Well, here it is, the climax of the story. I'll have an epilogue after this, but this is the final battle in the entire thing. Maybe you want a sequel? Maybe? Huh? Ask. Maybe I will. It's possible. Quite possible.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 12: Final Battle

***

Come on, come on, my brain can't take this much waiting, Yuy! My mind seemed to scream in anticipation and if it had not been for my training, I would be bouncing up and down right now. Was he milking this for all it was worth or was he waiting for me to explode in anticipation or was my imagination dragging this out far beyond its intended course?

Was there a rhyme and reason behind his delay in words, or was there something else? In that moment, every last one of my fears disappeared, with the exception of one. My fear of the dark vanished. The deep might as well had been a tide pool. Heights might as well have been two nanometers off the ground, I did not care about them as long as I heard those words from Heero's mouth.

"Jem, I want you to promise me that you won't hate me when I say this," Heero seemed to beg, but his voice held only a soft, hoping quality.

"Hate you?" I cried. "Heero, I would never hate you, not even if you said the worst thing in the world to me. And that's a fact." I smiled, and for once, he returned it.

"All right," he sighed, then sucked in another breath, releasing it so achingly slowly, I thought I really would start bouncing. "Jeminie Renai Kinde...I...I have no other way to say this...I...I love you."
My whole world began to spin. Heero loved me? Heero loved me?! This was a dream come true! Somebody pinch me! This had to be a dream, there was no other way! (AN-OW! Not really pinch me!) Instead of staring at him, shocked beyond belief and comprehension, I threw my arms around his shoulders like I had in the cell at the X Force's base and buried my face into his right shoulder.

"Jem?" he seemed to be panicking. "Jem, are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay," I cried happily as I came back up. "I'm more than okay, Heero! I love you too, I really do. Heero, that's the best thing anyone has ever said to me! I'm honored."

"How can you be honored, I'm the one who's honored!" Heero shouted, standing up. "To know that a beautiful angel loves me, a Perfect Soldier, it is-" I smothered his words with my hand as I stood to join him.

"Heero, did you just call me an angel?" I asked softly, tears forming in my eyes. He nodded, dumbfounded by my tears.

"I will always love you, the Keeper of my Heart, the Angel of my Soul, and the Phoenix of my Spirit," Heero whispered to me, wiping a tear from my cheek. I broke down in joyful sobs and hugged his neck tighter, and, for the first time, he pulled his own arms around me and held me close to him.

And, for once in my entire life, I felt no fear and no regret. When I opened my eyes, it was not by choice. A bright emerald light was shining where my heart was. My eyes widened.

"The Orb!" I shouted in shock. "It's glowing!"
"Of course, the promise was fulfilled," Heero said to himself. He grabbed my hand and raced toward the mansion again, leaping over every obstacle as I raced to keep up.

"Guys!" I shouted as soon as I entered the house. "The Orb, it's glowing!"

"So glad you could make it, Jeminie," laughed Dirken in the center of the room. Behind him were all of our friends, tied together with some sort of black, glowing cable.
Heero leaped out in front of me and held his arms to his side.

"The party has only just begun," Dirken cackled, throwing Rei before him and holding the other Orb in his hand. "Return to me, Orb of the Keeper, for I am your new Master!" The glowing green in my chest suddenly escalated to a blinding white. For some reason, I could still watch as the Orb, in the shape of a small bird, exited my chest and landed squarely in Dirken's hand.
"Yes...yes...yes!!!" Dirken screamed, laughing as though the world were his to control. Unfortunately, that's exactly what was happening. "In your face, Angel! Finally, you shall become mine and no longer will you control the Dragonballs. In fact, you won't even need them! You won't be able to decide what to do with them yourselves. You wanna know why? I MAKE THE RULES! HA!" Dirken made a little dance right there in Quatre's living room. (AN-Think the Guinea Pig on Doctor Doolittle. Doin' a little dance...makin' a little love...get down t'night...Can we say "sweatdrop central"?)

"Oo-kay," I droned in mock surprise. "That's something you don't see every day."

"Hey!" Dirken shouted. "This is my world now! You two, bow before me." My limbs were not my own to control. My arms and legs felt as heavy as lead as a red light surrounded them and another punched me in the stomach to make me more keel over before him instead of kneel. But it was all the same to this poor guy.

"First things first, Orbs," he snarled at the two gems. "I want my body back!" The purple-haired guy was thrown roughly to the side and he backed away from the demon's entity as fast and furiously as he could, kicking out with his legs, unable to stand properly. Only when he reached the door did he scramble to his feet and rush out into the night.

"No matter," Dirken said as a faint outline of a body appeared before him, the Orbs floating in the air. "I will get him soon enough."
"There's gotta be something we can do, Heero," I whispered fiercely to him. He had only confessed he loved me that night, we couldn't let this happen now!"

"I can't move," Heero said, struggling against the red light. "If we could get to the Orbs...he doesn't have his body back yet."
"Of course!" I shouted upon realization. "I'm the Keeper of the Phoenix Orb, it should still listen to me." I turned back to the Phoenix Orb and called to it. "Come back to me!" I shouted. "Please, come back!" It didn't budge.
"You have to say a special chant to get it to come to you!" Rei shouted from her binds.

"Pipe down, all of you!" Dirken roared. However, because he did not hold the Orbs in solid hands, they did not make us be quiet.

"Okay...what chant would I say?" I asked myself. "I'm Jeminie Renai Kinde, my blood has been the finest from my mother's side, there's got to be a way!"

**FLASH**

"I will always love you, the Keeper of my Heart, the Angel of my Soul, and the Phoenix of my Spirit."

**FLASH**
"That's it!" I cried out. "Keeper of my Heart, Angel of my Soul, Phoenix-AH!" Dirken's body had reclaimed his soul and he stood before me. Each Orb sat in one of his claws, his pink skin covered by tattered clothes. He kicked my side in with his clawed foot.
"I'm going to kill you while I've got the chance," he growled angrily.
"NO!" Heero shouted from his bindings on the floor. "You won't touch her!"
"Won't I?" Dirken asked innocently, and none-too-convincingly, either.

"She is the Keeper of my Heart!" Heero shouted to Dirken.
"Keeper of my Heart," I whispered in repeat.

"Angel of my Soul!"

"Angel of my Soul."
"Phoenix of my Spirit!"

"Phoenix of my Spirit."
"And the Jem of my LIFE!"
"The Jem of my Life."
A sudden bright light enveloped the Phoenix Orb, and Dirken dropped it as though it had burned him. The demon held up his hand, and revealed white bone and little scorched remains of muscle and skin.

"AH! Curses, curse you, ANGEL!" he yelled loudly, then screamed again as the other Orb fell from his hand. He held it up and all saw that the other claw had been scorched and picked bone-clean as the other had been. He screamed again as his entire body dissolved into a fine white dust made up of his bones and bits of melted muscle.

The two Orbs surrounded me, but I felt no freedom to move as they spun around me, faster and faster, never stopping, never slowing, always going as fast and as frenzied as they could, to the point that the emerald vortex swallowed me up inside of itself. Everything went white, instead of black as it usually did as I fainted.

All sounds stopped. All people vanished from view. I stood in a black white space, the two Orbs in my hands, the Phoenix Orb in my right hand and the Oval Orb in my left. I looked all around and my eyes finally rested upon a single person.
"Rei!" I cried in surprise. "What's going on? What happened? Where is everybody? Where am I?"

She chuckled merrily and it was then that I noticed she now had flowing azure robes that flowed over her thin, young figure. She smiled at me and nodded toward a small platform that had suddenly appeared in the center of the void.
"Welcome to the Dimensional Gates, Jem," she said quietly. "And to your ordeal."
"My ordeal?" I asked. "What's going on? Why are we at the Dimensional Gates, and, for that matter, where are the Gates?"
"The Gates are not physical gates, Jem," she explained quietly. "Set the Orbs in this pedestal. You will be able to make your decision from there. Your ordeal is simple. You are a goddess now, regardless, but you can make the decision to make other people gods as well and you will decide the fate and destiny of this world. You must also make a prophecy of your own so that you will have a successor."

"A-A goddess?" I stammered. "Me? Why?"
"Because you took the steps and you took the right and you took the promise to become who you are right now. You became fully righteous."
"So I can basically do anything I want?" I asked as I placed the Orbs on the pedestal.

"I wouldn't suggest it, but yes," she smiled. "This whole world is yours to rule."
"I don't wanna rule it," I shook my head. "These people can rule for themselves. However, I was to eradicate the need for war in all people."
"It is done," Rei nodded. "What about the Gates?"
"I want to open them," Jem said quietly. "To all those who wish not for war."
"It is done. Who do you wish to rule beside you?"

I thought long and hard before answering. "Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Wufei Chang, Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner, Jonathon Douglous Kinde, Lieutenant Nakami, and yourself."

"Very wise," Rei smiled and bowed. "Now the prophecy."
"I hereby prophecy that only that person who uses their life for the good of all and is fully righteous in my eyes shall take up these Orbs and become the Phoenix of the Gundam Dimension," I stated.

"It is done," Rei smiled. "Anything else?"

"How do we get outta here?" I asked sheepishly.

"If it is your will, it is your way," Rei answered.

With that, we were back in the living room.

***

WOWI've actually completed my first fic! I can't believe it! *Jumping up and down and up and down repeatedly* I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! Yea!!!!!!!! Okay, ya know, I was actually jumping up and down in here. My parents came in here and asked if I was feeling okay. O-O; I'd better cool my jets. Move on to the epilogue!