Chapter 27: One Born With the Heart of the Dragon
There are times when I wonder what it was that I'd done that was so bad in my past life that karma decided that it would screw me over. It must have been something, because with the way my life has been going, I'm beginning to suspect that I was someone as bad as Jack the Ripper. Hell, for all I knew, I was the reincarnated Jack the Ripper.
It would explain my karma, certainly.
The reason karma has screwed me over? Oh, I'm just thinking that it's the giant three-headed dog, also known as Cerberus, which happened to be entering the cavern, all three heads growling and snarling.
And as if that wasn't enough? Oh look, a two headed dragon is coming out to join its fellow multi-headed cousin. And a giant winged eyeball… ok, that one is just weird. But then last, slithering in, was a large snake-like creature, but with the torso of a female humanoid. The naked body of a female humanoid.
The she-snake looked over me and Seifer and scoffed.
"So you are the two mortals who managed to survive the previous 4 floors. Most disappointing. You're barely worth the effort it'll take to crush you."
Wow, someone was confident in their abilities.
"Fuck you, snake-whore!" Seifer exclaimed.
"Very tactful." I commented, wry grin on my face.
The she-snake glowered at Seifer, slithering closer to him.
"You dare speak in such a manner to me?" She asked; her eyes narrowed. "Do you know who I am?"
"Yea, a snake-whore, as he said." I commented. "Seriously, would it kill you to put some clothes on?"
The she-snake turned her glare towards me, but paused as Seifer spoke up.
"Even Marilith wore more than you, and all she ever wore was a bra."
The she-snake let out a low hiss.
"Marilith?" I asked, turning to look at Seifer.
"The Fiend of Fire. A six-armed, red skinned, snake woman."
"Interesting. I'm going to assume by her title that she was a pyromaniac."
"Oh yeah. The Warriors of Light easily beat her because the Black Mage of the party just cast blizzard spells on her, which had twice the effect, snakes being reptiles."
I snorted.
"Hah. So much for that Fiend."
Apparently, she-snake didn't like being ignored, because she gave a hearty hiss and swiped her tail at Seifer, who jumped over the tail with a curse.
"Wait your turn snake-whore!" He shouted, giving the she-snake a look that implied that she was beneath him.
"Fools, you are in the presence of the Mother of all Monsters!" She-snake cried out.
Seifer gave her a quick once-over, before making a sound of amusement.
"You're Echidna? I expected something more impressive." He claimed. "All I see is a snake-whore."
The she-snake, Echidna, snarled, throwing her arm skywards. For a second, there was nothing, but then the air felt heavy, as Echidna put her energies into a powerful spell.
"Get down!" Seifer cried out, diving to the floor.
I followed his example, and not a moment too soon, as shortly after, the room was engulfed in a bright flash. I felt heat from whatever the attack was brush over me, before everything was normal again. Staggering to my feet, I noticed that Echidna was missing.
I also noticed that the Cerberus was charging towards me, all three heads growling.
"Crappit." I managed to utter, before leaping back to avoid being crushed by the three headed dog's massive paw. "Wrong species pup, maybe if I were an anthromorphic fox instead of a lizard."
The hell-hound clearly didn't appreciate the taunt, as it started to try and swat at me with its paws. Cursing, I dodged the first two swats, before jabbing my gunblade into the soft padded underside of Cerberus' paw, causing a very normal dog-like yelp to exit all three heads of the hell-hound.
While Cerberus was distracted, I looked around for Seifer, ready to tear him a new one for leaving me to fight a giant three headed dog by myself. When I saw him, any anger I had towards him faded as I realized that he had it worse than I did. The blond was defending himself against the two-headed dragon, and the floating eye, which looked to be a very regal looking Ahriman.
Any other thoughts I might have had were forced to take a backseat as Cerberus decided that he was going to make me suffer for the pain I dealt its foot.
I was forced to leap sideways in order to avoid the large maw snapping at me. I landed in a roll which immediately had to be converted into a somersault in order to avoid a second jaw from catching me. The middle head tried to catch me while I was still in the air, but was clearly unprepared for me to stab it with my blade as it neared.
The gunblade embedded in the centre head's snout, I was left dangling from my weapon in front of the mouth of the middle head, feeling its warm breath wash over me. I had to resist the urge to let go of my weapon and cover my snout while I gagged at the hell-hound's bad breath. Eww, dog breath stinks.
I swung sideways, attempting to gain enough momentum to dislodge my gunblade from the giant hell-hounds snout. My timing couldn't have come at a better time, since as I swung away from the mouth, the head to the left tried to snap at me, but missed, slamming into the middle head. The force of the impact had the centre head pivoting around, the force of which managed to dislodge my gunblade and send me flying. My flight, however, was short-lived, as I felt something grab my left-wrist.
Looking upwards, I found where Echidna had been hiding. She was hanging from the rafters, and had caught me as I'd been sent flying. It wasn't for benign reasons however, as she proved when the hand that wasn't holding me stretched open, exposing her very sharp nails, which she jabbed at my face.
I managed to catch her wrist before her long and sharp nails could go anywhere near my eyes, which I was certain was their target. However, we were now in a stalemate. I improvised quickly and used her arms to pull myself so that I was actually level with her before I slammed my face into hers, bringing force a shriek. And then she dropped me.
I managed to land on my feet, though I stumbled for a moment before I could regain my balance. Up above, I see Echidna glare down at me, before slithering off; using the rafters to stay out of harms way. Cowardly snake-whore.
That was the least of my concerns though, as a rumbling alerted me to a large monster behind me. Turning around, I found that all three of Cerberus' heads were glaring at me, hatred making the air feel cold.
Discretion is the better part of valour, I decided, and promptly cast matra magic, which divided the missiles between all three heads. Considering having a handful of missiles blowing up in all three heads a good enough distraction, I turned and ran, trying to put some distance between it and me. I need a plan, and being snapped at by a giant hell-hound is not a good time or place to be planning.
However, it is never a good time to run into an equally large two headed dragon, which I regrettably, just did. Damn, I thought this thing was trying to kill Seifer? Don't tell me that the blond is dead…
Oh, no, he's not, he's just waving his gunblade around at the Ahriman, which was hovering just outside of his reach.
I had little time to ponder much of anything, as the dragon decided that toasted lizard was on the menu tonight, and exhaled a large volume of fire at me. I managed to shield myself, through some creative use of Blizzara… ok, I just cast it in a way that created a big shield, but it managed to save me. I'm not going to consider how close I was to being roasted alive, it's the fact that I survived that counts.
Turning, I charged at the dragon, tired of this constant diving left, right and centre that I was being forced to do, and swung my gunblade at the dragon… where it got stuck while partway inside one of the dragon's necks. Swearing, I tried to pull it free, but had to give up on noticing that while the head of the neck that I'd just gotten my gunblade stuck in couldn't reach me, the other could, and was trying to be stealthy. If it weren't for my turning around in frustration, I wouldn't have noticed it.
Once again, I was forced to dive aside, my mouth spouting words that would make a sailor blush. Barret would probably just compliment me on the creative use of the Gaian language.
I was now weaponless, and being chased by a giant two-headed dragon, which seemed to think that I'd make a good snack. If I'd thought it would actually do any good, I'd have told it that I was all bones, no meat. Sadly, I doubted the dragon would care.
"Seifer!" I called out, hoping to get a little help here.
Apparently not, since he was still playing around with the Ahriman. Was he really that pathetic? Well, if the fist shaking is anything to go by, than yes, he really was that pathetic.
In an effort to tell me that not paying attention was liable to get me killed, and that it would let it slide this once, the two headed dragon roared at me. The thing was, I was unwilling to take on a monster that had the unfair advantage of being a two-headed dragon, while I had the disadvantage of only being armed with a knife that I hadn't yet pulled free from the sheath.
Maybe I should help out the Billy Idol lookalike.
Ok, that's hardly fair to call him a lookalike of a person he isn't aware exists. I take that back… though he does look vaguely like Billy Idol.
Drawing my knife, I ran away from the oversized two-headed dragon and towards Seifer and the Ahriman, tensing. As I neared, I turned so that I was still heading in their general direction, but directly ahead of me, was a wall. It was a plain looking wall. Made of stone. It was also very hard, so if I ran into it, doubtless, it would hurt quite a bit.
I had no intention of running headfirst into the wall. Nope, I was planning on running feet-first into the wall.
Wall running is a very short-lived experience, contrary to what the Matrix says. Still, it was possible, though I was only able to go what, three, four steps before gravity decided that enough was enough.
At least, that was the case since I've been merged with my pet lizard, who is infinitely more athletic than I am. If I tried this before any of this happened, I would have made it half a step before gravity yanked me down, head first.
But at the moment, I wasn't wall running for the sake of wall running… I was wall running so that I had that little bit of extra height when I jumped. And jump I did, just as I felt gravity try to grab me with its icy grip.
I soared, if you can really call it soaring, and managed to catch onto the Ahriman's leg. It was a sure thing, really, I'm just that great…
"Shit, almost missed!" I cursed, dangling from the Ahriman's leg.
Ok, so I exaggerated a little, but it really gets depressing saying 'I barely caught it', 'I managed to hit it, just'. It makes me sound like I can barely do anything. Yes, the things I try to do are insane and were highly likely to fail to begin with, but cut me some slack here.
The point is, I managed to catch hold of the Ahriman's leg, something that the flying eye clearly didn't appreciate. It protested my presence. At least, I believe that the squealing was it protesting, for all I knew, it was welcoming me with open wings.
Regardless of whether it was protesting or not, I pulled myself up the Ahriman's leg, knife poised. The Ahriman gave a different sounding squeal and a bolt of lighting shot past, almost hitting my tail.
"Stop that." I protested. "You'll only zap yourself along with me."
The Ahriman either didn't care, or couldn't understand, since it tried again. Thankfully, it missed again, though I wasn't about to take any chances regarding this thing and its bolts of electricity.
Swinging myself up, I thrust my knife into the eye that made up most of the Ahriman's body mass. A horrible black liquid squirted out of the cut, and the squealing got louder. Snarling, I pulled the knife out and stabbed it in again, this time putting as much force behind it as I could, while at the same time holding onto the leg of the Ahriman so that I didn't fall down.
Still the Ahriman continued to squeal, proving that it was still alive, though its wings weren't beating quite as powerfully as before, gradually lowering us to ground level.
This time, the blinded Ahriman didn't try using lightning bolts to get me off; instead it sucked in some air before exhaling it, in the form of fire. With a yelp of pain, I released my grip on the knife, and was once again simply hanging onto the Ahriman's leg, only this time with the added bonus of a burnt arm.
Counting to ten, backwards, I waited for the pain to fade, before swinging myself back up for take two of stabbing the Ahriman.
Only I needn't have bothered, since the Ahriman was at ground level by that time, letting me grab the knife while it lay on the floor. Yanking the blade out, I swung in back down, stabbing the Ahriman, putting all my weight behind it.
This time, the knife buried itself up to the hilt, and the wailing began to lesson. Another stab and the thing finally died. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the knife out one final time and took in my surroundings. Where had Seifer gone while I killed the flying eyeball? Ah, there he is, taking on the two headed dragon and actually doing rather well now that he didn't also have to worry about being attacked from behind by the Ahriman.
There was something missing though…
I sighed as the growling reached my ears. Turning around, I looked the Cerberus in the eye, while trying to think of a way that I could either escape or, even better, kill this overgrown hell-hound.
Although, I had to wonder where Echidna vanished off to. Was she still in the rafters, or had she gone somewhere else to sulk over being called a snake-whore?
Cerberus gave me little time to ponder on the subject, as it lunged at me, middle head snapping. Side-stepping, I grabbed hold of the head's fur, and when the head jerked back up to its normal position, it launched me upwards, where I grabbed hold of the rafters and swung myself up.
Maybe I can sneak up and just slit the so-called 'mother of all monsters' throat or something. That would be within range of what I could do with this dinky little knife. I turned to look down at Cerberus, which had all three heads looking up at me, growling.
"Down boy." I muttered, turning my attention to whatever was up here in the rafters.
I spotted Echidna, her back turned to me. Her green flesh stuck out, giving me an easy time in finding her. She was watching Seifer battle the dragon intently. So intently, that my earlier thought of just slitting her throat was actually a viable option.
Bending low, I slowly moved towards her, arms reaching out. However, just as I got into a position where I could actually kill her, Cerberus gave a loud, echoing bark, and Echidna spun around. On spotting me, she didn't have even a second's delay in her reaction time. Her reaction to my presence was a right hook to the face that had me staggering backwards, before her tail collided with me, knocking me from the rafters.
Only my tail managed to wrap itself around the beam, and the momentum caused me to just swing back up, albeit, feeling a tad dizzy, having not been prepared to travel in a circle at the speeds that I just had.
Echidna brought her arms up into a position to fight me, before lowering them, giving me a thoughtful look.
"You've proven yourself to be a resourceful foe." She commented, idly.
I didn't lower my guard, if anything, I raised it. I didn't speak.
"You know, there is no need for us to be fighting." She continued, slithering along the rafters in a way that circled me. "You would be an ideal father of all monsters."
Eh, she's flirting with me? You have got to be kidding me; she really is a freaking snake-whore. Do I have some kind of note stuck to me that claims that I'm easily wooed? That I would just jump at any woman who shows an interest in me? I am not easy, and I do not jump at the chance to hump the brains out of someone who claims to have an interest in me. I wanted to believe that she was simply trying to get me to lower my guard, like Tia did way back when, but Echidna looked and sounded serious.
Eww…
Echidna came closer, but stopped as I raised my knife higher, making it clear I wasn't having her come any closer. She laughed in response though.
"Don't try to deny it. Picture, you and me, the rulers of all monsters. You'd live life as a king, your every whim easily attainable."
I'm trying not to picture it.
While trying to shake the images from my head, Echidna took advantage of my momentary distraction and rushed towards me. I didn't get the chance to defend myself before she had her arms wrapped tightly around me, pinning the arm that I was holding the knife with to my side.
And then she kissed me.
While I was trying to get over all the feelings of 'yuck' that were coursing through my mind, Echidna forced her tongue into my mouth and began exploring what she felt was her rightful territory. I struggled against her, but she was stronger than she looked, and managed to keep my knife arm pinned to my side. I didn't want to bite her tongue, since I wasn't sure if Echidna's blood would have any diseases that I could catch.
However, when she began to squeeze my rear end while stroking the base of my tail in an erotic manner, I knew I was going to have to take drastic measures.
Oh God, I'm going to regret this.
Seeing no other alternative, I bit down on the tongue that was invading my mouth. Echidna withdrew with a shriek, and she glared at me.
"Insolent whelp. I do not require my mate be willing." She hissed. "Just give in, you may find yourself enjoying it."
"Fuck you, snake-whore." I ground out, spitting a glob of her own blood at her.
She tightened her hold on me, and I found myself gasping for air. I kicked my legs out, and found that she'd also lifted me higher, so I couldn't touch the ground beneath me.
"I could have given you the world if you'd just submitted. Now, you'll just become my property instead."
In my flailing, one of my feet felt the anklet on the other, and while still flailing in order to keep her from getting suspicious, I tried to remember which Materia I had equipped to my anklet. Restore (no, I don't want to heal her), Ice (not at this proximity, I'll freeze myself while at it) and Enemy Skill.
"Have you nothing left to say?" Echidna asked, her foot long tongue flicking out and licking my cheek.
Suppressing the shudder of disgust that wanted so badly to course through my body, I offered her a smirk.
"Go to hell." I muttered, before exhaling what air I had left.
Even though I hadn't enough air in my lungs to make a powerful or long lasting flame thrower, at this range, it hardly mattered, especially since she took it in the face.
Screaming, Echidna released me from her grip, and I fell to the ground with a gasp as I tried to take in as much air as I could to satisfy the thirst for oxygen I had as a result of Echidna's bear hug.
Echidna had her back turned to me, her hands covering her face, and the burns I'd obviously left there. Straightening myself, I charged at her, knife swinging.
She must have heard me, because she turned around, arm already flying out to meet me. Instead, her arm met the bite of my knife, and she shrieked, pulling her arm back, and this time tried to tail whip me off the rafters.
Despite my best efforts to dodge, I was still hit by her tail, and fell, but this time, rather than grabbing the rafter with my tail, I wrapped it around Echidna's neck and dragged her down with me. Both of us hit the ground hard. Echidna was the first to get up, but I was quick behind her.
With a snarl, the she-snake cast a high level spell at me. The same one as when this whole deal started. I threw myself to the ground, avoiding the worst of the Flare, but while I was down, I managed to cast Blizzara on her, which prevented her from climbing back into the general safety of the rafters.
I was back on my feet as quickly as I could and thrust my knife through the underside of her jaw, where the blade sliced through the soft tissue before it met the roof of the mouth and continued to slice through that as well, finally meeting the brain of the victim. Apparently not enough of the brain, since she survived what should have killed her.
Echidna screamed, hand clutching the new wound as she glared at me, face burnt and bloodied.
"Just die already." I yelled at her, readying the knife for another round.
She hand intercepted my wrist and held it there, inches from her face. Cursing, I swung my body forwards, forehead connecting with her face. Her strength failed her, and I wrenched my wrist free of her grip and swung around, backhanding her. Her head pivoted around, spittle and blood flying from her mouth at the blow. Grunting, I threw myself against the she-snake, pinning her against the wall, forearm pushing against her throat.
Gagging, she tried to draw a breath, but failed as her wind pipe was crushed by my arm. Lips curling up into a snarl, I pushed harder as she began to struggle, fists beating against my chest. When I felt her start to lose strength, I pushed even harder, knowing that it was soon to be over. When her muscles began to relax, I swung the arm that wasn't pinning her to the wall by the neck, remembering that I in fact still had my knife, and I wasn't about to take any chances.
Echidna gasped one last time, clutching at the knife that had been jammed in the side of her face. Then, the light faded her eyes and she slumped to the ground, dead.
Panting, feeling like I had no breath left, I sank to my knees, trying to shake away the warrior mentality. Looking around, I found that I was covered in the thick black liquid that had come out of the Ahriman when I stabbed its eye, along with the purple blood of Echidna. I was a mess.
Sometimes, it scares me how easily I can become a fighter who is willing to kill. Granted, these were hardly humans, but I had killed humans before. And that doesn't change the fact that I'd tried to slit Echidna's throat.
The Cerberus was dead, though there was no sign of any significant injury, which led me to think Seifer had used magic. I wasn't about to question the type of magic, but I did briefly wonder why the blond hadn't cast magic on the Ahriman. There was still the sound of fighting nearby, which meant that Seifer was still fighting against the two-headed dragon.
Wearily, I pulled myself to my feet and followed the room to witness Seifer use his limit 'Bloodfest' which killed the dragon.
Panting, Seifer walked up to the neck of one of the heads and pulled at something. I saw what it was once it came free. He had just rescued my gunblade from the neck of the beast. He moved towards me, and paused, taking in my appearance.
"You look like you were in the middle of a war." He finally said.
Shaking my head, I accepted the gunblade, and didn't even bother to clean the blade of either it or the knife as I sheathed them. Cleaning the blades wouldn't do much good while I'm already dirtier than they are.
"You really need to buy a new gunblade." Seifer pointed out.
"Know any good places that sell 'em?" I asked.
Seifer considered it, before shaking his head.
"No. Mine was given to me, so I don't know which shop it came from or if they still sell 'em."
I sighed. At this rate, I was going to have to go with a conventional sword, something that was rather boring now that I was used to a gunblade.
Groaning, I spat out more of the blood that had leaked from Echidna's tongue when I'd bitten down on it. Oh, right, possible diseases. Focusing on my Storage Materia, I withdrew a remedy, and took a sip, which I used to clean my mouth as if it were mouthwash, before spitting it out. The rest of the bottle I gulped down.
Hopefully that would prevent any illnesses from Echidna's blood. I'm aware that I might sound a tad paranoid there, but I have no experience with a monster fluids being in my mouth. It was back enough having that foot long tongue forced into my mouth to begin with.
I did have it in mind to wash my mouth out with acid, but that would be taking things a little too far.
"Cheer up." Seifer grinned. "We made it. Now we can finally leave this place."
"And you can instantly start hunting me for that bounty." I pointed out.
Seifer frowned, crossing his arms.
"No, I don't think I will. Screw the job. You helped me out here, I doubt I would have survived if you hadn't been here, and I don't plan on giving the one who kept my ass alive to the hangman."
I grinned weakly, nodding a thanks.
"Hell, I'll even tell my partner that you're off limits. With us both making a point of not hunting you, that'll also keep any other bounty hunters off your back, a mark that's refused by the best worries people."
"You serious?" I asked.
"Well, you might have to deal with the arrogant types, but I doubt they'll give ya too much trouble." He shrugged.
A compliment from Seifer. Or as close to one as he gets. That must mean something.
Damned if I know what though.
With the monsters defeated, we were free to look inside the room in the centre of this hall. It was a rather bland room, considering the amount of protection it had, but a warp pad has to take us somewhere, right?
And indeed, it took us somewhere. We appeared before an alter, which had energy swirling around in the centre of it. There was a transparent image of an earth coloured crystal amongst the swirls.
"Is that what the Earth Crystal looked like?" Seifer asked himself, getting closer to the alter.
A slight pressure in my head told me what the swirling substance was.
"I wouldn't get to close. That's Lifestream, or Mako or whatever you call it."
Seifer backed off, having no interest in getting Mako poisoning.
"Maybe the next age of crystals is coming sooner than anyone would think." I muttered. "That Crystal almost looks solid."
"Maybe, but it won't happen in our lifetimes, assuming Shinra doesn't destroy the world." Seifer waved the comment aside. "Still, it was worth fighting through all that, to see what the crystal looks like."
The crystal… It looked, strange, yet, powerful. And the crystal wasn't even finished yet, so I had to wonder what it would look like once it was complete.
"There's our way out." Seifer commented, pointing at a warp pad.
"Then, let's go." I nodded, following him to the pad.
Seifer stepped on the glowing blue pad and vanished in a flash of blue light. Sparing one last glance at the crystal, I stepped on the pad myself.
And found myself standing in an empty plane that I knew wasn't real, because everything was yellow.
"Yo." A familiar voice spoke up.
There, standing behind me was a young man, no, a teenager, dressed in a green and brown colours and looked hopelessly out of place. Well, anything would look out of place here, but he looked out of place with the world in general.
He had light brown hair and green eyes which twinkled with amusement.
I then recognised him as one of the four people that spoke to me in the vision? Of my school back home.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Ah, straight to the point… And here I thought you weren't going to be a bore."
I blinked at the tone of voice the guy was using. Then the words registered.
"Who're you calling a bore?"
"Ok, you aren't a bore, you're just tired. I get that."
Are we even having the same conversation?
"Listen, lizard dude, I'm here to talk to you for a reason. Divine entities demand this meeting, for reasons that are beyond your puny mortal brain to comprehend."
"I'm on a first name basis with a divine entity, so I already know that anything any divine entity wants from me is to annoy me." I countered.
"Well, now you know two divine entities." The guy grinned.
"You? Divine entity?"
"You don't have to sound so sceptical you know."
I raised an eyebrow ridge and he sighed in defeat.
"Fine, I'm not a truly divine entity. Though I am an immortal entity. I was once a mere mortal like yourself, and I seriously miss it. Immortality sucks, y'know?"
"I wouldn't know, but I'll keep that in mind. Who are you?"
"Ah, how stupid of me. My name is Rick, and I was a Warrior of Light."
I blinked at the kid.
"You?"
"Hey, don't disbelieve everything I say. I was telling the truth there. I was one of the Warriors of Light. The thief of the team actually."
"The thief part I can understand. But aren't you a tad young to be a hero of legend?"
"I was actually the second oldest at sixteen at the time. Thing was, all four of us were just kids at the time, kids who got caught up in events which we had no understanding of. In the end, we fought because it was the only choice we had."
I nodded. His tone of voice told me that he wasn't lying.
"Well what do you want?" I asked.
"Believe it or not, it's to do you a favour. Your PS2, Jade was it? Well, she asked…"
"You know I'm not from Gaia?" I asked.
"Semi-divine entity here. It's a tad hard to miss details like that."
"And you don't have any thoughts about the fact that you're not, technically, real?"
"Don't care. Hell, I think it's pretty cool, people all over your world know my story, even if it's an abridged version, if what Jade said it true, but still… Getting back to the topic at hand, Jade asked all four of us Light Warriors to do this for you. And from what I saw, you need it a tad desperately, since your blade is a tad… crap… now."
"Oh thanks." I muttered, sarcastically.
"Hey, I sympathise." Rick claimed. "It was just bad luck. You improvised pretty well though. But getting off topic again. We're to present to you, a new, totally badass new gunblade."
"Ok… what's the catch?"
"Man, you're pessimistic." Rick shook his head. "No catch, unless you plan on making it even better, in which case, you have to visit all three other Soul Shrines and get the rest of the Light Warriors to get the weapon upgraded."
"To improve a weapon, I have to get it essentially 'blessed' by all four of a group of legendary heroes. This ain't a normal gunblade is it?"
"You catch on quick. Right, the reason, is that this is potentially - only potentially mind – the first ever legendary gunblade. Yes, you get gunblades that are described as legendary, but they were still man made. This gunblade, if you get it 'blessed' by all four of us Light Warriors, will literally be the first gunblade of awesome power made by the gods themselves. Though I think your PS2 did most of the hard work, so that's a bit of a letdown, but still..."
"What makes a 'legendary' blade any better than a manmade one?" I asked. "Extra shininess?"
Rick sighed, giving me a look that told me that he thought I was brain dead.
"Truly legendary weapons have an element of sorts to them. Except this element has no weakness, so it means that every single strike, even a simple slice, does more damage than any manmade blade. Exceptions are blades that are renowned for their element, like Excalibur being a 'holy' blade meant that it had elemental strike – holy.
"The Masamune, for example, is a legendary katana. Granted, it's been corrupted, but that was why the wounds wouldn't heal, even though the Ancient put all her effort into it. If it hadn't been corrupted, they would have healed easily, unless the injured party is evil."
That explained the scar on my face and leg.
"Ok. So this could be the first gunblade to ever become legendary?"
"Yep. Also, and this might make you slightly happier, they aren't liable to break when an obese monster treads on them, even if they're only in the potential stage. Look, do you want the weapon or not?"
I nodded, and Rick held out his hand.
"Give me what remains of Talon then."
I pulled out the gunblade that I'd had since Midgar and handed it over to the thief of legend, who frowned at the blood covering it.
"Yeash, you look like you were in a war."
That would be two people that pointed that out.
Rick held the gunblade, concentrating. The blade vanished in a flash of bright light, and in his hands was a completely different gunblade.
"It looks…" I began, staring at the blade in awe. "It looks like the bastard love child of the Lionheart and Caladbolg." I finished.
Rick burst out laughing at my description, handing the new gunblade to me.
"That's actually not a bad combo. The Lionheart is the most powerful man-made gunblade to date, and the Caladbolg was a sword that legends claim could slice the tops off of hills." He pointed out.
I wasn't joking, the new gunblade did look like the bastard love child of Squall And Tidus' best weapons. The main difference was that it was an emerald green rather than the blue of both aforementioned blades. And engraved on the side was… a recreation of the tattoo I got myself if Cosmo Canyon. Hold up, my engraving before was of a more anthromorphic variety... Sort of.
I was glad I didn't protest this verbally, because I noticed that on the end of the handle was a keychain with the image that had been engraved on my previous blade at the end of it. At least the gods decided to personalize my new blade for me.
"That was us Light Warriors." Rick spoke up. "The problem with most weapons is that they have no personality, so we customised it with the two images that go with you. The tribal lizard you recently had tattooed to your arm and that depiction of a Laixiu that was engraved on your previous blade."
I nodded, even though he was just confirming my thoughts.
"So what is this thing called?" I asked, giving it a few test swings.
The balance was perfect. I could easily slip into using this gunblade in the place of Talon, some slight adjustment, naturally, since both blades were a different shape. But other than that, this blade was actually pretty good.
Yet, even though it felt good, it didn't feel… complete. I suppose that I'll need to gain the blessings of the Light Warriors if I want the blade to actually feel complete.
"Well, since you've proven yourself to have been born with the heart of a dragon…"
"I wasn't born with the heart of a dragon, I got one when I was fused with my pet water dragon." I pointed out.
"No… I don't mean in the physical sense." Rick countered, sounding completely serious. "You have a sense of right and wrong and the bravery to back it up. You even stood up to Jade when she was telling you that you should have let a man suffer needlessly just to preserve your own life, and she is pretty much the highest being on Gaia, what with being the creator and all. The thieves back in Midgar tried to mug you, and you let them live, because they were in no position to harm you. That is what I meant by the heart of a dragon."
"So that two headed dragon outside was an exception?"
Rick sighed.
"Corrupted dragons are fairly common these days. When the term was first used, a corrupted dragon was so rare, they'd only be seen once every century."
"I'm not that brave."
"You underestimate yourself. You do deserve to be called such, and it's not just me that says that. All of the Light Warriors agree.
I shook my head, and the thief sighed.
"At any rate, the gunblade is called DragonHeart. I'm aware that it's not very original, and pretty much steals its name from one half of the two that made the bastard love child of a blade, but originality was hardly an issue, a worthy name was."
I simply nodded, accepting the name and the blade. Giving it another look, a sheathed it, only for it to completely vanish.
"What?"
Rick was grinning again.
"That's my blessing by the way. The blade is stored in, I don't know, a pocket dimension or something. When you need it, it'll appear in your hand."
"And I'm to just trust this?"
"You realize that that is how Sephiroth manages to walk around without slicing the entire street when he turns around."
"How do I get it out then?"
"Sort of shape your hand as if you're holding the handle, and it'll appear. I always found it easier to move my hand as if I were tugging it into existence."
I did as he said and gave a tug to my imaginary gunblade, for it to suddenly come into existence. I blinked, and let go of the blade letting it fall to the ground. It didn't reach, before it vanished again.
"It has the bonus of meaning you'll never truly be disarmed." Rick added. "Someone knocks your blade out of your hand and it'll vanish, so just do the motions and it'll return to you. I would recommend throwing the thing at the enemy and then having it return to your hand instantly, but it being a gunblade renders that idea rather pointless."
"Cloud mentioned that Sephiroth had the Masamune turned against him. Or it was attempted anyway."
"Corrupted blades have a mind of their own. It stayed in existence and mocked the one who tried to use it against its 'rightful' owner. You won't have that issue."
That was nice to know.
"So your blessing was this 'pocket dimension' sheath… thingy. What are the other's blessings?"
Rick shrugged.
"Don't honestly know. I think Matt planned something regarding the actual ammo that your blade shoots, but I don't honestly know."
"Matt?" I asked, catching the name.
"Matteus. He was the youngest of the team, he'd like you."
I nodded, sensing that that was all that Rick planned to say on that subject.
"I'll send you back to the outside world now." Rick said, moving away from me. "I'll transport you to Wutai, seeing as that's where your friends are going. Hopefully you'll catch up with them. I cleaned you up, since monster blood is a pain to wash out. No need for thanks."
"Thanks anyway." I nodded.
Rick gave a wide grin, and then the world went blurry.
I found myself sitting at a beach, staring out to sea. Blinking, I got to my feet.
Was all that a dream? I checked over myself and found that my gunblade, heck, the entire sheath was missing. Frowning, I curled up my hand and pulled, and sure enough, the DragonHeart came into existence. Nope, no dream.
I would complain that this gives me a bit of an unfair advantage on the world, but then I remember that Sephiroth has a corrupted legendary weapon which inflicts unhealable wounds.
No, I'm going to need every advantage I can get, and really, a mystical sheath that happens to be a pocket dimension or something… Hold on, this is essentially sheathing it in my Storage Materia, only without the delay in bringing it out.
That damned thief's blessing was a knockoff; I demand a refund, with interest.
Well, ok, the fact that there is no delay and I don't need to actually be focusing on my Storage Materia is actually useful. Still, couldn't he have added something like a Ribbon ability to it?
No, I suppose that would be asking for too much.
Dismissing my blade, I felt Montblanc re-enter my mind, returning from his self imposed banishment to his Materia.
Are you going to try and give me another migraine?
'Forgive me, kupo. But the Soul Shrines are forbidden places that no one is permitted to enter.'
And yet, one of the Warriors of light was waiting for me there to present me with a new weapon.
'I know, kupo. I wanted to stop, but just because the gods and goddesses of Gaia may will something, doesn't mean that the planet itself will agree, kupo. I have a connection to the planet, and even if Minerva herself gave you permission, the planet would still make me try to stop you, kupo.'
Hmm, so the planet and the divine beings of the planet don't always agree?
'No, kupo. The planet may respect the divine beings and vice versa, but there are certain issues that are disagreed upon, kupo. The Soul Shrines are one of them, kupo.'
That makes things awkward if I find another shrine. I need to go through them to get the blessings of the Light Warriors, but…
'Unequip my Materia if you have to enter one again, kupo. That way I won't be able to try and stop you.'
I suppose I'm going to have to. The ability to summon would have been handy against Echidna. Or the masses of little goblin bastards.
I hate not being able to use a useful asset.
Flicking out my PHS, I pushed the buttons to activate the GPS program and stared. Rick had said he'd drop me off at Wutai, but he went and dropped me at the complete opposite end from where I needed to go.
Let's see, if I go through this forest here, then by night, I'll be at the other side, where I can set up camp, hidden amongst the trees. Then in the morning, I can walk to some town that I can't pronounce the name of, and stock up on some supplies, before continuing to the capital.
That was a plan. And I planned on following my plan through to the letter.
Despite it being a good plan, it was also a boring plan. It was also a plan that would have been made useless by the buggy, had I had it here, with me. Damnit, I miss my buggy already. Running over monsters and doing barrel rolls was fun.
I wonder why the Storage Materia has a size restriction. I wanted to just store the buggy in my Storage Materia and keep it with me at all times. It would have been, I don't know… useful!
Then again, I suppose it's for the better. Just imagine all the vehicle thefts, just walk up to a car, then 'yoink, it's in my Storage Materia, so now I can just go somewhere else and then bring it out so I can actually break into it'.
Ouch… ok, I'm glad that vehicles can't fit.
By night, I was tired and annoyed that I hadn't gotten as far as I'd hoped, and setting up my tent. I paused when I heard the snap of a twig, and brought the DragonHeart into the world, spinning around with it held in a defensive stance. Only to relax when I saw that it was only Jade, who was looking amused.
"I see you're already adapting to your new weapon." She grinned, looking around my campsite. "No fire?"
"Haven't had a chance to light one." I answered, dismissing the blade. "And yes, already adapting. Thank you."
"Would you believe me when I said that it was a coincidence that Talon was damaged when it was?" Jade asked, crouching down and creating a ring of rocks.
"I'd say no, but I doubt you'd want me to get into a situation like that when I'm not at my best." I shook my head. "What are you doing?"
"Helping." Jade waved her hand, before pointing at the inside of the ring of rocks and then there was a log fire burning where she'd pointed.
It was kind of weird watching the log fire come into existence, as it did so pixel by pixel, like in the movie Tron.
"Glad you have at least some faith in me." Jade smiled, pointing next to the fire and creating a pot alone with cooking utensils.
"Now what are you doing?"
"My treat." She answered. "Something went wrong in the Earthgift Shrine, and I wasn't able to help you out, so I'm giving you a treat. Consider it a peace offering."
"You mean the vision thing after I was pulled six feet under?"
"Exactly that. That wasn't anything that I, or any other of Gaia's various divine beings put into play, and I was held up at the time, so I couldn't help you through it."
"You were held up?" I asked, eyebrow ridge raised. "What could hold up the creator of the world?"
"Try a meeting with a council of game consoles, among who are some of the biggest jerks you're ever likely to meet. Some of them feel that I interfere too much as it is, so they refused to let me postpone the meeting."
"There's a council of you people?"
"Oh yes. We have our own society, and that means leaders and jerks and people I can't stand."
Jade readied the cooking stuff and brought into existence a large hunk of meat and various vegetables. I was curious as to why Jade didn't just bring a full roast dinner inter existence, but figured that question took a backseat for now.
"And this meeting was about you interfering too much?"
"No, that was just an issue brought up. Technically, I shouldn't be telling you this, but there have been glitches and events that are happening outside of my control. The odd glitch is normal, nothing is perfect, and where we find them, we fix them, hopefully before the Player is affected by them."
"But…" I prompted.
"But it seems this world has been suffering far more glitches than normal. That was one of the reasons I had Maria with me when we met in Costa Del Sol, she was helping me try to fix it."
"I take it that it didn't turn out so well?" I asked.
"We fixed most of them, only for a whole new batch to appear the next day. It's getting a little frustrating." Jade admitted. "I would say it's because we're doing a kind of experiment with this world, but there haven't been any issues outside of the Northern Continents. If it was happening in Ivalice as well, then we'd know that what we're trying wouldn't work, and then figure out why so an experiment can be done at a later date."
"I'm an experiment?"
"Not you, Gaia in general. That I can't explain, since it doesn't look like it'll actually affect you, so no worries. It's these glitches that worry me."
"I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary, other than the visions when six feet under, and the Mako visions."
"The Mako visions aren't a glitch, that's just you as in you personally have a sort of allergy to unprocessed Mako. And no matter what I do, Mako will always be a weak point in the world, which is why you saw into the experiences of other worlds."
Interesting.
"Point is, that was the first glitch that actually affected you. That is cause for worry, since we can't explain what exactly happened."
"For now, I'm just to treat it as a quirk of the world, I suppose."
"It's all you can do." Jade smiled apologetically.
"Wait, there was something, not sure if it's a glitch though." I spoke up after several seconds of thought.
Jade looked up at me, looking serious.
"I've been losing my memories of my life before all of this, and been getting memories of what my life was like here in Gaia."
Jade blinked in shock, and she abandoned what she was doing and came to stand in front me, looking me in the eyes.
"This is serious, Jethro. Why didn't you call me?" She asked.
"At the time, it was at the back of my mind, I always had something happening that was happening at the there and then, and it dropped from my mind. How serious?"
"There have been cases where Players have had their memories completely rewritten. Permanently. It's rare, but it is serious enough that we have to be very careful. I made a point of not doing anything to your mind when I brought you here because I was unwilling to risk it."
"Ah." I sighed.
"When did this start happening?"
"I noticed it when we were travelling to the Coral Mountains." I admitted. "But I'd already completely forgotten what my mother looks like or what she was even called."
Jade shut her eyes, cursing under her breath.
"I need to check your mind. I need your permission though, it is an invasive scan."
I hesitated, before slowly nodding. Jade took my head in her hands and shut her eyes. From this close, I could see that it looked like she had Asian blood in her. She didn't have the look of a full-blooded Asian, more like a half and half. For a moment it looked like she was sleeping, then I felt my thoughts being shuffled around. Memories were dragged up to the surface, private thoughts were read. Finally, her eyes snapped open and she moved away from me, cursing.
"I can't tell whether it's a result of that mag rod in your face from Cel or a glitch or worse!" She snarled.
"Worse?" I asked.
"Act of sabotage. Another console, in theory, could have done this to you, but considering how close of an eye I've kept on you, I really doubt that. I've managed to stop the degradation, and I've made a backup of your memories, just in case. I also found the ones you've forgotten. I'll keep those in backup as well, in case it disrupts the effort I made to stop the memory loss."
I sighed, shaking my head.
"Why would another console do this, hypothetically?"
"Petty rivalry or something along those lines. Add in that I'm not very popular, and voila."
I shrugged.
"So long as I don't lose any more memories, I'm ok, right?"
"You shouldn't lose any more memories. If you think you are though, do not hesitate to call me on the PHS."
I grunted an agreement, and Jade went back to working on the food that she'd created, putting some in the large pot.
"Besides which, for the moment, these new memories seem to be more helpful than anything." I muttered. "I know things that I otherwise wouldn't have."
"Don't depend on them. If I can find a way to completely reverse the memory degradation, I'll do so within a heartbeat."
"I understand."
Jade remained quiet, and I sat, watching as she cooked whatever she'd put in the pot.
"Why are you cooking? Can't you just create a fully cooked meal?" I asked, feeling nothing more important come to mind.
"Strange as it may sound, I enjoy cooking." Jade said.
"Really? You don't look or act the part." I commented.
Jade shot me a look which only served to prove my point.
"And Gordon Ramsay does? With all his swearing, you'd thing he hated his job." The console snapped. "You should be thankful that I even talk to you in person." Jade shrugged, returning to her cooking.
"And why's that?"
"Because then I can actually cook you a meal." She smiled. "If I worked like Maria, this would all be a dream of sorts."
"Maria chooses to talk to Maggie in her dreams instead of in person?"
"Not at first, but yes, she started to do that instead. I can't stand the idea, myself. I'd rather actually have whoever I'm talking to in a position where they can do what they want, including walk away if they truly felt the need."
"That's nice to know."
"I'm also easier to vent at." Jade smirked.
"Eh? Why's that?"
"Maria is actually rather sensitive. You remember when you fell from the bridge at Mako Reactor 5?"
"How could I forget?" I mumbled.
"Well, when you appeared in Maggie's cell, it was actually just after they'd had an argument. The events had just seemed to come crashing down around Maggie and she needed to vent, and Maria was the target."
"And because Maria is sensitive, she was feeling depressed afterwards." I guessed.
"Indeed. It's a tad difficult to vent at someone who is in tears, whereas, if you vent at me, I'd either tune you out or shout back, giving further motivation to vent all the anger and angst. Incidentally, that was why we had that gambling going on. We weren't serious, but I needed to cheer her up somehow, and joking about gambling on you seemed like a good idea at the time."
I nodded, accepting the answer. It actually made a bit of sense, if I needed to cheer someone up, joke about something.
"So, do you choose your appearance?" I asked, changing the topic.
"For the most part. Why?"
"Asian?"
Jade sighed, giving me an odd look.
"You only just noticed?"
"I don't make a point of staring into people's eyes, and I barely see you face to face to begin with."
"That's true, I suppose." Jade consented. "No; I didn't choose that. It's a console quirk; each platform has a shared quirk. In the case of Playstations, there's a sense that we're half Asian, whether it's the eye shape or skin colour. With all the old Sega consoles, they always, ALWAYS have blue hair. And always the exact same shade of blue. X-Boxes all wear tacky suits, and have slicked back hair that makes them look like they're trying too hard. And Nintendo consoles tend to be just plain eccentric, even by our standards. We can change the quirk, but it takes a lot of effort, so most of us don't bother."
"And you chose the appearance of a kid because?"
"I don't know. It just felt, right, I suppose. It's like, back home, why do you chose to have short hair, why not dye it blond and wear it in a pony tail?"
"You were recently in my brain, you tell me."
"Because it just feels right to you to have short brown hair. Same with me and this appearance. Can't say what some other consoles are thinking. There's one Playstation whose appearance reminds me of an owl. He's a bastard though, so I will gladly mock him."
"Huh, inter-console politics. Remind me to steer clear." I muttered, getting a laugh from Jade as she served the contents of the pot on the fire into a bowl, before handing it to me.
At a glance, it looked like a stew of some kind. But Jade looked the type to put poison in the food she cooks, so I looked at it suspiciously. Jade noticed this as she was serving herself and gave a huff of annoyance.
"For crying out loud… It's a simple beef stew, nothing poisonous. Keep that up, and I'll consider never giving you a treat like this again."
Wincing, I took a roll of bread and dipped it into the hot stew, before taking a bite. Hey, this is pretty good.
The tasting test passed, I dug right in. This was really good.
"Don't suppose I can convince you to join AVALANCHE as the team chef?"
"Don't suppose I can convince you to refuse seconds." She countered, and I shut up.
Eventually, I finished the meal, along with seconds and thirds. Shortly after, I fell asleep.
Jade looked over the camp site, shaking her head, a small grin tugging at her lips as she cleaned up and vanished without a trace.
The next morning, the only evidence that she'd ever been here was the remains of the logs used to fuel the fire.
AN:::
And that's it for this Season. Next season will begin the 2nd of May. Hope you all enjoyed, ect ect. I might put up some side stories that are canonical with the rest of the fic in the meantime, depending on how I feel (and whether or not I recover from this flu before I start writting the next chapters.
I had something else to say, but I can't think of it at the moment, so it probably wasn't important, so for now, it is farewell.
