-------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Three

Revealed

-------------------------------------------------------------

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on, Atti, what could possibly go wrong?" Julian asked me for the seventh time that morning, still trying to persuade me to go home to Izlude for a visit, even though I had made it quite clear that I wasn't interested. We had been traveling together for only two weeks, and he had started pestering me about going home, at least for a little while, three days ago. I refused every time he asked, and every time I refused, he looked huffy for a few minutes and then asked me again. He was quite possibly just trying to wear me down, hoping I would cave in eventually and agree to go, if only to shut him up. He probably figured that if annoyed me enough, that was exactly what would happen. Or, if that didn't work, he could use a guilt trip.

Unfortunately for me, he was right.

"We won't stay for too long, but I need to at least let my mother know that I'm still alright, Atti. I haven't visited her in a while, she's bound to be worried sick about me." I flinched at hearing him say this. Trust Julian to hit me where it hurt. He could go home if he wanted to, visit with his mother to catch up and let her know that her child was still living, but my own mother would never know that hers was doing fine. If I went to see her, I would be putting her in danger, and myself. There would be all kinds of questions I would need to answer, and the first one would be, "What brought about this dramatic change?" There was no way I could answer that, so it would be better to stay away from her, for now. She could go on thinking that I was dead, or, at the very least, that I had forgotten her. Until those Stalkers were dead, I wasn't going to go home. I couldn't put my mother's life at risk that way.

"Fine, Julian, we'll go. But I'm not going to see my mother, and you can't say anything about me to anyone. Nobody can know, got it?" I had told him, in such a way that stated there was no room for discussion. "Deal," he replied with a grin, far too pleased that he had won. He had already won even before he had started to ask me today. We had been traveling through Prontera fields the night before, and made camp when it got dark. I hadn't even realized that he had been directing me towards Izlude until now. But, it would do no good to berate him for it now, I had already given in and admitted that he had gotten the better of me.

Nothing's changed between us, after all. He could always figure out exactly what to say to me to get his way when we were kids, too, I thought as I steered my PecoPeco down the dirt road and sighed, exasperated by the fact that, even after all these years, Julian still knew me far too well. Ah, well, it's not a total loss, I told myself At least I can replace this old armour while I'm there. My Full Plate armour was old, and I knew it wasn't going to hold up much longer. The Whitesmith in Izlude made great armour, better than anywhere else I'd ever been, so I supposed that going to Izlude wasn't such a bad idea, after all. Not that I would tell Julian that, he would just become smug and give me that "I-told-you-so-but-you-wouldn't-listen" look of his that made me want to deck him.

All of a sudden, I heard Dimitri's panicked voice from in front of me, on my PecoPeco's neck. "Master Atticus! Stalkers!" I looked immediately to the place he was pointing, and what met my eyes was the very same group of Stalkers that I had sworn to kill. The leader looked over at us upon hearing my Bongun companion's terrified shriek, emerald eyes glittering with malice. "Well, now...Look what's come our way, boys," he said to his four associates, all of them watching me closely. As I leapt down from my PecoPeco's back and drew my Fireblend, they began to laugh. "You think you're going to bring us down all on your own, little man?" The leader taunted, grinning at me. "Five of us, and only one of you. We're all older than you are, and quite a bit taller, not to mention much better built. The odds aren't in your favour, boy, but if you want to fight us, then so be it." He looked slightly surprised when I didn't react to his attempt at intimidation, and even more so when Julian and Dimitri climbed down off of my PecoPeco and each one took their place at my sides. "Three on five, it's not quite even, but our odds are better now," Julian said with a smirk. Dimitri nodded in agreement and unsheathed the Gravekeeper's Sword on his back, readying himself to fight.

The Stalker leader's surprise was quickly replaced with a malicious grin. "Three times the loot when we kill you, then," he told us, the other four getting behind him in a V-shaped formation. Then, without warning, they lunged at us and the fight began. All my training over the past seven years had come down to this, it was all for this moment. I had to use everything I had learned and bring them down here and now, because I knew that this was my only chance. Either they would die here today, or I would, and I would be damned if it was going to be me.

Dimitri and Julian had little trouble with the first two that went after them, taking advantage of the foolish mistake that the Stalkers had made in getting too close to them. After seeing their two comrades fall so quickly, the others knew, from that point, to keep their distance, at least from Julian and Dimitri. The Stalkers' leader had decided to take me out first and leave the other two to hold off my friends while he took care of me, and so far, he was doing a good job of forcing me back. It was all I could do just to block the strikes from his twin daggers, I wouldn't be able to keep up for too much longer. It seemed like he just kept getting faster, and he was already moving at a blinding speed. Because of this, it was no surprise that I had no time to block the direct strike to my chest with the hilt of the sword that he had traded his daggers for a split second before hitting me. Caught off-guard, I flew backwards and hit the ground hard, and as I tried to push myself up out of the dirt, I realized that he hadn't just damaged my armour, he had shattered it. The steel lay in pieces around me, all that was left protecting me now being the tunic I had been wearing underneath my Full Plate armour. If I stood up to fight now, not only would I be killed, I would-

"You fight like a girl, kid," His taunting voice informed me from his place only a few feet in front of me. I could hear the others laugh at this while still fending off Julian and Dimitri's attacks, and that was all it took to make my blood start to boil. I had heard enough. Grabbing my Fireblend, I pushed myself up off the ground, then untied the dark teal ribbon I had bound my semi-long hair up with and tossed it to the ground. Then, looking up at him and not bothering to disguise my voice any longer, I snapped, "I am a girl, idiot!"

The Stalkers all stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at me. Julian also stilled and looked over at me, and Dimitri just stood there, in complete shock. "I'm not Atticus Kurosawa. 'Atticus' never existed at all. I took that name and changed my identity as a way to protect myself, to keep myself hidden, until the day came that I was strong enough to avenge the deaths of my friends, the ones that you killed, seven years ago in the Payon Caves. I am Artemis Kurosawa, and that day is today."

The leader just stood there for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "Yes, I thought I remembered you! My, but you were a petulant little brat back then. But just look at you now, you're quite a woman, aren't you? You shouldn't hide your body under such heavy armour like that, your looks could be your greatest strength." He put his weapon away and took a step towards me, likely expecting me to step back or shrink away. I didn't do either of those things, instead falling back into my stance and bracing my Fireblend in front of me. "You're such a pretty girl, it would be a shame to waste your looks by covering yourself up that way. You should join my little gang, we'll be good to you," he said, taking another step and stopping just beyond my blade's reach. "If you don't, I'll have to kill you, and I really don't want to do that."

"No deal," I growled, about to lunge, but before I could do so, he leapt out of the way to avoid a pillar of fire that had sprung up in the place he had been standing only a moment before. Julian and Dimitri had obviously taken care of the other two Stalkers, leaving the leader on his own and open to attack. "Leave this one to me, Julian!" I doubted he would do it, but I needed to take care of this on my own. He had already done more than enough, this one had to be left for me. To my surprise, Julian did as I had asked. He only stood back and watched as I forced the Stalker further and further back with every strike he blocked. He seemed unable to keep his feet planted firmly enough on the ground to keep me from shoving him backward. I gave him no openings to attack, and finally, I forced him up against a rock with my blade to his throat. If he moved, the sword would slit his throat, and he knew it, so he remained completely still, careful not to cut himself as he spoke. "Well played, Kurosawa, well played...but do you think you can actually force yourself to kill me? You don't want to be like me in any way, and wouldn't killing me this way make you just like me? I'm defenseless, I can't even move. That's hardly fair, is it?"

I glared hatefully at him, keeping the hand clutching my sword's hilt steady. "That's rather hypocritical, isn't it? You killed my friends with all of the most underhanded tricks that you could possibly come up with. They were just kids, they had no chance. I am nothing like you. I gave you a chance to fight back, knowing that you were capable of it. You had plenty of chances to run away, I made sure of that. And unlike you, I hate myself for letting them die that way. You don't care. You enjoyed killing them that way, knowing that there was nothing any of us could do about it. I'm nothing like you, I'll never be anything like you...don't ever compare yourself to me!" I couldn't take listening to him anymore, so before he could respond, I moved my blade downwards and stabbed it into his chest, quickly averting my gaze. I could feel the tears threatening to spill over as I pulled my sword out of his chest and saw him slump to the ground, motionless, out of the corners of my eyes. As soon as I was sure he wouldn't get up again, I let my Fireblend fall from my hand and dropped to my knees, finally allowing myself to cry now that I knew it was over.

Andromeda...Alannah...Alaster...Gwen...I'm sorry for letting you die like that...I'm sorry I didn't just run, like you told me to. I'm sorry that I couldn't save you...and I'm sorry I was such a terrible friend. To let you stay and fight with me...it was selfish of me. And I'm sorry that you had to lose it all...just because of my stupidity. It was a silent prayer, a wish, for my friends to somehow let me know that they didn't blame me, that I had been forgiven. Nothing came. I knew it wouldn't, they couldn't hear me. They were dead, after all, and I couldn't speak to the dead.

"Artemis...we should get going." I heard Julian's voice from just above me. He sounded concerned, and almost as though he was holding back tears, himself. Looking up at him, I took the hand he had offered to me and allowed him to pull me up. Dimitri held out my Fireblend to me, having sheathed it for me already, and I smiled despite myself as I took it from him. "Thanks, Dimitri...for everything." He smiled back and pulled himself up onto my PecoPeco's neck again. "No problem, Master Artemis," he replied as I swung myself up into the saddle and let Julian climb up behind me. "So, then...now that you know, Dimitri, and now that everything's over...what will you do? Are you going to leave?" Dimitri laughed, something I had never heard him do before, and said, "Of course not! When I said I'd travel with you forever, Master Artemis, I meant forever. Besides, everything's not over, as far as I'm concerned, it's just getting started."

"Fair enough," I said, then looked over my shoulder at Julian as I spurred my mount forward. "What about you, Julian?" He just grinned and answered, "You won't get rid of me that easily Artemis, you should know that by now." I pretended to look disappointed and said, "Damn, I was hoping you'd leave me alone now that I don't have any more Stalkers to kill. Guess I'll have to think of something else."

"Good luck with that. 'Cause you're never getting rid of me, doesn't matter what you try," he retorted, then kissed me before I could come up with a counter. Dimitri had the courtesy to ignore us and take over steering the PecoPeco until Julian decided to release me and let me return to guiding the giant bird through the city gates. "I suppose I can live with that," I told him, "If I don't have any other choice."

It was just like old times. Julian and I always had these mock-arguments when we were children, still living here in Izlude. And after being away for so long, I knew one thing for sure.

It was good to be home, at least for now.