Two Girls and a Gunman
Sazh looked around the town and felt the corner of his mouth twitch. What a dusty, no good place. The buildings were all beat up and worn and the wood for many of them was rotten. Not more than ten feet away, a big puddle of stagnant water lay in the middle of the road. Still, it was just the kind of place he'd expect a bunch of cutthroats and thieves to hide out.
He rode up to the nearest saloon, which looked to be one of only a few even halfway decent buildings in the whole sorry place. Making sure that both of his guns were in place and fully loaded, he pushed through the swinging doors and let his eyes rove over the people inside. They were a motley bunch, mostly old ranch hands and the like, as well as a few grizzled prospector types. The town drunk was there too, a grey-haired fellow with too many empty bottles of whiskey set out in front of him.
"You looking for a drink there, stranger?"
His gaze flicked over to the bartender and he tipped his head forward a fraction. "Been on the road a while, figure I could use a drink. Make it a bourbon."
The bartender nodded and by the time Sazh got to his stool at the counter, the drink was ready. He shook his head slowly and grinned a fraction. Figures that in a sorry place like this the bartender would be quick to serve and just as quick to ask for payment. He slid the money across the counter and took a sip of his bourbon. His bounties weren't here, but then again, he hadn't been expecting them to be anyway. If he was lucky, there might be a couple of people who knew a thing or two and the bartender was the best place to start.
"You got any other strangers come riding in here recently?" Sazh asked.
The bartender took a quick glance around and then leaned in close. "Might have."
Sazh had been in the game long enough to know what the bartender wanted. He took five gil out and pressed it into the bartender's waiting hands. "Mind telling me a thing or two about these strangers?"
The bartender grinned, all yellow teeth and greedy eyes. "Yeah, stranger, we had some new folks ride in maybe three days ago. There was a whole lot of them, ten, maybe twenty. They came in all roughed up, but they had plenty of cash. They didn't stay here, but I figure they couldn't have gone far. I saw a couple of them drop by town yesterday, so maybe they got a place outside of town."
Sazh nodded. "You got good eyes. Mind keeping them open for me?" He slid another five gill across the counter.
The bartender grinned again. "I could keep an eye or two open."
Sazh watched the bartender wander off to serve another customer. It was good to find someone who understood the way the game was played. Ten gil might sound like a lot, but if he brought the bounties in, he'd be up five hundred gil at the least, maybe one thousand, depending on how many of them he could get. Besides, ten gil didn't just buy information, it bought silence too. The last thing he needed was for some of the folks he was after to catch wind of him.
Pushing away from the bar, he ran a cold eye over the other people in the saloon. It was mighty tempting to see if they knew anything, but these guys looked soft. Even if he paid them, he doubted they'd keep quiet if trouble came calling. The bartender, on the other hand, could be counted on to keep his mouth shut. He'd just have to go looking for information elsewhere.
He finished his drink and left the saloon. It was hot outside and sticky, the kind of weather that made any decent man want to quit the trail for a spell. Problem was, he couldn't do that. Being a hired gun meant exactly that. The boss man might pay, and in this case, pay plenty, but that also meant the boss man set the rules and these bounties were real special. They had to be taken care of, no questions asked, no mercy given. Sazh chuckled. Imagine that, him up against a whole gang of bandits. Not exactly good odds, but he'd stared down worse before, and at least they didn't know that he was out gunning for them. A bit of surprise and some luck and he'd walk out this a very wealthy man.
Just then, he caught a flash of movement from the alley out back of the saloon. Had someone spotted him, was he being tailing? He looked around for a moment to make sure that no one else was looking and then headed over to take a look. If someone was following him, he'd have to deal with them. But when he looked into the alleyway, he could only sigh and shake his head. There were two girls there, young ones too, maybe eight or nine years old. They were scrounging through the garbage, probably looking for food. All up, it was pretty pitiful sight, something he hadn't really seen since his time back east in the big cities. Out West, either someone took you in, or you ended up dead.
The two girls startled something fierce when they noticed him and he put both his hands up to show he meant no harm. The taller one, a girl with a shaggy mop of brown-black hair and emerald eyes stepped forward and glared at him. The look in her eyes almost made him take a step. Those weren't a kid's eyes, no way. Those were a killer's eyes. Almost without thinking, his hands dropped to the guns at his side, but then he softened. She'd stepped in front of the littler kid, the one with orange-red hair. So she thought he'd give them trouble, did she? They didn't look sisters, but maybe they were. He'd certainly seen stranger things.
"I'm not looking to make trouble for you, kid," Sazh said. He moved his hands back into the open. "Just heard a noise is all and came to check it out. Town like this, well, you got to be careful." He turned and glanced back over his shoulder. "You two just keep doing what you're doing, it's none of my business anyway. Keep an eye and ear out though, I doubt they'd take too kindly to your messing round back here."
And with that he walked away. Before he left though, he went back to his chocobo and dug through his supplies. He left a loaf of bread right the entrance of the alley where the two girls couldn't help but see it. It wasn't like he needed it anyway, and when it came right down to it, he didn't even like bread all that much. Damn, maybe he was getting too soft to stay in the game.
He found a run down boarding house out near the edge of town. He'd need to poke around a bit to see just where the gang was holed up and he figured he might as well get a decent place to sleep while he was at it. He went to bed that night thinking over where he'd go the next day. But in his dreams he saw those eyes again, those emerald eyes so proud and fierce, those eyes that had no business belonging to a kid.
The next morning, he woke up to a commotion coming from outside. Taking a look out the window, he saw that it was market day and there were stalls all set up along the main street. They weren't much to look at, mostly plywood and canvas, but he figured there might be someone there who could tell him what he needed to know.
He took it easy going through the market. The way he saw it, there wasn't much point to rushing things. The first couple of stalls he tried weren't much good. He didn't know a damn thing about sewing machines and he wasn't much inclined to find out more. Sure, he was good with machines, and he had a knack for fixing things, but a gun was what he made his living with. He didn't really care about fresh produce either.
Stopping for a moment, he caught a glimpse of two familiar faces. The girls from the day before were there and they were skulking through the stalls. They were pretty stealthy too, because even if they were dressed in little more than rags, they still managed to avoid getting spotted as they filched some stuff, mostly food. The red head caught sight of him and pointed, but the brunette just grabbed her hand and tugged her off. He was glad. Stealing could get you in all kinds of trouble, especially if you didn't have anyone to see you got treated decent.
It turned out to be a couple of hours before he finally got his lead. There was a fellow selling ammunition and he'd had a couple of big orders come through. Apparently there was a place not too far from town, maybe fifteen minutes ride out where a group of men were holed up. Sazh had a feeling they were the folks he was after, but attacking an isolated place like that was a crazy thing to do. It'd just get him killed and all the money in the world wouldn't do him any good if he ended up dead.
That's when he decided that it was time to look for the bordello. It wasn't for him, but if there was one thing he knew about these rough types, it was that they liked a good bordello as much as anything else. He fronted up to the building and whistled. Unlike just about everything else in town, it wasn't all that shabby. The paint job out front was gaudy, but he was used to stuff like that.
Inside, it was all fancy, with drapes and carpets and women dressed just right to entice. He swallowed nervously and waited for the madam to make her appearance. It didn't take her long. She could smell money for a mile away, and he had plenty of it. She was dressed in a rich silk gown coloured a light peach and as she leaned right in close, the scent of her was, just faintly, of peaches too.
"What can we do for you, sir?" she asked, dragging one hand up along his chest.
Sazh gently pulled her hand off his chest. He was on a job and that meant he was all business. "I was thinking I could ask you about some men who might have shown up around here recently."
The madam raised one delicate eyebrow. "You're not sly are you?"
"Sly?" Sazh shook his head and chuckled. "Not in the least, lady. I like a good woman just as much as any red blooded man, but there are some fellows I'm on the look for and I'll pay top dollar to find out what I can about them."
"That so?" the madam asked. She eyed him closely, no doubt taking in the clothes he wore and the guns he had. All of them were worn from hard use, but all of them were top-notch quality.
Sazh offered fifteen gil. "Yeah, it is."
She pocketed the money and then smiled, all sweet like. "There was a big group of them just a couple of days back. They said they'd drop tomorrow evening." She smirked. "Figures, even men like that got needs."
Sazh didn't want to hear a thing about his bounties' needs. "That's maybe a bit too much information. Do you know what time they'll show?"
The madam shook her head. "They only said tomorrow evening, so I can't rightly say."
He nodded and tipped his hat. "Thanks, anyway." His eyes narrowed a fraction. "You'll keep this all hushed up now won't you?"
The madam narrowed her eyes right back. "If you're planning on making trouble in my establishment…" She pulled up her skirt a fraction and Sazh had to grin. There was a gun there, and a good one too, if he was any judge.
"Don't worry, I'm not looking to bring trouble to your establishment," Sazh said. "But I got business with those men and one way or another I'll see it through."
"One of those types, eh?" the madam said as she once again eyed the two guns at his side, their grips worn from heavy use.
"You could say that." Sazh turned on his heel. "Just remember this: you keep this quiet and I'll have more gil headed your way. Besides, I'll see to it they turn up to your place and pay before I settle with them. Sound fair?"
The madam chuckled. "I like the way you're thinking."
Sazh left the bordello and headed back for the boarding house. If the whole gang was in one place, he might have to deal with as many as twenty of them. That was too many for him to come out on top of in a fair fight, and it wasn't like he could stage a gunfight in the bordello. He'd given his word and more than that, there was too much chance that he'd drag civilians into things and he didn't want to make a mess. Way he saw it, a man had a right to make a living by the barrel of his gun, but he had a duty to see that he didn't impose too much on decent folk who were just trying to make a living without causing trouble.
That left him in a bind. He needed to find a way to ambush them and that meant he'd need a way to watch them, maybe see if he couldn't separate them a little. The problem, he was just one man. He got back to the boarding house and stopped. Those two kids were there again, and if he wasn't thinking wrong, they'd been following him since he left the market.
"You two going to hide out in those alleys all day long?" he asked, turning slowly. "If you got something to say, then out with it."
The black haired girl stepped out of the alley. "You left that bread for us before and you didn't say anything when you saw us stealing in the market. Why?"
Sazh just shrugged. "I figured you were only stealing because you needed to, and like I said before, it's not my problem anyway." He hardened his stare a little. "Now, why are you out here?"
The girl shuffled almost nervously for a moment and then squared her shoulders. "No one's ever helped us before or even treated us decent. I figured I'd say thanks."
"That's pretty good mannered of you." Sazh looked the girl over more closely, mind working quickly. He needed someone to watch the bordello, someone who wouldn't be noticed. He was pretty certain those bandits would spend the night drinking and carousing before they headed back to their place outside town. A wry smile crossed his lips. While they were at the bordello, he could sneak over into their place and rig the place up nice and dandy with traps. When they headed back, he could spring an ambush and take them out in the confusion. It wasn't perfect, but it seemed a lot better than just going in guns blazing. Problem was, he needed spotters to tell him when they left the bordello, as well as to tell him what condition they were in.
He looked at the girl in front him, her green eyes gleaming, then at the smaller girl still hiding the shadows of the alley. "Tell you what, I got business in town, business of the tricky kind and I could use a couple of extra eyes and ears." He paused. "I'd pay you decently and the work I have in mind isn't too dangerous, at least not compared to what you've been doing."
The girl looked at him, her eyes searching his as if to see if he was a decent, honest sort of guy. Finally, she nodded, as though she'd found whatever it was she was looking for. Slowly, she extended one hand and her lips pulled back into a smirk. "The name's Fang." She pointed over at the girl still in the alley. "And that there, is Vanille."
Sazh nodded and shook her hand. "The name's Sazh." He looked over at the two girls again. "I can't stay out here too long, or someone else might catch me talking to you and maybe put two and two together and I don't want to make more trouble for you two than I have to. Tell you what though, I'll have some food brought round back around dusk. You come round and you can get something to eat while I talk things through."
Fang smirked again. "We'll be there, Sazh." Then she was gone with Vanille, both of them disappearing into the alleys again.
Sazh spent the time until dusk thinking through his plan and looking around town. There were a fair number of spots where those two girls could watch the bordello without being seen unless people were really looking, and even then he doubted if anyone would give them a second glance. That left only the problem of the place where those bandits were staying. Some more gil loosened a few tongues and he managed to get a rough lay out from a couple of prospectors who'd passed by it a couple of times. It'd be a close run thing, but his plan was doable, even if it wouldn't be easy.
When dusk came, he had the boarding house bring an extra big dinner onto the back porch. They knew enough about men like him, all guns and laid back threat, to not ask why he wanted to eat on the back porch, or why he wanted so much food. He didn't have to wait long before Fang and Vanille appeared. One moment he was all alone, the next moment, they were there. It was little eerie, actually, just how quiet they were.
"Well," he said, pulling up two chairs for them at the table as he took a seat for himself. "You two just go ahead and help yourselves." Fact was, he'd already grabbed a bite to eat himself.
The two girls tucked into the food like they hadn't eaten properly in days, which he guessed was probably about right. It didn't escape his notice either that Fang didn't eat as much as Vanille even though she was bigger. In fact, she even gave Vanille some of her own food, even though there was plenty to go around. That just made him surer that they really were sisters or something. He waited until they were done eating before he started talking.
"There are some folk that are going into town tomorrow evening. They're going to head into the bordello."
Fang shrugged. "Folks go in there all the time."
Vanille giggled. "Most of them stay the whole night."
"That's what I'm hoping for," Sazh said. "What I want you two to do, is to keep an eye out on them. I need to know when they leave the bordello and I need to know what state they're in. By that, I mean if they're drunk or sober, if they're looking energetic, or if they're looking tired." He let the seriousness creep into his voice. "You help me out, you'll be getting ten gil." He paused. "Each."
Both of the girls' eyes widened at the sum. Ten and ten made twenty and even for a decent working man, twenty gil was a lot of cash. For someone like them, it was probably more money than they'd ever dreamed of.
Fang looked at him with eyes that were kind of cold. "That's a lot of money for not so much work. Are you playing a trick on us?"
Sazh almost chuckled. She was pretty sharp for a kid – it must come from living out on the streets and fending for two people. After thinking it over a bit, he decided to just come clean with them. "I'll level with you, kid. Those men I'm looking for are dangerous. They're straight up bandits and killers and I've been hired to bring them down. Problem is, I'm just one man. In a straight up fight, I wouldn't last long, but if I can catch them off guard I might have a chance and that's where you two come in."
Vanille looked up at him with wide green eyes. "Are you one of the good guys?"
This time he did chuckle, soft and low, and kind of bitter. "Not exactly, kid, but I'm a damn sight better than they are."
"How are we going to let you know what's going on?" Fang asked. Apparently, she'd accepted things. "If you're going to have us watching them, then you're not going to be too close by, are you?"
"You really are one sharp kid, now aren't you?" He reached over to where he'd set a couple of little mirrors out on the bench. "One of you needs to watch the bordello, the other one needs to be up high somewhere, one of the roofs near the edge of town, so maybe this boarding house. You can use these to catch the light and signal each other, as well as signal me." He looked out to the edge of town. "I'll be up on a ridge outside of town, maybe fifteen minutes ride out."
Fang pursed her lips, but Sazh could see her turning things over in her mind. "Don't we need a code or something?"
Sazh nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'll keep it simple. If they're headed out and they're all in good shape then you catch the light nice and steady. If they're headed out and they're all in bad shape – and if I'm lucky they will be – you do a couple of little bursts. You got that?"
"That's easy!" Vanille grinned and looked around for more food. "Um…"
"What about tomorrow?" Fang asked.
"Tomorrow, we practice. By that I mean, we'll get into place tomorrow morning and we'll give it a go. Now wait here, I'll get you something else to eat." Sazh came back a few minutes later with some pudding that he'd asked to have made up earlier along with a couple of lamps. "Here, have some pudding. As for these lamps, if things get tricky and those folks I want you to watch set out before the light's strong enough for you to use the mirrors, just use these instead. Once I get your message, I'll signal back the same."
Fang and Vanille both nodded, although both of them seemed just as focused on the pudding as anything else.
Sazh waited for them to finish before he stood. "You'd better get going. Keep out of trouble and I'll see you tomorrow morning."
The next morning Sazh met up with Vanille and Fang out behind the boarding house. After a bit of talking, Fang put herself forward as the one to watch the bordello. That didn't much surprise Sazh. It was the riskiest spot, because if she got spotted there could be trouble. Vanille was smaller, so it made more sense anyway for her to be up on top of the roof of the boarding house.
"Good, we got all this sorted." Sazh smiled a fraction. "Now, I'm going to see if I can't take a peek at where those fellows I'm after are holed up. Wait about half an hour and then see if you can signal me. I want to see if you kids are up to it."
After that, Sazh started the ride over to where he'd heard the gang was holed up. It was only about fifteen minutes, but it wasn't an easy ride. The road was rough and winding, not the kind of thing to take lightly. Lucky for him, the place was at the bottom of a little hollow with a couple of hills and ridges around it. It didn't look too easy to defend, but it was pretty well hidden, which he figured was what the bandits wanted. Keeping as stealthy as he could, he crept over to a ridge where he could see the town and the bandits.
From the looks of things, most of the bandits were holed up in a weathered looking house in the centre of the area. There were a couple of sheds and smaller buildings scattered about, but they looked a little too cramped to be holding more than a couple more people. The house itself was pretty big and solid and if he had to guess, it could probably stand up to pistol fire just fine. Well, that would make things tricky, but he had a rifle back at the boarding house that could take care of that. So how to take care of all the bandits? The house and other buildings would provide a fair bit of cover so a straight up fight was out. His best bet would be try and take them by surprise somehow. His eyes drifted to the narrow path leading to the house and he smirked. He could rig the path with traps, get them all panicked and then pick them off in the confusion. A couple of sticks of blasting powder would have them scrambling for cover and most likely they'd head for the house. If he rigged that with some blasting powder he'd not only take out quite a few of them, he'd have them all nervous about using the buildings for cover and that might be enough. Apart from the building, there wasn't too much cover about, so if they didn't get behind something quick, he could pick them off with his rifle or blow them away with blasting powder.
He ran one hand over his face and chuckled softly. It wasn't exactly the best plan he'd ever come up with, but it was doable and it had to be better than just charging in there. It helped too that the bandits seemed pretty confident. They were making a pretty decent racket inside the house and they hadn't even bothered to post a couple of sentries. They probably figured that small town folk wouldn't have the guts to mess with them. It was a good thing then, that he wasn't much of a small town kind of man.
Just then he caught a flash of light from the direction of the town. He turned to study it a bit and nodded. It looked to be coming from the top of the boarding house. There were a couple more flashes followed by a long, sustained shine. Good, it looked like those two kids caught on pretty quick, which made him wonder some. It was pretty clear that they'd been raised right, at least a little, so where were their parents? Their clothes weren't much normal either, even if they were rags. Never mind, he thought as he signalled back with his own mirror, he could just ask them about it later.
He headed back to town, careful to keep out of sight, and treated Fang and Vanille to a big lunch. It didn't cost much and he did feel kind of sorry for them. They seemed decent enough and twenty gil might give them a chance to get back on their feet. It didn't hurt either, that keeping them well fed would probably keep them loyal too, even if they did both eat just as much a full grown man and then some. After lunch, he headed back to his room. He'd have his work cut out for him in the evening and the next morning so a bit of shut eye was just what he needed.
Sure enough, dusk rolled up and he waited in the saloon till he heard the sound of chocobos. He got out and chanced a look at the bordello and sure enough the bandits were there. As quietly as he could, he made his way out of town and started the ride back up to the bandits' place. He got there pretty quick and took a good long look around to make sure that there was no one else there but him before he finally got to work. He'd brought plenty of blasting powder with him and he rigged a couple of sticks of it onto the door of the house, just beside the doorknob. One good rifle shot and it'd blow. He also rigged up the other buildings and anything else that could be used as cover. Past experience had taught him that if things got bad, blowing everything to bits was a pretty good back up plan.
Once he'd gotten the whole place rigged up nice and dandy, he found a good spot on a ridge maybe thirty five yards out from the house and overlooking the path. It was close enough that he could lob a stick of blasting powder into the area around the house or onto the path and still be able to see the town. Settling in, he made sure to get his rifle and pistols ready, along with a fair number of sticks of blasting powder. After that, it was just a matter of sitting tight and waiting for the signal to come. He yawned. It was a good thing he'd taken a nap earlier.
Morning came and just after dawn, he saw the first flash of light come from the top of the boarding house. He pursed his lips, hoping for the best, and got it as rather than staying steady, the light flashed on and off. Good, the bandits were heading out from the bordello and if Fang and Vanille were seeing things right, they weren't in good condition. He signalled back and waited, listening carefully for the sound of chocobos.
He didn't have to wait long. There were twenty riders in all, and from the way they were all jangling about in the saddle, they didn't look to sharp at all. They were probably drunk and tired, which evened the odds a little more, even if they were still stacked against him. He waited till the last of them had gone round the final bend into where the house was before he grabbed a stick of blasting powder, lit it, and then flung it onto the path.
There was a big boom and the all the chocobos they were riding startled something fierce, a few of them even throwing their riders, as the others skipped about crazily and made all kinds of wild chirping noises. The bandits themselves looked around wildly and he lobbed another stick of blasting powder into the clump of them at the back to get them moving along. Those closest to where it landed were tossed up into the air by the force of the blast and the others began a made dash for the house, most of them just abandoning their chocobos entirely as the big birds got too scared to control. He waited for the first couple of them to reach the door before he shouldered his rifle, took aim, and fired.
The bullet hit the sticks of blasting powder on the door and they went up with a bang. Flames billowed out and bits of wood flew every which way as bodies were flung up and backward, limbs flailing crazily before they crashed to the ground. As good as that was though, the shot had given his position away. They now knew roughly where he was and already they were scrambling for cover.
He drew a bead on one of the bandits still out in the open and fired. The man screamed and went down, blood pouring from a wound high up on his chest. He might not be dead, but he'd bleed out soon enough. Sazh shifted his sights and fired again. Another bandit went down and he reached for another stick of blasting powder, lighting it as he dropped the rifle. There were a few bandits huddled over by one of the sheds and he threw the stick of blasting powder right next to them.
It was ugly work, and chaotic too, but he needed every advantage he could get. Bullets came his way, a wild fusillade of gunfire, but while they knew roughly where he was, they didn't know exactly where and he intended to keep it that way. He brought his rifle up and fired twice more, dropping another two bandits before he discarded the weapon. He'd have to reload, but there wasn't enough time, not with the bandits organising and hiding behind whatever they could use for cover - barrels, logs anything – and making their way over to where he was.
A bullet splintered the bark of a tree next to him and he ducked. Lighting two more sticks of blasting powder, he threw them both, not really caring if they were accurate or not, just needing the time they'd buy him. With a wry smile, he drew both his pistols and charged down the hill. He fired as he went, using the trees for cover and as the bandits reeled from the explosions, one of them setting off another few sticks of blasting powder he'd rigged up to a shed, he managed to drop a few more of the bandits. That made maybe ten of them down and five injured, but with five of them just fine.
Bullets streaked through the air around him and he dove for the cover of a log. There was a bandit over by a spread of barrels and Sazh's eyes locked onto the stick of blasting powder he'd rigged there earlier. He ducked out from behind the log and fired furiously. Two of his shots went wide, a third caught the bandit in the leg, but the fourth hit the blasting powder.
There was a boom and the bandit went flying, along with a few others who'd been nearby. The scrape of boots came from behind him, and Sazh turned and fired on the bandit who'd tried to sneak up on him. Already wounded, the bandit was struck twice in the chest and went down in a shower of red.
A bullet shot past Sazh's ear before another grazed his leg. He cursed and stumbled for the safety of a couple of trees. With him pinned down, a few of the bandits were headed back toward the house and if they managed to get there and hole up, then he was finished. Reaching into his coat for the last stick of blasting powder, he lit it and lobbed it through a window of the house.
The explosion was big enough to blow out all the other windows of the house and Sazh charged at the same time. He fired twice, catching a bandit in the leg and the arm before he closed in and slapped the other man across the face with one of his guns. The man went down and Sazh dove for cover as the remaining bandits let fly with every gun they had. By his count, he still had two bullets left, but there were still four bandits to deal with. Damn, if they'd just give him a couple of moments, he could reload, but they were angry now and not a second went by without a bullet heading his way.
He tucked himself against a fallen bit of rubble and took a deep breath. His leg was hurting something awful now and the bandits were circling around, getting ready to come at him from both sides. Growling to force back the pain, he pushed out from the cover of the rubble and charged. A bullet clipped his side and he stumbled. Somehow, he managed to bring one of his guns up and he nailed the bandit who'd shot him with a single shot right through the head. That left him with one bullet now, and he fired again, desperate, at the second bandit.
The shot went wide and Sazh cursed furiously as he leapt for a pistol that lay on the ground ten feet from the body of a dead bandit hoping with everything in him that it still had some ammunition left. It did and as the second bandit fired, Sazh fired back, striking the man once in the chest and again in the neck. The final two bandits made their appearance then, mad down to their boots and shooting wildly. He grit his teeth and fired back, squeezing the trigger until the gun clicked empty and the two bandits fell to the ground.
With a groan, Sazh got back to his feet and looked around. When no one fired, he gave a sigh of relief and reloaded his guns. He was hurt, but nothing too bad. Certainly, he'd taken worse before. From there, he headed back up to where he'd dropped his rifle before he headed into the house. The inside was all blown out and scorched, but there was a safe there that had broken open. There was a lot of gil inside and he pocketed it and grinned. One of the perks of his contract was that his employer didn't care what happened to any cash he found so long as all the bandits ended up dead.
Back outside, he took one final look around before he whistled sharply for his chocobo. The bird was only a couple of steps from him when he heard a click.
BANG!
He stumbled a few paces and then stopped and stared in shock at the great big patch of red spreading across his shirt. Stunned, he managed to turn around. One of the bandits was lying there, his arm still raised in the act of shooting, trembling as he gathered the last of his strength for one more shot. Sazh reached down for his own weapon, but the bandit beat him to the draw only for his gun to click empty.
"Looks like this is my lucky day," Sazh muttered before he put a bullet in the bandit's head. Barely able to see straight from the pain in his side, he managed to get a rough bandage tied across the wound to try to stop the bleeding. It took about a second for the bandage to soak through with blood and he cursed. He needed to get back to town.
He managed to get three steps before the pain in his side and the loss of blood had him unconscious on the ground.
X X X
"You got lucky."
Sazh groaned and turned his head. The words came from one of the old folks who ran the boarding house. Gritting his teeth, he tried to sit up, but the old man held him down.
"Easy there, son, you're still hurt pretty bad. The doc got you patched up, but really, if it weren't for those kids, you'd have died out there."
Still not sure exactly what was going on, Sazh could only shake his head. "What? Kids? What happened?"
The old man grinned. "I can see you're still out of it a bit. Two kids found you outside of town and brought you back here. It was strange though, they looked a little rough around the edges, and when I asked if they wanted to stay, they just ran off."
"That so?" Sazh chuckled softly. Saved by those two kids. Who'd have thought? "Listen, how long do you think till I can get going?"
"About a week, the doc says, maybe more if you don't get some rest."
Sazh sighed and closed his eyes. "Well, if that's what the doc says, it looks like I'll be taking things easy for a while."
A week and a half later, Sazh was back on his feet, a little sore, but decent enough to travel. He'd gotten word out to his employer about the whole thing and the man had actually come up himself to take a look at things. The bodies were still there and his employer seemed mighty pleased and his being mighty pleased translated into Sazh getting a cool one thousand gil. Right now though, he was just getting ready to head out to his next job, but first he wanted to see Fang and Vanille.
As it was, he didn't have to look far. They'd seen his chocobo out the front and had crept round the back of the boarding house to meet him.
"It looks like I owe you some thanks." He grinned and handed them fifty gil each. "I know our deal was ten gil each, but I figured I owed you a bit extra, what with you dragging me back to town and all."
Fang pushed his hand away and looked up at him. Once again, he was struck by how green her eyes were, how sad and angry, but how strong too. "We don't want the money."
Sazh sighed. "Look, just take it. You've earned it, you know."
Fang shook her head. "We don't want your money. We want to come with you instead."
For a long moment, Sazh said nothing. Finally he spoke, choosing each word carefully. "That's a mighty odd request, kid. You know what I do. You must have seen it when you dragged me back from that place outside of town. Why would you want to tag along with a man like me?"
"Yeah, we saw what you do, but fact is, you're the only one that's been decent to us in years and I've got a feeling you'll do right by us if we come along." Fang had drawn herself up as big as she could be, which all things considered, wasn't all that big compared to Sazh.
"How can you be sure?" Sazh asked.
Fang's eyes met his own and held them, and he was struck once again by the feeling that it wasn't a child he was looking at. "I can read a man pretty well, and I have you figured for a decent one."
"Listen, kid," Sazh began. "I don't know what you're thinking, but –"
Fang cut him off. "We saved your life, so the least you could do is try to save ours." Her gaze hardened. "Me and Vanille, we've been doing okay here, maybe not well, but we've been getting by. But I'm not stupid. We've pretty lucky, and any day that could change. If we stay here on our own, we'll never get anywhere, never be anything. And we can't… we can't just stay here. There's something we have to do, me and Vanille, and we can't die, can't stop, can't rest until it's done." She dragged in a deep shuddering breath. "So we want to go with you. We want to learn how to do what you do."
Sazh took a deep breath. So that was the way of things, was it? He knew someone out for revenge when he saw them, but it had been a while since he'd seen someone so young with a look like that on their face. If he had his way, he'd never see it again. "It's ugly work Fang, the worst kind of work. And what about you, Vanille, what do you want?"
The little read head just wrapped her arms around Fang's middle. "Wherever Fang goes, I go!" As light as the words were, the look on her face, in her eyes, was just like Fang's.
Sazh rubbed one hand across his face. He could say no, could just give them the money and walk, but somehow, somehow he just couldn't. Those eyes of theirs, kids shouldn't have looks in their eyes like that. They should be smiling or laughing, or something stupid like that. If they went with him, they'd end up killers, after all, that's what he was, maybe one on the right side of the law most times, but still, a killer just the same. But they had saved his life, and that counted for something. If he left then whatever it was they wanted to do, whoever it was they wanted to kill, they'd go after them and they'd end up dead. At least if they stayed with him, learned from him, at least then they might have a chance.
"Fine," he said at last. "I figure you kids can tag along, at least until I get sick of you –" He stopped as both Fang and Vanille darted forward to hug him. It was awkward, real awkward, and his side was still pretty tender, but he couldn't help but hug them back a little. He had a feeling that he'd either just made biggest mistake of his life, or maybe, just maybe, he'd finally gotten something right.
"Thank you," Fang said gruffly, her face pressed against his side.
Sazh sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Now, you how about you two let go of me? We can leave tomorrow morning, but right now, you two need to get a bath – you both stink – and we've got to get you some new clothes. You look damn terrible."
Vanille looked up at him with wide eyes. "A bath? New clothes?"
"Yeah." Sazh shook his head slowly. He really was getting soft. "Now come on, I'll get you two a room at the boarding house and have them draw a bath while I go find you kids some clothes."
X X X
Fang woke up and for a moment, she had no idea where she was. Then she remembered. She was on a train headed for Eden City along with Vanille, Sazh, Lahna, and Dajh. Chuckling softly, she glanced out the window. It was mostly dark outside, the rolling hills lit by the pale light of the moon. She'd had the funniest dream. It was about how she and Vanille had met Sazh all those years ago. Hell, she still didn't know why he'd taken them in that day instead of just telling them to get lost.
Beside her, Vanille was still asleep and she glanced over to where Sazh was. He'd been young that day when they first met, about the same age she was now. But right now, looking at him, she could see that his hair wasn't all black anymore, that there was a fair bit of grey. Not quite sure why, she felt a lump rise in her throat. All jokes aside, he really was starting to get a bit old. She forced the thought back. No, he might be getting a little bit old, but he still had plenty of time left. He had to.
"You got a problem, Fang? You're staring at me pretty fiercely there," Sazh said. Beside him both Lahna and Dajh were asleep. "Please tell me you're not thinking of starting trouble. You know how cranky Lahna and Dajh can get if they don't get enough sleep."
Fang laughed. "Not a chance. Vanille can be pretty vicious too, if you wake her up too early."
Sazh grinned. "Yeah, that's right. Remember during that job out near Nibbleheim? We had to get up a couple of hours before dawn and she went after us with a shovel."
Fang nodded. This was why, all those years ago, she'd asked Sazh if she and Vanille could go with him. He might be a crotchety, cranky kind of fellow a lot of the time, but deep down inside, right where it mattered, he was kind man, a good and decent one, the kind of man who'd been willing to give two kids a second chance they never thought they'd have. "Thanks." She smiled softly. "I know I don't say enough, but thanks."
"Thanks?" Sazh shrugged and then shook his head. "Look, I told you earlier, I don't mind paying for the train tickets. Besides, it's just better that way. The last thing we need is someone recognising you and Vanille."
Fang reached across and punched him gently in the arm. "I wasn't talking about the train tickets, you old coot. I was talking about well… you know, everything."
Sazh's eyes widened as he finally caught on. He turned away, a little embarrassed by it all. "You're picking a funny time to bring up the past."
"Yeah, well, I just thought I'd say thanks." Fang smirked. "And you'd better not die any time soon, old man. We didn't save your life for nothing, you know."
X X X
Author's Notes
First of all, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off this.
Well, I though it might be nice to give a bit of background to exactly how Fang, Vanille, and Sazh all know each other. I also thought it might be nice to have Sazh acting all cool for once. When I wrote this up originally, I didn't have the last section with Fang talking to Sazh, but after a bit of thought, I decided to put it in. I like the idea of there being a softer, more thoughtful side to Fang, even if it isn't something she always shows.
On another note, I think that this chapter now holds the record of longest chapter. Hopefully it didn't drag on and on and on…
As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.