"...You're ugly."
I blinked.
"Huh?"
"Your face," she said flatly. "It's ugly, don't get the wrong idea just because you saved me. I'm not grateful or anything.
...
Did she just—
What the fuck, she has a pretty big mouth for someone who was locked up in a pod.
I stared at her, and she stared back, but her eyes were somewhere else, and her expression was completely deadpan, but there was something in her eyes. Something that said I have no idea how to talk to people, so I'm going to be difficult instead.
"Ugly," I repeated.
"Yes."
"My face is hideous."
I almost laughed.
She's trying so hard to be cold.
And failing miserably.
"Alright," I said. "I'm ugly, so why can't you say that to my face, and why are you even blushing?"
She then hid her face and muttered..."But your eyes are okay, I guess."
I knew it, I knew it, she is one of the popular genres of girls, the peak type, the ones I sometimes sacrifice my action manga for.
She's a tsundere.
Of course she is.
So what's your name?" I asked her.
She opened her mouth and then closed it. Her expression flickered just for a second before the mask came back up.
"I don't have one," she said. "Not anymore."
The Cult took everything from me.
"Then you need a new one."
She tilted her head. "Are you naming me? How presumptuous. Who said you could name me?"
"You want me to call you 'hey you' forever?"
She considered this. "...Fine. But if the name is stupid, I'm rejecting it."
I looked at her. Red hair, Crimson eyes. Pale skin that hadn't seen sunlight in years. She looked like something born from fire.
"Scarlet," I said.
She raised an eyebrow. "Scarlet?"
"It means red. Like your hair and your eyes."
She tested the word silently, and her lips moved, shaping it.
"...Scarlet," she said finally.
"Yeah."
She was quiet for a moment. Then, very quietly, she said: "It's not stupid."
"Don't let it go to your head."
I smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it."
She looked away, and I could have sworn I saw her cheeks turn slightly pink.
Yeah, she's definitely a tsundere.
My Journey won't be so boring after all.
Two Months Later
The forest was in flames.
Flames roared into the night sky, consuming tents, supplies, and bodies. Ten bandit camps, Ten. All reduced to ash and memory.
And above it all, hovering on wings of fire, was Scarlet.
Her crimson hair danced in the heat. Her eyes, those impossible eyes, glowed like embers. Flame coiled around her arms like serpents and wrapped around her body like a second skin.
She looked like a goddess of destruction.
She looked absolutely terrifying.
She looked—
"SCARLET!"
like someone who'd just been caught.
She spun around. I stood at the edge of the burning clearing, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.
"I—I didn't—this isn't—" She stumbled over her words, the flames around her flickering. "They attacked first! I was just defending myself! It's not like I wanted to burn them all! I don't care what you think!"
I walked through the flames like they weren't there.
The fire parted around me respectfully.
I stopped in front of her and looked up at where she hovered.
"Come down," I said.
She descended slowly. Her feet touched the ground, and the flames around her died down to embers.
She refused to meet my eyes.
"I'm not in trouble," she muttered. "I don't care if I'm in trouble. You can't ground me. I'm not your daughter."
"Scarlet."
"I'm a grown woman. I can burn whatever I want. It's not like I did it for you or anything."
Grown woman, my ass. We are both fourteen years old.
"Scarlet."
"What?!"
I reached out. She flinched just slightly but didn't pull away.
My hand landed on her head.
Pat. Pat. Pat.
"You found your magic two months ago," I said quietly. "And already you've burned ten bandit camps. Do you know how impressive that is?"
She went very still.
Her face turned very red.
"I—it's not—anyone could—stop patting my head!"
She swatted my hand away. But her voice had lost its edge. And her eyes, those crimson eyes that had looked so empty in the laboratory, were bright.
I smiled.
It wasn't my usual smile. Not the cold one or the calculated one.
Just... a smile.
Warm and Genuine.
Scarlet stared at it.
Her face got redder.
"Don't—don't smile like that!" she snapped, turning away. "It's weird! You're weird! I'm going back to the cave!"
She stormed off. Her hair was still smoking. Her ears were bright red.
I watched her go, still smiling.
She's strong. Stronger than she knows.
The Cult's experiments... they weren't trying to kill her.
They were trying to make something like a super soldier.
And it worked.
Their loss and my gain.
So I have gotten some kind of Tsundere bodyguard, who I will probably crack when I'm eighteen, as my birthday gift is impressive.
Scarlet sat by the fire, her knees drawn to her chest.
She was pretending to be asleep.
Bold tsundere move.
I knew because her breathing was wrong; it was too controlled and too steady.
I didn't call her out on it.
Instead, I sat across from her and sharpened my swords. The sound of metal on stone filled the cave.
"...Zero."
I didn't look up. "Yeah."
"When you found me... in that place..."
She hesitated.
"Why did you save me?"
I stopped sharpening.
Why did I save her?
I went looking for power. For anything that would help me get stronger and
I found her instead.
And when I saw her—floating there, surrounded by death, somehow still alive—
I didn't think.
I just moved.
"I had no reason," I said simply.
She was quiet for a moment.
"...That's a stupid reason."
"Probably."
"It doesn't make any sense."
"Probably not."
"You're supposed to argue with me."
"I know."
She huffed and pulled her knees tighter.
But when I glanced up, she was smiling.
She's getting better.
Every day, she's getting better.
"Go to sleep, Scarlet."
"Don't tell me what to do."
But she closed her eyes.
And this time, her breathing evened out.
I watched her for a moment. Then I leaned back against the cave wall and closed my eyes.
I woke to silence.
And beside me, I saw a flower.
It was fresh, pale and white.
Someone was here.
My hand moved to my swords, and my eyes scanned the cave's entrance.
Nothing.
No.
Someone was here.
They came into the cave.
They stood beside me while I slept.
And I didn't wake up.
I picked up the flower and turned it over in my fingers.
This is a message.
Not a threat or an attack.
I brought it closer and studied the petals.
My eyes narrowed.
"Come back."
I knew this flower. I knew the way it was placed. The deliberate precision.
Only one person in the world left flowers like this.
Luna.
I stared at the flower for a long moment.
Then I smiled.
I was amused.
She found me.
Of course, she found me.
She always finds me.
I tucked the flower into my pocket and looked at Scarlet, who was still asleep.
She's going to love you.
...
That's the problem.
Somewhere in the Midgar Kingdom.
The moon hung low over the manor of a masion.
Not the grandest estate in the kingdom or the smallest either. Just... there. Unremarkable and easy to overlook.
Perfect.
A figure sat on the highest peak of the roof.
He was fourteen. He had an average height and an average build. Black short hair that caught the moonlight, turning it silver at the edges. Black eyes stared at the stars with the patience of someone who had all the time in the world.
Cid Kagenou.
To anyone watching, well, not that anyone ever watched, he was just a boy and a background character. A footnote in someone else's story.
They'd be wrong.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver coin.
It was worn smooth by fingers that had held it a thousand times.
He turned it over and studied it. The way the light caught the edges. The way it weighed in his palm.
This world runs on money.
Kings fight for it. Merchants die for it. Kingdoms rise and fall for it.
They think it's power.
He flipped the coin.
It spun through the air, catching moonlight. Turning and Turning.
They're wrong.
The coin reached its apex.
And for one moment, one perfect, frozen moment, it hung there.
Suspended between earth and sky. Between what was and what could be.
Power isn't in the coin.
It's in the hand that flips it.
He caught it.
Slap.
The sound echoed across the empty estate.
He smiled.
I am the shadow that flips the coin.
The hand that decides when it falls.
And I tell what happens between moments.
He tossed the coin again.
Higher this time.
It disappeared into the darkness.
And for a moment, the moonlight seemed to bend. The shadows seemed to deepen, and the world held its breath.
Then his hand shot out.
And caught it.
Perfect.
He stood and stretched lazily. He then looked out at the kingdom spread beneath him.
One day, they'll see.
The shadow I cast.
The fear I create.
The eminence that lurks in the darkness they pretend doesn't exist.
He turned and walked back across the roof.
No one saw him.
No one ever saw him.
And that was exactly how he wanted it.
Let the heroes have their light.
The shadows are mine.
He disappeared into the manor.
Behind him, the moon continued its slow path across the sky.
And somewhere in the mountains, a boy with crimson eyes tucked a white flower into his pocket and smiled.
Two paths.
One shadow.
The game was just beginning.
THE END....