Disclaimer: Hmm…witty disclaimer…screw it, I own ALL of FFVIII! HAHAHAHAHA! (gets clubbed unconscious) Hi, I'm Omega Gilgamesh's lawyer, and he claims ownership of nothing contained within this article of virtual literature, except the direct events and the two characters it focuses mostly on.
Chapter Ten: Duel of Fates
Hideo fired off Shadow Run and lunged forward, delivering a left hook to Kaejadra's face, then a right punch into the sorcerer's gut. He pulled back his fist, only to pull it to his shoulder, and raised his elbow to Kaejadra's chin, making him lean back. With his raised arm, Hideo made a small step in closer to bring his elbow onto the sorcerer's sternum, forcing him off balance and onto the ground.
With Shadow Run still in use, he jumped into the air. There, he accessed his newfound powers, and shot off three Fira spells. He expected Kaejadra to use shell or some other spell, but instead the sorcerer's body seemed to dissolve and absorb into the dirt below him, and the fiery spells detonated dirt alone.
Hideo touched ground again, keeping his senses sharp, blue pupil eyes scanning the area. Before he saw anything, he heard dirt and soil breaking and being shuffled. Three mounds around him suddenly spurt up, and they moved as if something traveled under the surface.
The three subterranean creatures circled him, and Hideo just stood there, waiting for their move. Did Kaejadra bring some fastitocalons out here? The three mounds stopped moving for a second, then suddenly shot towards him five times faster than they moved before.
Shadow Run fired off and he jumped in the air immediately, and as the three mounds connected, dirt blasted out as a stream of fire shot straight up into the sky.
Distracted by the sight, he didn't notice the sorcerer behind him until a telekinetic blast knocked him to the ground. Hideo rolled onto his back, but before he could get up, the soils around him burst as six tentacles of dirt lanced up, then coil around him, pinning him to the ground. The ground he lay on broke away from the rest of the plains, lifting him up and forward so he was once again upright, as if he were on an examination table
The albino form of Kaejadra appeared from the fog. "You disappoint me. Why use a knife when you have missiles at your disposal?"
Hideo squirmed in his bindings, and finally found some slack. Using it for wind up, he pushed his shoulder out as hard as he could, and the tentacles broke.
Acting immediately, he cast a Quake spell, and upheavals of earth under the sorcerer threw the sorcerer's attention off for the split second Hideo needed. He fired off a telekinetic blast, knocking Kaejadra into the air, and followed up with an Ultima spell. But before the blast of green energy could reach the sorcerer, his body suddenly jolted to the side, avoiding the spell entirely. He then returned his gaze to Hideo. "Enough with the parlor tricks! You can now do everything I can do, so stop holding back!" He pulled his hand back, then threw an Ultima spell at his opponent.
Hideo jumped into the air, easily avoiding the slow moving spell. There, he instinctively found the power within himself to fly. So, I have the same power as you do, eh? His brow furled. But you're still stronger than me, because of Eden. Yet I still have the Shadow Run on my side, and speed is my ally.
He felt his newfound power, feeling it's intricacies and properties. He saw how he could manipulate the elements around him; earth, heat, gravity. He felt the coding and weavings of what both Kaejadra and himself were doing right then. The power of the sorcerer barely touched conventional spells, it's true power lay in manipulation. As he explored this power, he found it's incredible similarity to hacking. This was his turf, now! My speed and brains versus your power. This ought to be interesting.
Hideo started moving to the left, circling his opponent. Then he activated Shadow Run, and much to his delight, it affected his flying as well. He pulled back into the fog, away from Kaejadra's sight. There, he gathered the moisture in the fog to create ice darts. Unlike Ice elemental magic, these weren't concentrations of freezing energies that exploded and spread on impact, but were simply dozens of shards of ice, as long as a fist and sharp as a sword.
A rift in the fog appeared and widened, opening a path between Kaejadra and Hideo. Immediately, the ice shards shot forward as fast as bullets. The Bastard Shepherd managed to blast out a gigantic stream of flames from his hand, burning the shards before they reached him, but was caught unaware as a huge mound of earth, looking as if it were scooped from the ground like ice cream, shot up and collided with him, lifting him skyward.
A second later, the mound exploded, leaving Kaejadra floating as large chunks of soil and clay fell to the ground. "Now you're starting to learn." He said. Then he accessed his control over the fog, and closed the rift, the walls of fog smashing together quickly. He immediately made the fog where Hideo stood denser, until he was floating in a blob of water. The Bastard Shepherd then froze the moisture he had gathered.
Kaejadra smiled. He couldn't have gotten away quick enough to escape the giant chunk of ice that now hovered where Hideo was flying. The sorcerer cleared the fog around him to inspect his catch, only to find the icy prison had nothing in it.
Suddenly his body became incased in an invisible grip, and was violently slammed into the smooth chunk of ice. Immediately following, three black sphere-like portals formed around the sorcerer, each ten yards away. Kaejadra recognized them as Meteor spells. He jumped off the chunk of floating ice as the first asteroid crashed into it, but found a dozen more coming straight at him.
He started firing off bursts of light, lesser versions of what he used to kill Andrea, vaporizing the huge crater covered rocks as fast as he could.
A swirl of mist coalesced into Hideo, a trick similar to what Kaejadra did earlier when he dissolved his body. As soon as his body was fully reformed, he cast Thundaga on the sorcerer. The lightning stunned him, holding him there until one of the asteroids collided with him, and crashed to the ground with the sorcerer under it.
A second later, a massive shell formed from the crater, throwing the huge rock off. The asteroids after that crashed into the barrier, each nearly collapsing it.
The three spells were nearly finished. Hideo reached out with his power and touched the shell spell. As soon as he felt it, he altered it so it's own properties decayed themselves, making it dissolve almost instantly. The next asteroid crashed into the crater, pushing up even more dirt. The two remaining ether-based rocks crashed into that asteroid, pushing it deeper in, shattering on impact.
Hideo doubted that killed him, not with Eden's power. The asteroid exploded, sending out a shockwave that knocked the Estharian sorcerer over. Kaejadra lumbered out of the crater, black, bruised, and bleeding from several gashes littered across his arms and torso. There was no malice in his face, only a cold excitement.
His eyes seemed to penetrate into Hideo's soul, and the Estharian found himself somewhere else, watching a scene unfold in front of him. A child, who couldn't have been older than seven, sat on the ground. He had a black eye in sharp contrast to his albino skin and white hair, with red and blue veins barely visible under the skin. He was sitting cross legged on the thin, hard packed soil, surrounded by the familiar trees and vines of the Grandidi Forest. He was sobbing.
"I want you to make that cockatrice kill that funguar." An female voice demanded. The two monsters were nearby, surrounded by an electro-field cage.
The young Kaejadra looked up to Andrea, his eyes looking far too much like a battered puppy's. "Please, don't make me do it. They're my friends, they did nothing to you!" Instantly, a low grade thunder spell ripped through his frail body, making him fall back and weep quietly in pain.
"Do it!" Her voice was quiet, but her tone was colder than ice.
Little Kaejadra looked at the two monsters with tear filled eyes. "I can't!"
"Can't, or won't?" Kaejadra closed his eyes tightly and scrunched into a ball right before Andrea hit him with a thunder spell twice as powerful as before.
The connection broke, and the Bastard Shepherd charged. The first punch to the head blurred his vision, the second made his world spin. The next punch went to his stomach, making Hideo double over onto his knees. If Kaejadra's recollection wasn't still playing over and over in his mind he would've easily dodged those strikes.
The Bastard Shepherd reached down and lifted Hideo by the neck. He then threw the Estharian into the air, and spun around to kick him. Hideo barely managed to form a protect spell in time, yet the force of the kick sent him flying back, skidding across the ground. He came to a stop a hundred feet away from the sorcerer, now hidden by the fog. Damn it! Eden's enhanced his strength as much as his magic!
He managed to get to his feet, as well as drive the memories out of his head. In the fog, he saw a reddish-orange glow approaching. Out came Kaejadra, holding a long, heavy scimitar of flames in his hands.
Hideo formed a similar sword of fire magic in his hands, shaped like the Lunar Edge. Kaejadra is much stronger than me, and if I made a sword of ice elemental, the stronger magical properties of his sword would go through mine like butter. Malak, I hope your lessons pay off.
Grabbing the hilt with both hands, Kaejadra made the first move. Hideo deflected and redirected the attacks, but never dared to directly block a move, and as such, he was pushed back. Soon, he started using sidesteps and lateral movements to throw off the sorcerer's directly lined attacks.
In mid-swing, Kaejadra's fiery blade faded into wisps, and was replaced by a blade of blue ice. When the icy blade met Hideo's red fire, light flashed, followed by the Estharian's blade dissolving. The young SeeD managed to grasp Shadow Run in time to dodge the next few attacks before creating his own blade of ice. The next strike was from a blade of fire, which overpowered the opposing elemental energy of Hideo's, and cut his arm in the process. With Shadow Run, Hideo flipped over Kaejadra, spun in mid-air and kicked the sorcerer in the side of the head.
The attack forced some distance between them, but didn't stun the sorcerer at all. Yet it granted Hideo the valuable time he needed to come up with a strategy. Forming a fire based sword in one hand and an ice based one in the other, Hideo was prepared for whichever the sorcerer attacked with.
Kaejadra smirked, and dashed forward with his fiery blade. As Hideo expected, the fire turned to ice at the last second, and he let go of the fire version of his sword, letting it drop to the ground. After a few swings, Kaejadra switched to an fire blade, and instead of letting the former sword dissipate, Hideo just let his sword fall to the ground as a new one formed in his hands.
Kaejadra lunged forward for a stab, his scimitar changing back to ice. Hideo let go of his sword, immediately forming a new one to push the blade to the side, his sword tip facing down. The Estharian quickly stepped in and did a knife-hand chop to Kaejadra's throat, forcing a gag out of him. With the distraction, he swung the sorcerer's magical blade away as hard as he could, throwing his opponent slightly off balance before kicking him in the face hard.
Kaejadra recovered quickly, and went in for a downward attack. Hideo lifted his blade up and did a similar sword swing, only his sword coming at an angle on top of Kaejadra's in order to push it to the side. With the movement, Hideo would end up shoulder-to-shoulder with Kaejadra, but instead of stopping, he rammed into him, knocking him over.
Almost instantly, Kaejadra lifted off the ground into flight, but just as quickly, Hideo caught him in a telekinetic grip and slammed him back onto the ground with enough force to cause a minor tremor. Then he accessed the earth element, and caused an upheaval of earth next to the sorcerer, which crashed like a beach wave onto him.
Kaejadra broke up the soil covering him, and telekinetically hurled the dirt bricks at Hideo, who raised a protect spell to shield him. At the same time, the Estharian decided to use the plan he had devised. Gripping each elemental sword he had planted across the field with telekinesis, he hurled them at Kaejadra.
The sorcerer, shocked at the sudden attack, barely managed to evade the first one before forming an ice and fire sword in each hand, and managed to cut the next few into dust. But the last one, a fire sword, was to his side and slightly behind him, and he didn't get to it before it stabbed all the way through his right thigh.
Kaejadra let out a yell of pain, and punched the blade with his fist, making it dissolve, and blood instantly started to flow.
Hideo wasted no time in forming a new sword of ice, and with Shadow Run, ran in for the stab. The sorcerer half evaded and half collapsed onto his right knee, making Hideo's blade do a shallow, but long cut over his shoulder. But with the momentum of the dash, the Estharian sorcerer shoved his elbow into Kaejadra's face.
Suddenly, in his mind he was somewhere else again. This time in a gray room with a military grade cot, and nothing else. This time, instead of watching images like a movie, he saw through Kaejadra's eyes. Even more than that, he felt foreign emotions, one's he knew and recognized, yet they weren't his own.
This time, Kaejadra probably had the body of a nine year old. He shut the door behind him, and went to his bed, excitement stirring within him. He looked around the room one more time, just to make sure there wasn't a camera set up without him knowing, and he pulled the blankets away from the foot of his cot. There lay a rock, a piece of granite, a few pieces of wood bark, and a clawed talon toe from a cockatrice.
The rock was shaped somewhat like a goose head, and the granite piece was shaped something like an arrow head or a pointer. The pieces of wood bark were cut into various shapes, like a human, a house, what Hideo guessed to be an elnoyle, and one piece that didn't look like anything discernable. Young Kaejadra picked up the cockatrice claw and started carving off small filings from the unshaped wood bark.
He didn't want anyone to find out about his toys. The thought scared him to death.
"What are you doing?" A female voice said from behind him. He felt Kaejadra's body go cold as he turned around and tried desperately to hide his secret treasure behind him.
"N-nothing, y-your Eminence." He stuttered. He was knocked away from the bed and into the wall so hard he nearly lost consciousness. He didn't have enough time to protest as Andrea cast a Fire spell on the cot, destroying it and his toys.
Tears welled up in his eyes, as well as greater hatred for the bitch. She turned around, and before stepping through the door, without turning to look at him, she said, "Remember your place, Kaejadra. Stop pretending to be human; you are a weapon, a tool, nothing more. If I find another such collection, or some other vanity to distract you from your purpose, you'll spend a month in the hole! You'll get a new cot in six weeks." Then she left him, alone in that small, cold room.
The memory ended, and Hideo found himself looking in Kaejadra's sweat covered face. With a grunt, he pushed the sorcerer away, making him hop a little as he favored his left leg. Hideo tried to push the recollected emotions out of his head, but he couldn't stop them from reminding him of similar times in his own childhood. He was six, with an air filled ball he bounced on the wall back to him, and he remembered the bitter feeling when one of his brother's friends pulled out a knife and punctured the ball, destroying his only toy for a laugh.
"Why are you showing me this?" Hideo asked.
"You and I are now the same." He pointed to Hideo and then himself. "We are both sorcerers, carriers of this power which no one else could ever understand." He paused a second to revel in the moment. "I have waited my whole life for this. Now I am no longer alone, and I want to enjoy THIS!" He jumped forward, and Hideo jumped back. Kaejadra put his hand to the ground, blue energy crossed the grass, covering everything in frost, and locked Hideo's legs in place in a sheet of ice.
Kaejadra ran forward, with a new fire sword in hand. A moment before he could impale his foe, Hideo's body turned to mist, and the sword went through nothing but air. The Estharian's body reappeared behind the Bastard Shepherd, and he swung his fist like a hammer into the base of Kaejadra's skull. He fell to the ground, stunned, the sword in his hand dissolving.
Hideo kicked him, forcing him onto the ground, then he jumped away. Kaejadra managed to recover fast enough to feel the attack coming, and rolled to the side as a sharp spike of rock shot out of the ground. He continued to roll to the side as more spikes shot up.
He quickly floated into the air, then the ground under him scooped up, but not by Hideo's will. The lump of earth became a ball Kaejadra held over his head, telekinetically. He brought his upwardly stretched hand back, as if to throw it. Hideo reacted quickly, multiplying gravity so violently that Kaejadra crashed onto the ground, the large ball of hard-packed dirt slamming on top of him.
All was still for a few seconds; nothing happened, save the sounds of battle off in the distance. "Come on, show yourself." Hideo said, quietly.
A low rumbling ran through the ground, gradually building in force. The mound that covered Kaejadra blew away, sending clumps of hardened dirt in every direction. The albino sorcerer flew into the air, and fired an Ultima spell.
Hideo quickly cast Reflect, hoping the spell would be bounced right back. The whistling green ball hit the spell, and was reflected into the ground directly in front of him, where it detonated. Hideo was thrown back by the blast, and slammed into a wall of rock that suddenly shot out of the ground behind him.
Hideo felt Kaejadra manipulating his Reflect spell, reversing it so that any spell that even brushed it would fly directly into the Estharian. He then fired off another Ultima. Hideo couldn't get out of the way fast enough, not in his slumped position. Reacting with the only thing he could, he countered the spell with another Ultima spell. The two balls of green energy hit and merged, but with Kaejadra's superior power, the strength of his spell forced the combination to continue towards Hideo, just a little slower.
Reflexively, Shadow Run activated. Hideo flew up and to the side, missing the spell by inches, thanks to it's slowed speed. He reached out with a modified telekinesis field, and gripped the spell without detonating it. He used its own momentum to slingshot around him, and threw it right back at the other sorcerer.
The explosion was deafening and blinding at the same time, the shockwave nearly slammed Hideo back onto the ground. The green mists faded, revealing Kaejadra with a Shell around him. The shield still held, but the sweat on the sorcerer's face revealed the strain that came with it.
Hideo rose up, becoming level with his opponent. "Seems you got more than you bargained for, Kaejadra." He taunted.
The sorcerer snickered. "Oh no, I didn't. This is exactly what I wanted. If you hadn't adapted to your sorcery so quickly, so well, I would've given most of Eden's essence to you, to level the playing field."
Hideo scoffed. "You would risk your precious plans just for a little sport?"
"No, no, you've got it all wrong. I don't care about that bitch's 'carefully laid out' plans, I came here for you!" Kaejadra floated closer, until they were less than five feet apart. "I don't care about world domination, and I couldn't care less about who rules Esthar. I came here for you."
A swell of rage formed in Hideo. "You attacked Balamb, brought an army of monsters here to kill my friends and destroy my home just for the chance to fight me again?"
The Bastard Shepherd shrugged. "And it worked."
Hideo was about to Ultima the bastard's face, but hesitated when he heard, beyond the screams and roars and gunshots of the battles around them, the rhythmic humming of large repulsor generators. Kaejadra heard it too, and flew straight up.
With no intention of letting the sorcerer get away from him, Hideo flew up, and emerged from the fog. To the south, half a dozen military grade gunships and transports were flying around, unable to find a landing spot due to the great fog.
"Well," Kaejadra mused, "it seems my little fog spell worked better than I planned. It's hindering your backup." He snapped his fingers, as if in disappointment. A second later, the fog quickly cleared up until there was nothing obstructing the Alcauld Plains. Hundreds of dead humans and monsters littered the field for miles, and there were parts of the fields where all green and brown were covered in red.
Almost immediately, the transports touched down, and Estharian soldiers poured out. The gunships started flying across the fields, shooting at the larger monsters with the precision of Estharian technology.
This move shocked Hideo. "What are you doing?"
Kaejadra crossed his arms and turned around. "Oh this? Just leveling the playing field."
What was with this guy? The first vision made it look like he cared for monsters. Does he realize what he's done? "The gunships and troops will waste the monsters, Kaejadra. What chance do you think you have against Balamb, Esthar, SeeD, and myself?"
Kaejadra smirked. "None at all."
"And what of the Bastards?" He asked, swinging his arm to indicate the monsters.
"We'll rejoice in death." Kaejadra answered, a tone of bittersweet happiness in his voice. "All life exists to live, die, decay, and then be fed upon. My friends helped me see that. All creatures kill for food, even humans. Creatures like us, my friends and I, we achieve more in death than in life. In life we cause death, and in death we feed life."
Hideo regarded the sorcerer with a new caution. One thing that was taught in the Garden was that a suicidal enemy was among the most dangerous kind. Nothing held them back. "What are you really doing here?"
"Monsters do not fear death, it is as natural as life. The only thing they fear is an empty existence: a life and death that meant nothing to anyone, that gave no contribution to anything. Only in such an existence can one ever truly die." His eyes burrowed into Hideo. "You understand this, don't you?"
"No, I don't." Hideo lied, defiantly. But his defiance didn't stop the recollection; how he strove so hard to become more than some street urchin, how he struggled so long to become something, anything other than some dead orphan.
"Through accomplishment, we lose our fear of death, as it no longer becomes meaningless." He looked at the Estharian, and for the first time, Hideo saw pain in the sorcerer's eyes. "All I wish is to rest in peace, with my friends upon the endless plains beyond life, free of the life's suffering. I know I'll find peace if I am bested by a sorcerer more powerful than I am. Hideo, free me; give me the peace I've always been denied." The sorcerer took flight away from the gunship, and Hideo followed him, his body moving almost moving from it's own accord.
Kaejadra…you're not what I thought you were. The Bastard Shepard accelerated wildly towards the mountains, and Hideo was forced to use Shadow Run to catch up. We're not that different, you and I.
Snow capped peaks rushed up, and the two sorcerers flashed past them. There, storm clouds had gathered. Lightning flashes shined through the dark bodies, a fragment of the fury that was about to be unleashed within them. Kaejadra flew through the cloud with Hideo following. Moisture coated him, soaking him in icy cold water as he followed his prey. We were never given any chance for peace.
Emerging from the dark heavens into rain filled skies, lightning illuminated a setting befitting their tormented duel. Through the torrential downpour, a large valley of jagged rock rested in the Northern Balamb Mountain Range. Within it, Kaejadra's silhouette floated loftily as dozens of familiar dark portals appeared, randomly scattered across their massive, empty arena. You've done many cruel things, but you're not evil. You never had a choice, you had no other way out.
With a flash and roar, the first meteorites were seen, and the sorcerer's charged. Hideo activated Shadow Run at the last second, shot to the side and rammed his knee into Kaejadra's face. As the sorcerer recoiled from the blow, he countered with a hasty Blizzard spell, freezing half of Hideo's rain soaked body. The Estharian spun around, slamming his leg into the sorcerer's face, jagged ice shards cutting the skin. A random Meteor flashed by them. Then Kaejadra grabbed his opponent in an invisible grip, and hurled them together, driving his fist into the other's gut. Adrenaline overriding the pain, Hideo kicked the other in the crotch, and used Shadow Run to grab his opponent's hair and punch his face repeatedly. An unfocused telekinetic blast separated them, where they were simultaneously struck by separate meteorites. You never gave up, while I despaired. You found your hope, and I found mine. You've chosen death, and I've chosen life. Yet we're not that different, except our fates..
The two recovered, and charged again. Both changed tactics a moment before they would meet. Kaejadra formed a flame scimitar, but didn't use it as Hideo cast Thundaga, postponing their collision. Kaejadra recovered quickly, and captured his foe in a telekinetic grip. He tried to throw Hideo in front of a meteorite, but the Estharian quickly formed a counter grip, and not only pulled him along, but tried to put him ahead. The Bastard Shepherd pulled away from the rocks vector, pulling the other sorcerer along with him, and they wrestled for control. They fought each other's power, trying to push the other into a Meteor spell's path. The fight of pure reflexive tug and counter-tug ended with Kaejadra slamming head-on into a meteorite, while Hideo bounced across the rugged top face. If I had not gotten out of those slums, if I had not been given the President's proposal, would I have become like you? Are you a glimpse of what I might've been? Would I have chosen destruction over struggle?
Hideo managed to regain control, and saw Kaejadra floating there, equally weary and worn. The albino sorcerer brought his hands close together, a massive Ultima spell quickly forming. The Shadow Run activated within Hideo, and he shot his hand upward, the blue energies of the ice element spewing out of his palm. Rain drops froze on contact, and with his telekinesis, he hurled them at the sorcerer, turning them into bullets as they ripped through Kaejadra's flesh. You've found a means to gain what we've both desired so much, and you're willing to take it. I envy you, and I wish I could join you.
The flame of Shadow Run still burned within him, propelling him through the air, slamming both of his feet into the other sorcerer's bloody chest. Down they went, past bullet-fast meteorites, through walls of rain, and they slammed into the rocky mountainside. Hideo didn't stop, he continued to push the sorcerer ever forward, across stone and granite, until exhaustion forced him to stop. I can't join you, not now. I have someone waiting for me.
The Bastard Shepherd lay on the ground, with a look on his face so peaceful, were it not for the blood covering his chest and mouth, one would think he were sleeping. I hope you find your peace now. Go now, with your friends, and rest.
Hideo left the body and took to the skies. He passed the mountains, and looked across the battle scarred plains. Many lay dead, but many still lived. Not all was lost this day.
Good-bye, Kaejadra…thank you.
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It was supposed to have helped her. All her anxieties had rested upon this event, and though answers came, the right answers weren't there. The relief Delta had sought was postponed yet again by the news report.
The expansive intercontinental crime syndicate known as the Black Behemoth had initiated a massive, unprovoked attack on Balamb Island this morning. Due to the quick action of SeeD, who's headquarters is located in the region, the local militia, and the arrival of Estharian support, the army was wiped out, but not without considerable losses. It is estimated that seventy-percent of SeeD had been eradicated. The Garden was safe, Balamb was unharmed, yet the only one she cared about was not announced.
She sat with her knees to her chest, looking from the maroon cliffs overlooking Dollet toward the eastern horizon. So many dead, such a small chance of him being among the lucky. The sun setting in the west warmed her back, offering whatever comfort it could offer. The darkening eastern sky seemed to be mocking her, along with the train schedule. Of course there wouldn't be any trains leaving Dollet until tomorrow.
She gazed at the stars just visible on the horizon. "Hideo, are you alright? Will I ever see you again?" She asked out loud.
"It's possible." A voice behind her said, making her whip around to face the intruder, and she froze.
"Hideo…"
0000000000
"When you look at that ocean on a map, " Hideo said conversationally to the shocked Delta, "it doesn't look that wide, but when you try and cross it, it looks very different."
She got up quickly and ran to him, stopping an arm's length short. Her mouth was open, as if she couldn't find what she wanted to say, her gaze shifted between his new hair and eyes. She reached out her arm hesitantly, and ran her hand through his silver hair.
Hideo laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not a ghost." She brought up her other hand, and caressed his face with it, as if trying to be sure he was really there. He lifted his arms and pulled her in for an embrace. She hugged him fiercely, her cheek pressing against his shoulder. "I'm here." He said softly. "I'm here."
She lifted off his shoulder, and pulled his head in to kiss her. "Hideo," she said as she broke off the kiss, "you're really here."
"And there's nowhere else I'd rather be." He said before kissing her again.
She made this one passionate and deep. When she finally broke it off, she had a look on her face as if she were living a dream.
Hideo smiled, but not just for the passion and peace of the moment. He was afraid she'd be mad at him.
"Hideo," She said, with that dreamy look and smile still on her face and a tone to match, "back in Balamb, when you realized I wasn't going to leave, what were you thinking right then?"
Oh shit! She was mad. He knew if there were two things she couldn't stand, it was chivalry and chauvinism, and he had achieved both at the same time. In his panic trying to find an answer, she kneed him in the stomach so hard, he could have sworn it hit his spine.
As he doubled over, she said, still in that misleading tone, "Oh Hyne, isn't it great to be alive?"
Despite his coughing, he managed to laugh. "Yeah, actually it is."
She squatted down so her face was right in front of his, her false tone gone. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, Hideo Masters. You think you can just kiss a girl before running off to war, and return with hair and eyes like that?"
"Well, not really." He admitted. "But…" he turned on his heels and unceremoniously plopped down beside her, "we've got all the time we need." He gently pulled her onto his lap with telekinesis, earning a surprised look from her. "But there really is no place I'd rather be than right here, right now. So how about we just enjoy the sunset?"
"Oooh no!" She protested. "I am NOT letting you change the subject so eas-" He broke off her sentence by kissing her. This time, she didn't protest.
The End.
Author's Notes: YIPPEEE! For a little history, Duel of Fates was the first fanfic I ever wrote, and this is the rewrite of it, and this is the second time I've posted this second draft. In this second posting of the second draft, I made some changes here and there, mostly to take the occasional colloquial out the narrative, as those don't really belong there, and changed the Delta/Hideo sequences so the relationship doesn't feel so rushed. I still think it was a little rushed, and I had planned on putting more sequences in this second posting, but I could neither come up with good sequences, nor good places to put them. Apparently, the only way I could've achieved that is if I had made a whole third draft instead.
I do have a sequel pretty much completely figured out, but I just don't have the inspiration to do it. I want to keep Hideo and Delta where they are, as they've become almost like real people to me, and I don't want to put them through more suffering.