Terra's note:Hello, hum... I'm here to cover for our author… we had technical difficulties with the cast. Let us hear Jecht's apology….
What, no… MY SPLEEN! OKAY OKAY I'M SORRY!
Right. Now, due to that, no author's note now and we'll have a slightly different narrator, hopefully he'll respect the fourth wall better, aswell as keeping his opinions to himself… one can only hope. See you at the end!
An Unending Struggle
Chapter Fifty-Four
Godsbane Shinryu VS Zodiark the Destroyer
Greetings, my name is Halim Ondore IV, Marquis of Bhujerba. As Terra should have informed you by now, both the Herald and the former narrator are in the hospital, recovering, for that request your compliance with me accompanying you for the week, you have my thanks.
A lone woman, alone in a sea of blue and white sat with a saddened expression. She could see all from her throne, alas, nothing could she do to change it, Cosmos' existence was at times dreadful. Witnessing the last happenings, she wept until she felt a dark impulse on her body, one that could only mean one thing.
"Vaan's crystal… no, it can't become like Jecht's… I have to stop it!" She determinedly said, she now only needed to know how.
"What do you want Hojo?" Sephiroth asked in an angry tone.
"Shush my child, we owe him a step debt." I must say, this led to Sephiroth making to closest thing to a sulk face I have ever seen from him… quite hilarious.
"Why thank you my dear, now, would you listen to my request?" Hojo asked as he took a courteous bow.
"If I did not, you would not be here now." The woman pointed out to which Hojo chuckled.
"Quite, quite… now, what I am here to ask of you is simple. We… "lost contact" with Occuria before we got what we wanted, now, if one of your subjects could go and steal the time machine known as Epoch from Rabanastre… that would be perfect." He said, taking interested glances in anything that could be considered technology around him.
"Why would you need a time machine? You got Valhalla." Lightning spat, irritated to be in the same league as the gibbering madman.
"I do not need it, I do not need that them to have it. If you understand what I mean." Hojo explained, but he had other motives. "Also, I'd like to see just how it is built."
"Well… we are at a standoff until you keep your end of the bargain, so I see no problem. Lightning my dear, would you?" Every guard in the room protested I jealousy but ironically, the woman which had been asked off only scuffed at it.
"Like I have a choice…" She spat, leaving the room abruptly.
"I don't see how you trust her so much Mother, can I be so bold as to ask why?" Sephiroth asked, still salty from his defeat, one that he attributed to Lightning's incompetence.
"My son… as true as our bond is, so is hers." Jenova replied cryptically, looking at the woman that raced after Lightning.
"Lightning!" Serah called just before said woman entered the portal.
"What is it?" The girl couldn't bear the attitude her sister was force into, if only she could make it stop…
"Why are you not happy with the mission M-"Lightning turned her back at her and left filled with anger. "What did I say wrong?" She truly wondered, taking her hand to her chest. You know, the most insane people are the ones that do not know that they ARE.
"That monster…" Lightning snarled angrily, slamming her fist into the wall of one of Rabanastre's many alleys.
"You hardly know a monster." A voice told her from behind. "Oh, don't worry, I won't tell." Lezard told the woman. "I find your predicament amusing that's all, a goddess taking orders like that, tsk tsk tsk."
"Aren't you the one that created that monster?" Lightning knew better than to draw her blade against Lezard. A quiet, soft chuckle began to make his way from his lips, but not even that could hide the madness between the laughter, or maybe it would be genius? We may never know.
"Well, you see, everything must have its uses, no?" He asked, adjusting his glasses so the reflection covered his eyes, his true intentions were unreadable. "I have a proposal."
Memories:
The moon. For many just nature's candle to light up the starry night's sky… who would suspect it to be the command center and home to the council for an entire race? Well, now you know if it. Tina and her brother slowly landed on the doorstep to the mountain she dreaded the most, the Summit of the King, where the King of Espers would usually meet and discuss with all others. Now, due to "new circumstances" five representatives had been chosen to form a council of sorts. Traditionally, the strongest esper would be the King, problem was, with the war they could hardly think on fighting among themselves, until now of course.
"Lady Tina? We thought you were…" She didn't even want to hear it by now.
"Tell the council to prepare themselves, I'm going to tell them something important." She ordered, the esper gulping at the aggressiveness she displayed and decided to save his hide from any outburst by answering quick.
"T-they are in a meeting, so if you want to j-joi-"
"Perfect. Come on Maduin!" She urged, entering the tunnels inside the mountain.
"Tina, you're not going to cause chaos, are you? We need our unity." Maduin warned, yes he knew they needed to do this, but he knew all too well his sister's lack of fuse.
"Unless it's needed, I'll not. Still, sometimes we have to disorganize things to order them better." She replied, reaching the tall double doors that were the entrance to the Summit. Disregarding the guards who had bowed down, she nonchalantly slammed the doors open, much to the shock of the people inside. "Okay, I demand an explanation!" She boomed, eyes already burning. So much for not causing chaos.
We all know how Bahamut and Leviathan look, giving or taking a few years. We should be focusing on the other two presiding the council. One of them could be described as a manifestation of Satan. Yes, Diablos did not care to show a fully human form and instead much of his body was still tainted by his esper form, retaining the horns, wings and tail. What he was human though, he was a tall muscled man on what appeared to be his thirties, short black hair that touched his shoulders and a simple orange robe with a black belt. The other one was the complete opposite. Crusader, or Jihad as the ones closest to him called him, was the type of men most women swooned about, the perfect height, long flowing blonde hair and blue eyes. He dressed in what would be outlandish eastern clothes if there WAS eastern. Now, if you may amuse this old man, let me ask of you, how is it that most of the worlds are indeed able to share espers while us are forced to stay with our own? Food for thought…
"Ah, Tina, please have a sit." Crusader offered, pointing at her usual chair.
"Jihad, don't give me that crap! What were all of you THINKING?" She roared, Maduin having to put one hand on her shoulder for her to regain some of her calm. Leviathan looked ashamed, Crusader was completely unreadable, Diablos spat and Bahamut hid his head in embarrassment. "Those were innocent people!"
"Humans aren't people." Diablos spat back. "They lost that right years ago."
"Let us not get ahead of ourselves!" Crusader exclaimed, putting his body between Diablos and Tina, the two most volatile members of the council.
"Why Jihad? You saw what she did, she destroyed a great deal of our forces to save some puny humans!" He exclaimed, his patience clearly dimming.
"O-our forces? You mean, MONSTERS ARE NOW OUR FORCES? OUR?" She would have done something drastic right there and then had Bahamut not interfered.
"Tina, please understand, we are few and with humans now creating Magi, who can also use magic… we need to explore other paths…" Even he wasn't comfortable with it, but unlike Tina, Kayser's silver tongue had swayed him, for once, Tina's "irresponsible wandering" had come into fruition.
"Explore other paths…? Hehe… HAHAHAAHAHA! That's your excuse? On what side are we really on? Ours or Kayser's? Are we really the right side anymore?" She slapped Maduin's hand away.
"I never thought Bahamut was like this…" The esper commented, visually disgusted.
"He must have changed, I believe in him." Terra could see it in his eyes, just how much of a toll the battle had taken on him. He was young back then, young people make mistakes. She did, so why couldn't he?
"Right or wrong is subjective, the winners are written as the right." Crusader replied, Tina suddenly stopping her laughter.
"You did NOT just say that." She said in a dangerously serious tone. "Hiding behind words, tricking yourselves, what makes you so different from the humans that hunt us?"
"You seem to be defending the humans a lot lately…Why should we trust someone whose only drive was revenge, now that that someone destroyed our own forces?" The tone and accusations hidden on the voice of Diablos finally made Tina use drastic measures.
"Are you… trying to judge my actions?" She asked as she contained herself.
"Why not? You stood against the council for much of the war effort, never contributed to any of it and only wanted to fight. What have you done for us? What makes you so right?" Diablos' eyes were now mere centimeters away from Tina. Crusader had already given in to the inevitable skirmish, he was wrong about the magnitude though.
"You… CANNOT JUDGE ME!" She exclaimed, energy blasting out of her and knocking Diablos into the wall and leaving the others to have to bury their feet on the ground to maintain balance. "For I am Justice itself!" Bold statement, but it wasn't like she meant it literally, you know what she meant. "We were once meant for more than this! To protect the innocent! But if your precious logic and lust for vengeance has taken priority… then I can longer call myself your sister!" She suddenly changed into her esper form. "I will not let you continue, I don't give two damns about the voting."
"Sacrilege…"Crusader gasped. "Have you forgotten that you yourself agreed to this council? You cannot turn from it now that recent happenings aren't going the way you choose!" Everyone on the room had their guard up, even Maduin despite knowing how he could not do anything against these behemoths.
"But I do can, you see, this seemed to be such a gamble I'd never do it, but after seeing what that lizard, no offense to the ones here, did to this formerly honorable council…. I had to take matters into my own hands." She walked to the middle of the room and looked around. "I Tina of the Raijū Tribe…"
"Oh she is not going for it…!" Terra's esper was unusually gleaming with happiness "This will be fun to watch!"
"Invoke my right to challenge any contenders to the throne!" Bahamut was taken aback, Leviathan just nodded, Crusader gritted his teeth and Diablos furiously made his way from the wall. "You know, if you don't accept, that IS sacrilege." She told Crusader smugly.
"Fine then, I'll be your first opponent…" Leviathan said, much to her surprise. "I won't let you get into fights you can't win, if you can't beat me, you're not beating any of these three."
"I suppose you're right… well, let's go!"
Yet again our heroine was taken away from her sleep by a pulse of energy that grated her mind, but this one was far, FAR bigger. To the point where even Naminé felt it. Both of them looked out the window to see the sky darken, harkening the coming of such a monster even the Occuria felt it to be too powerful.
"Can you drive me to the bridge Naminé? I really need to see what's happening." Terra asked, Naminé complying as she slipped her into the wheel chair.
"Judgment…" Ramza began, but was forced to dodge backwards to avoid a stab. In doing so, he lost his balance and began falling but he made the most out of it by using his now airborne legs to kick Delita's sword right off his hand. The young man then violently trust himself upwards with his hand, missing by mere inches. Still, he had the advantage and tried to press it, but Delita was faster and grabbed the arm of his missed thrust, quickly kneeing him in the gut and following with a straight punch that sent him to the ground. He the raced towards his blade until he heard cackling, he quickly doge sideways, barely escaping the pillars of light Ramza emitted. He then rolled to his sword but Ramza's Chaos Blade barred his path.
"It is over." Ramza said, maybe too lenient.
"Really?" Delita spat back, doing the unthinkable of using the Chaos blade to propel himself for a spinning swipe that knocked Ramza off his feet, mangling his left hand in the process, swiftly grabbing his with the other hand. With Ramza on the ground he tried to impale him but Ramza rolled out of the way, resetting their positions. Battered and bruised, they looked at eachother solemnly whipping blood and sweat from their eyes and… smiling?
"This is so wrong, but I haven't had this much fun in years." Ramza said honestly.
"Aye!" Delita replied, swiftly dashing towards Ramza who blocked his swing as if he knew it was coming.
"Why are we even fighting?" Ramza asked, his mind completely abstracted from everything but the fight, the energy pulse that shook the city didn't even register on their minds.
"Does it matter? The only thing that matters…" Delita began, pushing Ramza back. "Is the duel!" He roared, jumping in an arc and landing right on top of his friend, their swords clashing and giving birth to a majestic shockwave of red and white.
"For once… we agree. Come on, today we leave no regrets behind!" The young man shouted, Delita complying.
"Well, that just won't do, will it?" Illua commented as the shockwave was made noticeable to her, blocking Marche's slash as she did. "This battle… it was amusing, you are better than I thought, but my chains to this place are broken so… be well Luso." The woman barely played any attention to the teenagers as she reached for her Grimoire, one touch making her vanish without a trace.
"Crap!" Luso cursed. "It was going so well…" Illua had been force on the defensive for the entirety of the fight, giving them a sense of advantage, but now they were left wondering if there ever was.
"This is hardly the time for self-pity." Kuja told the trio as he slowly floated to them, three bodies floating around him, ones that Luso recognized as the judges. Bergan and Ghis had been tied in energy for safekeeping, Drace remained unshackled but still unconscious. "We need to leave, right away."
"But what about Boss?" Marche replied, worried about Ramza.
"Aya has already gone to his aid, now come, we must not linger, the city is starting to come down." The genome told them, as if it was its cue, some of the rocks on the ceiling started to move.
"Child... what have you done…" Bahamut whispered, looking at the egg that had surrounded the Esper. "There is a reason why we kept him sealed for thousands of years."
"Sh-shut up. Get out of the shell Zodiark!" Vaan was completely possessed, more against Vayne than anyone else. Apparently fearing just that, the former emperor ported himself behind the Occuria leader, which was now horror stricken.
"Vayne of Archadian fame, we have need of my brothers, where are they?" The godlike being asked, completely missing the smirk from Vayne behind his back.
"They are…" He began, before anyone could react though, his right hand had impaled the Occuria from behind, the Mist from the being slowly exuding from the whole and into Vayne's skin. "…here." He pointed out, touching his own chest.
"Wh-what have you done…? Without us there will be no… pathway from hell." The being struggled to say as his body was slowly absorbed.
"Oh, how wrong you are. Illua… do you trust her so?" The man asked of the Occuria, which had now less than half his body left.
"Dirty… monkeys…" With his last breath Gerun spoke, now dissipating into Vayne's body.
"Yes…" Vayne gloated, watching as the Mist poured into his body, but someone had seen enough.
"VAYNE!" Vaan shouted enraged, summoning the Tournesol and leaping towards the seemingly unknowing traitor. His blade did not meet his target as it would be expected for you cannot use such low tricks on such a treacherous dog as Vayne, he'll have knowledge of every single one. Instead, it met his raw arm, his muscles pulsing unnaturally as it grew, ripping though his shirt. Vaan recognized this and tried to stop it by changing into the Zodiac Spear, soaring through the air into Vayne's heart, but his shirt ripped and his bulging muscles were enough to stop Vaan's attack. He then roared, red mist covering both of them and exploding, throwing Vaan towards the crowd.
"Behold the power left me by the fallen god!" Vayne boomed as he revealed himself. His body muscles had expanded to inhuman proportions, bulging outward while covered in a golden shine. To make the situation wearier the man had seemingly gained control of six greatswords that now floated around him, pointing at the onlookers. Not that there were much to be precise as most of them were trying to destroy the egg at Bahamut's orders and Layle had sneaked around the confusion, going to the fallen duo.
"Need… more power…" Vaan groaned, standing up and shinning in a pure white light, however, this good advent only turned bad as the light suddenly began to grow darker and darker until it was an irregular flowing aura.
"Jecht!" A woman's voice resounded in the blitz ace's head, one that he quickly recognized.
"Cosmos? What are you doing in my head? If you wanted a peace of the Jecht Meister you just had to ask!" If I may interject, Sir Jecht sent me a message to deliver before Terra… took care of him, and I quote: "Jecht X Cosmos is now canon, deal with it! *insert sunglasses here*" end of quote. Carry on.
"It's not that Jecht! You have to stop Vaan! He's about to call his crystal, but if he does it will be like yours!" She urged him in a tone that made even Jecht serious. She was going to try and explain why a but next thing you know it his fist had connected with Vaan's chin, sending him flying upwards and hitting his head on the way down, completely knocking him out.
"How do ya like that?" He asked triumphantly.
"Truly… effective…"She replied, a bit stumped.
"Well you know what they say! When in doubt… knock them out!"
"You said that Jecht." Cosmos pointed out. "Also, you should try to explain our actions to your companions." She was right, everyone was basically staring at Jecht like he was even more mad than usual. Still, the traitor cut them off.
"So, you managed to stop the creation of a Dark Crystal… No matter, when we are finished we will have no need to power Omega further. Now…" He opened a portal to the Rift.
"NO!" Shin yelled, jumping towards the man with fire on his eyes.
"I leave you with the monster you have brought forth, this planet is of no use to us in any case." He mocked as he disappeared, Shin's Apocalypse opening a giant crack on the ground.
"Damnit!" He cursed loudly.
"We have a much bigger pro-"A crack cut Zack's warning. "Well, fudge…"
The egg suddenly burst open in a flash of dark light, from it erupting twelve massive feathered white wings, each bigger than the other, the biggest ones even carrying golden markings and golden belts. The snake still seemed a baby a baby but even his restrictor had wings now, ones that sprawled upwards painted by golden markings. The cathedral was instantly destroyed by his presence only. Bahamut had to transform to protect the humans from the eruption of energy caused.
"It's… still not in its true form, we have to seal it now!" The silver Dragon ordered, out of breath from the blast. "Quickly, before it regains control of himself!" He couldn't move after such a blast, He had to trust them.
"Guys, let's go!" Zack said as they all charged at Zodiark, who with a screech sent banishing rays to meet them.
"Let's see…" Layle wondered as he looked over both of them. "It went into Rasler's… left?" he gasped, quickly turning the king over to find a satisfied look on his face. "You magnificent bastard!" He exclaimed with joy as he saw Ashe's wound only piercing the place where one lung stood. He touched her in the neck and he felt a weak pulse. "Alright, now I only need…" He saw three figures running up to him in the distance. "That… Edge, over here!" He called, the trio changing direction to meet them.
"Where's Bahamut?" Rydia asked.
"The portal, but I need Cuore and you to stay here. You guard her, she has to heal this one quick. This place my go poof any second." He explained quickly, summoning his hover board. "Let's go edge!"
"Aye, be right back!" he exclaimed, jumping on it and off they went.
"Be careful numbskull!" Rydia shouted as they passed the portal. "Hurry Cuore!"
"Okay mother, I'll try!"
"Try to flank him!" Neku shouted, seeing as their frontal approach had only led to getting blown back by his wings and rays.
Kairi and Sora nodded and began circling him in hopes of wounding him while Neku used one of his pins to shoot an array of ice shells into the monster, the other's didn't relent on their assault from the front. Both of them jumped on to cut him from the back but, realizing this the creature screeched to cast Graviga and bring every single person in the room down. Everyone except…
"Can't go down like this!" Kairi exclaimed, landing with an enormous crash on the ground, her legs shaking but still standing. "To… the… sky!" She hollered, jumping way above a normal human's jump, even on the gravity. Said gravity only worked to her advantage however, as it sped her fall exponentially. "DRAGON'S GRASP!" She crashed on top of Zodiark, the first blow on the out of control esper being given as it was driven into the floor.
"W-whoa Kairi, where did you learn THAT?" Sora asked his de facto girlfriend.
"When I had to train with Kain due to your laziness!" She replied, crossing her arms threateningly.
"Do not let up!" Bahamut warned, but Kairi had already played dearly, a banishing ray blasting her right leg, causing her to fall.
"WHY YOU!" Sora roared, his clothes blowing up in a red hue as he took on two Keyblades, the Sleeping Lion and the Fenrir. He charged at the snake which was still hurt and started wailing on it.
"I got it…" Neku looked at the pin. "The Sword of Seals can seal ANYTHING!" He grabbed the object that was fit for the Occuria and summoned the sword. "Sora, hold on!" He exclaimed as he began running.
"Alri-"Sora only looked back for a second but it was enough to be blown back by a buffet of wings, being shot down on the arm in midair.
"Damn!" Neku cursed as he continued to run, but he saw a blue flash that calmed him.
"I'll hold him!" Layle assured, the snake screeching in pain as both Layle's powers and a great amount of ruble began pushing it into the ground.
"Go back to sleep!" Neku shouted, bringing down the blade, but Zodiark still managed to get in one last banishing ray into his torso, however, even then, Shin grabbed the blade while it was falling and tried to finish the job… not happening. They had took too long, Zodiark finally regained enough control of his body to show his true colors. All his twelve wings suddenly burst into red light as the cenary broke into a white void, sending all to fall to the city bellow after getting hit by the dimension shattering blast. For everyone, everything went blank as they fell.
The rocks in Giruvegan began cracking as the ceiling collapsed, Aya running up to where Ramza and Delita were fighting. Surprisingly, even as the world around them was literally falling apart, they were still locked in their dance to the death. Holy rays and sparks flew everywhere, rock crumbled beneath their swords. Even as one rock broke free from the ground and started floating in their way, they just cleave through it and met in the middle.
"I won't lose Ramza! I've worked too hard for this!" Delita roared, sending Ramza soaring into the heavens.
"Worked for what? What are you fighting for? Wasn't it for Tietra's sake?" Ramza replied, sending a Divine Ruination wave downwards.
"If I allow myself to lose… after we going on completely different paths… is accepting that everything I did in life was a mistake!" He shouted back, dodging the wave and jumping to meet him, they clashed in midair and Ramza suddenly asked:
"What if… you were?" This surprised Delita and they stopped for a second, landing and staring at eachother.
"What are you trying to say?" He barked back.
"There is no shame in learning with your mistakes. What if your way was truly wrong?" Was he trying to play Delita or… "What I'm trying to tell you Delita, is that you may still turn back. Even after murdering your wife… you're a king, you can make amends!"
"Shut up! Why would I admit defeat like that? I said only one may stand! The one who leaves is the one who's right! COME RAMZA!" He blared, speeding towards Ramza once again, now determined to end it… or was he now? His mind was filled with questions Ramza had created with one sentence. He tried to repress them, but there was just no way to.
"Stop running away!" Ramza shouted, frustrated that Delita was too afraid off confronting the gravity of his crime. As the two clashed in the middle, one blade's thrust missed and the other ones pierced through flesh.
"Why…" Delita asked, coughing blood. "Why did you… SPARE ME!" The blade had only pierced a lung, sparing his life.
"The same reason you hesitated in the last second, causing you to miss. You can't admit it, but deep inside, you know we're still brothers Delita… I can't bring myself to kill you." He told him honestly, sliding the sword out of Delita, who stumbled back, his eyes blank in thought. Then, he laughed, laughed and laughed until he coughed blood.
"So… I was wrong… all my life… I was wrong. And you were right. God damnit Ramza, why are you ALWAYS RIGHT?" He asked, now blabbing his frustrations away. "I can't make amends..:" he said with a smile.
"Probably." Replied his brother.
"'But you can try', is what you are going to say." Delita guessed, Ramza nodding. "Tsk…" He spat, grabbing onto his wound as he opened a portal.
"Where are you going?" Ramza asked, taking a step on his direction.
"Gonna do what you can't." He was, in fact a man which should be working for the enemy, so Ramza understood what he meant, but he still wanted to help him.
"Delita… catch!" Without sparing a look, Delita raised his hand grabbed said object thrown against him, turning out to be an Elixir. "Until we meet again!"
"Aye." Delita nodded, disappearing into the Rift.
"Ramza." Aya called.
"Let's go Aya… we have won the day!" He exclaimed happily, the duo making their way out of the city with one less worry.
The same could not be said for the ones falling deep into the Great Crystal, of all of them, the only one who managed to keep his consciousness was Shin, albeit only partially.
"Hey lizard… give me wings…" He asked of him, barely conscious.
"And what are you going to do with them?" Shinryu asked, pointing out that Zodiark was way of his league by now.
"Can't YOU beat Zodiark?" Shin asked, trying to prod him into doing what he wanted.
"I know what you want boy, but your body can't produce enough energy for that…" He replied, knowing just what he was going for.
"Aren't crystals energy in solid form?" He asked, suddenly realizing something.
"They are, but what do you… Think it's worth a shot? I can't guarantee your safety." He warned, but he knew the answer.
"Let's go!" Shin exclaimed.
"Okay, I'll poor everything this body can handle!" Shinryu exclaimed, feeling alive for the first time in millennia. The crystal's began disappearing as the melted into energy and entered Shin's body. Shin closed his eyes, his body exploding in a flash of light. When it subsided, Shin found himself flying with his wings out. Under closer inspection he noticed his hair had become red like Shinryu and looking at a nearby crystal he saw his eye was now golden with serpentine style. His clothes changed to what Shinryu suggested in the first place, he truly wanted to have his way.
"Apart from the clothes… this was a really good job." He told himself, surprised to see his voice echo like it was two.
"I'm here too." His own mouth told him as the dragon played with him.
"Body's mine, use my head!" He shouted, annoyed.
"Okay, you swing the sword, I guide it!" Shinryu exclaimed with Shin's mouth. "But first... Teleport!" He cast, sending the companions to the outskirts of the city. "Now, let's go!"
"What is that?" Squall wondered as he saw the wings from the distance, the behemoth known as Zodiark was blocking out the sun with only its presence, fitting for his motif of the eclipse.
"Shin…" Terra whispered.
"Like hell they are gonna lose." Crono reassured, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You should accept that thing though."
"What thing?" She wondered, sincerely oblivious.
"You're just like I was, aren't you?" He joked, leaving Terra confused.
"That light that stopped in front of it, what is…"
"Shinryu!" Terra shouted, being the most attuned to magic she recognized the signature of energy.
"Impossible, the dragon's gone!" Cloud barked.
"I can't put it into words… but it's Shin… and Shinryu…"
They looked on confused.
"Okay, what do we do?" Shin asked.
"IF I'm right, this sword can seal it by hitting the main body, it's simple, let's go!"He told him, urging to fly onward. He did, dodging the first barrage on Banishing Rays Zodiark sent to him. In a grunt of displeasure, Zodiark used one of his blazing wings to try and destroy him, but Shin cut through easily with the Sword of Seals. He did notice however, that even without Spellblade, the sword flared up and shot flames that went on to cut through another wing. The creature shrieked in pain and Shin smiled in pleasure.
"Let's try this… the heavens cry, CHAOTIC DELLUGE!" He exclaimed with all his might, shooting the concentrated power forward with, being engulfed with the flames from his sword. Zodiark could barely react, protecting himself with two wings, forfeiting them in the process. "Not done yet!" He felt like he had the power to do something normally completely crazy. "Spellblade: Thundaja!" He cried, flames and thunder annihilating four wings from the right, leaving only four wings on Zodiark, one on the bottom, the middle ones and one on the top. Yes, Shinryu's power was enough for him to go to the fourth level easily. "And now for the main event! Sleep!" He shouted, using a block of ice he created under himself to propel him into the flaying creature.
"Not so fast!" Shinryu told him, but he had already walked into a Darkja, not hurting him all too much, which surprised him actually. He looked at his sword and clothes and they were both shinning brilliantly. He knew about the clothes but…
"What the heck IS this thing?" He took a better look at it. Normally this would be too small for is tastes, but it was just right now. It was the length of a normal sword but, the hilt was exquisitely decorated as it was composed by two golden wings with a red jewel in the middle and two blue markings on the top of each wing, the handle was golden aswell but it had a thin line of green in the middle and another ruby on the bottom. The hilt then gave way to a somewhat slim blade, not a rapier's, but not a longsword's either. It had no really special decoration like the hilt, it was just a silver blade with a golden line traversing through the middle of the blade.
"I don't believe that actually matters now! Finish that thing off or I'll do it myself!" Shinryu urged.
"Fine geez… let's go… The heavens cry, Chaotic Deluge!" He chanted yet again, Zodiark, taking the full brunt of the blast due to his lack of wings, the beast then began crashing downwards into the Feywood, but instead destroying a shaft of the Henne Mines instead. "The earth screams, Savage Roar!" He roared himself, the earth trembling before splitting open due to the massive sound waves. This would be truly remarkable for a dragon, but for Shin, he felt a bit silly doing it, and I do not blame him. But onwards we go, the beast itself, while hurt by the attack, still managed to fire back, beams that Shin easily dodged, but in doing so it let the beast recompose itself. And it was not going to be a pretty sight.
The screech it gave filled with pure unbridled rage was one that Bahamut woke up to, and it came with bad tidings.
"They do not know what they made the boy unleash upon the world." He lamented, twelve renewed wings sprawling from the earth.
"Well, I did." A voice told Him from behind. With a sudden turn he almost froze as he saw Lezard standing on his side, adjusting his glasses to conceal his maddened gaze. "But let's face it. Those fools cannot see any bad consequence of their decisions, they truly believe everything will go as planned and never think of what could happen if they do not… but the way this turned out is… amusing. Shinryu awakened fully… nay, it grew even above that."
"How would you know that?" Bahamut asked.
"Oh, come now Bahamut, you have seen Shinryu before, haven't you?" He asked rhetorically.
"And how would you have knowledge of that?" The dragon asked. Was Lezard truly here for a talk or was he being played into an ambush? He would not know, nor could he avoid it, this wasn't a homunculus, this was a true God, not by title like Him, but by power.
"I have… friends in dark places." He cackled, but regaining his composure.
"You… you cannot be mean…" Bahamut quivered at the very thought he was talking about who He think he was.
"Maybe, but why don't we have a seat? Fighting is pointless, let's just see… if the world ends…" Lezard said, creating a chair for both of them. Bahamut just looked onward and saw Zodiark arise.
"No…" He gasped, closing His and trying to reach Shinryu.
"Listen to me!" Bahamut cried in their head.
"Two dragons in my head?" Shin joked, but he soon lost the will to.
"Be serious Shin! Do you have any idea why Zodiark had to be contained?"Bahamut blared, silence answering him. "He can BREAK reality! That's right, same as Omega, and it's going to do that NOW!"For Bahamut to lose His calm, even Shin understood, this was past serious.
"We have to seal it… now. Grab onto the wings!" Shinryu ordered. Shin barely had time to think as he saw Zodiark fly by, only managing to grab his bottom wing by sheer luck. "Hold on!" Shinryu warned, Zodiark speeding so fast even they couldn't see where they were going.
"Lord Larsa, watch the skies!" Gabranth urged, the young man and, well myself, looking upwards to see the being rise up into the skies, ever growing to the point that the wings themselves seem to cover the planet.
"What IS that?" Larsa gasped, the sun darkening.
"Big Sis… what is that?" Sara asked Katarin as she pointed to the sky, the wings of the snake spreading as far as their planet.
"I don't know… but Mama will make it go away!" She assured, even if she was shaking in anticipation, even more so when the sun was completely blocked off.
"I can't belive we can't do anything about this!" Cloud blared, slamming his fist against the wall.
"We just have to believe in him…" Terra assured. "We all had to do the impossible once."
"Damnit, where are… is this space?" Shin bellowed, or tried to, he couldn't even ear himself talk, there was no air in space after all. He was indeed in the vast sea of stars that was space as the Esper flew into nothingness, with him grabbed a mere fifty meters from his core. If he was at the edge though, the wings would take days to cross, they were almost the length of a planet now.
"That puts us on a time limit… gravity!" Shinryu silently chanted, giving Shin the possibility to stand on one of the wings. "Go before you die without the oxygen!" He urged.
"Okay!" He agreed, begging to run to the snake. It hollered and let loose more beams, trying to delay him until it could charge up for the blast. "Oh no you don't!" Without breaking the pace and summoning the Apocalypse, Shin used both swords to deflect any ray on his direction until he was a few meters from the center still... "Is space-time breaking?" He wondered, cracks in space appearing in front of him, he skillfully dodged them and was nearly face to face with the serpent itself, he knew he was out of time. "Now, not so though up close, are ya?"He mused, jumping in a broad arc, both swords hitting a shield. "Well played."The shield was small and only encompassed the serpent, hut it was enough. The cracks became bigger and Zodiark screeched, intent of ending it all.
"The Final Eclipse is nigh…" Bahamut commented, defeated.
"Is it now?" Lezard asked, stepping off his chair.
"Are you… trusting Shin?" That got a rare hearty laugh out of Lezard, not a crazed one, but almost a normal one.
"Trust? It would only be called that… if I didn't know the outcome." He explained, vanishing.
"Let us hope you are right…" Bahamut didn't want to say that, but it was true. "Surprise me boy."
"Well, what now?" Shin asked his former self.
"The sword… look at it." He told him. As he did e noticed it was shining but what's more… sparks were coming from it. In space, without air. "We're running out of air, what do you say, one slash, all in?"
"Sounds like a plan!" Shin agreed, raising his sword in an arc above his head, pointing upwards as it erupted in sacred flames, do not ask me how that is possible. He smiled and arced it back with one arm, quickly roaring deafly and jumping once more into the creature, which tried to end it before Shin could do anything. As it hit the shield Shin used both hands, roaring yet again "BREAAAAAAAAAK!" He could even swear he heard himself without the air. The sword finally produced a satisfying crack feeling on his hands as it broke. "Go back to sleep!" He ordered, cutting into the snake with the swords just as all the light needed was being absorbed to him, the world was this close to going dark. In a powerful shockwave, all light returned to normal in the world, the wings returned to their feathered self and normal size, no longer obstructing the sun. The sword did not wound the serpent strangely, it just passed into it like a ghost. Still, it cried in pain as the wings vanished and it slowly returned to its fully sealed self, turning into its constellation and plummeting into the planet, probably to Vaan's hand.
"Mama did it!" Sara exclaimed as she jumped up and down.
"Maybe she did…" Katarin replied with a smile, cradling Leo happily.
"Whatever that was, we're safe now, let us go to Giruvegan." Larsa urged before seeing an unknown airship arrive at Rabanastre. "Hold that thought…"
"Well, she was right, here's five thousand." Locke gave Laguna.
"He did it…" Terra said.
"Oh brother…" Celes told herself, taking a palm to her face because of her friend's reaction. "You can only get SO dense…"
Back in space:
"Well, that's a nice story to tell Terra." Shin mused.
"Yes, now, let's go back, they probably want you back." Shinryu told him.
"They want US back." Shin corrected. The possibly touching moment was interrupted when suddenly.
"SPAAAAACE!" A round robot exclaimed as it rolled by them.
"Humans? Please take me with you, my name is Wheatley!" Another robot with a strong british accentbegged, completely estranging Shin.
"Let's go…" He told Shinryu, casting teleport.
"WAIT! I WAS IN PORTAL TWO!" But they were gone. "Oh brother..."
Now, I can say this was an enjoyable experience, I tried my best to sound like your former narrator, I hope I succeeded. I hope to work here in the future, so, until next time... Farewell.
Next Chapter:
"You cannot trust me…"
"Orlandeu, you cannot do this by yourself."
"Diablos, just give it up."
Post-Chapter Note: That was amazing Shin!
I know right Terra? I'll just use this every time I get in trouble and bam!
As a matter of fact, you won't.
You're back, Herald?
Yup, you can go rest. Also Shin, you're not going to jump to overpowered one-man army, stop dreaming.
Fine…
Well then:
True Post-Chapter Note: I'm back, and I wanted to update earlier, but I actually broke my left foot, so yeah, had to put it up later. Good news is, somehow that "little thing" gave me inspiration. Yes, I'm going to go completely crazy here and make a third story, and yes it's already halfway done for the first chapter. Expect it tomorrow. It's Kingdom Hearts and who doesn't love Kingdom Hearts? If you don't… I'll look for you… I WILL find you… and I Will… lock you in a room with Vannile, Yuffie, Rikku and Ventus. Consider yourself warned. Other than that, if you're reading this on Tuesday or beyond, check out the profile to see if it's uploaded!
Cheerio!
