A/N: The final chapter of the story. Things are getting intense since Chantal has been kidnapped by the agency. How will all of this end? We can only hope everything will turn out well. Here is where it all ends. The Shadow Hunter vs. the l'Sith.
Dawn approaches.
Rufus, Cain and a few of their soldiers await at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Hundreds of other soldiers, PSICOM and Agency, are on the ground, right underneath the tower, in case of any tricks. Chantal is still in her bondage. But what's surprising is that she's still in clothing. In the exact same dress she wore to the ball. Only difference is she's missing one of her slippers.
Shadow died on the highway when he was knocked off, and several cars crashed. First few stopped at the sight of him, but several others behind it crashed, creating an accident that took away his life.
"Where is that monster?" Rufus says, getting antsy.
"He should have gotten the message, master. I'm sure he's on his way." Cain says.
"He better be." Rufus says.
"You'll never win. Patrick will beat you and rescue me!" Chantal says. She's suddenly getting all fired up.
Rufus summons on of his blades, having it by her throat, giving Chantal a close glare. "Are you trying to knock on deaths door?" He says with a growl.
Even though his face is covered by a mask, Chantal is pretty scared by his threat, even if it's only from his angered tone and his one eye. Though the red eye where he got shot could be pretty scary as well.
"Master. Take a look at this." Cain says.
Rufus stands down from Chantal and looks up to where Cain is looking. Far away, there's a large helicopter. But it's not a normal Helicopter. It's an Eidolon. Omega Weapon in its Gestalt Form.
"Soldiers! Aim and prepare to fire on my command." Rufus orders.
The soldiers aim their guns for the large Eidolon. Rufus does not give the command to fight. He just watches it cautiously, suspiciously. Omega Weapon lands right at the very edge of the top platform of the tower. Sky and I both hop right off. I'm wearing a hooded mantle that's covering most of my face in darkness. Only thing that's revealed his my mouth and chin.
As soon as we're off, Omega Weapon shifts back into its original form and then vanishes. Chantal is kind of surprised to see it's just the two of us. When I was coming to the rescue, she was expecting either me alone or with Hope and the mercenary group I mentioned to her.
"So, the traitorous snake finally reveals himself." Rufus says. "Have you thought about our decision?"
I nod. "I have...I've decided to make the trade."
Chantal gasps hearing that. "No! You can't!" She shouts.
Cain punches Chantal in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs. "You don't have any say in this!"
Rufus and I are at a stare down. "Hand yourself over."
"Release Chantal first." I counter.
"I don't have time for silly games!" Rufus summons blades from his right arm.
I smirk. "How's this for silly games? If you don't hand Chantal over to us, then I'll escape and you'll never get your vendetta. And if you kill her, I'll hide somewhere where you'll never in a million years will find me. You're only hope for vengeance is the end of time itself!"
Rufus glares. He believes that I'm bluffing. But I show no signs of bluff, even though most of my face is shrouded. But my silence is speaking for my expression. Rufus growls as he speaks. "Very well...But first...drop your weapons." With a small hesitation, I unstrap the quiver that contains my arrows and the Bowblades on each side and I hand them to Sky, who straps it on himself. Rufus then speaks to Cain, without taking his eyes off of me. "Release the girl."
Cain is surprised by the sudden order, even though he knows it's a depend I made. Without question, he releases Chantal. The second the girl is free, she runs towards Sky. Sky holds her in his arms. Chantal rests her head on his chest, not even caring about her embarrassment of her crush on him.
She even closes her eyes and whispers. "Oh Sky, you are my knight in shining armor."
Sky looks at Chantal with a confused moan. "Hmm?"
"Sky...take Chantal and go." I say, then I walk forward to Rufus.
Chantal snaps out of her fantasy once she hears that.
Sky doesn't say anything. He just watches. I walk forward right until I am in a few inches in front of Rufus. "I see you have finally come to your senses...If only you did three years ago!" Chantal worries about me, but she is not prepared for what happens next.
Rufus stabs me in the stomach. In cold blood. Chantal screams in horror. I shout in pain, gasp my breath escapes my lungs. Once Rufus removes the blades, I collapse on the ground. Tears fills Chantals eyes. One of her friends just died right before he eyes.
Tragic.
"It is done!" Rufus says as he stares down at my dead body. He now looks at the stern Sky and the despair Chantal. "Cain...wipe them out!"
Sky shots his eyes open in shock and Chantal gasps. She did not think it could get any worse. Even Cain is surprise. "B-but...master. We agreed to let them go if Patrick-"
"I do not make deals with traitors! We cannot have any witnesses!" Rufus says. "Kill them! Now!"
Cain is speechless at first, even looks shocked. Then he puts on his serious face and bows. "I understand, master."
Cain takes out his trident as he glares at the young couple, and all the other soldiers cock their guns. Locked and loaded. Looks like they're in quite the situation. Chantal panics the most.
As the soldiers march forward, they suddenly stop. Sounds of pain groaning and growl fills their ears. They look around wondering where it's coming from. Once they found the source, they are horrified beyond description. "S-s-sir!"
Rufus looks down. the source is me, my body twitching and growling in agony. What surprises everyone most is a large black feathered wing pops right out of my right shoulder. The soldiers step back. Even Rufus is in shock. "What is this sorcery?"
My body stops twitching, and I stand on my hands and knees, panting monstrously. In light speed, I rush towards one of the soldiers and bite him. Everyone is in shock at how fast I am, even for a Shadow Hunter. The soldier cries in pain as he gets siphoned.
In no time, he dies and his body falls. Chantal is horrified at the sight of me, in a shocking way. "P-P...Pat...rick?"
Rufus doesn't care. His vengeance boils up inside of him. With a roar, he strikes, but I block the attack and punch him hard. Hard enough to cause him to stagger back. Before my blow, Rufus grabs the mantle I wear. Once he sees the cloak in his hand.
My face is revealed. Or should I say someone else's. Cause we're all greeted by a man with black hair and a different face. "WHAT!?"
Chantal is completely speechless. "S-Sky? ...But..." Chantal looks back at the Sky that's next to her. "H-how are you..."
To answer Chantals confusion, the first Sky removes his beanie, revealing brown short hair, and puts on the black fedora. The answer became clear. The Patrick was Sky and the Sky was me. This is hard for Chantal to absorb. Just then, she realizes something.
'You are my knight in shining armor.'
She whispered that towards me, thinking I was Sky. Chantal is beyond shocked. If this were an Anime, the back ground would be dark blue and her entire body is completely coloring book white, with embarrassing lines all over her head. The surprise to all this is that she is not ending up fainting.
I chuckle as I look at Rufus. "Wow. Switch clothes and put Sky in a mantle and voice modifier and you can barely tell us apart. Even Chanty bought it." I say.
Rufus is clueless. It's true that Sky did sound a lot like me, but it's unbelievable. Until Sky removes a device that's strapped around his neck. Rufus is furious. He growls and shouts at me. "YOU TRICKED ME!"
Page 76 of my book: 101 Ways to Trick Your Enemies and Arrogant Jerks. "Like I would really turn myself into you." I roll Sky's jacket sleeve off my wrist and speak into the wrist communicator. "Now!"
There's a moment of nothingness. Not even Rufus makes an attack or anything. Suddenly, shadows are casted over us, over the Eiffel Tower. Chantal and the members of the Abduction Agency looks up. To they're surprise, there are Airships. Dozens of them. ORPHAN Airships.
"The Sanctum?" Cain asks.
"Not the Sanctum again! Not here! Not now!" Rufus shouts.
Several of them make their landings on wide open areas around the tower. The doors open, allowing dozens of soldiers to run out and charge into the army of Abduction Agency's and PSICOM.
The war has just begun.
Two airships fly close to the tower. One of then opens, revealing Team Burn. Yang, Ruby, Violet and Hamato, while the rest join the soldiers on the battlefield. The second airship opens up, revealing Director Amodar and Hope. Behind them is his General. Lightning Farron. Only she looks completely different.
She's in a disguise: A short blonde wig, sunglasses, long tan trench coat, black jeans and heel boots. "Grrr. I hate this disguise." She scratches her head, the inside of her wig. "And this bald cap is so itchy."
"Maybe next time, don't get yourself ban in places Farron." Amodar says.
"Those idiot men had it coming! Just get us in close." Lightning says.
Noel is also here, for he is next to Lightning. in fact, he's the one who picked out Lightnings disguise. It was either him or Snow, and she'd rather not play dress up with that idiot.
Our fight goes on on the tower. I'm facing Rufus while Yang and Ruby are handling Cain, Sky is at the edge defending Chantal, and Violet and Hamato are taking care of the group of soldiers. The airship gets close for the three l'Cies to jump off. Noel helps out Violet and Hamato while Hope helps Yang and Ruby. Lightning looks to see how the fight's are going. In the end, she decides to aid me in my battle with Rufus.
Chantal and Sky both get on the airship and it takes off, heading to the battlefield below.
My fight against Rufus is not going too well. I can barely harm him, or even hit him at that matter. I'm not getting hit so easily, but that doesn't make my situation any better. Rufus sweep kicks me, causing me to fall. He gets on top of me, with a blade about to impale at my throat. I grab his hand to repel the attack.
"I'll rid the world of a vile monster!" Rufus shouts in my face.
It's a struggle to fight back, but Rufus gets interrupted when Lightning jumps on him. "Get off of him!" She strikes him hard with both of her Gunblades. Rufus reaches over him to grab and remove her. He tosses her and she crashes against a metal pillar.
Rufus summons blades from both of his arms. Before he attacks Lightning, I jump at him and strike him with all of my strength. I've manage to break his mask in half and bring him on his knees. Rufus covers his faces and growls in pain as his mask breaks and falls.
I cast a Ruinga on Rufus and the explosion knocks him back, to the edge of the tower. I approach Lightning as she recovers from the impact. She looks up at me and gives a single chuckle. "Nice outfit. Since when is leather your type?"
I get she's talking about Sky's jacket that I am wearing. "What about you, blondie?"
Lightning stands up. "Shut up. Like I want to wear this silly outfit."
Once we're both done messing with each other, we turn to Rufus. He stands, revealing his face. Completely misshaped and covered in burning scars and his head is completely bald as his hair burned away. His left eye, it's all red because that's where his mark is.
A large black X formed by little X's, arrows on the end of each line. In the center of the large eye, a red eye.
Branded by Bhunivelze. The Mark of a l'Sith.
Lightning and I prepare ourselves for battle.
The airship lands on the ground. Once it opens, Sky and Chantal runs while Amodar joins the battle. Amodar sees there are unfamiliar faces fighting against the enemy. Yuffie throws her large shuriken and fights one of the large men. Blaze is handling ten soldiers at once, taking out their guns with his axe. Slash is swift and powerful, he takes out his enemies before they can even look at him. Amodar joins in on the battle, ripping his enemies to shreds with his minigun.
PSICOM and Agencies are both losing, but they still fight through. They rather face ORPHAN and Burn over Rufus.
Yang faces Cain head on. Ruby jumps in and attacks with her sniper-scythe. Cain kicks Yang back and blocks Ruby's attack just in time. Now he faces little red. Ruby's attacks a fast and powerful, but Cain is stronger. He blocks every attack. For his counterattack, he knocks the weapon right out of Rubys hands, then grabs her by her hood and lifts her off her feet.
Ruby swings her arms and legs, trying to punch or kick Cain. But her arms and legs are too short. She can't even touch him. "Aren't you a cute little red riding hood...Maybe I could take you in, mold you into my own personal slave with a nice body." Cain chuckles in delight at the end of that sentence. Ruby has no idea what he's talking about, but we just hope she does not figure it out.
Like in a rush, Yang tackles Cain, knocking him back and causing him to lose his grip on Ruby. She beats the daylights right out of him. Unleashing her berserkers rage, as if she just saw locks of her hair cut right off once again. But it didn't, she's just very protective and pissed off at the same time.
"YOU! KEEP! YOUR! DIRTY! HANDS! OFF! OF! MY! SISTER!"
For her final blast, her right arm draws back and the Shot Gauntlet is set to maximum power. She punches him hard on the side of his face, with all of her strength, and a single shot causes a massive explosion, that sends Cain flying. Or I should say what remains of him.
Never mess with Yang Xiao Long or her sister Ruby Rose.
Lightning is facing head off against Rufus. Her attacks with her Gunblades are doing no effect against his armor. Then she shifts into Ravager and cast Thunder spells. Rufus dodges each lightning bolt that rains down on him, then Lightning and I switch.
"He's mine!" I shout.
I attack Rufus with my Bowblades. My main weapon and l'Cie magic are all I have, since my throwing stars and blinding powder and such are still in my clothing that Sky is wearing. Rufus attacks are fast and powerful, so I dodge with all my speed myself and my Haste spell and muster. Rufus blocks each of my attacks. After a while, I end up getting hit. Rufus final strike knocks me back, then Lightning takes the lead in the fight.
Rufus blocks each of her attacks. Now Lightning shifts her right weapon into a gun and shoots, then shifts it back into a sword and the second one into a gun and shoots twice. Lightning repeats this attack, shifting one Gunblade and the other next, slashing and shooting, making Additional shoots with each shifting. Shifting, striking and shooting faster. But Rufus is faster at blocking.
Chantal and Sky are both in a zone area from the battlefield. Sky runs and jumps high with his half-demonic powers, with Chantal on his back. The whole time, the girl is blushing being this close to Sky. Once they reach the top of a building, Sky puts Chantal down.
"Made it out of that craziness." Sky says.
Chantal agrees. Though seeing Sky dressed like me seems a bit weird for her. We're nearly look alike and being in my clothing would just makes it seem like she's really with me. It's already bad enough she whispered her feelings for Sky towards me thinking I was him.
Putting that whole thing aside from her kind, Chantal changes the subject. "Are you okay? You really...took quite a hit."
Sky chuckles putting a hand on his torso. "I'm fine...No worse then when Kaylee first stabbed me. And I was human when it happened."
Chantal giggles. "You two are insane...well, I believe Patrick is, but you..."
"Hey, it was his idea. I hesitated but then decide to play along. I had to save you from that crazy man." Chantal blushes from the comment. He just admits he was doing this to save her. "Speaking of which..." Sky reaches into my coat pocket and takes out the black slipper. "I believe this is yours." Chantal gasps to see her missing slipper in his hands. "Allow me."
To her surprise, he gets down on his knees and puts the slipper on her bare foot. The girl blushes in the deepest shade of red. Overwhelming in flusterness, she passes out. Fainted.
After Cain's death and the soldiers have fallen, it is now just Rufus. He stands in place as he becomes aware of his surroundings. All of us surrounds Rufus, readying ourselves for Combat. Noel twirling his blades then firmly holds them in fighting position, Violet cracking her knuckles, Ruby cocking her Snipe Scythe, Yang flipping her golden hair and positions, Cracking my neck and load my Bowblade with an arrow, Lightning shifting her Gunblades, right as a sword and left as a gun, Hamato twirling his staff and grabs firm hold of it in position, Hope summoning orbs of Ruin. Rufus readies himself for combat as he summons every single blades within his armor.
"L'Cies! Team Burn! GET HIM!" I order.
Many attacks happen at once. Ruby makes a strike with her Scythe, but Rufus ducks the slash. Hamato jabs his staff, but Rufus dodges and quickly grabs the staff and use it to hit Ruby and then direct attack it back on Hamato. Noel leap strikes and Rufus hits him knocking Noel away. Violet charges. Rufus blocks the attack, grabs and flips her over him.
Lightning leaps to the side, shooting rapidly with both her guns. Rufus blocks all the bullets, I attack with my Dual Blades. Rufus strikes me in the arm and while I'm staggering, he grabs me and use me as a human shield as Yang and Violet attacks him. The very second they stop attack, the kicks me into crashing against them. Hope fires several Ruin spells as he runs aside, Rufus blocks them all.
Ruby makes a leaping strike, but Rufus, both at the same time, dodges and grabs her foot. With a spin, he tosses her to the oncoming Lightning. Hamato makes a strike. It hits Rufus but he suffers no damage. Rufus kicks Hamato in the stomach then grabs him by the head and tosses him against the tower, along with Hope and Noel who tried to attack him while he was handling Hamato.
Rufus actually has a two second break, but that shortly ends with Yang, Ruby and Violet ambushes him from behind. But Rufus senses their attacks and turns to strike. After three slashes, the trio are knocked back to the edge of the platform.
Now it's just Lightning and I. We both attack Rufus on both sides. Even with just one arm on each of us, he manages to block our attacks. Now We're all at the stand still. Lightning and I use all of our strength to hold him in place, but we struggle for Rufus is much stronger with his Loa's Blessing from Voodoo.
Rufus casts Agony, a Dark Ruinga. That's surprising is he casted two of them at the same time, one out of each hand. And the dark spell damages Lightning and I, knocking us back.
At the same time when we're hit, Hope jumps onto Rufus. Rufus is caught by surprise but is too late to do anything about it. Hope instantly plants a metal collar on Rufus and it automatically, magnetically, locks on to him. Rufus reaches over him for Hope and pulls him right off, slamming the kid to the metal ground.
Hope looks at Rufus's ugly face in fear. Rufus casts an Agony...but nothing comes. He tries casting it again but it feels. "Wha...What is going on?"
"Don't bother trying." I say as I get back on my feet. "That collar disables l'Cie powers. We modified it to work on a l'Sith like you. You are powerless now!"
Rufus growls in anger. "No matter! I don't need l'Sith power! I'll finish you off with my own power. Starting with his little brat!" Rufus summons blades. He's about to impale Hope until Violet jumps on him. Rufus staggers back as Violet punches and kicks him hard in his face. While the vampire attacks, Yang shot punches him in the stomach, dealing little damage to his armor, but making strong staggerings.
Violet jumps off and Yang switches with Hamato. He strikes Rufus hard with his bostaff, mainly attacking the head where he's vulnerable. Rufus slashes Hamato. Hamato didn't suffer much since most of Rufus's strength is drained, of both Loa's Blessing enhance and the strength of the Dark Paladin role. Hamato still stands and jabs Rufus in the stomach with the staff.
Noel leaps over Hamato and strikes Rufus. After a quick recovery, Rufus attacks. Noel quickly shifts into Sentinel and defends himself with Steelguard. The moment his Steelguard ends, Noel shifts into Shaman and delivers several Aquastrikes, Galestrikes and Flamestrikes. Each attack causes Rufus to lose his balance. Suffer more damage.
Ruby does an angle charge, striking Rufus from the side. Her weapon does powerful slashes on his armor. For a finishing move, she plants the barrel right in his chest and shoots, causing Ruby to bolt right back due to the recoil.
Now it's Hope and Lightning's turn. Lightning faces him head on in her Commander Role while Hope cast his Thunder spells in Ravager. Rufus suffers intense pain from the lightning bolt raining down, mostly cause of his metal armor amplifying the electricity. Lightning shifts into Ravager and unleash her most powerful skill, Army of One. Several strikes and shoots from both of her weapons and the finish move launches Rufus in the air.
Now it's my turn to finish him off.
I run, Lightning gets on her knees and I step on her back and shoulders for a boost to jump high. I soar towards Rufus, both of my blades at hands. Rufus can see me coming and we both fight in midair. I strike fast, even faster then Rufus. Rufus is fast, but he's mainly a lot faster with the speed of Loa's Blessing.
My attacks make it through and Rufus gets hurt. In the end, Rufus and I are back to back, my blades at his throat, the blades turned against it. With a roar, we fall fast and hard. Once we are close to the ground, I flip rufus right over him, face planting him in the ground so hard it breaks apart.
The soldiers and enemies in the battlefield are in shock from the loud impact. They all look to see that it's Rufus and I. To the abduction Agency's fears, Rufus is defeated.
I stand firmly in place, looking down at my greatest enemy. He just lies there, barely conscious. He speaks his final words.
"This...isn't the end...It will never be...over." Rufus gasps in between sentences. "Our God...will be resurrected...They will...make sure...of..." He falls into unconsciousness.
I have no idea what Rufus is talking about, probably a l'Sith thing, but it doesn't matter. "No. This is the end! The Abduction Agency is no more! You have all lost, Rufus Zero!"
ORPHAN loads everyone and everything onto the ships.
After Rufus's defeat, the Abduction Agency surrendered. Few still fought, many tried to flee. For those fleeing, most were captured and a couple manage to get away. I'm not worried about those animals. They're only lesser beings of the organization. Chances of the Abduction Agency being restored by any of them is most likely to...never happen.
The last of the members of the Abduction Agency are being escorted into the ships. Most of the airships have already taken off and are heading back to Grand Pulse. Chantal and Sky are just loading their packages on the airplane we're taking. Lightning and I are standing by as Amodar and few soldiers load a large, steel and iron cage.
There is where Rufus Zero is being imprisoned.
"Make sure to put this one in solitary maximum security. He's dangerous." I warn Amodar.
"Don't worry, we've been after him for years. We know just what to do with him." Amodar says.
Once Amodar and Rufus are in the airship, the hanger door closes and it takes off. "I'm surprised how well you handled this mission. I'm impressed." Lightning says.
"I may be a Lieutenant, but I've been living six years as a Mercenary. You learn many things." I say.
"You're not getting a promotion...Now let's get out of here. I just want to get out of his stupid disguise." Lightning says.
Lightning makes her way to the airplane. Now it's just me, Chantal, Sky and team Burn. "I can't thank you enough Yang for helping us out here. As for your sister and the rest of team Burn."
"It's the least we can do." Yang says.
"Do you really have to go?" Ruby asks, a little sad.
"You're gonna miss that weapon of his, aren't you?" Violet asks.
"Wh-what...No! Of course not!" Ruby says, defensively.
I give Ruby a doubtful look. Of course she's gonna miss the Bowblades. "I do. I have a job and a family to get back to. But I hope we see each other again." I hold a fist out and Yang bumps it. "You know, I knew a few underground business men back on Grand Pulse who are looking for job hunters. How about next time, you guys come to visit Grand Pulse." I turn my eyes to Violet. "Well...maybe not all of you..." Violet glares at me hearing that.
"We'll be looking forward to it." Yang says, even everyone else agrees.
After saying our final good byes with team Burn, we get on the airplane. The engines turn on and the airplane takes off. Lightning is getting changed, getting out of that silly disguise and back into her regular soldier armor.
"I trust you two had a fun time." I ask Chantal and Sky.
"Other then that whole being attacked by a criminal organization, we had a wonderful time." Chantal says.
"It was certainly an interesting experience." Sky wraps an arm around Chantal, shocking the girl. "I couldn't ask to be here with anyone else." While his arm is around her, Chantal is blushing like mad and breathing heavily.
I can think of one: His girlfriend Katryx. "Well, glad everything worked out."
After our talk, I go into the back room. I need some alone time to think. l'Sith. Bhunivelze. Rufus's words. I know who Bhunivelze is. Once a grand Fal'Cie, but became a traitor hundreds of years ago. But how could he be apart of this? And what does Rufus mean that "Their God" will be resurrected?
Once we get back on Grand Pulse, I have a lot of questions to ask Yeul. But for now, we celebrate. The Abduction Agency has fallen for good.
This war is finally over.
Yeul meditates in her room back on Grand Pulse. Recently, she's been getting strange visions. Dark visions. Something she had never thought she would see in her power as the Seeress.
What's even more, she can feel dark energy in this world. She meditates to focus her mind and power. Soon, she can feel where the source of that dark energy is coming from:
Paris France.
"Bhunivelze..." Yeul opens her eyes and looks up. "Even in death...would you still go this far."