Elizabeth
The day of the siege, hundreds of meisters and weapons were on the docks. Many of use staring at the overcast sky as we waited, silently. The only ones that spoke were the coordinators, shouting out for teams or individuals to come to a certain boat, but Violet Rose paid them no mind. Instead we stood together against the railing of our assigned ship, HMS Kent.
"So this is it..." Carter looked around us, or more specifically the Nimo who moved around the deck of the ship. "A few more hours to prepare ourselves."
"And prepare you should." I knew that voice, and it brought a smile to my face. "How are all of you doing!" Grandpa Nimo threw his hands in the air, grabbing me as I went for a hug.
"How have you been for the past few days, not been long since I've seen you…" The older man's gaze focused for just a second, one each of us, a noticeably longer time on me. "You all have achieved leaps in bounds in terms of your souls progression, excellent. And Elizabeth… I see you have been given my daughter-in-laws necklace. I'm glad." He gave us another smile, continuing on the conversation.
"But, I should remember why I'm here." Grandpa leaned in closer to us, talking in a whisper. "I want you all to take a separate boat when we get close to the island, get as far as you can from this hunk of steel. The siege won't begin until Jasper's resonance goes off, I assured the leaders they would know when it happened." He had a mischievous smile, like it was a harmless child's prank, not breaking the order of command. "I always believed the Nimo didn't need the Omni weapon, and if we did we weren't any good. So do this old man a favor, and prove it." With that he walked off, not even a hint of his tricks in his step.
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"You do realize that we could get in major trouble if this goes bad, right?" Carter said as we climbed into a small emergency boat, a motor that should definitely not be there inside.
"Carter, you say that, but here we are, in the boat." Jasper moved to release our "vessel". "Well, lets go." Then the switch was flipped. In seconds we had hit the ocean, speeding off to the island on the horizon. This was it, Watin's fortress. We had finally made it.
"Get ready!" Aaron called out as our hit the land. "Jasper!" In a flash my weapon was in hand, the same staff as our first resonance in hand, but this time, a deep copper color.
The mantra ran through my mind, a vague familiarity coming to me. "Cursed weapon of old, come forth in one of your infinite forms. I call on you now as your partner, your One and Only! Quake!" And a quake it was. The butt of my staff struck the groud, a large wave of dirt rolling forth, decimating everything in its path. The small beaches sand was tossed into the air, continuing on, the wave of seismic power upturned the tree line, destroying the landscape in front of us.
As our power surged outward, several explosions occured, some looke like mines, but several were the froming of a Kishin Egg's soul. When all was set in done, a blank field of dirt in front of us, downed trees all around. Our vision was filled with the view of the massive castle. Watin was there, so close, but it wasn't for us. Instead we had more immeadite opponents. Kishin Eggs, dozens of them, were pouring from the gates of the fortress, emerging from piles of dirt and all other else.
"All forces, attack!" Kid's voice was heard over the stillness of the air, then the battle cries. They were deafening in their intensity and number, and before they ended, our own soldiers poured onto the field.
"Violet Rose, sync!" The rest of our weapons transformed, our pairs falling into rythm instantly. We were in top form, and nothing was going to stop us. Jasper changed his form, my gun to start with. Then we were off, taking shots as I led my teams charge, I was astounded. Dozens of shots were being taken as we ran enemies falling to us already. The front line was getting close, teeth bared, weapons raised. 50 feet. 40. 30. 20. Then the screech. Both sides stopped, apprehension on their faces.
Then it came out. Jackal. That horrid creature, I could really see what Victoria meant now, those shifting joints, long whip-like arms on its sides, only it was so huge!
"He's grown. He wasn't even an eighth of this size the last time I saw him..." The thing wouldn't be able to properly stretch out in a foot-ball field. The behemoth continued to charge forward, it looked like it would barrell straight through our meisters, but it wasn't so lucky.
One man jumped straight up into the air, looking the Kishin in the eyes."Time to shine! Trap Star!" His weapon was some sort of a chain-type, said chain expanded to from a giant star. Launching out toward Jackal, it weaved and bobbed along with the monster, wrapping all around him. "Kid!"
"Right! Soul Resonance!" It was Kid's squad! They were going to take Jackal out, with even that we would be in a much better position, he was the strongest Kishin Waton had made. In the next second a massive blast came from Kid's weapons, completely engulfing Jackal, the chain weapon having retreated at the last possible moment. That was it! Or so I thought. Even after that astounding blast, Jackal stood, battered and bleeding, but alive. My jaw dropped, not even Kid could do it.
"And now we finish it!" Another person jumped up, a scythe in hand. Mrs. Evans?! She was apart of Kid's squad?! "Soul Resonance! Demon hunter slash!" I had never seen anything like, and doubt that I ever will. A massive Halberd like blade extended into the sky, a ethereal color to it, constantly shifting. In one massive swing, Mrs. Evans brought down her weapon, cleaving Jackal in twain. With one final, ear ringing screech, he exploded. The black matter swirled around, forming a small red orb.
For a moment, we stood in a shocked silence. These were the three most powerful meisters in the world, no doubt in my mind, and we had seen them all us their Soul Resonance's in succesion. It was... fear-inspiring.
Then it began. Meisters continued to rush forward, the sound of metal striking the Kishin rang throught out the battle field, at this point we were with the main force, right into the thick of it. 'I want to be like that one day.' I heard Carter through our link. 'That was astounding...'
'We will, we all will.' Genevieve said. But there was no more time for talk, a Kishin was in front of us. Just like last time, it was a hulking beast, but now we had more time to learn, to fight as a team, how to kill. In seconds we had dispatched it, moving on to the next. This continued for seemingly ever, one would come into view, I would fire, maybe it died, if it didn't another meister would finish it. Eventually things were getting so packed that we moved to the scythe to clear out multiple in a single sweep. It almost seemed to easy, like we just cleaved through the Kishin. They were so weak, why? Was Watin not feeding them any souls? Then what was the point? If even a medicore meister could kill a dozen, what problem would it be for DWMA elites?
Sadly, my questions were answered. After upwards of a half hour of fighting, a spell came from the castle. That yellow, I knew it. Watin was firing on us, for some reason. The special team should have gotten there by now, so maybe it was just a missed spell? But it wasn't.
"Oh, so it seems that you've thinned my army quite signifigantly!" My head jerked upward, for the second time the fighting stopped, both armies looking to the figure in the sky, a heap of something beside him. "By the way, I brought you back the gift!" Watin waved a hand, the unknown object coming toward the ground. Bodies. The special team had been defeated.
"Now, let's handle the problem children..." Another spell came from the warlock's hand, straight into the cloud of meisters. After a few seconds I saw three figures rise into the air, Kid's squad was held tight by some kind of binding. Even from my distance, I could see it. Watin's twisted smile, just before he flung them into the ground, all the way back to the beach, still tied up.
'What do we do? He just grabbed the only squad here with a good chance of defeating him...' I heard Jasper in my mind.
'No!' Carter shouted. From the corner of my eyes I could see him tighten his grip on Genevieve. 'We are still here, we can do this! Elizabeth, provoke him!'
Without a second of hesitation I yelled. "Watin!" He looked down on me, an amused smile on his face. "Fight us! Fight Violet Rose!" The teams around us looked on in shocked. After a pregnant pause, he responded.
"Very well." He began his descent, like he was going down a huge set of stairs, slowly coming down to us, one step at a time. The other meisters backed away, forming a circle in the middle of the field, even the Kishin looked on in interest. "You are the only other team I have any interest in. That weapon of yours is truly something, I should know..."
"Enough talking... now you die!" I charged forward, scythe in hand. Carter and Victoria were right behind me, closing in fast. I jumped, swinging down with all the force I could, Watin simply smiled, stepping to the side and readying a punch. But I had a team. Carter was next to him, demonstrating his extreme speed. Wating was forced to back up once again to avoid our leader, only for Victoria to be there, landing a deep cut onto his arm.
"Well, well. You have all improved quite a bit, but you are no match for me." Once more he wore that overconfident smirk.
'Magic!' Victoria sounded the warning, but it wasn't enough. An arcing blast came outward, shocking all of us, for a second it was impossible to move, and our opponent knew it. Looking up I was met with a fist. My head hit the ground, for a moment I thought I was going to go unconcious, but I held on.
"Back off!" Carter charged to me, stabbing at Watin. The warlock stepped back, clearly unimpressed.
"You have no idea what that weapon could do... if only a more capable meister had been chosen. And here I thought you could do it." He brushed off his knuckles, not even concerned we were here.
'Jasper, switch tactics, we're going to change weapons.' This son of a bitch would not mock me! "Watin, lets really get this started!"
"Soul Resonance! Witch Hunter Slash!" My blade extended, forming the half-crescent of the traditional scythe technique. Charging forward, I swung. Watin was clearly surprised, not having time to dodge properly, a wide cut going across his chest. "Switch!" Jasper shined, forming back into my pistol. "Soul Resonace! Dead Man's Bullet!" The barel of my gun glowed, the image of a Death logo projected in front of it. Once more Watin was caught off guard, the thin but powerful beam carving across his back.
"Soul Resonance! The bright light of the Holy Rapier! Shine!" Carter jumped up and over me, careening downward toward Watin. The blade sunk into the warlocks shoulder, through and through. Now he was on the ground, pinned.
"Soul Resonance! Shimmering Blade!" Victoria came from behind me in a blinding burst of speed, the wounds of her resonance soon formed over Watin's body, ending with a definitive line over his throat. Still, he lived on. I walked up, bending at the knee to see the man who we had been aiming for from the start. He looked into my eyes, and he seemed... satisfied.
Immeaditly I tried to back up, something was wrong. But he was faster. His hand shot out, grabbing onto my ankle. Then it went black.
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Roses. They were all around me. The fragrance was intoxicatingly sweet, but still, I drank it in. The colors were so vibrant in comparison to the white room I was in, I spun around, looking at them all. Yellow, white, pink, red, blue, and... purple. I knew these colors, our bouquet.
"Elizabeth?" I turned to look at the source of my name. Jasper was there, looking confused. Oddly, he wasn't wearing what I rembered, instead of his Nimo combat suit, his clothes were completely white, and baggy, like pajamas. Looking down I saw that wore a similar dress, completely white.
"I'm sorry if this extremely personal to you, but I grabbed it from your memories. I needed a setting." Once more I turned, this time a man, he wore a completely white suit, his hair and skin was so pale he almost blended in. Watin.
"I figured I owed you all an explanation." He fingered a red rose before picking it, placing it into the lapel of his jacket.
"How could you have an explanation for waging war on DWMA and creating an army of Kishin?" My partner took a step forward, oddly calm for such a question.
"Elizabeth, do you remember why they wanted to make sure you stayed at the New York division? To persuade you to join DWMA. The truth is, your school has been dropping in the number of recruits and formed pairs in the past few years. Some of the students go their entire education without even one partner, so how do you solve it?" Watin continued to browse the flowers, inspecting each one individually.
Jasper's eyes widened, he figured something out. "The most basic way to rally a group, identify an enemy."
"Correct, Jasper. You always were a smart one, I gave you plenty of hints." Watin stopped for a moment to watch a petal fall from his pocketed rose. "I can see some of your memories, like the pair you met in the park, the ones who fought Carter. They met during the attack. Things like that. I'm sure realize this after you fought today, so many of my Kishin were weak, they weren't meant to train you, you did that yourselves, Jackal had my own madness put into him, but he was the only real threat. How many meisters do you think put that much more effort in, with me in mind?" Another few petals fell to Watin's feet.
"And it was worth it? People were injured, died." I asked, fearing the answer.
"Yes." He said it simply, not even skipping a beat. "DWMA must be stronger, humanity gets worse every passing day. So you must improve, you are the shining hope of your generation. Don't disappoint me."
"Now, moving on. I'm sure you've seen that book, right Elizabeth? Don't worry, its not all that special. Just something I pieced together in the past few decades. Jasper won't die like it says, so continue on."
"How do you know?"
"Elizabeth, I did so much for you two. Victoria never had a problem, I made her into one. I forced your Sight to that level. I come from a long line of Mages, more specifically, the ones who made the Omni Weapon. I created your entire world." He looked somewhat wistful, like a father watching his child leave home. "There were never any coincidences, not really."
"You did all of this?! You put us through all of it, for what?! Because you thought we were weak?" Jasper walked across the garden face to face with Watin. More petals falling.
"Yes Jasper, I did. And now, I give you the only thing I can think of as some sort of repayment." The warlock brought a small piece of metal out of his pocket, the shape of an infinity symbol. But it was clearly strange, the metal swirled with energy. Magic. "This will break your curse. No more Omni Weapons, its done. Snap it in half when you get back." He held it out to my weapon, Jasper took it, ever so gently into his hands. "My family made your curse, so I destroy it."
"Make no mistake, I did it all for DWMA. I want you to tell them that... and as my last gift, Elizabeth." He motioned me forward, without even wanting to I moved. "Here. For your weapon, one of a hundred." Watin turned his palm upward, a small purple orb appearing, his soul.
"Goodbye..." The final petals fell. Then the black.
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We were back in the field, the army of DWMA around us. "Elizabeth! Are you okay!" Victoria filled my view, her eyes searching my face.
"We are. What happened to the Kishin." Looking to my side, Jasper was sitting there, Watin's soul in hand.
"You've been out for fifteen minutes! What happened?" She was still freaking out, her partner pulling her back.
"Watin pulled us into his soul, had a little chat, gave us some gifts, and his reasons." Jasper's tone was thoughtful, neither of us knew what to make of our final moments with our greatest adversary.
"We finished it, the Kishin have been brought down, Kid's squad was released when you guys passed out, but the special squad... didn't make it." Carter came up to us, offering us his hands. I accepted, pulling myself up. "We did it, we brought down Watin."
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Three Weeks Later
"How are you doing today, beautiful?" Jasper was leaning down to my face, which was currently resting against my desk.
"Just fine handsome." I pushed myself up, leaning toward him, a light smile on my face.
"Ugh, gag." Victoria passed by, moving to her own seat. "So lovey dovey." She scrunched her face in a playful way, teasing us.
"But for real, how did the family meeting go?" I sat back down, my partner joining me.
"Broke it in front of them all, told them what Watin said, then left. They were more than a little outraged, threw a guy who tried to grab me to the ground... so..."
"Jasper! I told you no violence! I should have gone with you..." He really was a head-ache some times, but still, he was my head-ache.
"Yeah yeah I know. But even still, as of now. Its done. No more clan, Watin is gone. So lets just enjoy it, okay. The peace." Jasper looked at me, a genuine happiness in his eyes, and I knew, he was right. We had it all, the peace, the happy ending, and all of our friends. So, just enjoy it, for however long it may last.
"I love you." He continued to look at me, staring into my eyes.
"I love you too." I leaned in, kissing him, my partner, my One and Only.
And so it ends, this was a fun project that took me a very long time to write, and it is somewhat a relief for it to be over. Thanks for the fun, and until next time!