[What did I say?] It had been two days since...the incident between Dizzy and May. And neither had been coping well, nor had they been making an effort to improve the situation. May was nothing more than stunned at Dizzy’s seemingly unheralded display of affection, and Dizzy herself was in a literal stupor after May ran away from her so abruptly. But Dizzy couldn’t blame anyone but herself. In her mind, she was a guilty party and she couldn’t reject that blame. She and May had not spoken to each other for a while and it unnerved Dizzy. For the first time, Dizzy actually felt alone on the May ship. Dizzy had made many friends on the crew, but none of them were as closely attached to Dizzy as May was. Their separation was only slight, but to Dizzy, it felt as though the very foundation of her friendship with May had been severely jeopardized. All for one kiss. Dizzy was presently in her cabin on the ship, curled in a tight fetal ball, trying in vain to claim some form of comfort on that moderately restful bed. Though it seemed different, the discomfort and restlessness was not a result of the bed. Necro and Undine’s consistent rattling and arguing were jarring her brain once more. In her hopes, the innocent Gear was begging for a reprieve from this, but that hope was tossed to the wolves as the arguments started anew. ~I had no idea that May would react in that fashion~ Undine rose in her defence. ~If I did, I would have done something to improve the situation not aggravate it!~ [Well, if you’d listen to me...that whole ugly incident could have been avoided if you would have heeded my warnings. Look at what the human’s insensitivity and your light-heartedness have reduced the child to!] Undine didn’t take that lying down. ~You idiot! You honestly blame me for this? ~ The guardian angel jabbed sharply. [You were the one, who promoted this action, were you not?] Necro retorted. [I warned you about the dangers of that human filth, but no, you chose to ignore my wishes. Now, the child is paying for it! I knew coming on this vessel was a bad idea!] ~She has a name you know! ~ Undine yelled. ~Stop treating Dizzy as though she were nothing more than a meaningless pawn in all of this. The poor child is heartbroken. Can’t you see that? We should be concerning ourselves with Dizzy now, not who’s to blame. ~ At that second, Necro relinquished his restless anger and re-focused his attentions to Dizzy. Undine was right. This was about her, not either of them. And Necro himself was worried about her. He could feel the pain within Dizzy’s soul, but the child was not shedding a tear. Rather, she was bottling up inside herself, and disallowing others to help her get through it. Necro and Undine had materialized into their semi-human forms from the wings on Dizzy’s back, and Undine ran one of her glowing, crystal water hands through Dizzy’s hair. The Gear remained completely indifferent. ~Dizzy. She’s hurting. But she won’t let it out. I do fear for her. ~ Necro nodded respectfully. [For once woman, you’re right. Her attitude worries me also. She is not absorbing the pain in the manner I expected her to. But what can be done about it?] Dizzy tiredly held her small palms to her ears blocking out Necro and Undine’s comments. Anything to forget about what happened between her and May. Not too far from Dizzy’s room, May was sombrely walking along one of the narrow corridors of the steel winged May ship, with her head held low and her spirits fasting following that route. May felt so guilty about running out on Dizzy the way she did. Yet at the same time, May couldn’t help but run away. Nor could she face Dizzy. Not now. Not after what she did. Like a videotape, the scene played out in May’s mind over and over and over again. One minute May was helping Dizzy control her grip on the rudder of the ship, the next she was complementing Dizzy’s subtle and...cute expression, then...bang. Dizzy kissed her. And one of hell of a kiss at that. Even now, May could feel Dizzy’s silky lips pressed up against her own, so affectionately, so lovingly. And when she really thought about it, the kiss itself wasn’t bad. But...it’s deliverer... May shook her head free of such thoughts. Mostly to clear her head, but also to stop herself from looking at Dizzy that way. May still could not believe that Dizzy was...like that. She had always seemed to be fonder of girls then guys, but she let Testament protect her, and Dizzy was always so friendly (in a shy way) with Johnny. So why would she look at May...like that? They had always been friends. They were close, but still just friends. But it appeared that May was giving out a message, which contradicted that belief. Again May tried not to think about it like that. Despite the pirate girl’s misgivings, that idea wasn’t repelling her. Shouldn’t she be disgusted? She was shocked, that’s for sure but...May wasn’t completely horrified. In a very unusual way it was, appealing...but that made no sense. May was in love with only one person, and his name was Johnny. It wasn’t possible for May to...feel something for someone else. And especially not Dizzy! She was a girl! Now, more importantly, where did Dizzy think their relationship is heading? With a downcast sigh, May dragged her head up and took a menial gander at the door she was standing in front of. Dizzy’s door. The brunette mumbled something to herself. “I...love Johnny, right?” ********** The birds chirped a loving and meaningful chorus as the rising sun heralded the dawning of a brand new day. It was the early morning in the small forest that Millia, Baiken and Venom had set camp in. The current situation was slightly uncomfortable though. Millia and Baiken had agreed to work with Venom in the pursuit of Zato-ONE. But, as fate would have it, their goals were completely different. Venom only wanted to rescue his master and return to him the respect he deserved as commander of the Assassin organization. However Millia wanted nothing more than Zato’s immediate death. Nothing else would or could satiate her. Only an end to this maddening feeling of guilt would put her at ease. In addition to that conundrum, Baiken and Venom couldn’t stand to be in each other’s presence for more than three seconds with out erupting into anger and forcing each other into a deciding confrontation. It was fairly understandable (In a childish way). Baiken had a deep-rooted distrust for Venom, a distrust that she was not afraid to hide, and Venom himself had a blunt distaste for Baiken’s attitude. It was almost a certainty that Baiken and Venom would spill each other’s blood at some point; the only questions were when, where and how. As much as Millia tried to mediate the conflicts between the two, neither seemed to want to make the effort. But it was enough to stop them from fighting. If Millia weren’t there, she would have sworn they’d have slit each other’s throats by now. Millia had no idea where Zato was, and neither did Venom, but the English assassin had an informant in a small village a short distance from their current position. The first thing they aimed to do was to ask this man for any information. Though he lived in a backwards village, near enough completely oblivious to the realities of the outside world, Venom’s friend was the former head trainer of the village of assassins in China. The trio of Millia, Baiken and Venom were walking along a large pebbled road stripped along the setting of majestic beauty belonging to the countryside. The only thing that could be heard for distances around were the peaceful clacking of shoes and sandals connecting with small pebbles. Though the serene setting was calming, it did not match the black pitch of tension falling around the three. As the trio walked along silently, Millia looked forwards at Venom. For some reason he always stayed a few paces in front of Baiken and Millia. “Venom,” Millia called out. “How much further do we have to walk until we reach your informant?” Venom didn’t immediately respond. “Not too far.” Baiken smirked fiercely as Venom finished his simple reply. “So...this is the way you were talking about? You said there was a village at this distance. But still I have yet to lay my eye on this village.” Venom mockingly tossed a lock of his ashen hair behind his ear and retorted mildly, not even taking the bother to look back at Baiken. “We need to continue a little longer before we reach the village I told you about. It isn’t a long way away. We should be there soon if we maintain a steady pace. That is, if a certain woman would stop second-guessing my every action.” Baiken chuckled lightly, barely noticeably. “Forgive me, I still seem to have this niggling complex about installing trust into murderous, shadow crawlers like yourself.” Venom dug his feet in place as his cobalt flaming eyes flashed with irritation, and looked over his shoulder at Baiken. “Do you have some sort of death wish?” Again, Baiken chuckled at Venom’s verbal shots. “Isn’t the Grim Reaper your speciality?” Zato’s aide de camp gripped his snooker case and stared at Baiken with a keen eye of intent. “Do not push me into something that you will regret woman. I will show you no quarter.” Though Baiken’s disposition was fey and humored, her razor fast hand inched it’s was over to the hilt of her blade. “Oh ho, the killer is merciless as well as righteous, eh? Kami-sama has gifted murderers for hire with scruples as well as dogmatic dignity?” Millia sighed as the two walked up to each other. Venom looked at Baiken with an annoyed attentiveness. “Do not tempt my wrath woman...” The cerise haired samurai noted the swap from simple insults to an out and out challenge, and grinned with a battle lust maintained through vengeance and drawn forth by anger. Baiken offered one last piece of advice as (ever so slightly) she pulled her sleeping blade from its sheath. “You should watch it, boy. The fee for drawing my sword is a pint of your blood.” Venom’s temperament shifted from anger to humored resentment, just enough to for him to offer one last piece of calculated disrespect. “Please forgive me if I tremble in fear,” Venom said. “You’re quips fill me with such terror I can barely contain myself.” Baiken’s peach eye filled with lighting-fast anger. “You arrogant son of a-“ The second Baiken lunged at Venom with her sword ready to be drawn; Millia darted between the two to prevent any sort of confrontation. This was not what they were here for. Millia didn’t want to have to break up meaningless, childish fights. “Stop it.” Millia said, though Baiken and Venom’s attentions were focused on each other. “We are not here to squabble amongst ourselves.” Still looking at each other with twin looks of disgust and irritation, the two backed down from the challenge obsequiously. As much as they would have enjoyed destroying each other, Millia had a point. Zato took precedence over the situation. Baiken let her close friend slither back into its sheath. “You’re right. Let’s just keep moving.” After throwing a couple more warning looks at each other, the two joined Millia and continued walking along. Around half an hour later, the trio walked up to a cliff hanging over a wide stretch of land. And far below them, on that same grassland, was a small village. Millia held her hand over her eyes to block out the glare of the sun. “Is that the village?” Venom nodded. “Yes. It is. It will take us around an hour to walked around the side of this cliff to get down there.” “Isn’t there a faster way?” Millia asked. Baiken scratched her chin. “I don’t see one.” ********** Very far away from the village that Venom, Baiken and Millia were thinking over, at the harbor of a large, bustling yet war-devastated Chinese city, a small Junk pulled up to the docks of this quiet, murky marina. A noble and refined blonde man in blue and white (and strangely significant) garments stepped off of the small boat and onto the creaking wooden boards of the dock. The blonde man kneeled down and handed the Junk’s owner 50 world dollars. The Junk owner bowed respectfully as he received this money. “Thank you, my boy. Not many people are as respectful as you are. I thank you.” The blonde one shook his head. “You needn’t offer me any thanks. You provided me with a service and I merely repaid you with this. I hope you trip back is a safe one.” “I’m sure it will be. But before you go, could you tell me your name? I just wish all of my customers were like you!” The blonde man nodded. “Certainly. My name is Ky Kiske. I am sure we will meet again.” The Junk owner nodded and went back into its small base compartment as Ky walked away. The former knight strode away from the docks of the city, and walked towards its inner depths. Though it had been a whole year since the death of Justice, memories of the day of his resurrection still remained prevalent within Ky’s psyche. The blonde knight was still wearing the old uniform of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights (KR2: Or Seikishidan, whatever) that he had donned in preparation for the tournament. It seemed that all of Ky’s current thoughts were trapped on the past. So much so that a cloud was forming over him. The things that Justice spoke of during the tournament still flashed back and forth in his head, and as much as Ky wanted to dismiss them as the ramblings of a maniacal death-machine, those simple words possessed a rhythm of correctness that was so blunt and forward, they had the capacity to shatter Ky’s world. And everything he had ever believed in... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a tall, wide plateau surrounded by the livings foetus’s of Gears encased in solid ice, beneath carpeted, marble steps leading up to two broken gates to a proverbial yet fictional heaven, the French knight lay, toppled by the King of the Gears. Justice laughed deviously at his human enemy, the one who successfully imprisoned him inside a dimensional cage five years ago. Ky Kiske, the leader of the dissolved Order, lay at the feet of the virtual God of Destruction known as Justice. Using the Thunderseal for weak leverage, Ky rose up to stand, the energy following through his veins, was fast diminishing. Ky’s crystal blue eyes stalked over the victor in almost blind hatred. Nothing be said to quench that hatred now. It was as it was five years ago. He could still not defeat the leader of Gears. But the nobility of this former knight would not allow his spirit to give up. And from that same determination, (or tenacity) came the will of his body to comply with the wishes of his heart and mind. Ky would die before he gave up. Justice crossed his arms mockingly. “After five whole years, you haven’t improved have you?” Ky took no notice as he struggled to maintain a fighting stance. “Evil...has no place in this world...” The King of Gears shot Ky a dark glare from his blood red eyes. “Evil? You dare to call me evil?! I fight for my own existence, no more, no less.” “That cannot be your reason for waging war on humans!” Ky yelled. “...” Justice sighed as he stared at this pitiful human. “...Look at my body. I was created to kill humans...I’m a weapon. Yet, the same humans that created me never thought about my mind, my soul. I’d have been used as a tool...and if I’d refuse, I’d be dismantled!” Ky looked shocked... “...I...” Justice did not let Ky’s shock stop him from stating these truths. “Ask yourself...can you truly blame me? I was born into this world as a slave, and now you’re here to destroy me. I know humans loathe me violently, and always will. I could do nothing but to live on, if for no other reason than to scorn my creators! But what do you think I’ve been living FOR!? My duty. My assigned role. I was created to kill, and so I do. It’s justice!” Ky gave an angry scowl to Justice’s absurd notions. “That’s a delusion! What God ordains and wishes for...THAT is justice! If anyone or anything attempts to deprive the world of that freedom...” Ky steeled himself with new vigor as his belief was returned to him, full force. “I’ll defeat them all!” Justice sighed again. “...I see. You should meet the man who created me. I wonder if you unwavering faith in justice would continue if you did...” Kliff’s successor looked confused. “Who...who’s that?” The King of Gears uncrossed his arms and pulled his hand back in preparation for another attack. “Heh. Your time to depart from this world has come. But know this young Knight...if Gears are truly evil, then think about where we came from...we are your creations...If there is a shred of evil me, then it was installed inside me by your kind!” Ky could do nothing but gasp as Justice swung his arm around his body, and a wave of searing blue energy cut through the air and rammed into Ky’s chest with a brutal impact. The noble swordsman was knocked down the hundred marble steps and as his body came to rest just below the last step, Ky faded into unconsciousness. And as the Frenchmen passed out from the wrath of Justice’s Michael Sword attack...a dark figure appeared from the shadows and stared down the King of the Gears... The man spoke out to the goliath of power above him. “So...Testament *did* bring you back...” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ky shivered at those memories. They were haunting him in ways that he would have never believed possible. All his life, Ky had believed that God’s way was the right way. And that Gears were evil. Yet Gears are merely creations of human lust and greed. The evil inside them is an extension of the evil of humanity. So what were those hundred years of fighting for? Did they all amount to nothing? Were the entire Crusades a righteous battle for life, order and goodness, or just a civil war between internal evil and external evil? Ky had no answer to these questions. That was why he was here in China. Part of him felt that this angst would not be resolved by staying in one place, so he chose to temporarily leave the police force and go on a pilgrimage. Partly to seek the truth, and partly to discover himself. When Ky heard about a Gear that will not fight, a Gear that was self reliant, Ky had to see it to confirm the truth. But for now, he would prepare himself to face a realization that he might not want. A realization that would change his entire perspective on the personification of evil. And of justice. ********** In an alley, a ruff thug was slammed into the brick wall, back first, and a muscled figure in red and white garments pulled out of a line of shadows, smirking cockily at a simpering coward. The thug started begging. “No...please! We...maybe we can...s-share the money! Yeah! We can...w-we can share it!” The ochre-eyed man stepped in front of the now pleading man. “Share? Half of your damn spoils, huh? Don’t you think I could earn more by running you in?” The thug pulled his hands up to protect himself. “Please?! I’ll give you all the money! Just don’t kill me!” Tapping his bluntly squared off sword on his shoulder, the ochre-eyed man smiled incredulously at this young punk. “If you’re gonna give up that easily, why the hell did you bother to rob a crime lord?” “Please don’t kill me!” The thug repeated. “Anything to keep yourself alive, huh kid? I understand that. Too bad you didn’t follow through with those skills...” The swordsman held up his blade and prepared to thrust it into the throat of the young thug, but before he did, the ruffian thought of something. “Wait!” The punk said. “I can...tell you a secret!” The brown haired man’s eyes narrowed. “A secret...?” Now that he seemed to have a hold on this obvious bounty hunter’s attention, the thug continued on for his life. “There’s word on the street that a major team of scientists have hooked up in China and are planning a really big bio-experiment, they call it, Project J2...or something.” The bounty hunter roughly pushed the thug up against the wall and brought his sword straight to his neck. “What else do you know? Who are they? What’s it all about?” “That’s all I know, man! The guy who hired you probably wanted you to finish me off ‘cause I know about it!” The ochre-eyed man mellowed out a little. “That’s all you know?” The thug nodded desperately. “That’s all.” The bounty hunter slowly pulled away with a quick ‘fine’ as his formidable blade ran through the neck of his bounty run in a splurge of crimson fluid. Pulling his sword out of the thug’s blood-soaked neck, he casually shook it free of blood and stared off at the far distance of the alleyway. “Project J2?” He mumbled. “What...is this?” Without good time to acclimate his thoughts, a person who had been watching that whole scene spoke out from the shadows, drawing the attentions of the bounty hunter. “So we meet again...Sol Badguy.” Sol’s eyes flared sharply when he recognised that voice. “You?!” ********** Baiken and Millia sat on two chairs in a moderately decorated room that they had hired out in the village. They and Venom walked the path around the cliff and returned to ground level, then went into the small hamlet that Venom had told them about. Fearing that sight of Millia might upset his informant, she and Baiken agreed to take out a room in the nearest Inn and wait for Venom’s news. Obviously Baiken thought that was a little fishy, but after almost getting into a fight with Venom against Millia’s wishes, her reluctance to cause a fuss took centre stage. And after a wait of around twenty minutes, Venom walked into their room and faced the unwilling assassin and the vengeful samurai. “What is it?” Millia asked. “Did you find out anything?” Venom nodded solemnly. “Yes. I found out where Zato is.” ********** Kaiser’s Afterthoughts ----------------------- * Surprise! You’re probably wondering why Sol and Ky are making appearances in a story that has nothing to do with them, but in fact they are very important. BOTH of them. And if you hadn’t have guessed it, their main roles are connected to the later chapters. * I’m sorry this took so long to post, I actually finished this chapter before Christmas, but I had to visit my family and the like, so I forgot to post it. Then when I came back and went over my notes, I realized that I had neglected a big part of the storyline. Probably because I’ve been so distracted with the Millia scenario. But I’m back on track. It’s probably a bit odd to just thrust them in the story like that, but it’s the best I could do. It’s important that I get it right, since the ending is going to be an event, which will culminate in the unification of every scenario in the story. * Get ready to see more new faces in future chapters, like Jam and Zato/Eddie! * Is it just me, or is Ky a really inventive character? I went over his storyline and stuff before I wrote this chapter and the more I read the more I liked. He has a very interesting back-story. He took over the Sacred Order of Holy Knights from Kliff and got the Thunderseal as a symbol of his appointment, he sealed up Justice for five years, became a police officer, he’s got Jam completely in love with him, and he has a rivalry with one of the most powerful Gears ever. I like Ky a lot more than I did before now that I know more about him. At first I just put him in DB, BS to be paired up with Jam and show the world how good they are together, but now I think his scenario is going to be a whole lot more important and meaningful then I intended it to be. Obviously Jam is going to be there to support Ky through the hard times now, and things will move on from there. Ride The Lightning!!!!! * Sorry about the lack of Dizzy/May stuff. Their story is going to be less important from around chapter 15, when the Ky, Millia and Sol stuff takes centre stage. But all parts of their scenario will be resolved by that time. You know what that means... * In case you’re wondering, the events in Ky flashback were a rough version of his old Guilty Gear 1 ending. The only difference is that Ky lost the fight (which I think happened canonically) in my story; In Ky’s ending he won. Oh and the guy who appeared at the end of Ky’s flashback was Sol. * Kaiser Ryouga 2 finally has a bio! Yay!
Back to Darkest Body, Brightest Soul Index - Back to Guilty Gear X Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction