Chapter XXIII
Just A Dream
(Paine)
"I wonder where he's going," I whispered to myself. After crouching in the trees and staking out his house for almost an hour a small group of approximately six Warrior Monks showed up and surrounded his house. Three of them circled the house with their machina guns at the ready while the other three escorted him off the premises.
A devilish smile spread across my face as I realized that they knew what was going to happen. They knew I was coming. Their futile attempts to guard their Praetor were only going to provide me with an insanely fun hunt. Tonight is going to be much better than I thought.
I waited in the shadows of the trees for a few more minutes, keeping a mental tag on Baralai's mind so when I went to follow them I would know exactly where to look. Dusk had just fallen; the perfect time to start the chase. The moon was shining full in the sky, giving ample light to see by. My heart was pumping anxiously in my ears as I cloaked myself. I moved slowly out of the trees and followed Baralai's mental signature through the still crowded streets of Bevelle. His guards were doing a risky thing by bringing him through all these people.
Having to retain the patience of moving through this many people without being detected was absolutely maddening. There were at least three instances where someone had almost run right into me. I almost laughed out loud when I thought about what that would cause. They would probably think it was a ghost but, thanks to my heightened reflexes, I was able to jump out of the way just in time. Besides those few times, it was relatively easy to move through the crowd.
I was finally able to relax after I reached the Highbridge and, after taking a few moments to clear my mind, followed the trail into Macalania Forest. I let a small chuckle escape my lips since no one was around to hear it, amused and somewhat baffled that he was going to try and hide from me. His six guards wouldn't even present a challenge to me when it was time to take them out. This is just too easy. He's dug his own grave, I thought. Isolating himself like this will be his doom.
Baralai's escorts ushered him deep into the forest and set up a rather impressing perimeter around a small clearing. Four of them watching and the other two guarding. These men were going to die trying to protect my mark. How sentimental. The fools...
I slowly moved through the shadows of the trees, my feet not making a single sound as I advanced towards the clearing. I purposefully walked sluggishly slow, creating a plan of the quickest method to dispatch the Warrior Monks. I stopped ten feet away from their perimeter and studied the pattern in which they were making their rounds. It was going to be nearly impossible for me to pick them off one by one without them not knowing about it and I didn't want to give my position away by shooting my fire at them. I balled my hands into fists at my sides, not thrilled by the prospect of having to use my bare hands. I was much more accustomed to feeling my hands wrapped around the hilt of my sword. I was trained in hand-to-hand combat but it definitely wasn't my forte.
I took a deep breath and snuck up behind one of the guards, following so closely behind him that I had to hold my breath to prevent him from feeling me breathing on his neck. Then, with the strength and precision that would make the most skilled assassin jealous, I clamped my hands against the side of his head then twisted it forcefully to the right, wincing at the sharp snap of his neck breaking. I quickly enveloped the now dead Warrior Monk with my magic and dragged him away from the clearing, my heart beating frantically in my ears. I was sure that the others would have heard that snap or seen their comrade spontaneously disappear but I hadn't been detected at all. The remaining three were still patrolling the perimeter of the clearing, totally unaware of what had just happened.
They're bound to notice that one of their comrades is missing sooner or later, I thought. No sooner than that thought had run through my mind, the Warrior Monk that had been behind the one I had taken care of stopped and looked around in confusion. I sucked in a large breath and tensed my muscles, my hand wrapping tightly around the hilt of my sword. I was banking on the fact that they would look for their lost man by themselves and not alert the guards that were with Baralai.
"Have you guys seen Stephenson?" Asked the one that noticed he was gone.
The other two shook their heads. "Maybe we should inform the Praetor..." The one on the left whispered.
"Are you stupid, Miller? No! He probably just went off to take a piss. There's no need to alarm the Praetor. Come on, let's go find him."
I couldn't help but smile. They had just signed their death sentences. The smart thing for them to do instead of coming to look for their lost comrade was to barricade themselves in that clearing and pray to whatever deity they believed in now that I wouldn't break through and kill them. But, of course, they didn't know I was here. I straightened from the crouching position I had been in and slowly slid my sword from its sheath, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
They stopped right next to the tree that I had been hiding behind and scanned the darkness. I was literally three feet away from them and they didn't even know it. I read their thoughts and discovered that neither of them wanted to go any further and leave the Praetor totally unprotected. Smart men.
"Stephenson?" One whispered. "Are you out there?"
The silence that followed was deafening as I waited, reanalyzing my method of attack. I didn't want to strike until they had turned around to go back towards the clearing. A commotion was one thing I didn't need right now. If I tried killing all three of them while they were facing me, one of them would have enough time to yell out and alert the two guards in the clearing before I got to them.
"Where is he?"
"This isn't like him. Something is wrong. You're right, Miller. We need to tell the Praetor."
All three of them turned at the same time and began to walk away at a brisk pace. I let them get a few feet away from me before I sprang forward, impaling all three of them in less than five seconds. They all fell to the ground, lifeless, before they even had a chance to call out for help. I took the time to drag them into the bushes before ripping one of their shirts off them and cleaning the blood off my sword. I slid it back into the sheath, making a mental note to clean my sword better once I got back to Zanarkand.
I heard mumbling the closer I got to the trees. I made sure I didn't step on anything like a stick or dried up pile of leaves that would give me away. My presence needed to remain a secret and hopefully I hadn't given them reason to believe that their comrades patrolling the perimeter of the clearing were no longer alive. I wedged myself between two trees right at the edge of the opening of the clearing and listened as the Warrior Monks talked to Baralai.
"Sir, can't you tell us why we're out here? You haven't given us any explanation at all."
Baralai shook his head, his white hair waving gently in the night air. "I'm sorry, but I cannot. You would do well to stick to your orders and not ask any questions."
"My apologies, Sir," the Monk answered before clamping his mouth shut. I could tell that Baralai's answer had only aggravated them and made them even more curious as to why they were out here. Baralai hadn't told them because he knew he was bringing them to their death.
A time span of about twenty minutes passed until I was given the opening I was waiting for.
"We haven't heard from the others for a while. They were supposed to check in five minutes ago," one guard said as he began to walk towards me.
"Be careful, Cale," the other cautioned.
"Why?" The one named Cale answered, turning back to look at his comrade.
"Something doesn't feel right. It feels like we're being watched. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up."
I immediately looked at Baralai to gauge his reaction to that statement. His guards didn't notice, but Baralai's face betrayed what he was thinking. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, his eyes were wide and his jaw was tense. Oh, he knew.
Cale laughed, making Baralai jump. A reaction that neither of them detected. "Don't be ridiculous, Korbin. There's no one out here except us."
One corner of my mouth curled up as Cale unknowingly approached his death. Oh, you are so wrong. I flexed and unflexed my fingers, getting ready to shoot two columns of flame simultaneously at the guards so they wouldn't have a chance to defend themselves. The air buffeted and swirled around me as I gathered the energy needed to attack. Baralai's eyes widened, recognizing what was about to happen. He opened his mouth to alert his guards to the imminent threat but it was already too late.
A devilish smile was on my face as I released the magic keeping me invisible and, at the same time, shooting one column of fire from each hand straight at the last two Warrior Monks. Their bodies exploded into flame like they had been doused with accelerator. Their screams filled the air as they fell to the ground and attempted to roll around to extinguish the fire that was eating them alive. I grinned as I watched them writhe, that much closer to completing my objective. It didn't take very long, maybe two minutes, for the soldiers to die. The flames died as everything that was flammable had been expunged. The only things left were their charred skeletons, twisted grotesquely on the ground.
I looked at Baralai, his face filled with horror at what I had just done. He was defenseless now; not like he had really been protected in the first place. He was backing away from me slowly, his whole body quaking in fear. Along with the fear in his eyes I could detect a strong love as well. I froze in place, my breath catching in my chest as my eyes met his. I hesitated, not really understanding what I was feeling. It felt like I was being torn in two. One part of me desperately wanted to run to him and I had no idea where that urge had come from. It was something similar to déjà vu but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"I thought I told you to get away from me." I sucked in a strangled gasp as my hand flew up to my throat and wrapped around it like I was choking. My eyes widened as the realization that I had no idea where that sudden outburst had come from dawned on me. It was like, for only a few seconds, I had been possessed and someone had spoken through me. It was extremely unsettling.
Baralai's eyebrows had mashed together so much that it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended. Neither of us had been expecting something quite like that and I could tell that he wasn't sure what to make of it either.
He regained his composure long before I did and took a couple tentative steps towards me. "There's only so many places I can hide," he said, almost whispering. "I know that wherever I go, eventually you're going to find me." He paused and reached his hand behind his back. I was surprised when he pulled his dual-edged rod out and brandished it at me.
"Do you really think you can beat me?" I asked, drawing my sword.
Baralai's throat constricted as he swallowed. "No, but I'm going to try." His hands were shaking as he tightened them around his rod.
I smirked and relaxed my posture a small amount. I knew how deadly Baralai was with his weapon and, if I wasn't an expertly trained assassin, I might have had a hard time overpowering him. I circled him, swinging my sword around my body in lazy circles while still keeping my movements precise. I could tell he was nervous but on his guard, his keen eyes following my every movement. Every four or five steps I would subtly get closer and closer to him. He picked up on this almost immediately and would back two steps away every time I took one towards him.
He was smart, I would give him that much. Toying around with him was going to be even more interesting than I thought. I decided to refrain from using my mind as a weapon against him. This was a challenge, my mark was going to fight back, and I intended to make him fight for every breath until I killed him.
Suddenly, faster than I anticipated, he swung his rod towards my head with deadly accuracy. I pulled my sword up to parry his attack and the clang of steal against steel was deafening in the small clearing. He yanked his rod away then stuck it into the ground and attempted to send a well placed kick into my stomach using his weapon as leverage. I jumped agilely to the right and knocked his leg away with the flat side of my sword. He hissed and pulled his leg away then unearthed his rod from the ground, raising it up in front of him.
I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips as we continued to circle one another. I wasn't concerned with taking him down just yet. Testing his strengths and weaknesses sounded much more entertaining.
After about five minutes, I started to get a little too cocky and let my guard down just a hair too much because he was actually able to land a hit on me. He lunged forward and just as I was dodging his jab, his rod clipped me on the side of my upper arm. I flung my sword up and knocked his weapon away from me so I could jump out of his reach. I quickly looked down at my arm, assessing the damage. The sharp edge of his rod had gone through my uniform and managed to make a shallow cut that was oozing a small amount of blood. I chuckled, he had actually hit me. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. He did know what he was doing, after all.
With a mere flicker of thought, I set the blade of my sword on fire. I glared at him through the intense heat and the ghost of a smile turned the corners of my lips up. We could definitely play that game. Just as I was about to lunge forward and attack him a sharp stab of pain, like someone had shoved a knife through my chest, made me gasp. Reflexively I pulled my hand up and laid it over my heart, clutching the fabric of my uniform. The large vessel was pumping erratically, just as surprised as I was at what had happened. Suddenly, as I was contemplating what had happened, I began to wonder what the hell I was doing exactly, but then, just as quickly as it had come, that feeling was gone. At first I was extremely confused but, after a few seconds, I snapped out of the trance I had been in and was instantly on my guard again. Alright, this shit needs to stop, I thought in aggravation.
I could tell that Baralai had noticed my lapse and he was looking at me with a guarded expression like he was expecting something to happen. He was a very good fighter; his defenses were practically impenetrable and that came with years of practice. His defenses aren't perfect though, I thought as I once again began to dance around him. There are holes and it won't take me very long to find them. It's only a matter of time.
I finally grew tired of playing around with him and engaged him fully. I struck at him ferociously, trying to weaken him with sheer force. He matched me blow for blow, his iron resiliency showing through as we flitted across the clearing in a deadly dance. Showers of sparks flew into the air as our weapons collided, blinding both myself and Baralai as well.
I decided that channeling my element through my sword wasn't such a good idea anymore.
I quickly extinguished the flames around my weapon, the blade beginning to cool rapidly, and shoved it back into its sheath; I was ready to end this. I had played with him for long enough. I stretched my hand out towards Baralai and used my mind to rip his rod out of his hands. I flicked my wrist and sent it sailing into the forest behind me then pulled my dagger out, holding it tightly in my hand.
"This is the end then?" His voice cracked as he stumbled backwards. "You're just going to kill me and get it over with?"
"That's the plan. I have to hand it to you though. You certainly have given me quite the challenge. I wasn't expecting that." I paused as I took a few steps towards him, smirking as he continued to stumble away from me. There was nowhere for him to run and he knew it. "Just know that your death will go down in The Invisible's records as the most memorable." An evil smile turned my mouth up and made me look much more menacing.
Terror engulfed his features and he didn't move an inch as I approached, like a chocobo caught in the headlights, unsure of what to do or even what was going on. Then, with the strength and intensity of a striking cobra, I charged towards him and pinned him up against a tree. I could feel his entire body shaking like he had been stricken with a frigid chill. His breathing was short and heavy, signifying to me that he expected to be dead by now.
His eyes snapped open a second later, realizing that he was still very much alive. His pupils had dilated so much that it seemed like his entire iris was black as his eyes met mine. This was the moment that made me feel the most powerful. The rush I got from instilling such fear in him was exhilarating. A small part of me was wishing that Kaiser could be watching right now so he could see my moment of triumph, the moment when he realized that I was his to command and that he could trust me fully. But, I digress, that wasn't the way it worked.
I kept him in place against the tree by using the entire left side of my body. With my arm I braced his neck against the trunk and, with my leg, I kept him trapped and off balance. His hands were desperately clutching at my arm, trying to pry it off his throat. I wasn't so easily swayed though. I sucked in a deep breath and swung my arm back, the dagger glinting dangerously in the moonlight.
Just as I was swinging my arm back towards him to deliver the killing blow, a plethora of things happened all at once. It didn't happen fast though. It occurred so slowly that I had enough time to be surprised and then extremely confused. A jolt went through me. It was like the wool had been removed from my eyes and a blinding light had been shed on all the memories that Kaiser had erased from my mind. The bloodthirsty killer that he had created was forever gone.
"You've been manipulated long enough."
The voice of my mother was enough to distract me for a mere thousandth of a second and make me forget that there was still a dagger trained at Baralai's chest. I gasped and my eyes widened as my arm got closer and closer to his heart, the primary target. I grit my teeth and tried to jerk my arm away, every nerve in my body screaming for the dagger to miss its mark. The world had once again slowed down but now I was forced to watch as I killed the one man that meant more to me than my own life. If I had been able to I would have turned that dagger around and plunged it into my own heart. A strangled cry escaped my lips as the muffled thud of Baralai's death rang in my ears. I couldn't bear to look down to see where the dagger had struck him. I was scared that I would totally lose it if I did.
My mouth fell open like I was in pain as the weight of what I had just done crashed down on me like a ton of bricks. Baralai's eyes were wide with shock as his choking gurgles assailed me relentlessly. His eyes were speaking to me loud and clear. 'How could you?' Even though he hadn't spoken his voice was ringing in my ears, making me cringe.
Without thinking, I ripped the dagger out of him then promptly dropped the accursed thing to the ground and kicked it away from me. Like the dagger had been holding him upright he slowly began to sink to the ground, his hands clutching the fatal wound. His life force was spilling out of him, even with his attempts to hold it inside his body. I instantly clamped my hands over his, trying to stanch the bleeding. Tears blurred my vision as I looked at his face, still oh so beautiful even though he was minutes away from death. His eyes met mine and I saw undying loyalty and adoration, not malice or hatred like I had been expecting.
"Please," he choked, a small trickle of blood escaping his mouth. "don't hate yourself for this." A few tears fell from his eyes and it was like a dam had burst inside my heart.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I babbled. "I wasn't in control. I didn't mean to. I tried to stop. I tried..."
One side of his bloodstained mouth curled up as he shook his head weakly. "It's alright. At least…I got to see you one…last time." He reached his hand up and lovingly caressed my face, neither of us caring that his hand was drenched in blood.
"Don't you dare talk like that!" I hissed.
He tried laughing but only ended up sending himself into a coughing fit. He turned his head away so he wouldn't spray blood all over me. I began to panic, thinking he was going to suffocate on his own blood, so I carefully turned him on his side until he was done coughing. When I rolled him back over he looked even worse. His skin was sallow and clammy and he was starting to shake because of all the blood he had lost. He looked back at me and I could see his eyes going in and out of focus. He was on death's door and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.
"I wish...I could have spent...more time with you." I had to practically put my ear next to his mouth in order to hear him. I laced the fingers of both my hands with his as tears started pouring out of my eyes. I shook my head in response to his words. This whole situation could not possibly be real.
Just then, everything went downhill and took a drastic turn for the worst.
Baralai's breaths starting coming in wheezing, hitching gasps that started out slow but progressively got faster and faster until it sounded like he was hyperventilating. My muscles locked up and every thought left my mind. This was it. I freed one of my hands and leaned over him, putting my face directly in front of his. I really started to freak out when his eyes began to roll into the back of his head.
"You stay with me!" I said, shaking his shoulder roughly. "Don't you dare quit on me!"
His eyes opened but there was no focus at all, they were already dull and lifeless. His chest was heaving now, like he had just finished running a marathon.
"Please," I begged through clenched teeth. "Don't leave me."
"I..." He whispered, his throat clenching as he swallowed. "I love you." His chest heaved a few more times than his head lolled to the side, his eyes sliding closed forever.
For a moment I didn't believe that he was really gone. I was staring down at him, expecting a miracle to happen. I was expecting anything to happen, really. Anything but this agonizing silence. "Baralai...?" My voice sounded weak and foreign to me, it sounded hollow, like I had died along with him. "No..." I mumbled, shaking my head slowly. Something in my mind snapped then and I totally lost my sanity. I fisted the fabric of his blood stained robe so tightly that my hands started to ache "NO! No, no, no!" I pointed my head skyward and started screaming. "Baralai, no!" All at once I felt every negative emotion there was to feel: fury, agony, regret, sadness, anger and countless others. I had the mind to expel my element right there and join him in oblivion. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that I hadn't killed Kaiser yet.
My stomach clenched and lurched without warning, forcing me to dive away from Baralai so I wouldn't throw up on him. I hadn't eaten anything earlier so all that came up was bile. Even after my stomach had been totally emptied I laid there and dry heaved for what seemed like hours. After I was done I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and looked back at Baralai, tears pooling in the corners of my eyes as I gazed at his bloodstained body. I scurried back over to him and mashed my face into his chest, shedding countless tears on his robe. This isn't real, I thought in utter denial. This has to be just a dream or, worse, a nightmare that's never going to end.
I pulled myself together, the pieces that were left anyway, and gathered him into my arms. I needed to get him back to Bevelle. I couldn't just leave him here. The people of Bevelle deserved to know what happened to their Praetor and who had killed him. I figured that the council members were still at the temple so I teleported directly into the council chamber and onto the middle of their enormous table no less.
I imagined that I looked really bad. There was blood all over the front of my uniform, my face and my hands. My eyes were probably red and puffy from all the crying that I had been doing too. To put it frankly, I probably looked like absolute hell.
I slowly and carefully set him down in front of me and looked every single old Yevonite in the eye. A few of them reached their hands up and rubbed their eyes. They couldn't believe what they were seeing either. None of this would really hit me until I returned to Zanarkand anyway. It still felt like I was in a never ending dream. I teleported away just as the room exploded into commotion. Sticking around any longer wasn't in my best interest for a number of reasons, namely the fact that I had just dumped their Praetor in the middle of their table covered in his own blood. I was surprised that I hadn't gotten shot right after I entered the room. I returned to the clearing to retrieve my dagger. If I didn't bring it back with me I would get in major trouble. I needed to continue to play the part and let Kaiser think I was still under his control.
I didn't look at the massive pool of blood on the ground as I paced around the clearing, looking for that damn thing. As soon as I found it I shoved it back into the sheath without cleaning it off. Kaiser needed his blood as proof that I had killed him. Just play the part, Paine. Play the part, I continued to chant that mantra in my head all the way back to Zanarkand.
