AUTHOR'S NOTE: Some quick things to note about this story:
- This is somewhat a crossover fic, and it will become rather obvious what it is when the OC is introduced.
- Bayonetta is a little OOC for this story, and some previous story elements and plot points are changed to reflect this.
- This also takes into account the events of Bayonetta 2 and Bayonetta: Bloody Fate. Some elements of the OG story is also changed to reflect this.
- Rated M for language, violence and themes.
- I don't own anything from Bayonetta, only Platinum Games do. A big cheer for them for their awesomeness!
Without further ado; Here is Eclipse!
One year before present.
...
"Father Balder!" An Applaud was running at him, it's gait showing signs of injury and panic. Looking up from the contracts and other various documents that the mortals required him to read, lest his business cover would be blown, the Lumen Sage Balder fixed an annoyed look back at the approaching angel.
"What is it? Why dare disturb me?" He turned back to continue reading, listening to it screech to a halt on the polished floors. His mouth curled distastefully at the sound. That would cost time to repair, and he was finished with wasting time.
"Experiment 10978 has escaped captivity and is rampaging through the laboratories!" The Applaud sounded terrified, and that intrigued Balder. Not much could terrify a being of Paradiso, outside of an Umbra Witch or an Infernal Demon. But his focus was not on how the angel was speaking, but what it had said.
"It did what?!" Balder paused as he felt a tremor ripple through the Ithavoll Building. "Recapture him at all costs!"
"Sir, our defences were obliterated." The angel shook his head. "The only things that might be powerful enough to stop it are yourself or one of the Cardinal Virtues. It has probably escaped by now, if our estimates are correct."
Another tremor rang through the building as Balder felt an unfamiliar feeling grow within him. His work of twenty years was expendable, as had the previous experiments, but it did not sit well with him to let it go to waste. Especially given this one's potential to be far more successful than anything else he had tried.
"Take me to it." He snarled angrily, raising from his desk. "Take me to the laboratories now!"
…
It was a surprise the building was left intact. Maybe his creation had enough of a conscience to realise toppling Ithavoll into a densely populated city was not the best idea. Or it was not advanced enough to realise it could destroy the building if it had wished. No one was sure what the experiments had done to its intelligence. But then again, how was it supposed to know it was in a city, let alone a building?
Nevertheless, its hidden power was now evident. It was a lot stronger that the data showed. Or what the data even suggested.
Balder let his rage simmer as he gazed upon the ruin that was the laboratories. Angelic carcasses littered the ground amongst shattered electronics, tubing and chemicals. The main cell in the centre was completely gone, as if it were disintegrated into dust. Balder reflected that the Applaud was right; the bodies seemed to be torn in pieces or their limbs shattered into unnatural angles. The work of a savage, primal fear to flee. An observation not exactly helpful in determining any new data, but it did tell him that it at least had the sense to run from the place that was causing it pain, at any means necessary.
He watched as several Applauds began to search the ruins for anything that was salvageable. Satisfied with their methodology, he turned and walked outside to determine if the exterior was compromised. From what he could see, very little. It had simply blown a hole through the side of the building and made a break for it. The authorities of the mortal realm were setting up a protective barrier for the populace, and he sighed to himself as he realised that he didn't particularly want to address them. Mentally noting to get Jeanne to play around with any witness's memories, he turned back to walk into the building.
"It seems your little experiment did not pay off, even when it had potential, Lumen Sage." A booming voice called from behind. Balder felt his rage return anew as he stopped and turned back.
"Temperentia, the lord of the winds. What brings you here?" He greeted, both playing dumb and being careful not to let his rage show to the Cardinal Virtue.
"Sapientia felt a sudden loss of life, as one does during a massacre." Temperentia was glaring at the Sage, the strange green hologram that was its image flickering in the wind. "I was sent to investigate the matter, and possibly supply assistance, due to me knowing the full extent of your experiment. Now, explain yourself."
"It seems that the only explanation I can give you, as to how it managed to escape at all, was that it was harbouring abilities none of us knew about." Balder replied neutrally. "It could have brought down the building if it so desired, but it seems it chose not to or simply did not think he could."
"Sapientia would have loved that." The angel boomed. "Do you have any inkling as to its current whereabouts?"
Balder's immediate reaction was to lash out at the angel, but then stopped to think. Where would it have gone? Jeanne had wiped its memory; it was extremely unlikely that it would head to its relatives. But, that being said, the subconscious could never truly be wiped anew.
"Honestly, I would start by checking out its next of kin, or its relatives." Balder answered, confident and suave. "That is if the experiment is as stupid as most mortals tend to be."
"Do you have any requests on my investigation?" Temperentia asked. "I am quite curious to find out about your experiments capabilities in a non-testing environment."
Balder finally let his unemotional shell crack. A small smile crept over his face as he began to formulate a plan to retrieve his experiment.
"If you find it there, take it back and bring it to me. Alive, preferably." Balder explained. "Then kill everyone related to it. Make it realise that such actions cannot go unpunished."
Temperentia squinted at Balder. "And if it isn't there?"
Balder smiled fully. "Kill them all regardless. It will learn that actions will not go unpunished."
"It will be done." The angel smiled back, a smile filled with lust and insanity. "May Jubileus, the Creator, grace you."
"And you as well."
Balder continued to fake his smile until the Angel returned to Paradiso. "There will be one being in this universe that Jubileus will grace, and that honour will be mine."
He turned back to find the Applauds waiting for him. He looked upon them expectantly.
"Well? Did your search provide me with anything?"
Hesitantly, the Applauds each shook their heads in turn, as if to confirm each other.
Closing his eyes, Balder felt his rage regrow as he realised the severity of what had truly transpired.
"Go and get Jeanne. She will deal with this." He walked back into the Ithavoll building, his fist clenching tighter and tighter. "She will make them suffer!"
…
Six months before present.
...
Balder closed his eyes with fury as the latest experiment gurgled and moaned with pain. He heard the muttering of the Affinities to the side of him, and it didn't sound promising. Opening his eyes, he watched with frustration as the mortal expanded, then tore itself apart as the cells refused to bind.
"Another failure…" The Applaud said from behind. "What now?"
Balder felt himself calm down as his mind began to accept that this method was not going to work. "I suppose it is due time to try plan C."
He turned back to face the elite denizen of Paradiso. "Get my secretary onto the black market, in any way you can. We need to reveal the location of this." He tapped his half mask, letting his eye glow blue slightly.
The Applaud tilted its head. "You want to draw out the witch?"
Balder nodded, then smiled. "Indeed. Find me the books and scrolls of time." He ordered the Affinities standing around. "For I shall be requiring them soon."
"What if she doesn't take the bait?" It asked, trying to reason the alternative. "What then?"
"Then we will be forced to continue." He smiled a cruel smile. "Until two are made, or we find our missing experiment."
"Your command is our will." The group of angels bowed to him, and then disappeared back into a portal to Paradiso. Stepping out of Purgatorio, he stared in disgust at the quivering goop on the floor.
"You can still hear me, can't you?" He smirked as the quivering increased. "Let it be known that you were the final mortal to be blessed by me."
The quivering stopped as the mortal finally died. Gesturing and muttering softly under his breathe, he watched as the puddle of flesh dried up and turned to dust and blew away. Turning away, he felt something pull at him to turn back. Glancing behind, he saw a flicker of something in the shadows. Frowning, the Sage turned back and walked into the cell. Reaching into the corner, he pulled out a worn piece of paper. He read the words scrawled onto it, his eyebrows raising at every sentence.
I will be free. I will be free. I will be free. I will be... The sentence repeated itself, as if a madman had written it.
Smirking, he crushed it into a small ball and set it alight. Tossing the ashes to the ground, he stood up and walked out of the cell, telekinetically closing the door behind him.
He continued out of the laboratory, hearing the pleas of the mortals as they reached out of their respective cells, begging for release. Balder ignored them. The return of Jubileus was at stake, and mere mortals would not stop it from happening.
The time would come for Jubileus to return.
The time will come. He was certain of it. His will would make it come.
The shadow that always remained cast would be no more, and only light would remain. It was his desire, and it would be so.
"Well, it seems your plans have changed." A feminine voice called to him, interrupting his thoughts. Looking ahead, he saw a tall, elegantly dressed woman in red ahead of him, half of her face obscured by a hat of the same shade.
"Our plans have changed." He chided, and she stiffened in response. "We have been working together for one hundred years; allow yourself the same level of respect, Mademoiselle."
"As you wish, Father." She nodded. "The experiment is gone, and now you turn to her."
"She will know her fate soon enough." Balder nodded back, gesturing for her to join him. "And when she does, the power that has been hidden away for five hundred years, the power that should've been yours to wield, will be reawakened."
"And you will hold up your end of the bargain?" The woman walked alongside him, her graceful steps allowing her to easily stay on his pace alongside him.
"You know that I will, Jeanne." He answered, a smirk on his features.
A mirroring smirk appeared on Jeanne's as well. "I know all too well. Is it time to get the girl?"
"My daughter was once my greatest burden." His right eye turned blue for the smallest of seconds. "It is now time she was made useful."