Author's Note: Wow, I'm finally writing this. Basically just what it says in the summary. If you want to read the outline of the AU in full, here's a link ( post/634979690149543936/110-so-at-the-end-of-the-first-game-when). Just be warned that it will spoil the fic completely. Hopefully, I'll be quicker writing and updating this fic since I have a written outline for it. Title of the fic is taken from This Ain't No Hymn by Saint Saviour. Title of the first chapter is taken from The Wolf Song by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. Also, most of the first half of the first chapter's dialogue is taken mostly verbatim from the game, just so y'all know. Hope y'all enjoy! WARNING: This chapter contains graphic blood, gore, and violence.
"...There is much you have forgotten. It has been 500 years since we last met. If your memories were still intact, this would have been a much more emotional reconciliation."
Oh, it's emotional enough, you fucking bastard. Bayonetta didn't know how to feel. The only emotion running through her was anger. Anger at all the suffering she and everyone else had had to go through to lead to this. Jeanne's death, even if she had been an enemy, had been hard to witness as a fellow witch. There was also anger at the man before her holding little Cereza. Balder was obviously up to no good, and there was no telling what his plans were with either of them.
"How did you get the girl?" She managed, through gritted teeth.
If Balder noticed her anger, he did not acknowledge it. Only stood, and continued to speak, still holding Cereza in his arms. She seemed to be asleep.
"We, the Lumen Sages, and your Umbra Witches, have long been the overseers of history, each bearing witness with their own Eye. This is how our universe's existence was preserved. However, for 500 years, you have been exiled from the world's affairs. You are the Left Eye of the Eyes of the World."
Bayonetta took a few steps forward and growled out "Could you dispense with the riddles and just tell me what these sodding Eyes actually are?!"
The Lumen Sage seemed amused. "Your years of slumber have caused you to forget many things, even as we stand on the verge of the resurrection of the Creator...The resurrection of Jubileus. There is but one way to return your epoch of forgotten memories and open your Eye of the overseer. Your uncorrupted Eye had to be exposed to the history it could not see."
As he spoke, he took a flower from the small tree on his desk, caused it to bloom, and stuck it behind Cereza's ear as she slept on.
"Your battles...Your struggles...Everything you've experienced in this town has been a stepping stone for your enlightenment. It has all been done for the Left Eye."
The dark-haired witch felt her temper getting the best of her. She pointed her gun at Balder. "I've had enough of your philosophical pretensions. I won't ask again. Where did you get the girl?"
Balder merely raised a hand in surrender to her questioning. "Your question has been answered. All this has been done to awaken the Left Eye. For that you had to see yourself once more."
Bayonetta's eyes widened and she lowered her gun, as she realized what it was that he was telling her. Cereza is me from the past. "You are truly beyond salvation, Sage", she said coldly.
"Ahh, 'salvation'. Such a curious word. I marked the path to salvation with light. However, no matter how brilliant that light grows, the darkness within the human heart grows even darker. Light, Dark, and Chaos between...Three realities once split shall be brought together to create a new universe in the image of the old. To these ends, leading up to the Festival of Resurrection, 500 years ago. I fanned the flames of terror, spurring on the witch hunts. However, despite the people's belief in the return of Jubileus, the Creator, the Left Eye was out of reach. Since then, I have devoted myself to this town's prosperity, and now it is time for my preparations to bear fruit. Jublieus will be resurrected, we will become the Eyes of the World, and a new universe will take hold!"
Bayonetta was suddenly filled with grief on top of her rage, as a memory returned to her. She was holding her mother's body, as the people of Vigrid raged beyond the gates.
"I could never call the man behind this nightmare 'father'!" She cried, lunging forward and transforming into her panther form.
Looking back, she would never know if it was from sheer surprise or from something else that Balder never fought back when she killed him. He only dropped Cereza, so she would avoid the attack, and let the panther that was his daughter maul him to death.
All Bayonetta knew was that when she finally released his throat from her jaws, and removed her claws from his flesh, he was unrecognizable. His throat was torn out, one of his eyes was missing, and both his clothing and the floor around them were soaked with blood. She panted, red liquid spilling out of her mouth, and retracted her claws. It was done.
"Mummy?" Came the quiet whimper from a few yards away.
No. The dark-haired witch quickly shifted back into her human form.
"What happened to Daddy?!" Cereza shrieked out, tears running down her face.
Bayonetta had no idea what she could do, other than magic away the corpse, magic Cereza to sleep, and leave. She couldn't take the girl with her. But she couldn't leave her alone either. All she could do was run.
As soon as she was out of the building, she shot a quick text to Luka, telling him to take Cereza away from there. With that done, she tossed her phone to the ground and crushed it beneath her heel, walking off into the night.
Luka was running as fast as he could. Bayonetta's text simply reading 'get cereza. top room of ithavoll tower' had him concerned, to put it mildly. Just as he opened the door to the room in question, he stopped.
On the floor, holding a sleeping Cereza, was an unfamiliar woman, with short silver hair. She was wearing red, and appeared to have a crow's feather tucked into a cowlick of hair. She was humming quietly to the sleeping girl in her arms.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Luka said, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the sleeping child.
The woman looked up, a sad smile on her face. "I'm sorry I was never able to introduce myself to you properly before. My name is Jeanne. I'm a...Friend of Bayonetta's. From a long time ago. Even though I haven't seemed like it lately, I'm sure."
"I'm Luka. I just got a text from her to come here and get little Cerezita. Although, I'm not really sure what I'm meant to do with a magical child after that. You sure you're not gonna try to kill us again?" he chuckled.
Jeanne stood and moved toward him, depositing Cereza into his arms. "No. I have a lot to explain to Bayonetta. But first, we need to take care of the little one."
"Maybe you could explain a thing or two to me first? After all, you did try to murder me," he grumbled.
"Of course. In short, Cereza is Bayonetta from the past. We grew up together. We were friends...and more. But something happened with her father, a Lumen Sage called Balder. He was kind up until he wasn't. And once he wasn't, he decided he wanted an end to the Umbra Witches. I managed to save Cereza, but not her mother. I sealed her away for 500 years, to protect her from Balder. Meanwhile, he only kept me alive and under magic mind-control in the hopes that I would eventually reveal where Cereza was. I never did, but once she awoke, I didn't have to. It looks like she confronted Balder, and killed him. There was a lot of blood when I got here, and no sign of either of them."
Sadness filled the silver-haired witch's eyes as she spoke, and Luka realized that he believed her.
"Ok. So what do we do now?"
"Well, we have to send Cereza back to her time first. After that, we should probably look for Bayonetta. I have so much to say to her, now that I can," Jeanne said.
As Luka and Jeanne entered Cereza's time, through the portal Jeanne had conjured, they set the little girl in her bed and tucked her in.
"Mummy?" Came the little girl's sleepy voice. "I had a nightmare."
"It's ok now, little one." Jeanne said soothingly.
"You're not Mummy. Who are you?" Cereza said.
"I'm a friend. Now go back to sleep. Little girls need their rest to grow up. You're a strong little one. There is nothing you cannot do. Now close your eyes."
The little girl did just that. Jeanne turned to Luka and motioned toward the portal. His heart warmed at the witch's words to the child, he stepped through it, the witch in question not far behind.
As soon as they were out of the portal and back in their own time, standing still in Ithavoll Tower, the witch turned to the man, a fierce look in her gray eyes.
"Now, let's find Cereza."
Author's Note: Don't worry about Cereza. She only remembers a little of what happened, and what she does remember, she thinks was just a nightmare. So she's good.