Hello again my dearest readers! I'm going to distract you for just a moment before you go ahead and read what you've been dying to read for the past few chapters. YES! It is time you knew the REAL story of Monsieur Matt Ishida.
The true Tai Kamiya - There's a scene in FF9 with Zidane in a bar and Dagger's worrying about him? I truly don't remember that… I'd best go play it again.
KatyRose - Thanks for your words of praise. I was blushing so red you could toast a marshmallow on my cheeks! Well, not quite, but thanks all the same!
Cosmic Sasami - Thank you deary. I'm an obsessive perfectionist writer; I can't leave any stone unturned or any character one-dimensional.
Matt faced the grand white marble building. He stood at the end of the pebble path, looking with great apprehension at a scene that he had only witnessed a few weeks ago. Only a few weeks, and yet everything was so different. Last time he'd been here the grass had been the deepest green, and all the flowers were in bright and in full bloom. Everything had been so beautiful. Now all of that was gone. He was gazing upon a wasteland. There was no grass, only weathered soil and dust storms. The lush green trees that had once reached almost to the sky were dead. Blackened, twisted, gnarled trunks now lined the pebbled path. There were no flowers, only harsh snapped branches and the occasional wilted brown leaf. It may not have been Hell, but it was close to it.
Matt was contemplating it all. It was strange how the same man but at a different time in his life can visit the same place and see something completely new and strange. But was it the place that had changed, or the man himself? It wasn't as if his life was constant. The last time he'd been here he'd been basking in the joy of love and light. Now he was sinking further and further into the depths of depression and uncertainty. What had once been rich and blooming was now barren.
Matt took a deep breath before marching purposefully down the dusty, worn down path that wound towards the castle. He ignored the breeze that seemed to be pulling him along, striding at his own pace. He reached the door and shoved it open. Walking in, all he saw was darkness. He spun around, but the door had closed behind him. He was stuck. He had to go through with it now. He had to dispel any doubts. He had no choices left.
"Alright," He yelled into the black emptiness, his voice echoing ominously. "Okay! I give in! Tell me who I am! Tell me who I was! Tell me about my past! Tell me everything! I can't stand not knowing any more!"
He sunk to his knees and lowered his head. Speaking into his chest, he added in a whisper, "I can't take it."
Suddenly one hall leading from the entrance foyer was alight. Candles rippled into flame, their glowing fires a deep blue. The light was dim, but it was there. Matt knew that was the path he had to take. He stood slowly before walking across the cobbled stone floor to the hall. The blue flames lit the way, and he followed them. What he could see of the walls and floor was dank and miserable. He felt sure that Mimi had not walked this way. Someone as pure and ethereal as her would never see something like this. After following the flickering candles for what seemed like an eternity, he came to a door. It slid silently open, and without hesitation Matt walked through.
The Guardians were sitting atop their stone thrones. They nodded at him. Their voices fused and echoed as they spoke, and Matt had a distinct feeling of unease.
"It is time you knew the truth… the whole truth. You remember the day you were abandoned, yes?"
Matt just nodded mutely. Of course he remembered. As if he could forget.
"What you must know, is that you were never meant to be deserted. You see, you were taken from your home by a servant, and left at what was thought to be a safe place to await a friend. Unfortunately, that friend was detained. Injured and impeded by her enemies. By the time she escaped and came to find you, you had already left. This friend looked for you for months. But you were nowhere to be found. After such a time of fruitless search, both you and Takeru were presumed dead. Killed by the same people who had killed your parents."
Matt dropped his gaze to the white marble floor. "You mean… my parents are dead?"
All those years chasing the glimmer of a dream, a wish. All those long years. And for nought. TK would be so disappointed. What would happen to them now? Where would they be redirected on this path of life? Without their quest, they literally had nothing. They were fish floundering on the land of uncertainty.
It took a while for Matt to realise that the Guardians had more to say.
"Yes, Matt. And it is time you knew why… Your mother and father were king and queen of the city of Altair."
Matt opened his mouth to object, but no words were formed. Just a choked, gargling noise. The Guardians took this as an invitation to continue.
"You may have never heard of this city. This is because after the untimely death of your parents, the city descended into chaos. There was no leadership. The king and queen had been killed, and the only heirs to the throne had disappeared- their bodies were never recovered. Without any guidance the town fell apart, and all the self-respecting citizens moved on. Altair is now only a memory, known as the Dead City; the Forgotten City."
Matt was just a little cynical. "I am the heir to the throne? Me? Why should I believe that?"
The Guardians were unfazed by his forceful tone. "That chain around your neck, of course. That pendant means you are from a royal lineage. Each city's insignia is unique. Prince Ken of Lochney has one he would rather denounce. Prince Takeru, your own brother, once had one, but it was lost many years ago. Princess Mimi of Celestria has one that she loathes. In fact, I believe it is at the bottom of a lake. But they all possess one. Or once possessed one."
Matt dragged the gold coin pendant out from under his shirt and examined it closely. So that was what it meant. He was a certifiable prince. But… there were still so many questions. More than ever. "Why… why were my mother and father killed?" he asked uncertainly.
"The first thing you must know, is that your parents were good rulers. Liked by just about everyone due to their fairness and sympathy. But there were a few radicals who despised the two. They no longer believed in the aristocracy, you see. They formed an association known as the Blind Hand, and they stormed the castle one night. Your mother and father summoned the palace guard and went out to meet them head on, in an attempt to distract them from you and Takeru. But sadly they did not prevail. One kindly maid by the name of Sami used a secret passageway not known by the radicals to get you to safety. She then stole a carriage and drove you three towns away before having to leave you, lest she attract suspicion. It's a very lucky thing she left you there, because the Blind Hand caught up with her. Because she wouldn't say where you were, she too was killed. She gave her life for yours."
Matt could no longer reply. His memory, suppressed for so many years, was suddenly flooding his mind. He thought he might drown under the pressure. He was having trouble breathing. He fell to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. He could recall a maid with long red hair and deep blue eyes pushing back a portrait on the wall, then leading himself and a terrified TK through it. It had led through an ancient dungeon and out a trap door in the back of an abandoned shop at the edge of town. He remembered the light of the fire dancing in the distance as it demolished his home. He remembered the sounds of people crying and screaming and begging for their lives. He remembered the sight of the people who were in hiding, too afraid to do anything. He remembered the maid forcing them into the first carriage she'd seen and then driving off under the cover of darkness, apparently deaf to the cries of both TK and himself. He remembered the horses galloping fast, faster, leading them away from the only home they had ever known and the only people they had ever loved. He remembered the sudden stop of the carriage, and Sami urging them to get out. He remembered the barren, deserted street where they stood.
"Stay here."
Her last words echoed through his mind as he collapsed.
So a bunch of you were right! At least in part (sneaky look). Well done, I give you an award for being able to predict the direction of the plot in a terribly cliched ad obvious story such as this one! I'll pin it on your shirt for you…
But the real question is what's going to happen now? Even I don't know, so I can't tell you! You're all going to have to keep reading! I'll probably have to make the next chapter a Mimi chapter though, for balance…
I got the name "the Blind Hand" from the group of Serbian nationalists who killed Archduke Franz (or Francis, depending on your history textbook) Ferdinand and in effect started the First World War. They were the Black Hand.
Oh and Sami from this chapter is Cosmic Sasami, who's been very faithful in dying at the end of each chapter from my cliffhanger addiction. I figure I owed her something for all the pain she's been through :)
Emma's useless facts about nothing in particular
You are more likely to be attacked by a cow than a shark (particularly if it's one of the evil cows from my high school… they had anger management issues)
