BU - RE - SU

By Tenshi no Ai

(C) Square Enix

VI. -Warmth-

-0-

"She is a heretic."

The girl was only eighteen, gifted with what her parents called a 'miraculous power'. God would tell her the future, and what He told her always came true. A slight girl, frail and delicate in body, she was said to exude a gentle charisma. Some even went so far as to call her the reincarnation of Ajora, the illustrious Child of God, until the day she announced that the Glabados Church would soon usher in the means to destroy Ivalice.

"You know what to do."

The trip to Zaland took a little over a day from Lionel Castle, and after reviewing his orders it was easy to find her. Church intelligence was always accurate. For her blasphemous words she had been thrown out of her house, cast away by her parents and made a pariah by the people who had once called her 'God's Treasure'. She was wasting away in the alley when he found her, her already petite body deteriorating like so much compost. Even in such a condition, she knew who he was and what he had been ordered to do. Everyone knew what a Temple Knight was, the angel of death sent to cull sinners from the ranks of the true believers.

Her eyes were dark and accusing as he regretfully cast the spell that would silence her forever.

"You have your orders, Sir Kadmus. I trust they will be completed to the best of your ability."

One of his very first missions was against a band of renegade knights who had formerly been a part of the network of knights known as the Lionel Holy Knights. They had rebelled against the Church, citing numerous injustices as well as the ongoing rumor that the institution was paying the Ordalians to leave Bervenia alone. No one was swayed by the words of these fallen knights, but Examiner Draclau still sent him to take care of all six knights. It was the principle of the matter, after all.

"I have the utmost faith in you. You've constantly met all monthly quotas, your ingenuity in eliminating the heretics is nothing short of astounding, and you are still able to lead the Lionel Holy Knights with success. Even Murond is impressed."

It took him two weeks, and only because they had scattered throughout Lionel in a desperate search for an escape path out of the Church-owned region. He slew one the conventional way and let the Church's ninja squad take care of the body. Two others he had turned into chickens; too bad they had been on Bariaus Hill. Another he had petrified, and was later sickened to find that knight taking up residence in a noble's home, forever an image of a man in battle. The last two were transformed into zombies, and the white mage he had asked to accompany him for just that battle took care of the rest. She later told him that she had found it invigorating that she could use her God-given gifts to protect the Church and thanked him for the opportunity.

"Go with God, Sir Knight, and strike in His name."

An old man in Warjilis who said blasphemous things. A mechanic from Goug who tried to get past the Church restrictions on creating heretical objects. A Zaland-based soothsayer who practiced the trade of her old country despite having sworn allegiance to Glabados. A couple in Lionel castle town whose only sin was to teach their child that there were other faiths in the world. There were so many heretics, so many people threatening the status quo by living their lives contrary to the edicts of the Glabadosian faith.

Her eyes bore into his even as the stone casing crept over her lips, silently condemning him for the sins he had committed and would commit to save himself.

-0-

Beowulf opened his eyes. The gray of predawn filtered into the inn room, giving everything a washed out appearance. He felt the same. If it wasn't a dream about his years as a Temple Knight it was a dream about his time in the war. They felt the same to him by now, regrets piled onto regrets.

Shifting a bit, he turned from his back onto his side. Reis was there, hands tucked underneath her head as she slept peacefully, if not deeply. There was a vast difference between the two, the same difference between her waking up and his having to carry her if they were camping out in the open. As it was, she looked just as faded as everything else inside the small room. He reached out to move some stray locks of hair from her face and was surprised when she opened her eyes, blinking blearily in a way that he thought was cute. "Good morning," he whispered, smiling because she would expect it. It surprised him when he felt better for it.

"Good morning," she mumbled, her voice scratchy with disuse. "It's too early..."

"Go back to sleep." His fingers brushed away her hair from her face before she moved up to him, her eyes closing as he wrapped an arm around her and held her close. Some sort of muddled affirmative passed her lips as he kissed her on the forehead, her body relaxing soon afterward. Amusement flittered through his mind at how easy it was for her to sink into sleep; she obviously had nothing to fear from her dreams.

He laid awake and watched as the dawn eventually broke, concentrating on nothing more than the warmth of her body. It was a soothing warmth, one that told him by its very presence that he wasn't alone. Having such a gift, a woman who knew what he had done, why he had done it, and still stayed by his side didn't seem right. Where was the justice for his victims?

In the end I became the same as them, he thought as he closed his eyes. No, that's not true. I was always the real heretic, after all. If it hadn't been for Reis' curse, if we had still stayed in Lionel, I might have been compelled to keep at it. But now I have the freedom to repent.

If that was the price of heresy, so be it.

-End to Warmth-

Originally this was to be a far different story, but I got bored writing it. That told me something. Sorry, I'm stressed. Some of the Temple Knight incidents were previously mentioned in WHW.

Confidential to Jaded Soul: Okay, it took me a year, but I finally bought .hack/Infection. You were right, it is a fun game!

Reviewers!

Hey, TruebornChaos. Heh, can't always take the easy way out. Statwise, Beowulf is physically stronger than Reis (by 2), but I would imagine that she's stronger in a 'brute force' kind of way. Hey, at least the title 'Chill' was appropriate, huh?

Hello, TobyKikami. I did a search for 'The Lady and the Tiger' fics in the Misc. Books section and came up with 6 entries, 5 of which were direct sequels. I don't know what to say. Finally I was able to see your in progress list, which made me even more excited for your upcoming FFT fic. You'll be answering a question I've had for a long time. We should link our stories together or something.

Yo, Evil Mina. So, what you're saying is that your favorite stories were where Beo was...er, distracted and the one where Reis was a merciless killer. I think I see what kind of person you are. :P
Obsessed over monsters? Nah, I just think they're neglected. Well, except for chocobos, it seems. I have to judge characters based on their Brave and Faith values; it's practically the only thing they give us in the way of personality! This talk about Beowulf reminds me of a JPN FFT site where the owner had personal notes on all the playable characters. For the one on Beo, the first note was basically, "I LOVE HIM!" caps and all. I like the guy, but I like Reis, Melly and Musty a lot more. People overrate Izlude?
I died laughing at your spelling of 'Wiegraf', just so you know. That's great.

Nice to see you again, Luna. How did graduation go?
I don't know, but I'd think that Beowulf would first have to rethink his view of Reis before he thinks about how to treat her in light of that incident.
Just to let you know, to get that battle you have to go to Mandalia from the Thieves Fort.

Hi, raitei. No, it wasn't supposed to be a shock, per se, but it is supposed to bring a chill down your spine or something. Well, I can only hope that you'll enjoy the latter stories.