The Guardian Vesuvius: Chapter 7: Vesuvius Erupts
"Is it ever possible to be truly selfless in what we do? Even the kindest of acts are done partially for the good feeling, the peace of mind or for the ease it brings. There is only one truly selfless act that can ever be committed and that is to sacrifice your life, for no matter how noble it may be, no matter how much better you will be looked upon for it, no matter how good you would feel for what you saved, you will not experience any sort of reward. Being willing to risk the complete end of everything for you to allow something else, something dear to continue, is the one deed in the world that is completely pure."
"By now, you'll probably have at least a few ideas as to what you're special something is. Don't worry if you haven't yet though, as long as you keep your eyes open you will find it. Be prepared though, for once you have found it, you then have to strive to keep it, to protect it, to fight away any and all that would threaten or steal it. Your heart and the passion within is your weapon in these fights."
"Yet, if we have all these swords of devotion in the world, what happens when two of them clash?"
"More destruction can happen in your heart in a moment than in years of war. If you lose a war in your heart, the wounds can't kill you but can take your life in much more painful ways. A war of the heart is the worst sort of conflict possible."
Vesuvius's grip tightened on his sword as car doors began to open. With an unnerving confidence, dozens of Funuchi's men got out of the cars and faced Vesuvius, each one armed. The guardian was outnumbered horribly and had no gun of his own, yet still he stood motionless and unintimidated. There may have been thirty or so of them but he had been trained since he was small in ways these goons could never imagine. He wasn't sure he'd survive but he was sure he'd be able to buy Misaro and Fayth enough time to get well clear of the scene.
Vesuvius was waiting for a certain sound.
Misaro had rushed upstairs into his room where Vesuvius had left Fayth resting, perhaps more peacefully than she had in many, many years. As Misaro entered the room a familiar and deeply missed feeling came over him once again. Once more the sight of her filled him with warmth and peace. No longer did she only remind him of the torment she went through for so long. For that torment was over, now and forever. Misaro snapped himself out of the trance her beauty so easily put him in, now was no time for getting lost in hus feelings. Vesuvius, his first ever friend in many years, had given him responsibility and he was determined to prove to everyone, himself included that he was worth something.
"Fayth?" Misaro shook her gently to wake her up. "Fayth, you need to get up." Simply speaking to her was still so demanding of the boy but the urgency of the situation coupled with his newfound determination helped him to brave it. Something that he would never had thought possible mere days ago
Fayth awoke with a little shock. She wasn't expecting to see the lonely looking boy she saw in City-Light and had seen that night in the alley to be here at all. She was so confused she didn't say a word, just stared at the clearly nervous boy who eventually said, "It's me... Misaro, remember? We have to hurry and get out of here." He hastily extended an open hand to her.
Fayth's mind had just about finished catching up with her and she remembered the things she had witnessed before she had passed out. "Where is... the man?..the caped man?"
The question was not really directed at Misaro, it was more a thought that had escaped in her puzzled state, but Misaro knew who she meant. "He's outside, giving us time to get away from Funuchi. Now please, we really have to hurry!"
Fayth still had hardly any idea what was going on but she heard the words 'away from Funuchi' and was ready to follow Misaro anywhere. She nodded and took his hand. Misaro turned and guided her downstairs and towards the back door. Through the rickety doors and down the broken hallway. Misaro was disturbed by the deadly silence outside the house, but he pressed on, hoping Vesuvius was okay. A small, narrow pathway would lead them to the street behind his house.
Vesuvius and the thugs were still staring each other down, both seemed to await a sign or an order. Mr. Funuchi remained in the car parked behind the mob of suits, a lit cigar in hand. To him this was already over, the fool that messed with him would be gunned down and that would be the end of it, he would leave this country and he would soon find many more to replace Fayth. Funuchi expected a slaughter, but Vesuvius was ready to fight with everything he had.
In the still, deadly silence of this soon-to-be battlefield, the quiet noise of a door closing somewhere close by sounded out.
It was his sign.
Vesuvius exploded into movement, leaping forward into a roll an instant before the horde of thugs started firing. The terrible noise burst through the streets. Shots that found their mark ricocheted off the armour on Vesuvius's back. His roll landed him behind one of the cars and he gave it a mighty kick. The door of the car buckled inward around his foot and screeched across the road. The thugs that were positioned behind it ran back as the black car rolled towards them. They all managed to avoid injury as it smashed to a halt on its side. Then the sound of metal being punctured rang out over the gunfire and an instant later the car exploded violently. The blast knocked many of Funuchi's men off their feet and an unfortunate few were too close to survive.
The moments the blast created for the focused Vesuvius were not to be wasted. At close quarters Vesuvius had the advantage, so his plan was to close in. He dashed to the left, moving even faster than ever, there was no room to pull any punches this time. With his free hand he took one of the thugs by the head and smashed it through the side window of the car he was standing near, at the same time swinging his sword round. Its great length slammed hard into the backs of three more, their spines giving way easily to the weight and force of the collosal strike. The men folded around the blade like paper before being thrown across the road. All this before a single pair of eyes had so much as turned to see him.
More crucial seconds were given to Vesuvius as the men recoiled in shock at his sudden presence so close to them. His gauntlet came to life as he slammed his fist into the stomach of the nearest thug. Sparks flew from the gauntlet and the metal weight was rocketed into the man's stomach, the limp body flying off Vesuvius fist into a wall. Finally the other men started firing again. Vesuvius reacted in time to deflect a few of the shots by spinning his armour into position but he took two shots into his leg. He gave an anguished grunt but managed to stay upright by quickly shifting his weight to his other leg as he leapt up the wall, scaling the building quickly to get into the cover of the rooftops.
"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY! GET AFTER HIM, NOW!" Mr Funuchi screamed from his car. His reputation would be crippled if this man managed to escape him. If word spread that to mess with the Funuchi gang wasn't as fatal as everyone thought then his stranglehold in this area and others could begin to slip. Rival gangs would begin to move in on his territories.
Vesuvius knew it would take the thugs some time to reach the top of the building so he took a moment to catch his breath, sitting on the flat rooftop as a puddle of red formed around his leg. The wound was savage and painful but he had suffered worse. He would have to bear it at least until this was over. Several footsteps came closer and it was time to fight again, Vesuvius rose to his feet and tested wieght on his injured leg. He winced but was satisfied he could bear it and dashed over towards the door, with a nimble bound he positioned himself over it.
By this time Misaro had lead Fayth somewhere he felt they would be safe. He came to a stop at the one place he knew no one else ever came to visit, his mother's memorial. He had made it himself, nothing more than a pile of stones and sticks surrounding a used up candle and a faded picture of her, all hidden deep within a mess of overgrown bushes. Perhaps it was because Misaro only felt safe with his mother that he had chosen to hide there.
"We… we should be safe here... until he comes for us." Misaro's head was a chaotic meeting of heavy emotion. In the one hand he was worrying terribly for Vesuvius life. On the other he was met with the painful nostalgia that he always felt in this place and on yet another, he was here in his special place with the girl he had spent six years helplessly in love with. Fayth kept looking back the way they came. Misaro watched her from the corner of his eye, too afraid to face her fully yet unable to keep himself from looking at her. He noticed her staring off back towards his house. It was clear what she was thinking of. Misaro was already painfully aware of Fayth's feelings for Vesuvius. Yet he kept his tears inside him and put her first, Fayth was always first for him, he wasn't in this for himself, this he had to prove. "It... it's okay, Vesuvius will be fine. He can take on those guys... easy." Misaro was a little unsure of how true this was.
Fayth turned to him, "You...know him? How?"
Misaro caught her glare for a moment before he gasped and turned away blushing. He still couldn't brave eye contact with her. "Umm... well, he rescued me too, like he did you... b-b-but I wasn't going through anything like you were... I-I-I… umm..." Misaro was unable to finish his sentence. This wasn't like the nightclub though, he couldn't run away from this awkward humiliation. He just had to bear it. He screamed at himself in his mind, why should he be so bothered, why was he even trying to seem less repulsive to her? She had her heart set on Vesuvius, a strong, good looking, brave and selfless man. Misaro couldn't hope to compete with the next guy, let alone someone like Vesuvius. Misaro's despair silenced him, no longer able to speak to Fayth. He told himself that he should be content with being happy she was safe. He was happy that her nightmare had stopped. He was happy that she would be able to show her true smile now, and he wondered if perhaps it would be even more beautiful than the one he knew all this time. Misaro stared at the picture of his mother and knelt next to it.
After a while, Fayth came and knelt next to him. "Thank you, Misaro."
Misaro opened his eyes. "What for? I-I didn't do anything, Vesuvius was the one who saved you."
Fayth placed her hand on top of his. Misaro's heart nearly leapt out of his chest. "I can tell that you're hurting, Misaro. Still you went out of your way to help me and endangered yourself. Thank you so much." Fayth shuffled a little closer to him "I want to repay you now. I don't know how you and that other man found out about what Funuchi had done to my family and what happened to me but I'm so grateful for what the two of you have done for me. Why don't you tell me… tell me your pain so that I can rescue you, too?"
Misaro couldn't believe what he was hearing, someone actually cared about his pain, not just someone, Fayth no less. He never ever believed he would do so much as talk with her. Yet here they were, their lives thrown together by this mysterious man. Misaro managed to look away from the ground and into Fayth's eyes. Never had they been so close to him. At this distance they were even more magical. For some reason all Misaro's fears disappeared. He hadn't wanted to share his past with Fayth in fear that if she learnt more about him then she would dislike him, yet now this fear left him. He wanted to open up to her and tell her everything and he wasn't afraid to. It seemed she was more like his mother than he thought. It was time to do what he should have done a long time ago, yet if not doing so had brought him to this moment, he was glad he hadn't.
"I-I-I... I want to return this to you first."
Vesuvius waited as the footsteps reached just outside the door. The thugs clumsily exploded through the door in a frenzied panic to quickly follow Mr. Funuchi's orders. Vesuvius waited for a good amount of them to get out onto the roof. Then he leapt over the group, falling with a hand outstretched. He grabbed one man around the back of his neck and used his weight to push him straight to the floor, smashing his face into the floor. Pushing off the man he landed just behind the group, dropkicking the rearmost man on his way down with enough force to send his body flying limply into the others. In the confusion he found time to get to his feet and ready his sword. The remaining thugs managed to bring their guns about and started to fire. Vesuvius flipped up off the ground a good ten or so feet, over the door the thugs just came through, shots pinging off the armour on his back. No sooner had Vesuvius disappeared behind the door then an arrow arched its way back over towards the thugs. Already rather aware what this man's arrows were capable off they scattered. Some were a little too slow.
An explosion flaring up on the top of the building told Mr Funuchi things were not going as well as he had believed. He was most definitely not used to problems that he could not easily deal with using a little lead. It frustrated him and he screwed up his already wrinkled face. He almost screamed at the driver, "GET ME OUT OF HERE! NOW, NOW!"
The driver panicked and fumbled with the keys as he rushed to start the car. Vesuvius heard the engine start up from the roof as the dust and debris settled from the explosion. His eyes widened and he dashed over to the edge of the rooftop. Peering over he saw Mr Funuchi's car driving off. He clenched his hands around the stone and snarled. "NO! Oh, no, you don't, Funuchi. You're not getting away!" Vesuvius swung his legs over the edge and dropped down to the ground. The few thugs left were too shaken to stop him. As he reached the ground he skillfully went into a roll to turn the momentum he gained from falling into a powerful boost forward.
"FASTER, YOU IDIOT! DRIVE FASTER!" Mr Funuchi was beginning to regret his choice of car; something of this length certainly wasn't built for speed. The driver was however already going as fast as he could. Vesuvius was closing the gap as he bolted down the round after Mr. Funuchi. The car turned off into a main road and Vesuvius was halted, here had a decision to make. If he continued to give chase he could catch Mr Funuchi but he would expose himself to the countless people using the main road. He would break the oath. He would still be able to keep the sanctuary in the sky and the other guardians a secret but he would have to suffer the consequences, both from the people that found him and from the sentinel council in the sanctuary. They would probably banish him from the order. He would lose his family, again.
Yet he couldn't bear the thought of what might happen to Fayth and so many others if he let Mr Funuchi escape now. He had wanted to kill him for a long time now but he had never tried because it would break the oath to go after someone so powerful and notorious. Yet he couldn't bear the idea of letting Zanados and all his brothers in the sanctuary down, to lose them all because of something he did. He couldn't imagine what would happen to him when the media and the authorities began to chase him. The sanctuary would not let him run from them, it would endanger other guardians in the world. Zanados and the sentinel council would order him to turn himself in, at the very least.
A monster was getting away.
He had to make the decision.
NOW.
At the same time, Misaro had made his own difficult decision. He never thought he would be able to return Fayth's diary personally, so afraid of how awful it would look. Yet he thought to himself, wouldn't it be worse to keep hold of it? It was like Fayth had an aura around her that gave him strength and decisiveness. At the distance he admired her before he found himself able to forget his pain and the bitter hate he had for himself. Sitting right next to her, he found himself so overcome with love, no other feeling could find room in his heart. He took the diary from out of his pocket and placed it in her hands. "I found it outside City Light. I wanted to give it back to you... but I... I..." Misaro fell silent.
"So... this is how you and Vesuvius knew about everything?" Fayth's tone didn't seem to carry any anger, only a slight hint of realisation. It was as if she kind of expected it. Misaro shook his head. "No... I never showed it to anyone... I could never...Vesuvi
us... he just seems to know...things" Misaro knew, of course, exactly how Vesuvius knew but he remembered the guardian's oath. When Vesuvius shared the secret with him he expected him to be dead by now. Things hadn't happened like that, so now Misaro had to keep the secret too. "I'm so sorry..." Misaro looked back toward the ground. "It was an awful thing for me to do... looking at it."
Fayth looked over the dairy and a gave a slight smile, after a brief pause of thought, she threw the diary away into the bushes. "It doesn't matter... not anymore, that life is behind me now. I don't want anything to do with it. I finally have a chance to live now, a chance to have dreams, a chance to be something." Fayth smiled at Misaro. "So don't worry about it, okay. Because you found that diary you and Vesuvius were able to help me, so I'm happy you did. It was almost like...fate, don't you think?"
Misaro remembered thinking that same thing the moment he found it. For all the doubts he had he still had so many dreams, he liked to believe fate had handed Fayth's diary to him that day, but years of failure had caused him to always try to put things like that out of his mind. Yet seeing how all this had played out, how everything that had happened had magically brought him here to this precious moment, this moment he never thought he'd see, maybe, just maybe there was something to believe in still.
After all, he still believed that his mother could hear him when the stars where out nearly a decade after she died.
Vesuvius stared at where Mr Funuchi had been driven off into a main road. Unable to move towards or away from it, his heart was racing. He couldn't even feel the pain from his leg. He knew that time was quickly running out. If he didn't make the decision now, Mr Funuchi's growing distance would make it for him. Who should he let down? Who should he betray? He couldn't choose, he couldn't make a choice. Vesuvius fell to his knees, put his head in his hands and muffled a fustrated shout as tears began to fill his eyes. Then a promise he made came to his mind. He made a promise to a young girl. Vesuvius stopped his tears and slowly rose to his feet, a look of sheer determination etched on his face. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, Zanados... I'm sorry, my brothers, this... this is something I simply HAVE to do!"
Vesuvius would not let this disgusting man get away, he was the cause of so much pain and sorrow. He had to make him pay, he HAD too. No matter the cost. Vesuvius tapped into more of his power than he ever had before. His cape began to wave as though his power were heat rising from his body. His eyes began to glow ever so slightly and he was almost snarling as he summoned strength and will from deep within his bieng. An instant later, Vesuvius exploded into a full on sprint. His speed was blinding. With a sickening feeling of regret he ran out into the main road. He could already hear the horns, swerving cars and people yelling in surprise. There was no turning back; he had broken the oath, so there was no way he could let Funuchi get away now, no way he would allow this to be all for nothing. He sprinted past cars, occasionally leaping on top of one car then to the next when he could before jumping back onto the road and dashing onwards, using everything at his disposal to close the distance between him and Funuchi.
Funuchi had just about started to relax in the absence of Vesuvius. He sighed in relief and was about to reach for a cigar when he was abruptly interrupted by the sound of something landing heavily on the roof of the car. Funuchi had barely finished gasping when the car roof was literally ripped off. Vesuvius let out an intimidating yell as he flung the roof aside, well clear of the road. The driver fell unconscious as the car careered out of control and smashed into the metal barrier separating the lanes. Mr Funuchi, however, was unharmed, though that was about to change. Vesuvius stared down at the mortified man below. In his life of power and control he had not known fear for so long. He quivered as those terrible eyes stared at right back into his.
A voice boomed down towards him from the towering figure. "Funuchi, this is where it ends. Death is no punishment for your sin. Serve the rest of your sentence IN HELL!" With that he lifted his sword high, pointing its blade downwards, and without a second of hesitation he ploughed the giant sword straight through his head and down the entire length of his body, he forced the sword through everything he could, only stopping when it hit the road underneath the car. It was a gruesome end indeed, but to Vesuvius it was a beautiful sight. As fitting an end as could be he thought as the rush of emotion and energy subsided.
Vesuvius let out a sigh. It was done but it was far from over. He now had to face the consequences of breaking the oath. For all his strength, toughness and bravery, Vesuvius was filled with the fear of what would become of him now. He didn't spare a moment to make himself scarce, leaving Funuchi as a mangled mess and disappearing back into the quiet rural area as fast he could.
"At least... Misaro and Fayth… will be safe. They have each other now. It may have cost my life, but perhaps they may finally be able to live theirs."
Sometime later, news broadcasts were speaking of a man of inhuman strength rampaging across a bypass and murdering a man. A police investigation had begun. Eyewitness accounts gave the description of an enormous caped man with terrifying power and a giant sword.
Somewhere high in the sky, forever hidden by a giant cloud, the thundering voice of Zanados, master of the guardians, resounded across the halls of his great castle.
"BRING VESUVIUS TO ME! BRING HIM TO ME NOW!"
Thank you so so much for reading, I'm sorry this took so long to get done, I have been a little busy lately ^.^''
Chapter 8: Sinner or Saviour?
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