Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Project: Dark Seed ❯ Rico´s POV ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Don't owe anything besides my OCC (original created character)

Author's note: I hope this will explain some secrets. The first secret is here. What's with Rico and his glasses??? Find out and keep it in mind, because I'll put Rico and Modo in almost into every story. If Seifer can have Raijin and Fuujin, why can't Zell have Rico and Modo???

Warning: Maybe a bit shonen ai at the end.

Rico´s POV

I, ...Richard Coerd (or as Captain Jack calls me: Rico.) admit that Captain Jack can be a real Bastard! Though, I think he isn't as bad as everyone makes him out to be. Yes, ... he is a rough instructor and yes, he can be mean. But his attitude, his yelling and the drill all serves the same purpose. To make us to better Seeds. Better than the rest. To make us to so-called: *Dark Seeds*.

What Dark Seeds are???

Our second identity as Dark Seeds is a secret to the world and also to the normal members of Seed.

The Captain says that we have to stay in the background, operate at night or do the spy-work, that's all. We're something like special Agents, in the name of Seed. I assume there is more to it than that, after those years filled with training and surviving. But at the moment, it's none of my concern. Of course I am curious. I want to know what our real destiny is. Why we are, what we are.

Nonetheless I wouldn't dare, asking or bothering him about it.

Why not???

First: it would be suicide to annoy the captain.

Second: If he really thinks that we're ready, then I'm sure he'll tell us. He is a man of honor.

And third: Despite the insults, despite the inhuman trainingsmethods, despite his whole attitude as a merciless drill-instructor, I still respect him. And so do Zell and Modo.

Sounds insane, huh? Believe me, it's true. He saved our lives once. Not only our lives, but our future too. Mine also. And how??? Simple! He gave me my sunglasses.

No, I'm not out of my mind, so close your mouth already.

Without them, I couldn't see myself in the mirror, if I would stand one foot in front of it. Do you wanna know the truth?

The truth is...

I am blind!

Or almost blind. It's hard to explain this, but I'll try. The sunglasses are a special invention. I don't know whose and the captain won't tell me, and I also don't know how it works. I asked Modo once, but his subject-eshtarien is hard to understand. All I can gather out of his explanation is that the glasses are something like a amplifier with extra ability to see some things, which were hard to detect. They intensify my eyesight.

Plain and simple: they correct the mistakes my eyes make. One day, I'll discover how this is working, but until then, I'm glad to have them.

They switch automatically from day- to night-mode. Don't worry, I can't see through the walls, so you're safe from me. But I have a temperature sensor. I can see the colors of warmth and cold in the middle of the night. No warm body can hide in the shadows without being seen by me. Sounds arrogant, but it's true.

The reason it happened was an accident, one which included me and my friends. It was our second mission and we were inside a factory. The instructions were:

Find the terrorists, who are hiding in this building. Take them by surprise and disarm them. If there wasn't any other way, we were allowed to kill them. And the last course of action, to defuse the bomb which they brought along.

The captain told us the time when the bomb was going to detonate. We were three hours ahead and already inside of the factory. (It wasn't so difficult to surprise their guards and knocking them out.) However, we didn't rush. There was enough time. So a few minutes later we found the leader of the terrorists and another man in the center of the factory. The man next to the leader had something in his hands, probably the bomb, and he was busy setting the timer. Before we could reach them we had been discovered. The man with the bomb made a mistake in his state of panic. Instead of setting the timer for three hours, he set it for three minutes. We had approximately three minutes, which determined if we would survive. That consequently left us with three minutes to flee the factory

The three of us ran to the exit, but before we could reach the wide open doors (which we left open when we entered), the bomb exploded and we were hit by the shockwave.

From there everything went black and when I woke up I felt bandages around my eyes and on other places. My body was aching with bruises, burns and maybe one or two broken rips. I smelled the scent of antiseptic and I realized that I was in a hospital. My worst fear was that something could've happen to Zell and Modo too. And the one thought was agonizing me the most

*What if they were dead?*

Captain Jack visited me much later, reassuring me that my friends were still alive, even if they were as much hurt as I was. I let out a sigh of relief. At least they were still alive. He didn't soften his words when he told me about my blindness. I was shocked. My world ....

Shattered.

I couldn't see anything? Not my face, not my motorbike, my E-guitar (thirteen years and plays the e-guitar? Big deal. I learned it on my own.), my friends, the people I love.... the girl I fell in love with???

I wanted to cry, scream, tearing my hair out 'til I was as bald as the Captain himself and then curl up and die. I was tempted to do so, but somehow I couldn't. My body didn't move at all, still frozen in the state of shock. Captain Jack couldn't do anything for me in that moment. He said that we had to wait for the final results of the tests and then maybe, just maybe, it wasn't as bad as they thought at first.

Days went by and I suffered in loneliness, pain and fear. Then the day came when I got my bandages off, only to notice how much the world had changed. When I opened my eyes almost everything was dark. I widened my eyes and held my hands in front of me. They were shadows with a tiny spark of color. And my surroundings? I tried to look through the room with eyes even wider than before, if possible.

Darkness!

Everything was dark! I heard the doctor ...heard him calling my name, but I couldn't see him.

My useless eyes were stinging now. Not from pain. Tears welled up in them and I couldn't hold it any longer.

I started to cry, for the first time in years.

I lost everything I ever knew within a day.

The doctor advised the captain to send me back to Balamb Garden or to my adoptive parents. It was only for my best, yet the captain refused these options. I wanted to. I really wanted to go home. Still the captain refused.

He told me that: As long as I was in his team, I would do as he says. Because his word was law!

You think he gave me my glasses then??? Then you don't know the *Drill Instructor: Captain Jack Willis*. Though it would've been easier then. Don't get me wrong, I don't rely on them that much. I have my own instinct. My own senses. Captain Jack trained me hard, until I thought I'd rather die than continuing the torture. The trainingsprogram was simple and for this we went to an empty hut, in the middle of a forest.

First step: Clear your mind and concentrate on your inner eye. (That was nothing.) And it worked, after a three days I could feel auras of human beings, animals and monsters. It was difficult to tell the difference between them, but I knew they were there. After the first step was done, the torture began.

Second step: Feel Captain Jack's aura and moves, before he can kick or punch you. I could have used my two daggers to fight him, but he wanted a hand-to-hand-combat. It was an order and he was the captain, so I had to obey. After a good day of training I assumed that I looked like beaten up by a gang of five adult men. Although I was hurt or exhausted, the training continued on the next day. Two weeks of trashing from him, and I got used to it. No, not to the beating.

I could feel him.

I felt when he tried to punch me and I dodged it. ... It wasn't enough though. He said we would stop with this training, when I managed to punch him back.

In the beginning, I thought it was impossible. The Captain was a small man, but he was very agile. Even a man with two good eyes could hardly punch him. How could I, a blind teenager, do that? I was desperate. Zell and Modo weren't with me and I missed them as hell. I was alone, in the middle of nowhere with a man who beat me up every day.

I hated him!!!

Yes I did. And the only thing that kept me going was the thought of punching him back. The thought of beating him into a bloody pulp. The thought of revenge! I trained my senses 'til I could feel him, when he was yards away and farther. And really. One day I could feel it clearly. He aimed at my face with his right fist. (I heard the swift wind to the left, when he reached back.) I dodged it easily. Then, I concentrated on his aura and I could feel how he moved quickly to the right side. (Now I had him where I wanted him.)

I sensed where his small form began and backhanded him (with my fist) right in the face. That must have hurt. I heard a groan of pain and there was something wet on my hand. It was blood. Blood from his nose. My sense of smell was as well trained as the rest.

I felt utter joy.

I did it!!!

I hit my own instructor! I made his nose bleed! Now this stupid training had an end. (How wrong I was... it was only half of the whole torture.)

Third (final) step: It wasn't enough to fight against real opponents with sensing auras, noticing smell and feeling warm bodies. The art of the Blind Combat was to sense the danger even before something happened. Not only living beings, also dead objects. Captain Jack gave me a day off, so I could relax my sore muscles. I didn't know what he was doing the whole day, but I would find out soon. He'd build a path with swinging logs and in the middle a balance beam. And he took all the effort for little ol'me??? That wasn't necessary. But he saw this..... different.

Soon enough, I learned, that a log wasn't only there to make a fire. ...But also to cause pain.

I went through the path every day and I got knocked off my feet every five minutes. It was as bad as the sparring with Captain Jack. I tried to feel them. They swung from both sides from the left and the right. When I dodge the first, the second hit me and also the third, fourth ...... and so on.

First loosing my eyesight and now this! Didn't I suffer enough? Apparently not!

But I refused to give up. Refused to give in, into this self pity. If I'd give up now, then the captain would've been right with all his insults, which he threw at me and my friends. Weakling, sissy, spoiled child, worm and many more. This thought was a permanent scratch on my dignity. That's why I kept going this time. Not out of hatred. Out of pride!

After three more weeks, I made it. The trick was *not* to sense it. It was to use your hearing. To let your hearing be part of the sixth sense.

Dodging blow after blow I went over the balance beam without a bruise. And also the second and the third time. Then, when I jumped from the balance beam, I felt how Captain Jack patted my back and told me how he knew I could make it and that we were finished with the training. These words were music to my ears.

The day came when we start packing, to leave the forest behind us. I didn't figure out where we

were or the condition of my friends. I was worried, although I doubt they were poorer than I was. I brought my bags out of the hut, sensing every obstacle in my way and avoided it with trained skill. Before we got into the car, the captain grab my shoulder from behind, saying I should wait.

I did as he requested and stood on the same spot. He stepped in front of me and told me, that I was one of the very few people, who mastered the art of the Blind Combat and this in a record time of two and a half months. He was very proud and thought that I deserved a reward. Then he made a half funny, more ironic joke, that closing my eyes wasn't necessary.

Something hard slid on the sides, over my ears. Cool plastic? Metal? I don't know. It felt strange, like two pencils resting on each of your ears. Then, there was also a light weight on the brink of my nose. The captain touched something on this *thing*.

A button?

Suddenly everything snapped into focus and....

I could see!

I saw the captain in front of me, in his full height (At that time, I wasn't much taller) and in color. The colors were darker than normal, in broad daylight but I didn't care. It... it was a ...a miracle. I resisted the urge to cry out of joy and instead, I stammered questions.

Captain Jack told me everything I had to know about my new sunglasses. Ten percent of my eyesight was left after the accident but as long as I had more than one percent left, I could see with my glasses. A thought hit me in this moment.

For what reason had he tortured me so much???

If he had the glasses the whole time with him, then why, in Hyne's name, did he do it? My anger rose and I asked myself, if Hyne would punish me if I'd killed him right now. And suddenly ....

I realized why he'd done it and my anger left me as quickly as he came, replaced with another emotion.

Respect.

I could loose my new world as quickly as I lost my old. Simply by putting the glasses down. And what if I'd drop them? Or if they'd break? Though the captain mentioned how unbreakable they were and that he could get a new one any time, it wasn't enough to calm me. But with the knowledge of Blind Combat and my trained senses, I was sure, I could handle many situations without them. I didn't depend on them and that means nobody would notice the difference. I could go on with my life, like nothing had happened, at all.

I felt the urge to hug him on the spot, but I had known him long enough to tell, that he wouldn't appreciate it very much. So I shook his hand in immense gratitude. We got into the car and went back to the civilization and to my friends.

You may think I didn't think of them while riding back from wherever we came. That's not true! I thought of them nonstop. How couldn't I think of them? We went through so much. We shared so many memories, adventures and exciting events. And of course the training and the lessons with our instructor. They weren't only *friends*. They were my best friends, ...like a part of my family.

They're my...brethren, to me.

I still don't get how we became friends, but maybe Modo remembers. I only remember that we were children when we met and how homesick and sad the three of us were.

At first, we were strangers, put together to a group under a merciless drill instructor, then ....somehow, we got along and became friends.

Before we arrived, Captain Jack told me that I couldn't see the guys for four months. Four months? That meant six months all in all, considering the fact that I trained with the captain more than two months.

In this time I should study in Galbadia Garden. And train my new improved senses, every day. I had to promise it before he dropped me in front of the Garden. The headmaster knew I would arrive that day and so it wasn't a problem at all. Nonetheless, I missed my two brethren in these four months. I studied and trained like crazy because I set myself a goal.

I wanted to be as good as the captain was.

Not as drill instructor. As a soldier, as a leader. I know, I don't have as much experience, as he has, but it won't stop me from trying it. I want to be able to help my friends in all dangerous situations. If not with my eyes and my senses, then with my knowledge.

Today, in Garden, there are rumors of me, being the unofficial leader of our group. That´s total nonsense! There isn't a leader in our group. We are not the Disciplinary Committee. *snickers*

I help my team with my skills as much as they help me with their skills. I can tell, we are real friends and if I have to sacrifice my life for them, I'd do it without hesitation. I'm not afraid of death. I admit, I was afraid when I realized, I was blind. I was afraid of the threatening darkness. Afraid to live the rest of my life in darkness. Not knowing if it was day or night, never seeing the whole beauty of nature or the city again, never seeing my friends again.

The Captain taught us, not to be afraid of death, because of the fact that we're Dark Seeds.

And Dark Seeds, were born ... to die.

~~~

Go to the next chapter, onegai? ^^