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: Wow I can't believe I got this chapter done so fast. So far I've gotten a good response from the two people who seem to be reading this story so I will definitely post it as I write it. If there is anyone else out there who is reading this please review me, good or bad. Anyway here is my next chapter, don't expect another one for quite a while though.
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I awoke in my room. Tenderly getting up, I pulled on a uniform. I grabbed for my sheath before I realized that it was empty. Reaching up to my face, I felt a bandage covering my gash. I stumbled towards the door and opened it. One of the SEEDs that guarded the council's door was standing beside it.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"A bit drowsy." I answered.
"I am to escort you to the council as soon as you are able."
"We'd better get going then." We had walked to the lift before I asked. "How long was I out?"
"Since last time? About twelve hours." he responded before pulling me onto the lift.
"Last time? What's that mean?"
"I was told to put you to sleep again if you were still sore. Sorry." As he said it, vague memories of this came back to me. He didn't seem too sorry at the time. The lift stopped and I was led through to the waiting room. I was called in immediately. The entire council was again present.
Not wasting any time for tradition, Illion asked, "What happened?"
"Leon," I answered drowsily. "He sent the request. It seems that he was attempting to kill off anyone that was sent out. Anyone who entered would not be able to leave and would eventually make their way to the wall." I explained what the wall was. "If by chance someone did make it up the wall, Leon would be waiting for them at the top. He asked for low quality members so that they would die at the wall. Eventually a strong member would be sent and he would kill them." There was a brief moment of quiet before the council suddenly began whispering to each other.
"How, then, did you survive?" a woman asked. I replayed the fight between Leon and I. I noticed the dagger on the table.
"Can I ask if the dagger is important?" I asked.
"It's worthless." She answered, throwing it to me. I put it in my belt.
"That will be all, you are dismissed." Illion said to me.
"I would like to talk to the council about a matter of some importance." I said formally. At this the council all stopped what they were doing to look at me. Illion was unreadable as he assented.
"I want to leave the garden." I said evenly. I watched the council as all expressions turned to outrage. I had to stop myself from laughing.
"You know the rules." Illion said finally. "You can't leave the garden until you have served in SEED for as long as you trained to become one."
"I know but I don't think that I can do what is required of me. If I were to see Leon again during mission, I would not be able to hold it in the highest priority. I would endanger my quest and engage him." Again the council whispered to each other.
"Could you excuse us for a while?" Illion asked me. I walked out. Almost half an hour later I was called back through the door. Three members looked at me angrily while another three looked content. Obviously there had been an argument and a vote. Illion was, of course, neutral.
"We have decided that you may leave if you wish. But we do have an offer for you." Illion said.
"I decline." I said before turning to leave.
"I strongly urge you to listen to the offer first." Illion called. I stopped and turned.
"OK I'm listening." I said after a pause.
"Leon is starting to become a nuisance for garden. We want to you complete one last mission before you leave. This mission will be special, given to you by us. Your mission will be to kill Leon. Garden will spare no expense towards this cause, starting firstly with a new gunblade of the finest make. You will continue to be trained not only by me, but the elite fighters in all of garden. You have heard your mission brief. Do you accept?" My heart leapt and I answered immediately.
"I do. But I have to ask you something else. Why me? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to send your elite SEEDs out instead?"
"You have hit the nail on the head. I have no doubt that all you have told is true, that you did indeed match Leon at the height of his powers. He will know this and will spend his time training for the day that garden sends it elite's. He will be prepared and he will win. Your rage and determination will make you stronger than even he can imagine. I believe that no one but you can win this fight." I nodded slightly. Illion had told me more than I had asked. He had told me that not all of the council had supported this and some had even doubted that I had even fought Leon. I was dismissed and walked from the room.
The very next day an order for a mythril gunblade was sent to the finest craftsman still living. In a matter of minutes, all my hopes and dreams had been brought to life. Finally I was given tutors that would train me for as long as I wanted them to. In addition to Illion, who continued to train me in the magics, I was given two other trainers. The first was Dane, a huge, burly man that did not seem to have an ounce of fat on his entire body. He had short black hair, a constantly tanned complexion and hard, piercing eyes. He was also covered in scars. For his size and strength he was unbelievably quick and was regarded as the one of the best fighters in the world. His lessons were hard and failure was not looked upon lightly but my skills thrived under the conditions. To my great surprise, Taen would be my final trainer. It took only a couple of training sessions with her for me to realize that even though I had great respect for her abilities, I was seriously underestimating her. She was a master with her daggers, throwing them or fighting with them, and in anything less then absolute light, she seemed to be able to become invisible at will. She could do anything she needed to without making even the slightest sound and in the pitch-black conditions that we trained in, she was a ghost. For the first few months, my training under Dane was hindered by my lack of a weapon, but soon after I received a package. It contained my new blade. I tested it out immediately and found that it was incredibly light. The white handle fitted my hand shape to the finest detail and the clear blade had such a fine point and edge that when I dropped it, it sunk down to the hilt. With this arrival my training began in earnest. I was constantly being pushed past my own limits, as I would not allow myself to stop unless I was unconscious or badly hurt. The slash across my face that I got from Leon had healed into a scar almost exactly the same as his own, only it went in a different direction. It was a constant reminder of the task I had ahead of me. The teachings of mind, body and self-control continued every day for the next year. At the end of this time I had mastered several new magics, could beat Dane convincingly and could hold my own against Taen in any conditions. In all I could barely recognize the person I had become. This didn't matter, just so long as I could complete my mission.
My bare feet felt the dirt between my toes. I crept along silently, holding my dagger firmly. I strained my every sense, trying to find a sign of my opponent's whereabouts. A sudden movement in the brush made me stand perfectly still. I had learnt the hard way why you should never jump at every noise. I circled the spot carefully, looking for any signs of movement. There was none. The moon shone through the trees overhead, simultaneously being my best friend and worst enemy. Another noise behind me made me whirl in alarm. Cringing at my mistake, I leapt soundlessly into the tree above me. Less than a second later, a plastic throwing knife flew through the spot I had just vacated. Knowing that Taen was expertly narrowing down the possible places I could be hiding, I leapt to the next tree. Hundreds of hours training made this silent. I lowered myself slowly, taking care not to let my body come between the gaps in the trees. This would almost surely give me away. Again on the ground, I scanned the area that the dagger had come from. Not surprisingly, I didn't see anything. Back to square one, I started walking again, sticking in the shadows. Without warning, a figure leapt from a tree. Instead of my common mistake of backing up, I thrust my dagger forward, forcing Taen to change her direction. We squared off and began to circle. Suddenly Taen threw another of her plastic knives. I spun away and faced her again. She was gone. I resisted the urge to swear, I had learnt this the hard way too. Immediately I was on the move. I was now faced with the fact that Taen would know where I was but I was still in the dark about her. I jumped into the tree above. I changed direction and jumped from tree to tree, back the way I came. I changed direction again and then backtracked again. I repeated twice more before I was sure that I had lost her. I leapt from the trees. I had barely landed when I felt an arm wrap around my neck and a blade press against my throat. This time I did swear. I took a small token of satisfaction that Taen was breathing heavily.
"Good job. Anyone that could catch you after that deserves to kill you." She said as she let me go.
"You caught me didn't you?" I said.
"Yeah, but I'm very good at this. That's what I'm here for." She said with a smile. "Well you've learnt all that I can teach you. You just need a bit of experience. Come on, let's go inside." I followed as she walked away.
We were back in the training rooms before Taen talked again.
"We have to talk." She said, as serious as I had ever heard her. "I've taught you all that I can about the physical side of my trade but I've neglected the more important part." I started to talk but she interrupted. "Let me tell you what I need to tell you before you talk. I don't think you'll be doing too much assassinating in the future but if you ever did then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." She paused for a long while before sitting down. "You can't let it get to you. You have to find a way to detach yourself from what you have to do." She saw my confused face. "Look, I know you, or at least I think I do. You're righteous and honorable. I just need to tell you that you might not only get missions that are righteous and honorable."
"Oh, really. Like what." I asked curiously. I saw the look on her face and wish I hadn't.
"I've done things that would make your hair curl. Things I would rather forget then not. If you never believe anything I say again, believe this, you would be better off not knowing." She answered softly. "The most important thing to your life as a SEED is the mission. It doesn't matter if you have to murder, maim, rape, torture, abuse or be abused by someone. So long as you complete the mission, the council will be happy. What I need to say is that you have to distance yourself from this. Keep your ideals and your missions separate and find some way to cope. For me, I become as different as I possibly can to what I am like as a SEED on dispatch." She stood and in a very grim voice said, "Do you know that despite myself, I have been intimate with more men than women, all of which were when I was on dispatch? I have had to kill every one of them for the sake of the mission. Some were bastards but most were decent guys that didn't deserve to die. If my two lives collided, I would go insane with the guilt. At this garden I am a lesbian and occasionally a slut, but compared to what else I am, those are two very pretty words." She patted me on the back and walked away. I was suddenly alone with my thoughts. I marveled at the fact that in a matter of minutes my view of everything changed. No longer was Balamb garden an honorable place lead by the wisest of the wise. It was a place built with the sole purpose of making money. I silently swore a vow that before I left SEED, I would change that.
On my way to the training room the next morning, a SEED from the waiting room intercepted me.
"The council wishes to see you." He said as we met. I allowed him to escort me to the lift and into the room. I was given a seat and told to wait. Thoroughly annoyed that I was called up here only to be told to wait, I sat down. Ten minutes later I was called through. Illion again did most of the talking.
"It has been a year since you began the training needed for you to complete your mission. I have collaborated with your other tutors and we have decided that you are ready for the task that lies ahead of you." He said. I watched the reaction of the council but most were icy. Illion handed me a thick folder. "In there is all the information on all the attacks Leon has made on SEED dispatches starting with the most recent." I opened it and read the first page. I almost dropped it as I saw the date on the first entry. I flipped to the next, and the one after that.
"Leon has been attacking while I was training!" I shouted, in sudden rage. Illion didn't answer.
"As per the terms of the mission, you will have access to anything and anyone you think necessary to complete your mission. All spare time you have will be put towards further training. You will meet with the council monthly and will report to us if anything important happens. You are dismissed." He said instead. I glared briefly at him before storming from the room. Once in the privacy of my dorm I thoroughly read through each case. Each one spurred my need for revenge to new heights. Leon had killed over three hundred SEEDs. To each one he had given a scar exactly like mine marking their face. The garden had felt the loss of every one of them as its profits began to drop. To combat this, the council had been advancing the better of the trainees to SEEDs. None of these lasted past their third mission. The council began to post high-class SEEDs in some of the simpler missions, hoping that they could stop Leon. None of these dispatches was ever attacked. For the rest of the day I separated the attacks into categories, desperately trying to find some sort of pattern. I tried everything I could think of but I didn't find any. Leon's attacks seemed to be completely at random. I began thinking of ways to combat this. The elites were spread far too thin and the dispatches were far too many to all be protected. Stopping the dispatches couldn't be done without driving garden into the ground financially. For the rest of the night I studied the file trying to find something that could be done. With a final resignation that I would not find the solution tonight, I fell asleep.
I dreamt of Leon. He and I were standing in black nothingness that seemed without end. He stood with his gunblade drawn, its blade glowing dully. Surprised to see him I shouted out. I didn't hear my own voice but rather knew that I had said it. Leon laughed. Again there was no noise but somehow I knew exactly what it sounded like. In a rage I ran at him. He didn't move and yet he drew away. I shouted at him again before picking up the pace. He laughed and his blade grew brighter as he moved further away. I ran faster and faster, yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch him and he disappeared from sight. I kept running, desperate to catch up. Breathing heavily I finally stopped and looked around. I was surrounded by darkness that seemed to have no meaning. I looked about and lost my reference point. Suddenly I didn't know where I was. I was moving, still, flying and falling at the same time. I wheeled in a panic. I looked down at the blade that I held and found that there was none. There wasn't even a hand. I looked down at myself and found that I didn't exist. I shouted a soundless cry. I awoke with the sudden feeling of doom. Using techniques that Illion had taught me, I put the dream into the back of my mind. The feeling that came with it though, remained.
I woke the next morning with a solution. I dressed quickly before routinely tying my belt and sheath around my waist. The adamantine dagger took its new place in the belt. I left the room in a rush and was soon taking the lift to the third floor. I entered the waiting room and told one of the guards that I requested an audience with the council. He stepped through the door. A few minutes later he returned.
"The council will see you shortly. Take a seat." He said monotonously. I did so and waited. Ten minutes late I was called through. All members were in attendance.
"You have called this meeting so we are assuming you have something important to tell us." Illion began.
"Yes. I have a solution. I would like to put together a team of trackers. We will follow Leon's attacks and chase him down." I said briefly.
"What will you require?" Illion asked.
"I would require a team of five other people, the best trackers we have. Also I would like every dispatch to carry a radio or something that they could use to tell us that they are being attacked. A fast vehicle would also come in handy." I said pointedly.
"It is done. I would recommend that Taen be your lead tracker and to let her choose the other four." Illion said in a disguised command.
"Sounds good." I murmured.
"You are dismissed. And good luck." Illion said as I turned and walked from the room.
It was a mission in itself just to find Taen, which resulted in me being led to several girls dorms before I found the right one.
"This had better be good." She complained as I led to her own room. I didn't answer until we got there.
"Get ready, we have work to do." I took ten minutes for the transformation from normal Taen to dispatch Taen to be completed.
"Alright, what's up." She said as she left her room. I explained our task.
"So I need you to find four more trackers." I said in conclusion.
"You should have told me before." She said as she spun on her heels. She led me back to the room that I had found her.
"Oi, get up, it's mission time!" she yelled at a closed door. "Meet me in the parking lot as soon as possible!" She led me around the garden and found another girl and two guys that would be making up our team. She found each effortlessly. In half an hour we had our team assembled and lined up in the parking lot. I briefed them all and noticed that if any of them was angry that a fifteen-year-old was leading them, they hid it well. Not long after this an attendant found us and led us to our vehicle. It was big enough to hold us all comfortably but I was told that it could definitely move quickly enough for our purposes. Taen pointed to a man who looked to be in his thirties.
"Squad leader, may I recommend that Joel is our driver." Taen asked formally. I assented before making each of the team take an oath that they would not, unless under the gravest of circumstances, engage Leon and would instead run for their life. I also made them promise never to call me squad leader or other any variation of that. It wasn't long after that we were on the road.
It took another month before our operation could begin in earnest. By that time every dispatch that was sent out had a means of communicating with us. So far two more of Leon's attacks had been discovered. Each was a grisly scene, days old and impossible to analyze. It was two weeks later before we received our first distress call. It came from a small team of rookies on dispatch to the country town of Winhill. Taen's driver turned out to be a genius behind the wheel. He had a huge knowledge of geography, and could take us where we needed to go in a matter of hours. Almost two hours later we arrived at the place of distress. It was a clearing on the edge of a forest. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that lay in front of me. Six young cadets, barely as old as I was, were literally disemboweled. From the look of agony on their faces, I knew they had been alive when it happened. Each sported the typical scar across the face. Only my pure rage kept me from hurling. I turned to find that my team was watching me. I realized that they were waiting for orders.
"If we're going to catch him, every second counts." Taen said to me.
"Right" I whispered. "Has he left a trail?"
"Yes. It's obvious so he either doesn't care if he is followed or it is false trail. He might have concealed the way he really went." She answered immediately.
"OK, who can follow the trail we have?" I asked.
"I think even you could follow it if you tried hard enough." She said quickly.
"OK take the next two best trackers and scan the area for a hidden trail. The other two will lead me." With no further conversation Joel and another man leapt off towards the trees. I followed at full pace. We raced through the forest, only stopping if the trail was lost. It ended at a small stream. It went in one side, and apparently never came out. We searched the bank for a hundred metres either side but we didn't find anything. Miserably, I followed my guides back to where we started. I took a short glance at Taen who shook her head slightly. One last look at bloody scene was all I could handle and I called everyone back to the vehicle. I made a sorry report back to garden over the intercom system that we had set up and more SEED were dispatched to complete the mission and deal with the bodies. Guilt washed over me as I gave the order to drive away. I made a promise to myself: that Leon would pay for every single life he had taken.
And so the hunt began. We followed the random attacks that took us from one side of the continent to the other. We used computerized equipment to find the most likely spot for the next attack but, when a distress call was made, we were usually more than an hour away. We were always too late. We trained in the spare time we had, preparing for the day that we would catch our prey. That day did not come. The brutality of the attacks was increasing steadily, the pain on the victim's face, clearly evident. I couldn't follow Taen's advice and detach myself from the carnage. Every death I found drove me deeper into obsession, into black-hearted rage. I could feel it happen but I wanted it, I craved the moment we would meet again. After all, wasn't it my fault for not killing him when I had the chance? There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Leon's attacks. Sometimes we were left waiting for a month while other times there were two attacks in two days. Despite fighting a losing battle, my lust for revenge enticed me to keep up the chase for a whole year. It was during our fortieth failed attempt that Taen cornered me.
"You have to let this go." She said forcefully.
"No. We have to find him." I answered.
"I know, but this isn't the way to do it. We have been chasing him for over a year now and we are no closer to finding him then the day we started!" she shouted.
"We don't go back until I say so. I must complete my mission." I said coldly. She stared at me like I was a stranger.
"Can't you hear yourself? You're obsessed! You continue with this pointless undertaking even though you know it won't work." I looked at her blankly. She shook her head and said slowly. "Take us back to garden. If you don't give the order, I will." With this she walked away. I opened my palms and drew energy. I fashion it into a thundara spell. It had almost crackled into existence before I realized what I was doing. I stared at the back of my hand in horror. My thoughts raced. I would never want to hurt Taen, and yet wasn't I just about to? My heart sank as I realized that she was right. I should have turned back a long time ago. We had made near to no progress and the attacks hadn't stopped what-so-ever. I had wasted time that could have been spent thinking of a new solution. I had as good as killed the people I was trying to protect. But most of all I saw that my rage was driving me insane. Guilt-stricken, I lowered my arm and walked slowly back to our vehicle. I couldn't look at the bodies of the people I had failed so I shut my eyes as I passed them.
My voice was barely a whisper as I said to Joel "Take us home."
A day later we were back at garden. I left Taen to give the debriefing to the council as I walked around the corridor to my dorm. I saw at once that there was a distinct lack of people in SEED uniforms. It seemed that every available SEED was on dispatch. I reached my room and slung my dagger and sheath on the floor before collapsing onto my bed. My conscience would not let me sleep so I stared at the roof, letting my thoughts do their worst. In front of my very eyes hundreds of young SEEDs lay dead, each with a scar identical to mine marking their face. Wave after wave of guilt hit me. If I had beaten Leon when I had the chance, if I had realized that our efforts to catch him were futile and if I had not let my anger cloud my judgment, each one of them would still be alive. I lost track of time, as my mind became a whirlwind of despair. So many deaths. What turned out to be days later, Taen knocked on my door and asked me to let her in. I didn't answer. She came in anyway and sat down on the edge of my bed.
"There's been another attack." She said quietly. I ignored her. "A group of eight, most on their first, some on their second mission. You don't want to know the other details." Still I didn't answer. Suddenly Taen jumped up and dragged me to her feet.
"Listen. You made a mistake. Get over it." she said. I looked past her to the images of death that continued to plague me. Suddenly my sight exploded in a flash of lights and the side of my face started stinging. Taen had punched me.
"Listen to me you self-indulgent bastard! I have been following a trail of dead bodies for the last year. If you think that doesn't affect me then you're crazy. If I thought I could stand half a chance against Leon, I wouldn't be here! Illion seems to think you're the only one that can bring him down and I know better then to doubt him." She seemed lost for words for a second. "You'd better not let him get away." She threatened finally before she walked away. I blinked a few times to clear my vision before I walking to the training room. Taen was right again.
Illion was there waiting for me. I smiled when I saw him.
"How did you know?" I asked him.
"Perhaps I'll teach you one day." he answered. "Now tell me, what's your next step?"
"I don't know." I said frowning. "What do you think I should do?"
"If I knew then I would have told you. The council and I have discussed it and can find no resolution."
"So when the wisest of the wise fail, a sixteen year old is called in?" I said ironically.
"Sometimes a new perspective is needed. I can give you only one piece of advice. Think about what it is you don't know rather than thinking what it is you need to know." He said. I frowned again.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"What is it that you need to do?" he asked.
"Kill Leon." I answered.
"Why can't you do that?"
"Because I can't find him."
"Why can't you find him?"
"Because his attacks are random. We never know where he will strike next."
"Are they completely random?" I thought about this for a moment.
"No. He only attacks group without protection."
"How does he know which groups are without protection?" Illion asked finally.
"I don't know." Was my only answer.
"So the question that you need to answer is how does he know when to attack, not how do I kill Leon." As always Illion's logic was solid. I barely noticed as he walked away. There I stayed until the sun was well truly set before finally retiring back to my room.
Again sleep would not come, only this time it was because of a strange feeling that I was finally on the right track. How does he know where to attack, I asked myself. Because he is following the dispatches? No that's ridiculous. Because he has some device that lets him know where SEED dispatches were? No, even if he did he wouldn't know which ones were protected. My inward questioning continued through most the night, each answer becoming more and more unlikely. Yet I would not give up. The answer was niggling the back of my mind just aching to get out. Suddenly it was there. It was a weird feeling. Where there was once nothing, something had appeared. The answer was so obvious that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it earlier. More than anything I wished that I was wrong, but it was the sole way that everything could be explained. I got up and dressed quickly, barely stopping to tie my sheath and slide in the black dagger, before heading straight to the training room. I hoped Illion would know that I was there. I walked through the deserted corridor to the training room. When I got there I sat down and waited, praying that I could find some fault with my idea. Illion arrived soon after.
"You have something to tell me?" he said with seemingly endless patience.
"Yes. I think I know how Leon knows where our dispatches are."
"How?" he asked.
"Someone is telling him." I said slowly.
"Impossible. Only the council knows the details of each mission." He said shaking his head. I smiled at him.
"Are you implying that...that one of the council is feeding him information?" he asked incredulously.
"That's right." I answered.
"No. It's not possible. Each person has taken an oath to protect the garden and its students." He said confidently.
"Think about it. It's the only way Leon could know. An oath is easily broken and even easier to bend."
Illion shook his head one last time before saying "What have you got planned?"
I watched as the storm clouds rolled in. I wondered briefly whether they were somehow manifested by the battle of self-control that raged inside of me before turning my attention to the task at hand. I was in Dollet, standing in the debris of the ancient radio tower. Most of it had been cleared away, resulting in a huge flat, but there were still huge chunks of metal lying around. I had worked like a demon to prepare this 'mission'. A dispatch of ten first time SEEDs were to come here to find a piece of old machinery for an anonymous person. It was an offer that Leon could not refuse. Only Illion and I knew that no such group was sent out. Just me. Suddenly I heard the soft crunching of shoes across the rocky road and an almost joyous whistle. I protested against every part of my body as I kept myself still. I looked over my hiding place to see Leon, strolling across the plain. He found the piece of machinery and grabbed at it. His hand passed right through. A moment of shock and confusion lined his face before he started laughing.
"Why don't you try it again?" I shouted as I emerged from the shadows. My voice quivered with emotion.
"Well done. Very well done. I must say that I would have never expected. The mage wouldn't have told you this. You must have done it all by yourself." Leon said casually. We drew our gunblades in unison. I saw with shock that Leon's had changed. Instead of the regular blade, the edge had become jagged, more like a saw than my own blade.
"Ah I see you noticed. It wasn't my idea and I didn't have it done. It just seemed to change over time. It started so gradually that I didn't notice at first. But the more of your friends I killed, the more it changed. I named it their memory: 'Pain'." he said cruelly. His blade had begun to glow and now it bathed the field in a horrible green. The scar on my head began aching and I reached up to find it had somehow reopened. My anger battled to surface at the outrage of his words. A drop of blood from my forehead dropped off my cheek and onto the floor at my feet. I looked down at it and wondered how many of the others Leon had killed had done the same thing. Suddenly I snapped.
I pointed my own blade at him and shouted, "It ends today! You have killed for the last time." Images flashed before my eyes and I watched in shocking clarity as young SEEDs moaned in agony before dying. I watched as Josie fell to the ground never to rise again. All my self-control slipped away as my rage swallowed me whole. I felt sudden warmth in my hand as my mythril blade erupted in a blood-red light.
Power filled my body as I shouted "YOU WILL DIE." I noticed that the intensity of the light from my own blade matched Leon's as we leapt at each other. With strength I had never before possessed, I swung my blade. It clashed with Leon's, the impact resulting in large white sparks. We disengaged our blades and struck again. He slashed at me, looking to rip open my chest with the jagged edge of his blade. I imagined hundreds of SEEDs meeting this fate as I leapt back. I threw my weight behind a thrust at his throat. He ducked under my blade and slashed again at my chest. I spun to the side and hacked downward at his back. A protect spell saved him. We withdrew and stared at each other. I found myself unable and, in truth, not wanted to restrain my lust for revenge. My eyes were glancing around frantically taking in all the details. Still images of death obscured my mind. Suddenly my vision became blurred. It began to rain. Leon smiled and sent a thundara spell towards me. It lanced across the droplets in the air causing it to disperse into nothing.
"I hope you don't specialize in thunder spells." He said pointlessly. I ignored him as I cast a fira spell. I heard the water particles sizzle as I drew back my blade and leapt after it. Leon protected himself with a reflect spell which caused me to dive aside. I was on my feet in a heartbeat and we were running at each other once more. I leapt forward at the last moment and thrust my blade forward, looking to catch him in the chest. Leon stepped aside and, had I stopped running, I would have found myself with a cut spinal cord. In a shower of white sparks, our blades clashed again as we contested our strength for a moment. In unison we leapt backwards. I felt a bead of sweat or blood roll down my face, but I didn't feel pain or exhaustion. Only rage. With a primitive shout I attacked again. The overcast sky lit up with lightning. Leon parried before launching his own attack. I ducked and swept low. He jumped into the air and pointed his blade downward, looking to impale me. I rolled away. I saw Leon's blade pierce the hard ground easily and he yanked it out.
"You've been taught well. You have gone far in two years." He said. "But you will meet the same fate as the girl."
"I will not! I refuse to! It is because of her that you will die!" I shouted as my bloodlust soared. More power filled my body as I attacked again. My blade was a flash of red as I slashed at Leon. Our blades clashed yet again as he parried. He riposted quickly, but my blade seemed to move by itself as it parried. With complete disregard for my own life I tried to drive my blade into his chest. Had I been successful, I would have got a blade in my own chest and we would have both died. I didn't care. The look on Leon's face, however, told me he did. My face split into an evil grin as I realized that for the first time, I had an advantage over him. He wanted to live. I ran at him, slashing my blade wildly. He backed up. Again I rushed him, point forward. He would be able to kill me for sure, but momentum would carry through and he would die too. He was forced to give way.
"What's the matter Leon? I'm giving you all the opportunities you need. Kill me." I said with a laugh.
"You're mad." He said quietly.
"Am I? It can't be any more than you, murderer" I snarled.
"One day you will see that I am not." He said calmly.
"You have to die today. You've killed hundreds. One more isn't going to change much. Besides I might not be able to beat you. Better to make sure." I said as I launched another attack. He joined in and the battle of rage and pain was truly joined. I attacked furiously; my life would be worth it if I could kill him. Leon fought back with equal determination to live. Our blades clashed again and again, the white sparks being extinguished loudly by the rain. Lightning lanced across the sky with intensity matching our furious battle. Reflexes born from being attacked in the dark took over as my anger pushed my speed and skill to new limits. Leon leapt back desperate for a break. I didn't let him get it as I ran forward and swept my blade downward at his head. He blade joined mine at the top of its arch. We contested our might for a moment. Suddenly I let go of my blade with my left hand and dropped it to the adamantine dagger in my belt. Leon's blade continued upward as it pushed mine away. I grabbed my dagger and slashed at his exposed mid-section. I felt it bite deeply. Leon again leapt backwards and this time I let him. His grey shirt showed a red line of blood where my dagger had cut him. We both watched as it steadily grew bigger. Leon sunk to his knees in exhaustion.
"I bet you wish you never gave me this dagger?" I said cruelly. He tried to regain his composure but failed miserably. I walked slowly and stood in front of him. He looked up to me as I put my blood-red blade to his throat.
"Kill me then." He said quietly. I laughed. I lifted my blade and reopened the scar that Josie had given him.
"That's for Josie." I taunted. I kneed him in the head. He fell sprawled on the floor. I stood on the gash on his chest and he shouted in pain.
"I'm not going slit your throat. You don't deserve it." I said with sudden inspiration. He pulled himself to his feet. Before he could so much as try to defend himself I walked up to him and slashed his chest again with my dagger. He fell to the ground with a bloodied cross marking him his chest. Slowly he got to his feet and put in a final effort. His pain made his blade work sloppy and he lacked the intensity he had once possessed. I noticed that his blade was no longer glowing. I took great pleasure in driving my dagger into his leg and pushing back to the ground.
"What I am going to do is let you sit there and bleed to death." With a moan of pain he tried to regain his feet before collapsing in blood-loss and exhaustion. I turned my back and left.
I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe I thought that my guilt and sorrow would simply disappear with Leon's defeat. It didn't. My pain continued until I could figure out what it was that I had to do. I visited Josie grave. I stood over the small concrete block for a few moments before my grief finally surfaced. I collapsed to my knees as tears streamed down my cheeks. I lent over the simple slab for several minutes trying to say something important. I tried to say that I loved her and that I had killed Leon. I tried to say that I had become everything I had ever dreamed of being and that I was powerful beyond any imagination I had concealed as a child. I tried to talk about my successful first mission with Taen and how we had become friends. I even tried to tell her about my incredible failure.
In the end, the only words that came out were, "I miss you." I drew my gunblade and placed it on the stone. I noticed for the first time that it had changed. As well as the more noticeable color change, it had become longer, more upswept and curved. It had become a truly efficient killing weapon. I closed my eyes and tried to forget the memories of the teen with white hair and remember those of the girl that he had taken away from me. I opened my eyes and saw my reflection in the small pool of tears that I had created on the grave. I saw the scar that marked my face and I knew that I would remember both.
'
A/N: Wow I can't believe I got this chapter done so fast. So far I've gotten a good response from the two people who seem to be reading this story so I will definitely post it as I write it. If there is anyone else out there who is reading this please review me, good or bad. Anyway here is my next chapter, don't expect another one for quite a while though.
'
I awoke in my room. Tenderly getting up, I pulled on a uniform. I grabbed for my sheath before I realized that it was empty. Reaching up to my face, I felt a bandage covering my gash. I stumbled towards the door and opened it. One of the SEEDs that guarded the council's door was standing beside it.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"A bit drowsy." I answered.
"I am to escort you to the council as soon as you are able."
"We'd better get going then." We had walked to the lift before I asked. "How long was I out?"
"Since last time? About twelve hours." he responded before pulling me onto the lift.
"Last time? What's that mean?"
"I was told to put you to sleep again if you were still sore. Sorry." As he said it, vague memories of this came back to me. He didn't seem too sorry at the time. The lift stopped and I was led through to the waiting room. I was called in immediately. The entire council was again present.
Not wasting any time for tradition, Illion asked, "What happened?"
"Leon," I answered drowsily. "He sent the request. It seems that he was attempting to kill off anyone that was sent out. Anyone who entered would not be able to leave and would eventually make their way to the wall." I explained what the wall was. "If by chance someone did make it up the wall, Leon would be waiting for them at the top. He asked for low quality members so that they would die at the wall. Eventually a strong member would be sent and he would kill them." There was a brief moment of quiet before the council suddenly began whispering to each other.
"How, then, did you survive?" a woman asked. I replayed the fight between Leon and I. I noticed the dagger on the table.
"Can I ask if the dagger is important?" I asked.
"It's worthless." She answered, throwing it to me. I put it in my belt.
"That will be all, you are dismissed." Illion said to me.
"I would like to talk to the council about a matter of some importance." I said formally. At this the council all stopped what they were doing to look at me. Illion was unreadable as he assented.
"I want to leave the garden." I said evenly. I watched the council as all expressions turned to outrage. I had to stop myself from laughing.
"You know the rules." Illion said finally. "You can't leave the garden until you have served in SEED for as long as you trained to become one."
"I know but I don't think that I can do what is required of me. If I were to see Leon again during mission, I would not be able to hold it in the highest priority. I would endanger my quest and engage him." Again the council whispered to each other.
"Could you excuse us for a while?" Illion asked me. I walked out. Almost half an hour later I was called back through the door. Three members looked at me angrily while another three looked content. Obviously there had been an argument and a vote. Illion was, of course, neutral.
"We have decided that you may leave if you wish. But we do have an offer for you." Illion said.
"I decline." I said before turning to leave.
"I strongly urge you to listen to the offer first." Illion called. I stopped and turned.
"OK I'm listening." I said after a pause.
"Leon is starting to become a nuisance for garden. We want to you complete one last mission before you leave. This mission will be special, given to you by us. Your mission will be to kill Leon. Garden will spare no expense towards this cause, starting firstly with a new gunblade of the finest make. You will continue to be trained not only by me, but the elite fighters in all of garden. You have heard your mission brief. Do you accept?" My heart leapt and I answered immediately.
"I do. But I have to ask you something else. Why me? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to send your elite SEEDs out instead?"
"You have hit the nail on the head. I have no doubt that all you have told is true, that you did indeed match Leon at the height of his powers. He will know this and will spend his time training for the day that garden sends it elite's. He will be prepared and he will win. Your rage and determination will make you stronger than even he can imagine. I believe that no one but you can win this fight." I nodded slightly. Illion had told me more than I had asked. He had told me that not all of the council had supported this and some had even doubted that I had even fought Leon. I was dismissed and walked from the room.
The very next day an order for a mythril gunblade was sent to the finest craftsman still living. In a matter of minutes, all my hopes and dreams had been brought to life. Finally I was given tutors that would train me for as long as I wanted them to. In addition to Illion, who continued to train me in the magics, I was given two other trainers. The first was Dane, a huge, burly man that did not seem to have an ounce of fat on his entire body. He had short black hair, a constantly tanned complexion and hard, piercing eyes. He was also covered in scars. For his size and strength he was unbelievably quick and was regarded as the one of the best fighters in the world. His lessons were hard and failure was not looked upon lightly but my skills thrived under the conditions. To my great surprise, Taen would be my final trainer. It took only a couple of training sessions with her for me to realize that even though I had great respect for her abilities, I was seriously underestimating her. She was a master with her daggers, throwing them or fighting with them, and in anything less then absolute light, she seemed to be able to become invisible at will. She could do anything she needed to without making even the slightest sound and in the pitch-black conditions that we trained in, she was a ghost. For the first few months, my training under Dane was hindered by my lack of a weapon, but soon after I received a package. It contained my new blade. I tested it out immediately and found that it was incredibly light. The white handle fitted my hand shape to the finest detail and the clear blade had such a fine point and edge that when I dropped it, it sunk down to the hilt. With this arrival my training began in earnest. I was constantly being pushed past my own limits, as I would not allow myself to stop unless I was unconscious or badly hurt. The slash across my face that I got from Leon had healed into a scar almost exactly the same as his own, only it went in a different direction. It was a constant reminder of the task I had ahead of me. The teachings of mind, body and self-control continued every day for the next year. At the end of this time I had mastered several new magics, could beat Dane convincingly and could hold my own against Taen in any conditions. In all I could barely recognize the person I had become. This didn't matter, just so long as I could complete my mission.
My bare feet felt the dirt between my toes. I crept along silently, holding my dagger firmly. I strained my every sense, trying to find a sign of my opponent's whereabouts. A sudden movement in the brush made me stand perfectly still. I had learnt the hard way why you should never jump at every noise. I circled the spot carefully, looking for any signs of movement. There was none. The moon shone through the trees overhead, simultaneously being my best friend and worst enemy. Another noise behind me made me whirl in alarm. Cringing at my mistake, I leapt soundlessly into the tree above me. Less than a second later, a plastic throwing knife flew through the spot I had just vacated. Knowing that Taen was expertly narrowing down the possible places I could be hiding, I leapt to the next tree. Hundreds of hours training made this silent. I lowered myself slowly, taking care not to let my body come between the gaps in the trees. This would almost surely give me away. Again on the ground, I scanned the area that the dagger had come from. Not surprisingly, I didn't see anything. Back to square one, I started walking again, sticking in the shadows. Without warning, a figure leapt from a tree. Instead of my common mistake of backing up, I thrust my dagger forward, forcing Taen to change her direction. We squared off and began to circle. Suddenly Taen threw another of her plastic knives. I spun away and faced her again. She was gone. I resisted the urge to swear, I had learnt this the hard way too. Immediately I was on the move. I was now faced with the fact that Taen would know where I was but I was still in the dark about her. I jumped into the tree above. I changed direction and jumped from tree to tree, back the way I came. I changed direction again and then backtracked again. I repeated twice more before I was sure that I had lost her. I leapt from the trees. I had barely landed when I felt an arm wrap around my neck and a blade press against my throat. This time I did swear. I took a small token of satisfaction that Taen was breathing heavily.
"Good job. Anyone that could catch you after that deserves to kill you." She said as she let me go.
"You caught me didn't you?" I said.
"Yeah, but I'm very good at this. That's what I'm here for." She said with a smile. "Well you've learnt all that I can teach you. You just need a bit of experience. Come on, let's go inside." I followed as she walked away.
We were back in the training rooms before Taen talked again.
"We have to talk." She said, as serious as I had ever heard her. "I've taught you all that I can about the physical side of my trade but I've neglected the more important part." I started to talk but she interrupted. "Let me tell you what I need to tell you before you talk. I don't think you'll be doing too much assassinating in the future but if you ever did then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." She paused for a long while before sitting down. "You can't let it get to you. You have to find a way to detach yourself from what you have to do." She saw my confused face. "Look, I know you, or at least I think I do. You're righteous and honorable. I just need to tell you that you might not only get missions that are righteous and honorable."
"Oh, really. Like what." I asked curiously. I saw the look on her face and wish I hadn't.
"I've done things that would make your hair curl. Things I would rather forget then not. If you never believe anything I say again, believe this, you would be better off not knowing." She answered softly. "The most important thing to your life as a SEED is the mission. It doesn't matter if you have to murder, maim, rape, torture, abuse or be abused by someone. So long as you complete the mission, the council will be happy. What I need to say is that you have to distance yourself from this. Keep your ideals and your missions separate and find some way to cope. For me, I become as different as I possibly can to what I am like as a SEED on dispatch." She stood and in a very grim voice said, "Do you know that despite myself, I have been intimate with more men than women, all of which were when I was on dispatch? I have had to kill every one of them for the sake of the mission. Some were bastards but most were decent guys that didn't deserve to die. If my two lives collided, I would go insane with the guilt. At this garden I am a lesbian and occasionally a slut, but compared to what else I am, those are two very pretty words." She patted me on the back and walked away. I was suddenly alone with my thoughts. I marveled at the fact that in a matter of minutes my view of everything changed. No longer was Balamb garden an honorable place lead by the wisest of the wise. It was a place built with the sole purpose of making money. I silently swore a vow that before I left SEED, I would change that.
On my way to the training room the next morning, a SEED from the waiting room intercepted me.
"The council wishes to see you." He said as we met. I allowed him to escort me to the lift and into the room. I was given a seat and told to wait. Thoroughly annoyed that I was called up here only to be told to wait, I sat down. Ten minutes later I was called through. Illion again did most of the talking.
"It has been a year since you began the training needed for you to complete your mission. I have collaborated with your other tutors and we have decided that you are ready for the task that lies ahead of you." He said. I watched the reaction of the council but most were icy. Illion handed me a thick folder. "In there is all the information on all the attacks Leon has made on SEED dispatches starting with the most recent." I opened it and read the first page. I almost dropped it as I saw the date on the first entry. I flipped to the next, and the one after that.
"Leon has been attacking while I was training!" I shouted, in sudden rage. Illion didn't answer.
"As per the terms of the mission, you will have access to anything and anyone you think necessary to complete your mission. All spare time you have will be put towards further training. You will meet with the council monthly and will report to us if anything important happens. You are dismissed." He said instead. I glared briefly at him before storming from the room. Once in the privacy of my dorm I thoroughly read through each case. Each one spurred my need for revenge to new heights. Leon had killed over three hundred SEEDs. To each one he had given a scar exactly like mine marking their face. The garden had felt the loss of every one of them as its profits began to drop. To combat this, the council had been advancing the better of the trainees to SEEDs. None of these lasted past their third mission. The council began to post high-class SEEDs in some of the simpler missions, hoping that they could stop Leon. None of these dispatches was ever attacked. For the rest of the day I separated the attacks into categories, desperately trying to find some sort of pattern. I tried everything I could think of but I didn't find any. Leon's attacks seemed to be completely at random. I began thinking of ways to combat this. The elites were spread far too thin and the dispatches were far too many to all be protected. Stopping the dispatches couldn't be done without driving garden into the ground financially. For the rest of the night I studied the file trying to find something that could be done. With a final resignation that I would not find the solution tonight, I fell asleep.
I dreamt of Leon. He and I were standing in black nothingness that seemed without end. He stood with his gunblade drawn, its blade glowing dully. Surprised to see him I shouted out. I didn't hear my own voice but rather knew that I had said it. Leon laughed. Again there was no noise but somehow I knew exactly what it sounded like. In a rage I ran at him. He didn't move and yet he drew away. I shouted at him again before picking up the pace. He laughed and his blade grew brighter as he moved further away. I ran faster and faster, yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch him and he disappeared from sight. I kept running, desperate to catch up. Breathing heavily I finally stopped and looked around. I was surrounded by darkness that seemed to have no meaning. I looked about and lost my reference point. Suddenly I didn't know where I was. I was moving, still, flying and falling at the same time. I wheeled in a panic. I looked down at the blade that I held and found that there was none. There wasn't even a hand. I looked down at myself and found that I didn't exist. I shouted a soundless cry. I awoke with the sudden feeling of doom. Using techniques that Illion had taught me, I put the dream into the back of my mind. The feeling that came with it though, remained.
I woke the next morning with a solution. I dressed quickly before routinely tying my belt and sheath around my waist. The adamantine dagger took its new place in the belt. I left the room in a rush and was soon taking the lift to the third floor. I entered the waiting room and told one of the guards that I requested an audience with the council. He stepped through the door. A few minutes later he returned.
"The council will see you shortly. Take a seat." He said monotonously. I did so and waited. Ten minutes late I was called through. All members were in attendance.
"You have called this meeting so we are assuming you have something important to tell us." Illion began.
"Yes. I have a solution. I would like to put together a team of trackers. We will follow Leon's attacks and chase him down." I said briefly.
"What will you require?" Illion asked.
"I would require a team of five other people, the best trackers we have. Also I would like every dispatch to carry a radio or something that they could use to tell us that they are being attacked. A fast vehicle would also come in handy." I said pointedly.
"It is done. I would recommend that Taen be your lead tracker and to let her choose the other four." Illion said in a disguised command.
"Sounds good." I murmured.
"You are dismissed. And good luck." Illion said as I turned and walked from the room.
It was a mission in itself just to find Taen, which resulted in me being led to several girls dorms before I found the right one.
"This had better be good." She complained as I led to her own room. I didn't answer until we got there.
"Get ready, we have work to do." I took ten minutes for the transformation from normal Taen to dispatch Taen to be completed.
"Alright, what's up." She said as she left her room. I explained our task.
"So I need you to find four more trackers." I said in conclusion.
"You should have told me before." She said as she spun on her heels. She led me back to the room that I had found her.
"Oi, get up, it's mission time!" she yelled at a closed door. "Meet me in the parking lot as soon as possible!" She led me around the garden and found another girl and two guys that would be making up our team. She found each effortlessly. In half an hour we had our team assembled and lined up in the parking lot. I briefed them all and noticed that if any of them was angry that a fifteen-year-old was leading them, they hid it well. Not long after this an attendant found us and led us to our vehicle. It was big enough to hold us all comfortably but I was told that it could definitely move quickly enough for our purposes. Taen pointed to a man who looked to be in his thirties.
"Squad leader, may I recommend that Joel is our driver." Taen asked formally. I assented before making each of the team take an oath that they would not, unless under the gravest of circumstances, engage Leon and would instead run for their life. I also made them promise never to call me squad leader or other any variation of that. It wasn't long after that we were on the road.
It took another month before our operation could begin in earnest. By that time every dispatch that was sent out had a means of communicating with us. So far two more of Leon's attacks had been discovered. Each was a grisly scene, days old and impossible to analyze. It was two weeks later before we received our first distress call. It came from a small team of rookies on dispatch to the country town of Winhill. Taen's driver turned out to be a genius behind the wheel. He had a huge knowledge of geography, and could take us where we needed to go in a matter of hours. Almost two hours later we arrived at the place of distress. It was a clearing on the edge of a forest. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that lay in front of me. Six young cadets, barely as old as I was, were literally disemboweled. From the look of agony on their faces, I knew they had been alive when it happened. Each sported the typical scar across the face. Only my pure rage kept me from hurling. I turned to find that my team was watching me. I realized that they were waiting for orders.
"If we're going to catch him, every second counts." Taen said to me.
"Right" I whispered. "Has he left a trail?"
"Yes. It's obvious so he either doesn't care if he is followed or it is false trail. He might have concealed the way he really went." She answered immediately.
"OK, who can follow the trail we have?" I asked.
"I think even you could follow it if you tried hard enough." She said quickly.
"OK take the next two best trackers and scan the area for a hidden trail. The other two will lead me." With no further conversation Joel and another man leapt off towards the trees. I followed at full pace. We raced through the forest, only stopping if the trail was lost. It ended at a small stream. It went in one side, and apparently never came out. We searched the bank for a hundred metres either side but we didn't find anything. Miserably, I followed my guides back to where we started. I took a short glance at Taen who shook her head slightly. One last look at bloody scene was all I could handle and I called everyone back to the vehicle. I made a sorry report back to garden over the intercom system that we had set up and more SEED were dispatched to complete the mission and deal with the bodies. Guilt washed over me as I gave the order to drive away. I made a promise to myself: that Leon would pay for every single life he had taken.
And so the hunt began. We followed the random attacks that took us from one side of the continent to the other. We used computerized equipment to find the most likely spot for the next attack but, when a distress call was made, we were usually more than an hour away. We were always too late. We trained in the spare time we had, preparing for the day that we would catch our prey. That day did not come. The brutality of the attacks was increasing steadily, the pain on the victim's face, clearly evident. I couldn't follow Taen's advice and detach myself from the carnage. Every death I found drove me deeper into obsession, into black-hearted rage. I could feel it happen but I wanted it, I craved the moment we would meet again. After all, wasn't it my fault for not killing him when I had the chance? There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Leon's attacks. Sometimes we were left waiting for a month while other times there were two attacks in two days. Despite fighting a losing battle, my lust for revenge enticed me to keep up the chase for a whole year. It was during our fortieth failed attempt that Taen cornered me.
"You have to let this go." She said forcefully.
"No. We have to find him." I answered.
"I know, but this isn't the way to do it. We have been chasing him for over a year now and we are no closer to finding him then the day we started!" she shouted.
"We don't go back until I say so. I must complete my mission." I said coldly. She stared at me like I was a stranger.
"Can't you hear yourself? You're obsessed! You continue with this pointless undertaking even though you know it won't work." I looked at her blankly. She shook her head and said slowly. "Take us back to garden. If you don't give the order, I will." With this she walked away. I opened my palms and drew energy. I fashion it into a thundara spell. It had almost crackled into existence before I realized what I was doing. I stared at the back of my hand in horror. My thoughts raced. I would never want to hurt Taen, and yet wasn't I just about to? My heart sank as I realized that she was right. I should have turned back a long time ago. We had made near to no progress and the attacks hadn't stopped what-so-ever. I had wasted time that could have been spent thinking of a new solution. I had as good as killed the people I was trying to protect. But most of all I saw that my rage was driving me insane. Guilt-stricken, I lowered my arm and walked slowly back to our vehicle. I couldn't look at the bodies of the people I had failed so I shut my eyes as I passed them.
My voice was barely a whisper as I said to Joel "Take us home."
A day later we were back at garden. I left Taen to give the debriefing to the council as I walked around the corridor to my dorm. I saw at once that there was a distinct lack of people in SEED uniforms. It seemed that every available SEED was on dispatch. I reached my room and slung my dagger and sheath on the floor before collapsing onto my bed. My conscience would not let me sleep so I stared at the roof, letting my thoughts do their worst. In front of my very eyes hundreds of young SEEDs lay dead, each with a scar identical to mine marking their face. Wave after wave of guilt hit me. If I had beaten Leon when I had the chance, if I had realized that our efforts to catch him were futile and if I had not let my anger cloud my judgment, each one of them would still be alive. I lost track of time, as my mind became a whirlwind of despair. So many deaths. What turned out to be days later, Taen knocked on my door and asked me to let her in. I didn't answer. She came in anyway and sat down on the edge of my bed.
"There's been another attack." She said quietly. I ignored her. "A group of eight, most on their first, some on their second mission. You don't want to know the other details." Still I didn't answer. Suddenly Taen jumped up and dragged me to her feet.
"Listen. You made a mistake. Get over it." she said. I looked past her to the images of death that continued to plague me. Suddenly my sight exploded in a flash of lights and the side of my face started stinging. Taen had punched me.
"Listen to me you self-indulgent bastard! I have been following a trail of dead bodies for the last year. If you think that doesn't affect me then you're crazy. If I thought I could stand half a chance against Leon, I wouldn't be here! Illion seems to think you're the only one that can bring him down and I know better then to doubt him." She seemed lost for words for a second. "You'd better not let him get away." She threatened finally before she walked away. I blinked a few times to clear my vision before I walking to the training room. Taen was right again.
Illion was there waiting for me. I smiled when I saw him.
"How did you know?" I asked him.
"Perhaps I'll teach you one day." he answered. "Now tell me, what's your next step?"
"I don't know." I said frowning. "What do you think I should do?"
"If I knew then I would have told you. The council and I have discussed it and can find no resolution."
"So when the wisest of the wise fail, a sixteen year old is called in?" I said ironically.
"Sometimes a new perspective is needed. I can give you only one piece of advice. Think about what it is you don't know rather than thinking what it is you need to know." He said. I frowned again.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"What is it that you need to do?" he asked.
"Kill Leon." I answered.
"Why can't you do that?"
"Because I can't find him."
"Why can't you find him?"
"Because his attacks are random. We never know where he will strike next."
"Are they completely random?" I thought about this for a moment.
"No. He only attacks group without protection."
"How does he know which groups are without protection?" Illion asked finally.
"I don't know." Was my only answer.
"So the question that you need to answer is how does he know when to attack, not how do I kill Leon." As always Illion's logic was solid. I barely noticed as he walked away. There I stayed until the sun was well truly set before finally retiring back to my room.
Again sleep would not come, only this time it was because of a strange feeling that I was finally on the right track. How does he know where to attack, I asked myself. Because he is following the dispatches? No that's ridiculous. Because he has some device that lets him know where SEED dispatches were? No, even if he did he wouldn't know which ones were protected. My inward questioning continued through most the night, each answer becoming more and more unlikely. Yet I would not give up. The answer was niggling the back of my mind just aching to get out. Suddenly it was there. It was a weird feeling. Where there was once nothing, something had appeared. The answer was so obvious that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it earlier. More than anything I wished that I was wrong, but it was the sole way that everything could be explained. I got up and dressed quickly, barely stopping to tie my sheath and slide in the black dagger, before heading straight to the training room. I hoped Illion would know that I was there. I walked through the deserted corridor to the training room. When I got there I sat down and waited, praying that I could find some fault with my idea. Illion arrived soon after.
"You have something to tell me?" he said with seemingly endless patience.
"Yes. I think I know how Leon knows where our dispatches are."
"How?" he asked.
"Someone is telling him." I said slowly.
"Impossible. Only the council knows the details of each mission." He said shaking his head. I smiled at him.
"Are you implying that...that one of the council is feeding him information?" he asked incredulously.
"That's right." I answered.
"No. It's not possible. Each person has taken an oath to protect the garden and its students." He said confidently.
"Think about it. It's the only way Leon could know. An oath is easily broken and even easier to bend."
Illion shook his head one last time before saying "What have you got planned?"
I watched as the storm clouds rolled in. I wondered briefly whether they were somehow manifested by the battle of self-control that raged inside of me before turning my attention to the task at hand. I was in Dollet, standing in the debris of the ancient radio tower. Most of it had been cleared away, resulting in a huge flat, but there were still huge chunks of metal lying around. I had worked like a demon to prepare this 'mission'. A dispatch of ten first time SEEDs were to come here to find a piece of old machinery for an anonymous person. It was an offer that Leon could not refuse. Only Illion and I knew that no such group was sent out. Just me. Suddenly I heard the soft crunching of shoes across the rocky road and an almost joyous whistle. I protested against every part of my body as I kept myself still. I looked over my hiding place to see Leon, strolling across the plain. He found the piece of machinery and grabbed at it. His hand passed right through. A moment of shock and confusion lined his face before he started laughing.
"Why don't you try it again?" I shouted as I emerged from the shadows. My voice quivered with emotion.
"Well done. Very well done. I must say that I would have never expected. The mage wouldn't have told you this. You must have done it all by yourself." Leon said casually. We drew our gunblades in unison. I saw with shock that Leon's had changed. Instead of the regular blade, the edge had become jagged, more like a saw than my own blade.
"Ah I see you noticed. It wasn't my idea and I didn't have it done. It just seemed to change over time. It started so gradually that I didn't notice at first. But the more of your friends I killed, the more it changed. I named it their memory: 'Pain'." he said cruelly. His blade had begun to glow and now it bathed the field in a horrible green. The scar on my head began aching and I reached up to find it had somehow reopened. My anger battled to surface at the outrage of his words. A drop of blood from my forehead dropped off my cheek and onto the floor at my feet. I looked down at it and wondered how many of the others Leon had killed had done the same thing. Suddenly I snapped.
I pointed my own blade at him and shouted, "It ends today! You have killed for the last time." Images flashed before my eyes and I watched in shocking clarity as young SEEDs moaned in agony before dying. I watched as Josie fell to the ground never to rise again. All my self-control slipped away as my rage swallowed me whole. I felt sudden warmth in my hand as my mythril blade erupted in a blood-red light.
Power filled my body as I shouted "YOU WILL DIE." I noticed that the intensity of the light from my own blade matched Leon's as we leapt at each other. With strength I had never before possessed, I swung my blade. It clashed with Leon's, the impact resulting in large white sparks. We disengaged our blades and struck again. He slashed at me, looking to rip open my chest with the jagged edge of his blade. I imagined hundreds of SEEDs meeting this fate as I leapt back. I threw my weight behind a thrust at his throat. He ducked under my blade and slashed again at my chest. I spun to the side and hacked downward at his back. A protect spell saved him. We withdrew and stared at each other. I found myself unable and, in truth, not wanted to restrain my lust for revenge. My eyes were glancing around frantically taking in all the details. Still images of death obscured my mind. Suddenly my vision became blurred. It began to rain. Leon smiled and sent a thundara spell towards me. It lanced across the droplets in the air causing it to disperse into nothing.
"I hope you don't specialize in thunder spells." He said pointlessly. I ignored him as I cast a fira spell. I heard the water particles sizzle as I drew back my blade and leapt after it. Leon protected himself with a reflect spell which caused me to dive aside. I was on my feet in a heartbeat and we were running at each other once more. I leapt forward at the last moment and thrust my blade forward, looking to catch him in the chest. Leon stepped aside and, had I stopped running, I would have found myself with a cut spinal cord. In a shower of white sparks, our blades clashed again as we contested our strength for a moment. In unison we leapt backwards. I felt a bead of sweat or blood roll down my face, but I didn't feel pain or exhaustion. Only rage. With a primitive shout I attacked again. The overcast sky lit up with lightning. Leon parried before launching his own attack. I ducked and swept low. He jumped into the air and pointed his blade downward, looking to impale me. I rolled away. I saw Leon's blade pierce the hard ground easily and he yanked it out.
"You've been taught well. You have gone far in two years." He said. "But you will meet the same fate as the girl."
"I will not! I refuse to! It is because of her that you will die!" I shouted as my bloodlust soared. More power filled my body as I attacked again. My blade was a flash of red as I slashed at Leon. Our blades clashed yet again as he parried. He riposted quickly, but my blade seemed to move by itself as it parried. With complete disregard for my own life I tried to drive my blade into his chest. Had I been successful, I would have got a blade in my own chest and we would have both died. I didn't care. The look on Leon's face, however, told me he did. My face split into an evil grin as I realized that for the first time, I had an advantage over him. He wanted to live. I ran at him, slashing my blade wildly. He backed up. Again I rushed him, point forward. He would be able to kill me for sure, but momentum would carry through and he would die too. He was forced to give way.
"What's the matter Leon? I'm giving you all the opportunities you need. Kill me." I said with a laugh.
"You're mad." He said quietly.
"Am I? It can't be any more than you, murderer" I snarled.
"One day you will see that I am not." He said calmly.
"You have to die today. You've killed hundreds. One more isn't going to change much. Besides I might not be able to beat you. Better to make sure." I said as I launched another attack. He joined in and the battle of rage and pain was truly joined. I attacked furiously; my life would be worth it if I could kill him. Leon fought back with equal determination to live. Our blades clashed again and again, the white sparks being extinguished loudly by the rain. Lightning lanced across the sky with intensity matching our furious battle. Reflexes born from being attacked in the dark took over as my anger pushed my speed and skill to new limits. Leon leapt back desperate for a break. I didn't let him get it as I ran forward and swept my blade downward at his head. He blade joined mine at the top of its arch. We contested our might for a moment. Suddenly I let go of my blade with my left hand and dropped it to the adamantine dagger in my belt. Leon's blade continued upward as it pushed mine away. I grabbed my dagger and slashed at his exposed mid-section. I felt it bite deeply. Leon again leapt backwards and this time I let him. His grey shirt showed a red line of blood where my dagger had cut him. We both watched as it steadily grew bigger. Leon sunk to his knees in exhaustion.
"I bet you wish you never gave me this dagger?" I said cruelly. He tried to regain his composure but failed miserably. I walked slowly and stood in front of him. He looked up to me as I put my blood-red blade to his throat.
"Kill me then." He said quietly. I laughed. I lifted my blade and reopened the scar that Josie had given him.
"That's for Josie." I taunted. I kneed him in the head. He fell sprawled on the floor. I stood on the gash on his chest and he shouted in pain.
"I'm not going slit your throat. You don't deserve it." I said with sudden inspiration. He pulled himself to his feet. Before he could so much as try to defend himself I walked up to him and slashed his chest again with my dagger. He fell to the ground with a bloodied cross marking him his chest. Slowly he got to his feet and put in a final effort. His pain made his blade work sloppy and he lacked the intensity he had once possessed. I noticed that his blade was no longer glowing. I took great pleasure in driving my dagger into his leg and pushing back to the ground.
"What I am going to do is let you sit there and bleed to death." With a moan of pain he tried to regain his feet before collapsing in blood-loss and exhaustion. I turned my back and left.
I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe I thought that my guilt and sorrow would simply disappear with Leon's defeat. It didn't. My pain continued until I could figure out what it was that I had to do. I visited Josie grave. I stood over the small concrete block for a few moments before my grief finally surfaced. I collapsed to my knees as tears streamed down my cheeks. I lent over the simple slab for several minutes trying to say something important. I tried to say that I loved her and that I had killed Leon. I tried to say that I had become everything I had ever dreamed of being and that I was powerful beyond any imagination I had concealed as a child. I tried to talk about my successful first mission with Taen and how we had become friends. I even tried to tell her about my incredible failure.
In the end, the only words that came out were, "I miss you." I drew my gunblade and placed it on the stone. I noticed for the first time that it had changed. As well as the more noticeable color change, it had become longer, more upswept and curved. It had become a truly efficient killing weapon. I closed my eyes and tried to forget the memories of the teen with white hair and remember those of the girl that he had taken away from me. I opened my eyes and saw my reflection in the small pool of tears that I had created on the grave. I saw the scar that marked my face and I knew that I would remember both.