Final Fantasy Spiral
Disclaimer: All characters, places, scenes belong to their respectful owners!
A/N: Takes place around chapter 34 of Kiako's "Through the Fireplace: Pilgrimage" in case you're as lost I as was.
Chapter 10: PhInale Phantasmagoria
-8-0-8-
I was back in my room on the airship barely remembering what had happened yesterday. Today was the day we finish our mission here on Spira. She could have died… That idiot could have died… The final battle was finally here and I'm all mentally busted up! Dammit DAMMIT!
"DAMMIT!" I shouted throwing a pillow at the door.
"Hey Kur- GWAH!" Diablos was instantly greeted with a face full of cotton.
With my arm still forward, I blinked a couple times and simply said, "…Sorry."
"I can guess something is wrong if you're brutally abusing inanimate objects… and me," he said picking up the pillow and then came to sit at the corner of the bed.
"It's nothing really. I'll be fine in an hour," I replied with a sigh.
"I'm not sure if this airship can hold that long if you decide to use something other than a pillow…" he tried humoring me.
"Just leave me already. I don't like-"
"'-to be seen when I'm an emotional wreck?'" he said quoting right off my mind. "Really, you don't need mind reading powers to figure that out."
"Then go already…" I grumbled.
Diablos' eyes gave a faint, wavy glow as he materialized his sword and raised it towards me. "Sorry but we don't have an hour to spare for you to get out of your slump. I'll do it in 5 minutes."
"I thought I asked you to leave--!" The blade was now at my neck.
"I don't take orders from a lowly human." I have never felt this strange mix of anger, anguish and fear before…
Luke, who just happened to walk by the room and just happened to glimpse the dark auras surrounding us, said "H-hey! What do you think you're doing?"
We both turned to him. "Shut up you damn dreck!" Luke seemed petrified and quietly slipped away just as we tore through the ceiling and commenced battling.
"I don't believe that even in an hour that you'll recover," stated Diablos. "We can't have anything hindering the most important fight in this world!"
"I've dealt with hardships before. This one's no different!" I lashed at him with my scythe only to miss. "I have no need for another worrywart in my life!"
"Then you shouldn't have even become my summoner!" He got me there. "You beat me fairly that day. I submitted to you because I thought you were worthy to be my summoner. I saved your life because I thought it would be worth seeing it to the end." Diablos was about to slash my legs to disable my mobility but missed as I jumped out of the way.
"A life like mine? You've gotta be joking." I countered with Firaga. "What makes me so special that you chose me?"
"…" He was at a loss of words.
"Why should an all powerful demon serve under a human?"
"… Honestly, I have no answer for you," he finally replied. "It's just that having a companion… isn't all that bad is it?" I sighed and turned back.
"For an embodiment of darkness, you're surprisingly too kind." I jumped into the hole in the roof and back into my room. Diablos came in after from behind and before I knew it his arms were around me.
"Sorry, but… You lose," he smirked.
"… Bastard… caught me off guard… Miracles only happen once!" I screamed quoting something from Bleach blasting a Firaga into the devil and sending him flying out through the door creating a crater in the wall. "YOU lose. Bleh!" I stuck my tongue out at him. The Tales of the Abyss gang rushed to the scene to see what the heck had just happened. There was a really long pause as the smoke cleared.
"Should we ask?" wondered Jade pushing up his glasses.
"No," I said bluntly.
"Well then, if you're ready, please meet the rest of us outside. …And try not to destroy the airship on your way out."
"Roger that, colonel," I said giving a sarcastic salute. The gang left and I faced the crippled thing in the wall. "Hm. You got what was coming." I proceeded out of the hall towards the exit of the ship quietly laughing to myself.
"…Don't I get a thanks?" croaked Diablos. "Ugh…"
Looks like it really only took five minutes.
-8-0-8-
"Alrighty. We'll split into three groups…"
"Why?" I asked Kiako. "That's just gonna make things a lot longer."
"Can't we have a bit of fun before facing off the final boss?"
I couldn't believe we were already here… at the foot of Zanarkand Ruins. Towering ruins in front of a sunset scenery with pyreflies scattered about… it was truly a sight worth seeing once. Man, it felt like so long ago that we first arrived in Besaid and beat the hell out of Wakka…
"I think this sounds really interesting," said Kariudo. "Let's have a race to see who reaches the old stadium first."
"Fine," I groaned. "You know I can just-"
"No flying!" exclaimed Kiako and Kariudo before I could say anything more.
"Damn…"
Jade laughed. "I suppose kids will always be kids. It must be great to have that youthful enthusiasm."
"You sound so old, colonel," laughed Anise.
"Hm but alas there are four paths and three summoners."
Kiako thought for a moment. "How about we each take just a few guardians and the rest can go through the other path?"
"That way we can get all the treasures!" exclaimed Anise. "Heheheh~"
Luke mumbled, "Lil' money-grubber…"
"But Kuro only gets one," Kiako added.
"Not fair!" I protested.
"You're an all powerful black mage of death!" she exclaimed.
"Then I--" Before Diablos could say anything I punched him. "Oi!" he blurted to me as I took his arm and dashed off.
"If you've got time to talk, run at the same time dumbass!" I yelled.
"Whoa! Did Kuro-sama just swear?!" screamed Kiako in amazement. "Wait, HEY! I demand a restart!"
"You know how competitive she can be. Come on Kiako, let's just go~" said Kariudo heading toward her set path.
-8-0-8-
I sat by a broken pillar to rest a bit. Beneath all this rock and rubble, it was a lot darker than I thought. "It sucks not being allowed to fly…" I panted.
"We only ran for five minutes; how can you already be tired?" asked Diablos.
"A little misfortune… I was born with… called asthma," I answered still catching my breath a bit.
"Then let's just fl—oh yeah we can't…"
"Just brilliant aren't you?" I said with utmost sarcasm.
"Why are you always like this?"
"What do you mean 'like this?'" I retorted angrilly.
Diablos gave a sigh. "Always mad at the world for no apparent reason…"
A gentle breeze blew through the ruins and pyreflies floated about. "You know, I'm having a good time right now, living like this… but someday…"
"…the dream will end…" Diablos said finishing that quote.
"Don't you know a thing about copyright infringement?"
"As long as I don't claim the quote it's fine," he whispered.
"… Ahem…Yes. Once everything returns to normal, I'll have to return to that dull life of mine… It's something I wish I didn't have to do…" I stood up and set off again towards the depth of the ruins. "Come on or I'll lose the race."
"Heh. You already lost the second it begun," he scoffed.
"I blame you, idiot."
"Since when was this my fault?"
"Since before you existed, idiot."
"The whole universe might as well be an idiot, right?"
"That's right, idiot. Now hurry up, idiot!"
-8-0-8-
After finishing off a weak fiend, I began to notice that all the fiends here were a complete joke. I recall going through here in FFX that the fiends were pretty tough and annoying. I seriously doubt that my power is THAT great for a one-hit-KO attack. This concerns me a bit.
"Hey Diablos…"
"Huh?"
"Why are the fiends so damn weak here despite it being the final dungeon?"
"That's a good question. Let's ask the guy causing this."
I gave him a blank stare. "When we don't even know who it is?"
"It's obvious who it is, isn't it?"
"No it isn't," I said.
I heard a few steps behind me. Assuming it was a fiend, I blasted it with Fira. "Now now, is that how you should treat a friend of a friend, little mage?" A Nulblaze spell floated within the dust and then dissipated.
I dramatically gave a dramatic gasp and pointed dramatically at the wizard with lots of drama. "It's… white blob man!"
"This is the thanks I get for clearing the fiends for you?" he said wiping dirt off his mantle.
"Ciel, what brings you here?" Diablos asked cheerfully.
"I am on my own mission and I just happened to run into you," he answered.
"What mission now? You're just slaying fiends aren't you?" I said with a bit of an attitude.
"I have been ordered by Sir Wakka to locate you, little mage. He told me to deliver a very important message."
I shook my head. "What could possibly be so important coming from that moron? Moreover you were 'ordered' by him?"
"Unfortunately I cannot reveal to you what it is unless you play a game with me."
"Kuro, it's gotta be important if Ciel won't tell us!" said Diablos with his creepy eyes gleaming at me like some deranged yet meant to be cute puppy.
I slowly backed away from Diablos. "If it'll get rid of you then fine."
"Let us start." Ciel removed the bandages that were covering his right eye. A strange force fell upon me as a grid appeared before me with numbers in the first row and column. Everything else was paused and motionless except for the two of us. "This is called…"
"…Picross, a puzzle game found on the DS or at NG. The numbers represent clues to solve the hidden picture or perhaps message in this case by selecting the white squares hidden beneath the blue. You can only make five mistakes otherwise it is game over," I explained.
"Excellent. Your left hand will find the white squares while your right will be your X markers. But for this particular puzzle, game over means your life. You have 10 minutes on this 20 by 20 grid so good luck~"
"S-Seriously?" I exclaimed with a bit of worry.
"3…2…1…"
"Hey wait!"
"Go." The timer started its count down.
Without hesitation, I searched for the row or column with the greatest number of squares, marked them off one by one being careful not to hit the wrong square, and moved on from there. After five minutes, I had just about half the grid solved with only two strikes left. "Shit!" I hit the wrong square! Now I'm down to one life left… Ciel seemed to be entertained. Carefully finishing the last of it with a minute to spare and already knowing the message, I threw my scythe at Ciel who simply moved his head to the side to dodge.
"THAT'S ALL HE WANTED TO SAY?" I screamed in rage.
"Calm down, there is truly is something important I must tell you," Ciel said in his usual composed demeanor. He closed his eyes and the Picross grid vanished allowing time to move freely again. "Well done by the way."
Diablos blinked. "Eh? How'd your scythe get there, Kuro?"
"Enough of this; tell me what's so important that I had to risk my life for it!" I growled.
"It is your opponent, Miu. She has the ability for a PhInale summon."
"No no no, I do NOT want to face Yu Yevon! I do NOT want to face Yu Yevon!" I muttered horrified at the thought of facing a black blob with six legs and a glowing eyeball that has two floating pillar things for allies. "Or SIN for that matter!" I added picturing the giant whale-looking creature.
"PhInale not final," Ciel corrected my thoughts with a visual spelling of PhInale on the dirt. "It means the summoning of the Dark Aeons."
"I am NOT fighting THEM all over AGAIN!" I shouted.
"Then you should be hurrying to the stadium rather than participating in games and losing races. I have cleared the way; the rest is up to you summoners." And with that, Ciel made a dramatic leave.
"Tch, then we've got no time to waste. Diablos! Armored Oversoul! Black Phoenix!" I took off towards the old Blitzball stadium with amazing speed only to screech to a stop and realize something. "How the hell did white blob man know I was in a race? Moreover I'm LOSING?"
-8-0-8-
Despite all that, I made it first to the entrance of the stadium only to be greeted with a whistle and a red card. "Disqualified, Kuro is disqualified."
"What the hell Jade!" I cried out in anger shredding the card into bits.
"What is it?" he said smiling. "I am merely doing my job as referee."
"Ugh, this is no time to be fooling around! Miu's in that building about to resummon our nightmares all over again!"
Hao seemed to realize what was going on. "You can't mean…"
"That's right," I said, "The Dark Aeons." There was a long pause in silence. "Those who were with Kariudo and Kiako, go search for them in the remaining paths and bring them here."
'I guess this is where it all ends…'
-8-0-8-
After the encounter with blue dude (Azul), the slut queen (Miu), and finally Seymour (girly man)… er I mean girly man (Seymour)… Ah who the hell cares at this point! That girly bastard was in front of me and will soon be dead.
"Kiako!! If you don't want your lovey Heihachi's death, along with Cliff the Windowbreaker and Fayt the alarm's deaths to be in vain, leave Seymour to me, AND GO STOP THAT CRAZY SLUT!!" I shouted. I regarded Kiako and knew she didn't want to leave me here. Eventually she casted a Full Cure spell on me and headed off to fight Miu. Seymour attempted to stop them but Hao flung him into the wall with Spirit of Fire and Jade used Absolute to freeze him there in a coffin of ice.
"Hm. Are you sure that was wise?" asked Seymour. "To leave the final battle up to your friends?"
"Heh," I grinned. "If that idiot is still alive after all these years of me bashing her in the head, I can rest assured that slut will go down."
"Hmph, how bold of you." Seymour broke free of the ice prison and began casting a Gravija spell; Jade and Hao dodged.
"Kuro! Get out of the way!" yelled Jade.
I couldn't dodge in time; the spell hit me with full force. It was then I realized this wasn't Gravija. I was trapped within the translucent dome of energy. Trying an array of spells that failed to break the dome, I attempted an Oversoul. "Dammit, I can't summon?" I looked over to the side to find that Jade was also sealed.
Seymour gave a hysterical laugh. "Now, watch as I take down your friends one by one! Starting with this puny human…"
"Calling Hao-sama 'puny' isn't the smartest idea…" I whispered to myself shaking my head.
"Hmm? Are you perhaps implying that I am the weakest of the three?" Hao said.
"I am not merely just implying it. I will show you myself just how weak you are!" Seymour morphed into his final form. The process took a bit of time but really, who cares what he looked like as he was transforming? So now he is this giant ugly thing with four elemental nodes in each corner.
Now, I must have blinked or something because Seymour was defeated in less than a minute. Here's what happened: Hao had formed his Kurobina armored Oversoul and took flight for the elemental node that was weak against fire and slashed it with a fiery claw. Switching his Spirit of Fire's element to water he eliminated the next node then to ice element with the next node and thunder with the last. Finally switching to his original form, Hao readied two cannons that were at his back and said his famous line with a sadistic smile; "How small…" and then blasted a massive beam he called the Onibi annihilating pretty much everything in its path.
"…" was my response as the barrier around Jade shattered.
Hao sighed with slight disappointment. "As I thought, my reduced power in this world just wasn't enough to…" He keeled over from over usage of Furyoku. Seymour is still alive?! Oh boy and here comes his annoying evil laughter…
"My my, I could almost say that you're more tenacious than Dist the Runny," remarked Jade in his usual tone of sarcasm. I swear, somewhere in the distance I might have heard Dist screaming, "IT'S ROSE DAMMIT!"
Seymour was in his original Guado form looking a bit tired only. "As I thought, Miulinia's ability is truly amazing…"
"Feh, power leeching bastard…" I muttered still trapped in the energy dome, trying to bust out using my scythe.
Before anything else could happen, Seymour launched a series of lightning bolts at Jade who managed to dodge most of them. Knowing he wouldn't be able to survive for long, being a magic user and all, he went into Overlimits and began an incantation.
"I, who stand in the full light of the heavens command thee, who opens the gates of hell, come forth divine lightning!" Beams of light shot to the ceiling creating pseudo glowing clouds as a glyph appeared. "This ends now! Indignation!" I shielded my eyes and a great flash of lighting and roar of thunder filled the area.
The smoke cleared to reveal a standing girly man about to launch a spell.
"Jade!" I shouted. He was instantly knocked out by the severe impact of Seymour's Firaja. My barrier was finally dissolved after slashing it hordes of times. Good thing too, as I was feeling lightheaded from breathing the same air over and over.
"So, mage girl. You are the only one left. Shall I finish them off now, or let all of you see the Farplane together at once? Either way, all living things will eventually fall into the spiral of death." Hence the name Spira eh bastard? Stop trying to sound smart when you're not!
"Che! Screw you." I charged up a Waterga and Thundaga in my left hand and scythe in my right respectively and dashed towards Seymour only for my magic to break down. "What?"
"That dome did more than trap you, puny mage. I managed to defeat your friends thanks to you," Seymour smirked.
"Bastard! Weakling! You were feeding off my magic!"
"Flare!" The bright blast of non-elemental magic blew through a nearby wall as I fell to my knee.
"Quite the fighter, I would finish you now. But alas... I need you summoners for later." Seymour said and peered at Kiako who just arrived. "I see Miulinia has failed."
Kiako eventually went into a frenzied state after getting provoked with Heihachi's death and tore apart Seymour's shoulder. Being the coward that he was, Seymour escaped through a portal he ripped open himself. Bet he got that ability from Dist…
Soon after, Ciel appeared into the scene to help heal and even tried to revive some people. Honestly, that guy is a weirdo. One minute he's messing with my lifespan in a stupid game of Picross, now he's healing everyone in sight… Just who is he?
Human form Diablos showed up eventually too, complaining that he missed all the fun. "Dia-kun, it's your own fault you didn't show up."
"Oi, at least say my name fully… And I'm older than you so –kun isn't the right suffix…" he retorted crossing his arms.
"Then, Diakun."
"You just removed the hyphen!"
Suddenly the door squeaked open to reveal the cowardly brat. After threatening to absolutely obliterate this pathetic girl, Dist decided to show up and escape with it—I mean her through a rift in space.
"Farewell!! HAHA! AHH!!" Jade was hanging onto Dist's flyable chair as the portal grew in size. Being a lightweight feather, I was immediately lifted into the air by the portal's suction power. Managing to latch on a pole, I felt something hit my back and then a faint shadow flew past me into the void. And then came Kiako who started to float. Kariudo and I tried to keep her down but to no avail. The vacuum was too powerful (EVERY HOUSEHOLD SHOULD HAVE ONE) and we were all eventually engulfed in darkness.
-8-0-8-
RIIIIIING!!!
"Oh god what the hell is this ringing?" I got up from the sofa. Wait, sofa? This is… my house…
RIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!
"WEIOHFRLG I'M UP GEEZ! STUPID ASS PHONE!" You know, I thought I annihilated my phones a while ago… Hm…
Regaining my composure, I picked up the phone. It was Kiako. It seemed she made it back safely and no one else was on her side either. While still chatting, I opened my fridge to see a reddish orange swirly haired person looking thing and instantly slammed the door before it could possibly say a "Ya." It was just my imagination, just my imagination… I slowly opened the door again and grabbed it by its swirly top, pried open the back sliding window-door and hurled it into the sky hoping it would land in Kiako's fridge or something. That was too creepy. Too creepy, man. I don't like creepy veggies.
"Huh, what the… something on my back…" I tried to reach for it only to knock it off. It was a piece of paper with some writing on it.
'I'll be back. –Diablos'
I stared at it for a few minutes and shook my head, then glared at it some more. Eventually I placed the sheet in my drawer and got ready for school.
It was all a dream. Just a dream. I didn't see anything weird okay? And now that it's over, it's time for me to face reality once again.
-8-0-8-
A/N: Didn't I tell you I'd finish it? Hahaha. Don't worry, I know that I completely fail for being inactive for two years. 8D