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 Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:02 pm
Day 11
Month 06
Year XX08
Time morning
Dear diary,
It has been roughly 1 month since we have left the clan and the departed from the bar. I've been following the clan leader, Joseph, hoping to find my place in this silly world. This will be my first entry.
I wanted to take a moment to start this journal. It will be my travel log/companion as it seems Joseph is a little reluctant to take me under his wing. I don't have much time left to myself as we will be departing so--
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As Cassandra wrote in her diary, a shadow shaped like a head covered the words she was writing. Cassandras eyes peeled away from the paper she was focusing on and peered up to find a familiar face.
"ACK!" Cassandra shrieked in fright, not expecting anyone to be there. She was 'in the zone' as she was speaking. Basically, it meant she was dead to the world. Joseph seemed to have startled her. It was becoming a trend to him, it seemed. She would be constantly daydreaming as they travelled.
"What are you doing?"
Cassandra, now flat on her back from losing her balance, gaze up and blinked innocently.
"Uhm... Nothing Mr. Joseph, sir!" she awkwardly responded.
Joseph raised an eyebrow to her. She is a strange one. "Well get up. We're leaving." With this notion of courtosy, Joseph walked away to gather his things before heading off.
Cassandra slowly sat up and rubbed the back of her head. Atleast he's finally beginning to accept me, she thought to herself. Flipping the book closed, she slipped the long wooden pencil in the plastic coils and slipped the book into her back pack.
Her baggage was quite minimal compared to usual. She carried her back pack, with basic neccessities (like food, a small music player equiped with earbud headphones (and dead batteries), another set of clothes and now a travel log), a small nap sack that tied around her waist (accessed from behind her) and for protection, a pair of katana blades and a small dagger. Not usual weapons for someone who was supposed to be a ninja.
Joseph travelled with his large sword and a bag that had food an water. Joseph travelled the lightest, yet ironically (because of the heavy arms) also the heaviest. He sure did possess superhuman powers as the weapon he carried weighed more than the both of them combined, yet he carried it with the utmost ease and weilded it as though it were light as a feather.
Cassandra took one last good look at her surroundings before they left. They were just coming over a mountain range and found themselves in the middle of a boreal forest. They took camp on some rocks on level ground for the evening and now continued their journey. It was approximately 9 o clock in the morning.
They were making their way out of the lush forest that they called home for the last 3 or so months. Joseph wanted to travel alone, as that was the way he liked it. Cassandra chose to follow him. She really didn't have any family. She could relate to Joseph in that sense, as he too lost his parents. He recently met up with his long lost baby sister. Cassandra had high hopes that she too would be reunited with her eldest brother.
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They had been walking for about 20 minutes. Along the whole hike, they were completely silent. They had been travelling together for little over a month and this was the norm. Even when they set up camp, they didn't really speak all that much. They were both very shy and socially awkward. Some of the time, Cassandra would try to break the ice by asking him an ocasional question, to which he would either ignore her or give minimal answer.
Today was different.
"So hey... Cassandra?" Joseph called out to her, breaking the ice for the first time today.
Confused, she tried to respond. "Huh? Yes?"
"Can I ask you something," he questioned.
"Yes, you may. What is it?"
He refused to turn his head and face her. He walked infront, leading the way. "Why... Why did you decide to follow me?"
"What do you mean?" sounding puzzled.
"Well," he began to explain, "I mean, when we met 3 months ago, we were staying at the abandoned bar. You even trained with Rikku and Raine during that time. They both decided to head South. Why didn't you go with them?"
Why did she follow? They had known eachother for 3 months but never really got all that close. She seemed somewhat attracted to him. He was very handsome in her eyes. It always lead her to try to talk to him but each time she would end up doing something embarrassing. Because I like you, she thought to herself. "I don't know," she finally answered "It just felt right to follow you."
Joseph stopped and turned to face her. "Felt right? What do you...?"
Reliasing what she just said, she felt her face began to turn red. Embarrassment plus Cassandra usually meant some form of disaster. This would be no exception.
Searching frantically in her mind, she tried desperately to find a cover up or excuse. Being the huge clutz that she was, she lost her footing and began to fall. Joseph saw this and acted quickly. He reached out both of his arms and brought his body low to the ground, so that he could catch her before she hits the ground.
Cassandra opened her eyes only to realise that she was sitting on the ground, held in his arms. She slowly pulled away. Their eyes met for a brief moment. No one spoke. They just gazed at eachother. When Joseph realised what was happening, he quickly broke their eye contact and stood up. Now, he was the one turning red. Reaching his hand down to help her up, he showed a little more concern for her than he did before. "You should be more careful. You'll end up hurting yourself."
Sensing that he was embarrassed, she responded in a simple manner. "Thank you.. I'll be more carefull from now on."
"Good," he retorted. With that being said, he kept moving.
No one spoke for another hour.
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Later that evening, after they had set up camp and had been resting for atleast and hour, Cassandra had sat next to a large bonfire, picking up where she left off, earlier that day.
Dear diary,
Today was something out of the ordinary. Joseph finally spoke to me. He asked me why I decided to follow him. Silly me, I answered 'because it felt right'. How could I say something so stupid?
She paused for a moment and payed attention to what he was doing. He was on the other side of the fire, several yards away. Joseph sat on a rather large boulder near a lake shore. The moon shone vigorously in the night sky. He found it somewhat relaxing to watch the moons reflection dance on the water surface. Cassandra smiled.
I think I'm starting to grow on him. That makes me happy. I can't wait to see him smile.
She read her words over again to herself in her mind. Something else about today came to mind.
Something happened today. I don't know what it was... I fell today and Joseph caught me. Nothing was more shocking than opening my eyes and seeing him holding me. It was a gentle moment. Should I never have that ever again, I shall cherish this one for the rest of my life.
Re-reading a 2nd time, Cassandra nodded and smiled to herself, congratulating herself for the excellent entry. Stuffing the small book back in her bag, she curled up and decided to call it a day.
Tomorrow, they would be arriving at her birthplace. There were a few more things she needed from home and a few things that needed some resolve. Tomorrow would be a productive day.
Cassandra closed her eyes and slowly drifted into slumber.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 7:44 pm
The light of the sun began to break over the horizon. The sun made it's way through the partially forested area and made it's way to the closed eyes of Cassandra. Being a light sleeper, she slowly opened her eyes. Covered by the shade of her hand, she sat herself up and gazed around their camp site. Everything was in it's right place, minus one key factor.
Joseph was missing.
Cassandra looked all around the camp ground. There was enough evidence to show he slept nearby that evening and even had a bite to eat. There was some food left for her at the fire, but no Joseph in sight. "I wonder where he is..." she spoke softly to herself.
Some time had gone by, Cassandra took the liberty of eating the eggs that Joseph had left there for her and waited. She began to write in her journal, detailing the absence of her companian when the sound of someone approaching sprung from the distance.
"Oh, it's about time!" she stated to herself, removing herself from the perch she found herself to sit on. As the sound of foot steps crunching leaves continued to move towards her, something didn't seem quite right. She couldn't have been any more correct in her fear.
When the body came though the bushes, it was not what she was expecting. A man of average build came into view. He was wearing a combat vest with baggy camoflauge clothing. A dark helmet covering his head with a black tinted visor covering his eye and a strange mask covering his mouth. Cassandra froze in fear.
"FREEZE!" the man shouted to her, pointing a large automatic machine gun at her.
She did just that. Frozen in fear, she somehow mustered the ability to question him, "W-.. who are you?!"
"I said freeze, lady!"
"I'm not moving!"
"Shut up! Hit the dirt!"
Cassandra was confused, she didn't know what was going on. Who was this guy? Did he do something to Joseph? If the two of them had met in combat, Joseph would surely have been shot down.
"I said, get down! Do it or I'll shoot you!"
She screamed the moment he threatened her. Throwing her hands in the air, she crouched real low to the ground, covering her head with her arms. The man slowly shuffled his way towards her. Still pointing the gun at her, this time at her head, he rummaged into his front left pocket on his vest. He slowly pulled out a folded peice of paper. Unfolding it, he gazed at the picture printed in black and white ink.
"We finally got you, you little b***h," he muttered to himself as he crumpled the paper in his hand. Grabbing her from the colar of her shirt, he pulled her up off the ground. Holding her close to his face, he began to threaten her further. "We've been searching for you for 6 months, lady. You're a wanted fugitive and you're coming with me."
"What?" she questioned. Her mind was beginning to shut down, she couldn't think straight. Tears began to fall down her face but she wasn't crying for her own fate. Her tears were triggered by the thought of losing her company.
"There's a big cash reward for you, alive or dead. All I need is your body. But no one said I can't have my way with you first..."
Cassandra closed her eyes, expecting only the worst to happen. Nothing. She heard the sound of a body collapsing and realised that his grip had loosened. she opened her eyes to realise that the sound of someone collapsing was in fact his falling to the ground. "What the..." came from her mouth, as she gazed in awe. The man was completely knocked out. He wasn't moving an inch.
Looking up, she found a familiar face. "Maybe you should think twice before you think about harming one of my comrades," Joseph scolded the downed foe.
"Joseph!" Cassandra screamed with excitement as she ran up to him and hugged him.
Sensing her distress, Joseph allowed her to get close. He even wrapped one arm around her for comfort. "You okay?" he questioned. His on-a-mission attitude was evident in his voice. Cassandra nodded silently, wiping the last remaining tears from her eyes.
Joseph ruffled her hair a moment before letting go and proceeding toward the man, laying unconcious on the ground. Joseph had a hunch about him, but he had to be sure. As the boy rummaged through the pockets of the fallen man, Cassandra mustered up the courage to get close. She knew he was looking for some form of I.D. so he could find out who he was.
Pulling out a small tag attached to a lanyard from the front right pocket, Joseph examined it momentarily. "So..?" Cassandra questioned. She was certain he found what he was looking for. "Who is he?"
He remained silent. He tossed the tag over his shoulder. Joseph refused to look at her, which meant something bad. Cassandra caught the tag on it's decent and looked carefully at it.
Name: Tanner Tapert
Age: 26
Position: S.A.R.T. (Search and Retrieval Team) District II
No way...
She stopped reading. She stopped and re-read the company logo. It was something she was very familiar with.
G.A.A. -- The Global Assassination Agency.
She began to lose colour in her face. The agency... They're still in this area... Oh on... They--
"So they've finally found me," Joseph said aloud, as if completing her sentence for her.
"Huh...? What do you...?" she gave him a puzzled look.
"It's the assassins guild. 'The Agency' as they like to be called. They've been searching for me," he explained as he stood up and headed towards his bag. "Pack up quick, we need to leave.
"Now."
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:33 pm
Dear diary,
Today: The agency found me...
Cassandra tried to pick the words she would later enter into her travel log. An attempt at careful wording was made but she scraped that idea when she realised it wouldn't matter if they were caught; that be the case, she wouldn't have to worry about a travel log. She probably wouldn't be alive enough to be concerned about it, anyways.. That was a worst case scenario she tried to keep her thoughts from.
She hardly had the time to think of anything. It was a miracle she had the time to think about her mock entry. Joseph forced her to pack her most valueable things, which was basically anything they could use to fight. Everything else was disposable. Besides, they could very easily come back for that stuff later. Either that or they could defeat the agnecy and steal their spoils. Unlikely. The agency was called an 'agency' for a reason. A company that hires killers by the hundreds.
She managed to leave with her travel log, as it just so happened to be in the same bag as most of her artillery. That was lucky. At the very least, if they couldn't get out alive, she could die in happiness knowing she left her most dire secret within the pages of the book. Truth be told, her travel log was just an extension to a diary she had been keeping since she was invited to the clan. Atleast she managed to get her secret out in the form of the book. Dying without making her confession was worse than death itsself. Though, if given the chance, she'd probably verbal expose herself before her bitter end anyways.
Her thought process was cut short when Joseph stopped moving. Being a few feet behind him, she was able to stop before bumping into him. Any closer and she would have knocked him over from her inattentive thought process. She knew he wouldn't have stopped unless there was a reason. Sure enough, the reason was right infront of them. "What is it, Joseph?
Joseph stood, staring intently through a minor clearing in the brush. His gaze was angled a few degrees below. He notioned above his shoulder for her to approach. She followed his notion and the answer became quite clear as she got closer.
The clearing was an overlooking cliff to a small gully; what stood in this gully was an old run down village. The buildings were derelict and rotting, vines covered the walls and even the roofs of some buildings. It looked as though it had been devoid of any life for many years. Cassandra gasped as she gazed down.
Joseph eyed her as she slowly slumped to her knees. "Are you okay?" he asked, as he knelt down beside her.
"This place.." she paused, as if hesistant to even accept what she was looking at.
Josephs gaze went back to the village then returned to her. "Do you know this place?"
"Kwuh... ' she stopped, carefully pronouncing her half-recited word, "Kwahliht"
"Kwa... light? Joseph repeated, struggling slightly with the pronunciation.
"Yes.. The village of Kwahliht. The hidden ninja village. My-- she choked a little, trying to get the words out, 'The place I was born.."
Joseph suddenly understood what this place meant to her. He also tried to imagine what it must be like for her to see it in this state. His eyes flashed a bit of concern, just before he broke contact with her and peered back to the town. He squinted slightly as he looked around.
"Someone's been here," he stated, confidentally.
Cassandra remained silent, but looked up in anger. Her eyes flashed a very protective look, as though she would do whatever she could to kick any outsider out of the vacinity.
Suddenly, a group of 4 men came into view. Joseph and Cassandra lowered themselves, getting out of site as the watched the 4 men. 2 of them looked exactly like the first one they encountered, clearly the grunts of the agency. The third man was dressed similarily, but bore a different colored suit. He also wore a red camoflauge hat atop his head and had a very noticeable scar across his bearded face. The final man wore a very stylish suit, hat and tie. He seemed completely out of place, not just with them but in society in general. He was dressed straight out of the 20's.
He bore a thin rimmed pair of glasses, that were very old fashioned. He appeared to be the commander of the area. He spoke with the bearded man a moment, who later turned and barked some orders to the two grunts. They soluted him and ran off in the oposite direction.
"The agency?" Cassandra asked, trying to confirm her suspicions.
Joseph simply nodded in response.
"You said earlier that 'they found you'," she questioned, trying to figure out how he two was connected to this cut throat organization. She questioned further, "What happened with you? Why are they looking for you in the first place?"
Joseph remained silent for a moment, as though he was carefully formulating an answer in his head. Maybe he was just debating on what to share, if anything at al. Finally, he replied, "I was affilated with an ex-member of the agency."
"You were directly affilated?"
"Not completely. I was never part of the organization myself. But I was raised as an assassin, just like my mentor... my father," he started to trail off, as if remember something terribly painful that he was fighting to keep his feelings back. His explaination was not clear. He never specified if his mentor and his father were one in the same.
"Did you..."
"Yes," he answered quickly, already anticipating her question. He responded quickly, trying to avoid the terrible guilt that was bubbling up inside. She looked at him, almost in shock. He picked up on this without looking directly at her, "But that was a long time ago," he finally stated, trying to justify his mistakes.
She wanted to tell him that she too was being hunted by the agency. She too had skeletons in her closet that she felt the need to get out in the open. "Joseph...' she began to speak. Her heart yearned to share her experience with him.
Ch-chk!
Before she could finish her sentence,the sound of a gun being readied was heard from behind them. Both of them felt the harsh stab of a gun barrel behind the back of their heads. They had been discovered.
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 11:00 pm
"Don't move" Joseph said calmly. Almost too calm.
Cassandra didn't verbally respond. A frail 'gulp' came from her throat as she nodded slowly. Why wasn't he paniced? Why wasn't he acting anything remotely close to the way she was inside. The inner Cassandra was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth singing 'Sweet Home Alabama'. What was his advantage?
As the two men behind notioned them to get on their feet, one holding an automatic weapon, the other a sawed-off shotgun, Cassandra continued to peer into the gully. The man they saw from the agency stared right back at them. He was staring her straight in the eyes. A devious smirk spread across his features.
He knew all along.
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A few minutes later, the two of them appeared on level ground. Both captive. Hands held together behind their backs with a metal containing device. Cassandra first, Joseph closely following behind. The two men walked up behind them. There was way too many thoughts running through Cassandra's head.
Here I am. Back at home. The place where all this began. And it seems nothing has changed all these years. They agency still has possession. Just who is that guy? How did he know where we were? Is the agency residing here? How else would they have been here to find us?
"Good afternoon, young ones." the man interupted her inner monolouge. "I never thought we'd ever find you. Either of you."
"Guess you got lucky."
Nothing lucky about this situation, that's for sure.
What?.. Joseph questioned the stray voice that replied in his head. With an awkward expression of confusion planted on his face, the man raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed.." he responded slowly. Cautiously. He approached Joseph. He seemed over confident, like he had a secret weapon specifically designed for his downfall. He was about hte same height as Joseph, which made him a few inches taller than Cassandra. "I've been looking for you for a long time."
'Have you, now?"
"If only you knew the trouble you and that Darkfire cretin have caused for us"
Serves you right, you spineless b*****d
???
The man placed his leather gloved hand against Josephs cheek. 'You m'boy, are a class A nuiscense"
And you're a vermin. Don't see me complainin'.
Who's there? Who's saying that? Joseph was beginning to fear that he finally went nuts. A dark voice was speaking to the man in the back of his head. It was a voice that sounded oddly familiar. From where?
The man slapped Joseph on the face, snapping him back to reality. The man simply considered Joseph as too distraught to say anything back, so he continued. "You're assassin friend has not only cost us a lot of money, but has also taken down some of our best agents. And you've been his source of strength. I could, as much as I would love to, use you as bait. Lure the old fool out of hiding.
Oh, I could see his face now. Frozen in shock to the sound of your poor tortured screams." He paused and breathed in his cruel day dream. He chuckled to himself, finding his maliciousness personally amusing, he said "But no... I have bigger plans for you, m'boy"
Joseph didn't reply. Why stoop to his level? Clearly he wanted them to suffer. Show no weakness. Take his power away.
Forget that. Tear him apart.
There was that voice again. What was it?
The man gazed at Joseph through the glaring lenses of the perscription glasses covering his face. Another mischevious smile spread across his face. "Stong silent type, eh? I bet I know how to get you..."
He turned around and faced Cassandra. She had been silently watching the whole time, wishing she was anywhere but there. When she saw his devilish smile, she knew what was coming. He tilted his head, eyes her up and down. He shifted, walking towards her.
He pulled her close, despite her failed effort to pull away. He wrapped both of his arms around her, getting up close. He whispered into her ear. If not for his heightened senses, he would not have heard. "Wait till you see what I have planned for you."
THe rage inside Josephs body raised. Along with the anger, the voice growled, Kill him!
"No.." he murmerred silently to his inner voice, through the grit of his teeth.
The man caught onto his increased emotion. Perhaps he even thought his reaction was for him. Tilting his head slightly, extending his tongue, he carrassed Cassandra's earlobe. She struggled to get away, but ultimately failed. Placing the same hand he used to rub Josephs cheek, he placed his hand on hers. Rubbing her in a very intimate way, he slowly turned back towards Joseph.
"I bet I know someone else who would like to see what my plans for her are, too? Watch closely, m'boy. Or your girlfriend might just disappear."
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