Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own Final Fantasy 8 or any references I have made towards it in this story. The parts of it that aren't owned by square enix however, are all mine. If you're going to use it or anything (which I doubt anyone will) at least get my permission first.
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A/N: Hi all. This is my first and probably last fic. I am going to post the first prologue and the first chapter but won't post anymore unless I get some reviews. I don't care whether they are good or bad, I just want to know if anyone is reading it. Also if I do end up posting more don't hold your breath waiting for them. The chapters are quite big and it takes about three times as long for me to make the chapters as it takes you to read them. Don't let this discourage you though, I think it's pretty good. ENJOY
'
I stood on ground littered with bodies. My already scarlet blade was shining with the blood of my enemies. My head was pounding and my heart beating fast from the exhilaration of battle. I felt a hot trickle of blood as it ran down my face. Whether it was mine or of those who lay before me, I did not know. I did not care. Not an hour before, there stood an army of nearly three hundred battle trained warriors, and now only one remained. He had seen me butcher and incinerate his commanders and subordinates with merciless eyes, eyes that had grown hard and remorseless through need. He knew that he was going to die, like his comrades had only moments before, and yet he would not back down. Instead he eyed me with the eye of a trained killer. He would wonder briefly why I now stood dead still, my blade held loosely by my side, my eyes open but unseeing, but then he would begin to circle, looking for a weak spot, perhaps an injury I had gained by his allies blade. I had many, though no bodily injury would slow me or blunt my skill in battle. He waded through his ally's blood and tried to ignore it. He tried to ignore the limbs bent at unnatural angles, the open, unseeing eyes of those who had not seen death coming and possibly more disturbing, those who accepted their fate early enough to close them. Yet I would see none of this, none of the carnage I had created. Instead I saw nothing but memories. I saw a green blade, not so much unlike my own, pressed against the neck of a young girl, barely three years old. I saw her call out for her father. I heard nothing. I saw the blade jerk quickly and saw her scream as she fell with her throat slit. I felt the same throbbing pain inside my head that I had felt for seven long years. A pain that nothing could dull or cure. A pain that made the sword that pierced my body then, feel like it was a nick from a training blade. I was brought back to the present to find myself kneeling, a gaping wound that should have killed me instantly, marking my chest. I was not worried. Problems of the body no longer bothered me. I looked up and saw the lone soldier pulling his blade back for a blow that would decapitate me. I murmured a single word: "Stop", and felt as energy obeyed my command. The soldier now stood unmoving.
"I promise you " I began "that by the end of today I will be dead and you, still alive. But I want you to do couple of favors first. I am releasing you now." Again I spoke a single word, this time: Esuna. The soldier immediately sprang back into action, leaping back as though burnt. He eyed me carefully before answering.
"You should be dead," he said finally.
"I don't know if I have enough humanity left in me to kill," I said with a humorless smile. I sat crossed legged in front of him before I continued. I removed three items, the first two, signatures of Balamb Garden leadership, which the great Squall Leonhart had once worn. The last, my sheath, which I replaced my blade into.
"I would ask that you return these to Balamb Garden" I said at last.
"Are you crazy," he said with surprising calmness "do you really expect me to walk to the base of my enemies to return two trinkets and a gunblade."
"By the time you get there no one would dare harm you" I answered.
"I suppose you are going to beat me there to tell them." He retorted.
"I have made a promise to you. The garden will honor that promise." I said. He eyed me skeptically.
"Lets say I do this for you, what will happen to me when I get there" he responded at last.
"When you have delivered all that I give you, you will be set free, with all my wealth" I said immediately. His eyes visually darkened.
"So there is more then?"
"Yes, there is one more thing that I would like you to deliver." I said with caution. I weighed my next words carefully. "I would like you to deliver a story." I said at last. The lone soldier paused a moment, I could tell he was eliminating all but the most immediate questions. I was impressed.
"What will this story be about?" he asked slowly. For the first time in more than seven years, I felt emotion. It was this and not my grievous injury that finally made me gasp in pain.
"It will be about a man who has had everything any man could ask for in a lifetime: fame, fortune, love, family and power and yet still comes to a battlefield with the purpose of dying," I said finally.
"I will listen," he said after a slight pause.
"I am going to put an enchantment of my own design on you, one which will allow you to remember every word and allow me to speak from my very feelings. You will feel each moment as if you were living it. Do you still want to continue?" He answered without hesitation.
"I do". With those words I began an enchantment that would take he and I from the present and down into the very depths of my mind. In a few seconds nothing remained of the present, nothing except for the throbbing pain born of guilt and sorrow.
'
A/N: Hi all. This is my first and probably last fic. I am going to post the first prologue and the first chapter but won't post anymore unless I get some reviews. I don't care whether they are good or bad, I just want to know if anyone is reading it. Also if I do end up posting more don't hold your breath waiting for them. The chapters are quite big and it takes about three times as long for me to make the chapters as it takes you to read them. Don't let this discourage you though, I think it's pretty good. ENJOY
'
I stood on ground littered with bodies. My already scarlet blade was shining with the blood of my enemies. My head was pounding and my heart beating fast from the exhilaration of battle. I felt a hot trickle of blood as it ran down my face. Whether it was mine or of those who lay before me, I did not know. I did not care. Not an hour before, there stood an army of nearly three hundred battle trained warriors, and now only one remained. He had seen me butcher and incinerate his commanders and subordinates with merciless eyes, eyes that had grown hard and remorseless through need. He knew that he was going to die, like his comrades had only moments before, and yet he would not back down. Instead he eyed me with the eye of a trained killer. He would wonder briefly why I now stood dead still, my blade held loosely by my side, my eyes open but unseeing, but then he would begin to circle, looking for a weak spot, perhaps an injury I had gained by his allies blade. I had many, though no bodily injury would slow me or blunt my skill in battle. He waded through his ally's blood and tried to ignore it. He tried to ignore the limbs bent at unnatural angles, the open, unseeing eyes of those who had not seen death coming and possibly more disturbing, those who accepted their fate early enough to close them. Yet I would see none of this, none of the carnage I had created. Instead I saw nothing but memories. I saw a green blade, not so much unlike my own, pressed against the neck of a young girl, barely three years old. I saw her call out for her father. I heard nothing. I saw the blade jerk quickly and saw her scream as she fell with her throat slit. I felt the same throbbing pain inside my head that I had felt for seven long years. A pain that nothing could dull or cure. A pain that made the sword that pierced my body then, feel like it was a nick from a training blade. I was brought back to the present to find myself kneeling, a gaping wound that should have killed me instantly, marking my chest. I was not worried. Problems of the body no longer bothered me. I looked up and saw the lone soldier pulling his blade back for a blow that would decapitate me. I murmured a single word: "Stop", and felt as energy obeyed my command. The soldier now stood unmoving.
"I promise you " I began "that by the end of today I will be dead and you, still alive. But I want you to do couple of favors first. I am releasing you now." Again I spoke a single word, this time: Esuna. The soldier immediately sprang back into action, leaping back as though burnt. He eyed me carefully before answering.
"You should be dead," he said finally.
"I don't know if I have enough humanity left in me to kill," I said with a humorless smile. I sat crossed legged in front of him before I continued. I removed three items, the first two, signatures of Balamb Garden leadership, which the great Squall Leonhart had once worn. The last, my sheath, which I replaced my blade into.
"I would ask that you return these to Balamb Garden" I said at last.
"Are you crazy," he said with surprising calmness "do you really expect me to walk to the base of my enemies to return two trinkets and a gunblade."
"By the time you get there no one would dare harm you" I answered.
"I suppose you are going to beat me there to tell them." He retorted.
"I have made a promise to you. The garden will honor that promise." I said. He eyed me skeptically.
"Lets say I do this for you, what will happen to me when I get there" he responded at last.
"When you have delivered all that I give you, you will be set free, with all my wealth" I said immediately. His eyes visually darkened.
"So there is more then?"
"Yes, there is one more thing that I would like you to deliver." I said with caution. I weighed my next words carefully. "I would like you to deliver a story." I said at last. The lone soldier paused a moment, I could tell he was eliminating all but the most immediate questions. I was impressed.
"What will this story be about?" he asked slowly. For the first time in more than seven years, I felt emotion. It was this and not my grievous injury that finally made me gasp in pain.
"It will be about a man who has had everything any man could ask for in a lifetime: fame, fortune, love, family and power and yet still comes to a battlefield with the purpose of dying," I said finally.
"I will listen," he said after a slight pause.
"I am going to put an enchantment of my own design on you, one which will allow you to remember every word and allow me to speak from my very feelings. You will feel each moment as if you were living it. Do you still want to continue?" He answered without hesitation.
"I do". With those words I began an enchantment that would take he and I from the present and down into the very depths of my mind. In a few seconds nothing remained of the present, nothing except for the throbbing pain born of guilt and sorrow.