5 Years Later – Chapter Twenty-Five...
All Joy knew was that someone was holding her, tight.
Opening her eyes, she not only saw that Brick was the one holding her, but that she was see-through just like him.
"...that was a close one," Brick murmured. "...Well, at least we're in the big guy now..."
"..we are?" Joy asked, with Brick nodding in reply.
"Let's go find him."
Brick had Joy by her hand, and the two of them started floating off into... the dark void they discovered themselves to be in. Joy had only seen something like this in her dreams, and everytime she had a dream about places like this, it was scary.
"...Papa, why am I see-through?" Joy asked.
"Well, I guess I yanked your soul out of your body," Brick said. "We could only go inside the big monster if we're just ghosts."
Joy grew scared. "...does that mean I'm not alive no more?"
"...don't worry, pumpkin, you're not dead," Brick said. "I made sure to soften that blow before we jumped into that fist. The most you are is just unconscious..." Even if it was just a void, and they were floating, they could feel the area quake violently. Joy clutched to Brick. "...on the other hand," Brick added uneasily. "...everyone out there might think you're dead, which doesn't mean very good things..."
"But can't Mama and Daddy tell I'm not dead?" Joy asked.
"...these things are complicated, sweetie," Brick mumbled. "Sometimes, they can tell you're alive, sometimes, when someone's soul is yanked out of their body so quickly, they look like they're dead...even feel like it." He continued to bring Joy through the void, with another rumble to the area. "...Goddess needs to be more specific on this crap," he grumbled under his breath.
All around them as they floated through the void, they could see flashes of gold and green go off, along with hearing several bestial roars ringing from every direction.
Joy held to Brick in fear. Brick just became more uneasy, as well as severely guilty.
Brownie, I'm sorry if this really hurts you and Metal, he thought.
Well, as long as they kept Spiel busy from noticing anything, the two of them could find Deity, do what they came here to do, and get out of here.
Finally, they came to something; double doors with stained glass windows on them.
While Brick didn't expect them, Joy recognized them somehow. "...I saw those in a dream," she said.
"Did'ja?" Brick said.
Joy nodded. "...Mama and I go through those doors and walk into a safe place in my dreams."
"...huh..." Brick murmured, just looking down at her blankly.
The doors opened for them without them even touching them, and curiously, the two of them floated inside. Then the doors shut behind them, and vanished from sight.
Once the doors closed, the two noticed that it was raining all around them. Looking around, everywhere they saw, it seemed like the remains of a warzone; craters were spread out everywhere, helmets, weapons and bodies littered the ground, and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.
Joy covered her nose. "It's stinky!"
"...well, you're quite the war enthusiast, huh Spiel?" Brick murmured to himself.
"Yes, he is."
Brick grabbed Joy protectively when he heard that voice, and the two saw someone approach them. His boots squished in the mud, and his overcoat was drenched in the rain, while he looked at them with pale, icy purple eyes.
Deity Novagod.
"...well, Cainfield, I didn't think I'd see you here," Deity sneered.
Brick was taken aback by the fact that Deity was showing actual emotion. ...when did that happen? he thought.
At that point, the bodies around Novagod slowly began crawling towards the vampire, letting out hellish moans as they approached him. Joy somehow didn't show fear, in front of such a fearsome opponent, and especially when the zombies moved about.
Well, at least she tried not to; Brick could feel the ever slightest shudder from her.
"I have to credit your daughter's bravery, Cainfield," Deity said. "She surely is the offspring of you and Jillian. Bold. Daring. Compassionate." He glared at them. "Naive and impulsive."
"We don't have the time, Deity," Brick growled. "Unless we take you down, they won't have any hope of stopping Spiel." He released Joy, so that he could take a fighter's stance. "So let's finish everything, right now!"
Brick didn't want Deity to catch onto Joy's idea. He still wasn't even sure, himself, if it would work, but if it had a chance, then they would use the element of surprise to their advantage.
Deity only stared at him.
Just then, a massive explosion erupted to the side of the three, and judging from the sound, it was cannon fire. In fact, the moment Brick had challenged Deity, several explosions began erupting all around them, as if someone was cleaning out the area of survivors.
Joy stayed close to Brick and watched to see if Deity would accept Brick's challenge or not.
"...very well," Deity said, suddenly throwing beams of Corruption at them.
Brick frantically grabbed Joy and moved out of the way. However, with the explosions around them, moving wouldn't be that easy. On the plus side, this went for Deity just as much as it did for Brick and Joy. The opponents circled around each other just to evade these explosions; and for Brick and Joy, to avoid Deity's oncoming attacks.
"...he's gonna be tough," Brick muttered.
"Lemmie help!" Joy held out her arms while Brick ran, and she started shooting beams of her energy at Deity. Now it was just a game of tag; both parties evading explosions AND each others attacks.
Finally, the first hit was made, and luckily, it was Deity that took the hit, stumbling a bit. He growled. "...yes, she is definitely your offspring," he hissed; feeling the pain seep in where he was shot. Then he waved his hand. "Get them," he commanded.
Slowly, the zombies scrambled to their feet, some of them suddenly rushing right at Brick and Joy... however, the majority merely looked at the vampire.
"...what?" Deity questioned.
Brick and Joy both wiped out the zombies that ran after them, and that's when they noticed the same thing to their puzzlement.
One of the zombies then stepped forward, glaring at Deity. "...we do not serve you." In that instant, the zombie suddenly grabbed Deity's arm, and bit down on it, just as the other zombies began crowding around the vampire. Instantly, more zombies crawled out from the ground, some of them headed for Deity, and others for Brick and Joy.
The three of them started fighting them back; although Brick and Joy had more success fighting them back than Deity did because of the powers they possessed.
However, more and more zombies crawled out from everywhere, most of them heading for Deity, for some reason.
Brick let out a chuckle, "How's it feel for your forces to backfire, for once?"
Deity let out a blast of Corruption that knocked all of the zombies back in pieces.
Brick watched this with a nervous sweat.
As this went on, the zombies suddenly reassembled, all of them heading for Deity.
In that instant, one zombie grabbed hold of Brick, forcing him to face the undead husk directly. "We are not his forces! We linger within this body... though, it hasn't long left..."
"What the-?" Startlingly, Brick pried away from this zombie, taking a few breaths to calm down. "...what's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
"...it means what it means..." the zombie uttered, lurching towards Brick. "...once the vampire is gone... this body will not last..."
While Brick visibly panicked, Joy shot a beam of green energy that instantly shattered the husk, knocking it into the ground.
"...good going," Brick mumbled.
"Papa!" Joy said. "We gotsa hurry! Deity's still gots Obli'von! We gotta save her!"
Speaking of Deity, at the moment, several zombies were tearing into his body, biting, clawing and generally making a mess of him.
"...well, how do you intend to do that?" Brick asked.
"Watch me!" Joy jumped out of Brick's arms and started crawling underneath the zombie's legs to get to Deity. Brick didn't exactly know what Joy meant; maybe she meant cover her? Anyhow, he watched to make sure that Deity wouldn't accidentally hit her in his struggle against the zombies.
Finally, Joy was right at Deity's feet, and covered in mud she was, but that didn't stop her. Then an aura of green energy surrounded her body.
Deity only had a chance to look. "?"
Brick witnessed his daughter let out a blast that knocked all of the zombies back; including Deity Novagod. "...whoa..." Joy just amazed him. Was that REALLY his daughter? At such a young age, she was fighting, and beating those bigger and stronger than her.
He'd smile at how proud he was, but he didn't want to lose focus.
As Deity got up, Joy pushed him back. This was similar to what she did to him when Deity possessed her mom, but this time, Deity wasn't blown away. Out from his back, another transparent figure shot out and fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
The zombies, scattered, all looked towards this figure with puzzled looks.
"...that was...horrible..." the transparent figure sat up, and a white unicorn looked at Joy in amazement. "...it's you."
"Obli'von!" but what Joy didn't count on was Deity right behind her, grabbing her by her collar. "Leggo!" Joy protested, struggling.
"Hey!" Brick yelled, running for him, but he sort of forgot about the zombies there.
Indeed; some of the zombies suddenly grabbed Brick and held him in place. However, more zombies crowded around Deity, clawing at him to try and force him to let go of Joy.
Deity fought them back to keep his grip on Joy, but then she kicked him in the stomach. While that probably wouldn't hurt for Deity, it was enough for him to release her, and Joy ran over to Oblivion's side.
Slowly, the zombies were trying to pull Deity down into the, admittedly, massive crowd of undead around him, many of them biting at his body.
"...we can't let Deity go bye bye," Joy said. "If he disappears, then Spiel will hurt my Mama and Daddy..."
Oblivion looked down at Joy, and then back at Deity. "...what are you trying to do, Joy?" she asked in disbelief.
"...I wanna make him not bad no more," and Joy covered herself in more of her green energy, just so she could make another blast like the one before.
The blast blew away all of the zombies, spreading them far away from Deity.
"...you wish...to purify me?" Deity asked her, watching her walk up to him. The suggestion was quite...strange.
"Mhm," Joy said with a nod.
Brick ran over to Oblivion, helping her onto her feet. Oblivion didn't even know who he was, but when she glanced at him, she almost had a feeling or two. However, the attention was more importantly drawn to Joy and Deity.
"...ridiculous," Deity finally scoffed. "I can't be purified." It sounded like he was appalled by the idea. This no doubt discouraged Oblivion, and made Brick feel a little foolish to let her do this, but Joy's powers had surprised people.
"But I gotsa try," Joy said, with a surpringly sweet tone.
Deity only made his arm into a dark blade, and threatened to slash her.
While Brick was going to jump on that and protect her, both he and Oblivion witnessed another blade block Deity's. They, as well as the vampire, froze at what they saw.
The little ewe was not a child, but a woman. Her chocolate brown waves shot out from underneath the black hat of a pirate captain, with white feathers sticking out of it's side. Even though the overcoats were getting drenched, they still radiated with an otherworldly beauty that just surrounded this woman. Lively green eyes looked back at Deity Novagod with determination.
"Anything's possible if you put your mind to it," the woman spoke.
Brick's eyes widened. So did Oblivion's. "She sounds...just like her mother," the unicorn uttered.
"...interesting," Deity murmured, turning his other arm into a blade, but when he thrust it at Joy, she blocked with a hidden dagger from her coat. Then the vampire jumped back, looking over Joy in bewilderment. "...your powers are curious, indeed," he muttered. To Brick, he could tell that Deity was trying to hide how surprised he was.
"My Mom and Dad are counting on me!" Joy said, raising her weapons. "And so's everybody else!" So she ran at Deity, and their sword duel commenced.
"...how interesting..." At that point, Brick and Oblivion noticed a zombie lying besides them, watching the battle; Brick would recognize the zombie as the one who not only had spoken to him earlier, but the one who had initiated the attack on Deity to begin with as well. "...that she can draw out such power, in spite of her age..."
"...it's mind boggling," Brick murmured, feeling slightly awkward talking to a dead corpse while watching them battle.
"...seeing her... reminds me of him, back in the day..." the zombie hummed. "...full of energy, and always ready to do what he felt was right... I can only hope that her life will be longer than his..."
"...what do you mean?" Oblivion asked curiously. "...are you talking about...Spiel?"
"...yes." the zombie nodded. "In fact, on this very battlefield, where he was the sole survivor... he learned that he was terminally ill. In my last moments, I saw him proclaim that he would write his name in history... but once the vampire vanishes... he won't have long left..."
"...in your last moments..." Brick murmured, looking around at the terrain. "...so this is from a memory of his..."
"...but then...who are you?" Oblivion asked.
Slowly sitting up, the zombie cracked its neck. Upon further inspection (which had been a bit difficult, given the chaos earlier), they saw that it was a Mobian bird of sorts, though its feathers were long-since plucked off, its dried-up body not giving a clear indication of its proper species. "...a former ally of his." it said.
"...really now," Brick murmured, taking a quick glance at the battle.
Joy and Deity were going all out. Joy was leaping around with quick agility, and Deity was using flight to his advantage.
Joy at one paint, distanced away. When she opened her hands, something appeared in there that Brick recognized; it was Jill's old bow, before she started to use Unity. Joy took that bow and shot a beam of green energy up in the air, which transformed into a giant dragon of green energy that flew right at Deity. The vampire was knocked away by it's claws, but on the rebound, Deity cut the creature into pieces, leaving it to wither away in the rain.
"...how quick. She must take from someone." the zombie commented.
"...at this point, I wouldn't even think she inherited her abilities from me and Brownie," Brick mumbled.
Oblivion glanced at him from the corner of her eye. ...so it is him, she thought. Joy's real father.
Deity threw slash waves of Corruption at her, but Joy cut them down with her sword; which Brick realized was also familiar. It was Jill's holy blade, from when she was using Purity; the sword with the hilt of angel wings and the white rose.
Jumping high into the air, Joy raised her sword, and threw it onto the ground. The wave of green energy that came from that was incredibly gargantuan; the earth itself parted in its presence, while it shot for Deity. The vampire was blown away a distance, and just when he got up, he met face to face with Joy, barely blocking a sword slash she came at him with.
"...certainly impressive... what I would give to witness a battle like that if I were still alive..." the zombie mused.
"...what I would give to just be alive," Brick murmured in his own opinion. Watching Joy, again, made him proud. It also made him sad that he wasn't around for her...that he wasn't around for Jill.
Deity was growing irritated with how quick Joy was and how impossible it was to take her down, so with a growl, he turned into black goo and started mutating.
"Uh oh," Joy observed that this wasn't good at all.
"...he's stalling." the zombie hummed. "I doubt it'll make a difference for the outcome."
What Deity morphed into was a giant black dragon, one that Brick only recognized easily from the events of 5 years ago. Not only that, but Joy recognized it too; after all, she had seen this creature in her dreams.
"The monster," she said, raising her blade defensively.
The Corruption Dragon didn't hesitate to swipe at her with its claws, but Joy was focused, jumping over and running along the large dragon's back. The dragon roared, and tried to shake Joy off. Joy slipped, but she caught her footing again on the ground, just in time to jump over the dragon's tail swinging at her.
Then the dragon flapped it's wings to blow Joy away. At first, it did, but Joy stuck her sword in the ground so that the gusts couldn't blow her away. Joy then whipped her hand forward and shot a beam of green energy at the dragon, which stopped it from making the wind tunnels. Joy took that opportunity and ran at the dragon with her sword, but when she'd thrust it at it, the dragon whacked her away with its claws.
"...c'mon pumpkin," Brick urged. "You can do it."
Joy got back up from the ground, covered in mud, but otherwise still okay. That was when the dragon scooped Joy up and threw her into the air. Then it opened its mouth and shot black fire at the midair ewe.
Joy, somehow, moved away from the fire, and when everyone got a good glimpse, they saw that she had angelic wings. The dragon roared in protest, and tried to swipe at Joy again while also shooting fire at the girl that swarmed around the creature like a bumble bee. Joy landed again on the dragon's back, but when she ran down its back, the dragon flapped its wings and started to take flight. She slipped off again, but this time she managed to catch herself on one of the dragon's legs; but she dropped her sword.
So she let go of the dragon leg to dive after her sword and catch it before it hit the ground.
When she did, she glanced back and saw that the dragon was flying at her, so a high speed flying chase ensued up above, while the dragon continued to shoot black fireballs at the flying girl.
"...she got it." the zombie nodded, completely certain that Novagod's tactic would fail him.
One opponent finally made their hit on the other; Joy was shot down by a single blast of fire, and when she landed on the ground, she tried to put out the black flames that burned at her clothes. Then the Corruption Dragon came down and stomped its claws down on her, pinning her.
Oblivion gasped and she was going to get over there, but Brick stopped her. "Don't," he said. "Let her handle it..."
The Corruption Dragon opened its mouth to conduct more dark energy within. Joy only looked up at it, wriggled her hand free, and pointed her palm at it. One shot of green energy hit its eye, and with a screech, the Corruption Dragon stepped away from her. It bled black ooze from where Joy hit.
Joy took this moment of its weakness to, again, fly up on its back. This time, she used the blade to slice off the wings, which made the dragon roar again in pain.
When the Corruption Dragon tried to swipe her off, Joy only jumped down. Then she turned around toward it, and she began with so many slashes it was hard to see with the naked eye because they were so rapid. Things were quickly lopped off the dragon; its tail, it's claws, parts of its head, and at the last minute, it's neck. Its head rolled over in the mushy mud, while the body finally collapsed onto the ground.
Silence in the rain. Oblivion only looked at her in amazement. "...she...beat him?"
The body of the dragon turned into goo, which melted back into the form of Deity Novagod. Joy walked over to him, pinning him with a foot. He growled at her.
"...how..." he questioned. "...no one could truly best me...no one...but you."
Joy shrugged. "I guess I'm the lucky one." She jabbed her hands down on Deity; actually stabbing him, and he bled more black goo while crying out in pain. When she put a white glow to her hands, Deity started to cry out in more pain; howling in fact.
Joy suddenly found that it hurt her too. While she held in pained whimpers, strange markings started to appear around her.
"...Joy?" Brick grew worried, and he was the one who'd run over there if Oblivion didn't grab him and stop him. Brick had seen this before on Jill, and it never meant anything good.
"...purifying me...is impossible!" Deity yelled at her, screaming in pain again afterwards.
"I'm still going to try!" Joy proclaimed.
A crack of white light appeared on Deity's face, with the frozen expression of horror on him. Oblivion and Brick gasped.
"...oh my god..." Oblivion muttered.
More strange markings appeared on Joy, and she yelped out, but she kept going.
"...that's it, pumpkin," Brick encouraged. "...keep going."
More cracks appeared on Deity Novagod. "...but...but this is..." he couldn't believe it. "...i-impossible!"
"...nothing is impossible." the zombie chuckled. "As long as you put your mind on it."
Deity let out another roar, and it seemed to be at the peak of this, because Joy also let out a roar.
"...stand back," Brick uttered, actually taking a few steps away. "I think he's going to-"
But he was a little late on that warning, because Deity Novagod shattered apart, in place of a blinding light. It took over Joy, and then the blinding flash expanded. Both Brick and Oblivion had to shut their eyes to keep themselves from going blind.
Jill collapsed on the ground, weak beyond comprehension. It was no use; this guy was strong. And while she faded out of her Super form to catch her breath, she glanced over at her daughter lying on the cold ground in depression.
It was just no use...
With a powerful slam, Metal was sent crashing into the ground as well, landing next to Jill. "...kkh... too strong..." he coughed, still raring to go, but he still looked up at Spiel.
"...so in the end, you couldn't stop me." Spiel chuckled, slowly raising his leg. "Time to die!"
When he tried stomping the two down, Metal suddenly formed a barrier of liquid metal, stopping the incoming foot, but only barely; the metal was cracking heavily, and one more stomp would tear through it, crushing them. "...tsch..."
"...this one's for Krieg, Jillian Condit." Spiel chuckled, slowly raising his leg again, for the final blow. "Now..." When he sent his leg downwards, however, just before hitting the barrier, he stopped.
"...hn?" Metal blinked, looking up at Spiel.
"...guh..." Coughing, Spiel grasped his throat, before the darkness around him began fading away. "...what's... happening...?"
Jill looked up in awe at what was happening, totally clueless what was going on.
Slowly, but surely, Spiel stepped backwards, breathing rapidly. As the darkness withered away from around him, he slowly shrank, letting out pained cries. "IT HURTS!" he roared, clawing desperately at his throat, but to no avail. Soon, the fact that it once looked like a gargantuan, ten-winged pig made from shadows was impossible to determine, as he slowly deformed into a shrinking cloud of darkness, which stopped once it reached Spiel's original height.
At that point, the darkness flowed away with the wind, and they could see Spiel with his bat-wings and large sword standing there, though he still held his throat. Slowly, the wings cracked, before evaporating into dark clouds, which faded away in the rain, along with the black that had stained his shirt. Soon, the pig stood before them, degraded to normal.
This was a sheer miracle to everyone; just when they thought everything would end for the worst, this happens.
Jill slowly managed to get to her feet, and helped Metal to his feet while watching this. Just what could have happened?
"...wha..." Spiel coughed, stumbling backwards a bit. "...what in the world...? What happened to... my power...?"
A thought occurred to Jill that brought her to look at her daughter again.
…was it possible? Had Joy done something?
Metal, too, glanced towards Joy, before looking at Jill. "...do you... think that she's..."
Jill didn't answer, watching Joy carefully, because she didn't want her hopes to be shot down. …please, she thought in desperation. Please…Joy, wake up…
Suddenly, there was movement.
Jill gasped, "…J-Joy?"
Joy mumbled and rubbed her eyes, and sat up. But instead of looking toward Metal and Jill, she looked toward Spiel.
Spiel merely glared at her. "...what...?" he growled.
"…are you okay?" Joy asked worriedly, walking toward the pig.
"...what the hell... are you talkin' about...?" Spiel growled, slowly lifting his sword. "...what... did you do...?"
"…I made that bad man bad no more," Joy said with a friendly smile.
"…she…what?" Jill uttered in disbelief. And just to answer her question, a transparent figure stepped out of Spiel and collapsed to the ground before them.
Blinking, Spiel looked down at this figure, as did everyone else.
Looking up at Joy was a bat, but this one was so different from the embodiment of evil that lived for 65 years. This bat was white as snow, with short hair on his head. His eyes weren't lifeless and cold…they glistened, and they stared at Joy in wondering.
Jill's mouth hung open. "…is that…Deity?"
The bat's wondering gaze turned into a sharp glare. "What did you do?" he yelled at her, anger ringing in his voice. Rising to his feet, he waved his hand…
….but nothing happened.
Shocked, Deity stared at his hand, and then back at Joy.
"...did... he try using Corruption...?" Metal uttered, before he looked at Joy. "...she... purified him...?"
Deity stepped away from Joy. "…but…but that's impossible…" He would tell himself that over and over again, but it wouldn't solve anything.
This child utterly defeated him.
Joy looked at Deity with a bewildered look. "…you're still a bad man?" she muttered.
Deity growled. "Of course I am! I was rotten to the core!"
"…but she still took your powers away," Tasha said.
"...and now..." King uttered, his eyes narrowing. "...now you're nothing more than a ghost."
Deity continued to stare at Joy. He couldn't believe it. All of that, all that he did over the years, wasted.
A large group ran up to this from behind Tasha, King and Krieg, which were Sage and the rest of the gang that were left behind. They stopped right behind the lynx and the tiger, and stared in bafflement.
"…who's that…?" Striker sputtered, pointing to the bat ghost.
"…that's…Deity Novagod…" Milo replied in the same disbelief as everyone else.
"...be ye serious?" Whisker sputtered.
"...it's him, alright." Sage uttered; her eyes wide. "...but... I can't spot any Corruption."
Jack, looking at this, was silent.
"…did…Joy do something to him?" Hunter asked, slowly turning his gaze to the toddler that stared at the bat.
Deity really just wanted to disappear now. Nothing was more humiliating than hitting rock bottom because of a child. He was dead, and now he couldn't do anything at all about it. He was nothing more than an ordinary ghost, and even if spirits have fought in the past, it would be nothing compared to the power he once held. It wouldn't be the same.
He just fell to his knees, and sat down. Then the spirit slowly started withering away in sparkling dust.
"…it's over for me," he spoke hopelessly.
"...the hell it is." Jack suddenly said, causing everyone to look at him with surprised looks.
In that instant, someone who looked exactly like Jack, aside from a hole in his chest and a scar between his eyes, emerged from his body and ran up to the withering Deity, grabbing him and picking him up by the collar. "...remember me, Novagod?" he said wickedly.
Deity actually shuddered, and looked down at him in fright. "J-Johnny?"
"You haven't forgotten about me!" Johnny laughed. "Man, do I appreciate that! Now... you said it's over? I don't think so. Because you and I are gonna have tons of fun." Then, he looked over at Jill. "...Callous... I dunno if you can hear me, but... you won't mind if I take him with me, right?"
"Not at all," That came out of Jill before she realized it. One of her eyes was red, while the other was green. So…while Callous had taken control, Jill was aware of it this time. "I mean, it ought to lift some weight off of some shoulders, right?"
Hearing that, Johnny grinned wickedly. "Just what I wanted to hear. How about I swing around after... oh, a month or so? I can tell you all about how much fun we've had, and you can even request what we can do once I get back to him!" Then, he looked at Deity. "Right, Novagod? Won't we have so much fun? It's gonna be a blast, right?" he laughed.
"N-no!" Deity wanted to struggle out of Johnny's grasp, but he was so weak right now that it wasn't possible. "No, please, have mercy! You've had mercy on the others!"
"After everything YOU did?" Ani threw in angrily. "I don't think so! You're getting what you deserve right here!"
Joy looked a little sad. She thought that Deity might have been a good guy deep inside, but it looks like it wasn't what she expected.
"C-C'mon Joy!" Deity whimpered, looking down at her and seeing her like that. "You wouldn't let them hurt me, right?"
Everyone looked at Joy.
Joy just looked up at him sadly. "…you hurt lotsa people…and you still wanted to hurt lotsa people," she said, turning away and walking toward Metal and Jill.
Deity was shocked that even the 3 year old didn't want to help him. "…no…"
"...well, you can't win all of them over." Johnny chuckled, before the ground beneath them opened. "Now, you and I are gonna have lots of fun... so give Johnny a good, old-fashioned... SCREAM!"
On cue, Deity screamed in terror. Then the two of them quickly sunk beneath the ground.
With that, they were gone without a trace.
Joy watched that with more sadness. She couldn't save him…but, at least everything was over now, and so she looked back up at Metal and Jill.
At the moment, the two of them were frozen.
Jill knelt down to Joy, finally. Then she clutched to her and cried again in her daughter's own shoulders, but this time they were tears of utter relief and true happiness. Joy hugged her mother, letting her cry.
"I thought I lost you!" Jill wept.
"Don't worry Mama, I was just a'sleepin'," Joy said.
"...don't scare me like that..." Jill sniffled, still hugging her tightly. "…your mommy doesn't do well with those kinds of things…"
At that point, Metal sank to his knees, letting out tears of joy as well. "...you're..." he uttered, simply unable to express the relief and happiness he felt, slowly reaching over to Joy. Joy reached a hand to Metal since Jill wasn't able to let her go. Gently taking hold of her hand, Metal simply nuzzled it a little, closing his eyes. "...I'm glad... that you're safe." he said.
"I missed you Daddy," Joy muttered.
"...kuh..." That cough brought everyone's attention to someone else, as Spiel was still standing there, holding his sword whilst glaring at Joy. "...all my power... gone, like that...?"
"…so, what was that about other-throwing us, Spiel?" Hunter growled, glaring at the pig.
Spiel glared at Hunter for that. "...no... no way am I gonna let this stop me..." Then, he turned his gaze towards King, who looked back at him. "...I'm gonna..." Then, he let out a battle-cry, and ran right at King, ready to swing at him.
However, that didn't come to pass.
Instantly, the sword became too heavy for Spiel to even carry, as it threw him completely off-balance, causing him to collapse onto the ground, falling on his back. "...kah... what the hell...?" he coughed, though when he managed to inspect it, he saw that he had coughed blood. "...what?"
"…It's that sickness, isn't it?"
That stole everyone's attention YET AGAIN, with two more transparent figures standing over Spiel; a certain bull and unicorn.
"...Oblivion..." Charon uttered with wide eyes.
"...wait, sickness?" Sage uttered. "What are you talking about; I've never heard about any sickness that Spiel could have had!"
Coughing, Spiel weakly looked up at Brick and Oblivion. "...hn...? It's not right... I wasn't supposed to feel like this... not for ten years, at least... so why am I...?"
"…it could have been him; Deity," Brick murmured. "Corruption has tendencies to really mess people up."
"...kkh..." Spiel coughed, clutching to his chest as best he could. "...damn... him being in me must've accelerated it... and I bet the Chaos Emeralds only made it progress quicker..."
"...and he's been hiding it, all this time?" King uttered with wide eyes.
"Needless to say..." Sage murmured, folding her arms. "...it's far too late to save him. He'll die in a few minutes."
"…well…we've got two people that can help," Striker murmured, looking over at Jill and Joy. "…but…can it be healed?"
"Are you crazy?" Milo shot Striker a look. "You want to save him too?"
"…well, why not?" Striker said with a shrug.
"...no..." Spiel coughed, glancing up at Striker. "...don't bother. If I somehow were to recover, King would probably have me exiled for trying this coup... and the same would likely go for... everyone else involved... on my side..."
"...you-" King began, but Spiel suddenly cut him off.
"Besides..." the pig said, looking up at the rainy sky. "...I failed. I'll fade away into obscurity... like so many before me..." Then, he closed his eyes. "...and here I thought... that I could have my name... written into history..."
"…what were you really trying to do, Spiel?" Oblivion asked.
"...how many have done things... that carved their names in history...?" Spiel coughed, opening his eyes half-way. "...Sonic the Hedgehog... Shadow the Hedgehog... Ivo Robotnik... and a lot more..."
"...you... intended to become famous?" Charon supposed.
"...by taking over Safe Haven... I could've lead a charge at GUN and the world... started a war, maybe..." Spiel murmured. "...I wouldn't even care if I... ended up dying from that... as long as people knew... who decided to launch an assault like that..."
"...so you really only wanted recognition." Metal hummed.
"...but... look at where that got me..." Spiel hummed, before sighing. "...I can't be bothered with living, now... let me die, and... take in the magnitude... of my failure..."
"…how funny…" Jill murmured. "…with all the things I did in my past, I didn't even want to be known as a big hero or anything. I just wanted to be left alone…"
"...different tastes for different people..." Spiel hummed, before he looked up at the sky. "...so ends Spiel Gierig... not with a bang, but with a whimper... as he dies unknown... and alone."
Silence filled the air.
"...not alone."
At that point, Krieg managed to claw his way towards Spiel, still remaining conscious, even with his grievous wound. "...if you are to pass on... you might as well... have some company."
Hearing that, Spiel slowly looked towards Krieg. "...you..."
"…both of them?" Jane muttered, letting Oblivion finally realize that her body was standing there. It was something that baffled her, but instead of thinking on that, the matter at hand was more important.
Striker went over to them and sat by them. "At least we'll remember you," he said.
"...heh..." Spiel chuckled, just as Krieg stopped by him. "...I appreciate the thought, at least..." Then, he looked over at Jill, Joy and Metal. "...hey... sorry about... crushing Joy..."
Jill just remained silent. She really didn't know what to say; she didn't want to be mean, but she wasn't that ready to accept an apology from him. After all, he nearly killed her only daughter.
Joy was more understanding than that, though. "Its okay," she said with a smile.
"...heh... you're really something..." Spiel hummed, not bothered by Jill's and Metal's silence. Then, he looked up at the sky, as the rain slowly stopped. "...no tears spilt for me... well, I guess that's... understandable..." he said, before closing his eyes. "...after all... who would cry for me?"
Unbeknownst to Spiel, Krieg, at that moment, was silently crying, for that exact person who believed otherwise.
"…see you on the other side," Brick bid, knowing their times could be any minute now.
"...if we even go to where you're off to." Spiel chuckled, before he opened his eyes, looking at the sky.
"...Jill..." Krieg uttered, without moving from where he lied. "...it seems like... you'll have to hold... that milkshake..."
"...man... what I would give... for one last bite to eat..." Spiel chuckled, before he slowly closed his eyes "...at least... it stopped... raining..."
Soon, the area was once more filled with silence. Slowly, King knelt by the two, placing his hands on their necks. A short while later, he stood up, taking his hands away from them.
"...they're dead." he uttered gravely.
Joy looked away, settling her head on Jill's shoulder sadly. Then there was a longer moment of silence out of respect for the two.
King merely looked down at the two of them with a stoic expression. ...I never thought that this would happen... he thought, before he closed his eyes. ...so long... Krieg Verruga... and Spiel Gierig...
Finally, Jane looked back over at Oblivion, and walked over to her.
"...who are you?" Oblivion asked in wonder.
"...I'm Jane," the body of the unicorn replied, looking at the unicorn spirit with brown eyes. "...I made sure to keep you alive." And she offered her hand to Oblivion. When she looked at Jane in questioning, Jane nodded. "I'm going to give you your body back."
Oblivion finally took the hand, and once they made contact, Oblivion vanished in a swirl of gusts.
...then a butterfly spouted out the mouth of the unicorn's body, with her coughing.
Charon quickly looked at Oblivion. "...Oblivion...?" he uttered.
The unicorn reacted to that name, but then she eyed the butterfly that took onto the form of a ghostly mouse. "...so, you're Jane," the unicorn murmured.
After watching the mouse nod, the unicorn finally turned around and approached Charon. It was just now that she saw he had more heads, and while it was startling, Oblivion was only happier to see Charon again.
Letting out a small, pleased growl, one of Charon's heads reached down to Oblivion. "...I'm glad to see you back." he said with a nod.
"And I'm glad you're not hurt," Oblivion said, hugging around the neck of that head.
That head closed its eyes with a smile, as another head glanced towards the ghostly mouse. "...Jane... I thank you." he said.
"...what are friends for?" Jane asked with a smile of her own.
Jill smiled at seeing that. Then she looked back at Joy, whom she noticed had been staring at the Chaos Emeralds for awhile now.
Metal had noticed this as well, as he looked at Joy curiously. "...is something the matter?" he hummed.
Joy pulled away from the two of them without answering Metal's question, and actually went to go pick one of the Chaos Emeralds up, looking at it. "...it's pretty," she said.
"...you know, I'm wondering why the Chaos Emeralds haven't scattered yet," Ani said. "Don't they usually scatter after a Super uses them?"
"...usually..." Metal hummed. "...but if I had to guess..." Then, he looked up at Metropolis, which was still hovering above the ocean by Safe Haven. "...they've been gathered together for five years... perhaps they've grown to stay dormant, even at the expense of energy such as that...?"
"...who knows," Hunter murmured.
The emerald in Joy's hand started to glow, and the others followed, while they rose and started circling around Joy. This was quite a sight to behold. Everyone simply looked at this in awe, unable to bring themselves to comment on it.
Joy looked at each of the emeralds surrounding her, and soon, a smile grew on her face.
"...what are you doing, Joy?" Milo asked.
Joy looked back at everyone. "Imma go and clean up the mess!" With that, the little tike actually shot up in the air with the emeralds, and headed high in the sky.
"...Joy?" Metal uttered in surprise. When the shock wore off, he looked towards Jill. "...should we... follow her...?" he asked.
Jill just stared up at where she was going. "...I think...we should stay and watch," she murmured. After all, Joy had done so much, and if there was something she was going to do, maybe they should just let her do it.
When Joy was high enough, she looked around. The sky was less darker than it had been, which meant that sunrise probably wasn't all that far off. Parts of the island were stained with black goo from the battles of the night, and though other places hadn't been touched since the fire, the entire island suffered in some way, shape or form.
The Chaos Emeralds began spinning faster and faster around Joy, and she smiled wider while a bright white aura surrounded her. Angel wings even sprouted out of her back.
This drew the attention of everyone on the island, who looked up at this sight.
Jill looked up at Joy in pure amazement. "...how could she do all the things I couldn't?" she muttered.
"...maybe it was because she was born with her kind of powers," Brick replied. "...I mean, Unity was manufactured by you and Metal... but Joy's power was created naturally. That could've had something to do with it..." and then Brick looked over at Jill. "...it could also be just...you know, how innocent she is because of her age...our combined genes."
Jill looked back at Brick, and smiled. Metal, too, glanced at Brick, smiling a little as well.
"...I guess in the beginning, there were some bitter feelings about you guys," Brick admitted. "...but in all honesty, there's nobody else I would've trusted to take care of them more than you, Metal."
From Joy, the glow around her had gotten so bright that it finally gave off a powerful flash, taking over the entire island. That blinded everyone, though with his lone mechanic eye, Metal was still able to watch Brick and Jane, though no one else could.
In the void of white light, Jane gave one last look at Charon, before she disappeared away in a shower of sparkles. Brick started disappearing the same way Jane did, but at a slower pace. "...when everything calms down," Brick said to Metal. "...please tell Joy I'll always look out for her."
With that, Metal gave Brick a nod. "...I will. You take care of yourself."
Brick nodded back, and then he was finally gone.
Minutes after, that blinding flash was finally gone from the island.
"...what was that?" Charmy asked, clear all the way down at the shop.
"...I dunno..." Sonia murmured, scratching her head a bit.
"...hey... does everyone see this?" Tails said, as he pointed out of the window. Outside, where there had been several globs of darkness, now lied hundreds of sleeping soldiers, all of them unharmed after the brutal battles that had gone on for the night.
"...my eyes aren't playing tricks, right?" Rudy asked, rubbing his eyes.
"...we all see it Rudy," Cal said with wide eyes.
"...so... we won, y'know!" Newt called, quickly getting to his feet and raising his arms, before he slumped down, absolutely exhausted after the battle. "...man... I'm dried out..."
"...we all are..." Natal sighed, sitting down as well. "...but now... it seems that it's over."
"...but..." Sonia hummed, rubbing her chin. "...where did that light come from, again?"
"Hm..." Boomer looked outside, and the most she could see was seven glowing objects spinning around a small figure. "I can't tell, but someone used Chaos Emeralds."
Charmy chuckled. "...must have been our little Joy."
"...most definitely... our little Joy." Tails chuckled, as he closed his eyes. ...good job.
At the shelter, Will carefully peeked out. "...is... it over?" he gulped, when he suddenly noticed all the soldiers lying about. "...Ed, Marco, Seymour! Check this out!"
"Hm? What's up?" Lin hummed, as she peeked out as well.
"...everyone's..." Ed was utterly speechless, and just about every other soldier that poked their heads outside the safety of the shelter were. Soldiers they knew were lying around peacefully asleep, as if nothing had happened.
"...kinda creepy," Blitz admitted. "...but that looks like a good sign."
"...indeed." Marlo hummed, sitting down on the grass. "...though, it seems that we absolutely failed to pull off Spiel's plan..."
"...personally... at the moment, I can live with that." Phyrra murmured, closing his eyes.
"...I wonder if Uncle Spiel and Uncle Krieg are alright..." Maya hummed.
"...I'm... sure that they pulled through." Ruki nodded, looking up at the sky.
"...it's been one whacko night, man," the parrot said, looking up at the sky. "I might even be startin' to, like, see things."
"Ah, hush up Jam," grumbled Seymour.
"...still... I can't believe we made it." Will sighed in relief.
"...this is great! Now we won't become chow! Isn't that great, Flammy?" Lin cheered, picking up the toucan with her arms.
Flamenco had a hard time breathing with the strength of Lin's hugging grip. "EGH-Si, Lin, we're not chow-ACK!"
"...but still, we should wait until either Queen or Miser show up, just so we know that everything's okay," Francis suggested.
"...or Tasha, for that matter; she just ran off." Marco murmured.
"...well..." Ruki hummed, folding her arms. "...we'll just have to wait, then."
WHEW! Stick around, there's gonna be an Epilogue!