Viki's Shadows
by: Robert Szkotak, AKA LightPhoenix
dkphoenix@hotmail.com

Author's Notes: I've always liked Viki as a character - despite the fact that she has maybe 20 lines in both Suikoden and Suikoden 2, something has always fascinated me about her. When she appeared in Suikoden 2, I was hoping some more of her past would be revealed, although between game text and Richmond's investigation, only a few clues surfaced. Anyway, the story actually is complete, though it may not seem like it upon first reading - in addition to just writing a bit about her past, I wanted to make you the reader think... so here you go 8-)

Humphrey and Viktor walked through the main hall of Northwindow Castle in mutual silence. It was late, well past the peak of the moon, and most everyone in the castle was asleep. Behind the duo rose a giant statue of... well, something. It looked like a normal dragon, but instead of it's lizard head there was the head of a normal garden rabbit.

Viktor had to stop and turn around to look at it - it was one of the most bizarre things he had ever seen. But when Genkaku's son stood before it, the guardian rabbit-dragon gave him a golden ring, with a small white diamond in the shape of a die on it. The boy had given it to Eilie as a gift, and ever since then she had won every game of dice she played - even when she played Tai Ho. It was often referred to by the members of the Army as her lucky ring.

Viktor heard a shuffling behind him and turned on his heels, drawing the Star Dragon Sword from it's sheath. Humphrey likewise had his sword out - a large broad sword that fit the man well. But quickly both men sheathed their swords, when they realized that it was only Viki.

"Hey Viki, whatcha doing up so late?", Viktor asked the young girl. She only stared at him with blank eyes.

"You looking at the statue too?", he asked, remembering that Viki was one of the few people who had actually liked the statue.

"You should get back to your room, it's late, and the Army is sure to need your services tomorrow. You know, build up your strength", Viktor said with a smile. Humphrey behind him wore his normal stoic expression, devoid of emotion. Viki simply turned and walked back to her little corner of the hall, and snuggled up against the Blinking Mirror.

"You know Humphrey, something's not right with her. It's like she's not all here, you know?"

Humphrey simply stood there, looking at his friend.

"It's gotta be the teleporting - I think it scrambles the brain. You know, when we found her, she said she had come from Toran, just after it's fall. That's three years, man. And she doesn't look like she aged much at all..."

"..."

"What do you think happened to her in those three years? I heard she disappeared after that big celebration... it's a shame I couldn't be there."

"..."

"You know, you could say something once in a while - you know, be a little more talkative...", Viktor said, only slightly annoyed at his partner.

"Waffu."

"What?"

"Waffu. I heard her say it in her sleep once. Waffu."

"What do you think it means?"

Humphrey just shrugged and kept silent.

Viki watched the two men walk by her as she pretended to sleep. She knew they were talking about her, but she didn't care. Here, at Toran, when she was a child, they all talked about her. About how she could wave her hand and things appeared and disappeared. About how she barely responded to anything around her, and yet remembered everything she saw and heard with frightening clarity. About how she heard voices when she slept, and even sometimes when she was awake. She was definitely used to it.

Viki stood up and smoothed out her pale violet robe, the only thing anyone else had ever seen her in, and waved her hands. Viki closed her eyes as the world went white - to her is seemed that the teleport took forever, but she knew that it was only a matter of milliseconds between the time she left Northwindow Castle and when she arrived in the ruins of a small town. The best she could tell, the small hamlet that was once called Ashata was somewhere far, far away from Northwindow - she had narrowed it down to either north of Harmonia somewhere, or possibly west of the Grasslands - she'd never traveled to either of the countries, although her perfect memory allowed her to teleport here anytime she wanted.

She made her way over to the remains of a small house. She knew that the entire town looked the same way - as much as she tried to forget it, she couldn't. Closing her eyes, she tried to block out the visions, but they came anyway.

She was eight, and it was spring. Dew clung to the grass and leaves all around, making the ground sparkle with a millions tiny lights. She had come into her power two years ago, when she had teleported one of the village boys into a tree, which he promptly fell out of, nearly killing him. She hadn't meant to do it, but he had been attacking her, and had drawn blood in two places already. Since then, the village shunned her, and only her parents cared for her. Though most of the time, she could teleport herself away, the occasional attack caught her off guard and left her bleeding on the ground.

Several of the boys, now come into their growth and eager to test their fighting skills, were coming up the hill. She knew they were coming for her, but she didn't teleport away. This time, she would fight back, as her father always told her to, and maybe then the attacks would stop. She glanced around the hill one more time, readying her mind. And when boys approached her, she stood up.

"Get outta here, you freak!", the lead boy shouted, and shoved her. She took the abuse - it wasn't time for her to act yet.

"You god damned freak, who do you think you are, sitting on our hill!"

"Why do you gotta pollute out town with your freaky powers!"

Viki held her ground.

"What, little Viki ain't gonna run away? Maybe we'll have to remove you from our village...", and on that note he grabbed Viki by the arm.

Viki waved her hand, thinking of the storm that had blown through the village last month. She only had meant to scare the boys, a strong gust of wind, a flash of lightning... but something went wrong. At first, it was what she wanted - the wind swirled around her robes, and rain started to pelt the boys. And they promptly ran away. Viki felt a joy inside her she hadn't felt before - she had finally stood up to them and showed them she wasn't going to tolerate their abuse any more. She had won.

Even as she basked in her new found glory, she felt something wrong. It didn't come at first to her, but then she looked around... the sky had turned dark as night, and she could see flashes of lightning in the clouds. Viki waved her hands to unsummon the storm... and nothing happened. Frantically, she waved again, and again, but each time nothing happened. The winds grew in intensity, and lightning streaked across the sky. A tornado started to from near the town. Viki looked down at the village in disbelief, as lightning, wind, and rain ravaged the town. The winds picked up cattle, people, houses, and trees indiscriminately. And Viki, on her hill, stood at the center, only a slight breeze shifting her clothing.

When the storm finally died down, she ran down to her house, knowing in her gut that her parents, and everyone else was all dead. But she ran anyway - she needed to see. Her house lay in ruins, roof completely blown away, walls flattened as if someone had stepped on them. She teleported away parts of the wall, searching through the rubble, until she found them - they lay with eyes open, wide with fear. They were holding each other, and something else... it was her stuffed bunny. Without warning, the tears came... she reached down and picked up the bunny, and cried.

"That's right little Viki. You killed them! You killed them all!"

Viki spun around to face the voice - her bunny still in her hands, though the ruins around her lay in decay. A woman with long forest green hair and flowing lavender robes stood there, a smirk on her face. Viki would have guessed she was about thirty, but it was hard to put an age to her.

"You killed them all Viki, they're all dead because of you. The only people who cared about you, and you destroyed their home as surely as you did the rest of the town!"

Viki still felt the tears streaming down her face. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to do it!"

"Sure you didn't child. Like you didn't mean to kill them - you wanted them all to die! Admit it!"

"No, I didn't...", Viki managed to get out between sobs.

"You liar!", the woman shouted, and smacked Viki in the face...

She woke up to find Viktor and Humphrey standing over her, as well as several of the castle staff. Her face still stung from the woman's smack, and she could still feel the tears running down her face.

"Viki," Viktor said softly, a hand placed on her shoulder. "Are you okay? It was only a nightmare..."

Viki managed to stop her crying and whimpered something in Viktor's ear. She held up the stuffed rabbit to him, and Viktor took it in his hands.

Viktor managed a small laugh, and looked at the rabbit. "You know, this looks like the statue's head. I can see why you liked the statue." Viktor smiled and handed the rabbit back to Viki. One of the women led her away to the baths and to Hai Yo's to eat.

Humphrey stood there looking at Viktor, who was in turn looking at Viki being led away.

"You know what she said to me Humphrey?"

Humphrey shook his head slowly.

"Waffu."