-X- Introduction –X-
- Desolate Gail: Dual Enmity
- Started on: 5-17-2004 / Posted on: 4-25-2004 / Checked on: Not Applicable
- By: Zeronova
- Chapter 45: Façade verse blunt

- Text : Third person, Narration
- Text : First person, Thoughts
- Text : Interjection, the Narrator

-X- End Introduction –X-

The sun was starting to set, leaving the last rays to grace Troy before it plummeted into battle. On the next time the sun would shine on it, it'd either shine on victory, or shine on defeat. Either way, the sun was always apathetic; it shined regardless of who won. The winners would look up gladly to the rising sun, claiming it in reverence of their victory, but it was there apathetically, neither caring nor truly rising or shining for everybody, but out of habit. It was a mere coincidence that during its downtime the battles would be waged and upon its rise they'd be decided.

Kiske stood atop one of the two MTs, both lined up parallel to the broken walls, acting as a new barrier, the bumpers about three feet from each other, making a small barricade. He climbed up from the front of the truck, to stand above all so they could hear his voice. A few soldiers offered him help up, which he ignored. He stood atop the MT for a few moments, looking at the soldiers, standing in groups, talking, one group of four sitting and playing cards as usual, then slowly, a whisper shot through the crowd and they all stopped to see Kiske standing up, equally standing and walking to the MTs to look at him. The setting sun was directly behind him, his body covering over bits of it and silhouetting his body like some sort of Messiah, making his presence seem even more powerful. Finally, all the soldiers were crowded near the MT, standing in a group in front of Kiske. He stood silent, looking over the faces. Not many...three, maybe four hundred, jeez, most of my men stayed behind in Lyon to make sure those civilians got a seat...

"...Do you all know why I am here?" he asked slightly. There was a murmur through the crowd, but it was more of a rhetorical question. His hands tightened behind his back, stepping to his left, pacing slightly. "I'll tell you. This city behind you, in front of me...is Troy. This is our hated enemy, as bad as the Gears. We've been told they're Black Tech using blasphemers and evil, but they're human. We came here to save the civilians we had in our MTs from Lyon. The spirit of Lyon is destroyed, but we are not. The soldiers, civilians, the deaths of people we had to leave behind...their blood stains the oncoming Gears. We must fight with one enemy to conquer another...the Troy forces will aid us in this battle. We will fight the oncoming Gears, not for only Troy, but for us, for Lyon. Those who died at Lyon shouldn't be forgot and their dust wiped into the urn like the rest of our race, but let us kill those who killed them. Justice cannot continue driving us from our cities and destroying our lives...we must make a stand, stop these Gears, and after this...after we win, we will end this war. It's been a hundred years, we've not been able to defeat or overcome them, and we have to, or else this will never end. We will never stop this running from our cities, we will never be able to stop this fleeing. We must end this war, and I want to lead the end of it."

"I do not want to be driven from my home anymore. I have had no home in my life..." Ky said, trailing off pacing the other way before continuing. "I was an orphan, raised in the Seikishidan training program since I can remember, I never knew my parents. My home was always where ever was safe, which was never constant. We'd load up on an MT with the soldiers every few months and ship off somewhere, never having one home. I'm sick of moving around, unable to hold onto anything in this world. I want to take this dirt, this ground, life, and not be afraid to hold it in my palm and know that on the following eve it might not be mine, but Justice's. This world is ours; God made this world for humanity, not for Gears, but for us. We shall reclaim our land, our lives, from these evils, and we shall not be made to run from it anymore." There was a resounding hurrah and movement through the crowd, a smile and an anxiousness permeating them. Their moods had been lifted and in their eyes held a glint of hope, survival, and the faith of God to lead them to victory, but the rest of their bodies were unfit. They were mentally ready for battle, but their bodies were not. Black rings circled their eyes and cheeks drooped from lack of sleep, food, and an overwhelming fear, their backs were hunched and their bodies looked at the breaking point. Ky took a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing, knowing those faces he liked to see would soon change from battle morale to blankness.

"Enough of the morale raising...I need to get down to business. We only have a few hours until the attack, so I'm going to tell you all how I want this done. I want all of the Seikishidan soldiers twenty yards in front of the MTs. We'll make a wall in front of the MTs. The Gears will attack us, and we are the front line of defense. We opened Troy for attack, so we'll be the first to defend it. In plus, we have our civilians in there as well, so we're not just fighting for our enemy. On top of the MTs will be the Trojan gunners; they'll fire over our heads at the Gears, don't be startled by the bang. Keep your focus on the Gears when you hear them go off. Behind us will be the rest of the Trojans. We fight to keep them out of the city, but if they overpower us, we'll retreat past the MTs, which we will use as a barricade. We'll stand on the inside walls of Troy on each side of the destroyed gate, and let them come in. When enough of them get in, we'll cut off the flow, flank them from the sides and back, and the push them back out past the MTs." He took another sigh, pacing back on top of the MT, each boot step echoing a metallic clank on the roof of the U.N. gift. "Most of you will not live past today, we'll be fighting a huge force and we will be outnumbered, but we must persevere. There is no giving up, because if you give up, you will be killed, so if you must be killed, go out in such a glorious way that even God will have to give you His graces for your deeds. We have a few hours until they are here, so make your rounds but report back here in an hour."

Kiske jumped off of the MT, walking forward through the crowd of Seikishidan, all of them parting as he moved through them, all of their heads snapping up immediately to not look him in the eye as he passed. A grumble passed through them all, walking out past the MTs to their positions, some back into the city to find their family or grab something there, dispersing slightly. Ky walked past four soldiers who walked over to a small boulder after he was done talking, and picked up their cards they left, face down, on the rock continuing, one of them saying "your turn, Jack" as he sat down. A few more steps and Ky was confronted by another man.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kiske, but we are here under orders of Mr. LaTorri to assist you." a short, stocky man who looked like he had seen enough Gears in his times said.

"I need your gunner troops on top of the MTs. Our soldiers will be twenty yards out from the MTs, so make sure they shoot the Gears from far out, and when we engage them, do not shoot the first line of Gears we are tangled with. All of your infantry soldiers we need behind the Seikishidan, lined up all the way to the MTs, since we'll be the first line."

"And you'll be in charge?" the man asked, folding his arms, his soldiers behind him looking at Ky. He had a large ordinance of them behind him, all of them dressed in their black slacks held up by a large black belt, little pockets all over the belt for bullets or whatever other Black Tech materials. They each had different types of shirts on, covered by a black vest that seemed like hardened leather, like their belt, a stitched and red Z on the shoulder, the same Z on their pistols. On their left sides they had a sword, a standard issue one, not as long or big as the Seikishidan, but suitable enough for in close battle, probably cheaply manufactured and a worthless sword, Ky thought, it probably being from Zepp as well. They all had the annoyed type of arrogant look on their faces, a few Seikishidan troops turning to see their leader and all of the soldiers surrounding him, the Trojan soldiers shooting back glances of hatred.

"I'll be fighting on the front lines with my men. My men know my voice, if I give them an order, they'll follow it."

"What if you fall?"

"Then you can assume command. If I do fall, my soldiers will automatically know, and you have control of my soldiers. Until I do fall, give me control of your soldiers."

"...Under the order of Mr. LaTorri, I shall." he said hesitantly.

"We're forming in about an hour, but until then, we need to prepare for battle. Get civilians as far back as we can, and up into the buildings. If they are as strong as LaTorri says, then they'll be safe up there. If we can't fit them, move them to the back of Troy. I want all abled body men to be equipped and out here fighting. I'm putting my MTs up as barricades just in case, so we all have to make sacrifices here."

"...Fine. You heard the man, elbows and assholes, get to it." he yelled, turning to his soldiers and making a broad sweeping motion with his arm, a gruff voice echoing out over his soldier who all yelled "sir!" in confirmation, saluted, and scurried along, passing through the white coated Seikishidan, their black attire sticking out, whispers of malice and curses between them as they spanned out at the destroyed gate area.

"If I require your assisstance, Mr.-"

"Mr. LaTorri. Vito LaTorri." he responded.

"LaTorri? Like Sergio?"

"He's my little brother." the Italian military man said.

"...That makes sense."

"Even you outsiders can understand what they cannot here on the lower floor."

"But he said that that council elected him."

"They did so with a little bit of my influence."

"You mean coercion."

"Just a means to a solution, Mr. Kiske. Let us take a walk, Mr. Kiske." The man extended his arm and stepped forward, as if to push Ky along, but in a friendly manner. He was used to most people in Troy just going with him anyway, not having to use force, so the arm gesture being only one of habit but not of use, but with Kiske, he had to wait a moment for him to agree.

"Now isn't the time for talking. We've got to prepare." Ky said vehemently. The short and stout man, who looked as if he was one solid muscle, a few scars lining his exposed skin along his wrists and one on his neck, simply chuckled slightly, as if he knew something Kiske didn't.

"Are you truly scared of the oncoming fight? I look at it with optimism. This is the first fight Troy has fought in its history since the fourth wall was constructed, and it's been half a century since then. We deal with minor Gear threats, but we always would just kill them before they could make it up our walls and we used the metal sheeting and sandstone to make sure they couldn't. Troy will not fall, it never has."

"Your men have never experienced battle or Gears, there's no room for optimism."

"I've experienced many Gears and many battles...on every excursion from Troy, I am on board. We've been assaulted before, and I've had to defend the people on our MT while we made it back to Troy, and I have. Against a roaming squad, I killed them all and stand here today." A roaming squad is just a pack of Gears that run along the plains, looking for anything to kill. There's usually twenty or twenty five in these roaming squads. Justice uses them to keep hold on land he has already taken, like a sentry or security squad.

"...That is indeed impressive, but we are facing an army, Mr. LaTorri." They walked a few more steps before LaTorri walked to a small alley between stores, motioning for Kiske to follow him.

"Mr. Kiske, do you not notice that I have to be strong in front of my soldiers?" he whispered. His arrogant attitude about the oncoming battle dissipated into harsh reality. "Those Gears will wipe us out...I know that full well, but that's not something I will tell my troops. We'll fight for the glory of Troy or die for it. I've lived in this city, I've basically owned it...the council, my brother, they're figureheads. The real way a city like this is run is by power, pure force. I've been the leader of that force since I was twenty, I've commanded our army and kept the city separated from lower and upper and made our security measures against Gears full proof. Your intrusion here is something I despise you for, but currently, we both have a bigger problem facing us, the Gears, so enough. We will fight as you say, but I do no give a damn about you or your soldiers. If you so much as make an order I don't agree with or make one of my soldiers fight one foot from where I do not want, I will not hesitate to attack you as well as the Gears."

"...Now that civility is gone, I see the true side of Troy." LaTorri spat out of the side of his mouth then returned gaze to Ky.

"We've got to prepare for the fight, Mr. Kiske, you get to your men, I will to mine. Good day." he said in a heavy Italian accent, giving a half-hearted salute and his lip curling in disgust as he walked out of the dark alley he led Ky into and returned to the front of the gate. Ky sighed, realizing that his own steadfast self and unbudging morale got him into more problems than it solved. On the battlefield, he was the perfect person to lead, but for politics, he was terrible, and he knew it. Vito LaTorri at least had the knowledge of when to use a false self for politics and the right impressions, but Ky was always blunt and to the point, within means of being polite, but not to the brink of totally lying and being a different person to appease others or the public.

Ky exited the alley, following LaTorri who quickly mingled with his troops, gave orders, and did his job, the lower city people huddling around them to see these upper city soldiers, at which they were herded up and put through the civilian protocols for the oncoming battles. There was something in the air...that bitter bite that one can feel when they breath in, the stabbing feeling of the jagged air moving into their lungs, they cold and looming sense of something bad, the air that Ky always seemed to breathe in before a large battle. Maybe it was his mind, but he took his deep breath, feeling the spines in his lungs and breathed out refreshed from the reality-ensuring breath, and then walked to his own soldiers, doing as LaTorri had; prepare for battle.

-X- Author's Notes –X-
- Zeronova's Notes:
- Sorry that it's been like 4 chapters since Ky hit Troy, and we still don't have the battle. We have a few more chapter of building up, then the fight, so please wait. This is the end of Arc II, so be patient with me. Sorry for it being so short, I kind of have been way off with the word counts, like 5k off per chapter, so I am trying to even it out. But, this is the suspense before the big bang!
-X- End Author's Notes –X-