Final Fantasy J

[Caros]

"The old man has it right." Kyo said quite simply, still all wicked smiles as he glanced at the chaos surrounding the caravan. Still, he made no move to sheath his weapon, looking steadily at Aluf. "I'll be a moment."

Turning, he moved back in the direction from which he came, stepping through the forest to stand over the mage. He hefted the downed caster, carrying him back into the clearing before tossing him casually down upon the road. He paused, smile fading as he looked upon the unconcious figure with disgust, drawing back his foot and kicking the mage square in the stomach. "Wake up!" Another blow fell as he repeated his command, continuing to strike the mage until he woke from the pain, was healed to conciousness by Frida, or someone attempted to stop him.

 

[Brother Allard]

Aluf watches Kyo retreat into the forest with a look of concern on his face, which is only somewhat lessened by his charge's immediate return. That look is replaced by one of shock and then anger as Kyo begins to kick the senseless man.

"Enough!" he shouts, stepping forward, towering over his protégé. For a moment, it appears as though Aluf might actually strike him. But, gritting his teeth, Aluf manages to suppress his anger and revulsion at this act of violence directed at a man no longer able to defend himself. Offended to his core, Aluf forces into his mind the image of this child before the events of the last few years. An innocent and happy child, free from care or worry. That child is still in there, somewhere. He knows it.

He reaches out a hand, and gently grabs Kyo by the shoulder. "This man is our prisoner now, Kyo. Despite what he is and what he has done, he will come to no further harm. Do you understand?"

 

[Caros]

"Soft like him then is it?" He asked, though the subject he was discussing was not immediately apparent. "All morals and guidelines, worries instead of action." He drew back his foot, looking for a moment as if he might kick the mage again, before settling down on the balls of his feet.

"These weren't bandits, Or rather, they probably were, but were hired to make an attack look like highway robbery." He shook his head, one hand coming up to push hair away from eyes that still glowed with an inner fire. "If you don't want to question him as soon as possible, so be it."

With that he turned, headed away from the mage, getting perhaps ten feet before halting, glancing over his shoulder. The wooden sword was raised then, the vibrant color spilling from his eyes and down over the length of its 'blade' as Kyo spoke. "And one more thing old man. If you ever mistake me for that idiot Kyo again, I. Will. Kill you."

Casually he completed his turn, bringing the blade down in a long arc. In its wake it left an Emerald Cresent, a wave of force that advanced upon, and ultimately brought death to the fallen mage.

In the wake of it stood Kyo, seemingly unconcerned about the dead man, casually tossing aside what was left of the bokken, the technique having reduced all but the hilt to mere cinders and ash. "Not much a prisoner now at all is he?" The question came, almost a joke, Kyo's bare hands now outstreached. "Pity that."

 

[Jemal]

The glow did not leave the blade, intensifying as 'kyo' glanced down at it, a look of confusion on his face. A bright flash of angry light flashed from the blade... for it was an actual blade now... and when everybody's vision had recovered, Kyo lay unconscious on the ground, the katana buried a foot deep in the road beside him.

They cared for him then, and over the next 3 days that it took for him to awaken, unsure of what had happened, or of what to do. Aluf seemed to have his suspicions, but refused to share them with anybody, rarely leaving his charges side, the now sheathed katana resting in the same wagon with them as they travelled.

 

[Caros]

Kyo struggled against the chains that bound him, thick lengths encircling arms, waist and feet, suspending most of his body from the ground. He had been there for an age or an instant, that hellish island distorting all sense of time and dimensions.

The steam was all pervasive around him, the heat stifling and filled with noise, the sound of combat. He heard screams, orders of uncle, cries of his friends and his own distorted voice shouting.

He didn't even know how this had come to pass. He'd simply lost himself in the fighting, emptied his mind and let instinct take over. His vision had clouded, and he had woken here, screaming and fighting against the chains as something terrible happened.

His blade lay on the ground before him, dug deep into the cracked earth, its sheath laying lengthwise so close, yet so out of reach. And so he struggled, pulling at the chains, crying out as they tightened at his flesh, screaming his own frustrations and fears to join the terror that swirled around him.

"Kyo..."

The voice shocked him, head craning to regard the source even as it remained just out of sight, lingering at the edge of his vision. It was his mother, then his father, uncle, then cousin. Every voice he called dear.

"Make up your mind."

"What?"

"If you want to fight, then fight. If you want to bind it, then bind it. Closing your eyes and whimpering, waiting for it to all go away leads here. It leads to their deaths."

The words resounded so calm, sweeping away the terror and the confusion of battle, the world about him seeming to steady for a moment, then sparking vibrant green, the chains melting from his flesh.

He lunged for his weapon of course, then recoiled as fingers glided over its surface. While it held the form of his weapon, this thing was malevolent, a simple touch filling him with the lust for blood and death. Kyo pondered it for a long moment, turning to grab a length of chain, before carefully sheathing the Katana, looping the chain once through the ornate guard, sealing it closed.

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He woke then, in the blink of an eye. It was unsettling, the sun pouring in from one end of the hooded wagon, washing across half of his face. He felt disgusting, his skin damp, from the combat days past and the light fever he had been running. Birds chirped nearby, the racket and the stillness telling him that the sunlight was that of the early morning.

Kyo squirmed slightly, pushing himself upright, blinking sleep out of his eyes, that sheathed blade rolling away from his body from the motion. "The hell did I miss?" He whispered to himself.

 

[Arkhandus]

"Kyo..." Mikken said as Kyo started to regain consciousness, "coz, do you feel okay now? D'ya remember where we are? Uncle Aluf said you passed out after the fight..." he says with concern. Mikken had given up the pursuit when Aluf called out, and didn't see Kyo's strange behavior at the end of the battle.

 

[Guest 11456]

Once Leita had heard that Kyo was at last awake, she made haste to his side. "Kyo! At last you are awake. I was sooooo worried about you. Don't you dare do that again. OK?" She stands there with her dainty hands on her shapely hips while pouting at him.

 

[Belle]

It wasn't long after the squeel of delight coming from Letia that the 'news' spread through camp. The time after that was shorter still before a burgandy haired head popped up at the corner of the wagon, ice blue eyes glinting with mischief a finger held up to pearl lips that moved almost silently.

"Purity of light reflects best in the purity of water... Create Water!" The last word was too loud to stifle, though it was too late anyway a small downpour, enough to thoroughly douse Mikken even as she swatted him gingerly across the back of the head with three fingers. "I slave over him for hours, and when he wakes up you don't come get me?!"

Whatever laughter might have come out of Kyo would be instantly silenced however, her ire turning his way then. "And you! You go running off, grab your sword from the wagon, and then pass out for three days. You had me so scared..." She sputtered for a moment, at a loss for words before just letting out a sigh of frustration and dropping down, immediately begining to test him... the usual 'Turn your head and cough' style of medicine she was so very bad at.

 

[Caros]

"I've got a pretty good idea. Everyone is okay?" He took a long moment to regard Mikken, eyes narrowed, as if searching for something. "You're okay?"

Whatever happy moment between cousins was to come was not to be, interupted as Leita climbed into the wagon to chastise him. He was halfway through a stuttered appology when Mikken got drenched, and the appologies started all over again.

"I'm sorry about what happened there. Got ahead of myself, paid less attention to the lot of you than I did to fighting them." He frowned then, settling himself up more properly once his 'exam' was finished. "We're going to have more battles ahead, I'm almost sure of it. And while the last thing I want to do is fight..." His eyes flicked to his sword then. "Not the last thing, I don't want to see these people die, or any of you die, or even get hurt."

He forced himself upright then at last, smiling for what seemed like the first time in ages, sheathed sword in hand. "I've got to go wash up, Then I have something to practice before we leave. Mikken, you might find it interesting. Dunno if the girls..." He trailed off, bracing for injury.

 

[Jemal]

Aluf smiles, though his eyes betray a buried fear. "Welcome back, Nephew. If you feel up to heading out, we're stopping for supper fairly soon, so that should give you all a chance to go for a walk. Just don't go too far from the caravan, I'll stay here and keep an eye on the place. Why don't all of you go? Maybe have some fun, get away from the monotony."