and now we've reached Ch 21... O.o wow. this really is one of my farthest fanfics.
but, i'm starting to get a vibe that The Black Knight should be coming to an end soon, i don't know when or how many chapters, but it feels like its right around the corner. i thank everyone that has read and kept up with it, as well as all reviewers.
i'm sorry if this story feels like its dragging out, it feels a little like that for me, but i'm getting that feeling that it will be coming to an end soon. and usually, its not too far either. maybe we're on or around the last 10, right now, we'll leave it around there, just for a safe guess.
thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! when i first started this, it was just a thought that i didn't particularly know where to take. a lot of helped inspire me to continue and keep playing with it. thank everyone! ^^ we're almost done with this! i can feel it!
Zack woke with a jolt, his heart pounding, his body feeling numb and shaky. Almost, it felt like he was reliving the time Caius pulled him through. When he first entered Valhalla, finding to be quite a cold, dark world around him; now, it wasn't any different. The room he was in, dark with shadows, too dark for even his Mako eyes to look past too. Heart pounding heavily in his heart, he slowly shifted, trying to guess where he was this time.
He nearly slumped in relief when he felt the soft material of his bed beneath him. He was in his room, he was alright, he was ok... and he was alone.
"Angeal?" he voiced, getting up from his bed and sitting up.
Not a single sound answered him though.
Zack visibly drooped. Angeal wasn't here. Neither was Phoenix or any other eidolon. Zack frowned, searching his room again, struggling to remember how he even got in his room. Silence of the castle was his only answer, leaving him alone to wonder the possibilities.
Was it all a dream? Fenrir, Cloud, Aerith, Angeal, Claire...
No. They couldn't be. There was no way he could dream all that up. Etro's Eve happened, it had to be real. He was with Angeal, he had seen that Cloud had survived, he met a little Lightning.
Also, there was a sense of satisfaction, like a weight had been lifted and eased. He could breathe easier, he felt lighter, like he didn't have anything else to worry about but the here and now.
It happened, he was sure of it. But he had no real explanation as to why he was back in his room. Was this some other twist to Etro's Eve? Waking up in your room, with everything seemingly a dream with only that sense of contentment as the only reminder, along with the memories of that experience?
He slumped back on his bed, sighing as he stared above at the black around him, his heart hushing as he relaxed. Well, it might not have been sent home like he would have preferred, but it was probably the best he could get here, in a realm he wasn't allowed to leave, at least, not till Etro saw it fit for him and Lightning to leave.
Speaking of Lightning...
Zack sat up, glancing over to where he knew his door was. Was she already up and about? Or was she still clinging to a reality that Etro allowed them to relish?
If the latter, then it will probably be a bit weird having the castle too himself. Maybe Odin would be up and about and they could have another intense spar-
Zack stiffened, the hair on the back of his neck rising and his heart picking up speed. Instinct taking over, he darted forward, ducking into a firm roll, just as there was a hiss of metal cutting through fabric and a deep cink of it hitting the stone that supported the bed. Twisting around and looking back at his bed, his Mako eyes were only able to make out the gleam of a scythe's blade dug deep into his mattress.
"Who are you?" Zack demanded.
That gleaming, curving blade rose up, flashing in the dim light. Behind it, a form rippled into view. A laughing skeleton like face appeared before Zack, the jaw mtely creaking up like it was silently laughing at him. Around it, a blood red cloak bled into view, the fabric the skeleton like creature wore dripping into form and shaping around the mostly hidden body. The skeleton like claws that held the stave of the scythe turned and tilted it, making the blade gleam again.
Zack flung himself back, forcing himself through the door, and making the wood break in the process as he avoided the second swipe sent his way. "Are you an eidolon?" Zack asked desperately, reaching back for Legacy, tensing when he only found empty space.
Legacy was gone.
For a fleeting, panicked moment, he glanced back, confirming his suspicious and fears.
The Buster Blade Etro gave him was gone.
And he didn't remember where he might have placed it...
The skeleton eidolon before him moved to life again, and Zack watched with tense confusion as the skeleton dug the scythe deep into the ground, and started to drag the blade back along the ground. With the blade cutting through the earth like butter, the ground shook violently beneath Zack's feet, and he had to grasp a near column to keep him steady as he watched, wide eyed as the cut the skeleton was making widened into a gap, with a cauldron creeping out, with dark liquid squirming inside. Once it was in reach, the skeleton stuck the end of the wood of the scythe into the liquid, turning it slowly like a witch stirring a potion.
The skeleton jerked the scythe up, purposely spilling the cauldron's contents towards Zack. The said knight jumped to the side and out of the way, looking back and paling to see that the column that he leaned on earlier began to melt and crumble under the black liquid.
Jumping to his feet, Zack bolted forward and down the hall. A loud clatter boomed behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder to see that the scythe was thrown and hung from the wall, twitching slightly from where it was. By the time the skeleton came into view to retrieve it, Zack had rounded the corner and was already jogging to the end, searching for something or someone that could help him, or at least explain what in the world was going on.
Zack could only safely suspected that thing was another eidolon, challenging him because it could; though he'd call it a little extreme...
Then again, Odin could be just as extreme. Zack grimaced, narrowing his eyes and he ran on, distantly noting that fact; maybe being extreme was some eidolon thing.
Movement flickered across his vision and Zack skid to a stop, watching as black bubbled before him, twisting and shaping into a humanoid form. When the shadows settled, Zack stepped back warily as another skeleton figure appeared, rigged horns stood tall and looming on its head, wings loomed out on the side of the beast, and one arm was longer than the other, with what looked like a woman extending out from one its arms, with a cape like wing swaying behind the creatures.
Zack tensed at the sight of the creature, bracing himself for whatever it was going to do. The skeleton's jaw dropped, and a hiss emitted out of it, with the woman at his side releasing her own chiming laugh along it. Faster than Zack could react, the skeleton's claw like hand went past him and he heard the grate of bones scraping on bones. Turning around, Zack gawked at the sight behind him. The blood red cloaked skeleton that attacked him stood stiff and still behind him, scythe raised high and ready; with the other skeleton digging his hand deep into the other's chest.
With a sharp tug backwards, freeing that clawed bony hand, the reaper eidolon crumbled away, ivory dust scattering all over, and Zack jumped back to avoid them, staring wide eyed at the scene. Slowly, he turned and stared up the remaining eidolon, watching as it leaned back, turning its hollow gaze at him. It clattered its teeth together, with the woman smiling down at him. Raising the cloak and bringing the woman close and back to him, darkness lashed out around them, sucking them back in and gradually, they disappeared from his sight.
Slowly, Zack stepped away, blinking as the eidolon disappeared and left him alone. Turning, he glanced back to see the faded, ivory dust with the blood red cloak and a scythe tossed carelessly on it.
A distant flutter of wings tickled trough the air distantly, glancing up, he saw Mog flying towards him, waving his small stick excitedly. "Zack!" the moogle cried out. "Zack! Are you up and about?"
"Yeah..." he uttered out, turning his gaze back on the pile on the ground.
"Good, Mistress needs you on the field, Caius has summoned eidolons to help- oh look! I see you already took care of one, good job Zack. Sort of looks like Hades... he's always liked wearing red you know."
"Uh huh..." Zack emitted.
"Either way, good job," the moogle chimed, punching his arm as he hovered in the air, though Zack barely noticed. "Now, lets take this outside and use the skills Etro thinks you have. See you out there, Mistress is expecting you!" And with that, the moogle darted away and back outside, leaving Zack alone with the dust pile.
"...what just happened?" he wondered weakly to himself.
X) and so more eidolons appear.
welcome Hades and Zalera ;)
in FF13-2, caius is a l'Cie chosen to watch over and guard Yuel, like all l'Cie, he can summon eidolons and have them serve him just as they do with Lightning, though because he is an enemy of Etro, he's fairly limited on eidolons.