Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy- Final Destination Part 2 ❯ The Assassin ( Chapter 3 )

Salira got off of the Chocobo deep in the forest. She began to walk with it by her side, holding the reins so it didn't run off. They were about three-quarters through the forest, and almost out of it; Salira could tell. The night grew colder and Salira wished she had brought a jacket or a cloak with her to keep her warm. She leaned against the Chocobo for some warmth, for it was the only thing that kept warm. Salira kept on walking, trying to stay warm with the Chocobo next to her. Though it was cold, the scenery was beautiful. There was a small river running along with them, which the moon's reflection was on. Trees surrounded the area dripping dew off of the tip of their leaves. The ground was mostly grass, but often there were patches of dirt. Salira looked up at the sky for a few seconds. It had a lot more stars that could be seen then at Midgar.

Salira began to wonder if Sicotto or Irvine would tell where she's going. Soon the Chocobo tugged toward some grass. Salira knew it had to be hungry so she walked with it to the grassy area to let it eat and rest a little. She wrapped the reins around her wrist and leaned against a tree, waiting for the Chocobo to finish eating. As she looked around, she noticed a small stone stuck up in the ground a few feet next to her. Wondering on what it could be, Salira walks over there, dragging the chocobo behind her. It was more of a tombstone then a small stone. She kneeled down and read the message engraved in it: Namta Rilik. Died at age 24. Cause: Murdered by Sephiroth after trying to save her child. Salira backed away from the stone. Is my mind playing tricks on me? Is this the area where my dream was? She pulled the reins as she began to continue her walk, making the Chocobo follow, trying to forget what she just saw.

The Chocobo began to screech all of a sudden. Remembering what Karowitz had said about Chocobos' have a better sense in hearing, Salira assumes something's coming toward them. She looked around quickly and could not see anyone. She soon hears wrestling within the bushes next to her and quickly gets on the Chocobo. As she was about to take off, a figure appeared in the bushes and tackled Salira off of the Chocobo and onto the ground, hard. It scared the Chocobo and it ran off from the scene. The figure had Salira pinned to the ground in matter of seconds. She could just barely see the figure; it was wearing black and matched the night. Salira knew it had to be a guy once it spoke, "Your life ends here, girl." He pulled out a small dagger and faced it so Salira could see her reflection in the blade. Salira kicked the guy in the stomach to free herself. The guy backed up as he clenched his stomach in pain. Salira quickly got up and drew her Buster Sword. Her back hurt like hell because she landed on the flat side of her blade. "Why must people like you have to ruin my life," Salira mumbled under her breath as she began to take off running. The guy came back to his senses and threw the small dagger in front of Salira, hitting the tree next to her and making her stop. "You won't be getting away that easy," he said as he approached Salira. "Who the hell are you?" Salira asked as she held out her blade in front of her. "I'm someone that was hired to kill you," he answered with a small laugh. He, too, drew his blade. A Katana…Salira thought as she saw the blade.

"So you an assassin, am I correct?" Salira said, being sarcastic. "Well looks like you've been taught well," the guy retaliated. He was being sarcastic as well. The guy pulled out another small dagger with his free hand and, with his blade, pushed Salira's sword away. He swung his sword at Salira's and made her let go of it. "You won't be needing that anymore," he replied while the Buster Sword slid up to another tree to the right of them, "Not where you'll be going that is." He gripped the dagger in his hand tightly. Salira dashed off to her sword. It was not long till another dagger flew in front of her, making her stop dead in her tracks. "Shit!" Salira mumbled. Her blade was within arms reach, but Salira didn't go for it. She was sure her encounter had another dagger with him to be thrown at her. She thought about using magic, but the thought of him knowing how to block it interfered, along with a counter she might not be able to block. She was willing to risk it, however; she just didn't know if it would work.

"You can't run from me," the guy remarked, walking up behind Salira. Salira turned around to face him. It was within a matter of feet before the guy swung his sword at her; Salira barely avoided the attack and backed off from the assassin. "Do I even get to know who's after me or even your name?" Salira sneered as she backed up toward her blade. "Once you are dying, you'll find out," was the response given. "THUNDAGA!" With that, a huge thunder bolt crashed down in front of Salira, the light from it was almost blinding. The force from the crash sent Salira flying back and she slammed into a tree behind her. "FIRA!" Salira yelled as she stood up. A medium-sized fireball appeared and headed straight for the guy. "Protect," the guy mumbled. A white light surrounded him and the fireball reflected off of it. It headed toward Salira. She ducked to dodge the fireball. As soon as it touched the river's surface, it disappeared. "It's useless, girl," the guy said as he held his hand out. "THUNDAGA!" Again another bolt of lightning crashed down in front of Salira and her slammed her side against another tree. This time, as she hit the tree, the clip on the necklace undid itself and landed on the ground. Both the guy and Salira noticed it. Salira grabbed it and put it back on. She was pretty beat up but still looked like she can keep up if this continued. "You're her," the guy stated, a little shocked. Salira eyed him and grabbed her blade, "What do you mean I'm her?" He didn't answer. Instead his dashed at her. His blade was straight out. Salira met her blade with his. As the blades formed an "X", the guy rammed Salira into another tree. "I need to dispose of you for even more reasons other then I'm told to." He had her pinned to the tree; Salira was stuck between two blades and the trunk of a tree, hardly able to breathe, with the man slightly pushing his blade more toward Salira's.

"You might as well know who I am, girl. You're about to die soon," the guy said as he held the pendent of Salira's necklace with his free hand over the cross of the two blades. "The name's Valin." He let go of the pendant and it returned to Salira's side of the blades. Salira pushed as hard as she could on her blade to make Valin back up so she could breathe easily again. She got a small gap between her and the blades. Who is this guy? What does he mean by `I need to dispose of you for even more reasons other then I'm told to'? And who hired this freak to kill me? Salira thought to herself, trying to keep the gap between her and the blades so she can breathe. She was still pinned to the tree pretty well. Though, however, she used the tree trunk as support to help push Valin's blade away. Either Salira seemed to be getting weaker or Valin was seeming to be very strong, her arms were shaking as she pushed her blade. It wasn't long before the small gap was gone and Salira was having a hard time breathing again. Her blade kept her safe, however, because it's wide flat side kept the sharp edge of Valin's blade from touching her body.

"Who…hired…you…to…kill…me?!" Salira asked, gasping for breath between each word. "You'll find out when you are dead," Valin answered. He continued to push his blade up against Salira's to suffocate her. "THUNDRA!" Salira yelled. This time a bolt of lightning hit Valin, making him back off to regain his strength. "Damn you, girl." Salira backed away from the tree and caught her breath. She held out her blade and began to walk backwards, eyeing Valin and ready if he went after her. Valin glared at Salira. She looked as though she can keep up, but Valin could see that she is weakening inside. "Give it up, girl. You can't last in this battle. You're weakening, I can see it." His clothes were mostly burnt from the lightning strike. Salira was all scratched up from being rammed into the trees. "Hell with that. I'm stronger then I look," Salira replied. She knew Valin was sort of right, but she didn't care. She continued to walk backwards, while Valin walked to her. "That's true, girl. That's very true. I didn't expect you to last this long actually. You were much stronger then I expected. But you are getting tired and weak. Trust me girl, I can tell," Valin remarked. He dashed at Salira with hope that she wasn't ready this time. But to his disappointment, Salira dodged his attack, barely. Valin stopped suddenly and listened. Salira did too. A few footsteps could be heard coming toward them. Valin grabbed Salira by the wrist and pulled her to a bush. He threw her down and motioned her to be quiet as he kneeled down.

"God damn it! Rufus wants that fucking girl and I want that assassin killed, and you damn Turks he hired can't find them! To hell with you all!" a voice ringed out. It was a male that's for sure. He continued, "Find both of them know! The assassin I know for sure is lurking in this forest somewhere. Strife's whereabouts are unknown, but you're supposed to be able to track her down!" There was a gunshot. "What the fuck is wrong with you all?" There was some silence, then another voice started, "Reno…" There was another gunshot and the person stopped talking. "Just find the fucking girl and kill that damn assassin….NOW!" They all left, quickly.

Valin waited till he couldn't hear any more footsteps and then pulled Salira back up. "If you're wondering…That was Reno. He works for Rufus and is ahead of the Turks. As you can see they're after me and I guess you as well. But back to what I was doing…" Valin held out his blade and a white light glowed around him. This is getting to be a serious fight, Salira thought. I know father you told me not to do this, but this is an emergency. So I apologize in advance for this. Salira began to mumble some words and a very dark blue light surrounded her. "Halo Slice!" Valin yelled as the light became a disk and headed toward Salira at a fast speed. The disk collided with the dark blue light around Salira and exploded, leaving clouds of dust around them. Valin looked at where Salira stood and wondered if she was dead yet.

As the dust cleared, Salira was up in the air with a black wing on her left side. She slowly reached the ground, holding not the Buster Sword, but the Masamune replica. Her other blade was still over where the disk exploded. She mumbled some more words and the wing disappeared. "I'm not easy to get rid of," Salira sneered. She held the Masamune replica straight up in the air and slammed it down into the ground. "Magic Rush!" Three huge pillars rose from the ground; one was fire, one was water, and the last was lightning. As Salira lifted her blade and held it out in front of her, the pillars quickly headed toward Valin. He jumped out of the way quickly to avoid the pillars. "Nice try, girl." He dashed at Salira once again. Salira jumped up and flipped over him, landing on both of her feet behind Valin. I need to run off…I can use magic for this, Salira thought. She smiled as she turned to face Valin.

"Why are you smiling? You're about to die. Unless you're happy about that, I see no point in smiling, girl," Valin remarked as he faced Salira. Salira let the Masamune replica disappear and dashed to get her Buster Sword. As she grabbed it, another dagger flew in front of her face. Holding her blade to protect herself, Salira started to back up once again. Valin followed in front of her. "THUNDRA!" Salira yelled and a bolt of lightning crashed into the ground between them. As a cloud of dust rose, Salira quickly ran off to the end of the forest, hoping she went unnoticed. When it cleared, Valin looked around and didn't see her anywhere. "She escaped…" he mumbled to himself. He began to walk in the forest, going deeper into it. "Damn her!"

As Salira reached the end of the forest, she looked back to make sure Valin wasn't following her. Once she confirmed he wasn't, she looked in front of her and saw a huge city with a large building in the center of it a few miles ahead of her. Midgar…Salira thought, quite happy that she finally reached the city where she lives. Salira put the sword on her back and began to walk to the city, the sun just barley rising.