Chapter 13: You don't need to know
Most of the academy's buildings were burned down. It would require some months for them to be rebuilt. The administration had no choice but to suspend classes until that time. The boys' and girls' dorms had survived intact, along with the school's dojo and a handful of other buildings. The students in residence were allowed to remain if they chose but were also permitted to return home until such time as classes resumed.
Cid Kagenou was among the handful who decided he would stay in residence at the dorm. Alexia Midgar could have very easily returned to living at the royal palace, but also decided to remain on campus. This, of course had nothing whatsoever in any way shape or form to do with wanting to be near Cid. Anyone who would even suggest such a thing was obviously an idiot. The fact Alexia planned to spend time with him every single day was a complete coincidence.
It was three days after the attack on the campus that Alexia saw something that caught her attention.
XXX
Being a princess, she of course had no issue entering the royal palace. Alexia found her sister was in a meeting and headed directly to the conference room where it was being held. The guards on duty told her that Iris was busy, but Alexia ignored them, and they didn't dare to seriously try to stop her. She stormed in to see Iris talking to the Prime Minister and the Knight Commander.
"Iris! What is this?!"
Alexia held out one of the posters she'd seen out in the capital. On it was drawn the image of a man with a mask and a hooded cloak. Beneath the drawing was written:
SHADOW
ENEMY OF THE STATE
WANTED FOR THE CRIMES OF THEFT, ASSAULT, EXTORTION, ARSON, MURDER
DEAD OR LIVING OFFERED BOUNTY
100,000,000 Z
Her sister took one look at her face and sighed. She turned to the two men she'd been meeting with.
"I apologize, but could we continue this at a later time?"
Both men nodded and left the room.
"I will assume your question was rhetorical as it's quite obvious what you're holding."
"Why have you put out wanted posters for Shadow?!" Alexia exploded.
"Because he is a criminal, a dangerous one," Iris said in a calm tone.
Alexia opened her mouth to argue, but Iris cut her right off.
"Please don't tell me that he rescued you twice. I know that, but a good act does not wash out the bad. He's a criminal and Shadow Garden is a criminal organization. I intend to treat them as such."
"Shadow Garden wasn't behind the attack on Midgar Academy!"
"You keep saying that, but you don't have any proof."
"We have eyewitness reports confirming Shadow's presence on the academy grounds fighting against the real assailants."
Iris put a hand to her temple and sighed. "Alexia, stop and listen to what you're saying. We have reliable testimony that Shadow was on the campus grounds in the middle of the fighting, and you say that's proof he wasn't involved. You're not being objective at all! You twist every fact to exonerate Shadow. Has it even occurred to you that the man wearing a mask and doing whatever he pleases is simply a villain and not the hero you so desperately want him to be?"
"All the witnesses agree that he was attacking the real criminals! Not helping them. He helped free the hostages!"
"That was the end result, yes. But was that his intention or just a lucky happenstance?"
"What are you talking about? Why else would he have fought them?"
"Alexia," Iris said trying to sound patient. "You're viewing everything he does through the lens of him being your savior. Please, step back for a moment and look at his actions without any preconceptions. He attacked Zenon because he was a member of the Cult of Diablos, which seems to be an enemy. Again, he attacked the men acting as slashers because they were harming the reputation of Shadow Garden. In both cases your rescue was not his goal or intention. Why are you assuming what he did during the campus occupation was any different?"
"But why else would he fight the terrorists?"
"Same reason he fought on the other two occasions; they were enemies. We don't know how large Shadow Garden is. Our assumption is that there were different factions and Shadow's was opposed to the one in favor of the campus attack. Look! Look at these!"
Iris opened a desk drawer and produced a thick file. She handed it over to Alexia.
"What are these?" She opened it and began look at some of the sheets inside. She noted a few had dried blood.
"Evidence! Many of those were taken from the bodies of the criminals who were killed. Others were sent to us through anonymous sources by people afraid of Shadow Garden retribution. It's proof of their guilt. Shadow Garden is a massive criminal organization of a size comparable to any of the crime lords of Outlaw City. There's proof that they were responsible for countless murders, kidnappings, and robberies."
Alexia frowned. "We'd never even heard of Shadow Garden before my kidnapping. And now suddenly we have a mountain of evidence that they've been around for years committing all sorts of crimes. Isn't that just a little suspicious?"
"We'd also never heard of the Cult of Diablos. If everything in that folder implicated them, would you still question it?"
"Well… no, but that's different. I know the cult is a real danger."
"But Shadow Garden's different?"
Alexia nodded. "At the very least I don't believe Shadow is a criminal like you're making him out to be."
"Come with me," Iris snapped and walked out of the room.
Not seeing a choice Alexia followed after her sister. She led her towards the guest quarters where she knocked on a door and waited to be told to enter. Inside was a girl at a table going over a pile of book. She had pink hair and looked a bit pale. Alexia had only met her once before but recognized her as the student researcher Sherry Barnett.
"Sherry, I'm very sorry to bother you," Iris said. "Do you remember my sister, Alexia?"
"Oh! It's no problem! I'm grateful to receive your help. Of course, I remember her." The girl bowed. "It is an honor to meet you again, Princess Alexia."
Alexia returned the gesture. "I am happy to see you as well. I heard about what happened to your father, I'm terribly sorry for your loss."
"Thank you."
Iris looked uncomfortable. "Sherry, I hate to ask this, but could you please relate to my sister your experience that day? What happened to you?"
The girl's face fell. "D… Do I have to?"
"I'm sorry, but it's important my sister hear this from you."
The girl gave a hesitant nod. "All right. Well, I was studying the artifact and making really good progress. I had just about cracked the code when a man in black burst through the window saying he was with Shadow Garden and had come for the artifact. Glenn told me to take it and run. He and the other knight protected me. I h… heard their screams as I ran away."
"Glenn was killed," Iris said quietly. "The other knight was Marco Granger, he survived."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Glenn was a good man and a fine knight." Alexia said.
"I… I started running through the campus grounds," Sherry continued. "Not really sure where to go. I w… was spotted and three men in black chased me. Th… That was when he appeared. Sh… Shadow was suddenly there, and he said, 'Would you still bear your fangs against a lion?' Then he killed them in a flash. H… He saved me! I really thought he was a hero!"
Alexia had to admit that sounded like something Shadow would say.
"He escorted me to the administration building and my father's office. I t… told him about the artifact and my theory that a different one was being used to block everyone's mana. I said that if he could get me some tools to work with, I might be able to counteract the other artifact. He brought me the tools and t… told me to work as quick as I could. He stayed with me but slipped out several times. He said he would, 'thin the herd.'"
Alexia nodded. She had no trouble imagining Shadow operating in a place fully occupied by the enemy fighting from the shadows and picking them off one by one.
"I was done near sunset. I showed him a secret passage that led from my father's office to the main building where everyone was being held. He told me to use it to go and remove the mana block. I was able to sneak in unnoticed and toss my artifact inside which did it."
"That was very brave of you," Alexia said. "If you hadn't done that, we might not have been able to rescue the hostages."
If the praise mattered to Sherry, she didn't show it.
"After that I just wanted to find my father. Some of the buildings were set on fire and I began searching for him. I eventually decided to go back to his office. The administration building was on fire and so was his office. B… B… But I r… reached it. I s… saw Shadow… h… h… he k… k… killed m… my father! He put a sword through his heart!"
Tears began to fall from her eyes.
"I ran to my father but there was nothing I could do! I looked up at Shadow and asked him why? Why would he kill my father who'd never hurt anyone?!" She was sobbing. "He stood there and looked at me with heartless eyes and just said, 'You don't need to know.' Then everything went black. W… When I woke up, I was outside on a bench."
Alexia stood there in silence as Iris went over and hugged her. "Thank you, Sherry. I know that was hard for you."
"I don't mind if this will help bring Shadow to justice."
The two of them left. Iris did not speak until they were a good way down the hall, and she still kept her voice low, though it was seething.
"Are you still going to tell me Shadow's not a criminal?"
Alexia believed every word Sherry had spoken and had no doubts the person she'd met was Shadow. That left her with only one thought.
"There had to be a reason."
Iris stopped and rounded on her. "A reason?!" Her sister struggled to keep her voice low. "Alexia, I've been understanding up until now, but you're being willfully blind! You sound like a battered wife who won't admit the truth! He murdered Sherry's father in cold blood! The man was a school administrator, a scholar, someone who'd never even picked up a sword! What possible reason could Shadow have had?!"
Alexia stood there silent. She had no answer.
Iris took a couple deep breaths and calmed herself. "I am grateful that he saved your life, but I will not turn a blind eye to what that man did. He is a criminal and he'll be treated as such. Shadow Garden is a criminal organization. If you still want to believe differently, I can't stop you. But if you want to change my mind then bring me evidence, real evidence. Until then stop defending his actions to me."
Iris walked away. Alexia let her go as there was nothing she could say.
XXX
A couple days later Alexia and Poochie were in the dojo sparring. They had the building entirely to themselves. She had gotten special permission to use the facilities while everyone was on hiatus. Alexia was determined to use her precious free time to help improve her Pooch's sword skills and to drive him to at LEAST orange level by the time classes were in session again. It was an act of tremendous self-sacrifice and generosity on her part. Which, of course, her stupid Poochie failed to appreciate.
He was panting and dropped to the floor. "Can we take a break? I'm tired."
"We've barely broken a sweat!"
"Hey, I'm still recovering from my wounds."
"You're completely healed! You already got four whole days of rest how much time do you need, you lazy bum!"
"Well, my stamina's not what it used to be, so you should take it easy on me."
"If I took it easy on you, you'd never improve! I don't want to be here either, but I'm doing this for your own good. So, the absolute least you could do is show a little appreciation and actually put in some honest effort for once in your life!"
He stared at her. Cid opened his mouth.
"I swear if you compare me to your sister again, I will kick you so hard you'll sing soprano!"
Poochie's mouth snapped shut and he got back up to his feet. They were soon exchanging blows again.
"What's got you in such a great mood?" Poochie asked.
"The world doesn't make sense."
"Well of course it doesn't. I mean someone as rotten as you gets to be admired and-"
BAM!
"Oopsie! Did I hit you by mistake?"
He glared at her and rubbed his ribs. "Do you abuse all your friends like this?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." This was a truthful statement as she considered him her only genuine friend.
"It must be nice to be rich."
She grinned and started tapping her wooden sword on the floorboards. "Well, someone's asking for a beating."
"There a special reason you've suddenly noticed the world's not fair?"
"Shadow murdered Vice Principal Barnett."
Poochie nodded. "Yeah, I heard that but what's that got to do with you? I was kind of under the impression you didn't know him very well."
"I didn't, but the things is his daughter witnessed the murder."
"… And? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but I still don't see why this would bother you."
She sighed. "The problem is I believe her. I don't think Sherry was lying and I don't think she was mistaken. If that's true, then I have to accept that Shadow is a criminal and a murderer."
"… And?"
She glowered at Pooch. "What do you mean 'and?' The man who saved me is a murderer! Can you not see why that would bother me?"
"Not really. He goes around wearing a mask and using a secret identity, that's suspicious right there. As for him being a murderer, haven't you known that from the start? When he killed Zenon that wasn't self-defense or him acting as a law enforcement agent. He went after Zenon on purpose and killed him because he wanted to. How is that not murder? Same for the slashers who attacked you. The first one he killed you could argue was to save your life. The other two?" Poochie shook his head. "So why are you suddenly upset about something you've known about from the start?"
"This is different! Ruslan Barnett wasn't an evil bastard with a sword! He was a Vice Principal who couldn't kill a mouse! There's no way to justify murdering him!"
"Okay then, I guess Shadow is a bad guy. Doesn't change that he helped you out. But maybe you shouldn't trust him if you ever meet again."
Alexia frowned. "Why are you so okay with this? Shadow isn't just anyone. He's the most powerful swordsman in the world. The thought of someone with that sort of power being a cold-blooded killer should be terrifying."
Poochie shrugged. "People aren't all one thing or the other. A murderer can save your life. A good man can stab you in the back. Maybe Shadow is like most people and he's not a monster or a saint, but something in between. People are complicated, you know? I mean even someone as rotten as you can have a few, very few, good points."
Alexia began tapping her sword on the floor again.
"Anyway, all I'm saying is that even if Shadow is a bad guy, he still might do some good things."
"Hmmm, you may have a point. It's just weird hearing anything smart coming from you. You're pretty much the last person I'd ever expect to be wise."
For some odd reason that brought the hint of a smile to his lips.