1
Zack

Rage, it’s not what you read in books. It’s not red or black or pink or any colour in the rainbow nor is it some slavering beast that needs to be wrestled with in order to be controlled or a near uncontrollable storm. Rage is both colourless and formless, it’s a tunnelling of vision onto the object of ire, a spiking of adrenaline coursing through the body, hyperventilating breath preventing any curses or talk. As Zack lunges across the table, chair crashing behind him he his feeling all of these aspects of his rage but one more is added in this case, the feeling of soft yielding flesh being pounded by rage fuelled and battle scarred fists sheathed in armoured gloves the sounds of armoured glove hitting flesh sounding throughout the pub before a resounding CRACK reverberates around the establishment and blackness takes over Zack’s consciousness.
The blackness fades with the sound of a dripping faucet and the second aspect of rage rears its head with Zack; intense shame, shame at having lost control and shame of coming close to killing an innocent (even if the innocent in question had been a complete prick) causing him to lie with his eyes closed for a few minutes longer before he rolls off his bed to find himself in his prison cell steel grey eyes taking in the leaky tap on the sink, the metal toilet, a writing desk as well as a shelf of books. Calling forth some mana he sparks some fire from the tip of his right middle and index fingers creating a sort of plasma torch he goes up to a wall and makes a tally mark to join the myriad of others covering the entirety of two walls and the majority of the third. One tally mark for each time he found himself in that cell due to losing his temper.
Time passes and the sound of jangling keys heralds a guard walking down the hallway towards his cell, as the guard comes closer Zack can smell the aroma of his lunch arriving
“Afternoon Zack” says the guard as he gets to Zack’s cell “here’s lunch, care to guess what it is?”
“Sautéed pig’s arse with overcooked broccoli?” comes the sardonic reply “seriously Martin we’ve been playing this game for years now, the food in here never gets any better and you should just let me out of here so I can get whatever deep fried heart attack I can from that chippy down the street. It would taste a lot better” Martin sets the tray of food down on the writing table 
“if you want better tasting food, stop getting yourself thrown in prison and go make it yourself” Martin goes to inspect the new tally mark on the wall “I still can’t believe how many times you’ve been thrown in here over the years” he turns at the sound of a retching sound to see Zack choking down his sautéed pig’s arse 
“bloody hell man the food in here will kill me before any angry guy with a sword will” gasps the prisoner “you also know you’ve left the door open right? I could walk out of here anytime I wanted” Zack nods to the wide open cell door 
“because we know you won’t leave this cell until we say you can, it’s a trust thing y’know?” replies the guard “besides once you’re done eating we’re to take you to the queen anyway, she’s pretty pissed off at you for getting yourself thrown in prison… again”
“So what? You going to cuff me and throw me into the back of a patrol car? You have to buy me dinner first, and this” Zack motions at his ‘lunch’ “does not count, although you’re not really my type anyway Martin” the guard sighs “no Zack, you’ll be driving your own damn car it’s in the impound. Also I’m married, as you well know you were at my wedding”
“And I still can’t believe you managed to land someone as good looking as her, also I swear if it was fat Mike you got to drive my car I’m burning this place down” warns Zack “don’t worry, it was Cris that drove. She already gave us that threat” with that Martin guides Zack to the impound despite the latter’s grumbling about knowing the way.
“Now Zack no tearing outta here like you have the legions of doom on your tail, ya hear me? Last thing we want is for you to piss the queen off even more because you got pulled over for speeding. Even if this thing is an absolute beast” cautions Martin through the open driver’s seat window 
“it’ll be fine mate, I’ll just outpace any patrol car that wants to pull me over. Gotta get to the palace pretty sharpish right? I was due to see Hope in about two hours” the window rolls up and Martin has barely any time to get out of the way before Zack floors the accelerator and tears out of the impound lot like the legions of doom were on his tail “for fuck’s sake, I told him not to do that” griped Martin before going back into the station to warn any patrol cars on the road about the now departed Zack.
Like a black bullet Zack’s car speeds through the streets of Altair city (an unimaginative name for the capital city he always thought) weaving through traffic at full pelt on his way to his meeting with the most powerful woman in the country. Music blaring he ignores the angry gestures and honking horns from the other drivers on the road as he speeds to keep his appointment with Queen Hope, thinking it was a good thing he was in his own car and not the slow clunkers that the police drove, he doesn’t have enough time to stop by his apartment and get changed into something more presentable but thinking back on his other meetings with the queen he’s never been presentable in front of her usually being called to court after either killing someone he was supposed to kill or a stint in prison for nearly killing someone he wasn’t. Coming up to the palace’s parking garage he speeds through the open gates and performs a perfect reverse parking maneuver (in his opinion) and exits the car with a half hour to spare, enough time to get through security.
He arrives at the security desk turning over his weapons, an unadorned sword and a pistol with a complicated holster 
“take good care of the pistol, it’s probably worth more than this palace” Zack tells the guard before walking through the doors and finding a good seat in the waiting room.
The thirty minutes pass quickly and an aide comes through the door “Zack Kanderas? The queen will see you now” he announces. 
“What is this? A doctor’s office” grumbles Zack as he folds the newspaper he had been reading and puts it back on the coffee table walking through the door the aide just came from and into the audience chamber with its gawking courtiers, sycophants and hangers on trying to grab the scraps off the table of their betters he directs a glare at the smug pricks turning their self important smiles into grimaces of horror, no doubt remembering the various stories circulating about him.
Ascending the dais to the throne, an archaic piece of pomp and circumstance as he’ll get the specifics of his orders later in a private meeting, Zack notices that the queen has gotten herself a new court jester thinking nothing of it he approaches the queen only for the vertically challenged jester to interpose himself between him and the throne 
“kneel before the queen!” the jester demands earning himself a look from Zack who proceeds to ignore him and addresses the queen 
“you really need to get jesters with new material, I swear your last one said the exact same thing” this last statement causes the jester to go apoplectic 
“J-J-JESTER!” Screeches the small man 
“I am NO JESTER sir I am the master of ceremonies and you should show me the respect my position is due!” only stopping in his tirade when the queen gives him a glare before she addresses Zack 
“you really should stop referring to my masters of ceremonies as jesters, hearing their complaints gets tiresome after the first five or so” Zack’s only response to this admonishment is a sardonic grin, knowing he was being a bastard and revelling in it 
“You summoned me O mighty queen? What is it that this humble, generous and devastatingly handsome servant can do for you?” replies Zack with mock deference drawing gasps from the sycophants that the gods demand the queen have in her court to witness her every decree 
“a rebellion has broken out in the city states, they’ve requested our aid in putting it down and more specifically they wanted you” says the queen not giving him the satisfaction of reacting to his bait “I’ll give you a more detailed report later, you are dismissed.”
Zack descends from the dais and leaves the throne room through a side door rather than the main entrance so as not to get in the way of other petitioners but also so he can take a shortcut to the queen’s personal office where he takes the most recent intelligence reports about the city states from the bookcase before lounging on the sofa to read it.
A couple of hours pass and Hope sweeps into the office pausing only to give the dark haired man with unkempt hair and a close shaven beard sprawled on her sofa reading a report that was for her eyes only a look of annoyance before sitting behind her desk and clearing her throat. Zack gets up, replaces the report he had been reading before sitting in the chair in front of the desk giving Hope his best 'I didn’t do nothing' look
“So which one has rebelled this time?” asks Zack “I think I just need one more before I’ve put down rebellions in all of them” Hope rolls her eyes at this declaration before deciding to ruin his fun
“It’s the state of fire, again. Which makes it, what? the fourth time they’ve tried to secede?” replied Hope
“The fifth in my lifetime, tenth since the inception of the alliance of the six cities if I’m remembering correctly” corrected Zack “they’re an incredibly fractious lot, the residents of the fire city I mean. Have no idea where they get it from. They give us fire users a bad reputation if you ask me”
“You specifically don’t need any help with that, believe me.” said Hope
“That's a bit uncalled for, people love me” replies Zack
Hope just leans back in her chair giving him a look that screams “you're full of shit” before uncrossing her arms and with a sigh leans before continuing
“Look, Zack, I know you hold the city states in contempt. Hell you hold just about everything and everyone in contempt, it probably comes from you being a jaded, cynical old bastard, but they are an important ally and helping them keeps the peace and I'd rather not deploy you into yet another war I think we can both agree that you've been in enough of those for one lifetime!”
It's now Zack's turn to sigh, all levity leaves him and he also leans forward before addressing Hope
“It's not always up to you. Whether or not I need to get deployed into a war, They toy with our lives and trample all over our dreams if They think it'll advantage Them somehow”
This last line was delivered with a venom that few who ever interacted with Zack would have heard, it wasn't just hatred he was expressing it was rage and contempt as well a mixture of emotions that would normally tip him over the edge and turn him into nothing more than a frenzied beast, albeit a silent one, but here the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes told a story of a man who had spent too long being toyed with and having his hopes and dreams trampled to feel anything but those emotions to the group he had mentioned.
“I'm not here to discuss theology with you, I know all about your issues with the Gods, we're here to discuss sending you to stop the state of fire from doing something stupid... again.” says Hope, trying to drag the conversation back to it's initial topic “besides it's not all of them you hate, you've always had a good opinion of the Creator and the Mistress of Souls”
“That's because they don't interfere with us but I agree the conversation has gone off topic, who do I need to kill and how many?” replies Zack regaining some of his irreverence and levity
“You're lucky I've known you for my entire life, most people would find that statement unsettling. But anyway we need you to get rid of Balthazar Alonso, he's the ringleader of this particular rebellion and with him out of the picture it should fold relatively quickly. A squad of our best fire mages will be accompanying you, you depart in two days so get your shit together by then.” Hope sees Zack giving her a disapproving look “What?”
“Two things: First there's no need for that sort of language, you're a queen and should act like it” Hope rolls her eyes at this having long since become exasperated by Zack's vendetta against her use of profanity but before she could make a comment he continues “Second, where's Cris?” this causes Hope to wince slightly, remembering her meeting with Zack's assistant while he was still unconscious in his cell. Poor Ronald (her personal guard) was terrified that one of them would try to kill the other such was the commotion they were causing
“She's out on an errand” replies Hope, hoping that Zack doesn't enquire any further.
“The two of you had another fight didn't you?” Hope withers under Zack's disapproving gaze and only nods sullenly to this question while mentally preparing herself for another lecture.
“You know she's the one person in this country you CAN'T order around right?” begins Zack and continues before Hope can answer, who currently looks nothing like the calm and confident young queen she was moments before 
“the nature of her oath to me means that at best you lose your divine right to rule and at worst you both lose your lives and I really cannot be bothered finding this country a new ruler or a new partner” there's no anger in Zack's voice as he makes this statement just disappointment, which in many ways is worse than any form of his rage, and he continues, not giving Hope any chance to reply and tell him that the argument had nothing to do with the Oath 
“It's incredibly disappointing to see the two of you at each others' throats when you used to be so close when you were younger” Zack stops his pacing after realising he had gotten up, a habit of his that annoys him greatly, giving Hope the opportunity she needs to defend herself
“I didn't ask her to do anything that would potentially contravene her oath to you all I did was ask her to eliminate a problematic individual while she was in Trium she didn't need to explode at me over a request like that” Zack sighs again
“Of course she's going to explode when you ask her to KILL someone, her oath to her guild prevents her from killing except in self defence. If she goes through with that request she gets kicked out of her guild and that prevents her from accessing the guild's information networks, highways and other resources which by extension cuts me off from those resources as well. That oath is every bit as binding as the oath she swore to me”
Zack stops his pacing again, still clearly annoyed at letting his old habit take over again, and sits down in front of her desk again
“I have an inkling as to why she's in Trium and who you wanted her to kill but for your task you'll need to hire a professional, just not me” he continues having clearly decided that Hope has been suitably chastised
“Of course I wouldn't send you, you have all the subtlety of a truck and I'd rather not have to deal with the reports and complaints of you burning down half a city block just to kill one person” replies Hope “I still have no idea what my father was thinking when he sent you of all people to assassinate the Emperor of Yamato, we only finished paying off the reparations last month”
“In my defence I didn't burn down anything while assassinating the emperor, I was actually pretty damn subtle on that one. It was just in the fight with an assassin sent by the states that I may have gone a little over board” Zack leans back in his chair, clearly enjoying what he sees as a fond memory. Hope also leans back in her chair folding her arms and directing a glare at Zack
“Well, unless you've got anything else that will be all” comes the icy response from the young queen
“Yeah that's about everything unless there's any other surprises you want to spring on me” replies Zack getting up from his chair “besides I need to go see Shinji about his new weapon”
“I'll have to get his report on that later then, if that's it get out of my office I've got shit to do”
Zack turns from the door, intent on getting in the last word, and bows mockingly “of course my queen, but that's still not very queenly language from you” he turns, opens the door and leaves before the young queen can say anything in response.

After collecting his weapons Zack takes a more a leisurely drive out to the suburbs around Altair City much to the relief of the other motorists on the city's roads after an hour of driving he pulls into the driveway of a unassuming house at the end of a cul-de-sac.
Getting out of his car Zack walks up to the front door and promptly opens it and walks into the house as if he owns the place, the interior is tastefully decorated as Zack makes his way to the workshop in the back of the house
“Shinji you in here? I've got that report on your new weapon you wanted me to write after testing it” unlike with the queen Zack knocks on the door of the workshop and waits for an answer before entering, shortly after a man of Eastern descent pops his head out of the workshop
“Oh Zack, is your meeting with the queen over already? That was quick, she must not have had much to yell at you about”
“Shinji it's two thirty in the afternoon, my meeting was at twelve. You really need to get a clock or three in that workshop of yours.” replies Zack, guiding Shinji to the kitchen, working out that the young man had not had lunch yet
“Zack you don't need to make me anything I can make a sandwich or something” says Shinji
“Nonsense, a good omelette should perk you right up” replies Zack bustling around the kitchen “Ah, David bought eggs. I knew he would.”
“What makes you think I didn't go and buy eggs?” asks Shinji. Zack just looks at him like he's an idiot
“When was the last time you left the house? I know what you're like when you have a project to work on, you're a lot like both your father and grandfather in that regard” even as he reminisces Zack doesn't miss a beat in his cooking, his nature as one of the Blessed (individuals of incredible skill with one weapon and one civilian discipline at the cost of having their magic temporarily blocked) coming to the fore. In a few minutes the omelette is done without the oven even having been turned on, Zack having used his fine control of his fire magic to cook it to perfection in less time than it would normally take
“Here you go, eat up. I've also got that report on your new weapon ready as well” Zack sets the omelette on the table as well as two sheets of paper
“Thanks, can you give me a summary while I eat?” replies Shinji as he begins to dig into the omelette
“Sure thing, for the most part I feel it has a bit too much power for a weapon of its size. By my estimations it's about three or four time more powerful than a crossbow” begins Zack
“A hand crossbow?” interjects Shinji
“No a regular one, on top of that the six shots before it needs recharged are too few as well as the charging taking too long means it's not as effective in battle as a crossbow right now” Zack places the gun, holster and all, on the table “I'm going into another combat situation in two days so if you can make the requisite changes I can do some more testing for you”
“I can make those changes easily enough, it should take a couple of hours tops” Shinji finishes his omelette and begins reading Zack's report “can you come by tomorrow to pick it up?”
“Sure, I'll be round tomorrow evening. That should actually give you some time to get some sleep rather than pulling another all nighter” Zack leaves after this stern warning fully intending on getting washed and a good night's sleep in his own bed.