo Tasii." I said.
"He's here, crossed and dealt with."
"Cecayla Madhuna Tasii."
"Here. 'Pardoned', apparently."
"Adenar Adaya Zill." I said softly, knowing what the answer would be.
"Here, crossed out and dealt with." Onyx said. "She looks fierce…must have been a hard one to fight. Paine must have inherited that. You don't suppose these people were criminals?"
"They could have been. That's why they were 'dealt with', or killed, probably."
"No." I said, suddenly. "They were deserters. They deserted when Anansi came to power."
"Ruby!" Onyx shouted in alarm. For I had spoken, not with my voice, but with a deeper, man's voice, and I had not said the words, though my mouth had moved. Something had said it through me.
"What was that?" I panted. It had been a short phrase, but I felt like all my breath had been taken away.
"Something was speaking through you." Diamond said, calmly. Perhaps she had once had a similar experience?
My first thoughts went immediately to Shuyin. That he was back and for some reason still hated and wanted to get rid of us. That Shuyin possessed me.
But no. I could still make my own actions, and there were no pyreflies circling around my body, so I certainly wasn't possessed.
"Perhaps…you should leave me alone for a bit." I gasped, gripping my throat.
Onyx and Diamond looked at each other. "You'll be ok?" Diamond asked. "Practise is in half an hour."
"Don't worry, I'll make it," I replied, nodding. Diamond and Onyx left the room, and I collapsed onto my bed. Oh Yevon, I thought, what was that?
I was seriously scared now. My mother was an Assassin, murdered by Assassins for deserting, I was half-Assassin, and now this…I reached my hands up to my burning head and feared that something was going to happen through me, something no one could stop now.
[Baralai's room]Sitting in his room, Baralai's thoughts were mixed.
One, he was thinking about the night the Assassins tried to Assassinate him. Two, he was thinking about the Gullwings and the Warriors. Three, he was thinking about Paine and Ruby.
By now he had come to terms with the feelings inside and knew that, without realising it, he had fallen in love with Paine. He had perfectly accepted that fact. He believed that she could never love him back, but without any knowledge of her situation or whereabouts his heart and soul were quickly tearing apart. Still, he wasn't thinking about that.
He had heard the prophecy and knew there were only two females he knew who matched that description: Paine and Ruby. Ruby had denied any connections with the Assassins and the fact she could read the prophecy was the only thing that might have spoken against her. That only left Paine. Paine, whose eyes were made of fire and whose skin was snow.
But there had to be a connection, he knew it. There was a connection, which bound the Assassins, Paine and Ruby all together. He wouldn't openly accuse Ruby of it, because he didn't think she knew anything about it.
And then the companion, a pureblood. Only the love of the companion can undo the sacrifice yet keep the tyrant defeated. He loved Paine…but it couldn't be. He wasn't an Assassin. He denied it. He could never be able to do it and besides, he didn't know where Paine was or whether she was still alive. The Assassins had nearly killed him, for crying out loud! How could he be one of them?
There had been an argument a few minutes ago and Ruby had stopped it. It wasn't the first moment she'd been almost completely Paine-like in her actions, therefore not the first time she'd driven a hefty spike through his heart.
But no, Ruby wasn't Paine. It was suspicious, but she couldn't be. Believe it or not, she was much better with the sword than Paine and Paine would never do stupid things like taking on an oversoul Humbaba on her own.
But then again, Paine would have been so faithful to her friends she would have done it, to get her friends out first.
Baralai's thoughts drifted to the night of the Assassin attack. Such fierce chocolate eyes and dark skin…the Assassin had almost looked like its victim. When they'd removed his hood after killing him, he even had the same colour hair as Baralai.
The resemblance was suspicious, yes…but surely just a coincidence?
[Outside]
It was time for practise. It was the eighth practice with the Warriors since my recovery, as there were either two or three a day, and I was already progressing fast. I was beginning to scare everyone at how good I was, and was only allowed to tackle a minimum of three people, because none of my training partners – Bevellian soldiers – were strong enough to fight with me alone. We often trained with the New Yevon guards because it was amusing how much better we were than them. Besides, it gave us girls a chance to beat up boys, an amusement that never got old, no matter how old you got. My current best was twenty of the guards in thirty seconds. That's one down every 1.5 or one and a half seconds, two down every three. Diamond rarely actually fought us, she was more of a teacher. She would correct us, or show us a new move. So generally, she spent a lot of her time with Emerald and let us get on with it. She occasionally sparred with Onyx to keep in shape, but would disappear for an hour afterwards to hunt fiends in the dying woods of Macalania. I had only ever spoken to her once in practises, and that was to get her to time me when I made my record at beating the guards.
But today was different. Diamond had assigned each of us to take the Warriors entrance test to assess our progress and to re-evaluate the standings within the group. We would start with Emerald, then Gold, then Silver (the twins fighting on their own), then Onyx, then me, then Diamond. When the fights were taking place, that was the order we'd come on in, but if any of us beat the person ahead of us twice we'd move up the scale. Of course, no movement happened before my go, though the standard had toughened.
Cor, that meant I was the new second-only-to-Diamond.
We warmed up, and then Emerald took her place. Some guards had come to watch us train, and I knew that by my go there would be loads.
Gold charged first and Emerald met her attack with equal strength. I could see Emerald was already getting better, and we had been told to take it easy on her. Gold was eventually beaten, and then Silver was, but Onyx (after quite a good duel) defeated her, then I defeated her slightly quicker, then Diamond a little faster than I did. We had half an hour's recovery time to make it a fair test. Gold's defeats also started with Onyx, but Silver's started with me. Onyx was a real challenge for me, but I knew I could defeat her and only Diamond and me managed to.
Then it was I, slightly tired out from my duel with Onyx, but knowing that I could take them all if I tried. Well, excepting Diamond.
By now three-quarters of the guard had arrived and were watching. I had heard their praises for Onyx and they were brilliant, but mine were something else. "Watch this one, she fights like a demon." I heard one say, and another said, "Takes at least fifty of us to come close to beating her."
I smirked. That was true. We'd tested that last week.
Emerald charged at me head on. I met her attack and was quite pleased at her effort. She obviously didn't want to be beaten as easily as last time and I was surprised at the Al Bhed's courage. "Good Emerald, good!" I muttered. I could already feel her attacks growing stronger and her speed becoming faster. She was so fast! Her defence was hardened and if anything she had more energy than before. It took me longer to defeat her but I did in the end, later than I would have if I hadn't taken it easy on her. I congratulated her on her progress, then prepared to take on Gold. Emerald did seem quite proud of herself for lasting.
"Gold's coming in with Silver!" Onyx shouted. I understood. It would be more of a challenge for me to take them on together.
This time I couldn't keep knocking one away and dealing with the other, I had to take them both head-on. But I had done this before and knew a lot of their tricks and turns, and turned them inside out and used their own tricks back on them. Gold was known to shout 'Touché!" a lot, so I copied her, but every time it was voiced it reminded me of the time we battled Baralai.
That reminds me. Say this really fast ten times: I went to Bevelle to Battle Bahamut and Baralai.
Onyx was on after the twins were defeated, and I enjoyed battling Onyx. Not because she was near to my level and was always a challenge, but because she was always coming up with new ideas, just like me, and we often took each other by surprise.
But Onyx seemed to have run out of ideas lately and she was quickly defeated (by her standards). Diamond came on and very nearly lost, but eventually beat me.
When we duelled, it was like a strange and powerful dance, albeit a rather tired and sloppy dance by now as I was tiring and Onyx quickly tired out, too. A couple of funny tricks from both of us, some acrobatics, and Onyx was down and out. The battle lasted a good while, though.
It was Diamond's turn now, and all the guards were around. Taking it easy on everyone but defeating everyone, her fighting style was the best and her strength and speed were unmatched.
I came on last, determined to put up an even better fight this time. Now I could hear more whispers. "Watch this, they're bringing the other demon on. Watch carefully." "Look, this next one's never been beaten."
Diamond steadily paced round, not like the charges of the others. Her hair was tied up in her characteristic navy blue ribbon that she always wore for training and fighting; the rest of the time she let her sky blue dyed hair fall loose around her hips. For someone so quiet, she had a flair for colour.
I prepared for her attack. "Sure you don't want a rest?" she joked.
I smiled. The second to last time we'd duelled had been that very first time, though she hadn't really watched me before in any great detail, so this would be a learning curve by both our standards. "No thanks."
I was prepared from our previous match for the speed of her attack and met it full-on. She took the upper hand first and I was content for a while to conserve my strength behind my defence. She would know that I was simply analysing her performance, looking for her favourite moves and her weaknesses. She would only do the same when I took the attack, so I would have to quickly find a way to take her out and do it fast, before she learned too much about me. Analysing her and fighting her was hard enough, so I was glad I'd picked up some pointers from her previous matches; I wasn't glad that she'd done the same.
She'd noticed how I liked to take a low guard and that striking me above was a very good way to sap at my strength; I'd noticed that her weaker area was her left leg and if I was able to knock it, I would seriously attack her mobility.
Two minutes had passed when Diamond's sword slipped and grazed my arm. It wasn't as bad as our first duel, but I could feel part of the strength leaving the arm as the blood slowly oozed. Between blows, Diamond asked if I wanted to stop, but I knew my arm could hold out for a while and I went on.
We were moving down the Highbridge and I could see a few of the priests coming out to watch us. I could see Shelinda, one of the reporters who had come to document the Assassin search, also run down the steps with her cameraman. Bless her heart.
Did I just say that?
Flipping over Diamond, I changed the direction and we headed up the Highbridge. Diamond had me on a weak defence and I was the one moving backwards, trying to knock away her blows and succeeding.
As she came down for a high blow right down my centre line, I somehow managed to get my sword up in time. She had been expecting me to defend from my right, though I'd come from my left, my weakest side, so I somehow managed to get my sword round hers and weaken her grip on the hilt. Not wasting the opportunity, I brought my sword towards her left shoulder, and she defended. Astonishingly, I'd gained the upper hand.
If I'd cared to look, I would have noticed that Onyx had nearly fainted in shock.
Diamond was just as surprised as I was and our blows weakened temporarily under the surprise, but we quickly got our heads together before something else miraculous happened. We now danced in a circle, pacing round, our swords in a surprisingly fast flurry of movement, Diamond really working to get back the upper hand. I needed to act fast.
I noticed how she had made one small, vital mistake; she wasn't holding her sword the way she usually did and I could just about notice her discomfort in her blows, though she seemed to have forgotten it. The opposing grip was not something the rest of the warriors focused on as it usually was your own grip you focused on, but as I'd taken so long finding my own way of holding a sword, I'd always paid close attention to my enemy's.
I took a risk. I put all my energy into one last, finishing blow. Diamond put her sword up to parry it and I struck low on the sword, the strongest point. I had put enough weight into it for enough to carry through to her hands. The sword slipped through her weaker grip and clattered to the ground.
I found myself holding my sword to Diamond's throat, with my opponent lying flat on the floor. From the sword beginning to slip to that point had all happened in a blow. My risk had paid off.
"Diamond down…" a stunned Emerald announced. "Ruby is the victor."
I walked forward and took Diamond's sword. It was very well-crafted but plain, with no markings or encryptions. I walked over to her and helped her up, then gave her the sword.
"Well done, Ruby." she said, looking at me. She wasn't hurt or upset. In fact, she was beaming at me as if I had just given her the best news in the world. I now realised what a true teacher she was; no matter how badly I eventually would learn to beat her, she'd always be overjoyed with the progress I made.
As everyone realised Diamond was absolutely fine, Emerald rushed at me and threw her arms round me. "Ruby's the best warrior in Bevelle!" she shouted. "Did you see her?" she asked no one in particular.
"May I offer one, small point, before I give you the low-down tomorrow?" Diamond asked. I turned to look at her. "Get your guard around your arm sorted, or get some armour on." she smiled. "I might end up cutting it off."
[Nearly 3 hours later]
"And not three hours later, the Gullwings and the Warriors are already trying to slit each other's throats." I muttered, opening my door to see what was happening this time. Hang there, this could get nasty, I thought. The rest of the Warriors were all standing at one end of the corridor, with the whole of the Gullwings, including Buddy and co (but without Shinra, who was sitting at the side), facing them. Baralai was sitting with Shinra, and I went to join them. It seemed us three were the only neutral people.
"Look, we're trying our hardest but we have so little evidence!" Diamond told Yuna. Diamond and Yuna were standing at the front of the Gullwings and Warriors. "You can't expect us to find a runaway when she left almost all her stuff behind and has only been spotted once! We've sent scouts to Macalania; we're doing all we can. If there's any other information you can give us-"
"Fine! Her full name is Paine Zonarm Zill, though I think you knew that. She grew up in Kilika. She once mentioned something about an orphanage. She was part of a Crimson Squad group as a teen, as the recorder. That's all we haven't told you! Happy now?" Yuna stepped forward to be right in front of Diamond.
Yevon dammit, they're arguing because the Warriors haven't found me, I thought, watching them anxiously. No wonder the argument was so heated and serious. I felt a little guilty - there they were, arguing that they hadn't found me, while I was standing watching them from the side.
Again, I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier.
"No, Lady Yuna, the question is, are you happy now?" Onyx replied, stepping forward.
"Is that a threat?" Rikku stepped forward to Onyx's level.
"Could be."
"Hey, you don't want to mess with Rikku. She's faster than you are any day. She'd whip before you knew what was coming." Calli stepped forward.
"Well Onyx is so strong Rikku would be thrashed in one go." Emerald stepped up to Calli.
"Calm down, guys." I said, but no one paid any attention.
"We need more time. I can't say how long, but you should understand how little evidence we have." Diamond said. "I suggest you take it easy."
"Look, stop it."
"Take it easy, huh?" Yuna asked.
"Calm down!" Baralai called, his hand on his rod.
"I suggest you hurry up." Yuna continued.
"We can't!" Diamond repeated, hotly. "Stop being so self-absorbed, Yuna! Just because you're High Summoner doesn't mean you can boss us about!"
A sharp warning tingle ran down my neck. I thought it was for the arguing Warriors and Gullwings, but something made me swing my head round and just catch a glimpse of a sliver of a shadow at the stairs. I stood up.
"Don't you start now, Ruby!" Yuna warned me. "Just because you look like Paine doesn't mean you can influence us!"
"I wasn't going to start on you!" I shouted, glaring at her. The strange feeling inside of me suddenly swelled up fit to burst. "Can't you lot leave each other alone? We're trying to work together here, there's no room for arguments! Besides, if Paine doesn't want to be found, there's not a lot we can do!"
I seemed to be forgetting that I was Paine.
"You want to challenge that theory?" Yuna asked me. If only she knew who she was speaking to…
Suddenly the feeling snapped and without knowing what was happening or what I was doing I closed my eyes as the feeling completely took over. Then suddenly I put that flat of my palm up in Yuna's direction and without even making contact with Yuna, some strange force pushed her and the Gullwings through the air and right down the corridor. Something made me do the same to Diamond and the Warriors.
The feeling passed as quickly as it had gone and I collapsed the floor. My head felt like it was about to split and I clutched it so hard, like I could strangle the pain if I tried hard enough. My whole body was racked with sudden exhaustion.
"Ruby!" shouted Baralai and Shinra, moving forwards and trying to help me up.
Even through my splitting headache, my skin tingled again with warning. Instinct told me there was more than one, an instinct I never knew I had. I drew my sword and struggled up. "Something's near." I said.
Baralai looked at me, confused, then his eyes widened as well. "I feel it too." Baralai murmured, extending his rod to a small length. He was just as curious and wary as myself.
"Whatever's there, show yourself!" I called.
For a moment, nothing moved. "I am Praetor Baralai Farkari Labad. I command you to show yourself!"
A dark figure appeared in front of the Warriors and two in front of the Gullwings. Dressed in Ninja-style cloaks and hoods, all that could be seen was their eyes and a little bit of skin through a slit in their hood.
"Assassins." I said. "You are Assassins, aren't you?"
The Assassin at the Warriors nodded, but then his eyes widened. He gave a signal to his companions, speaking in a strange language I recognised and could translate from the prophecy.
"Zinn tilug! Kwodakwb ba Anansi! I sinz-poaap ilp i dekwopoaap ib Bevelle Bofbam – ilp dero dekwopoaap hk Praetor Baralai!" Fall back! Report to Anansi! A half-blood and a pureblood at Bevelle Temple - and the pureblood is Praetor Baralai! The language was very similar to Al Bhed, but in a funny way - in fact, it seemed to be based on it.
Baralai and I both felt sharp pains course through our body, paralysing us temporarily. "Dera sinz-poaap fiu ta dero alo zkwaf deoa dkwadrogu." The half-blood may be the one from the prophecy.
Then he looked at us. "Mo'nn to tilug!" he said, then vanished.
Baralai was shaking next to me. I began to realise the first assassination attempt had not hurt him physically, but mentally he was still in a state of shock.
"It's ok." I turned around to face him. "I don't think they were coming to kill you, they were just scouts."
He turned to face me. "You don't know what it's like! To be in the dark, knowing - knowing something's near but, but not being able to see it, and you feel c-cold steel on your n-neck and have less than a second to react…" He was beginning to stammer and he looked away, not wanting to work himself up. I wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, but I resisted the urge. I had to distance myself.
"What did they say?" Onyx asked, shakily getting up, looking at me as if I was an alien. "You understand-"
"We'll be back." I replied. And I knew why they would come.