Sins of the Father Centra


Balamb, now

It was raining heavily on the meadows of Balamb; dark grey clouds hung deep in the sky and poured their raindrops down on the earth. It seemed that the ocean wanted to claim the land back as his own. Through this chaos of water not even a good observer would have spotted the figure standing in the middle of the rain, smiling at a joke only it could understand.

The person was male, standing roughly 6 feet tall and was clothed in an ancient looking cloak to protect him from the rain as well as from interested observers. He didn't even to acknowledge the pouring rain, he just stood there, waiting in silence for a sign only he could recognize.

Suddenly he spoke to himself: "Soon, very soon now…"


The Centran Badlands, six weeks ago

The sun rose high over Centra, it was still 1 hour to midday, but the heat had built up already. Some dusty figures climbed a low, rugged hill. There were 5 of them, 3 males, and 2 females.

Zell took the binoculars from his belt, breathing heavily, even for him, an accomplished SeeD; this field training was tiring. The candidates in his squad did their best, but he could see that they where close to a breakdown. He scanned the horizon and finally found what he was searching for, the beacon of Nida's Squad.

"Ok people," he said to his 4 recruits. "We have almost managed it, Nida is over there, and once we reach him, we hail the Ragnarok, and we all can enjoy a nice hotdog and a coke in the cafeteria, my treat." The younger people murmured in agreement "Well, I am really proud of you all, you did really fine in this mission." He smiled at them. "Okay, we move in ten."

He sat down and tried to relax, this mission had been bad from the start. First the helicopter had dropped them at the wrong coordinates, about 50 mile from their actual starting point, then the very first attack of the very first monster had smashed their radio, and things seemed to go downhill from there. He was very proud of the 4 they had taken up the situation and did their best. Zell made a mental note to talk to Squall when grading them, Mr Whatever should be gracious with them.

"Hey Zell, you know what hot dogs are made of?" mockingly asked one of them, a 16 year old girl from Trabia named Hetha, "Yeah," he replied, "All of Hyne's creations, and every part of them goes into…" Everyone laughed.

Zell stood up "Okay, let's hit it." The other stood up without hesitation, they were eager to end this mission without slacking off.


Balamb

The person began slowly to walk; a sudden gust of wind blew the hood from his head revealing his face. It could be called beautiful if it wasn't for the eyes, the eyes seemed to say to the world, "Whatever you want from me make it better for my pleasure." The person walked through the rain as if it wasn't there, completely ignoring the water that ran down his forehead to his chin.

His slow, but determined steps carried him slowly in the direction of Balamb Garden.


Centra

After 3 more exhausting hours, Zell's little Squad finally reached the beacon. It was right on a small hill, to provide a good viewing point and just consisted of 3 tents and a campfire.

Zell came into view, apart from him and his Cadets, no one was to be seen. "Okay Nida, this is not funny, you can come out," he said in a wary tone. He looked around, the fire was burned down to cinders, and a few parts of equipment were strewn on the ground. "Everyone on guard, something is wrong… You." He chose one of the cadets, a boy named Vince, "I will check the tents, you guard me." Zell went close to the nearest tent, a strange sweet smell in his nose.

Choosing to be careful he drew a standard combat knife and slit the side of the tent open, the smell grew into a choking stench. He peeked into the tent and instantly had to fight the urge of being sick. One of Nida's cadets lay in there; a girl named Kyra, aged 15. She was ripped nearly in half by some unknown force.

He closed the hole in the tent as best as he could, and looked at the others "I found Kyra, she's dead…" He saw the shock on their faces, they weren't SeeDs yet, and not one of them had killed a fellow human yet, but they kept their concentration nevertheless. After all, SeeDs still were trained killers.

Luckily the other tents where empty, except for some smashed equipment, unfortunately, the radio of Nida's team was smashed too, and the other Seeds were missing.


Balamb

A car drove past the stranger spraying him with water, but he barely noticed it. The car stopped and the worried face of a young, brown-haired woman looked out the window.

"Sorry mister, I didn't see you. I didn't do it on purpose, I promise, are you soaked badly, it was my fault really…" The woman stopped, the stare of the stranger seemed to drain the words out of her.

"No harm done," the stranger said in a monotone voice, as if he wasn't used to speaking. "Let me at least give you a ride or something… Okay?" the young woman asked, trying to warm up the situation. The stranger nodded.

"To Garden if you please…"

"No problem mister," the woman said. "I live there, my name by the way is Selphie, what's yours?" The men hesitated.

"Khan…" Selphie smiled.

"It's a nice name, if a bit strange. How did your parents come up with it?" The man climbed silently into the car.


Centra

It was night now; the SeeDs had made a camp with improvised defences. Zell had vetoed the notion of searching for the missing SeeDs, knowing that it was more important to inform Garden of the situation. He was working on the two smashed radios, quite optimistic to jury-rig something up to call the Garden. The others were on guard, or making an improvised meal. They had wrapped the body of Kyra in one of the tents, to keep it from exposition of the vultures.

Zell was feeling sick. He hadn't seen such a badly mutilated body in his life, not even during the sorceress war two years back. What ever had attacked the poor girl must have had gigantic strength, and it must have caught her completely off guard, since no sign of struggle and no trail of blood outside the tent was to be found.

He sighed and went back to the parts in front of him. He knew even when he managed to send he wouldn't be able to receive, so he just had to hope that Garden would get the message before the batteries were drained.

Something made a noise in the distance, Vince, the boy who earlier guarded Zell, turned around and emptied the clip of his assault weapon into the night. "Hold your fire," Zell barked out. "I will check this out, and I would appreciate not being killed by friendly fire"

With this he stepped out in the darkness. Soon he found a fresh trail of blood. The light of the full moon was enough to follow it. After a couple of hundred yards he heard heavy breathing. Zell got ready to fight and stepped around the next rock.

He saw a Centran antelope lying there mortally wounded by the bullets, the blood flowing from its body. Zell looked at the poor animal for a moment, and then he stepped closer, took its head and broke its neck to end its suffering.


Balamb

Selphie was going to get frustrated, the man who called himself Khan was grating on her nerves, a feat not easy to accomplish. His attitude was to answer her questions with just one word or ignoring them was matching that of Squall, if not even exceeding it. The fact that she only could drive very slowly due to the weather conditions wasn't helping her temper at all.

Khan looked straight ahead completely unimpressed by the rain or the questions of the young woman. He sat completely relaxed on the front seat. Every now and then he would make a small nod, but nothing more.

Selphie decided to make another try at starting a conversation. "What is your business with SeeD?" she asked "I am a quite high ranking member of the group and I can surely help you."

For the first time since entering the car, the stranger looked direct at her: "It's a private matter," he said. "I am searching for a man called Dincht, Zell Dincht…"


Centra

The moon had traveled a far distance over the sky, silence lay over the land, and Zell stood on the edge of their little camp. He stood at guard and on the other side of the camp, clearly visible from his position, stood Hetha, and he could make out her quite clearly. He had broadcasted the whole night till the batteries had run out of juice. All he could do now was hope that Garden had picked it up.

He turned around once more and scanned the nightly savanna, looking like a predator, not trying to make out shapes, but movements. The silence was unnerving, the nightly savanna should be full of life, but not a living thing other than them seemed to be there.

He listened closely, he could make out the silent breaths of the sleeping cadets, the fire as it burned down slowly, the silent steps of Hetha on the other side, but nothing more. He seemed to be stuck in a silent nightmare, never before he had found a night to be so alien.

Suddenly a muffled scream pierced the night, he turned, Hetha was gone. He cried out an all alarm, checked his back for another attacker, but found nothing. Then he ran to the place where Hetha had last stood. The place was empty; no sign of a struggle or blood was to be found.

He assembled the cadets into two teams and sent them out to search for Hetha while he searched alone.

They met again after an hour, not one of them had found any hint of Hetha or their mysterious attacker, Zell sighed, his shoulders sagged, he had a feeling odd uselessness he never encountered before. He was there to protect them and he had failed. Suddenly Vince looked to a spot behind him: "Hey Zell, look it's…"

The world darkened around Zell as something heavy hit him brutally on the back of the head…


Balamb

Selphie looked interested at the man: "Hey Mister Khan, what do you want with Zell? He's a close personal friend of mine, is anything wrong with him?" she asked, the man just said:

"It's between him and me." Selphie frowned and decided to turn the radio on, just to have at least a bit entertainment.

On the radio an old song was being broadcast…

… You are mine I possess you Belong to you forever

Storm the master marathon I'll fly through By flash and thunder fire I'll survive I'll survive I'll survive Then I'll defy the laws of nature And come out alive

Selphie wondered, had she just imagined it, or had the man smiled slightly at the lyrics…


Centra

The Sun stood high on the horizon as Zell awoke, his head hurt, and he could see that he was lying in a dried pool of his own blood. With his right hand he touched the back of his head, it hurt a lot. He concentrated and tried to cast a Curaga on himself, but it fizzled. He dared to sit up, and everything turned around him. He got a potion out of his Belt pouch and drank it; the pain went back to a manageable level. He stood up and nearly fainted. Zell managed to get a hold on one of the tent posts. He concentrated again and cast Curaga. The spell worked this time and his vision cleared.

Zell wished immediately that he still had the blessing of seeing nothing. Vince lay before him, mauled as badly as poor Kyra had before him, from the traces the cadets had put up quite a fight. And they had lost it. Zell searched the camp, he found another body, it was burned beyond recognition, Zell found its dog tags, it was Vernon, age 14, a silent but willing boy, now just a corpse.

Zell felt a rage burning in him like never before, whoever had done this; he would find him... He would find him and kill him, kill him with his own hands, choking the life out of him and enjoying every single moment of it, even if it meant to throw his own life away.

Zell traveled a path down the hillside, following a trail of blood, stopping only when he reached a huge rock. The trail went down under the rock. Zell called Bahamut, and the King of the Guardian Forces destroyed the obstacle like cardboard, feeling Zell's rage. Without a moment of hesitation Zell entered the cave.

The cave was illuminated by an eerie light, Sorceress light, Zell recognized in the little, sane edge of his mind. But where Rinoa brought forth a clear, white light, like moonlight, this light was of a sickening greenish color that hurt your eyes after a while.

After a few hundred steps, Zell reached a cavern, in the middle the bodies of the missing SeeDs were piled up, all dismembered and mutilated, but the worst shock for Zell was Hetha. She lay against the heap, clutching the stump of her left arm, splashed over and over with her blood, but still alive. She looked straight at him, her face clouded in pain and shock.

Zell rushed over to her, wanting to help or at least comfort her. He knelt down casting another Curaga, the healing power of the spell could give her a little more time, but to survive she would need surgery and quick. Zell wanted to comfort her somehow; he stumbled over the words. She suddenly grabbed him, managing to spit e few words out between the waves of agony flooding trough her: "Zell…I have clutched to…this life to…tell you" she spat out some blood and coughed "He fears the… firstborn…" She coughed again.

Zell now saw that her torturer had driven a piece of metal through her stomach, nailing her to the ground in a half sitting, half-lying position. "Zell, please… end it" she finally managed to spit out. Zell reached for a SeeD standard issue pistol on her belt, just before he pulled the trigger; he saw her face turn from agony into a smiling expression of eternal gratefulness.


Balamb

Selphie pulled the car into the parking lot. A couple of people where doing various tasks there, or maybe just hanging around. With a risky combination of gas pedal and handbrake she drove the car into a free parking space, tires screaming.

She grinned to herself as she stopped the ignition: "Now anyone dare to say woman can't drive or park." Quite a lot of the people on the lot looked at her stunt. She turned to the stranger but he had already left the car and was closing the door. She jumped out too.

Without looking back to her the stranger said, "Thanks." With that he left the lot.

Khan walked trough the Garden, cruising like a shark trough the water, he passed a guy with a cowboy hat, and a young woman with white hair, without even giving them a look, a younger boy jogged around him, but the man didn't react.

His steady steps were carrying him straight into the infirmary


Centra

Zell had no longer a feeling of time or place, all of him was tuned just for one thing, revenge, revenge for every sickening deed this thing, he couldn't even bring himself to call it a monster, had done. But his mind wasn't clouded in red rage, he had passed this stage, now it was working with frightening clearness, just working on how he could make the thing pay, how he could make it suffer, how he could kill it.

A noise made him look up and he saw two persons battling in the distance. He got up and ran in their direction. He saw Nida in the clutches of a bigger man, the man was about six feet in height, and very muscular and clothed just in baggy trousers, choking the life out of Nida. Zell run, jumped and hit the wrist of the bigger man, noticing with satisfaction how the bones broke. Nida fell lifeless to the ground.

Zell spun around kicking high, but the man ducked and grabbed him with his uninjured hand at the chest, ready to deliver a head butt, but Zell never let him have a chance to do so. He delivered a mighty roundhouse kick to the Tiger-tattooed chest of the man, breaking some of his ribs. The man still clutching the uniform shirt flew back a few feet, a torn strip of Zells clothing in the hand. Zell raised the handgun he still clutched, pulling the trigger as often as possible, he pierced the body of his enemy with the remaining 7 bullets, then let the useless weapon fall to the ground.

In the meantime, Nida had managed to get up. He looked at Zell with an unreadable look of joy and disbelief, "Let's get out of here, I set up some explosives and they could go bang any minute now." Zell stared for another minute at his enemy, then nodded and turned to follow Nida.

They could already see the daylight as suddenly Zell was pushed aside. He hit the cave wall, and could see that his enemy had attacked Nida, hitting him with a couple of bone breaking strikes in the chest and abdomen, and then smashing his head with a 360° kick. Zell got up to help Nida, but this time the other man was ready for him.

To Zell's surprise, the other one seemed to be unhurt, none of the wound Zell inflicted to him earlier showed. They exchanged a series of blows, parrying each other's attacks. Zell jumped back and cast an ultima spell, willing to end this as quickly as possible, but the other one just shrugged it off and hit him on the shoulder, dislodging it.

Zell fell to the ground, prepared to meet death without begging for his life, as a series of greenblue streaks hit his opponent who fell to the ground and lay still. "Eat this son of a-" said the voice of Irvine.

Zell managed to get into the Ragnarok while Irvine carried Nida, as they took off the charges exploded burying the dead cadets in the cave. Nida died shortly afterwards.


Balamb

The stranger opened the door of the infirmary, letting his cloak falling to the ground. Revealing a chest with the tattoo of a tiger. He looked straight a Zell, who was lying in one of the beds, and said, "Now we will end this once and for all…"

A/N: My greatest thanks go to Rhyein for patiently proofing this and helping me with useful critic while writing this.