The Last Sunset's Past

The rain cut bitterly through Setsuna's uniform. A distant roll of thunder sounded. This storm was going to be bad, and she knew it. Sasuke has sent her to go replenish their supplies. Did he know a storm was coming, or was he simply oblivious of the signs? Setsuna sighed, and quickened her pace. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

The streets were empty, as nobody sane would go outside right now. The rain was absolutely blinding, you couldn't even see a few feet in front of you. Setsuna instinctively reached for Tōketsu, which was sheathed on her left hip. The cyan rapier had saved her skin quite a few times. The rain had reminded her of a past she was desperately trying to bat away. Of course, you couldn't erase those memories from her mind, no matter what you did.

Several Years Ago

As a scientist of Paradonix, you were expected to do two things- kill the useless experiments, and do whatever you want to your experiments. Setsuna was no exception to this rule. However, she wasn't exactly as cruel as the other scientists in Paradonix. Despite being the youngest scientist there, she was part of the "superior, excellent" team- the Big Three. You couldn't get any better than that in Paradonix. Setsuna was checking up on her newest experiment, Experiment #197. Although she preferred to call him by his name, her boss -the leader of Paradonix-, was looking over her shoulder. A.K.A, inspection rounds. Unlike many of the scientists there, she wasn't afraid of him. Nor was she a kiss up to him. To her, he was just the one calling the shots- including whether she lived or not.

"Yukimura, what is this? You put an ounce too much into his system." he berated her.

Setsuna checked the graphs lined up on her panel. He was right, she had injected an ounce too much of serum #921 into his system. She sighed, what a waste of a perfectly good experiment. And she was just getting excited about injecting serum #42.

"Sorry about that, sir." Setsuna murmured, and carted the now terrified boy away.

The pounding rain overhead unnerved her. It rarely ever rained in the Isles. She hummed along to an unknown tune, and tapped her fingers against the metal cage that held the boy captive. It was perfectly empty and quiet in the sterilized white halls of the facility. Just like always, she reached for the rapier loosely tied to her waist.

H, her boss, was most likely going to get somebody to kill her, now that she screwed up. He had tried to do it a thousand times before. Yet, she always managed to get away in time. However, this time she was stuck with a big metal cage, holding a living person in it. She might not be as lucky this time.

"...And thus, we can make an army of soldiers to defeat the Isles's pathetic government. Then, we can use the experiments as our army. Any problems... you can go see Mr. H."

Setsuna stopped abruptly, and jerked her head towards the slightly open door. She backpedaled to the door, and started to eavesdrop.

"With brilliant minds like Yukimura and Lance, we'll be able to defeat the Isles in no time."

That was no doubt, Cedric Hallons's voice. That nasal, annoying, stuck up idiot's voice was constantly jabbering about how she forgot to add a hint of parsley, or alkaloid into a new, developing serum. But what really caught her off guard, was the reason they were talking about. They had told her the point of making all the experiments was to make a era of prodigies.

She let go of the metal cage immediately, and watched her hands shake. She had been murdering innocent kids this whole time... all for the sake of overthrowing the Isles... Her hands... her hands had killed thousands of kids.

"You weren't supposed to hear that."

Setsuna shook her head, and continued on in the hazy rain, not daring to relax her grip on Tōketsu. She hated not being able to see anything. As she walked on to the market, she hummed that unknown tune she had hummed those years ago.

"Mind if I join you? I apologize for not realizing a storm was coming."

Setsuna didn't have to turn around to know who it was. She nodded, and heard Sasuke's footsteps hurry slightly. He soon was walking right next to her, and he had an apologetic smile on his face.

"You know, I highly doubt the market is still open in this weather..." Setsuna mumbled.

It turns out, she was wrong, the market was open. While Setsuna tried to dry off near a furnace, Sasuke went to choose the food and supplies they would need for the next few days of their mission.

He stared at the shining vegetables. This was the same place where he had ran into Setsuna. He glanced at the ginger haired girl, and sighed. He was glad he ran into her.

Several Years Ago

It was near sunset, and Sasuke needed food, desperately. It had only been a week since he managed to escape Paradonix. He looked at the array of fresh food, saliva already pouring into his mouth. He kept walking and staring at the food, until he crashed into someone.

"Er... Sorry!" Sasuke muttered, and held out a hand to the unknown person.

"It's fine..."

Sasuke was slightly surprised by how feminine the voice sounded, and then realized- it was a girl. She had messy, ginger colored hair, and torn up clothes. She was tightly clenching a handful of Jewel.

"Nobody sells any food for only three Jewel." she said, a slight hint of sadness in her voice.

The girl couldn't possibly be any older than sixteen. Yet, she seemed to be homeless.

"You look... disgruntled." she remarked.

"Yeah.. I've been, let's say, on the run." Sasuke answered, trying to sound as vague as possible.

"From what?" she asked, a hint of demand in her voice.

Sasuke glanced at the curious merchants, and gestured outside of the market. The girl reached to her left hip, and followed him cautiously.

"I've been on the run from an organization called Paradonix. I used to be a scientist there, but I managed to escape, and now they're after me." he explained quickly.

"You should know... that I was a former scientist as well, from Paradonix. I also managed to escape after realizing their true intentions." she said, and eyed him, "I wish to stop it. So nobody else will have to suffer."

Sasuke looked at her, "Well... I know we've only met, but I as well want to stop the influence of Paradonix, if you want... we could possibly form a guild."

That question started Shūryō, an independent guild dedicated to the cause of stopping Paradonix...

"The rain... it brings up certain memories, doesn't it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah... those creepy nights when it rained, it never rained in the Isles." Setsuna agreed.

"Hn... Well, I have everything, let's go back. We still have quite a lot to do."

~End~