2 AM and she calls me cause I'm still awake, "Can you help me unravel my latest mistake? I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season."
A/N: Told you I wasn't giving up on this one! Did I tell you or did I tell you? I mean did I tell you or did I tell you?! (-foams at the mouth-) this was half-done for a month before I sat down the other day to play with it. At this rate I'm not expecting more than three chapters left, and perhaps an epilogue.
Love you all! And thanks for reading!
OoOoOo
Winter is almost upon them, reaching up and outward with tiny cancer claws that spread across the cities, the towns that change with the seasons. Even in Triet, where Claire the fortune-telling woman sells fake amethysts to young hopefuls looking for true love, the nights grow bitter cold. Flanoir's idyllic, snowy landscape turns into a tundra, a frozen wasteland that only the locals know how to handle.
Meltokio- Lloyd and Zelos run towards the gates, their breath turning to steam when it flows out of their wide open mouths. They run with such profound fear and sickness driving them, emotions so dark in their hearts they couldn't ever voice them, not even if they were given the rest of their lives to remember and regret yet another mistake in their quest to bring peace.
Mizuho- Sheena, Matias, Colette, and Kratos wait in tense silence, wait for their friends to arrive because there's nothing else they can do. They're not used to an inability to act. They're used to being in the dark, being deceived, being misled- but they always had a foothold to climb back up with. Something, sometimes insignificant, was always there to grasp onto in the darkness so that they could grope their way to a better path. Now, there isn't even that.
Yuan- who knows where he is now? He left when Kratos finally stopped trying to treat him with respect, finally growing tired of his juvenile attitude.
The skies above Altamira- Four Rheiards hover cautiously for a moment, turning as one to point their noses towards Mizuho and then their engines begin to rumble as they dare to use Zelos's suicide, speed-warp invention. Speed is paramount, after all, and somehow they know now that things are going to get very ugly, very soon.
The abandoned Renegade Base in the Triet Desert- something stirs in the very bowels of that place, feeding off of scraps of the glorious Cruxis technology. Far off, on the other side of the base, Alexander Sage sits on a rotting mattress in what had been the soldiers quarters. His head is cradled in his hands as he finds a way to deal with what he knows he must do.
Sybak- Raine Sage stands outside the academy, looking up at the bleak grey sky with eyes wide and searching. Somehow with the discovery of her uncle's diary she begins to piece together the lie that was her life up until now. Memories rush back in sporadic bursts- here a name, there a face, some of them triggered by scents and sounds and others simply come to her, floating before her eyes to taunt her with the truth before fading away to become maddening, deafening background noise in her torrid mind. She's so lost in thought, she doesn't feel the crab-claws of winter sneaking up on her to hold her in its tight grip. She looks at the sky and doesn't see the storm clouds gathering, or the way the wind howls in warning.
Mesha walks outside, briefly scans the area and, spotting the Professor, makes her way to the figure standing frozen and still as any statue...
OoOoOo
"Hey..."
Raine, surprised, whirled around with her arms crossed defensively across her chest, eyes narrowed before she recognized the petite girl bundled up against the elements. The temperature had plummeted very suddenly and without warning that day- Mesha wore a soft blue sweater, matching, snug hat, and a sparkling white scarf wrapped around her neck. Her cheeks and nose red from the cold, she tried her best to smile at the Professor but found that her efforts were not rewarded with a responding smile.
"Feeling all right?" Mesha asked, looking at her own hands and busying herself with putting on her mittens. "It's really cold out here, Professor. You should go inside, or at least get your coat if you're staying out here."
"Oh.." Raine looked down at her own bare hands, suddenly realizing that she couldn't feel them from the cold. "Right. You're right. I'll be fine, though, Mesha, so you shouldn't-"
She tried to get past Mesha but the half-elf girl wordlessly held her arm up to block Raine's way. A thick black button-up coat was draped over it. "I borrowed it from Harley," she said. "Couldn't find yours, and I figured you'd want to stay out here anyway." With the air of one defeated, she watched Raine pull her arms through the sleeves, green eyes sad. She turned away, adjusting her scarf. "So... yeah. I'll leave now, if you want to be alone a little longer."
She waited a moment with her back turned, but when Raine didn't say anything she didn't waste any more time, making her way back towards the warmth of the indoors. Then, floating across the wind like the voice of a spirit, she heard it:
"...Mesha... Mesha, look."
Mesha stopped in her tracks, looking over her shoulder.
Raine had her face towards the skies again, arms outstretched and her palms held up. "It's snowing," she said, almost in surprise. "I didn't expect to see snow for another two weeks here in Sybak. Come here for a second." When the girl cautiously approached her teacher, the older half-elf pulled her into a tight hug, wrapping her within the excess fabric of Harley's coat, which was much too big for her. Propping her chin on top of Mesha's head, Raine kept her gaze on the falling snow.
Her back was pressed up against the Professor's chest. "Do you... like the snow, Professor?" she asked.
Raine rolled her shoulders. "I identify with it," she said. "I used to like it." I used to think of it as the sky's catharsis- building up so much turmoil, so high in those clouds, until the moment when it breaks and rushes out. "But now I associate it with something unpleasant that happened to me not too long ago."
Mesha's eyes rested on her own two feet. "A lot of unpleasantness has happened recently, hasn't it, Raine?"
"...Yes."
Suddenly, she couldn't hold it in any longer. "You know, all those things-" She turned around in Raine's arms, her hands resting on top of the woman's shoulders as she forced herself to look her teacher in her violet eyes. "Everything it says in that man's diary- even if it is true, it doesn't change who you are. Not really. It's something new, but it's only an addition- it's not a total rework of your system, you know? Just because an archeologist suddenly digs up a big skeleton, that doesn't mean he created it. It was waiting there all along for him to find it- or for no one to ever find it. You just happened to find it."
"I appreciate the sentiment, Mesha."
"...why did that feel like you were mocking me."
"I'm not," Raine reassured her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that to come out the way it did." She let Mesha go, stepping back to cross her arms and try to warm herself. She hadn't noticed how cold she was until she experienced how warm Mesha felt against her. Her cheeks turning red with shame, she looked away and regained her composure before Mesha could turn around, so all the girl saw was Raine glancing aside with a vaguely bored expression on her face.
"I- I think I want to be alone a little longer, Mesha."
It stung.
"…Fine. If you want to be alone, be alone," Mesha said, walking back towards the hotel. She didn't wait for a response from Raine this time, and didn't even go back inside. She walked past the entrance towards the Academy, thinking that she could maybe find a good book to read while Raine got over her blue funk.
She stepped inside, grateful for the warmth. So much so that she didn't notice that she was completely alone, without even a librarian behind the counter. The lights were still on and so she, oblivious, perused through Sybak's collection.
"Hello, Mesha…"
A male voice sounded.
A book held tightly in her hands, she turned around in surprise at being called by name. For a startling moment she thought it was Raine, but that was because she had instinctively sought out the person's eyes. They were the same remarkable shade of lilac- or no. His were a bit darker. A little nervous, Mesha could only say, "Uh… do I know you?"
She could tell he was a half-elf by the way the mana surrounding him seemed to be so chaotic. There was something else in his field of magic, however, that set her hair on end and made her feel like running away as fast as she could. Dropping the book from nerveless fingers, Mesha found herself backing away from him. He was in her way- in the path to the door.
"You might have heard of me," he said, stepping forward. His voice was young, handsome, and filled with misplaced humor. "I'm Raine's younger brother."
Her eyebrows perked up at that in curiosity and she stopped for a half a moment. "You're…" she tried to remember. "…Genis?"
The half elf threw his head back and laughed, laughed, laughed.
High in the sky, a pinpoint of red flame steadily grew larger as it closed in on the city of Sybak…
OoOoOo
"Wait- I don't understand!"
Sheena snagged Lloyd's sleeve as he tried to rush from the room to go storm through the village, bloodshed on his mind. The stiff set of his shoulders said he didn't have the patience to wait around for explanations. Zelos stood between the two, breaking her grip on the hero's sleeve, her face in his hands as he forced her to look up into his eyes.
"Orochi is dead," he said, as gently and clearly as he could, enunciating each word. "He's dead, and right now the person who's been walking around looking like him could be the friggen Pope for all we know, OK?"
Sheena shook her head, "That's impossible. I know Orochi-"
"Not even Cruxis technology ever got around to making such an authentic copy," Kratos supplied, not to argue but to simply state a fact. Even so, he got to his feet, fingers inching towards the hilt of his sword. "Kloitz, even with his Desian roots, would have some trouble developing one on his own."
"Is there some sort of Shinobi magic he could be using, Sheena?" Colette asked, pink fairy wings fluttering and expression anxious. "This isn't the first time he's done something like that. Plus, he has both Kuchinawa and Urashima on his side now, remember."
Sheena stopped at that, one hand hovering over her lips as her eyes stared into somewhere else, the pieces all clicking together in her mind.
Where is the fake?
The paper, thrust abruptly under Sheena's nose, was clenched by fingers pale and tense. They gripped the hastily scrawled note tight enough that the knuckles turned white. Sheena looked up at Matias, mouth dry.
"Orochi should be at his house," she said softly.
No sooner had she spoken than Zelos whipped around and ran out the door as fast as his legs could carry him, already pulling out his sword. Lloyd was fast on his heels, and behind them- Matias, purple eyes blazing. "H-Hey! Wait up!" Colette shouted, following her husband on tiny pink angel wings. Last of them all were Kratos and Sheena, one waiting and the other shell shocked.
"Orochi…" she said. "Orochi isn't dead. I saw him yesterday.. I saw him…"
Eyes wide and unseeing, Sheena found that her legs moved of their own volition, carrying her at the back of the group, mind filled wit nothing but a blank, dread-filled fizz. Kratos was behind her out of sheer habit of always guarding the rear.
"Kloitz!" Lloyd roared, kicking down the door with murder in his voice. He was greeted very warmly by a shower of gleaming sharp throwing knives. He grunted, knocked backwards by what should have been a fatal blow, his white angel wings showing him to be no mere swordsman. Zelos leaped over his staggering figure, his sword out and slashing down onto where Orochi had been standing. The ninja leapt to the side, digging a close-range dagger deep into Zelos's back as he ran by the knight, leaving it embedded there as he barreled past Colette.
Shhhhing!
Orochi flipped over to the side as a single feather, wrought elegantly out of deadly steel, flew by his face close enough to nick his cheek. His inky black eyes sought out the attacker, finding Matias with his arm still poised in the act of throwing, purple eyes narrowed. Pulling down his scarf just enough to reveal his mutilated, sewn up lips, Matias drew another steel feather from his back and ripped his mouth free to speak out loud for the first time in who knew how long.
"Just give up, Kloitz!" she said, falsetto voice ringing sharp and clear as a bell, undeniably female. She clenched steel feathers between each of her fingers now, arms crossed and ready to plunge each of them into his heart. "Give up and die!"
Orochi grinned at her. "Kloitz? Sorry, you're too late to see him."
Taking advantage of her surprise, he barreled forward, knocking her off her feet as he charged past her to the outside and to freedom. From above him there was a deadly rain of steel feathers and chakrams spinning in and out of range; from behind him as a ninja and three swordsmen gave chase, two of them aiming fireballs and lightning strikes at him.
He ran for the walls of Mizuho, so preoccupied with those behind him that he was caught simply because he did not look out front.
A huge, gloved fist caught him right in the gut as he ran on by. The fake Orochi could only gasp in pain before sinking to the ground, making strange noises deep in his throat. The puncher stood casually with his other hand inside his pocket, gloved hand still in a fist at mid level in front of him.
Sheena was the first to reach him, slowing to a walk as she looked up at the six-foot-plus Genis Sage.
"About time you got here," she said, out of breath, glancing downwards at the fake Orochi. "Skin-sharing," she muttered under her breath.
"I dunno," Genis said, the winds from three other landing Rheiards blowing up his thick blue hair. "I just saw all of you chasing him and decided this was the best thing to do."
"You're too late," the fake Orochi gasped even as his face melted off to reveal that of Urashima the exile. He laughed hollowly, fumbling with something in his hands. Before Sheena could stop him he threw his head back, swallowing two pills dry and laughing. "Kloitz is gone! He left this skin to me, and you'll all suffer for the shame you heaped on my name, outsiders!"
His voice was cut off as he choked, eyes bulging and hands gripping at his throat. Foam seeped from his mouth and in less than a minute, he was on the ground, stone cold dead.
OoOoOo
All she felt was cold.
Mesha awoke to coldness all around her, her eyes filled with nothing but a deep penetrating darkness. There was no time in the void, no pain, no noise, nothing at all. She was disoriented, not knowing where was up and where was down and couldn't remember what light looked like.
All she felt was cold.
All she heard was the whirring of machines.
She fell asleep again, unable to even discern the subtle difference of having her eyes open or closed.
OoOoOo
All she felt was pain. Hot, burning, unbearable. The air in the bubble was stifling- stale and recycled. Raine got to her knees even though her head swam at that simple action, her eyes seeking out the crouching figure of Harley.
"You're awake," he said, whole frame quivering. Sweat poured down his face, and he looked as though he had just run a mile. "Thank God. I- I don't know how much longer I can hold up the shield with just the glove alone." For the first time she noticed a bulky glove with compartments all along it, looking like it could be equipped to hold Ex-Spheres.
"What in Martel's name is that?" Raine asked, eyebrows furrowing as she took in her surroundings. They were completely caved in by burning rubble. "And what in Martel's name happened? I can't remember anything…"
Harley managed a weak smile. "My secret weapon- the Omniglove. It senses what elements are in the air around us- generally only air and earth are plentiful enough to actually power it, but when I went to check on it earlier today the fire readings were out of control. I ran outside…"
Now she remembered. She remembered looking up at the snow-filled sky and seeing it up there- a man-shaped essence of flame, a familiar one. Efreet was in the sky, coming closer to the earth. All around him had been spheres of fire that fell before he did, smashing into the buildings and on the streets. She found Harley, screamed, "Where's Mesha?" and then there was a terrible heat and then she had found herself here.
"Please, Raine." Harley's hoarse voice broke her out of her recollection, forcing her to return to the here and now. "It was all I could do to battle the fire and keep us here. You need to help us get to the surface."
"Of course, Harley. You need to rest." Raine got up, standing next to him with one hand griping his wrist. He transferred the spell to her and then collapsed onto his back, breathing heavily, letting her take charge of the shield. Raine's knees almost buckled under the pressure of the spell and she wondered at how Harley kept it up for as long as he did. Even with her Ex-sphere she was having trouble.
How were they going to get out of here?
"I'm going to create a stalagmite," she said at last. "Harley- are you listening?"
"Yes, Professor," was Harley's automatic response from his position, prone on the floor.
"We're going to ride it out of here as it punches us out of the wreckage. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Professor."
"Good. Just hang on-" She let out a huge breath. "Because I don't know how deep we're in this mess."
"Neck-deep," was Harley's response, but he still managed to get to his hands and knees and clutched the ground firmly, looking upwards at her. "Ready when you are. I'll try to help as much as I can with the Omniglove."
"On three: One."
She prepared the spell in her mind, a sudden gust of fresh air sprouting around her, blowing her silver hair upwards and flapping the baggy material of Harley's clothes. "Two." She crouched next to him, one hand on his shoulder and one on the ground. "Three! Stalagmite!"
There was an explosion as the ground beneath them shot upwards. One of the spires burst through the ceiling and the protective bubble shifted to concentrate around the bodies of the two half-elves clinging on to the sides of the rocketing chunk of earth, their eyes closed as Harley kept the black magic spell from dying out, sending them higher towards the sky while Raine concentrated on their shield, one arm still around Harley as she felt hot embers start to break through. And just when she thought the shield would burst they were free, soaring into the sky on their own private mountain of volcanic rock. Harley stopped the spell and the earth began to fall again, leveling out into flat surface where they stood and looked around them at the wreckage that used to be Sybak.
"Oh my God," someone whispered, and Raine was surprised to know that it was herself.
All around them was nothing but a black, ashy wasteland.
OoOoOo
Before they could talk, Genis and Sheena toppled over to the floor as the ground beneath them began to rumble. "Now what?" Zelos yelped, clutching to Kratos for dear life.
"This wouldn't be your work, would it Sheena?" Pandora asked when she landed, uncertainly wobbling her way over to the ninja. Sheena shook her head, checking to feel Gnome's garnet just to be sure she still had control over the elemental.
"I don't think-" she started, but then a booming voice rang out all around them and thunder pealed, causing Colette to shriek.
Keeper of the pact!
The noise tripled; a flash of lightning blinded them all and they cried out, covering their eyes. When they could look up again they all took a step back at the floating mass of energy before them. "Since when the hell could you talk?" Lloyd demanded of the pulsing purple orb who erupted into sight before their eyes.
"Volt?" Sheena asked, blinking away the spots in her vision. "I guess you really want me to control you too, huh?"
The alternative is to become as Efreet has- a mindless slave! The energy crackled with a brand new intensity and Volt's gleaming red eyes burned again with another strike of lightning. I can not allow it! I will not allow it! Fight me, Pact Maker, or die worthless to us!
"Whoa!" Sheena, Genis, and Pandora rolled to the side as lightning flew their way, scorching the earth and the body of Urashima to a crisp where they had been standing only moments before.
"I hate to break it to you, but you're horrendously outnumbered," Matias said, steel feathers clasped between every finger like throwing knives. "And I will protect Sheena with my li- oomph!"
She was knocked to the ground by Zelos, who hip-bumped her in the middle of her proclamation. "Nuh-uh!" he said. "I'm protecting Sheena with my life, you weird… crossdressing… pretty person you!"
"Hey!" Pandora said from her spot next to Sheena, clasping onto the ninja's hand. "If anyone is going to-"
"People, can we please discuss this later?!" Lloyd shouted frantically, pulling out his swords. Kratos swooped over to his son, wings erupting out of his back as he stood next to Lloyd.
"Triple Fang Blade!" They shouted in chorus, dragging their swords through the air so fast the friction caused flames to erupt along the blades. A wall of pure energy shot up to stop them in their tracks and Volt screamed,
FIGHT ME!!
Regal's leg guards were on and he kept his hands under control as he focused his chi to his feet, allowing his mortal body parts to come into contact with the ball of lightning and not be scorched. "Swallow Dance!" his growling voice said, flying through the air graceful as any bird.
Presea's axe flew. "Tiimmmbeeeeeeeeeeer!" the not-so-taciturn girl screeched joyously, cackling as a rush of strength flew to her arms and she cleaved Volt in two. He simply reformed himself, red eyes focusing on her, and she gulped. A solid punch of energy rammed into her gut and she flew backwards into one of Mizuho's huts, crashing right through the wall and into someone's kitchen. "Uh, sorry," she said to the terrified Mizuho woman and charged back outside, little spiders of electricity still crawling over the surface of her body.
Colette flew above them all, clasping her hands together in fervent prayer, readying a spell of her own. "Angel Feathers!" The rain of energy feathers fell down on him. Volt gave an unintelligible screech of anger, returning back to his normal static language now that he was done challenging Sheena again. Zelos and Pandora pulled out their blades, Pandora swinging hers easily around as Zelos strapped on his shield. They rushed Volt from either side as Matias joined Colette in the skies, her own storm of feathers ripping through Volt's immaterial flesh. "Sword Dancer!" Pandora said. "Hurricane Thrust!" he said, and then as one:
"Gale Force Winds!"
It was like a light show, the sun and lightning beating off the bare, gleaming bodies of their swords moving faster than the eyes could see. Genis spread his feet, both of his hands open and pointed towards Volt as arcane runes etched themselves onto the ground at his feet. His grey eyes grew bright as hot, dry winds howled around him, the mana building up inside him and burning his tongue with the raw power. "Meteor Storm!"
Sheena tried to summon Undine; she could not. She tried then the Sylph- they were gone as well.
Who do I have left, then? She wondered in fear as hunks of burning rock fell from the sky. Who do I have left…?
OoOoOo
The amethyst glowed brightly in her palms.
"Is that it?" Pandora wondered, leaning on her sword as she breathed heavily, black eyes burning still from the heat of battle. "Is it over?"
"For now…" Regal relaxed his arms to his sides. "Yes."
"This is highly unusual behavior for the Summon Spirits to seek out the Summoner, Sheena," Kratos said, sheathing his sword with a snap.
"You don't think I know that?" Sheena said after pocketing the amethyst. Zelos began to fuss over her, putting petty healing spells on her wounds and completely ignoring his fiancé, who was in worse shape than Sheena. "Jeez! Are they just going to keep popping up unless I go to them? Zelos- quit it!"
"But you're all bloody!" he wailed, wringing his hands. "My Sheena! My lovely Sheena! If you die who is left to ogle at? Kratos?"
Matias made a small noise of disgust under her breath. "This reeks of Kloitz's interference," she said. "I know him. Whatever he's planning is coming together already."
No one responded at first, until: "Got your lips fixed, huh?" Genis said airily, like he didn't really care either way, and supported Pandora with one hand clutching her elbow. "Good, those notes were getting annoying."
Matias covered her mouth with her ragged, filthy scarves once more, perhaps aware now that the ruin of her lower face was exposed for all to see. "For now, I can speak," she said to him, sounding a bit surprised. "But the Mizuho curse is still in place, though it seems to be working slower than usual. By the end of tonight, no doubt the threads will weave through my skin again, and force me to keep my silence. In the meantime…"
She looked around her, purple eyebrows rising.
"We've created quite a mess."
Blinking the fog of battle rage out of their eyes, the fighters looked around to see that the surrounding huts had all been destroyed by stray forks of lightning or spells gone awry. Sheena's heart sank like a stone to see this, shame burning her face.
"Oh no…" Colette said, holding her chakrams over her mouth.
OoOoOo
"They're all gone," Raine said, her legs giving way. She sat down, and a cloud of ashes rose up only to settle back down with her, staining her wet cheeks. "All the people. All the books. Everything…"
Harley sat, propped up next to her. "Who…?" he started, but found that he couldn't finish. One in part to the fact that his throat was too constricted, and partly because deep in his heart he already knew the answer to his own question.
Raine got to her feet, and started walking away. After a confused moment of utter isolation he followed, not knowing where they were headed, but knowing already that his wandering teacher had formulated a plan. It didn't need to be said that Mesha was dead with all the others, that revenge was paramount. Right now all that they could concern themselves with was getting a ride.
And after that, well… it wouldn't be pretty, that was for sure.
That was for damn sure.