Fatal Results
Falco raised the sword in front of him, ready to block the next attack. "Release your control from Krystal, Elise." He gripped onto the sword tightly to maintain consciousness. Krystal ran up to Falco and slash her staff onto him. Falco blocked the incoming attack with the blade and pushed it back against Krystal. He looked over to Asura, she had already passed out with nothing to support her. Falco knew they were both in danger since Falco never fought with a sword. He ran over to Asura to try to help, but Krystal sent a fire blast in his direction. Falco quickly dodged the attack, and it almost hit the unconscious Asura. "Damn it," Falco thought to himself. He wasn't going to get anywhere with Elise controlling Krystal, but what could he do?
You seem trustworthy to my master, you must be a friend of my master, correct?
Falco looked at the sword as it spoke to him internally. "Whoa, I didn't know Asura's sword could speak."
Why of course, silly, I am one with my master. She was the one who created me with her body. I'm surprised she never told you guys about me.
"Well, she never mentions anything about her weapons, since she already broke at least another previously," Falco replied. Krystal used his distraction and attacked Falco. The mysterious sword jumped out of Falco's hand and created an invisible barrier. Stay focused, we are not done yet. I keep you shielded, now protect master and I'll forever be in your debt. Falco listened to the sword, which he thought was kind of crazy talking to an object. He grabbed Asura and made sure her breathing was still stable. Her air flow was normal, but she was not awakening from anything. "What now?" Falco asked.
If we are going to save your friends, we need to find a way to break the spells they are affected by. Remember the book Asura allowed you to read? It should still be inside your pockets if I am right. Falco searched thoroughly through all of his pockets and found the small spellbook Asura had lent to him. "The spell we are looking for is called what?"
There are multiple names of the spell but we are looking for the strongest one inside. It helps with anyone inflicted by a possession spell. It should be called, Dispel. Falco quickly flipped through many pages to reach the desired spell. Possessed Krystal was still attacking the barrier and attempted to break it. Falco finally found the spell and quickly read how to use it. "We need to pin her down."
I am ready when you are, Falco.
The shield lowered and Falco sidestepped out of Krystal's attack. He repositioned his legs and tackled Krystal onto the ground. Falco grabbed both of Krystal's arms and pinned them against the ground. "Lock," he chanted and mysterious her arms were bound to the ground. Falco picked up the book again and read the spell, Dispel. It cleanses all negative effects on the user and instantly restores them. "Wow, that is pretty good."
Quickly, Falco, we haven't gotten much time.
"Right, sorry." He apologized and Falco put his hands in front of himself and gathered energy for his cast. "Alright, here goes nothing." The energy ball he created formed and he injected into Krystal's body. She started to scream in pain as dark water began to flow out her body. "It's working!"
Good, this is supposed to happen, though it does hurt a lot and she will be healed thankfully.
The last bit of dark water exited her body and her body glowed green with restoration part of the spell. "It worked," Falco exclaimed. He went over to check on Krystal to see if the effects all disappeared. He nudged on her cheeks, pinching them and hoping she would wake up. They saw her eyes slowly opening until she finally saw them in front of her. "H-hey, Falco? What is going on?" she said confusedly.
"Long story, I'll explain later." Falco hurried up and carried Asura on his back. His actions to Krystal told them that they were currently in some sort of danger and they needed to leave. The barriers suddenly died down and they passed onward beyond the hallway. "Where is Fox? I was told you could detect his position somewhere in this area, Krystal." Falco shouted.
Krystal acknowledged Falco and tapped deep into her mind. She carefully concentrated deeply into her thoughts to find a trace or any presence of another mind within this strange world. There were at least four active life forms nearby, and at least two of them were Falco and Asura since they were close by. However, there was one lifeform that was fading in and out of her telepathy. Could it be that one form is Fox who was potentially far away or somewhere else? She tried to follow the link but it kept getting further and further away. Her link became solid but cut off almost instantly the moment she was about to reach it.
She fell back in head aching pain from her failed connection. Krystal started to groan as the pain inflicted a mental instability on her. Her telepathy knocked her unconscious as there were now two people Falco had to deal with. Falco rushes over to Krystal who had just fainted with her eyes wide open but not responsive. "Krystal?!" Falco smacked his lips in annoyed by this world. He could not carry either of them at the same time. There was no choice but to leave behind one of them or all three of them would die.
In a spiral of dark water, Elise appeared behind Falco and whispered into his ears. "It's a shame that you can't do anything useful to help them out." Falco turned around and jumped back from where he stood and looked at Elise. Her body was malformed by the power she had consumed through greed and envy. Scars were covering her body and face. "Thanks for leading me to your friends. I'll take care of this right now." She projected a mere image of Asura's sword in its own body of water. Elise took the sword and pointed the tip at Asura's throat. "Without her, I will become unstoppable." Elise wounded her attack and slashed the sword straight toward her throat.
There was a loud noise that rang because two different forces collided with each other. Falco and Elise had looked away from the collision and heard a voice respond. "There can only be one Elementalist in the world, Elise, I know all about the stories." Falco turned back and saw Grey halting the attack with Krystal's staff. "What's up? It's been a while, Falco."
Falco was amazed to see Grey show up at a perfect time to intercept the attack. The question is, how did he get in unnoticed without picking up the staff physically, Falco thought. Whatever Grey did just only angered Elise beyond her thoughts. "I can't believe a mortal like you dare challenges a goddess."
Grey scoffed, "I love your jokes, but I've been challenged by Asura everyday and she is a way better goddess than you will ever be." He started to taunt against Elise. Attempting to trigger her emotional anxiety. Elise knew his plan and threw a ball of dark water at him. He shielded himself with the barrier from Krystal's staff. "It all began back on Harmony when you first met Asura and Kira." Grey began to narrate the story.
After falling into a deep sleep for many years, they were reborn as dragons to serve once again. It was to regain their strength and their powers back from being lost from their deep slumber. However, the gods were grateful for their purpose serving as guardians for many centries and gave them a gift. They were blessed with power much stronger than their past incarnations. Kira was given the power of the future, able to see distances down the time. Asura turned away the gift she was given, but her interests in music were her greatest passions and they gave her power toward music. They were successful in their roles as guardians, protecting many kings and queens from vast amounts of worlds. Later, they were both trained under the same master who you currently have trapped their soul in this very realm.
They considered you weakest link between all the guardians. Asura told me you were one of the few who could not guard a simple parent but killed them instead. There was jealousy involved in your acts on that day and then something malicious struck your mind. It became your long term plan to carry out over many years. First, by becoming the superior tactician for Harmony, it allowed you to remove any suspicion inflicting you since everyone trusted your plans. It was the optimal choice said by many people.
Kira had told Asura that she felt something strange in the future but could not predict what would happen because it was her first time using it. You knew this and kept this valuable information to yourself. Nobody can master something that they just obtained. I also found out that you were the one who killed our mother. You worshipped beauty like it was a religious practice. You killed her and mimicked her identity and became an impostor of her. Krystal and I were devastated by her death and then our father suicided because he couldn't handle the loss of our mother. He was gone like that, never to be found or any traces left behind. We tried to keep him from doing it, but we found out because of the village leader himself.
Grey took the staff and pointed it at Elise. "I know you accused Kira of killing our mother and that's when the world, Harmony began to fall. You tricked Asura into thinking Kira was the one who killed Sapphire and thus the Elemental War began on Harmony." He began to shed a tear from his sad story. "You don't think people suffer because of the killings you caused?" The sadness filled the environment, causing Elise to feel indifferent.
Elise, however, began to feel regret, and she covered it up with power and ignored it further. Her rage covered the entire world in darkness and began to collapse the world in a destructive tsunami. It began to shake the entire world, and Elise escaped first. Falco and Grey were trapped with Krystal and Asura. "We need to escape while we still can." He quickly grabbed Asura's blade and before he opened up a rift, he asked Falco something important. "Did anyone else come along with you?"
He explained that he was captured and sent here. But he did remember seeing both Faye and Miyu before getting into this area. Grey opened a rift in the world to go back to Corneria. "Take Krystal and Asura and get out quickly. I'll go back for the other two." Grey rushes out of this mysterious place and Falco began. He took both Krystal and Asura out together. Their combined weights were heavy but Falco did not give up. He managed to take both of them out and into the opened rift. They landed inside of the office, the original gateway where Asura first opened up.
There was Peppy looking at them with a concerned face. He was glad they were alright and took a look at them. "Oh my, what happened here?"
"I-I'm not sure, Peppy," Falco was extremely exhausted from that world. He took the time to catch his breath. "Asura was in serious pain back there. It forced her to collapse and she lost somethings on her." He sat them on top of two chairs and checked on their breathing. Krystal was in a normal state while Asura was in an abnormal state. Which was normal knowing that she endured a lot of painful actions.
They were talking about her when she suddenly was able to sit up straight on the chair. She slowly opened her eyes, making the attempt to awaken from her slumber. "W...hap...?" It sounded like she was trying to say, what happened, as Peppy concluded. Falco went to check up on her, he noticed that there was a black mark on her neck. He said to Peppy, "Oh boy, that doesn't look any good, Peppy." It wasn't just any normal black marking like bruises. They noticed it began to pulse with weird energies. It resonated once and she fell over her chair and onto the floor mysteriously. Falco panicked and quickly checked what happened. He checked for her breathing and then her pulse. None of them were active, and she was dying. "Peppy!"
"We got to get her to a hospital, quickly," Peppy exclaimed.
Sometime later...
Peppy and Falco waited for the results from Asura's stay in the emergency room. The doctors inside were having an extremely difficult time figuring out the issue at hand. Periodically, one of them would switch out with doctors from other hospitals and even other planets. Easy enough to say, this one was deadly against her. A few minutes later, one of them finally brings good new that Asura's health has stabilized and is breathing like normal.
As for Krystal, her health was being monitored by Grey as he was the only one capable of keeping her mental state in check. Falco went inside to have a small conversation with him. He opened the door carefully and saw that Grey was reading the screens for stats. "Hey, what's up?"
Grey smiled, "Thanks for coming, I'm glad that you were able to protect my older sister. I fear losing the ones who are dearly closed to me." He touched Krystal's forehead with the back of his hand. "Her temperature is back to normal now. Did you need something?"
Falco pulled up a chair and sat beside Grey. He had a lot of questions to ask, but he didn't want to barge in on anything personal. Grey read his mind and said to ask anything that was concerning. Falco continued, "What happened before you showed up?"
"I was working on something when Fara came back with Slippy in her arms." Grey talked about his status and he was recovering just fine and should not be in any life-threatening situation. "I knew someone must have left opened a rift because it led Fara and Slippy to me. I was at the military base at the time of the incident. Luckily, I was able to help Fara and then went inside."
It explained how Grey arrived, Falco thought. What it didn't explain was how he was able to find himself and stop Elise temporarily. "I understand how you showed up at the right time, but how about intervening Elise?"
"Simple, we Cerinians are capable of mental power. Did Asura not tell you about my issue?" Grey asked.
"N-no, why what happened?" Falco responded.
Grey was kind of shocked. "Oh, well, my mental power went beyond and I can utilize telekinesis. It's what forced me to stop working for Corneria's forces after the power started making me sluggish." What he did was pull in the staff and then blocked off the attack while he was unnoticed. "I was very lucky that Elise has poor hearing. Humans are strange, Falco." Grey expressed.
One of the doctors treating Asura came inside Krystal's room to talk to Falco and Grey. "Your friend is recovering fine, and she wants to speak to you two." Falco went first while Grey said he needed a bit of time with Krystal. Falco acknowledged that and left him with Krystal.
The avian walked inside Asura's room and saw her eyes make contact with his. Asura was hooked up to an oxygen mask and tank due to her trouble breathing. "F... co... Fal... co."
He pulled up another chair and sat right next to her bed. "I'm here, don't you worry now, Asura." Falco gave a slight grin. Falco could tell she wanted to talk, but her voice was very weak to say much. He waited patiently for her to finish speaking, though she did repeat some words multiple times. Her words were very broken up and Falco had to interpret every word separately. It wasn't working at all since she didn't even say more than four words. Luckily, Grey had entered and Falco sparked an idea in his mind. "Yo, Grey, can you read Asura's mind for me. It's very hard to understand her when her voice is breaking apart." Sheesh, how did the doctor understand her?
"S-sure thing," Grey replied. He read everything in realtime. "I'm glad that you were able to make it out alive with both Slippy and Krystal." Grey covered his mouth and suddenly stopped talking when he heard his voice sounded like Asura's. "I d-don't know why I am saying it like that." He breathed in and continued, "I've been having these weird thoughts lately, the thought of being an utter failure. I wanted to beat Elise once and for all in her realm, but I failed and could not do it. Please don't think of me differently, after all the times we have been through."
Falco placed his hand on Asura's shoulder, "Nonsense, if it weren't for you, Krystal, Slippy and myself would not be here." His words positively touched Asura's mind and she felt a bit happier. "Thank you, again, Asura," Falco told her to continue to rest while he went to talk with Peppy and Grey outside their rooms. "What about Fox? We haven't seen any traces of him inside that realm. However, if the realm did collapse as you said, Fox would have to have escaped somewhere."
It was strange to Grey because he knew that Krystal's telepathy was much stronger than his own. "What was the issue with Krystal? She must have been able to detect any presence inside that mysterious place. That includes Elise and anything much further away."
Peppy began to question what Falco remembers inside. "Recall everything you know before the downfall of your teammates, Falco."
"I don't know anything about Slippy, but I remember seeing Krystal after I was running away from some weird creatures," Falco explained furthermore about Asura and the other three's appearances: Fara, Faye, and Miyu. He remembers being very relieved for their arrival and stated to have seen Krystal inside someplace unknown to him. Then they were trapped, Asura had fainted and Krystal was possessed. There was a lot more to explain he said, but Grey interrupted to ask one important question. It was about Krystal and what her actions were when she was not possessed. Falco answered, "I asked her to find Fox, but she later screamed and then lost consciousness."
Grey thought about it to himself, and then came up with an answer to the issue. "Krystal must have used too much energy on her mental state. If that's not it, she must have been terminated from whatever was also on that wavelength." Grey says that any mental state that is more powerful than your own can disable the link and even have an impact on the brain. "It's highly dangerous, so we only do it between ourselves and non-telepathic folk since the risk is minimal. There must have been something that cut her off and knocked her out." That was his final answer to how Krystal ended up like this. "We know for sure that you, Slippy and Fox are not telepathic. That includes Peppy, Asura and the other members."
An idea sparked into Peppy's head. "Could it be the one you guys were facing? Elise probably has something that can interrupt telepathic links." It began to speculate that Elise potentially has telepathy but unsure if she was the one on the connection.
"Only one way to find out, when Krystal wakes up," Grey crossed his arms. "If we are lucky, she probably remembers what she saw on that link she had endured." And so they waited for her awakening to see if they find a solution to their problems.
Where the Fox went
"So, how do you like it here? I made it special for myself, Wolf." Elise appeared behind him in the room they were in. "We got one of their members and he will work for us. What a pleasure, he would be for us, Fox." She was amazed at her power, being able to mimic all the dark abilities known by Kira and Elise herself.
Wolf scoffed, "It doesn't matter to me, we wish to be paid handsomely and nothing else." He looked straight into Fox's eyes, and he was soulless inside. Wolf didn't feel any empathy for him, just that he wanted to see Fox. "Poor pup, he could not handle anything without that dragon on his side. I bet he is wishing she were here right now or that other girl, whatever the hell her name is." Wolf turned around and left the room with Elise watching over Fox. She touched his chin and gazed inside of him. He was a precious test subject and was under her command.
"There is nothing left for you, they don't care about you at all. Not even Krystal, she doesn't even want you anymore." Elise laughed and commanded Fox to follow and listen to her conversation. He was nothing but an empty vessel waiting to be freed. "You will kill your friends, even the one you loved, Krystal. She doesn't deserve someone like you because. She betrayed you in the end and lied about herself to you. Krystal was the one who brought you to this situation, she wanted to kill you." Elise gave him a gun and it was loaded with special bullets. She explained that they capture someone's soul and imprisons them for eternity once they were touched. Fox grabbed the gun and gave the chamber a spin. He was, happy, happy that the gun was something this devastating and powerful. "Now, go find them and take them to the horrifying world."
Fox bowed down to Elise, "Yes, mi'lady. I will not fail you." Elise opened a portal to Corneria and Fox entered inside.
Wolf heard from behind the doors. "I'm surprised, he is under her control. So these kinds of powers do exist inside of people. Good to know."
Corneria
Falco watched Asura, while Grey watched Krystal. Falco started to recall the events that led up to now. They were once training, and then they encountered Elise very early. Then they were taken away into another world and now they are back here without Fox. "Man, today has been such a long day, Asura. You are a life-saver."
His voice suddenly woke Asura from her slumber, "H-hey..." she paused for a moment. Asura covered her ears with her hands. "Ah, that was sort of loud, um, where are we?" Her eyes were slowly starting to open up until she saw the light from the ceiling.
"We are at the hospital, Asura," Falco explained. He said that she went into a non-breathing state and had to be checked on. "You are fine now, but I am not sure about later."
Asura wanted to know about the status of the other members. That included Fara, Faye, Miyu, and Peppy. "Did everyone make it out?" her voice sounded strain, but still decent enough to understand something out of her.
Falco sat back in his chair and talked. "Fara left with Slippy once we got him back. You saved me along with Faye and Miyu. I saved Krystal because of your talking sword and Grey got us out of that world." Falco said that Elise forced it to collapse after an issue with Grey's words. She was angry at him and wanted to kill everything inside. "We didn't find Fox because Krystal was knocked unconscious by her telepathy."
"Damn," she mumbled. She started to move her legs to see if anything happened. "I don't feel my legs, are they still there, Falco?"
He went to go check, and slightly lifted the blanket. "Yup, they are still there. Can you not feel them at all?" he replied.
Asura shook her head. "Not at all, I guess they are numb from something or my nerves in that area are damaged. Did the doctors tell you anything?"
Falco answered, "They were damaged, but at the least, they are still usable but require some time to heal before using them again. Otherwise, you won't be able to walk again." Falco showed her something from the doctors. They were metal leggings used to support the legs during their healing process. It allowed the wearer to continue to walk with supports as it continued to heal.
She declined the use of metal supports. "I can just f-" she stopped mid-sentence. "W-what happened to me back in that realm?" Asura looked up into her hands. There was a major change to her power and body as she felt inside. She sat up while not breaking contact with her hands. "Falco... tell me what happened to my body. What do you remember?" The stress she was creating was beginning to raise her heart rate much higher and faster than usual. She was afraid that something happened to her. "Falco?!"
The avian knew almost everything that happened to Asura but he was afraid to tell her. She continued to ask Falco constantly wondering about what she did in that realm. She started to wonder if everything just a dream because Asura does not recall anything. "Falco?! Tell me what you know!"
"Uh," Falco felt afraid to tell her because of her expressions getting out of control. "First, calm down. I can't speak with you shouting panicking words to me."
The dragon began to calm herself down and apologized for her reckless behavior. "O-okay, forgive me. Please tell me what happened."
He started with how her arrival, she had broken her wings to prevent major damage to Falco. Then he continued and said they approached a strange area that was oddly familiar but that was when Asura began to break down. "You could not keep up anymore and your legs somehow vanished and you were crawling. I was very surprised when that happened." He stopped there because that was all he could remember from those times.
"Oh, that was... quite shameful of me," Asura asked for the metal leggings and she applied them on herself. "It will take a while to get used to these. I wonder how they work." Immediately, the supports began to work as she was standing perfectly fine. Her walking speed was the same as if she did not have them. She did light jumps and then larger jumps. "I'll be alright, where is everyone else?"
"Krystal and Grey are in the next room. Peppy is outside and Slippy is with Fara fixing up something on the Great Fox along with Faye and Miyu." Falco answered. Asura made her way to Krystal's room with Falco. She wanted to check up on her status.
The two open the doors and they saw an unconscious Grey's back against the wall. "Grey?" Asura called. When she looked at the perpetrator holding a gun next to Krystal's head, her face was shocked. The person there was Fox and he wasn't looking any sort of happy. Krystal was still unresponsive at the moment. "Fox? What the hell are you doing?" He did not reply, but he changed the gun's target to Asura and Falco and fired immediately. Asura pulled down Falco to the floor as they both dodged the shot.
He fired the gun again at Asura as she rolled away from the blast. "Fox?! What are you doing? It's us!" He didn't care for any word she was trying to say. Asura tried to materialize her weapon, but nothing was happening. It didn't appear in her hands as she became more vulnerable without it. She tried other means to call in any weapon, Kira's scythe, James' blaster, but a shattered rapier she had a while back with a broken blade. "It's not much, but the hilt part of the blade should still suffice to knock him out." She ordered Falco to leave the room to prevent further casualties.
"A broken weapon, that suits your broken body." Fox taunted. He fired away multiple shots and Asura proceeded to dodge all of them with the limited space she had. Fox reloaded quickly and will immediately fire. That's when Asura took the time to attack with the small window she had. She had reached in front of Fox and smacked his head with the sword's grip. It was enough to knock him out and prevent further damage and destruction to anything present. Asura went to Falco and asked for any bindings or rope to restrain Fox. When he wondered why and Asura answered that he will still be under some strange trance and will be difficult to revert. "I've noticed that something is brainwashing his mind. I saw it through my own eyes, nothing mortals can see. He wants to kill Krystal, but we need to see what happens next." Falco had listened to Asura since she was usually correct most of the time. "Normally, people who are brainwashed tell something about before, if they remember."
They took him away and placed him inside a mental institution where they watched his behavior for any changes. Fox was restrained by the arm bindings around him so that he could not harm anyone who entered the room. The psychiatrists told them to be cautious of being close to him. Even though he was bound, it still didn't mean that he would not attack them. Asura approached, followed by Falco as they went to check up on their friend. "You doing okay there, Fox?"
He responded quite calmly, "Yeah, I am alright, but why am I tied up in their arm bindings?"
Falco quickly gave a response, "You were brainwashed by Elise's control and wanted to kill everyone." Asura felt a bit relieved when Falco had said that because she was too scared to say so herself. Falco continued to ask questions, "So, do you remember anything earlier? You know, before we were taken away by Elise?"
Not that he could not remember, but he did have something to say. It wasn't a normal conversation, however, "Where the hell is Krystal?! She's a damn traitor, you need to kill her right away," he shouted. Fox was shaking violently on the chair but the binds stopped him from escaping. "You don't understand what you are getting into, she will end all of us, Elise said so!"
Asura expected this would happen and felt guilty for Fox's brainwashed behavior. She tried one of her songs, but that didn't seem to affect his thoughts. The song's music did not affect Fox since he had his thoughts trained on killing Krystal. Him thinking about only Krystal made him zone out Asura and Falco's noises as if they did not exist. There was nothing she could do about it, not even songs would affect his mind. "I'm afraid he is gonna be stuck like this for an unknown while, Falco." Asura bowed down to Fox and apologized for her failures. Falco patted her back to comfort her a bit. He knew she has been through a rough time ever since Elise had affected them all. The noise of Fox struggling was getting louder as they left the room and shut the doors. "I'm going to console with Grey about what happened. If you need me, don't hesitate to call, Falco and thanks for being a good friend."
Falco gave back a warm smile. "That's alright, it's only good if friends support each other. There will be a good ending to this situation, I promise you."
Asura knew that he was correct no matter what. Anything was correct when you put your heart into it. She hugged him before leaving, "Thank you again, and tell Katt I said hi."
"No problem," he replied. They parted ways to finish whatever they needed to do. Falco went back to see Katt once again, Asura went with Grey to monitor Krystal's health. Fox was left alone, with nothing inside the room but the bindings on him. "I will have my revenge, she will be the one who dies to me. Anything for Master Elise, I will kill them all." He began laughing manically until he calmed down. Finally, nobody was monitoring Fox as Elise appeared from a rift. "You stupid animal, how could you let them take you like this." Elise broke the chains and removed the arm bindings while proceeding to slap Fox's face. "Think of this as your punishment, next time it won't be this soft." Elise walked back into her rift and Fox escaped the enclosed room.