So, I wrote the first ten pages of this chapter months ago. Then I was bitten by the fantasy bug and wrote four major boss battles in four days. You have Lloyd Alexander and his Chronicles of Prydain to thank for that.
Thank you to phaorah, Anatherin, Clyde's Shadow, RandomNonSequitur, and tetraforce theory for their kind reviews! And, as always, a special thank you to Antismurf Lord of Darkness, the best beta any writer could ask for! By the way, he FINALLY completed his humorous sequel to Final Fantasy VI, Upon the Hijacking of Figaro, where, as you may be able to guess, Figaro Castle gets hijacked and our heroes have to get it back. It's insanely funny.
I do not own Final Fantasy VI and probably never will.
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Celes and Terra went first, as was their right. They knew Kefka better than any of them: Celes had even known the man before he'd gone through the magitech experiments that stripped away his sanity. Terra, though she remembered little, must have grown up around the lunatic after being torn from the esper world to be raised as the Empire's personal living weapon. Next went Locke, followed closely by the Figaro twins. All three of them wanted desperately to rush in and stab, punch, or dismember the mad god with all their hearts. But at the same time all three wanted just as much to turn tail and run. Gau and Cyan followed. The younger man was the spitting image of the older. They looked nothing alike, sounded nothing alike, and could not have acted more differently if they tried, but both strode towards death with a purposeful tread and steel in their hearts. With Cyan as the rock and Gau as the hammer they would crush the opposition between them until they themselves were crushed in return. Setzer was both more difficult and easier to read. Of them all he was the most out of place and he knew it. His magic skills were average at best, his choice of weaponry while full of tricks was not something that should be used to face down a foe of such strength. All the gambler had was luck and, as he knew all too well, luck ran out. Yet he walked on without falter, letting his long coat stream behind him in the wake of his movement. He would fight as they did, no matter the consequences.
That left him, Interceptor, the old coot, and Relm. As Shadow moved to pass through the doorway hewn through the silver slashed stone he paused. Had he been a smarter man he would have died long ago, if not at the hands of the Empire almost certainly in the cataclysmic destruction of the world. In a way it would have been a relief. If he were dead the responsibility of saving the world would not have fallen on his shoulders. Even with his friends to share the yoke, such a task still seemed impossible.
Shadow remembered the manic glee on Kefka's face as he pushed the Warring Triad's statues out of alignment. It was that moment, not the night he saved Relm, not the day he chose to rejoin his companions, which sealed his fate. It set him down this path of pain and anger, of tears and blood. He had been torn apart and rebuilt more times in the past four years than anyone had a right to be and survive. Pain, fear, and sorrow were now constants in his life, but he welcomed them with open arms because with them came laughter, joy, and contentment.
He focused on Kefka's mad ecstasy, holding the expression in the forefront of his mind for a long moment. In that moment he gathered every tragedy in his life and the lives of his friends caused by the owner of that sickening smile. He dredged up every scrap of sorrow, fear, pain, and most of all anger that was in him, concentrating it into a blade thin arrow of inferno hot rage. Letting the rage burn brighter and brighter, Shadow allowed it to spread through his entire being, physical and mental. His body felt stronger, his mind keener, when filled to the brim by one of the strongest emotional surges he'd experienced in his life.
On his left Interceptor let out an eager snarl. It was as if the big dog too was concentrating every ounce of hate in his frame into a weapon to be hurled into the heart of the mad god. On his right Strago's staff thumped on the ground and Relm's hand reached up to brush his black clad forearm. Shadow first looked to one side, then the other.
Your family.
The rage coursing through him took on a deeper, richer feel. And stronger. Much, much stronger, particularly when he imagined two phantoms, a grinning sixteen year old blond haired thief to his left and an only slightly older young woman with the most beautiful hazel eyes he'd ever seen on his right.
Together they stepped into hell.
The tower's top was like a giant bowl enclosed by claw like peaks. Those black spears of stones pierced the red sky not so far above them. It was not so hard to imagine that the bloody expanse above them was one great wound caused by a rake of those wicked points. The ground itself was littered with cracks and loose stone. One platform stood higher than the others, almost like a crude throne, separated from them by a small chasm, larger than any crack but a poor obstacle to deter crossing.
"Welcome friends." Those words, spoken in a mad giggle by a voice Shadow knew better than he wished, caused an icy chill to run down his spine. Behind his mask he drew back his lips in a wordless snarl. He was unsurprised to see his expression mirrored on the faces of his friends.
A pyramid composed of pure magical energy appeared on the seat of the massive stone throne. Within it an all too familiar form lounged carelessly. The madman looked just the same as he had on the Floating Continent, down to the fluttering green robes that cloaked his spindly frame. And yet, there was unquestionably something more.
Kefka lifted a pale hand to paler lips and snickered into it. "I knew you'd come, so I've been practicing my greeting!"
There was a moment of stunned silence. And another, and another. Those moments should have been used to rush in and attack, distracting Kefka with sword, spear, fists, and knives while the mages readied their most powerful spells. That was their plan, carefully laid out and discussed for hours the previous day. But Shadow could not move. None of them could. Though the man looked just as fragile and weak as he had those few years ago Shadow could not bring himself to attack. It was not out of pity: a monster such as that deserved no such thing, no matter its looks. The pyramid rotated and its colors flashed from red, to green, to white, to violet, and back. Shadow stared at the laughing man within the magical prism and realized that every shred of his killing rage was rendered useless in the face of near sanity shattering terror. That thing inside the prism was Kefka, the prism itself; a construction of pure magic was Kefka. The air around them pulsed with magical energy and that energy was Kefka too. Kefka was everywhere, plucking at their clothing and hair, giggling into their ears, running through their veins as fire and ice and lighting and power that would be released by words and will. Kefka was a god. Kefka was magic.
Shadow knew, Relm knew, everyone, even the voice inside him knew and froze in terror at the knowledge. They would die on this gods forsaken tower and the world would die with them.
Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. It was Celes' cloak, not blown by wind or magic but by force of her own forward motion. While her companions battled the crippling terror she walked slowly, but unflinchingly towards her former comrade from the Empire. She halted just before the chasm lip.
"How much do you have to destroy before you'll have had your fill, Kefka!?" the former general shouted.
Kefka threw back his head and shrieked with laughter. "I've acquired the ultimate power! Observe ..." With a gleeful squeal Kefka threw his hands in the air and released the Light of Judgment. The immense power of the beam caused a roar louder than a tornado as it carved a deep canyon across the landscape far below.
"Such magnificent power!" Kefka crooned, "You're all nothing more than fleas compared to me now! Embrace your destruction ... It is the fate of all things."
"To be destroyed?" Celes shouted back, "Maybe it is! But people can always rebuild, and new lives will always be born!"
"And time will destroy all of those as well!" Kefka snapped. He could not understand his former comrade's insistence on not succumbing to the inevitable. "Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ... Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?"
From his left Shadow heard Terra suck in a deep breath. He could imagine her fighting back the fear as she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other till she too confronted Kefka from the edge of the chasm separating their plateau from his throne.
"Because it's not the end that matters. It's knowing that you have something to live for right now, at this moment" Terra began softly. But as the words flowed, her conviction grew until she could be heard over the tower top. "Something you've worked for ... something that's worth protecting! As long as you have that ... that's enough!"
Something worth protecting. Those words touched a chord in Shadow's heart and slowly, ever so slowly, he felt the terror being pushed away. Something in Terra's speech appeared to affect all of them. Bodies once frozen crouched in fear started to straighten. Gau let out a defiant growl echoed by Interceptor. Relm's face twisted into a snarling smile. The old coot gripped his staff tightly, as everyone now gripped their weapons. Not the white knuckled grip of fear, but one of readiness.
Kefka sneered. "And did you all find your 'somethings' in this broken world that just won't die?"
"Yes!" Terra and Celes shouted together.
"Love!" Terra began.
"A person worth protecting," Locke followed.
Cyan looked every bit like a Doman hero of legend as he spoke directly to the monster who was the cause of all his pain. "A wife and child who live on within me."
"Friends . . ." Shadow growled. He didn't care it if the words were too quiet for Kefka to hear. He glanced to his side and saw Relm's eyes shining with joy. The person his words were meant for did hear them. "And family."
"A peaceful kingdom." Edgar's clear voice carried with all the weight of the kingdom he loved so dearly behind it. Like the proper brother he was, Sabin couldn't let Edgar's dignity steal the show. He clapped a huge hand on his brother's shoulder and threw back his head in laughter.
"A loving brother who always looks out for me! Gah-ha-ha-ha!"
Celes glanced at Locke fondly. "Someone willing to accept me for who I am."
Out of the corner of his eye Shadow saw a mischievous sparkle grace the old coot's face. He reached one gnarled hand out to muss Relm's hair as he spoke. "An adorable little granddaughter."
Relm cried out in indignation, but Shadow saw the love in her eyes even as she batted Strago's hand away. "An obnoxious grandpa . . . who I couldn't live without!"
Setzer was the last of them to speak. At first he didn't. He stared up at the blood red sky and fingered Bahamut's magicite. When his eyes left the sky and traveled to the madman in the color changing prism his lips drew back in a cocky grin. "Wings from an old friend!"
An expression of disgust passed over Kefka's face as the mad god gagged. "Bleh! You people make me sick! You sound like lines from a self help book!"
The rage that he'd so carefully collected before venturing onto the tower's top came roaring back through Shadow's frame. How dare he! The fury filled snarl that burst from his throat could have made even the most violent monster quail at the sound. How dare that madman ridicule what took them all years to discover! What nearly killed them, but now made them stronger than ever! How dare he mock their very reason for living! For fighting! For dying.
Caught up in the storm of his anger Shadow tore a Flame Scroll from its place on his belt, broke the seal, and threw it straight at the color shifting pyramid. The missile exploded in midair, sending a blaze of fire on par with the strongest Firaga cascading over the magical shield. The flames blazed so hot that stone melted and tore away at their onslaught. But when the inferno winked out scant seconds later the magical prism remained unscathed. The monster inside was no longer lounging. Instead Kefka stood poker straight and deadly calm.
"If that's how it's going to be . . ."
Interceptor and Gau let out bays of challenge. As one Cyan, Celes, Edgar, Sabin, and Locke shouted out the war cries of the Returners or their home nations. Terra shifted into her esper form and rose off the ground. Setzer set his face in a frightening smirk and fanned a hand of cards from the Death Tarot. Relm howled out a string of the most vile insults imaginable. Strago did the same beside her. Shadow stood silently: his challenge was made with icy blue eyes and the Ichigeki held tight in his right hand. Each and every one of them had something worth living for, fighting for, dying for. Yes, Kefka. This was how things were going to be.
Abruptly the magical prism shattered into millions of free flying motes of power. The outpour of energy hit them like a wave, enough to stagger but thankfully not knock down. Without the magical barrier Kefka looked even more powerful than before. A twisted smile graced his lips and suddenly the throne like stone beneath him erupted from the ground. As the growing pillar shot towards the sky Kefka screamed to the world.
"I'll snuff them all out! Every last one of your sickening, happy little reasons for living!"
A look of terror flashed over Celes' face. "No, Kefka, stop!"
The deafening sound of the Light of Judgment drowned out any further outbursts. Kefka spun wildly atop the pillar, pointing his finger first one way, then another, dragging the destroying beam of magic across the world. The rest of the tower's top erupted into great spikes of stone that scattered his companions and sent many of them flying. Shadow managed to grab the tip of one spike as it shot past with his free hand and wrap his other arm quickly around Relm's torso as the stone ascended. Those who had not done as Shadow had were quickly finding ways to climb the twisting pillars of stone that made a convoluted, but relatively easy to navigate stairway towards the maniacally laughing god above them. Assassin and artist shot towards the sky, towards Kefka. But the mad god's pillar grew taller and faster.
Abruptly the Light of Judgment winked out, its roaring being replaced by Kefka's gloating cackle. "I wield the greatest power in existence! You may as well be the dirt on the bottom of my boots! Or the dirt stuck to the bottom of that dirt!" The stone finally stopped rising. Shadow swung himself and Relm onto the curved half arch of their stone spear. Before their horrified eyes the surface of Kefka's pillar began to change. Living shapes, creatures of magic formed from the mad god's power, burst from the surface of the towering monolith. They thrashed and screamed, writhing in agony at their half flesh half stone bodies. All of them, from the giant demonic head and torso at the bottom, the roaring tiger's head and twisting bodies in the middle, and the effigy of a woman cradling a man like she would a child, were Kefka. And the mad god himself . . .
No longer was he the scrawny pale man clothed in voluminous robes of garish colors. That physical body was gone probably had been gone for some time. Kefka had only assumed that form in order to confront his enemies with what they found most familiar. Now he was everything the human Kefka had not been. Half again as tall as Sabin with a sculpted body that rivaled that of heroes from legend. His pale skin glowed with an otherworldly light. Most profane of all were the six great wings that sprouted from between his shoulder blades. An angel. The bile rose in Shadow's throat and he had to force himself to keep from vomiting. Such evil should not be cloaked in a form like this.
It was hideous.
"You can't destroy everything! People will always have dreams!" Relm shouted up at the laughing angel. Shadow swelled with pride at her defiance. Headstrong, foolish, courageous, wonderful little Relm.
Kefka responded with a wild howl of denial, "No! I'll destroy the entire world! There won't be anything left to dream about!"
The angel raised its hands to once more let loose the light of judgment. But just as the deadly beam was about to burst forth a sheet of magical ice slammed into the god, pushing him back and breaking his concentration.
"We won't let you hurt any more people!" Terra blazed with power as she flew in the spell's wake. Ragnarok glowed bright in her right hand, pulsing eagerly, as if the esper's spirit within could not wait to spill the mad god's blood.
Kefka stared at the half esper girl he'd controlled for nearly half her life with an amused sort of fascination. Then the lips of that angel, that god, pulled back into the devious mad smile Shadow remembered all too well from the lunatic's human form.
"Uwee-hee-hee! But what fun is destruction if no "precious" lives are lost?" Kefka cast his gaze around till it landed on the assassin and his brightly clothed companion. Those eyes focused in on Relm and a particularly malicious glint flashed within them. Lances of fear and rage stabbed into Shadow's heart. Kefka had known since the gods be damned floating continent that the little artist was special to him. As if that wasn't enough to make her a target, then she'd gone and saved him from the mad god's clutches! Completely disregarding the fact that Relm was chanting the words to release Thundaga and lighting was already coalescing in her palms Shadow forced himself between her and the mad god. Relm's angry outburst interrupted her chanting and the spell exploded into a harmless burst of sparks. But Shadow only had eyes for Kefka's slowly widening perverse smile.
"It ends here, Kefka!" he roared. The mad god threw back his head in laughter and with a flap of his wings soared high into the sky.
"Why did you do that?" Relm snapped at him as she watched her target get further and further away. "I could have hit him square in his stupid smiling face! Now we're going to have to climb up that," Relm pointed to the towering monolith twisting with Kefka's creations, "Before I can get another shot!"
Shadow turned around and placed his hands on Relm's shoulders. He crouched till his blue eyes were level with the pretty hazel orbs that even now were losing their accusatory glare. A single spell, even one as powerful as Relm's Thundaga, would be little more than an inconvenience to the mad god. She knew that as well as he, but that didn't mean she regretted the lost opportunity. To tell the truth, Shadow would have relished seeing a ball of lightning smash into Kefka's laughing visage. But that momentary regret was quickly forgotten in lieu of much more pressing concerns.
Shadow's heart clenched along with his hands on Relm's thin shoulders. "Promise you'll stay safe," he rasped. If their fight was doomed to failure then death was inevitable for all. "Promise you'll stay close to your grandfather." But if it was not . . . if Relm died and he did not . . . it would destroy him as much as losing Baram and Reina had, maybe even more. "Promise that you'll go home and live your life, no matter what happens to me." That pain was something he knew he could not face. "Please," his voice dropped to a strained whisper, "Promise this Relm. For me."
Those promises are beyond her capacity to keep. NO! Shadow snarled at the voice. Reina with her pretty hazel eyes never broke her promises and Relm with eyes identical to her mother's would do the same. She had to. Please, gods please, she had to.
In response Relm lunged forward to wrap her arms tightly around Shadow's neck. As the little artist buried her head in his shoulder Shadow hugged her close. His Relm. His sweet stubborn little Relm with paint on her hands and magic in her blood. Why was he so stupid? How could it have taken him ten years to realize she was his reason for living?
"I promise all of that," Relm assured him, "As long as you remember your promise, that is!"
"I'll never forget," Shadow whispered. A booming bark and the clack of wood on stone signaled the arrival of Interceptor and Strago. The old man had needed all the help he could get climbing the twisted tangle of stone: thankfully Interceptor was willing and strong enough to provide. Relm reluctantly let go of her protector and Shadow slowly stood up. Interceptor wagged his tail appreciatively. Strago met his eyes with a determined look, nodded once, then raised his chin to look over the assassin's shoulder at the abominated pillar.
"The blue armchair is mine, boy," Strago growled, still not looking directly at the assassin. "You want to sleep sitting up you can grab a chair from the kitchen."
"And ruin my back?" Shadow retorted, "I think not, old fool."
Relm giggled, obviously amused with his and Strago's foolish argument. Setting down house rules when a mad god and his creations waited less than a hundred yards away to rip them to shreds! Shadow let out a short laugh and was surprised to see Strago snicker as well.
Shadow snapped his fingers to call Interceptor. "'Cep, stay by." The big dog was instantly alert, eager to run and fight by his boss's side for perhaps the last time.
"You ready to kill a god, boy?" Strago asked.
Shadow growled an affirmative while Relm let out an indignant huff.
"What about me? I want to kill that crazy just as much as you too do. AND I'm more qualified! My magic is strongest and, no offence Shadow, I don't think steel is going to cut it this time."
Shadow took one last look at the little artist before turning to face the tower of horrors. "We'll just have to see."
With powerful leaps he sprang from one stone spar to the next. Up one, over two, then up again he climbed, getting closer to the monstrous forms along the towers with every motion. At the base his companions had already engaged the demonic torso. In spite of the undeniable danger Shadow could not help appreciating the surprising beauty of the scene. At the monster's left arm the Figaro brothers moved like two parts of a single being. Dancing between and around each other the twins were one fighter who never let up the attack yet never dropped their guard. No words were spoken or needed to be between them. Much was the same at the right arm, but for a different reason. Gau could not speak. He was deep in a rage, one that mimicked a behemoth if the unconscious twinge in Shadow's back was any indication. The young man's eyes glowed with an unholy light and the sounds that tore from his throat as he flung himself into the fray without any regard to his own safety could not have been further from human. Shadow would not want to fight with that at his back. Yet Cyan did just that. The older warrior moved like a man half his age, spinning and darting between strikes from the giant hand and errant swings from his bestial partner.
The twisted face shrieked out garbled words that somehow turned to magic. A wind reminiscent of Sabin's own Razor Gale erupted from a clawed hand shattering stone into thousands of dagger sharp shards. Regardless of the danger Cyan grabbed Gau by the back of his leather shirt and hauled him behind that fabulous shield. The young man bellowed and struggled, but Cyan held on just long enough for the deadly barrage of stone to stop throwing sparks from his shield before releasing the wild Gau for another assault. The Figaro brothers were less lucky. Their mad dash to avoid the wind distracted them enough for the left hand to swoop in and grasp Edgar tightly around the middle. The king of Figaro's spear clattered to the ground far below and he howled in pain as the hand squeezed him tighter and tighter. Sabin's pounding fists had little impact on the limb's killing grasp. Shadow bounded forward, pulling a shruiken from his belt as he went. Even nightmare beasts like this found it hard to ignore a sharp object lodged in their eye.
Before the metal star reached its target the abomination's face burst into flame. The thing screamed and thrashed, throwing Edgar away like a tattered ragdoll. Strago approached with measured steps behind the endless gouts of flame spilling from his staff. The blind and burning monster's death shrieks shot up an octave when Gau pinned one arm down where Cyan immediately began hacking at the limb in a violent frenzy. Galvanized by his brother's fate Sabin threw himself at the other arm with a roar; his Phantom Rush was powerful enough to break it at the elbow.
Shadow saw a bright form dart over to Edgar's prone form and the silver of healing light soon bloomed. Interceptor whined. The dog was torn, just as he was. The desire to fight ran through their blood like a drug, but even stronger was the desire to protect. In the end there was no decision.
"Come on, boy."
The two black forms climbed higher in the maze of stone towards the second tier of the monstrous pillar. Relm watched them go. She wished she could go with them! Lucky Shadow and Intercepter, getting closer to that crazy son of a bitch while she was stuck down here! Under her hands Edgar coughed and moaned. Relm's attention immediately focused back on the injured king. His armor was crumpled like paper and under it: Relm sent in a questing pulse of magic and gasped at the extensive damage. Every rib was broken, most in several places, to say nothing of the cracked pelvis! Both lungs were punctured and Edgar's weak coughs could only expel a fraction of the blood pooling within them.
She cast the first Curaga with a focus on Edgar's internal injuries. As the silver healing light sunk into his heaving broken chest Relm shouted for help.
"Sabin!" she screamed, "Get over here right now and get this stupid armor off before your brother drowns in his own blood!" Before the echoes of Relm's shout finished bouncing off the stone the monk was there, tearing the damaged armor from his brother's torso as if the enchanted steel was little more than thin cloth. Relm wasted no time casting another Curaga to target Edgar's extensive skeletal damage now that the misshapen armor would not prove a hindrance in allowing those bones to return to their proper places. A second source of healing light joined hers as Sabin cast his own Curaga. She often forgot Sabin had taken the time to learn several high level spells, and was a rather competent mage at that! Turns out his blitzes had much in common with her grandpa's own form of blue magic, her pictography, and Gau's personal interpretation of natural magic.
As his body healed Edgar's coughing got stronger. Before long he was able to, with his brother's help, roll onto his stomach and struggle onto all fours. This position proved best for expelling the unsettlingly large amount of blood in his lungs.
When Edgar's hacking subsided to heavy wheezing Relm crouched down by his head. "Did I heal everything? After three freaking Curagas everything ought to be healed! Where does it hurt and how much and tell me quick because I've got a damn living tower to burn to a crisp with magic lightning and I can't waste time playing healer!"
To Relm's chagrin Edgar's blood splattered lips curled up in a smile.
"My little healing angel," he wheezed. Sabin carefully helped him to his feet. Edgar looked battered, but at least his ribcage was no longer crushed to the point of being unrecognizable! "I am rather sore, but everything is where it is supposed to be. Except for my armor and my spear . . ." Edgar looked to his twin, who shook his head and pointed down through the forest of jutting stone towers where the weapon had fallen far below. The engineer king winced. "If you were ten years older-"
"Oh can it," Relm snapped irritably, "Blah, blah, blah, you'd thank me with some fancy words and a kiss, yeah, we get it, you're hopeless flirt. I'm going to go kill a god now, thank you very much!"
Even as she spun around and began stalking towards the upward jutting spars of stone surrounding the now very dead demon creature she could hear Sabin's booming laugh.
"Kill him extra dead for us, okay! We'll catch up when we can."
Shadow spared a quick glance over his shoulder and grinned in spite of himself. Already Edgar was pushing his brother away in favor of standing on his own two feet. The loss of his lance was unfortunate, but the young king was a competent swordsman and had a varied, though not particularly powerful, array of spells at his disposal. Given time, the Figaro twins would indeed catch up.
The air flashed red and Shadow heard his companions fighting the second tier scream.
Time was not something they had. He and Interceptor crested the gently arching spar they'd used to ascend to the second level at a dead run. Celes, Locke, and Setzer faced down the writhing mass of half creatures somehow part of the stone yet still flesh. Even from this distance Shadow could see Cele's sword arm covered in vicious burns and Setzer's coat smoking along the edges. Locke darted this way and that, pausing for a moment to throw his hawkeye at one abomination, sprinting a few steps to the right to intercept one monstrosity's swipe at the chanting general. A moment later a beam of holy light erupted from her outstretched hands to slam into one gibbering form. Shadow did not wait for any direction. He charged along in the wake of Celes' Holy and leapt blades first at the still stunned monster, a human like thing whose pelvis was fused with the tower's surface. Both blades sank to the hilt in what felt like rotting flesh, the first in the thing's throat and the second just to the left of its sternum, lodging in unnaturally soft bone as it dug in. Both would have been killing strikes for any natural creature. Shadow pulled the blade in the creature's throat free and pushed off the monstrosity's chest as he sprang out of its grasp.
No blood, he observed while still in the air. Suddenly a great power took hold of him and pulled. Down he went, landing on the stone hard enough to crack the bones in both ankles and drag him down the sloped spar nearly twenty feet. Air whistled through his teeth in a strangled shout that was almost more a reaction to his frustration at not being able to stand than pain of the broken bones themselves.
Setzer skidded to a halt by his side. "Can you get up?"
"No," Shadow snarled, "Broke both ankles."
The gambler cursed. "Relm's almost here, just hold on."
Relm started to chant the words to Curaga the moment she saw Shadow pulled forcibly to the hard stone. The absolute worst way to hit the ground with that much pressure behind the landing was feet first, precisely what had just happened to Shadow. She timed it perfectly, the second she got in range her Curaga burst from her fingertips and settled over the downed assassin. He arched his back at the discomfort of the healing, but as soon as the silver light faded away he tried to stand. Every second he spent down was a second longer that mad god threatened the world. Setzer grabbed one arm while Relm grabbed the other and they hauled him to his feet before the tingles of magic faded away from his newly healed bones.
Relm wanted at ask him how the hell Shadow managed to land with enough force break both his ankles at the same time, but that line of questioning would have to wait till later. She was here to kill a god and so far all she'd done was cast healing magic! Not that there was anything wrong with keeping her friends alive and well, she just really, really wanted to give Kekfka a piece of her mind! If only he would come down out of the sky where her spells could reach him! She envied Terra's powers of flight. But even the half esper was kept from reaching her goal by the third tier of the tower, a deceptively delicate looking man and woman who flooded the air above with magic of the highest caliber, effectively keeping Terra corralled just below the tower's top. As strong as she was, the half esper could not hope to defeat them on her own.
Shadow caught Relm's gaze and followed it up to the desperate fight taking place above their heads. If they wanted to reach Terra they would need to take down at least some of the tower's second tier. The white tiger head roared. Its breath was colder than the deepest Narshen mountain night, cold enough to turn the air to ice and blood to thickened sludge. Any closer to the abomination and they might have been frozen solid.
"I hate that thing," Setzer spoke through chattering teeth and blue tinged lips, "First it tries to roast us from the inside out, now it tries to turn us to ice."
If the gambler hated being treated like a piece of meat some apprentice cook didn't know how to properly prepare than he could shut up and do something about it! Shadow forced his numb legs into as controlled a run as he could manage and somehow coaxed a whistle from his unfeeling lips. Interceptor answered, running with a stiff legged stride to Shadow's side. A barrage of lasers identical to the beams produced by magiteck armor slammed into the stone before them, forcing an abrupt change of direction and a leap onto a parallel spar of stone to their right. Sezter must have been following close behind because Shadow heard him curse and skid to a stop, unable to make the jump in time to avoid the stone gauging beams.
Flames roared overhead, followed by streaks of lightning. Relm needed no prompting to cover her friends in their advance on the tiger's head. Not so far away more magical blasts joined her fire and lightning as Celes took on the offensive once again. Together the two mages forced a near constant rain of spells onto the magic wielding half man torso and the whirring contraption that appeared to be some sort of magiteck device embedded in the tower's side.
Magic blazing overhead quickly drove away the last vestiges of the tiger's freezing breath, though that warmth was taking far longer than Shadow liked to travel into his numb extremities. The beast before him would have been magnificent, had it been whole. Only the head and neck protruded from the tower's side: the head whipping back and forth as if trying desperately to pull itself free, as if it didn't know it had no legs to run, no body to support it. Construction of Kefka or not that half creature deserved pity. But all Shadow could feel was the white hot rage he had collected before stepping out onto the tower's top. It was probably a good thing, he thought as he drew a shruiken from the pouch at his belt with still half numb fingers and sent it spinning towards the tiger's pain maddened eye. The rage fueled him, made him focus. Another half human looking construct fused to the tower just above the tiger's head swatted his shruiken out of the air before it hit the target. Shadow snarled and threw two more, only for both to be intercepted as well. The tiger's head was now conscious of his efforts to wound it and began to strain against its unyielding stone bonds. It snapped in his direction, the jaws large enough to crush something the size of a yeti between them crashed together with near deafening booms as the greatsword like teeth came together.
Interceptor darted to the side with a snarl. Shadow followed the dog's motion instinctually and was unsurprised when a heartbeat later one of the human beast's massive hands slammed onto the stone where he had stood. Jerking his arm in a quick signal for Interceptor to circle wide out of the monster's reach Shadow rushed forward. The tiger was no longer making futile attempts to bite; instead it drew a long steady breath inward as a bright light began to form at the back of its throat. His heart pounded in time with his hurried strides as Shadow desperately raced to cut the monster's throat before it let off that spell. Though it had been years he recognized that light as the same one produced by the Ultima Weapon before it nearly boiled them alive from the inside with a technique the old coot dubbed Flare Star. Even if the beast did not die from the wound perhaps such a blow would serve to distract it and break the concentration required for spell casting.
He would never know. Just as Shadow came close enough to smell the decay and sulfur stench of the beast's breath the half human abomination came at him with a flurry of blows. It moved faster than any living thing had a right to, slashing and clawing at the dodging assassin like a rabid behemoth. The thing shrieked with an all too human voice when one of Shadow's shruiken took it in the shoulder, but that minor inconvenience did nothing to slow its assault. Without the enhanced reflexes provided by the enchanted prayer beads under his armor Shadow was certain the thing would have torn him to shreds. As it was he could just barely keep ahead of the berserk strikes, any one of which could have broken his back or disemboweled him if it hit just right.
The only safe, for a given definition of the word, area was out of the crazed abomination's reach. Shadow's boots skid on the stone as he slid neatly to a stop beside an awestruck and entirely useless Setzer. The damn gambler just stared, slack jawed, at the twisted tiger and man, not even bothering to cast the simplest of spells that could have served as some sort of distraction, even if they were ultimately ineffective! Even Interceptor who stayed wisely out of the monster's reach tried to do at least that with barks, howls, and the attempted attack on any flailing limb that came too close. Although, upon closer inspection of the scene Shadow did notice the half man's arms were covered in slim cuts and the stone littered with the gambler's weaponized playing cards and darts.
The light in the tiger's mouth grew brighter. Setzer cursed and drew his coat up to shield his face while Shadow tore one of his two remaining magical scrolls from his belt and broke the seal. The tidal wave that burst from the enchanted parchment caused the half man to splutter and shout in wordless rage, but its intended target did not flinch. Abruptly the light in the tiger's mouth exploded into beams of concentrated heat that stabbed straight into the core of everyone present.
It was as before, a screaming, burning heat that numbed the mind and torched every nerve in the body. Setzer collapsed with a howl and did his best to curl into a wailing ball of agony. Magic no longer lit the air above them as the caster's concentration was broken by the intense pain. Relm! Shadow fought against every screaming instinct to shut down and surrender to the pain, forcing himself to look around. Celes and Locke were on their knees and by the flickering silver light were trying desperately to form some sort of counter magic. Interceptor thrashed and screamed in that terrible way dogs do when in such pain. Relm stood, like he did, fighting with every scrap of stubbornness in her body to keep her feet. Tears at the pain streaked down her small face, but she did not scream. If she could not fight back at least she could deny the monsters the satisfaction of seeing her give in. Then, amazingly, her mouth started to form words that distance and the agonized howls of their friends disallowed Shadow to hear. Lighting started to form on her hands. It fizzled out, but Relm kept chanting and it formed again.
If Relm could find the strength to fight then so could he. No longer able to sprint Shadow concentrated on taking one step at a time till he came to the edge of the half man's reach. With deliberate motions he started threw a shruiken. It clattered to the ground less than five feet away. He threw another, followed by a narrow throwing knife. Neither came close to their mark. But they distracted the half man from Relm's attempted spellcasting and if that thing was too busy blocking his useless missiles then it might not get in the way of a bolt of magical lighting aimed straight at the tiger's gaping maw.
A feral roar sounded from behind. More of Kekfa's monsters come to play? How could they have slipped past their companions below? Unless they had not slipped past but instead murdered them in their ascent. Shadow's chest clenched at the more than possible possibility as he threw his next shruiken with twice the strength. This one stuck deep in the half man's right elbow joint, making the abomination scream. The new creature roared again, loud enough to drown out the screams. It was close, much closer than before. Shadow spun to face the new threat and was knocked to the ground by a passing figure.
Gau.
The wild boy charged towards the twisted figures with no regard to his own safety. The helmet donned so long ago was gone and Gau's hair was slicked back with blood. Much of it appeared to be his own. Gau roared again and the half man answered with a primal shriek. Shadow shouted a warning that he knew would fall on deaf ears as the abomination reared back to strike. But rather than avoid the blow Gau caught the massive hand between his taunt muscled arms. It swung him aloft with a bellow of anger that the wild boy returned a hundredfold. At the apex of the arm's movement Gau released his grip and sprang for the abomination's twisted face. It could do nothing to stop the feral boy's assault.
Before Shadow could force himself to rise again another charged past on their way towards the twisted tower. The shine of Cyan's armor was dulled by blood and soot and pieces of it were dented and torn, some even missing altogether, but that did not slow the older warrior at all. His eyes, clear of berserk fury, could see what Gau's did not. Rather than aide his feral companion Cyan set his course for the tiger's head that still held Flare Star strong. While maintaining the spell the beast could do little to defend itself. Upon reaching the beast Cyan bellowed a Doman war cry loud enough to be heard over all else as he swung his shield at the white furred lower jaw. The fabulous shield hit the beast's lower jaw with a crack, forcing the monster's mouth shut. Shadow's body involuntarily slumped to the ground in relief as the screaming heat from the beast's Flare Star abruptly disappeared. Nearby Setzer and Interceptor's screams receded into whimpers. A few moments later an arc of lightning smashed into the side of the tiger's head. Shadow crawled to where Interceptor lay. The big dog's eyes rolled, terrified and helpless, though he did relax a little under Shadow's touch.
"Easy boy, easy there," Shadow rasped. He softly chanted the words to the most powerful healing spell he knew and allowed the magic to settle over his and Interceptor's bodies. A quick glance around showed that Celes was doing the same to Locke while Relm held a shimmering magicite crystal between her hands. A familiar form solidified beside her, the ethereal beauty Lakshmi. The tall esper had no need of direction and in another instant Shadow felt the intensely powerful esper's healing magic settle over him. It blanketed them all, soothing their burning insides and healing what damage the vicious spell had wrought. Shadow stood up and coaxed Interceptor to his shaky paws as well. Together they started towards the young artist.
She met them halfway, throwing her hands around Interceptor's neck and looking up at Shadow with those pretty hazel eyes. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around the pair. There was no need for words between them. Each knew. What they knew none could describe, but they knew it still. They would always know.
They watched Gau tear into the abomination's flesh with a twisted fascination. Gau was a shy young man with a kind heart and a very understandable lack of conventional manners. They'd seen him adopt the mannerisms of all kinds of monsters with an accuracy that was uncanny, one that Strago determined to be magical in nature, much like the coot's own blue magic. Watching that had been curious, entertaining even. This . . . Gau tore out the monster's right eye with ragged fingernails before sinking his teeth into the half man's exposed neck and biting down hard enough to crush the windpipe. They shuddered. The half man beat frantically at the clinging body but Gau did not let go. Claw like nails tore his leather armor to shreds and did worse to the skin beneath, huge hands must have bruised muscle and broken bones but still Gau held on.
Beneath Gau and the half man Cyan dueled the tiger's head, if such an inelegant battle could be called a duel. The Doman beat against the beast's thrashing head with clouts from his shield alternating with powerful hacks of his sword. There was no parrying dance such as the one Shadow found so incomprehensible in his fever addled torpor in the coliseum. It was all heavy blows that looked more like chops from a butcher's clever than practiced sword strikes. The tiger could cast no spells like this. The beast grew quickly grew frustrated with Cyan's interference. It bashed its head into the older warrior's chest, sending him flying several yards back. The moment of breathing room was all it needed to begin gathering energy for another spell. Once more that great maw opened wide with a white hot ball of energy forming within. Shadow resisted the urge to hide his face as Setzer had.
Suddenly Cyan was on his feet. He crossed the yards between himself and the tiger's head at a dead run. With a bellowing cry he charged towards the gaping jaws, heedless of the growing heat of the budding Flare Star and the sword sharp ivory fangs. Masamune leading the way he lunged between those jaws and plunged his arm straight into the ball of growing magic as he drove his sword to the hilt in the roof of the tiger's mouth. It roared loud enough for the sound to reverberate through their very bones at it flung itself back and forth in the throes of its pain. Cyan was tossed back, weaponless. The enchanted shield glowed red hot and the warrior's entire right side was encased in the molten remains of his armor. He did not attempt to rise.
As one Shadow, Relm, and Interceptor ran towards their fallen friend. It was as if they were back in the dream world, one mind in three bodies. No. Three distinct individual minds working as one shared equally between three physical forms. Finding places to grab their friend that would not burn their hands beyond recognition was difficult, but they managed and dragged him away from the fight. Cyan panted heavily and tried to help them by scrabbling against the stone with his legs as they pulled. The shock of his injuries must have been so great that he could no longer process the pain. It was the only explanation for how he could remain conscious with such grievous burns.
While Relm and Shadow worked to stabilize Cyan Celes and Locke took the older warrior's place fighting the tiger's head. Setzer limped over with offers to help, to which Relm responded with curses and snarls. She was just as angry at the gambler for his lack of participation in the fight as Shadow. Setzer took the hint and instead chose to keep watch as they worked. Interceptor's frantic barking heralded Strago's struggling climb up the twisting stone spires. The old mage was closely followed by the Figaro twins, who immediately set to helping a battered and broken, yet not beaten, Gau take down the half man. Strago looked at his granddaughter and the assassin briefly before deciding the two had things well in hand and his magic would be best spent on offence.
Finally, after what felt like hours but could not have been more than minutes Shadow was able to say for certain that Cyan would not slip into a coma and die of his wounds. Whether his sword arm would be the same again was questionable, but he would live. The magic inflicted burns extended down to the bone itself with any flesh that had not been protected by metal armor blackened into uselessness while that which was had blistered into the molten metal so that flesh and steel were indistinguishable. Even magic as powerful as Relm's could not replace pieces of the body that no longer existed.
Shadow stepped back to cast Cura over his blistered fingers. He had not noticed the pain through his gloves when tearing melted pieces of armor from Cyan's arm before they cooled and mode things infinitely worse. A hand grasped his shoulder just as the silver healing magic faded away and Shadow turned towards it with a snarl.
Setzer regarded him with wide, panicked eyes that nearly bulged from his pale face. The gambler pointed up towards the tower's peak, more specifically towards the two figures circling the abominations that made the peak their domain. Terra and Maduin did their best to dodge the flaming cosmic stones hurled by Meteor, but could not evade everything. A particularly large stone hurtled towards Terra at a breakneck face. She spun through the air as it whistled past only to put herself in the path of another. Before it could hit her Maduin was there, pushing his daughter out of the way in time to take the blow himself. The meteor caught him full in the back and carried him down out of sight. Shadow could only hope the esper faded into mist before it crushed him against the top of the tower.
It was clear Terra could not face the abomination alone. Shadow glanced at Relm, a little pale from oncoming magical exhaustion, and Interceptor, who still looked unsteady on his paws. A sharp signal told the dog not to follow. A sharp look told Relm the same. She opened her mouth to protest, but instead closed it and nodded in understanding. He promised her. He wouldn't break that promise.
Not unless death took him first.
"Come on," Shadow barked at Setzer as he started towards the twisted remains of the magitech construct embedded in the tower's side. The mangled steel made a perfect ladder that the assassin was able to climb with ease, quickly leaving the struggling gambler behind. Why he'd even told Setzer to follow was beyond him. If Terra was having trouble dealing with these two very obvious magical constructs that looked to be even more powerful than those in the tier below it was unlikely Setzer would serve as more than an obstacle or, at best, a scrawny meat shield. Shadow crested the edge of the tower's peak just as a spell of unimaginable power fell over Terra as she made a pass by the male half of the construct with the Ragnarok. Her flesh seemed to bubble over her entire frame, almost as if melting. She fell out of the air with a scream.
The male half smiled a twisted all too familiar smile as it prepared to strike. Terra rolled onto her back, saw the hand rushing towards her, and knew that there was no way she could move out of the way in time to save her neck from being broken like a twig. She braced herself and prepared to follow her father into the abyss. An indistinct shadow moved faster than the wind to intercept that falling hand. A flash of silver from a curving blade deflected the blow at the last moment, drawing a dark line across the monster's palm as it did. The thing drew back with a hiss. Shadow answered with a feral snarl. The female half of the abomination put her hands tenderly on the shoulders of the male and surrounded him with the healing magic of White Wind. In that moment of respite Shadow took the time to help Terra regain her feet. The half esper's sharp claws pricked at his wrist, but Shadow didn't pay them any mind. An instant later Terra was in the air again.
She made no effort to cast spells so Shadow followed her lead and charged towards the twisted pair. His stash of shruiken and throwing knives was nearly spent; those that were left he thought prudent to save for Kefka, who could easily evade close combat through flight. He wished he'd kept that in mind earlier. The Ichigeki, a weapon he'd nearly died twice to obtain, would have to be enough. Terra dove with a shriek like a bird of prey at the female half. The male threw up its hands and cast Meteor. Just like that, no chanting, no charging of the spell, just a simple motion and Terra was forced to swerve away or be destroyed. Shadow tried to rush in under the spell to get a cut at the female, but was stymied when she drew a piece of the shining head rest behind her and brandished it like a sword to block his strike. It was a sword, Shadow realized with a jerk. And not just any sword, but a perfect likeness of Terra's own Ragnarok. Lights within the two blades flashed in unison. Two swords forged from a single magicite crystal. Shadow darted away warily, but the creature did not press the attack.
No matter how they tried neither Terra nor Shadow could break through the male's defense of its female half. Whatever damage they inflicted on the male was quickly healed by its devoted partner. They simply could not move fast enough to escape the abomination's notice.
You forget: you are not alone.
Something pulsed in the pouch at Shadow's waist and once he realized just what it was he could have kicked himself for such stupidity. As he dodged the male's latest Meteor his finger's worked frantically at the ties to the pouch till they were able to slip inside and draw out what lay within. The amount of magic needed to draw the esper within into the world of the living was enough to bring Shadow dangerously close to the edge of magical overextension, but he pushed weariness aside with mind and body schooled for many years to obey his every command. Fenrir did not shimmer into existence as many of the other espers did. First there was nothing then the great wolf simply appeared as if having stepped from a shadow. Fenrir never spoke, though like all espers he was capable of speech. He only watched, observed, and acted. His chilling howl quavered through the air as he vanished with as little fanfare as he arrived. With him vanished the half esper and assassin.
The pair of constructs looked around at the now empty tower top in confusion. Then something sharp bit into the female's side. She screamed and was hit again in the shoulder. Both struck out at what they could not see as wound after wound appeared on the female's pale skin. Her struggles became weaker and weaker while the male began to panic. It lashed out frantically in all directions, even going so far as to cast Meteor over itself and its female half in the hopes of hitting one of the unseen assailants. As luck would have it, separate pieces of flaming stone hit Shadow and Terra. Shadow was dealt a glancing blow on one shoulder that knocked the arm holding the Ichigeki from inflicting another festering wound on the creature's side. A much larger piece caught Terra as she swooped in from above. But even that could not sway the wild half esper from her course. Ragnarok flashed once before Terra buried the sword to the hilt in the female construct's chest. It slumped forward and did not move again.
With Fenrir's protective spell gone there was nothing to shield the assassin and half esper from the male abomination's wrath. Upon the death of its companion it went berserk, calling down a near constant rain of Meteor while trying desperately to grab and crush the life out of either one of its foes. Shadow and Terra were hard pressed to come near, never mind land a blow. Terra sheathed the Ragnarok and started to chant. The rain of meteors thickened, the new spell having targeted the abomination alone. It roared in defiance and tried to snatch Terra out of the air. She deftly dodged away and soon after a funnel cloud of destruction roared down from the heavens, tearing through the flaming projectiles and carving a deep scar in the tower's top as it raged. Shadow shielded his face against the backlash of the ferocious wind. He could not approach with Terra's spells wreaking such havoc. When the tornado dissipated Terra hammered the construct with fire, ice, and lightning in turns. The abomination fought back with all it had, but Shadow could see that ever so slowly it was getting weaker. New Meteors came with less frequency, its movements appeared to slow, even its screams sounded hoarser than before. Bit by bit, Terra was winning!
When the half esper took a moment to catch her breath Shadow struck. He was not going to let that abomination have any chance to take a shot at Terra if he could help it! Racing over the ground ripped to pieces by the various spells was more difficult than Shadow wanted to admit, but he managed to navigate it without falling. The weakened construct reacted to late to the assassin's charge and Shadow was able to slice its right thigh clear down to the bone before bounding away. The exhilaration racing through Shadow's veins almost eclipsed the rage and terror. For so many years he lived to fight and this truly was the fight of his life! The odds were stacked against them, yet they were triumphing anyway! Nothing could stop him, not his past, not Kefka, not-
Everything went dark. Shadow stumbled to a stop, pawing at his face with his empty hand. Nothing met his touch save for the ever present mask, but he could neither hear nor see. A massive hand slammed into his back and sent the assassin flying. He curled into a ball in the air and hit the ground rolling. Still the landing jarred his shoulder badly. Echo Herb and Eyedrops, he thought, dropping the Ichigeki in his haste to procure the needed curative items from their places secreted on his person. Instinct told him to move, so he rolled quickly to the left. The ground trembled upon the impact of the monster's Meteor. Hands still digging for the proper remedies to his condition Shadow scrambled to his feet and started to run. He was relatively certain he was far enough from the tower's edge to avoid falling off and moving, even moving blind, was better than waiting for death to come!
A pair of hands grabbed Shadow's shoulders and jerked him to a stop. Those hands clenched tight enough so Shadow could feel the points of Terra's claws even through his armor. He felt magic flow into him through her palms and suddenly the world snapped back. He staggered and would have fallen had the half esper's powerful grip not kept him upright. To go from absolutely nothing to a world full of flashing colors and a myriad of sounds was a shock to his system. His eyes regained focus agonizingly slowly. When they did, Shadow almost wished he were still blind.
The male abomination looked ready to topple over in death, yet the smile on its face was one of triumph. Behind him Terra breathed heavily. After that barrage of magic she was nearly spent. They could do nothing but watch as Kefka's abomination brought its hands together as if in prayer. Its soulless eyes gleamed maniacally at the frozen pair. Magic of a sort Shadow had never seen formed between its hands. Too late Shadow thought to run for the tower's edge and throw himself off. He could almost certainly catch himself on something before hitting the stone below and it might save him from the deadly magic. The abomination laughed with a sound that was somehow human yet also anything but. Abruptly Shadow knew that the magic forming between the construct's palms was Death.
He and Terra dove for the tower's edge just as the monster opened its palms with a shriek of glee. Then a ball of crackling blue energy shot through the air as if flung from a sling, burning through the newly released Death magic to hit the abomination in the chest. It exploded with enough force to disintegrate the upper half of the male construct into a thousand motes of light. The shock wave from the explosion threw Terra and Shadow back nearly fifteen feet, much further and they would have gone flying into empty air beyond the tower's edge. When he was sure nothing was broken Shadow rolled onto his side. He and Terra's wide eyes met. Neither of them had cast the spell, so who?
Peering over the lip of the tower's peek they beheld Setzer crouched on a ledge not far below. The gambler's face looked more haggard and pale than Shadow had ever seen it and he breathed in ragged gasps. Brushing a few strands of dirty silver hair away from his face Setzer looked up and met their confused stares. He gave them an exhausted version of his cocky grin. So that was why Setzer had not made an effort to cast any spells once his supply of weapons was depleted! The man was waiting for a moment to make the greatest impact with Flare, a spell so powerful that only Ultima eclipsed it. He could barely muster up the energy to cast it once, so he watched and waited for the right time. He saved their lives.
There was no warning save for a glint of light that flashed by the corner of Shadow's eye so quickly it could have easily been imagined. Setzer's grin faltered. He brought a hand to his chest under his coat. His pale face registered surprise when it came out covered in blood. Twin streams of the red liquid poured from front and back to pool beneath him. He coughed weakly, then crumpled to the stone.
"SETZER!" Terra screamed. Above them Kefka's maniacal laughter echoed through the heavens. He was coming for them. His pets were gone and now he was going to have to take care of the annoying little flies himself.
Shadow sprang to his feet and hauled Terra to hers as well.
"Go!" he told the stunned half esper.
She looked towards their fallen friend then up at the approaching god. "But Kefka-"
"I said go!" he shouted, "Take care of Setzer, I can handle myself."
Terra chewed her lower lip in indecision, but ultimately flew to the ledge below and gathered Setzer up gently in her arms. Before taking to the air again her glowing violet eyes locked with his icy blue ones.
"Be careful, Shadow."
With that she was gone, shooting down to where their companions congregated on the second tier. Shadow watched her till Terra's esper form was little more than an indistinct lavender figure holding a black smudge. She landed near the two brightest patches of color, Relm and Strago, and was quickly surrounded by the rest of their party. If Setzer still lived he would be healed. Someone below would have enough magic to stabilize him and someone else would have an ether to bring the more competent mages to a state where they could heal him completely. If he lived.
Shadow watched those multicolored figures with a fevered intensity. His friends and his family. His reason for fighting. His reason for living. Great wing beats drew closer with every passing second. If this was to be his last look at those who drew him from his twisted mockery of life and taught him to live again he wanted it to be a good one. In his minds eyes he could see the faces of those small figures, not beaten and broken as they were now but smiling or laughing or simply looking proud. Take care of Interceptor, Relm. He would remember them that way. Take care of her, old fool.
The wing beats slowed to a stop. A fell wind rustled feathers and carried a quiet giggle to Shadow's sensitive ears. Shadow knew he should feel something, be it rage or, more likely, terror, but there was only a frozen void. Reluctantly he turned away from the tower's edge.
Kefka's arms were crossed over his sculpted chest. The great wings were still, yet the mad god's feet did not touch the ground. With that extra bit of height he towered over Shadow higher than any enemy the assassin could recall, even the red dragon from Phoenix's cave. Shadow did not speak. His hand clenched the empty space at his belt where the Ichigeki should have been and his eyes darted to where the weapon lay some distance away. He had other weapons, yes, but it still would have been a comfort to hold his most powerful when facing such a foe. Kefka's glimmering eyes looked over his shoulder at the milling shapes below and a smile split the god's pale face.
"You three looked like you were having a moment," he snickered, "I just HAD to ruin it!"
Shadow did not give him the satisfaction of answering. Instead he began to stalk forward, drawing his second best dagger as he did so. The emptiness in his chest worried him, but he did not let that worry reach his eyes. He could fight without emotion as well as with; it would make no difference in the long run.
Kefka tsked and waggled a finger at the approaching assassin. "Now, now, what are you doing? It wouldn't be nearly fair if I didn't let you fight me with your best equipment. Go on, pick it up."
It . . . couldn't hurt, Shadow supposed. Keeping a wary eye on the hovering Kefka Shadow cautiously made his way over to where the Ichigeki lay. The mad god simply watched, giggling all the while. Shadow sheathed his second best dagger and slowly bent over and picked up the Ichigeki.
"Was that so hard?" Kefka crooned, "Of course, you're assuming I'm going to play fair!"
With a shriek of insane glee Kefka swooped down and tried to clout Shadow with his wings. Just as the white feathered limb was about to beat the assassin into the ground the fingers on Shadow's free hand broke the seal on his last remaining scroll. To Kefka's eyes Shadow had been under his wing, a breath away from being crushed, then had seemingly teleported out of danger to drag his fancy blade through the alabaster feathers, leaving a welling line of blood in its wake. Beneath his mask Shadow's lips twisted into a grimacing smile.
Who said I was going to play fair?
Blasts of magic of the highest caliber rained from the heavens at the god's command. Shadow dodged away from a rain of ice spears longer than his body only to find himself in the path of a Firaga twice the size of even the old coot's powerful fire spells. Without the additional reflexes granted to him by the Shadow Scroll he would have certainly ended up a pile of ash. He spun away from that spell with the edges of Relm's scarf at his belt singed and smoking only to be forced to fling himself from the path of another vicious elemental blast. In the midst of his dodging Shadow managed to fling shruiken after shruiken at the hovering madman. Those missiles that hit their mark appeared to do nothing of consequence. Most Kefka simply batted away before they connected.
"Life ..." Kefka spoke as he called down yet another arc of lighting, "Dreams ... Hope ... Where do they come from? And where do they go ...? Such meaningless things ... I'll destroy them all!"
All too soon Shadow's hand went to his belt pouch only to find it empty of projectiles. A stream of curses Relm would have been proud of ran through his mind as he settled for drawing his second best dagger and facing Kefka down with a blade in each hand.
"You must think yourself very brave," Kefka snickered. With three flaps of his wings Kefka ascended well out of Shadow's reach.
I am not brave, I am a coward.
You voluntarily face a GOD in single combat and you're still going on about that!
"How can you hope to defeat me?! You're just a puny mortal and You. Can't. Fly!" Kefka nearly doubled over with laughter and Shadow had to resist the temptation to throw his second best dagger right between those glittering mad eyes. With enough of a boost behind his jump Shadow calculated he just might be able to reach Kefka at his current height. Where he would obtain such a boost was unknown. Had Strago been fighting beside him any number of the old coot's spells would have done it. Any spell which caused significant outward force or updraft of air would suffice! Shadow cursed himself for not experimenting more with using his own magic for such purposes.
Kefka took genuine joy from watching the assassin stalk back and forth in his shadow. A little ball of fire or lightning here or there to keep the peon on his toes. It was especially funny to watch those blue eyes judging the distance ever so carefully when Kefka allowed himself to descend. Too bad he never took the bait and made a jump for it. That would have been hilarious!
"Not even going to try?" Kefka teased. Shadow was silent. Staring. Always silent and staring with those ice blue eyes. Hadn't they been a different color before?
"It was much more fun when I was inside your head," Kekfa sneered, "Then I could make you respond! Maybe I can get in again ..." Shadow felt a slight tickling at the edge of his consciousness. He crushed it with an audible snarl. The voice in his head echoed his displeasure at the attempted intrusion.
Kefka crossed his arms and pouted, slinging a rain of ice at the impertinent fool for good measure. He dodged most of it, mores the pity, but a lucky shard did slice through the armor over one shoulder. "Stupid child," he muttered, "You were mine and she stole you from me. I'll make her pay for that."
Shadow's spine stiffened.
The madman smiled. "What would be worse, making her watch you die or you watch her die . . . I know! I'll kill both of you at the same time! That way you can watch each other die!" Kefka clapped his hands together and giggled with perverse glee. "By the way, does her grandfather know about you two? Uwee-hee-hee, it's not like the crippled old fool could do anything to stop you! I should hope you're at least doing him the courtesy of paying for-"
The needle thin dart of finely compress and controlled emotion nestled in Shadow's chest shattered like a brittle bone. The void inside him was suddenly eclipsed by a hellish maelstrom that consumed thought, control, common sense, absolutely everything. A feral howl wrenched itself from Shadow's throat as he flung himself skyward at the hovering god. Kefka fairly shrieked with laughter as he batted away the leaping assassin with a casual swipe of one wing. He dropped like a stone but was up a moment later leaping desperately for the cackling lunatic. It didn't matter that Kefka was too far away, it didn't matter that jumping around like this made him the perfect target for any spell, nothing mattered but destroying the thing that spoke so about his Relm!
A fireball caught him square in the chest. Upon hitting the ground Shadow rolled to extinguish the flames then was up again, crouching only long enough to gather energy for another futile attack.He did not even register when the next blow of Kefka's outstretched wings cracked several of his ribs. It sent him bumping and rolling along the pitted stone of the tower's peak so far he nearly tumbled off the edge. He lost his second best dagger on the way, leaving him with the Ichigeki alone. That mattered not, one blade or two he would carve that madman into so many strips of meat!
CLYDE, STOP THIS NOW! YOU PROMISED HER, DAMN IT!
Shadow stopped. Drawing on years of personal conditioning he reigned the fury in till he could at least thing straight and take in the world around him. The voice was right, he promised Relm and he could not fulfill his promise by striking out with all the finesse of a rabid dog. He took a deep breath. His cracked ribs hurt when they expanded against the stone pressing into his chest and belly. Let your emotions run free, but don't let them consume you.
Lying on his stomach with his chest nearly over the lip of the tower's top Shadow could see all of his companions. Most were far below, closer to the first tier of the tower than the second. But, not so far away at all, stood a cluster of bright clothing stained with dull smudges of all types. Strago, Celes, Terra, and Relm. Strago passed around a bottle of something that his fellow mages drank deeply of. Shadow's eyes widened when he recognized what it was. A megaelixer. Three mages who knew Ultima and one with access to a spell of almost comparable power downing a brew of such rarity and power: only one possibility came to Shadow's mind. Ignoring his wounds Shadow scrambled to his feet and turned to face Kefka. He had no illusions that the mages could strike more than once before Kefka's wrath turned to them. His full wrath, not the cat and mouse game he'd been playing with Shadow. He had to make sure they at least got that single strike.
"Still?!" Kefka snapped when the assassin started walking towards him once more. There was less amusement in his tone this time. By now the foolish mortal should be cowering at his feet or at the very least be too crippled to move! What was the fun of breaking people when those people refused to break! "You can't hit me, you're 'friends' have obviously run away and left you to die, and you still think you can beat me!? Do your stupid, ungrateful, coward friends really mean so much to you?!"
Shadow let his blazing eyes answer for him. The shriek Kefka let out in response had no trace of laughter in it.
"FINE!" Kefka screamed, "I WILL SHOW YOU JUST HOW WEAK YOU STUPID MORTALS ARE! FORESAKEN!"
Shadow had just enough time to register the wall of power headed towards him before his world devolved into agony. The magic coursed through his veins in a burning, tearing stream that dropped him where he stood. He screamed until his throat was raw and there was no breath left in his lungs to form sound. After an eternity it bled away, leaving him twitching but alive. Dimly he noticed the spell had thrown him across the tower's top and he was now lying next to the female construct's expired form. Incredibly the Ichigeki was still in his hand.
As he started to push himself to a standing position Kefka hit him with a Thundaga between the shoulderblades. Shadow collapsed, jerking like a fish till the bulk of the electricity siphoned off into the ground. His free hand bled. Why?
Look.
In his involuntary flailing he'd cut it on the Ragnarok's blade. The construct's Ragnarok he assumed, since Terra had almost certainly taken hers with her. Forcing his tortured muscles to work Shadow painstakingly sheathed the Ichigeki and took hold of the great sword's hilt with both hands. Using the blade like a crutch Shadow unsteadily rose to his feet. The flapping of Kefka's wings came closer.
"IMBACILE!"
Closer.
"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE!"
Closer.
"I'LL KILL YOU, THEN I'LL KILL HER, THEN I'LL KILL EVERYONE!"
Now!
For one instant Shadow forced himself to ignore his battered body. Every part of him working like a well oiled machine, he spun, hefting the Ragnarok as he did so. Upon facing the object of his hatred he took a single lunging step and threw.
A look of shock registered on Kefka's face as the sword entered his belly. The blade impaled him completely and it not been stopped by the hilt the force of Shadow's throw could have sent the missile cleanly through. Kefka prodded the sword embedded in his gut curiously. For a moment a thrill of triumph ran through his shuddering frame at that thought that perhaps the blow had done some permanent damage. Behind the mad god he could see the mages assembled on the tower's opposite edge. They had their eyes closed and hands pressed together in concentration. Relm looked so small next to Terra and Celes . . .
"Uwee-hee-hee-hee!"
Shadow's attention was forcefully dragged back to the monster floating above him. Kefka left the sword in his stomach as if the massive blade was no inconvenience at all.
"I give you credit for creativity," Kefka giggled, "But it's not enough. Nothing will be enough! YOU, YOUR CHILD TOY, YOUR PRECIOUS FRIENDS, EVERYTHING WILL BURN!" The bright light of Firaga formed between Kefka's hands.
Any spell that creates a powerful enough updraft will do it!
There was no time to think, only to act. The instant the spell left Kefka's hands Shadow bunched his legs muscles and leapt straight up. The epicenter of the fireball struck where he had stood moments before, the explosive outer edge still caught him dead on. The violent upward force of the spell augmented Shadow's own momentum. He drew the Ichigeki mid leap and when the fire cleared he was too close to his target for Kefka to retaliate. He slammed into Kefka's bare chest with enough force to break his cracked ribs but the pain didn't register. Before the god could react Shadow put one foot on the Ragnarok's hilt and clenched his free hand around the base of one wing. His stance as secure as it was going to be, Shadow drove the Icigeki straight into Kefka's throat.
Shadow knew the blow wouldn't kill him. This was a god and no injury of flesh could hope to bring it down. Still, there was an instant of shock, stock stillness where Kefka tried to process exactly how the three quarters dead assassin had managed to stab a dagger through his throat. Shadow took advantage of that instant, releasing his grip on the Ichigeki's hilt in order to lean close enough to snarl in the mad god's ear.
"She's my daughter, you bastard."
Massive hands took hold of the assassin and flung him as far away as possible. Shadow did not try to stop them. He was falling, down, down, while Kefka threw back his head in silent twisted laughter. There was a roar of power and suddenlty the mad god was surrounded by a massive globe of magical energy. Ultima. No. The magic burned brighter and more powerful than that. Three Ultimas. The enclosing pyramid of Grand Delta suddenly formed around the budding spells. Inside its borders the prism's own magic ran wild and the immense power of Ultima collapsed in on itself as it was not allowed to expand. Kefka threw himself against Grand Delta's sides but could not break through. In the midst of the blazing white light a point of blue fire appeared at the thrashing god's belly. The Ragnarok. That fire grew steadily till it was bright enough to blind. Then it exploded. The blade shattered into a Flare spell large enough to eclipse even Ultima. It broke through Grand Delta with a crack like a thousand peals of thunder. In the middle of the chaos-
Kefka's body no longer thrashed or tried to escape. Every limb was drawn poker straight as if being pulled by ropes. In a flash and a noise that made the breaking of Grand Delta sound like a pin hitting the ground it was consumed.
Something inside him went out. Shadow knew then that even if he possessed a spell that would slow his uncontrolled descent no magic would come at his call. Magic was gone. Kefka was gone. They had won.
The back of his head slammed against a jutting stone spar and everything went black.
0 0 0
It's surreal. One of the earliest things I knew was going to happen when I started writing this was Shadow telling Kefka, "She's my daughter, you bastard." That one line has existed longer than ninety percent of this story. And now I have finally been able to share it with you all.