Hey guys! Just wanted y'all to know that this is the last (official) chapter! After this one, I will post a 'Where Are They Now?' chapter, so you can see what has become of your favorite characters. If you have any fan-theories about where they are after my story, whether it contradicts what I've stated or not, I'd love to hear them! So you can message me with your theories anytime. With that said…
Swaine: Let's finish up this story so we can be free!
Me: STOP STEALING MY LINES! THAT ISN'T EVEN WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY YOU CHANGED IT!
Swaine: Can't hear you! I'm too busy waiting in the chapter. *Swaine and Esther dart into the chapter*
Me: …*Evil laugh* Little do they know, I have the perfect ending planned for this chapter, and it's awesome, and romantic. Let's finish this!
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY CHARACTERS OR REFERENCES I MAKE BESIDES TIKO, KARELI, JACINDA, AND THE STUFF RELATED TO THEM (MINUS THE WHITE WITCH IDEA AND THE ZODIARCHY). I AM JUST A SILLY LITTLE AUTHOR GIRL WHO LIKES NI NO KUNI AND WANTED TO WRITE A SWAINE/ESTHER (SWESTHER) FANFICTION
BOSS BATTLE; TERRANCE TIKO
As the battle began, Kareli immediately tore a chunk out of a Fishburger. Swallowing hard, she felt her magic reaching out in wispy fingers, bordering tangibility, until it froze. Millions of sapphire shards reared up at her command, and she flung the Shatter Me at her former puppeteer. While it was neither particularly effective nor ineffective, it did deal quite the impressive amount of damage.
Tiko glared at her with the fury of ten thousand frustrating years, and his jade eyes gleamed with an eldritch flame. He cussed under his breath, before charging up a move of his own. A shadowlike aura swirled around him, and he released a cackle filled with more maliciousness than any of them had ever witnessed. Dread filling their veins, they held their breath as they waited for the spell's outcome.
CENTURION
Only for nothing to happen.
"Is that all?" Marcassin asked with a cheeky grin, making his brother proud. "And, more importantly, am I the only one who finds this…familiar?" His gazed drifted over to Drippy, who was fuming.
While the Porcine Prince was distracted, Tiko charged up a second move. His eyes shone brighter and brighter, until the light they emitted was reminiscent to that of two green searchlights. Marcassin whipped his head towards the strange light, but, when he did so, his pupils dilated, and stars danced around his head.
MYSTERION
Marcassin then turned towards Jacinda, almost as though he were being controlled by puppet strings. With a flick of the wrist, his Imperial Scepter had swept to backs of her legs, leading the enchantress crashing down to the ground. Obviously shocked and angry, Jacinda propped herself up on her hands and knees, before sneering at him.
"HOLY HONKING JALEPENO, DUDE!" she barked. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
"That was for stealing my White Witch!" Marcassin replied, though his voice was clearly not his own. Tiko's hatred burned in the prince's eyes, and Jacinda realized with a growing terror what-or, rather, who-was making him do this.
"Nope, nope, nope, triple-decker NOPE!" the woman yelled as she scooted away from her now-attacker. She jumped to her feet, cringing as she was forced to charge up a move against him.
Meanwhile, Swaine was feeling pretty good. He was landing more than a few blows on Tiko, and while he wasn't the biggest contributor damage-wise, he believed he had this thing in the bag. A smug grin spread across his face as he fired off yet another shot.
"Try that on for size!" he exclaimed. The thief laughed, before feeling a piercing pain in his right arm.
Screaming, he looked down at his arm, to find it bloody. He shot his gaze to Tiko, whose teeth now glinted red. A forked tongue licked off the coppery liquid, making Swaine's stomach turn with disgust.
Pleased by the thief's horror, Tiko opened his cavernous maw. Rearing his head, he blazed towards his target. Swaine leapt back, hoping with every bone in his body that he'd be out of the way in time.
Cassiopeia, however, was not focused on this. She was more concerned with the traitorous party member currently facing Jacinda. The latter was currently attempting not to die, and with both a Zodiarch and a Great Sage to reckon with, she was clearly struggling.
As the enchantress drank a strong coffee, Cassiopeia noticed "Marcassin's" arm swinging back, ready to plunge his Imperial Scepter into Jacinda's heart. In an act of bravery, the Queen of Nazcaa grabbed the Specter just below the spearhead, and threw the Puppet Prince onto the arena floor. Pulling out a Confusion-Be-Gone, she slammed the hammer onto his temple, and in an instant, the stars disappeared.
Marcassin opened his eyes, which were now normal once more. He stood back up to see Jacinda shaking her fists at him, and Cassiopeia with a red and yellow, plastic hammer. Memories flooding back to him, he rubbed his nose bridge.
"I sincerely apologize for any trouble I may have caused you," he said, his voice once again belonging to him. Jacinda met Cassiopeia's eyes, and was returned with a warm grin. The enchantress sighed, finally relaxing at least somewhat.
"Oh, it wasn't you," she replied. "It was Midas over there. Thanks for apologizing, though."
At that moment, the draconic head of the man Jacinda had jokingly called "Midas" landed in front of them, his upper jaw deep within the floor tiles. Swaine ran around the crash zone, glad to be away from the Zodiarch. Tiko pried his teeth out of the floor, before facing the terrified Queen.
Drippy had been waiting on the sidelines until now. But when Tiko was just about ready to devour the ruler of Nazcaa, our resident fairy was just about ready to prove himself. Running as fast as he could to the scene of action, Drippy positioned himself behind the dragon's head.
Coming to a stop, he sucked in a deep breath, raised his head, and flung forth a fierce line of flames.
"ACHOO!"
Tiko's attention was now on Drippy, as that Flippin' Fire-finally pulling its weight-had dealt two hundred Effective damage. For a moment, Drippy was proud. But, after realizing that he had enraged possibly the most powerful creature in the magical world, he ran off.
"Insolent fool!" Tiko growled. Baring his teeth, he charged up one of his more dangerous moves. Electricity sparked around his teeth, and spiraled around his deer-like horns.
THUNDER ROLLS
"And the thunder ro-o-olls!" Jacinda sang.
"The lightning strikes!" Kareli finished.
"Oh, you two are quite annoying." Tiko then changed his aim, and two bolts of lightning struck each of the girls. However, after consuming their necessary provisions, they seemed to care more about his statement than his action.
"What do you have against Garth Brooks?!" Kareli asked.
"Those discordant notes you call 'music' are nothing more than southern rubbish," Tiko answered matter-of-factly.
"Oh, HECK no!" the Sorceress screeched. Within seconds, shards of crystal whistled through the air as they sailed, prepared to deal as much damage as possible.
Never mess with country girls.
The sapphires buried themselves into Tiko's flesh, but he still had another trick up his sleeve. He lashed out his tail, and Esther was the only one who saw him grab the Gold Glim. Heart pounding, she ducked for cover.
He circled his long body around Swaine, grinning with fangs sharp enough to slice steel. Oh, Tiko didn't just enjoy this feeling of power-he relished in it. He unleashed an ear-piercing roar, shaking the ground.
REPTILIAN ROAR
Cassiopeia knew what this meant. After all, she had known Tiko for ten thousand years while she had been the White Witch. Thus, she knew the deadly power it held-the power to drain a person's health entirely in a single blast.
That said, she was shocked to find that, rather than unconscious, Swaine was now completely encased in sapphire.
Esther ran to her beloved's side, death-glaring Kareli.
"What did you do?!" she yelled. "I thought we could trust you!"
"And you can," The Sorceress replied, using that calm demeanor they'd heard before her battle. "If I hadn't encased him in crystal, the move would've killed him instantly. This way, he'll be frozen for a turn, and then he can fight again."
Esther gazed into Swaine's eyes, and grunted. "Fine. I'll trust you…for now." She didn't understand why everyone was suddenly trusting Kareli. Sure, she was good now, and they needed to team up with her to stop Tiko…but it had only been fifteen minutes since they'd been fighting her, and Esther, unlike seemingly everyone else, hadn't forgotten that.
If Tiko weren't enraged already, then he was currently showing fury like none other. After all his hard work, all those years spent manipulating, he couldn't even control someone enough to stay put?! He stood on his hind legs before whipping his tail across the arena floor, and gave a low growl as Centurion-his defence booster-ran out.
Swaine's statue was knocked to its side, landing with a "clink". Luckily, the crystal was durable enough that he wasn't scratched or shattered. However, the woman who had casted that spell was now pinned under the golden tail of a dragon.
"Kare-Bear!" Jacinda shouted in distress-not as much as when she had thought Kareli was dead, but still horrified. Instinctively, she started running to her sister's side, but the metallic beast attempting to bite her head off chased her away.
Esther looked back to her lover, mouthed out the words "I'm Sorry", and immediately got to work. Be it a Cacophony or a Twinkle Twinkle, she didn't hesitate in throwing everything she had at Tiko. She could almost hear Swaine making some joke about her "finally growing a backbone", but she knew she still had a full turn left to wait.
Thunder Rolled. Party members were possessed. Jacinda had given them all a defense booster, but that seemed to be the only upside for the situation.
Marcassin, furious after being possessed for the second time, raised his Imperial Scepter. He stabbed Tiko in the tail, and an ominous nebula poured out of the wound rather than blood. The dragon roared in a fury.
"Imbecile!" Tiko shouted, waving his tail in the air.
"Oh, I think someone needs to take a look in the mirror," said a familiar, high-pitched voice. Tiko spun around and saw Kareli standing at the other end of the arena, out of his reach. By her side was a glowing Jacinda, who had obviously just used a Travel spell to get the two of them there as fast as possible.
"You two honestly believe you could get away that easi-" Orange numbers flashed as a gust of flame interrupted him. When he hit the ground, he saw a very smug fairy wiping his nose with a Kleenex.
"Yes, we do," Jacinda returned, sipping an espresso. However, Tiko wasn't dead. Weakened, yes, but still alive.
Swaine, now back to normal, looked at the sisters and smiled. "I think you two should do the honors." With that, the sisters looked at each other, and assumed a battle stance.
"This is what you get for manipulating me, you [CENSORED]!" Kareli yelled at the top of her lungs. Jacinda extended her right hand towards Tiko at an angle, and Kareli did the same with the wand in her left.
From Jacinda's palm shot a golden beam of light, and a blue beam of light sprung from Kareli's wand. The two beams met, and a basketball-sized orb of gray magic formed at the vertex. The sisters looked at each other once more, before turning back to the Zodiarch and releasing a wordless grunt. At that moment, a two-toned ray of golden and navy magic blazed its way to Tiko.
"No no no no no no no no NO!" The ray hit him in the neck, spreading a white, glowing spiderweb of cracks along his body. The cracks shone brighter and brighter with every passing second, until Tiko's body exploded from the sheer power, scattering gold scales across the floor. And with that, the Last of the Zodiarchs was dead.
The arena began to flicker, before fading back into the Throne Room of the Pristine Palace. Everyone spent at least five minutes of pure silence, trying to process all that had just happened. As should be no surprise to you, Drippy was the one to break the silence, as he picked up a gold scale about the size of his head.
"We're flippin' rich, mun! Rich!" The fairy exclaimed. Swaine was the first to start laughing, though he was soon followed by everyone else. However, they weren't laughing from the joke-they were laughing from the unbridled joy they felt from knowing that Tiko was gone forever.
It didn't take long before Jacinda and Kareli started crying uncontrollably. They hugged each other so tightly that one would fear of them suffocating one another. Their smiles were so grand, so pure, that those who had seen it would later say that they had never seen and would never see again a smile like theirs on anyone else's face.
When they finally pulled away, Kareli faced her sister.
"I'm so sorry for everything I did to you," she said with tears in her eyes. "I was cruel to you, and, though Tiko was a strong influence, I understand that he doesn't excuse it. He may explain it, but not excuse it, by any means. You don't have to forgive me, but-"
"I forgive you," Jacinda interrupted. Kareli gazed up at her, and Jacinda gave a half-grin. There was still pain lingering in her eyes from all the terrible years she'd spent as "Jacinderella", but the fire in her eyes showed that she was determined to put that behind her.
Kareli then turned towards Swaine, Esther, Marcassin and Cassiopeia-not Drippy, as the Lord High Lord of the Fairies was currently taking a bath in the jewels left over from the fight.
"Thank you all for saving me. If it weren't for you, I'd still be under his control. I'd still be doing horrible to my subjects," she looked to Jacinda, "and my sister.
"Now, I know you all probably have so much to do now, and want to go and finally rest. Though I know it won't make up for what I've done, I extend an offer to you all to stay here for the night. Now that Tiko is gone, we can be at peace once more, I'm sure. Food shall be delivered to your rooms. They are back that way," she pointed at the door to the throne room "and to the right.
The first and second doors."
And so, dragging Drippy behind them, they went to find their rooms.
(Since the Kareli speech, it's been me, cbuug. The rest was Dalek9, though I for sure have already changed some dialogue. So I guess so far 90% her, 10% me. But now It's just moi. And you remember what that means…mweheheheh!
ALL SWESTHER HATERS, DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE READING THIS, BUT YOU WILL HATE WHAT IS COMING. CLICK OFF NOW.
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Now that the sissies are gone, hang tight, y'all.)
"Hey, uh, wait up!" Swaine turned around to see Esther running after him, having fallen behind.
"Oh. Hey, Blondie. What's up?" She sighed, but let it go.
"Nothing. Just wanted to talk. I didn't have time before, but I wondered something. Why did you save me when we were fighting the Sapphire Sorceress? Who knows what could've happened when that ball of Sapphire hit me! You could've been throwing yourself into certain death!"
"Yep. And...though it was dangerous...I'd do it again, if I could."
"...What? Why?" Her voice was soft as she gazed up at him, shock and confusion written all over her face. "...Because, I know we have our differences, and you can be a pain in my arse sometimes, I don't think I could live with myself if you died. I just couldn't."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying..." he scratched his hair and averted his gaze, "that I love you. Or something like that."
"...Wow."
"I know it's sudden, but if it's okay...can we..." he shuffled awkwardly. "Go get some Tiki Mahalas or something?" He didn't wait for an answer before he facepalmed "I'm sorry, I'm just being awkward. You, a great sage's daughter, would never want to date a guy li-"
"Swaine?"
"...yeah?" He pulled his hand away from his face, just in time to see her stop backing up. She then ran at him, threw her arms around his neck, and kisses him like she'd never known she could. He caught her in his arms, and they shared a blissful moment of passion and peace.
"Should we do something about that?" Cassiopeia shrugged in response to Marcassin's question.
"I guess it's fine. After all, love works in mysterious ways." She then kissed him on the cheek. "I'll get Drippy inside our room before he wakes up...wanna come, so you stop watching your brother?" Marcassin nodded, blushing red as a Confusion-Be-Gone, and so they dragged Drippy away, letting the two lovebirds kiss and plan their first date in peace.
A/N; Welcome to the three day long TTATB Ending Bonanza! Expect a 'Where Are They Now?' chapter tomorrow! Bye y'all!