| The Legacy of Z II | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 10 2009, 07:56:31 PM (2,233 Views) | |
| Bx | May 17 2009, 11:58:30 PM Post #61 |
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Notorious
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(He hobbled across Termina Field for the next few hours on his way to Ikana. Each step sharpened the pain until it reached an unbearable level forcing him to stop and apply pressure on it to ease the throbbing. He was halfway to Ikana but the pain doubled the distance; in his mind, the field had been stretched and continuing on this path seemed more daunting than ever. On top of this, he began realizing just how pointless this entire "plan" may have been. He was unsure of David's fate prior to seeing him "disappear" from his boat and even if he was still alive, there was no guarantee he'd even be at his hideout. With these thoughts, he lifted himself up, looked back at Ikana and said...) Z: ...Forget it. (He took one step and stopped. The pain left him staggering until he finally fell back. Taking a moment to recuperate from the fall, he stayed on his back watching the sky... He began thinking about his mom and dad. Oddly enough, it made him think of Olivia and Raphael, how both men used their women for their own gain and how they both died in such an ironic fashion. Then he thought about his mother and how she died... How he didn't have the chance to prevent her death. And he thought about Olivia.... "I have a chance now...," he said to himself before slowly getting to his feet....) (He sighed and again turned toward Ikana... The distance still looked double what it was but somehow less intimidating as he took a step and stopped. "Courage conquers fear, not pain" is what he told himself when he felt a burn in his wound. Despite this, he took another step and another until he got used to the throbbing, giving him the edge he needed to keep going....) (Eventually, he reached Ikana. Thrilled to see that he made it, he bent over and took a breather, telling himself...) Z: ....Ok. Not too much farther.... (And just like that, the pain returned...) Z: Ahh.... Shit... (He rubbed the wound and stood straight up. Waiting any longer would just allow the sun to continue cooking his leg so he continued on the path into the heart of Ikana but stopped upon reaching the wall. Looking up, he noticed the branch he hooked onto during his first visit and dug in his bag for his Hookshot.) (Finally pulling it out, he aimed for it but jumped back when he saw him....) Z: ...David? (Much to his surprise, there was David, standing by the branch and looking down at him as if nothing happened. Taking a second to get over the shock, he called out to him...) Z: David! (True to his personality, David just stared at him for a minute but not with the usual, glassy-eyed, dazed look but instead with one of both confusion and wonder. Even with this, he leaped off the wall and rolled to the ground, a few feet from where Z was standing...) (Rushing to help him to his feet, Z extended his arm but he didn't accept, choosing to stand on his own accord. Now on his feet, David looked around the area for his guitar and sack of Nirn, both of which he dropped on the way down. Walking past Z without speaking, he grabbed both, secured them on his body and finally turned to him, surprisingly asking...) David: ...What do you want, Z? (His eyes widened, he was stunned, not just because David asked him this but also because he didn't know he actually knew his name... As dull as it was, it was different to hear something "normal" from the always eccentric David. But looking at him more closely, he noticed there was no carefree glow in his eyes and it occurred to him that this could be the "Nirn-free" David. Regardless, he answered....) Z: I.... (He paused. He wasn't sure how to explain it to him, how to tell him about Olivia... Did he even remember Olivia? These were questions he asked himself before David repeated...) David: What do you want, Z? (Without thinking, he replied...) Z: Are you "sober?" (Realizing how rude a question that was, he wanted to take it back but obviously couldn't. Despite his concerns, David was numb to it all, nonchalantly answering...) David: ...Yeah. (Upon saying that, he began to shake and reached inside his bag, grabbing a handful of Nirn but before he could do anything with it...Z stopped him, saying...) Z: Wait. ...I have to tell you something. (His hands were now shaking uncontrollably as he answered....) David: Wha...? (The shaking was getting too strong for him to wait any longer so he brought the Nirn leaves to his mouth but Z grabbed his arm and said...) Z: It's about your sister. (His body shakes subsided but he began shaking his head, "No," replying...) David: ...I don't want to know. ("He does remember her...," Z thought to himself before asking...) Z: Why not!? (He turned around and started walking away, answering....) David: ...Because I don't care. (A mix of emotions ranging from surprise to anger filled him as he yelled...) Z: But she's your sister! (Still walking away, he answered...) David: So...? (The frustration rose but the tone of his voice dropped as he replied...) Z: ...She's under the impression you don't know who she is... (This got him to finally stop though he didn't look back while he answered...) David: And it'll stay that way. Z: But why!? Why can't you go back to her? You're the last thing she's got, man.... Your par... David: I know what happened to my parents. (It was so confusing, he couldn't understand why David wouldn't want to see Olivia especially since he knew who she was and knew the situation with their parents. It didn't make sense...) Z: Then why don't you want to see her? (His shaking started again as he turned and looked into Z's eyes...) David: You... really... think that I.... want my.... baby sister to... see me like this...? Look at...me. I can't... control myself... (He still didn't understand, asking...) Z: What are you saying? You can't see her because of the Nirn? (His shaking distorted his smile as he answered...) David: ...Do you have any siblings? Z: No. (The shaking stopped. Taking a second to pull himself together, he looked to the sky before looking at Z, saying...) David: ...Well, pretend you do. ...Imagine, imagine having a brother... And watching him suffer every single day of his life knowing that you can't do anything to help him... Anything to save him. All you can do is watch him kill himself... Watch his misery and his passion slowly cause him to shrivel up until he finally dies... Can you imagine having to see that? Can you...? (It was a gut-wrenching thing to hear, to imagine as he pictured Olivia watching the Nirn slowly devour David by the minute. Without a response, David answered himself...) David: Well, I can... I know what it does to a person because I experienced it myself... My father was a quadriplegic. He couldn't do anything and neither could we. We couldn't help him... My mother tried so hard, spent so much on bogus cures hoping that one day he'd be all better but it never came.... (He paused and closed his eyes. By now Z was silently thinking about everything he said, creating a mental picture of what it must have been like in their home... What both him and his sister must have seen. It was sad. He looked at his wound and thought about the mental wounds they must have suffered witnessing their father's condition. Moments later, David opened his eyes and continued...) David: ...You know what the sad part is? She never gave up on him even though she knew the truth.... She threw away her life for my father. I can't let that happen to Olivia.... She's brilliant. ...Have you ever played chess with her? (Z smiled. Seeing it, he replied...) David: You have. Then you know she has a gift. ...She'll go on to become something great and I'll eventually disappear from her memory. ...I won't be a burden anymore. ("He's given up on her...," that was all he could think as he replied...) Z: But the Nirn... Why can't you just give it up? I met your old teacher Malachi and... (He shook his head, "No" and answered...) David: I love illusions. When I learned of Malachi and his teachings, I begged my mother to let me study under him but it wasn't because I wanted to improve my skill, I could do that on my own... It was because I wanted an escape, I didn't want to keep watching my mother and father suffer... Those years in the Underground were the worst. You don't know what it's like... Constantly living in darkness, not knowing when you'll get your next meal and just living on the hope that one day, you'll have your chance to escape... No, you don't know what that's like... That place, those conditions... They change people. You think all of those people down there were just scum from the very beginning? No, no... Those people you see down there were good people at one point. But down there, they substituted your terms, "Morality and ethics" for "Survival." I just needed to get away from that mentality.... Even if it meant deserting my family. (He let out a loud sigh and continued...) David: ...What I didn't realize is that even when you "escape," you still have memories and they haunt you at every turn. With every new experience you're reminded of the last. (Z wasn't sure what to say but opened his mouth...) Z: David, I... (But he interrupted him and continued...) David: I just wanted to forget, I needed something to take me away and that's when I found Nirn. ...It allows me to forget and lets me focus on my passion, my illusions. And most importantly, it gets me through... Either the Nirn will kill me or my misery will, I'd rather go happily... I'm sure you understand.... (Z's eyes widened upon hearing that. It sounded just like him. His reasons for searching for "Damian," for the Demon, they were his "Nirn." And yes, he understood... he understood completely. Again, he had nothing to say so David asked...) David: But why now? (Confused, he looked up and said...) Z: Huh? David: My sister. What happened to her to make you come looking for me...? And don't lie to me. I know something happened... (He didn't know what to say... After hearing his story, it seemed cruel to deliver the news about Olivia's condition now... But lying to him seemed equally cruel so he sighed and answered...) Z: ...Her boyfriend was murdered right in front of her eyes. (He sighed again before continuing...) Z: She doesn't have anyone else... I figured... (He put his hand up signaling him to stop, saying...) David: ...I don't want to hear anymore. (The shaking in his hands restarted and this time, he gave in and ate the Nirn leaves. And like clockwork, his hand steadied, his eyes glazed and the sobriety disappeared.... Just like that, Olivia's brother was gone leaving only his shell behind.) (Seeing him like this, Z sighed and turned around to head back to Clock Town. The insight he gained was invaluable but ultimately his plan failed and this ate away at him as he walked away with the sounds of David's guitar playing behind him....) (When he faded out of his view, David stopped playing his guitar and pulled out some Nirn leaves from his bag. He stared at them for a second before crushing them in his hand, when he finally opened his fist, there was a chess piece in his hand, a "Queen.") (Out of Ikana, the pain in Z's leg had taken a backseat to what he was facing or rather what he was going to face with Olivia. David was his trump card but it failed, now everything was on his shoulders but he didn't know what to do. And it wasn't just with her but with the Demon and even "Damian" too, nothing was black and white, there were no clearly defined lines of "good" and "bad" like before.... The future seemed more uncertain than ever and it was this thought that repeated in his mind as he slowly made his way back to Clock Town....) (After another couple of hours, he reentered Clock Town through the East gate of course and immediately spotted Jim sitting by the inn. With everything that happened regarding David, he'd nearly forgotten that he came to see him earlier. But now that he did, it all came back as he approached and said...) Z: Jim! (Spotting him, Jim motioned for him to come over and he hobbled toward him, holding his leg as he attempted to run. After a few minutes, they finally came face to face...) Jim: Allie told me you wanted to see me. (Before Z could respond, he looked at his wound and asked...) Jim: What happened to your leg? Z: ...The Demon. I'll be fine, though. (Jim nodded his head and said...) Jim: I see. So what did you want? Am I right in guessing this has something to do with the soldiers that have barricaded the Underground? Z: So they've already gone down there? Jim: Yes. There's a ton of them... Was that your doing? Z: Yeah. Jim: Why, though? You've been down there, you know those people don't need another reason to riot.... There's no food or... (Not allowing him to say anymore, he interrupted...) Z: I came to talk about the Underground and "Damian." (He pulled out the picture and handed it to him. Seeing it, Jim's eyes popped out before he said...) Jim: ...This picture? (His shocked look forced Z to say....) Z: Yeah, Aveil gave it to me. She also told me that you two were working together. (With his cover blown, he blushed and replied...) Jim: ...I'm sorry for not letting you know but... Z: No need for an apology, I'm not mad. It worked out for the best. Truth is, that picture was probably the best tool in solving this whole "Damian" thing. (Surprised to hear this, Jim looked at him and asked...) Jim: You said, "solving," does that mean you know who "Damian" is? (He nodded, "Yes" and answered...) Z: Probably. This is where you come in. Look at the kids in that picture closely, any of them look familiar aside from the twins? (He did so and after only a few seconds, he pointed out two boys. The two unnamed dead bodies left at Kafei's doorstep with his mom's murderer and Vincent. They wouldn't be nameless anymore as he said....) Jim: Remember I was telling you about two dead bodies they found in the Underground the other day? These are the two guys... (His eyes widened as it all returned to him, the morning Raphael stormed in angry about his two friends, "two guys he grew up with" being murdered. It was the reason he pursued the Demon in the first place. In retrospect, his actions were essentially a confirmation for their theory regarding "Damian." Now everything was falling in place, the puzzle was nearly complete as a confused Jim looked at him and asked...) Jim: What happened? (With no doubt left surrounding "Damian's" identity, he answered...) Z: ....These men are "Damian." ("Huh?" flashed across Jim's eyes when he replied...) Jim: What? What do you mean? Z: ...Just what I said. Jim: Are you saying Av.... (Without allowing another word, Z explained everything he knew regarding "Damian," from the bodies to Raphael. When he was finished, a thoroughly stunned Jim could only say...) Jim: Wow... I just.... Are you sure...? Z: You tell me, Jim. How's the Underground been lately? (He took a moment to think about the current state of the Underground and while the evidence seemed circumstantial to him, at the same time, there was too much for it to be a coincidence. With this, he answered...) Jim: ....It's anarchy. And there's been no attempt to squash the uproar... (He paused and reflected on everything, wanting to make sure he was absolutely certain before saying....) Jim: ...I, I think you're right. (There was still some uncertainty in his eyes prompting Z to ask...) Z: So what's wrong? (There was a brief period of silence before he answered...) Jim: ...Kafei. Z: Huh? (He looked at the picture again and then at Z, replying...) Jim: Your theory about the Demon being that one kid seems plausible but what about Kafei...? It's the only thing that doesn't make much sense... (It was the exact same thing Maria said to which he replied...) Z: You mean what was the point in going after him? (He nodded, "Yes" and although Z really had no idea, he answered...) Z: ...Maybe they just wanted to see how far they could go. You know, the "thrill-seeking" types. Probably figured they were invincible after robbing the Dekus. (Jim wasn't sold on this but he silently nodded anyway. The look in his eyes told Z all he needed to know so he prepared to head back to Kafei's with the hope that Olivia would be there. Jim gave him the information he wanted and with nothing else left to ask, he said...) Z: ...Alright, Jim. Thanks a lot. Hopefully the next time I see you, this mess will be over. Jim: ... (He thought Jim's silence was odd as he limped past him but there were more pressing issues to deal with so he just left it at that. But after taking only a few steps, he stopped when Jim said....) Jim: Wait, Z. Before you go, I have... (He turned to him just as he finished...) Jim: ...I have a confession. (Z's eyebrows raised as he listened to him continue...) Jim: ....Aveil wasn't the only one I was working for. ("What?," he thought to himself before asking...) Z: What are you talking about? Who else were you working for?! (There was anger in that last question, his past experiences made him predisposed to think the worst especially since Jim's "confession" reminded him of what happened with Julius six months ago in Hyrule...) (That being said, the uneasiness in Jim's eyes persisted as he pointed to the inn's door. Confused, Z said....) Z: Huh? (And finally, he spoke...) Jim: ...I worked for them. ("Them? He's pointing to a...." and then it hit him. Jim was working for Kafei's children and there would only be one reason for that... Their mother. To make sure, he asked...) Z: You're talking about Kafei's children? Jim: Yes. I... (Before he could finish, Z replied...) Z: You were searching for their mother, weren't you? (He nodded, "Yes" and said...) Jim: ...The day after she went missing, I came to the inn to visit. When I found them, they were distraught, they didn't know what to do... I asked what happened and they told me. I couldn't believe it... Anju was a good friend of mine. I met her through Pamela... ("Pamela..." he said to himself while Jim continued...) Jim: ...Pamela and I were in a relationship during the time she lived with Kafei and Anju. Kafei was never home, always busy with political stuff but I became close with Anju. She was kind of like a second mom, I guess... A kind woman. Wouldn't hurt a soul. So when they told me the news, I... felt obligated to help. But... (He paused and looked at the ground. But Z was impatient and more than anxious to hear the rest, saying...) Z: But you didn't find her. (Jim picked his head up and shook his head. Seeing this, Z's eyes widened and before he could ask, Jim answered...) Jim: ...Kafei was never around. It never surprised me that they divorced and I guess that's why the kids resent him to this day... I mean they love him because he's their father but I think that's the only reason. That's probably why they made me swear I'd never tell him... (Z was hanging at his every word as he kept delivering more information about Kafei's relationship with his family. Noticing the look on his face, Jim said...) Jim: I guess I'll just say it. I found Anju's body a month ago. Just a couple of days after we met, actually. I knew you were searching for her body but I didn't tell you because of Kafei. His kids didn't want him to know... "Let's make him suffer and regret what he did to her," were Chloe's words exactly... (Now it made sense, the apparent animosity between Kafei and his children as well as their "indifference" to their mother's disappearance. Although Kafei's relationship with his wife or the reason for their divorce wasn't integral to the hunt for "Damian" like he originally believed, he was still curious to know why they broke up, asking...) Z: So what did he do to make them feel that way...? (Jim shrugged his shoulders.) Jim: I don't know... Never had the stomach to ask, it's not my place. (He understood and replied...) Z: Well, where did you find her at least? Jim: In Ikana. She was buried under a patch of flowers... Not too many of those grow in that area, I thought it was suspicious so I dug them up and low and behold, there she was... I know that none of this is relevant to "Damian" or anything but I figured I'd clear up any questions you may have had surrounding her disappearance and now death. Z: I see. ...Well thanks for letting me know, Jim. I'm gonna head back to Kafei's now... (He turned but before he could take a step Jim grabbed his shoulder and dangled a set of keys in his face.) Z: ...What's this...? (He turned around and Jim handed him the keys, saying...) Jim: Since I've already broken one promise by telling you, I'll break another. Z: Wha...? Jim: Those are the keys to Anju's room upstairs. Kafei's a bastard, we both know that... And honestly, I just have to know what that son of a bitch did to her... (Z smiled but looked at the door and remembered that he was banned...) Z: ...I'm not allowed in there. (Hearing this, Jim raised his eyebrows and said...) Jim: That's gonna stop you? (Again, he smiled and limped toward the door. Before opening it, he looked back at Jim, who nodded approvingly and said...) Jim: ...It's the first door upstairs. (Not a second later, he entered the Inn and luckily found no one in the lobby area so he hobbled toward the stairs and slowly walked up. Each step elevated the pain until he finally reached the second floor and again found no one in the hall.) Z: First door upstairs, ok. This is it... (He slowly made his way to the door and used the key, entering once it was unlocked...) (Inside, there wasn't much. It was a plain, ordinary room with the standard bed, drawer and closet. He wasn't sure what he was looking for or even where to start but he was tired so he walked over to the bed and sat down...) (With the silence, he took this time to reflect on everything. Today was so surreal... So many questions were answered but even more arrived to take their place. It was already nighttime but he couldn't shake the feeling that it would be a while before he could rest. Finished going over everything, he opened the drawer and found it relatively clean aside from a few papers. Though he figured they were probably nothing he lifted them out accidentally allowing a small, square-shaped paper to fall to the ground...) Z: Hmm? (He picked it up and realized that it was not a paper but a photo. Looking at it, he made a sho...) !!! Z: What...!? (In the photo, he found Kafei and a woman, kissing.... He didn't know what Anju looked like but he knew that this woman wasn't her. And the reason he knew this was because this was the woman he'd seen at the Pirates' Fortress, the woman who seemed out of place, the woman he believed was Olivia's mother....) (It had to be a coincidence, though... But if it wasn't.... "No, not Kafei, he couldn't be..." But the more he told himself this, the more flashbacks he received of Kafei and Olivia interacting with each other.... And it all seemed to add up to the same conclusion.... Still, he didn't want to believe it but he needed to know the truth so he dug through the papers until he found the one... A letter. It read, "Dear, Anju.... You don't know me but I know you. Now what you're about to read may be hard for you to believe but about eight years ago I had an affair with your husband, Kafei. As difficult as I am sure that must have been to read, there's more. Through our relations I became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Olivia. Yes, your husband has another daughter. I did not send you this letter with malicious intent although I'm sure reading this hasn't been easy. But I wrote this because I felt that you, as his wife, needed to know the truth about your husband and my child. I apologize for sending you this during his mayoral campaign but I'm sure you feel better knowing the truth. To show you that this is no joke or scam, I have attached a picture your husband took with me as well as a photo of my daughter. Once again, I apologize in advance for any pain and suffering caused by this news." Z: ...Sincerely, Aphra. (He was stunned... It was just too unbelievable. It made sense but it didn't, "Olivia is Kafei's daughter..." he said to himself as he closed his eyes and put the pieces together. And what he found after a few minutes of analyzing was the missing link between "Damian" and Kafei. Ultimately, the only thing left for him was to get to the source and hope that he was wrong. But ridding himself of this fear was easier said than done as the building started shaking...) RUMBLE!!!!!! Z: What...? (...And then it stopped. He looked around nervously, unsure what could have caused such violent rumbling and started walking toward the door slowly. He carefully opened and looked around, there were people scattered all over the halls undoubtedly wondering the same thing as him, "What just happened...?") (With all of the commotion, he was able to walk down the stairs unnoticed as he reached the lobby and surprisingly found no one. Slowly passing through, he exited the inn but Jim wasn't around. As if that weren't enough to spike his concern, everyone outside was locked in a trance, staring at the Clock Tower. This eerie scene left his nerves shot as he turned, looked at the Clock Tower and saw why they were staring.... The tower was "open." ) III: End Edited by Bx, Jun 16 2009, 04:13:22 PM.
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| Bx | May 19 2009, 03:57:15 PM Post #62 |
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Notorious
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Interlude: Seed !!! (Link sat up in a cold sweat... His blurred vision was accompanied by a mild headache as he looked to his left and saw Ruto asleep beside him. Seeing her, he began breathing heavily as events from just a few hours ago were slowly coming back to him. The more he thought, the more excruciating his headache became so he stopped thinking and put his clothes on...) (Fully dressed, he looked back at the still sleeping Ruto as well as a glass bottle on the floor and sighed before stepping outside.) (It was early, probably just a little past 2:00 (a.m.) as he hurried down the ladder and quickly made his way out of the silent forest into Hyrule Field. Little did he know, there was a suspicious-looking figure in black watching the entire time. When Link faded out of view, the figure hurried towards the Lost Woods...) (Using the Ocarina of Time, he played Epona's Song and within a few minutes, she appeared. Glad to see her, he rubbed her mane and said...) Link: Good girl... Good girl... (He did this not as a compliment to her but to calm himself by establishing a sense of normalcy. Still, his hands were shaking and his head was throbbing as he saddled himself up and rode off toward Hyrule Castle Town...) (About an hour later, he crossed the drawbridge and zipped through the Castle Town on his way to the castle. When he reached the gate, a guard immediately halted him, saying...) Guard: Stop! (The guard took a closer look at him, realizing who he was and quickly apologized...) Guard: I, I am sorry Sir Link. ...You may pass. (He opened the gate but Link was too stressed to thank him as he simply rode past him without so much as a look. Regardless, he made his way to the castle, got off of Epona and said...) Link: Wait here, girl. (Epona did just that as he entered Hyrule Castle of course without resistance from a single guard. Inside, he hurried up the stairs and rushed to Princess Zelda's room. There were two guards standing in front of the door but they stepped aside, allowing him to barge in, finding Zelda sound asleep.) (Without any consideration for her, he walked over to the bed and shook her, pleading...) Link: Zelda! Zelda! Get up! (He stopped shaking her as she groggily opened her eyes and looked at him, answering...) Zelda: ...Wha...? Link...? (When she finally realized it was him, she fully opened her eyes and quickly sat up, asking...) Zelda: What are you doing here? Link: I... can't say. (Obviously, this alarmed her as she replied...) Zelda: What do you mean, "You can't say?" Link. ...Did you forget who you're talking to? (Before he could respond, the severity of his headache increased as he grabbed his head and let out a muffled scream...) Link: Ahh.... (Worried, she asked...) Zelda: What's wrong with you?! (The pain subsided a little, allowing him to answer...) Link: ...My head... (Now very concerned, she got out of the bed and said...) Zelda: Link, why did you come here? What happened? ...You're not acting like yourself. (He shook his head, "No," replying...) Link: ...I don't know why I came here. (And then the pain returned even greater than before, forcing him to one knee while he held his head hoping that it'd go away. She didn't know what to do because he wasn't talking but she decided to try and help anyway, leaving the room...) (Amazingly the pain went away again and he stood up. Now that she was gone, he began thinking, "What possessed me to come here...? How do I tell her...? I don't. Nothing's certain yet, it's all..." He was unable to complete his thought as she reentered the room with a glass of water in her hands. She handed it to him, saying...) Zelda: I'm not sure if it'll help but I didn't know what else to do. (He took the glass and drank the water. It was cold and gave him a soothing, icy chill as it flowed through his veins.) Link: Thanks... (He seemed alright so she cautiously asked...) Zelda: So you're...okay? (He wasn't. But telling her the truth only looked like the right thing to do on paper so he replied...) Link: Yeah... (She nodded slowly and followed up with the obvious...) Zelda: So really what happened? You were scaring me earlier... ("Nothing's certain... Nothing's certain...." this thought repeated as he answered...) Link: ...I just wanted to see you. (She squinted her eyes, looking at him as if he were crazy but ended up smiling, saying...) Zelda: If that's true, why did you say you "couldn't say" before? I mean it is like you to come see me unexpectedly but no not this time, not the way you came in... You came for another reason, now tell me. (Left with no other viable option, he sighed and said...) Link: Fine. Zelda, sit down... (The serious look on his face shattered her smile as she sat on the bed while he began explaining....) (Meanwhile, back in the Kokiri Forest a figure in black appeared in front of Link's House... The only definable feature of this individual was that it was a man judging by the physique. In a very cautious manner, he climbed up the ladder and entered the house...) (Here, he saw Ruto sleeping alone, of course. And he very quietly walked to the bed and stood over her body, watching silently while she slept peacefully without any inclination that this suspicious figure was looming over her....) (He continued watching her for a few more minutes before he opened his right hand and clenched her throat....) !!! (Her eyes immediately popped open as she was now at the mercy of this unknown assailant who lifted her out of the bed and posted on her on the wall. Powerless and unable to yell for help, she simply struggled to break free while this man bashed her head against the wall a few times, leaving her groggy and unaware of her surroundings. When he was done, he threw her back into the bed where she laid motionless while he grabbed the glass bottle on the floor and poured some of it's contents in her mouth before leaping into the bed himself.....) Interlude: End Edited by Bx, Jun 16 2009, 04:22:11 PM.
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| Bx | May 20 2009, 02:30:23 PM Post #63 |
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Notorious
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IV: Mirrors & Blood A Few Hours Ago... (Deep within the Underground, a few miles away from the rioting, an emotionally damaged Olivia sat atop the rubble that was once her home.... Raphael's death continuously played in her mind and all she could think about was how she did nothing to prevent it... Like the wreckage that was once her home, she realized that her life was crumbling right in front of her eyes... To her, the end was inevitably near, it was just a question of how it would occur...) (With everything spiraling out of control, this current moment of solitude had given her time to reflect on the choices she'd made in life while questioning how it got to this point in the first place. "Life really is like a game of chess..." she thought to herself as she pulled out her chessboard and set up the pieces. She wasn't doing this to practice, though, that was pointless. She'd already failed at the only game of chess that ever mattered; What she was doing however was setting up the pieces in a very particular fashion... When she was finished, it looked like the end of a long, grueling match with her King one move away from being checkmated....) (She stared at the board for a while, the positioning of the pieces made her think of Raphael... After a few minutes, she lifted the opposing piece that was to deliver the end but was stopped when she heard...) "Liv?" (She dropped the piece and turned to the voice, watching as a large man illuminated the darkness. She knew this man, it was...) Olivia: Aaron? (Fully able to be seen, he nodded, "Yes" as he noticed the blood all over her while she studied the bandages wrapped around his body. Both curious, they asked...) Together: ...What happened!? (She looked away and stayed silent while he answered...) Aaron: ...I was attacked by the Demon a few days ago. I'm sure Raphael told you about Nat and Regal, well, I was also with them when it happened. Obviously I managed to escape... (Seeing her turned away from him, he bent over to get a closer look as he was concerned especially after seeing the blood all over her. Though she didn't meet his look, he asked...) Aaron: Liv...? Liv, what happened...? ...And why do you have blood all over you!? (Still not looking at him, she sighed and said...) Olivia: ...Raphael's...de... (She stopped. She didn't want to say it but he already seemed to know as he placed his hand on his forehead and let out a loud sigh, saying...) Aaron: Shit... (Taking a few moments to reflect on his friend's death, he looked at her and placed his hand on her left shoulder, telling her...) Aaron: ...I'm sorry. I knew him a long time... You... (He paused to make sure he'd word it correctly...) Aaron: You brought the Raphael we knew back after his mom and dad passed. You really made him happy... Olivia: .... (He took his hand off her shoulder and said...) Aaron: Now come on, let's go... (She didn't move, however and he shook his head, "No" before saying...) Aaron: ...Olivia, believe me I understand but... (With that statement, she interrupted him...) Olivia: No, you don't. If you did... You wouldn't even have to say that... (He stayed quiet for a moment before replying...) Aaron: ...How did it happen? (She didn't want to tell him because it made her relive that moment... It was hard enough having it replay in her mind every second but describing it, going over all the nasty details, that was torture... Without an answer from her, he said...) Aaron: Olivia, seven of my best friends, your best friends are dead... I nearly died but that doesn't mean you should treat me as if I did... Explaining it is hard, I know, but at this point I feel like my days are numbered and I'd at least like to know what happened to Raphael... (She realized how selfish she was being but it was understandable, she was grieving over her loss. Giving in to his plea despite her reluctance, she explained everything that happened, from her fight with Raphael up to his untimely death. He listened quietly until she was finished before he spoke...) Aaron: ...It's over. (Overcome with a combination of frustration and fear, he threw his arms into the air and said...) Aaron: That fucking Demon and that damn Z... (Hearing that, she shook her head, "No" and replied...) Olivia: Z's not to blame. (Stunned to hear this, he asked...) Aaron: What are you saying!? Had he not butted his nose into... (She sighed and interrupted him...) Olivia: ...The biggest mistake I made was not telling him the truth. I just... I didn't think he'd understand... (She closed her eyes and paused, thinking about all of her conversations with Z and how she had so many opportunities to tell him. During this time, he replied...) Aaron: Telling him would have only made everything... (She opened her eyes and finished his sentence...) Olivia: Better. ...He understood, he was the only one who did. ...That's the reason he went after "Damian," because he understood. He was feeling what I felt. It was his way of alleviating his pain... (He had nothing to say as she realized the irony and displayed a weak smile before finishing...) Olivia: ...It just happened to get in the way of mine. And it's not like I didn't know this early on, I did but somehow I still missed it. You can blame the Demon all you want, I really don't care but don't put any of this on Z... (There was a brief silence between them before he finally replied...) Aaron: You put a lot of thought into that. I still don't quite understand but I won't argue. (She sighed and continued...) Olivia: Right from the beginning he knew what my... Kafei was about. I don't think Raphael ever realized that... (With the conversation over, he said...) Aaron: I see. Come on, let's go get you cleaned up before this entire place is in flames... (Again, she didn't stand. She was too busy staring at her chessboard, thinking not about Raphael this time but Kafei as well as herself and even Z. A few seconds later, she repositioned the pieces so that the King was still in check but with the right move and a blunder on the other player's behalf, her King could escape. Noticing what she did and the position of the pieces, Aaron asked...) Aaron: Why'd you...? Olivia: ...I'm tired of being a prisoner. (He took his time answering, studying the board until he realized what she meant...) Aaron: Are you sure...? (No matter how she looked at it, this was her final move. She had options but only one sung to her as she replied...) Olivia: Yes. (He sighed and nodded, "Ok" before she asked...) Olivia: Now, are you sure? Aaron: There's no need asking me that. I'm not the one who still has something to lose... But if this is what you really want, I'm not gonna argue with you. (She paused and thought about what he just said, asking herself, "Is this what I really want...?" Raphael's death then played in her mind as well as memories of what her mother told her about Kafei when she was younger and she quickly answered...) Olivia: ...This is what I want. (He stared into her eyes for a moment and on the inside, he was screaming at the top of his lungs, "What the hell are you doing?!" but he didn't show it, only nodding his head approvingly before saying...) Aaron: Well, I've got to get my stuff... Come on. (They headed deeper into the Underground and reached Aaron's House or rather "Damian's" House. This rundown shack deep within the Underground was where they made all of their plans and controlled the city without anyone suspecting it... Inside, Aaron equipped himself with his crossbow, bombs and a small dagger. He was a pretty big guy so carrying all of this wasn't too much trouble that being said, he handed Olivia the bag of bombs, telling her...) Aaron: You carry that, ok? Don't worry about it exploding or anything. Olivia: Ok. (All he could think to himself as he was preparing was, "Why is she doing this...? It's suicide!" but he didn't have the courage to say it aloud so finally finished stocking up on items, he turned to her and said...) Aaron: Ready? (She quietly looked around the house without answering... Remembering the time she spent with Raphael and the others, she smiled and then remembered that aside from Aaron... They were all dead. With that, she finally answered...) Olivia: Yeah, let's go. (When she turned for the door, he closed his eyes and shook his head, "No" before walking toward the door himself. Before they exited however, he remembered...) Aaron: What about the rupees? (She hadn't thought about them. It was the money stolen from the Dekus but she felt she didn't have a real say in that as she wasn't with Raphael when they did it. With that in mind, she replied...) Olivia: That's your call. (He thought about it and sighed before saying...) Aaron: I guess it is. We can't take it with us but in case... you know, I'd rather it didn't just sit here and rot. Olivia: So what are you saying? Aaron: I'm saying you know people... (Again, he was throwing hints at her.) Olivia: ...I just don't want it to end up in my father's, I mean Kafei's hands... Aaron: Alright, let's just cross that bridge when we get there. ("If we get there..." is what he really told himself before she said...) Olivia: Ok. (They exited the house but before they could get too far, she stopped him, saying....) Olivia: Aaron? (Hoping she was about to say she'd changed her mind he turned to her and asked...) Aaron: What's up? Olivia: ...I know what we're going into is...unpredictable but... I don't want to see anyone other than Kafei get hurt.... (He closed his eyes, thinking to himself, "Then why are you trying to go through with this...?" but merely said...) Aaron: I can't make any promises. Olivia: I know I just... Forget it. (About halfway to the Underground's entrance with the rioting just a few feet a way, he stopped and asked her...) Aaron: You're still sure about this, right? (She slowly nodded, "Yes" to which he replied...) Aaron: Alright... (Within minutes, they entered the thick of the rioting in the former marketplace... Grabbing her hand, he made sure she was safe as they crossed through the area only to feel the ground shake. Both surprised, they looked at each other and then at what was ahead... A whole slew of soldiers charging forward.) Aaron: Damn. Come on, Liv... (Intent on avoiding the soldiers, they raced to the green river, diving in as the soldiers rushed into the riot area with some actually going in to stop it but the majority simply lined up and barricaded the path leading to the Underground's exit. Coming up from the water and looking back at the soldiers, he said...) Aaron: Did you know about this? Olivia: No... Aaron: Ok, no point worrying about it anyway. Come on. (He started swimming toward the exit and she followed behind. After some time, they finally made it to the ramp leading up to the Underground. Strangely, there were no soldiers here but all the better for them as they got out of the river and ran up to the Clock Tower's interior....) (Now near the exit to the Clock Tower, he pointed up and said...) Aaron: The last Powder Keg we got is up there. We put it there in case something crazy happened. So I guess if push comes to shove... (He stopped himself. Being a firm believer in the idea that positive thoughts lead to good things, he didn't want to even entertain the notion that they'd have to use the final Powder Keg under any circumstance.) (As they were walking toward the Clock Tower's door, the finality of the situation finally resonated within Olivia as she realized just how absolute the results of her decision would be... The image of the chessboard flashed across her eyes and she took slower steps toward the door....) (Noticing this, he asked...) Aaron: Olivia...? Olivia: I-I'm fine... (He knew she wasn't but asking her again was pointless so he tried to put it out of his mind and pushed open the Clock Tower's door with the dusk's sunlight hitting them immediately. Walking out of the door for her was like walking back into a nightmare... This was the spot where Raphael met his demise at the hands of the Demon. It played so vividly in her head as she walked over the spot where it happened and saw his blood still splashed on the ground. Aaron noticed it too but knew better than to ask as her expression returned to the cold, lifeless one she wore right after his death...) (They walked silently like this all the way to Kafei's Office. To his surprise there were no guards around so he turned to her and asked...) Aaron: Are you ready....? Olivia: ... (Nothing. She was totally lifeless so much so that it scared him, he'd never seen her like this. Unsure what else to do, he placed his hand on the knob and hoped that she'd say, "Stop!" but it never came and he finally opened the door...) "Who the...?" (They were all sitting at the table, the Council members including Kafei along with Maria. Seeing Aaron, they got to their feet and out of fear, he opened fire with his crossbow...) BOOM! "AHH!!!" (He pelted Maven on the arm and entered the office, taking aim at Kafei before Aveil stepped in his way with her scimitar but she immediately became distracted once she saw Olivia...) Aveil: ...!? Ooof... (He sent her to the ground with the end of his crossbow while Derrion took a swing at him but he quickly dropped his weapon and retaliated with a quick slash of his dagger and followed up with a few more until the Goron was down. Trembling and tense, he looked for Kafei but he'd already ran to the back so he chased after him, leaving Maria alone to check on the fallen Council members...) Maria: Guys? Guys, are you ok!? (They each responded in their own way but essentially said the same thing, "I'm fine." Knowing they were ok, she looked up at Olivia who was still standing by the door watching and said...) Maria: What are you doing?! What's the matter with you!? (Inside, that was what she was telling herself but the intensity of the situation left her in a state of shock that gave Maria and the others the impression that she'd gone insane. After a few moments, Aaron returned with a beaten, unconscious Kafei over his shoulder. Still nervous, he rushed across the room as fast as he could until Maria grabbed his leg to stop him, yelling...) Maria: No! Stop!! (Instinctively, he kicked her in the face and started stomping her, making sure she stayed down. With everyone out of it, he ran out of the office but Olivia, still telling herself, "What am I doing...?!" didn't move, she was still frozen, watching the beaten bodies in the office as though she were a cold, vindictive bitch. He didn't realize that she wasn't following him when he saw them running towards him...) "Halt!!!" "Stop!!" Aaron: Oh shit! (The guards had returned from their assignments and were rushing down the path to stop them. Scared, he looked back and saw that she was still in front of Kafei's office door so he called out...) Aaron: Liv! ...Olivia!! (It seemed to break her trance as she turned to him and her eyes widened when she saw what was behind him. She started running away from them and he kept pace with her as the guards were hot on their trails. They exited West Clock Town via the southern gate into South Clock Town where the townspeople immediately took note of them, yelling...) "They've got the Mayor!!" (The guards in South Clock Town now started chasing them as they bolted through the civilians, running toward the Clock Tower. Arrows were fired, spears and even rocks were thrown from angry townspeople but that didn't stop them as made their way into the tower. With a little time to spare, Aaron threw Kafei's body to the ground and looked at Olivia, telling her...) Aaron: O-ok, climb up this ladder and pull the levers to shift the clock, alright?! I'll try to hold off the guards from down here but hurry up!! (She didn't move... She realized what was going to happen to her and the fear left her paralyzed. Seeing her inaction, he angrily yelled...) Aaron: Olivia!!! GO!!! (It finally registered that she needed to move and she did so quickly. Doing as he said, she made her way up the ladder as the Clock Tower's doors burst open...) "HALT!" BOOM! "...Ugh!" BOOM! BOOM! (He took down several of them and looked up at her, she was still climbing when another group rushed in...) BOOM! BOOM! "AHH!!!!" (He used his bombs on them, wiping out the squad fairly quickly. Looking up, he saw that she had made it to the levers.) Aaron: Hurry, Liv!! (She reached the levers and pulled them down. Accompanied by a loud thud a hidden ramp leading to the top appeared. They could hear the mechanisms shifting the clock to create the platform that people gathered on during the Carnival of Time but while this process finished taking place, another group stormed in.) BOOM! "Ugh..." (One soldier fell and Aaron realized he was out of bolts for his crossbow. Only the bombs were useful now as he threw one just as the rest rushed in....) BOOM! (That took most of them out as he lifted Kafei's body and carried him up the ramp. He looked over at Olivia; She was on her way up to the top as well. It seemed that the troops had given up as they reached the top of the tower without anymore trouble.) (Now at the top, he tossed Kafei's body to the ground just as a flurry of arrows flew over their heads...) Aaron: Holy shit... (Olivia was a bundle of nerves... They both were as they got on their knees to peek at the town below and found a scene unlike any other they'd ever witnessed. Rows of civilians and soldiers all lined up watching like vultures just waiting to see their deaths... Among them, the Council members, Maria and much to Olivia's surprise... Her mom. It sent a chill down her spine as she looked at Aaron to see if he saw her too. But he wasn't looking in her direction, he was focused on....) BOOM!!! Aaron: Duck!! (A huge cannonball came flying at them and they just barely dodged it. While they were laying flat on the ground, she started crying... She was terrified and had every reason to be. Aaron tried to calm her, saying...) Aaron: Don't worry... Don't worry... W-we just need a... (He stood up but immediately got on all fours for fear of another blast. He started crawling down the ramp and seeing him, Olivia screamed...) Olivia: Aaron, don't leave!!! Aaron: Don't worry, I-I-I'll be back! (He continued crawling down the ramp while she sobbed some more. Back inside the Clock Tower, he stood up and ran halfway down the ramp until he reached a path that branched off. Going through the path, he found the Powder Keg they stored here. Using all of his strength, he rolled it down the path before he heard a...) BOOM!!! Aaron: Oh shit... No... (They had fired another cannonball and all he could think was that Olivia had been hit... It left him shaking with fear as the thought that he'd be up there all alone settled in... But still, he continued rolling the Powder Keg, desperately clinging on to the belief that this was his only shot at living...) (After several minutes, he made it back to the top of the tower and saw her laying motionless on the ground.) Aaron: No! (Thinking the worst, he ran to her but to his relief, she had just been laying still, afraid of another blast. Before saying anything, he remembered why he'd brought the Powder Keg up in the first place and lifted Kafei.) (He posted his body on the keg, hoping that they would stop firing out of fear of hitting him. Finished with that, he dived to the ground and slithered next to Olivia. Her eyes were filled with tears as she said....) Olivia: ...I'm so...so... sorry... *Sniff* (He just nodded and said...) Aaron: It's ok... It's ok... (And at that moment, he knew without anymore doubt... That he wasn't going to be alive for much longer. Looking into her weeping eyes, his filled with tears as this realization became a reality with each passing second...) (But even during this tearful moment of regret, the soldiers were relentless and they could feel the vibrations below as they marched up the ramp.... Hearing them made the tears rush down his face even harder as he stood up, looked at her and nodded... He still had a couple of bombs and ran to prevent the soldiers from progressing any further while she laid there just hoping that "it" would come quick...) Edited by Bx, Jun 16 2009, 05:04:25 PM.
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| Bx | May 21 2009, 08:51:50 PM Post #64 |
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Notorious
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(Seeing the Clock Tower "opened," I felt queasy... It was July, the tower only "opened" on the last day of the year during the annual Carnival of Time. Something wasn't right. This, combined with finding out Kafei was Olivia's father gave me an eerie feeling I couldn't shake... I was so caught up in the moment, I didn't feel any pain in my leg while I ran through the gate into South Clock Town....) (Here, I had a firsthand look at the "opened" Clock Tower. The face of the clock that dominated Termina's sky had shifted horizontally becoming a leveled platform people could stand on. I was amazed by the ingenious design and terrified by what this possibly meant for me moving forward. From this angle, I couldn't see who, if anyone, was on the platform and being so awestruck by the tower itself, I had blocked out everything that was taking place around me until I heard her voice...) "Z!!" (It was Maria. I turned and saw that she was running toward me but what surrounded her is what really grabbed my eye....) "The Mayor!!" "Oh my..." "You two, position yourselves and whatever you do, don't hit the Mayor!!!" "Alright.... Hold on, hold on. Dammit, he's moving around too much!" "Wait a sec.... Is that a...? Hold your fire! Hold your fire!!" (Soldiers.... Everywhere. All with their sights locked onto the top of the tower. Kafei was in trouble... And maybe they were too. I had so many thoughts racing inside my head but only one stood out, the worst one... Olivia. The sick feeling in my stomach diffused through the rest of my body the longer I thought about it... I was so numb to all but that thought that I didn't even realize Maria had reached me until she called out again....) Maria: Z! Z!? (I finally focused on her and immediately noticed the cuts and bruises all over her body. I was concerned, angry and anxious all at once with the tone of my voice quickly revealing this as I asked...) Z: What happened?! (She was breathing heavily... I knew she was hurt. Maria's as tough as they come but she's not a fighter. I was impatient, she couldn't answer fast enough, I needed it to kill the anxiety...) Maria: ...It's Kafei, Z. Olivia... (Right there, I knew... My fear was justified and once again my premonition became a reality. I never hated being right so much in my life... She didn't need to finish her sentence as it would inevitably lead to the same conclusion. The rest just filled in the details as she continued...) Maria: ...She and another man stormed his office and opened fire on me and the Council members before they went after him... I, I...don't know why... (Maria was alive, that was the most important thing to me but I needed to know about the others so I asked...) Z: Are the Council members, alright?! (She quickly nodded, "Yes," saving me from the guilt of more death. Now that I knew they were fine, I didn't care about their whereabouts or anything as the thought of my role in all of this sank in... I had the same expression Olivia had when she saw Raphael die and now I truly knew what she was thinking behind the blankness... The realization that it was time for her swan song or more fittingly, her checkmate...) (My face was blank, I guess it's the default expression when your emotions are raging so violently that you can't project anything other than a mute stare... Maria was worried but it wasn't registering. I had so much to say, to tell her about what I learned while I was gone but it just didn't come to me... I was essentially sleeping with my eyes open until....) "FIRE!!" BOOM! "Son of a bitch!!! I missed!" "You missed!? Is that all you can say? You nearly hit the Mayor, you idiot!" "Don't fire unless I give the command, understand!?" "But I thought...?" "That was a zealot in the crowd..." (It was an accidental firing but their intentions were all the same, they were going to kill her.... I... I didn't know what to do... No, that's a lie. I knew what to do, I just didn't want to... Maria sensed it too. She wrapped her arms around me and that's when reality finally settled in. My emotions were still raging but my thoughts were clear. I returned her embrace by hugging tightly...) (While I was hugging her, I got a good look at the crowd and spotted familiar faces including the Council members, their guards, Jim and even the woman I suspected was Olivia's mom, Aphra. Seeing her, my insides churned furiously as I wondered, "How can she watch this...?" But I could have said that for all of them because they were locked in the same trance as everyone else, just waiting to see how it ends...) (Maria finally let go of me as I watched the captain of the soldiers issue another command....) "Ok. Though our first short-range assault failed, it's our best shot to get to those two without harming Mayor Kafei.... So I'm sending another squad in. Before we only sent in one team, this time, there will be a backup squad following right behind. The first team will storm the tower and in the event that they fail, the second team should be prepared to take over. The first priority is Mayor Kafei's safety. Subdue the criminals by any means necessary so long as the Mayor's life is in no danger. Now go!" (The first team charged into the tower and from where we were standing both Maria and I heard a series of small explosions....) BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Maria: No... (I didn't know who she was concerned for but my feelings were conflicted. I didn't give a damn about Kafei but like Raphael, even more so actually, my feelings for Olivia were polarized after now knowing she was part of the conspiracy. I didn't know her role but the thought of my mom's death kept me from feeling completely sympathetic for her as I watched the second squad rush in....) BOOM! BOOM! (It was more obvious this time who ended up on the receiving end of those blasts but the true confirmation came when the captain shouted...) "Dammit!! Dammit!!" (My feelings remained the same but a part of me was glad Olivia was still alive. But this "relief" died when I thought about it a little more. And it finally hit me that there was no turning back from this for any of us. If her end came now, I'd never know her side... If there's anything that my stay in Termina taught me, it's that nothing happens without a reason. I needed to know why...) (Looking back, I remembered a conversation I had with Saria where I bitterly remarked that I didn't owe Rauru support before his death, I was wrong. Just like I was wrong in believing that I didn't owe my mother the respect she deserved when I first arrived. Now I owe it to Olivia to listen to her story the way she listened to mine. I just hoped she was still sane as I looked at Maria and finally decided to tell her...) Z: ...I know why Olivia attacked Kafei. ...Or at least I think I know why. Maria: You do!? (I paused. It still hadn't quite registered with me... "Olivia is Kafei's daughter...." It was the truth but it was so hard to believe, for me anyway. Despite the awkwardness, I finally said it....) Z: Yeah, Olivia is.... She's Kafei's daughter. Maria: What?! (I dropped a bombshell on her and her expression let me know it... She had a bug-eyed look with her mouth hanging open and although I know she wanted me to elaborate, I couldn't waste any more time here as my cue to action came with a...) BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! (I quickly whipped around and saw that they had fired the cannons again... This time was no accident, though. They were going for the kill. I, I needed to act fast but....) Maria: Z? (...I didn't want to go up there. I realized what going up there signified and I wasn't sure I was ready for that. But the soldiers weren't going to wait for me to grow a backbone or lose my conscious.... Either I went up there now or I'd regret going up there later because I'd be talking to myself... I...) Olivia: You'll do whatever it is that you feel best but understand that the worst kind of regret comes when you know you could have prevented a tragedy... Believe me. (...I knew this all too well. And I couldn't just let them kill her... I have a heart. Neither choice was great but I chose the easier path and looked at Maria again, telling her...) Z: I'll explain later, alright? Maria: But Z... Z: No, Maria. T-t-they're going to kill her... (My voice was cracking and I was trembling... She saw this and became extremely concerned, asking me...) Maria: Do you feel ok...? (I nodded, "Yes." But it was only because I needed her off my back. I appreciated her concern, I really did but at that moment, I needed to just do what I felt was best. I had to at least try...) Z: ...Go talk to the Council members... Tell them that I said to hold their fire. ...I-I-I'm going...up there. (I knew that was the last thing she wanted to hear and her reply only confirmed it...) Maria: I can't let you do that... Listen, Olivia is important to me too but look around. What do you see? Soldiers, weaponry, scared citizens and that's not even mentioning Olivia's state of mind right now.... Remember what I told you? How she and that guy barged in!? Just look at my face if you need a reminder! As hard as it is to say and as sad as it may be, the Olivia we knew is gone... She's lost it. (No! I wasn't gonna accept that... I had already made up mind. I had to hear her out. So I replied...) Z: You don't know that, Maria... She's in pain! She just needs time to heal like....me. ("Like me..." but my thought was cut off when...) "BOOM!!!" "AHHH!!!" "...Yes! Got that son of a bitch!" (....The scream, it was a man's voice but it was still a scream.... They hit him. ...Olivia's next... I, I looked over at Maria but she only closed her eyes and put her head down. But with what I'd just heard, I was scared into action so I placed my hands over her shoulders and pleaded....) Z: Maria... If you really love me, just do what I ask... (She opened her eyes and replied...) Maria: But Z, your leg... (Hearing that I smiled, the kind that comes from fear and anxiety as I answered...) Z: That's exactly why I need you to do what I asked... It's gonna take me a little while to get up there with my bum leg and I need assurance that nothing's gonna happen before I get there.... Please, Maria... Please. I promise I'll make it up to you, just please... (She opened her mouth as if she were going to say something but stopped herself and simply nodded but I could see in her eyes that she was totally against it. I didn't know what to feel... I was glad she was gonna help me but I wasn't happy, there was no reason to be...) "...Heh, heh. Clock Town's Mayor will be down in no time. Alright, the big guy is injured so it's really just the girl and the Mayor up there. Do whatever you have to do with her and get the Mayor down here. Now go!!" (I looked back and saw the squad charging for the tower. Maria took this as her cue and started running toward the Council members as she passed me, she said...) Maria: Remember your promise... (I smiled. She was taking care of her end of the bargain and now I had to take care of mine so I hobbled down the ramp while the soldiers were nearing the door. I looked on as Maria, intelligently, crossed paths with them, delaying them from entering the door, yelling...) Maria: Aveil! Aveil! (Looking on, I saw Aveil's gaze fixed on her while everyone else seemed to take notice of me, staring without shame.... I didn't care though as I limped toward the soldiers who had since restarted their charge only to....) "STOP!!! You troops return to me at this instant!" (It was the captain's voice and I smiled to myself thinking, "Maria came through..." but before I could further this thought, I heard a voice call me...) "Z!" (It was Aveil. She was motioning for me to come to her... With the soldiers called off, I had time and honestly... I needed it. I still wasn't ready, the problem was that I wasn't sure if I'd ever be ready... Either way, I limped to her and she asked the obvious....) Aveil: What's going on...? What are you trying to do? Z: I have to get up there. (She immediately looked at my leg and said...) Aveil: With that leg of yours? I don't know what you're thinking but that girl has lost it! If you're planning on playing "hero," I'd suggest you reconsider. Look at what she's done to us all! (I looked at each of the Council members and they were all badly beaten but obviously not dead. There was my argument in favor of Olivia...They weren't dead.) Z: ...She just wanted to get to Kafei! She's not crazy! (Why didn't anyone understand this....? I just wanted her to have a chance. But my thoughts were interrupted when another woman replied...) ???: ...Thank you for caring so much about my daughter but... (I looked at her and it was who I suspected, the "pirate" I'd seen earlier and now undoubtedly, the woman who sent Anju that letter, Aphra. Although I was sure, I had to ask...) Z: You're... Olivia's mom? Aphra? (Her eyes popped open when I said that and surprisingly only Maria seemed shocked by this news...) Aphra: ...How did you...? (Before she finished, I pulled out the letter and handed it to her. Looking at it, she immediately started crying. Watching her sob, I had a flashback of Olivia... The resemblance between her and her mother was striking. Still crying, she said...) Aphra: Where...did you get *Sniff*...this from...? I guess *Sniff*...this is what...started all of... *Sniff* (She continued crying while Aveil looked at me and said...) Aveil: ...She explained everything to us just a few minutes ago. ...About Kafei and Olivia... Listen, the soldiers have been halted but if we see anything suspicious happen... I can't promise you they won't fire. They've already hit that big guy... Good luck. ...I really hope I'm wrong. (I slowly nodded my head and looked at each of them one last time before turning around but Maria stopped me, grabbing my shoulder but she didn't say anything...) Maria: ... (And she just let go... Without looking back, I kept moving forward, taking a look at the top of the tower but I couldn't see her... Now all eyes were on me as I limped toward the Clock Tower, thinking, "Olivia...") Edited by Bx, Jun 16 2009, 05:26:58 PM.
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| Bx | May 22 2009, 08:09:15 PM Post #65 |
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Notorious
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(The Clock Tower's interior was smoke-filled from the explosions and bodies littered the area. Seeing this made me think of the battle at the port in Hyrule seven months ago. It was eerie... That's the only way I can describe it. And it wasn't so much the physical surroundings that gave me this feeling but what it symbolized. I walked through that battered war zone right before I made my way to Alvius' castle. And like now, the end of my journey came with a long, difficult climb to the top of a tower. And while Alvius' castle was much larger than the Clock Tower somehow I knew this would be a much longer hike...) (As I started walking up the ramp, the reality of it all really hit me. My nerves were shot and I became a complete wreck; I became obsessive, counting each step I took limping to the top. It goes without saying that I didn't want to be in this situation, even if it meant living oblivious to the truth, I just wanted everything to go back to the way it had been. I wanted to go back to when I first arrived in Termina but with the knowledge I have now then I could change everything. ...But that obviously wasn't going to happen.) (Each step I took was like another year taken from my life, that's how shaken I was. Honestly though, it would have explained why my pace slowed the closer I got to the top. I guess it was my body just responding to my reluctance... Even with this, I knew I had to go up there and talk to her or at least try to. Though the truth is, I didn't know her state of mind, everyone kept saying, "She's lost it!" but I didn't want to believe that. All the evidence said otherwise but I couldn't believe that Olivia would lose her sanity so easily. Yes, I feared that Raphael's death would cause her to meltdown but not like this. That wasn't the girl I knew... The girl who guided me and did her best to steer me away from tragedy.) (That girl who... And then I again remembered that she was part of the conspiracy. And I thought to myself, "Her kindness, her spirit, her bravery, her charm... Was it all just a facade?" I was about to find out as I took a deep breath and limped to the top of the Clock Tower....) (...And there she was, hovering over the body of a large, unfamiliar man whose entire upper right half had been blown away. She was talking to him but I couldn't make out what she was saying as she had her back turned to me. A few feet from them to the left was Kafei sitting with his back against a Powder Keg. I did the math in my head and remembering what Medigoron told me, this apparently was the final Powder Keg they'd stolen. I didn't care about that, though and you can call me cold but whether Kafei lived or died at the end of this really didn't matter to me. My opinion hadn't changed, I'd been right about him all along... He was just another coward, a liar and a sleazy, self-centered opportunist.) (Shifting my attention away from him, I focused on her again... She was still standing over the man's body, talking but she had moved slightly to the right allowing me to see a part of her profile. Silently watching them for a few seconds, I saw tears fall from her eyes onto what was left of him. Seeing that, I knew she hadn't lost it... Those weren't the tears of a person who'd lost their mind, they were tears of regret...) (The sight left me more shaken than ever as I took one wobbly-kneed step and stopped. I lost any sense of privacy as I felt the stares of everyone in Clock Town, watching eagerly to see how this "standoff" would end. To be honest, it was sickening... The majority of them weren't watching because they were concerned for Kafei, they were watching to see bloodshed, it was just "great theatre" and the fact that there were lives and friendships hanging in the balance didn't matter to them one bit, it just made it that much more engaging for them....) (But I got over the "disgusting" factor and started walking toward her. I guess she felt my presence or at least "a presence" because she slowly turned her head and looked at me, saying.) Olivia: ...Z? (I didn't answer immediately. What I was facing or really what we were facing left me mute. I didn't know what to say. The eerie feeling that had been festering inside of me had taken over. She felt it too, I believe because she looked away and there was silence...) "...." (I looked at the man she'd been talking to; Aside from the fact that half of his upper body was gone, his most defining feature was his size. He was a very big man probably in his thirties maybe even forties. But that didn't matter now, it was obvious he wasn't gonna last much longer as his blood was splattered all over the place and more was rushing out with each second. I guess he caught my gaze because he looked at me and said...) Aaron: ...You.... (He coughed up some blood and continued...) Aaron: ...You're... Zuh...Zuh... (He was struggling... I guess Olivia couldn't stand watching it because she knelt down and placed her hand over his mouth, saying...) Olivia: Please... Just stop. (She took her hand away from his mouth just as he coughed more blood. ...It made me think of Rauru's last days. I guess that's what gave me the courage to finally speak...) Z: Olivia. (She looked at me and a tear fell from her eye as she said...) Olivia: ...They...sent you up here? (The tear got to me... I went mute again, only shaking my head, "No" as my answer. Seeing my response, more tears started coming down her face as she replied...) Olivia: ...Then *Sniff* why...? (I paused and looked at the big guy... Looking at her crushed whatever was left of my spirit, I couldn't talk to her like that. But looking at him and remembering what happened to Rauru seemed to give me the courage I needed to speak so I answered...) Z: ...I found out about you and Kafei. I... (She finally broke down and I stopped but I wasn't ready to look at her, listening to her cry was hard enough. ...And after a minute of me listening to her wounds pour out, she apologized....) Olivia: ...I'm sor... *Sniff* Z.... I'm... *Sniff* I'm sorry... I'm so sorry....*Sniff* (I still couldn't look at her even as she grabbed my arm. I was telling myself, "Be strong, be strong, don't let it get to you..." and the only way I could do that was without looking at her so I stayed quiet for a moment, making sure I was composed before asking...) Z: ...Why are you apologizing? (...I knew why. But saying anything else would have probably made me break down even faster. She kept tugging my arm, as if she wanted to me see the hurt in her eyes but I couldn't... I just listened...) Olivia: For everything... For not telling you earlier. *Sniff* For keepi...*Sniff* ...I-I was scared... ...I didn't know what to do.... *Sniff* I just... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... (That was enough for me but she kept on...) Olivia: ...And your mom... Z: Don't... (No... I didn't want to hear anymore... I couldn't, my emotions were rising and I tried to stop her...) Z: P-p-please, n-no more Olivia... It's okay. (I guess my words struck a chord with her as there was a brief pause between us until I realized what she was doing...She was trying to regain her composure. She let go of my arm and wiped the tears from her face and took a deep breath before saying...) Olivia: ...You're right. I, I'm...not going to disrespect your mother or... *Sniff* ...insult you with my tears. (I could finally maintain eye contact with her but I was confused about what she was saying. Her tears weren't "disrespectful" or "insulting," they were painful... Painful to watch, painful to hear. But I came up here to listen to her story so I did just that....) Olivia: I guess... I guess you want an...explanation. (She looked at the big guy and closed her eyes. It looked like he wanted to say something but he just ended up coughing more blood. She knelt down and silently rubbed his arm while I just looked on wondering how it all got to this point... She stood up not long after that and looked at me. Her eyes were still red and puffy but no longer tear-filled, I guess she had finally come to terms with everything as she began to calmly speak...) Olivia: ...Yeah. Kafei's my dad. (I turned to him just as she placed her eyes on him. All I could think was that even unconscious he was hiding behind that mask, hiding from his daughter, hiding from himself... I continued watching him while she spoke...) Olivia: It's probably... best if I start from the beginning. ("The beginning," that's where I wanted to be right now... It's funny though because when I first arrived I thought I was miserable. But here I realized that back then I didn't even know what that word meant. Standing here, brooding over what I was facing, that was misery...) (And I know she felt it too... But I guess the silence scared her more than anything because she kept talking...) Olivia: ...About eight or nine years before he became Mayor, he had an affair with a lower class woman who happened to be my mother. They were both married and had already had children of course but every relationship has it's problems and... I guess... I guess they needed each other. They both knew or at least according to mom, they knew that they were just having a "fling" or whatever until... my mom found out she was pregnant... That obviously changed everything. ("An affair...," I had already known this from the letter but I guess it really didn't quite sink in until I heard it from her. Maybe it was because the ground shook right after I read it but something about hearing it from her left a much deeper imprint in my mind but I didn't say anything, I just listened...) Olivia: Kafei was a rising politician. This was a blemish on his record, more than that, it was a stain... Imagine that, your child, a child who didn't ask to be born is a stain... Something to be loathed instead of cherished. Why? Not because you can't afford to take care of her but because her existence taints the way you look to the public. (By this point, I had closed my eyes... I envisioned myself picking up a book and flipping through it's blank pages and as she spoke, the lines appeared....) Olivia: ...He paid my mother off to keep my birth a secret. We were poor so she took the money of course and I was now David's father's daughter instead of Kafei's. For the next eight years anyway... (Her story.... I... I just kept my eyes closed and listened as a night breeze blew in...) Olivia: I told you when we first met that David's father was a quadriplegic. He suffered a severe accident on the job that left him... completely paralyzed. This was before I was born, of course. Anyway, Kafei would send my mother money for me every month but she used most of it on bogus cures for his condition. Had she not done that, we probably wouldn't have been as poor as we were... (I heard her sigh before continuing...) Olivia: ...And maybe none of this would have happened. But um, getting back to what I was saying, the day Kafei announced his bid to run for mayor happened to be my eighth birthday. I remember it because it was the first time I didn't get a birthday gift from my mom's "Great Uncle," and that hurt because... (She started laughing, I thought it was strange until about midway through she broke down. I could picture her face, I was sure she was wearing a teary-eyed smile while she continued...) Olivia: *Sniff* ...It's gonna sound stupid but..."he" sent the best gifts. *Sniff* ...And looking back at it now, I should have had my suspicions then because the gifts David got from him were never as great as the ones I got. ...But I never got a gift from him again. And I wasn't the only either. A few months later, we were shipped off to the Underground... ("That son of a bitch...," he sent his own daughter to the sewers... His own daughter. The pages kept flipping in my mind and I was growing angrier with each turn... I knew this feeling but I didn't speak on it, I just kept listening....) Olivia: We lived like rats for the next two years while Kafei was above ground campaigning and smooching with the "good" people of Clock Town. Making himself a real "hero," huh? If only they knew the truth... ("If only they knew the truth...," When she said that, I realized that I knew this story... But I told myself, "Listen to her Z... Don't speak, she's wounded, she's li... just let her let it all out..." because I felt that she deserved to have someone listen... We all need someone to listen...) Olivia: The truth was that Kafei's finances came under heavy scrutiny during his campaign. They wanted to make sure that corruption wasn't taking place so he cut off any "unnecessary" expenses to ensure that he'd win. I guess I happened to be one of those "unnecessary" expenses... The "good" news is that two years later, he won. My dad is the Mayor of Clock Town just like my grandfather before him. "So why am I in the sewers...?," when I found out the truth, that was all I ever asked myself... I couldn't understand it. What's the mindset of a man who'd basically throw his kid in the trash for his own good? ...But even that doesn't make any sense to me, how could that have possibly been for his own good...? Can you answer that for me, Z? (I stayed quiet. I didn't have an answer because I was looking for the answer myself. It was odd, though, the calmness in her voice contrasted with the anger boiling within me... I'd asked myself that question a million times but never with such composure...) Olivia: ...I guess you're still searching too. I understand. My mother didn't have an answer either at least to that question... Her "answer" was to get back at him. Ruin him from the inside out... And I'll never forget the day she told me the truth... David was already gone and his dad was asleep so I'm just playing with a doll, I think and she pulls me to the side and she has this picture in her hand of this man, Kafei and she points to it and says, "This is your daddy." Ten years... (She paused. I heard her sniff and I knew she'd started crying again. I opened my eyes for a brief second until she started speaking again...) Olivia: ...Ten years, for ten years I lived thinking that my father was one person when all along he was someone else... Do you know what that does to a child? You do... You may stay silent but I know you do... It makes them angry, it makes them wonder if they're just here to suffer being their parents' "mistake," and what really ate away at me as I got older is the reason my mother told me.... She told me to get back at him, had he kept giving her money, she would have never told me the truth.... But you know what? I guess she knew what she was doing because in the end he divorced and I hate him or.... (She started crying again. And on the inside I was crying too because I knew.... I finally knew that I wasn't alone. That there was someone out there who understood, who really understood what I felt... And it was beautiful and horrible at the same time...) Olivia: ...*Sniff* I don't hate him....I don't love him... *Sniff* But I don't hate him... And I didn't realize that until I came up here... It took me long enough, I guess... (And for about a minute, there was silence.... I guess she was reflecting on what she just said. All I knew was that the tears were building in my eyes... And they would inevitably fall soon.) Olivia: I was angry with my mom for a long time... I couldn't believe she'd been lying to me. From that point on, I didn't rely on my parents for support... I didn't have David either so for the next couple of years I really felt alone. I used chess as my escape... Every game I played as if Kafei and my mom were the pieces I was playing against. And I had to beat them... That's why I became accustomed to practicing alone. (And the first tear fell... My eyes were still closed but the rest were ready to flood my face although I did my best to hold them back. I'm not sure if she noticed at that point but she didn't act like it...) Olivia: ...I guess having a lonely childhood made me develop a fascination with cheesy romance stories like you know, the "Knight in Shining Armor" who comes to rescue the girl and stuff like that. I'd like to think I just wanted to be rescued and saw my "Knight" in Raphael... But I'm not sure that's the case anymore... I don't think I wanted to be "rescued," I think I just wanted someone to listen... And he did. They all did... (She stopped talking and I heard her footsteps coming toward me before she placed her hand on my shoulder and said...) Olivia: I'm sorry... (She paused, took her hand off of my shoulder and exhaled before saying...) Olivia: I'm sorry for what I'm about to say... And for not telling you earlier... I don't want forgiveness, I just want you to understand... Because I know more than anyone else, you will... (I knew what she was going to say, I knew where the frustration had taken her and I couldn't control them any longer. I felt them rushing down my face and I realized why I had envisioned her words filling the pages in my book because for the first time I remembered myself on that boat, reading those pages and breaking down.... Her story was my story.) Olivia: ...About two years into our relationship I told Raphael the truth about my life and he jokingly asked me if I wanted to make Kafei miserable. I said "Yeah" and he took it as a challenge. They'd already successfully stolen the Deku Kingdom's fortune and most of them already had a grudge against Kafei so we created "Damian," named in honor of Raphael's parents, Dan and Mia as a tyrant who ruled the Underground unjustly.... "Damian" represented how we felt about Kafei... He was just a caricature of my father. (Even with this, the tears continued to wash my face. She was right, I understood, I understood the madness that the frustration caused. That's the reason I killed Dhani. It was the pain. I couldn't be upset; we did the same thing just in different ways.) Olivia: We were able to pull it off for two reasons: the first is because we had the funds and the second, because of the refugees from Hyrule. They were shipped to the Underground immediately upon arrival and didn't know what they were facing so they bought into the idea of "Damian" and it spread up to Clock Town... The truth is that we only wanted to get inside Kafei's head, we never had any intentions of harming anyone outside of him and we used "Damian" to establish leadership and order in the Underground. The marketplace was the first step and although some took advantage of it, most people left with at least a meal to feed themselves and their families. (I managed to pull myself together after hearing that. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the whole "Damian" crisis really wasn't a crisis at all. The Underground itself, that was the crisis, the fact that it was there at all... Listening to her, my whole perspective on it had changed...) Olivia: For a while, it worked... Not even Clock Town's guards would come to the Underground. And I was happy. Kafei was miserable, I was in love and I had a new family... So what changed? ...The whispers of a sociopath. Vincent was charming... Too charming. That should have been the first warning sign because he was sick... He came up with the plan to kill Kafei. The others were reluctant at first... Thought he was crazy but... he managed to persuade them and they persuaded me. ...They told me it's what I wanted all along... And I know now, that that's when they stopped listening to me... (She was manipulated... They took advantage of her fragility and used it to further their own agenda. And she tried to absolve the others of their role in it by saying Vincent persuaded them but they weren't dealing with the trauma she dealt with. They didn't have that burden on their hearts, all they did was exploit hers...) Olivia: I forced myself to believe that it really was what I wanted and up until this point... I did. So the plan was to kill Kafei now but we needed bombs, Powder Kegs actually so five months ago they stole five of them from the Gorons. It took Vincent a few months to outline the plan which originally started as just a bombing but it escalated into his fantasy of psychological warfare. And that led to Kafei's ex-wife's kidnapping and several rapes... None of which we knew about. Had we known about them then we probably would have realized how crazy he was... (Listening to her was like watching someone take a knife and slowly slice their own throat. Every decision that was made regarding her situation just pulled the blade more and more until eventually....) Olivia: No... That's not true. We should have known how crazy he was when he told us the plan... "Burn my house down, attack my mom and force me to stay with Kafei just to make the guilt slowly kill him...," only desperate people wouldn't think twice about listening to something like that... But like the fools we were, we did and went through with it. (...I could feel them building within my eyes again because I knew what was ahead... And, and I think she did too. She stayed quiet and I heard her walk over to the big man on the ground... I guess she knelt down because I could hear her whisper...) "Do you understand what I meant now...?" (He may not have but I did. They made their way down my face as she finally started speaking again...) Olivia: Then we met. I had heard about your history and it reminded me of those romance stories I told you I liked. I thought it was sweet. I guess I had already imagined what you'd be like but you never did quite fit the bill. ...I knew there was something wrong, I just didn't know what. But I knew you were a good person and that's why I didn't want you getting involved. I... I didn't think you'd understand. I remembering thinking, "You're a great hero and I'm just a poor girl," there's no way he could relate to me... But I was wrong. (...No I was wrong. I was wrong for being selfish, for not listening to her, for ignoring her the way everyone else did.... It was my mistake not hers...) Olivia: That's why I didn't tell you earlier. But when you told me about your father and how you felt, I knew then that we were both after the same thing.... We just wanted to let go. But it's so hard to do when you have their memory surrounding you.... You, with that mark on your hand and me, having to stay with Kafei. And I tried... I tried to tell you, I wanted to so badly but I was scared... I was a coward. I hid what I wanted to say by telling you to just stop hunting "Damian," and stop worrying about your father. But I should have looked in the mirror and told myself that.... ("You did... You did...," that was all I could think while they fell. But that wasn't the end of what she had to say, there was more... And more would fall...) Olivia: ...By the time I had the courage... (I heard her let out a sigh and pause but she continued...) Olivia: ...By the time I had the courage, everything had gotten out of control. Dhani was the one who took care of getting the food supply for the Underground and when he went missing, Raphael realized that food restrictions would have to be imposed... That decision ate away at him. He didn't know what to do... I mean how do you choose who gets food and who doesn't? Who lives and who dies? And then he told me about Vincent's "rat race" solution and I... I was totally against it but he said it was the "best" solution and you know the rest... But I know it didn't sit well with him, his frustration was building. And then after he found out about Vladimir and found Vincent badly injured, his temper got the best of him... He wanted "revenge," you took his friends, he wanted to take yours.... ("...My mom." I didn't want her to say anymore... But what I wanted didn't matter, I was here to listen to her but... but that didn't make it any easier while they continued to fall...) Olivia: I tried to stop them... I argued and pleaded with Raphael not to go through with it. Even after it had been done, that's why I had that argument with him the other night... I knew what you were going through and I didn't want to just... watch him add more to your heavy heart. But like I said, they were through listening to me.... It was personal to them especially after Dawes, the man... (She didn't need to say it... I already knew. She just stayed quiet for a while, at least it felt like a while... Maybe she was giving me time to prepare for it. But honestly, I think saying it hurt her more than hearing it hurt me...) Olivia: ...The man who killed...your mother. After he was attacked during Kafei's botched assassination attempt... They all lost it. ...I don't know who came up with that plan to bomb the temporary infirmary but I know Vincent had some role in it because of that girl, "The one who got away..." ...That sick son of a bitch. (I didn't need to hear anymore... My mother's death wasn't her fault. What bothered me was that I know that guilt must have been eating away at her. But she had no reason to feel to that way, her hands were tied... I couldn't forgive her because there was nothing to forgive. And as much as I wanted to say that, I just listened as she took a few steps towards me and placed her hand on my shoulder again.) Olivia: ...I didn't do enough to save your mom, Z. ("I don't blame you...," that's all I wanted to say but the words just didn't come out...) Olivia: I could have told you, I could have fought with the others, I could have done so many things... But I was scared and confused. I was just so afraid of being in this situation... But I guess it didn't matter, did it...? (I wiped the tears from my face and opened my eyes; I finally developed the courage to speak and I was going to answer but his voice called out...) "Zuh... Zuh... Z..." (It was the big guy. We both turned and saw something miraculous... He was standing. Even while breathing his last breaths with only one arm, he manged to stand... To me, it was nothing short of incredible but I think Olivia saw it differently because she ran to him and said...) Olivia: Aaron, why'd you get up...? Just lay down. You shouldn't... (He didn't want to hear that, though as he raised his only arm and said...) Aaron: No... ...I...hav....to.... (I don't think either of us knew what he was talking about but he looked at me and took a step forward, saying...) Aaron: Zuh.... Z... I'm... sor.... BOOM! "Urgh....." (...And he fell. A crossbow bolt hit him from behind and went straight through his heart... I knew he was dead. That was the only thing I knew for sure as my thoughts began racing in different directions, I was wondering about the assailant but more importantly, I was worried about Olivia. I looked at her and she looked back at me. She didn't have that blank expression she wore when Raphael died, no, there was an odd hint of complacency on her face while she slowly nodded. I guess... I guess she was coming to terms with it all...) (Before I could say anything, the crowd went into an uproar... I looked back and saw why...) "AHHH!!!!!" Z: !? (...It was the Demon. He was cutting through the crowd as the scared citizens were scattering about to get out of his path while the soldiers had turned their attention to him... They started chasing him but they weren't the only ones.... Eagles appeared and ran through the crowd himself, I guess he really wanted that bounty....) (To be honest, I was glad the soldiers and citizens were no longer watching like the vultures they were. I looked to see if Maria and the others had scattered as well but they were still there watching us... I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply before turning to Olivia....) (But someone else had caught her eye, Kafei was waking up. She just stared at him as he regained his awareness. I did too and typical of him, he yelled...) Kafei: !!! Where...!? (He looked around and I guess he realized where he was at because he said...) Kafei: How...? And who...? (While he was still oblivious to the truth, I looked at Olivia, she had a slight smirk on her face watching him. She seemed so calm....I guess she finally lifted all of that weight off of her heart...) (I remember the coward noticed her not long after...) Kafei: Olivia? Olivia, why are we up here!? (Still with that smirk, she didn't answer him.... I was glad. The coward never answered her cries, why should she answer his? ...And then in one fell swoop, he showed who he was... Everything she said about him, he did in one instant after spotting Aaron's dead body...) Kafei: Oh my....!? Wha...!? (He stared at the body for a few seconds and looked at Olivia again and without even asking her what happened, he got up, saw the Powder Keg behind him and started running away.... Just like when she was born. Thinking only of himself, he ran away...) (I became furious watching this coward coming towards me and just as he was about to pass me, I grabbed him by his neck and threw him to the ground before I pulled out my sword and held it to his throat... I heard the screams from below but I didn't care, I was going to kill him... But as I held the blade to his neck and listened to his squirms, I didn't see Kafei anymore...) (And that pushed the blade forward until I heard her say....) Olivia: No, Z. Stop. (...And Kafei reappeared. I pulled the blade from his throat and looked at her. She still had that complacent look and I just couldn't understand it... "Why is she so calm? She should be furious like me." is what I kept telling myself until she walked to me and said...) Olivia: There's no reason for both of us to be prisoners. (I didn't understand. But like always, she seemed to read my mind and answered....) Olivia: ...I don't have much of a future, Z. I'm a criminal... I'll probably spend the rest of my life in prison but.... I'm tired of that life. (I understood now but I just hoped that... that she wasn't telling me what I thought. Because... No, no I couldn't do that....) Z: What are you saying....? (She came close to me and whispered in my ear....) Olivia: I'm saying you have the key... (All she did was confirm my fear... I don't remember thinking anything, I just remembered walking away, saying...) Z: No, no, no... I'm not. I'm not... (Before I made it to the ramp, she called me...) Olivia: Z. (I wanted to just keep walking but I couldn't do that to her... That's what everyone did, they just walked away with their own interest in mind. And as much as it hurt, I didn't want to be like those people so I slowly turned around and said...) Z: Olivia... I'm not doing that... You have to understand... I can't. You don't have to be a prisoner, you can... you can come with me and Maria back to Hyrule... There are other ways... I, I just can't... (She smiled and looked up at the night sky for a moment before she said...) Olivia: I guess I was wrong. Maybe you do fit the bill. But Z, I don't want to be rescued... I just wanted someone to listen. And you did. ...Thank you. For everything. (Before I could reply, the coward decided to speak....) Kafei: Olivia... Olivia? (She looked at him as if she wanted to say something but she just smiled and kept her silence. I remember glancing at him right before I started walking to her. I don't know what I was thinking...I just remember that she was only a few feet away but it felt like a few miles...) (When I finally reached her, I looked into her eyes and thought about her mother and David, they all had the same eyes... She was so calm, I can't get over that... Her calmness... She glanced at the sword in my hand and nodded. I took a deep breath and...) Z: No... No... (I turned around and started walking away but she grabbed my shoulder and stopped me, saying...) Olivia: It'll either be you or a stranger. (I didn't turn around...I wasn't gonna do it but then she said something else....) Olivia: ...A person's life is the most valuable thing they have, Z. All of these people think I'm crazy, I would rather someone who understands me take the greatest thing I have to offer. (Something about that statement got to me... I tried to hold them back as I turned around. I was shaking and I looked at her again and... I just... let it out.) (I remember that she lifted my free hand and held it. She was the one facing death but she was trying to comfort me.... When she did that I looked into her eyes, they were watery, and she said....) Olivia: Why are you crying...? You don't understand what I mean? Well... You will one day. One day.... (And after she said that, I took a deep breath and....) "Ugh..." (I felt the warmth in her hand fade as I wrapped my arm around her back to keep her from falling but she was already gone... And I couldn't take it back. I just held her, crying.... Until I finally let go. Looking at her lying there dead, I envisioned myself.... But there was no way around the truth, my friend was dead.) (I stopped trying to hold back the tears as I turned and saw him, watching... Just watching with that stupid mask on. I stormed over to him, lifted that mask off of his face and tossed it away. And it was Kafei alright but that's not who I saw before I headed down the ramp...) (The entire way down, all of these different scenarios played in mind... You know, what I could have done, what I should have done and I didn't know what to do... My decision was permanent, there was no taking it back... What was done was done but there was no solace in that. "The past is what it is, deal with it, move on..." that was my mantra. Somehow it seemed a lot easier to follow back then....) (When I got to the base of the Clock Tower, I didn't want to open the door and step out. I didn't want to see the faces... I didn't even want to see Maria, I just wanted to be alone. I was sick... But the only medicine that would work was impossible for me to get... I was disgusted with myself and everything I "stood" for...) (But I went through the door with my head down so I wouldn't see anyone's face especially her mom.... It would have been like looking at her. As I walked through, I heard weeping and I knew who it was... It crushed me. But the killing blow would come soon after because I saw a pair of boots, dirty, raggedy boots that I had seen earlier. Of all the times to show his face....) (That sick feeling just took over and without so much as look or a word, I walked through the gate into West Clock Town. I passed the spectators and I remember hearing Maria call me...) Maria: Z!! (...But I didn't answer. I just kept walking until I got out of Clock Town and vomited.... All I could think was, "I killed her... I killed Olivia.") Edited by Bx, Jun 17 2009, 11:44:23 AM.
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| Bx | May 27 2009, 05:00:53 PM Post #66 |
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Notorious
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Aphra: ...It was all my fault. I shouldn't have shown her that picture but I was angry, I hated Kafei and I wanted her to feel the same way... I wasn't thinking, though. Not about her, anyway. She was so young and fragile... Children shouldn't be tools in their parents' war... Z: It's okay. You don't have to explain... Aphra: I see. Well, I'd just like to thank you for being her friend. Z: No problem... Aphra: I obviously didn't see much of my daughter in her last days but I'm glad that she had someone she could confide in aside from those thugs... Z: ...Yeah. Aphra: Oh, before you go. Olivia had this in her bag, it was her favorite game. I remember she would just sit and play for hours and hours, practicing... I never enjoyed the game much so I never really got a chance to play with her but I know she was very good. Do you enjoy this game? Z: It's... Yeah, it's one of my favorites. Aphra: I'm not surprised. You and my daughter must have had a lot in common... Um, I'd like for you to keep it. Like I said I'm not much of a player and you enjoy the game so I'm sure you'll treat it as well as she did. Z: ... Aphra: What's the matter? Z: ...Thanks. Aphra: No, thank you. Z: ...Where's David? Aphra: I don't know. He walked off and I haven't seen him since... Z: I see. Aphra: Well, Z, I'd like to thank you once again for stopping by. I really appreciate it. Z: Yeah... Later. Aphra: Oh and Z. Z: ...Yes? Aphra: This... This might sound odd but... Was...Olivia happy before she died...? (July 10th, the last time we ever met. I'll never forget that day....) (In the days after, I found myself at the beach a lot, just staring at the ocean... It was one of the few places where I didn't hear her name or whispers in the crowd about what happened. People had no respect, no sense of common decency... Did they think I needed a reminder about what happened? About what I did? Just waking up in the morning was a reminder.... Listening to people talk about it as if it were some great spectacle, that just made my blood boil. But I couldn't fight them, not the ignorance anyway... The only pleasure I got was remembering how the Demon ran through those same people and exposed all of them for the cowards they are.... Speaking of which, they never found Eagles' body among the soldiers that went after him, I don't know what happened to him...) (But getting back to those cowards in Clock Town, if Maria knew I felt that way about those people, she'd have probably given me a lecture on why it's not their fault for saying the things they said. The truth is, I wouldn't have minded hearing it... Her words kept me grounded and she seemed to always know the right thing to say. She helped me through my mom's death as well as Rauru's, I was sure she could do the same now... Which is why I felt at ease when I heard footsteps behind me...) Maria: Z? (It was her. I turned around and there she was, holding a cane in her hand. Naturally, I was wondering about it so I asked...) Z: What's the cane for? (She held up the cane and replied...) Maria: It's for you. I figured it would help at least until your leg heals. (Honestly, I had forgotten about the wound in my leg... I guess with all the stress, the pain just kinda went away on it's own. It was a wonderful gesture but I'm not sure I really needed it.... That being said, if the pain did come back, it would have been useful so I took it from her and said...) Z: Thanks. (I pretended to actually need it so I placed it in the sand as if it were helping me stand. After I did that, I looked at her face, she was smiling but I could still see some melancholy in her eyes... I knew what was coming next...) Maria: So, how are you feeling? (I felt like crap... Every day, nonstop, that night would play in my mind... It was a cancer rotting away inside of me. Just being in Termina was hard enough, having that damn Clock Tower dominating the sky. I knew the exact spot where she died and every time I looked at the face of the clock, I focused on that area because I still saw her lying there dead... And I wasn't gonna try and hide my feelings, that got me nowhere in the past so I truthfully answered...) Z: ...About the same. My a... My body just aches all over. You know, I feel sick... Maria: Well, Z... (I think saying that upset me because I don't know what was going through my head when I just lashed out without letting her finish...) Z: What? You're gonna say, "I shouldn't blame myself. It wasn't my fault..." (I felt like an asshole for saying that, no, I was an asshole for lashing out like that but I guess she'd either gotten used to my crap or she knew I was really stressed out because she didn't get angry, instead, she simply said...) Maria: No. I wasn't gonna say that because I can't, can I? What I was going to say was that if there's an afterlife and I don't know if there is one anymore Z but if there is, I don't think she's angry with you for what you did. And you can take that however you'd like. (Before I could really think about that, she started walking toward me and kissed me.) Maria: You obviously still need some time to yourself so I'll be at the Inn. (Watching her walk away, I really felt like a heel... Maybe she wasn't angry but I didn't want her to leave like that so I called out...) Z: Maria, wait. (She had a smile on her face as she looked at me and said...) Maria: You don't need to apologize, it's okay. (I laughed to myself but I answered...) Z: No, it's not that. Well, I am sorry but I wanted something else. Can you take this with you? (I picked up Olivia's bag and extended my arm so she could grab it. As she was coming to get it, she asked...) Maria: What's that? (As I handed it to her, I replied...) Z: Something very important. Handle it with care. (She gave me a funny look but took it and said...) Maria: Alright. Like I said, I'll be at the Inn, okay? Z: Yeah. See you in a little bit. (She turned and started walking back toward Clock Town... Watching her, I still felt a little bad and yelled...) Z: And I really am sorry! (She didn't answer but I knew she heard me and I smiled. Wasn't sure I'd do that for a while but she pulled one out of me. Some people don't realize it but that's a skill, making someone see the bright side through the darkness. She was gifted in that way and I was thankful for it....) (When she faded out of view, I turned back around and looked out at the ocean again... I thought about what she said about Olivia not being angry with me in the afterlife and while I felt the same way about the afterlife as her, I took comfort in that thought. I think that's what bothered me the most, the thought that somewhere out there, she was angry with me. That she regretted what happened.) (And although I wanted to believe what she said, I just wasn't sure... I still needed time to reflect and decided to take a walk...) A Few Hours Later... (I found myself where I thought I'd never come.... I felt that way because seeing it was just the ultimate confirmation. I guess in a way I was in denial or whatever because yeah, I obviously knew the truth but something about seeing it there just made it concrete, it made it real. I wasn't gonna wake up and realize that this was all some bad dream or something...) (But that's all I found here, confirmation of what I already knew. I came here looking for confirmation of what Maria said but I realized that I was looking for something I'd never find. And I'd never find it because the answer was entirely up to me... Sure, I could wait for Olivia's apparition to appear to me and say, "I'm not angry with you, Z..." but realistically speaking, I was the only one who could make that decision. I won't say Olivia was happy with dying, I'm not sure anyone ever is but I at least think that she was content with it. And I could live with that...) (...It was such a clear night just like the night it happened. I'll never forget the breeze that blew in, the night had been warm and that breeze sent a real chill through my body. But it was what I heard because of that breeze that made it unforgettable. It was the flapping of heavy cloth and I knew someone was behind me....) (I became nervous because I knew it wasn't Maria. It could have been anyone but I took a deep breath and exhaled before turning around to find....Him.) Z: ...!? (The Silent Demon. Standing right in front of me, my heart sank.... Every encounter with him flashed in my head, from his first appearance at the coward's old office to that last chase in Clock Town. I'd met him alone before but mostly through chance and more importantly, each of those times he was running away, this time he came for me....) (I didn't want to show my fear but I'm sure he read it all over my face anyway. He wasn't much taller than me although he was very stocky but that black hood combined with his sword is what truly made him an intimidating sight. But more so than anything, it was the silent stare... That was what made his appearance so heart-pounding, he was completely silent, you couldn't even hear him breathe.... I'd never noticed it before but being in this secluded area alone illustrated that fact quite well....) (I'd finally come to terms with Olivia's death and now I was probably facing it myself.... That being said, I yelled the first thing that came to mind...) Z: Who are you!? (He didn't answer. But I noticed two peculiar things about his appearance, for one thing his clothes were damp and another was that he had one hand behind his back, either because he was holding the handle of his sword or....he was hiding something. Naturally, I was even more uneasy seeing that but I still didn't want to show my fear so I quickly asked...) Z: Have you been following me!? (Still no answer. I didn't expect him to but for some reason, I became even more nervous. I didn't know what his next move would be, whether he'd finally attack me or just walk away as he had in the past. I hoped for the latter but at the same time, he was the only unanswered question left. The curiosity that drove me throughout my stay in Termina took over and I asked....) Z: ...Why did you kill "Damian?" (Again, nothing. I guess I expected him to answer because his silence was deflating but then another breeze blew in, sending the same chill through my body like before and I remember that in particular because just moments later, the silence was broken....) S. Demon: ...I only did what you would have done. (He spoke.... I couldn't believe it. It wasn't so much what he said but that he said anything at all. I probably would have been just as shocked if he said, "The" but in reality, I should have paid more attention to what he actually said...) Z: What? (He spoke but aside from hearing him, I wouldn't have been able to tell. That hood essentially covered his entire face as the shadow it cast prevented me from seeing anything, including his mouth. And the fact that he was so still didn't make it any easier to tell when he'd reply, if at all. Everything about him said "intimidation," even the simple act of talking. So all of his answers came with a hint of surprise...) S. Demon: I watched you ever since I first saw you. I was trying to find the difference between us.... ("The difference between us? What's he talking about?," went through my mind when he said that. He was a murderer and I was.... I, I don't really know what I was but I wasn't....) S. Demon: ...Every time we met, you protected that girl first and foremost. You always made sure that she wasn't in harms way even when others around you were dying, she was your first priority and from my view, your only priority. (Now I was confused... He wasn't answering my question, he was reminding me of how protective I am of Maria. It had nothing to do with what I asked and I was beginning to think that he really was insane, which in itself made me more nervous. And with that in mind, I asked...) Z: What are you talking about!? (But it was like he didn't hear me because he kept on...) S. Demon: What you did prior to your arrival was no different from what I did. Someone you cared for was in danger and you went after those responsible. You cut through them without hesitation and ultimately, you were successful. You got lucky... And at the moment, that's the difference. (It was starting to make a little more sense but I was still confused... He obviously knew my history back in Hyrule and I thought about everything that happened then before I shifted my thoughts to what he did to "Damian." Then I thought about why he was referring to Maria and at that moment, a scenario popped into my head. It was an unlikely one but a plausible one no less. So I asked...) Z: They...hurt someone you cared for? (I figured that if I was on the right track my question would incite some emotion from him but I was sorely mistaken because he was as icy as ever with his response...) S. Demon: ...You should know. (When he said that, my eyes widened because I knew that the "unlikely" scenario I built in my head was the actual one and I had plenty of questions to ask but I was left speechless, thinking to myself, "Wow... Unbelievable." It was crazy and there was such a sharp contrast with his stoicism compared to my disbelief. After a minute or so, I finally asked...) Z: You mean...Hope? You... loved her? (I was still expecting some type of emotional reaction to my questioning but he was like a stone. I couldn't see his face but his body language told me everything I needed to know. Even his answer was cold and monotone...) S. Demon: ...Not romantically. But she was a special person. One of the kindest people I've ever met.... And that man tormented her endlessly. ("Vincent..." he truly was a monster... Hearing this, I felt sympathetic for the Demon. It was odd. I was feeling sorry for this monster in front of me... Although I couldn't stop thinking, "But is he really a monster...?") S. Demon: She told me he sent threatening messages, constantly knocked on her door at all times and stalked her. He was playing sick mind games with her... He had her so terrified that she was afraid to tell me at first. It wasn't until I found one of his "love" letters when she finally broke down and told me. I told her to not to worry, I'd handle it and I started my search for him... (Listening to him tell this sad story, I was still looking for a hint of emotion in his voice, in his body language but nothing. He was telling an ultimately tragic story without any emotion which wouldn't have been so eerie had he not been directly affected...) S. Demon: I knew the man was in the Underground but there was a particular scent on the letter and at the time I couldn't put my finger on what it was... But it led me to Snowhead and that's where I realized what that smell was... Gunpowder, the stuff used in Powder Kegs. I snooped around the area a bit to see if there were any other clues but that was cut short when three Gorons decided to play "Hero." (I remembered the conversation I had with Medigoron way back when I went up to Snowhead and it gave me a new perspective on what happened. I never thought he was just some mindless murderer to begin with and the more he talked, the more he confirmed that...) S. Demon: ...A week later I got my best lead, that man in front of Kafei's Office. When he attacked me I smelled that scent on him but I knew he wasn't the one. I knew he was involved somehow but he wasn't the one so I allowed him to live just so I could follow him... But he never came back out that night so I had to look elsewhere. It wasn't until I attacked those thugs in that bar in Clock Town that I learned of the stalker's favorite "spots." (He sounded like me with all of the searching... And it was all for a friend. I still couldn't get over the seemingly unaffected way in which he was telling the story but it really made me think...) S. Demon: And just when the trail was hot.... The hunter became the hunted. I was pursued endlessly by subpar "bounty hunters" going after that 400,000 rupee prize. I couldn't search for that man anymore... I couldn't see her anymore and eventually it happened... (...I had a flashback of Hope's rape and remembered how fragile she was right after... Needless to say, I felt terrible. I don't know why but I felt a need to "console" him despite the fact that he seemed unaffected while telling the story so I said...) Z: We tried to help her.... That's how she ended up in the infirmary... (I couldn't gauge any kind of emotion from him... I didn't know if my comment angered him or if it meant nothing but he replied...) S. Demon: That was good of you. But do you think I would have been allowed in that place? You didn't know but it's all the same. I never got the chance to keep her away from that man... (I hadn't thought about that and now I really felt terrible... Standing in front of him, I felt that strange and rare combination of fear and sympathy.... But I didn't want to say anything else...) S. Demon: I found her not long after you found your mother. It was around the same time the "Demon hunting" settled down a bit... She had no family that I knew of so I buried her where I felt was proper. And I continued my pursuit of that man until I eventually found him and his friends... But no, I wasn't going to just kill him. I tormented him the way he tormented her, I played mind games with him while I picked off most of his friends slowly but surely... They were all guilty. And I took each of their hearts because to kill such a wonderful person... They weren't using them anyway. I saved him for last, though. He was already paralyzed thanks to you but that didn't stop me from torturing him until he was begging me to take that black heart of his... (My heart started pumping faster after hearing that last statement... I'd already seen what he was capable of but imagining what he must have put Vincent through was a whole different kind of terror. And although I was scared, I was still curious about his motives... He'd answered most of the questions I had but I needed to ask two more...) Z: So why didn't you go after Olivia? And what about all of those murders attributed to you!? S. Demon: ... ("Why the silence now?," I thought to myself but it was prematurely because he answered...) S. Demon: If you've been listening to me, you should already know the answer. And as for the murders... In time you'll come to understand society's "need" for a scapegoat. (I didn't quite understand but he didn't give me a chance to think about it either because he started speaking again...) S. Demon: Do you know why I told you that story, Z? (I was still trying to figure out what he meant with that other statement so I didn't have time to figure out his reasons for telling me his story. So rather than sound stupid and or make him mad, I stayed quiet but he answered my silence...) S. Demon: I wanted you to realize just how lucky you've been. Because at the moment, that's the difference between us. Now I want to find out why... Z: What do you mean!? ...Who are you!? (A thousand things were rushing through my head as I watched him start pulling his hand out from behind his back but before I got a chance to see what he was holding I quickly reached for my sword. When I looked at him again, he was tossing something at me and I tried to leap back but the pain in my leg returned forcing me to stay right where I was just as the object fell in front of me...) (I believed the fact that it didn't explode was a good sign as I looked down to see what it was and surprisingly... It was a small mirror. I looked at him to see if I could see any kind of malice in his body language but he had the same eerie stoicism he always had. Without any warning or premonition, I grabbed the handle of the mirror and looked in it... It was cracked.) Z: ...Huh? (The mirror itself was confusing enough but the fact that it was cracked left me with even more questions as I pulled it away from my face and...) !? (I was at a complete loss for words....) (He...He had taken his hood off and revealed that...he, he had my face....Almost. His eyes were a different color, his skin was naturally tan and his hair was different but aside from that and several deep scars that covered much of his face, him and I were...twins.) (He just....stood there staring at me while I....stared back in complete disbelief. I just could not believe what I was seeing.... I had a slew of thoughts flooding my mind but nothing formulated into a complete one.... It was....surreal. And it was also terrifying once the shock started to wear off a bit but I was still speechless.... This was the last thing I ever expected....) S. Demon: Judging by your expression, you didn't know you had a brother until just now. ...That answer's at least one question. ("A brother..." the thought just started registering. "I have a brother..." I told myself before it really hit me.... And I began asking myself questions about whether anyone else knew, "They had to... How couldn't they?" And to me, it was just another dirty little secret the Sages especially my mother, in particular, never told me about....) (I was overcome with a range of emotions... This "Demon," this person was my brother, he was family but he was also... The Demon, the Silent Demon, I didn't know how to feel, if anything at all but if nothing else I at least wanted to know the real name of my brother....) Z: Wha... What is...your name....? (He was just as emotionless without the hood as he answered...) S. Demon: Will. ("Will..." that was the name of my brother... There was a sense of calmness in it and I said...) Z: Will, I... (But he cut me as off as I saw him walking toward me, saying...) Will: There's always a reason, Z. It's up to us to find out why. (Watching him storming toward me, the intimidation factor kicked in and the adrenaline started rushing through my veins but I didn't know what to do... "Do I prepare to fight? But he's my brother..." This is what I asked myself as he came near clenching his large fists. He was making it quite clear that this would be no happy "reunion....") Edited by Bx, Jun 17 2009, 12:17:14 PM.
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| Bx | May 30 2009, 11:16:15 AM Post #67 |
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Notorious
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("This is my brother... I can't fight him...." that's what I was telling myself as he marched toward me... I'd seen this before, during the Gerudo massacre, when Raphael was killed, this was that same slow, terrifying stride.... Every step was counted for because his last usually meant your final breath... I counted eleven before he stopped in of front me and we were now face to face, staring at each other. I was trembling, the thought of fighting him now knowing that he was my brother, my twin brother at that was unreal... But he didn't share my sentiments, he stared with no emotion, the fact that we were family meant nothing. He didn't blink, he didn't move, I'm not sure he was even breathing... I'm sure he'd already read my intimidation before but I confirmed it with one gesture, I looked away and I'm sure he knew then that he had me...) (Realizing this I tried to downplay it by quickly saying....) Z: Will, ple... (But he smelled blood. He quickly reached for his blade behind him with his left hand and I instinctively put my arms into a defensive stance until he did something unexpected.... He just tossed the sword to the ground and in my surprise, I turned my head to look only to catch a murderous right that sent me to the ground....) (.....) (...I blanked. When I opened my eyes....) !!! Z: Ugh... (...He had me in the air by the throat, choking me.... Each second, I could feel my eyes growing, getting ready to burst any minute...) !!! (And then he applied more pressure and my oxygen began depleting even faster...) !!! (I knew I was dying but I remember wanting to see his eyes.... I wanted to see my brother's eyes while he was killing me, to see if there was anything in them be it anger or compassion, just something to know that he was human. ...I put all the strength I had left into this but I only saw what I had already seen, nothing. I wasted the last of my strength hoping to see a difference and it left me completely demoralized just as I was starting to black out....) !!! (But then I felt air on my neck and a second later I could breathe again. Gasping not just for air but life, I found myself exhaling repeatedly until...) THUD! Z: Ahh.... Fu...ck... (I was on the ground. I could breathe but my neck was extremely sore.... He was strong. Too strong... I felt around my neck but just touching it made me wince in pain... I began wondering why he threw me down, "Was that sympathy?" I asked myself just as I realized something odd. I couldn't hear him... But I looked up and there he was, just walking toward me with that lifeless expression. It scared the hell out of me but I froze... And glancing at that monstrous sword he tossed on the ground didn't help any but strangely, he just walked past the blade without acknowledging it all. "Is he trying to kill me or not?!" I screamed inside when he appeared over me with that cold stare...) (And he just stood there, silently watching me... I was waiting for an attack on either my leg or neck since those were my two most vulnerable areas but nothing came. I didn't attack because I didn't know his motives, his actions said that maybe he wasn't trying to kill me but his expression told me... Nothing. It was like he was studying me, trying to gauge my feelings just as I was trying to gauge his but all of that changed when I attempted to stand...) Z: Ooof... (He had my left arm locked behind my back, I swung my free arm at him but before I could connect, he kneed me in the back and threw me face first to the ground. Before I could even open my eyes, he had me by the hair and pulled my sword of it's case....) ...!? (My heart was pounding faster than ever as he dangled my blade in front of my eyes.... I thought about Raphael's death and I guess that's what gave me the push to try and fight back. I tried elbowing him in the gut but he stepped out of the way each time but I kept trying until he forced me to stop...) Z: ...Oh shit!!! (I must have died for a second because I know my heart stopped... He had taken my sword and thrust it at my neck but stopped himself just before piercing my skin... Needless to say, my "elbowing" was over. I was thankful to be alive until he pulled my head all the way back causing the excruciating pain in my neck to return and just held me like this while I placed my hands around neck, trying to alleviate some of the pain but it was no use....) Z: ...AHH!! (I screamed hoping that some of the "compassion" he'd shown me earlier would return but it just made him pull back harder until he tossed my sword away and hammered his right fist into my sternum....) Z: AHHH!!! (I think he broke it or at least that's how it felt as I rubbed the area before he let go of my hair, leaving me to fall to the ground. I rolled around, holding my chest area, screaming in pain but he showed no mercy....) Z: Ugh... Damn... Ugh... Ugh... Shit! (He repeatedly kicked me in the back and stomped whichever side I rolled on. It was at the point that I realized that he was never showing me "compassion," his intentions were to kill me but he was making it as slow and as painful as humanly possible... He was my brother but I couldn't just allow him to kill me, no, I had people to live for. Everything I endured up to this point, I couldn't just give up here. I was already battered but I had to at least try to fight back. With this in mind, I rolled at him, hoping to knock him off balance but it was a grave error on my part....) (Having figured out what I was doing, he jumped into the air and landed on my stomach....) Z: AHHH....!!! (...The tears rushed out of my eyes as he stomped my midsection a few more times before stopping. Beaten, I laid there while every part of my body throbbed with pain.... I didn't know where he was at but he hovered over me not long after and with the tears still coming down my face, I asked...) Z: ...Why.... are....you....doing this....to me...? Will: ... (He just stared at me again and I couldn't understand it... I would've preferred him to derive some sick pleasure from this because then it would have made sense, he was simply psychotic but with the blankness... I didn't know what his intentions were, how he was feeling if anything at all. He'd crossed the line from stoicism to inhumanity.... I tried standing up again but...) Z: Urgh... (...A kind fool never learns from his mistakes. I felt the blood stained on my mouth before he lifted me by the back of my neck and just held me in the air, squeezing the life out of me as he had been earlier. The pain was excruciating before but this time around, it was simply intolerable. I kicked and swung my arms at him, trying to get him to stop but he just took the blows until...) Will: Ugh... (He dropped me and fell to one knee, clutching the area that every man, including him considered a weakness. We were both down but he still had the upper hand as I was already more badly beaten than I'd been after facing Alvius. This was my opportunity, though, I had to take it. He wasn't kidding around and I couldn't pull any punches just because he was my brother so I staggered to my feet and rather than waste time grabbing my sword, I limped over to him and delivered a flurry of punches to his head. Each one knocked him back but not down, he was extremely strong and could endure punishment, the typical brute I figured but I kept hammering him... I was giving him all I had and then some until he finally looked dazed...) (I stopped and saw the glazed look in his eyes, now I knew this was my time. Forgetting the fact that he was my brother, I drove my knee into his head sending him flat on his back. I wasn't done yet, though, the primal instinct took over and I started stomping him, making sure that he was really down. After I was finished, I stared at his unconscious body and made up my mind about what I was going to do...) (With little hesitation, I turned and started walking toward my sword. Before I grabbed it, I... I thought about what I was going to do... "Is this what I really want?" I asked myself but then I remembered how brutal he'd been... This was no loving brother, he would have killed me. So I grabbed my blade and turned around...) !? Z: Huh...?! (He sat up like a zombie and just stared at me as if nothing happened.... All of the momentum I stole shifted right back to him and I was left completely demoralized.... My attacks didn't do a thing. I'd given him everything I could muster and he was just sitting there, staring, playing mind games with me.... He was no brute.... He was an artist, every move even the slightest was calculated while I was going solely on instinct, just hoping to be victorious. I was fighting from desperation while he was merely painting his "picture." And this latest "stunt" was just his way of telling me that I was out of his league, that I didn't have a chance because now I was in "His World.") Edited by Bx, Jun 18 2009, 10:47:22 AM.
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| Bx | May 31 2009, 02:21:20 PM Post #68 |
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Notorious
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(With the terror still painted all over my face, he quickly got to his feet and started marching towards me. But this time, it wasn't that slow intimidating stride but a thundering charge, his way of saying the "games" were over I guess.... Regardless, my morale was at an all time low and I wasn't prepared as he threw his hands out at me, attempting to strangle me... I did my best to fight him off but his strength compared to mine was a total mismatch and he easily overpowered me, locking his monstrous hands around my already sore neck once again...) ...!!! (...I could feel the blood flow cutting off as he continued applying pressure, then he squeezed tighter than ever and just held my neck like this for what felt like hours...) !!!! (I was turning purple when he released his grip a little, just enough to let me breathe and restore my confidence in the idea that he had a "heart" until he pulled his head back and....) BAM!!! "....." (...I slowly opened my eyes to...) Z: AHHH!!! ...Urgh..... (He crashed his boot into my neck.... Blood just sprayed out my mouth uncontrollably while he grabbed my hair and just repeatedly hammered me with a series of hard rights... I wanted him to just let me fall to the ground but he kept on and on until all I could see was red...) (That's when he was kind enough to let go of my hair, allowing me to fall to the ground, convulsing with each heartbeat. But he wasn't finished torturing me and that's just what this was, torture, this was no fight.... It was one man deliberately prolonging another's life just to make their trip to the "other side" as bloody and brutal as humanly possible. There was no doubt about it, his skill was superior to mine in every single way and laying there I hoped that my heart would just stop from shock so I wouldn't have to endure any more...) (But that was wishful thinking....) Z: Urgh... AHHH!!! Plea.... AHH!!! (If my sternum wasn't already broken, it certainly was now as he continuously drove his boot into it until I couldn't take it anymore and placed my left hand over it so he'd break it instead. He didn't get to, though because he stopped and picked a new weakness, my wounded leg....) (It was the first wound he'd given me and now he was finally going to exploit it. He dug his knee into it over and over again while I hopelessly screamed for mercy. ...By the time he was done he'd opened it so much that it was essentially a fresh wound again.... But some good did come out of that because in the time that he took with my leg, the pain in my upper body subsided somewhat and I tried taking advantage of it by grabbing his ankle when he came near. He kicked me off, though and stomped my left shoulder a few times before grabbing my hair again...) Z: Shit!! (He was dragging me across the field and the friction inflamed my skin but that was the nothing compared to when he stopped and I realized where we were at....) Z: ....!?! (...I was laying right next to his sword and I was sure what was coming next.... My cries had been answered, he was going to end it now but the thought of dying never looked worse as he slowly lifted his sword. Panicking, I screamed...) Z: NO!!! NO!!! (He stood over my head with the blade pointing directly at me and I screamed some more...) Z: Please, NO!!!!!!!! (But he didn't care, he brought it down with the same fury he had before and....stopped?) Z: Huh...? (Before I had a chance to process it, though, he...) "Ugh..." (....Gave me a swift kick across the jaw. With blood pouring from my mouth, he walked over to my lower half, grabbed my left ankle and twisted it. When I realized what was happening, I started screaming....) Z: ...AHH!!! (Of course it had fallen on deaf ears and he continued treating my ankle like a bottle cap but that didn't stop me from using my other leg to kick him. I remember connecting a few times but they were weak kicks and his threshold for pain was incredibly high. But I continued and eventually....) Will: Ah...! (He let go of my ankle and fell back. My knee crashed into the ground hard but that was better than the torture he'd been putting me through. He'd only been stunned so I had to act fast as I made an attempt to stand only to find my hair back in his grasp. I swung my arms to stop him but it was a futile attempt as he...) Z: Oh shi...!!!! BAM!! (Total darkness.... That's all I saw when I opened eyes. He'd thrown me face first into the ground and then I saw light again....) Z: N....O...! BAM!! (Light...) BAM!! (...Light.) BAM!! (And he brought my head back up only to drive his right knee into my back. I was at the point where I couldn't even yell in pain while he held me by my hair for a moment before pulling to the left. Then he began pummeling the right side of my face with his right hand....) (...This continued until I finally felt a loose tooth rolling in my mouth and spit it out. Seeing it, he stopped and let me fall to the ground but this was no act of "kindness" as he walked over to where my tooth was, picked it up and started walking back toward me. Just moving let alone fighting hurt so I merely watched as he knelt down with the tooth in his hand, closed my left eyelid and literally dug it in there until I felt it tear. If I had lost the ability to scream before, I regained it here because I let out a loud, painful cry...) Z: AHH!!! AHH!!! (But even crying hurt as he lifted me by the neck once again and slammed me to the ground. ...I was having violent convulsions while he took his time stomping my midsection until I quickly rolled over in desperation but he simply drove his fist into my back and I found myself flat on my stomach....) (I was telling myself, "Get up! Get up!" but my body was finished... It was only a matter of when he'd decide to kill the rest of me because my body was destroyed...) (I continued making futile attempts to stand and I didn't even know where he was at. I felt his eyes staring but I couldn't tell from where although I knew what he was doing.... He was waiting for me to nearly get to my feet and give myself a confidence boost before he ripped it away with one move... I was wrong. He was still playing mind games.... That's all this was to him, a game and he was the ultimate player...) (I was stupid and desperate, though because knowing that I still got to my feet and like clockwork, from behind he wrapped his arms around my neck. ...In this choke hold I fought with the little I had left, repeatedly giving him feeble elbows but they were just that, "feeble" and he just locked in tighter until I finally blacked out...) !!! "....." Edited by Bx, Jun 18 2009, 10:58:22 AM.
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| Bx | May 31 2009, 10:09:09 PM Post #69 |
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Notorious
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(The sound of heavy metal clashing amidst a violent storm can be heard throughout the fields of the glorious country....) Link: HAH! (He slashes the legendary Master Sword at his monstrous opponent who simply blocks with his own imposing sword. The two begin circling each other as lightning strikes in the distance. As they are both gauging each other's next move, the former Gerudo King, Ganondorf begins taunting him, saying...) Ganondorf: When are you going to realize that no matter what you do, I've already won! (Link responded with a quick slash but he answered that with another block and a strong thrust that knocked the hero off of his feet. Down but not defeated, he got up and went on the offensive again, slashing several times although Ganondorf easily blocked each one, laughing as the winded hero took a moment to catch his breath....) Ganondorf: Ha, ha, ha... Are you kidding me? It's been too long, I suppose. Been running around too much, haven't we? (With a somewhat surprised expression, Link looked at him but before he could ask he received a reply...) Ganondorf: Yes... I know your dirty little secret. Or shall I say secrets? Ha. I guess we all have our little secrets, though... Right, "Hero?" (Angered, Link raised his sword to slash but Ganondorf grabbed it in midair and kneed him in the gut before delivering a monstrous uppercut that sent the great hero on his back...) Ganondorf: Ha, ha, ha.... You see I'm back, "Hero" and it's been too long... About 16 years, eh? (He continued laughing as he walked over to a defeated Link and placed his boot on his throat, saying...) Ganondorf: You know what the difference between us is, Link? (He smiled, started pointing at his head and said...) Ganondorf: I'm a thinker and you're an impulsive little bug... (With that, he pressed down on his throat for a few moments before pulling his foot away and said...) Ganondorf: Squashing you now is too easy. I want your little sweetheart to be a witness. Or at the very least... Another tragedy. My do we have so much to talk about! (Still hovering over him, he raised his right arm and in moments a ball of energy appeared. Looking up at it, he smiled and brought it down, giving Link a vicious blast before walking away, saying...) Ganondorf: Come soon, Link. Another world awaits you. (And he walked away leaving a beaten Link alone to follow his trail to Hyrule Castle...) "Wha...?" (...I awakened and could breathe. Surprised, I thought to myself, "What happened...?" before I sat up and...) !? (He was just standing there, watching me... Once again, he robbed me of my premature joy and left me in a demoralized state. Mind games... He was a master of mind games. He was deliberately forcing me from one emotional extreme to the next just to damage my psyche. I realized then that all of these "games" were just to kill my spirit or what was left of it at that point... He'd won both the physical and now the psychological battle, I had no chance of winning. I was broken, I couldn't even "will" myself through this one...) (I knew I couldn't win but giving up wasn't a viable option, either. He was going to continue to torture me for as long as he could, for as long as I allowed. I really had to fight back.... Or at least do something but it was an uphill challenge no matter how I looked it, he had an unnaturally high threshold for pain, superhuman strength and possessed an uncanny knack for predicting my next move, he had almost godlike abilities but he was still human.... "He's still human..." that's the thought that gave me the courage to stand and fight. The odds were against me but I didn't want to die like a coward...) (I slowly got up on shaky legs and put my arms in a fighting stance. He just stood there, staring and I started having flashbacks of why I was so battered to begin with.... My brother knew exactly what he was doing as I'm sure he deciphered the intimidation behind my "cold" stare. Looking at him, though, I noticed that he'd attached his sword to the back of his belt again. I wasn't sure if that was a sign that I should be concerned but it flew from my mind as he started walking toward me....) (...It was the slow, terrifying stride again but I didn't wait to count his "eleven steps," I started limping towards him and gave him a hard left but he just stared at me as if nothing happened. So I did it again and again but each time he just turned his head and stared into my eyes until I tried it one more time and...) Z: AHH!!! (He was crushing my fist in his hand. The pain forced me to one knee, grimacing with anguish but I kept fighting... Using my free hand, I punched his legs but it was like hitting iron, it hurt me more than it hurt him, if at all...) (But he released his grip only to give me a crushing right hook that sent me back to the ground, shaking... He followed up by pulling out his sword and I panicked. Instinctively, I kicked his shins until he stomped on my gut again...) Z: URGh..... (Coughing blood, I helplessly watched as he took his sword, held it above his head and drove the handle into my wounded leg....) Z: AHH!!!!! (I grabbed my leg and squirmed around in pain but he pulled my hands away and drove the handle into the wound again until it was spraying blood everywhere. I was holding it, trying to stop the bleeding but he was relentless and dragged me by the hair over to my own sword where he proceeded to pick it up. Using the flat side of the blade, he began bashing my chest until I weakly grabbed it and tried tugging it away from him.) (But my efforts were in vain as he took it from me completely and bashed my hands with it now. My entire body was a bloody mess and everything hurt but I continued fighting or at least "defending" myself... I held my bruised hands up to protect myself from another of his attacks and he stopped. Although not because of my gesture, no, he'd gone to my lower half and dragged me by my legs away from my sword before delivering another brutal punch to my gut area...) Z: Oh....Sh....Ugh... (I placed my hands over my stomach and just waited for the next attack.... All of the "confidence" I built up earlier was gone. "Everyone has a plan until they get hit," is what kept repeating in my head while I tried to stand. ...And I was able to without any attack from him but after a second I realized he didn't need to as I fell back, hitting the ground on my own this time...) THUD! ("It's over... It's over... I'm done..." that's all I could think because if I couldn't stand when given the opportunity to, when he allowed me to, I might as well have been dead. ...And that's when it really hit me, I'd barely laid a punch on him yet I was more severely beaten here than I'd ever been in my life.... It truly was over. My body had long since given up and now my mind was telling me the same thing, there was nothing left.... He'd taken it all and with relatively little effort.) ("...But has he really taken it all?" I asked myself before thinking about Maria, the Sages and Olivia's memory... I realized that he hadn't taken it all. Physically and mentally he'd taken everything I had but that wasn't all I had. What I did have may have been the most important things of all because with those thoughts I fought through the pain and tried getting to my feet again...) (I did. And although wobbly-kneed I managed to stand, then looked at him as he looked at me devoid of all emotion and I watched as he slowly pulled out his sword again. Nervous but still staggering I did my best to try and stop him but it was no use as he already had it out and holding it inverted, he dug the blade into the ground while I aimlessly stumbled around in front of him. Little did I know that that was my greatest mistake as he waited for me to get in the right place before he pushed off on his right leg and leaped into the air. Still holding the blade inverted, he drove the handle into my chin and delivered a devastating uppercut that sent me tumbling into the air until I hit the ground, out cold....) Edited by Bx, Jun 18 2009, 11:09:54 AM.
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| Bx | Jun 1 2009, 12:45:45 PM Post #70 |
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Notorious
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(This time he woke me to the pain of his fist hammering my jaw until he let me fall back again... Laying there on the ground was the greatest feeling in the world, yes my entire body was throbbing with pain but at least he wasn't hitting me... That's how bad it had become, I didn't even want to be healed because that required moving, I just wanted to lay there and let the pain do whatever it wanted be it kill me, subside, anything just as long as he didn't hit me...) (I couldn't be so lucky, though as he used both hands and lifted me in the air by the neck. But he didn't choke me, instead, he threw me back to the ground. I was flinching with pain but he did it again, lifting me up only to slam me to the ground... Before the pain even hit me, he had me by the hair and repeatedly slammed my head into the ground....) BAM! BAM! BAM! Z: Ugh.... (My brains were scrambled and I don't remember anything until he lifted me by the hair with just one hand and tossed me like a rag doll. ...There was a brief pause and I had a chance to regain my senses so I looked around, finding that I was near his sword...) (I extended my hand to grab it but once I had a firm grip on it, his boot crashed into my hand and I released it. I couldn't take it anymore... Every time I tried to swing the leverage in my favor, he snatched it away, I started asking myself "What's he waiting for...? Just kill me already...." I didn't care about anything anymore, nothing gave me strength, not the kind I needed and I wanted to just be another victim because then I wouldn't have to feel this pain again...) (While I was holding my throbbing right hand, he drove his boot into my throat and instantly I rolled around in pain, choking on my own blood as it rushed out of my mouth... I continued like this until...) Z: Ooof..... (...Right into my spine. He hammered the hilt of his sword into my spine and I was on my stomach again.... "Please, please just kill me!!!" I kept shouting internally as I laid there virtually lifeless. I could hear him circling around me and I remember growing more and more terrified with each step I heard. I just wanted the next blow to be his last....) "...AHHH!!!!" (He lifted my left leg up and pounded my knee into the ground until I guess he heard it snap... I was defenseless as he dragged me by my arms across the field and stepped on the back of my head. I screamed but it was muffled against the ground and he pulled me to my feet by my hair. I was groggily staggering around, trying to hold myself up when he steadied me with his right hand and finally.... hammered my face with his left.... A blow that literally left my entire body shaking for a minute before I hit the ground...) Z: Ugh....Ugh... (Convulsing on the ground, I realized that he'd been sparing me.... His left hand was much stronger than his right and this was the first time he'd ever hit me with it... I was thankful for that but it ended there as he sat me up and kneed me across the forehead, knocking me back to the ground...) (My eyes were open but I couldn't see, I could only feel... Pain, that is and he made sure of it by ceaselessly ripping into my face with his fists... When he was finished, I just felt the blood all over my eyes before they involuntarily rolled into my head, leaving only the whites to be seen...) (...I think it was both my body and mind telling me that it was finally over. That they'd taken their limit and then some... I couldn't fight this, either. Honestly, I didn't want to, I was a mess and he was unscathed. At full strength I couldn't hold a candle to him, why would the results be any different now that I had nothing left...?) Z: Urrgh.... (He raised me to my feet again and just standing hurt but for whatever reason I threw my arm at him, I didn't even make a fist but in desperation I threw my arm and he grabbed it, locked it around my back and began choking me....) !!! (It wasn't gonna take much for me to black out this time around as he locked his hold tighter with every second. My face started turning purple and everything was getting smaller as I was blacking out...) !!!... (But then he let go of me and I stumbled to the ground. While I was trying to regain my awareness, he slammed the flat side of his sword into my back...) Z: Ugh....!!! (...And I fell on my face again. I placed my hands over my back hoping the pain would subside but he wasted no time following up with another shot to my back...) Z: AHH!!!! ("Why bother....? Why... fucking bother....?" I told myself when I didn't hear his footsteps anymore. My instinct told me something bad was about to happen but I was already suffering so I slowly raised my head and looked back....) Z: ...Wha... the...hell...are....? (He was just staring at me, watching as I struggled to stand. When I was upright, I noticed him slowly nod before he started charging at me... This was as fast as I'd ever seen him move and not knowing what else to do, I raised my arms but he...) WHAM!! "...." (...Went right through me. He pummeled me with a series of rights but got off of me and again, just watched as I squirmed around in pain... As if he were looking for something. And he just stood there, watching as I again, like a desperate fool, struggled to my feet...) (Finally up, I looked in his eyes and for the first time I saw some emotion.... He was wide-eyed while I was balancing myself and then he quickly reached for my throat, pulled me towards him and bashed his head into mine. I fell out....) ...THUD! (When I next opened my eyes, I found him hovering over me but he was still just staring... It was eerie and remembering the previous times I tried, I decided not to stand. But he continued studying me, deciphering whatever was going through my mind with that dead stare until he lifted me by the neck and threw me to the ground again....) (...I turned my head, looking both ways and found myself next to my sword again. I remembered what happened last time but I guess he'd knocked the sense out of me because I grabbed it and this time held it with both hands. In the back of mind, I was waiting for him to come and deliver a crushing blow but it never happened. Confused and nervous because of this and the fact that I couldn't see or hear him, I slowly got to my feet...) Z: ...Oooh!!! (...Just to find myself back on the ground. My sword had been knocked out of my hand and fell several feet from me but I didn't care... It was hopeless. He was just toying with me... I figured that now that he had me on my last legs for sure, he just decided to torture me the way he did Vincent and I could now understand why that sick bastard was begging him to take his heart.... I was on the verge of doing the same....) Z: Ugh... Ugh.... Will.... Just...ki.... (But he didn't let me finish... He wasn't willing to show me that kind of mercy as I now found myself high in the air; he was holding my entire body above him and held me like this for at least a minute before...) THUD!!! Z: ....Urgh.... Pl...eas.... kil.... (...He'd taken a step forward and let me free fall face first to the ground.... With my head against the ground, I felt dirt sticking to my face as a result of all of the blood on it. Despite the pain I made yet another ridiculous effort to stand only to have him plaster my jaw with another vicious uppercut.) (My eyes were glazed but I could still see him staring while I laid on the ground motionless. Strangely, I remember seeing him nod slowly as if he was finally telling me that he enjoyed this, that making me suffer had given him some twisted pleasure... But then he walked away and I thought, "Oh no.... Please, please just finish me now!!!" and he returned with my sword in his hand...) ...!? (...He extended his hand to me. I didn't understand... It was insanity and I couldn't help but think that this gesture was just more mind games so I batted his hand away. Sensing another brutal attack I tried to quickly get to my feet but I simply stumbled to my knees, taking a series of short, quick breaths before he bashed his elbow into the back of my neck leaving me flat on my stomach again...) (Then he kicked me so I would roll on my back and again he extended his hand...) Z: ...? Wh...y...? Will: ... ("No!" I said to myself when he didn't answer. I wasn't gonna fall prey to another trap... This "fight" proved that I was a masochistic idiot but I wasn't that stupid... I'd been burned enough to know what he was doing. And it was that stubbornness that gave me the strength to stand on my own as I looked him directly in the eye and steadied myself before he extended his hand, telling me to take my sword. But I refused and in an attempt to push it away, I fell again....) (I was on one knee, coughing blood but he was still trying to hand me the sword. I was confused and the question of his true motives returned as I again asked myself, "Does he want to kill me or not!? What's he doing...? What's he telling me!?" But I didn't have the answer and I realized that the only way to find it was by....) "....." (....Grabbing the blade. Everything stopped as I held my sword in my hands comfortably for the first time since all of this began. I looked up at him and he nodded. His expression was as vague as it had been this entire time but I sensed that he wanted me to stand...And I did.) (I was wobbling from side to side and every part of my body was throbbing in pain but despite that I was up. I obviously couldn't tell what he was thinking but my entire understanding of everything went out of whack while we stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. But I wasn't complaining and although standing like this allowed the pain to really settle in, it also gave me a chance to catch my breath and collect my thoughts....) (At the time, much of our "fight" was a blank but with the break I tried to piece the little I did remember of this encounter together in the hope of understanding all of it a little better. While also trying to ultimately figure out his true intentions because I wasn't sure whether he was trying to kill me or not... On the surface, yes, he was but looking at the little things he did plus the fact that I was still breathing really made me start wondering about what was ongoing inside my brother's head....) (I didn't bother saying anything because I knew he wouldn't respond. In the end, his intentions were nothing more than food for thought because he slowly started pulling out his sword. And I clutched mine tightly as he dug the massive blade into the ground as he had before leaving me suspicious of what was coming next while our "stare down" continued....) Edited by Bx, Jun 18 2009, 11:23:47 AM.
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| Bx | Jun 2 2009, 11:58:11 PM Post #71 |
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Notorious
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(...Looking into his eyes, I still couldn't tell what was going on in his mind. But I was sure he felt just the opposite about me, he knew exactly what was going on in my head... Anyone would. I was terrified, confused and extremely anxious. He'd helped me to my feet, given me my sword and allowed me to catch my breath... This was either his way of saying that his goal wasn't to kill me or...exactly the opposite, this was it, he wasn't going to pull his punches anymore... And just the thought of it being the latter sent shock waves through my veins....) Z: ... Will: ... (I felt the wind blow for the first time since our "battle" began. It was that same chill again, which didn't exactly have a calming effect as the last time it blew it signaled his arrival. It felt like a bad omen to be honest with you but maybe that was just my pessimism taking over. Either way, I wouldn't have any more time to dwell on it as he lifted the blade out of the dirt and started walking toward me...) !!! (I started mentally preparing my defense, I never had a shot to win in the first place but if I was going to actually stand and fight, I'd have to at least try to win the mental battle. I started breathing loudly as he neared but then he just stopped...? Only a few feet away from me, he simply stopped and turned around.) Z: Huh? (...And like an impulsive little roach, I limped over to him and realized what he was doing just as I caught the back end of his right hand across my cheeks... I fell, fortunately without dropping my sword and as quickly as I could, I got right back up. I lifted my sword to slash him but he anticipated my move and blocked with his much larger sword, knocking me back before delivering a slash of his own....) Z: ....AAH (Blood fell down the right side of my chest as he followed up with a combination of brutal rights that quickly put me on the ground again....) (Glassy-eyed, I merely looked on as he brought his blade across my right ankle, further damaging the already severe wound that was in place. But he wasn't done there, he lifted his sword like a sledgehammer and brought it down twice as violently although I luckily managed to roll just inches away from this attack. Being on the ground so much had given me an idea and I waited for him to come closer before I....) !!! (...Swept him to the ground using my good....foot, anyway. It was just the second time he'd been down so I had to take full advantage of this opportunity and I quickly crawled away from him while he got to his feet. I looked back and saw his famous "march" but I wasn't gonna stand just yet, I needed to get a little farther. The fact that he was walking so slowly helped me as I stood up and pulled out my Hookshot. Keeping my distance, I believed was the key to stopping him because his close range skill was in a class of it's own.) (My hands were shaking tremendously as I aimed, all while he calmly continued walking toward me. But I finally shot and it....) Will: ...? (...Was unsuccessful. He simply batted the hook down with his sword and continued toward me... At that point, I took it as yet another sign that he was invincible. Everything, everything I did he had an answer for... I thought I could outsmart him but I couldn't even do that, he was an unstoppable nightmare. The proverbial "Man amongst boys," and unfortunately I fit into the "boys" category... And yeah, I still had my bow but honestly, I felt like it would have been a waste so I put the Hookshot away just as he entered close range.) (Still fighting the mental battle, I decided to do something that was both risky and stupid. I quickly dropped my sword and threw my hands out to grab his. But like I said, it was a stupid decision because he shoved me to the ground with one hand and slashed my left leg with his sword.) Z: AHH.... (Screaming in pain, I grabbed my leg and did my best to stop the bleeding but nothing worked. Blood was everywhere so using my left arm, I started backing away but before I could get too far, he pressed on my wounded ankle and delivered a big boot to my face with his other foot.) "...." (...I opened my eyes and felt him pulling my hair. I was on my knees; remembering Raphael's death, I was nervous but didn't panic. Instead, I used both of my hands and tried to force him off of my hair. We struggled like this for a few seconds before....) "AHH!!!" (My head was stinging with pain.... He'd ripped out some of my hair. I was free from his grip but it came with a painful price. I tried to forget about the pain as I got back on my feet and went on the offensive for the first time in a while, hammering him with a few punches before he grabbed my fist and started crushing it....) Z: Sh....it.... (Down on one knee and teary-eyed, I picked up my left hand and started punching his gut. Being right-handed, I knew these punches weren't doing much but I was past the point of desperation, I needed to do everything and anything I could to walk out of here alive....) (That being said, my punches must have annoyed him because it wasn't long before he cracked my skull with a nasty right cross and let go of my hand just so I could hit the ground. I was seeing stars but I remember he looked at me and started shaking his head disapprovingly before walking away...) (I finally regained some sense of awareness when he returned, strangely with my sword, again. He held it inverted and extended the handle towards me, once again, telling me to take it.) Z: ...? (Obviously I was stunned and now the question of his intentions resurfaced but I couldn't worry about that right now as I slowly got on my one good knee and reached out for my sword before...) ...Urrgh!!! (...My lights were out. All I remember was that he drilled that hilt into my chin just as he had before and my head violently rocked back several times until there was only darkness....) (I don't how long I was out but when I woke up, firstly I was grateful to be alive but then I noticed that he was gone. Mind you, it was dark and he was wearing all black but from what I could tell, he had left.) Z: Wha...? (I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me as I looked around but he just wasn't anywhere to be found. Most people probably would have used this opportunity to run away but for me, this was unnerving... I knew he was out there, just waiting for me to make the mistake of running off so I stayed put. I used this time to wrap some of my wounds up so I ripped pieces of my clothing off and wrapped them around my damaged limbs in particular. It was a painful process, though and to take my mind away from the pain, I started thinking about him and his motives...) ("I'm alive..." that's the first thing I thought about and honestly, that was probably the most important clue. That doesn't mean it was easy to understand but he could have killed me at any point yet he didn't just like he didn't during our earlier encounters.... I just didn't get the sense that he was enjoying this but that's not to say I thought that beating the hell out me hurt him either. No, the sense I got was that maybe he was looking for something.... Going back to how he took his time watching me while I was down and even nodding a few times when I got to my feet.) Z: Hmm... (And that returned my thoughts to what he said earlier before the fight about the "difference" between us. We were twins but our physical makeup was different and obviously our skill set was also different but that's the same for everyone even twins... I couldn't help but think that maybe he was referring to something altogether different. Maybe something a little deeper, that maybe couldn't be measured in the way we normally measure things...) (If it really was the intangibles that he was trying to measure... The obvious question popped into my head, "Why?" and more importantly, how does potentially killing me or at the very least crippling me answer that.... It was a mind numbing mystery and only he had the answer. I gave up trying to figure it out on my own and closed my eyes, I was hurting and tired.... I badly needed medical attention but he wasn't gonna let me leave, I knew he was out there. ...And within moments, I was glad I stayed put.) Z: Wha...? Huh? (I heard something coming toward me, fast. It wasn't the sound of someone running, though, it was...) Z: ...A horse!? (Charging on a collision course was my brother on top of that black horse I'd seen him ride before. Terrified, I shakily reached for my bow but dropped it when I realized how close the horse was to me. With just moments to spare from being trampled, I quickly rolled out of the way. But even that wasn't without it's consequences as my entire body was burning with pain and my bow had been crushed....) (I was alive, though, that was the main thing. But before I could even "rejoice," he whipped his horse around and started the charge again. My heart sank; I had no bow, my body couldn't stand another roll and my sword was still a few feet away. But I did have my Hookshot, I pulled it out and aimed not at him but at the horse's head. When I found my target, I took a moment to steady my aim and fired...) Eeargh!! (I missed....My target that is. My brother managed to turn his horse around right before I fired so I only hit it's side but that was really all I needed. It allowed me enough time to limp over to my sword and pick it up. Now I had to think fast as he was charging at me once again, this time in a fast zigzag pattern so the Hookshot was out. But I didn't have any other long range weapons so that left only my sword... I looked at it, then at the horse and made up my mind about my next course of action. Again, it was risky but I felt the reward was worth it so I waited in place while he continued charging furiously...) (I was breathing hard, my hands were trembling and my heart was racing but I remained in place, watching as he got nearer.... Seconds later, he was mere feet away as I sidestepped with my right leg, leaving the left in place and delivered a huge slash across the horse's neck, decapitating it while the rest crashed into my body knocking me off balance before I hit the ground, hard...) THUD!! (But the risk wasn't without it's reward as the headless horse crashed to the ground, sending Will in the air until he too ultimately smashed into the ground... Hearing that, I became optimistic for the first time in a while as I crawled toward him with my blade in hand. He was lying there as if he were dead but I knew better. When I finally reached him, I lifted my sword to quickly stab him but he sat straight up and looked directly into my eyes, I froze.... He launched his hand and grabbed my shirt, pulling me towards him as he pulled his head back and...) BAM!!! (....Another momentum killer. The guy had made it a science... That being said, the blow wasn't as severe as it had been last time and I had at least a sense of my surroundings so I slowly tried standing before I became lightheaded and fell back down...) (I blinked several times but everything was spinning around me so I shut my eyes hoping that when I opened I'd be fine.... Though his next move took center stage in my mind as I heard him moving around erratically. But by the time I opened my eyes, nothing had happened. Curious, I turned my head and looked at him. ...He was bleeding. The headbutt seemed to have injured him worse than me because he was taping up a nasty gash. This was my greatest opportunity and I managed to get to my feet this time without falling albeit I staggered but I was up.) (My sword was a couple of feet away but I didn't care, now was the time to strike so I hobbled towards him, dodged his first punch and connected with a left across his jaw. He took it like it was nothing and responded with a fake right that lead me into an monstrous left uppercut that left me paralyzed for a few seconds before my body registered the pain and hit the ground....) (...I was fully coherent but completely paralyzed. It was like my body just shut down including my speech. So I was just an onlooker while he finished taping his wound before he looked at me and slowly nodded. I didn't understand but I didn't care either... I just wanted to move again especially when he started walking toward me.) Z: Urgh... (He gave me a hard kick across my face and as bad as that was, there was a bright side to it... I could move again. Although I was still throbbing with pain, I was thrilled and even threw my right arm out, latching onto his leg. I didn't have much of a grip, though and he forced me to release by stomping my shoulder but the point was that I could move.) (Before he could follow up with any more attacks, I struggled to my knees and thought of a plan.... Launching myself at his legs, I held on with one arm while using the other to dig in my pocket. He tried kicking me off but I held tight until I finally pulled out my Hookshot. At that moment, I intentionally let go and quickly pulled the Hookshot up, shooting at the one real weakness I knew he had, his genitals...) "Ahh...." (He groaned in pain as he clutched them and fell to one knee. As before, this was my chance, he wasn't faking this pain so I got up as fast as my body would allow and threw a quick right as I stumbled onto him. We both fell but I got up first while he was still groaning; the adrenaline kicked in and I finally felt like I could actually win as I started pummeling him, taking particular aim at the wound on his forehead...) (Shot after shot, I gave him until my right hand got tired then I started punishing him with the left. I continuously connected with that wound until both my left hand was tired and his eyes were shut... But I wasn't done yet, I remembered all the times he was "out" so I pulled my head back and...) BAM!! (...Collided with his skull. The blow put me on the ground as well but only for a minute because I got up, stumbled around a bit and started walking toward my sword. Every few steps, I looked back to see if he had moved or if he was up but he never did. "This is it..." I told myself as I lifted my sword up. I turned to him once more, he was still down so I started slowly making my way toward him....) (When I reached him, he was still down so like before, I inverted the blade and prepared to finish him when he sat up again....) ...!? (But this time he was the one who got the surprise as I brought the blade down, pinning his left leg....) "Aaahh....." (Not even a real scream... His threshold for pain was incredible. But now wasn't the time to marvel at his toughness; I deliberately stabbed him in the leg for a reason, I wanted answers and since I had the leverage as well as his leg pinned I believed I would get them...) (Even in pain, he was stoic... He didn't squirm around, he wasn't trying to pull the blade out of his leg, he just stared at me while I coughed up some blood before speaking...) Z: ...Ok. Tell me, who are you? (He just stared at me, silently... After thinking about it, it was a dumb question so I followed up with a more relevant one...) Z: Why are you trying to kill me? (Again, he just stared at me, silently... I grew a little more frustrated with this so I asked again...) Z: Why are you trying to kill me!? (He must have stared right through my "tough guy" facade because truthfully, even though he was "trapped," he still scared the hell out of me. But much to my surprise, he actually answered...) Will: Am I? (An answer with a question, the question I was wondering myself.... It seemed like he was playing more mind games with me when he said...) Will: That is what you've been wondering this entire time, right? (I was shocked... My eyes widened and I could only say....) Z: How did...? Will: I didn't. You just told me. (...That confirmed it. He was definitely still playing those frustrating mind games. He had the answers but I realized that he wasn't going to give them to me no matter what. Despite this realization, I had one major question left to ask....) Z: What is... (I coughed some more blood but continued...) Z: ...What is the "difference" between us? (He kept his eyes locked on to mine and we stayed like that for at least a minute before he replied...) Will: ...Aside from the one I mentioned, I don't know yet. ("But you never actually mentioned one..." I said to myself just as he pointed to the blade in his leg and said...) Will: But that's very telling. Z: Huh? (Unsurprisingly, he didn't answer. His last statement really left me puzzled, though he wouldn't allow me to ponder it much longer as he extended his hand. He was asking me to help him; I looked at his hand and then into his eyes, this scene made me think of how he helped me up earlier. Remembering that, I became conflicted because I just wasn't sure about his intentions, if I knew one way or the other, it would have made it a lot easier... No, that's not true. It just would have made it a lot simpler; he was still my brother and despite the fact that he'd tried to "kill" me as well as our lack of a relationship, taking his life could never be easy... And when it really started to marinate in my head, I wasn't sure I was ready to...) "......" (...But after a long period of silence and a lot of careful thought on my part, I finally made up my mind. I took a few steps toward him, looked away from his gaze and slowly pulled the blade out of his leg. He let out a painful sigh but still held his hand up for me to grab; looking at the blood on the sword, then at his hand, I let out a loud sigh of my own as I extended my hand before pulling away to drive my sword into his chest but he saved himself, quickly grabbing the blade with both hands....) (The blade was cutting through his gloves as we continued struggling like this for a while until...) Will: Ahh... Shit! (It was the closest thing to a scream I'd ever heard from him and after a second, I realized why.... The blade had cut through his gloves entirely revealing black, puffy sores that covered his hands.... It was odd, his hands were almost the same color as his sword. The pain he must have been in with those exposed hands now being sliced must have been unbearable. He made that quite clear as he pushed my blade back at me with all of his strength, both freeing his hands and knocking me back.) (When I regained my balance, I immediately went back on the offensive as he was busy dealing with his hands so I hobbled toward him and prepared to slash before....) Z: Ooof... (I was on the ground again. He used his good leg to sneakily kick me in the shin. It wasn't a major blow but it gave him enough time to re-wrap his hands with tape. I got to my feet just as he started getting to his, I was still more badly injured than him but at least now with his leg wounded, we were a little more even. Even with that though, he was still dangerous, probably more so than ever because of the choice I made earlier in going for the kill. I guess when I made that decision I hadn't anticipated him stopping my attack. But dwelling on what was already done was pointless as he was on his feet and in the process of pulling out his sword...) Z: No! (I couldn't let him take it out, that would have killed all the momentum I built so I slashed at him but he used his right elbow to knock my sword out of the way, giving him only a nick on the arm as well as the time to get out his sword.) Z: ...Damn it. (I was frustrated because now the playing field was even. Because of our critical wounds, him with his leg as well as his forehead and me with basically my entire body, the mental aspect would finally be the deciding factor. The decisions that were small and subtle earlier were now crucial to victory as he went on the offensive, violently slashing at me but I countered by stepping back and extended my blade so the two would clash, keeping me out of harms way.) (It was here where I realized just how much of a disadvantage that leg wound was, he couldn't move, eliminating several of his techniques, most notably that vicious uppercut with the sword. But on the downside, it meant that I'd have to fight in close range with him and bum leg or not, his skill was extraordinary. Ultimately though, I felt that this was my fight to lose, he was cornered and wounded, now I just had outsmart him to get him to make that fatal mistake...) (I went in with a much more defensive approach this time, preparing to block as I predicted he would strike quickly but that wasn't the case as he held his blade up in a defensive stance as well. Being too impulsive, I slashed at his sword but he hastily pulled his up, knocking my blade out of my hand before bringing his down for what would have been a brutal slash had I not given him an admittedly cheap kick to his wounded leg...) Will: Ah... (He went down and grabbed at his leg. I, in turn, went for my sword and tried to strike him but he managed to block the attack using his sword. Now we were locked in yet another struggle with our swords as I was pressing down while he was pushing up. I was beginning to lose my grip while his incredible strength kept me from moving my sword any farther. Just when I'd nearly let go, he launched his good leg at my gut and I fell on my knees, coughing blood while I was down.) (He slowly got back on his feet but I quickly put him down, drilling the handle of my sword into his wounded leg. He patted the wound for a moment before attempting to stand again. I, on the other hand, wasn't going to allow that so I caught him with a hard right but he countered with one of his own, sending me to the ground, instantly...) (His shots were always hard but that last punch was comparatively weaker than his others. Although it did put me down, I used most of that time to catch my breath while he struggled to get back up. When I realized that he was nearly up, I sat up, grabbed my blade and slashed at his ankles...) "...Ahh..." (He was cut but still standing so I got up and tried a horizontal slash but again he blocked it. We both pulled our swords back and a staring match ensued. For both of us, it was a matter of predicting the next move, timing and instinct were everything. I tried gathering whatever I could from his expression but as expected there was nothing there so defending myself was more or less just luck and good reflexes on my end...) (With our injuries, neither of us would be standing much longer and I knew he realized this himself as he slowly lifted his sword. This was it, he was gonna make his move. Everything from my heart to my hands were trembling as I anxiously waited for the attack....) ("What's he gonna do? Where's it coming? Left or right side?" I asked myself as I watched his blade, prepping for the inevitable.... And then it came.) (He tossed his sword from his left hand to his right and I knew then that he was going for my left side, so I quickly sidestepped to the right just as he was bringing the blade down and ripped into his chest, ultimately slashing through his heart....) UGRRRHHH..... (...His massive sword fell out of his hand as he fell to his knees and then on his face.... I backed away as he hit the ground, dead.) ("I won..." that's what immediately flashed across my eyes when I realized what I had just accomplished. I couldn't believe it.... I was grateful that I had survived but there was no joy in this victory, relief but no joy... Looking at him was like watching myself, dead. An eerie feeling filled my body while I stared at him so I turned away and looked at my bloody sword...) (The last three minutes replayed in mind and I realized that it was a mistake, a foolish mental error on his part. Had he attacked my right side, he would have killed me or at the very least, our blades would have clashed and we'd both still be here.... My initial thought was wrong, I hadn't "won," I got lucky... He made an uncharacteristic mental error that just wasn't consistent with the way he fought and now the question of his motive returned...) (I kept asking myself, "Was he trying to kill me...?" He knew what he was doing this entire time and I just couldn't accept that he would have made such a stupid mistake when it counted most.... But in the end, I would never know... He was dead. And the more I thought about it, the harder it was for me to accept my decision to kill him but I had to.... Right?) (I looked at the clear night sky for a moment before I took one last look at both my brother and Olivia's grave and started limping away, thinking about everything that happened.... I didn't get very far, though as my body, like seven months ago finally gave in and I crashed to the ground....) IV: End Edited by Bx, Jun 18 2009, 11:57:42 AM.
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| Bx | Jun 4 2009, 03:37:44 PM Post #72 |
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Notorious
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Maria's Epilogue: Love (We're finally leaving... After everything that happened, it's kinda hard to believe that it's only been a month since he arrived. And boy what a month it's been... Maybe things were more hectic when I left Hyrule seven months ago but aside from my concern for Z, I don't remember leaving there with the kind of emotional impact that my experiences here have left me with. And that's just from my perspective, I can only imagine what he's feeling... This really is the hard part because it's over, this is the time to reflect. I'm sure he's back there now thinking about every decision that was made, both good and bad because even I'm thinking about them. But he's the one who had to shoulder the heavy load... Man, just thinking about those choices is difficult let alone actually making them...) (I know he loved her and I admit I was jealous at first but that was before I realized that what they shared wasn't romantic love, it was simply a true friendship. It took me some time to realize that but I'm glad they met because from what I saw they needed each other. She was able to help him in the ways that I couldn't and maybe if not for her, he may have self-destructed... And no, I'm not happy with how it ended but ultimately I feel that her death was very enlightening for him. People may question how after only a month they developed such a strong bond and honestly, I don't have an answer for those people. But I will say this, I don't believe time should be a deciding factor regarding the impact that a person has on you... It's not the time that matters, it's the impact itself.) (And she didn't just leave an impact on him but all of us, when he finally told me what happened up there I was both touched and saddened... I liked Olivia as a person and while I didn't bond with her the way he did, I'll never forget her...) (I guess where we found him that night was very telling of his feelings. He's really been through a lot, too much actually and why we found him in the first place illustrates that point perfectly... It's been a few days since then but it's still so hard to believe.... The Demon is, well was his brother, his twin brother at that... I mean, I just... I don't know. I really don't. ...I love Z but I would never want to be in his shoes, seriously, how is a person supposed to feel after something like that?) (Olivia's death, his mom's death, those were hard enough and now this? It's like it just doesn't end for him... He hasn't spoken about it much but I know he's hurting, if not, he's definitely thinking... I'm even thinking about it... My feelings about the...his brother have changed somewhat and if I have questions, I know he does too...) (Looking out at the ocean from this boat and thinking about all of this, I realize that my job, not so much as his girlfriend but as his friend becomes really important again. He does all of the physical work but I'm the one who has to keep him together and it's not easy... This is a unique individual I've fallen for and being his support is very trying but for him, it's worth it.) (Like I said, though, I don't really know his feelings at the moment, he could be just fine but I'm assuming that all of this is understandably, taking it's toll.) (But on a more positive note, I feel like everything that happened here was in many ways a great learning experience. I know that I've grown as a person, especially mentally, when I first arrived I was hopeful but also scared of the future because I didn't know who or what it had in store for me. Looking at the last month or so, you could say I had good reason to be but on a deeper level, I found that there was nothing to fear and also the gray area in people.) (What I mean by that is that people are much more than what they appear to be on the surface. It goes without saying who the poster child is for that point. But really what I'm saying is that when I arrived here, I came with this notion that people can be easily divided into "good" and "bad" categories and the longer I stayed in Termina, the more I realized how wrong that belief is. I guess it was a product of all the years I spent in Alvius' castle but I know now that people are a lot more complex than we can imagine sometimes...) (...I guess having a relationship with Z really strengthens that belief, too. But...) Passenger: Are you Z's friend, "Maria"? ("Huh?") Maria: ...Yes, I am. Why? Passenger: They said to give you this letter, it's for Z. ("A letter?") Maria: Who's it from? Passenger: I don't know. That old Mayor Kafei said it was from Hyrule or something, he told me to give it to you but to make sure that Z received it. And just so you don't think I'm a creep or something, I asked around the ship to see if anyone knew who you were and they said you'd be up here... ("Hmm... Hyrule. Could it be?") Maria: Don't worry, that never crossed my mind. But thanks for giving this to me. Passenger: Sure, no problem. Listen, Kafei wanted me to make sure he got the letter but... that's not necessary, right? Maria: Not at all. Passenger: Alright, well thanks a lot, Miss. ("Guess I should go take it to him...") Maria: ...I just hope it's good news... (If this letter is really from Hyrule then it's them but I'm just wondering why they've sent this letter in the first place. I don't want to be pessimistic but why would they send a letter if it's not bad news...? I really hope it's not because I don't think he can deal with much more of this. But whatever it is, I'm on my way to find out....) Maria's Epilogue: End Edited by Bx, Jun 18 2009, 12:08:13 PM.
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| Bx | Jun 5 2009, 12:45:51 AM Post #73 |
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Notorious
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Z's Epilogue: Reflection (...I saw myself die twice. If you want to sum up my feelings in as few words as possible, that's probably as well as you can put it. It bothers me. When I look at what happened now, I go over all the possibilities and routes that were present when I made those decisions. And I ask myself, "Why?" In my life, people have often thrown around this idea of "fate," that everything happens for a "reason" and after I beat Alvius that seemed true, you know, the "bad" guy lost, he got what was coming to him. But after what happened here, that idea is a lot harder to swallow... And even if it were true, it's in no way comforting, it's disgusting...) (I mean think about it, I killed Olivia and Will because it was "fated." My friend and my brother "had" to die so I could achieve something "greater"... It's basically saying their lives didn't matter, that they were simply put here to die "for me," and maybe that would be fine if you can answer what makes me better than them? I've killed people, committed crimes and selfishly went after what I felt was "right," that's no different from anything they did...) (Ultimately, how people look at Olivia and my brother's death is entirely up to them. And their perception may be influenced by the crimes they committed but if they look solely at what they did, rather than who they were then I hope those people don't forget to place me in that same category...) (I admit that I'm upset not because I haven't accepted their deaths, I have but I'm upset at this growing idea that they died so I can live. They didn't die so I can live, they died because of the choices they made, the choices we made... And then the fact that people believe there was a "reason" for all of this, if that's really true then why is that coward still alive?) (It's ironic, though... His daughter, the one he didn't want, had all of his greatest traits. It...it was all in the game. Like David said, she was brilliant and would have went on to greater things... A future Mayor of Clock Town, maybe? I'll never know, but she had all of the qualities to continue the family tradition. I guess he couldn't see that or maybe he didn't want to. Neither would surprise me, hell, she only saw his back anyway...) (On a slightly different note, his last cowardly act as Mayor before his removal was closing the Underground. I guess it was his way of "making up" for his mistakes... Sounds great, right? Yeah, the real kicker is that that was his plan all along. It's why he was so enthusiastic about helping the Sages, he wanted to rid himself of the Underground so now those unfortunate people are being dumped on Hyrule. Aveil suspects there was a large sum of money involved in the decision but she decided not to press the issue since he was gonna lose his position anyway...) (...And Olivia's death was justice, huh? Some people may understand why I feel the way I do about her death but I bet those people wonder why my brother's death had a similar impact on me... And the answer is very simple, he was my brother. Those people may say, "Ok but he tried to kill you..." and my answer for them is, "Did he?" because quite honestly I'm not even sure about that. And then those people may say, "But he was a heartless murderer..." and again I'll say, "Was he?" the conversation that we had prior to our fight told me that he wasn't.) (He had feelings just like the rest of us so you see, it makes me sad when I think about what could have drove him to the point that he would become this "Silent Demon." It's our experiences and the people around us that mold us into who we are so it's tough for me, as his brother, to think about what made him the way he was...) (Looking at it now, it's unbelievable thinking about how I saw myself in two completely different people and just the overall impression that they left on me, both in life and death... I guess that's what's brought me to the decision to put this sword away for good. I may be forced to use others later on in life but never this one again...) (Reflecting on my entire stay in Termina, it's very polarizing... Yes, I've suffered great loss with the deaths of several people who were dear to me but I've also gained a lot.... Love, friendship and knowledge just to name a few. I came here angry with questions and now I'm leaving, still with questions but no longer angry. And as for my father, I just don't feel anything for that stranger. People may say I'm wrong or I'm heartless but I don't care, I'm not angry anymore I've just accepted it for what it is..."Nothing." The last month or so has taught me that our time here is short, it can end at any moment and being angry isn't the way I'd like to spend whatever time I have left...) (Which brings me to the person I should thank most for being with me this entire time, Maria. She really deserves something for putting up with me and sticking by me even when I was at my lowest. She was always there, holding my hand each step of the way... Sure, I may have gotten through this without her but I doubt that I would be in as great a state of mind as I am now. Even when I seemed hopeless she always knew what to say to keep me focused. And honestly, there's no way I can pay her back but I want to at least show her that she is appreciated. She really is my best friend and I can't see the future so I don't know if our romantic relationship will last but I know our friendship will...) Maria: Z? ("Ha. Speak of the devil...") Z: Yeah? Maria: I thought you'd be resting... What are you doing? ("There's that protective nature.") Z: ...I'm practicing. Maria: By yourself? ("Who does that sound like...?") Z: It's the best way I know how. Wanna play? Maria: Uh...Ok. But I have a letter for you. It's from Hyrule. ("A letter from Hyrule? Oh man...") Z: Hmm... Maria: So...What's it say? Z? Z: ...It's your move. Maria: Huh...? (I won the match. ...Just a few more days till we arrive. Looking out at the ocean I can see the clouds forming in the distance, we're gonna hit rain soon. Guess I'll have to go inside in a little while but man being on deck and looking down at the water is very calming, you know?) Chapter II: Complete Edited by Bx, Aug 8 2009, 12:24:12 AM.
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10:12 AM Jul 11