Lezaford Village

[Zell]

Gabranth flinched a bit at the "Judgemaster" comment. "Your duty? As a Judgemaster?" Gabranth's expression once again became cold. "A Judgemaster's duty is to the people of Ivalice!" Gabranth grabbed control of his anger before he caused another scene, he then turned his back to Sephiroth before speaking. "A real Judge would have finished that monster off...and had you not intervened his corpse wouldn't cause later regret."

Gabranth sighed heavily once he finished. "My lord thought his prison's were secure and the villains within would never see the sun again, but secure is an empty word-" Gabranth was interrupted by the village elder who had approached them. "I wouldn't call this saved."

[Sephiroth]

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. Who does he think he is, to lecture me on my duty? Sephiroth's own expression hardened. The anger running through his veins flared up -- and suddenly he had a wild urge to kill this man and destroy the rest of the village. This time he did clutch at his forehead, but fortunately the other man had turned away.

He could still hear the man speak, through the turmoil in his head. He clung to the words like a lifeline. The man may have roused his ire, but he was no longer the target of it -- Sephiroth had no idea where this rage was coming from, or what it was directed at. It seemed to be a general desire to destroy everything, and a lesser man might well have been destroyed himself. Yet Sephiroth was not one to be overpowered by anything. He shook his head, and forced his hand back down as he heard the Elder speak.

He stepped around the armoured figure. His gaze was rather merciless as he looked down at the Elder, though he was unaware of that. "It was nothing," he declared, his voice ringing with the same iron as if he were sentencing the man to death. "As we failed to protect your settlement from this scourge, I will not hold you to supplying us with the reward."

He then turned to Gabranth, obviously dismissing the Elder from existence. "This is my Ivalice," he said, seeing nothing at all wrong about claiming the world. "I am the only 'real' Judge here. And corpses are not always harmless. I have more faith in Brahne's dungeons."

Wait ... what am I saying? A corpse is harmless. He shook his head again. Mako ... a crystal ... no, chrystalis ... pain ... the Lifestream. Mother! His eyes snapped open; until then, he had not realised he had shut them. I really need to get away from here, he thought, turning away from the stranger. He could not resist adding, however: "Besides, if we had not shown up, you would be the corpse."

[Seoras]

Sebastian was so confused... It seemed the Judgemaster's personality had changed, and drastically.

He wasn't sure he wanted to say anything - in fact, he wasn't sure he wanted to stay - but there was nothing much else to do. And so he stepped to the Elder, ignoring the Judgemaster for now.

"Is there anything more I can do to help, sir? I have some skills with White Magic, if there are any injured."

[Zell]

Gabranth smirked at the man's familiar ignorance. "Fine, I shall leave you to discover the error in your thinking." Gabranth made his way past the "Judgemaster" and the two youths that had walked up.

Before he got too far away he turned to speak again. "About the corpse remark. I fully accepted the fact that I was going to die but, those are the risk a Judge Magister takes." He then placed his helmet back on and made his exit through the southern exit of the village.

As the marched through the forest he began to think about that silver-haired man, his faith in this Queen was the same as his was in Vayne. He'll have to learn that he is considered nothing more than a pawn. Just as I was.

---

Boltden observed the situation silently from the side, watching Sephiroth intently. As he conversed with the armored man it seemed that Sephiroth was holding back the will to strike at this man. What happened when he faced that boy? Even though he drank the Remedy it seems as though something foreign is effecting him. Boltden pulled himself back from his thoughts to see Sebastion approach the Village Elder.

Boltden followed him up to the old man as Sebastion offered his additional help. "I can help to. I have bare minimal healing spells but I could help with cleaning the debris away."

[Sephiroth]

The Elder backed away slightly, wringing his hands nervously at the confrontation between the two men. he was definitely relieved when Gabranth walked away and the other two walked up.

"Anything you could to do help would be appreciated," he said, eyeing the Judgemaster. "I ... you ... we are very grateful for your assistance." Obviously he wanted to offer them a reward, but Sephiroth's attitude had left him unsure how the offer would be received.

---

The Judgemaster did not respond to Gabranth's remarks. The man was an ignorant fool ... though he was right about it being one's duty to be ready to lay down one's life ... wasn't he? Sephiroth wasn't sure any more if the disgust he was currently feeling for his fellow man was his own, or if it was only some sort of spell cast by that young man. He had thought the latter, but he knew of no such magic ... and, he had to admit, he had often been disgusted by people. Just never to this extent. And the people here had done nothing.

He shook his head. It was not helping that his own subordinates were ignoring him. He wanted to lash out at them, demand what they thoguht they were doing, asking the old fool for instructions instead of him. It was insubordination -- no, it was betrayal; just like Genesis and Angeal --

Stop it. He shook his head again, not caring who noticed. Stop it! He inhaled. Then he turned, and regarded the others who cold, glowing eyes. "Do what you will to help them. I must return to Imperial Hall."

Then he spun away, and began marching down the path. These memories ... He thoguht he could sort through thme, make sens eof them, but he was wrong. As soon as he summoned them up they overwhelmed him, running through his head in a mad kaleidoscope, just as before. He stumbled; he managed to keep from falling, but he stopped, burying his face in his right hand again, while his left tightened on Masamune.

Masamune ...

Abruptly he shot off, disappearing down the path. A few minutes later, from the distance, there came the sounds of splintering wood and crashing trees, and the faint song of Masamune.

[Sephiroth -> Imperial hall.]

[Seoras]

Sebastian looked after the Judgemaster as he left, somewhat scared of what he'd find when they finally returned to their clan hall. But he focused on the task at hand - assisting the Elder of the village.

I just hope the Judgemaster is okay... And he hasn't done anything rash before we get back to the clan hall.

[Sebastian + Boltden -> Imperial Hall.]