Path to Forgiving

Here's the first chapter, it's a bit long. if it is too long, don't worry, next chapters will be shorter.

1. Over the Hill

Marche clenched his jaw and looked straight forward. The cold wind of the Sienna Gorge blew in his face. It was painful. But something was even more painful. He looked up. Not far from the bridge far above him, the bridge over the river. Ritz. With her clan.

"Ritz…" Marche sighed silently.

The girl immediately shook her head and glared at him. "I have no desire at all, to discuss this matter with you, Marche." Her hand grabbed the handle of her Femme Fatale. Marche had heard about her rapier. It was… The strongest in Ivalice. Legendary, some would call it. It was strange Ritz was able to wield it. But then again, Marche was not surprised. She was a strong fighter. A strong clan leader. He had seen her in combat. The look in Marche's eyes changed. From sadness, to anger. Yes, that was it, anger. Anger and… hate. He breathed heavily.

"I just can't let you go any further Marche…" Ritz sighed. "I won't allow you to destroy my dream."

"Yes!" Marche sneered. "You speak the truth. A dream. Your dream to be like you are now… Pathetic weakling."

"What did you call me?" She stood straighter. With the sun shining from behind her, she looked quite fearsome. With a fast move she drew her Femme Fatale. Besides Ritz, Shara, her bow ready. "I'm sorry Marche. But I'll stop you! And if it means fighting you, I won't back down at all."

Marche nodded. A sinister smile decorated his face all of the sudden. "Those are my thoughts exactly, Ritz." He looked up and looked straight in her eyes. He sent her all his anger, all his hate. She quickly looked away. "I must see Mewt, and that means I'm going through this valley. Clan Ritz or no Clan Ritz."

He grabbed his Long Sword. Ritz laughed. "I heard about you, Marche. You're clan is doing well. But every time we met, you were the weakest of your group. Don't take me for a fool. Just turn back now, I want to avoid a battle if that's possible."

"Maybe I'm weak." Marche replied. "But I don't care. You've gone too far this time, Ritz. You want to fight me? Then bring it on. I'll show you who the weakling is!"

The red-haired girl shrugged and threw of her cloak. Marche wasn't impressed with her battle outfit. The armours, belts and gloves she wore were the finest material. They certainly weren't cheap.

"Why does he stay so calm?" Ritz wondered. "I've been asking around all over Ivalice to get an idea of his power. And every time I was judged stronger than him. So why is he so… relaxed?"

"You alright, Ritz?" Shara gave her a worried look. Ritz nodded and even managed to smile. "It's nothing. Maybe I'm a bit nervous, but I'll be alright."

"Ritz… You don't have to-"

"I'll see this through!" She snapped. Without waiting for Shara to continue speaking, she pointed her rapier at Marche. "Let's do it, clan!"

Marche threw of his own travel cloak. His steel armour reflected the sun. It was nicely polished. "Montblanc…" He turned to his Black Mage, Moogle friend. "You lead the clan…I'll be dealing with Ritz alone."

"Will you be okay, kupo? I mean… In your head, kupo."

"She went too far…" The hatred in his eyes grew worse. "She went too far!"

"Alright, kupo. But don't over do it, Marche."

He nodded and thanked the moogle. Then he ran up quickly, jumping higher than he was able to in the real world. He landed steadily on his feet on a flat piece of the hill. Ritz was already there. She stood ready to attack. Marche raised his sword.

And charged.

Ritz was prepared for it. She was a veteran of many battles. She would not loose. It pained her that her opponent was Marche, but he was going to destroy her, the her she wanted to be. He was going to take away everything she liked. The weapons clashed with loud clangs. Marche let out a fierce number of strikes, each one paraded by a swift Ritz.

"You said from the beginning you did not want our world back." Marche cried, striking with all his might, she jumped up to avoid his swipe. "But you knew it just had to come back, didn't you?"

She landed again and now she let out swift strikes with her deadly rapier. "Maybe I did." She smiled. "That's part of this game's fun, really, getting to the end. But I don't want this game to end just yet. I don't have to take it to stand by and watch you end this game!" She drove him backwards. His back touched the rocks of the mountain. "That's why I decided that at least I would do everything to stop you. Even if the world gets changed back, no matter what!" She looked him in the eye and whispered. "I'm sure you can understand that."

"I don't!" he growled. "All I understand now is that I want you out of my way. That you are my enemy. That I hate my enemies, and thus, you!" In a desperate move to get out of his stuck position, he charged forward. She stepped aside and kicked his legs, making him fall. Marche tasted dust.

"I see… So you really don't care about me, Mewt, or Doned?" She slashed his sword away and laid the point of her Femme Fatale on his chest. Marche shot her a fierce glance.

"What about you three huh? Don't you really care about how I feel? Is that not important, too? Or do I just have to be the only one feeling something is missing, while you are perfectly happy? Why do I need to suffer because of you three?" She was silent for a while, then replied. "One person. Is your happiness more important than the happiness of three persons? You want to sacrifice three happy friends for your own happiness, I didn't think you were THAT selfish."

"I'm not. I'm not selfish. You are not happy Ritz. Here, you are being a weakling! A pathetic weakling!" Those last words were spit out with blind and boiling rage.

"You said that before…" she bowed her head "But I'm not weak at all! How can you even say that?"

"I'm not weak!" Marche hissed "I am willing to face the truth, willing to go back and step up to my problems I have there." He looked sideways, down the hill, where his clan was engaged with Ritz's. "But you, Ritz. And Mewt. You just want to stay here. And I would not mind that, if you weren't running away like all weaklings do. In our world, in St. Ivalice, I saw you as a strong minded person, one that has problems of her own, but can face them. But I was wrong." She listened, didn't interrupt him. "You did not dare to face your problem there. You just ran away from it, by coming here. Here, you don't have to face that problem of your white hair. Because here, you were able to run fast enough to escape that problem, not solve it!"

"My hair is red here. It's naturally red. Marche, I did not run from my problem, because here there is no such problem!"

"And thus you ran away from it. You want to stop me so badly, be cause you are such a coward! You are afraid to go back because you don't dare to face your problem!" Marche replied.

"That's not true at all!"

"Then why don't you allow me to go further? Why don't you let me change the world back, if you are not afraid of our world?"

"Because I'm more happy here!" Ritz stated. For a moment Marche thought a tear was blinking in the corner of her eye. A tear of despair. She was confused. "You don't know what you're taking from me when you change everything! Why Marche? Why go back? Here, I'm not picked on, nobody picks on you, nobody picks on Mewt! Isn't this better?"

"No." Marche sighed. "Not it is not. Because our problems are still not solved. Life is standing up to your problems and solving them. That's what I learned here. When I go back, I won't allow Lyle and his bunch to pick on me anymore, I'll just make them eat snow if I have to. But I won't run away from the problem anymore."

His red haired opponent did a step back. Was she crying? She stared at the ground. "Then you leave me no choice, Marche. I wasn't able to talk you out of it. Now I'll just have to KO you and win this battle. And I'll keep doing it whenever you try to cross this valley."

Ritz firmly took her Femme Fatale and jumped high in the air, preparing her Finishing Move.

The light of the sun made the Femme Fatale emit a blood red glow. The energy of the sun was what she needed for the Finishing Move. When the energy was gathered, she raised the blade and then crushed down towards Marche. Marche had staggered up. He looked up at Ritz and raised his hands to stop her. But he was unarmed. No way he would be able to stop Ritz's Finishing Move. When she was only a few metres away from him, she threw her Femme Fatale and hung still in the air, watching it approach her friend. She waited for her rapier to crash in the ground, where it would let out all the power it had gained from the sun, sending it in a gigantic stream of energy upwards. None had ever survived Ritz Finishing Move. She had fought long and hard to be able to learn it. But it had been worth it. The Finishing Move, one of Ivalice hidden S-skills. It was the S-skill of the Fencer class. It had saddened Ritz a bit that to use it, she had to back to her starting class, but it had been worth it. And she had combined her Fencer skills with her Illusionist skills. She remembered how Shara had commented on the sheer power of the Finishinh Move when she had used it for the first time. She had to rest five days before she was recovered from using her S-skill. But slowly, she got better at using it and now she had mastered it.

Marche felt the blade flying straight past his outstretched hands. He had only time to look down at the ground in which the Femme Fatal had struck, before the energy of the sun started to gush out and the raise upwards into a pillar of light. Ritz dropped softly on the ground and waited until all energy had left her blade. And when all energy had rose to heavens, she would see Marche, KO'd and she would win the engagement. It saddened her, really. Why did it have to go this way. "All this time, I had hoped that we never would have to meet like this…" She whispered.

"Really?" Marche asked. "In my case, I was kind of looking forward to it." Ritz looked up and her eyes grew wide. There was no way, no way at all! At first she only saw a black figure in the streaming energy, but then he stepped out of it. But he was different…?

His silver coloured armours reflected the sunlight so bright that Ritz had to shield her eyes. What had happened to his steel armour? How did it change to something this… impressive?

The armour he wore over his chest and back seemed thick and heavy. It was decorated with lines that formed a pattern, like they were painting ribs on the armour. His shoulder, elbows and wrist were protected by silver coloured metal just as well, as where his knees and shins. The tips of his now black boots were strengthened with the shining metal as well. Under all this he now wore black clothes. But what truly was terrifying was his sword.

It was just gigantic. It was strange that he could wield it with just one hand, and he did not seem to have any problems doing so at all. It was richly decorated at the handle, and it looked very ancient yet so powerful.

"Where did you-" she stammered.

"Get this all?" He finished for her. He smiled broadly. "Just like you, Ritz, I went to search for one of the legendary S-skills. For me it was the S-skill of the Solider class. A bit hard for me to part from being a Paladin, but then again, I could combine my Soldier and Paladin skills so I was not that worried." He paused for a moment and studied his blade. "I just wanted that S-skill, to prove you that I'm also a great fighter. But I stumbled upon my nightmare. Ultimate Weapon."

Ritz gasped for breath. Her face turned pale. "You mean the Weapons exist here, too?"

Marche nodded sadly, like it pained him to talk about it. "Ultimate Weapon guarded the ultimate skill of the Soldier class: Finishing Touch. I wanted that skill, I wanted to show it to you so you would be impressed."

"But why would you want to impress me? You could have been killed by Weapon!"

"Because whenever I meet you" he cried "You always seem to humiliate me! You always were stronger than me when we met. Nothing wrong with it, I admired it, until I learned you secretly went all over Ivalice to get information about my strength, just so you could become better! And then you got the S-skill… I couldn't stand it anymore, Ritz! Ever since the Golden Clocks my desire to show you your place, to be somebody and to become stronger than you was all that kept me up, after you crushed my feelings!"

She gave him a not-understanding look. "What did I do, then?" she quietly asked. Afraid to hear the answer.

"I'm sure you'll be able to figure out that one yourself." Marche replied. "All that was left in me then was my desire. And it was that desire that helped me through my battle with Ultimate Weapon, it was that desire that allowed me to overcome death. The desire to defeat you, Ritz!"

He ran towards her with his new blade and powers ready. Ritz jumped over him and grabbed her Femme Fatale. Now she was worried. He turned around with lightning speed and charged at her again. She ducked to avoid his slash and kicked at his legs. He did a back flip to avoid that and so she got the time to get up again. Just in time to raise her rapier to block his next attack. His blade was great and heavy, it was difficult to block such power with her long, yet thin rapier. Her Femme Fatale would not break, she was sure of that. But she, herself, could break. Marche doubled his attacking speed, every strike coming faster and more difficult for her to handle. It could not be. There was no way that his power could have grown so much just because he had a different weapon and battle outfit!

He struck her hard and forced her back. Her back touched the side of the mountain. She gulped and sprang away just as his blade cleaved trough the rocks. He pulled his blade back out and looked around for his opponent. Nowhere to be seen. He did a back flip and landed three metres higher on a small edge. She landed suddenly in front of him and he almost fell, but he quickly recovered and hacked away. The side of the mountain became full of scratches and deep cuts as the two continued their fight, Ritz desperately trying to avoid his sword and Marche continuously attacking. Sometimes he held his weapon with two hands, sometimes with only one. He jumped after Ritz who just had reached a higher ridge then him. He wasn't planning to land on it, he was just going to cut that ridge in half. She noticed what he was planning to do. "Nighthawk!" The fencer skill knocked Marche back and he fell. Marche stuck his blade in the side of the mountain to stop himself from falling. Then he pushed himself upwards again. He passed Ritz and while he did that he cut the ridge she was standing on in two pieces. Screaming she fell and her rapier was not strong enough to do the same tricks Marche had done while he was falling. Painfully she crashed down at the feet of the mountain, not far from the bridge where she had awaited Marche. She tried to get up but was stopped when he suddenly dropped down next to her and put his feet on her chest.

"My skills have far surpassed your, Ritz, long, long ago. Thanks to my desire. And thus I will now end the battle." He raised his sword to KO her, but in a last desperate attempt not to get KO'd by her friend, she grabbed his leg and pulled it, making him fall. She stood up quickly and tried to reach her Femme Fatale, which she had lost during her fall. Just as she wanted to grab it he appeared in front of her.

"Finishing Touch." He whispered softly. Then he gently touched her forehead with the tip of his blade. A strong blow of invisible energy suddenly came and blew her away. Or was it a sudden wind that did that? She would never know. When the energy, or whatever it was, had blown her back, it had such a hard impact on her chest that she felt like being crushed. A small stream of blood appeared in the corner of her mouth . Ritz fell of the edge of the cliff and her fall finally stopped when she hit the river with a sickening crash. Something heavy suddenly was removed from Marche's heart and he walked to the edge of the cliff, relaxed. He looked down to see the result of his final assault. Shara already dragged an unconscious Ritz out of the river. Marche looked at the Judge, who raised his hand.

"KO verified, clan leader is defeated. This engagement is over and victory goes to Clan Marche." Then he promptly disappeared and the fight had ended. Marche sighed deeply and put his sword on his back.

After he checked himself for not existing injuries. He turned his attention back to the people below. None of his clan were KO'd, only a few with some major injuries. Ever since his struggle with Ultimate Weapon, Marche had insisted that his clan members would train and learn their skills twice as hard as before, including himself.

"If we ever face something like Weapon again, we have to be prepared, guys." Was his explanation. None really complained. It was for the best of the clan, after all.

"Montblanc, gather the clan. Let's go on to Ambervale."

"Kupo! We'll be right there, Marche." The moogle boy put away his staff and climbed up the hill towards the bridge over the river, followed by the other members of Clan Marche.

"Was everything okay?" Marche asked. He smiled innocently. "I just was a bit to busy to watch how things were going with you guys."

"Kupo, things went all kupo, Marche." Montblanc said with a wink. "I think you forcing us to practice twice as hard did pay of, kupo."

"Well, didn't I say it was in the best intentions for the clan?" Marche laughed. Then he turned around and prepared to cross the bridge. He noticed the others were hesitating a bit.

"Hey come on, we can't keep the Judgemaster waiting forever."

"Marche…" Seth, the White Monk Bangaa, shook his head slightly. "Are you sssure that you aren't forgetting sssomething?"

"Like what?" he asked with a confused look. He looked at Seth, who did not answer. Montblanc did not, either. Nobody of his clan did. They all just avoided his gaze. Then it hit him. "Oh, her." Then he simply turned around again and crossed the bridge. Montblanc soon followed, Seth heard him say something like "Hopeless.", but so silent Marche could not hear it. Without looking back, they crossed the bridge and silently continued the path out of Sienna Gorge.

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To see Marche Ultima Weapon, copy and paste this link:
http/www.kolumbus.fi/deng.suiguang/Kuvat/weaponit/cloudultima.jpg
As you can see, it's based on Cloud's Ultima Weapon from FF VII. I just liked the design.

I hope this first chapter was enjoyable.