Author's Note: This one came out… unexpectedly fast, even I was surprised. But I guess that's a good thing. On a side note, 100K words! That's a milestone for me, I never thought I would get this far. For those of you reading this, thank you for sticking for so long, and a special thanks for the ones that reviewed until now. Enjoy, there's still much more to come.
An Unending Struggle
Chapter Twenty-Five
Through the Eyes of a Warrior: Part 2
Minerva didn't even have time to think, for as soon as she saw Terra scream she felt a bone-crunching punch hit her jaw, sending her against the wall. Immediately after she felt a sharp pain on her abdomen as Terra punched right through her armor and into her gut. Trying to take a breath she looked down to find Terra's burning indigo eyes. Minerva had only seen Terra for brief moments before this outburst, but she was sure something had changed, and she was afraid of it. She flinched for a second, "A goddess afraid of a mortal? Ridiculous!" she thought.
"Tell me why…" Terra asked solemnly, pushing her fist into Minerva's gut. "Why did you kill him?"
"Why would I explain myself to you? You would never understand!" Minerva spat back. She would come to regret that as she felt an excruciating pain and cold coming from her gut. Terra had just impaled her with a giant icicle, making mako slip from Minerva's formerly flawless abdomen.
"Let's try this again, why did you kill him?" She asked coldly.
"Even you… Should know what Shinryu did!" Minerva replied, desperately trying to pull Terra's hand and icicle out.
"He's Shinryu, huh?" Terra commented, completely unfazed. "That still doesn't explain why would you kill him now."
"What… are you babbling about…?" Minerva asked, falling to her knees and trying to catch some air as Terra dispelled her icicle.
"Did you ever think, that he might have changed?" Terra asked, looking down on Minerva, as if trying to suppress some savage urge. "Did you ever think about giving him a chance to explain? Like I am trying to give you now?"
"You? Give me a chance? You over-rate yourself, human!" Minerva blurted. Another grave mistake. Before she could react, Terra's foot had made contact with her chin, making her fly up just enough for Terra to grab her face.
"Look, first I'm not human, never was, never will be and really, I'm fine like this, he taught me that." Terra began, looking at Shinryu's fallen body. "Second, spare me of your "I'm a god, you are a mortal" crap, as far as I'm concerned, you are just number three." Terra had just made her threat painfully clear. "Now, one more chance. Why?" She asked as she dropped Minerva.
Bartz was completely speechless at sudden turn of the tide, but Cid was completely unfazed. He had hopped not to see this, but he knew that Terra had this kind of power hidden away.
Still trying to digest the fact that she was taking orders from Terra, Minerva finally decided to give a straight answer. "I did it to punish his sins." She stated.
"WRONG!" Terra yelled in an unpredictable burst, blasting Minerva with a Firaga of her own. "You did it to satisfy your own ego!" She cried, watching Minerva break a piece of the wall, crying in pain. For the first time in a long time, Terra actually delighted in that pain, as twisted as that sounds. In her current state, she didn't care anymore. "It's not that you didn't realize that he could have changed, it's just that Shinryu had wounded your pride so deep that you wanted to take it out on him anyway, wasn't it?" Hearing a blade cutting the air she merely raised her hand, stopping it partway with her yellow claws.
"Don't you dare insult our goddess! She is benevolent and forgiving! If she ordered me too kill him then there was no other choice!" Weiss shouted with conviction.
"Love is blind…" Terra sighed. "I don't want to hurt you Weiss, you are as much of a victim as Shinryu, she used you, can't you see?"
"Do not listen to her Weiss!" Minerva cried desperately.
"What has she done for you Weiss?" Terra asked. The sudden change in the eyes of Weiss told her that she hit a weak spot. "Maybe she was a benevolent person in the past, but have you seen what she did?" Weiss's grip on his sword loosened ever so slightly, but it was more than enough for Terra to snatch it from his hands. "Do you want to be a pawn in a game of revenge?"
"Hypocrite! What are you doing now? Aren't you having your revenge?" Minerva blurted.
"I am giving you a fair chance to explain yourself. For you I am just the Judge, the Jury… and the Executioner." Terra stated.
This was the point where Minerva's pride overrided her brain, she couldn't believe she was being looked down upon. Filled with anger she lashed out, summoning her staff and hitting Terra square in the face… to no avail, she didn't even flinch. "You're just as big of a threat as he was! I'll kill you just like I did to that damned lizard!"
"Damned… Lizard? He had a name… HE HAD A NAME!"
God was he unlucky. After all of that, dead? And death sucked too. Just falling down a bottomless pit of darkness, he would been bored to death, if he wasn't already dead. As he fell he started to ask himself if there was something like heaven… or hell. Considering who he was, it was definitely hell. Funny, Shinryu was supposed to be a dragon, a real large one at that, but if so, why was he like was? He knew that Bahamut could change forms, but still…
"You really come here often." A way too familiar stated just before Shinryu hit the floor headfirst. "Are you in pain?" He asked, grinning at the young man who was holding his head, jumping and yelling.
"No, I'm fan-freaking-tastic… what do you think? That would have killed me, if I wasn't already dead that is." Shinryu blurted back, stopping as he saw the giant grin on the man's face. "What's so funny?"
"You really surprised me you took it a lot better than I thought. Your persona really is complete." The man replied. He snapped his fingers causing a storm of white doves to erupting from the floor, revealing a changed mosaic.
The colors of this mosaic were much more vibrant than the last, but what really changed were the images. Shinryu's image still stood in the middle, albeit with a different set of clothes, what changed was the shadow behind him. It now was a representation of a silver dragon with a golden torso, resting his head on his shoulder. Right bellow the dragon's tail the three circles on the floor had changed and a new one had appeared, they now housed images. The top one showed Terra's shy smile, the top middle one Zack's cocky grin the top middle one was a cluster of Edge, Rydia and Cuore, speaking of clusters the last could barely hold Katarin, Duane and Leo so he could see a dozen of tiny heads popping out from every corner of the circle.
"Hmm, interesting. So that's what you're doing from now on? Interior designing?" Shinryu said playfully. "But really, those clothes… you're just rubbing your ego in there."
You could instantly make the connection between the clothes that Shinryu was wearing in the image and the dragon. He was wearing a silver overjacket with an unclosed zipper, revealing an equally silver shirt bellow. The jacket had dragon-like patterns inscribed in gold trim and had a golden dragon's wing on the back. The pants and the shoes we're pretty conventional compared to the jacket. The pants were considerably less baggy then the SOLDIER's uniform and had a golden line trim stamped on the sides.
"I think that it is a master piece!" The man scuffed.
"Really? Don't I get a say on the matter? At least the colors!"
"Fine, you can change one color…" The man replied.
"Change the silver to black, I look like a damn flashlight with those two bright colors!" Shinryu said. He had his reasons, the dragon's silver was… bright to say the least, it would blind anyone who looked at him.
"Fine…" The man replied, snapping his fingers. After a bright flash the clothes were changed.
"Alright! Much better!" Shinryu replied before noticing the man's gaze. "What's the problem?"
"You… seem to be taking this a little too lightly. Aren't you curious about your past? And about your flashbacks? What about, who I am?" The man asked, clearly surprised by the new carefree nature of the man in front of him.
"Oh I'm not taking this lightly Shinryu. I still want to punch your face in, I'm just trying to clear my mind. By the way, to avoid this getting confusing, call me Shin for now." Shin replied, a smile covering a much darker expression. "But if you want to monologue by all means do it, I really want to know how much shit I caused in the past!" He exclaimed sarcastically.
"Fine. First let me tell you that I have no memory of how I came into existence, I only remember the unending search for Omega, I knew that I had to defeat him, it was my only goal. We clashed several times, but I never even landed a scratch on that monster…" Shinryu began, nostalgia and regret covering his face. "I thought that it would never end, the cycle of battle and defeat, until that fateful day." Shinryu took a brief pause to look at Shin before continuing. "I lost Omega in the Rift, it was normal as Omega liked to destroy worlds, so I awaited to see it return after it had its fill. What happened was completely the opposite. I saw Omega running away from something… I saw no true injuries on him, but Omega is a cautious beast, he will retreat at the first sign of danger. But the fact was… he never retreated against me!" Shinryu exclaimed, looking at his hands.
"You were jealous?" Shin joked.
"No… I just felt… useless. Like I had failed at my purpose. I quickly determined that it was a group of four humans. Normally I'd laugh at the thought, but none of the monsters in that part could even breathe on Omega, let alone scare it. So I entered a chest that contained a magnificent sword, hoping that whomever had challenged Omega would open it. What happened then, you saw in that flashback." Shinryu explained, turning to Shin.
"Bartz kicked your ass!" Shin scuffed.
"True… But what bothered me the most about that victory was that I didn't know why I had lost… I should have been completely overwhelming for humans, instead, they overwhelmed me. It was then that it dawned to me! I had to discover what made humans this strong in order to defeat Omega." He exclaimed in a sudden burst of excitement before reverting to normal.
"I travelled to many worlds, fought many heroes and lost, but I gained power, I gained experience, with every battle. I was now far above anything Bartz ever dreamed off. I was a new being, so I called myself appropriately, I was Neo Shinryu! Unbeatable…or so I thought." He paused.
"I lost… I utterly lost, I fell into desperation. I had more power, even the gods themselves feared me! How could I lose? I became obsessed with power, I forgot my purpose, I had to have more power! Then, I found him… Cid of the Lufaine." Shinryu paused again, the regret began to amplify making so he couldn't even look at Shin in eyes.
If it was someone else Shin would be consoling him, but he knew what happened next, so he just stood there, unwavering.
"It all went downhill from there… Power… power… power… POWER… POWER! I saw only power! When I realized the chance I had… I became blind with lust! I didn't care for the pain and suffering I was causing, I didn't care about the monsters I was unleashing, I didn't care if I was becoming far worse than Omega. I. Only. Needed. Power!" Shinryu shouted, scaring Shin with the sudden outburst.
"When the thirteenth cycle came by, my power was beyond anything I could ever dream off. I had the memories of the greatest heroes in world, and I had absorbed most of them by that time."
"That explains me having flashbacks that belonged to other people…" Shin thought to himself, not wanting to stop the story.
"When Bartz stood in front of Chaos, whose power was enhanced by own… I laughed, thinking he would never have a chance. And he didn't. I laughed when all the heroes fell before Chaos. I thought I had finally reached a level that was beyond a human's, a level that Omega would fear… but then that girl stood up… And single handedly crushed my dreams. I knew about Terra's power, and by what I had seen it was nowhere near mine and Chaos's, but she still lived, she still stood up, she still destroyed Chaos… It was then that I realized, it wasn't "power", it was something else. And I had to find out what!" Shinryu stopped to catch his breath. "And I also had to punish Cid for betraying me."
"Betraying him?"Shin wondered, taking mental note to ask him after it was over.
"It was then that I decided to create a perfect dream world in which the cycles had continued. I implanted Cosmos with the idea of summoning warriors to this dream world when my power reached its absolute maximum, so I could discover why they were so powerful, and if I could ever defeat them. Sure enough, at the 20th and final cycle, I pretended to enter a conflict with the now demented Chaos, consumed with despair of never ending cycles, causing Cosmos to subconsciously summon five warriors with her last breath..."
"Those five warriors were, interestingly enough, the ones I wanted to see. Bartz for obvious reasons, Terra for her raw power, Cloud for having defeated Sephiroth time and time again, Zidane for being a Genome, something even I had doubts about the potential, and Vaan for his involvement in destroying the prototype of a new Omega, Omega Mk. XII." Shinryu's face turned to one of tiredness.
"By that time, the me in the dream had already reached its apex, it was impossible to get any stronger, he had absorbed all of the warrior's powers and experience, he was the true ultimate being, so I called him Shinryu Verus."
"And since we are here today… it didn't go so well did it?" Shin mocked.
"As you'd expect, no. When they reached Chaos's doorstep after rescuing Cid, I poured every ounce of power the me in the dream had into Chaos. Chaos by itself could already destroy the fabric of reality, I thought that that was the end of them. And it seemed so. Feral Chaos dominated them, destroyed them, ripped their hope to shreds until no one was left standing. I wasn't surprised, they had barely managed to defeat Chaos, they shouldn't have had any chance to begin with. That was until… Vaan was killed, I don't know what came through Terra's head, but she snapped. I was… scared. I don't even want to remember what happened next, just pure carnage. But I finally realized what I was missing, the one thing that made them stronger and stronger the more difficulties I threw at them."
"And that was…?" Shin asked, feeling curious.
"Bonds." Shinryu stated. "And the hearts to make them."
"Huh?" Shin was taken aback by the answer, that guy was getting way too sentimental for a dragon.
"It's normal for you to be surprised, but think about it, how many times have you pushed your limits to protect your friends? Even in the small period that you lived, to protect those bonds you made, you called upon powers that you never knew you had. Remember Zeromus? And the clash with Minerva? Even that fight with the wolf, you grew stronger because of your heart, your emotions. As a god, and one that never interacted, I do not know about those things, that is because that is not something for a god to see, but for a warrior to see, you understand?"
"Kinda…" Now that he thought about it, he was right. But there was something that he needed to know. "You told me your life's story, but why am I here? Why did you create me?"
"You see, I tried to pursue that power by becoming what you see in front of you right now, human. But then I realized, how could I create bonds? Even if I could forgive myself for what I had done, nobody would trust me I am Godsbane Shinryu, an evil as great as Omega. So I created you! A new human, free of my past guilt and knowledge, a completely new person, one that could live its own life. And I would be there to witness it, the life through the eyes of a warrior." Shinryu finished, just in time for a punch in the face.
"So that's what I am? A FUCKING PUPPET? You just wanted to use me for power? You haven't changed at all, at least I am dead now, this charade is over!" Shin shouted, completely besides himself. Everything he had experienced, his life, his friends, his feelings, were just a means to an end for this guy… he could just kill him right now, if he weren't him.
"Did I ever call you that? You are not a puppet… you are more like my successor." Shinryu replied.
Shin was completely shocked by his comeback, to the point of his mind being too scrambled to create a coherent thought.
"I created this body, for you. Even if I wanted I could not control it, even appearing in front of you takes a giant amount of effort. You see Shin… I'm tired. Tired of fighting, I may sound selfish but that's just the truth. I'd rather spend the rest of my days here, watching." Shinryu continued, but one thing about that speech didn't seem right.
"Wait a minute? Rest of your days? Aren't you immortal?" Shin asked.
"Immortal? Yes, I was. But haven't I made it clear? You are a human, this is your body and I am stuck in it. When you die, I die, we are the same." Shinryu answered extremely calmly for someone that had just revealed he had doomed himself to die before his time.
"Why did you do all of this?" Shin asked as calmed down. "I mean, why would you throw your life away like this? You can't even make your own decisions now."
"Maybe I am running away… running away from my responsibilities. Maybe I am trying to atone, maybe I'm curious or I can even be trying to reach my goal of destroying Omega. I don't know why, but I had to do this, my last gamble. The life I lived was nothing but misery, your life however… I have never enjoyed myself so much, your reactions, your decisions, every bond you made. I could feel it, it was worth it." Shinryu slowly got himself up. "You will probably never see me again but remember, you are not me, nothing I did if your fault, live life the way you see fit. I truly think you can put my power to better use… when you learn to use it that is." He finished, putting his hand on Shin's shoulder. "Anything else you want to ask?"
"Why am I so much like Bartz?" Shin asked, it wasn't really a serious question, but he didn't really have any left.
"That's…kind of embarrassing!" Shinryu exclaimed, scratching the back of his head, Shin's attitude was starting to rub off on him. "I'm really horrible at creating things, my evolutions just changed my colors for example, so after I decided to make another body, I couldn't think of one and I ended up combining aspects of heroes I met with my original human form, this one… the result is what you are. To be honest, the only thing I ended up using was Squall's hair color and a hair style similar to my mane as a dragon. As to why you look so similar… Bartz was the first human I saw, give me a break okay?"
"So you are not as good at creating bodies as you are in interior designing." Shin joked, looking at the mosaic. "Just one more question, where do I get these clothes?" he asked, pointing at his figure.
"You'll see soon enough." Shinryu replied as an unusual slick grim appeared on his face.
Shin laughed for a bit before realizing he was starting to fade. But he didn't feel like he was disappearing, just returning. "Wait, aren't I dead?" he asked surprised.
"If you were, why would I give you encouragement?"
"But… how?"
"Put your hand on top of your heart." Shinryu stated with a trickster's smile.
"What the… Did you do this on purpose?" He asked as he felt a familiar shape in his chest.
"No, you just have insane luck."
"Okay then! I guess… see you later?" Shin said as he felt like he was waking up.
"Maybe… just tell Cid and the other's I'm sorry, for all that's worth, okay? " He was met with a positive nod. "Thank you… Sayonara!" Shinryu replied, giving a two fingered salute as Shin disappeared. "You're the only thing in my life I've ever been proud of… don't fail Shin." He said as he looked to the place where Shin once was.
Back in the real world things weren't going so well. While Gilgamesh and Zack were more than a match for Genesis, he still hadn't let them in the chamber.
"Genesis, you're outmatched, just give up!" Zack shouted. He had to admit the only reason he had been able to actually beat him so easily was Gilgamesh. For a mumbling buffoon that guy had talent. It was really amazing, his talent almost outshined his natural tendency to be ridiculous and cocky. If he was a more serious man-monster-thing and trained hard it was hard to imagine what he would become.
"As much as I'd like to trust you again Zack, my mission is to not let anyone through. I may have failed already, but I'll do my best to…" Genesis was interrupted when Minerva came whooshing by his side and crashed into the back of the Portal of Severance. "M-My lady?" Genesis cried, trying to run over to his fallen Goddess, only to notice his feet frozen in place., soon after everything but his head was frozen. He tried to turn his head to the right but it was like his body was warning to not do it. Seconds later he watched helplessly as Terra just walked past him in the direction of Minerva.
"Terra, don't do something you might regret!" Zack exclaimed, blocking the path to Minerva. "This isn't like you!"
"Zack… please step out of the way… Bartz… Shin's dead!" She yelled. "She did it!"
"Terra, killing a person won't bring someone back, it didn't bring Aerith back!" Zack replied, still not budging.
"You don't know what she did…" Terra said in a dark tone. "Please… get out."
"Terra stop!" Cid commanded. "If you do this, won't be the same as her?"
"I've already killed people… gods before! Why would this be any different?" She shouted, begging to lose her last thread of sanity.
"You always did to "protect" if do this now, you'll only be destroying… just like Kefka." Cid replied, knowing just how dangerous his statement was. The look that Terra gave him was something he had never experienced before. It was supposed to scare him but he could see that beneath all of that hatred there was a sad little girl. "I know you are sad but please, do not do this! He wouldn't have wanted that!"
"Look, Terra, I know you. This isn't like you! Is this like what happened at the tower?" Zack asked, remembering the outbursts that Terra had attributed to her being an esper.
"They really give you too much credit Sunshine… Tell them! Tell them that I don't have a damned thing to do with this!" Her other side shouted.
"shut up…" Terra almost whispered. "Shut up! ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!"
"Terra, I won't let you past m…" Before Zack knew it Terra was already on top of Minerva, her cold claws ready to rip off her neck.
"Give me one reason, just one, why I shouldn't rip it off right now!" Terra ordered. Minerva was too scared to even respond, just what was this THING that was threatening her. Knowing how the Lifestream was right now, it was possible that she was never going to get her body back… she could die.
"Ha-have mercy." Minerva begged, completely broken. Everyone who watched was just as surprised, but they couldn't do anything, they did not know the person that was on top of Minerva.
"It's a little too late to be sorry." Terra replied darkly raising her hand. "You reap what you sow." Minerva closed her eyes as Terra's hand descended on her, but it never hit her.
"That's enough Terra!" A voice that Minerva never thought she would hear again said. Opening her eyes she saw the man that she thought dead holding the hand that was supposed to have killed her, how ironic. Terra was just as speechless as her and quite frankly, everyone in the room was.
"H-How are you..?" Terra asked before seeing Shinryu hold up the pendant that Katarin had given him, the bullet was still lodge in the middle.
"I forgot to give it back!" He replied, a bit embarrassed. " Don't worry, I'll definitely have it fixed. Now relax okay?"
"But she-"
"Imagine if what happened to me happened to Kefka, would you act any different?" he asked. The words stung Terra, she had never thought of it that way, she almost agreed with how Minerva felt. As she calmed down she began to realize just what she had done, and she hated herself for it.
"I did it again!" She cried, falling to her knees as tears came rushing down her cheeks. "I lost control again didn't I?" She asked as her body reverted to her human form, only this time she kept her clothes on.
"Well, maybe a little bit, but it's okay now, don't be hard on yourself." Shinryu said, trying to comfort the girl."Chin up, we're all okay aren't we?" He asked as he got on one knee and put his hand on her golden locks, giving it a playfull rub. He was too busy trying to cheer her up to notice the change in Minerva's expression.
"Both of them defied me, made a mockery of what I am, they stole everything I had! I won't let them get away like this!" Minerva reassured on her mind, making her bow appear one last time. "Just die already!" She shouted, firing the last arrow that she could afford with her body.
Seeing as Terra and Shinryu were at point blank range and weren't even paying attention, Zack had to make a split second decision. "Dammit Minerva!" He exclaimed as he reached for his pocket and grabbed the green orb.
"Holy!"
Post-chapter note: "What is this? Not again!" Is what you're probably thinking, but it is, you won't be getting a preview this time around either. Bear with me, I promise that I'll try to be as quick in the next one as I was in this one.