i'm back! well, this chapter was supposed to have another half to it but it broke thirty pages by the end of the first half so i figured... let's make it two chapters. so here it is, the latest chapter!
Auron's Fan- don't worry, i'm breaking away from the plot from here on out. just have to figure out what to do until the final fight... oh well. it'll be good, you can be assured of that. yes, i thought the ending was good. and, if i recall correctly, you suggested that melody have purple eyes. oh, and hurry up and update What The? ok? anyway, you sent me two reviews for chapter 6... yes, seph had to endure that tourture. yes, ryan got his ass handed to him by matt. now go up date What The so i can read it! and, yes, ryan's situation with lusniec after him and his friends being so much stronger is rather... bad.
Anasazi Darkmoon- you think so? i thought it was kind of... i dunno, stupid. but it worked so i really didn't mind. as for issaru... that part is just so... stupid in the game. i thought it needed some excitement. i think i did ok. and yes, JT got himself a companion. i was hoping they'd make a good couple. makes things go more nicely. and as for all those question you wanted to ask but didn't, you were right. they probably will be answered if you keep reading, so... keep reading!
Bstgoalie31- KUDOS to you too! NOW REVIEW ALL THE CHAPTERS YOU READ FORM HERE ON OUT! or i'll stop telling you how far i am when you ask me.
Da KeR MysTeRr- yeah, issaru is annoying. and i really have worked with lighting and sound equipment, so that kind of worked. as for the exploding speaker... that was just funny. yeah, Zedih's teleporting method is pretty kool, and as for Ryan... well, you'll find out some stuff in this chapter, but it'll raise some questions too... oh well.
labrat-seph- actually they were just randomly wondering and looking for leads. then seph decided, 'ok, let's get Gippal to help' which usually isn't a good idea... gippal seems like the kind of person that causes problems in delicate situations... and as for why you were in a bad mood, i read it, and it's completely understandable. i sort of know how you feel...
Sly- well, i dunno if you're here yet, but thanx for reading 2 Fallen Gods. so you found this from Da keR MysTeRr's profile? kool, whaver works. well, hope you enjoy this one as much as 2 Fallen Gods!
lightningwizard- welcome back! haven't heard from you in a while, i was starting to get worried. anyway, your wait for some of the 'more important battles to occur' is over, since there are two major battles in this chapter alone... oh, and nick does a lot of fighting in this one too, not that you asked about that at all. yeah, Slayers of Chaos was just random fights, but that's why i'm so good at these fights, so it wasn't a total waste. you learn something about the Book of the Gods in this chapter actually, so pay attention! oh, and did you figure out who comes back before the end?
Rematch
Rae stared down at the picture of the Protecting Lord, trying to find an answer she knew nobody had. "Kitty, why is it that the Protecting Lord's picture is split in two?" and to herself she thought, 'And why is half of it Lusniec and the other half Ryan?'
Kitty raised an eyebrow and looked at the picture. "Isn't that normal on the surface?" Rae shook her head. "Well, at least we have some things in common with the surface then."
"Great, but why is the picture split in two?" She flipped through the pages that had the pictures of the Lords on them. "All of them are, for that matter."
"Well, the elder never gave us an actual reason, but I think that the ideals that the Lords stand for are," Kitty cleared her throat and continued in a mock-professor voice, "especially represented by certain individuals who are destined not to receive some of their powers, but are to completely replace them."
"No way…" Rae muttered as she flipped through the pages and looked at the pictures. "Andy, Seph, Matt, and Ryan."
"What are you talking about?" Kitty asked as she moved over and sat down next to Rae on the couch.
"Ok, look at this." She flipped to Fire Lord's picture and pointed to the split. "This is the Fire Lord, right?" She pointed at the left half of the picture and Kitty nodded. "This," She pointed to the right half of the picture, "is my friend, Andy." She flipped to the Water Lord's picture. "Water Lord, my boyfriend, Seph." She turned the pages again. "Thunder Lord, my friend Matt." She flipped to the Protecting Lord's picture, "The Protecting Lord, and my friend Ryan."
"You actually know these people?" Kitty asked in a breathless voice.
"Yeah. I do." Rae admitted as she continued to flip through the pictures until she came across the Neutral Lord. "And I know him too! I can't remember his name, mind you, but I remember him!" She tapped the right half of the picture but nothing came to mind. "Oh, screw it."
"Rae, do you know what this means?" Kitty asked as the Al Bhed closed the book and put it away.
"That I've got friend in high places?" Rae asked jokingly.
"If you know them, if you really know them, then the village elder might not let Yevon keep you prisoner!" Kitty said excitedly. "If you tell him, you'll be free!"
"No." Rae said instantly. "Yevon's the most ruthless, and the most powerful, of all the gods Kitty. On Mt. Gagazet Lusniec nearly wiped out an entire race of powerful warriors, can you imagine what Yevon would do? I'm not gonna let that happen to the Lydc for trying to help me. I'll wait for Seph to come and get me."
"I thought Lusniec was the surface version of the Protecting Lord." Kitty stated quietly. Rae opened the book back up to the picture that was half Lusniec, half Ryan and sighed.
"He is." She said sadly.
888
JT squinted against the sunlight that was filtering through the window's closed shutters, wondering what had woken him up. He looked around and then he understood: no Melody. His heart skipped a beat as he jumped out of the bed and pulled his pants on.
"Melody?" He whispered when he the pajamas he'd given her on the ground by the bathroom. Odd, he didn't recall her using them at all the night before…
"JT, you awake?" Melody's voice drifted in from the hallway and the Al Bhed felt his heart skip another beat.
"Yeah." He replied. She pushed the door open and closed it behind her. "What's up?"
Melody shrugged and set a bouquet of flowers down on the small table in the room. "I did a little clothing shopping, but the stores here never have anything I like so I just looked around." She admitted. "Otherwise… not a lot. Oh, thanks for the flowers."
JT closed his eyes for a second, and then shook his head. He wasn't in the mood to worry about whether or not he'd ordered flowers for her, not after last night. "Ohhh, so that's where you went this morning." JT said sarcastically instead as she laid down on the bed and stretched out.
"You look worn out." She commented absently.
"Just got up." JT replied. "Normally, I'd have been up for," he glanced out the window and found the sun nearly straight above them, "six, seven hours."
"You're crazy." Melody stated with a laugh. "That'd only be, what, two, three hours after we made it here?" JT shrugged.
"Home was run like a military base. You got up when they decided you got up." He said simply. "After four years of that, then two years with Seph, it's just a habit."
"Yep, completely crazy." Melody repeated with another laugh as JT laid down on the bed next to her.
"Yeah, I don't get enough sleep." He stated as Melody curled up against him. He blinked as the feeling that something was wrong washed over him again, and glanced around the room.
"What? What's wrong?" Melody asked as he chuckled nervously.
"Where's Seph?" JT asked simply, noticing for the first time that the ex-assassin not only wasn't in the room, but also hadn't knocked on the doors last night.
There was a sharp knock on the door followed by Seph's voice. "Hey, can I come in or are you two still enjoying your alone time?" He asked with a chuckle.
"Come in." JT said with a sigh. "So you did know about last night."
"Half of Kilika knows about you two last night." Seph stated with an annoyed sigh. "I ended up getting the room right next door… didn't get any sleep…"
"Oh, poor baby." JT teased while Melody turned so she could see Seph. "Why don't you go take a nap-"
"After last night?" Seph asked with a laugh. "Not a chance. As if your sister wasn't going to kill me badly enough for teaching you martial arts, now you had sex while I was supposed to be taking care of you? I'm in enough shit as it is, JT. Besides, the Celsius just landed at the docks."
"Celsius?" JT questioned.
"Isn't that…" Melody stopped for a second before finishing with, "Lady Yuna's ship?"
"Yeah." Seph said. "JT, get a shirt on, and then get your stuff together. I'll meet you in the lobby." He walked out the door but stopped in the hallway. "If you're not down in five minutes, I'm coming back up to check on you two, got it?"
"Killjoy." Melody muttered as Seph started back down the hall. "This is going to be a boring trip if he keeps checking in on us like this the rest of the way."
"What'd'ya mean by 'trip'?" JT asked as he reluctantly got up and started to gather his things together.
"What else? This is going to be a boring trip if killjoy keeps checking in on us." Melody repeated.
"You're coming with?" JT asked hopefully.
"Wasn't that the original plan?" Melody asked curiously.
"The original plan was to stop you from getting raped." JT shrugged. "We didn't have time to think of anything beyond getting a hotel room."
"Well aren't you two just geniuses." Melody said with a sarcastic sigh.
"No, we're just two guys trying to get my sister back." JT replied without missing a beat. "One of whom happens to be the former top assassin in all of Spira and the god of water." He shoved the sweat pants into his backpack, threw it on his shoulder, and held his hand out to Melody. She grabbed it and allowed him to lead her out the room and down the hallway.
888
Matt wandered through the halls of the Celsius as it prepared to dock at Kilika Harbor. Ryan was sitting in his room staring at the ceiling absently. Rikku had only gotten up because of the ship slowing down less then ten minutes ago, despite the fact that it was already almost noon. Yuna was wondering around and talking to everyone, even Paine who was simply standing in her normal position going 'Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Wanna get hurt?' in an attempt to get Yuna to leave her alone. Nick was in his room playing solitaire with a deck of cards he'd brought with, and Sakura hadn't been seen yet.
Thus, Matt found himself standing in front of her door, wondering what she was doing. 'Nothing's getting done with me just standing here,' he thought with a mental shrug as he knocked on the door.
"Yeah? Who is it?" Sakura called from the other side.
"Matt." Matt said simply.
"Oh, Matt-kun!" Sakura said pleasantly as she opened the door. "What's up?"
"We're going to be landing soon. Less then," metal groaned beneath them as something shifted so that the ship would be able to land, "a minute, apparently." He finished.
"Ok." Sakura said before closing the door.
'That was rude.' Matt thought as he headed back to his room to grab Lightning Edge. As soon as he opened the door he found himself staring not as his room, but Kilika Temple's courtyard. And for a reason he didn't understand, everything inside of him was screaming danger. "Well, that's wonderful." He muttered as the image disappeared. "Just where we have to go, no less."
"Something wrong?" Sakura asked as she stood on her tiptoes to see over Matt's shoulder more clearly. She frowned quizzically as Matt walked into the empty room, revealing that there was nothing there. "Were you just talking to yourself?"
"Hallucinating, actually." Matt replied with a small smile as he picked up Lightning Edge and started back towards the door. As he closed it Baby jumped off of a still half-asleep Rikku's shoulder and landed on Sakura's head with a happy chitter.
"I think he's saying good morning." Sakura said with a helpless laugh, which was followed by another set of happy chitters from Baby. "Yep. Definitely good morning."
Matt nodded to the squirrel and said, "Morning, Baby. Sakura-chan, pretty soon you're going to be talking to him in his own language like Rikku does."
"Shut up!" Rikku shouted from the bathroom a few doors down the hall. "He taught me Squirrelian, it's not my fault!"
"Squirrelian?" Matt muttered as he and Sakura walked towards the bridge. Ryan walked out of his room up ahead and waited for them when Matt waved him down. When they were close enough to whisper to each other he asked, "Did you know your girlfriend speaks to Baby in Squirrelian?"
Ryan shook his head and asked, "What?"
"My point exactly." Matt said with a nod of his head. "You might, just a thought, want to talk to her about it. I mean 'Squirrelian'? That can't be good for someone's mental health."
Ryan nodded his agreement. "I'll talk to her about it later. Did you get-"
"Yeah, I got it too." Matt cut Ryan off.
"Of course, of course." Ryan said with a sigh. "You always get them too."
"Get what?" Sakura demanded as they reached the elevator.
"Premonitions." Matt said with a shrug. "You'll get them eventually. Kind of a gift from the people up top that are watching out for us."
Sakura rolled her eyes and muttered, "Hallucinations, my ass."
"You have a nice ass." Nick stated as they walked past him.
"Thanks." Sakura replied as she walked over to a wall and waited for someone to fill her in.
"So, Matt, Ryan, Gullwings, where are we going?" Nick questioned.
"Kilika. Didn't we tell you that two days ago?" Buddy asked from his station on the bridge. "That's where we're getting reports of an 'awesome sphere' from, so that's where we're going." His screen lit up and he studied it, frowning slightly. "Turns out that the temple that the sphere's at just had a robbery and an assassination this morning. Reports say that it was around 3 AM. Wonder what that's all about."
"Did they catch the assassin?" Sakura asked.
"No. Says that the only trace of him, other then the dead body of the High Priest in charge of the temple of course, was a line of water on the floor." Ryan, Matt, Yuna, and Rikku who'd just gotten on the bridge in time to hear about the report, shared a nervous glance.
"Did the assassin steal the sphere?" Paine demanded.
"No, says that they stole something called the Book of the Gods." Buddy said with a shrug.
"Seph." Matt muttered. "Always being a pain in the ass."
"You know this guy?" Buddy asked in a surprised tone.
"Yeah. Until two years ago he was Spira's top assassin. Now he's just the God of Water." Ryan said quietly. 'And he's got a book that Dnortih said I should read. And he's somewhere in Kilika, but for how much longer?'
"Gullwings!" Brother shouted from the pilot's chair. "Prepare to landing!" Laughing to themselves at their leader's broken Spirian, the Gullwings quickly positioned themselves for landing. It didn't take long since, for a crazy guy with tattoos and a Mohawk, Brother was a surprisingly good pilot.
As the group departed the airship a group of Yuna's biggest, or so their shirts claimed, fans swarmed her, knocking the rest of the Gullwings aside like rag dolls.
"I hate it when people do this!" Rikku whined as she watched Yuna try to detach herself from the group. "It used to be like this all the time, but then it stopped after a while."
Matt sighed and said, "Everyone, stand back." As soon as they stepped back he tapped the nearest person of the mob that had surrounded Yuna asked, in a deceptively calm voice, asked, "Would you mind moving away from my friend. We've got some urgent business to attend to here in Kilika."
"Scram, buddy." The man shot back hotly.
Matt shook his head and raised a hand. "Don't say I didn't try to do things the nice way."
"Here we go again." Nick muttered as the sky started to darken. "Hope nobody's afraid of lightning."
"Hey, pal." Matt said, drawing the attention of the man who he'd been talking to a second before. The man peeled his eyes from the suddenly dark sky to look at Matt just in time to see three bolts of lightning slam into him so quickly that they cracked the ground under his feet.
But the lightning didn't disappear. All of Kilika fell silent, as the line of lightning remained the way it was, stretching down to form an aura of lightning around Matt that closely resembled a cage.
"What the hell are you?" The man shouted as he pushed his way through the now pale-faced mob. Yuna took the chance to dash through the hole in the crowd.
"Thanks." She offered as she walked around the cage that was slowly fading.
"No problem." Matt said with a shrug.
"That's definitely a new trick." A familiar voice called out from the crowd. "So, did you come up with that while you were on, Earth I think it was? Yes, Earth. Did you come up with that one while you were on Earth?"
"And so returns the God of Water." Matt muttered as the sky returned to the way it had been before Matt's display. "What's it to you?"
Seph shrugged as he came out of the crowd. "Not much, just wondering. After all, you didn't use it at Mushroom Rock Road. I wasn't sure if you came up with it before that and just didn't use it or afterwards."
"I just came up with it now, actually." Matt admitted with a shrug. "But it seems like it'd be a perfect shield attack."
"Indeed." Seph agreed absently. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"
"We're looking for the 'awesome sphere' that we've been getting reports about." Rikku said enthusiastically. Seph didn't notice the not-so-enthusiastic looks on Ryan and Matt, but he kept quiet. "Know where it is?"
"Probably in the Kilika Temple." Seph said. "But getting in there isn't going to be easy."
"Well that wouldn't be because of a certain pendulum wielding person we know, would it?" JT asked as he and Melody came out of what remained of the crowd.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Seph replied calmly.
"And I'm the next Sin, what'd you do Seph?" Matt demanded.
"Why's everyone ganging up on me?" Seph demanded.
"Because we know you." JT said flatly. "Not to mention we know what you did before Sin died."
"Ok, fine, whatever. I did it, happy?" Seph demanded jokingly. "Anyway, Ryan, Matt, I need to talk to you in private."
"When we get this 'awesome sphere' we can talk." Matt said as he began to walk through the dock city. A hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"No. We have to talk now." Seph said with a dangerous gleam in his eye as he dragged the two of them through the crowd and to the hotel. "Key, please." The attendant tossed the key to Seph who caught it and led the two into his room. "I wouldn't recommend sitting on the bed."
Matt and Ryan looked down at where they were about to sit and decided not to ask why. "Ok, cut the bullshit. Yevon's alive, isn't he?" Seph demanded.
"What makes you think that?" Matt asked casually.
"I said cut the bullshit." Seph repeated.
"I will… when you tell me what makes you think that Yevon's alive." Matt replied.
"This." Seph pulled his shirt up and revealed the scar he'd gotten from Lusniec. "Guess who gave it to me."
"Lusniec?" Ryan suggested slowly.
"Bingo." Seph said quickly. "Now guess what he was using when he attacked?" Ryan shrugged. "Demon Edge."
The confused look Ryan and Matt had been wearing disappeared in the blink of an eye. "That's not possible Seph." Ryan said flat out. "I shattered Demon Edge two years ago, and it was the corrupt version of Wind Cutter. Only a god could have reforged it."
"That's why I think Yevon's alive." Seph stated. "Only a god could have reforged that sword, you said it yourself. Well none of the elemental gods were going to do it; they were against Yevon and Lusniec from the start. Sin, the God of Death, was sent, so he couldn't do it. It was Yevon, wasn't it?"
Matt nodded. "Yeah, it probably was."
Seph glared at him until he realized that neither of them seemed surprised. "You knew he lived… didn't you?" He questioned.
"Yeah. We did." Ryan said flatly.
"Why didn't you tell us!" Seph demanded crossly. "If we'd known he was alive we'd have-"
"You'd have what, Seph?" Matt asked calmly. "Would've gone and hunted him down and killed him again?" Matt snorted. "It's not that simple. Sakura, the girl with the blue hair that was with us, we need her and Andy to be there when we kill him. We need all four of the elemental gods' heirs. So it wouldn't have done us any good anyway. It would've been a total waste of time. Besides, we don't even know where he is, or where he went after we killed Sin."
Ryan's eyes widen for a second. "Seph, did Demon Edge give off the same feeling that all the other legendary weapons do?" Seph nodded slowly. "No Match Found…"
"What?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.
"When Shinra scanned our weapons! No Match Found, that's what came up!" Ryan stated quickly. "Because they, like the rest of the legendary weapons, were made of a metal that was created in a place with lots of pyreflies."
Matt blinked as the realization settled in. "The Farplane. That's where he went…"
What matters now is where he went. It's where is he now." Seph said flatly. "We've got everyone we need, if we take the fight to him then we can stop whatever he's planning."
Matt looked Seph over and stated, "Why are you so eager to fight Yevon? From the looks of that scar you barely be Lusniec." Seph's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I've got my reasons." Seph said slowly. "All that matters is that Yevon is alive, and it's up to us to stop him."
"Rae. You think Rae's disappearance is connected to Yevon." Matt stated with a knowing look in his eye.
"So?" Seph demanded.
"So? So that makes it personal, and it'll make you angry when we do end up fighting him. Angry and stupid." Ryan said quietly. "Believe me, I know what it's like to fight someone when you're angry and stupid. It does not work." He frowned. "Seph, where's the Book of the Gods?"
Seph threw his backpack onto the bed a stated sadly, "In there. What do you need it for, anyway?" Ryan shrugged.
"I have no fucking clue." He admitted with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Dnortih told me, in person more or less, to read the section on Lusniec."
"Ohhh, he probably wanted you to see this," Seph took the book and flipped to the same page that he'd shown the Head Priest of the Kilika Temple, and pointed to the line he'd questioned about. "It says 'Yevon crafted the soul of the man into the form he wanted of the one to protect them, and granted it the Divine Light, giving birth to an angel named Lusniec.' The Head Priest thinks-"
"Thought." Matt corrected.
"Thought that it meant Yevon didn't necessarily take Lusniec's original soul." Seph said.
"What do you mean by original soul?" Ryan questioned without looking up from the book.
"He said something about Yevon having the power to manipulate anything that he wanted because he was so powerful." Seph hesitated. He spent the entire time after killing the priest and getting into the town wondering what the priest had meant, but he could be completely off. 'Well, can't really hurt if I am.' He decided. "I think he meant that the Lusniec we know isn't the real Lusniec. That Yevon took the real Lusniec's soul and did something to it and turned it into the Lusniec that we know."
"So Lusniec wasn't always a father fucking psychopath. Guess that's good to know." Ryan muttered absently. "Seph, you ever see this picture before?"
"No, I never really bothered to look at the pictures before. Why, something wrong?" Seph asked.
"Do you have a dragon tattoo?" Ryan asked suddenly.
"Uh… yeah. I do actually." Seph admitted. "Why?" Ryan held the Book of the Gods up to the picture that was half Seph and half Zedih.
"Look at the background. It's really faded, but there's a dragon back there." Seph squinted at the page before nodding.
"Yeah, there is." Seph agreed. "Same one I have on my back. That still doesn't tell me why it's important."
"I don't know." Ryan admitted with a shrug as he flipped through the pages until he came to Matt's picture. "Matt, wolf tattoo?"
"No." Matt stated. "I don't have any tattoos. You should know that."
"Yeah, well I didn't have any tattoos until I woke up, either." Ryan pointed out while closing the book. "So you never know. But for now I guess we'd better get that 'awesome sphere' that we were hearing about, before Paine decides to try and kill us."
"Right, that could be a good idea. After all, we wouldn't want our partner to get hurt." Matt said jokingly.
"Seph, we've got problems!" JT said as he shoved the door open and pulled Melody inside. "Turns out one of the guards from last night didn't die."
"So New Yevon's looking for Melody. Big deal, they won't make a move as long as she's in Youth League territory." Seph said flatly. "Use your head a little." Something bumped against the door and JT sighed and pulled Melody to the ground. "JT?"
"Duck!" The Al Bhed yelled just before the door exploded inward.
"Holy shit!" Matt yelled as water and lightning burst into existence to shield the entire group from the explosion. "What the hell are you thinking!"
"Flash bang!" Nick yelled suddenly.
"Son of a bitch! Cover your eyes!" Ryan yelled, spinning and shutting his eyes as tightly as he could. Even so he could still see the amazingly bright flash the little ball unleashed, and hear the shouts of pain from those who hadn't heeded the warning. "Nick!"
Nick rolled his eyes as the half dozen men stumbled about the hallway, shouting in pain and trying in vain to find him. "I gave you a warning this time so shut up. I'm a little busy anyway." He rested his weapon across his shoulders and tapped it against the wall impatiently. All six of the men spun around and advanced on the noise, brandishing their weapons as menacingly as they could while stumbling over their own feet and their friends to get to him.
"Nick, you got this?" Matt asked sarcastically as he led the group out of the room and in the opposite direction. "Ok, good to know. Let us when you need some help."
"Funny." Nick muttered under his breath as Seph came out, bringing up the rear of the group. "Can I help you with something, aquaman?"
Seph shook his head. "Just watching."
"Whatever." Nick shrugged his weapon off and slammed the middle of it into the hand of the first guy to reach him. Bones snapped, and dropped the sword, which embedded itself in another man's shoulder. 'That,' Nick noted with a smile, 'worked a lot better then I thought it would.' Another guy tried to jab forward with a spear and Nick grabbed it below the hilt, pulled it down, and stepped on it as he jerked it back up. "Thanks." He said to the man as he hurled the head into his leg, causing him to fall and trip up three more of his blind companions. By this time the first guy had gotten his hand on another sword and was charging Nick. A single twirls of his modified hockey stick caused the razor-sharp blade to slice neatly through the mans good hand, and then he slammed the shaft just below the spear head into the side of his foe's head, knocking him to the ground instantly.
Seph let out a low whistle. "Not bad. Not bad at all." He admitted as he looked over the battered, moaning New Yevon guards. "Come on. The Youth League will be here to pick'em up soon."
"By all means, aquaman, lead the way." Nick replied with a smirk. Seph just shook his head slightly and walked out of the hotel just as the Youth League members were coming in. "How'd they get here so fast, anyway?"
Seph nodded towards a rampart where the rest of their group was standing. "They killed three Youth League guards when they came in. That's why nobody stopped them from getting into the hotel."
"You act like you know everything." Nick pointed out with a sigh as pyreflies started to leak out of the corpses.
"No, I'm just observant." Seph replied with a shrug.
"They were after me…" Melody whispered in a horrified voice. "This is my fault."
"Actually, it's probably mine." Seph corrected. "Think about it, Melody. You were out in the open. If they were after you they could've watched, waited until you were alone, or it was just you and JT, or whatever." She nodded slowly.
"But why's it your fault?" Melody asked slowly.
"Why? Well, let's think about it logically. They didn't attack you, which is the first sure sign that they weren't after you, but they did attack the room I was in. And on top of all that, they know that I was out during the time the guards were supposed to deal with you, and that I came back alone while nobody else did. Hell girl," Seph said with a laugh, "they probably don't even know you're alive!"
"That still doesn't explain why they'd be after you." Paine pointed out.
"Right. Well… I kinda killed the Head Priest at the temple…" Seph said slowly. "Anyone who thinks he has the power to have people raped on his orders and think it's a fitting use of his powers needs to be removed."
"Agreed, now lets talk about this on the way to the temple so that the Youth League doesn't decided that Seph's too dangerous to let live. I'd rather not fight an entire island…" Ryan muttered as someone with a metal leg finished his speech and ordered the corpses to be buried.
People went sprinting past the group towards the forest and Seph rolled his eyes. "Come on, their leader just got assassinated in his own room at 3 in the morning. Do you really think that they're just going to let us walk in?"
"And how would they know that the Head Priest was just assassinated?" JT asked dryly.
"Eh, guess that's true." Seph admitted grudgingly. "But we know that they're not just going to let us walk right in. What are we going to do?"
"You're the assassin." JT pointed out. "What would you do?"
"Me? I'd go in alone. But since we're not doing this alone, that doesn't exactly work." Seph replied. "So I ask again, what do we do?"
"We could just force our way in." Nick suggested absently as they walked into the forest.
"Road blocks." Sakura pointed out when they came across the first barricade, which had successfully repelled some of the less eager protestors. "This should be fun."
"You have an odd sense of fun, you know that?" Melody asked curiously when Sakura began to twirl her Tonfas.
"Most of us do." Matt admitted grimly just before they reached the barricade. "We need to pass."
"I don't think so." The guard shot back.
"You didn't even bother to ask why we needed to pass." Ryan pointed out.
"Not supposed to. We're here to keep our families safe from Youth League bastards like you." The man looked them over, but his gaze lingered on Seph the longest. "After all, one of you killed the Head Priest of the temple. You think we're going to let you kill anyone else?"
Nick sighed and stepped forward. "If you don't let us through, you won't live long enough to find out who else we do kill. Ok?" He whispered pleasantly.
"You think you can just threaten me?" The guard shouted as he brought his riffle up. A single twirls of Nick's modified hockey stick and half the barrel fell to the ground.
"Yes." Nick replied easily as the man looked from his destroyed gun to Nick, and back. He repeated it a few times before running off screaming about monsters. "That wasn't nice."
"Die you bastards!" The three remaining guards yelled as they leveled their own guns at him. Nick raised an eyebrow as water and lightning slammed into the guards, knocking them out completely.
Nick glanced back and said, "Thanks. That could've been messy." Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Ryan frowning, but passed it off as his friend's disapproval of their method.
"Well then, this way." Seph said as he jumped over the barrier and led the group deeper into the forest. Out of nowhere water burst into existence once again and Seph jumped to the side as bullets fell to the ground.
"Clear!" Nick yelled just before a grenade exploded from behind the barricade.
"Geez, you've got almost as many grenades as Rikku does…" Ryan muttered in disbelief.
"I doubt that." Nick countered. "I've probably got more. After all, I was the student of the number one demolitions expert in America for two years."
"But you were in Japan most of the time for the past two years…" Sakura pointed out.
"There was a military base there. That's where I practiced. That's also why I didn't go to public school…" Nick added with a sigh.
"Ahhh, regretting that you didn't get to meet as many girls as me and Ryan?" Matt asked jokingly.
"What? What girls?" Rikku demanded instantly.
"None! Just insane fan girls, I swear!" Ryan replied defensively.
"You're not lying to me, are you?" Rikku demanded.
"Why would I?" Ryan countered. "I mean, did you cheat on me?"
"No!" Rikku practically shouted. "But you had fan girls! It's not like I had fans! Only Yunie had fans!"
"Well I didn't even think about getting a girl friend these past two years, so don't worry about it." Ryan said calmly. "Besides, they were more interested in the guy that did a thousand some odd pull ups."
"A thousand some odd pull ups?" Rikku repeated in disbelief. "Who can do a thousand some odd pull ups?"
"You called?" Matt asked jokingly. "What can I do for you?"
"The fan girls were more interested in you then Ryan?" Rikku asked hopefully.
"Well yeah. I mean, look at us! I'm not just stronger, I'm better looking as well." Matt added sarcastically.
"Right. Whatever you say." Rikku said as she turned to Ryan and hugged him. "Sorry."
"Don't mention it. Seriously. That was a scary gym class… which led to a scary week." Ryan shivered at the memory of dodging insane fan girls the rest of the week.
"I remember that!" Sakura shouted. "I remember it! I was in your gym class!"
"Really?" Matt raised an eyebrow. "I can't say I recall you being there… all of the girls were chasing me too."
"Not all of them." Sakura replied as she started to mess around with her hair. When she was done Matt just stared at her.
"That was you!" He gasped in disbelief.
"Yep." Sakura agreed as she let the braid she'd just done fall apart. "Why are you so surprised?"
"You look so different it's scary…" Matt muttered. "I mean, when you were in my gym class you were in a samurai training outfit, and it was just really different."
"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not…" Sakura muttered as they came across another, this time much more fortified, barricade.
"Are you the ones that have destroyed two of our barricades?" Someone behind it shouted.
"What's it to you?" Seph shouted back.
"I'm commander Zev, leader of the guards of this temple. You've killed a lot of my men you know." A giant man wearing full plate armor and carrying a war hammer as big as he was said as he walked out from behind the barricade. "I'm here to avenge them."
"Please, you?" Seph asked with a laugh. "You couldn't catch a fly in that armor, none the less someone from our group. What makes you-" Seph was cut off by a lightning bolt that sent him flying into a nearby tree.
"Shut up and draw your weapons. I'll show you how I earned command of the temple guard." Zev said as he brought his war hammer up in a pose that looked like Auron's fighting pose.
"I got this." Nick said as he stepped forward.
"Why so interested in fighting all of a sudden?" Matt questioned.
"Because I'm tired of running from fagots like 'commander Zev' ok?" Nick asked forcefully.
"Fine with me. Just wondering why you're so ready to put yourself in danger…" Matt shrugged as sat down.
"You sure he'll be ok? I mean that guys got full plate armor on." Sakura pointed out as the rest of the group made themselves comfortable.
"Big deal." Ryan said with a smile. "I give commander Zev two minutes before he'd down."
"That's an insult, isn't it?" Nick asked, ignoring a fuming commander that stood just out of striking range.
"No, just a guess." Ryan replied. "Now, fagot or not, you might want to pay attention to the fight."
"Go to the Farplane!" Zev stepped forward and slammed his war hammer down hard enough to shatter the ground. Nick let out a low whistle from next to the hole and then snapped his head back as Zev reversed his grip and brought the hammer's head up with startling speed.
"You know, if you can't hit me it doesn't matter how powerful you are…" Nick pointed out as he sidestepped another ground shattering blow. A quick jab with the spear point on the end of his weapon put the razor sharp point through the arm and into Zev's right hand. The commander snarled in pain as Nick pulled his weapon free and ducked aside as Zev started to swing his hammer around wildly with his one good hand. Another quick jab with the spearhead and Zev looked at his useless hands in horror.
"What have you done?" He shouted as he charged Nick with every intention of crushing him beneath the massive weight of his armor. Nick crouched and knocked the commander's feet out from under him.
"I suggest that you guys," Nick pointed to the men behind the barricade, "help this loser. Ok?" The men nodded quickly, grabbed their commander and took off as fast as his immense weight and thrashing would allow. "That was just too sad…"
"Whatever. You cleared the way, let's go!" Sakura urged enthusiastically.
"I'm with her." Seph said as he took the lead and sprinted towards the stairs. Just before they walked into the clearing he stopped and pointed through the trees. "Ok, there's a bunch of security check points up these stairs. Pain in the ass too."
"How do we get past them?" Ryan asked, quietly since a guard was coming closer.
"They've got some kind of password system, but I didn't have time to figure it out last night."
"I know it." Melody said quietly. "It depends on how many guards are at the checkpoints. If it's ok with every body, I'll handle the password."
"Ok with me, let's get this over with. We've got a sphere to collect." Ryan said as the group walked out into the open. Immediately four guards were there, riffles leveled at them.
"Password!" One of them barked out.
"Craven Monkey." Melody replied.
"Wrong! Get'em!" The guards opened fire as the group scattered.
"I thought you knew the password." Seph muttered as he hurled a pendulum into the back of one of the guards' skull.
"They must've changed it! There were four guards there, it should have been Craven Monkey!" Melody protested a little too loudly.
"Damn." Seph muttered when the remaining three guards turned and started to advance on their spot. "Ok, we give up! Don't shoot!" he said calmly as he stood up.
"You, run back to the temple. Tell them we have a hostage and a man down!" The man who'd ordered the attack yelled. "Ok pal, where are you friends at, huh?"
"I don't know! You started shooting, you think I was going to stick around to see where others went?" Seph asked with an amazed look on his face.
"Don't back talk me you piece of shi-" A spearhead burst through the man's chest and then an axe split the last guy's head in two.
"What kept you?" Seph demanded as Matt and Nick walked into the open, followed closely by pale-faced forms of Rikku, Yuna, and Sakura. "Where are Ryan, Paine and JT?"
"Well, that's what kept us. We couldn't decide who should go take care of the next group of soldiers." Matt said with a shrug. "We certainly didn't want to send Rikku, or Yuna, or Sakura, they didn't seem like they'd be able to handle killing someone. Paine didn't complain, and JT seemed pissed and Ryan didn't seem like he wanted to kill anyone, but went along anyway."
A lone soldier came stumbling down the stairs, followed a second later by JT. The young Al Bhed jumped, tackled the man, and rolled away with a bloodstain on his shirt. "Hey, hurry up would you?" He asked before running around the corpse that was now slowly creating a river of blood that was making its way down the stairs slowly.
After passing two more dead checkpoints the group found Ryan and Paine standing back-to-back in a ring of New Yevon guards. "Well don't you two just make a great couple." JT called out jokingly.
"You're going to get hurt when this is done." Paine said flatly as she knocked a sword to the side and kicked its wielder in the chest as hard as she could. The man stumbled backwards, and then found himself falling down the stairs.
"Paine, duck!" Ryan shouted suddenly. Paine obeyed and Ryan's blade flashed out and half the guards dropped while their heads rolled away. As everyone stared at Ryan, Paine jumped back to her feet and cut down the nearest two guards with a single slash of her sword. Using her momentum she elbowed another in the face so hard that he fell over the side of the steps and tumbled down the side and into the river.
"Incoming!" Seph shouted as he launched five pendulums, each one landing in the head of one of the remaining guards.
"Finally." Ryan said as he wiped the blood off of Wind Cutter before sheathing it. "What kept you?"
"We figured you'd be ok." Seph said with a shrug as Rikku looked Ryan over with a hint of fear in her eyes. "You ok Ryan?" Seph asked when he noticed the look Rikku was giving him.
The angel sighed and shook his head. "Killing fiends is one thing, killing people…"
"Get over it." Paine said flatly. "We've got a job to do."
Ryan took a deep breath and nodded. "Right. Let's go." The group sprinted up the stairs and found themselves staring down an army of guards and a giant machina.
"Looks like they knew we were coming." Seph said with a chuckle as he looked the group over.
"I had something special planned for just such an occasion!" a priest shouted before running into the temple itself.
"Need a password?" Nick asked jokingly.
"Fire!" The only guy without a riffle shouted. Immediately all of the other men opened fire.
"Nick." Matt said calmly as bullets slammed into water and lightning.
"Right." Nick said as he placed his backpack on the ground and started to dig through it. "Ok, now I just need a break in their firing…" He said as he pulled a jet-black grenade out. "Oh, and everyone? When I throw this, cover you ears and shield your eyes."
The gunfire died for a second and Nick tossed the grenade. As soon as it was in the air he turned away, squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could, and put his fingers in his ears.
His ears still hurt after the grenade went off. He saw spots when he opened his eyes, despite the fact that he couldn't have shut his eyes any tighter. And he smiled to himself.
At least the grenade worked this time. Blinking away spots he turned to see how everyone else had faired. Ryan, Matt, Seph, and TJ were shaking their heads and rubbing their eyes to get rid of the spots as well. Rikku, dazed and complaining about a massive headache, was being helped up by Sakura and Paine. Melody had a glowing hand to her left ear, which had a small trail of blood coming out of it, and Yuna was sitting on the ground crying silently.
"Yuna, you ok?" Paine asked when she noticed her friend.
"No." Yuna whispered so quietly that Nick barely heard it over the ringing in his ears. "I can't see."
"You didn't cover your eyes I take it?" Nick asked.
"I tried, but I wasn't fast enough." Yuna said in a panicking voice.
"First, calm down." Nick said calmly. "Second, don't worry. It's only a temporary effect, ok? You'll be able to see again soon."
"How soon?" Yuna asked.
"I'd say an hour or two at most." Nick said pleasantly. "But I don't know what healing magic would do. It might help it might not. Best not to risk it." He shrugged. "Sorry, Yuna."
"YSLS-Zero!" The priest who'd run away earlier shouted the order from his spot on the top of the stairs. "Attack them! Don't leave a single one alive! And you guards! Lay down a cover fire for YSLS-Zero!"
"Hey, why don't you come down onto the battle field and give the orders?" Matt yelled back to the priest as the giant machina began to move towards them. "Ok then, I guess I'll handle the machina."
"No you won't." the priest said smugly. "You'll have to deal with him."
"And who is this 'him' that you speak of…?" Matt prompted.
"What, think just because I allowed you to call it a draw you've got a chance? I don't think so." a horrifyingly familiar voice said with a laugh.
"That's not good…" Matt muttered as Yevon came walking down the stairs. "Ummm… girls, you might wanna take cover. This could get ugly."
"Ugly, meaning what?" Seph demanded.
"You remember what we were talking about in the hotel?" Matt asked slowly.
"Yeah…" Seph said slowly.
Ryan nodded towards Yevon. "Here he is."
"Fuck…" Seph muttered in disbelief. "You sure?"
Matt turned his hat around and nodded, "Yeah, we're sure."
Yevon laughed and yelled, "And you're right!" into the sky. "And since you put two and two together to get four, maybe you can put four and four together to get eight. Who else am I?"
"That's not a big secret either." Matt said with a sigh. "Of course, I'd rather it not be true."
"Oh, so you've figured out the second half of the mystery! Oh, good, good!" Yevon said with a laugh. "That'll make things so much more enjoyable! Now I don't have to hold any thing back!"
"You're insane." Ryan muttered under his breath.
"Yes, I am insane, that's why I have so much more fun then you guys!" Yevon shouted.
"Hey, how can you be so cocky when you ran away from me?" Nick asked suddenly.
"Did you not hear me when I said that I allowed you to call it a draw?" Yevon asked.
"Who are you? Only the gods should be able to hold their own against Matt. But all the gods are on our side!" Rikku shouted.
"Oh?" Yevon asked with an amused look. "Oh, you mean you didn't tell them? Oh, that's just great." He let out an amused laugh. "Oh, little girl, you don't know what your friends have been neglecting to tell you!"
"What are you talking about…?" Rikku asked uncertainly.
"Little girl, your ignorance amuses me." Yevon said with a smile. "Not all the gods are on your side." He dropped the blood-cloak he was wearing and revealed his hands.
"No way!" Rikku gasped when she saw the red symbol on the otherwise white gloves. "That's not possible! Why would you do this?"
"Rikku, what's wrong?" Yuna asked.
"Those are… Twin Fire Starters!" Rikku whispered in disbelief.
"Twin Fire Starters… but aren't those… Andy's?" Yuna whispered.
"Yeah… they're Andy's." Matt muttered through a clenched jaw.
"But why would Andy attack you?" Rikku shouted. "It doesn't make any sense!"
"Well you don't have the whole story yet." Yevon said with a smug smile. "You see I'm not Andy. I'm just… borrowing… his body."
"What the hell does that mean?" JT demanded. "You don't just borrow a person's body, you have to rip control away from the person's soul. It'd be one thing to do that to a normal person, but to do it to a god? It's fucking impossible!"
"Unless you're god, right kid?" Yevon countered.
"Well… yeah." JT admitted.
"Well then maybe it's time I revealed who I really am." Yevon said with a chuckle. "You see, I'm-"
"Yevon, enough of your fucking games!" Lusniec yelled as he shoulder his way past the priest. "Ryan, you're mine."
"Oh shit…" Ryan muttered as Lusniec drew Demon Edge. "Can't you leave me the fuck alone? I've got a girlfriend, and I'm not gay. There's no way you're getting into my pants."
"Fuck you!" Lusniec yelled while he prepared a Wind Cutter.
"Sorry, that's not your job." Ryan replied with a smile he'd have given someone he secretly didn't like. 'We fight here then…' the memory of his dream came flooding back and he shivered. 'I'll have to take it somewhere else. Anywhere else.' He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again he inhaled so sharply that everyone present stared at him.
He couldn't even see them. He couldn't even hear them asking him what was wrong. He could only see one thing.
Lusniec. Everything else was pitch black.
888
"Ah, I almost forgot, I still haven't told you who I really am!" Yevon said a few seconds after Ryan and Lusniec had begun their staring match.
"Lusniec just shouted it you dumb ass." Seph said flatly.
"So he did. He never was very patient…" Yevon admitted with a shrug. "But he didn't have to ruin all my fun."
"You mean he was right?" Rikku whispered.
"Why would he lie?" Yevon asked simply.
"So everything we did two years ago… it was a waste?" Yuna gasped.
"A waste?" Yevon growled. "You killed me two years ago. Me!" Yevon shouted. "If it wasn't for you I would have destroyed the world then!" he took a deep breath and his smile of superiority returned. "Of course, you've guaranteed that I'll destroy Spira, High Summoner."
"What'd ya mean by that?" Rikku demanded.
"You see, thinking that you'd killed me, you sent Sin. Sin is the God of Death. Sin is the only one that can send me. And now that you've sent him, I can't be sent!" Yevon said at them icily. "So in your quest to save Spira, you've only damned it."
888
'What the hell is going on here?' Ryan thought as he glanced around nervously. "Lusniec, what have you done?"
"What have I done? Try what have you done!" Lusniec growled as he started forward. "You're the one who brought us here, wherever here is. Take us back now!"
"Ok, let's get two things straight." Ryan said crossly. "First, I have no fucking clue where the hell we are. I can't even cast Holy anymore, none the less transport two people somewhere." He held a second finger. "Second, if I had brought us here, I would just leave your ass here where you can't reach my friends."
Lusniec laughed at him. "You're a fool! You honestly believe that you can stand-alone against my darkness? Against your own darkness?"
"My darkness?" Ryan questioned. "What does any of this have to do with my darkness?"
"I am your darkness, dumb ass!" Lusniec roared. "I am the shadow that your light creates! The stronger you get, the stronger I get! And I was stronger then you from the start! The only way you can win is by loosing!"
"He lies." A voice, as fleeting and quiet as the wind itself, whispered in the back of his head. "You need not kill him to win."
"You will be the cause of your friends death!" Lusniec accused.
"You are the only one who can save them from this creature of hatred and rage." The voice corrected.
"You're alone against the darkness that even you precious instructor, Auron, couldn't defeat." Lusniec taunted.
"You aren't Auron." The voice pointed out.
"You friends will be consumed by your darkness, and nothing can stop it!" Lusniec shouted. "Because the darkness is generous and patient. It will never loose, because when all light fades away in time, and eventually there won't be any, and the darkness will consume everything. That is the true power of the darkness, to endure everything the light can do and never just fade away."
"But in the heart of the its strength lies it's greatest weakness." The voice whispered calmly. "A single candle will forever be enough to hold it back. Let go of all your hatred and rage and desperation and you will become more then a man. Let go of everything and you can truly become the Light of Hope that will forever hold Lusniec's darkness back."
Not all who live in the darkness are lost to it. Corran's words floated through Ryan's head as he took a deep breath.
"It would appear that we're about to begin." Lusniec muttered as he watched the darkness begin to fade away. "I hope you're ready to die."
Ryan smiled slightly. "Don't worry, I am."
"You are what?" Rikku's voice was slightly panicked.
"Why he's accepted that he's going to die." Lusniec said certainly.
"You're a real dumb-ass." Ryan muttered. 'Ok masters,' Ryan thought while picturing the Jedi who'd been his dream, "Let's see if there's anything to what you said."
Lusniec rolled his eyes and spat out, "I'm getting really tired of your ranting, so shut up and draw your sword."
"Last chance to back out, Lusniec." Ryan warned with a wryly smile. Lusniec rolled his eyes and started his charge. "Well, at least I offered."
Ryan's hand shot down to his swords, but he hesitated. Wind Cutter's hilt was warm to the touch. He took a deep breath and pulled. The blade came out, accompanied by it's own blindingly bright white light that caused Lusniec to shrink away. After several minutes the entire blade began to give off the same warmth the hilt had been giving off, and the light was slowly diminished until seeing was possible once again.
"What was that?" Seph demanded.
Ryan smiled to himself and muttered, "I think that's my candle."
"Candle? What the hell are you talking about, that thing's more like a fucking sun then a candle." Nick stated.
"You'll need more then a glowing sword to beat me." Lusniec stated as Demon Edge started to pulse and give off a darkness that wrapped around Lusniec. "A lot more."
"Maybe." Ryan agreed quietly. "But maybe not."
"Wind Cutter!" Lusniec snarled as the darkness flashed towards Ryan, who simply stepped to the right and brought his guard up at the last second. Then Lusniec was there, hacking away. Demon Edge seemed to be in multiple places at once, slashing through the air almost faster then Ryan's eyes could follow.
Ryan smiled politely as the darkness pouring out of Demon Edge began to circle around him. Lusniec's demonic blade slashed down thrice a second, and Ryan batted them away. Lusniec snarled again and picked up the speed of his attack-- five per second, seven per second, nine per second- and Wind Cutter met everyone. Demon Edge pulsed again and gave off more darkness, and Lusniec launched a Holy spell at Ryan.
But he wasn't there. He wasn't fighting anymore. He wasn't thinking anymore. He wasn't even looking anymore. He was only doing one thing.
Humming.
In the middle of a match against his own darkness, a darkness that threatened to kill not only him but also everyone around him, everyone he cared about, Ryan began to hum. And he didn't know what song he was humming. He'd never heard it before, knew nothing about--
And yet it felt like he'd always been able to hear the chillingly beautiful notes. They came instantly, instinctively, and each note was more calming then the last. The longer he hummed the more warmth Wind Cutter gave off. It wrapped around him, and then drifted out and wrapped around everyone there.
888
"Well I do think that it's time we started our own rematch, wouldn't you agree Matt?" Yevon asked with a chuckle.
"You know, your chuckling is getting really annoying…" Seph muttered as all forty of his pendulums dropped into the ground.
"Fine then. Let's just get this under way, shall we?" Yevon asked in a business-like manner as he reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out a blood-red mace and morning star.
"With pleasure, jerk-off." Matt said as he drew Lightning Edge and his other axe that he'd named Off-Hand.
"Aqua Wheel." Seph whispered while Matt charged into melee. The small disk of water formed in his hand just in time to prevent a wave of gray fire from burning through his chest. Instead, the water twisted and contorted, absorbed the fire and used the energy behind the spell to expand to twice the size it'd been when Seph had used it against Lusniec. "Yevon, what did you do with Rae?" Seph asked as his pendulums began to float into the sphere.
"Me?" Yevon asked with an amused look. "I only made sure she didn't get word of my plans to you, that's all. If you're worried about her health, don't be. She's perfectly fine, and living in a room something along the lines of your pent house sweet in Bevelle."
"Where. Is. She?" Seph demanded slowly.
"Where? Oh, she's living with the Lydc." Seph's heart skipped a beat at Yevon's statement but his face remained ice-cold. "You know, the cat people that I wrote about in my book? The Book of the Gods?"
"I know, shit face." Seph said with a slight grin as his attack started to move forward. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to end this so that I can go rescue Rae." Chains of water shot up and wrapped around Yevon's ankles, trapping him where he stood.
"Please, Seph. Hate me all you want, but do not underestimate me." Yevon shouted as the chains evaporated instantly.
"Shit…" Matt muttered as they dove opposite directions to avoid Seph's attack. Before he'd even hit the ground he twisted his head and launched a lightning bolt at Yevon that took the god by surprise, but didn't get through his shield of gray fire.
"Nice try!" Yevon shouted back as he skidded to a landing and fired a familiar blue beam at Matt.
"Please." Matt said disappointedly as he brought Lightning Edge up. The beam slammed into and then shot back at Yevon and caught him right in the chest. "Guess our elemental shields don't stop our own attacks."
"Looks that way." Seph agreed as water wrapped around Yevon. "Water and Iron Maiden!" Yevon's eyes went wide as all forty of Seph's pendulums shot through the thin, but impossibly strong layer of water. Blood splattered onto the ground as the water disappeared and Seph's pendulums flew back to him on strings of water.
"Yevon!" Matt yelled. "Why don't you take a breather? After all, you're fighting two gods."
Yevon snarled and thousands of blue beams shot out of his body in every direction that one of his foes stood. Matt and Seph slashed and danced and blue beams flew back at Yevon, slamming into a wall of gray energy.
"Dnortih preserve us…" Matt whispered when he saw that a giant wave of beams was heading towards the Sakura, Nick, JT, Melody, and the Gullwings. Sakura slammed a hand into the ground and a wall of ice shot up in front of the group. The beams slammed into it, but bounced off instead of going through, launching hundreds more beams back at Yevon to be absorbed by his magical barrier.
"Ice goddess…" Seph muttered approvingly. "Very nice."
"She's not normally that good with magic." Matt said with a relieved chuckle. "Must have been the conditions."
"Life or death choices do tend to force people to do stuff they can't normally do." Seph agreed as Yevon's barrier faded away.
"So that's the power of Usi's successor?" Yevon asked with a raised eyebrow. "Impressive… for a newbie."
"Don't you think you've got more pressing matters then being impressed by Sakura?" Matt asked as he brought Off-Hand down in an overhead swing. Yevon barely got a guard up in time to avoid being cut in half, and even with that his guard Off-Hand scratched Yevon's mask. "Come, Yevon. You're disappointing me. I thought you'd be better then this." A bolt of lightning shot off the edge of the axe and slammed into Yevon's barrier.
"Try again." Yevon growled through clenched teeth.
Matt's reply to Yevon's suggestion was to regard Yevon with a twinkle of gentle amusement in his eyes. "If you insist."
Immediately the weight of Off-Hand disappeared as Matt rolled to the right, several powerful bolts of lightning slamming into Yevon's magical shield as he did so. As Yevon turned to keep Matt in his view a dozen pendulums flew through his side, but Yevon didn't have time to do anything about it. Off-Hand was already flying at his head, and only a desperate whirling, rising parry with both his own weapons allowed him to keep his head.
Then Lightning Edge was there, and Yevon barely jumped back in time to prevent being gutted. He launched a Flare spell into Matt's stomach with enough force to send him flying backwards a dozen feet and into a rather jagged rock, possibly skewering his heart. Wouldn't that have been lovely?
He didn't have time to enjoy his small victory though. Seph's pendulums were everywhere, weaving through his normal defenses impossibly fast. Another Flare spell incinerated twelve of the pendulums in a half second, but three pendulums skewered his right hand, severing something and making it useless, was his reward. Out of the corner of his eye Yevon saw Matt getting back up and decided that it was time to stop messing around.
It was time to kill. Vena's power merged with his own and a bird began to take shape in front of him, gray and featureless, but familiar nonetheless. "Suzaku!"
"Leviathan!" Seph shouted. Instantly the Chinese water-dragon appeared in front of him, waiting patiently for its orders.
"Yamu!" Matt yelled as lightning burst through the air and formed into a wolf that growled at Yevon. "You can't win, Yevon. Two on one, your move."
"You underestimate me." Yevon pointed out in a voice so calm it was terrifying. "You see," a dark hole appeared in the ground in front of him, and Seph and Matt felt their hearts skip a beat, "I created the Fayth. Their dreams are my dreams." A giant chain appeared in the sky and everyone watching the fight, even Sakura and Nick who weren't familiar with Aeons, felt their hearts drop with the hook that dropped into the hole. "Mind you I can only have one Aeon out at a time, it's still enough to even the odds, right Anima?"
"Fuck…" Seph whispered as the Aeon was pulled out of the ground. "This is really… really… bad."
"Yeah." Matt agreed instantly.
"Well, I must admit, you two did much better then I expected. So much better, in fact, that I'm going to leave your fates up to you. Until next time," Yevon bowed and stepped backwards into a portal that had just appeared.
"Leviathan!" the dragon shot out and slammed into Suzaku. The two titans battle, throughout the sky, blast of ice cold water colliding with bursts of flames that could melt through twelve feet of solid steel in seconds colliding in a dazzling display of aerial power until the steam had completely obscured the two from view.
While Suzaku and Leviathan amazed the people from the sky, Yamu amazed the people on the ground. Without a seconds hesitation it launched itself at Anima, dodging blasts of energy by the width of a hair and riposting with burst of lightning that slammed into the Dark Aeon with devastating results. Bandages burned away and revealed the warped flesh underneath with every blast. With a single jump it cleared two dozen feet and landed on the Aeon's face, tearing into it with gleeful abandon, ignoring the blasts of energy that were tearing its body to pieces. When it was finally forced to accept the fact that it was too wounded to continue fighting it latched onto Anima's face and sent all of the lightning that remained in its body surging into the Dark Aeon's solitary eye. Anima roared in pain before slouching to the ground and fading away into pyreflies.
888
Lusniec felt rage coursing through him, and used it to push his attacks to a new level. His blade flashed through the air and rained blows down with amazing power up to fifteen times a second.
Ryan's defense started to falter. Lusniec seized upon his foe's weakness and continued to increase the number of attacks per second--sixteen per second, eighteen per second- until finally Ryan's defense was overwhelmed at twenty. Wind Cutter flew away and Lusniec felt the rush of victory course through his body.
Ryan hummed louder, the notes coming out loud enough for Lusniec to hear. The angel's eyes widened in amazement, and he hesitated for a full two seconds.
Ryan didn't. Shinagami cleared its sheath as Ryan spun to the left, and met the killing blow not at the blade.
It met at Lusniec's wrist. The angel, seeing what Ryan was doing, slowed his strike down an instant before Ryan's counter met. Instead of losing his right hand his blood exploded from it and he lost the ability to use it at all.
'This,' Lusniec thought as he jumped backwards, 'could be bad.' He used the last bit of magic he had to heal the wound and stop the bleeding. Unfortunately his right hand was still useless. 'And why was he humming that song?'
"Summon him." The voice whispered in the back of his head. "He will come for you if you believe." An image of a familiar face flashed through his head. "He will come." The voice whispered again reassuringly. A black rift appeared in the air in front of him. "Strike it. He is waiting."
Shinagami flashed and the tear expanded and changed shape. Exhaustion washed over him, and Ryan found himself lying on the ground, blinking away red and black spots that dotted his vision. He felt himself get pulled to his feet and then Rikku was looking at him.
"You ok man?" Matt asked as he held Ryan up.
"I… think so." Ryan said slowly, not by choice but because he found it amazingly difficult to talk. 'Maybe I broke my jaw.'
"You're going to want to see this." Matt said as he slowly turned Ryan around. Hundreds of guards, along with Melody and JT, were bowing to him.
"What the hell?" Ryan asked
"That." Matt turned and Ryan followed Seph's finger. He blinked, amazed at what he saw.
They are the dream of anyone who truly wishes for their help. Ryan finally found himself understanding Braska's words from two years ago as a tear rolled down his eye. One word escaped his lips before he passed out once again. The name of a friend he hadn't seen in years.
"Kaze."
so, did anyone see Kaze coming back? Anyone? ah, well, lemme know if you did. OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT! I'd like to thank labrat-seph for proving to me that i didn't accept annomyous (wow, spelled that way wrong) reviews. i kept forgetting to thank her, so THANK YOU! So for all of those people who don't have accounts, feel free to drop a revivew or two, and if it doesn't work send me an e-mail to with review as the subject and i'll still reply to it along with trying to fix the stupid option. anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Read, and for the sake of all that is good and pure in the world, REVIEW!
