Final Fantasy: Fated

By:  Rift (Oscar R. Labrador)

Chapter 2: The Lady and the Rogue


She awoke to find herself still in the church. However she was not in the
same place she fell unconscious.  She was now in the backroom of the church
and cover with a blanket.  Her mind still reeling from the images that had
been presented to her.  The rebellious youth.  The huge one-arm man.  The
woman looking for revenge. The lonesome man. The horrific site of the
silver-haired soldier impaling the serene young women with the green eyes.
And the alien presence. That image really frightened her the most. The
shadowy image of what was responsible for all the suffering she had seen in
her visions.  She tried to discard the visions as illusion caused by lack of
rest, but something inside of her refused to believe that.  A basic instinct
told her that her visions were indeed the past and the future.  Her thoughts
began to clear up, and thought of the voice and the task it presented.  The
voice had seemed very familiar to her; almost she had heard it when she was
born.  Could the voice have the information she has sought all her life?
Then there was the task the voice gave her.  The more she though about it,
the more she felt helpless to stop it.  She was one person with no combat
experience, no weapon, no materia and some power she didn't know how to use
at will.  How could she save that woman from that incredibly powerful
silver-haired soldier?  She didn't even know where either was.  Then a
sudden realization hit her.

*Blanket? *

The realization of the extra garment, brought attention to her change in
position.  How?  Did the voice do this too?

"So sleeping beauty is finally up, eh?"

She looks around to find the origin of the new voice and finds it.  The
voice came from a young looking man.  He wore long, black corduroy pants
with a vest of matching color.  His hands were gloved and on the right one,
he was carrying some kind of weird weapon.  It was a chain with a guarded
hilt on one end, and some weird looking hand ax on the other end.  His hair
was black and cut very short, except for a small strand of hair on the back,
which was tied off with ordinary string.

"You know, you shouldn't take a nap out in the open in a city like this. 
You're liable to get mugged or even worse.  Really careless of you to do
such a thing." he said.

For a moment, Inno was stunned at how the man acted so familiar with her. 
Then the shock soon gave way to the fear of having last nights nightmarish
encounter repeat itself.  She was also afraid of the possibility of her
doing those 'things' she did to those men again.

The man looked at her back away from him.  His years of experience knew what
that meant.  She's going to either try to run from him or scream loud enough
to wake the dead.

"Hey, calm down! I'm not gonna hurt 'ya!"

The look in her let him know that she didn't believe him.  He couldn't blame
her; this wasn't a place where you made friends.  This was more of a place
where you could be killed for just looking at someone the wrong way.

"Look. If I was gonna mug 'ya, I would of done it while you were
unconscious. And why would I bother covering you with my blanket? Doesn't
that tell you that I'm not a mugger?"

She calmed down a bit.  He was right.  If he wanted money or anything else,
he would have taken it by now.  She wouldn't have been in a position to
fight back. Looking at him again, she wasn't sure she could.

Seeing her relax told him that the worst was probably over.  At the very
least, she wouldn't scream now.  He didn't need the aggravation from the MCP
now. Only problem now was how to keep the peace between them.  Social skills
were not his strong suit.

"Can I have my blanket back?"

This took Inno by surprise.  That's the one thing she didn't expect him to
say. Therefore, she replied in the only possible way she knew how.  "What?"

"You heard me. Can I have my blanket back? I was just lending it to you.
It's not like you can keep it."

"Umm...who are you?"

"If anyone should introduce themselves, it should be you. You the one that
took a nap in a place that invites all the scum in this place to do to you
whatever they can think of. You should go first."

She threw the blanket at him.  "My name is Inno Kinsley," she replied in an
angry tone, "and I didn't take a nap. I passed out."

"Well that's gratitude for 'ya." said the man as he picked the blanket off
his head.  "I find YOU here and out of the kindness of my heart I help you
out by putting you somewhere safe and you get mad at me.  Heck, I even put
my blanket on you so you wouldn't get cold."

*That would explain why I woke up here instead of on the flowerbed* she
thought.  She felt a bit guilty of having mistrusted a person that took the
time to look out for her well being without even knowing who she was.
"Sorry..."

"That's okay. I usually come across like a jerk to new people I meet. Well,
nice meeting you Kinsley"

"Wait! You didn't tell me your name."

"Just call me Gabriel. It's the only name I go by."

"Wait!"

"Now what?"

Inno hated asking, but she really didn't have a choice. She knew that if she
asked anyone else, she might not get an honest answer. "Umm..."

"Well? What is it?"

"Do you know how to get to the hotel in Sector 3?"

********************************************************************************

As the made their way to Sector 3, Inno looked at her current company.  He
was quite strange man.  Everything he wore was black, from his boots to his
leather jacket.  Even the guard on his strange looking weapon was black. 
That also brought to her attention the other weapon he used: a bow and
arrow.  A weapon that's considered obsolete by today's standards. The bow
had been replaced by the crossbow and that was now replaced by the gun.
"Excuse me..."

"Something wrong, Kinsley? We can rest if you're tired."

"No, it's not that. I was wondering about your weapons. The one on your
belt, I've never seen it before. And why do you use a bow? Wouldn't it be
better to use a gun?"

*Good, she's relaxed* thought Gabriel, "I know a lot of people think that
*guns are the best weapons, and in some cases they could be right. However,
*with me, that isn't the case. The way I use a bow makes gun look obsolete
*in comparison."

"And your weird chain weapon?"

"It's called a chain sickle. I know it looks unorthodox, but you'd be
surprised how effective it really is. Helps me out a lot with my job."

"What do you do?"

"Me? I'm a relic hunter. I go to different places in the world looking for
old artifacts. After I find 'em I either sell 'em to some collector or, if I
like it well enough, I keep it in my hiding place."

"That sounds wonderful!"

"Well, the job's never boring. In fact, the reason I was in Midgar was
because I was gonna sell one of them, but the guy never showed. Odd, after
he showed so much interest in it."

"Can I see it?"

"Why not." They both paused as Gabriel went through his travel bag.  "It's
actually two things a weapon and a shield. Real piece of work. Both have to
be really old, but there's virtually no sing of decay. Okay, here we go."
Gabriel pulls out a small, wooden box. "Real strange. Found it on one of
those small islands. Searched the place on a..." he paused when he got a
hint of an all too familiar smell.  He looked around to see if he could find
the source of it.

"What is it?"

"Fire..."

Inno started to feel the all too familiar sensation of fear.  Could fate now
be conspiring against her as well?  "Where?" she asked, dreading the worst.

Gabriel finally found the origin of the fire. The very place that they were
headed.  "Sector 3. Not good, not good at all. Fire in the slums usually
means a riot."

Inno suddenly panicked fearing for her mother and Les.  She tried to run to
the hotel, but Gabriel stopped her by grabbing her arm.  She tried to pry
away from his grip, but was unable to.  " Let me go! Let me go! Les! Mother!
They're going to get killed!"

"If you go, you'll share the same fate. Maybe even worst."

"I don't care! I couldn't live with myself if I at least didn't try to help
them! Let me go!"

*Now where have I heard that before? *, he thought.  Old memories began
surfacing, but he pushed them down.  Now wasn't the time to remember old
wounds. Now, he had to help Kinsley.  "I know I can't stop you, but at least
let me help you."

"You'll help me?"

"Of course, I'll help you. You'd think I'd go this far, and just suddenly
leave you to the wolves?"

"Thank you, Gabriel."

"Oh, and another thing." Gabriel opened the box to reveal a shield with some
kind of hawk design on it and a sheath short sword.  "Your gonna need a
weapon."

[TO BE CONTINUED]
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This is the first time I try something like this. Almost didn't make it too.
I've been really busy lately getting ready for an operation I have to do. I
spent a whole day in a hospital just to get everything ready. Word of advice
to all of you want to get an operation you don't need: don't. : P

I'm not really satisfied with what I wrote. I don't think it flowed too well
and I might have written Inno out of character. Other than that, I hope that
Gabriel contributes to the story. I stayed away from combat scenes since I
find them kinda hard to write at the moment, but I don't think that there
was enough story to have a decent one.

I welcome all types of criticism, except for flames. I really need to know
how I can improve. All things said; it was fun and would love to do this
again when I have the time. Maybe in this fic, maybe in some other fic.
Maybe I'll make a starter. Maybe not. ; P

-Rift