Crimson Mask
By
Squall Morpheus Leonhart
~O~O~O~O~O~
Prologue
~O~O~O~O~O~
Squall watched the moon of the next cycle appear as he remembered. He remembered
the times of SeeD before his disappearance, his most joyous days as of yet. Yet
it was also the most grievous ones as well. He had stayed with SeeD for about
three years as the commander before his great disappearance from the unknown
world. During those three years, much had happened.
Squall had become a little more open as the bonds of the Orphanage Gang became
tighter. New loves were discovered, as were new friendships. Though Rinoa and
Squall never dated because of certain circumstances, they had become great
friends. The love bonds, as Selphie called it, consisted of Selphie and Rinoa,
Zell and Quistis, and finally Seifer and Irvine.
Seifer had returned months later after the Time Compression to become a SeeD.
He, of course, was cursed and hated for the first year of training but soon the
insults diminished and all became well. He, Rinoa and Irvine all graduated as
SeeD of Level 10 on the following exam. Selphie had given the trio a large party
to celebrate the accomplishment as Squall merely just congratulated them before
visiting his father the next day, which he could not avoid.
It was then that all became unexpected and certainly not thought of. Apparently
his mother, Raine and his lost brother were not truly dead but in a coma instead
of being killed by the one who supposedly killed them. When Squall heard of
this, he quickly told Laguna the truth behind his mother and brother's death.
Apparently a warrior of evil intent wanted the power of the Ancients or
Sorcerers/Sorceresses, also known as the descendents of Hyne. The warrior wanted
the most powerful Ancient, which happened to be Squall.
To get Squall's power, he supposedly killed Raine and Squall's brother but in
the end Raine sealed him away and the warrior named Ares was held captive until
now. Now he wants Squall's power again but this time Squall knows more of his
abilities as an Ancient and certain abilities have been proven useful now that
Squall knows more of his mother and brother's condition.
To prepare Squall disappeared from the spotlight as a new masked singing star;
Storm Chaser was making his debut. Though SeeD was in great disarray, they have
recovered with Xu in command. Now, the new hit sensation is bringing new ties to
the music world. Yet another masked person, this time a killer is also making
his debut and all of his kills have been know to have a mask, a crimson mask, on
their face. One question still haunts the minds of people were: Is the
connection between these masked men and the disappearance of the SeeD Commander?
~O~O~O~O~O~
Chapter 1: Forms of the Ancients
~O~O~O~O~O~
He hesitated before going to the awaiting spotlight. Something he would always
do before a show. He hated it, yet he loved the feel of attention, the audience.
Though no one knew who he truly was, they loved him nonetheless. Making sure the
domino black mask was secured properly, he walked on stage.
Guitar in hand, he tossed his long charcoal hair back and proceeded to the
stage. Hearing the host yell his stage name, he position himself behind the
microphone as the light turned on toward him. He turned to his supporting band
and nodded, his long pale fingers played the first chord and the crowd went
wild.
Though they could not see it, he closed his silver eyes and released his power
of projection. A talent of projecting emotions, only a few could do that but he
was special because of his mother. He also had other powers as well. When the
power was released equally among the crowd, he began to sing,
"I see you there
Playing with their hearts
I stand here watching you
Trying to make you see
That no matter how cold I may be
I'm waiting for you to come to me…"
The wail of the guitar singled everyone to stand and dance to the upbeat song,
as the singer began to move in tune with a beat heard only in his ears. The song
of Enlightenment, a song only Ancients could hear.
"I felt this way for a long time
God knows how long I tried to deny
Yet no lie can ever be of you
You play my heart as you did with theirs
I want to make you see
You're the only one for me…
"I've been called the Ice Prince
Heartless long the way
Yet a few words from you and I'm alive
Hatred and Tease
That's all from you
While love and care
Is what I want to give you
Just look at me and you'll see
That we're meant to be…"
Soon the audience began to sing to the song. A Medley of Life seemed to spring
forth from the crowd and a cloud of black slowly formed from the ceiling and
steeped into the singer's veins giving him strength. It was not life force but
it was the energy of the hearts of people. This energy when used wisely could be
used to bring back the dead but if used wrongly then the world could be
destroyed, the Ragnarok could be summoned.
"Stop playing around and look at me
See me, don't ignore me
You're the only one for me
Don't you see?
I want you and maybe just maybe
You want me…"
Soon the cloud dissipated and the lyrics and song began to slow down and single
the end.
"We have to be
We are meant to be…"
When the last cord faded, the audience when wild, standing ovation and
everything, and the singer left the stage as the lights dimmed the host went
back to hosting the Annual Esthar Music awards. As the singer left, he heard the
host say, "Thank you, Storm Chaser for that beautiful song called 'Meant to
Be.'"
Storm watched the crowd slowly roused back to normal from the adrenaline rush he
had given them when he weaved his song spell. Sensing someone behind him, he
spun toward the stranger, his black trench coat billowing from the force. Behind
him was a man shorter by one inch with long black hair and merrily blue eyes. He
was dressed in a tropical blue shirt and khakis. "Dad- I mean Mr. President,
what are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too, Storm, no need to be formal, I made sure no one will
bother us or eavesdrop. Let's go to your dressing room to talk," replied Laguna
as Storm nodded.
As they walked to the singer's dressing room, Laguna studied the singer. He wore
leather pants that clasped his skin in all right spots, a black vest with red
embroider; black combat boots, and a black trench coat. On one finger-less
gloved hand, he had a ring crafted with a winged lion engraved. Around his neck,
a cross and star burned in a ball of fire. Little did anyone know that in the
place of the star on top of the cross was a lion head, concealed by Storm's
talents. Storm's long black hair reached his thighs and shimmered in the dim
hall. A black electric guitar was strapped across his chest.
The mask on Storm's face was trademark. Though it changed, Storm always had one
on no matter where he was, regardless whom he was with. One thing for sure it
always covered the upper part of his face from just below the eyes to the top of
his forehead as if hiding something. He once said, "We all wear masks to hide
behind, mine is just more visible than others." Laguna knew the reason, the true
reason behind the mask but kept that a secret though what Storm said about the
mask was partly true.
Storm and Laguna finally reached their destination and Storm slid the key card
through the slot and stepped inside. "Storm, why don't you take it off, no one's
here," said Laguna motioning the mask.
Storm ignored him and looked around and them went to a corner and fund a secret
camera cleverly hidden. He deactivated it. Then he repeated the task, until
twenty cameras were deactivated. "Dad, you know I can't risk that, I hate my
face," Laguna whined, "oh fine."
Storm reached back and unclasped the clip and the mask fell to the ground. Then
slowly the rocker looked up, black long bangs hiding his eyes. Storm was
beautiful because of his face. Porcelain skin, straight nose, acute eyebrows but
it was the eyes that caught everyone's attention. Unusual and delicately crafted
to be gemstones of little and all emotion, no matter how cold they could be,
only a skilled person could see the warmth of wisdom and loyalty. Between the
eyes was a scar diagonal from top of the left eyebrow to the bottom of the right
eye.
Suddenly, Storm began to shake and collapsed unto the ground. Reaching for the
mask, he moaned as the energy he gathered from earlier began to run wild. Inside
it felt like he was slowly dying, in fact he was. He couldn't control the
energy, he wasn't trained but he fought. Soon he felt hands helping him put the
mask back on his face and the pain vanished. "Dad, you know I can't take it off
yet at least not until I give the energy to them," said Storm.
"I know but I couldn't help it, I wanted to see your eyes, your mother's eyes…"
Laguna looked to the ground ashamed.
"I know Dad but don't worry when we have enough then, we could bring her and my
brother back," said Storm.
"Just a few more concerts, right?"
"And a few more life energy from missions and we're set," said Storm firmly.
"What about Ares?"
"I'll handle him just fine, don't worry he won't get my powers."
"I can't believe that your mother and brother are only in a coma from Ares's
attacks in the past, if I only knew then…"
"You didn't know about the attacks like you didn't know of my brother, Dad. All
you knew or you thought you knew was that mother died giving birth to me."
"But Squall," said Laguna finally using Storm's real name.
"It's not your fault but it was mine after all Ares was after me at the time…"
"Don't blame yourself, if you do then the world will darken, you are the only
Ancient of the Leonhart line. Though Edea and Rinoa are also Ancients they
cannot control things as much as you…"
"But I still think that I am guilty…"
~O~O~O~O~O~
In the darkness, a figure silently pulled out a katana from the corpse's body.
It was a black blade called Wolfheart with the carving of ancients, when merged
with the gunblade Lionheart, sister blade of Wolfheart, it will be the most
deadly blade ever. The figure wore a crimson mask; it had the same décor of the
mask Squall had worn earlier but it fed on the life energy from those that
Squall killed.
His uniform was almost the same as the one he worn onstage, but this time he
wore a black turtle neck shirt and a dark red trench coat. This victim was the
black market supporter, either way he would have been done away with, sooner or
later. Squall sheathed the blade and walked away from the alley where he had
chased down the scum. Sighing, he looked up to the sky and saw the full moon.
He may have been a killer, he may have been a singer but the memories of SeeD
still lingered and there was nothing that he could do about it. Not that he
would, anyway. SeeD had too many memories both good and bad. It was in SeeD that
he fell in love with not one but two people. They were always the focus of his
songs as were all of his friends. He often wondered what they were doing now.
Squall turned away from the sight of the moon and his loose hair swirled before
slowly changing into black fur. Squall kneeled and slowly turned into a wolf.
Black fur glimmered in the moonlight and quicksilver eyes looked at the moon
once more as if in prayer. Squall was big but to normal person's eye he would
have looked like a large black husky, if not for his fangs. On his face a scar,
identical to the one of his true face, stood out amongst the fur. Squall howled
at the moon once before heading out toward the Presidential Palace.
~O~O~O~O~O~
AN: I hope you like it since I like it too. More will be explained along the way
of the story and please once you know more about Squall's brother and "enemy" do
not take them without asking. Just a little hint on Squall's brother, they're
identical twins!
Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 just the plot and character you do not know. SO
DON'T SUE ME or FLAME ME BECAUSE YOU DISLIKE (HATE) THE FACT SQUALL, SEIFER,
IRVINE, SELPHIE, AND RINOA ARE GAY.
2nd Disclaimer: The lyrics 'Meant to Be' are mine so don't take them before
asking.
2nd AN: I need a beta reader for this story so just ask me in the review. I
thrive on reviews and ideas are also welcomed.
Here's your quote on my perceptive of life:
Life is a mystery that will refuse to be solved until you lived through but
those who solve it can't tell you because they're gone. Live life to your
fullest.
Squall Morpheus Leonhart
2002
