The Legend of Ben 10
Chapter 9: The Ultimate Sacrifice
So, all of this time, Ilia was just telling the story of what happened while Nancy and Link were gone. So now, I'm continuing off of Demigods on the Loose. Hope you enjoy!
OOXO
Once Ilia had finished with her story, the others were staring speechless, wondering how they could have possibly missed that fight on the Golden Gate Bridge. While the others were fervently asking Ilia questions, Link was just staring at her in shock. Ilia was… Half-alien? And what did she mean when she said that this Paradox character said that she should go to the Forge of Creation?
"Where, exactly, did you send Ganondorf and his army?" Percy asked.
"That's just the thing… I don't know. I just willed them to go away, so they did."
Before Percy could ask something else, Tyson bumped him in the elbow and pointed behind Ilia.
"Percy, that person just appeared out of nowhere. Who is he?"
"Guys, this is Professor Paradox. Long story short, he's a time-traveler," Ben explained.
"Yes, so good to see you all. Ah, Nancy, good show, using your powers like you did. I must say, that was impressive, facing off against the Titan Lord, like you did."
"Th-Thank you, sir. But how, exactly, did you know?"
"Well, when you know the space-time continuum like the back of your hand, you can accomplish a lot of things. Now, the reason I came here wasn't to have friendly chit-chat with all of you, though you all are very interesting people. I came here to bring Ilia to her rightful home, the Forge of Creation."
"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?" Link asked, dreading the answer.
"Well, my dear boy, the fact of the matter is, it's… Dangerous for Ilia to live with humans. You know what she can do. Also, since she's half Celestialsapien, she won't develop multiple personalities. Now, if you don't think too hard, you'd think that that wouldn't be so bad. Think again. See, the reason why Celestialsapiens take so long to make decisions, is because their personalities are debating on what they should do. In fact, it can take them eons to make a simple decision. However, this is because Celestialsapiens are very prudent in their decisions, and if one of them should make a rash decision without having any personalities to think it through… Well, the situation could turn dire, indeed. This is why Ilia must go to the Forge of Creation, where she won't be able to do any harm."
"Link, it's true. I have to go there. I mean, just look at me."
With that, she reverted to her alien form and stared at Link with her blank eyes.
"Would you really want someone who's like this?"
"Ilia, that doesn't matter to me. What matters is that you are the kindest, most compassionate girl I have ever met, and nothing, not even the fact that you're half-alien, is ever going to change that."
Reverting back to her human form, Ilia whispered,
"Really?"
"Does anyone have a tissue?" Bess sniffled, extremely moved by the romantic scene ahead of her. With tears in the corners of her eyes as well, George handed one to her cousin, who blew obnoxiously into it.
"Uh, I hate to break it to you guys, but if you were fighting Vilgax, Charmcaster, Dr. Animo., and Zombozo, where was Aggregor in all of that?" Percy asked, not liking this at all.
Suddenly, Link's eyes widened in horror. Without warning, he pushed Ilia out of the way, just as Aggregor came swooping in.
"I shall make you pay for that!" he yelled, descending on Link.
Link, always ready for moments like this, unsheathed his sword and slashed at the Osmosian's arm. To Link's horror, his skin turned metallic and became as sharp as Link's sword. Before Link could react, Aggregor slashed him across the chest and catapulted him into the rock wall.
"Link!" everyone said at the exact same moment.
Ilia's shock had quickly turned into anger, as she saw Nancy run to her brother's side. No one would hurt those she loved. Before Aggregor could fire an energy blast at Nancy and Link, he was knocked out of the sky by a wave of air that had slammed into him. As he crashed into the ocean, Ilia ran to Link.
"Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead," she whispered fearfully to herself.
Once she had reached them, she saw that Nancy was frantically trying to staunch the bleeding. Ilia's eyes widened at the sight of the cut, which looked deep.
"Ilia, look out!" Ben yelled.
Before Ilia could react, however, Aggregor swept in from nowhere and grabbed Ilia's arm in a vise-like grip. Screaming in pain, Ilia began to feel her powers draining away. However, she managed to break free, before the Osmosian could absorb all of it.
"You are all fools! Now, no one will be able to defeat me!"
With that, Aggregor rocketed toward San Francisco, clearly planning to wipe it off the face of the earth.
"What are we going to do?" Gwen asked, quite frightened by the situation at hand.
"Guys, Link needs help," Midna said, desperation in her voice.
As the others ran toward the fallen hero, Ilia looked back toward the city in the distance, where the sound of explosions could clearly be heard.
Immediately taking action, Midna and Gwen began to use their own magic to heal the wound. As it closed, Link tried to get to his feet, but nearly fell over.
"Link, you have to lie down. That cut was really deep, so you suffered major blood loss," Nancy said.
"I… Have… To help… Defeat… Aggregor."
"No, you have to stay here, Link. We'll take care of Aggregor," Percy said.
"I'll stay with you, Link," Nancy said, clearly determined to stay by her brother's side.
Once Ilia was going to follow the others down the mountain, Link gripped her hand.
"Promise me… That you'll… Be careful, Ilia."
With tears in the corners of her eyes, she answered,
"I will, Link. I promise."
She planted a quick kiss on his cheek before rocketing into the sky toward San Francisco. When she had reached it, it looked like a disaster area, with people running off in all directions, screaming with terror. As Ilia watched, a mother holding her baby was huddling by a building, crying her heart out. This sight filled Ilia with uncontrollable anger. Even if she never knew these people, she would do whatever it took to protect them.
Soon enough, she spotted Aggregor uprooting an entire skyscraper, delighting at the disaster and fear he was causing. As she started to fly in, unseen by Aggregor, she knocked her hands together, creating a thunderclap, which sent Aggregor skidding into the water underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Plummeting into the water after him, Ilia rammed into her target and began to push him down, farther than she should have been able to go in her human form. Squinting down into the darkness, she spotted Percy leading in an army of dolphins and whales. Soon enough, the dolphins began butting their heads against Aggregor, knocking him around like a ping-pong ball. Next came the whales, who lifted him up to the surface and used their blowholes to spray him into the air. Once Aggregor was high enough, Percy made a column of water that towered up to Aggregor's level. With a well-placed kick, Percy sent Aggregor skidding into the concrete below. No sooner had he stood back up than an army of undead surrounded him.
"Let me tell you, buddy. It's never a wise move to challenge demigods," Nico said.
"You really think a bunch of skeletons will defeat me?" Aggregor chuckled.
"If they don't, then she will," Nico gloated, a grin crossing his usually grim face.
A howl ripped through the air as Mrs. O'Leary tore across the street, bashing Aggregor into a nearby Subway. Riding on top of Mrs. O'Leary was Midna, with a fierce expression on her face.
"That was for hurting Link. And this," Midna said, urging her mount to stomp on Aggregor, "is for everything else."
Suddenly, Aggregor launched Mrs. O'Leary and Midna into the air, but before they could hit a nearby skyscraper, pink balls of energy surrounded them, protecting them from harm. The next minute, Humongosaur hit the scene, catapulting Aggregor into the sky. Unfortunately, Aggregor caused a huge chasm to open up beneath Ben and sent him into the sewer system. Kevin and Percy then made the scene. Kevin touched a car, turning his skin bright red.
"Send me up, Percy."
The next second, a giant wave crashed into Kevin, sending him up to meet his target's face with his fist. Crashing into the ground, Aggregor looked up to see everyone surrounding him.
"It's over, Aggregor. Give it up," Humongosaur rumbled.
They didn't expect Aggregor to send a circular wave of air to push them back in separate directions. Before Aggregor could finish them off, a Plumber ship descended out of the sky and began firing at him. Ilia looked up, shocked to find that George was at the wheel, successively dodging all of Aggregor's counterattacks. Ned was leaning out of the open doorway, firing a laser gun, while Bess was at the controls of the ship. Unfortunately, Aggregor got a lucky shot in and managed to hit the engine. As the ship began to descend, George screamed,
"Bess, you're a genius at mechanics. Go fix that engine!"
"Are you insane? We're over a hundred feet in the air."
"Just do it!"
"Why couldn't I just stick to snooping for Nancy?" Bess groaned to herself, as she gingerly lowered herself out of the ship and slowly began to head for the engine, praying that she wouldn't lose her grip and fall to her death.
As Percy sent a giant wave Aggregor's direction to distract him from the ship, he just used his willpower to split it in half. As the sound of Grover's reed pipes began to fill the air, plants from nearby gardens began to encircle Aggregor, twisting and writhing around him. However, a simple blast of flame ignited the plants and turned them to ash.
Meanwhile, back at the ship, Bess had managed to scoot herself over to the engine on a main pipe. Laying on her back, she observed a hole, where the blast from Aggregor's staff had penetrated the metal. Removing the metal cover, she saw that some wires were totally trashed.
"Oh man, this is going to take a while," Bess groaned to herself. Reaching upward, she was just starting to fiddle with the wires, when the ship suddenly began to veer out of control. As Ned was hanging on for dear life, Bess screamed at him,
"Ned, what's going on?"
"I don't know. Whatever the problem is, you better find it and fix it before we become a part of the Golden Gate Bridge."
"Great. Thanks for relieving the tension, Ned," Bess sighed, messing around with the wires, praying that she was handling them right.
After all, this was alien technology. How on earth was she supposed to figure out how that worked in just a matter of seconds? She was distracted by the water Percy was throwing against Aggregor. Bess knew that if she didn't get the ship working, they would crash and their friends would be helpless. As she molded the last few non-working wires back together, the engine roared to life.
"Yes!" Bess yelled, doing a fist pump, before she had to hang on as George nearly missed an oncoming blast.
"Hey, little help down here. Slow down, please! Hello, I'm still down here," Bess called out, trying to make her way back to the interior of the ship. Finally clawing her way back, she breathed a huge sigh of relief, before she turned on her cousin.
"You could have been a bit more considerate by slowing the ship down, so I wouldn't have to worry about falling off to my death."
George totally ignored her, as she narrowly missed another blast. They were just coming up to Gwen and Percy fighting Aggregor in the sky, trying in vain to take him out. Seeing this as an opportunity, Ned readied his gun, took careful aim, and fired. His aim was straight and true. Once it had hit Aggregor, he was off balance for a little bit, just enough for Ilia to throw a giant piece of rubble at him, sending him into the ocean. That's when Professor Paradox appeared.
"Professor, how do we stop him? He's too powerful!" Ben said.
"There is one way. To do it, you'd need magic of the blackest kind. You need your friend, Midna, to chant a spell that will take away Aggregor's power and transfer it back into Ilia. However, this will require a piece of the Triforce, in its full splendor, to make it work. And yes, I know about the Triforce, you don't even need to ask."
"I'll go. The rest of you, keep Aggregor busy," Midna said, flying toward Mount Tamalpais on her signature black platform.
Once she had reached her destination, she saw that Nancy and Link were exactly where they had last been. Once Midna had reached them, she told them of the dire situation at hand and that they needed the Triforce of Courage.
"Wait, you said that it needed to be 'in its full splendor'. Does that mean we need to… Extract it?" Nancy asked.
Suddenly, Midna realized something, something that sent a chill of dread coursing through her. Yes, they could extract the Triforce from Link's body, that was for certain. However, as Midna stared at Link, she realized that he was just clinging to life. She figured that the only reason he was even still alive was the Triforce of Courage. If she took it, would Link die? Seeming to sense her thoughts, Link said,
"Take it. You need… To defeat… Aggregor. Just… Do it."
"But, Link, you could…"
"Take it. The world… Depends on it."
Knowing that it was hopeless to argue with Link at this critical moment, she put her hand over his left hand and began to mutter an ancient incantation. Before their eyes, a golden triangle rose right into Midna's palm, pulsing with a brilliant light. No sooner had she done it, then it seemed that Link grew worse. Threatening to shed tears, Midna wasted no time in racing to San Francisco.
"I got it!" she exclaimed.
"Great, now hurry up and do your… Whatever it is, before we're all blasted into oblivion," Bess shrieked, ramming buttons furiously.
Raising the golden triangle above her head, Midna began to chant,
"Transferacus Adita."
A blast of light followed. After several minutes, Aggregor was lying, helpless, on the bridge. A few seconds of silence followed, then a resounding cheer, as the citizens of San Francisco cheered for their mysterious heroes.
"We did it!" Tyson yelled in delight, bringing the others in a suffocating group hug.
"That's nice, Tyson. Now please, release us before we suffocate," Percy wheezed.
"Oh, sorry, everyone."
As everyone high-fived each other, Ilia began to race toward Mount Tamalpais. Once she reached there, she ran toward Link and Nancy. However, she quickly realized that something was very wrong. She realized, with horror, that Link's eyes were closed and that Nancy was crying beside him.
"No," Ilia whispered, running towards them.
Kneeling down beside him, Ilia whispered,
"Link."
She realized that Link was barely alive, in the way he struggled to open his eyes.
"Ilia… You all… Did it… Didn't you?"
"Yes… Yes, Link… We did it," Ilia whispered, just on the verge of a total breakdown. Suddenly, she began to hear everyone else coming up.
"Come on, Link and Nancy, we did… Oh no," Percy said, racing uphill the last few meters.
Everyone else quickly realized what was happening and raced after.
"Come on, guys. We got to help him," Ben said, in desperation.
As Midna looked at the Triforce, it was beginning to be fainter and fainter, as Link began to slip away. With difficulty, Link gripped Ilia's hand and said to everyone,
"You… Were all… Great. You all… Are the.. Best People… I… Could… Ever meet. Ilia…"
"Yes, Link?"
"I… Love… You…"
"I love you too, Link," Ilia whispered.
Smiling faintly, Link closed his eyes, embracing death. That's when Ilia began to let the tears flow, with one hand still cradling Link's head and the other lying on his chest. Feeling like she wanted to die as well, Ilia rested her face onto his chest and cried for what felt like hours. As she was crying, she remembered all the fun times that they had together. Like when they would swim in the stream, when Link would tease the goats, and all of the other stuff they would do together. Ilia even remembered the time when Link was seven and she was five, and, somehow, Ilia had convinced Link to wear a dress for a special tea party she was doing. She still smiled at the memory, but memories wouldn't bring Link back. She knew, deep inside, that she would never be the same ever again. When she finally lifted her head from Link's chest, she realized that she wasn't on Mount Tamalpais anymore. Instead, she was in a place which Ilia could only describe as being beautiful.
She was surrounded by a strange blue sky, with purple streaks and stars all around her. She quickly realized that she wasn't alone in this strange place. She was surrounded by Celestialsapiens, who were all staring at her.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she realized that a female was coming toward her. She was tall and looked more dominant among the others, who were males.
"Who… Who are you?" Ilia said, wondering where she was.
"I am your mother, Ilia. You are in the Forge of Creation, where we are all born. It is separate from your universe."
"You're my mother? Why did you leave me and dad, then?"
"We Celestialsapiens don't belong on earth or anywhere else outside of the Forge of Creation. We can stay outside of the Forge for a short time, but, eventually, we must go back. Normally, we don't take much interest in what happens outside of here. We think that humans are… Primitive, if you will. However, that all changed for me when I met your father. He was… Different from the others. So, naturally, we fell in love and had you. I knew that you had inherited Celestialsapien powers from me, and that you would come to the Forge of Creation in time. Time, for us, is but a breeze. We don't feel the effects of time, like humans do. We are immortal. We have been watching you, ever since you were born. We've seen you use your powers for good, like we had hoped you would. I'll admit, I did not approve of you loving someone who seems to never be there for you. Then, I realized how foolish I was, since he was only trying to protect others, like yourself. And, for what I've seen, he's unlike any other human I've seen before. Because of his sacrifice, the world has been saved from the likes of Aggregor. What's more, he knew that he might die, but he insisted anyway. That, my dear, is the greatest thing any one person could ever do. That's why I now approve."
"But… He's dead now. Gone for good."
Chuckling, her mother said,
"My dear, you still have a lot to learn about what we can do. Already, the others were debating, and now, they have chosen."
As Ilia watched, the other Celestialsapiens began to form a circle around Link.
"We will return him from the dead. But, there is still a choice you will have to make, and that is this: You can choose to live like any other mortal, or you can become immortal."
Ilia's eyes widened. Become… Immortal? That was so much to take in. She wondered what it would be like to see everyone she knew to pass away and to see new people all the time. However, she wondered how she would be able to bear it if everyone she knew and cared about died, while she was eternal, never dying, never growing old. That's when she made her choice.
"I really appreciate the offer, Mother, but the answer is no. I don't want to outlive those that I care about. I hope you can understand."
"Actually, I knew that you would choose that. You know, your friend, Percy Jackson, was offered the exact same thing by his gods, but, like you, he refused. It was because he wanted to live his life with those he cared about."
As they spoke, the others raised their hands, causing Link's body to float into the air.
"We will return your soul mate from the dead, but under one condition. I will not make it that long, since your lives are but a breeze in our eyes, but you will have to live in the Forge of Creation for the first half of the month, then you can return to Ordon on the second half. This you must do for the rest of your life, seeing as how you can't live in Hyrule all the time. You must live here for a little while, so that you may know the secrets of your powers and how to control them. Do you understand?"
Knowing what she had to do, Ilia nodded. As her mother nodded to the others, they raised their hands, sending wisps of light into Link's body. Before she knew it, she was back at Mount Tamalpais, with everyone gawking at her.
"Where did you go, Ilia? One minute you were here, the next you were gone," Nancy said.
As Ilia looked down at Link, knowing that what she had just seen hadn't been a dream, she gasped when Link groaned.
"Link?" she whispered, hardly daring to believe it was true.
As his blue eyes slowly opened, he gently lifted himself from the ground and looked around, confusion on his face.
"Ilia? How did I get back? The last thing I saw was the Three Golden Goddesses leading me down a path, then… What happened?"
"Link! Oh, Link, you're back! I can't believe that you're actually back!" Nancy cried, hugging her brother tightly.
"Yay, Link's back!" Tyson yelled with joy, who was ready to squeeze Link and the others in a group hug.
"NO!" everyone yelled.
"Oh, sorry," Tyson said sheepishly.
Ilia couldn't believe it. Her mother had kept her word. That meant that Ilia had to keep hers.
"Link, there's something I need to tell you."
OOXO
Well, you all must have been pretty shocked toward the end, what with Link dying and all that. Again, you didn't think that I would slaughter a character like that, would you? I just wanted to do the whole ultimate sacrifice thing, since Link is the type of guy to make that choice. Anyway, yeah I know, this chapter was longer than others I have made. Anyway, please review if you liked it!
