A.N.: This chapter has a special "Game" in it. Try to identify all of the references that I don't give to you guys directly in here. Now, you know the drill. "This is normal speech" *This is thought*
The names for the children are a direct reference to my good friend, Dragons Before Dawn(on here) and ~DragonLover4Ever on dA. They are not mine, and I am simply borrowing them.
Dark's P.O.V.
I strapped my armor back on in a flash after Lightning nearly found out my secret. I knew then that I had to keep my armor on, full time. "Well, looks like I'm locking the door for my baths." I said to myself, resting my hand behind my head, as a makeshift pillow. I was resting peacefully when I heard a knock at my door. I slid off of my hammock, went over to the door, unlocking it in the process, and slid it open a little to see who it was. I saw the familiar pink hairstyle and blue eyes of Lightning. "Hey, can I come in?" She asked. I slid the door the rest of the way open, and she walked in. I immediately slid the door back to its closed position, and quickly locked it. "Sorry. I have a lot of privacy issues. Please forgiving me for locking my door constantly." I told her, face towards the door. "It's alright. I do that sometimes too." She said as soon as I turned back to her. She walked over to me, tapped my breastplate, and asked me, "What the hell is under this that is so damn important and secretive?" I gulped, not wanting to have to explain the true reasoning, so I quickly said, "It's a long story. I can bore you with it when the Gods aren't in danger of extinction." "Or we could discuss it now. The way to Besaid is far from Rabanastre, at least one day's travel on an airship. So, what is the big secret?" She countered with. I gulped again, then decided on the thing that came up off of the top of my head.
"It's where I actually have a burn. What I told Balthier was true, it just was on a different section of my body." I told her. She looked at me with a frown, then said, "You're still lying, and to me this time. That is a major fucking mistake. Look, if we're in this mission together, then we have to trust each other, with everything. Now what is so goddamn special about your fucking chest?!" She started yelling, grabbing the top of my breastplate, about to rip it off. I quickly pulled her Gunblade out from her holster, flipped it into blade form, and held the tip at the bottom of her jaw. "Back. Away. From. My. Armor." I slowly said, holding the blade where it was. Lightning let go of her grip on my armor, and backed away, holding her hands up. I straightened my armor back to where it was with my free hand, the other one keeping the Gunblade pointed at her. When I fixed my armor, I shifted the Gunblade back to its gun form, and handed it back to Lightning. She took it back gingerly, as if not understanding why I didn't try to kill her. "I'm sorry, but some secrets are best kept that way: secret. I'll tell you when I'm ready." I told her.
"Fine." She said after putting her Gunblade back into the holster, and walked closer to me once again. "Can I leave the room now?" She asked. I stepped away from blocking the door, and she unlocked it, walking out before turning to say, "If you need anyone who understands how much secrets can hurt, just talk to me." I nodded, then closed the door, locking it as well. I walked back over to the hammock, and laid on it, viewing the ceiling. What I saw was most curious: a small drawing of a green headed mushroom with eyes, and two words above it. "GET A" The words said, then immediately switched to the strange mushroom with eyes. "Strange. But I've seen stranger." I said to myself, looking back at my breastplate.
Light's P.O.V.
I laid on my hammock, and rubbed the underside of my chin, where Dark held my Gunblade at, trying to keep his breastplate on. *Why does he hold something like that a secret. He's got nothing to hide, maybe a few battle scars, but those should be worn with pride.* I thought, dropping my hand to over my left breast, where I could still feel a slight ripple from where my brand was. *Wait, maybe... maybe he has one of these.* I started thinking, stroking the scar, *Maybe he's a cursed warrior, like how I was. But that still doesn't explain why he chooses to hide his face, unless it's advanced and is on a place like his neck.* I imagined him again, but remembered that his cloth over his face gives off a large view of his neck, which had no imperfections whatsoever. *Damn, that isn't possible. There has to be a reason why he covers his face up. But what?* I thought again, moving my hand to rest over my stomach. I exhaled, not able to solve this puzzle as presented to me, when I heard over an intercom, "All passengers to the cabin. Repeat, all passengers to the cabin." "Finally, something to do." I said to myself.
Dark and I walked to the cabin together, slightly uneasy for the both of us, due to the fact that we had the confrontation. As soon as we got to the cabin, we took our former seats, Dark behind Balthier, and myself behind Fran. "We are almost to Besaid Village, where we will refuel. Now, the refueling process takes about ten hours, so try to find something productive to do with your time. I've heard that some of the creatures on the island are quite different." Balthier told us. "Like what? People who grow, shrink or live longer by eating mushrooms? A hedgehog who can run faster than an airship? A creature that feeds on energy, and a girl with a gun built into her suit of armor? I've heard of such madness, and it's just that: madness." Dark said back to him. "Yeah," I said, "I've heard an old drunk say that there was a mouse with cheeks full of lightning. It's all just hogwash." "Well, be that as it may, you will need to go elsewhere while we're refueling. Might I suggest a walk down to the beach?" Balthier suggested. "Fine." Dark said. "I don't care." I said, keeping an eye to see if Dark's cloth over his mouth moved at all, which it didn't.
We left the ship and went to Besaid Village, where everybody was in residence in large, lean-to tents. I walked beside Dark, who was leading, when we heard a scream. I turned to our six, when a small boy and girl clung to my left and right leg, respectively. "Help us, Lady and Mister!" They both screamed, when a large Golem came from the mountain road. "Hide!" I ordered, which they quickly followed. I pulled out my Gunblade, while Dark simply held his hand out. Black electricity surrounded it, and his Gunblade quickly came as well, the bandage unmoved on it. "Let's kill this thing!" I told him. He nodded, which once again did not dislodge the cloth over his face, and we ran up to the thing.
"Safety ON!" He yelled, touching the upper part of the handle with his spare hand, then he jumped above the massive monster's height, bringing his Gunblade above his head. I quickly made a few cuts along the big creature's knees, while Dark brought the full weight of his Gunblade down onto the creature's head. I looked closely to see that he pulled the trigger at least five times. Once round five hit, the blade quickly slid through the creature's head, instantly killing it. He quickly dug his Gunblade into the front of the falling monster, delaying his descent. As soon as he got back onto the ground and sent his Gunblade back to wherever the hell it goes, the creature disappeared into two glowing white balls of flying fire. "How the hell could you do that? I thought that you could only shoot bullets with that thing." I asked him. "That's when the Safety's off. When it's on, the blade increases in vibration with every trigger pull. It's a concept from a very old and very hard to master version of the Gunblade. Only two people can utilize it to its fullest today, and I'm one of them." He explained to me.
Dark's P.O.V.
I had just explained to Lightning how my Gunblade works, when the two children who came to warn us of the creature came up to us. I knelt down and looked at both of them, and was amazed. The boy had a Green eye and a Blue eye, while the girl had a Blue eye and a Brown one. "You two... you both have heterochromia." I said to them. The boy nodded, and said, "We get it from our Mama." "There you two are!" I heard from ahead. I looked up to see a man with light brown hair, an open chested shirt, and strange looking shorts, with a strange symbol on one leg. Walking with her arm in his arm, was the mother, a woman with brown hair, a large robe with purple at the bottom, and the most peculiar thing: A green eye, and a Blue eye. "Ah, I see that you two are the parents of these young ones." I said to them, standing back up. "Yeah, these two little monsters are ours. I'm Tidus, and this is my wife, Yuna." The man said. "Darkanimir. Call me Dark." I said, offering my hand, which he shook. "Alright, now, who's your lady?" He asked.
"WHAT?" Both Lightning and I yelled at Tidus. Yuna hit him with a light punch, and said, "Tidus, not every man and woman who travel together are together." He scratched the back of his neck, and said, "Sorry about that. I had just assumed..." "Well, you know what they say about assuming: it makes an ASS out of you and me." Lightning replied. "I apologize for my husband. Please, tell us your name so that we can thank you for saving our children." Yuna asked Lightning. "I'm Lightning. Call me Light." She told her. "Okay! Well, thank you two, for rescuing Todd and Rose from that monster. Had Tidus and I gotten here faster, we would have assisted you." Yuna said to us. "Well, you're welcome. And we're always happy to help out whenever it's needed." I said, ruffling Todd's hair. Light and I walked down the path that the children were coming from, planning on investigating what was down there.
Lightning and I were at the waterfall when the bridge before us was obliterated before our eyes. When we looked up at the cause, we saw a man in dark purple armor, and instantly knew who it was. "Caius." We both said. "Glad to see that you are trying to fight me." He said back. I summoned my Gunblade, and flipped the Safety off. Lightning pulled out her Gunblade, and kept it in the gun form. He raised his wicked looking form, and sent a deadly arc of energy towards us. I focused Dark energy into the next bullet, and fired directly at it, causing it to shatter. "Impressive. Most impressive. But let's see if you can escape from this attack." He gloated. He held his sword in both hands, drew completely Dark energy into it, then launched a massive fireball, about the size of a Chocobo's head, and aimed it at Lightning. It came hurtling extremely fast towards her, so I did what I thought had to be done. I dropped my Gunblade, and jumped in front of the blast, just before it hit Lightning.
I immediately blacked out.
Light's P.O.V.
I couldn't believe what had just happened. Dark had managed to move faster than I could ever, something that is not easy, and he took a direct hit from one of Caius's attacks. "Dark!" I yelled as he fell. "How intriuging. He took a shot for you. Perhaps he thought that it could end his contract?" Caius asked us. "What the FUCK are you talking about?" I yelled at him, pointing my Gunblade directly at his heart. "Ask him. Anyway, I've got to run. Happy trails." He replied, disappearing in a black mist around his feet. I dropped my Gunblade, it not disappearing like how Dark's does, and went to his side. "Dark! I need you to wake up!" I yelled at him, trying to shake him awake through the armor. His eyes slowly opened, only to close immediately. "No Dark! I have never lost a Soldier in my days of combat, and I'm NOT going to FUCKING start now!" I yelled at him. I pulled at his breastplate, knowing that I had to check his heart, but also would find out what he was hiding. Because it wouldn't come off as easily as I had hoped, I stood up, and used my Eidolith crystal to summon Odin's blades. "Sorry Dark, but I have no choice." I said to him. I quickly made a large slice in the sides of his breastplate, enabling me to get it off. I dropped the large, curved blades, and knelt back down, and yanked off the breastplate front, to see red cloth covering up the top part of his chest. "I don't have time for this!" I yelled, yanking back the cloth, to show something that shocked me.