Phoenix's Tear Chapter 1

Phoenix's Tear Chapter 1

They say that the years you spend as a child are the best times of your life. Yeah right! I became orphaned before even knowing my parents, much less remembering their faces. Then getting sent to a place that was worse than hell. Well it wasn’t that bad. During my reign of terror, I made my first and only friend I would have until I became a bounty hunter. Her name was…I don’t really know, she never told me even to this day. But I called her Jade because her eyes were like jade emeralds. She liked it and stuck with it. We both never followed the rules and the Imperial Earth Military Academy. If there was a problem it was very likely that we were behind it. We were supposed to see each other during training, but that didn’t stop us. We snuck into each others rooms and schemed how we would escape, and what we do when we got away. Then one day, right in the middle of our session some officers stormed in and took her away saying that she was being transferred to another facility. An officer picked her up, slung her on his shoulder and yelled at her to remain quiet. That’s when I got angry. I jumped at the officer and pinned him to the ground and started punching him in the face telling him continuously to let her stay. It took a stunner to stop me. Before I fell unconscious I remember her telling me this: “Kaze don’t forget me!” And that was the last thing I remember. When I came to I was in my room, I felt as if the universe was against me, I had to run away, and one day I found my chance. It was during a shooting training session; and I knew my chance had come, and I waited for it.

“Ready…Aim for your targets, and for those of you whose aim is lousy take some more time in getting your bearings,” The Trainer said. I aim straight for him. “Fire!” Shots from all the guns were heard, except for mine… When he turned to see why I hadn’t fired he found himself looking at the barrel end of the pistol, all I said was, “See ya.” As soon as he was down I bolted for the fence, hoping that nobody would stop me…

For years after that, I did what I could to survive even if it meant working for someone you truly despised. I had hopped on board a freighter for an unknown destination. I had no real idea of where I was going, but somebody had knocked me out. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital, and, that, I was performing tests of some kind. When I was 10, I went looked into the doctor’s database to see if there was anything I could find out about my past. All my search came up with was that I had enough credits to purchase a small freighter. The only problem I had was getting out of this place and getting to a shipyard of any kind where I could buy my craft. I simply snuck out in the middle of the night through the air vents and into a laundry basket that would hopefully take me outta here. When I thought the vehicle had come to a stop I hopped out and ducked behind another basket in the back. I waited until the person was gone and bolted out of the cargo hauler and ran for the nearest alley. I was so concerned about not getting caught that I wasn’t looking where I was going and tripped over something. I got up to see an small droid attempting to get up. I felt sorry for the little guy and decided to help him up and to give him a quick look over to see if I had done any permanent damage.

“Let’s see now, you’re a ARX-15 model, very rare, wish I had one of these. I wonder if it could help me find a shipyard of some kind, I desperately need to get off this dust ball," I mumbled. It must’ve heard me because before I could try and leave it, it was in front of me nudging me to follow him.

3 hours later…

“You sure you know where were going? It looks like were lost or something.” I said unaware of the fact that the little droid was trying to hack his way through some vine that had gotten a tight hold onto his wheels. I realized that I left my pistol at the hospital, so I tried to rip them apart, but to no avail.

“You stay put and don’t try anything stupid alright? I’m going to go buy something that should cut you loose,” I told ARX. It just whistled back. I ran to the nearest store and walked in.

“What are you looking for little man? Something for you mommy? Or maybe Daddy?” the owner said to me in a childish voice. I ignored his comment and walked over to a shelf and grabbed a pair of gauntlets that had claws attached to them.

“How much are these?” I asked him. When he saw what I was holding he just backed away.

“There for free. You can take them. Please don’t hurt me!” he responded quivering in fear.

“Whatever.” I mumbled and walked out and back to where ARX was tangled. When I put the gauntlets on, a strange sound seemed to emanate from them, as if something was beginning to warm-up. I just thought it was just the last of the preservation gas coming off.

Five Years later…

“I wish I could remember who that girl was in my past or what her name was.” I said to myself, but just loud enough for ARX to hear me. He whistled me a question.

“It’s nothing, I was just thinking out loud. Do you think you could mind the ship? I’m going to go into town and get something to drink” I replied. The little droid just plugged himself back into the ship. Luckily the spaceport was close to the town and I really needed to unwind. I had made my living as a freelance bounty hunter that finished the job in record time. When I got into town, a shuttle flew overhead with the Earth seal upon it. I knew this could get ugly, for I had single-handedly given them the reputation of being unable to get a job done. I ran to the pub and took a seat in the darkest corner. As soon as I sat down, an Imperil officer burst into the room and took a seat at my table.

“I saw you at the shipyards not too long ago. Who are you and who do you work for?” she demanded. I looked at her and took a sip of my drink.

“The name I go by is the Falcon.” I replied calmly. Everybody just froze and stared at me, as if someone had walked over their grave. “You’ll, can return to what you were doing. Look ma’am, whatever it is you want, you’ll have to settle down and allow me to order you a drink first.”

“Are you always like this with women?” she asked.

“Only the ones who don’t want to kill me at first sight,” I replied. She just sat down, and I ordered her the same thing I was drinking, a large bottle of Vodka.

“How did you know that I loved these?” she asked.

“Just lucky I guess,” I responded. My jaw would’ve hit the floor when I saw that she had drunk the whole thing at once.

“So, Falcon was it? What’s a bounty hunter doing without any work? I mean when was the last time you had a job?” she asked drunkenly. She seemed like one of those drunks who don’t know how to stop and let the other person respond. If I didn’t interrupt her, I might not have been able to answer.

“Whoa, slow down a second,” I said putting my finger over her lips, causing her to blush slightly, either from embarrassment or from the alcohol. “Number one: I’m here waiting for somebody else.” A strange man walked in, followed by a gun shot, and the sound of a body hitting the floor.
“Number two: I haven’t had work for about a second now. And number three: you’re a really bad drunk,” I continued. We both laughed. I hadn’t noticed that the man was getting up, or where the shot had hit him. He was too quick though, and put his gun to the officer’s head, and backed away towards the bar, dragging her with him.
“Note to self: Aim needs to be improved,” I thought to myself.

“Well, well, I thought the infamous Falcon would never have a girlfriend. What’s the matter? You so scary that the only ladies you can talk to are militaristic, have a strong tolerance level, or are just down right whores?” the man asked me. Everybody in the pub immediately dove behind the bar, turned over a table, ran into the bathroom, or jumped out a window. The man had a quizzical look upon his face, for he could not understand why everybody was running for cover.

“I guess you don’t know that much about me now do you,” I replied coldly giving him a stare that could freeze hell over, my hand slowly reaching for my sidearm.

“Barkeep what’s the story behind that? Tell me and I might let you live,” he said to the bartender with a shotgun pointed right between his eyes, and tightening his headlock on the officer.

“It was a long time ago… He don’t remember her name or what she looked like exactly, but he and that girl were basically boyfriend and girlfriend with the time they spent together. The only thing he remembers about the way she looked was, that the little lady had eyes of emeralds...” the bartender calmly replied.

“How the hell did he know all about that? I’ve never even been here before,” I thought. “Oh yeah, Barkeeps seem to know everything, even if you haven’t told them anything before. How do they do that?”

“Oh really? So what happened did? Did she dump you or something? I wouldn’t be surprised. Nobody would want to even come near you with your reputation,” he chuckled.

“That’s not all, the last thing those two ever said was not to forget each other…Not to mention shooting a man down for hitting a women before,” the bartender finished, before he himself ducked below the bar.
The officer lost consciousness, probably due to the lack of oxygen caused by the man’s poorly done headlock, which was more of a strangle if you ask me…When the guy noticed, I opened fire with four well aimed shots, all straight in the middle of his head. He dropped the officer, and went flying into the opposite wall, falling to the ground lifeless.

“Are all you people going to just stand there in fright? This woman is hurt and needs medical attention fast,” I commanded. “Barkeep, you got a spare room I could borrow?”

“Here are the keys; it’s the first door on your left,” He responded, throwing me the keys. I picked her up, ran up the stairs, laid her down on the bed and waited in the shadows with my back against the wall for the doctor to arrive...

I stayed in there for weeks. The bartender was kind enough to give me a cot to sleep on if I ever got tired. His wife also brought up food every so often. I would eat half of it and store the rest inside the fridge. It had been nearly two months from when the incident happened, and I started to think that she may have gone into a coma, but the doctor said she would be okay it wasn’t anything too serious. One night, I was still awake and had gone to the bathroom, when she opened her eyes just a little bit. When I returned to the room, she immediately went back to sleep.

The next morning I threw a bucket full of ice cold water onto her and she leaped out of bed, and I just stood there watching in the shadows.
“Next time, don’t open your eyes,” I said standing right behind her, which made her jump forward about 3 feet. “There are a change of clothes on the chair, and food in the fridge. I’ll be outside if you need me.”
It took her about 30 minutes until she allowed me to come back in. She was devouring the food, like it was the most delicious thing ever. She offered me some, but I turned her down saying that I already ate, which wasn’t true.

“So what exactly happened to you to cause you to faint like that? You nearly scarred the owner of this joint and me half to death?” I asked.

“It was what that little girl said to you a long time ago. I remember a little boy saying the exact same thing.” she replied sheepishly.

“Is that it? I thought it was something else,” I said exhaustingly. She then gave me a cold stare as if I may have done something to her while she was out

“Did you happen to…” she started to say before I interrupted with a swift no.

“I’m going to show you something I’ve never shown anybody for a long time.” she said and took off her sunglasses to reveal a pair of emerald colored eyes.

“Wow, you have really beautiful eyes you know that,” I responded sincerely.

“You’re the second person who’s told me that,” she whispered. “The first was that boy.” She let the blinds go up and revealed both of our faces. Her eyes began to sparkle like a pond reflecting the sun. She immediately lunged at me and embraced me, vowing never to let go.
“Whoa, did I miss something here? What’s gotten into you all of the sudden?” I asked with no idea why she did this.
I heard her mumble something then heard her say “I was that little girl who said that so long ago…Kaze.” I just tensed up in shock. The only person who had ever called me by my real name was ARX, and now this officer of the Imperial Order did the same thing. I then realized what she meant. She was the little girl I made my promise with.
“Jade… It’s been over 14 years since I saw you last. After they took you away, I swore that I would not rest until I found you,” I said softly, returning the hug, and started to cry. “I missed you so much. I didn’t think there was much meaning in my attempt to continue looking for you; I nearly gave up all hope that I would never see you again. And now I swear that I will never leave your side, never again.”
“And so do I,” She replied softly. “And so do I…”
When we left the bar, I left a check on the counter that would cover for the damages to the bar, the food we were given, the room, and a re-supply of drinks. Outside the tavern, I picked Jade up and carried her back to the ship in my arms, for we had finally found what we were looking for…each other.

It was like that for five years. I had stopped being a bounty hunter, Jade quit the Imperil Order, and we both agreed on becoming outlaws. We had nicknamed the freighter the “Phoenix’s Tear”. We had both agreed that if we went as far a getting married that it would destroy us. It was like that until one day we got a job that required me to use the skills I had learned as a bounty hunter, and Jade wanted to join out curiousity. I didn’t object to the job or the idea of her coming along. Little did I know that agreeing to take her along would be my worst idea yet…

“Is that all you got wimp, you shouldn’t even call yourself a bounty hunter, and what’s worse is that being around this girl has made you soft,” the victim said. We had gotten into a fight and now he just stood there taunting me, mocking me, and daring me to admit that he was right. “When you finally beat me, you can have your girl back, but until then I’ll just be taking her.”
“Kaze help….” Jade had started to say until the guy had knocked her out and slung her over his shoulder and started to leave.

“I swore that I would never leave your side again.” I said wiping some blood from my lip.

“Awww isn’t that cute. I’ll call you when our wedding will be,” he sneered. He just laughed after that. That’s when I lost it. I bolted to my feet, charged him head on and pinned him to the wall with one claw threatening to slit his throat. He just looked at me like he was screwed up. He was right.

“You know you were wrong about me being soft, for if I was, you would be dead after the record” I replied angrily. “Right now, this isn’t about the job, its personal.”

And with that said, I slashed his body to pieces. Then I just turned around, picked Jade up, and walked back to the ship. I laid her down on the bed. I knew that when this got into the underground, people would have a completely different view of me, and I didn’t care.