Author's Note: Back again. Late again. I gotta stop making dates up for myself. I swear they only make me go on tilt and take months to do it. In any case, the chapter's here. There's something I want to discuss after the chapter. Something that will affect the entire story. So don't just skip the ending credits kids!

Normalcy? Extremely Overrated

Part 4: Maenad

Chapter Thirty-Six

Thirteen Crimson Flashes

Terra's PoV:

I couldn't thank my luck enough for my timing. One moment later and Xion… I can't even bear the thought. Still, that was in the past now, she was safe, well, as safe as she could be.

"Terra?" Xion asked again, thankfully only curiosity filling her tone.

"It's me. I just had some… issues with my Trance, I'm fine really," I reassured her, even if I myself had no idea if I could ever go back to normal.

"Good to know… with that out of the way though, you got any idea how to deal with those two?" she asked, pointing at the now landing pair I had just blasted moments ago. I felt a bit uncomfortable looking at the clown, but he didn't look like the biggest threat around, much to my relief. However, the girl was… off-putting. Much in the same way as Cuore, however her mana felt far more savage yet, eerily, more contained. "The girl's a piece of work. Bullets could barely get into her skin,"

"Is that one of the Maenads?" I asked Xion, more to confirm my own suspicions than anything else.

"As far as I know, she's one of their leaders. That guy over there called her Scorpio," she said, slightly hunching on my back while she clutched to her torso.

"Don't push yourself, you're hurt!" I exclaimed, fully aware that I could not even turn to help her at this point. The Maenad was just waiting for a moment of weakness, I could see it in her eyes.

"Maybe you're right…" she sighed, slumping back to the ground. "I'll tag out for now."

"Thank you," I told her, understanding how hard it must be for her to just let me try and fight this monster by myself. With that exchange of words, I cleared my mind and stepped forward, the Maenad doing the same.

"We knew you'd eventually appear if any harm were to befall your companions," Scorpio taunted smugly as she slowly inched closer, her movements unreadable, her mana signature nearly encrypted.

"I'm tired of being chased around…" I spat, my temper slipping away faster than usual. "I was going to ask you why, but then I realized… I stopped caring once I saw what you did to my friend!" I cried out, the Maenad's smug expression turning as cold as her eyes. I could barely keep up with the lunge that came afterwards, I only recall seeing a streak of crimson flying towards my chest. Strangely however, my body was not only able to react in time, but I was able to duck below her blow in an instant. I had been so fast her eyes had clearly lost me.

I wasn't one to question my body after all that I had gone through, so I simply let myself flow at the rhythm it had dictated, my hands finding their way onto the Maenad's torso as I instinctively cried out:

"Aero!" as I conjured a small ball of pressurized air that cannonballed into the Maenad's chest, knocking the air out of her lungs before sending her in a straight line backwards.

"That was weak! Once more, with feeling!" I heard Sylph's voice cry out from the back of my head, my foot moving on its own, propelling me in her direction. Deciding to just go with it, I found myself shocked at how quickly I had caught up with the flying Maenad, but not shocked enough to stop myself from taking a moment to first concentrate the mana around and inside my body and then unleashing it in the time it took the Maenad to blink.

"Aeroga!" I bellowed, calling down something more akin to a tornado encapsulated in a cannonball. The concentrated combination of mana and wind collided with Scorpio and detonated on impact, creating a sonic boom whilst causing her to shoot through the roof we were standing on and into the floors below.

"Now that's what I call a Wind spell! Guess you only need someone to push you if you are to do something great!" Sylph congratulated me, laughing inwardly all the way. He was really enjoying this a bit too much… not that I strangely wasn't.

"That speed, Sylph, was it yours?" I asked him, trying to make sense of my newly acquired gift.

"Took you awhile, huh? Darn right it is! Haven't you ever heard the expression "as swift as thewind"? We're one being for now, enjoy all the perks that come from it!" He was a little too proud of himself, but I was thankful all the same. This speed and this… unnatural affinity towards wind. I was going to need it.

"Does that mean that I'd be better off with the Esper of Lightning then?" I strangely found myself teasing. Something in me was stirring, I just had not known what it was.

"S-Shut up! Ramuh's a geezer. He's a turtle compared to me!" he assured before going on a rant about just why he was the superior "choice". A rant that I, quite honestly, tuned out completely.

I just found it strange that the other voice in my head had been so… quiet.

"Huh, I guess that Rufus is pretty much like Lex. His creations are all talk but hardly worth their salt," I mentally slapped myself once I heard that voice. How could I have forgotten a psychotic clown? Me of all people. "Oh, don't mind me Miss Fairy, I was just on my way out!" the clown exclaimed, turning tail and jumping off the building moments later.

"No you don't!" Xion shouted as she went in hot pursuit… against all that I had asked her to do.

"Xion, wai-" shock turned into sickness. For some reason, my vision turned blurry for a few moments, I felt nauseous, feverish even, I had to hold back the bile to not throw up on the spot. I struggled to even stay up, wondering just what had put me in this sorry state.

"It is indeed a relief to know that, despite the might inside, your shell is still as weak as a human's," Scorpio said, slowly walking out of the stairway that lead to the roof, her cold façade not hiding the pleasure she was having in the least. She carried a strange ethereal fluid on her claw-finger, one she seemed especially proud of. "We had wondered if a being such as you would bleed... I for one could not be more satisfied that you do. Personally, I enjoy the sight!"

"Terra, to the skies!" Sylph ordered, his instinct crying out faster than mine. If he had not warned me or my take off been just a moment slower, I'd… not have made it.

In my rush I had disregarded any notion of altitude, finding myself hovering over fifty meters above my previous footing. I took that time to examine myself. There they were. I had felt nothing at the time, but I found not one but two piercing wounds on the lower part of my abdomen and on the left upper side of it. The same liquid that Scorpio had on her finger was pouring out. If that was really my blood… I'd be empty in minutes.

"She was so fast we didn't even feel it for more than a minute…" I said in awe and shock. Doubts came and went, Sylph's mind helping mine in purging them. I couldn't doubt myself. Not now.

"We're not in the clear yet," Sylph pointed. Third time had been the charm however, and I was able to dodge the string of crimson soaring towards myself. It stopped a few meters away from me, as I saw my opponent kick the air itself to stop her momentum, proceeding to then maintain altitude with small kicks to the air below her.

"She's using magic to create momentary footholds," I told Sylph, the fairy Esper had deduced that already though, and instead told me to trust him.

"Terra, we have wings, we are the wind. She's not going to have our maneuverability or speed no matter how she tries. Don't land, keep it on the air and keep your distance," he assured me, as we got ready for the time to strike. She was looking for another opening but I shouldn't move, I had to force her to.

She wasted no time. Once she discerned my intentions, she lunged at me, red claw slashing through the air toward me. I managed to sleekly dodge to the right, preparing an Aero blast to punish her recklessness. She was too fast however, using the same magic she used on her feet, she created a foothold for her hand, using it to change direction and add a spin to herself. If I had not canceled my cast right away, I'd have gotten knocked of the sky with that downward kick for sure.

Unfortunately, this pattern kept going. I was able to dodge all of her attacks, but in doing that I had no room to counterattack. Even worse, I was slowly but surely being forced to dodge lower and lower. The air was both my point of excellence and Sylph's, not only that, but it was obvious it was Scorpio's weakest terrain. If she ever forced me onto the ground, I'd not last more than seconds.

With that in mind, Sylph suggested something: "This may be outside of our comfort zone but… want to try and deepen this bond?"

"There's no choice about it," I replied, letting Sylph's essence pour in deeper. What he gave me was relatively small, but straight to the point. I knew exactly what he wanted to give me with that. "Riot Blade!" I exclaimed, creating a pair of dagger-like blades with my signature mana. Seeing this, the Maenad speared towards me, thinking I was about to cast another spell.

Instead, she saw her claw be deflected right in front of her very eyes as I wielded the energy constructs backhanded like one would use a pair of daggers, my left hand swerving her blade while my right sliced at her neck. Desperate to not take a mortal wound, the Maenad cut her losses, abandoning her combat posture in order to lower her head as fast as possible. I still caught a strand of her raven hair with my dagger. However, my missing was not a problem. In her effort to dodge, she had let me gain high ground. Free from the fear of a counter attack, I beat my wings, gaining altitude. Once I had gained enough, I combined both short blades twisting them and calling upon Sylph's mastery of winds to shroud them in a concentrated torrent of air.

"Your Riot Blade meets the Sylph's Cyclone Bow… that's sure to cause a tempest!" Sylph exclaimed as his and my mind moved in tandem.

"Tempest Bow…" I chanted, pulling back the air itself around me, an arrow of Riot energy forming on the string-less bow. "Cyclone Arrow!" I boomed, releasing the tension of the entire atmosphere around me with an arrow that blazed its way downwards, carrying with it the maelstrom I had instigated on the skies. For the first time, I saw a Maenad look utterly shocked moments before the arrow hit her head-on, detonating into a tornado of slicing winds, atmospheric differences radical enough to knock a person unconscious in seconds and with such mass that it even impacted the buildings below, tearing some of the wooden houses to pieces, adding the dangerous splinters into the never-ending list of the tornado's instruments of mortality.

"Normally, I'd say nothing would survive that but…" Sylph began, echoing my own thoughts.

"You can never be too sure," I completed, summoning the winds around me again for an encore. "This is for Xion! Cyclone…"

It was then that I saw it. A zigzagging streak of red streaming away from the cyclonic winds. I immediately tried to see where it led… to realize, in horror, it passed through my now pierced chest.

"Was that too fast for you?" Scorpio's voice resounded, my chest exploding in a piercing pain while a head cracking headache took me by storm. "Pay attention, maybe you'll catch the next one!" Fighting the blaring claws ripping my head apart from the inside, I forced myself to turn in midair, dislodging the bow in hopes of getting to my aggressor mid-blow. "Scarlet Needle!" the streak of blood red was just too fast. Before I even felt it, another puncture appeared on my torso. Then I felt two more before I even saw them.

Three more came.

At that point, I was unable to even taste the blood I that came gushing out of my mouth.

Two more punctures… I didn't even feel them.

My vision turned into a nauseating sea of blurred colors… I could not hear the wind gush past me as I fell… barely did I feel my body crashing into the unforgivable wood of Yggdrasil.

The pain was unbearable. Sylph's voice was a whisper compared to the swarms of locusts clawing the inside of my head, to the inferno that seemed to course through my veins. I knew I stood no chance by myself. I knew I should have gained time for Milla but…

"I wonder if you can hear me…" what a twisted irony. That, out of all the sounds I was able to make out, the only one I understood was Scorpio's voice. "It doesn't matter at this point… Father needs you. He needs the power inside of you. He needs your life. Nothing more. Not your mind, not your broken shell. After fourteen stings of my needle, the poison coursing through your veins will cause your body to bleed out if I pierce through the heart of Scorpio… Antares. You probably aren't even aware of the last ones, so I'll tell you, I pierced you thirteen times. If I were to pierce you with Antares now, you'd live. In the same way a plant lives in the garden of its master. Goodbye, Terra Branford… you are simply a beast too dangerous to be allowed to roam,"

"Goodbye everyone… I can hope I earned you enough time," typical of me. To give up that easily. I always admonished myself for that, but still, my first thoughts couldn't help themselves.

"Scarlet Needle…" Bringing myself into an unexpected clarity, I managed to purge those thoughts.

"No. I still trust you-"

"Antares!"

Xion's PoV:

As stupid as this kind of move may sound to most people, I didn't even second guess myself when I jumped after the Joker. I knew I would only slow Terra down by even being in the vicinity, but that wasn't it. I don't pick fights I can't win. Staying with Terra would get me killed or get her killed. I could, however, take out that clown. I was sure of it.

If only I could find him.

When I landed, he had predictably already jumped into one of the alleyways nearby, stealing a page right out of my book. That was sure to backfire though, as I read that page that was in my book. There was only really one alleyway that he could have reached for me to lose sight of him, and I could deduce which one was immediately. I ran into the alleyway and, to my luck, there weren't very many crossroads there. There were just two. The one that lead to the dark and unknown corner of the street and the one that went into the shopping district.

As if he'd take the easy way out. I ran directly to the now deserted shopping district and tried to find some kind of clue about his whereabouts. Seeing one particular door still waving between open and closed was a somewhat cheap clue, but it was one I was willing to take.

"An armor shop? Oh you gotta be kidding me…" I commented as I saw the interior of the shop. I don't know why this kind of store even existed in this day and age. It felt like it belonged in an underdeveloped medieval world with the swords, the spears, the battle-axes. Damn those tree-hugging hippies and their nature friendly ways!

Naturally that clown wouldn't be at the entrance to the store. No, he just had to go into the back. I knew this since he left the door wide open.

It was totally a trap. Not that I had any choice in ignoring it mind you, but I'm just making sure you know I'm not that stupid. Anyway, I walked through the door into the armor store's back before walking down a flight of stairs into what I only assumed to be the basement. This was totally not gonna be pleasant.

*Cue: "Why So Serious?" TDK OST*

When I arrived downstairs, I discovered, to my absolute joy that the room was barely lit. I could count with my fingers just how many torches, yes, torches, it was using. And it was quite big may I add, filled with crates, weapon displays and Kingdom Hearts knows what more.

"I'm a bit tired of hide n' seek, Joker!" I exclaimed, drawing the knife I kept on my leg as I entered the room.

No response. I cursed inwardly, I hoped he would be dumb enough to taunt me and give away his positioning. For once he had to be serious. Taking a deep breath, I began rummaging through my surroundings as carefully as I could possibly be. I was positive he knew about that, as there wasn't even a sound made during the seconds or minutes I walked blindly throughout the room.

After a while, I started to realize that the lightning in the room seemed to be darkening. The splitting headache had also returned from before to make it worse. But that was all forgotten when I saw something. A half-open lid on a crate. Last thing I knew I should do is rush in blindly, hence, I took my time. Once I arrived there, I got ready for whatever could be in the box, counted to three and kicked the lid right off the wooden crate…

A shrill sound of laughter burst from the crate along with some kind of creature, which caused me to take a step back in shock, trip on something and land on my ass. Didn't take long for me to realize I had just fallen for a freaking jack-in-the-box. That in itself was the least of my worries though.

Tic. Toc. I looked down in-between my legs and realized just what I had tripped on.

"Oh fuck me…" I cursed as I realized that was a clock… with a bomb attached to it. I jumped to my feet and ran as fast I could, but, in some damn twist of fate, the bomb had been time nearly perfectly, exploding only a few moments after I started running, catching me in the blast radius.

The explosion took me by surprise, catapulting me straight into a nearly wall, miraculously missing any weapon that would cut me in half at that kind of speed. I couldn't be thankful for that however, as the splitting headache was now not alone in tormenting me. My eardrums were ringing so much and so high that I damn near wished I was deaf. Bones had not only shattered but I was sure they had pierced some organs, one that I prayed were not vital. It was especially hard to breathe.

I laid there for a few, brief moments, blood flowing from my left eardrum, mouth, and especially torso. At least my hearing and vision were slowly returning… even if my eyes captured little more than blurs. Oh and did they capture a blur. One whose colors left no doubt as to who it was.

"You know, I consider myself a multidimensional villain. One could even call me a two-faced one… but that'd just be ironic, oh what the hell, not like Harvey's gonna know," he said, his voice slow, methodical. Vile. I know I shouldn't have pissed him off. "Either way, you just got on the wrong side of the wrong face you cheeky little runt!" I shook my head and regained some of the clarity of vision just in time to see the psycho-clown heave a freaking battle-axe high over his head! I managed to roll out of the way from the downward swing and tried to be as cheeky as I thought I'd be by swiping at his leg. He saw it coming from a mile ahead and dodged my sluggish kick easily, even with the added weight of the axe.

"Let me axe you a question. How are your senses? Great? Good? Passable even? I mean, I know you just got blown off, but that kick was slower than… Damn, I'm lacking any comparison for that one," his banter had returned for the moment, and I felt like I needed to keep him in that state. I prefer this Joker to the other one.

"What did you do to me?" I asked. Previously I had attributed my numbness to the shock of the explosion, but my vision had worsened before, and this headache had been here for a while.

"Me? Really? You just fought something called Scorpio! What do Scorpions even do? They take their sting and…" he rotated his hand, expecting me to complete it.

"She poisoned me? Damn, I gotta tell Te-"I hit my head on the ground just to be able to dodge that swing of the axe.

"She's the last of your concerns little lassie," he pointed out, slowly coming up to me. My body was already nearly shutting down at this point. In retrospective, it was clear why he had remained hidden and ran away so far. Even the timing on the bomb made sense. He probably knew more or less when the poison would start taking full effect. The kick that put me with my back to the floor barely registered in my brain. "You see, normally, I'm nice to little girls like you. I mean, I may blow little boy's brain's out, but to girls, I just make sure they never walk again. You though? Not so lucky. There's too many people that will miss you…" he sneered, heaving his axe for a final strike.

Just as he was about to finish me, a strange blessing came. In the form of a dark flying creature that just hit the clown straight on the cheek, which gained his attention.

"A… bat? Oh. Oh no. Not now. He isn't even supposed to be here by now!" the Joker said, frustration accumulating on his voice while he furiously searched every corner of the basement. Minutes passed before any other sound was made.

"You never change, do you Joker?" A dark, scruffy voice said from the shadows, a single shade passing by one of the flames. Joker groaned in frustration at how fast it disappeared. "I am getting tired of this dance,"

"Oh, don't even try to speak like him. You're not Batsy! He's stuck in the middle of the Lanes right now!" Joker blared, swinging his axe at a crate that had just had a shadow reflected upon it. From the maimed lid spewed tens of the same flying rodents, throwing the Joker into the ground.

"Still think so?" the voice taunted, growing ever closer.

"Stop with the games! Who the hell are you?!" the Joker screamed, his composure completely lost.

"You know who I am. I am vengeance." The voice said as all torches whiffed in a matter of moments. "I am the night!" My eyes were barely able to make out what happened next, only that a big, burly, dark figured had grabbed the Joker collar and showed his forehead right into his. "I. Am. Batman!"

Bang.

The big, burly figure stepped back, shocked. The flash that had come with the sound made it obvious.

"And you're… rusty Bats!" the Joker taunted, waggling his hand in front of the other man. "But you came in so early, you must've been eager to see me! Don't worry, I won't end this little reunion earl-"

Clank.

Joker's figure just plummeted to the ground, face first, another shadow standing where he had stood.

"And heeeeeeeere's Robin!" the jovial voice exclaimed before producing a large, glowy orb of blue energy to reveal… totally NOT Robin. "Sorry I'm late… Xion right?" Michael, the boy that we had met on the aerodrome exclaimed, a large hammer heaved on his right shoulder. I'd be surprised if he hadn't broken Joker's head in with that thing.

"Gotta admit though, that was hilarious!" the "Batman" said, just before turning into the pink fuzz ball that Mike had as a pet.

"Yeah! Almost worth having Xion being knocked around like a ragdoll!" he exclaimed, rightfully earning my biggest scowl. "I said almost! Mew, heal her before she kills me!"

"She can't kill you if I don't heal her… but you asked for it. Heal Pulse!" suddenly, from the deadpan pink fur ball came a light of matching colors. It felt amazing. Much better than Cure or even Cura. In a matter of minutes, all my wounds and headaches had been patched up. I was still sore and I doubt that they wouldn't come back if I pushed myself too much, but outside of a real White Mage or a night at the hospital, I doubt anything else would do me this well. "And done, feel free to punch him;" it said.

To which I happily obliged.

"Okay, okay, I deserved that…" Michael accepted, rubbing his sore cheek.

"Did Terra send you after me?" I asked plainly, the duo looking at each other and shrugging. "I just knew it…"

"She told us to keep ourselves hidden so that we could surprise whoever attacked you. Granted we may or may not have been left completely in the dust when you just jumped off the building," he pointed out. I groaned and facepalmed.

"You are some sucky bodyguards, you know that?!" they both nodded at each other. Why were they so accepting?! "Anyway, I'm fine now. I'm going to tie this guy up and you guys go help Terra!" I told them, rummaging the inside of the armory to find something akin to rope or chains. Didn't take long.

"Wait a sec," Michael exclaimed, catching my attention.

"Did you learn anything about the Maenad she's fighting? Anything we can use to our advantage?" Mew questioned. I started tying the unconscious Joker while I thought of my answer.

"As a matter of fact, I do…" I began, in tandem with an explosion. I knew time was up there and then. Terra had either won or lost. "You two better make yourselves useful on this! Especially you, you floating marshmallow!"

Terra's PoV:

Instants turned into moments. Moments turned into seconds. And yet nothing came. No more pain… no end to it either. She had stopped. I could only hope I knew why.

"W-What is the meaning of this?!" I heard Scorpio exclaim in confusion and yes, even despair. My body slowly started to overcome the shock, and while my vision had not returned to normal, there was some sense to be made of the blurred colors now. I couldn't make up her figure, but I could see her clutching to her unmoving arm, a pendulum sound breaking through my headache. "My upper right limb will not move… No, I cannot say why! I require a Cleric!" she didn't seem to be talking to anyone nearby, so I could only imagine she was using magic to communicate with her allies.

It didn't matter though. It was too late.

"Oh, you'll need a lot more than that when I'm done with you!" I wasn't able to smile, but the feeling was all there. That was Xion's voice. I knew I could trust them.

"What have you done?!" Scorpio blared, moving her body in what seemed to be a turning motion, only to stop halfway when one of her feet refused to move. "My body's slowing down again…? That's incorrect, I am unable to move it. Even feel it…"

"Ten seconds have passed. You girls really are monsters, huh?" Xion taunted, appearing of what seemed to be a Vanish spell cloak, twirling something on her right hand.

"Explain yourself, Waste!" the Maenad exclaimed, her cold posture completely crumbling.

"I stopped time around you twelve seconds ago!" Xion explained, bewildering me just as much as the Maenad.

"You speak nonsense, if you did, how am I still aware of time's flow?" The Maenad questioned, pulling on the stopped foot, to no avail.

"Oh, it's simple. You fell for the same trick twice! When you cast a spell on another mage, they can counter its effect entirely if they are skilled enough. When I tried to cast Slow on you normally, it failed horribly. You didn't even have to try! That's how crazy your inherent magical defense is!" Xion taunted, probably laughing inwardly as she saw the Maenad desperately try to get closer, slower and slower as more of her body slowed down or stopped. "But when you were busy talking to your boss? Slow worked like a charm!"

"You did not…"

"I did. Spies don't play fair or pretty. The moment you beat Terra, was the moment you lost to me. That moment when you let all of your mental barriers down, when you tasted victory… I cast Stop!" Xion exclaimed triumphantly as the pendulum sound intensified, now accompanied by the gears of a clock. "But you know the best thing about it?! If you didn't waste your time rubbing your ego in Terra's face and then just wasted twenty more seconds listening to a pointless explanation from your enemy… your stupid magic defense would have held the spell off for long enough for you to kill both us!"

"D-Damn you! I-We will not stand for this. You cannot kill what We are! We are Maen-"

Scorpio's World stood still. Time had finally stopped.

"Thirty seconds passed. Good grief... what kind of thing resists a Stop spell for half a minute when it wasn't even aware it was being cast?" Xion triumphantly mused, loftily strolling towards Scorpio. Suddenly, the inferno inside my body started to cool off, a much more welcome warmth taking over. The locusts in my head died out, even my vision slowly returned. I still didn't feel well, but I was far from near death. I looked to the side and saw the source of the gentle light. That furry pink ball called Mew. Someone took my shoulders and gently lifted me up to a semi-sitting position, using his body to give me something to lean to.

"You always hated the thought of being helped, but that doesn't mean you can go ahead and kill nearly yourself just to buy us some time," Michael admonished, certain seriousness not often found in his tone making me feel especially bad for being so reckless.

"He's right you know? I know a bit of me probably rubbed off on you but that was reckless beyond belief," Sylph pointed out, even though he knew he was just as guilty as me at this point.

"You girls are suicidal nowadays. This is the second time I had to save one of you in the past five minutes," Mew sighed, leading me to giggle momentarily before concentrating on the matter at hand. I looked at the frozen Scorpio, who Xion was now face to face with, and gasped:

"Xion, be careful, her eyes are still moving!" I exclaimed, fearing this to be a trap by the Maenad. Xion just looked back to me and smiled.

"That only makes it more pleasurable!" she laughed, turning back to the Maenad and twirling the Colt. "How does it feel? To have your body shut down? It's like drowning, isn't it? You're aware of what's going to happen to you, but you have no control over it!" she mocked, stopping the gun on her right hand and inspecting the bullets. "You know, you acted all high and mighty, saying you were the superior breed to us humans and all but… legends say a bullet from the Colt can kill everything but Gods. From what I can tell, that would put you in the middle. Maybe this bullet won't kill you… and you'll destroy us once the spell wears off. But being this is Samuel Colt's greatest handgun and will most likely blow your brains off, you gotta ask yourself one question…" Xion's tone slowly deteriorate from her cheery and triumphant one to a slow, methodical, murderous tone as she popped the bullets into the gun, rolled the wheel and aimed it in-between the Maenad's eyes. "Do I feel lucky?"

The Maenad's finger twitched, the spell's hold weakening. Her eyes betrayed unbridled rage. Xion pulled back the safety mechanism.

"Well, do ya, punk?" just as the spell broke, Xion's finger pressed the pulled the trigger back. The bullet flew from the gun, or I could imagine it did. It was too fast for me to comprehend. Not even Scorpio could do anything but to have the bullet pierce her straight through the forehead.

Time stood still for everyone in the vicinity as we all held our breaths. Scorpio's head had been shot back and it stayed like that for a few seconds… before returning to her original position, nothing but a bloodless hole to show from the shot. A sickening smile formed in her face. Her hand flew back into position, me and Michael watching powerlessly as the crimson sting shot towards Xion… dissipating into glittering stardust moments before hitting her. The gunshot wound suddenly exploded in a blazing light, and, in a soundless thud, Scorpio fell to her knees, all life draining from her eyes. In one, final action, she looked up to Xion and formed a defeated, sorrowful smile before letting her head hang down.

"Bang," Xion said, mimicking a gun with her index and thumb, a strange feeling of respect in her voice, with the gesture, the rest of her body dissipated into a cloud of glittering crimson mana, leaving nothing but her heart as proof she had stood there moments go. Maybe it was because Xion had grown up in a world far different from ours, but there didn't seem to be any bad blood between her and her enemy on those final moments.

Strangely enough, the heart did not rise up to the heavens and flicker off like it was normal once someone passed away. No, instead, it rose to about Xion's chest and, without any warning, speared into it, vanishing as soon as it hit cloth.

Xion's eyes lost their color for a moment, her body losing balance. I tried to force myself to help her, but my body barely made it. Michael was too busy holding me, and Mew was still in the middle of healing me, so we could only watch as she lost balance… only to recover it moments later.

"What the hell was that?!" Xion gasped, breathing heavily but otherwise looking fine. "That girl just had to leave me with a jack-in-a-box before dying, didn't she?!" then, as fast as the shock had taken her, she shrugged it off, literally may I add. "Heh, guess she got me. You all okay?"

"You just had a heart forcefully shoved into your chest, don't just dismiss it as a jumpscare!" Michael exclaimed, immediately shaking his head right after, eyes wide open. "Oh my Palu, I'm the reasonable person here? We're all gonna die…"

We all shared a healthy laughter, it felt the weight of the world had just been removed from our shoulders, and I just couldn't feel any better. Mentally at least.

"Oh snap, I totally forgot! Riku's probably still face down on the floor… Yuri too!" Xion exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "We should hurry on the way there before Yuri really DOES die from the poison!" Xion pointed out, to which we all nodded. We doubted we were on a timer considering Xion wasn't desperate beyond belief, but we still understood we should at least make an effort to get there fast. Besides, there was not much to do around here, I couldn't feel any mana signature in dozens of meters.

"It always amuses me to no end," a deep, mocking, methodical voice began, echoing in my eardrums in such a way I couldn't even pinpoint where it came. "The lengths you… humans go to prologue such an ephemeral, meaningless existence,"

*Cue: "Without Shadow" FFXIV OST*

"Xion, behind you!" I exclaimed as I finally sighted the source of the voice. I was baffled that I had not felt someone standing so close to us, but the truth is, that just a few meters from Xion, a tall man sat on a large piece of debris, a single… chess table by his side. He wore just one long black robe, golden outlines stripping past the buttons and lining of it. A hair of strange effervescent silver reached his shoulders; however, what was even stranger was that his eyes were of the very same color. Furthermore, a single, stark black pentagram was engraved on his forehead, gleaming a terrifying glow. Xion didn't waste any time and drew the Colt from her holster, aiming it straight into the man. She didn't seem in the mood to take any chances.

"Hey you! I'm pretty sure you saw what this thing can do! So if you don't want to turn into glittery sand, you better start talking. Who're you and what are you doing here?!" she demanded, her trigger finder seemingly itching to fire. She must've felt the same way I did at the time. While my eyes could see the man… the rest of my senses, my body, didn't acknowledge it. His existence there was like a dream, an illusion. Something that could not be real. But, at the same time, I knew it was real. And that scared me to no end.

"Brutes, all of you," the man spat, removing a single piece from his chess collection, a horse piece, and standing upright, the continued lack of presence eerily creeping up. It was then that I realized that Sylph had gone completely silent. Not only in voice, but in presence as well. To make it worse, the area of the tree branch we were standing on around the man seemed… lifeless. The vibrant branch of Yggdrasil, withered, as if it had dropped dead on the spot. "Yes, I am aware of what that weapon is capable of. Tell me then, why would I fear it?"

"Terra… run. Tell everyone to run…" Sylph finally said, his presence barely registering on the back of my mind. I was about to question why when the man took its first step towards us. "I TOLD YOU TO RUN! If you stay here, we're all going to die!" I had scarcely seen anyone bust into a panic as big as Sylph had, much less someone with his outlook on life. But I could understand him. Even without understanding what was happening, every part of my body was screaming for me to run away. Unfortunately, not as loud as they were screaming that I couldn't move.

"What're you on about?! You think I'm afraid to dump another pair of bullets on you? I've had a horrible day, don't try me!" Xion exclaimed, obviously trying to keep her own emotions in check. How did I know? It took her a while to see it herself, but her entire body was trembling. It was a wonder she was still standing. To make things worse, with each step the man took, more and more of the tree branch under us was drained of its life, each footstep leaving behind a sea of desolation.

"Feel free. I would much rather have such a weapon be wasted on me than give humans another troublesome toy," the man stated, not an inch of trickery in his tone. He stopped his walk and raised his hand toward Xion, signaling her to shoot. "Well then, shall we get this over with?"

"Why don't you take on someone your own size?!" A voice I didn't quite recognize exclaimed from above. "Destruction Field!" The silver-haired man soggily looked upwards and raised his hand, parrying a descending sword strike with… a chess piece.

"Yuri, you're… alright?!" Xion exclaimed in shock, apparently recognizing the person. I only wished that this Yuri had been able to do more than mildly inconvenience the man in black. He had been faster than I could ever hope to be, and the sword blow had been so powerful a shockwave at formed at the clash. But that was just irrelevant compared to the point that he had been lazily blocked by a chess piece.

"How sad. I'd have thought that after two thousand years even humans would have evolved into beings capable of cracking a Knight. Perhaps a Pawn would've been more appropriate?" taunted the mysterious man, delighting in seeing the useless effort Yuri was putting in trying to move him. His expression changed slightly once Yuri seemed to smile in response.

"Never said I was your size!" he barked, the chess piece cracking lightly at the same time he used his sword as a springboard to jump back into Xion's side. "Kid, we're going to have to take a tactical retreat," he informed, scooping her straight up to his shoulder and taking another giant leap into our midst. Spinning his sword in his hand, he carved a circle around all of us and yelled: "Milla, get us out of here!"

The familiar tingly sense of translocation washed over us while we watched the man that had attacked us simply sigh in annoyance at our impending disappearance.

Moments later, we were on the inside of the tree, in a room filled with refugees from the war on the outside, Milla standing in the middle of all of us.

"It's a good thing you're one of our fastest Yuri," she commented, leaving the circle before enclosing on me, the most wounded one, and starting to finish up the healing Mew had done.

"Compliments later, sweet checks. How are the communication orbs?" he questioned.

"Worse off than before," she pointed out, Yuri taking it with a shrug.

"We aren't going to get anything done with them while we're in his Realm are we?" he asked, the words he chose being both baffling and strange to me.

"Realm?" Michael asked, his more serious side still on full alert. "Wait, that man can't be-"

"Milla, you're probably the strongest person still on the surface. Take care of the kids and the ones that can't fight. I'm going to pass the word and I'll be back." Yuri said, jumping off a nearby window just after, rush being apparent in every of his actions. Milla seemed to just acknowledge it, continuing to hastily heal my wounds. I had enough of being in the dark.

"Milla, that man… who was he? I couldn't feel his mana signature… my senses barely registered he was there. But I was terrified beyond belief. I don't understand… what was he?" I didn't doubt for one second there was a high chance that man was not human. I had thought maybe he was a Maenad or an Esper. I could not expect what came next.

"Terra… there are just things your body can't even begin to comprehend, much less sense. When the senses can't gauge something's existence, it's as if it's not even there," she explained, not meeting my eyes once.

"Wait, so that guy's so strong we can't even understand how strong he is?!" Xion exclaimed, Michael nodding in return, maybe this wasn't the first time it happened to him. "What kind of monster is he?"

"He is no monster. His name is Thanatos," Milla began, my jaw dropped open. Could it be…

"The God of Death," Michael finished, looking outside the window, into the darkening skies. "And we're in his Realm now,"

Next Chapter:

"Claes is dead. Accept it already."

"The enemy of my enemy…"

Next time on Normalcy? Extremely Overrated: The Siege of Yggdrasil Part 4: A Soul Reaper's Magic Word (For real this time)

Post-Author's Note: Alright people, now that everything is done, let's get to the nitty gritty. Some of you may, or may not, have noticed this, but there was a lot different in the approach I took to this chapter. The chapter itself was much shorter than the 14K colossi I sometimes post for one, but not only that, it only shifted PoV's twice AND it only had 2 total people we followed.

Well, this is because I've listened to some worries some people had with the story. And while those worries were neither universal or damning, they did show one thing. Normalcy wasn't the easiest read. Not only for the previous knowledge you needed. The big chapters required a lot more commitment, to an insane degree almost, and the PoV shifted so much that the ones that weren't on the "same page" as me were quick to be left behind. Well, seeing that, I tried to streamline the experience. These chapters from now on will aim to:

One, be shorter so that they can be more easily digested, and, hopefully, more quickly produced.

Two, I am going to try and focus them more. I'll change scenes when I need to obviously, but I want one chapter to advance specific points of the story now, not just it all at once.

Three, give the main characters their "main" back. I have been drifting away from the main group a bit too much as of late, and I'll try and fix it. Do expect to see some off-the-main-characters-PoV's, but lesser in quantity. I want you to see the story through the eyes of the main cast a bit more than what I was doing. It will also allow me to ease in plot points and not bombard you with info.

So yeah, this is, in a nutshell, what I'm trying to achieve from now on. Will I? Well, that's for you to tell me. What did you think of this chapter and do you agree with this direction? Do you have any worries I didn't address yet? Do you have any more tips? Shower me with your thoughts so that I may bathe in knowledge… okay, that sounded really creepy. Quick Herald, think of a cool outro! …Got it!

See you, Space Cowboy!