FicWad

Prologue arc
Chapter three
Weak arrogance

Disclaimer: Final fantasy six and everything that goes with it belongs to square Enix. Plot and OCs belong to me.

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'We're here,' Leanne weakly said as her, Shadow, and Interceptor entered the village, if you could really call it that.

Shadow could see that the buildings were significantly damaged. The small village obviously did not have the funds to maintain them. As he looked from face to face, he saw that most people were covered in dirt, showing poor hygiene. There clothes were torn and tattered. On every corner, Shadow saw a girl or woman all aged from thirteen-to-fifty, their red and black attire displaying their profession. In the short time he had been there, Shadow had seen a couple of middle-aged men each approach one of the younger girls. They usually spoke for a while before walking down an alleyway. The pungent stench of the town was ghastly. The smell of the many that had gone without bathing for who-knows-how-long all mixed. The few public outhouses wrecked of the foul stench of one-million excretions. Many were coughing, others sniffing. Young girls screamed. The sound of someone being inadequately beaten could not be denied, most likely a poor mugging attempt.

'I know it doesn't seem like much, but it is my home,' Leanne said.

Shadow did not acknowledge her statement. All he did was continue to examine the village uninterrupted. At least, that was until something ran into him. Shadow simply looked down upon a small child as he stumbled back.

'So'iy sir!' apologised the boy as he quickly made for the gap between Shadow and Leanne, but before he could get away, Shadow grabbed him by the throat and pulled him up to face level. This made the terrified child drop all that he had just stolen, a shuriken and a couple of kunai. Once this was done, Shadow through the boy a meter away. The young child quickly got up and rushed away from the black clad ninja via the nearby alleyway. This caused quite a commotion, resulting in the sound of a small form being badly beaten. Next, a middle-aged man threw the child out of the alley, neglecting to pull his pants up from his relations with one of the young prostitutes, his manhood standing straight in front of himself. The man quickly returned to his alley as the boy got up and fled both men who had thrown him to the ground. During this time, Shadow re-collected his possessions.

'Come on. My fathers the chief, he will want to see you,' Leanne said as she lead Shadow down a path. As they travelled, he saw even more of the broken village and its people. So many were homeless, most likely because their homes were too badly damaged to return to them.

'Here,' said Leanne as she stopped before a small shack.

'You live here?' Shadow questioned. Leanne nodded, 'even the village leader lives in such poor conditions?' Shadow thought.

The two entered the shack, and as they did, an elderly man turned to them, and was awestruck as he looked upon Leanne.

'Leanne, your hand, what happened?!' The man turned to Shadow, fury upon his face, 'Are you the one who hurt my daughter!'

The man threw himself towards Shadow, but he sidestepped out of the way. This caused the man to stumble and fall on his face. Interceptor enjoyed this very much, as his tail waged side to side.

'Father!' Leanne quickly rushed forward and helped the elderly man back onto his feet, 'father, he is here to help us.'

'Help us? But what about your hand?'

'It is only a small price to pay for the liberation of our people,' Leanne stated. At that very moment, the door swung open once again, and a frantic looking man rushed into the room.

'They are here!'

'Already?!' exclaimed the leader of the village.

Shadow and Interceptor both simply made their way outside and awaited for 'them' to arrive. In the distance, Shadow could see a small group approaching. A dozen men, all wielding blunt instruments. As they closed in, confused looks appeared on each of their faces.

''ere, what's all this then?' asked one of the men.

'Out of the way!' shouted one of the others.

'Aye, I think this one is retarded,' again, Shadow did not react to this.

'Listen, I am going to say this slowly ya impeded bastard. Get...out...of...our...way...' said another of the thugs rather condescendingly.

Finally, it was time to end this. Shadow charged forwards, and knocked two of the men off their balance. As this happened, Shadow pulled out his blade, Striker, and slashed one of the men's necks. Blood spilt from the wound, forcing the man's companions to look at him with horror, then with rage.

'You son of a bitch!' one of the men shouted as he charged at Shadow, but the assassin pulled out a kunai, and lunged it at the man's throat. He stopped dead in his tracks as the weapon entered him, and he fell to his back. The others surrounded Shadow, but he pulled his other blade out, and with lightning speed began slicing through the crowd like a knife through bread. Even the blood was not fast enough to stain his clothes. Such speed that could come only from years of practice was witness to the towns people, who had rushed to shelter shortly before the fight cold begin. Their numbers, now dwindled, were infuriated as they mindlessly struck at the ninja, but he made short work of them to the point that only a few remained.

'This isn't over!' One of the survivors said as he and his comrades jumped to their feet and fled the town. Shadow sheathed his blades and drew a few shuriken, took aim, and lunged them, all hitting. This left only one of the men, who was now franticly running. The town cheered as both Shadow, and Interceptor returned to the shack. Shadow knew there was a lot of work to be done, such as preparing defences for when more of the fools would inevitably come running and seeking vengeance.