Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 or any of the characters from FF8.
AN: Not as many reviews as last time, but then again, it was a pretty depressing chapter without much action. Nonetheless, it's a major part of the story and it had to be written (trust me, I didn't enjoy writing it that much either hahaha). But this chapter is very entertaining and much more fun to write =).
Chapter 13: Assassination 101
People who are captured in Galbadia are given what is called "The Hole". It is simply an underground chamber with a trapdoor that opens up and a ladder for you to climb in and out of. Human prisoners have the standard steel door and stone walls while metasite prisoners are kept inside a circular room that is surrounded by sixteen layers of solid titanium with an adamantine coating. A metasite would be able to escape from that only with his metablade so the blades are removed and stored in a separate chamber. Hanging from the ceiling of "The Hole" is a single lightbulb. There is nothing protecting the lightbulb so prisoners are free to break it. But you'd have to be either crazy or stupid to do that since once that lightbulb goes, you're surrounded in complete and total darkness for the rest of your days...but the lightbulb is turned off at night anyways. Once you're in "The Hole" you rarely come back out, it's a diet of one piece of bread and one 500 mL bottle of water every day and your best hobby is taking a shit. It's not a very good place to be.
I was going to visit the most recently captured metasite, the long range artillery specialist that had killed Ellone and countless others. I walked down the dark hallway scanning the numbers on the trapdoors as I walked over them. When I reached number 27 I bent down and slid open a tiny spyhole on the door.
"You down there, I want some answers." I said.
I had gotten permission to do the interrogation from Kiros. Around here, what Kiros says, goes.
I heard a small, rough chuckle.
"How old are you?" the voice asked. It was a dry and cracked tone that sounded like it came from something dead. I was surprised since he had only been in "The Hole" for two days, he sounded like he'd been in there for a year.
"I'm asking the questions around here and if you don't like it then you won't get food or water for a day. Keep lipping me off and it'll be two days." I said.
"You don't scare me, I'd rather die in here." he replied sounding oh so tough. No worries though, I knew how to deal with him.
"Oh, I won't let you die. I'll force feed some crap into you through a tube up your ass if I have to. You're going to stay alive, but unless you give me some answers, I'm going to make you wish you were dead."
A long silence ensued after that. I had time, I wasn't going anywhere. Finally, he spoke.
"I'm not saying anything." he said stubbornly. I could hear a small crack in his voice though and I knew I had him.
"Be that way, you're too weak to kill yourself so I'll just come in tomorrow and start the ass feeding. Have fun." I said with a smirk and then I started to walk away when I heard him break down.
"N-no, I'll tell you!" he said. I smiled.
"Good, double rations for you later. Now, who sent you?" I asked triumphantly.
He sighed in defeat.
"Vinzer Deling."
Didn't expect that one. Reports said that he was sent from Balamb, turns out that was inaccurate. Vinzer Deling was always a troublemaker, he was the president of Deling city which was under Galbadian control but the little bastard never like that idea. I'll get into more detail about Deling later, but his eventual fate is shrouded in confusion and only a handful of people actually knew what happened.
For now, just know that Deling has been giving us some trouble for awhile now, but nothing so big as blowing up part of the Garden.
"You know if Deling is sending any more of you guys?" I pressed for more answers.
"No clue, it was a private mission." he said.
"You belong to his army?"
"Hell no, I'm a mercenary. He just paid the best and told me that if I got captured and I told you any of the stuff I'm telling you now, then I'd get none of my pay." he snorted.
I laughed and looked down at him.
"You're not going to get your pay anyways because you're not getting out of here." I said.
It was all I needed to know. I thought about paying the soldier to fight on our side but decided against it. I had to keep the edge on him, once an enemy has been captured, one can never let him have a glimmer of hope. Even if he IS just a mercenary. Nope, that guy was going to stay in "The Hole" for the rest of his lowly life.
I reported everything to Kiros who would then go and pass the information to the commanders and the headmaster. Deling was becoming increasingly annoying and plans were in the works to take him down. But like I said, more on that later.
My friends were trying to comfort me because of Ellone's death. Everyone knew how close I was to her so they all felt sorry for me, the kid who lost his parents and now his "sister". However, in a few days, people saw my attitude and looked upon it as cold and uncaring. I didn't even flinch at the funeral, or bat an eyelash when anyone mentioned her name. I had become a wall of ice, nobody could reach me. The only people who saw through me, were the people who were there with me from the start: Emi, Zone, and Kiros. They saw through my disguise easily.
The next three years passed by quickly and uneventfully. I rose up the ranks and at the age of fourteen I was the commander of a S class squad. Emi and Zone had risen to A class. They would've been looked upon as child prodigies if Seifer and I hadn't been there to overshadow them. Seifer had the skills to command an S class squad as well, but he chose to be a jackass and disobey rules twenty four seven which cost him the job.
As highly ranked as I was, very few people knew me. Galbadia was doing a good job keeping me as their "secret weapon". They publicized Seifer a lot so that people would look to him as the next big thing rather than me. Only a small number of people knew of me after the Sebastian incident. Somehow the news had gotten out to Balamb but they chose to keep it secret as well because letting their men know about me might ruin their morale. So what was their solution? Assassination.
I was never an assassin, Kiros taught me how to fight in large battles against hundreds of opponents or how to duel one-on-one against another metasite. I was never trained to be a stealthy killer that would perform hit and run attacks. I learnt about that through experience.
The first time somebody tried to kill me, it wasn't done very well. They might've underestimated me or they might've simply been testing me. Either way, the assassination attempt wasn't even close to getting rid of me.
Every Wednesday, Kiros would end our lesson early because he had a class. I took this time to go to Deling to grab a teatime snack. It was no different on the day of the attack. I took my usual route and cut through the forest to get to Deling. I had my snack (a hot dog with some root beer) and finished reading the newspaper (which had nothing interesting in it). I chose the same shortcut back to Garden.
As I was walking through the forest, my metasite hearing picked up a small sound. It was the unmistakable sound of a rifle being loaded. Like I said, they weren't very smart because their guns weren't even loaded. I quickly summoned my metasite and ducked behind a nearby tree just as a six inch shell blasted the tree next to me into smithereens. The rifle was high powered but had an extremely large recoil and it took the assassin a lot of time to reload.
Just then, I heard a rustling in the bushes above me and I turned in time to see a green metasite camouflaged within the trees descend on me with his blade drawn. I rolled off to the side and felt the blade cut into the tree. I turned to face my attacker, an adult that was slimly built and carried a long wicked looking knife. There was no time to salute because I could feel another bullet zipping through the air towards me. I then realized that the assassin with the gun's job was to hit me and let the metasite finish me off. That gun was powerful, but not nearly strong enough to kill a metasite.
I jumped straight up and felt the bullet rip into another tree. The metasite mirrored my moves and we were soon both in the thick branches of the trees. I stalled the metasite as I counted the seconds for the gunner to reload. 1...2...CLINK! The metasite attacked and I parried it...3...4...BOOM!
I jerked out of the way and let the bullet fly harmlessly by. I had precisely four seconds to either find the gunner and kill him or kill the metasite. I decided to go with the latter. I charged at the metasite and pushed him back with my blade. The force was enough to knock him into a tree and shatter it. Two and a half seconds left...I drove Lionheart straight through the tree but the metasite had escaped into the tree next to it. Two seconds left, I twisted around, blocked his attack and let out an energy wave into his gut with my free hand. It was enough, he hadn't expected it and had the wind knocked out of him. I seized the opportunity to perform a depth defying turn in mid-air which positioned me right above his head. With half a second left, I brought the blade down and decapitated him.
At the same time, I pushed off hard from the tree to avoid the oncoming projectile. Tracing the path of the bullet, I pinpointed the location of the gunner. With four seconds to get to him, it was almost too easy. I insouciantly crossed the distance between us and saw him jump in surprise as I was on him. This time I had time to salute before driving all three and a half feet of Lionheart's blade into his stomach.
To this day, I still don't know who sent those two assassins. It didn't matter because they weren't very skilled and didn't prove a threat to me at all. I told Kiros about the assassins and to my surprise, he simply shrugged.
"Be prepared, as you get stronger, there will be more and more people who will come after you. Just keep your cool and use the skills I taught you. They shouldn't stand a chance." he said.
The tone of voice in which he used led me to believe that he was speaking from experience.
Kiros was right, but only up to a certain extent. There were many more assassination attempts made on me but only two of them actually came close to their objective.
The first one was an assassination attempt from Balamb. I was fifteen at the time and I had just finished having dinner at Emi's apartment. It was late and snowing outside when I left to go back to Garden. Julia of course offered me to stay at their play but I politely refused, I would regret that choice later.
I always liked snow, it was peaceful and serene quite unlike myself. I was watching my footsteps in the icy ground when my eyes caught sight of the tiniest shadow on the white surface. I thought I was just imagining things because it was so faint. I minimized my walking distance without slowing down my pace. The CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP of my boots on the ground was constant but I wasn't moving forward as much. After about ten seconds of my "delayed walking" I caught sight of him.
A dark purple metasite shrouded in what looked like a leathery cloak. It was a move made purely by instinct, one that saved my life. My metasite wrapped itself around my body and I turned my body sideways pressing myself flat to the side of the building. The killer had a pincer like metablade that was attached to some sort of launching mechanism. If I had been just ten steps closer, I would've been dead. But luckily I moved much slower and was able to keep myself ten paces from where he anticipated I would be. The projectile was so fast that even from that range, it nicked my arm and caused a foot long gash down my forearm. The cut wasn't deep, and I could still fight so I ignited Lionheart and brought it down on the chord connecting the blade to its master's arm. Lionheart slid down the length of the slimy material and failed to cut it. It didn't look good for me at that moment and I knew I had to do something fast or I was a dead metasite.
The pincer like blades retracted so quickly I didn't even see it move. Before I knew it, the enemy metasite had once again launched his deadly weapon at me. However, I was prepared this time and fast as it was, I was able to get myself out of the way before it could take another swipe at me. I had retreated to the roof of the closest building, with the metasite hot on my trail. I knew I only had one chance against a foe like this. Fighting him from a distance wasn't going to do me any good, he would win for sure. I had to close the gap and minimize the usefulness of that clawlike blade of his. I stood on one end of the building while he stood on the other, a tense moment where we each planned our next move. It was a guessing game, but I had the upper hand since he had been doing all the attacking, I knew exactly what his arsenal consisted of.
TSEEEEERR! The blade ripped through the air straight at my neck. I twitched my head just slightly and felt the two prongs miss by millimeters. Then I ran straight at him with my blade outstretched. My aim had to be true, a single blow that had to bring him to submission. Then I heard his blade start to retract and I realized I wouldn't have time to strike him before his blade was back in launching position. I slowed down my heart rate and took one deep breath, then with one flick of my wrist, I threw Lionheart straight at him. It was a race between my blade and his.
Mine won by a hair's length.
I walked over to the dark warrior. My blade was stuck straight up from the ground out of his chest. I wrapped my fingers around the handle and yanked Lionheart out of his body and the ground. I saluted my now fallen adversary and sheathed my blade not showing any signs of emotion from the frightening fight.
I found out afterwards that the metasite was from Balamb because a cleaning guy discovered his body on the roof the next day. They did a search of his body and found some sort of cloaking device that minimized the shadows his body would cast. That little tool was traced back to a lab in Balamb which is how they found out where he was from. Balamb wasn't trying to hide their identity, they were already our enemies so it was natural for them to be attacking us. But the peculiar part was that they were aiming for me in particular which raise a lot of eyebrows around the Garden. Most people just brushed it off as a coincidence, but some were getting suspicious as to how they found out about me. The assassination attempt was planned well, the assassin used the snow to cover his shadow well and the city was empty at that time of day since most people were about to go to bed or were snowed in. Nevertheless, I escaped with only a minor injury on my arm, not enough to scar me for life. My scar would come later on, and it would not be pretty.
As I said, there were TWO attempts to kill me that almost worked. Although the first one got me to be MUCH more alert when walking in the snow, the second one started something way bigger, something that would change history.
About three months after the assassin from Balamb attacked me, the headmaster asked to see me in his office. It was a little exhibition match that he wanted me to attend. Vinzer Deling was hosting some sort of celebration for his son's birthday and he wanted to show off the best metasite warriors in the world. It would be a friendly sparring match between Deling's best soldier and Galbadia's best soldier. Martine was about to send Seifer, but the bloke had come down with a fever the week before so he decided to send me. "One publicity event shouldn't give you TOO much attention." he said. So Kiros and I agreed to do it.
The next day I was sent to Deling with a bunch of reporters and a group of cadets who were going to watch me fight. I was actually pretty excited and wanted to see just how good I was. Kiros had told me that I would kill 95% of the metasites in the world for sure and the last 5% would be like tossing a coin, the outcome would be random. So far I had only faced down a bunch of assassins and only one of them had proven a threat. But this was different, they would not be able to sneak attack me and catch me off guard. This time, it was a fair fight.
We went to Deling stadium, a huge dome where people seated themselves all around the sides and looked down on the main attraction. It was filled with different colored balloons and ribbons and the central field had been cleared of everything and covered with sand to look like an old coliseum. I was escorted into a small room just outside the stage where I would be fighting. There, an attractive young lady sat me down and began reading out the rules making sure I knew exactly what was going on.
"Okay, once Mr. Deling finishes his speech, those gates over there will open. You are to walk in and greet the crowd. Walk into the center of the arena and salute Mr. Deling and his family. Stay in the center as your opponent, the local fighter, is introduced. Then an umpire will instruct both of you to take a spot on either side of the arena and face each other. You may then duel your opponent in a respectable manner. No blood will be drawn since this is only an exhibition match, we trust that your skills are high enough to prevent accidental injuries or death. Is all of that clear?" she asked. I nodded, took a deep breath, and ran a hand through my long dark hair. I wasn't nervous at all, I knew exactly what I had to do and how to do it. I was also the underdog so people wouldn't have any expectations of me. It was a win-win situation for me and I was feeling pretty good about it.
Deling's speech was pretty boring, something about how children are the future and how proud he would be the day he can hand over the city of Deling to his son, another tub of lard spoiled brat. I sort of dozed off and didn't pay much attention to the whole thing but then I heard applause from the crowd and saw the gate in front of me start to slowly creep open.
When it was fully open, I saw the thousands of people who had come to watch the event. I smiled and walked through the gates not knowing just how much trouble I was getting myself into.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. This one was really fun 'cause I had to think of all the different ways of killing a metasite =P Lots of thought went into this one but it was worth it, it's also quite a bit longer than my usual chapter. Sorry I had to end it with a cliff hanger but that's how I get you guys to read and review the next chapter! Muahaha =) A lot of people asked how much darker the fic can get. Well, the answer is...not much hahaha. Actually, it doesn't really get dark at all until the very end of the fic which I won't spoil for you guys. Just keep reading! Shout out time!
angel-brokensorrow- Thanks for the compliments =D Hmmm you raise a good point when you say Kiros should be more sad telling Squall about Laguna. I never thought of it that way since I always perceived Kiros as a strong figure in the story who has seen lots of death in his life. He more or less just doesn't want to face it again so he tries to procrastinate for as long as possible even though he knows one day he has to tell Squall about his relationship with Laguna. shrug but that's just me lol. Little Sefie Tilmitt- Yup, look flabbergasted up in the dictionary hahaha. Actually my friend's brother uses that word a lot so that's how I ended up sticking it in there =P Hope you liked this chapter, more action, less sadness hahaha. Ari-Morrigan- As I said before, you're one of the sharpest reviewers here Doesn't seem like you read the chapters very many times yet you picked up on a lot of the things I tried to hide lol. Shhhh don't say anything about Emi and Zone though! Just wait for that one hehe and keep reviewing!
Venom's Savior- Thanks for the review! You're another sharp one. I prepared the reader for the worst because that's what was going through Squall's mind at the moment and since the story is told in past tense, it makes sense. Hope you continue to read and review!
Only 4 reviews this week TT Oh well, I'm just hoping for more next week hahaha. I'm soooo greedy lol. Thanks everybody, stay tuned for Chapter 14: The Fall of a Tyrant.
AN: Not as many reviews as last time, but then again, it was a pretty depressing chapter without much action. Nonetheless, it's a major part of the story and it had to be written (trust me, I didn't enjoy writing it that much either hahaha). But this chapter is very entertaining and much more fun to write =).
Chapter 13: Assassination 101
People who are captured in Galbadia are given what is called "The Hole". It is simply an underground chamber with a trapdoor that opens up and a ladder for you to climb in and out of. Human prisoners have the standard steel door and stone walls while metasite prisoners are kept inside a circular room that is surrounded by sixteen layers of solid titanium with an adamantine coating. A metasite would be able to escape from that only with his metablade so the blades are removed and stored in a separate chamber. Hanging from the ceiling of "The Hole" is a single lightbulb. There is nothing protecting the lightbulb so prisoners are free to break it. But you'd have to be either crazy or stupid to do that since once that lightbulb goes, you're surrounded in complete and total darkness for the rest of your days...but the lightbulb is turned off at night anyways. Once you're in "The Hole" you rarely come back out, it's a diet of one piece of bread and one 500 mL bottle of water every day and your best hobby is taking a shit. It's not a very good place to be.
I was going to visit the most recently captured metasite, the long range artillery specialist that had killed Ellone and countless others. I walked down the dark hallway scanning the numbers on the trapdoors as I walked over them. When I reached number 27 I bent down and slid open a tiny spyhole on the door.
"You down there, I want some answers." I said.
I had gotten permission to do the interrogation from Kiros. Around here, what Kiros says, goes.
I heard a small, rough chuckle.
"How old are you?" the voice asked. It was a dry and cracked tone that sounded like it came from something dead. I was surprised since he had only been in "The Hole" for two days, he sounded like he'd been in there for a year.
"I'm asking the questions around here and if you don't like it then you won't get food or water for a day. Keep lipping me off and it'll be two days." I said.
"You don't scare me, I'd rather die in here." he replied sounding oh so tough. No worries though, I knew how to deal with him.
"Oh, I won't let you die. I'll force feed some crap into you through a tube up your ass if I have to. You're going to stay alive, but unless you give me some answers, I'm going to make you wish you were dead."
A long silence ensued after that. I had time, I wasn't going anywhere. Finally, he spoke.
"I'm not saying anything." he said stubbornly. I could hear a small crack in his voice though and I knew I had him.
"Be that way, you're too weak to kill yourself so I'll just come in tomorrow and start the ass feeding. Have fun." I said with a smirk and then I started to walk away when I heard him break down.
"N-no, I'll tell you!" he said. I smiled.
"Good, double rations for you later. Now, who sent you?" I asked triumphantly.
He sighed in defeat.
"Vinzer Deling."
Didn't expect that one. Reports said that he was sent from Balamb, turns out that was inaccurate. Vinzer Deling was always a troublemaker, he was the president of Deling city which was under Galbadian control but the little bastard never like that idea. I'll get into more detail about Deling later, but his eventual fate is shrouded in confusion and only a handful of people actually knew what happened.
For now, just know that Deling has been giving us some trouble for awhile now, but nothing so big as blowing up part of the Garden.
"You know if Deling is sending any more of you guys?" I pressed for more answers.
"No clue, it was a private mission." he said.
"You belong to his army?"
"Hell no, I'm a mercenary. He just paid the best and told me that if I got captured and I told you any of the stuff I'm telling you now, then I'd get none of my pay." he snorted.
I laughed and looked down at him.
"You're not going to get your pay anyways because you're not getting out of here." I said.
It was all I needed to know. I thought about paying the soldier to fight on our side but decided against it. I had to keep the edge on him, once an enemy has been captured, one can never let him have a glimmer of hope. Even if he IS just a mercenary. Nope, that guy was going to stay in "The Hole" for the rest of his lowly life.
I reported everything to Kiros who would then go and pass the information to the commanders and the headmaster. Deling was becoming increasingly annoying and plans were in the works to take him down. But like I said, more on that later.
My friends were trying to comfort me because of Ellone's death. Everyone knew how close I was to her so they all felt sorry for me, the kid who lost his parents and now his "sister". However, in a few days, people saw my attitude and looked upon it as cold and uncaring. I didn't even flinch at the funeral, or bat an eyelash when anyone mentioned her name. I had become a wall of ice, nobody could reach me. The only people who saw through me, were the people who were there with me from the start: Emi, Zone, and Kiros. They saw through my disguise easily.
The next three years passed by quickly and uneventfully. I rose up the ranks and at the age of fourteen I was the commander of a S class squad. Emi and Zone had risen to A class. They would've been looked upon as child prodigies if Seifer and I hadn't been there to overshadow them. Seifer had the skills to command an S class squad as well, but he chose to be a jackass and disobey rules twenty four seven which cost him the job.
As highly ranked as I was, very few people knew me. Galbadia was doing a good job keeping me as their "secret weapon". They publicized Seifer a lot so that people would look to him as the next big thing rather than me. Only a small number of people knew of me after the Sebastian incident. Somehow the news had gotten out to Balamb but they chose to keep it secret as well because letting their men know about me might ruin their morale. So what was their solution? Assassination.
I was never an assassin, Kiros taught me how to fight in large battles against hundreds of opponents or how to duel one-on-one against another metasite. I was never trained to be a stealthy killer that would perform hit and run attacks. I learnt about that through experience.
The first time somebody tried to kill me, it wasn't done very well. They might've underestimated me or they might've simply been testing me. Either way, the assassination attempt wasn't even close to getting rid of me.
Every Wednesday, Kiros would end our lesson early because he had a class. I took this time to go to Deling to grab a teatime snack. It was no different on the day of the attack. I took my usual route and cut through the forest to get to Deling. I had my snack (a hot dog with some root beer) and finished reading the newspaper (which had nothing interesting in it). I chose the same shortcut back to Garden.
As I was walking through the forest, my metasite hearing picked up a small sound. It was the unmistakable sound of a rifle being loaded. Like I said, they weren't very smart because their guns weren't even loaded. I quickly summoned my metasite and ducked behind a nearby tree just as a six inch shell blasted the tree next to me into smithereens. The rifle was high powered but had an extremely large recoil and it took the assassin a lot of time to reload.
Just then, I heard a rustling in the bushes above me and I turned in time to see a green metasite camouflaged within the trees descend on me with his blade drawn. I rolled off to the side and felt the blade cut into the tree. I turned to face my attacker, an adult that was slimly built and carried a long wicked looking knife. There was no time to salute because I could feel another bullet zipping through the air towards me. I then realized that the assassin with the gun's job was to hit me and let the metasite finish me off. That gun was powerful, but not nearly strong enough to kill a metasite.
I jumped straight up and felt the bullet rip into another tree. The metasite mirrored my moves and we were soon both in the thick branches of the trees. I stalled the metasite as I counted the seconds for the gunner to reload. 1...2...CLINK! The metasite attacked and I parried it...3...4...BOOM!
I jerked out of the way and let the bullet fly harmlessly by. I had precisely four seconds to either find the gunner and kill him or kill the metasite. I decided to go with the latter. I charged at the metasite and pushed him back with my blade. The force was enough to knock him into a tree and shatter it. Two and a half seconds left...I drove Lionheart straight through the tree but the metasite had escaped into the tree next to it. Two seconds left, I twisted around, blocked his attack and let out an energy wave into his gut with my free hand. It was enough, he hadn't expected it and had the wind knocked out of him. I seized the opportunity to perform a depth defying turn in mid-air which positioned me right above his head. With half a second left, I brought the blade down and decapitated him.
At the same time, I pushed off hard from the tree to avoid the oncoming projectile. Tracing the path of the bullet, I pinpointed the location of the gunner. With four seconds to get to him, it was almost too easy. I insouciantly crossed the distance between us and saw him jump in surprise as I was on him. This time I had time to salute before driving all three and a half feet of Lionheart's blade into his stomach.
To this day, I still don't know who sent those two assassins. It didn't matter because they weren't very skilled and didn't prove a threat to me at all. I told Kiros about the assassins and to my surprise, he simply shrugged.
"Be prepared, as you get stronger, there will be more and more people who will come after you. Just keep your cool and use the skills I taught you. They shouldn't stand a chance." he said.
The tone of voice in which he used led me to believe that he was speaking from experience.
Kiros was right, but only up to a certain extent. There were many more assassination attempts made on me but only two of them actually came close to their objective.
The first one was an assassination attempt from Balamb. I was fifteen at the time and I had just finished having dinner at Emi's apartment. It was late and snowing outside when I left to go back to Garden. Julia of course offered me to stay at their play but I politely refused, I would regret that choice later.
I always liked snow, it was peaceful and serene quite unlike myself. I was watching my footsteps in the icy ground when my eyes caught sight of the tiniest shadow on the white surface. I thought I was just imagining things because it was so faint. I minimized my walking distance without slowing down my pace. The CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP of my boots on the ground was constant but I wasn't moving forward as much. After about ten seconds of my "delayed walking" I caught sight of him.
A dark purple metasite shrouded in what looked like a leathery cloak. It was a move made purely by instinct, one that saved my life. My metasite wrapped itself around my body and I turned my body sideways pressing myself flat to the side of the building. The killer had a pincer like metablade that was attached to some sort of launching mechanism. If I had been just ten steps closer, I would've been dead. But luckily I moved much slower and was able to keep myself ten paces from where he anticipated I would be. The projectile was so fast that even from that range, it nicked my arm and caused a foot long gash down my forearm. The cut wasn't deep, and I could still fight so I ignited Lionheart and brought it down on the chord connecting the blade to its master's arm. Lionheart slid down the length of the slimy material and failed to cut it. It didn't look good for me at that moment and I knew I had to do something fast or I was a dead metasite.
The pincer like blades retracted so quickly I didn't even see it move. Before I knew it, the enemy metasite had once again launched his deadly weapon at me. However, I was prepared this time and fast as it was, I was able to get myself out of the way before it could take another swipe at me. I had retreated to the roof of the closest building, with the metasite hot on my trail. I knew I only had one chance against a foe like this. Fighting him from a distance wasn't going to do me any good, he would win for sure. I had to close the gap and minimize the usefulness of that clawlike blade of his. I stood on one end of the building while he stood on the other, a tense moment where we each planned our next move. It was a guessing game, but I had the upper hand since he had been doing all the attacking, I knew exactly what his arsenal consisted of.
TSEEEEERR! The blade ripped through the air straight at my neck. I twitched my head just slightly and felt the two prongs miss by millimeters. Then I ran straight at him with my blade outstretched. My aim had to be true, a single blow that had to bring him to submission. Then I heard his blade start to retract and I realized I wouldn't have time to strike him before his blade was back in launching position. I slowed down my heart rate and took one deep breath, then with one flick of my wrist, I threw Lionheart straight at him. It was a race between my blade and his.
Mine won by a hair's length.
I walked over to the dark warrior. My blade was stuck straight up from the ground out of his chest. I wrapped my fingers around the handle and yanked Lionheart out of his body and the ground. I saluted my now fallen adversary and sheathed my blade not showing any signs of emotion from the frightening fight.
I found out afterwards that the metasite was from Balamb because a cleaning guy discovered his body on the roof the next day. They did a search of his body and found some sort of cloaking device that minimized the shadows his body would cast. That little tool was traced back to a lab in Balamb which is how they found out where he was from. Balamb wasn't trying to hide their identity, they were already our enemies so it was natural for them to be attacking us. But the peculiar part was that they were aiming for me in particular which raise a lot of eyebrows around the Garden. Most people just brushed it off as a coincidence, but some were getting suspicious as to how they found out about me. The assassination attempt was planned well, the assassin used the snow to cover his shadow well and the city was empty at that time of day since most people were about to go to bed or were snowed in. Nevertheless, I escaped with only a minor injury on my arm, not enough to scar me for life. My scar would come later on, and it would not be pretty.
As I said, there were TWO attempts to kill me that almost worked. Although the first one got me to be MUCH more alert when walking in the snow, the second one started something way bigger, something that would change history.
About three months after the assassin from Balamb attacked me, the headmaster asked to see me in his office. It was a little exhibition match that he wanted me to attend. Vinzer Deling was hosting some sort of celebration for his son's birthday and he wanted to show off the best metasite warriors in the world. It would be a friendly sparring match between Deling's best soldier and Galbadia's best soldier. Martine was about to send Seifer, but the bloke had come down with a fever the week before so he decided to send me. "One publicity event shouldn't give you TOO much attention." he said. So Kiros and I agreed to do it.
The next day I was sent to Deling with a bunch of reporters and a group of cadets who were going to watch me fight. I was actually pretty excited and wanted to see just how good I was. Kiros had told me that I would kill 95% of the metasites in the world for sure and the last 5% would be like tossing a coin, the outcome would be random. So far I had only faced down a bunch of assassins and only one of them had proven a threat. But this was different, they would not be able to sneak attack me and catch me off guard. This time, it was a fair fight.
We went to Deling stadium, a huge dome where people seated themselves all around the sides and looked down on the main attraction. It was filled with different colored balloons and ribbons and the central field had been cleared of everything and covered with sand to look like an old coliseum. I was escorted into a small room just outside the stage where I would be fighting. There, an attractive young lady sat me down and began reading out the rules making sure I knew exactly what was going on.
"Okay, once Mr. Deling finishes his speech, those gates over there will open. You are to walk in and greet the crowd. Walk into the center of the arena and salute Mr. Deling and his family. Stay in the center as your opponent, the local fighter, is introduced. Then an umpire will instruct both of you to take a spot on either side of the arena and face each other. You may then duel your opponent in a respectable manner. No blood will be drawn since this is only an exhibition match, we trust that your skills are high enough to prevent accidental injuries or death. Is all of that clear?" she asked. I nodded, took a deep breath, and ran a hand through my long dark hair. I wasn't nervous at all, I knew exactly what I had to do and how to do it. I was also the underdog so people wouldn't have any expectations of me. It was a win-win situation for me and I was feeling pretty good about it.
Deling's speech was pretty boring, something about how children are the future and how proud he would be the day he can hand over the city of Deling to his son, another tub of lard spoiled brat. I sort of dozed off and didn't pay much attention to the whole thing but then I heard applause from the crowd and saw the gate in front of me start to slowly creep open.
When it was fully open, I saw the thousands of people who had come to watch the event. I smiled and walked through the gates not knowing just how much trouble I was getting myself into.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. This one was really fun 'cause I had to think of all the different ways of killing a metasite =P Lots of thought went into this one but it was worth it, it's also quite a bit longer than my usual chapter. Sorry I had to end it with a cliff hanger but that's how I get you guys to read and review the next chapter! Muahaha =) A lot of people asked how much darker the fic can get. Well, the answer is...not much hahaha. Actually, it doesn't really get dark at all until the very end of the fic which I won't spoil for you guys. Just keep reading! Shout out time!
angel-brokensorrow- Thanks for the compliments =D Hmmm you raise a good point when you say Kiros should be more sad telling Squall about Laguna. I never thought of it that way since I always perceived Kiros as a strong figure in the story who has seen lots of death in his life. He more or less just doesn't want to face it again so he tries to procrastinate for as long as possible even though he knows one day he has to tell Squall about his relationship with Laguna. shrug but that's just me lol. Little Sefie Tilmitt- Yup, look flabbergasted up in the dictionary hahaha. Actually my friend's brother uses that word a lot so that's how I ended up sticking it in there =P Hope you liked this chapter, more action, less sadness hahaha. Ari-Morrigan- As I said before, you're one of the sharpest reviewers here Doesn't seem like you read the chapters very many times yet you picked up on a lot of the things I tried to hide lol. Shhhh don't say anything about Emi and Zone though! Just wait for that one hehe and keep reviewing!
Venom's Savior- Thanks for the review! You're another sharp one. I prepared the reader for the worst because that's what was going through Squall's mind at the moment and since the story is told in past tense, it makes sense. Hope you continue to read and review!
Only 4 reviews this week TT Oh well, I'm just hoping for more next week hahaha. I'm soooo greedy lol. Thanks everybody, stay tuned for Chapter 14: The Fall of a Tyrant.