Try End
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Here we go, final chapter of this arc.
Hope you've enjoyed the story.
I doubt I'm going to go to the Revolution/Evolution-R story.
You'll find out why here.
After a major battle, there was always calm. Always. It didn't matter if one side completely steam rolled the other side or the fight was even.
Things were always calm, even nature seemed to give pause when a fight had just ended.
"We won..." Zelgadis, looking human again, said as he sat on the ground. For some reason, he didn't feel like celebrating. He wasn't sad, but there was a melancholic feel to everything.
"Yeah..." Filia said as she sat behind Chrono. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she wasn't surprised to see him turn to look at her, his face a mask of nothing but pain and sadness. She had no idea what was going through his mind at that moment, but it couldn't have been good.
"My father died when I was really young." She blinked as she heard his voice in her head. "And now... Now my mom... And my oldest friend... All gone..." He blinked as Filia wrapped her arms around him from behind and hugged tightly.
"Lord Valgaav!" Jillas was sobbing loudly. "He... He wasn't a bad person! He saved me life. He was a good person when you got to know him." He fell to his knees as he let his tears flow freely.
"I got that feeling too." Nanoha said as she sat next to the sad fox-creature. "When we fought, he was angry and sad, but I didn't sense evil from him. Just pain." Needing to kill, being able to kill. Until this mission, she had never killed anyone, heck, until this mission she had never really seen a dead body.
Of course, her mind was completely ignoring the fact that she did not kill anyone. Maim and injure people, but she didn't kill anyone.
Sighing, Lina sat next to Shiro, resting her head on his shoulder, before sighing. "Sorry."
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he gave her a squeeze. "For what? Kissing me then using the Giga Slave?" He shook his head and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you, Lina. I'm not going to get upset just because you did something stupid."
"Well, all's well that ends well, I say." Xellos smiled as he leaned against a rock. "Though, I have to admit, I am rather glad that Huraker got killed." He honestly had the feeling that she manipulated everyone. When he thought back on the events that unfolded, it made sense, that she manipulated the events that happened.
It wasn't fair. He was the one who was supposed to manipulate people, not the other way around.
Riksfalto stretched, her chest bouncing as she looked at Yuuno. "Well, kid, I'd love to stay, but I'm sure that Lord Dolphin's going to want to know why I fought against Huraker..."
"Yuuno." She blinked her one good eye at him. "My name's Yuuno Scrya."
Riksfalto laughed. "I'll remember that, Yuuno." She smiled and disappeared.
Xellos shook his head and chuckled. "I think she understands better than even Dynast did..."
"Understand what?" Sirius looked at the Mazoku, who smirked at him.
"That... Is a secret." He laughed as he disappeared. "Sorry that I can't stay, but Beast Master needs an update as well."
Fate, sitting next to Yuuno, sighed as she saw the Mazokus disappear. "They... Were weird. I thought Mazoku were evil." Yuuno just shrugged and Lina laughed softly. "What?"
"Sorry, it's just... Even Mazoku, who prefer negative emotions and the like, aren't all evil like you think. Xellos will gladly kill you if it furthers his goals, but he's just as likely to save your life if you're useful to him."
"So..." Yuuno looked at Lina in confusion. "He's not... Evil? Just..."
"He's evil enough to laugh at you while slaughtering your whole clan, while leaving you alive. I think Riksfalto there just loves a good fight and doesn't care about much else." Lina shrugged at that. Most Mazoku that she had encountered were pretty evil. And you could never trust them fully. But then there was Gaav, who would have left her alone had Hellmaster not been sending Gaav's spies bad intel about her working with him. And Xellos was just nutty. Riksfalto seemed odd as well.
And there was Sherra, who could have killed her back when she was on the ground and weakened, but she didn't. And Zelas gave her an assist in killing Dynast. Who knew what Dolphin was like.
"I want some chocolate..." Dolphin whined as she looked at her empty box.
"Lord Dolphin." She blinked as she saw Riksfalto appear before her. "Huraker's dead."
"Huh?" Dolphin sat up, staring. "Speak now!"
As Riksfalto explained everything that had happened, from Huraker getting her, Sherra and Valgaav to work together, to Huraker stealing the power of the Aqua Lord, to Dark Star appearing and threatening the world.
Dolphin sighed and rubbed her forehead. "No more chocolate then..." Oh well, it was for the best. Huraker really shouldn't have over-stepped her boundries like that.
"Nnngh..." She cracked an eye open and blinked as she felt someone running their hand through her hair. "What?"
"About time you woke up, Sherra." Zelas said softly and smiled at the Mazoku. "So, tell me something, how do you feel?"
"Um... Weird... I mean, my head's in your lap... But other than that..." Her eyes widened. "Dynast? Where is Lord Dynast?"
"Dead." Zelas said, her eyes hardening and the younger Mazoku stared at her, trembling. "Lina Inverse killed him with a Ragna Blade fired through the Bow of Light. I don't think any of us could have survived that."
"Lord Dynast..." Sherra shuddered and squeezed her eyes closed, trying to fight back something that she had never felt before. "You knew, you KNEW that Lina Inverse was on the top ten list of people you don't want to be around." Why would he go after her then?
"Yes, well... I'm glad that he did... I've been wanting to kill him for years now." Sherra gasped and looked at Zelas in shock. "Don't get me wrong, Sherra, my hatred for him was because of something he did to me a long time ago, nothing more. Now, my question for you is, what will you do?"
"Huh?" She blinked as Zelas smiled at her and gently cupped her face.
"You're in shock, I'm sure, but close your eyes for a moment."
Confused, the Mazoku did so, and her eyes snapped open as she realized what Zelas was getting at. "What?"
"Dynast always gave his name to his General and Priest, because he could use them later if he had to." Her eyes widened as Zelas nodded. "All Mazoku Lords have ways to survive a lot. Dynast had a plan for his underlings, should he fall... They would gain his power, memories, experiences..."
"He'd... Erase me... Just to survive?"
"Yep." Zelas nodded at the shocked look on Sherra's face. "Now, it's up to you. What do you want to do now?"
"I..." She closed her eyes. "Why am I still me then?"
"Oh, that?" Zelas smirked at her. "I happened to... Purge his memories and experiences from you, couldn't do anything about the power however."
"You're being... Candid... Considering Xellos..." Sherra grumbled softly and Zelas laughed at her. "What?" She pouted and blushed as Zelas patted her on the cheek.
"You're too cute. Anyway, what reason would I have to hide information from you?" Zelas chuckled as Sherra blinked at her. "You now have a choice, you don't answer to anyone directly, so, what do you want to do?" That was a lie, they both knew it, but without a Lord telling her what to do, Sherra was a free agent as far as the rest of the Mazoku were concerned.
"I..." Sherra took a breath. "Is it normal to feel nothing because your lord died?" Zelas just shrugged and she groaned, knowing that the older Mazoku wasn't going to tell her anything. "...I need time to think." She got up and looked around. "...Where am I?"
"My personal sanctum." Zelas said as she stood up. "I'd appreciate it if you... Kept quiet about being here."
"Ah..." Sherra nodded and shivered at the look that Zelas was giving her. "Well, um, I'll let you know in the future." She disappeared in a flash, leaving Zelas alone.
"Heh..." She smirked and walked over to a stone that stuck out of the ground. "Of all the people I met, you were the only one I ever made that promise to..." There was a name on the stone, but time had weathered it away to nothingness.
That was fine with Zelas.
She was the only one of the Lords that understood why Gaav had been so upset after Ragradia had died, after all.
"So, that's it then?" Lyos looked around at the group. "I guess it's over."
"Yeah." Amelia nodded as she sighed. "Still feels like something's missing..."
Before anyone could say anything more, the sky was filled with white feathers. "What the?" Everyone blinked before gasping as a figure of a woman appeared and a small ball dropped down in front of Chrono and Filia.
Reaching out, Filia took it and her eyes widened. "Valgaav... It's Valgaav." She could see inside the egg, at the small creature inside. She closed her eyes and smiled softly.
Chrono wondered why she was holding it against his chest, but supposed that it didn't matter, it was nice that something good came out of it.
There was a hissing, crackling noise that had him looking up in surprise. "...on? Hey! Can anyone hear me?"
"Mary?" Chrono gasped as several screens popped up, the images were kind of staticy and unstable, but everyone could see Mary, behind her, Lindy and Amy looked fine, well, kind of beaten up, but fine. "How?"
"Oh, the beam missed us by about fifteen centimeters, but our engines kind of exploded so we ended up crashing down in the forest..." She turned her head to look at someone off screen. "Where are we again?"
"Hmph!" A woman with long purple hair, a slim figure wearing a bikini, spiked shoulder guards, a cape walked into view. The most noticeable thing about her though, was her breasts. Large just didn't describe it. They were like someone grafted watermelons onto someone's chest and caused them to stick there. "You're near Atlas City..." She looked at the group and gasped. "Lina Inverse! I knew you'd try to kill me, Naga the Serpent, one day! I just never expected you to do it with a flying ship! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
"N...NAGA?" Lina's eyes widened in shock. "What the hell?"
"I should ask you the same question!" Naga crossed her arms under her breasts and let out a "hmph". "And just WHY is your left eye gold? Is there something wrong with this scrying thing?"
Lina just stared blankly at the screen.
"GRACIA?" A voice had Naga stop and turn her head to one of the screens she was looking at and gulped as she saw Amelia looking at her, tears welling up in her eyes. "Is that you... Sister?"
"WHAAAA?" Lina felt like falling over. "NAGA'S YOUR SISTER?"
Naga gulped and waved her fingers nervously as she looked at Amelia. "Hey sis... Um... How's dad?"
"Looking everywhere for you!"
"Hey, mom, how's the Arthra?"
"Totaled, we can barely get this transmission to you, never mind getting home, we're kind of stuck here for a bit."
He nodded, well, at least they were alright.
Lina shook her head. "Well, might as well..." She stood up with Shiro and looked at everyone. "I have an announcement to make." She grinned as everyone looked at her seriously. Lina then grabbed Shiro's hand and put it on her belly, causing his eyes to widen. "I just want you all to know that Shiro and I are going to be parents again."
"Oh, you're pregnant..." Gourry nodded, before blinking a few times, his eyes widening and his jaw falling to the ground.
"WHAT?" The screams could be heard around the world.
Lina rubbed the back of her head as she giggled and stuck her tongue out at them.
"Bu...But... Miss Lina..." Amelia's fingers were twitching up and down as she looked at the woman with a freaked out face. "Ho...How?"
"I'm pretty sure that it's obvious HOW, Amelia." Zelgadis spoke up, twitching at the thought of a pregnant Lina. "What I want to know is, how long?"
"Um... Six weeks." Lina's face was starting to match her hair.
Sylphiel blinked, she had thought that there was something off about Lina awhile ago. "But, wait, you have only been here..." Realization dawned on her. "You were pregnant the whole time you were here?"
"Uh, yeah..." Lina nodded at that question. "I only suspected that I was pregnant when I realized that I missed my last period, so I had the doctor check me out when we were staying in that village."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Shiro looked at her seriously and Lina looked down, shame flooding her.
"I... I didn't want you to worry about me any more than you already were. And I wasn't sure if I was or not."
Nanoha suddenly ran up and glomped her mother. "Whee! I'm going to be a big sister!" Fate was there a moment later, also hugging Lina. The two parents smiled at their kids and knelt down to hug them tightly.
Sirius just shook his head in amusement. This world really was interesting.
"Thanks for giving us a lift here, Sirius." Amelia said as she saw the ship. "Gracia!" She gasped as she saw her sister leaning against the hull of the ship. "GRACIA!" She jumped forward and hugged Naga for all she was worth. "I missed you so much!"
"Huh, you know, in all the time that I knew her, I never thought that she was a princess." Lina shook her head as she looked at Naga.
"I'd like to thank you, humans from the Flare and Blue Dragon worlds." Sirius said as the Dark Star weapons floated around him. "But I need to go home now."
Lina nodded and looked at Filia, who had opted to come with them. "What about you?"
"I... Don't have any home to go back to..." Filia sighed. "To all Dragons, I'm always going to be a part of the Gold Dragons that murdered the Ancient Dragons. And to the Gold Dragons of my clan still alive, I'm the one who helped kill several Dragons, so, I have no home anymore."
"What about you, Jillas?" Zelgadis asked the fox person.
Jillas smirked and crossed his arms behind his head. "Knowing that Lord Valgaav's alive is more than enough, besides, people on this continent don't know anything about gunpowder. I could make a fortune in marketing the stuff to royalty."
"Just make sure you sell to the right people." Zelgadis nodded at him.
"Gourry-dear..." Sylphiel patted the blond swordsman on the back. "Are you sure about letting the Sword of Light go?"
"Yeah." He nodded and smiled at her. "Besides, it came from his world originally."
"Okay." She nodded and sighed softly.
"Before I forget!" Lina snapped her fingers and grabbed the sheathed Blast Sword from her husband. "We won't be needing this where we're going, Gourry."
His eyes widened as he looked at it. "You're giving the Blast Sword to me?"
"Nope." She shook her head and grinned at him. "I'm selling it to you, for five hundred fifty."
Gourry blinked for a moment, before he saw the look on her face and it suddenly dawned on him. The two of them started laughing.
"I... Don't get it." Lyos scratched his head. His confusion doubled as Zelgadis started laughing as well. "What?"
"That was the price that Lina offered to buy the Sword of Light from Gourry."
Lina smiled, before giving Gourry a hug. "Take care of yourself, Gourry." She let go of the hug and handed the sword to him. "And, Sylphiel..." She grinned at the priestess's stunned look. "The next time I stop by, I better hope that my next kid has some playmates." She winked at the suddenly flushed priestess.
"Well, I need to get going." Sirius nodded and looked at the ship. "I can make a detour to your world if you want me to."
"Only a god would consider going to a world not his own as a "detour"." Zelgadis shook his head.
Filia sighed as she saw the outsiders start to go into the ship. She still was holding Valgaav's egg, but she really didn't know what to do with her life. She yelped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Chrono smiled at her softly. "I had a talk with Admiral Lindy. If you want... You're welcome to come with us, at least until you know what you want to do in life."
"Really?" She blinked, before hugging him tightly. "Thank you."
"What about you, Mr. Lyos?" Amelia asked, getting a shrug from him.
"I dunno. I mean, I was used by someone I thought I trusted, so... I'm not sure anymore." He crossed his arms behind his back.
"Well, I don't have much to do, and I'm sure that the Gold Dragons of Dragon's Peak would love to know that Ragradia's still alive in a sense." Zelgadis shrugged at the young boy. "Besides, I'm sure that they'd want to know what happened here as well."
"Well, if everyone's ready..." Sirius said as most of them got onto the ship. "Take care of yourself, people of Cephied's world." He nodded as he got onto the ship himself.
A moment later it disappeared.
Naga gulped at the look Amelia was giving her. "Um..."
"I'm glad that you're wearing mom's outfit, but you really should have sent a letter home at least!" Amelia stomped her foot on the ground. "Now, come on, you're going to at least come home and say hi to dad."
"You really grew up, kiddo." Naga ruffled Amelia's hair, but nodded. "Fine, I guess I can come home for a little bit."
"What happened?" Huraker gasped as she saw Riksfalto and her master glaring at her. "Um..."
"You decided that you would take the power of the Aqua Lord and dominate the entire race, Huraker?" Dolphin took slow steps forward that had the Priest gulping as she stepped back slowly. "You decided that you would replace Lord Shabranigdo as our master? And kill all those who stood in your way?"
"Bu... But..."
"You attacked me, Huraker..." Riksfalto shook her head. "Can't believe you would."
"I saved your life!"
"I know." Riksfalto nodded. "I'm grateful, but..." She narrowed her good eye. "You threatened Yuuno, that was going too far."
Dolphin blinked and shook her head. "I'll... Deal with that later, as for you, Huraker..." She snapped her fingers and Huraker screamed as her body was being torn apart from the inside out. "You forgot what we Mazoku truly desire, didn't you?"
"Wh...What?" Huraker gasped in pain.
"Freedom to make our own decisions. Had you just used the power to become a Lord, I wouldn't have cared, but you tried to take over and order us around. For that, you must die."
The last thing either of them saw was Huraker on the ground, screaming in pain as she disappeared.
"Now, as for that human..." Dolphin turned to Riksfalto, who gulped. "Just make sure that he's worth going after." She chuckled as Riksfalto stared at her. "What? Mazoku interact with humans on all sorts of levels, Riksfalto, go and have some fun, just report back to me when I have a mission for you."
Riksfalto nodded and grinned as she disappeared from her master. This was going to be fun.
Days later...
"MOM! DAD!" Miyuki hugged her parents and squeezed hard. "You guys were gone for so long that we were getting worried."
Lina chuckled as she hugged her eldest daughter. "We ended up going on vacation... And had to save every universe." She did find it interesting that Filia was living with Lindy, Chrono and Amy here on Earth, but mentally shrugged it off, whatever happened over there was their own problem.
"You'll need to tell me about it." Miyuki smiled as she saw Nanoha, Fate, Arf and Yuuno walk into the house, letting go of her parents, she hugged the kids tightly. "Missed you kids too."
They didn't say anything as they hugged her back, they didn't have to.
It was good to be home.
-Try End
Some final comments here.
1: I am going to take some time off from posting this story here. So I can get ahead of it. When I come back, I'll be able to post chapters like this again.
2: I need to work on some of my other projects as well. Can't neglect them, now can I?
3: What Dolphin said to Huraker is basically what Xellos said to Shabranigdo at the end of Evolution-R.
4: You really thought I had Lina have troubles for no reason at all? Are you guys crazy?
5: Naga! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Couldn't help it, I just HAD to have that cameo!
6: I dunno about you, but, for some reason, having things come full circle with Lina and Gourry just seemed appropriate.
7: The hardest part of the story? Managing ALL of the characters that I had. Ugh. SOOO many characters. I think I did okay, what about the rest of you?
What happens next? You'll find out soon enough when I come back here and start posting up the next arc.
What? You thought the story was finished? HA! There's still 8 years until StrikerS, right? PLENTY of material to cover!
Here's a sneak peek at the next arc, Shine.
"REIN!" Vita dropped her shield and rushed back to grab Rein, gasping as the shots exploded against her back. Ignoring that, she gave Rein a gentle shake. "Come on, Rein... Snap out of it."
The small device shook her head and her eyes gained a clarity that had Vita sighing in relief, only to let out a scream as a powerful beam struck her in the lower back, sending her crashing into the wall.
"VITA!" Rein gasped as she saw smoke coming from behind Vita. Looking down, she gasped as she saw some blood. "You're hurt."
"I'll live." Vita muttered and turned around to put up a barrier. Zwei gasped as she saw the back of Vita's dress was burned horribly, leaving her backside completely exposed. The redhead's back was bleeding from several open wounds that were caused by the hits. "What are these things?"
Zwei gripped her fist in anger. It was all her fault. If she just hadn't gotten distracted, then Vita wouldn't have gotten hurt. Looking at her sister, she paled at the effort Vita was putting into blocking the shots. She chanced a glance at the larger metal creatures and paled as one, completely white in color, where the others were either black or orange, a touch larger than the rest with a large cannon on its right arm. The assault didn't stop, but Rein could feel the power being built up in the large cannon and knew that Vita wouldn't be able to stop the attack. "VITA!" She touched her sister.
At that moment, a powerful blast from the big metal creature was fired, smashing into and through the shields in an instant and causing an explosion that covered the air in black smoke for several moments.
During that time, the creatures stopped firing to see what happened.
