Story:Kings of Strife/Part 14

Part Fourteen
"You mean you didn’t realize that kid was playing you?” The mercenary was met without a response at first from the man in front of him. The soldier, named Vikcent Hyusei from what he had shared, sat on his knees with his hands in his hair. Despair and panic painted his face's canvas brilliantly, evident even in the night. Dry tears left scars on his tan face. The two were still sitting on the sands outside of Straits City.

“How… how was I supposed to know?” The soldier didn’t move. Silverius scoffed and ran his hand through his hair.

“Well, for one, you say he met you right after you found your Crystal. And he disappeared when you fought that big guy in the black armor. I’d say you’re stupid for not realizing it earlier, y’know.” Despite his aloof attitude, Silverius looked up to the night sky with lingering despair, as well. It might not have concerned him immediately, but the fact remained that that organization now had hold on yet another Crystal, and they apparently had strong henchmen that were skilled in infiltration and disguise.

"I... I don't, I don't know… I trusted him! I really thought he needed my help… And I was…” Obviously, the man was reluctant to share his sentiments, and he couldn’t even make eye contact with Silverius. His slow spoken words were drenched in deep and dark weakness. Bleakly, Hyusei looked like he had just attended the funeral of a close loved one. “I thought he needed me. I thought I was helping him…” The soldier looked to the mercenary with those same weak eyes, searching for an explanation or an excuse. Silverius frowned and looked away. Uncomfortably, he realized just how similar this situation was to his own.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, buddy." Gruffly, Silverius stood up, trying to cut ties with this man as effectively as possible. He bent and picked up his gunblade. “They scammed you and that’s that. Now go home and find somebody else who likes your weird complexes.”

"No!!" The mercenary stopped and turned to look at Vik, who exclaimed quite loudly how he felt about that. The hairy soldier looked down, a childish blush beginning to form across his face. His brow began to grow sweaty. "I... I don't know where he went, but... I needed that Crystal." Now he looked up once again, an oddly vulnerable look in his eyes. It was like someone had stolen something from him, not just an artifact but a lifeline. Silverius, face laced with disgust, began to back away when Vik stood up suddenly, apparently not paying attention to his wounds he had acquired a short bit ago. "Don’t look at me like that - you have to help me! You have to help me get it back. You're against them too, right?!”

Silverius shook his head and stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. "...No, that's not such a good idea. The last girl I traveled with, she..." An awkward silence chilled both their bones before agitation warmed Crono's. "Look, I don't need any extra baggage, okay? I'm already on the lookout for someone, and that's all that matters to me right now. Leave me alone." He turned again, starting to walk briskly, before Vik's hand gripped his arm and stopped his progress. Angrily, the slim mercenary turned around again, visibly irritated. "Look, man, I said n-"

"You can't just leave me!" What he saw then in Vik's face was disturbing and disquieting. His eyes, blue as the sky during its peak, were hurt and almost physically reached out to him of desperation, fearing what would happen to them if he had left, fearing the dark abyss around the two. Silverius was struck speechless in wonder, What could have happened to this man to make him look so – what drove him, why was he so determined? Vik looked down at his hand on Silverius’ shoulder as if suddenly realizing what he had done, and drew it back to himself. He cradled his hand and examined it strangely for a second, seemingly surprised with what he saw and the audacity he had shown to use his appendage in such a way. The man was visibly sweaty and disheveled. Once again, shakily and with a frenzy, he whispered to the mercenary in front of him. "You're either with them or against them, and if you're against them, there's no reason you shouldn't help me out! Just... Please, I need to find him. I need to get that Crystal back…”

Silverius unconsciously began to simultaneously look down on this wounded man as well as pity him. Considering how much he wanted to just turn and leave him there, it was appalling to realize within himself that, for once, this would be a much harder task than usual. He spit to the ground and displaced sand beneath his feet as he began to reply. “Don’t grovel to me like that.” Hyusei looked at Silverius, surprised at the cold neutrality he heard. “Your problems have nothing to do with me. I’m not even interested in fighting those people… I just want to find my friend, sell this Crystal and escape.” Instantly Silverius’ face dawned with horror as he realized his mistake, and his hands unconsciously covered his waist bag. Unfortunately, this only managed to draw Vik’s attention to it further.

"S-sell? Why would you want to sell it?!” Now Hyusei stood up energetically, springing with a sudden influx of aggressiveness. “You… you fool! You’re just making things easier for them, that's playing into their hands! You can't really be that foolish!"

The mercenary swiped at the air in frustration. "I don't give a shit, okay?!" The two looked at each other, both seething with resentment. Hatred slithered into each of them. Silverius scoffed and looked away darkly, letting his hair flip along the side of his face. "I told you none of that matters to me. I don’t have time for your little mysteries and adventures, alright? I’ve got a life to live.”

“But, if you do what they want, they’ll win! This isn’t a game, you weak little sellsword! Your life won’t be the same if they get what they want! They’re evil, the whole lot of them!”

“What will they do, then?! What makes them so evil? Tell me what you know!” Vik had nothing to say, and he was even more angered at this fact. Silverius chuckled and looked back at the soldier with a vindictive look. “Just leave me alone." He turned and shook his head, walking away once again.

Vik spoke to his back, throwing the words out onto the sands for Silverius to step on. They crunched and creaked... as if he were stepping on something human. As if he was murdering once again. "So if you don't care about them, why do you have that Crystal still? Huh?! Why do you fight at all, why do you insist on actively running away?" Crono didn't turn but was motionless, and the soldier stared at the torn cloth on his back in anger for a second as he ran his hand through his hair.

“…Are you calling me a coward?”

Suddenly Vik laughed out loud, obnoxiously, as if the scene was at all humorous. "I guess so, huh? You and I both know why. Oh yeah, I do." He pointed a skinny finger at the mercenary's back. "You’re running away from this fight because you need it. You don’t want to risk them beating you and taking it away. I felt it too, y'know. The Crystals do something to you.” The soldier’s voice was now dripping with a sweet distaste, a contradictory allegory that gave both his sympathy and his repulsion. “They heal you. They help you. I don't know why, or fucking how, but they attach and they connect to you. Like a poison." He started to laugh even more, disturbingly, as now both of his hands ran through and disheveled his hair. Regardless of his joyful expression, every word he spoke was obviously from abhorrent experience. "That's why I need mine back! Besides fighting Ouroboros, besides finding Hasey, besides all that! I... I need it, god dammit! So they'll forgive me!!" He pulled his arms out of his hair with the expletive, turning around and angrily fingering the scar on his left eyebrow. "So they’ll forgive me… God dammit...! What am I even doing here?" The last words escaped as whispers, followed by shallow footsteps as Vik grabbed his rifle and jogged from the scene.

Silverius stood in his position until he no longer heard running, and still didn't move for a good moment afterwards. He looked down, eyes narrow and frozen in thought. Why... why did he still have the Crystal? He could have easily hidden it somewhere, or sold it like he said he was, but... Somehow his subconscious rejected that option. Vigorously. Could that soldier actually have been right? Was the Crystal affecting him, somehow? Was it poisoning him?

He wandered his thoughts as he reluctantly searched the beach for Cidolas. “I meant to sell it when I first got it, but... after Maria, I... never thought about it”. Maria again... When they first met, he had saved her from a horrible fate, but in the end it was his fault that she was in trouble now, no doubt. Yet he knew that leaving her there wouldn’t have solved anything for him; if anything, that would have left him with more regret. From his first glimpse of her, and from the first time she innocently combed her hair in front of him, he was attached. She was so different.

Then what of this Ouroboros? If that Nneonian soldier had been antagonizing them, that meant the group was much larger and influential than Silverius had dared thought. And what was with that Knight he spoke of, could he have something to do with the cloaked man who stole Maria away? It was problematic that Silverius knew little to nothing about the enemies and issues in front of him, and true to his nature, he began to get irritated and think even harder, driving himself further and further into his rut. As he did so, he walked idly around the dark beach, listening and looking for any sign of Cidolas. It was odd that she hadn’t returned to him and even more so that he couldn’t hear signs of a prolonged battle. He began to dread the fact that she had left him alone.

His searched proved fruitless for a good while until he saw blood on the sands, close to the water. There was a lot of it, splattered around the area, so it probably wasn't from one person. The blood led him to two detached hands, he realized unexpectedly. “Eugh, what the?” Despite the unattached limbs, there was no body could be found. “She really went all out, but… There’s no doubt about it, I’ve looked everywhere, and there isn’t even a blood trail… This means…."

"Yes. That you are truly alone."

The voice behind the mercenary made him jump, literally, and landing on his knees in the low sea water, he drew his gunblade in the direction of the statement. The voice was eerily familiar and it filled him with even more dread. It was deep, taunting yet serious, dangerous yet playful. Only a single glance confirmed his sentiments. Fire-red hair, blood-red coat, vermillion-red sword hilts, pitch black leg armor. The Crimson Death was again before him.

Silverius stepped back with his gunblade extended, cocking the hammer just to be safe. "How did you get here?! What do you want with me?”

“I drove here, you fool.” The man in red let his hands rest in his coat’s pockets while the darkness barely cloaked him.

“…Tch. What are you doing here?! I won't let you have the Crystal!" There it was again, the mercenary noted - that strange attachment to the object. Gin Taoris gave his signature laugh that bordered amusement and aggressiveness. It only managed to fill his rival with irritation. "Dammit, I asked you a question, you bastard!" Silverius took aim and prepared to fire his gunblade when the Crimson Death raised his hands in the air, palms facing his enemy. Such was a gesture meaning peace and surrender. Crono looked at him with confusion, but didn't dare to lower his weapon.

"Relax, good sir." The Death chuckled again before looking at Silverius with those icy blue eyes of his. They were half-closed, as usual, but showed the full amount of unbalance and cold apathy that the man had to offer. "I'm not here to fight. Not now. I just wanted to, ah... let you in on a little secret." The two stood unmoving, waiting for the other to make a move. Gin took initiative this time and started to walk ever closer to Silverius with slow, measured steps. By the time he began to whisper once again, his hands lightly danced over the top of the gunblade as he walked past it. "My sources tell me that you’re searching for someone." When he finished talking, Gin Taoris’ face was next to Silverius’, and the two were almost touching. Crono's eyes widened and flashed with unbridled rage, and in a matter of seconds he viciously kneed the taller man in the stomach, pushing him to the floor. Next, Silverius let off a quick jump; landing on his torso again with his knees, he forced the wind out of the Crimson Death. He lay the sharp end of his gunblade right into Gin's neck, pushing it to the very limit of the man's skin.

"Don't play with me, you motherfucker," growled Crono with a savage look. Once Gin caught his breath, he looked at his assailant with those same damned mocking eyes. They held not a shred of fear. The black-clad mercenary drove his knee further into the man's gut. "Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?!" It wouldn't be too hard for him to believe that the Crimson Death was allied with Ouroboros, the enigmatic scum that he was.

"Now, now... If we fight here, I can't say anything about her personal well-being, now can I? You wouldn't want your little bird to die of starvation... now would you?" Rage and confusion mixed in a terrifying solution and diverted Crono's attention. Gin took this opportunity and punched him in his face, sending the man sprawling away. Standing up quickly, the Crimson Death followed his attack up with a swift kick to the mercenary’s gut. His armored boots left kick an impact. “Hmhmhm… That is, if she is yours, as you seem to think she is. Just because you stole what was already stolen property, you think you have complete ownership of it? Can you even own a person?”

"Gragh!!" Crono rolled and turned his back on Gin, leaving his gunblade on the floor and curling up into the fetal position. He choked with an agonizing mixture of pain and guilty frustration. "Damn… Damn you!! You don’t know anything about me…"

Gin chuckled and started to walk away. "You don’t know anything about yourself, either… But. You're almost there, good sir. Just come to the Black Pass... A mere couple miles south of here, at the valley of the mountains. Hahahaha...We'll be waiting. Ahahaha!" His laughter continued and grated on Crono's ears, frying his nerves, igniting his passion and rage. But there was nothing he could do but writhe in his pain - already tired from his fight with Vikcent, now he was definitely wounded – physically and mentally. First Cidolas was gone, at least he assumed, and now the Crimson Death had Maria...!

He began to pick himself up, catching his breath as he did so. ''“No... That is a fate worse than death for her! I have to...”'' He stood up shakily, grabbing his gunblade in his hand and adjusting the hood of his coat. ''“I know what I must do. I have to set her free. I have to kill that red man. Because...”'' The moonlight reflected Crono's dark silhouette on the waters tinted orange with the slowly rising sun. It had been an eventful night.

“Because I love her.”

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