The Exiled and the Damned

[V0idsoldier 1139]

This is a little story I wrote whilst bored concerning a alt character I will be playing when returning. It's nothing exciting but I will try to make it a fun read. It will likely be long, and some parts will be slow, as it is modeled after a book or journal. I hope you enjoy. A forewarning, this is a add on, rather a split, of my Haruka lore. If you do not understand things like where he has come from, how he is fighting, why he has a "Sensei" and such, then please read my accepted Haruka clan lore.

"They say a man on the run is a bad man, but in the end, every man is on the run from something."

-The Exiled and the Damned.

*The following is a first account of the journey of one man, Hibiki, The White Noise. A log of the events of his life so far. A journey. No specific dates or times are recorded, though a gradual sense of time is seen throughout the book. And so it begins.*

I... won't claim to be different. I wont claim that I am better than any other criminal. That I am any better than a man without a cause. I'm not.

*A quote scribbled into the front page of the book. It continues through the rest of the pages.*

I'm sitting here right now for one reason. I am a man without reason. A fallen star. My comrades are all dead, my name tarnished, and I fear tomorrow I will wake up and fall from existence herself. Words are the only comfort I can find in life right now. I have been exiled from everything I have ever known, and now... now I am nothing but a blemish on the face of this planet.

But that will change. I will change it. My life has been filled with mistakes, and filled with pain. I have lived in confusion and guilt, doubt and distrust. A forewarning to the cruel natures of man. I was born of nothing... but I will not die of nothing. The odds are stacked against me, but in my darkest moment I will rebel against this cold shroud burdened around me, and change everything. My life has been filled with mistakes, but this... this is not one.

Which all leads back to the beginning of my fall from grace.

*The journal seems to now be speaking of a time far in the past.*

"A fight, that is where it had all started."

Clink, Clink, Clank, Clank. The Kunai bounced off each other as the two warriors struck with rigorous passion. A smile flashed across my lips as I stared my target down. "So this is where it ends then, sensei?" I called out... Only now looking back I see how cocky I was, how arrogant and sure of myself I was. I was unstoppable, at least in my eyes. The truth couldn't have been further away.

"This doesn't have to end like this..." He had called back, his words stain my mind "You are making a mistake... This is not the path you seek Hibiki, this path will only lead to ruin and destruction... Take my hand and allow me to guide you back." But I was having none of it. To my left was my fallen comrade, my brother, and to my right was everyone I had ever hated in my life. My teachers, the students, everyone. "But it does... I have no place here anymore... I deserve to be banished, but I wont go down without a fight." Even now I can feel my lip curling up at the situation. Everything I had ever known, crumbled. And then the words stopped, and I was locked in combat.

I was giving it my all, every ounce of training I had went into that fight, and yet he took pity on me, took mercy. Through his blows he tried to show me the errors of my ways. But pride took hold of me like a enchantment. One, two, three, four. Bam bam bam bam, he struck me in my stomach so fast I didn't know what was happening. "U..H..g... GAH" blood spilled from my mouth as I feel on my knees, gasping for air. His power was too much for me. Tch...tch...tch... My blood dripped on the floor. I couldn't feel my body, what had he done to me... At the time I didn't know. His palm slowly lowered itself into place in front of my place "End this now Hibiki... or I will."

I looked to him with sheer anger, sheer wrath, a roar bellowing from my masked lips and I jumped at him, but my body seized in mid air, a terrible cramp washing over me as I fell to the floor, pushing myself back and away. And then, everything went black.

When I awoke, I was surrounded by a canopy of trees, my shirt removed and my wounds bandaged. Linen wrappings covering my stomach and chest. I was laying on a bed of leaves, and to my right my comrade, my brother, still knocked out from the fight previous. I tried to move, but my body tensed up, terrible cramps being sent through my body, my nerves on fire. I willed myself through the pain, crawling to a pond besides us and washing my face. We were just outside of our village, banished, exiled. I made my way to my comrade, sitting lotus style besides him as I allowed my mind to wander.

"What... was I thinking..." I finally allowed myself to speak out loud, a scroll rolling out from my pack besides me. The fight had certainly taken hold of me. I regretted it all, but not because of the physical pain. None of that mattered now, I was a criminal and a exile. I had fallen so low from what I wanted to be. "I'm... I'm sorry comrade... I failed you... and for that I am eternally forsaken." My words soft and cool, as if nothing had happened, the way I had always been. Even in the most dire of situations I could keep my cool, but now.. now my voice faltered and broke, a tear running from iced eyes, my lips curling up.

"But that wont change anything." I clenched my fist as I finally spoke again once more out loud. Standing up I still feel the determination I felt back then. My body trembled with pain, my mind shook with questions, but I didn't care anymore. Lifting my head up and holding it high. I began training. I had trained all my life, now nothing would change. TCH, TCh TCH, TCH TCH TCH. My palms hit the bare air quick and easy, gliding through it with such air it made a small noise. I needed to get my mind off things, and training was all I had ever known. As my hands hit the air, my mind wandered once more. To my past.

"Every man has a past, and every man is running from something. I am not different, and I never was. My life, is a lie."

-The Exiled and the Damned.

I... was always different. That much I know. Most kids were born into a noble family, or even just born to an average parent, but I wasn't. I don't remember my childhood much, if at all really... But I do know that I was born outside of my clan, and had wandered into it. I do not know how I came to wander into the Haruka, or why I did, but it doesn't matter truly. They welcomed me in, a utter stranger barely older than 14, to their homes, their schools, they welcomed me into their calm and peaceful lives.

Like most children of my clan, I was a half elf. That much had not changed, but unlike most children I had things... different about me. My eyes had not picked up on the silver quality that all Haruka children have, and my hair was not black as most children's were, it was a snow white. While most student's were trying to learn how to fight, I was trying to learn Why I already /could/ fight. for I already knew techniques ever most older men did not know. One could say I was a... a lost weapon. I look back on my life and realize that I was always a exile. The kids had looked at my out of the corner of their eyes "Have you seen him? Yeah he wasn't born here... Ao even thinks his parents might have been traitors!" I would hear them say, their words taunting and cold. I was destined to fall from the moment I walked into that place.

But I kept on moving, I kept on learning, I pushed their ideals and words out of my head. I was top of my class in everything I did, from fighting, to moving, to it all. I did not allow them to control the way I thought, but the pain was always in me, always hiding. A unquenchable sorrow staining my mind soul and body, to think that I was alone in this world come day and night... I was bound to do something bad. And so... I... It was not my fault, truly it wasn't... They are all dead. Even now my mind cannot accept it...

"A man's true nature is revealed when he has nothing left in life, for when you take everything a man has away from him, he is no longer a man, but a burdened beast."

-The Exiled and the Damned

TCH TCH... TCH TCH TCH. My mind came rushing back to me, I must have been training for hours on end whilst my mind wandered. It was time to go. Lands long since forsaken by the Haruka, that was my goal. A few months of barely surviving the harsh winter, and blazing summer, the boat was completed. It was rather... how do you say it... shitty. At the time it was my only hope, our only hope... I did a lot of thinking in this time, but my mind was blank now, prepared for the long sail ahead.

The first night on the seas there was a storm, a terrible, ever lasting storm. I thought that was to be my end, our end, the seven heavens must be frowning upon me for what I did... What I did... It was in that time that I allowed my mind to go back to the incident. Back to my downfall. Such pain, I thought my life flashed before my eyes. The events strewn about in front of me, from that one faithful night.

Twack... Twack twack twack. Our feet hit the tree branches like metal weights, the leaves exploding with every movement we made. We had to get out of their. I remember it like it only happened yesterday. We were caught out of position by the enemy, and now it had come down to run, or die. This was the end, at least I thought so in my mind.

My comrades called me the White Noise. I was assigned to a squad of men just like myself. All experts in their trade, they all knew how to kill a man without so much as a second thought. If it was called for by our leader, we did it, no questions asked. Tonight was supposed to be a mere watch and report, a training wheels mission if you asked me, who would have known it would end like this. Who would have known, other than our leader. We were set up from the beginning, but I was oblivious to that. I was put in charge of my men, there 6 of us. That is where I met my comrade, my brother, Akiko. Another tale for another time.

As we left the city, our gear prepped and our minds ready for whatever was ahead of us, I gathered my men and we set off. My first time as a true leader, I was determined to not fail my comrades. They were like family to me, no they /were/ family to me, for I had never known anything different. The only people in my life who didn't see me as a strange out cast.

Our operation was successful, we collected the information we needed... And that's when the attack came. Twack twack twack, kunai landed besides me left and right. As I glanced around I already noticed, one of my men had a kunai impaled through his throat. Another of my comrades had been pinned to a tree by his shoulder. They descended upon us like demons from the sky, their moves so swift I couldn't keep up. I was trained, I was good, but these men... weren't human. I was one of the few men left standing, most of my comrades were dead or dying. There was nothing I could do. A swift palm flew from the shadows and sent me flying off my perch, to the ground. I hit it with a thud, my air knocked out, a trickle of blood flowing down my lip, and to my left... My fallen brother and comrade, Akiko. I did not know if he was dead at the time, but he was the only thing that mattered to me right then and there.

Everyone had fallen besides me, and I made the choice. I had to save myself and my brother, that was the only hope my village had to be warned. I sprinted with such speed and vigor you could hardly tell I was wounded at all. My arms grabbed Akiko with ease, this feeling... the sheer power I felt then and there was incredible. I was gone without a word, my brother in my arms. Twack... Twack twack twack. My feet hit the branches of the trees. And before I knew it... I was home in the village. Home, what a simple word, and yet so far beyond comprehension. I was about to have a rude awakening.

"Hibiki, The White Noise, Haruka. We hereby sentence you to banishment for treason."

Those very words shook me to my core. My body ached, blood trickled down my body, and I couldn't feel my arms. I had told the council what had happened as soon as I returned, and I was labeled a criminal, a outcast, and was to be banished and exiled from these lands... I had given them everything, my life, my love, my work... my blood and my sweat, and now this..

*A few pages are ripped out*

I don't know why I wrote this. I look to my left and I see my comrade, my brother, as broken as myself, stained with blood and anger, too destroyed to even speak on this long voyage. I look to my right and I see endless ocean. And straight ahead, land. Long since forsaken by my clan, and yet now my only refuge. Perhaps I wrote this to serve as a reminder of who I was, who I am. Only time will tell what happens to me. My life has been filled with mistakes, but leaving was not one of them. My name is Hibiki, The White Noise of the Haruka clan, and this is my life.

[V0idsoldier 1139]

((Forever alone and without feedback. :c okay face. I am going to probably be /completely/ and utterly redoing this, as I may have new inspiration for the character. -shrugs- write up if you liked it or not lol, I feel crappy when I see no one responding :( ))

[Quiet Kitten 37]

Omg, had I ever seen this I would have responded right away! This was absolutely AWESOME!!! Loved it soo much .. you said it was long but ... not long enough for me. I want more please! Putting that music in there gave it a super intense emotion, it was like a movie playing in my head. Moar pwease! :)

[steelersfan1221 300]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.