Dark Times

[Zabuza]

Zabuza sat aboard his ship. He had been sitting there, deep in meditation, for many days now. His stomach grumbled, and his lips were dry. He had not moved in a long time. Zabuza flexed his legs and stood. Faint popping sounds issued from his knees as joints moved for the first time in quite a while.
"Time for a little fresh air.", he said raspingly.

Zabuza made the short trek into the town of Trabia. He sniffed, detecting the smell of cooking meat. Hungrily, he made his way toward it. He found himself at a nondescript building which was obviously an eating establishment of some sort. He opened the door and strode in. There was a soft tinkle of bells announcing his presence. Almost immediately a young attractive woman was there in front of him.

"Please follow me. ", she said, grabbing a menu. Agreeably, he did so. She led him to a table with two high-backed chairs.
"Please, be seated. May I take your drink order?", she said.
"Yes. Sake."
"I'm sorry sir, we don't serve that here. Perhaps something else?"
"It doesn't matter, just be quick about it."

Moments later the woman returned with a large mug filled with some brown liquid. Zabuza drank it thirstily, although it was a bit sweet for his taste.
"Here is a menu. Let me know when you're ready to order.", said the woman. She handed him the brightly colored menu and quickly walked away to see about other customers. Zabuza opened the menu and stared in confusion. He didn't recognize any of the dishes on it. Looking around in confusion, he wondered just what kind of establishment he had entered. Several of the patrons around him had food that smelled good, but was unfamiliar to him. Finally, he came to a decision. He would order randomly. That decided, he flagged down the waitress.

"You ready to order sir?"
"Yes, I will have...", he paused for a second, then pointed to a random spot on the menu.
"Very well sir.", she said, squinting to see the dish he pointed to. I will return with your food shortly."

A few minutes passed, and Zabuza spent them studying a nearby television. It was situated over a mostly vacant bar, and was playing the news. It was busy going on about some sentimental story or other. Not very interesting, but good for a laugh. His attention was drawn by a large plate coming into view held in front of his struggling waitress. His eyes widened as she sat the plate in front of him. It held a huge concoction of meat, bread, and cheeses. Unsure what to do, he looked at the woman.
"Enjoy our Texas sized burger. If you finish it in an hour or less, it's free!", she said. With that, she walked away and left Zabuza to his meal.

Somewhere around fifty five minutes later, Zabuza pushed his plate back with a sigh. It had been a long time since he had a meal, let alone one so large. Content, he belched once. His waitress stopped by and stared in disbelief.
"Well sir, looks like you won. How was it?"
"Good."
"Well, congratulations sir. Is there anything else I can get you?"
"Yes, another drink. I won't be moving for a while."
The woman smiled and fetched his drink for him.

As Zabuza sat there, his attention drifted to the television once more. The news had shifted to a new story, one that was much more interesting. He listened carefully as the announcer spoke.

"...known only as Nightmare. This man, if he could be called that, has held the world in a grip of terror for more than a month now. No one is safe, he has already targeted Space Patrol facilities as well as high security ShinRa Corporation Research Stations. Eye witness reports from the few survivors place him as a tall man wearing strange armor. He wields a huge sword of a horrifying description. If you see him, do your best to escape as fast as you can. Indeed, it is dark times we live in..."

Zabuza blinked. A new evil had emerged. A new madman slaughtering people. This time, perhaps, he wouldn't have to get involved.

OOC: Had a large meal, won a contest, and found out about Nightmare. Fairly eventful. Will leave a 100 gil tip for the waitress. Heh.

[Zabuza]

"Have you ever been to Photon City?", said the man.
"Yes, once.", replied Zabuza.
"Then you know the ways of that city. You know that a journey there to one such as yourself could be very...profitable."
"Indeed."
"If you go there, I am quite sure someone who needs your...unique talents will contact you."
"And how might you know that?"
"Come come now, you know the rules of conversation. It's rude to ask too much. Let us just say that a friend of mine needs some work done, you know, around the house. I think you're the man for it."
With that the man stood up from the table and left. Zabuza sighed. Business such as this was always so tedious, right up until the moment of conflict. He pushed back his chair and stood up. Within minutes he was back on his ship, off to another world. It seemed that on every world of man there were people who needed killing. Or killers.

OOC: Photon City, by God! Heh, seriously though, to Photon City.

[Zabuza]

Zabuza's ship set down in the Photon City Spaceport, and he was at ease. Hopefully, he would soon be doing what he did best. Killing people. At least, he hoped he would be. Arrangements of this nature were always tenuous at best. Zabuza's ship sat in it's birth, and he pondered which weapons to take. There were situations when all of them would be good choices. Unable to make up his mind, he took all three. Carrying three weapons felt unnatural to him. He felt overloaded, and he knew that he could never use all three in combat. He would have to work on that. Taking his weapons and striding out of his ship, Zabuza started on his journey. Knowing that someone would contact him, he decided to make himself slightly noticeable. He chuckled to himself, wondering how a man with two huge swords might be considered unnoticeable.

Zabuza quickly chose a path consisting mainly of alleys. He didn't want to have to explain why he was walking around in public with so many weapons. At the moment he was innocent of anything, but the police would tend to assume otherwise. The last thing he needed was harassment by the local authorities, such as they were.

Zabuza finally settled on a dark bar. It had obviously seen better days, but that seemed to be something you could say about every place he had been so far. Civilization was sinking into decay, and he had no idea why. Still, it wasn't his job to fix it. In fact, he suspected he was part of the problem. Grinning, he sat down in a dark corner, waiting to be contacted.

No more than two hours later, a man sat down at the table with Zabuza.
"I hear you're here about a job.", said the man.
"You might hear right. What might the pay on this job be?"
"That will be made obvious at the end of your job.", said the man with a smirk. Zabuza stood up.
"If you wanted to waste my time, you did a good job of it. You're lucky that I'm not killing you."
"Sit down.", said the man. His tone was dripping with venom.
Wondering why the man would dare to speak to him in such a tone, Zabuza obeyed.
"I can't tell you about pay because I can't tell you anything about the mission unless you accept. Otherwise, you would most likely have to be killed."
"One of those jobs then. Sounds dangerous. I accept.", said Zabuza. The prospect of the challenge ahead excited him.
"Oh good, I was hoping you would say that.", said the man. A grin spread over his face, and he snapped his fingers.
Zabuza stared quizzically as the world around him appeared to melt. He wondered if perhaps he had made the wrong decision.

OOC: As a side product of this, I started learning triple weapon. Heh.

[Zabuza]

When the world stopped swirling, Zabuza looked around. He was no longer in the seedy bar. The man still sat in a chair, but now he was clearly visible in an outfit of dark green. His hair was pulled behind his ears, revealing them to be pointed. He was smiling, although Zabuza found nothing funny about the situation.

"My master is in the next room. Go talk to him through there.", said the man. He pointed at a nearby door. Unsure what to do, Zabuza finally decided to do it. It seemed too late to back out now anyway.

Zabuza strode boldly through the door. The bright light blinded him for a few seconds. As his vision cleared, he began to sniff the air. It was quite familiar. Perhaps...pine...and...cookies? His eyes adjusted and he glanced around the room. He was in a huge room filled with conveyor belts and people hard at work.

"HO-HO-HO!!", came a laugh from his right. He glanced over, wondering what was going on. There was a fat man standing there, dressed completely in red and white. He wore black boots and seemed quite happy. The man was making his way toward him, so he assumed this was the "master" the other man had spoke of.

"Ah, you must be the help they sent for. HO-HO-HO!", the man laughed joyfully.
"And what, may I ask, do you want me for?"
"Well...", said the fat man. "It seems I've run into a bit of trouble. Some crazy man has been sending me death threats, and the elves took them serious enough to go out and hire me a body guard. That is where you come in."
"You want me to find and kill this man?"
"Oh, goodness no! Your job is to follow me around tonight and protect me, that's all."
"And what is it you will be doing?"
"Why, delivering presents to all of the good boys and girls of course."
"...What?"
"Why, haven't you heard of Santa Clause?"
"No, never have."

Santa stared as Zabuza in wonder. He had no idea how someone could have escaped hearing about him. He had expected disbelief, but not ignorance.
"Well, I suppose I can fill you in on the trip. It's about time, so hop in while the elves load the sleigh.", said Santa. He followed his own advice and hopped nimbly into the sleigh. Zabuza followed skeptically. It was a large red contraption, linked to several deer-like animals. There was a large bag in the back, and it didn't look as if the creatures had the strength to pull it. Nevertheless, he did as instructed.
"What is the pay for this?"
"Why, it's a secret. I assure you, it is worth it though."
Somewhat appeased, Zabuza sat there. A one night job didn't normally rate much, but if the man said it was worth it. Besides, he could always kill the man latter if he didn't pay up.

A few minutes later, they were finished loading the boxes into the sack. The man known as Santa clicked the reins and the sleigh started moving, much to Zabuza's surprise.
"Here, wear this.", said Santa. He handed Zabuza a strange red cap, much like his own. "It will protect you from the cold."
Zabuza stared at the cap. It definitely wasn't his style. A large set of double doors opened in front of them, and the sleigh rushed out into the cold. It his Zabuza's skin like a great shock, but it was nothing compared to the shock he felt as the sleigh lifted off of the ground and into the sky.
"HO-HO-HO!", laughed Santa. Zabuza stared, vacant eyed. He sat that way for more than a minute until he realized an icicle was forming on his nose. Hurriedly, he placed the ridiculous cap on his head. Instantly the freezing cold died down, and the ice leaped away from his skin. He was now quite warm and comfortable.

The sleigh settled down, somewhat impossibly on a rooftop. Zabuza decided not to comment. The fat man climbed out, and Zabuza moved to follow.
"Oh, don't worry. You don't have to follow me into every house. Just stay up here so I don't get ambushed."
A few hundred stops later, Zabuza was quite glad for it. It seemed as if many, many hours should have passed to him, but from the stars it looked like they had only been at it an hour or two. Wondering about it, he asked Santa.
"Oh, this journey is far too long for just one night. You have to bend time like that to accomplish it. Don't worry about it.", explained Santa.
Zabuza decided that more questions would be a bad idea. He settled down into the sleigh, only his red hat peaking out. He knew he was in for a longer journey than he had anticipated. He marveled how such a fat man could fit through chimneys, and even more that he could fit through the entire ceiling when there wasn't a chimney. The current house had a rather large chimney, and he figured that Santa might even be able to make it down this one without his strange magic. Bored, Zabuza stared at the snow flakes as the rebounded off of the air less than an inch above his skin, never touching him. He heard a thump below him, and he sat up strait. He quickly opened up his mind and sensed that there was someone quite displeased in the house below, and someone afraid. This had to be it.

Zabuza jumped out of the sleigh and down the chimney in one fluid motion. He his the floor of the chimney and rolled forward to his feet. He unsheathed his sword from his back and crouched, ready.
In front of him stood a man with a large gun. That large gun just so happened to be pointed at Santa's large chest.
"You son of a bitch, you gave me socks!", said the man. His eyes seemed empty somehow, something wasn't quite right about them. Zabuza recognized the glazed look of madness. There would be no reasoning with this man. Zabuza lunged forward, his sword flashing. The man turned, startled. Zabuza's sword sliced his gun neatly in two. The man stared at it in disbelief as if fell from his numb fingers.
"You don't understand. That bastard gave me socks!"
Zabuza's sword flashed again, and the man dropped to the ground. The flat of Zabuza's blade had taken him in the forehead.

Santa got shakily to his feet. He looked at the unconscious man with sad eyes.
"This man is greatly confused. His parents got him socks, not I."
Zabuza opened his mouth to comment and sneezed. A cloud of ash flew off of him, settling to the floor.
Santa abruptly smiled. "Ah well.", he said. "Is seems you have saved me after all Zabuza. I don't think I will need your help any more tonight. Thank you."
Santa snapped his fingers, and Zabuza found himself aboard his ship, lying in bed.
"What in the hell? A dream?", he said. He thought about it, and decided that it must have been. Nothing like that could have possibly happened. Zabuza moved his hand to brush the sweat from his forehead. He encountered no sweat, but the fur. His hand moved rapidly, and he ripped the red cap off of his head. He stared at it. It was indeed the red cap that Santa had given him. He looked around and noticed a red box next to his bed. He picked it up and examined the tag on it. It said "For: Zabuza, From: Santa, with thanks."
Unsure what to do with it, Zabuza put it and the hat down and went to sleep.

[Zabuza]

Zabuza opens the present and finds a small ring. He takes it out and looks at it. It appears to be made of glass. It seems like a cheap but shiney gift. He places it on his finger and feels energy course through him.

"Not bad.", he says.