Chapter 10 - The Eyes of a Killer

Eric blinked his eyes open when he heard the sound of angry yelling. As he opened his eyes slowly, hoping the incident with the Turks was just a dream, he found that it wasn't. Instead, he found himself lying face down on cold, wet, ground. He felt panic rising within him as he realized that he couldn't move his arms or legs; he couldn't even feel them.

Suddenly, a foul smell wafted into his nostrils, the smell of rotting wood, grass and stagnant water. He brought his head slowly around, and saw behind him tall weeds and cattails. The smell seemed to get stronger as he looked at the weeds, and Eric realized that they were near a bog, and there was only one marsh he could think of; the Midgar marsh. The swampland was located near the Chocobo Ranch, and was a home for foul monsters and such, a place that was most certainly not safe to spend the night. Suddenly, he heard voices growing louder and turned back around and laid his head on the moist ground, hoping his captors would think him still unconscious.

“I'm telling you, Tseng, I checked it before we left,” Reno said, almost pleadingly.

“Then how did we run out!” Tseng shouted back, his frustration apparent on his face.

“I don't know!”

“How can you not know? There's a meter that shows the gasoline levels! Any half-wit could tell we were running low! Do you realize what Velk will say! He'll be furious that we've taken as long as we have already!”

Despite how scared he felt, Eric couldn't help but look up at the two and smile slightly. Even now, when it seemed that his luck had finally run out, he still received a faint glimmer of hope. If Yuffie saw him as even the smallest bit of a friend, then perhaps she would tell Vincent, and the two would come looking for him. Unfortunately, they had absolutely no idea where he was, let alone where in the middle of this vast swampland he was. He sighed heavily as the weight of the situation came back down on him, perhaps too heavily.

“Oh, look,” Reno snickered, “Sleeping Beauty's awake.”

Eric just reamained quiet, looking stoically at the man, the way Vincent looked at people. It helped him feel a little more brave.

“Not a talker, huh?” Reno asked, walking over to him, “That's okay, You'll be begging for mercy soon enough.”

“Mercy?” Eric spat, trying to sit up, but found that the feeling in his limbs was still gone, “What would a Turk know about mercy?”

“Enough to show you some,” Reno shot back, hitting Eric sharply on the back of the head, “You shouldn't speak to your elders so rudely, kid.”

“My name is not `kid'!” Eric growled, “It's Eric Constantine!”

“Well, thank you, Eric Constantine,” Tseng said quietly, “At least now we know we have the right kid.”

Eric stopped, realizing the foolish mistake he had made.

Reno laughed quietly, “Nice one Tseng.” His hand went up for a high-five, but a cold look from his leader caused him to drop his hand.

“What do you want with me?” Eric asked quietly.

“WE don't want anything,” Tseng answered, walking next to Reno, “It's Velk that wants to see you, and your guess is as good as ours as to what he needs.”

Eric shivered at the prospect of going back to Shinra, and even more so from the thought of seeing the Shinra lab again. He had only been in it once, and that was way before Hojo had tried to capture him. He had been on a general tour of the building when he was ten years old, as part of his Turk training. The cruel instruments and cold machines still scared him when he thought about them.

When Tseng and Reno had turned away and started back to the place they had come from, Eric shivered again, this time, not from the fear, but from the cold. His stomach was cold and wet from lying on the muddy ground, and goosebumps were spreading across his arms. This development was very uncomfortable, but showed that he at least had feeling again. Before he had time to appreciate this stroke of good fortune, he felt something coarse around his wrists and ankles. He jerked his head around as best he could to find his wrists tied together tightly with a thick cord of rope. His feet were also bound, and he struggled slightly to slip his hands free from the rough rope. It went on for several moments, and just as his wrists began to chaffe from moving against the coarse weave of the rope, a sudden rustling in the weeds behind him grabbed his attention. He jerked around but saw nothing, so decided to return his attention back to the rope, still keeping a watchful eye on the grass.

When he had gotten his thumb under the rope to use as leverage for the rest of his hands, he heard footsteps coming from his left. He relaxed his hands back into their tied position, hoping his captors wouldn't notice how loose they had become.

“Did you see anything out there, Rude?” Tseng asked the tall bald man.

“No,” he answered simply.

“Good,” Tseng nodded, “That's the last thing we need.”

Eric, who, by this time, had grown very wet from lying on the soggy ground, cleared his throat politely. The two men looked at him, both glaring slightly, though Eric couldn't be too sure. Rude's eyes were covered by his sunglasses.

“I'm sorry,” Eric said quietly, “But you could you please let me sit up? This ground is awful wet.” Normally, Eric would have been too frighten to ask such a question, but he reasoned that they might be slightly willing to help because he had almost been a Turk. He knew he recognized Tseng from when he was there, though the man had been younger the last time Eric had seen him.

Tseng rolled his eyes, and Rude cracked his knuckles. Eric jumped, but Tseng just shook his head and motion for the large man to follow him. Rude grabbed Eric's ankles, and Tseng grabbed his wrists and the two flipped him over, then laid him back down, or more like, dropped him back down. Eric landed on his rear, and as the two walked back, brought himself up too a sitting position as best he could. It was uncormfortable, but at least he wasn't lying on the wet ground.

“Thank you,” Eric mumbled to the men, and Tseng just rolled his eyes again.

“Just stay quiet,” was all he said. Eric settled himself back in the grass and hoped that he would find a chance to run.

“Here,” Tseng ordered, tossing a belt to Rude, “Start a fire.”

“Hey!” Eric shouted, trying to stand, “Those are mine!” Rude was holding his belt of materia, the materia he had worked so hard to perfect.

“Not anymore,” Tseng answered, and Eric fell into a pout. How dare they? They kidnap him, threaten him and then steal his materia! How much lower could they get?

“I wonder if Vincent was like this?” he mumbled to himself.

“Vincent?” Tseng asked, turning to Eric. His eyebrow was raised and a somewhat surprised look was on his face. “Vincent Valentine?”

Eric just nodded slightly, for he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not to let them know he was friends with Vincent. After a moment, he grew more confident, and decided to press it.

“You just wait,” Eric continued, feeling slightly childish, “Until Vincent finds me. He'll save me, you just watch, and then you'll be sorry you ever messed with me.”

“Are you really that naïve?” Tseng asked quietly, “To believe that he cares?”

“Of course he cares!” Eric replied, “He's saved my life before, twice actually!”

“And you don't think that you've become a burden to him?”

Eric stopped. Had he become a burden to Vincent? It was true that Vincent had agreed to help him in his journey, but after saving and helping him, had Vincent grown tired of him? Eric had disrupted the man's way of life, and had brought him out into the world he was obviously trying to avoid. No, Vincent wouldn't have stayed with him for so long if he saw Eric as anything but, at least, a companion.

“No, Vincent doesn't mind me,” Eric shook his head, and Tseng just smiled slightly, a cold, knowing smile, as if to say that he knew something Eric didn't.

“Do you think Vincent is a simple man?”

“No,” Eric answered, becoming nervous about where this was going, “He has his secrets, just like everyone else. His are just a bit more scary, that's all.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Don't you wonder why he keeps them so close?”

“Because he feels sorry for what happened.”

“And what happened?”

Once again, Eric was at a loss. He didn't know that much about Vincent. All he really knew was about a woman, Hojo and something about another half of Vincent's personality; in short, almost nothing.

“You don't know a whole lot, do you?”

Eric just sat silently.

“I'm surprised,” Tseng said, turning around to the small fire Rude had been starting during the conversation. “I would have figured that someone like you, who had been hiding from an entire organization for so long, would have tried to find out more about those you put your trust in.”

“Vincent had saved my life,” Eric said, his voice quivering, “That was all I needed to know. Anyone who saves a life must not be all bad.”

Before Tseng could answer, a slight rustling in the bushes caught his attention. Suddenly, Reno came tumbling out. His clothes were torn and bloody, but he was still breathing. He looked as if he had been attacked by a wild animal, for there were claw marks all over him.

Rude rushed to the injured man and helped him to his feet.Tseng took his shoulder to help support him, then asked him what had happened, his cool voice sounding slightly panicked.

“Something….something out in the marsh,” he panted through deep breathes, “I was attacked. I couldn't take it, and it almost killed me. It's coming this way. It's huge and..” but he slumped down before he could finish.

Rude and Tseng looked at each other, then turned again to the grass when they heard more movement. The area fell silent again, and even Eric held his breath. He was completely defensless to a monster, and he doubted that his captors would protect him.

The grass of the marsh exploded suddenly, and the air became filled with the sound of beating wings. A tall figure swooped down from the night sky and landed before the group. Eric gazed up at the most frightening figure he had ever seen.

Before him was a tall creature, its black skin seeming to absorb the warmth and light from the small fire. Long, black bat wings extended from its back, which were spread out wide. Its eyes, two, red portals of anger and hate, glowed menacingly, and just above them protruded a set of fierce looking horns. Its fanged mouth let out a roar, and before Eric could have time to move or even breath, the monster spread its wings and swooped down right at him. It flew down, grabbed him by the shoulder of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. The creature held him in the air for a moment, Eric too petrified with fear to even scream or struggle. It opened its free hand, and using one of its wicked claws, tore apart the rope holding Eric's wrists together.

Eric looked up at the creature, stunned. Why would it do something like that? Before he could contemplate the idea, a gunshot rang out. He turned to see Tseng aiming his gun at the monster. It dropped Eric on the ground, then landed in front of the young man. Eric, seeing his chance, untied the ropes binding his ankles, then lifted his eyes to see the creature dive for Tseng. Another shot went off, and the monster seemed to shake for a moment, as if it had takenn a hit, but then continued with even more ferocity. It brought its claws down on Tseng, whom it had pinned on the ground, but Rude caught the thing by its wrist and pulled back. The creature turned its gaze on the man, then lifted him off the ground by his throat. It roared again, then threw him towards Eric. The large man rolled across the ground and stopped in front of Eric, his glasses off and his eyes closed. Around his waist was Eric's belt.

When the monster turned back to Tseng, the man was gone, and it roared in frustration. Eric watched it as he unbuckled the belt from the unconscious man, and just as he had slipped it off, he saw something strange happen to the monster. A dark cloud had appeared around it.

The cloud swirled around its tall form, and Eric thought he saw its figure change. First, the wings melted away, and the mist seemed to change colors. Some of it became a blood red, while some took on a dull gold color. The red laid around the creature's shoulders like a cloak, and the gold wrapped around its left hand and feet. The rest of the black mist fell around his head, torso and legs, and formed into hair, a shirt and a pair of pants. The mist disappeared as Vincent turned around to face Eric. Eric wasn't sure whether to be afraid or happy, but really didn't get a chance to decide. He felt something pull hard on the belt in his hand, hard enough to lift him right off the ground. The belt was tugged out his grasp completely, but not without letting a single materia fall into Eric's hand. Eric looked at Vincent in fear as he felt the end of a gun press against his throat.

“Let him go,” Vincent ordered quietly. His voice was calm, but his eyes showed a smuldering anger, the same anger Eric had seen in the eyes of the monster.

“I don't think I will,” Tseng answered, his voice just as intense, “He's too important.”

“Why?” Eric asked slowly.

“It is none of your concern,” Tseng shot back. Vincent walked forward slowly, his steps long and strong.

“Stop right there,” Tseng said dangerously, “Or this boy's life is forfeit.”

“You won't harm him,” Vincent answered, “He's too important, I thought.”

“He's only important to Shinra, not to me,” Tseng said, “I only have to claim that he was killed by another and I shall be exemporated.”

Vincent didn't say or move, and instead stood very still, his eyes practically exploding with anger.

“And don't try to transform either,” the man added, “I could kill him before you'd even have a chance.” Vincent didn't move.

“Why do you care about the kid so much?” Tseng asked, almost tauntingly, “It doesn't seem very becoming for the legendary Vincent Valentine to show so much concern for a mere child.”

“Child!” Eric asked angrily, but only had the barrel pushed harder against his neck as an answer. Vincent still did not respond.

“Hmm, no answer, eh?” Tseng continued, “Though I shouldn't be surprised, considering your history. In fact, I would expect you to recognize the brat.” Vincent's face didn't change, but Eric though he saw a hint of confusion in the man's eyes.

“Of course, you never did see Eric,” Tseng added, seeming to grow more confident, “Just his parents.”

“My parents?” Eric said quietly, his eyes becoming empty.

“That's correct,” Tseng said, “Vincent here could probably tell you the story better then I could, but I feel that he may change some elements, so I get the pleasure of telling you.”

“It was about eleven years ago. Vincent and I had just finished our training to be Turks, and we had received our first assignment. I was to find the child of two Shinra employees, and Vincent was to remove the parents. You were that child, and Vincent's target was your parents. As you can see, the kill had affected him so much that he completely forgot about it.”

Eric couldn't believe it. So many things rushed through his head at that moment, the Turks coming to get him, his escape, meeting Vincent, his adventure in the mountains. Everything that had happened swirled around. A huge weight of emotion dropped on him, and when he looked at Vincent, the man who he thought was a friend, he saw only the monster.

“Vincent,” he whispered, “Tell me that's not true.” A tear ran down his cheek, “Tell me it's a lie!”

Vincent didn't answer, but looked away instead. Of course it was the truth. He remembered it all very clearly, unfortunately.

“You mean it's true?” Eric said, stepping forward, not realizing that Tseng had let go. “My parents didn't die in an accident? They were murdered, and you pulled the trigger!”

“Indeed,” Tseng pressed, “He did, and he enjoyed every moment of it.”

“That's enough, Tseng.” Vincent growled. He may have been resposible for their deaths, but never had he enjoyed killing anyone.

“I can't believe you!” Eric shouted, tears streaming down his face, “All this time! I trusted you! I trusted you!”

“I am sorry,” Vincent said quietly, but Eric didn't hear him.

“Enough!” Eric shouted, his eyes burning ferociously. Suddenly, the materia in his hand glowed a bright red, and it burned brightly. Eric fell to his knees, a pained scream tearing from his lips. He clutched the sides of his head, and Vincent knew what was happening. The same thing had happened, in the mountains, and the results had been terrifying.

Tseng, not understanding, saw his chance to grab the young man and run, but as he reached out, a fiery shockwave went out from the anguished young man. It blew both Tseng and Vincent backwards, each skidding on the wet ground. Vincent watched in horror as Eric's entire body became consumed in a huge blaze. The ground around him began to dry up and crack from the heat, and sparks shot from him in every direction.

Suddenly, two, long black-feathered wings sprouted from his back, and flames ran up and down them, lining their entire edge. Eric rose to his feet, and the flames became less intense. Just like his wings, the rest of him had trasformed as well.

His long, dark hair had become a bright orange and red, and was tangled and wavy, and two short horns protruded from his forehead. His skin was a dark tan, and his eyes were a bright mixture of red and orange. His fingertips were clawed, and all around his torso, waist, legs and feet was an inferno.

The burning creature that had once been Eric looked at Vincent, his orange eyes full of bitterness and hate. His eyes narrowed at him, and Vincent thought he heard Eric's voice whisper in his mind, “I'll deal with you later,” before he turned back to Tseng.

He gazed at Tseng with a judgemental look, and raised his hand, palm outward. “Burn in your sin,” he said simply, and fired a huge ball of fire at the man. He dove out of the way, and the fire continued on to blast through the tall grasses around the clearing. Anything left in the wake of the flame was scorched to almost ashes, and Tseng looked back at the place he had stood, shuddering at what would have happened if he hadn't moved.

“Go,” Eric growled through gritted fangs, and Tseng rushed to his men. By this time, they had started to awaken from all the commotion, and Tseng helped them to their feet; trying his best to keep their focus on escaping and not the burning being before them. “Leave the belt,” Eric ordered, and Tseng dropped it on the ground without giving it a second thought. After the men had rushed through the grasses, Eric turned his gaze back on Vincent.

“How long did you intend to hide it from me?” Eric roared, circling around Vincent. Each step he took caused a footprint of flame to remain behind him.

“I assure you,” Vincent answered quietly, hoping to calm him, “If I had known, I would have-“

“Would have what? Found a better way to keep it a secret? Finish the job! Is that why you saved my life from the dragon and from the rain? Because you wanted to kill me yourself!”

“Never,” Vincent replied.

“Then why didn't you tell me?” Eric shouted, before unleashing a ball of flame at Vincent. The man dove to the side and rolled across the hard ground, jumping up to his feet again at the end of his roll.

“Eric, listen to me,” he started, but was cut off again by another blast.

“No!” Eric roared, then soared into the air. He peered down at Vincent with a look of absolute disgust, then cupped his hands together in front of him. A smal orb of fire formed in his hands, but started to grow larger and larger as he focused more of his fire into it. The sphere grew larger and larger until it was almost as big as he was.

Vincent watched the display from below and quickly realised that he may have to fight fire with fire, rage with rage. Chaos appeared to be his only chance, but he was already tired from the first time he transformed. It would be hard to control the Chaos being, but he had to do it, if for no other reason to stay alive. Eric was too angry to be calmed by words, and his fury was being channeled by his own transformation. However, this transformation was different from the last one. Last time, Eric had physically changed dramatically, but now, he had taken on an almost completely different form, but how?

Vincent didn't receive much time to ponder this however, as Eric had finished forming the huge ball of flame. The fiery being clasped his hhands together and raised them above his head. Before he could even react to this, Vincent watched as Eric slammed his hands down on the ball, and sent in carrening down on the ground. Vincent saw his only escape, and jumped into the air as his own wings formed out of the black mist that had surrounded him. He flapped his wings and soared to the left, just avoiding the molten ball as it rocketed into the marsh and exploded. Vincent flapped as hard as he could to avoid the spreading wall of flame behind him, and came up to the same height as Eric; all while trying to keep his appearance from becoming too menacing.

“Eric, please, you must calm down,” Vincent instructed.

“And who are you to order me!” Eric asked, before unleashing a stream of fire from his hand.

“A friend,” Vincent shouted over the roar of the flames, “A friend who doesn't want to see you in trouble.”

“Trouble?” Eric asked, “You wish for me to be out of trouble? I will be rid of my troubles when my parents are avenged and you are dead!”

The next few minutes were a blur to Vincent. Dodging Eric's attacks were easy, for his rage distracted him too much for him to really focus, Vincent noticed that Eric wasn't tiring out, but was only growing more angry with each missed attack. Vincent saw that the situation would require drastic measures, otherwise, Eric might go completely berserk and destroy more then just Vincent. Vincent saw that the only true way to stop Eric would be to reach out to his humanity.

Vincent stopped dodging and flapped his wings to stay in flight. “Eric, I won't fight you,” he said stoically, and prepared for the attack. Whether it ended his life or not, Vincent didn't care, it would be a welcome repreive to what he had been dealing with for so many years. His one hope now was that Eric would come to his senses. He raised his hands in surrender, and Eric blasted.

The wall of flames consumed him, and he felt as if he was shriveling up. Vincent felt not only the pain of flames, but the very pain of Eric's heart, all the anguish that was pervading his spirit, and finally, the overwhelming feeling of loss and hopelessness. As the subsided, and Eric stared at him dumbfoundedly, a single tear formed in his eye, before hihs wings disappeared and he fell towards the earth.

Eric watched in awe as the target of his hate fell from the sky. He felt torn, for although he still felt anger and biterness towards Vincent, he also saw the sacrifice the man had made. Completely confused, he swooped down and caught Vincent, then landed on the ground. His flames died away, and the wings vanished, and all that was left was a broken young man, and boy that had lost everything in the span of a few moments.

He knelt over Vincent's still form, still shocked at what he had done. Hhe had never wanted to kill him, he realized.

“I didn't want you to die,” Eric cried out, “I didn't want you to die! I just..I just wanted to get payback, to avenge my parents for their sufferring.”

Vincent slowly opened one eye, wincing at the pain still coursing through him, “Is that really what you wanted?”

“Vincent!” Eric cried, going to embrace his friend, but stopped. His heart was still torn.

“Tell me,” Vincent said again, “Is that really what you wanted?”

“Well, yes and no,” Eric answered quietly, “I just…I just wanted to repay your actions.”

“And did it trully get you anywhere?” Vincent asked, his voice no more then a whisper.

“No,” Eric said sadly, his head hanging low, “It didn't. It only brought more pain.”

“You see,” Vincent said simply, “Vengeance brings nothing but more trouble upon yourself and those around you. I don't ask or expect your forgiveness,” Vincent said slowly, “But at least promise me that you will never strike out in vengeance at anyone, no matter what they have done to you.”

Eric nodded, and he looked at the materia in his hand. It was the materia of Ifrit, the Burning Summon of Rage. Never had Eric ever thought that he would kill someone, but yet here laid Vincent, dying before him. He had to do something, even if it was for his parent's murderer.

Quickly, he rushed to the belt of materia that was lying on the ground, and pulled out a materia, one he had never had to use before, Life.

He rushed back to Vincent's side, and was about to cast it, when he realized what this would mean. Using the Life spell required that the caster place a small portion of their own spirit into that of the target. If Eric did this, if he put some of his own life into Vincent, he would be rescuing the opne he had wanted to die. He didn't do it, thinking about how appropriate it was, but saw that he couldn't have any life on his hands, even a murderer's.

A he finished the spell, and Vincent sat up, and Eric looked into the eyes of a killer, and saw within them remorse, anguish, and shame, the very things that Eric had felt just now. Did that make him a killer as well? Did his action of almost taking the life of another, his willingness to snatch the breath out of another human, even if to payback for his parent's death, make him a murderer, just like Vincent? Eric wept openly, not for Vincent, not for himself, but for his parents, the two people that had been ripped away from him, for no other reason then because Eric existed.

He would eventually be able to forgive the man. Perhaps not immediately, but forgiveness would come. It would be what his parents would want.

As the young man wept, Vincent let him fall against his shoulder. He knew what that felt like, to have a need to shed tears, but unlike Eric, Vincent never had a shoulder to lean on.

“I hate you, Vincent,” Eric sobbed quietly, “I hate you.”
“I know,” the man replied, patting him lightly, “I know.”

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment