On the fourth day into Rosa's recovery, Warrior prepared a trade mission in an attempt to instill an air of normalcy. When Rosa returned injured, he cancelled their mission schedule to allow everyone a brief rest. He understood now that it only afforded them nothing to do but stare at Cecil and Rosa and wait. Morale and energy had taken a large hit, and he knew they needed a distraction.
He waited until after Cosmos completed Rosa's daily healing so that they would know her efforts would be maintained, then he organized the small trade mission. As a courtesy, he disqualified Kain, Yuna, Lightning, Bartz, and Cecil (who would't have left her side for Chaos himself). He instead chose Squall, Tifa, Vaan, Zidane, Terra, Tidus, and the Onion Knight to take the items and Gil they had set aside days ago for buying and trading.
"We first need Items to replenish the stock," he told them when he had them all assembled. "Elixirs, Ethers, and Potions mostly. Buy as many as you can, and use the rest of the items and Gil to barter for some summonstone contracts. I'm planning for extra security around Sanctuary."
"I've got a couple summonstones," Tifa immediately offered. "I've got Titan, and Shiva. I've been saving Shiva, but I think she could really be used for this situation if we need her."
"Yeah, and I've got the Iron Giant," the Onion Knight said.
"A Moogle, a Chocobo, Ramuh, and Bahamut for me," Terra said.
"What?! How'd you get Bahamut?" Vaan asked, and Terra brushed a piece of hair behind her ear.
"I found him," she said simply, "and asked him if he'd aid me. He said yes."
"You've always had a way with the Eidolons," Tifa said, and Terra nodded.
"Well, I do not want to ask you to relinquish them," Warrior said, rallying them back to the point. "If you acquired them for personal use, then they are yours."
Tifa held out her hand, and Titan's summonstone appeared. "You should take them anyway. They'd be of much better use for something as important as defending Sanctuary. Don't you guys think?"
They nodded, but Warrior didn't take Titan's stone from Tifa. "Thank you. If you choose to give them up, then leave them at our stock pile. Use the money to reimburse yourselves or get more for yourselves. Any questions for me before you depart?"
Nobody offered anything else, so he sent them on their way. He crossed Sanctuary and walked to where Cosmos stayed while Rosa took her spot on the throne, off to the side. She sat with her back against one of the crystals with her legs tucked under her, dress flared all around her like the petals of a flower. She had her eyes down, staring into the pool as he approached, and when she heard his steps splashing in the water she looked up and smiled. It was a strained smile. She rested between every healing session, but still looked tired. She had the slightest of dark rings under her eyes, and a troubled look to her deep, crystalline blue eyes.
"How do you feel?" Warrior asked, already knowing the answer.
"I am well," she said, but refused to look into his eyes. He knew she was not speaking the complete truth, but he didn't press her further. She was clearly physically tired and probably mentally tired as well. If he knew her as well as he thought he did, she was probably thinking about the future - now uncertain once again. They leaned so heavily on Rosa and now that she was gone, their future dangled precariously on the edge.
"Probably gone," he added, since there was a slim possibility she could be alright. Cosmos was hopeful for her, but Warrior felt it was more realistic to prepare for the worst. She told him there was a small shred of Rosa's life force holding on, but Warrior knew that if it wasn't enough for Shinryu, he wouldn't return her to them.
"What will you do if this turns out less than favorable?" Warrior asked her. "Will you call another White Mage?'
"I'll have to," she said, trailing her hand in the water and watching its wake. "But it'll have to wait. I used too much of my accumulated strength to heal Rosa."
That was why she didn't look rested, Warrior realized. She was pulling from the reserves that she'd been saving and had yet to replenish them. The situation was looking more and more distasteful, and Warrior couldn't keep the frown from his face. Cosmos' healing may very well end in naught, and if it did, they had nothing else. Warrior had no back up plan prepared. Neither did Cosmos. " . . . I suppose you should rest as much as possible."
Cosmos sighed. "Yes, I suppose I should. I was so close to calling another warrior."
"I know," Warrior said. "But for now, just recover, and we'll be able to do it again soon." They'd be back to square one: struggling, and without Rosa. As though she had never been called in the first place.
On the fifth day into Rosa's recovery, she briefly stirred.
She was floating in darkness. In a still nothingness that was so complete and so serene that she felt nothing. No sensation, or sound, or moving air. No emotion. There was not even a shred of awareness or sense of self to disturb her.
The enveloping void was peaceful and detached. When it slowly began to fade away from her eyes in favor of blurry shapes, a flare of intense loss overtook her. Color filled those shapes - a splash of blue there, a shimmer of translucent white there, on a background of black and a shower of stars, and piece by piece a scene was built.
Rosa's lungs and legs burned as she sprinted up the endless crystal stairs behind Cecil. The distant sounds of Golbez and Fusoya's Black Magic spells charging and bursting reached her ears, and she dragged an arrow from the quiver. She didn't know what to expect when they reached the top. All she knew was that they could expect a fight.
The hardest, most critical battle they had ever fought.
Her heart, already beating hard from their push, fluttered with a nervousness she was not used to feeling. They were about to fight for the fate of the entire planet. All they knew about their foe was that he was a corrupt Lunarian, with immense psychic powers. She mentally prepared for a grueling battle, feeling the weight of the entire party's lives in her hands. For the first time, death felt like a very real possibility, and a worm of doubt in her abilities against the scope of the challenge ahead planted itself in the back of her head. Her thoughts immediately went to Cecil and her resolve to protect him strengthened once again, but she still sent a quick prayer to Asura that her healing would be strong enough to care for him against whatever was thrown at them.
She didn't want to think about what would happen if she wasn't ready.
Cecil, Rosa, and Kain crested the last set of stairs first and they piled onto the platform at the very heart of the moon's core. Rosa drew her bow and meant to sweep her vision from one end of the room to the other, but her eyes immediately locked on the figure towering over Golbez and Fusoya.
Human-shaped, grotesque, it looked like it had perhaps been a person before, but had warped beyond most recognition. It had wrinkled, purple, paper-thin skin that more resembled a hide. She was glad that its long, high-collared cloak covered the rest of it. It had a completely bald head and yellow eyes, glowing with a hatred so intense that fear burst in her heart, and she had to mentally resist the urge to run. She saw its gnarled hands poke out from the cloak. Long, thin fingers and bony knuckles with long, dirty, chipped claws.
The creature Zemus.
An immediate feeling of revulsion coursed through her and she faltered, the string of her bow slipping through her fingers. The arrow sailed over the side of the platform and into the abyss. She heard similar gasps behind her as Rydia and Edge climbed up to the platform.
Fusoya's cracked voice called out, "It's nearly done! Give all your power to Meteor!"
"I'm ready!" Golbez yelled back.
"Yesssssss . . . " the creature spat, its raspy, paper-dry voice hissing insubstantially through the air. "Use all your strength!"
"Wait!" Cecil yelled, but neither heard him. Golbez clasped his hands together and hunched over the spell, and a red, fiery ball manifested between his hands. Fusoya raised both hands to the sky, adding more power to it, and the ball grew and grew until Golbez's hands shook from trying to hold it in place. Finally, they both stepped forward. Golbez hurled the energy at Zemus, and Fusoya pushed both arms out, directing the full power towards him.
Up above Zemus, a giant yellow sigil appeared in the air. A small, flaming meteor shot from its side and collided with Zemus. He grunted in pain, knocked a few steps back from the impact. Another rock burst from the sigil and flew towards him. Two more, three, four at a time until Zemus vanished behind the debris and smoke.
The sigil pulsed and one final, giant meteor emerged slowly, shaking the room with its power. It hit Zemus in a final explosion and everything disappeared. When the smoke cleared, Zemus was on his hands and knees. He sucked in one last, shuddering breath, then fell facedown on the crystal.
Golbez staggered back, the light in his helmet transfixed on Zemus' body.
"W-we did it!" he stammered.
"What a waste," Fusoya said, shaking his head. "He was consumed with evil, and could not use his powers for good." He looked at Golbez. "You have much strength. It's a shame he had control of your powers."
Edge broke their spell of shock and ran forward, pushing between her and Kain. "Alright!" he cheered, clapping Fusoya on the back.
Fusoya sighed, relieved, and he and Edge clasped forearms. "All of you have come!" he said.
Edge leaned over Zemus, craning his neck this way and that to inspect him. "Ugh!" he finally said, throwing his arms up. "Just a second too late! I was supposed to finish him!"
Through Edge's tirade, Rosa saw Golbez turn and stare at Cecil. She glanced between the two of them, hoping Cecil would see it. Cecil was staring at Zemus, eyebrows furrowed.
"Cecil . . . " Golbez began, and Cecil's eyes flicked to him for a second before he turned away from him. The rest of the sentence died before it left Golbez's mouth.'
Thinking he was being a bit unfair, Rosa reached out and grabbed Cecil's hand, but thought better of scolding him. This battle had deep personal connections for him. To his Lunarian origins, to his father, to Golbez - his brother - and he was probably feeling conflicted. She settled on his name, "Cecil . . . " and squeezed his hand, hoping to convey that she was there to support him.
Suddenly, Cecil whipped around and stared hard at Zemus' form. He put his arm out in front of Rosa, shielding her from some unseen threat.
"What?" she urged quietly. "What's wrong?"
Cecil stepped forward slowly and stood near Zemus. He frowned down at him, clenching the sword in his hand. He poked it at Zemus, nudging the body, and it didn't flinch. Rosa trailed behind him, but suddenly Cecil's eyes widened. He waved her back frantically.
"Get back! He's not finished yet!" He backpedaled furiously and placed his sword at the ready.
The words left his mouth and Zemus' form shuddered. His crooked fingers twitched once, twice, and curled into fists, and his body twisted in on itself. His back arched off the ground, and a yellow, tendriled, flame-like mist flared out of his chest. It spoke with an echoing voice that crawled into Rosa's head rather than disturbed the air around them. She and the others startled, and she dropped her bow to clasp her hands over her ears as though it would help.
"We are . . . the Absolute Dark Substance . . . the product of Zemus' hatred. We are Zeromus, and we . . . ARE . . . HATRED!" Before any of them could react, a physical form emerged from the mist. A twisted, blue face encircled by a thick halo of tentacles peered out at them. The beast emitted a blast of psychic energy. Cecil, Fusoya, Golbez, and Kain recoiled as though they were struck. Golbez dropped to his knees, groaning and straining, gloves scratching at his helmet. Cecil and Kain's hands flew to the sides of their head, and they fell to the crystal floor. Cecil writhed on the floor, screaming with such pain that his voice broke while Kain's mouth locked open, unable to even scream. Then they were still.
Rosa yelled out and flew to Cecil and Kain's side, the Arise spell already spilling from her lips. She never finished it before a fiery blast arced out from Zeromus' body. She ducked beneath it, but Rydia and Edge were knocked back. The Arise spell woke Cecil and Kain, and Rosa quickly tried a mass Curaja, the strongest spell she knew, but Zeromus' eyes flicked to her. A black aura of rage and hatred flared out from Zeromus, as well as the sensation of ancient, archaic, and unmeasured power. A chill spread down her spine, and she found herself unable to move. Her hands dropped to her side, her mind clouded over, and her heart tumbled into her stomach. Tears pricked her eyes as she realized it was the end.
A third blast from Zeromus, and pain flared across her entire body.
Her thoughts scrambled and went blank, her neck snapped to the side and blood burst in her mouth as her cheek throbbed, then burned evilly as the skin tore in four long slashes down the side of her face. She reached for her bow, but it wasn't there. She had dropped it before, when Zeromus spoke. When she raised her eyes, everything was black, and everyone was gone. No Zemus or Zeromus, no Cecil or Kain or anyone. The crystal platform had turned back into a black abyss, and she was alone. She moved for her knife but the bones in her left shoulder tensed and popped sickeningly, and she screamed, clutching at it as it hung uselessly at her side. She spun around wildly, looking for the threat, then was shoved backwards when a giant slash cut across her, from her hip to her left shoulder. She held her stomach with her right arm, afraid of being gutted right there in the blackness. She felt like she was punched under her ribs, and a violent ache radiated through her whole chest, catching her breath. She fell on her back, and finally, it felt as though a monstrous force stomped down on her right hand. All the tiny bones gnashed together and snapped, and tears fell freely.
A wave of agony crashed over her, and the scream caught in her throat. She clenched her teeth instead, wincing from the pulling on her face, and writhed. Her legs, the only part of her she could freely move, curled up under her, then kicked again of their own volition against a second wave, emanating from under her ribs. A pathetic, choked sob worked its way out of her, but didn't help to alleviate any of it. Her left shoulder throbbed. She squirmed away from the pain, but caught the slash on her hip and jerked back the other way, panting as much as she could. The salt in her tears burned, and the metallic taste of iron leaked from between her teeth and down her throat. Her entire body trembled, only working to feed the fires into a constant pain. She sucked in several broken breaths until her lungs were full, then screamed as loudly as she could. It trailed off into a weak moan, and she cut it off to scream again. Her throat burned, but it barely worked to stop her compared to the rest of her body.
Outside noises burst around her, but there were too many to focus on, and her mind was blurry. Hands were touching her, hurting her, but she couldn't even try to throw them off without hurting herself further. They touched her face, and she flinched away from them. Her chest heaved into sobs and she froze, unable to do anything else against the pain they caused her.
Two of the hands gripped under her jaw, tilting her head back. Pried her lips apart, and poured something wet down her throat. She couldn't make out the taste against the blood and she choked against it, but they held her until she swallowed it down. Whatever it was, she felt her trembles relax. It drew straight to her chest - the worst pain she felt - and the ache abated just enough for her to breathe easier. Two more hands tightened around her hand, and Rosa felt the surge of an aura around her. A weak, broken, muddied blue aura, that she knew instantly despite its weakness.
The familiar feeling of White Magic entered the air around her, and Cecil's weak magic worked its way across her. It barely did anything to ease what she felt, but it allowed her to relax enough to slip back into that dark nothingness she was in before she awoke.