Chapter 11: Finding the Truth



When Setsuna regained consciousness it was night. She observed her surroundings carefully. She was in some sort of tent and was laying on a cot stuffed with hay. As she sat up, she noticed that her hands had been cuffed. Great, with my luck I've been taken back to a Zaibach base, she thought with despair. As she glared at the wall of the tent she studied the design carefully. It was a coat of arms from some country but which one? It wasn't the Zaibach coat of arms. As her eyes finally became adjusted to the dim light she realized it was the coat of arms of Asturia. A feeling of happiness mixed with grief swarmed her head. She laid back on the cot only wondering what they had planned for her.



"What are we going to do with her?" The young raven haired king asked the tall blond knight of Cali. The two along with a few other soldiers sat around a fire.

"I don't know Van. She could be a spy but why would they send a spy out into clear air space and visible to their enemies? It just doesn't make sense." The blond knight replied staring deep into the flames of the fire before him.

"Then perhaps she isn't a spy. Remember, she was heading away from the Zaibach floating fortresses even after her guymelef had crashed and did you see the shape she was in Allen? No soldier would go though that just to spy on their enemies." Van implied. The knight nodded, it didn't make any sense.

"May be she was running away?" The two looked over at the tall commander of the Crusade.

"What makes you say that Gaddes?" Allen asked him confused.

"Well I dunno, it was just the look on her face when we found her that made me think so." The young king and knight pondered about all the possibilities as to why she was out there in the forest alone. Allen stood up and turned towards the tent in which Setsuna was being held in.

"Where are you going?" Van asked removing his gaze from the fire to the knight.

"I'm going to try and get answers out of her." Allen answered before he entered the tent. With caution he walked over the woman. As he drew closer to her she quickly sat up right. Unsure of what she may do, Allen grabbed a chair from the desk and sat down on it a few paces away from the cot, he wanted to be out of striking distance. Allen thought for a moment or two on how he would figure out if she was a spy or what. "What were you doing walking towards our camps early this morning?"

"You're going to think I'm crazy for saying this and probably won't believe me considering I'm your enemy." She said with a smirk.

"Just answer my question." He said sternly.

"I was running away from the Vione." She looked at his face and saw how it was confused. "I found out they were just using me." As she remembered the conversation that she heard Folken have with emperor, it brought tears to her eyes. "They . . . they used me to kill so many innocent people!" She couldn't hide her tears anymore or how she felt. "They told me they were trying to take over Zaibach but . . ." She couldn't continue. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she thought of all the battles she had been in. Allen sat there debating if she was telling the truth. "I'd rather die the most painful death than go back there." She told him as she wiped away her tears and calmed herself down.

Everything she had said only made Allen wonder how she came to join Ziabach. Everyone on Gaea knew very well of the Destiny war and how Zaibach pretty much wanted complete control of Gaea. "How did you end up becoming a soldier of Ziabach?" She took in a deep breath to stop her from crying again.

"Well, I was brought to Gaea by a white light and I became a prisoner on the Vione until Folken took me out and told me I was supposed to be some great sword fighter on Gaea. So they trained me. In all our battles they told me that the people we were fighting were other countries trying to take over Zaibach." There was an awkward silence in the tent. Neither of them knew what to say. Allen stood up and put the chair back in it's original place, at the desk. He then headed out of the tent to tell Van the information he had acquired. The first person he saw when he opened the door to the tent was Van who had been listening in.

"Nosey are we?" Allen said sarcastically as he walked past the young king and back over to where the others sat around the fire. Van went and joined him by the fire. "So do you think she was telling the truth?" Allen asked almost instantly.

"Well from our last battle she was strong but once I had told her about the Destiny war she grew weaker almost as if she had never heard the truth before or even heard about it." Van said remember their last fight the pervious day. The two stared at the flames of the fire wondering whether they should believe her or not.