Kel Party: Final Fantasy XII
Chapter 0: "The Bargain, The Fading World and The Sword"
"I'll be going too, of course. Every good sky pirate needs a partner, right?"
And then we're treated to Penelo's lovely smile, Vaan's stupid one and a the final cut where he flies in an ugly looking airship back towards Rabanastre. Then the credits roll, THE END.
I sat the controller down on the coffee table as my buddy, Boomer knocked back another can of beer. "Dude...that ending." He said shaking his head and curling his face like he'd seen or smelt something disgusting. I shared his notion, I didn't like the ending of Final Fantasy games but I hated the ending for Final Fantasy 12.
"Shitty isn't it?" I asked nodding as I adjusted my Angry Birds hat. Boomer, my best friend from practically kindergarden didn't believe me that the ending to Final Fantasy XII was garbage. Nor did he believe me that Vaan was as bad as I said he was. We both share the same interest in games.
"It's beyond shit. Ahahahaha!" The white boy with the multiple piercing in his eyebrow and nose chucked as he ran his hand through his red hair. He stood up laughed again. "Vaan was absolutely pointless, he had like what? Four or five lines in the whole fucking game, SAD!"
"You know what playing with Vaan was like?" I said snapping my finger. "It was like playing as Roxas in Kingdom Hearts 2, it's just basically a tutorial with how the game was gonna be."
Boomer snapped his finger too and pointed at me., "Yeaaaaah. Vaan is like Roxas dude. He's a tool used to learn how to play the game...then the game switches over to like Ashe slash Balthier a little bit. But if that's true, why keep Vaan around? Usually they get rid of the Tutorial characters like his brother Reks."
"Dude, I could have done a better job as a main character." I said with shoving my thumb into my chest.
Boomer tried to hop over my couch but his toe tripped on the back end and he fell on his face on the floor behind it.
"Moron, I told you about that Spiderman shit while you're drunk bro." I nodded.
"Shut up. I'm not drunk, anyway I'll catch ya later. Are you coming to Casey's party later?" He asked pointing at me.
I shook my head. "Yeah, even though I sorta hate that motherfucker."
"Cool see ya there." Booms completely ignored the 'maybe' in my voice.
I heard the door slam behind me as I simply stared at the 'THE END' on my screen from the game. I stared at it for like five minutes, all the while thinking of whether I was going to the party or not. I looked down at my body, I was wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. I decided to go, whatever.
I tossed the PS3 controller on the couch then stood up and walked past my 32inch TV into my room in the back. Took a bath, got cleaned and dressed up in a black longsleeved button up. Blue jeans and a red tie complete with my favorite black and red Angry Birds hat. I stepped into the mirror to fasten my tie.
I fastened it up to my neck and when I looked up in the mirror, I noticed there was a tall shadow standing in the doorway to my room. My heart dropped as I spun around to look at the door. The shadow was gone. "Ahhhhhh! Paranormal Activity!" I screamed dashing out of my room and through the hallway of my apartment and into the livingroom where I spotted a man standing there in between my couch and television.
The coffee table had been completely obliterated.
The man had lavendar colored hair adorned with feathers with a black costume and a huge blade on his back. He looked like someone I knew but I couldn't put my thumb on it. We both locked eyes for a moment, I froze up and couldn't move. It was like I was paralyzed with both fear and awe.
"You." He said.
"Me?" I replied pointing at myself stupidly, ready to tell him he's got the wrong guy.
"You claim that you can 'do a better job at being the main character?'..."He quoted me narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"A guardian seeking a bargain." He replied. "If you were given the chance, would you replace Vaan and move time, move fate differently within Ivalice?"
For a moment this guy's words, I found I couldn't look to my mind for reason on why he was here anymore. The only thing I felt like answering to was his question. "Yeah. I believe I could, Vaan is a kid born with the fortune of God to partake in a journey that changed history within that world. And he squandered it sitting in the background and only baring witness to it. I would be apart of that great destiny...not just sit on the sidelines and watch." My mouth spoke words that my mind and body couldn't keep up with. It was as if I were speaking them from my very soul, the core essence that made me a person, reached out to him.
For about five seconds there was nothing but silence, the figure in the dark simply smiled. "My name is Caius Ballad. And I am the Guardian of the Seeress Yeul and all incarnations that come after her. For thousands of years I've lived and witnessed not only the fall and rise of my Seeress whom flutters through time...but the rise and fall of worlds, civilizations...the rise and fall of life. Ivalice is one such world...again it dawns on it's 139,999th cycle."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"If you are willing to place a wager." He smirked. "Ivalice is coming to an end, the world's gears of fate are beginning to fade."
"Ivalice? But that place isn't real." I shrugged.
"I assure you it is."
"How dumb do you think I am? You think I'm just gonna believe you like..."
Before I could finish my sentence Caius waved his left hand at me releasing a crimson light which caused my surroundings in my filthy apartment to change to a huge dark room with an enormous circular platform under my feet. "...that..." I finished my sentence with a swallow. As I looked around at the dark void of a room. I was screaming on the inside.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"The void between worlds far from time's embrace." He said standing before me he drew his massive Soul Edge like sword in reverse grip and held it diagonally in front of him like some kind of shield.
"Holy shit this all real." I said jumping back. "Look I dunno what you want but..."
"What I seek is an answer. Do you truly believe you can find an alternate solution that Vaan and his comrades came up with?" He asked.
"YES!" Despite all of my instincts telling me to scream 'NO' my mind had no control over my body. My soul did, it was like I knew nothing but the truth.
The eye on his massive sword opened with a green light which blasted into the floor before me. I held up my arms in a cross defensively, when the light had cleared standing upright before me like a grave marker was a...a...sword? More specifically a katana, it had a steel crome grip and sheath. It looked more mechanical than traditional. On the section where the sheath met the katana there was a trigger.
"Take it...get familiar with it. You'll use this to carve your own path..."
I took the katana and pulled it a little from the sheath, the katana's blade had glen red with orange sparks of electricity dancing along the blade like it was alive or highly charged to a frequency. I sheathed katana then pulled the trigger on the sheath and it shot the katana out of the sheath and into my hand with so much force, it almost snapped my wrist.
"A hydralic air pressure sheath outfitted for high speed quick draw." He pointed at the sword. "The blade is powered by Chaos energy. A high frequency edge that is constantly being charged by it's sheath, infinitely."
"Ugh...thanks...I...guess?" I raised an eyebrow. What do you say after a guy gives you a deadly weapon? " Caius, why do you need me to do this? Why can't you do it yourself?"
"It is my job to protect the Seeress and nothing more. I am tired of seeing worlds end as well, it is already enough to watch my Seeress fall and rise again. Break the cycle of death and rebirth atleast with one world...I no...we...would like to see an alternate end." Caius nodded at me.
"Is this all for real?" I questioned myself but I knew in my heart, that it was somehow.
"Far be it a dream, but if it is...I shall see to it that you never wake. Til duty is fulfilled." Caius nodded again slowly. The eye on his sword glen a blue color this time and fired another beam of light at me this time. Appearing before me from a sparkle of azure light was a deck of cards wrapped by a small black belt keeping them together.
"What are these?" I asked taking the deck and looking at it.
"These cards are also tools for your use. Using magicks within Ivalice is impossible for you...a child born of Earth where science rules all. These cards bridge the gap between worlds, allowing you the power of magicks." He explained. "You will find that you can use them any number of ways."
I nodded and shoved the cards away in my pocket. "Okay, let's talk about that wager you mentioned before. You want me to do this, to make another ending for Ivalice right? What'll I get if I win?" I asked.
"I'll grant you eternal life." He responded coldly, so I knew it wasn't a joke.
I shrugged. "Boring, how about instead of that. You give me your sword."
"Hmhmhmhm amusing. To hear a man so effortlessly turning down eternal life is truly a miracle in itself." He chuckled abit then went back to serious stares. "Deal...I will bequeath unto you, the Blade of Chaos. But should you fail...in return. Your life will fade along with Ivalice as well."
My heart dropped, my skin crawled and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I was scared shitless but at the same time I was excited. All of this was so surreal, nothing like this would ever happen in my life again. It's do or die.
"Okay, you got yerself a deal." I held up my hand and with that Caius shook it.
"We have an accord. When next you open your eyes, you'll awaken in Ivalice. Standing in Vaan's place. See to a new future for that world. One unforseen even by the Goddess Yeul. For if you cannot...I will claim your life."
With that I suddenly felt really exhausted, then sleepy. I saw myself falling back wards and before I hit the ground I'd dozed off.