So, here we are, at the last real world visit before the final battles! I know this has probably been my most controversial story to date, but I appreciate everyone who has stuck with me this far. Let's make it to the end, and I promise you will not want to miss the finale! Shout outs:
Shadowdragon1317: Haha, well he's just someone who wants to be real. Like Pinocchio, haha! Thanks!
T1M3: Haha, he is a cool villain. I wanted to add some humor to the chapter because most of it was so serious. I totally agree! It's a lot easier to use them as a trio than individually, for me at least. Well, we'll see what happens! Thanks!
Lucenthia: Okay, cool! Yeah, there were reasons I killed him there, but I definitely tried to show his character and how he had just been used again. Haha, well then I did it right! You weren't supposed to know, at first. But remember, Sora is aware of Lorans and all that happened, so he's very wary of the Divine Beings already. That and this IS the guy that kidnapped Kairi, too. Yeah, I understand what you're saying. Thanks!
The Unknowing Herald: Exactly! Well Legionary got one answer, haha! I agree with what you're saying, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're not a threat. They're still close to being as strong as their originals, but not quite there yet. Their abilities have also been growing, too, which is something I pointed out in Denerim when Saix started talking, and if you remember when they first appeared, they couldn't. Thanks, I'm glad I got that part right! I will do just that! Thanks.
Well, that's what we have for shout outs today, Kiddos! Remember what I own and go on to the chapter and the AC2 world!
Chapter 35: A Hooded Killer
Marek and Bane casually made their way through the city. Venezia was quite similar to other worlds he had been to, and yet it was different. He did not know if these people knew who the LE was, or even him for that matter, but he wasn't taking chances. He had dismissed his armor and put his hood over his head in order to blend into the crowd easier. While there weren't many dogs, they paid Bane no attention, either.
Locating Eclipse here proved difficult, even for Marek. There were so many people out on the streets that he couldn't find a trail. After an hour of searching, he decided to walk up to one of the guards standing nearby. "I'm supposed to meet my….friend here. He wears red armor, he has black hair, and he's got gray eyes. Seen him?" he asked. The guard looked over at him and glared.
"Get lost, Pretty Boy." he coldly replied before resuming his stance. Needless to say, this response didn't make him very happy. However, he knew better than to make a scene of his powers in front of all these people. He turned and looked around. In a few seconds, he spotted an alleyway on the other side of the courtyard they were in and smirked. He then turned back to the guard and punched him across the face, cutting his knuckle on the visor of the man's helmet.
The guard placed his hand on the side of his face and turned to his fellows. "Get him!" he yelled furiously. Marek showed him each of his middle fingers and took off across the courtyard. Bane had known what he was planning, and had already taken position. As he ran into the alley, the four guards were chasing him. "Come here, you toe rag!" the one he had punched yelled.
When they had gone a good ways into the alley, Marek stopped and turned around with a smirk. The guards slowed down and held out their swords. "I'm gonna enjoy this." the leader told him. The Keyblader calmly motioned behind them, and they turned to see Bane standing between them and the exit.
"You think your mutt is gonna save you?" one of them asked. In response, he called Vengeance Seeker to his hand and twirled it. At the same time, Bane bared his teeth and began trailing dark vapor from his fur.
"I don't need saving. I'm the one who's gonna save YOU from HIM. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll kill you myself. Refuse, and he's going to tear you apart, violently and painfully, and I'll keep one of you alive for interrogation purposes." he retorted, standing his ground. He saw the three other guards looking around in fear, but the leader was a stupid one, apparently. He took a step toward Marek.
"I will not be intimidated by someone who isn't even a native of this city." he told him angrily. Marek nodded calmly. "What?" the guard asked at his reaction.
"Bane." the Keyblader called as he looked down to clean a piece of dirt off of his shirt. The dog immediately dashed forward, leaping over the other guards and pouncing on top of the bold one. The man's fellows watched as Bane tore his throat open and clawed his face and armor. The man screamed for several moments, but with one final bite of Bane's darkness filled mouth, he was still. Marek looked up and stared at the three other guards. "So, what's it gonna be?" he asked them. One of them slowly stepped forward and swallowed before holding up his hands.
"What do you want to know?" he asked him.
MEANWHILE….
Jack had been trying not to draw attention to himself, but he was almost sure someone was following him He had continued walking and pretending to browse at the local stores, but every time he glanced back, he saw someone dart into the shadows, and it was making him suspicious. Finally, he walked into an alley and quickly leaped up, grabbing hold of a beam connected between the buildings on either side of him. As he pulled himself up, he patiently waited. Sure enough, about thirty seconds later, a hooded figure followed him in and looked around for where he might have gone. That was when he jumped down and landed in front of him, calling Wanderer's Judgment to his hand and pressing the man against the wall with it at his throat.
"You know, most people try to steer clear of people who can easily kill them. You must be someone important. You have ten seconds to tell me why you've been following me." he stated warningly. The man stared at him calmly, not afraid of him in the slightest.
"I am aware who you are, Jack Rikkison, and I require your assistance." he replied. Jack narrowed his eyes.
"What kind of assistance?" he asked him. The man sighed and gently pushed the Keyblade away from his throat.
"There is a….task I am attempting to finish, but someone has been tracking me down, assassinating my associates. I am aware of the Light's Enforcers. You exist to aid everyone, and I require that aid now. You must protect me from this madman." the man explained as he brushed the dirt off of his cloak. Jack looked at him for several moments, not really sure whether to trust him or not.
"What's your name?" he asked him. The man looked up at him and pulled his hood back. He was nearly bald, and he was a fairly big man.
"My name is Rodrigo Borgia."
MEANWHILE, JASON'S TOWER…..
"Jason, we need to talk to you!" Sora yelled through the locked door. They heard no response from him, instead hearing the repeated clangs of his hammer.
"Where did he even get the materials to make Keyblades, anyway?" Riku asked as they walked over to the desk and sat down.
"You would be surprised to hear what composes a Keyblade." Eraqus said as he walked into the room.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked him as he sat down across from them. Eraqus smiled.
"Keyblades are weapons born of pure energy. The core of each Keyblade is one of two things, light….or darkness. To forge a Keyblade of light, it requires pure light energy. This is also true for Keyblades forged of darkness, in that they require pure dark energy. The handles of Keyblades vary according to each individual blade, but the blades themselves are composed of Gummi material." he explained to them. Sora and Riku glanced at each other.
"How can Gummi material form into something as hard and metallic as a Keyblade?" Riku asked him.
"Gummi material can be molded into many different things. The process of creating a Keyblade is one that, until now, we have only read about. The Anvil is the only thing capable of producing one, and it is with the hammer of the Anvil that Gummi material becomes what it is as a Keyblade. There is an old mine in the Land of Departure, near the river where Terra, Aqua, Ven, and Jack used to swim in. The mine has existed since the First Keyblade War, and was used to produce Gummies for the Anvil. Jason and I took the best of what we found and brought it back to the Anvil. Here, he has forged two Keyblades already, and he is working on something that will most definitely be his life's work." Eraqus explained to them. Sora and Riku, followed what he was saying and nodded. They had never spent much time around Eraqus, considering he was Terra, Aqua, Ven, and Jack's old master, but they knew he was wiser than many of them, and the second oldest master in the LE, besides Jason.
"I guess that makes sense." Sora replied. Eraqus smiled as he leaned back with a relaxed sigh.
"I can inform Jason that you need to speak with him when he finally comes out of that room. You can go back on patrol or whatever you need to do." he offered to them.
"Thanks." Sora told him and looked at Riku. "Wanna go watch Roxas and Xion try to teach Mist and Namine how to use a Keyblade?" he asked him while trying not to snigger. Riku smiled halfway and shrugged his shoulders.
"Should be entertaining, to say the least." he replied as they walked out the door.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN VENEZIA…
"I had no idea you were really going to kill him." Marek commented as they walked through the streets toward the Palace of the Doge, or leader of the city. Bane glanced up at him.
"He deserved it. Besides, killing is what I'm good at." he replied. Marek was about to say something, but then he noticed a shadow pass above them. He quickly looked up and saw a flash of white on the roof above them. He narrowed his eyes and quickly ran up to the building. While he wasn't as skilled of a climber as his brother, he was still a proficient climber. He didn't particularly want to propel himself up onto the roof with darkness, considering how many people were watching him. Bane ran around the corner and found a lower building to jump on top of, and made his way up to him as he reached the roof.
Marek stopped and looked around for the person he had seen. He looked over to his right and narrowed his eyes as he saw the person in white leap off of the rooftop and land on an adjacent one. "Follow him." he told Bane, who nodded and leaped off in a different direction. Marek stepped through a portal to where he had seen the man and looked for his next direction. He heard footsteps, and looked down to see the man running across a lower rooftop nearby. He ran and leaped off, landing on the lower roof and sprinting to try and catch up to him.
"Make it easy on yourself, I just wanna talk!" he yelled, but the man didn't slow down.
"Like you 'talked' to that guard? Don't bother me, and I won't bother you!" he yelled in response as he leaped toward the side of a building and grabbed onto a windowsill. Marek stared at him as he began climbing up the side, grabbing onto tiny handholds that he himself wouldn't have dared trust with his weight. But, this man did, and made it look easy.
"You know what, fine." he muttered as he flexed his arms and channeled darkness out through them. He flew straight toward where the man was climbing and moved to grab him, but the man leaped up, grabbing onto a ledge just above where Marek had flown into. He drove his dagger into the brick side, and looked up at him.
"Do not test me!" the man yelled as he pulled himself up onto the flat top of the building. The Rikkison kicked off with his legs and front flipped as he landed facing him. The man was wearing a white robe, dark pants and boots, and a large beaked hood that covered most of his face.
"Who are you? Do you know Eclipse?" Marek questioned him. The man shook his head.
"I do not know a man named Eclipse, no. What do you want with me?" he countered.
"He is someone who is threatening this entire city. Any help you can give me on finding him might just save some lives." Marek told him, trying to stay calm even though he was quickly growing impatient.
"I am hunting Templars, not single men! Basta, I have no more time to waste! Get out of my way." the man firmly told him, but he shook his head.
"Not without finding out where Eclipse is!" he argued.
"Then you leave me no choice." the man told him as he ran at him. Marek knew he needed this man alive, so he didn't draw his weapons. The hooded man leaped up, going to pounce on him as a blade slid out from somewhere near his wrist. Marek's eyes widened at this, but he ducked and grabbed onto the man's wrist, blocking the blade. But, he pushed his other wrist forward, a second blade appearing.
That was when Bane appeared, planting his jaws firmly on the man's arm and stopping him from stabbing his master. "What?!" the man yelled out, but Marek threw his arm back and looked at his dog.
"Bane, release him." he told him calmly. Bane obliged and let go of the man, whose wrist blades slid back into wherever they came from. "I'm not here to fight you, but I have to find out where Eclipse is." he said as he looked back at the hooded man, who slowly nodded.
"Perhaps we can help one another. I have been hunting down the members of the Templar Order, and now there are only two left. Carlo Grimaldi has infiltrated the Doge's palace and he is going to poison him. This will give the Templars the chance to take over the city. I have to stop him, but first I have to find a way inside." he explained. Now that he was actually speaking, Marek heard his accent. The man spoke with a strong but refined accent, but it wasn't one that he recognized. The man then slowly lowered his hood and looked at Marek. (Ezio's Family, Assassin's Creed II)
"Who are you?" Marek asked him calmly. The man stared at him.
"My name is Ezio Auditore, and I am an Assassin. The Templars killed my father and brothers, and now I am the last of my line. For twenty two years I have spread bloody vengeance across Italia, from Firenze to Romagna, and now here to Venezia." he introduced. Marek reached forward and shook his hand.
"Then we have more in common than you think. I'm Marek Rikkison, and I'm famous just about everywhere. For the past several months, I have been on a quest of my own, seeking vengeance upon Eclipse for reasons that lie in the past. We both want revenge, and it will be easier to achieve it if we work together." he explained. Ezio nodded and looked over at the Doge's palace.
"Carlo Grimaldi works for a man called the Spaniard, but I know him as Rodrigo Borgia, the master of the Templar Order." he said. Marek nodded and studied the palace they needed to get into. Guards lined the ground all along it, and tall spike fences prevented access to the rooftops.
"Well, I could get us in, but Eclipse has an extra passenger in his head right now that would notice any of my powers if he was inside. I don't want him to know him coming before I see where he is." he commented. Ezio looked at him curiously and nodded.
"We are aware of the Light's Enforcers here. No agents have come until yourself, but we have heard news and rumors." he told him.
"What does that mean? Eclipse spread the word about us?" Marek asked him. Ezio nodded and sighed.
"That, and it also means that there may be another like yourself standing with Rodrigo. He is a master manipulator and liar." he explained. Bane growled suddenly, and they looked down at the palace entrance to see a man in a gray robe walking inside. "It is Carlo. We have to hurry!" he told him as he reached down and began climbing down the building. He looked back up and saw that Marek hadn't moved. "Andiomo!" he yelled urgently. Marek raised an eyebrow as he clad his fist in darkness, turning his fingers into claws. He then leaped off and dug his hand into the building, dragging it along and slowing his descent as he fell past Ezio and landed. He looked up and saw Bane literally running down the building and landed next to him a moment later.
"You do realize I don't understand what you said, right?" he called out to Ezio, who touched the ground a few moments later.
"I said 'come on'! Follow me!" Ezio explained as he ran away from the palace.
"Wait, where are we going?!" he called after him. The Assassin stopped and looking at him for a second.
"To see my friend Leonardo!" he told him with a smile.
Well, this one's shorter than usual, but it was just an introductory chapter. I hope the AC2 world is turning out better. In any case, let me know how it started out. This world has a lot of importance to the main plot, so I hope you're excited for that, too!