Last time Ed and Al told Will and her friends their story. Shortly after that a demon stopped the train they were on. Eric displayed his new Alchemy abilities and disabled the demon. Guts then killed the demon. Will and the others pestered Guts to explain himself. Oh yes, Irma finally confessed her love for Martin. (note: For all you fans of Berserk, if I get Guts' story wrong in some places, I apologize in advance). On with the show!
Chapter 14: The Legend of Guts
"You wanted to know my story," said Guts as the train continued north, "I'll tell you, but I warn you, you may not like it. First of all, how old do you think I am?" "You look not a day over 21," said Hay Lin, "But if you knew my Grandmother when she was a Guardian, then you must be at least 60, maybe 70."
"Try over 400," said Guts. "400?" asked Cornelia, "No way!" "What's your secret?" asked Martin. "It's this thing," said Guts as he pointed out what appeared to be a brand of some sort on the back of his neck. The brand looked like one diamond atop another, with the top one partly open at the very top. A vertical line ran down the center of both diamonds.
"This thing on my neck was put on me as a mark of sacrifice," said Guts, "But it's been keeping me alive and young looking for just over four centuries now." "How did you get that mark?" asked Ed.
"It's a long story," said Guts, "I'll start at the beginning: The world I come from contained two warring nations; The Kingdom of Midland and The Chuda Empire, I'll get back to that later. I never knew my birth parents. I was told that my father was a mercenary who was killed in battle, and my mother was already dead when I was born. I don't care about that very much. Anyway, I was found by a mercenary band and was raised by their leader Gambino. As soon as I was old enough to walk, Gambino started to teach me how to fight. This cut on my nose was from sword training."
"You must have had it rough," said Hay Lin. "You have no idea," said Guts, "I went into battle for the first time when I was seven. I killed for the first time then as well. By the time I was eleven I had earned a reputation as a strong mercenary. One night Gambino tried to kill me in a drunken rage. He blamed me for every misery he went through ever since he took me in. He blamed be for his being crippled in battle, for the loss of respect from his men and most of all, he blamed me for the death of his wife. I had nothing to do with any of it, but he was too drunk to listen to reason. He tried to kill me, I fought back, and without meaning to I stabbed him in the heart."
"Good God," said Nigel, "That's just f#ck#d up." "You have no idea," said Guts, "When the other mercenaries heard the commotion, they saw Gambino dead and his blood on my sword. They accused me of murder; I panicked and ran. I ran all night until they gave up on chasing me. I eventually found my way to a different mercenary band and started over again. I spent the next four years moving from one battlefield to the next, not caring if I died or not, all I cared about was swinging my sword and collecting my pay for the men I killed.
"At that point on my world," continued Guts, "Midland and Chuda had been at war for nearly 100 years. I was currently fighting for the side of Chuda. I really didn't care which side I was fighting for, only that I got paid. Then one day I came across The Band of the Hawk; the most famous and feared mercenary group in both Midland and Chuda. A few of them tried to rob me, they paid for it in blood. I was then challenged by Casca, second in command of The Hawks. We fought and I nearly killed her, but Griffith, leader of the Hawks, stopped the fight. We fought; he defeated me like I was nothing. But Griffith didn't kill me. Instead he took me in as another mercenary. Griffith told me that I belonged to him until I could defeat him.
"After my first battle with the Hawks, Griffith was so impressed by my skills he made me one of his commanders. The Band of the Hawk was made up of people you wouldn't think as mercenaries. There was Judeau, he could throw a knife unlike anyone else I've ever met. Pippen; he never said much but made up for it with a war hammer. Ricket; he was best with the crossbow. Then there was Corkus; a complete jerk with more ego than brains.
"Casca, now she was something else." Guts then looked at Hay Lin, "I've only ever truly cared about two women in my life," he said, "The second was your grandmother, the first was Casca. She hated me at the beginning, mostly because I defeated her in combat. I admit that I didn't like her much at first, but eventually became friends. But Griffith was an entirely different matter. He had a dream, a dream that he would one day have his own kingdom. Every member of the Hawks believed in Griffith and his dream, and so did I once.
"Three years passed, and the reputation of the Hawks as 'death on the battlefield' grew. The Hawks themselves also grew until we were 6,000 strong, an army unto ourselves. The king of Midland honored Griffith time after time for his leadership and victories. Griffith even caught the eye of the kings' daughter. The many nobles of Midland were afraid of Griffith; they feared that a common mercenary could become a noble himself. One of them, the Prime Minister and brother to the king plotted to have Griffith killed. That didn't work out. There was no evidence, but Griffith knew that the Prime Minister was to blame, and I believed him enough to assassinate the Prime Minister. That's how much I believed in Griffith; I was ready, willing and able to commit cold-blooded murder on his orders.
"Eventually the war came to a point where one more battle could end it. Griffith convinced the king to let the Hawks fight that battle, which we won of course. Chuda was forced to agree to an armistice that would return to Midland territory that Chuda had taken. The war was over. As thanks for ending the war, the king made us, the leaders of The Band of the Hawk, nobles; Judeau, Pippin; Ricket; Casca; even that idiot Corkus. Yet the life of a noble wasn't for me. I packed my bags, strapped my sword to my back and walked away.
"Yet things didn't work out as I had hoped they would. Griffith caught up with me outside the capital. He said I still belonged to him, so we fought again. I won by breaking his sword with just one swing of mine. As I walked away, leaving Griffith kneeling in the snow, I should have realized that I broke more than his sword; I also broke his spirit. He had never lost a fight before then. If only I stayed for just a few minutes, if I even said a few words to Griffith things would have turned out differently. But I walked away without even looking back.
"A year went by before I heard anything from my former comrades. I found out that Griffith had been arrested for treason and the Hawks were being hunted down. By the time I found Casca and the others, there were less than 2,000 left. The rest had either been killed or had left on their own. As it turns out, the day I defeated Griffith he later did something completely stupid that ruined everything he and the Hawks had worked for so long and hard for."
"Let me guess," said Nigel, "He banged the princess and got caught." "Exactly," said Guts, "Casca and I planned out to rescue Griffith; we'd all escape to a neighboring country and start over. Casca, Judeau, Pippin and I would take half the Hawks and rescue Griffith, while Ricket would stay with the other half. We got to the capital and broke into the dungeons. When we found Griffith, he was nearly unrecognizable; he was nearly half starved, his muscles atrophied, the tendons in his wrists and ankles slashed, his tongue cut out. Only his eyes remained the same, eyes that could at times seem to look into ones soul.
"We got Griffith away from the city, yet our plan had run into a wall; our leader would never hold a sword again, or ride a horse. Most of the Hawks that were with us didn't know what to do. Casca managed to convince them to carry on with the plan until we were safely out of Midland. Yet something happened that would change everything; Griffith tried to get away in a wagon. I don't know what he was thinking by trying to leave. But when we caught up with him, that's when it happened; the moon eclipsed the sun and the demons appeared.
"There were thousands of them, tens of thousands. Then that red Behelit, the stone that Griffith carried around his neck that had protected him from harm for all those years opened up. The next thing we knew we were in some nightmare dimension. Some of the Hawks started to lose it, Casca managed to keep everyone's heads together. Then The God Hand showed up, four demons of unimaginable power.
"These creatures, The God Hand, they are convinced that they are the hand of God. They told us that Griffith was chosen by destiny to be the fifth member of The God Hand, that we were to be sacrificed for his rebirth. We were then marked for sacrifice, and then the demons began their fun. It was a massacre: countless demons against only a thousand of us Hawks. I fought to stay alive, to find a way out of that abominable place. Before I knew it, Casca and I were the only ones left alive.
"By then Griffith was transformed into the demon Femto. My mistake; the man I knew as Griffith died the day I defeated him. What we had rescued from that dungeon was but an empty shell, now it was full. Before I could do anything Griffith began to have his way with Casca. That's when I lost it; I fought like I had never done before. I lost count of the number of demons I killed that day, but I didn't care how many I killed, all I cared about was getting to Casca and getting us out of there somehow. Then one of the demons had grabbed my arm in its mouth. I tried to kill the demon but my sword broke. I then used what was left of my sword to cut my arm off at the elbow. I didn't care; I just wanted to save Casca. Then several of the demons had me pinned to the ground, one of them had clawed out my eye. I couldn't move; all I could do was watch with my remaining eye as Griffith raped Casca."
"Jesus Christ!" said Will, "How did you get out of there?" "A demon from a rival faction broke into that nightmare dimension," continued Guts, "This one, named Skull Knight, he saved Casca and myself. His appearance stunned The God Hand enough that they let him leave with us. By then I had passed out from all the blood I had lost." "That's understandable," said Martin, "Considering that you had just cut your arm off."
"What happened next?" asked Al. "When I woke up I found Ricket caring for Casca. While half of the Hawks were rescuing Griffith, the other half was being slaughtered by the demons in anticipation of the sacrifice. Skull Knight had saved Ricket. I asked Skull Knight why he was doing this. He told me that it was his purpose to vex The God Hand, nothing more. When I tried to talk to Casca, she didn't recognize me; she didn't remember anything. The whole experience had destroyed her mind.
"Skull Knight told me that the marks of sacrifice on my neck and the one on Casca would never come off. The God Hand would never stop hunting for us until we were dead. Ricket was safe, but as long as Casca and I lived we would be hounded by the demons. Ricket took Casca to a sacred place the demons couldn't enter. She stayed there until she died of old age. As for me, I chose to walk the open world. The demons would chase me until they had killed me or I killed myself. Since I would never take my own life, I chose to become the hunter; I'd kill every demon I came across until I had destroyed them all. I was told that the brand on my neck would warn me when demons were near, that it would keep me alive unless I was killed in battle. That was 400 years ago, and here I am still hunting and killing demons."
"Now I understand why you left my grandmother," said Hay Lin, "The demons would have killed her if you stayed. You were protecting her." "I can't begin to imagine living your life," said Will, "But since we both have the same enemies I can promise you satisfaction. No, not satisfaction, Nerissa would have promised you that. What I promise you is justice. I swear as Keeper of The Heart of Candracar that I'll do everything in my power to help you defeat The God Hand."
Irma then stood up, "I swear as Water Guardian that I'll help you in your quest for justice," she said. "I swear as Fire Guardian that I'll assist you in this venture," said Taranee. "The honor of The Band of the Hawk shall be upheld," said Cornelia, "This I swear as Earth Guardian." "You loved Casca as you loved my grandmother," said Hay Lin, "As Air Guardian I swear that the virtue of Casca shall be avenged."
Ed stood up next, "The demons attacked my world," he said, "They serve The God Hand, therefore The God Hand is my enemy as well. I give you my word as a State Alchemist, I'll help you defeat our common enemy." "I may not be a State Alchemist myself," said Al, "But where my brother goes, I go. I swear to see this venture to the end, for better or worse."
"The demons attacked my home as well," said Caleb, "I pledge my sword to the destruction of The God Hand." "You also have my sword," said Matt. "And my strength," said Nigel. "And my brains," said Martin. "And my new skills as an Alchemist," said Eric.
"I don't know what to say," said Guts as a single teardrop fell from his one eye, "I've been alone for so long, I've forgotten what it is to have friends." "Well you have friends now," said Will, "Friends who will stand by you to the end."
The end of chapter 14. Next chapter we shift views once again to The Ramblers. Please review and I'll see you next time!