Tentatively titled 'Horizons' for now, but I'll change it once I figure out a more suitable title. Enjoy.

Prologue

They lie together, a layer of sweat still covering their bodies. The cool night air is pleasant against their exposed shoulders. Outside, the ambient song of insects drift through the window, along with the crescent moon's light.

Millia shuts her eyes. Her body is tired but satisfied, and the arms of her lover hold her close. She wants nothing more than to let sleep take her to the sweet land of dreams, but something weighs heavily on her mind.

Shifting so that she faces her lover, Millia observes his face for a moment before speaking.

"Hey, Zato. Do you think assassins like us can find happiness?"

"Happiness? Why do you bring this up so suddenly?"

"I was just thinking... An assassin's path is to walk in the Night. We can be successful, even obtain glory, but happiness? That might be something we can never obtain."

"Why would that be?"

"Happiness is a choice we must make. It can only exist because failure and unhappiness exists. We are agents of unhappiness, spreading death and sadness with our lives. We are the antithesis of happiness. That is why we assassins can only walk the path of an assassin."

"There might be another path, you know?" Zato shifts to support his head with one arm.

"What are you saying? With the kind of body you have?" The blonde pokes at her lover's blindfold which covers his permanently ruined eyes.

"Millia...don't you want to create a time of happiness with me?"

Something is wrong.

"Won't you stay with me, together?"

Zato's embrace, which once was comforting, is stifling.

"Let me show you the path. Greatness and happiness awaits, Millia. Just stay with me."

No! This isn't what she wants! Zato's grip tightens, as if trying to confine her.

They are drifting apart. Startled, Zato pushes himself onto his knees.

"Millia! Where are you? Where have you gone? Why have you left me? Don't you know I love you?"

His voice darkens with anger and hatred.

"MILLIA!"

The blonde ex-assassin awakens with a start, cold sweat covering her body. Her heart is pounding fast enough to hurt her ribcage. She buries her face in her hands.

"Why must you torment me, even after death?"

It's been a month since her final fight with Zato, and Millia still has not recovered.

Her body may have healed long ago, but mentally she is a mess. Every night for the last month she has had dreams about Zato. The dreams are never quite the same, but they are always about the former leader of the Assassin's Guild. The dreams all follow a basic outline as well. Zato would always say the words that Millia had longed to hear in her assassin days, but never heard: That he wants to be with her, that he loves her. In her dreams, Millia would be pleased, but halfway through, the words turn bitter to her ears, and she wants to run away. The dream would separate them, as if bending to her will and Zato would cry out, at first in search of her, only to turn into angry curses.

The Russian can't understand it. Why is she having these dreams? Zato is dead, she killed him herself. Her hair had punctured his black shield and pierced his heart. If that had not been enough, she had torn out his throat and crushed his skull. The assassin is undeniably dead.

And yet, something in her mind prevents her from moving on. Something tells her that all is not over, and things are only just beginning. Something is rendering her unable to return to her life.

Indeed, she has not re-applied for her old job which she quit to investigate the rumors of a new Commander-Gear, and the IPF reward money for killing Zato is starting to run out. Even so, Millia can't bring herself to live a life of peace and monotony. Just the thought of going through such mundane motions makes her sick.

The blonde leaves her bed to use the bathroom. Her apartment is small, with only one bedroom and a living room and kitchen, but it is sufficient for her needs. As Millia leaves the bathroom, lightning splits the night sky as rain drenches the city. The curtains were drawn in her bedroom, so the light wouldn't make it into there, but the living room is bathed in eerie white light for a split second. Then, as quickly as it came, the light is gone and darkness once again swallows the room.

Lightning, huh?

In an attempt to find out what is bothering her, Millia has been retracing her past throughout the month. She had already mentally sifted through her orphan days, being found by Zato, trained to be a professional killer, her adolescence, her romance with Zato, the calamity in Calroni, her final betrayal of Zato, leading to his imprisonment in dimensional prison, all the way up to the Second Sacred Order Tournament.

The tournament was rather...insignificant, at least to her. Millia had waded through the initial phases of the competition, her cursed hair easily dealing with her opponents. The ex-assassin had been drawn to the tournament due to rumors of Zato being released to participate in the tournament.

Unfortunately, the blonde had been eliminated before she could find out if the rumors were true or not. Millia vividly remembers the fight that caused her elimination, and anger flares through her at the memory of it.

"Miss Rage, I presume?" calls a soft voice. It is reserved and polite, and rather effeminate for a man.

Millia turns from the corpse of her last opponent to face her new challenger.

The white and blue uniform that covers his body immediately gives away his allegiance to the Sacred Order. The man before her is young, possibly a year younger than her. His blonde hair is kept neat, but not exactly short. His piercing blue eyes shine with conviction and determination. His face is, admittedly, quite handsome. In his right hand is a long sword. Even in the dying light of evening, the weapon glows with a supernatural light.

In a small alley like the one they are in right now, such a weapon is deadly. Its reach and the cramped space mean Millia has few options of getting past its guard.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ky Kiske, your next designated opponent."

Even without an introduction, Millia knows who he is. The legendary commander of the Sacred Knights, who had obtained the highest rank in the Order at the young age of sixteen. His fighting prowess is widely known the assassin circles Millia used to be a part of.

"Would you like to take this fight to a more appropriate place?"

Unbelievable. Is he seriously willing to throw away his advantage? Is he stupid? Or just overconfident?

Something about the young man in front of her rubs Millia the wrong way. Maybe it's because he just underestimated her. Maybe it's the self-righteousness in his gaze and posture that seems to ask why she isn't as good as him. Either way, her hair screams at her to kill him and, for once, her mind agrees.

"That won't be necessary," states Millia, trying to keep her rage from seeping into her voice. Her hair starts to sway beside her, and Ky settles into a battle position.

"So be it. Let us have a good duel."

Millia jumps up. Her hair acts like a propeller behind her, sending her dashing through the air. She brings her foot down in a crushing motion, aimed at Ky's head.

She doesn't touch him.

Moving as quickly as the lightning he wields, Ky sidesteps the kick and jabs the ex-assassin in the chest as she lands, causing her to careen into the wall. She bounces off the hard surface, head reeling due to the collision. The knight delivers a low kick to Millia's legs, knocking her off balance. While the Russian is trying to not fall over, Ky leaps up and flips, swinging his sword with the rotation of his body. The flat of his blade hits the back of her head, slamming Millia jaw-first into the ground with a sickening crunch.

"You could've killed me," pants Millia as she rises, spitting blood out of her mouth (and a tooth).

"Enough pointless blood has been shed already," replies Ky grimly. "There need not be any more squandering of precious life. Please give up, Miss Rage. You cannot beat me."

Ridiculous. He should know better than anyone how expendable life is. He fought on the frontlines of the Crusade! And yet, this boy is giving her a lecture on the value of life and talking down at her. She can't stand it.

Millia doesn't grace her opponent with a response. Instead, she dashes directly at her foe, her hair swinging. Ky parries two strikes before retaliating with a slash of his own.

"Too slow!" yells Millia as she rolls under the sword. She rises with a knee aimed at Ky's gut, planning on running her opponent through with her hair while he's stunned by the blow.

She doesn't touch him.

Ky jumps over the knee and swings his sword over his shoulders. Green outlines of his weapon remain in the sword's path through the air. Cold steel smashes into her back and energy discharges from Thunderseal into the ex-assassin's body, bouncing her off the ground. With a cry of "stun edge," Ky blasts her away with a bolt of blue lightning.

Millia collapses in a pile of smoking flesh. Her mind vehemently demands her body to rise and beat her ever calm opponent into a pulp, but her worn out body cannot move a single muscle.

"Why did you hold back?" croaks Millia. "You could've ended this fight—you could've ended me—so much faster if you had not held back."

"Everyone fights for something, Miss Rage," replies Ky, his voice just above a whisper. Is her mind deceiving her, or does his voice carry a hint of guilt? "You're no different. I can see it. You don't take pleasure in striking down your enemies, but you're looking for something-Someone?-so important that you're willing to stain your hands red. I don't know, but you seem very...lost. I hope you find whatever you're looking for. And really, do you expect me to use my full strength against a lady?"

The former Holy Knight turns and walks out of the alley, disappearing into the evening's darkness.

"Wait, damn it!" Millia doesn't know why she wants him to stop, to turn around. She doesn't have anything to say to him. Even so, an irrational desire for Ky to stay grips her, and she shouts after him. The knight doesn't return.

Overhead, dark clouds gather, drowning out the now-emerging stars. Reckoning is in the air, and Millia feels like a long-awaited confrontation is coming. Perhaps it was for the best that she lost.

The two of them haven't crossed paths since then, but the name 'Ky Kiske' manages to infuriate Millia like nothing else. Maybe it's his voice, how he talks down to her, as if he's better than her. Maybe it's his eyes that accuse her of sin and inadequacy. She hates people like that, people who think they are better because they obey moral principles. Millia knows that the only reason they act good is because they want to look better than other people. She knows that, inside, they want to be just as bad as they accuse her of being. They are not only hypocrites, but cowards as well, too scared to even voice their desires.

And Ky Kiske, the chief of those cowardly hypocrites dare pretend he's better? Millia knows that his chivalry, his holding back on account of her being a woman, his kindness towards her is for the gratification of his own ego. Just the thought of it enrages her.

Strangely enough, the blonde's eyes start to feel heavy. Odd, she's never been able to go back to sleep after dreaming before. Her nerves had always been too shot to rest. Could it be that focusing her anger at Ky Kiske calmed her down enough to feel sleepy? Ridiculous.

Millia plops back into bed and pulls the covers over her body. Sleep readily takes her back into its arms.

Even as the comforts of sleep whisks her away from reality, Millia can't shake the feeling that something big is about to happen.

Shoutouts to the 'Night of Knives' Drama CD, it really helped me understand the Millia/Zato dynamic. Guilty Gear canon is kinda confusing to me (I only have GGXX), so I hope I haven't broken canon. Eh, the ship already does that, so I won't feel too bad if I do.

Yes, I support Millia/Ky. I'm usually not the shipping kind of person, but Xenriel's Millia/Ky stories have brought me aboard. In terms of romance, it'll be slowburn, as I don't think any strong relationship can be built between these two characters without a lot of development. I'm also not the romance kind of person, so here's to hoping I don't butcher it.

POV will switch between Millia and Ky, but the next two or three chapters should stay in Millia's perspective.