A/N: Hmm, was last chapter far too expected? Damn. Oh well, there was supposed to be a great deal of build-up to this. ^^ Well, let's do the normal recap, shall we? Last time, time passed us by, the decision about leaving was made, certain ill characters awakened, and the stand against a possessed Akatsuki began. Keep in mind, this chapter is one of the reasons this entire fic was rated R, despite my vulgarity… extreme violence in the not so much sort of way, not to mention certain other events that, if I said them now, would be quite spoiling. Anyway… Again, dictating the music choices (I swear I won't do this for the next fic, I promise!) … "One Winged Angel" from FF7. Okay, let's see how this all works out.

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Izumi and Akito's attacks didn't do much damage to the seemingly endurable Akatsuki, but it got everyone else on their feet and working. Hikaru stopped playing around with the winds and was twirling a potential tornado. She nodded at Ryoko, and Ryoko figured out the strategy immediately. She set an earthquake at the CEO of Nergal with a stomp of her foot. As expected, Akatsuki floated up, using his gravity mage to stay above the ground. But, in order to escape Hikaru's tornado, he had to land again. Hikaru smirked. "Okay, that worked well." Akatsuki's, or Magus's golden eyes flipped to Hikaru. "And you won't do it again." Hikaru actually noticed this time that Akatsuki had no pupils anymore.

While Hikaru and Ryoko distracted Akatsuki, Gai grasped Yukina's hand. When she flashed to him for an explanation, the hard look on his face and the next statement was all she needed. "Copy me!" Yukina nodded quickly and closed her eyes tightly, trying to concentrate with her heart beating so fast. She zoomed into the seemingly fiery orange-yellow mass of magic, surprised to find it quite cool to her touch. Letting memories, thoughts, dreams, and pure magic flow into her body, she opened her eyes again and yanked her hand from Gai's grasp roughly, then let all of the foreign power exit her hands in the form of lightning. Yukina nodded at the Earthling, before running over to Hikaru to repeat the action as he himself distracted Magus, or Akatsuki, this time.

Ruri, finding herself in the crossfire and without anything to fight back with, panicked slightly. That is until she saw Jun's body still immobile, in a place where those who weren't paying much attention could easily trample him. And everyone was obviously focusing on the matter at hand. This was a task for the resident healer, namely, Ruri. As she stepped as calmly as she could to attempt to drag the heavy, unconscious body out of the way, something swelled in her. She always knew she was needed on the Nadesico, but it wasn't as desperate as this. Especially when Omoikane was built, and she seemed to have so much more time on her hands to spend doing absolutely nothing. She placed her hands over Jun's chest and closed her eyes, pushing the sounds of magical battle out of her ears to concentrate on healing the wounds inside Jun's body. She was needed for this, as the only healer available, and this saved time. And time was something they didn't have.

Itsuki smirked at this scene. For once, her passive talents would be making an offensive turn. She had always brought her violin with her since she started practicing control, if only so she could have something to work off of. She raised the instrument to her shoulder, and began to play, forcing the vibrations and sounds to attached themselves to Akatsuki's brain, tugging at it. But nothing happened. Her eyes widened as she practically watched her threads of music fall short of the possessed man. Something crashed into her head, and she fell down with the force, but kept a strong grip on her instrument. She lay still until she was sure that Akatsuki, no, Magus, was back to attacking Yurika. She stood and raised her violin again, angry. 'I see, since my magic is part of Him, or something, I can't use it against. Fuck. And I can't harm him physically, well, technically I can't… because we're fighting an entity here, not Akatsuki. Bleh. Reduced to a simple cheerleader.' She sighed and began to play harshly and quickly, reaching out to the minds of her friends, attempting to influence them to work harder without using as much energy, giving them her strength.

Izumi got an idea as Yurika clawed at Akatsuki arms, drawing blood and pulling chunks out of the man's skin. She closed her eyes and mumbled, "Tidal wave tidal wave tidal wave…" to help her concentrate on the one thing that might help them, if only slightly. When her eyes opened again, she held out her right hand and watched the blue sparkles go from faint to bright, and both Yurika and Akatsuki were drenched in not just water, but ocean water. Izumi made the majority of the salty water flowing Akatsuki's open wounds, then pulled the water out, leaving only the painful grains behind. Magus's golden, but vacant eyes turned to her. It seemed like He could tell where and who attacked him, and when, But, for some odd reason, He didn't kill them all instantly, as He could have. "Foolish girl. You don't harm me that way, but only your would-be brother-in-law. He feels the pain, and I cannot. It is worthless, and only hurts your comrade."

Akito made another icicle and through it in the direction of Akatsuki's arms, in attempt to get him to let go of his childhood friend. "I have no qualms about hurting him!" Magus flinched, despite his previous words, that attacks on him would only harm Akatsuki, and dropped Yurika. She fell with a thud and lay there attempt to catch her breath that was so cruelly stolen from her moments before. Akatsuki rose several feet in the air, glaring at the Martian cook. "You won't try that again, and I'll see to it." Opening his right hand, Akito was suddenly pulled to the ground, falling harshly on his side, his hand helplessly in the way of his uncontrollable fall. He gasped as he heard the audible crack and the shooting pain up his right arm, then squeezed his eyes and mouth closed in attempts to not scream. He already knew what was wrong; something in his hand was broken, most likely his wrist.

In response to this horrible act, Gai pushed all of his magic up as high as he could, in attempts to electrocute Akatsuki in ways he had only dreamed about, but Magus had risen above the ground too high. The God of Spirit cackled. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt your friend? Too bad, I suppose. But you can't reach Me anymore! Tsk tsk, your strength is pathetic!" Magus pushed Gai down as well, snapping his left leg like a twig as he crumbled against the ground. Hikaru's eyes widened as she saw all three of her male pilot friends immobile, incapable of fighting against this one person that they all seemed to despise so much. Magus's statement flew through her brain, and it took her only mere seconds to add strength to her tornado, making it taller and wider, telling it that eating the floating man would satisfy it in way that it's creator couldn't even begin to describe. Entranced by Hikaru's promise, the wind monster went straight for Akatsuki, licking his feet, and, reassured by the taste, tried to swallow him whole.

Yurika sat up slowly, squeezing her eyes shut as she lifted her right hand. She reached out and toward Akatsuki's mind. She could see him, dark green and fading quickly, trapped in a bright silver box that had become so familiar to her. 'A Possession trap box.' Something with intense power pushed her out, and the next thing she knew, golden, pupil-less eyes glared at her from the center of the tower of swirling wind. "And I thought I had rendered you powerless. Oh well, I'll do so now." She no longer could move, at all. She was pinned against the ground, and she felt things touch her mind. Not her body, but her mind, her magic, her will. Making her not want to fight it anymore, to give into the sinking feeling.

Jun, still unable to move much and under the healing powers of Ruri before she attempted to heal Akito and Gai, raised a trembling hand. Hikaru saw this motion and nodded. He threw as much fire as he could towards the tornado that trapped Akatsuki within. A pain in his chest made him stop, but he had done enough. The tornado now blazed with an eternally burning fire that only he could put out, and only when he was ready. He braced himself for the retaliation, and just in time. It felt like Akatsuki's foot was on him again, trying to crush his ribs into crumbs. He could breathe, but only barely. Specks flew through his vision as he felt the effects of his near-hyperventilation.

Hikaru raised the tornado so the grounds itself wouldn't catch fire and make this job harder that it already was, but she barely got to finish before she saw out of the corner of her eye, Izumi catch Ruri falling down from pure exhaustion. "Fuck!" she cried, but kept a strong grip on her tornado, not letting it hit the ground, or lose grip on Akatsuki. Ryoko took Ruri's body from Izumi's arms and set her out of the way. She pushed a lock of silver hair out of the girl's sweaty face. 'With Hikaru's tornado holding Him up, I can't do shit. And with it being on fire, Izumi can't do anything either. Yukina can't copy either of us, because we can't do anything, and Hikaru's too busy to let her copy her. Ruri's out, and everyone else can't move, and are sitting ducks.' She glanced at her lover, whose violet eyebrows were knit and who was playing as roughly as she had ever seen her play before. She couldn't think of anything else, when doing this, but Ryoko knew that Itsuki knew that it was almost hopeless. Still, she continued to lend strength to all those still around her, and in such a way that she wasn't worth attacking, at least to the God before them.

Izumi put up a barrier of water around them all as Hikaru's grip on her tornado failed. Fire flew in all directions as it stopped and ran backwards. Akatsuki didn't seem harmed from the past few attacks, not even singed. Closer scrutiny would have told that Akatsuki was trying his hardest to stay alive, and Magus being in his body helped just that much more. Izumi let her water barrier go down as soon as all the projectile blazes passed them, and turned to the only strategist that was capable of coherent thought, Ryoko. "Any ideas?"

"I certainly have few." Itsuki was the only one capable of moving that did not. The Three Angels were shocked to see both Inez and Rumiko standing behind them. Hikaru smiled. "Good morning, you too." Rumiko rolled his eyes at his former student. "Depends on your definition of good. It was hell trying to get Meg to stay home." Akatsuki, still floating above them, smirked at the new arrivals. "Reinforcements? And those that I've had control over for the past month or so. How amusing. And of course I know them well. They may not prove as well as you'd expect, my dear."

Inez narrowed her gray-blue eyes as she flew up in the air to the same level as her childhood friend. "I'm surprised at you, Magus. They're all still alive. You're toying with them, for fun, aren't you? Just like you played with me." Magus shook his host's head, smiling at the legendary girl from Ancient Mars. "Yes, I'm playing with them. They are amusing, and always have been. But you, no. You were just a mistake. I reached for the gravity mage, and got the one I didn't want. But I couldn't let you run free, you see. So I trapped you until I could get the one I wanted, this one."

Inez's eyebrows knit. "But I'm magically stronger than Nagare. Why did You choose him?" Magus laid a finger on Akatsuki's cheek, as if thinking. "You know why. Inner anguish, anger, sadness, heightens one's magical strength, almost ten times in some cases. He had it, and made it quite desirable to say the least. And," Inez saw his gaze lower to the immobile figure of Yurika on the ground, "a broken heart can sometimes break that barrier."

"A broken heart?"

"Yes, Ai-chan. Nagare-chan never cared for anyone as strongly as Yurika-chan, and when she left him because of a misunderstanding, it broke his heart." Magus smirked again. "Funny that it was My own Messenger that led My potential host to My clutches. I could not have planned it better." Inez glared at Akatsuki's body, occupied by Magus's own spirit. She never really liked Akatsuki, but he was still a person, one that had been used for someone else's gain. Magus's, in fact. With a sneer of disgust, she tapped him with her magic and watched him as he was pulled towards the ground.

Ryoko's stormy blue eyes widened as Akatsuki's body fell against the Earth and was deemed motionless. At the same time, all those who were incapable of seconds before sat up. Yurika pulled herself to her feet and went to help Jun sit up, who was clutching his chest and grimacing. Akito wrapped his left hand around his wrist and took a deep breath before standing, walking over to his lover to make sure he was all right. They all seemed to have the same idea, to make sure that no one was dead. Yurika was the first to run over to Ruri, worried over the girl, but Izumi stopped her cold. "She's fine, Kanchou. Just out of energy."

Rumiko grabbed Ryoko's hand roughly. "What are you doing!" she cried. Rumiko closed his eyes and evened his breath. "Copying you. Lady Ai has him pinned. We could easily knock him unconscious so we can work on getting Magus out of Akatsuki-san's body." Ryoko nodded, letting the Ninlandish man memorize her magic in seconds. Then, Rumiko was the first to let the earthquake in him go, holding both of his hands out to push Akatsuki to his feet as Inez lightened her own grip on him. Ryoko tapped her foot, and the ripple sent Akatsuki into the air. Hikaru immediately flung her right arm, and the winds around them that seemed to have calmed raged again, pushing the CEO of Nergal against a tree, where it seemed he would stay as long as the redhead stood as stiffly as she did, concentrating on not letting him go.

Akito, on his feet, winced as he raised his right arm. He couldn't his wrist whatsoever, but his fingers twitched and six small icicles formed. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain, the throbbing heat that he didn't think he'd live through, but was all in his head, as the icicles grew, and grew, and grew. He flung his arm as well and cried out when the deed was done, falling to the ground and breathing heavy with the torturous agony that was his arm. He looked up to see that his aim was true.

Akatsuki was held against the tree, an icicle embedded in each hand, shoulder, and knee to keep him still and unable to fight back. He glared at them, but did not fight his bindings. The gold in his eyes flickered a bit, but still shone brightly. Inez nodded. "Good. He can't hurt us now. But we need to find out how to solve this problem before those icicles of yours, Akito, melt." Yurika stared at the restrained body of her ex-lover. In trying to set Akatsuki free, she saw exactly what Magus told Inez. Akatsuki was in love with her, and his sadness is what had started all of this. She walked over to the tree, still cautious of the God that still had control over the longhaired man. "Nagare? Is it true? You loved me?" Magus smirked, despite his host's injuries that bled like rivers. "That's right, Rika-chan. Nagare-chan loved you. Still does." Yurika shook her head, close to tears. "But… if he loved me, he wouldn't have hurt me." Her trembling hands found her neck, and felt the places where bruises would sprout, where bruises out of love and lust were just weeks before.

"Foolish girl. He didn't hurt you, I did. And that isn't all." White-hot fire blazed in her head. She clutched her forehead and fell to the now bloodstained ground. "It hurts to know you caused this all, doesn't it? If you weren't so selfish, everything would be fine and you would be on your way home. Nagare-chan may forgive you, but do they?" A toss of his head indicated the people behind her, her crewmates, and her friends. She started to sob, her patron God filling her mind with these depressing thoughts. She looked up at the body of her ex-lover to apologize to everyone and everything. But before she could part her lips, Akatsuki's body erupted in a blazing inferno.

Yurika jumped back, her green eyes wide and wet with tears of sadness and shock. Even Itsuki finally stopped playing her violin in confusion. Eyes slowly moved themselves to the blue-haired fire mage, who sat up clutching his chest with both arms. He gasped out, "You… won't… hurt her… anymore…" They knew that Jun was in love with Yurika, and hated Akatsuki for taking her from him when she was inches from his grasp, but they had no idea he was capable of killing.

The fire soon gave out, too weak to go against the huge tree, and all that was left of the CEO of Nergal were ashes, slowly being blown away by the breeze. Hikaru stopped the wind in it's tracks as Yurika, with trembling hands, touched the pile of cinders. The sight of her sooty fingers blurred as fresh tears rose into her blank, green eyes. "Nagare… no… you… you can't be…" Memories filled her mind. Meeting him for the first time, being hit on by him, fighting against him in the Last Battle of Mars, learning to care for someone who never cared for the world, giving him her virginity, threatening to castrate him if he so much as looked at another woman. His black hair, his dark eyes, the faintly dark green nanocontroller, his leer, his smirk, his kisses, his soft, loving touch…

A hand rested on her shoulder and she didn't even bother to see who it was. She leaned her head against the kind hand and sobbed, giving into her emotion. Izumi nodded, knowing what the poor captain was going through. "Goodbye, brother dear," she whispered.

Inez turned to Jun, who still sat where Ruri had initially dragged him. "Why did you kill him? We could have had him help us in suppressing Magus!" Jun shook his head, not knowing the reason behind his own actions, and having guilt be all that there was. He had killed someone. He had never killed someone before, not directly. And definitely not someone he knew. Yurika's sobs were getting to him. And absolutely not someone who was cared for by someone he loved. Threats were one thing. The actual deed was another. He sniffed, surprised. He had no idea that he, too, was crying. "I'm… I'm sorry, Yurika…"

Rumiko was solemn, but the only one who seemed to pay attention to the other aspects of the scene. "Well, then, it's good that sadness and extreme emotions can strength you." Inez turned to see what he meant, her gray-blue eyes widening. "Okay, if there was any time to focus, people, this is it."

And she was right on the money too, because there stood Magus, transparent and floating, between Izumi and Yurika and the others.

He didn't seem to be a day older than fourteen, but there was some sort of knowledge in His eyes and proved that He was much older, and much more wise. He didn't look very masculine either, with His well groomed, chin length silver hair and flawlessly pale skin. He didn't dress that way either. He wore a long silver tunic that reached past His waist, but the sleeves had been cut off mid-bicep and sewn to grip the arms. Both extensive sleeves and tunic itself had golden embroidery, but it was simple. A small diamond was attached to His shirt, impossibly, however. A loose chain was His belt, accenting His slim waist. His slippers were also silver, and the whole effect proved once and for all that he was the Silver God. Royal purple leggings and a collar finished the ensemble, marking the Magic He ruled over and His ruling in general. The cold smirk on His face was enough to stop anyone cold, but His pupil-less eyes would cause a sane man to scream in fright.

He crossed His arms, the long sleeves wrinkling as he surveyed the crowd before him with a cold smile. "You have amused Me enough, don't you think? But still, it continues to be funny. How is it that you're all so entertaining?" He tilted His head, the metallic tresses brushing His pale cheek. "But one of you needs to be restrained. A little too excited, I think. Cost Me a good host, you know?" He snapped His fingers, and Jun's hands flew from his battered chest to his head, clutching his temples as the pain of his entire life flooding his mind tenfold. The anguish seemed to be too much for the Executive Officer, ad he promptly passed out. Magus smiled. "I'll kill him later, but for now, that is enough." He turned around in midair to both Izumi and Yurika, the former pulling the latter to her feet. "You, My dear, are one to be reckoned with, despite the pure strength of that Aer's Calm behind Me." Hikaru's eyes widened at the remark. Magus was planning to kill Yurika first, and her next. Fear itself is what kept her from moving until Magus had Yurika up by her throat, once again, but this time, holding her above the ground. "You're a traitor, Rika-chan. I give you power from birth, and this is how you repay Me? Bringing those who oppose Me to My planet? Fighting against the one you owe your existence to? That's right, Rika-chan. I made you. The brilliant, happy girl with the power to influence and possess. Not to mention to Teleport through Time and Space. Amazing what a little of My work can do, ne? I'm sure at least three people here would agree with Me. Oh, but too bad, one's already dead!" Yurika couldn't respond, hell, she couldn't even breathe.

Rumiko instantly fell into meditation, sending out naked power to hurt the God that had His hands on the one person these people he had slowly become close to, needed. Itsuki followed his example, gripping her violin with white knuckles and playing as she had before, only to hurt Magus in anyway as well. Yurika, struggling to get air into her body, watch Magus's eyes roll into the direction of Rumiko and Itsuki. Rumiko's power bounced against Magus and hit him in the nose, breaking the organ in a spew of blood. The instant pain and force against his head caused Rumiko to fall to the ground, unconscious. Itsuki's bow slipped from her fingers; a mistake she never would have done, even in the heat of the moment. It flew up and bent three of her fingers back, breaking them. Her concentration broke for only a second, and it was all Magus needed to invade her mind and place a box around it, rendering her useless.

The sight of the invincible Itsuki thrown to the ground like a doll, her violin skidding away from her, drove Ryoko to fury. With a loud battle cry, the ground shook with such an intensity, pieces of it shot into the air as Ryoko rushed at the God, intent on ripping Him limb from limb. Magus finally turned to see the green-haired tomboy running towards Him at a speed that even He couldn't counter, He held Yurika in front of Him, attempting to use her as a shield.

Izumi raised her hand and twitched her fingers, as if typing or playing ukulele in midair. A flood of water surrounded Magus, making Him unable to see Ryoko until she was inches from Him, which she was when she finally swung a leg out to knock him on his back. It backfired, however, when Magus used Izumi's water as a barrier, and threw the now-trapped Ryoko to the ground. She landed on her side with a crack, but with her unconscious, she didn't feel the waves of pain that came with her broken arm. Izumi's water came right at her, obscuring her vision as she felt someone's foot against her knee, twisting it in a way that it shouldn't. As she cried out and fell, a bright silver being flashed inside her mind, and then all was dark.

Magus smiled at those left standing. "Amazing what a little tickling of the mind will do! You just make them think someone is hurting them, when all You're doing is ordering their body parts to hurt themselves! It's absolutely fascinating, don't you think?" Unable to stand, Gai glared at the God from his sitting position on the ground. He reached his hand up, then thrust it down, as lightning from no cloud whatsoever struck Magus, but did not harm him in anyway. Magus only let one hand off Yurika's neck for a moment to snap his fingers. Gai's eyes rolled into his head and he slumped forward, joining the ranks of those trapped.

Akito would not stand for it. Despite his broken wrist, he held his hand up and twitched his fingers, trying to freeze Magus in place. But with Magus using Yurika as a shield, any attempts would possibly kill his childhood friend. He was breathing heavy, trying to get Magus to let go of the Martian captain to attempt to kill him. Anything to sway the fight into their favor. As he felt foreign fingers in his mind, he could only hope that Yurika would break out on her own. The feel of the box was no better. It only proved that he was alone, even in his attempts to save Yurika and kill the one who harmed his lover.

Yukina was appalled. She couldn't do anything, really, and had stuck with getting people out of the way and such for most of the battle. But now it just wouldn't be enough. The only ones that were still capable of fighting were Yurika, Hikaru, Inez, and herself. Yurika was staying alive only because her magic was fighting against Magus's at her throat, giving her enough energy to stay conscious. Hikaru's wind kept Magus at bay, away from attacking those left, but was losing effectiveness quickly. Yukina could only think of one thing to do. She reached for Inez. "Miss Fressange! Let me copy you!"

To her shock and fright, Inez shook her head sadly. "No, Yukina. There's nothing left this time. It's completely hopeless, Yukina. Just accept it." Yukina was shocked. The Martian doctor walked over to the motionless body of her lover and laid her head in her lap. The unflappable Inez had given up.

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TBC…

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A/N: How many times must I say it? I'm freaking evil. ^^ Yeah. How many people should I keep a lookout for? ^^ You're all going to kill me aren't you? O.O Anyway… How did you like my total bullshitting? Action and Angst just doesn't mix at the same time, man. o.o Oh well. Okay, next time? Too many spoilers! End of the climax, definitely, some explaining, not too much though… OH and the appearance of the meaning of the title of the entire fanfic! ^^ Anything else is still tentative… Yeah. So, what's up? ^^ This Monday marks the one-year birthday of TDoNtD! Can you believe that I started writing these things to keep my mind off school and family stuff? Amazing. Yeah, anyway, I'll let you go now. And remember, Reviews equals Inflated Ego equals Faster Chapters! Ta-ta!