Author's Note
Four chapters in. This one was interesting to write, with it being the end of our OC's backstory and all. But I think the fight scene in this chapter is my favorite so far.
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
The Greyhound Chapter 4.
X779
She was almost done. After finding a new material at the blacksmith and sending Kinzo back to camp, Victoria continued shopping throughout the small village. Gathering some much-needed supplies and thinking about where to head next.
"Sakuramori is less than a day's walk from here, and Hosenka isn't too far past that. Motor City is also an option."
Normally such places would be far too crowded for her liking, but after hearing her son's insult earlier the thought of settling down was becoming more appealing. The idea that she was being overly paranoid had occurred previously, but the people after her were just too dangerous to risk slipping up.
"Huuuh, come on Victoria it's been 15 years, they probably aren't even looking anymore. Besides, you've dragged him around this country long enough. It's time to give him a home."
Give him a home, she intended to do just that.
Finalizing her last purchase, the dark-haired woman began the short trek back to camp. Ready to tell her son that they would in fact be staying in the same place for quite some time.
"I hope he actually enjoys living in a city. I may have to explain that it's really not all that great. More people means more stuff happening, and after sleeping in the wilderness for so long he probably won't be able to handle the constant noi-"
"What the!"
Before she'd even left the town square the light from the sun was gone. It hadn't left in a gradual way as though a cloud were covering it. No, it was there one moment and gone the next.
Pivoting on her left, all she could focus on was the massive ship that had appeared out of thin air, floating a few stories above the town. That alone would have been alarming enough, but what really caught her eye, and caused her heart to seize, was the symbol painted on its front.
It was a heart, a blood-red heart.
"no" the whisper escaped as more of a whimper, a plea for whatever nightmare she'd been trapped in to end.
This couldn't be happening, why were they here, how did they find her? The woman's panicked thoughts were forced into silence as the Devil himself spoke to her.
"Ah Victoria, how long has it been. Do you like the new ship?"
His voice carried across the entire town, catching the residents' attention as well. He must have been using some kind of sound enhancement magic, as the voice's owner was nowhere to be seen. But she didn't need to see him, they were far too familiar already. And it didn't take a genius to realize he was waiting somewhere inside that monstrosity. "Hades."
With her eyes glued to the blimp, it was easy to see someone appear on the external railing. A Long golden mane cascading down his back and framing his face.
His dress was peculiar, a black and yellow tunic with red pants underneath, and white bandages wrapped around both his calves. But before she could take in any more details the voice appeared again.
"Ah my dear Victoria, I hope you don't mind my associate clearing away the undesirables. They do tend to get in the way. Zancrow would you?"
The blonde from before held up his hand and a small ball of what appeared to be black fire formed within it. It dawned on her what he planned to do, but she knew. There was no way to save them all.
There was no way to save any of them.
The sphere continued to grow until it easily dwarfed its caster, eventually settling around the size of a small house. The crazed laughter that followed was all the signal she needed of what was to come.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Throwing the small Sun, down towards the town below. Victoria watched with disgusted fascination as upon impact with the ground wave after wave of black fire seemed to emanate from its point of contact.
Knowing something had to be done before the attack reached her as well, she set up a barrier "Metal Make: Wall."
Forming an 8-foot tall construct directly in front, and digging her heels into the gravel below, she settled in.
The first wave was definitely the worst. It slammed into the wall with so much force she nearly fell over, yet her defenses remained. The second impact was much more manageable, but by now everything around her had caught fire. Any houses that were still standing likely wouldn't be soon.
Finally, the third wave came and went, its strength negligible in comparison to the first. But the reduced force also meant she could begin to hear some of the blood-wrenching cries coming from the local people. Likely close to death but still clinging to consciousness.
Ending their lives would have been a kindness, but there was no time. The enemy was close.
Regaining her bearings and rising to full height, she couldn't help but notice the state her wall was in. It looked like a chocolate bar had been left out in the sun too long. The top and edges being half melted. Ok, that was concerning, she'd made that wall out of tungsten. A metal with one of the highest melting points in all of Earthland. Ya, this guy was trouble.
"Chu Chu Chu, hope you liked the fireworks."
And he was down here already… great. The blonde pyromaniac took several relaxed steps forward. He was only 10 meters away when it occurred to her "You're just a kid?"
Indeed, he didn't look any older than her own son, maybe 15 if she really stretched it.
"Hey you damn hag, I ain't a kid!" Easily angered too, well at least she had that going for her.
Before anything else could be said, a small group of soldiers appeared behind him "Commander Zancrow, Squadron 4 awaiting orders sir."
At hearing his subordinates' voices any anger he held fell away, again being covered in a cruel aura. A vicious smirk appearing on his lips as he made eye contact with the woman he was about to slaughter.
"Wipeout any survivors, once you're done just head back to the ship. Leave the old lady to me." Acknowledging their order the soldiers left without any further instruction.
After seeing his twisted smile and hearing him so casually tell his subordinates to murder anyone who may have had the misfortune of surviving that initial attack, she knew. He was completely depraved. Seeing his eyes only further cemented that reality. His iris was a deep red, and he seemed to have three rings surrounding them but that wasn't what gave it away.
No, she had been on enough battlefields, worked in the criminal world long enough to just know. When she saw his eyes, they were filled with madness. He wasn't human, not anymore.
"Sorry kid, I don't know what Hades did to make you like this, but you're too far gone to save."
Considering her options, she decided that something ranged would be the best way to close the distance.
For the second time that day she brushed a hand against her holster, but this time she would draw. Ripped from its container she revealed a beastly revolver with stacked barrels. The weapon humming red with energy as it quickly charged, and she fired her first shot.
Zancrow had to react quickly, as a glowing red projectile came flying in his direction.
Dodging to the right he watched as the 'bullet' of condensed magic tore into the remains of a smithy shop, punching a hole straight through the iron walls.
"The hell? Master Hades said this chick didn't have much magic at all, how is she able to do something like that?!"
Those questions would go unanswered, as Victoria used his momentary confusion to her advantage. Pressing forward while her opponent was gawking at the last attack, and casting one of her most used spells "Metal Make: Cloak of Daggers."
In an instant, her usual shoulder cape was overlaid by a collection of blades loosely held together by metal weaving. A literal coat made of individual daggers looped around her person from the right sleeve to her left hip.
Pushing the advantage, she made to gut punch him, but pulled back as he unleashed a spell of his own "Fire God's Scythe!" Creating a weapon from the abnormal flames.
Narrowly dodging the wide-reaching swing, she re-holstered her pistol. Throwing two of her many daggers to hold him at bay, but deciding that backing up any further wasn't an option.
It was clear this 'Zancrow' had long-range attacks to use if the smoldering village around her was anything to go by. But she didn't, and so staying close was the best possible option. Unfortunately, that burning scythe was gonna be a problem.
"Could I parry that thing, is it even solid?"
She didn't have time to test the waters and play it safe. She needed to kill this idiot, grab her son, and leave before Hades or any of his other minions decided to join in. Rushing forward yet again she waited for his attack.
A diagonal slash from his top left to bottom right, perfect. Hopefully, Cloak of Daggers could hold up. Placing the bladed clothing between her and the attack she prayed for the best… It didn't bounce off like she'd hoped. No, this was much better.
The flames instead of actually causing real impact just tried to burn her as they passed by. Gliding right over her blades, harmless and ineffective. From there all she needed was a little boost.
Forming a familiar orange circle under her feet Conversion Leap was activated. It was small but she didn't need to move far, no a quick quarter-circle movement was all it took to place herself right behind him. "Shit!" he cried realizing his mistake, but it was too late.
Channeling magic into her ring and forming yet another knife she went to drag it across his throat. "Sorry kid."
Blood spilt out on the ground.
Why was it so hard to move? Why couldn't She see? Why was her arm numb?
The pyromaniac should be dead; she had just won, right? So why did it feel like she could barely stand?
"Zancrow, how many times must I tell you not to be so overconfident?"
That voice, damn that voice.
"Sorry master Hades, she was a lot faster than I was expecting."
That was strange; it didn't sound like he was speaking through the same amplified system as before. Actually, he sounded much closer. And clearly, Zancrow wasn't dead if the two were conversing. Just what had happened?
Soon her vision returned to her, as did the feeling in her arm, or rather lack thereof. The blood she had seen hit the ground wasn't her combatants, no it was her own. She knew because right there on the ground was her arm, a steady flow of blood leaking from the severed appendage.
Tearing her eyes from the unreal image, and trying to refocus on the fight she finally saw him, the man who had haunted her for over a decade "Hades."
As he stood before her, she noticed something. He was making a finger gun with his hand and a small sphere of black magic was hovering over the tips of his fingers.
Slowly piecing together what happened, she concluded that right before she had finished off the blonde, Hades stepped in and severed her arm with a magic blast. How annoying.
"Ah Victoria nice to see you" he said before firing another shot from his finger gun into her leg causing her to topple backward crashing onto the dirt.
"You truly should have considered your options more carefully my dear." Hades said stepping closer to her downed form.
"If you had just overlooked that man's death things could have been fine, but no, you chose to turn your back on me. And for what, some fool who thought his creations could rival true magic?" His tone growing more and more agitated as he spoke.
"You could have been a valuable asset to my kingdom, someone who served by my side in glory. You could have experienced The Ultimate Magic World!"
As the short speech was ending, a third party appeared. A young girl with long purple hair roughly the same age as Zancrow. "Seriously what is this guy's deal with kids?"
Coming to stand beside him she asked, "Shall we go Master Hades?"
Glancing down at her fallen form once more he scoffed, before responding "Yes Ultear, prepare the ship."
With a respectful bow, she turned to leave. Only stopping long enough to take in the bleeding woman's features, before obeying Hades' command, walking off the way she'd come.
"you're… insane."
Victoria's weak reply barely reached his ears, she was losing blood rather quickly. It seemed they were done here. Turning to walk back towards the airship as well he called over his shoulder.
"Zancrow, clean up this mess, and let's go."
At hearing that, the blonde psychopath's grin returned "Yes Master Hades."
Staring up at the boy who would be her executioner, fear began building yet again.
It didn't make any sense she already knew she was going to die, why be fearful now?
Maybe it wasn't for her, but for her son. Fear of what they would do if they found him, fear of how he would live if they didn't. The uncertainty gripped her; would he be ok?
Oh, there was so much she should have told him. About his father, about her, now all she could do was pray that he found the message she left for him.
Looking over toward her severed hand and spotting a silver ring on the ground, she knew he would.
"Ok you old bitch, normally I'd just fry ya and be on my way. But you almost killed me earlier, so I wanna make this special."
The teen began walking closer and started a black fire on the ground around her feet.
"Let's take our time, shall we. HAHAHAH-!"
That awful laughter came to an abrupt end as he felt a sharp pain just under his collar bone, "What?"
Glancing down he saw his own blood leaking from a fresh wound, and mingling with his flesh were… tiny metal fragments? Where had that come from? Turning to his victim once more, he found her remaining arm reaching out towards him; and her hair looked like it had just been put through a blender.
Not knowing how but knowing she had done it, somehow, his anger returned, "Big mistake."
Her last-ditch attempt had failed. The metal fragments from her hair were supposed to be a trump card when idiots like this kid started gloating after a victory.
While his guard was down, she had used what little remained of her magic and consciousness to cast Telekinesis, sending the razor-sharp bits in her hair toward his jugular. But she'd missed, instead connecting just below her mark.
Oh well, it didn't really matter. Even if she had killed him, it wasn't like she wouldn't have died from blood loss anyways. No, she would die here. Nothing could change that.
The fire rose, and the flames began to spread across her skin. All she could do was scream.
He'd awoken to a bang. Something nearby had definitely just exploded.
Standing and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Kinzo glanced around trying to find the source of his rude awakening.
Finding nothing he considered lying down once more, but curiosity got the best of him. Figuring walking towards the village was his best bet to find something he started on the 2-mile hike back. Taking a slightly longer route to avoid the area he'd used to fight the thugs earlier in the day. Just in case they were still around. Dealing with stupid twice in one day was a bit much even for him.
The walk was uneventful, nothing really stuck out, but just in case he kept his senses amplified. That was unnecessary once he broke through the tree line about a half-mile from the village.
It would have been nearly impossible to miss what looked like a cross between a cruise ship and a pontoon floating in midair over a flame-ridden town. "What is happening over there?"
Using his boosted vision, he took a closer look at the burning town finding no immediate signs of life. "man, I hope everyone got o-"
Something had stuck out to him, a bright yellow color that acted as an obvious contrast to the black flames in the background. Focusing his eagle-like sight on the color the image cleared, it was hair. Bright blonde hair, and the boy to whom it belonged.
Taking in the scene around the person, he also noticed what seemed to be an old man with long grey hair walking away. He would have stayed with the retreating figure a moment longer if his heightened hearing hadn't picked up on a haunting laugh.
Returning to the blonde, he could no longer hear the laughter. But based on the boy's posture it had clearly come from him.
"What the hell could get him to laugh like tha- MOM?"
Finally, looking just below the crazed boy, he saw her. Black hair and dress contrasted by the pool of red that surrounded her fallen form. He froze the scene bringing too many questions to his head, and too much fear for what had happened to her.
"How did this happen? Why is she bleeding? Are you ok?"
While his hearing couldn't quite pick it up the boy was obviously saying something to his mother. Desperately focusing on the sound around him, he tried to pick up on the conversation. That was a mistake.
What had once been total silence erupted into an ear-splitting scream. He could see it clearly and his boosted senses practically gave him a front-row seat. She was burning, his mother was burning to death.
Her screams were so loud. "stop"
He wanted it to end, for his senses to return to normal. For the image to leave, for the sound. Oh God the sound, how could she scream so loudly.
"stop please" but it only got worse. Watching what remained of his mother's body convulse, as her cries continued.
"stop, stop, STOP!"
The sight and sound being seared into his mind "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!"
Gripping his head, begging for relief from the nightmare he was being forced to watch.
Silence.
Everything was quiet again. The only sound present being the forest itself.
"Thank you, thank you it's over, it's finally gone." He thought as tears began to fall from his eyes, finally relieved, from the terror he'd witnessed.
That relief turned to horror as a single thought came to mind "mom."
Panic and desperation fueled him as he charged toward what rubble remained of the small town. Within minutes he was there sprinting past burned-down buildings, paying no mind to the still-lit fires around him.
His eyes did briefly register the corpses of two small children as he ran by but disregarded them soon after. A girl with golden hair framing what looked like scared yet lifeless eyes. And a boy with brown hair lying on top, trying to shield her from the flames. It hadn't worked.
His race was brought to a halt as he started to recognize the buildings around him "She was right over there!"
Finding the area his mother had been laying in he started to search. Where was she? Frantically checking his surroundings. A small spark of hope was lit in his mind "Did she get away?"
Had she found a place to hide nearby? Maybe she was waiting for him, he just had to call out.
"Mom, Mom, Mom! Where are yo-" the cry died in his throat, as his eyes found a severed arm on the ground, and a pile of ashes close by.
How long had he been here? He wasn't sure. It was dark now; he'd registered that much. But his eyes hadn't moved from the cinders before him.
Kneeling down in front of his mother's arm and ashes. Staring at them for hours yet taking in no details. The whole thing just felt like a dream, one he should have woken up from.
She was gone now, and he wasn't sure what to do about it.
Finally, a soft restrained chuckle came from his lips "heh, the last thing I did was insult you."
Why had that come to mind? Regret, self-loathing, or maybe he was just trying to bring himself to say something, it doesn't really matter either way.
Slowly his surroundings became clear. The fires had finally died out and total silence enveloped the area. There was nothing, no wind, no animal life, and certainly no human life save himself. Though it was debatable as to whether he was really 'alive' at the moment.
The feeling of wet cloth pressing against his knees brought him back from the aimless thoughts. His pants had soaked up the moisture in the ground where he knelt. The twisted humor here was actually impressive. His mother and this town had burned to death, but somehow there was still enough moisture here to soil his clothes.
Once again moving his attention to something new, black eyes met the sight of ashes once more. Deciding to truly take them in he contemplated the different shades of black and whitish-grey they formed. How everything that was burned would be reduced to those two colors, and how those burnt remains were once his mother. All that was left of the strong woman he'd looked up to was black and gray…
So why was there a pigment of red sticking out?
Reaching out his finger to investigate the strange color he was met with something solid. Pushing further he found it was quite heavy as well. He considered reaching in to grab the item but paused remembering these were his mother's ashes.
"...sorry mom" after the meek apology he stuck his hand in and pulled the object from its resting place.
A revolver, no her revolver. The beastly silver firearm with glowing stripes of red along its form began to hum when he touched it.
Why was it still here? How had it not burned with the rest of her things, or at least melted?
Taking the piece in he looked at it in more detail. The red lines tracing along the grip before branching out as they reached the barrels. The most prominent feature being the kanji engraved along the left side of the handle it looked like a greater than symbol with a K next to it and a dot atop the letter. It was clearly significant, but he didn't know what it meant.
Then it dawned on him. He had her gun, he had something of hers. The revelation was so comforting it confused even him. Had he been that worried about not having anything to remember her by? The answer was irrelevant to the grieving boy as all he could do was clutch the weapon close, and thank whatever had kept it safe.
Tears threatening to escape once again, and emotional turmoil rising, his magic began to flare. It wasn't much just enough to flow through his body slightly warming him. The minor comfort being greatly appreciated.
But the gratitude fell to the wayside as did his grieving when he noticed yet another red hue in the environment. A light glow could be seen emanating from right beneath him, but it wasn't the pistol.
Taking a closer look, he recognized the source as his ring, the one he'd received less than a year ago. It much like the pistol was humming with red energy, in response to his magic. And as he took a closer look his eyes were assaulted by yet another intrusive red flash.
His mother's ring on the ground close by.
Reaching over to pick it up, he averted his eyes from the severed arm only inches from it.
Bringing it close to his person, he began to notice that the light grew brighter as the ring approached his own. Pulling off his own he brought the two together. The resulting flash nearly caused him to fall back from his kneeling position.
Quickly righting himself, his eyes found the rings once more. Lying on the ground connected like magnets, they started to spin in opposite directions before a voice emanated from them. It was his mother's.
"Kinzo, if you're hearing this then it means I've likely died. I'm sorry to leave you alone in this cruel world but know I would never have done it willingly. Please believe that."
"There's a lot you don't know about me Kinzo, and most of that I'd prefer to stay buried, but you need to know what you're up against. Especially if I won't be there to keep you safe anymore."
"I used to be a mercenary, jumping from one employer to another. Whether it be intelligence gathering or assassination requests I did it all without complaint. I'm not proud of the things I've done in my time on Earthland, but I can't go back to change them now."
"My name was relatively well known among the criminal underworld, and I suppose that was why they contacted me."
"Grimoire Heart is one of the most dangerous dark guilds in the world. People like to relegate their activities to just Fiore but in reality, their operations branch across all of Ishgar and even into other parts of Earthland. I would know since I helped build that guild into what it is today. Assassinations, blackmail, kidnappings, I've done and seen it all. I was good at my job, the best they had. Which is why the guild master gave me missions directly."
"Hades is a dangerous man; he may look old and decrepit but do not pick a fight with him. Hopefully, you'll never get the chance."
"One mission, in particular, he gave me was to kidnap a scientist who had been developing some very potent weaponry. A man named Isaac Colt. He'd managed to create items that ran on lacrima cores rather than the user's magic reserves. I guess Hades viewed someone like that as a useful asset, so I was sent to take him."
"Things went off without a hitch and Hades managed to threaten him into complying. That would have been the end of it if I wasn't also assigned to babysitting duty. For two years, in my off time, I watched over this man whose life and freedom I'd stolen. And at some point, I guess 'fell in love' or at least took a liking to him."
"I was expecting him to be resentful, to hate me, to… to feel something negative towards me. But he didn't. For whatever reason, he even seemed to reciprocate the feeling. I'd never met someone who had so much taken from them, yet kept a joyful attitude. It was strangely endearing."
"That was probably the real starting point of our relationship. From there we stayed together in secret hiding from Grimoire's watchful eye."
"Hades would have never stood for it. He couldn't have one of his best assassins being persuaded by a prisoner; So, we kept it private, and it seemed like things would work. I could live semi-happily with the man who'd without even trying won me over and Hades would never know."
"That lasted all of 2 weeks, until Isaac had a breakthrough in the lab. He'd developed a new style of lacrima core. One that could absorb Ethernano in the atmosphere rather than having to be replaced once it ran out. Basically, he made an artificial magic container that refilled itself the same way a human's would. I saw it as amazing, but Hades saw it as a threat."
"With something like that, even common citizens who couldn't use magic had the ability to stand up to top-tier mages. My revolver actually runs on one of the cores he made. Suffice to say Hades didn't like that, even went so far as to try and have him executed."
"At that point, I'd decided that he'd spent enough time with Grimoire Heart, and I broke him out myself. Once we were free, he said we needed to split up. I was against it, but he was insistent on finalizing some of his work before we met up again. It was radio silence for a month after that, while I planned where we would go next, he worked in solitude. That time was when I found out about you Kinzo."
"Finally, he sent me a message, just coordinates to a house in the middle of nowhere. When I arrived, he said he had a sealed laboratory hidden within it, but I could care less. We needed to leave."
"We had been in one of the eastern countries for a while and I was anxious to relocate. After two days of traveling we were close to a national border, but that was when they found us. We didn't stand a chance I was outnumbered and the only real magic your father knew was Kanji Script, a rare form of Letter Magic. He died that day and I barely got out alive."
"After that, I decided to call in a favor from an old friend of mine, Ur Milkovich. A contact of hers was able to smuggle me into Fiore, and about a month after arriving I had you. And, well you know the rest."
"Kinzo I want you to be safe, to survive. Honestly, I would prefer if you just ignored most of what I told you. But I know how dangerous this world can be, which is why I want you to find your father's lab. The things he made were incredible, and they may just give you an edge against this unforgiving world."
"Coordinates Latitude: 33.53 North, Longitude: 44.41 East"
"Kinzo, please be careful. Stay alive."
"I love you."
The message cut off, and he didn't know what to think. So much had just been revealed to him but so many more questions presented themselves as well. He needed somewhere to go, someone to help him sort it all out. He couldn't do this on his own. He wanted; no he needed his mother. Why wasn't she here to tell him all this herself? Why did it have to be a recording that said it all?
Anger built until finally a revelation. The blonde man, the one with red eyes, it was his fault. He was the one that stole his mother.
Him and Grimoire Heart. That guild and its members had taken everything from him. And now he had no one, he had no family…
Family… "Ur!" He could go back to Ur. She would know what to do.
With the slightest fire of hope, finally, he stood. Not with confidence, uncertainty still held him. Not with joy, sorrow was still close by. But with hope that maybe things would get better, that the pain and guilt would leave him.
With one last glance at the remains of his murdered mother, he prayed that his parents were together. Begging in his mind that she would forgive him for not being there when she needed him most.
At that moment the sun began to rise, and he started towards his camp thinking of what would come. "Ur, please I need you to have an answer for me. I need your help."
Everything was already packed, and he took particular care to grab the sack holding magic-resistant metal. His mother had taken an interest in them, so he would as well.
Once everything was set, he marched North. Towards the only people on this planet he knew he could trust. They would be there for him, they would help.
They weren't here. The cabin was cold and dark. Dust coated much of the interior. Any food still present had gone bad, and any signs of life were missing from the building.
He had searched every room, gone through every drawer. Their clothes were still here, but they were gone. And they'd clearly been gone for months.
There was nothing he could do, the only source of hope he had was already gone. She'd left him, they both had. So now he lay on the living room rug curled up like a scared child. All hope had abandoned him, his family had abandoned him.
Tears filled his vision yet again as he mourned the loss of two mothers. One he had watched die, and one had moved on without him. "Ur, mom. please, help me." He begged.
But no one came.
Author's Note
This one was pretty combat-focused so I hope it was enjoyable. Not really sure about writing emotional/mental scenes so I don't know how well I captured Kinzo's greaving process or how realistic it was.
The next chapter will be the Hargeon Port/Flashback intro to the main series so be ready for that. Unfortunately, I am traveling for the next couple of weeks. I should still be able to write, however, I don't know what my access to Wifi will be like. So, you may be getting another update in just a few days like normal or it may be 1-3 weeks before the next one. Sorry about the uncertainty.
Take care everyone, see you soon.