Thievery Of The Sword

Chapter 12: Figures Of The Past

Written By Illuminet

Disclaimer: Characters from the Guilty Gear series are the rightful property of Arc System Works.

:xXx:

"Frederick..." It was a woman's voice. Sol knew this much. The name he didn't. He tried to claw his way through darkness, but it all remained. His limbs, his body, he could see none of them.

"Frederick...?" The woman's voice beckoned to him once more, or so it felt like to Sol. Light pierced his vision, his eyes trying to adjust to the brightness.

'Where...?' Sol wanted to say, but the words didn't speak from his mouth. He felt as if he held no control over his body's functions. This aggravated him. But the feeling subsided decently when his vision caught sight of a pretty lady with shoulder length red hair. She wore a simple black shirt and slim jeans, allowing him sight of her lovely curves. She stood in front of a sink, washing some vegetables before placing them on a cutting board and began to dice them into small pieces with a large knife and an expert hand. It had been the transition where Sol noticed the small bulge of her belly. The woman was pregnant. Sol could only assume perhaps she was at about four months along.

"Freddie dear, did you fall asleep? That's not like you. Are you feeling well?" She spoke, and Sol saw her eyes for the first time. A contrast to her bright hair, her eyes were as blue as the night sky. She was a beautiful woman, only Sol did not know who she was. But there was a dull pain in the back of his skull that felt as if he should know her, that there was definitely something about her he found familiar and recognizable. He felt his eyes close, the pain starting to sear in the back of his skull to further along his brain. He wanted to writhe and growl, stomping out the pain, which only amplified upon his brain further when he heard her voice again.

"FREDERICK!" The scream had been blood curdling. When his eyes opened again and not by his will, he saw her again. It was his arms that were choking her, but they lacked the wild scars and musculature that Sol knew he had.

'What the fuck is this?! Let her go! Let her the fuck go!' Sol growled, trying to will his arms to release the woman. Out of the corner of his eyes, Sol realized he seemed to be in a laboratory of sorts. He was able to put the pieces together.

'My escape...' Sol pondered to himself, wondering if he was having a flashback of some kind.

'Aria...I'm...I can't...!' Sol heard the name spoken. It was in his voice yet wasn't. This voice lacked the hardened edge Sol knew his own had. His vision was turning red with anger and regret.

:xXx:

"Don't show me...this shit!" Sol woke up, his body twisted in the sheets of the bed he rested in. His fingers had shredded into the soft material leaving large holes in them. His chest was heaving, but he was trying to control his breathing and ease it down. His breaths came out normal after a few moments.

'This place...' Sol knew he was somewhere he hadn't expected to be, but he would admit it was better than being in the clutches of the Order or Zepp.

"The old man and his interferences...well, better than the alternatives." Sol was well familiar with the surrounding environs. He was in a guest room of the castle of Slayer, a castle that Slayer would show to only a select few. Usually earthbound, the castle was currently suspended in the sky. He untangled himself from the soft linen sheets and the thick comforter blanket. The bed was for the most part destroyed due to his thrashing, and Sol knew Slayer would have to toss the antique piece since there was a very unlikely chance of the older immortal being able to acquire another one so easily. Not too many fine antique pieces existed out in the world unlike Slayer's castle, which was a trove for many such things. The Crusades had pretty much seen to that. Only Black Tech survived because it had some use to the Humans.

"What the fuck are these things?" Sol had apparently shredded into his sleeping attire as well, and they hung in shreds from the waist since the pants fared better, though not by much. Catching sight of his new duds folded neatly on the seat of a high ornate wooden chair. The Fire Seal was laid across the arms of the chair. They had been patched up and washed too, for they lacked the damage Sol had incurred with them on from his battle with Leviathan, the last memory he had. This made Sol take a pause however, his shirt being tucked into his white jeans.

'System check.' He waited as some schematics flashed along his vision. He looked through some of his recorded memory banks, trying to see if there was a save option for that freaky dream he had, as it might have been a clue to his past. But there was nothing.

"What the fuck...?" Sol muttered. Usually when possible things from the past surfaced in his head, he could capture and store them for viewing at a later time. This time it hadn't worked. All Sol could really remember was that name and the woman's face.

"Aria..." He muttered the name, focusing on it to see if it brought anything dormant from his mind. He got nothing though save for a feeling of regret. A small slithering sound caught his attention.

"Old man. Guess I owe you one." Sol said as he turned to see Slayer, who was dressed as immaculately as ever. Sol hated having to owe anyone for prolonged periods of time, so it was very rare that he had to at all.

"That was quite the victory you pulled off while facing the Leviathan. It would also seem that you have chosen to leave the Sacred Order. Did you learn something from your meeting with the Gear's Messiah? Did it influence your decision?" The Vampire asked. He neither looked or sounded jovial, his expression and tone calm and neutral. He took a deep puff from his pipe and waited for Sol's response.

"I know I'm not a match for her at present. That weapon will help, but I'm going to need to become decently stronger before I attempt fighting her again. Satisfied? I kept myself alive after the bout with her...so, like I said, I do owe you, so tell me what it is you want and let it be over with." Sol grunted. He went to the seat and started to put on the remainder of his clothing back upon his person. Slayer stroked his beard, his expression turning thoughtful.

"You will indeed need to become stronger. The Sacred Order and the Zepp Army are both trying to catch you. It also seems as if the Guild is also not too fond of you for your possible antics against Zato. Your very low on the totem pole of favor with some very powerful factions. Even fellow Bounty Hunters will likely give chase. Laying low for a time would be very beneficial of you. Here." Slayer procured a sheet of paper from his coat, handing the item to Sol.

"Now this is funny..." Sol spared a small chuckle. It was his own Bounty page.

"Corrupted Flame, eh? Guess it fits." Sol said before tossing it on the seat. He tightened the straps of his gloves, then took up the Fire Seal and laid it across one broad shoulder. The two beings, neither one Human yet wielding great intelligence that made them so much more than mere beasts, came to an understanding. As far as true test of capabilities with both himself and the Fire Seal, having a sparring partner for a time who could give Sol a true fight would definitely benefit the Gear. Slayer knew this all too well.

"Shall we? Your eyes have that keen appearance...a sharpness of scope I've not seen in you ever...there is a purpose you have to strive for...one that you will most absolutely see through to it's end. A conclusion to the Crusades. The Gear's Messiah and Herald of Destruction, Justice. She is your target, your mark." Slayer claimed in a tone that spoke of the whole truth. Even if it annoyed Sol how Slayer could read him like that so easily most of the time, Sol nodded with a calm understanding, curbing his annoyance. A smirk graced his lips.

"The courtyard of the castle?" Sol questioned though already knew what the answer would be. Slayer's grin was spreading wider upon his face, sparing a glance at his fangs. It was infectious, Sol's smirk turning to a similar grin. No longer bogged down by his insecurities like his time on the front lines of the battles alongside his Knights, or of the strange dream he had of that mysterious woman with red hair, Sol was ready for a coming spar where he could release a good amount of his locked in power and not be afraid of killing his opponent out right without a chance.

"The courtyard of the castle." Slayer affirmed. With a snap of his fingers, the two men disappeared in a shroud of darkness.

:xXx:

Slayer himself would be lying if he claimed he was not feeling giddy over this spar. He knew well the weaknesses that Sol possessed that held him back. The chance to live for something or someone. In this case it was an unobstructed acknowledgment of what one purpose in life an individual decides to follow and will not let anything impede the progress of attaining that goal. By all the experiences Sol faced so far, he had truly come to acknowledge a goal he would see to completion. Upon appearing in the courtyard, both were facing away from the other.

"Now then...a weapon of the Outrage set, is it? The power of one such weapon is considered legendary. However, that is the standard classified by Humans. What then...might such a weapon have of effecting a being like myself?" Slayer questioned as he turned to face Sol. The former Knight tapped the weapon lightly along his shoulder, seeming to ponder on the words for a brief moment. Sol flung the weapon up in the air, the Fire Seal spinning during both ascent and descent. Sol turned to face Slayer, the Fire Seal's hilt upon his favored left hand as he caught the weapon.

"Only one way to know for sure." Sol uttered as he hooked his thumb into the pocket of his pants, bringing the Fire Seal to his left side. Slayer smirked.

"Indeed. Now then..." The Vampire craned his neck to either side, earning audible pops to sound out.

"You ready for this?" Sol said in a mocking tone, beating Slayer to the rest of the sentence. The two closed the distance almost instantly, the pommel of the Fire Seal hammering into Slayer's fist as they tried to snag each other in an uppercut to the chin. The force they exerted blew them both back a fair distance. With immense speed, Slayer shifted from in front of Sol to behind him while shooting out with a straight punch to Sol's back. Sol twisted in time, slamming the flat of the Fire Seal along Slayer's forearm to send the punch veering away from himself. Sol reared his own fist back then swung it forward to strike Slayer chest level. His fist went right through Slayer, and Sol realized it had been an afterimage.

Grunting in annoyance, Sol let his instincts take over a little more, able to hop away when he caught a shift in the air to his right. Slayer's fist smashed the ground where Sol once stood, leaving sizable cracks along the surface that branched outward from the point of impact not unlike to the extent of a spider's web. Sol gritted his teeth as he found it hard to react to Slayer's next strike, the other immortal's fist driving Sol a few feet. Sol remained standing as he spread his legs outward to reduce the recoil of Slayer's vicious strike. Instincts were kicked up a notch further as Sol saw Slayer disappear a split second after his gaze caught hold of the Vampire. The Fire Seal was swung from his left to right hand as the tip of the blade scraped along the ground. Sol gained a moment of clarity that was far greater than usual for him. His sword came forward, his free left hand sliding down the thick surface of metal along the length of the blade. He deftly guarded Slayer's next punch, then surprised the other man by pushing the fist aside as flames sparked and churned about the Fire Seal's blade.

'This attack...' Sol had performed it naturally, twisting about in the air as he dragged Slayer along. Slayer flew back, his suit fairly charred from the strike Sol performed. Once he had revolved once in a complete circle upon completion of the graceful uppercut attack with the Fire Seal, Sol switched grips again so that the weapon was in his left hand. Slayer had landed first and reared his fist back.

'Well...I did need something to replace the Strum Viper. So now...' Sol thought offhandedly as he reared his own fist. Their arms snaked about the other, Slayer's coming from under while Sol's came over. Each had landed a solid punch to the other one's cheek. Slayer went sailing backwards, sliding against the ground along his shoulders from the force of the blow. Sol went tumbling through the air, the back of his head slamming into one of the statues that adorned the courtyard's grounds. The force propelling Sol was enough to make the statue crumble and shatter as if it were made of fragile glass rather than sturdy stone. Sol bypassed the now obliterated statue and smashed into the next one. The fourth and last one finally slowed him down, but was left with a large indent as Sol came to stop. Sol's vision stared to fade in and out of darkness. It had been a long time Sol suffered such a blow to his head. His system told him the trauma was already being healed and reset, at an accelerated rate.

'...what to call it...?' Sol had fallen unconscious.

:xXx:

"Frederick..." Her voice again. It sounded soft and gentle. Sol felt aggravated, not by the sound of her voice, but of the name she spoke. Something in him clicked, thinking that this was no dream, but perhaps a memory.

"...I hope our child will grow healthy like his father." She finished saying. Sol felt genuinely confused by this.

'Our child...?' He wanted to ask, but he could not, his mouth did not work, nor could he break through the darkness.

'Fuck this...who is this Frederick that you talk so lovingly about, woman? Leave me out of it!' He tried to get the system of his to record these voices so he could store them and try and make more sense of it later on if at all possible.

'Damn it...I'm a Gear, so why can't I access anything...stupid brain, you better fucking start to respond!' Sol growled, feeling as if his own mind were locked in a cage and he could not escape it. Suddenly his eyes shot open and he took in a hazy scene. His ears stung from a loud bang resounding in his ears painfully. His vision seemed watery and frayed, but he thought he was in an office of some sort. The woman, Aria if he recalled the name correctly, was not with him. Four squares of light shown behind the silhouette of someone though, someone behind an oak wood desk. At least Sol thought it might have been. The figured turned, his back to Sol.

'Where...what...?' Sol's hand moved in front of his gaze of it's own accord. Sol saw from the light of the window that his hand was sticky and wet. Red stained his palm.

'My blood...?' It had been in his voice that he heard, but Sol didn't recall thinking that at all. His mind spoke for him again without consent. Yet the tone was the innocent one Sol was not accustomed to knowing. His vision went black once more.

:xXx:

Sol awoke again, but it wasn't the writhing mess he had been prior. His head throbbed painfully as he sat up. He saw a woman sitting by the light of a candle, sewing up a hole that was in Sol's black shirt. Her clothing was fairly simplistic in design, a single red dress hugging her figure. Her only pieces of jewelry were some gold hoop earrings and a wedding band upon her left ring finger. Sol took stock of himself, seeing that he was once again in strange old fashioned pajamas. The woman had stopped sewing though as she heard Sol shifting and rustling the sheets and blanket so his bare feet landed on the carpet, and she merely gazed at him. He felt the back of his head, noting a small bump back there. It had likely been larger but his healing factor was already dealing with it nicely.

"Sharon, been a while." Sol greeted in a soft monotone, nodding his head in her direction slightly. The woman mirrored the gesture, a smile of greeting upon her visage before she turned her gaze back to her sewing to salvage his shirt. Sol knew Sharon very little, the only facts he had about her was that she was an immortal like Slayer and was not of his kind. Despite this however, Slayer and her were husband and wife. When they became a married couple, Sol did not know, but could only assume it to have been a very long time for the Castle was truly old itself, as much an antique as the furniture and trinkets that inhabited it's many large rooms. Also, Sharon did not communicate on any level, or if so, Slayer was the only one who seemed to understand her.

Sharon completed her patch up of Sol's shirt, then grabbed his jeans and jacket, walking up and handing the articles to him. Sol took them with a nod. She left silently, her footsteps and the click of the door as it swung open and closed the only sound to be heard as she made her exit.

"Frederick...and Aria...right? Tch..." Sol tossed his clothes on the bed and grumbled.

"That was a good hit, old man...I was surprised to see that all my teeth are still intact." Sol said as he peered at the shadows beyond the radius of the candle's light. The light of a match cut through the darkness, Slayer igniting his pipe before snuffing the flame of the match with a few flicks of his wrist.

"That was a good technique you came up with when I tried to surprise you. It's not often you will switch hands when you attack with swords, so I wasn't sure what exactly to expect as I was merely trying to get to your blind side." Slayer said after a moment of thought. Sol nodded.

"Kind of just came on reaction. I'll definitely be adding it to the repertoire of budding techniques I'm coming up with." He said, catching sight of a new pack of cigarettes on the stand by his bed, right near an ornamental ashtray. It was welcoming to see, and Sol spared a nod as a gesture of thanks towards the elder immortal. Slayer mimicked the gesture and Sol opened the pack and took one of the cancer sticks and placed it in his mouth then lit the end with a spark from his finger. Taking a decent drag that nearly expended half of his cigarette in one go, Sol then tapped it against the lip of the ashtray, knocking the ash where it belonged.

"Any other feedback for me?" Sol drawled, his state made quite mellow by the nicotine now in his system. Slayer smirked.

"I was still pulling my punches, Sol. I hope you will grant me more of a warm up tomorrow." Slayer said with a wry chuckle. Sol cracked a grin.

"You'll get nice and toasty under the collar yet, old man. Today I woke up after being in a three day coma, I can only get even stronger from here. We'll have to see how many suits your gonna be able to salvage after I fry your ass." Sol took another drag from his cigarette, enough to expend it then crushing the butt in the ashtray.

"You sound quite energetic. Good, your acting more like the age you look rather than the age you are. I will be looking forward to tomorrow quite immensely. Well then, I bid you a good night Sol." Slayer was gone after those words were spoken, Sol now alone in the room. Today was nothing more than an exhibition, and the spars would become longer and tougher as Sol gained more experience in the use of the Outrage and improved upon the techniques he would gain through his creativity. Like with his new Viper attack which didn't have an actual name yet, or the Gun Flame. He took up another cigarette, but didn't light it yet.

'Aria...Frederick...there is a connection but I still don't know enough to formulate just what exactly any of you got to do with me, and it's all speculation at this point...either way...!' Sol's jovial grin turned neutral, his eyes stony. When he heard Aria's name, there was the feeling of regret and guilt. When he heard Frederick's name, when he heard those strange thoughts pop up in his head that were in his voice but not of his very own thoughts, a steady rage started to set within him. It would seethe within him, and Sol knew well of the emotion. Hatred.

:ToBeContinued: