********* (I love you) Aki VIII: Mine- A FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is “Aki VIII: Mine” of my FFXI love story *********** (I love you)[/i]. Please tell me what you think of it!

(Chapter I)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=11148161352496864&num=0
(Aki II)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1115076868790365180&num=7
(Chapter III)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1115183358960358628
(Aki IV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1115608634938805350
(Chapter V)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1115851026175436111
(Aki VI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111630303543160197&num=0
(Chapter VII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1116855117169209265

This chapter is dedicated to Becca-chan. You may be able to pack a punch, but let the guy take care of you sometimes^^
***
Dying to defend someone.

Or be willing to at least.

What causes people to be willing to do that?

Is it just a common human bond, a natural instinct to protect the ones that are weaker than you, a job requirement…

Or is there something more?
***
Aki VIII: Mine
***
"That’s enough. If you want to kill her, you are going to have to deal with me first."

The words rang from my throat, full of confidence as I knocked his blade away from her and stepped in between the two of them in one smooth step. The prism powder started to flake off in larger and larger chunks, revealing my determined face in splinters at a time.

I drew my sword back a bit, in order to cover the girl should the elvaan decide to try to attack her again, and then glared deep into the dark being’s eyes where I found two glowing golden circles empty of emotion or pity for anything living being. My grip tightened on my sword and I started to speak, not trying to conceal any hint of threat in my voice.

"If you want her, you will have to try to get to her over my cold, dead ***."

The elvaan just smiled a firm lipped smile, and then it let a deep throaty noise escape from its lips that sounded like the rattling breath of the dead.

It took a second for me to realize it was laughing at me.

Behind me, I started to hear her breath growing shallower and weaker with every passing second.

"I mean it. I’ll die to protect her if need be. I am a paladin after all, and the white knight always protects the girl in distress in the stories."

It didn’t respond to my comment, but instead made a feint with its weapon at my midsection. Whipping my sword downwards, I neatly parried the attack and then responded with one of my own that slipped into its guard and gave it a gash on its right arm. To my surprise it didn’t bleed, or even seem to notice the wound at all.

What th-

Before I could complete my thought, the elvaan went on the offensive, switching sword posture styles rapidly and raining down upon my blows that I was only barely able to deflect over and over again. The ringing of the dull metal as out swords met and parted over and over again carried out throughout the room, accenting the light being reflected off of our swords by the eternal candles that also lit up the walls of this room.

It pushed me further and further back, until I was about to be up against a wall. A sudden adrenaline rush came over me, and I took the offense, pushing him further and further back until he WAS up against a wall, with no place to. It then realized it was trapped, but it no fear showed on its face.
“Die.” the elvaan spoke. The words startled me as they passed through its lips, for I had thought it couldn’t speak.

It was too late when I noticed that in its offhand, it had drawn a small dagger that slipped into my guard and the blade of which had hit one of the few weak spots in my armor, the spot where a leather mesh bound two pieces of metal together on my shoulder. The dagger slit through the mesh instantly and cut deeply into my shoulder, causing me to almost drop my weapon in anguish. The bright red blood started to pour out, staining my freshly cleaned armor as it ran down its sides.

Blinking the tears away, I madly swung at the wall, only to hit what turned out to be a shadow of the monster. Turning around quickly, I found I was just in time to receive another blow to the stomach from the flat of the elvaan’s main weapon. I doubled over this time and fell to the ground, upon which I found that I was starting to spit up blood.

The warm metallic taste of it helped to firm my resolve, and I grew even more determined to defeat this being no matter what.

Then out of my red-misted eyes, I saw it turn away from me and walk a short distance away to where she was.

It was going to kill her. Kill her, and then kill me.

No...

NO!

I propelled myself upwards, ignoring the pain that started to immediately shoot through me. I drew my sword back as I started to charge towards the being, with the full intention of skewering it, to move it away from her, to leave her alone.

The next three seconds played out in slow motion, at least, that is how it always seemed to me no matter how many times I replay it in my head.

It raised its great sword above its head, and without hesitation started to swing it downwards to the girl’s bared throat.

Five steps away.

Its sword was half way down to her.

It was then that my sword’s tip started to glow, and I noticed faintly that the charge was drawing its source from me.

The sword touched her throat.

As I then slammed home the blade into the elvaan, something strange happened. What I could only describe as a kaleidoscope of colors radiated out from the tip, with sparks flying out from the impact. Then in the centre of the colored glow came a circle of darkness that grew bigger and bigger, seeming to only be bound by the rainbow. The darkness and rainbow grew bigger and bigger, until it literally sucked the elvaan and its sword into it. With that, the colors and blackness disappeared, leaving no trace behind of the dark elvaan or his weapons.

My soul felt drained, and my body felt like it was on the verge of dying.

But that didn’t matter.
I did it.

I saved her.

Barely conscious of anything, I picked the girl up in my arms, and carried her through another passage, past rooms of weapons, armor, and food, the floor littered with the shattered remains of destroyed crystals. I stepped over dead goblins, no doubt killed by the newly deceased dark elvaan itself. Eventually, I came to a flight of stairs and I slowly absconded them with the girl, each step finally starting to take its toll on my body.

Finally, I reached the top and the exit with it and broke free of that damned place.

It was then that we fell into the snow and I passed out.

-fin Aki VIII: Mine