Disclaimer: That poem you will read in this chapter is not mine, it is Willam Blake's The Tiger.
Zack finished up the final repairs on his Sabertiger, getting it ready to leave the Jade River base. He jumped down, the cast and sling still on his arm, still annoying every inch of his skin underneath that cast. But the pain was gone and he healed quickly. Zack walked out of the hanger, ready to leave this place, and trying to forget about the two friends he lost a few days ago. He found Raven sitting alone at a table, staring at a half filled glass of water. Zack shook his head and started walking away but stopped as he heard Raven talk.
"I'm not used to anything like this." Raven looked up at Zack, his eyes slightly puffy.
"Used to what?" Zack walked in and sat in an empty chair across the table.
"Anyone actually caring for me, anyone actually caring for me."
"Didn't know anyone was doing that now."
"Fiona compared me to Van. Of all people on this planet she compared me to Van." Raven picked the glass up and crushed it in his hand, water flying everywhere along with pieces of glass. Raven dropped the pieces that remained in his hand, blood starting to drip on the table quickly.
"You that's not real good for you."
"I don't care."
"You know, it isn't exactly bad to get compared to Van."
Raven put his hands under the table and threw it on the floor. "You have no idea what my life is like, you have no idea how much I hate Van."
"Can't hate him that much, you seem like your falling in love with his girl." Zack got up and brushed the pieces of glass off of his pants and shirt.
"I never said I was in love with her."
Zack smiled. "So why did you let her kiss you. Could have back handed her like you did earlier."
Raven didn't say anything back. "Jason is going to bring Van back."
Zack looked up at him. "Are you serious."
"He knew Fiona would start loving me, so he waited. And now he's going to bring Van back to life, and torment me even more."
Zack sat back down and folded his hands under his chin and started thinking. "If you want to get away from her, you can come with me."
Raven leaned against a wall, but didn't reply to the question.
Zack smiled again. "The dark Raven and the innocent Fiona. Not a couple I would ever imagine."
"Then you don't have much of an imagination."
"Maybe not." Zack stood up and walked out. "But I do know you need to think about what's best for the three of you and not just yourself."
"I hate Van, I hate him almost as much as I hate Jason. I wish both would die and stay dead."
Zack pointed down to Raven's hand, watching the red blood quickly fall down to the concrete floor. "Better get that fixed real quick. Might find yourself with out a hand. And if you want to come with me, then get ready quick because I'm leaving in an hour."
Raven just nodded, even though he wasn't sure what he was going to do.
The night sky was covered with dark gray clouds, the stars and moons not visible and the only thing lighting the sky was an occasional burst of lighting, followed by the loud roar of thunder. Jason looked down into the hole, Hilz digging into the grave searching for the casket that held the body of a hero.
Hilz stopped for a moment, the cold rain falling hard onto his body and quickly rolling down his face. "Why are we bringing Van back to life, he is a threat to are plans."
Jason smiled. "No Hilz, this is perfect for my plan. He along with Raven and Fiona will be playing a game of hearts, keeping them at each others throats until it is to late for them to finally work together."
"If we leave Van dead, then they cant ever find a way to work together." Hilz jumped at the sound of thunder, dropping the shovel he was using, though he quickly picked it up.
"I want to give them a chance, even if I try to stop it almost any way I can. Van, Raven, Fiona, Zack, and Ryss will be my only enemies, and if they work together then yes they have a chance, though however small, to defeat the Tiger." Jason smiled. "But this is a test of their will, to see if they can forget about their egos and there pride to defeat the greatest evil to step forth on this soil."
"Zack and Ryss can help keep them together though, I hope you know that." Hilz started digging again.
"No Hilz, Zack and Ryss will want to kill each other, and in time you will see why."
Hilz dug for a few more minutes, finally reaching the polished wooden casket. He dug the rest of the dirt and opened it. There he stared down at the nearly decomposed body of Van Flyheight. "I hope he wont look like this when you revive him." He took the body out, crushing a few maggots as he did and set it gently on the ground in front of Jason.
Jason smiled as he put his hand gently on Van's chest. "Now Van, wake up and return to the people who love you so much. And determine what is more important to you." The decomposed body slowly began to glow, the skin growing back to what is was before he had died, the hair on his head doing the same and Jason felt the slow heart beat coming back. "It is done." Jason turned around, calling his Organoid.
"Are we going to leave him here." Hilz shouted, trying to bring his voice over the pouring rain.
"Yes Hilz, let him know he was dead, let his mind fill with curiosity and thoughts." Jason smiled. "Let him feel what I have had to feel for years." Jason got onto the back of Phantom, feeling the sudden thrust as it took off.
Hilz looked down at the newly revived body, and spit on it. "I will kill you myself when the time comes, and I will kill Fiona as well." Hilz kicked the body then walked off.
Fiona dropped a cup of coffee she had been holding, looking up into the sky.
"What is it Fiona?" Thomas asked, worried something might have happened to her.
"Nothing, I just thought I felt something."
Thomas looked at her puzzled. "You sure?"
Fiona smiled. "Yes, I'm sure."
Zack looked down then took a look back at Raven. "Decided not to come with me after all, kind of surprising but your life, not mine."
Raven smiled. "I have had nothing my entire life, I guess I should try to find something." He looked down at Fiona for a second then looked back at Zack.
"Well good luck with her, though might get kind of messy if Van does come back."
"I know." Raven looked over at Shadow. "Come Shadow." He jumped off of the platform and walked over to Fiona.
Zack gave a slight salute then closed the cockpit, he had taken the cast off but still wore the sling to keep the pain from coming back again. He took the Sabertiger out in a hurry, not sure where he would go. But he smiled, having a few ideas on where to go.
Raven looked at Fiona, grasping her chin tightly with his hand. "I don't like being compared to Van."
"Let her go Raven." Thomas said, grabbing Raven's shirt.
Raven smiled and let her go. "I don't know what you see in me or why I remind you of Van." He felt Thomas let go. "But I want to know why you kissed me."
Thomas gasped when he heard that sentence. "You kissed him!" He shouted, one of the few people unaware that they had.
Fiona looked at Thomas but didn't say anything to him. "I don't know why I did, but weather you agree with me or not. You do remind me of Van, and I think that's why I did kiss you."
Raven made a fist ready to punch her for that comment, but was able to calm himself down and relax his body. "You seem to forget about peoples pasts fairly quickly."
"You've changed, you're not as cold and dark as you were before. I knew that when you saved Van from the Death Sauer and that's why I couldn't believe that you killed Van. I'm not ready to lose Van, and I never will be. And I still hate you for killing him and taking him away from me." She paused for a moment. "But, for some reason I believe you when you said you had no choice, and I know how you grew up, learning from Prozen. I don't think it's your fault." She started to cry. "I don't know what to do, I love Van, but I'm also starting to love you. And I don't know why."
Raven watched as she put her arms around his back, and laid her head against his chest. Again, Raven was surprised, but he also felt sorry for the young blond girl who had loved his greatest enemy. He put his hand on her back and slowly rubbed his hand through her soft golden hair. Trying to understand himself, what was happening.
Hilz stared at Jason, both were back in the damp catacombs of the ancient city. "I know you have something to do with that."
Jason put his hands in the air, shaking his head. "No Hilz, I don't have a thing to do with this." He smiled though, pointing to the pit. "It's amazing the power of that Zoid, it can fool the heart and mind of an enemy leaving it helpless to its deadly bite."
"How can a Zoid do anything like that?"
"I honestly don't know anything except that it is doing that. It is more then a weapon of destruction Hilz, it is the perfect killing machine, knowing how to weaken its enemies and drive them insane, even better then me."
Hilz looked over at Ambient.
"How do you think the Zoid change my thoughts, do you think I was born with the dream to kill every being on this hallowed land of life. It twisted my mind, it twisted the minds of every man who ever became evil. To kill an enemy, you need more then power. That is why you failed, that is why Prozen failed. You thought power is all you need. To kill an enemy Hilz, you need to bury deep into their soul, and tear their emotions apart. This Zoid can do that, bringing chaos into the loves of those who cannot immune themselves to it. When Van returns, watching his love falling into the arms of his mortal enemy, and Raven, he will again have to fight Van, trying to prove how much he loves Fiona." Jason smiled. "And Fiona will have to watch as her heart in thrown into the air, and wait until the two men she loves have to fight for more then there pride and egos, and will not stop until they are dead and even then they may not stop."
"This Tiger is controlling you, isn't it?"
Jason smiled. "Finally, a man has figure out the puzzle that has taunted everyone who has come in contact with me. Yes Hilz, I am a slave to that Zoid, and Zoid Eve is a slave as well. God himself Hilz, is a slave to the Tiger. But when the Satan comes into the Valley of the Living, a choice must be made. Do you stay by his side and help destroy that Valley, or do you take a stand and risk your life for something that can not be done."
Hilz walked over to the pit and looked down it, noticing the red eyes burning in the water. "Then why does it need you and Phantom if it has all of that power."
"Because it needs a pilot, one suitable to command it's evil and rage. Zoid Eve merged with me to help in the quest of the Tiger, giving me almost as much power as it has. You have begun to solve to puzzle of an ancient evil Hilz, but you a far from completing it."
Hilz smiled. "It doesn't matter to me, as long as I hold the dagger that kills Van and Fiona I will die happy." Hilz turned and walked out of that room.
Jason smiled and looked down. "Yes Tiger, in time you will rise, and you will roam the planet again." He paused for a moment, remembering a poem he had been told centuries ago. "Tiger, Tiger, burning bright, in the forest of the night, what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry." Jason looked over at Phantom and smiled again. "What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What an anvil? What dread grasp dare its deadly terrors clasp?" He closed his eyes and listened to the growls of the Tiger, burning in his soul. "When the stars threw down their spears, and water'd heaven with their tears, did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee?" Jason took a deep breath and jumped off the rock he had been sitting on. The growl of the Tiger still roaming through his body and the taste for death grew strong in his mouth.
Van opened his eyes and slowly sat up, rubbing his temples gently. Shaking his head, trying to gain control of his body he stood up. The rain still pouring down, his torn up uniform serving no protection to his body. "Where am I?" He asked himself, remembering his battle with Raven, trying to understand how he survived. But it didn't take long to remember the promise he had made as well. Looking around, he found himself in a cemetery and a few feet from him rested an empty grave. Already thought were racing through his mind as he slowly walked up to the marble tombstone. He wiped away the water the rain that rested on it and read the stone.
by the side of God
The words sent a chill down his spine like he had never felt before, trying to understand if he was dead or if this was a joke. Many ideas filled his mind but he was sure he was alive. Van shook his head and quickly made his way out of the cemetery, his heart racing with fear and his mind filled with thoughts and wonders. He stopped though and looked up into the sky, the rain beaming into his eyes and face, but he didn't pay it much due. He couldn't remember much, the last thing he could was his apologize to Fiona, for letting her down. He wasn't sure if he was dead, and if he was why was he here. And if he wasn't dead what was the grave for. Van still looked in the sky, feeling as if something was watching him, watching his heart and soul. Reaching into his mind and twisting it upside down. Van closed his eyes, and began to run, But to where, he wasn't sure.