Yuna and the others returned to Besaid, to be warmly welcomed home by the villagers. A few hours after the Gullwings returned, another person walked into the village. It was the boy from the hospital, but he seemed fine now.
Slowly, he walked into the village, his eyes fixed on the ground, like he was thinking very hard about something.
It only took him a moment to notice that someone was staring at him, and when he looked up he saw it was Yuna. He merely gave her a small smile, before continuing on towards the temple. That smile seemed so familiar, yet it was hard to place.
He could hear footsteps behind him, so he stopped and turned, finding himself facing Yuna. "Yes?" he asked, his voice so calm it was almost eerie.
Yuna stared at him for a moment, before asking, "Who are you?"
He smiled again. "Gabriel." He said, "Gabriel Highwind."
Yuna started at him a bit. "Highwind..." she whispered slowly.
"How are you related..." She said, her voice trailing off.
"It's a long story." Gabriel said, before his smile suddenly faded away and he looked to the forest, his eyes scanning everything.
"Get behind me.." he said slowly, not taking his eyes off the trees.
Yuna hesitated, but finally went behind him.
"what's going on?" she whispered.
"Genesis followed me again.." He said, his hands moving to his neck to unfasten his cloak, which he took off and handed to Yuna.
"Can you hold that for me?" He asked, "Thanks.."
She took it, clearly confused. "Genesis?" she asked quietly.
"An officer in the Bevellian army." Gabriel said, "We've hated each other for a good eleven or twelve years now.."
"Oh.." Yuna said quietly, before falling silent.
He pulled some straps on his fighting gloves to make sure they were on tight, before stepping forward. Suddenly, a tall boy appeared a few feet from him, with a smirk that showed he was up to no good.
"Hello Gabriel." The boy said, and Gabriel glared. "Hello Genesis." He replied, and Genesis chuckled. "So bitter." He said, "Suppose I better give you a reason to be, eh?" He snapped his fingers, and a good thirty men appeared out of the forest.
Genesis turned his head slightly to talk to his men. "Kill them all and then burn the village." He said, keeping his smirk. Gabriel clenched his hands into fists. "You will not touch these people." He growled, "I'll make sure of it."
"Ready arms!" Genesis called, and the men aimed their rifles. Gabriel ran towards Genesis, sending a fist into his face and sending him back into some of his men. You could see the fear in their eyes, they knew they shouldn't be messing with this kid.
Gabriel then grabbed one of the men by the head and threw his as hard as he could into a group of the other soldiers.
Now, it was chaos. Most the soldiers hurried into the woods, and the ones that stayed, Gabriel took good care of them.
Once all the men were either dead or had run away, Gabriel walked to Genesis, who was backed up against a tree.
"Your parents deserved to die!" Genesis said, "They were traitors to their country, and so are you!"
"Shut up." Gabriel growled, before sending a series of punches at Genesis, all of which connected.
Still, the boy was cocky. "Your precious girlfriend put up a good fight too, even after my men eliminated all your friends." He said, "I made sure to kill her slowly, so she knew what death felt like."
"JUST SHUT UP!" Gabriel yelled, grabbing Genesis by the neck and swinging him around, before throwing him at the temple, taking a good chunk out of the roof.
Gabriel let out a breath and calmed himself down. "I've been training since I was five, what did you expect?" he said, as Genesis came stumbling out of the temple. There was blood pouring from various wounds all over his body, and he looked exhausted.
"Master.." he said, his voice barely audible, "please..father..help me.." He then collapsed.
But it wasn't over yet.
Suddenly, a man appeared next to genesis. He was older, but it was undoubtedly Baralai. He looked to Gabriel, who gave a slight nod. "Take him and go, before I change my mind." He said.
Baralai slung Genesis over his shoulder and stood to face Gabriel. He smiled slightly as he looked him over. "I don't know if you realize it, but you're a lot like your father…" Baralai said, "except for your eyes."
"Leave." Gabriel growled, and Baralai nodded, before disappearing.
Gabriel let out a sigh. "Well, Besaid's safe for now.." He said, giving Yuna a small smile and taking his cloak from her. It was easy to tell from his eyes that it was becoming hard to keep from crying, but boys don't cry, right?
"thank you." Yuna said quietly, before taking a step towards him and hugging him.
He didn't move to hug her back at first, but eventually did. He buried his face into her shoulder, like he was going to cry, but he didn't let himself.
"its alright." She whispered "to cry..."
Gabriel shook his head. "I promised I wouldn't.." He said, his voice slightly muffled by Yuna's shoulder.
"You can't just hold it all in." She whispered, before asking, "Who did you promise?"
"my mother.." He whispered, "I'm not going to break my promise, not now…"
She was silent a bit, before shaking her head slightly.
"And why is it she didn't want you to cry?" she asked finally.
"Because she wanted me to be strong.." He replied.
She sighed and shook her head. "I don't think it is, I think what makes you strong is when you are able to show what you are feeling," she said, "It takes a lot of beating on your pride to show what your really feeling, but if your able to take it then it is truly strength."
She pulled away and set her hands on his shoulders. "But she is your mother, so you should obey her..."
Gabriel gave a nod. "I will.." he said, "Thank you.."
She smiled softly at him. "No, I should be the one thanking you, your the one who saved my home."
She let her hands fall to her side, her smile got a bit bigger. "So thank you."
"You're welcome.." Gabriel said.
This is where my friend and I stopped doing this. We both got busy with school and such. If I can get ahold of it, I might put up Yuna's POV of the same story, or she might, I dunno. I'll be sure to tell you if I do.