Kage/Shadow is Kira – but on this particular Arc, and to capitalize the fact that this is a Kira-Lacus fic… I'm writing him as Kira, but others will still call him Kage/Shadow.
We writers sometimes got hit by what we all call Writer's Block. I've had it a few times so I know. So I guess I'm getting hit by what I would call Writer's burst. Ideas just popping non stop in my head… and I can jot them down with impunity. Let's see how long this speed spurt in update rate gonna last.
This is a very 'calm before the storm' chapter. No action. But there's a LOT of information here, so get ready for some headache.
And thanks for Lyndine for pointing out such an important inconsistency of the years. That mistake has been rectified: the canon years is Kira had left the Zala Household for 8 years. I'm fixing the previous chapters as well. Sorry about the confusion.
NOTE:
"Doryaaaaaaaaaa!": normal talking
"Charge!": special case
'Darn!': thoughts
GWA HA HA HA! : Giant creature speech
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!
Please… read and review
00000000000000
Every army always brought some surgeons with them in a long military campaign. The Pilgrimage was no different. There are surgeons that came along with Lowe's Junk Guild team… and there are also surgeons that were brought along with the Zaft Knights. Whatever the case, it is also a given that in war time, Surgeons also doubles as a veritable fighting force. To fight when the time calls for more fighting and less healing.
In Junius, the Surgeon found themselves… shall we say… out of work. Surgeons are doctors. And in sense, a doctor's job is to keep people alive. Though, at the current age's medical knowledge, the ways of helping people are quite limited. Mostly are only about treating traumas, dissection, amputations, and such. In Junius, just one scratch from a Genma and the fate that awaits you is death. And there's nothing even the best surgeon can do about it.
Things don't change even when Shadow came around and give a little help. The surgeon remained jobless… but not because they cannot be saved but because they have no need saving! The Knights were doing SO well… there are no casualties at all…
Until today.
In the aftermath after Kira's rampage, the casualty number skyrocketed. Everyone, and by that, it means EVERYONE, including the surgeons themselves… were all wounded.
Somehow… the Surgeons managed to tend to themselves… giving enough patchwork to themselves so that they can give other pilgrims some medical aid. But with so many wounded… the Surgeons' hope for recovery are bleak. They projected at least half will lose their lives. And so it is with a great confusion and bewilderment… when they handed the report to Waltfeldt. And all the Hakutenkun has to say is: "…seriously?"
"There are over 400 of us… and we're all injured, no mistake… but… ignoring the varying level of severity of the injuries… we have no casualties. No one… died. Or in danger of dying."
"You mean… after all THAT…" Lamia remembered the carnage that ensued: the flowing blood, the spikes, the flesh ripping… "And no one get killed or dying?" Lamia choked in her bed. The Doctors diagnosed all her bones were fractured and she had a serious internal injuries on some of her organs. She had it bad, mostly because of her own Suicide Sound bomb attack.
"Yeah. We're just… severely beaten." Even those who were consumed by the gigantic pillars of spikes were found okay. Badly injured… but okay. Some, like Jeremiah, lost a limb or two. But they were in no danger of losing their lives.
"I see…" Waltfeldt nodded calmly, as if he had been expecting this.
"You're not surprised?" Gino had one of his arms (his wings in animal form) on a sling.
"Look at me. He turned me into a Swiss cheese. Made a sheath out of my body for over 150 weapons… and none of them hit my vitals."
"Quite frankly my lady… the one who's getting the most injuries… are you… and…" The surgeon remembered a terrifying sight and he just couldn't take it anymore. He ran to the back and vomit.
"500 men… all brutalized by an insane psychopath… and we have Zero casualties…" Waltfeldt shook his head in disbelief. "We owe him a freakishly huge debt."
Right after the massacre, Kira aided in finding the Surgeons amongst his victims, ignoring Lacus' protest to get him treated. But Kira refused to stop until he made sure all the surgeons were found and ready to work… in some capacity. After which, that's when he finally decided to stop and let his wounds get treated.
A little while earlier…
"Be careful. I know my own body more than anyone. I'm practically being stapled together by my armor right now so it won't be a pretty sight…" Kira sighed. "In truth I doubt your surgeons can help me at this point."
"Just shut up and let me treat you!" Lacus barked angrily. "I'm… I'm a doctor!"
Kira looked at Lacus. It seems she was really desperate to help him. "I don't think even doctors can…"
"She can." Lamia muttered. "My sister… before she quit due to the progressing of her miasma… she's the best doctor in the whole empire… nay… the whole world. If there's anyone on this earth that can help you… it's her."
Kira looked at Lacus trembling figure. "It's gonna be an eyeful."
"I'll deal with it." She was on the verge of crying now.
But Kira wasn't sure. "Let me give you a sneak peak." Kira did something to his chest armor. He plucked out a piece…
And a fountain of blood splattered on a shocked Lacus' face.
"GYRAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!" Even Kira was shocked that he can scream that loud, terrifying nearby survivors… if they don't faint first at what little they just saw. "Holy SHIT that hurts… this armor is really keeping me together didn't it?"
But the stunned Lacus didn't let out a sound nor share the jovial sentiment. She was wrong to be concerned or worried. She should be TERRIFIED. What Kira just showed her was something she would only see… in slaughterhouse. The kind of things you see when animals are being hanged: pieces or red meat and bones… and… and… innards…
"My tent. Get it ready. I'm operating you." So is the Princess' ultimatum.
Chapter 30
A little truth… and a Great Lie
Inside the tent…
Lacus cupped Ms. Pink in her hands as she fell on her back, hugging the pink ball close to her chest, trembling. "I'm scared… Ms. Pink… I'm really… really scared…"
"I WON'T ACCEPT THIS! HARO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS! HARO!"
"…Lily."
Upon hearing the magic word, Ms. Pink once again transformed back into the body double of Lacus. "Yes, Lacus?
"Bring them out."
"Bring who out, haro?'
Lacus glared to her naughty subordinate. "Your friends that you've been carrying with you for over 4 years."
Lily's eyes widened in delight and then she giggled. "Ahh… I got found out I see…" Lily shook her head several times, and from the flowers growing out of her hair, other haros suddenly popped out. 11 of them with varying colors. They all began shouting and cheering loudly: "Lacus! Haro! Lacus! Haro! Lacus! Haro! Haro! haro!"
Even Lacus, who was so down until a minute ago, was rejuvenated once again. "Hai. Hai! Alright settle down now. Settle down! Oh dear." Lacus giggled at her cute looking spherical friends, dancing and hopping about so wildly.
"It's been 4 years since you last used them, haro. They're very excited. I don't think you'll be able to keep their mouth shut haro." Lily chuckled.
"4 years… you're right… it's been 4 years…" Lacus sighed. 4 years ago, her miasma had escalated to the point it has reached a dangerous stage. She can no longer be close to her patient any longer than 10 minutes. That was the day Lacus realized her days as a doctor is over. Or so she thought. "Krona, Scalpel."
The silver colored Haro, Krona, turned briefly into another copy of Lacus, but her pink hair were bound together in a single long braid. And then, she turned into a small silver colored scalpel that fly around and then landed perfectly on Lacus' hands. Lacus looked at her old scalpel. She began using shikigami based equipment when her touch began to infect normal equipment. "4 years and you girls still respond to my calls as if it were yesterday." Lacus playfully eyed Lily with suspicion.
"We're constantly on alert, haro." Lily returned her master's smile in the exact same playfulness. "In case someday you found some cure… or that suddenly you are in need to heal someone again."
Lacus placed the scalpel near her face. Her other arms… the tools of the trade of every doctor… she felt like she just got her lost limbs back. She threw the silver scalpel back to the air, and it transformed back into its Haro ball shape. Lacus bent down and raised her fingers and smiled in all seriousness: "I guess today's that day… make me proud, all of you. This is a very difficult and a very problematic surgery we're about to have. Haro?"
"Haro!" All 12 Haros, Lily included, replied with vigor.
And Kira chose that time to walk in. Upon seeing the 12 haros, Kira tilted his head in confusion. "Did I take the wrong turn somewhere or…"
"No. This… is your surgery room. And these… are my assistants." Lacus waved her hands around the Haros gathering around her. "Now lie down." Lacus motioned at the bed.
Kira did as he was told. But before Lacus can begin, Kira warned her. "Let me warn you again… it's a bloody mess… I'm swimming in my own blood here."
"I'll deal with it." Lacus groaned. "Now… here's what we're going to do: we're going to open your armor, one section at a time. Okay? You open a section… I'll take care the injuries in that section… and then we move on to the next. Clear?"
"Got it."
"Okay… give me a minute." Lacus took a deep, deep breath… 'Remember… biceps… remember what you've learned… ulna… remember… the sound of human heartbeat… radius… the sound of human vital signs… flexor carpi radialis… breath rate… pronator teres… the pulse of human organs… flexor digitarium superficialis…' As if sensing their mistress' needs, the haros became silent and they circle around Lacus, lining up in a prearranged location… Lily stood at Lacus side, being her main assistant, and one black haro peculiarly situated at her back. "Okay… I'm ready… Asta, mask." A green haro turned into a facemask that covered Lacus' mouth. "Krona, Scalpel. Megi, light. Gienny… sedative." The silver colored Haro, Krona turned once again into a scalpel, Megi, a crimson haro float up and glow brightly; providing lighting for the operating table, and Gienny, the navy blue colored Haro opened her mouth. Inside, there's an ominous clear colored liquid substance. A green mask emanated from the open mouth of Gienny and Lacus placed it before Kira's mouth.
"What's this for?"
"When you open this armor, we all know it's going to hurt. A LOT. It'll hurt you so much, the shock may cause you a cardiac arrest, your muscles will contract simultaneously and your other wounds will be worse off. This is an anesthetic. It'll dampen the pain… a bit. I need you conscious, Kage-san."
"I don't know what the hell that means but… as the doctor ordered…" Kira's no doctor, but since he's amongst a regular visitor to surgeon ward, and a friend of him wishes to become one, he's been hearing a lot of medical stuff. And yet, Lacus spout things that he had never heard of before. Sai really gotta meet this girl. Kira grunted, and the fanged mouth guard of Ankoku Shiki fell off, revealing his severed mask. Lacus didn't bother unmasking him, seeing it's already full of holes, and so she shoved the gasmask to Kira's mouth as is and let him inhale the anesthetic. Suddenly Kira felt really lightheaded.
Lacus held the scalpel and placed it before her nose. She closed her eyes… concentrating. "Let's begin. Kage-san."
"Okay…" Kira gulped and removed a section, and the wounds sealed off by the Ankoku Shiki bursting out, followed by a tremendous amount of pain. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!" Even with the painkiller… the pain was murder.
Blood splattered out on Lacus' face. Apparently she's gonna be showered a lot by Kira's blood today. As soon as Kira took off a piece of his armor, the sight was enough to give Lacus a whole new meaning to the word: Bloodbath; because that's exactly what she's getting. Blood just won't stop bursting out of Kira's ravaged form. But Lacus ignored the blood. She had entered a mindset of a professional medical woman intending to save the patient. Lacus coldly and professionally ignored the horrifying sight before her. Scary and gory sight is the least of her worries now. The Ankoku Shiki armor had pierced Kira over and over again. It's like his whole body is riddled with gunshot wounds. Fortunately, she didn't have to pull out any projectile out. 'Patient suffered multiple deep penetrations with sharp objects. The most common cause of death is loss of blood due to severed arteries. Naturals will die if he loses over ½ of their blood. Advanced can withstand slightly higher loss of blood… and Kira-san…' Lacus remembered that little time when Kira loss more than half of his blood. Kira's regeneration power defies the norm and so… '2/3? No… 3/4? Nah. Assume 2/3. Patient has a time of 10 minutes before losing consciousness… and then death. So during that time…' a second later, Lacus began to move… at an unbelievably fast speed. 'I had to insert the forceps into his wounds, find the veins, and suture it!' "Krona! Forceps! Barbara, strings!" Krona swiftly transformed into a pair of forceps and Barbara, a yellow haro let out strings that Lacus pinched with one of the forcep and with that, the work begins.
Lacus plunged both silvery medical utensils and the strings straight into one of Kira's stab wounds. One forceps rummaged the insides of Kira's body until she found a severed vein, and with the other forceps, she loosened the strings around Kira's blood vein, made a half a knot… and tied it up. First blood vein sutured. All this under 10 seconds and with blood still splattering on Lacus' face.
Kira, through the throngs of his pain, can barely see Lacus' hands moved in a blur. She's like performing shunshin with her hands. Kira opened the left side of his chest, and there about 12 stab wounds in there. Lacus was operating all the 12 stab wounds… at the same time. He could see arrows in flight, but Kira could barely follow Lacus' hand movements. 'Good… God…'
"First wounds, veins sutured, ligature complete." She finished sewing one wound in barely under 30 seconds. And another, and another, and another… all without her speed showing any sign of decreasing. By the time Lacus had closed the twelfth wound, barely 8 minutes had passed. And with that, Lacus was done with one wounded section. "Gienny, keep up with anesthetics, okay, Kage-san… let's move on to the next section. And don't feel shy to scream like a girl."
"Just… don't call me a girl." Kira groaned in pain.
"Take a deep breath." Request ignored.
Kira inhaled another batch of painkiller… and then removed a section, with another splatter blood and a fresh painful howl.
Everyone outside Lacus' tent winced as they constantly hear a series of the inhuman screams coming from Lacus' tent. Problem is the doctor and the patient just couldn't help it.
It was as if there's not a single vein in his body that wasn't cut. Lacus had lost count on how many severed veins she just sutured, how many cut wounds she had ligatured. Some of the stab wounds were so close to each other she couldn't sew them, and so she had no choice but to cauterize them with the aid of Megi, at that point Kira HAD to scream hysterically. Every inch of Kira's body was lacerated with cuts and burns. His bones were practically in pieces held together by the said armor. If the Ankoku Shiki really is the only thing keeping his body in one piece, if it was cancelled wholesale, Kira will instantly turn into a bloody mush. Every time they have to take out the armor and heal Kira's wounds one segment at a time, each coupled with an abominable amount of pain to Kira that Lacus couldn't imagine. Several times, Gienny had to pump Kira full of anesthetics, and still it was not enough. After Kira took off another armor piece, the pain was enough to finally knock him out. And once Lacus had finished with that section and she's about to move on to the next, Kira was still unconscious. Lacus had no choice but to peel off the Ankoku Shiki armor forcibly herself. And the pain sent Kira screaming back awake.
Lacus weren't joking when she said this will be a difficult and problematic surgery… Lily, Lacus' main assistant, had to work hard to keep Kira's vitals going and provide Lacus with everything she needs. Water, sweat mop, etc. Krona continuously transformed into various cutting utensils: scalpel, scissors, etc. Lacus also had to summon two more of her assistants, the twin Lea and Rea because it became even more difficult for Lily to restrain Kira alone each time he struggled out of control.
Lea and Rea are twins, coming out from a single grey colored Haro. Both looked exactly alike with their hair are exactly like Lily (and by extension, Lacus)'s except that their hair sport fewer flowers, and that it's shorter than Lacus' at shoulder length. Both wear the exact same grayish white princess dress, as well as draped in an identical long cloth. The only noticeable difference is that the two sported flower out of one of their ears, and both had dichromatic eye color. One blue, one red. But one sported the flower and the red eye on the left (Lea) the other on the right (Rea). Both quickly helped Lily and restrained Kira on both arms, and Lacus pried open another piece, earning another bloodsplatter to her being and another hysterical painful scream from Kira. The two Shikigami had great difficulty restraining the said patient. And then the process repeated itself: Kira fell unconscious due to the pain, forcibly woken up when Lacus applied even more pain when treating his wounds, and then he fell unconscious again only to be woken up again and again. Lacus had no choice. If Kira fell unconscious, she may lose him forever.
"BLAAARghh…" One of the knights listening to the brutal screams coming endlessly from Lacus' tent just couldn't stand it anymore. Even just listening to the man's scream was horrible enough… just what it's like in there? Blood just keep splattering and marred the insides of the tent. Seeing the extent of Lacus' treatment to Kira's injuries… one can't help to wonder…
Are we the victim… or is he?
00000000000000
Hours later, its evening time, and the screams finally stopped. Lacus' private tent is now completely smeared by the stench of blood. Liam, Hilda, and Waltfeldt, who had recovered enough to walk, decided to take a look inside the tent.
"Milady?" Hilda, her head bandaged, swallowed a gulp. "Milady are you okay?"
No answer. That was a direct order for Waltfeldt and Hilda to went in and find out what's wrong. When they get inside, they were welcomed by a God Awful stench of thick blood on the atmosphere. And if the smell weren't enough horror… the sight that comes after takes the cake.
Lacus' private room has been bleached completely red. Even the ground was also red. The operating room was once Lacus' sleeping chamber, and now they looked like something from the slaughterhouse. And there, lying motionlessly on bed… a misshapen human body, covered in blood stained bandages from head to toe. A grey colored Katana, also covered in blood from top to bottom, rested below the bed, that being Shiki, hence the bandaged figure could only be its master. Next to him, was Lacus, sitting limp on a chair, seemingly unconscious with empty eyes staring up to the ceiling. Her arms outstretched to the side, limping lifelessly. Her hair, her clothes, even her face… were all stained red with blood. The only thing that is moving in that room is Lacus' shikigami Haro servants: Lily, Rea and Lea, who were cleaning up the bloody mess, the aftermath of the messy operation. The other haros all lying motionlessly like a pile of lifeless multicolored balls beneath Lacus' seat.
Upon seeing the princess in such a lifeless state, Hilda quickly rushed in to help. But then, her feet stomped on a sickening squishy sound…
Hilda looked down and… a small chunk of flesh. Very small. Like a layer of bloody bacon. But… it's a flesh. A human flesh.
Hilda quickly rushed out of the tent and vomited. Everyone gaped at the sight of a battle hardened warrior like Hilda spilling her guts out and they became even more unnerved at what hellish sight awaits them in that tent.
The sound of Hilda rushing out was enough to catch Lacus' attention. She tilted her head weakly to the side and faced the door. Once she saw it was just Waltfeldt, and Liam with Lamia vomiting outside, she smiled and giggled. "Aahhh… Waltfeldt-san, Hilda-san, Liam-san… konbanwa… Tee-hee… what a bloody mess."
"Princess…" Waltfeldt gulped. "Are you… alright?"
"I'm just veeeery tired right now. 4 years I haven't been practicing… and I'm a little out of shape." Lacus closed her eyes and smiled in content. But her smile was just a façade. Her entire body is hurting. All her muscles were torn apart due to her extremely rapid movements. She was so dead tired and her cramped limbs are screaming agony.
Waltfeldt could guess as much, seeing the slight swelling on Lacus' slender arms, but nevertheless, he didn't see any more serious injuries that require the attention of a surgeon and so he let it slide. He looked at the bandaged human shaped flesh on the table. It's hard to believe this is Shadow. "Good God…" What's even more amazing, unless Waltfeldt's eyes deceive him, he can see Kira's chest moving up and down.
"He'll live." Lacus snickered.
"Wh…"
"Believe it or not… he'll live." Lacus smiled reassuringly. "As unlikely as it seems. He'll live."
"Are you sure he's not zoan?" Waltfeldt just couldn't think of any other reason on how a human, even an advanced, can survive something like having your whole body punctured with spikes, and still be alive.
"Sa-naa?" Lacus was almost ready to drop, but remember one more patient that may need her attention. "How's… Lamia?"
"The surgeons doing everything we can. She'll be fine. Though, she'll still be weak. But… I don't think you're needed, milady." Hilda happily reported. As soon as she heard her sister's okay, Lacus' relieved expression quickly switched to one ready to sleep. Seeing this, Hilda can clearly see that their presence is disturbing the Princess. She needed rest. "I will prepare the commander's tent for your chamber, Milady."
"No need, no need… I wanna… sleep… hereeezzz…. Zzz… zzz…" And off she goes to her well-deserved slumber. A satisfied smile plastered on her lips.
"It's a mess but… it's a successful operation, haro." Lily noted happily. Likewise, Lea and Rea also nodded and echoed: "Successful operation, haro!"
"And what about…" Hilda was about to say a few words about Kira, but Waltfeldt stopped her.
"Shush, Hilda. They're both are in need rest and recovery. We'll let it pass for tonight. Anything we can say can wait until tomorrow." Waltfeldt also added mischievously. "And don't worry about it. The boy won't be able to do anything even if he's conscious."
"I'll just put these here then." Liam slowly placed what's left of Kira's old garments: the horribly ragged black Captain's coat, under Kira's bed, right next to Shiki. It's the coat that saved Liam's life, but it belongs to Kira anyway.
And so they all leave the two to their rest.
00000000000000
Hours later… at midnight…
The bandaged figure that is Kira opened his eyes and realized his predicament: he was practically mummified. 'I… I'm still alive?'
"You can thank the girl for that."
Kira blinked. And a moment later, he's inside his own mind again, he returned to that dojo in the sky… except the sky is not so blue anymore. Several small cracks can be seen spilling out darkness. And that enormous darkness at the end of the dojo had seem to grow… bigger.
And there he saw them. One, he already knew. The Man. Still standing as usual.
The other… to his shock… was unmistakably Shiki… but… something's different. A while ago she appeared as a child with a ridiculously long hair… now… she's a full adult. That ridiculously long and beautiful rainbow hair remained the same, and their length is now proportional to her height. Though they're still incredibly long, reaching all the way down to her feet. She's dressed in a Japanese Kimono, colored in red, with the stripes of blue on the left, and the stripes of green on the right, and one large black ribbon at the back, the colors of her four forms. The only flaw… was a long flock of black hair braided on the left side of her face. They were tied together with chains. The chains of Ankoku Shiki. She smiled at her master.
"Shiki…" Kira remembered the Hell that Shiki had gone through during his… insanity. "I'm sorry… I'm so… sorry."
"It's okay Master. I'm the one who should be sorry. I hurt you that much…"
But the man doesn't think so. He was clearly angry. "If you continue to be like this, Kira, it won't matter how much life you have or how strong your regenerative power is. You have to stop this destructive way of fighting!"
"It's not like it's his fault! If it weren't for that stupid wench…"
"That stupid wench is the reason Kira's alive right now." The man scolded Shiki to silence. "If it weren't for her giving you non stop medical treatment, even your regenerative power won't be enough."
"My God…" Kira shook his head in horror. "Was it that bad…?"
"She practically had to sow you back together one vein at a time."
Kira gulped.
"Go ahead and see for yourself."
And Kira was back to the real world, jerking awake. Slowly, he began to feel the condition of his body. He felt weak. Very weak. Weaker than he's ever been. And yet, he can still move. Slowly, and with much difficulty, Kira get up. He was bandaged multiple times. Some of them were loose, and his whole body is like a mass of swirling bandages. His face is still masked, but now with bands of bandages. Kira lifted his arm… was he always this thin? He turned around several times and saw Lacus, fast asleep, lying on a chair with her head tucked down. Her arms subconsciously huddled around her body. No wonder. It was kinda cold here. The bandages and the ointments kept him warm.
Kira slowly get down from his bed. His naked feet touched the ground, firmly. Kira get up, and after briefly wriggling his toes, he slowly began to move. He can still walk. But he had to do so very slowly, dragging one foot after the other. For a moment, Kira was somewhat grateful that he's an Advanced. Natural humans wouldn't be able to stand, much less walking around. Kira slowly approached the sleeping girl that is Lacus. Then he turned around and saw his coat. Kira took the coat and surprised at its ridiculously light weight. And then he realized, usage of the Ankoku Shiki had filled it with holes and tear apart all the chain mail inside it. Now it's just an empty normal cloth. Which is perfect.
Slowly, Kira draped the cloth over Lacus' sleeping figure, giving her the much needed warmth.
"Ng…ngggnnn…" For a moment there, Kira thought Lacus would wake up, but she simply smiled and subconsciously huddled herself, enjoying the warmth of his coat, and continued her slumber.
Kira smiled. He then slowly make his way out of the tent and upon getting out, he saw a small encampment. Its inhabitants were clearly in their room, nursing the wounds that he had inflicted upon them. No guards as they too are wounded. Apparently they won't need it after all. 'Thank goodness, lord Yuki hold on to his words.' It was a Miracle after all. There they were, at the mercy of the most powerful Genma Undead they've ever encountered… and they managed to extend their lives for a fighting chance.
Flashback, that afternoon…
"Good God… Ray? Is that you?"
The Lifeless Lord, now identified as Ray Yuki the former Hakutenkun looked at his former fellow comrade in arms. "Andy… you look terrible."
The response merely served to horrify the Zaft knights who had read the Hakutenkun's exploits in history book. When he was young, legendary was the only word capable of describing his feats. The title Knightmaster was given to him, because he was indeed the master of all knights: Emerald Knights' basic combat skills, Onyx Hassassins assassination expertise, Ruby Exorcists demon warding, Magus spell casting, Forge Corps Legion industriousness and artillery use, Amber Fangriders beast mastery, Sapphire Bladebanes sword skills, even the might of the long lost Diamond Doom Troopers, topped off with the powers of all five Elementals Knights… To face him will be like facing the entire Zaft military might condensed in one body. As he grew older, Ray Yuki spent his time more of instructing young knights like them.
And that was when he was alive… now he's an undead… 10 times the strength of that is enough to make one die of fright. Yet, now there are 2 souls that do not show fear in the face of such overwhelming power.
Ray looked at one of those souls. "You… how do you know me?"
"8 years is a long time, Lord Yuki." Kira muttered. "Thanks to that infamous chariot of yours I get another jog and a blast from the past…" It's true. Kira was already half sane when he took out the doppelganger from Lacus' chest. He was remembering a happy memory from the past… and then another literally came charging at him and steamrolled him. "How many times have I rode that chariot together with you?"
"Rode my chariot…" Kira isn't the only one who's getting his memory jogged up. The Lifeless Lord looked at the boy again… his purple eyes, his dark brown hair… and at last… he remembered him. First He remembered a genius raven haired boy who studied under him… and he remembered another equally brilliant boy who always stood by the raven haired boy's side… He used to give them a ride on his chariot every time they finished his chores. And he remembered the mother of those children… Ray looked again and in realization, saw the boy he knew in the man before him. "You…"
Kira smiled weakly beneath his mask. "It's been a while."
"You've grown up, boy."
Kira chuckled.
"Where's Athrun? Is he around here somewhere?"
"No. He and I… we split ways."
"Odd. You two are the best of friends… I hardly if ever see one without the other."
"It's been 8 years, my Lord. Things changed."
The Lifeless lord studied Kira's damaged armor, and he remembered the amount of havoc it had caused in the hands of its master. One boy can out best over 500 crack troops… and even wrestle with Waltfeldt. Insane or not, that's quite a feat. "So it has…"
Everyone felt like they're just getting bombarded by a ridiculous amount of information in that little exchange of words. First, Shadow knew the legendary Knightmaster from when he was alive, quite possibly, had the honor (that kings would kill for) to study under him. Second, he is… or was… the best of friends with the famous Athrun Zala and thirdly, he clearly had a strong connection with the Zala family. All this only amount to a question that has been brewing up inside them ever since they first saw him: Shadow… who the HELL is he?
"Are you here to finish us off?" Kira went straight to the point.
"Originally I intend to have my men to do it… but now that I know that it's you… I'm thinking I should do the job myself… for old time's sake."
The pilgrims gulped in fear. They're all wounded and dying. There's just no way they can survive. "But… you're a hakutenkun…"
"Former Hakutenkun. Now just a sack of reanimated flesh. He's as likely to kill us all as to eat us." Kira coldly glared at the speaker, terrifying the said person to silence. "Don't expect mercy or sentimentality here. These monsters don't have that anymore."
Upon hearing this, the Lifeless Lord tilted his head seemingly in shock. Apparently, even though Kira had said they have no emotion, there are some bits and pieces of it left, no matter how warped they are. "Surprising. Such ruthless conclusion. Is this really the same crybaby kind hearted meek boy I remembered you to be?"
Lacus looked at Kira's terrifying and ruthless visage. A guy like this… was once a crybaby, meek, and above all: kindhearted?
"Like I said, Lord Yuki. 8 years is a long time." And Kira already entered his battle mode. A ruthless murderous aura began to emanate from his form.
"…you do realize to fight me means certain death?" The Lifeless Lord jerked his fist. "Even if you aren't one foot away from your grave, you will never beat me. I'm an immortal living dead."
"And I will live forever, yadayada blablablabla. I've heard this rhetoric before." Kira waved his arm; a few chains burst out and plucked 5 Shadowforged Weapons, pointing them menacingly to the genma Lord. "You know what I think? There's no such thing… as immortal."
Lacus gasped and once again she remembered that last image… the image of Kira finishing Veia off… could it be?
"I'm here too, Ray." Waltfeldt slammed his fist together. "I can still fight! You KNOW I can."
Ray knew that all too well. But right now, his attention was focused on Kira. "What on earth happened to you boy?"
Kira didn't answer. Lacus knew the answer but she knew she didn't have the right to say anything.
Ray wanted answers. Fortunately, he knew where to look. The Doppelganger in his hand squirmed, but Ray tightened his grip until he draw some black blood. And then the memory that the doppelganger absorbed from Kira went into his mind. And Ray saw everything, including THAT. Ray looked at Kira. "You… you have… this 8 years… no… you…"
Kira looked at the slightly shriveled doppelganger and realized Ray had absorbed the knowledge from the lesser demon. "Oh come now. Don't tell me even when you're an undead you're gonna say something as cheesy as I'm sorry."
The Genma Lord became silent. Kira was right. He felt nothing. No sorrow, no anger, nothing. He was hollow. So, instead, his next emotionless question was based on logic. "But after so much crap happened to you… why do you still want to help them anyway? Why fight for them until you become… like this?"
Everyone looked at Kira. But the boy didn't answer.
Ray looked at Kira and then to the pilgrims, and then to Lacus' priestess garments. And for a moment, Ray can see the image of Lennore Zala in Lacus. "Could it be… for her? For lady Lennore?"
Everyone gasped. Particularly Lacus. 'So that's how it is…' Another thing became clear. Having seen the inside of Kira's memories, Lacus now understand why Kira wanted to help them. Lacus remembered that image of Kira's birthday celebrated with the Zalas. It wasn't just because of his own innate kindness and his desire to try and forgive his kind… it was also the memory of Lennore Zala, the woman that Kira cared deeply. Kira saw Lennore in Lacus. And so, Kira's protecting the pilgrimage, as if trying to redeem himself for being unable to protect Lennore's doomed pilgrimage, 8 years ago.
Silent for a few moments as neither side moved. Until finally, Ray break the silence. "Strange."
Kira and Waltfeldt blinked.
"I thought… I can no longer feel any emotions… and yet… I'm feeling something… this feeling… I cannot understand." the Genma Hakutenkun tucked his head down. "I can still feel the hunger… the thirst for blood… but… somehow…" The Lifeless Lord shook his head several times, apparently he's in deep thought. "Very well. I will give you all a chance of honor."
The pilgrims were shocked.
"This time tomorrow, I will be at the head of my army. You have until that time to prepare whatever it is you will do to defeat me." The Lifeless Lord turned around, preparing to leave… but before he do, Ray added. "The Sanctuary's not far from here. It's a high ground, perfect for you guys to take cover and gain a good vantage point. I will meet you there."
And with that, the Genma Hakutenkun mounted his chariot and left, leaving the stupefied pilgrims at their unbelievable close brush with death.
Flashback end…
It's midnight… they have until tomorrow afternoon to reach the Sanctuary and recover. As if that was even possible to begin with but, hey, at least they had some time.
'But still…' Kira looked sadly at the deathly silent encampment. No doubt the encampment is full of people heavily injured. 'I… did this… didn't I…' But Kira shook his head. 'Don't be a hypocrite Kira… you've been doing a hell lot worse than what you did to them today.' But Kira thought about other things. Ever since that day, February has always been a month he hated the most. And ever since he came here… everything has been worse than ever. He was so sure he was going to crack… and he did. But then… he's an alliance soldier… and he just went rampage in the middle of enemy… why did he feel so horrible about it?
It's your nature… Kira.
Kira's eyes widened. He looked around and saw… "L… Lady… Lennore…?"
An apparition of a woman in her thirties stood in front of him. She had a raven colored short wavy hair and green eyes. She's dressed in the very similar priestess garb that Lacus wear, except that hers look more regal, and yet it still have the sense of humility and simplicity. There's no decoration or excessive accessories. Simple, humble, and to the point. Exactly as Kira remembered her.
Yes Kira, my dear boy.
"Am I dreaming?"
I guess so. The apparition chuckled. Let us walk.
And Kira, completely forgetting that he was injured head to toe, followed Lennore's apparition like a man possessed. As they walk, the apparition continued to speak to him. You've grown so much Kira.
Kira chuckled. "Can't exactly stay a kid forever…"
Tee-hee… indeed. And you're so handsome now. You lady killer you. You look just like a girl.
Kira twitched. He wanted to scold but how can he do so in front of this woman? Kira smiled painfully. "I get that a lot. But… I don't really like it though… my face." And Lennore clearly noticed this pained expression and she became saddened. The sight of his foster mother being sad also saddened Kira. "I'm sorry… I… I didn't mean to be rude, milady."
Kira, when you're sad I'm sad. When you're happy I'm happy. We are part of each other's happiness and sadness. So that, when you're sad, I can always be there to support you. When you're happy, I can add to it. Right? Lennore giggled.
Kira chuckled. "Right."
The two continue to walk in the darkness. And yet, Kira weren't afraid of getting lost, with Lennore at his side. Was she a ghost? An illusion? Or delusion? Kira really didn't care. He just wanted this moment to last forever.
Kira… I know you're feeling a great regret right now.
"Regret?'
Yes. You regretted the fact that we never did find out about the special property of your bloodline limit a little earlier.
Kira's eyes widened.
Ever since you found out that you can kill Genma… you were angry, saddened… and that feeling has been wallowing inside you. Eating you alive. This fact is like adding insult to the injury of your soul. The lives that could be saved if only we discovered about it a little earlier… The saddest word in every language: if only. If only they knew. If only I was born 10 years earlier… Now you keep blaming yourself for my death.
Kira stopped and tucked his head down in sorrow. That's right. He can kill Genma! He was able to do this much on his own! To ensure the safety of an entire pilgrimage until they get this far! Look at him! Defeating Babylon, slaughter thousands of Genmas… it was him! All him! And yet… before all this he was shunned, he was ridiculed, he was undervalued… treated as a plaything… and now… he can do things like this! If only… if only… Kira collapsed to his knees.
What happened to you is tragic and unfair. But that is not the source of your pain. You're far too kind of a person to let something like that to get in the way of your better judgment. Kira, you torture yourself over the things that you could've done. But in the end… there's nothing you can do back then.
"But now I can… I can…"
Kira, now is now. The past is the past. You cannot let what had happened in the past to consume you. Kira, you helped this pilgrimage because deep down, you wished for forgiveness from me. But I cannot forgive you for an offense you never made. My death is not your fault. You have nothing to blame yourself.
That answer only made Kira more miserable and tears rolled down his cheek. "But I do, lady Lennore. I… I couldn't keep those three promises…"
Promises… how so?
"I promised that I will protect Athrun. But… right now… what I'm doing is the exact opposite. I'm fighting against my own kind… killing them by the hundreds and thousands… I… I will someday fight him… maybe even kill him… I…"
Well… if you think about it… I didn't keep my promise either…
"Eh?"
I promised you I'll return. And I didn't. Lennore muttered calmly. It seems it's only fair that you kill my son to get even.
Kira naturally panicked when the lady showed little care about the fate of his own blood son. "NO! That's…"
Lennore chuckled again and then she went into full burst laughter. Oh, Kira, you are many things. But never cruel. Deep down inside you, the one thing that no amount of tragedy can take that away from you is your kindness. That is you. Your nature to be kind. Because you are you. Even though you will raise your sword and hurt others… you never do so out of desire for vengeance or lust for kill… you always raised them in defense of others. And even when you do raise them, you never stop for a moment and think: Oh! This is fun! And so you kept your promise.
"I kept my promise?"
Yes. Didn't we also promise that you will always live true to who you are? And you did, Kira. You lived true to who you really are. A protector. That is your nature. The true you. How else would you explain, after everything they've done to you, and yet you're still willing to show respect to your enemies, show them mercy and compassion, even giving them protection to such extent? You went rampage and none of them died? I think I can entrust the fate of my son to you just fine… though I had some doubts about the first promise of doing your homework.
"I got plenty to keep me busy, thank you." Kira quickly remembered the never-ending mountain of paperwork that will await him back in the office.
Lennore chuckled happily. And then the two stop walking. I'm really glad I get to see you like this. The only time I get to see you was when you're in great danger. And no doubt, you being the way you are… you will face more down the road. But… I think… you will be alright. You're in good hands, Kira.
And the apparition looked like she's about to disappear. But Kira was reluctant to let her go. "Wait! Lady Lennore! Is this real or just my delusions? Or is it just a dream?"
I guess you could call me a dream… but why on earth it isn't real?
"If that's true I… I don't want to wake up… I don't want you to go."
Oh Kira, my dear boy…
The Apparition moved gently and touched Kira's chest, his heart. It felt warm and comfortable. Like a blanket.
I never left.
She ended with a smile, and just like that, she vanished into Kira. Kira screamed and rushed forward. "LADY LENNORE!"
That was when something flurry and sharp smacked him in the face, and at the same time a pair of petite hands stretched out and grabbed his back. Kira gasped and his eye went wide awake, as if he just jerked out of a dream just now. And once he was lucid, the first thing he saw was the dark abyss of a cliff. One more step and he'll meet his lady Lennore again in the afterlife. Kira turned around to see who saved his life… it was Lacus. Veins popping allover her face, and she was mighty PISSED. And the thing that smacked him just now: Torii! The bird found its master again at last!
"Kira-san… I didn't tear apart every muscle in my arms to save your life just so that you can kill yourself by jumping off a cliff!" Judging by her flushed out furious face and sweat glistening her brows, she looked like someone who had forgotten how to breathe and only just now she remembered how. "If you want to die so bad, please stay alive so that I CAN KILL YOU MYSELF LATER! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW SCARED I WAS? BED EMPTY, NO TRACE, AND THEN I JUST FOUND YOU WALKING ALONE IN THE DARKNESS AND WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE RAVINE AND I-"
"Thank you."
"I DIDN'T EVEN GET A THANK YOU I… I… what?"
"Thank you. And I'm sorry I made you so worried sick." Kira chuckled. Lacus must've panicked once she woke up only to find he was gone. He looked at her being, her dress soaked in sweat… and she stink of blood… his blood. On her feet, her sandals were beaten up. Poor girl. She must've searched for him everywhere. Kira knelt down and checked her feet. "Your geta's broken. Take it off, I'll fix it."
Lacus looked at Kira as if seeing a stranger. "Who are you and what have you done to Kage-san?"
Kira chuckled and ignored the question as he took off the stupefied Lacus' beat up sandals and began fixing it the best he can. Lacus, flustered and completely confused, sat down to catch her breath and observe Kira's work. An awkward silence followed, and Lacus decided to break the silence by asking: "What were you doing just now?"
"I was…" Kira quickly thought of an answer: "Sleep walking."
"Sleep walking?"
Kira took a pause to think of his answer, and nodded. "Yes. I was… sleep walking. Would've fallen into the ravine if it weren't for you and Torii… so… thank you." Lacus' blush reached all the way to her ears. Thankfully, Kira's attention was focused on her sandals. And then he was done fixing Lacus' sandals. "Right. Here you go. It's done." Kira showcased the fixed sandal and gave it back to Lacus. Then, Kira redirected his attention to another one of his friend. "Torii." The green bird flew unto Kira's open palm, pecking it happily, rejoicing for his success of finding and rescuing his master.
"Torii! Torii!"
"Good boy. Thanks Torii."
"Haro! Haro!" That's when Lacus' Ms. Pink hopped in. And an awkward communication between the two unusual creatures ensued. With Torii chirping something, and Ms. Pink replied in her own way. And then, after a series of chirping, Ms. Pink jumped into Lacus hands and conveyed her findings in a series of Haros. Lacus blinked. "Wow. That's interesting…"
"What is?"
"Kira-san… Torii… is a Shikigami?"
"Shikigami? Torii?" Kira looked at Torii's flesh and blood form. Vastly different with Ms. Pink's transparent form. "How is that, a Shikigami?"
"Not all Shikigami are spectral form. Shikigamis of sufficient age and one that received enough amount of spiritual energy can manifest their physical form."
"But Torii has been with me for over… over…" Kira frowned. Torii's been with him for as long as he can remember. Like around… "12, 13 years…"
"Curiously long live for a cockatiel."
Kira looked at Torii, the bird looked back and finally… the cat's out of the bag. "Sorry, Kira. I didn't wish for you to find out this way."
"Torii?" He can hear the bird talking to him in his head.
"I'm sorry… but the bird… the actual Bird Torii… died 8 years ago."
"8 years…" Kira blinked. The day he parted with Athrun…
"I'm a Shikigami born from his remnants. I've been feeding off your spiritual energy for so long… eventually I gained sentience, and strong enough to create physical being."
"And why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Your… current mental situation at the time did not exactly enable you to understand the situation that one of your oldest friends is now a spirit."Torii explained simply.
Kira gulped. True. During the early years of the 8 years after he left Zala household… and that… his mental state was… anything but sane. "Yeah. Well… at least now I know." Kira chuckled. "And I think you're still Torii either way."
Torii happily chirped and pecked Kira's hand in his usual way. The bird then fly off, with Ms. Pink hopped away from Lacus' hands and followed the bird. Kira chuckled beneath the bundle of bandages covering his mouth. Lacus also looked giddily as Ms. Pink played around with Torii. "How did she know Torii was a Shikigami?"
Lacus chuckled. "Oh, Shikigami had their ways of recognizing each other. But, you must be a very powerful priest as well. It took an immense amount of spiritual energy for a Shikigami to be able to manifest so corporeally in a physical world. Not to mention one as smart as to able to gain human level intelligence."
"Lady, I'm not sure I'm an ideal priest material. Besides I didn't even know anything about priesthood and its works!"
"Well either that… or you're practically a giant tank of spiritual energy." Lacus hypothesized. "So much so that you subconsciously spill them out, and Torii fed on that. I think you'll make a very fine priest if you can train and control that power."
Kira laughed bitterly. Yeah right. Priests and Priestess will pee in their pants when he start telling them what he's done when he confess. Though, at this point confession ain't gonna help it anymore. Lacus looked at this person before him. Before yesterday, if anyone tell her this… this kind man is capable of all that atrocity yesterday, you're either a drunk or a metal hospital escapee. But… Lacus wasn't sure anymore…
"By the way… Lacus-san…"
"Yes?"
"Just now… you called me… Kira?"
Lacus tensed. Then Kira turned to her, their eyes met. "I… I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Kira blinked in bewilderment.
"I used Astral Dive on your head I… I intrude into your head, mess it up, not just once but twice… I made you insane…. I… I…" Lacus' lips trembled, and her eyes gleamed, she looked like she was ready to cry any moment.
"You apologize to me? Lady, I nearly killed you, and the rest of your loved ones… And you apologize to me?" From his point of view, he's the one who owed them a big debt. "Lacus, you… you saved my mind back there. If it weren't for you I…"
"But I… I saw… I saw your memories… horrible memories… I… I shouldn't have…"
"Memories… yeah… about that…" Kira was curious. "Just… how much did you see in my head?"
Lacus was clearly reluctant to relive her horrifying experience inside Kira's mind. But eventually, she start explaining what happened when she was inside Kira's head, the memories she saw, the fight between her and Ankoku Shiki… his meeting with his internal caretaker… and the being. From everything Lacus' told him, Kira surmised that Lacus had yet to find out who he really is. "In sense… I didn't help you… I… get help. All the time. If it weren't for that being helped me out of that hellhole… if it weren't for that caretaker helped me finding the right memory… I… I did nothing but messing you up, from bad to worse…" Lacus gasped a sob.
"But… you saw my memories. Right?"
"Yes. I saw memories that should privately belong to you, and I…"
"…and you saw the worst shit going on with my life, and you freak out." Kira concluded. "Lacus-san… you freak out seeing THAT… then it only proved that you're still sane."
Lacus' lips parted. Hearing such a word from Kira made her slightly on ease. But she still fidgeted her fingers nervously. Speaking of memories, Lacus was once again remembered a particular memory she hasn't brought up yet. That horrifying memory. She still has one more thing… one more big bomb to drop.
And Kira can sense that it was not all that Lacus had seen. "What other memories did you see?"
"I… I saw… I saw…" Lacus' lips trembled. "I saw… you… and… and… Ve…" Lacus didn't have the heart to continue. But the first syllable of the said name was enough confirmation for Kira as to what memory she saw.
"You saw me… and Lord Veia?"
Lacus' choked and she sprang up to her feet, and turned her back on Kira, but one can hear she was sobbing uncontrollably. Kira felt horrible now. He didn't know Lacus and Veia had something going on between them that Lacus will be greatly saddened by his death… and his killer is standing right in front of her. And she just saved his life at the risk of losing everything she cared about. The life of a man who had killed someone important to her. 'Oh, God…' Kira never felt more horrible all his life.
"When I saw that memory… I…was… I was…" Shocked? Betrayed? Horrified? Too many things bursting out of her mind at the moment. The pilgrims fought for their live to save him, Lamia and Waltfeldt risked their lives to save him… and it turns out that he had killed one of Zaft's national hero? That's a capital offense that would warrant kill on sight! "Just tell me the truth… did I really saw what I think I saw?" The teary eyed Lacus asked.
Kira stay silent for a few moments… and then unveiled the truth: "Yes. It's exactly as you see it… I killed Goud Veia."
Lacus gritted her teeth in anger, but she quickly suppressed it and closed her eyes, letting her tears flow. "What happened?"
"We clashed. Our beliefs clashed. I won. And he committed seppuku." Kira explained short. Lacus looked at Kira. He looked as horrible as he can ever be.
"Seppuku? The Samurai's traditional suicide act?" Lacus blinked.
"He was an honorable warrior. And he died… as such. I… I was honored to cut off his head." And then with difficulty, Kira knelt down before Lacus and bowed down to his head. His whole body was trembling. At his injured state, it was obvious how difficult this was for him. "I… had forgiveness to ask of you."
Lacus looked at this man and didn't know what to think. He killed the immortal hero of Zaft… her best friend… her… her hero… and the killer is right there in front of her, heavily injured and near death. Still alive by her help… and now… now she was sorely tempted to undo her work. How many of her people have been murdered by his hand that Lord Veia had to fight him personally to the point it end in such a way? How many more will die? But… then, Lacus' thoughts quickly flew to what this broken man had endured. And then that enormous darkness inside him. Lacus' eyes looked at that bowing bandage clad figure before her. Lacus shook her head. "Get up and sit down. Your wounds might reopen if you strain yourself."
"Lacus-san…?"
Lacus sighed and smiled sadly as she wiped out the last bit of tears from her eyes. "Seppuku in the end. That is just like him. How did he die? As a warrior?"
"He wished." Kira chuckled sadly. "No. Better than a warrior, he died a teacher. Left me with homework." 'Which is far from done really…'
"Teacher?" Lacus chuckled. For obvious reason, Lacus clearly felt that's much better than a warrior. She looked at Kira and bowed. "Thank you."
"Was he… important to you?"
"Important?" Lacus smiled sadly and frowned in sorrow. Goud Veia isn't just a national hero for Lacus. Very few people are capable of staying close to her. Veia was one of those exceptions. He was one of her only outside friend. Lacus greatly admire Veia. And like every citizen of Zaft, Lacus loved Veia dearly, both as a citizen… but particularly for Lacus… as a woman. Sure they have a huge age difference, and he was a married man… but… a crush is a crush. "A silly little girl's crush…"
This, Kira was particularly shocked. Good God… he killed the man the girl loved? And she… she forgave him just like that? No she did more than just forgave him… "You know I killed him… back when you're inside me… you could've just let me die but you…"
"And what good your death will do?" Lacus retorted back. "Mou… enough is enough. His death was a dark memory for you. Filled with sorrow and regret. I know you don't take one jot of happiness doing it. You too felt sad when he died right? That's enough for me. There's already enough sorrow in you and in this world. I don't need to add to it." Lacus closed her tearful eyes, crossed her arms grasped her shoulders tightly, and sucked up the night air, along with her tears and sadness, and then exhaled loudly, as if wanting to blow all her sorrow away. "I won't say a word about it. Right now you are the only thing that kept my friends alive in this place… even though just now you nearly killed them all. But the last thing we need now is infighting amongst ourselves."
What an incredible girl. A man who killed his crush is standing right in front of her… a man who nearly brought death upon all of her loved ones is right in front of her in the weakest condition possible… but she can muster her emotions and see the bigger picture. Now it's Kira's turn to be stupefied by Lacus. She's no fool. She doesn't really need confirmation from him to put two to two together and surmise that Veia's dead by his hand. She might have some idea on what happened, and yet, she still helped him. Even risked her lives doing so. You don't go that far just to win favors from people.
"I always knew things will never work between us." Lacus laughed at her pathetic self. "I guess it's time I move on and let it go."
Kira could only silently tuck his head down in gratitude and humility.
Lacus smiled kindly, gazing to the sky with closed eyes, and let the wind blew her long pink hair wildly, hoping it will send her sadness and grief flying away. After which she nodded, and clapped her hands together, returning back to her cheerful self. "Now come on. Let's go back to the camp. Others would be worried sick." Lacus grasped Kira's bandaged arm and tried to drag him away.
"…" Kira didn't budge.
"Kira-san?" Lacus blinked questioningly at the bandaged ninja.
"Move on…" 'I guess… I've never done that.' Kira looked at himself. And then to Lacus. If he think about this carefully, he was to blame to all this. To things to escalate to such full blown destruction, it was because he never let go. That particularly unpleasant episode of his life remained there, deep inside him. Left unchecked, it became huge, bloated, absorbed all his other dark memories and finally, he turned into a monster. He wanted to forget it, trying to just forgive and forget, but it was still there. Kuzzey's death was catalyst. Sure it made him dead set on the path of vengeance, but in the end… it merely bringing up what's already there in the first place. Kira looked at Lacus. For 8 years he didn't tell anyone. 'I guess it's time to change.' After all, Lacus needs to know why she undergo the Hell she went through. She earned the right. "Kira Yamato."
"Eh?" Lacus heard the name: Kira Yamato. "That was your real name?"
Kira nodded. "Lacus-san… would you like to hear a story?"
"Eh?"
"Let's talk… about the past… a little bit, that is… if you don't mind."
Lacus blinked. For a moment there, Lacus had intended to just leave… but… she saw Kira's eyes. And for a moment, she saw it. That little Kira… the Original Kira that she saw in the memory… the hopeful and kindhearted Kira when he was young. She saw it again briefly just now. And so before she knew it, she sat next to Kira. "Sure. It's a long night."
"I never told this story to anyone. Not to Athrun… not even to my friends."
Needless to say this made Lacus gave Kira her undivided attention.
Kira smiled and took a deep breath. And so he began his tale. "It all started… around 17 years ago. A small boat floated down the river of Rhine, Germany. The said dinky boat was beaten and battered, on the verge of sinking. Blood splatter, cut marks, arrows stuck… it was obvious the boat had just survived some kind of battle. Inside, they found a single occupant. A baby, with his name written in blood on the boat."
Lacus' eyes widened. That baby… was Kira?
"I know what you're going to ask: how did a Japanese baby get washed up in some river in German? Regrettably, I don't have the answer to that either." Understanding Lacus caught up with his story, Kira continued. "The boy was taken in to an orphanage. Which, as it happened, also doubled as a home base for a pick pocketing syndicate. They use children as their main tool. For 5 years the little baby was raised in order for him to become just like those kids. The boy was an Advanced, he grew stronger, smarter, with mental capacity of a natural's 8 years old when he was 4. Knowing that, the Chief taught the boy the art of pickpocketing… but… the boy didn't take too kindly to the chief's rough treatment of his charge. So a year later… first day on street and the boy ran as fast as his little feet can take him. By luck or fate, he managed to escape. For the next 6 months the boy survived living in the sewers provided he fight and bleed for it. And then… one day… came the day that changed the boy's life forever." Kira closed his eyes, smiling.
Lacus didn't blink, didn't think, she didn't even move a muscle… not a small sound coming out of her, she was so engrossed in Kira's story she almost forgot to draw breath. She wasn't staring at Kira anymore, she was there, reliving parts of Kira's life in her head as the tale spun out from his bandaged mouth.
"There was a parade. The people were welcoming some bigshot coming back from some deadly island." Kira remembered the situation at the time all too well. The cheers, the singing, the hustling and bustling on the street, the sound of people doing transactions in the market… "The boy caught heard through some of his old contacts from the orphanage that the Chief grew tired of pick pocketing people's wallet and intend to move up in the world to kidnapping. Needless to say the bigshot will be his target. The Lady was protected by some of the best protection one can afford, so such a half-baked attempt from amateurs would end only in swift death, problem is…" Kira chuckled. "The boy didn't know that, see. He was too young to understand."
"Half-baked kidnapping attempt countered by an equally half-baked counter plan. Quite impressive for a 6 year old, but… a few stone throw from a slingshot, some banana peel and rotten eggs, a little pinch of chilly on a horse's buttocks and the market turned to chaos in a heartbeat. And the boy end up accidentally smashing the Lady's carriage apart, and get the honor of being caught for Vandalism and terrorism personally by a Hakutenkun, under the threat of death."
'Hakutenkun…' Lacus' eyes widened. "Lord Ray Yuki?"
Kira nodded. "After that the boy wasn't sure what happened. He was brought before the Lady. The Lady looked at the boy, asked a few questions about his name and where he comes from… and before he knew it she just… she just took the boy. Gave him everything a man could ever wanted: love, home… family." Kira smiled happily of that particular memory. That was the happiest day of his life, meeting with lady Lennore.
Lacus can also somewhat understand Kira's happiness. From a street urchin living in the sewers… and suddenly, he was fortunate enough to be taken in by such a kind hearted lady.
"The boy had to earn his keep though. The Lady's husband isn't too keen on his wife's idea of taking him in. So, officially, she had the boy work as her son's personal chauffeur. A butler… a squire."
Lady Lennore's son… and Lacus' future husband. Of course Kira didn't need to know this. "Lennore Zala's son… Athrun Zala…?"
Kira nodded again. "The boy didn't mind. He was happy with how things are. The family was kind, and the other servants of the said family were also friendly and apparently, they all share a similar history with the boy. Of course, he also learned that his case was indeed a unique case. No other noble family on Zaft treated their servants that well. The Boy received the same education as the Lady's son. The Lady loved the boy like a son, and the boy loved the Lady like a mother. The Lady even wanted to adopt the boy, making him a permanent part of her family. Regrettably, the husband adamantly refused. So the Lady had a servant couple to adopt the boy in her stead. Yet the boy bear them no ill will. He will live his life in service of the Lady. And if he can repay the lady's kindness and lived the rest of his life in service to her son, a lifetime of servitude doesn't sound so bad. What's more, the Son also inherited his mother's wisdom and open mind. The boy and the son became inseparable friends, just like brothers."
Lacus nodded. That explained how Athrun showed up in Kira's memory. In some way, Lennore was grooming Kira to become Athrun's future royal guard… kinda like how Hilda was the Clyne family's royal guard. But Kira and Athrun had grown closer as the result, and the two became childhood best friends.
"But that didn't last, see." Kira's happy mood instantly vanished. Sadness and sorrow now flow out of his eyes. "The Boy's happy life only lasted for 3 dreamlike years after that day in the parade. It was the day the Lady must return to that deadly island. The boy and the son knew not for what purpose, but several months later, they only received the news: the lady is dead. The boy was 9 at the time." At this point, Kira's face was filled with nothing but sorrow. Tears rolled down his cheek. That was the saddest day on his life: attending Lady Lennore's funeral. But that was just an empty coffin. No body was buried. Inside was just a folded flag and some of her personal effects. The attendants of the said funeral were in the droves of thousands… but they're as cold as ice. No tears, not even a mournful stare. They came because they had to, not because they want to. Even her own husband was absent. And Athrun… he looked like a corpse that day.
A long silence from Kira followed. Lacus dare not to intervene or say anything, allowing the boy his time for mourning. Kira must've really loved lady Lennore so much. She was his mother in every sense of the word. And he still loved her even until today. That love was what made Kira decided to help them all.
Kira took a deep breath and continued the story. Only this time, he didn't use representation anymore. "I can't even begin to tell you how her death tore the family apart. Athrun locked himself in his room, working like a man possessed, but turn absolutely nothing… Lord Patrick never came home anymore, but from what I hear, he didn't eat or sleep for days… and I… I was too busy crying to do anything about it."
Lacus had heard of this before. After Lennore Zala's reported death, her father told her that Patrick Zala changed. He became cold, distant, and he seems to be more aggressive. The poor Councilor didn't even go home and seem to sleep in his office… if he had ever slept at all.
"And then… the month was February when everything completely collapsed. Under the pretense of needing money for his political programs, Lord Patrick sold his wife's estate, fired all of his servants including me, and dragged his son to the military academy to be trained in knighthood. That was 8 years ago." Kira balled his fist tightly, remembering the day he and Athrun parted ways. Now comes the ugly part.
A long silence from Kira followed and then, Kira took a deep breath… and revealed that which he never told anyone: "…a year later… I was sent to the Terminal."
Lacus jawdropped in horror. "Terminal? Th… That's impossible! That's insane! Wh…" Lacus flabbergasted.
"Impossible? Princess, you saw what they did to me, where the hell do you think THAT happened?"
Lacus clasped her mouth in horror. Terminal is the 13th Continent, created after the Collapse. It's small, more like an island than a continent. It's a barren wasteland with very little to anything that can support life, with turbulent waters and highly unstable weather condition; it's a natural fortress that no one can escape from. Naturally, a place like that does not suit the condition for the living. So they used it as a prison island. There are other prisons in Zaft continent, but Terminal is reserved for the most evil of madmen, Death-row prisoners taken from every corner of the empire. In public, they are simply declared dead composed of, well, the most insane and the most brutal scum of the empire: serial killers, hardened man butchers, clinically incurable lunatics, irredeemable kleptomaniacs, mentally deranged psychopaths, bloodthirsty mass murderers, demented war criminals… People who had committed crimes so heinous… no one would even want to talk about it. But Kira was sent there when he was… 10 years old?
"As soon as they looked at my face, they separated me and put me in a 'special compartment.'" Kira made the quotation mark with his hands. "They were other kids like me too. Only the cute little boys. We were given a relatively better ration just to keep us alive and in shape. Day to day they were brought out… returned by sundown, or tomorrow morning… or they don't return at all." Kira trembled in fury as he gritted his teeth in anger and rage. His murderous bloodlust rose up as he remembered every moment of that period in his life. The faces of the demented wardens, the sound of people screaming in pain at daily basis, the taste of rotten food… and THAT. "The Warden sold our 'services' to the highest bidder. Sometimes he would also want to unwind himself… and I was his favorite plaything."
Lacus' lips dried up in horror and she felt a chill down her spine, the images that she saw during her trip in Kira's mind returned again.
"That's what happened when you put a nuthouse in the hands of a nutjob." Kira remembered the warden all too well. He was an Insanity and perversion incarnate. The memory engulfed Kira's mind in a hellish fury that burns ferociously in his veins, it's like his whole body is burning with hate and anger. Unwittingly he let loose a dark bone chilling murderous aura, and his fingers twitched dangerously as if he was ready to tear everyone around him to pieces. His words were as cold as ice and seething with bloodlust and pure hatred. "You… You ever saw what becomes of those children? Empty eyes, glazed over… no emotion but fear… and eventually they're just dead eyes that just don't care anymore…" The dark memories of every second he spent in Terminal returned. And with each passing memory, Kira grew angrier… more wrathful than ever. "I hate them… God help me, I hate them all so much…" Veins popping out from Kira's balled fist, as if it was loaded with hatred that threatened to burst through his veins. Kira clenched his teeth so tight until blood burst out from the corner of his lips.
Lacus let out a small eek, and that's when Kira realized he was scaring his listener, and his sanity returned again. "Sorry." Kira swept the blood trickling from the corner of his lips with his hand, but the said hand was also smeared in blood, as the result of Kira clenching his fists too tight in anger. He ended up making an even bigger bloody mess on his face. "Hoee?"
Despite Kira's lighthearted remark to alleviate the situation, Lacus didn't think of it as amusing. Something like that still happened. She had heard the rumors… but now she's looking at a survivor. "B… But… where did they get those children? We have a law prohibiting imprisonment for underage children-"
"The Law was made by men. It can also be changed by men. Particularly those with some thick pockets. Those children can come from anywhere. People who pawned their children to get some money to repay loan sharks… unwanted children tossed into the streets… or they just grab some jobless street urchin out. They think they're doing the country some service… cleaning out the streets out of some unwanted garbage. Statistically… we're dead. We don't exist."
"But why? Why did they send you there in the first place? What happened during the 1 year that followed after you and Athrun part ways? W… What did you do?"
"I wish I knew." Kira replied, much to Lacus' shock. Kira also took a deep breath to make sure he's ready to finish the story, because the final part is the biggest mystery of this tale. "I lost the memory of… 1 year of my life."
"1 full year?" Lacus blinked. She had heard of this. An Amnesia where a person forgets just one period of their lives, but she never heard of a case where one can forget one whole year. A selective dissociative amnesia.
"Yes. The latest memory I had… during February when Athrun and I parted ways. But after that… I don't know… everything goes blank. The next thing I knew… the latest recorded memory I have right after that… was the memory of me waking up in the cell of Terminal, after 1 full year."
"Are you sure 1 full year had passed?"
"I'm sure. At first, I thought it was barely a week after my parting with Athrun… but I learned to gather pieces of information in the prison. From the people around I knew that many things had happened… And they're just too many things to happen in a short one week."
Lacus looked deeply to Kira's calm purple eyes. She no longer saw anger or rage in there. He's no longer furious, and that murderous aura is gone. But all she saw was confusion. Kira continued his story to its final phase.
"Something… happened during that 1 year. During my time in Terminal, I gathered all I can about what had I missed during that 1 year… and to find out why was I sent there in the first place? Why didn't I remember anything? There were no news of any accident, no mention of my name in any horrible calamities… this desire to know what happened, along with all the anger and hatred boiling inside me…" Kira's fist balled tightly again, his nails sank to the palm of his hand, drawing blood again. But this time, before Kira's rage overcome him again and caused him to do himself more injury, a pair of soft warm hands of Lacus stopped him, cupping his hands. Kira looked at Lacus' sad eyes. For some reason, it calmed him down. "The thought kept me sane… but at the same time, that's what agonize me to no end…" Now a new emotion welled up inside him adding to the mix of anger and rage: confusion. "Try as I might, I couldn't find anything… And the question why kept roaring inside my head. For 2 years… 2 years… I rotted in that Hell. Not a single day passed by I didn't scream the question why. Why is this happening to me? Why me? What did I do?" Again his fist tightened, but Lacus's hands rubbed his hand gently, squeezing it. Once again Kira came to his senses and the clenched fist relaxed. Kira looked at Lacus with gratitude. This is why he never told anyone. He wasn't sure he can remain calm and composed to tell anyone this disgusting part of his life.
Kira fidgeted and squeezed his clasped fingers. Lacus didn't let go his hands, just in case Kira went ballistic again. Lacus' hands continue to warmly clasp over his hands tighter over the rest of the story. "After I escaped Terminal, I learned I've been gone for 3 full years. Subtract the 2 years I spent in Terminal… and you get 1 year."
"Whoa… wait… you escaped?" Lacus gasped. Terminal was designed to make sure people can get in… they're NOT supposed to be able to get out!
"…my foster parents. The… servant couple I told you about? The Yamato Family… they broke me out. Turned out they were former Orb Shinobi operatives, spying on Zala family."
"Wh… wait a moment! Are you sure I'm supposed to be listening to this?" The shinobi's identities are their most precious belonging! A mere mention of a shinobi's surname to any outside party is a capital offense!
"You're a kunoichi. Plus, they're already retired to take care of me. They're no longer on active duty. Besides…" Kira smirked. "I never knew if that was really their real name. They've taken hundreds of surnames before… but they told me I'm Kira Yamato, and that is my name." And now, Lacus can feel that Kira had once again returned to his kind hearted self. She can feel a slight happiness in him. "My new parents put me through some… hypnotherapy and rehabilitation for the mentally imbalanced. Once I was sane enough, I secretly began using my parents' old shinobi information network to find out what really happened to me… Did I do something… a great sin to the Empire? But I can't imagine what horrible act a 9 year old can do… so horrible that they saw it fit to send an underage into hell reserved for monsters…" Kira shivered in fear. "Or… did they just drugged me and kidnapped me, like the rest of those kids…" A slight tinge of anger emanated again from Kira's voice. Whichever the case, Kira wasn't sure what's worse.
"Later on, my parents find out what I did… and well, they were furious." Kira smiled kindly. "As parents should be. They don't want me to keep clinging to that past. They want me to forget and let go. When the found out… they… they made me swear to never do it again. Never try to find out about my past, particularly that 1 year. And I did… I swore… and I kept my promise… I let go. But no matter how much I tried to forget… no matter how much therapy you take… some things just won't disappear." Kira mourned as remembered the days during his rehab. "I still get hounded with nightmares. And in February they keep coming. February… the month that started it all." Kira shivered in anger and disgust to himself. "I… I can't help it… no matter how much I tried to forget… the memories of those days kept coming back… I even thought of killing myself several times out of disgust… But I… But I…!"
And just as Kira's shivering reached its peak, something warm engulfed him. Kira's eyes widened as his head was gently pressed to Lacus chest. The girl hugged him gently, with her head tucked lightly over his messy brown hair by her chin. Kira's eyes widened as he blushed furiously. As did Lacus, who seem a bit shocked that she did this. But when they finally let go, the two were obviously flustered. "Feel better?" Lacus peeped.
"…uh… yeah… much… better…" Kira coughed several times out of sheer nervousness.
Awkward silence between the two for the longest period of time.
"Um…" Lacus started. "W… What happened after the Yamato family made you swear not to dig into your past again?"
"We moved. From to place to place. They're shinobi retiree but they still have their work as consultant. Most of the time some of the things they did are top secret, the stuff I shouldn't be able to understand… but… they've learned not to underestimate my mental capacity… so… we split ways. Recently they told me to stay and live on my own in Amaterasu, working as a waiter. Been doing it for 3 years now… until the knights came in… and burn my home to the ground." 'And started all this again.'
Lacus gasped and tucked her head gloomily, thinking deeply. Moments passed and Kira remained silent, and Lacus grew curious again. "And then?"
"Well… the rest… is history. And it's none of your damn business." Ignoring Lacus' annoyed look, Kira sighed and decided that's enough stories for one night. Anymore and he had to go into detail about his newest job of late. Kira took a moment and give Lacus time to fully digest his story, and then it's his turn to persuade her to go back.
"Now come on. Let's go back to the camp. Your sister would be worried sick when she couldn't found you." Kira stretched out his hand this time, offering a little help to Lacus to get back on her feet.
Lacus saw this, blinked several times and chuckled. "Oh my, being a gentleman now are we?"
"What?"
"I recall the last time I was lying on the ground, and I asked for help, you ignored me."
"If you don't want it then get up by yourself." And the hand was retracted as Kira nonchalantly prepared to leave.
Lacus naturally twitched in annoyance-scratch-anger. Lacus quickly get back on her feet and lunged at Kira angrily. "Why you…! What sort of manners did your parents-ow!" Lacus bumped to Kira's back who stopped suddenly.
"Maybe because I was possessed or something but…" Kira blinked several times in disbelief. "Why didn't I notice this earlier…?"
"Kira-san?" Lacus asked again.
"Lacus-san… look up." Kira pointed his finger up.
"Hm?" Lacus tilted her head up and gaped.
Up there, on the high ground, the pillar of light bursting out of the 4th sanctuary is at their very doorstep! Right in front of their nose! Lacus flabbergasted in awe, while Kira's eyes widened and his jaw hung, but no sound came out. Instead, thoughts flowed in. The apparition of Lennore Zala… he followed her apparition… his sudden desire to open up his past… did she guided him here?
Kira was so lost in thought he didn't realize Lacus was pulling his arms several times. But he finally he noticed her peculiar behavior. "Lacus-san?"
"Come on! Let's go there!" Lacus excitedly tried to drag Kira to go with her towards the Sanctuary, the exact opposite direction of where she was pulling him a little earlier.
"Shouldn't we regroup with the rest first?"
"We don't have the time to go back and forth from here to there. Besides, if we purify this sanctuary now, we might be able to purify all the Genmas in this area!" Lacus excitedly pulled Kira's arm again. The teen began to budge this time.
"Well…" Kira wanted to respond to that naïve thinking that Lord Ray Yuki maybe an undead now… but he isn't that stupid. Most likely, he must've moved his army away out of range of the purification. And yet something in him compelled him to follow Lacus' suggestion against his tactical judgment. And so Kira followed Lacus as she dragged him slowly climbing up towards the Sanctuary.
As they move towards the 4th Sanctuary, Lacus began asking other questions. "So… you lived with Lady Lennore for 3 years? And she taught you strategy?"
"Yes."
"And she taught you about Junius as well?"
Kira chuckled. "Lady Lennore was the first woman who returned back alive from Junius… so, she wrote a book about it."
"A book? About Junius?"
"About genma."
"I see… why I haven't heard about this?"
"Because it was never published." Kira explained. "Athrun and I helped her assemble it… gathering data, cataloging… but most of them came from her head and real life experience. The last part… was never finished. I just don't know. In the last pages she made a vague reference to 'voices of the past'… and then it just stopped. We have no idea what she had in mind for those last pages."
"Wow." That would explain how come Kira had such a detailed understanding on Genma and their behaviors as well as Junius' warped environment. "How are you related to Lord Ray Yuki?"
"Uhh… well… I think I've told you before… he's the Hakutenkun who arrested me." Kira tried to follow Lacus with difficulty, so Lacus stopped from time to time to wait and listen. "If you say Waltfeldt-san is a friend of your family… I would say Lord Yuki is what Waltfeldt to your family as he is to the Zala Family… though… somehow… I kinda suspect there's something more."
"More?" Lacus jumped to another higher ground, playfully tip toeing on the edge of a cliff.
"…at that time… I was too young to understand… but Lord Yuki once studied together with lady Lennore on the same academy… both majored in military strategy and tactics. He told me Lady Lennore was always the better of the two… but…"
"But?"
"Lady Lennore found her calling in being a priestess. Though… from what I heard of the rumors… that's because her parents forced her to." Kira nearly slipped but he managed to regain his footing and continue his climb up. Lacus was staring down at him some distance above him, but still within earshot. "Same story when Lady Lennore married Athrun's father."
For some reason, call it a woman's intuition, Lacus began to read where this is going.
"Eventually, Lord Yuki became the Hakutenkun and the Grand Knightmaster, Lady Lennore became a Priestess, eventually Grand Priestess… and Athrun's mother." Kira hopped to another small platform and barely make it; Lacus continued to stay just slightly ahead of him. "I don't know the exact details seeing I only joined the Zala Family after she became the Grand Priestess… but from what I heard… Lord Ray Yuki often pay visit to the Zala Family as a friend of a family. Mostly to see and taught Athrun in place of Lennore. Time to time… he also taught me too." But now, being adults, Kira knew better.
Lacus chuckled sweetly as she can quickly see what's going on. "And lord Patrick? What does he had to say about that?"
"Even he did say anything; I doubt any of us would care." Kira crawled up another big rock. "He was… cold… and distant. If it weren't for Lady Lennore I don't think he would ever come home… which is proven when Milady's gone."
Lacus nodded in understanding. This turns out to be a very interesting story. Sure, history lessons had made Lacus well aware of most of the things that the legendary Knightmaster are famous for. But hearing directly from Kira who knew things historians don't made the story seems more… alive. It's way better than some dinky mushy history book. Out of curiosity, she asked: "Did Lord Yuki ever… you know…"
The sudden question made Kira lost his footing and nearly fell if not for Lacus catching his outstretched arm. "No. Lord Yuki and Lady Lennore had their honor not to resort to that. They're both married, close friends, and they accepted that." Kira stick to the wall and wallwalked out of the danger, standing right in front of Lacus. "But… I won't lie to you that half of the house had kinda hoped that would happen. Including myself. Whenever I played house, I would pretend lady Lennore was my mom… and lord Yuki was my dad."
Lacus blushed and giggled furiously.
Kira chuckled in understanding of Lacus' giggles. "Can't help it… Lord Yuki was more of a father to me and to Athrun than Lord Patrick ever was. And from what I heard, it was he, not Lord Patrick, who stood by and watch when Athrun was born." Kira tucked his head down. "He would gave us chores, taught us stuff… the best part is whenever we finished chores, he would let us ride on that chariot." Kira glanced at Lacus. "You're a Clyne… you know what that chariot is right?"
"Of course." Lacus nodded. "The legendary Meteor Chariot of the Diamond Doom troopers… our family was well known for it, back in the day of the Founding…" Lacus explained some of the things about her family. "But, after the collapse, my great, great, great, grandfather, Siegfrein Clyne got fed up with military and aggressive tactics… and he destroyed all the blueprints and the manufacturing facility, including all exemplars of the chariot… leaving just one copy left, which my father gave to Lord Ray Yuki."
"Athrun and I rode on it so many times… He taught us how to ride it… pity I was too young to do it. I was a midget see…" Kira stopped for one moment to remember a particular scene. "The first time I drove that thing myself… me and Athrun were left home alone. Lord Yuki was told to babysit us… but… there was an accident. Some of his student punked out on too many glasses of wines and had a trouble with the local bully gangsters. A few guys were beaten up, and they brought a whole army for revenge. Lord Yuki went there to defuse the situation on foot, so the chariot was left unattended."
Lacus also stopped and listened intently.
"We didn't know anything… only we thought lord Yuki could use some help. A little cobble up with Athrun's invention… and the two of us rode off on that chariot. We rode ahead of Lord Yuki and went straight into the gang. And the result to that: 6 houses torn down, the road was all cobbled up, a dog was… never mind… it wasn't pretty, oh, and a granary tower was knocked off its foundations… you Clynes made a monster of a chariot."
"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! How on earth you tear down buildings with a chariot? AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT DOG?" Now Lacus was REALLY glad her ancestor destroyed all but one Meteor Chariot.
"The rest of the details doesn't really matter but… long story short, by the time Lord Yuki caught us and ground us for a lifetime, the gangsters all solemnly swore to shave their heads and entered convents, and Lord Patrick received the bill for our little… ehhem… mishaps. The people called us heroes… lord Yuki called us idiots and start giving us strict military lessons from there on out, complementing the one we already get from lady Lennore."
Lacus shook her head in bewilderment. Now she understood why getting steamrolled over by Lord Ray Yuki's famous chariot can jog down Kira's humanity back.
"And he…" At this, Kira's smile faded slightly.
"…yes?"
"…he could've truly become my father too." Kira mourned. "The day before he left… he… he was talking to Lady Lennore… arranging for… an adoption."
Lacus' eyes widened, and now she really can't help to feel nothing but pity and sorrow. 'This is cruel… this way too cruel of a fate…' How things could've been so much different… Kira and Lord Ray Yuki was so close that even the Hakutenkun had thought of adopting Kira… and now, when that never came to pass, foster son and father must face each other in a fight to the death. This is just too tragic.
Finally, they arrived at the top of the high ground. Kira, still injured, was panting heavily with sweat soaking the bandages around his body. Lacus patiently waited him up and even helped him get on his feet when he staggered.
When they get inside the perimeter, the Sanctuary magnificently stand tall… but the door towards the Sanctuary was closed and sealed shut by a giant white rock slab, regally entwined in leaves and ivies. Lacus leading the way went straight towards the sealed doorway, Kira trailed behind her slowly. As Kira make his way towards the door, he can see Lacus was observing the slab seal end on end… scratched her hair in confusion… and then finally she tried to pry the slab open to no avail. When Kira get there, Lacus was thoroughly confused. "I don't get it. The Sanctuary door is… sealed shut! This slab…"
Kira looked at the said slab. It's a simple slab of solid stone. There's nothing on its surface, a flat blank slab of white stone. But Kira's eyes quickly noticed there's in fact, a writing. It was covered in ivies wrapping the said slab. Kira carefully removed the ivies away from the writings. He looked at it… and collapsed to his knees in sorrow a moment later. "No… Oh no…"
Lacus was shocked at Kira's behavior and take a look at the writings on the said slab. Unfortunately, it's in a language she did not understand.
Ici se Trouve Lennore Zala, Grande Prêtresse du Pèlerinage. Matriarche de la famille Zala
"What is this language?"
"It's in French." Tears trickling down his purple eyes. Kira gritted his teeth to hold back his sob and translate: "It says… Here lies Lennore Zala, Grand Priestess of the Pilgrimage. Matriarch of the Zala Family."
Lacus gasped and quickly back away in reverence and horror. That's not a stone slab… it's a tomb! Lennore Zala's tomb!
But as soon as Kira finished the inscription on Lennore Zala's tomb, the stone slab suddenly began to tremble and moved up, opening the door towards the sanctuary lake. The stone slab opened up and transformed. Carvings and ornaments emerged from the slab. The surface of the slab transformed and a carving of a woman crossing her hands before her heart emerged, the sides transformed into carvings of angels. It's like an imagery of a woman sleeping while being held aloft by angels. The slab has turned into a casket… a sarcophagus. And inside it, was the body of Lennore Zala. The stone sarcophagus floated soundlessly and landed just a few meters away from the entrance to the sanctuary.
Devastated, Kira ignored the now opened doors to the sanctuary and crawled towards the casket. "No, no, no, no… this can't be true. You can't be dead! You! You of all people! No! You always have a plan! Some fake death drug or… or… some decoys or… or…" But Kira knew he was only fooling himself. It's been more than 8 years. Lennore Zala is dead. Her body encased in this stone casket lying not one foot from him is the irrefutable proof, and it's probably had gone rotten and decomposed. Kira could now only mourn and sob quietly as he sorrowfully tucked his head to the casket.
Lacus couldn't help but to feel sorry for Kira. He lost the woman he loved due to the pilgrimage… a mother… so that woman… is indeed Lady Lennore Zala. Her loss was keenly felt by everyone in Zaft. But with Kira it was clear that his feelings were vastly different from others. Lacus contemplated if she should do something. And then, she moved right next to Kira, put on her hood as a sign of mourning, knelt on his right knee and placed her left arm across her chest and bowed in respect to the grand priestess. Such was Zaft's way to show absolute respect. And then, she shifted her stance and now knelt on both knees, fingers clasped in a prayer. Lacus do so in silence as to allow the grieving son a moment to mourn before the tomb of his mother. 'Athrun… you should've been here too…'
The two knelt for some time before the casket, Lacus didn't know how long, but it was enough for Kira's sob trailed to a total silence. And then… "Lacus-san."
"Yes?"
"You should go to the sanctuary. Purify it."
Lacus looked at the door to the sanctuary and then to Kira and then she shook her head. "…no."
"No?" Kira tucked his head to look at Lacus in bewilderment.
"I think… you should go in there." Lacus surmised with a kind smile to Kira.
"Me? Why me?"
"You opened the door." Lacus replied playfully. But one cannot mistake it for prank or sarcasm. "I think… Lennore-sama wanted you, of all people, to come and see her."
"Any person with good French can read that inscription."
"Not any person loved her as much as you." Lacus heard the way Kira uttered the name of the grave: it's an explosion of emotions: love, sorrow, anger, disbelief, denial, despair all mixed into one. "Besides… you knew right away it's French. As I understand it, Lennore Zala was of German descent. Why would she choose the language of French for the epithet on her sarcophagus?"
Kira frowned. He would never admit it… but Lacus was right. He did know why. He remembered a long time ago he had difficulty of learning the language French. One full month of intensive study with Lennore, and he couldn't stop speaking French for a week frustrating the Hell out of everyone. Now French is his third language, right after English and Japanese. And now Lennore plastered French for her final epithet… for him, it felt like she just blared an invitation for him to come in. Not to mention that whole apparition ordeal… it was just too much to be called coincidence.
Kira turned and looked at the sarcophagus before him. 'Lady Lennore… is this really what you want?' All he get from the sarcophagus was a silent reply, and Kira took that as yes. Slowly he got up and then proceeded into the sanctuary.
As Kira's form disappeared into the glowing light of the sanctuary, Lacus stood next to Lennore Zala's grave, wondering, among other things, of how things could've been so much different for Kira. Hearing his life story, she heard nothing but a series of tragic bad luck. It's like his whole life was damned to be screwed over and over…
"Anooo…"
Lacus train of thought was cut off as soon as Kira's head popped out of the sanctuary. "Uhh… what am I supposed to do in there?"
"Errh… nothing happened?" Lacus blinked in confusion.
"I walked to the center of lake, dipped my hand, even my head into it… no dice."
"It looks like you had to perform something… a focus maybe?" Lacus rubbed her chin. "Did you undress?"
"Uhh… no." Kira showed Lacus his bandaged head to toe form. He dared not to undo her work. God knows it may be the only thing keeping him together.
Lacus sighed in exasperation. "You're such a big baby." And with that, she started to undress.
"WHoaa! Lacus! San! What… what are you doing?" Kira obviously panicked.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Lacus had already taken off her skirt, revealing her underwear and her upper clothes hanging around by her neck, slightly revealing a part of her breasts, and a slight sight of her nipples. She wears no upper underwear. "I'm going in there with you, and we'll both do the focus."
"Guh… huh?" Kira jaw dropped behind his mass of bandages. Kira was so stumped that Lacus had shamelessly stripped the last strand of her clothes and she stood naked in full glory before the embarrassed Kira, who quickly rushed inside. Lacus shook her head in amusement and quickly went in.
Inside, Kira didn't dare to turn around and showed his back all the time. He can hear footsteps and then a soft hand touched his back.
"Come on! Let's go! Chop chop!" Lacus didn't seem to care that she stood stark naked behind a totally embarrassed Kira.
"For God's sake girl, know some shame!"
In response, what she did next really made Kira's hair stood on end. She hugged him, and pressed her breasts against his back. Kira can feel her nipples smothering his bandaged back.
"H… HiEEEe!" Kira completely freaked out and squealed. Though he quickly clasped his mouth.
"Oh my… Did you just scream like a little girl?" Lacus whispered in a purposefully seductive tone in Kira's ears while blowing some air into it. If it weren't for the bandages, she could probably see Kira was blushing all the way to his ears. Lacus chuckled. She would be lying if she claimed she didn't enjoy every moment of teasing Kira. Particularly after the way he treated her… and the fat sentence.
"Y…y…y…youUUU!" Kira growled and quickly run away from Lacus, deeper into the sanctuary and hide into the darkness. But his bandages start to glow in the dark. She must've tinker it with some spell or something. Curse her! She's doing this on PURPOSE!
And the best part about it, at least for Lacus… it clearly scared the shit of him. 'Oooh… payback is good…' Lacus savored the taste of beautiful, beautiful vengeance. Still… jokes aside… "I'm serious though. You have to undress. So strip."
"I… Well… are you sure? As a doctor I mean… you bandaged me together and…" Kira's voice echoed from the mass of glowing bandages standing in the middle of the darkness.
Lacus blinked and then chuckled. That's what Kira was worried about? "Don't worry. I know my own work. And I have faith in your regenerative capability. Now, strip."
"…okay." After a moment of contemplation, the mass of bandages began to undo itself up. Starting with the hand, then the feet. As it did, the mass of bandages that is Kira also began to move inside the sanctuary while progressively removing his bandages, leaving a trail of glowing bloodstained bandage on the road. Lacus nodded and followed suit, tracking the bandage trail. Throughout the trip Lacus chuckled in glee as she saw how Kira struggled to remain on track but continuously hide in the shadows, peeking back at her every now and then just to make sure she was following him without seeing Lacus in the indecent places. Problem is, Lacus has no qualms of showcasing it to Kira, if only for prank effect. A little awkward cat and mouse mixed with hide and seek chase ensued, and finally, Lacus arrived before the glowing lake of the sanctuary. Lacus looked around in the shadows which is quite a few, and couldn't hold back her laughter when she saw two peculiar mass of glowing bandages floating in the shadows, one on Kira's head, the other on his waist area.
"Ahahaha! Kira-san! Stop! You're killing me!" She laughed so hard that she cried. "You do realize, having operated you, I've seen every inch of your naked body… including your manhood?"
"Urmmm…" Kira's face had already resembled a tomato. "Tch… does that mean you've seen my face?"
"Hm? Well… no. Your face wasn't injured as much… but when you get a blood shower on your face over and over, you're having a hard time seeing the face of your patient and not seeing it bleached red." Lacus chuckled. Truth is, Lacus saved Kira's face for the last under the context that Kira wasn't injured as much in the face (at least, when you compare that to the rest of the body). When she finally did finish everything BUT the face, she naturally had to tear the mask off… and it's an ugly sight of a bloody mess. Waltfeldt had nearly pulverized his face completely almost beyond recognition. When Lacus was done with one injury, she bandaged it, then moved with another and another… the biggest piece of Kira's face that Lacus saw was when she had to relocate Kira's bent nose. "You were an ugly baldhead of unsightly creatures when I operated you." Lacus chuckled.
"Yeah… I wished." Ever hateful of his own face, Kira knew with absolute certainty, judging by the way he's been recovering rapidly as of late, the injuries on his face had been mostly healed and reverted back to his original state by now. And so, Kira finally removed the bandages on his waist. But seeing Lacus staring at that particular area, even from that distance, Kira felt very uncomfortable. "Could you… could you at least please close your eyes!"
"Kyahahaha!" Lacus laughed again. If he wasn't so ruthlessly murderous, he would be a very cute guy. Lacus closed her eyes and began walking to the center of the lake. "I'll be waiting at the center. Do hurry up. I'm freezing all my extremities here…" Lacus naughtily played with one of her nipples. "And I mean… ALL of my extremities."
"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND CLOSE YOUR DAMN EYES YOU SHAMELESS FILTHY WOMAN!" Kira was so red his face literally glowed through the bandages in the dark.
Lacus laughed heartily and hopped to the center of the lake. She stood there in waiting atop the surface of the lake. Kira peek from the dark and made sure that Lacus had closed her eyes (and that she won't peek) and he began undoing the bandages on his waist. With the bright glow from the lake, Kira began to see his own condition a little better. His whole well toned lean body was filled with scars now. A few days ago there were quite a few, now almost every inch of his skin are scars, stitches, and burnt marks from cauterization. Looking at all of these scars, Kira find it hard to believe he survived this. Removing the bandages on his waist, Kira start walking to the center of the lake.
Kira blushed furiously and looked to the ground as she walked towards the naked Lacus, not a peek to her body. The glowing lake completely illuminated their bodies completely, with no shadow to cover his shame. Kira finally stopped right in front of Lacus. "Okay… so… what should I do?"
"Oh, I can look now?" Lacus chuckled. Still with the teasing.
"Just… keep looking up." All the while, it's Kira's turn to close his eyes.
Lacus opened her eyes and behold… Kira is still wearing the bandages on his face. "Kira-san… your face. You have to remove the bandages on your face too."
"Is this stark naked crap really necessary?"
"Of course. We were naked when we were born so we have to be so now. This is the ceremony." And with that, Lacus began undoing the bandages on Kira's face.
"Your sister will castrate me when she saw us like this…"
Lacus chuckled. And then, layers after layers of bandages were removed… slowly, one inch at a time Kira's face was revealed to Lacus. Her playful smile began to shift ever so slowly… to shock. As Kira's face began to show, Lacus felt like she's piecing together a puzzle in her mind, and when finally, the last strand of bandage was removed from Kira's face, Lacus stared wide eyed, in full view of Kira's face.
She had seen what he looked like when he was a child…
She had a good grasp of what his face looked like… or so she thought…
'Ugly baldhead of unsightly creatures? Yeah right…'
Now, looking at Kira's 17 year old self, clean and fully recovered in all its glory, Lacus found herself completely transfixed at his beautiful face. It looked just like a girl, but with all of its manly features to exemplify that this is a man. Her opposite sex. Lacus mind suddenly went blank. Her dried up lips parted and her heart suddenly beating a mile a minute at magnified volume.
Her mind emptied…
Her eyes blank…
Her breathing stopped for a few full seconds…
Her higher brain function stopped working…
Only her primordial instinct moved her body.
"…Lacus-san? Lacus-san something wr-"
And before she could stop herself, she rammed her lips to his.
"Mngm-!" Kira's eyes widened in total shock. This is nothing like the previous kisses through the mask. This… is a real direct kiss with Lacus Clyne naked lips. It's so soft… Kira tried to move away but he felt like his feet were cemented to the ground. Wet… His arms tried to move across her slim waist to reach Lacus' curvy shoulders, intending to push her… warm… but Lacus' arms began to move around and hugged his neck. Her smell is intoxicating… and her kiss suddenly deepened and Kira can feel his lips being pried open …very hot… and her saliva and drool dripping tongue burst in as she hugged him tighter and the spaces in-between their bodies were closed. And his mind went blank as well, as he instinctively returned the kiss.
The two kissing entranced youngsters stood in the middle of the lake, their bodies seemingly glued with one another and their lips were fused. They couldn't think anything, their eyes were blank, and they were completely void.
The condition of trance.
And with that, the two fell into the lake gently. The moment Kira's arm touched the lake's surface, the Sanctuary trembled, and the Focus began. But unlike before, the pillar of light swirl violently to the sky.
00000000000000
The light can be seen by the pilgrims in their encampment. They were in the middle of searching for their lost priestess and the said ninja. Lamia, in particular, upon hearing two beings that must never be left together alone without some escorts were missing, summoned unworldly strength coming from nowhere and rose up from her supposedly bed ridden state. When she saw the swirling of the Sanctuary near their encampment, she quickly surmised: "My sister's in there!"
"You think Lord Shadow's in there?" Gino wondered out loud.
"One thing I do know! We HAVE to make sure he's nowhere close to her!"
Around half of the survivors (specifically, members of Lacus-sama Fan Club which includes every young male in vicinity) cheered angrily in unison. "MA'AM YES MA'AM!"
00000000000000
For a moment, Kira forgot that he was still kissing with Lacus. As soon as his Focus began, the sanctuary lake waters glowed brightly… too bright in fact, it literally burst into a pure white light that engulfed him and Lacus. It was also during this time Kira quickly noticed his left arm trembling. Blue veins of energy appeared on his left arm, the supernatural blue chakra flowed out of the cracked veins, forming scales, spikes, and claws. Following, Kira felt like enormous amount of energy are flowing in and out of his body… and his left arm felt like they're about to explode. The last thing that Kira remembered was the sight of his hand glowed. That was also the moment his left eye turned yellow…
And suddenly, Kira and Lacus stood in a great empty white space. They're still naked… but their bodies look… transparent and monochromatic. With Kira being blue and Lacus being pink.
Kira looked around. There's nothing there. Absolutely nothing… bar the glowing blue eerie writings flowing vertically and horizontally across the space.
And while Kira was busy observing the surroundings, Lacus was still stupefied. She was completely bewildered as the memories of what she just did with Kira are still freshly imprinted on her memories… and her lips. What in God's name possessed her to just… lunge into his arms and… and… engulf his lips like some… some…
"Lacus… LACUS!" Kira yelled a tad louder to knock some sense into the confused princess.
"Yes! Kiss! What?" Lacus jerked back to earth.
"What now?" Kira asked for directions.
"What… What do you mean what now?"
"Wh… You're the priestess, and we just did the focus. What now? We sing we dance… what?"
"Focus… but… but…" Now that Lacus came back to herself, she looked around and realized something wrong. "But… this is not the Focus?"
"What?"
"This… this never happened to me whenever I performed the focus…" Lacus looked around. All this never happened… and yet… this landscape… they look strangely familiar… "This looks like… the Astral Plain. That means… this is… we just… performed an Astral Dive?"
"Astral Dive… you mean the thing you used to get inside my head? Okay. So… where are we?"
"Well… if I have to get blunt… you two just performed an Astral Dive into the Sanctuary."
The two turned around and saw him. The Man, still in that attire, with the messy blue hair and dichromatic blue and yellow eyes.
"You!" Both echoed and ceremoniously pointed their fingers.
The man merely chuckled. "Well… I see we're all acquainted already."
Kira looked at Lacus in surprise. "You… you've met him before?"
"When I astral dived in you… he helped me find the right memory. He said he's… some sort of your internal caretaker or something…"
"I didn't say that. You did." The Man snorted. "But… as the witch there had pointed out… this is the Astral Plain… the Astral plain… of the Sanctuary."
"The Sanctuary? But… are you saying… the Sanctuary is some sort of… a living creature?" Lacus gasped.
"Now that's rather rude, Witch." The Man seems somewhat offended. "Sanctuary isn't just some sort of living creature. It IS a living creature. A great spiritual being formed from the collective spirits of the Ancient Ones."
"The Ancient Ones?" Kira frowned.
The Man nodded. "The one you guys called… the Oni-clan."
Lacus' eyes widened in shock as she took a deep breath. "…the… the old ones… they're still exist?"
"No… just… the spirits of their noble dead… the warriors died fighting the Genmas… and fought them still even after death. They've been silent and on the slow sure path of disappearing. But make no mistake; even dead, they're far from weak, if only in spiritual force. They're content to fade into history… and let you humans run the world. But when those Genmas start appearing, they realized you're in way over your head. So they gave you guys some help."
"I see…" Lacus nodded in awe. Whoever this man is… he clearly knew things no normal people knew… "Well… if the great Oni-clan is listening… then perhaps they can help us? We need to perform the purification."
The Man stand silent.
Lacus suddenly felt a bit unease. "Yes?"
"If they can help it… they'll be helping you, by getting in your way of what you're doing." The Man simply stated. "Purification… is not meant to restore these lands."
Silence for several seconds, and then Lacus broke the silence: "What?"
"Let me say it in another way… the Pilgrimage… is a GREAT LIE." The man blatantly repeated a tad louder.
It took a full five seconds for Lacus digest these words and properly respond in shock at this revelation, while Kira merely crossed his arms, not so surprised. The Man seems to be expecting this, so he merely focused on Lacus.
"A… lie… what… how…?"
"The Sanctuary was not a purifying spot as you have been led to believe. Yes, it was divine in origin. Yes, it was seething with energies which the demons can't stand. Yes it's a vast reservoir of spiritual energy… But it was not meant to be used as some sort of spirit nuclear bomb… no. The Sanctuary is a series of locks… to a gateway." The man began explaining. "When the Order of Blue Cosmos performed a dark summoning here, they didn't just bring about the Genmas… they were opening a giant demongate… that Giant Demongate… is JUNIUS itself. And they just opened a small crack of it. The Genmas you've seen? The Genmas that's residing on this island? They were just the Vanguard. A prelude to something far greater… something more… evil. A fraction of a gargantuan monstrosity. One that will make even these Genmas looked like kindergarten by comparison."
Lacus is having a hard time digesting this. She opened her mouth and closed it again in disbelief.
The Man sighed. "The Pilgrimage was a tradition created by a lie. When the dark summoning was performed 72 years ago, the summoners were too weak. They were ripped apart before the ritual was completed and they've only opened a small peep of the gateway. But, the Ancients decided to intervene and they dislocated the whole continent before the gateways opened completely. They created seven sanctuaries by pouring all their spiritual energy to lock this place and prevent the Demongate from opening. The Sanctuaries are the reason this world still stand as it were."
"But… but… it doesn't make sense. I understand that the Sanctuary is seals. So the Genmas wanted us to remove the seals… but… I don't feel like we're doing it! I think we would know when we're giving aid to the monsters who massacred our people!" Lacus shrieked in disbelief.
"The Genmas are cleverer than you think. They know they can't remove those locks… they need outside help. So they spun a lie. With some convincing act and trickery, they gave you guys hope. A false hope: a hope that if you guys managed to purify the 7 sanctuary… you can return Junius to its original state. Lies like that."
"How… how is it a lie?"
"How is it lie? The Pilgrimage itself was based on a lie. Tell me young witch, who told your people to begin commencing the pilgrimage?"
Lacus frowned as he tried to remember her history lesson. "The first pilgrims… they managed to purify one sanctuary… but… but… they… died… of… their… injuries…" Lacus' words trailed to a gaping realization. Realization of the contradiction of that history.
The Man nodded in relief. Relief that this priestess was clever enough to see reason. "Genma 101: one scratch… is fatal. Do you not hear yourself talking young eve? You've seen it. Even a single scratch will turn you into Genma. There's no such thing as dying of your injuries when it comes to Genma. Either you survive without a scratch… or you die because of a scratch and you become one of them. Those pilgrims you spoke off? They were already turned when they spun that fairy tale to your predecessors. The Genmas were simply clever enough to ensure that their conduit was deemed 'human' enough for you to believe them as the words of a human."
"But the Pilgrimage… the Purification… the Focus… ALL THAT? W… What exactly are we doing all this time?" Because if that's true… then the Genmas were the ones who taught the humans how to perform the Purification!
"What you really doing… was corroding the power of the Sanctuary. Every time you performed a Focus, you're using up the energy from the Sanctuary to power it. Little by little, bit by bit, the seals that locked the Demongate are weakening. Yes, there are explosions of holy power every time you finished a Focus… they purified the surrounding area… but they never lasts do they? With each purification… with each Pilgrimage, the crack of the Demongate grew bigger. And the demon's infection grew stronger."
Lacus' eyes widened in disbelief. Her lips muttered whispers of words such as madness… all those lives… I can't believe… She looked at Kira for some support, but surprised to find that he was as calm as he could be. "This doesn't surprise you? You knew this?"
"Not knew… I just had my suspicions." Kira looked at Lacus. "Think about it, Lacus-san. 72 years, and you guys barely make a dent. I get it if each pilgrimage that failed bolstered the number of demons in this place, but don't you think the increase in number seems somewhat… explosive? We purify, and purify… we killed a whole bunch of them every purification, every year… big deal. How come there are still a million of them out here?"
"A very fine point." The Man concluded. "Think about it Princess of Eve. They didn't just grew in number, they grew in strength and quality as well. Don't you find that odd? As you go deeper and deeper, there are more demons than undead in there. If the pilgrimage had worked at all… if all those purifications had done anything at all… where are all these demons came from? How come they grow stronger every year instead of getting weaker? How did they make improvements? Shouldn't you guys be facing 'only' undead? How come the pilgrimage be the solution if the Genmas are still here?"
Lacus try to find a way to rebuke those words. But then again, she just found out that one of the oldest most sacred traditions of their empire was based on a lie. A lie so blatant, so obvious, they were too blinded by hope to reclaim their lost glory to even see that. Worse still, her logic also saw the sense in that revelation.
"Something I don't get. If the idea was to let us humans to unseal and destroy the Sanctuary… why do the Genmas send their demons to get in our way? Isn't that rather counterproductive to their goal?"
Kira's comment made Lacus' widened her eyes ajar. Her ears twitching, wanting to know the answer too. The Man explained using an analogy without saving a breath. "When you go shopping to a market, sometimes you used the price as a sign of the quality. The Genmas are using the same principle here: they send more Genmas to you the deeper you get, to make you think, that the deeper you go, the bigger the prize that awaits you. They want you to think… that sending their best units to prevent the Purification was an act of fear from their part. A fear that you all perceived and misunderstood. Genmas don't know fear. Only sheer unholy ingenuity and calculated logic that guides them. It was all part of their deception see: if things had been WAY too easy for you… people as clever as you would've seen right through it immediately."
Lacus collapsed to the inexistent floor in disbelief and resignation. All those lives… all those… people… all died… because of a lie… She looked at the Man. "Who… who are you? How did you know all this? How can we know if you're not just another lie spun by the demons? Another trick! Another deception!"
Kira frowned. "And why are you here? You're inside me but…"
"I'm here because of you." The Man pointed at Kira. "You two… performed the Focus… synchronizing with the power of the Sanctuary… but this is not simple Focus the likes of which other priestess has been doing recently… those are partial synchronization. It barely reached the same level of the Sanctuary. But this… this is FULL synchronization. Your spiritual powers, Kira, connected by Lacus, are similar and aligned with the powers of this Sanctuary. This allows you to perform a full synchronization. The words I'm speaking? I'm just a conduit. The words come from the voices and the wishes of the past to you. I understand if you find it difficult to trust me, when you yourself had just realized you've all been fooled. But search your feelings young eve… and listen. Not to me. But to the sound of your own ancestors. The Ancients whom you revered as your Gods. Listen to them… whisper to you… from these ageless light." The Man motioned the great void light they're standing on. "The Sanctuary… is their way of talking to you… listen!"
Lacus calmed herself and listened. She heard whispers. Sounds.
Stop.
Pilgrimage.
A lie.
The genmas wants to be free.
Protect the mortal realm.
A part of Lacus think this is just a convenient lie, but a part of her believed what this man and what the voices had said. But she's still not yet convinced. "Why now? I mean… if the ancients… if the Oni clans were trying to tell us this fact… why did the previous pilgrimage…"
"Initial pilgrims heard them… Back then, the sanctuaries are still powerful enough to connect on its own with lesser priests. But the Genmas doesn't want the secret out, so they killed them all. Years went by… and the power of the sanctuary had been corroded enough to the point their voices were no longer coherent or recognizable. Not unless the Priestess can fully synchronize with the sanctuary… like what you two are doing right now… and like her." And for a moment, Lacus and Kira felt a jolt. Lacus in particular, recognize this feeling. The same being inside Kira that helped her when she dived in.
At this, Kira's eyes widened in realization. "…Lady Lennore?"
The Man nodded with a smile. "She was powerful. Wasn't powerful enough to understand of course… the first time she came here. But enough for her to hear whispers and a few… troubling words. The Genmas… were afraid of her. The first time she came here, they knew she was bad news. She had enough power to almost successfully fully synchronize with the sanctuary… enough for her to receive bits and pieces… Their Demon masters never forgive their minions for letting her escape the first time. They were afraid that the secret will come out. Though she wisely kept the information to herself… and trained for three years… the days she spent with you… you were too young to understand… but she trained. Hard. When finally she returned here… the Genmas weren't the only thing that had improved. She too was far more powerful than before, and then, she was able to fully synchronize with the Sanctuary… This ONE in fact… thus allowing the Ancients to finally communicate with her properly… and told her the whole story."
"You know this?" Kira frowned.
"She knows me." The Man chuckled. "It was quite a surprise for me too. She's a powerful priestess, far more powerful than anyone can imagine… she can even see right through me… through you. We communicate often. Whenever you weren't around… or you were sleeping… she would often see and talk to me in Astral bodies. Kira… you were meant to come here. The message on her sarcophagus that she used to seal the door to the sanctuary was meant to be read by you. She knew… if anyone can get here… it'll be you. That and… she pick French to check if you really did your homework."
"Pour l'amour de Dieu Milady! J'ai fait mes devoirs! (For the love of God, milady! I DID MY HOMEWORK!)" Kira angrily, and more like happily, yelled in French out loud to no one in particular. In fact, Kira felt like a great burden has been suddenly removed from his back. "So… Lady Lennore knew? She knew the truth behind the true form of the Purification?"
"Yes. She was as horrified as you, of course… but not as horrified as when she learned that the demons had nearly succeeded." The Man closed his eyes, hearing the sounds of the ancients in his ears. "The Ancients told her… that the power of the Sanctuary is at its weakest at the time she arrived for the second time. If this tradition continued, it won't be long until the Sanctuaries' powers collapsed… and the Daemongate will be unleashed."
"When Lennore Zala came here… truth be told, the Sanctuaries were at their limit. So in order to buy some more time… she decided to make the ultimate sacrifice… she gave out all of her vast spiritual power in order to reinforce and mend some of the damage done to the sanctuaries. The act drained her of all her lifeforce… her power is now part of the energy that supported the sanctuary… she's with the ancients now. They'll be damned before they let her soul to be taken by the Genmas." The man added with a smile. "Fact is… you're bathing in her power right now." The man pointed at the great void light below. "We wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for her."
A smile… unlike anything Lacus had ever seen finally exploded in Kira's face. A smile of happiness and relief. A smile of hope. Lacus saw that smile once before… it was the same smile she saw inside Kira's happiest memory. It was as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulder. "I see… so that's how it is…" Now he finally knew why Lennore returned here… and did not come back. The Man also smiled for Kira. And then he turned to Lacus.
"Believe me." The man begged. "Heck, believe the Ancients. I don't know how many lies you've been having all your life, princess… but believe this little truth about this great lie. You want to make a difference, now is your chance! NOW!"
And so she finally accepted the truth and Lacus' eyes were opened at last. She finally believed him. Her lips were too sore to say anything, so she merely nodded.
The Man smiled in relief.
"So… I guess… it'll be back to the original plan of destroying the pilgrimage?" Lacus mourned in sorrow. "Why don't you kill me now, Kira. The Miasma from my body will definitely make this island off limits…"
"Oh Hell no!" Kira and the Man echoed.
"I told you! Killing yourself isn't always the answer you crazy silly girl!"
"And if the Genmas get their hands on your corpse, they can get themselves a new weapon! Why didn't you think of that in your mind you nitwit?" even the Man was no less brutal than Kira in his choice of insults.
"O…kay…" Lacus wasn't sure to which insult she should respond to.
"But… what are we going to do now?" Kira looked at the Man.
"The power from the Sanctuary, reinforced by lady Lennore could last for a few more years… but… I don't see why we shouldn't add to it." The Man smirked confidently.
"I'm… I'm not sure I can do that… even if I drained all the life in me…" Lacus gulped.
"Don't be ridiculous. Lady Lennore was probably a hundred times stronger than you as a priestess, and look what happened to her." Kira was quite clear. Even someone as powerful as Lennore Zala died to reinforce the Sanctuary. Lacus, who is only an average priestess wouldn't stand a chance.
"Then how are we going to reinforce these Sanctuaries?" Lacus annoyed but can't say anything to rebuke that fact, so she merely pouted.
"I can do it." The Man declared. "My Spiritual Energy is massive enough to reinforce the sanctuary… heck I can even do all SEVEN of them at once."
"All SEVEN? Mercy sakes alive! What are you trying to do? Drain Kira's life till he's all dried up?" Lacus protested. That was unheard of.
"Kira won't be harmed… much. I will use my powers and ONLY my powers to synchronize with this Sanctuary Lake, then I will use this sanctuary lake to synchronize with the other Sanctuary," The Man lifted his bare left arm from his sling. They can see blue energy coursing through it. "I just need a physical conduit… Kira… that's you."
Lacus looked at Kira's determined eyes in horror. 'Kira-san…'
"Let's do it." Kira nodded. He's like a man on a mission.
The Man grinned widely at his host's determination. "Well alright then."
And all the sudden, Kira and Lacus jerked back to the real world… where they're still locked in that god-help-them passionate French kiss. Lacus and Kira's eyes widened when they realized their condition, and they quickly pushed each other away with a shriek.
"uh… Ummm…" Lacus' face was even redder than her hair.
Kira was no different. But then, he can feel something's happening… with his left arm. Kira lifted it and saw his arm is now glowing with veins of energy pulsing, crackling with electricity and energy. Upon seeing the state of his arm, Kira instantly knew what to do. "We'll talk about the kissing thing later."
"Kissing thing-"
"For now…" Kira lifted his inhuman left arm and showed it to Lacus. "You should be running." And one of his eyes turned yellow slit and his voice began to echo with someone else's voice.
Lacus didn't need to be told twice. She quickly turned back and ran out of sight.
00000000000000000
By that time, most of the pilgrims had somehow managed to crawl their way up to the 4th sanctuary. Lamia, in panic, checked the surroundings for any sign of her sister or that of the masked man. All she saw was a casket and the serene citadel of the Sanctuary.
"What's that casket?"
Naturally, the Sarcophagus was an obvious central of attention. Lamia approached the casket and read the inscription written on the said casket. Unfortunately, like her elder sister, Lamia didn't understand a word of it.
And then she noticed Lowe was looking at the casket… but not at the casket. Lamia followed his eyes and saw what he saw… and her heart skipped a beat.
Lacus' priestess clothes tossed around everywhere. She slowly approached the clothes and took it with trembling hands. And then she also noticed something else: Shadow's signature superweapon Katana was planted nearby. And no sign of the said clothes being forcibly removed, the sanctuary opened ajar, the unnatural state it was in… Her teeth clattered in rage and disbelief. "N-n-n-n-no… w-w-w-w-wait a second… t-t-t-t-they won't dare be d-d-d-d-d-d-doing s-s-s-s-s-s-something l-li-l-ll-l-li…"
Waltfeldt and Gino sweatdropped seeing the poor little sister trembling full force. Some of the knights were also horrified at the prospect, some were so angry, their grip threatened to crack their poor weapons.
And then they heard panting coming from inside the sanctuary, and everyone's eyes turned towards the glowing opening.
And that's when Lacus, stark naked from head to toe, decided to show up, running like a bat out of hell.
The sacred ground of the Sanctuary was stained with blood bursting out of the nose from every collapsing male knight in vicinity. But the sight of her sister running flustered with nothing on was like a confirmation of her suspicion. "KAGE! YOU'RE DEAD! D.E.A.D! DEAD!"
But before Lamia can charge in swords slashing, Lacus lunged to her sister and pulled her back with a yank. "I can explain later Lamia-chan! For now! Back OFF!"
00000000000000000
In the Sanctuary…
Sparks of electricity jumped up and down from Kira's left arm, which has now glowing completely blue as if it was composed of that light, to the Sanctuary lake, which also glowed bright blue, as if it was composed of the same matter with Kira's left arm. Kira closed his eyes, concentrating, and strangely enough, he found himself back into that white space. The Astral Plain of the Sanctuary. There the man was waiting. His left hand outstretched with his palm facing down, electricity endlessly coursing from the palm to the great light below.
And finally, Kira couldn't take it anymore and asked the question that has been hounding his mind. "What ARE you?"
"What eh? Nice choice of words." The Man didn't stop doing what he's doing. "You know I'm not human."
"Yes. Thanks for the obvious. Humans don't make other human spout tail and scales… so let me ask again. What on earth are you?"
"I'm… an existence that should've vanished a long time ago." The Man explained. "Through some stroke of luck… or fate… I'm stuck… in you… specifically… your left arm… and eye."
Kira's left eye twitched, as do his left arm.
"Kira, you already have innate incredible healing capabilities… but you must've noticed. Every time you get injured… your left arm seem to be able to regenerate a little faster than the rest of your body. You're a righty but sometimes it feels like your lefty is more reliable."
"And me killing Genmas. Was that your dong too?"
The Man chuckled. "Oh no. If that was me, the blood you gave to the ShadowForged weapons will not have the same Genma killing properties as you. My powers are for more… specific purposes."
"Define specific."
"I cannot help you fight your battles Kira. Not if you're fighting against fellow humans. I once swore an oath to not interfere in the affairs of men. Not even living inside you will change that." The Man tucked his head. "But this case is different. The Genmas are an even bigger problem than us. If they ever get out, it's not just a simple matter of human versus human anymore."
"But you helped me when I fought against Raww Le Klueze, did you not?" Kira remembered the time when he went berserk in the forest. He didn't remember much of what happened, but he was told by his friends… he was 'bestial'. "And you helped me several times before that…"
"The case with the insane fire knight was the only freebies I'm going to give you. The case with Veia, well… I just gave Shiki a little help, and you've earned it… as with Raww Le Klueze… well… I'm sure you noticed."
"That guy… he ain't human, isn't he?"
The Man frowned in deep thought. "No… at least… not entirely."
Silence for a few moment as the two being think this through in their head. And then, Kira get back on track. "But you still haven't answered my question. What are you?"
"Quite right." The Man chuckled. "I'm just like this sanctuary, see. I'm an existence born from the fusing of consciousness of separate beings. So it's not an exaggeration to say…I… We… are a different kind of sanctuary."
"You mean… you're like a… fusion of beings? But that doesn't really explain everything."
"Quite so." The Man sighed. "But… that's the only way I can define myself. I… WE simply… are."
"One of these days we're gonna talk in depth about this… But… what's your name?"
"Name… I don't exactly have a name…"
"It's improper to just call you 'him' and 'he' or whatever… plus it's impolite."
The Man laughed and thought for a moment. "Jorm. Call me Jorm."
'Jorm?' "Jorm. Okay. That's a start." Though Kira can't help to wonder what in god's name Jorm means. "Jorm… you… you guys lived inside me… and you said just now, that you helped me with my healings."
"Yes. Though, your healing was already good from the get go." Jorm was quick to put two to two together. "And yes, I can heal those guys you brutalized back there."
Kira crossed his arms. His request was quite clear. Heal them then.
"The answer to that… is no." Jorm shook his head. "You're the one who beat the crap out of them. And admit it, you enjoyed doing it."
"True enough. But we got an army of undead that will come at midday today. I don't think they can recover that fast, even an advanced." Kira glared at Jorm. "And you said it yourself. You may not want to deal with the matters of men, but we're fighting Undeads here. Genma. The demonic race which is the enemy of Onis. Your ancient war is now spilling into our world. We're fighting YOUR war now."
Jorm snorted. "You humans were the first one who brought them here in the first place. In sense… this was you human's fault." The blue haired snickered bitterly and contemplated Kira's request. "Answer me this… how long do you plan on this fire-play?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're playing with fire, Kira. Once they get out of here, they'll found out who you are, and they'll turn against you. They will hate you more than ever, and they will never accept you again. Worse, now they know WHAT you are. Right now you're siding with the Alliance, if they expose who you are… you'll have enemies on both sides."
"I'm fine with being an outcast." Kira replied darkly. "All my life, that's what I've been. An outcast. Denied by Advanced, hated by Naturals. If they're going to hate me, so be it. I told them from the very beginning that the feeling was mutual… and they want to expose me? Go ahead. Tell the whole world how a serf reject managed to kill their National Hero. Tell the whole freaking universe that a cook killed their kind by the hundreds and thousands." Kira smiled sadistically. "It'll be like blood on water."
"Soon, you'll push them to the point of desperation until finally they wouldn't care less about dignity."
"Fine with me." Kira sighed. "From the moment I don the mask of Kage… I knew from the very beginning I have taken a road of no return. When they come at me as enemies, let them come. I will shoulder their hate and became the devil. But right now, that's not the problem. Right now this is not about Advanced vs. Naturals. This is about living humanity versus undead demons."
Jorm looked at Kira with slight disapproval. He doesn't seem to be satisfied with that answer, but regardless, it's a good answer. "Very well. I will heal them. But, I don't do freebies anymore. What are you willing to give me in exchange?"
"What do you want? You already have my left arm, you already have my left eye…"
"That's it."
"What?"
"Your eye."
"You want my right eye now?"
"No." Jorm shook his head. "I want your bloodline limit. Specifically, I want the bloodline limit on your LEFT eye." Jorm pointed at Kira's left eye.
"Oh." Kira chuckled. He stretched his left eyelids. "That's pretty cheap."
"Cheap eh?" Jorm chuckled. He place his right palm over Kira's left eye, close it, and then for a moment, Kira's eyes turned to Seed mode… and then, as Jorm opened his palm, an image of Kira's left eyeball in seedmode appeared on his palm, while at the same time, the seed eye on Kira's left eye vanished. "Transaction complete." Jorm looked at Kira's seed eye floating on his palm, while Kira's remaining Seed eye reverted back to normal.
"Funny. 17 years living with it, I never really knew what it does." Kira twitched slightly seeing his left eyeball floating in Jorm's palm and then it vanished into Jorm's hand.
"That's why you call it cheap." Jorm noted at the electricity flowing from his palm that grew more intense with each passing moment. It's like it was ready to explode. "Kira, I think you better get going. I'm almost done here."
Kira nodded and vanished.
00000000000000000
When Kira returned to physical word, his left arm looked like its just one breath away from exploding.
"Kira! Ram that power into the lake! NOW!" Jorm's voice boomed on his head.
Kira roared as he slammed his left fist to the lake's surface.
The effect was instantaneous.
The Pillar of light burst upward ever more ferociously, as if it's about to blow apart the citadel that encapsulated it with a roar. The building was completely engulfed in the bright light, making its blurry silhouette distorted in the midst of the bright light. The skies above went turbulent as the Pillar reached towards it and twist it around.
"GODS ABOVE! What is this?" To say the Exorcists were scared out of their wits would be an understatement.
"This… this is not purification?" Lamia looked at her half naked sister.
"No." Lacus shook her head. "This is… yes… this is Rejuvenation."
"Reju… Rejuvenation?" Lamia gasped as the light grew brighter and brighter… it's like a blue sun. Strangely, looking directly at it did not hurt their eyes. Rather it felt refreshing. Like a splash of water on your face.
Inside the Sanctuary, Kira's left arm disappeared in a great wave of light that engulfed his entire form. Kira roared and growled as he struggled to keep his fist connected to the lake. The bursting light is propelling him upward after all.
The pillar of light of the sanctuary let loose a single ripple of blue ring that expanded outward. From the fourth Sanctuary, the Shockwave rippled across the ground until it hit the 3rd sanctuary. When the rippled touched the light pillar, the same phenomena happened, and another ripple burst forth. On the other end of the first ripple, the wave finally hit the as of yet untouched 5th sanctuary. Like before, the 5th sanctuary burst out in a ferocious swirl of energy, releasing another ripple that hit the sixth, and so forth and so forth, until at least, all 7 sanctuaries of Junius had unleashed their respective waves, and all seven has been hit by all seven waves at least once… now 7 ferociously swirling pillars of light that reached to the turbulent sky are resonating one another.
The phenomena can be seen kilometers away by everyone in the nearby vicinity of the continent. From above, the constantly dark and misty Junius was, for the first time in 72 years of darkness, bathe in light as all seven sanctuaries on Junius swirled ferociously.
00000000000000000
The Alliance soldiers aboard the looted merchant saw this as well. They run and scream, pointing fingers and yelled.
"W… What is this?" In all his years, Mwu had never seen a phenomenon like this.
Sai couldn't shift his attention away from the great mass of light reaching to the black heaven. It was beautiful and yet at the same time, it's scary.
00000000000000000
On the island, things were no better…
The only thing Genmas are afraid of are the shining purifying light of the sanctuary. And now, that light grew brighter, shining out across the land as if it's about to burn them as they look upon it.
Ray, being a Genma himself, was no exception. But since he retained a modicum of his human side, a veteran knight discipline prevailed in the end, though the demon inside him was obviously scared shitless. "This feeling… it's the same… just like that time…" The former Hakutenkun gets another blast from the past. Specifically, the day he died at the borders of the Sanctuary in his one last stand…
00000000000000000
The whole continent shook down to its foundations. The seven pillars of light continue to burst again and again, fiercely wading through the black sky.
Inside the sanctuary, things get a little overheated to Kira. In literal sense.
"GraAAAGH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAArGhHHH! GRgGGHgGGGG…!" He could barely feel his left arm anymore, and it's like his whole body is on fire! The bright light of the sanctuary pierced through every molecule in his flesh. Even more terrifying, he felt like his life is getting sucked into the vortex of light.
"Kira! Whatever happens, don't lose the connection between your hand and the lake! We're reaching critical stage here!"
"I KNOW! Grggg…" Kira growled. 'Like Hell I will stop now… Lady Lennore, did you endure something like this too?' Kira smiled as he holding the pain of his arm being disintegrated inside out. 'Fine for me. You trusted me… you know I was going to do this right? You're watching me now… right?'
Right.
Kira gasped and looked to the side.
"L…Milady…"
Lennore Zala placed her hands on top of Kira's, and already he can feel some of the pain alleviated-nay-disappeared. Well done Kira. I'm so proud of you. Well done.
And Kira, for the first time in what felt like ages, grinned widely in happiness.
And finally, with one final burst, the seven pillars of the Sanctuary tore through the sky… and just like that, it tore through the black smoke-like sky. At the same time, the final burst send one last shockwave that rippled allover the island knocking everyone alive or dead to the ground. The condition lasted for only several seconds, and the violent swirling of the Sanctuaries gradually died down and finally returned to its original calm state. But something else is different.
The after effects of this Rejuvenation remained: the black demonic sky atop the continent was torn apart in seven large chunks of the sky… revealing the real night sky with sparkles of stars glowing in the darkness.
The Pilgrims gazed in awe upon the spectacle. That's when they also realized another thing.
"He… Hey?" Gino removed the bandages on his body. He remembered the doctor told him he had 8 ribs snapped clean… and now… he has 8 good strong ribs. "Hey… my wound… they…"
Waltfeldt remembered his body looked like Swiss cheese when the surgeons were working on him. Now he starts wondering where did those holes gone to.
It's the same story everywhere. All those injuries were healed, or in the most severe case, get better, as was the case of Jeremiah. Jeremiah no longer felt the pain of the loss of one of his eyes, but his arm and eyeball didn't exactly grow back. But the pain is now less torturous. 'But… what on earth was that?'
Lacus also smiled happily as Lamia removed some of her bandages and flexed her arms only to find she was okay and 100 percent. "I'm… healed?"
And Lacus knew it's not just the people. The Sanctuaries too, are finally rejuvenated from 72 years of corrosion. The Light glowing out of the sanctuary lake are now brighter and larger, signifying it has become stronger.
Lacus looked at her arms, as if trying to sense something. She frowned when she still sense it. 'I see… it's still there…'
And then, as she turned towards the Sanctuary's doorway, she saw a figure approaching them from the glow.
It was Kira. He was once again clad in bandages… but it was messy and shriveled. He dragged himself out while holding up his limping left arm. My God, it was smoking!
"Ki… Kage-san!" Lacus shrieked.
Everyone's attention was once again redirected towards the doorway and they saw Kira walked out of the sanctuary… as messed up as Hell. Panting up and down, wet with the waters of the sanctuary and his own sweat. Fact is, he's the only one who looked worse off than everyone. Kira turned his gaze and observed everyone's condition. They all look well… too well. But some people who lose their limbs still lost it. Kira muttered in his head. 'Jorm?'
"Hey, I'm a man of my word, but that doesn't mean I can work bleedin' miracles!" Jorm argued.
The bandaged shinobi dragged himself out of the sanctuary and towards the casket. But alas, the combination of his not so light injuries and severe exhaustion caused the boy to trip and fell face first to the ground. Lacus panicked, and, ignoring her own improper situation, rushed forward to Kira's side. "Kage-san?"
Even behind the bandages, it was obvious that Kira was smiling. Happily too. He desperately struggled to get back up on his feet, but he just couldn't.
"Kage-san, please enough! You have to rest now! Even Purification nearly killed me, much less what you just did!"
"Haa… haa… haa…" Kira grunted as he gasped and wheezed. "C… Can you help me then? T… Take me to her…" Kira pointed at the casket.
Lacus looked somewhat disapproved. Kira had to rest NOW. But if she thought about it… this is perhaps what he need. Lacus nodded and put Kira's arm over her shoulder. And with great difficulty, she carried him up by his arm. But Lacus had difficulty dealing with Kira's weight, and then Lamia finally lent her a hand. As the Clyne Sisters carried Kira towards Lennore Zala's tomb, Kira, partially delirious could barely see where he's going. But when the two sisters stopped, Kira's vision cleared and he saw he was standing before the casket.
Upon seeing the tomb of his beloved mother, Kira break free and fell to his knees and knelt on all fours before the casket. "Lady Lennore… I'm here… I've done it… You… You wanted me to do this… didn't you? I feel like I'm reliving your second journey…" Kira chuckled.
Meanwhile, the pilgrims were shocked upon hearing the words. That casket is the tomb of the legendary Grand Priestess?
"The Holy lady-" One of the Pilgrims were about to utter a praise but he was quickly silenced by Gino. "Shush. Be quiet."
Ignoring the rising murmurs, Kira continued on. "I wondered what it'll be like if only I was born earlier… if I had of enough age and standing… to go with you… if that had happened… things… might have been so much… different…" Kira sighed. "But perhaps… things would be just as you said before… maybe I wouldn't be able to do anything… and now… here I am…" Kira's voice grew heavier. It was obvious it took a lot for him to just kneel there. "So I guess… what I want to say is… I'm sorry… I'm sorry I was late. I'm sorry… to make you wait for so long. But I'm here… And I understand now. I understand why you left. You left… because you want to give me… to give us all… hope… isn't that… what you fought for?" Kira struggled to get up. Lacus and Lamia rushed in to help him, but Kira knocked them away. He wanted to do this on his own. "At last… I know why you did… what you did… At last… I understand the reason behind your courage… the true meaning… of your sacrifice."
Once he stood straight up, Kira took a deep breath, strengthen his limping right arm and slowly, painfully, lift it up to cross his chest, and then he knelt down to his one knee, kneeling in respect before his mistress, his mother, his lady.
And for a moment, the pilgrims saw not an assassin… but a knight, kneeling before his master to pay his last respect.
The kneeling lasted for only a few seconds, but to every Zaft pilgrims present, this magnificent imagery will last down through the ages. Unfortunately, while the knights were still awed by this sight, Kira finally collapsed of his injuries and fell down towards the casket. Kira gasped and wheezed as he hold on to the casket for support, but he finally fell down with his back sliding down against the casket, heaving up and down, his eyes dazed and he was but a breath away from fainting.
Lacus knelt close to Kira, clearly concerned of his state.
"Lady Lennore… left us… her children… to gave you all hope. Now…" Kira glared at Lacus and placed an arm on her shoulder. "It's entrusted… to YOU."
"You mean to us." Lacus kindly grasped Kira's hand.
"No. To you." Kira's voice grew heavier. "You… are a new hope I can never be. A man like me… a man like me… I can no longer become… the man she wanted me to be. You know why better than most."
Lacus tucked her head down in sorrow.
Kira smiled. "Thank you… thank you… for making me do this. For making me go this far… I… I'm glad… I came here… thank… you…"
Kira had finally reached his limit… and with that, his head fell down as he slipped to dead silence.
The motion shocked Gino and the other pilgrims. Lamia gasped. "Lord Shadow…!"
Lacus raised her hand and everyone halted. Lacus rubbed Kira's neck to check his pulse, it's very slow, but it's there. And then his breathing frequency is very few. Lacus' shock quickly shifted to relief… and a slight annoyance. "Well… think of it this way… if he's dead, then this would be the most moving death scene ever." Lacus giddily punched Kira's head, much to everyone's relief. "He's alive. He's in suspended animation."
"Suspended animation?"
Lacus frowned thinking a best way to explain this. "Severe physical and mental exhaustion sometimes will cause the body to automatically react by shutting down almost all but the most critical body parts responsible to keep one alive, such as Heart and lungs. Right now… Kage-san's body is at the lowest energy usage possible in order for him to recover… in a way…" And what Lacus did next made everyone jerked in surprise. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAIII!" Lacus screamed in a high pitched tone right next to Kira's ear. But Kira didn't even budge. "He's in a very deep sleep, even if a bomb exploded right next to him he won't realize what happened." Such was the giggling explanation of Lacus.
"But… like this… we can't pray before the sacred grave of the holy lady…"
"Then wait." Lacus retorted.
"But Milady…"
"You WILL wait." Lacus turned to Kira's sleeping figure. "He had waited 8 years to kneel before her and paid his respects. And she had waited for him just as long."
The pilgrims looked in surprise at the bandaged figure. "My Princess… who is he?"
"Someone once taught me… the word Samurai… means to serve." Lacus chose her words carefully. "He was a servant. Loyal servant to Lady Lennore Zala, who loved her more than anyone. In a different circumstances, he would be standing beside you all as a fellow knight. He's the last member of Lennore Zala's second pilgrimage… he was unable to come due to circumstances beyond his control and so he was left behind… now… after 8 years… the last Knight of the Pilgrimage had finally returned to his master."
"So… all this time… he was so adamant to fight his way across this place… all this was his personal crusade to find his master again? Even if it's just to kneel before her remains…" To say Jeremiah and the other Pilgrims were impressed by Kira's loyalty to Lennore Zala was a gross understatement.
Lamia looked at Kira's sleeping figure. The bandages obviously made it impossible to see what he really look like… but, judging by the way his face curve in certain places… "He's… smiling?"
"He must be having a good dream." Waltfeldt chuckled.
"A good dream… I suppose so." Lacus looked at Kira's sleeping figure. "He came here… with a burden… lost and confused… for 8 years… he's been searching an answer for a question no one alive can answer. And now at last… he had found the answer… if only in his dreams."
00000000000000000
When the 6 year old Kira opened his eyes again, he was standing in the field of green of the Zala Manor garden. With Athrun was playing with Torii in his hand.
"Oooi! Kiraaaa!" Athrun called.
"Athrun?" Kira blinked. Wait… this dream… he had this before… and it didn't end well…
BUMP!
When Kira came to, he realized Athrun had just run up to him and knocked his head. "Eh?"
"What are you doing? Come on! Mom's waiting behind you!"
"Eh? Eh… wha…" Kira turned around and saw Lennore was waiting for him the gazebo. This time, she did not disappear into darkness.
And there she waited for them with a smile.
"Come on!" Athrun ran towards Lennore while pulling his arm.
Kira's confusion slowly vanished into a happy smile. 'Yeah… if it's a dream… I can at least dream… right?'
"Wait for me!" Laughing, Kira ran towards his family…
00000000000000000
An hour or so later…
When Kira woke up again, he was back to the sanctuary. But he felt refreshed. Happy and lightheaded. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to wake up so refreshed. For the first time in years, he finally enjoyed a good night's sleep without nightmare in February. He found himself lying with his back against the casket, and something… covering him like a blanket. Kira looked down and saw a large purple cloth.
"Compliments of Lady Lacus."
Kira jerked up and saw Gino, smirking at him.
"Gino?"
"Lord Shadow. Good morning. That's what I would like to say… but… it's not morning yet. I think it's… dusk."
Kira slowly get back up, cracking his back bone a bit. He felt so stiff having slept in a rather uncomfortable position all night. And then he turned to the casket of Lady Lennore's grave. He looked at it for a moment, and then he knelt down on both knees, and pray. Gino blinked and then he remembered what Lacus told them about Kira's and Lennore's bond, and so he let him do so.
Kira's prayer lasted 15 minutes, and then he get back up and turn to Gino. "Sorry. I just felt the need to at least pray for her properly."
Gino chuckled. "So you CAN pray."
Kira didn't reply. He only chuckled lightly.
Gino also smiled. "So… what did you tell her?"
"…a lot of things. But… you can't exactly cram years worth of longing into one prayer." Kira snorted. "…for now… I just tell her… thank you… and see you soon."
"See you soon?"
"I got plenty of time…" Kira tapped his heart. "Now I realized she never left."
Now he felt the need to take a walk. "I need to stretch my legs. Wanna come along?"
Gino obviously agreed.
The two walked out of the sanctuary perimeter and stood on the cliff overlooking the surrounding area. Kira looked at the site. Lord ray Yuki was right. This place had a good vantage point. From here one can see every part of the field. 'In the afternoon, this place will become a battleground soon…' He looked at Gino's condition. He looks okay. "You're healed?"
"Thanks to you, my Lord. I don't know what you did with that sanctuary… but it healed us… well… most of us." Gino noted the problems with those who had lost one of their limbs, especially Jeremiah. "But… they claimed they felt better. The surgeons also noted the wounds have closed… the stump looked like they were a week old."
"I'm sorry." Kira tucked his head down in regret while at the same time marveled Jorm's work. 'Can't work bleedin' miracles eh?' "And Lacus-san?"
"She's okay too. We have to save a couple of knights but…"
"Excuse me? Save the knights?"
"Her sister. I mean… Princess Lacus. Running naked with nothing on. Beyond their wildest dreams." Gino chuckled. Waltfeldt had to restrain the furious little sister. "But Hilda and Lamia quickly brought Lacus to her tent… we haven't seen them coming out ever since."
Kira chuckled. He could just about imagine. But that also means Lacus haven't breathe a word about the shocking revelation she just had to anyone just yet. Even if she did, Kira suspect she would entrust something as horrifying as that to a family member. And Kira doubt she would dare to reveal such revelation to the unprepared public. To tell her people, that one of the oldest, most fundamental tradition that had lasted for 72 years is based on a lie… imagine the chaos that will ensue… family members hysterical… the devastation to Zaft's long-lasting religion… "So… how's everyone now?"
"We went back and collect those we left behind earlier… turns out they were healed too. We met in the road… and now we're all here, resting."
"How many are we?"
"We have 50 Exorcists, 115 Emerald Knights, and 240 Junk Guild troops that are able to fight. The rest are wounded or too injured… with that we have 400 men."
"Good… that's good." Now their chance of surviving just went from none to slim.
As Kira observed the surroundings, a familiar chirp caught his attention. "Torii!"
Kira and Gino looked up and Torii descend upon them and finally landed on Kira's hand. Surprisingly, Torii has grown larger. Almost twice his original diminutive size and his features had become more lifelike and less natural. Torii looked like a small eagle in Kira's hand.
"Cool bird."
"Before this, I sent Torii to scout the area around." Torii had something in his beak and he dropped it to Kira's palm. The two looked at it. A piece of torn cloth. It stinks of corpses… naturally. But Kira sniffed it so close that he covered his nose with it. "…horse."
"Excuse me?"
"Rotten horse meat. Sulfur… from the cannons… oil and fat… used to grease wheels…" With that information Kira get a good idea what they're up against.
"That is some nose…" All the sudden, Waltfeldt and Lowe came approaching from behind. Gino bowed before the Hakutenkun and then turn back to Kira, who is conversing with Torii.
"Torii get this piece of cloth from a knight… specifically, charioteers."
Everyone gulped. If there's one thing the Grand Knightmaster was famous for, it was his chariot units. Waltfeldt cracked his knuckles. "When?"
Kira closed his eyes, thinking of what his foster father would do. "Lord Ray Yuki's clever. He was well known not to make reckless moves… that's how he always have been. We have time… but when he does attack… it'll be an instant."
"Can we win?" Lowe gulped nervously, but he's ready to fight to the end. "We only have 400 able bodied men…"
Kira chuckled. It looks like it'll always be his fate to fight battles with impossible odds… "The chances… are not zero."
The top warriors of the pilgrimage looked at the boy. He was quite calm and confident that they can survive this? Interesting.
"…I take it Lacus-san haven't told you guys?"
"Told us about what?"
"After this battle… I think you guys will be leaving back home."
"Eh?" Everyone looked at the Shinobi. "Are you sure?"
"So many wounded… and we can barely survive fighting any further…" Kira sighed. "Either way… whatever happens, this is going to be the last time I will help you guys."
Gino gasped.
"Remember our deal. I'm under time constraint. And my time is almost up… Torii came here was already a good sign of that. I have to leave soon."
"But… my lord…"
"Gino… I've given you guys the chance to survive… and I already taught you everything I know. I've got nothing left to give you. Whatever you guys will decide from here on out… the fight will be your own."
Gino looked down.
"But I will help you guys for this one battle. Just this one last battle, so don't worry about it. Kay?" Kira chuckled. Truth be told, he too wanted this battle. This could probably be his last chance to have a showdown of wits against another important person of his past. 'Let's do this… Lord Yuki!'
00000000000000000
A few kilometers away from the sanctuary, genmas marched forward in a very orderly fashion. Enormous Tyrants all lined up in key position. They came from every direction encircling the sanctuary. The pilgrims were surrounded by thousands of heavily armed Genmas coming from every direction. At the helm, the Lifeless Lord, Ray Yuki glanced towards the bright pillars of the Sanctuary.
"Kira… 8 years had passed… now… let me see how you've grown."
00000000000000000
Meanwhile… inside Kira…
Inside Kira's mind, 'Jorm' sighed and then began changing his appearance. First, he simply combed his messy hair backward, giving a sleek spiky hair style pointing backward with one strand on the head. He also took a pair of glasses and put it on. When he did, his eyes changed to a pair of light blue slit. His appearance also shifted. His clothes became more closed and elegant while maintaining the similar blue dresscode. His appearance was like that of a scholar, instead of the previous rugged warrior like form.
"My, my… he's a sharp landlord… I'll give him that."
And then… something appeared on his back. A blue aura in the shape of an enormous being. And that's not all. Behind the blue being, three more of such monstrous beings arise, their silhouette monochrome in color of red, White and black. And their glowing bestial eyes are staring at him. If it weren't for his equally massive aura, Jorm's actual physical body would look like an ant. "My brothers…"
The red silhouette's green eyes with red iris glowed. His voice was fierce and ferocious. "It's looks like he's getting a bit too noisy."
"I don't mind." The White Silhouette which seemingly had multiple pairs of green eyes chuckled seductively. Her voice was feminine as well. "It'll be a nice change of scene if he came and visit once in a while."
"Jorm. Is this really okay?" The third black silhouette with dark yellow slitted eyes spoke in a very stern voice. Despite the stern tone, unlike the previous two, his voice was that of a child. "Don't you think this is a bit too early?"
"On the contrary, I think it's already too late." Jorm sighed in despair. "The boy's recklessness… his nature… in this insane age of war, encountering things like these is inevitable."
Jorm looked up to the sky. "If father were really here… I wonder what he would do."
00000000000000000
What? I never said Kira will only have '1' ghost!
00000000000000000
00000000000000000
00000000000000000
In the art of war it was written:
The Genma knights marched
One cavalry equals the strength of ten foot soldier
The Archer Hostess climb over the Hulk as it lumber forward
One chariot equals the strength of ten cavalries
The chariots zoomed across the battlefield
400 foot soldier…
The Pilgrims stand ready
VS 1000 chariots
The armored ironclad chariots shakes the very ground as they march onward
And 5000 undeads in all their varieties…
Like an evil black flood, the undead army swept across the plain…
Chapter 31:
Hell's Cauldron
"The one thing you two failed to teach me is loyalty and love for the empire." Kira sighed.
"Pity." Lord Ray pulled out his sword.
