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Chaos Knight (FFT fanfic)
12.26.02, 22:40:39
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Post #1 (permalink) |
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Introduction
"Wow," Dycedarg whistled, seeing the carnage before him. "What could have done something like this?"
Two foot soldiers walked up to him. The one on the left, of a slightly higher rank than the other, spoke, "The Chaos Knights. Their insignia is all around here."
"The Chaos Knights did this? They're supposedly the fighters for 'good.' I see they're just like the Death Corps."
"No, sir," the other soldier said, pointing to the bodies strewn around on the forest floor, "Those are the Chaos Knights."
* * * * *
Part One: The Lover
Tess stood, slackjawed and amazed. She couldn't believe what she saw. How could it be? she thought, is it even possible?
"Regain some composure, woman!" the man standing in front of Tess ordered, "You shame yourself."
Tess snapped out of it, shaking her head. "Rad? But...how?" She looked around, at Rad's travelling companions. "Death Corps?"
Rad dropped his head and sighed, "After Ramza abandoned me. I just wasn't myself anymore. I joined the Death Corps, but they soon disbanded and were mostly killed. I took in whoever was left and formed the Chaos Knights. We're not much, but we're doing as good a job as the Death Corps did at containing the tainted nobles.
Tess laughed, "That bad, huh?" Rad's glare was as sharp as any blade. If only I knew what has gotten into him, Tess thought, What the hell could have tainted him like this? She stared at Rad, wondering what could have happened to her former lover that could have crushed him this bad.
- - - - -
"Get the hell outta here!" Ramza shouted, waking up the encampment. "I don't want to see you here again!"
"What did I do wrong?" Rad questioned, "Am I not good enough for you?"
"YOu're conspiring with the Death Corps, and you know it! Don't play dumb, just go!"
By this time, the whole camp was out, watching. Tess stood, teary-eyed, watching as the man she loved was being so rudely harrassed by their leader. She honestly didn't know what to do. Alicia came over to comfort her. "Get the hell away from me," Tess begged, wanting only to be with Rad at that moment.
That's when she decided to do something. Tess ran up to Ramza and tackled him to the ground. "What the hell are you doing? That's Rad you're talking to! It's Rad!" Ramza grabbed her by her wrists and held on, trying to make her stop her brutality.
"That's not the Rad we knew. He was conspiring with the Death Corps!" Ramza waved a hand in the direction of Rad, "Even ask him yourself!"
Tess got up off Ramza and turned, only to see Rad, fleeing into the night.
- - - - -
"What they said was true, then," Tess said, more to herself than Rad, "You were a conspirator. Why didn't I see it? Oh, God, why didn't I see it?"
Rad grabbed Tess' hands and held them gently, like he used to. "No one saw it, honey. Ramza was the first to, as far as I know. I couldn't very well face you when you found out. That's why I fled that night."
Tess tore her hands away, "Don't call me that! It was a long time ago when you could have used such an endearing term, but now we are enemies."
"No! Don't you see?" Rad pleaded, "We don't have to be enemies! We can both forget we even met eachother here!"
"We should kill her!" one of Rad's companions shouted, much to the merriment of the others. Another hissed and shouted, "Can we have her first, Rad?" That only provoked the violence. Rad hauled off and hooked the man in the jaw so hard it knocked both of them to the ground. Rad was the first to get up, "Don't ever talk like that about her! Understand?" The man nodded, and got to his feet.
"Well," Tess said slowly, "I guess there's only one thing I can do, now. I'm so verry sorry, boy." She punctuated her sentence with a back spinning heel kick to Rad's face, knocking him to the ground again. She followed it with a knee to another man's stomach, setting him to his knees.
One man drew his sword, but wouldn't get to use it. Tess grabbed his wrist and pushed her thumb into the pressure point, making him release the weapon. She took the long sword, which was nearly four feet in length, and stabbed it in the groundusing it for leverage. She jumped up and kicked the swordsman square in the chest. When she landed, she was met with a knife slash along her back. Tess stumbled a bit, and turned back to view the attacker. It was Rad. "I'm so very sorry, girl," He said, shrugging.
Tess pushed the man next to her to the ground and ran off, away from Death Corps, away from corruption. And away from the man she used to love.
* * * * *
Part Two: The Conspirator
"What's wrong?" Tary asked, halting at the signal of his leader.
"Nothing, I think," Rad said, "Just that something here doesn't quite feel right. It's as if...we're being watched."
The party of five formed a ring, facing outward, looking for someone watching. When they saw no one, Rad signalled them to move on. "That was wierd," one of Rad's men said, as the continued at a marching pace, "I felt it too, although there's nothing to prove..." his sentence trailed off when he saw a tall, slender woman standing in the party's way. She had a medium build, light-brown hair, and piercing blue eyes. A beauty, for sure.
"What the hell?" Rad muttered under his breath. Tess stood right in front of him, as if to block his path. Actually, he thought, she looks like she's in a daze. I wonder if...
"Regain some composure, Woman!" Rad ordered, "You shame yourself!"
Tess snapped out of her daze and shook her head. "Rad? But...how?" she then took a long look at Tary and the rest of Rad's companions. "Death Corps?" she muttered the question, seemingly more to herself than anything.
Rad dropped his head, "After Ramza abandoned me. I just wasn't myself anymore." That's an understatement, he thought. "I joined the Death Corps, but they soon disbanded and were mostly killed. I took in whoever was left and formed the Chaos Knights. We're not much," We're practically nothing, "but we're doing as good a job as the Death Corps did at containing the tainted nobles." If only she knew...
Tess laughed, "That bad, huh?" Rad's glare was like poison.
- - - - -
"Rad," Ramza whispered, "I need to see you later in my tent to discuss something."
Rad nodded, and went back to setting up camp. Everyone was pitching in, but Rad felt he was doing most of the work. Ramza needed his own tent, and so did Agrias. Alicia told everyone she preferred the outside, so she didn't need a tent. Rad and Tess shared a tent, and there was another, larger, tent that served as everything else they needed: kitchen, dining area, social room, meeting room. I wonder why Ramza wants to talk to me? Rad pondered while putting up the center pole of the big tent. Oh well. I guess I'll find out when I do.
- - - - -
Walking out of Ramza's tent, Rad muttered to himself, "Okay, Rad. Tonight, you join the Death Corps."
- - - - -
"What they said was true, then," Tess said, but seemingly not to Rad. She looked up at him, "You were a conspirator. Why didn't I see it? Oh, God, why didn't I see it?"
* * * * *
Part Three: The Mastermind
Ramza sat on the ground, hunched over a few sheets of parchment. He shifted, so he could see by the light of the setting sun. "Now. I need to get this plan done before anything else happens in the real world." Ramza wet the tip of his quill and started scribbling notes, "The Death Corps will fall apart soon enough. That much is for sure. When the roof falls in, though, what are we going to do? There will be too many people afloat with resentment, and then a new rebellion will start, against the 'good guys.'
"Now we can't have that happen. So what we need is..." Ramza nearly jumped out of his body when the thought came to him, "...someone on the inside!"
The thought developed in his head, from idea to all-out plan and back again. What can I do, now, though, that can assure that...I can't very well send someone...can I? "That's what I'll do. I'll send someone. I can figure out who later, though. Once I have the man inside, he can set off the chain reaction leading to the falling-out of the Death Corps. The nobles will most likely try to hunt and kill the remnants. But, what people don't get their heads handed to them, can form a new group, dedicated to good. It's just crazy enough to work."
Ramza sat on the hillside, writing, thinking, until the sun fully set and he had no light by which to see. By then, however, he knew what to do.
- - - - -
"Hello, Brother," Dycedarg welcomed his half brother with joy, "And what can I do for you today?"
"I have a plan," Ramza stated flatly, not wanting to sound enthusiastic, "Here's how it is. You see..." Ramza explained the whole plan to Dycedarg, who was paying very close attention to every detail.
"I see. So you want this man of yours, who shall remain nameless for the time being, to form a group of the remnants of the Death Corps, to serve good, instead of evil. You know I can't do a thing to sway the decision to hunt the Death Corps down."
"I know, Brother. I'm not planning on the group being great, or large, but just enough, you know? As long as there's even two score left acros the land."
"I see," Dycedarg was intrigued by his half-brother's inginuity. "Our father would be proud of you, now. I'll see what I can do about this."
"I don't need you to do anything, Brother," Ramza remarked, a little too defensively, "I just came for your approval of the plan."
"In that case, you have it."
- - - - -
Ramza walked confidently over to Rad, who was setting up camp. "Rad," he whispered, "I need to see you later in my tent to discuss something." Rad nodded, and went back to setting up. Ramza went back to his tent, which was already pitched, and sat on the ground, pondering his decision to send Rad on this journey. After a few minutes, Rad opened up the front of the tent and came in.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked.
Ramza nodded, "Rad, I need you to do something very important for me. If you choose not to, I understand, but please hear me out."
Rad shrugged. "Whatever," he said, not sounding overly worried. He probably didn't think it was anything more than getting firewood. And he's not at fault for it, Ramza thought, Being as serious as he is with Tess, he probably doesn't expect someone like me to send him off on something like this. But it must be done.
"I," Ramza gestured to outside the tent, where they both knew the others were working, "and they, need you to go on a long mission, far from us."
Rad ****ed an eyebrow, "And this would be what, now?"
"Please. Just let me finish." Rad nodded, and Ramza continued, "I need you to go join the Death Corps. They'll die off soon enough, but we need someone on the inside when it happens. We also need to put on a 'play' tonight. No one can know about this except for you and me, which is why we need to convince the ladies that you're being expelled from the party. For...conspiring with the Death Corps."
"I don't like it very much," Rad said, "I'll do it, though. But...what else is there? You wouldn't want anyone in there when the sky fell if you didn't plan on salvaging something from the apocalypse."
"Whoever the nobles don't find and kill, you take in." I'm sending this boy to his death, while his woman isn't even fifty yards away. "Form a vigilante group." Ramza almost laughed at the insanity of the plan. This is stupid. I shouldn't even go through with this. "There's a lot more evil out there than we can get at, and that the authorities are paid to ignore." It's so bad, I shouldn't even be doing this. But it's the only way we can win this thing. "That's why this plan is here."
Rad forced down the lump that had formed in his throat, "I guess I can do it."
"Perfect. Get ready, then. Our performance is but hours away."
Rad left the tent, and Ramza let his emotions go. Damn me. Damn me for letting myself do this. I should be sent to hell right now for doing this to him.
- - - - -
"You ready, then?" Ramza whispered, not wanting to wake everyone up yet.
"As ever, boss," Rad replied, a small grin forming on his face.
I wouldn't be smiling if I were in your position, boy. "Get the hell outta here!" Ramza shouted, trying to wake up Agrias, Alicia, and Tess, "I don't want to see you around here ever again!"
"What did I do wrong?" Rad questioned 'innocently,' "Am I not good enough for you?"
"You're conspiring with the Death Corps, and you know it!" Ramza almost broke down, it hurt so much to do this, "Don't act stupid, just go!" Ramza could now see Tess out of the corner of his eye. She was just standing there. Watching. Crying. Alicia tried to comfort her, but Tess pushed her away, "Get the hell away from me." That's when Tess did what Ramza expected. That's when she snapped.
She ran toward Ramza and tackled him to the ground, beating on his chest. "What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted, "That's Rad you're talking to! It's Rad!"
"That's not the Rad we knew!" Ramza shouted. In fact, he's much braver than I'm sure any of us thought. "He was conspiring with the Death Corps!" That, Ramza knew, was Rad's queue to go. By the time Ramza finished his sentence, Rad would be near gone. "Even ask him yourself, Tess!"
- - - - -
"So you're sure that I'm the only one who knows?" Dycedarg questioned.
"Yes brother," Ramza said. "Unless Rad tells someone, it's only he, you, and I. We don't have to worry, he'll do his job. He's a great man."
"Yes, I'm sure he is."
* * * * *
Part Four: Grand Finale
The ex-Death Knight soldier watched as "Tess" ran off. He knew now was the time to make his move. He drew his sword and came out from behind the large rock that had been his shelter for over an hour. "Chaos Knight: Rad," he started, walking toward Rad and his company, "By order of Sir Dycedarg Beoulve, you and your party are hereby sentenced to be executed. Say your prayers, minion of evil."
* * * * *
Fin. |
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You know what we need? Some rope...
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