Chapter 44 – Surprise, surprise

        A/N:  I'm sorry that this particular chapter took so long to update. Occasionally, there comes a time when my mind encounters a completely blank stage, and this was one of them… I didn't even know how to start, much less finish the whole thing… and it gets so depressing when the fellow fan fic writers are pumping in chappies after chappies of stuff, while I have nothing to show for the long time I've taken for one lousy chappie.

    Don't worry, Celeste Spring. I read the review, even though it doesn't appear on FF.net. As I said, thank goodness for email! As usual, thanks for your reminders. I saw your subsequent review. A bad habit of mine is my penchant for dialogue despite the fact that at many times, talk is cheap, worthless even… *mutters: damn it you stupid lily*. So I completely re-wrote the entire battle scene, hah. And that wasn't nitpicking at all… it was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…. God that sounds like a courtroom vow. Anyone interested for a re-read?

        WL: And the identity of Highness No. 1 was… yeah that's right none other than the brilliant Celeste Spring.

                 Highness No. 2 was… anyone who felt sorry for Redrumiel's swift death… ahahaha got you there?

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    ~Angel Land~

     Celestine was disturbed by the Ancient One's silence, when she should have been pouring out her grief by the buckets. Celestine herself was dimly aware of the void in her heart, which was inevitable as she had only just witnessed the death of another, even though he had been her foe not so long ago. And surely, this must pale in comparison to what Lilacea was feeling… she could bet her white-feathered wings on it.

    Lilacea… are you still there? Celestine called out to the holder of her past-life memories.

    Yes, little one. The reply was short, to the point… and sounded hollow to Celestine's ears.

     Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? I'll be happy to share your burden… you are part of me after all.

    I am part of you, but my existence is not necessary, neither should I stay too long in your mind. It was selfish of me to force you to accept your memories of your past life, and now that its aim has been done away with, I should disappear anytime soon.

    Disappear? But why? I welcome your presence in my mind… and I was willing to accept you in exchange for the power that you have given me…

    You don't understand… Celestine. Everyone has a limit as to the number of memories that they are allowed to hold, no matter the capacity of their mind. What may seem to be sharp in your mind now will fade, in due time. Eventually, some will disappear as your years increase. So why take up a huge portion of it with past-life memories that will do nothing for you, except bring you unhappiness? Besides, these matters are between me and Furhler… not you and him. You should have no part in it. Instead, you should set your mind upon defeating the Ultimate Monster. The odds of you defeating it are getting slimmer as each second ticks by, as you very well know.

   Do you really have to leave? I have only just begun to understand you… And now you say you have to go? This is simply too fast for me to accept!

    I'm sorry… that's the way life is. The new will never come if the old won't go… and I do not want to hinder your growth.

    Farewell, Celestine… I never thought that I would be able to communicate with my reincarnation like this… but through Hyne's Grace I have been given this special chance… I shall cherish it…

   With that, her presence vanished completely from Celestine's mind, just as quickly as it had appeared before her in the crystal trap. It left Celestine grasping through thin air at the empty space that opened up before her, with no caution sign to prevent her from falling in right through the gap.

    NO! Why does everyone have to leave? Is there no one who will stay by my side forever? I hate this… I hate seeing them disappear from my view forever, one after another… First it was Mother, then the Lord… Redrumiel… and now Lilacea… all taken from me without a single warning! Will Zell be taken away from me as well? I can't bear…

     "….lestine… Celestine! Yo! Are you sure you're going the right way? Damien is heading towards another direction!"

     "Huh?" Celestine's head jerked up with sudden movement, startled by the boom of Zell's voice resulting in the disruption to her thoughts.

    Only then did she realize that she had been floating towards an opposite direction from their destination, tugging the balloons that held Zell and Waterlily behind her. Damien was already way ahead of her, oblivious to her state of misdirection.

     "Oh no! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Stealthily wiping at her eyes, she changed her flight pattern immediately, raising her speed up a notch to catch up with Damien.

     "We tried calling you many times, but you didn't respond." Waterlily said. The look she directed at Celestine was one of concern.

      "Alright, my fault, okay? Shut your mouth up, or you will risk biting on your tongue. I'm going to zoom."

    The two wisely did as she instructed, for she treated them to a joyride at neck-breaking speed, just as she had "promised".

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    ~The Timberian Plains~

    We've doomed……

    That was the sole thought in the four SeeD's mind as they numbly waited for the enemy's attack to deal its damage on them. The heavy lead that seemed to have cumulated in their limbs rendered them useless, preventing their reflexes from kicking in and trying to dodge the black energy that was rushing towards them…

    They were too paralyzed with muted fear to do anything.

    The invisible hand of the negative energy slapped them fully on the body, shoving in a searing pain that shot up from their toe-tips to the very ends of their hair.

    The same hand lifted them up and away from their original spot, only to fling them back, to a distance approximately the length of a football field before depositing them mercilessly upon the ground with bone-fracturing thumps.

    Several of the SeeDs and Cadets, who had been standing by as soon as the battle began started running towards their unconscious leaders, harried as a group of headless chickens. Perhaps they had been too shocked by the Monster's ability to flick its opposition away with such incredible ease… when these were the same people who had defeated the evil Sorceresses!

    There was no one to direct them, for all were in a state of panic that their most powerful Commander had taken a tumble, along with another three of the famous Heroes/Heroines of the Second Sorceress War. It did not help that Xu, the unofficial Deputy Commander, was currently situated at Deling, guarding against sneak attacks by any Underground Creatures that had not perished along with the others previously. They had thought it risky to put all their eggs in one basket, for the Underground Armies were not exactly the most upright kind.

    They checked for a sign of movement from the four lying on the ground in haphazard positions - any sign at all.

    Not a single twitch, grimace, or anything else that would indicate their living state… and most feared for the worse.

    Fujin and Raijin pushed through the crowd, crouching by the stiff bodies which were already showing signs of hardening, a result of the flow of their warmth-giving blood being halted right in the tracks, due to failure of their coronary muscles to pump it through their veins. Fujin felt desperately for pulse activity and heartbeat, only to look back up to the desperate, yet expectant faces with a grim shake of her head.

     "Quick, someone cast the Life spell on them before they slip away!" She instructed, abandoning her staccato way of speaking altogether… an indication that her anxiety had reached the peaking point.

     "I will cast the magic." A nameless face (to Fujin anyway) spoke behind her.

     "LOOK AFTER THEM. FULL-LIFE BETTER, IF NOT, CURAGA." She resumed her normal way of speech, taking off to face the Monster.

    She had intended to stop it from destroying any more cities, even though it had been more than a year since she was engaged in combat of any kind.

     "Fuj, wait for me!" Raijin yelled after her, sprinting to catch up with her rapid strides.

     "WEAPON?"

     "Sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Too unexpected, ya know?"

    Fujin stopped for a moment, and turned back towards the crowd again.

     "BORROW WEAPON."

     "Huh?" The confused Cadet she had stopped in front of blinked stupidly at her.

      "NEED WEAPONS. HIM POLE. ME PINWHELL." She jabbed a finger to Raijin's direction.

    The Cadet turned back to his group, and started asking around for the required items… while Fujin darted nervous looks at the Monster… which seemed to have retreated to another one of its frozen spells.

    It appears to me that the Monster freezes whenever it uses one of its powerful attacks….little wonder then, that it did not attempt to destroy all the cities at once… for it might cost its life to exert such energy… which means… we need to plan our next step carefully…

She mulled over the idea over and over in her mind, like one chewing a piece of gum until it had become flavorless.

     "H…here you go…" The timid voice of the Cadet broke through into her mind. He held a pinwheel out to her… a simple one with minimal upgrading, while his friend was holding onto a pole which towered over her tiny brown head.

     "THANKS. JOHN." Fujin replied, taking the pinwheel while Raijin took the pole. She suddenly broke into a rare smile… the degree of rareness rivaling that of a blue diamond.

    John nodded eagerly, surprised but pleased that she knew him.

    "MONSTER WAKING SOON. NO TIME." Fujin's face took on its perpetual blankness as the prospect of facing the Monster loomed up in her face. It did not, however, daunt her for one second from her determination to fight against it.

     "Hey Fuj… ya sure we can beat it? It defeated Squall… who whooped our asses time after time…" Raijin ran up beside her, voicing his reservations without thinking of the possible harm he might be subjecting his body to.

     "SPINELESS." Fujin kicked his ankle, which was infinitely more painful than a kick to the shin.

     "My tender spot, Fuj! Ya shoulda known better than…" Raijin started to protest, but clamped his mouth up immediately before she dealt another kick to his leg again.

     "MUST FIGHT. OR TIMBER DESTROYED. HATE THAT. MONSTER POWEFUL… FIND WEAK SPOT."

     "So what do ya propose we do then? It doesn't look like it's going to get hurt anymore from our attacks than 'em SeeDs!"

     "PHYSICAL ATTACKS USELESS. TRY MAGIC."

     "But Selphie couldn't do a thing even with Apocalypse… what else can we use? Our magic inventory's limited as well, ya know?"

     "STATUS AFFLICTION SPELLS." Fujin said firmly.

     "You mean…"

     "MELTDOWN. PAIN. SLEEP. CURSE. PETRIFY. ONE MUST WORK." Fujin gave another smile again. "KILL MONSTER IN ITS SLEEP."

     "Ya sure it's gonna work?" Raijin glanced at her doubtfully, the solution seeming too simple to him.

     "NO RISK NO RESULT."

    Without waiting for a reply from her friend, Fujin pivoted sideways on her heel, and paused for a little while, trying to recall the old feeling and techniques of casting a spell again.

    She lifted her left wrist to the side of her forehead, bending her arm at the elbow to form a ninety-degree angle to her upper arm, then spread it fully towards the direction of the enemy with an assertive, yet graceful movement.

    She had cast one of the most widely used status magic on the monster… a spell that had earned its dubious title due to its ability to inflict three status ailments in a single turn.

     "PAIN."

    A flash of orange and red exploded upon the monster, followed by the kanji that symbolized the affliction of blindness, poison and silence upon the target.

    The effects of the spell were subtle to the physical eye, but they knew for sure that at least one portion of it had been effective… the poison.
    The Monster had started to jerk slightly at regular intervals, even as it continued to stand erect in its stone-sculpture-like trance. The spasms were a result of the venom that was spreading through its blood flow, sucking its energy up while raging through its cells to attempt a conversion from healthy ones to poisoned.

    Soon, the monster began to sag little by little at the knees.

     "Fuj, you were right… the poison's getting to it!"

     "YOU. GET TO WORK." She could barely conceal the third smile from coming, the occurrence of such an event as frequent as that of a blue moon hanging on the night sky.

     In response to her order, Raijin's expression took on a grimness that was as rare to find as a smile on his compatriot's face.

     "MELTDOWN."

    As soon as the word left his lips, a diaphanous oval of energy started forming at the tip of his outstretched arm, its size increasing rapidly as his concentration became more intense. At its saturation point, the energy shot out from the middle of the oval, forming a straight tube that aimed straight at the core of the Monster's belly.

    A purple glow emanated within the Monster, dyeing its hide with a uniform color, stripping the Monster of all its vitality - the latter surely an astronomical figure due to its armor-worthy hide.

    This Monster is very weak against status ailments… Fujin thought to herself.

    She was on the verge of launching off another round of similarly based attacks… but neither time nor luck was on her side this round.

    For the Monster had started stirring from its sleep, shaking its head to get rid of the remnants of the dream weaver.

     "WELL, WELL, WELL… WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?" It bellowed at the two brave souls facing it with a nasty smirk, failing to realize that its body was not exactly in its healthiest state. "What the… I'VE BEEN POISONED!" It started yelling and shrieking simultaneously as the jagged fangs of the venom bit into the marrow of his bones and tore through his muscles.

    It stuck a finger down its throat and started to retch, attempting to cleanse the toxins in its blood flow by spewing it out through its mouth.

    With a revolting noise that sounded remarkably like drawing back of phlegm, only to spit it all out, the Monster sucked in an enormous amount of air into its system, and deposited a steaming pool of blackish liquid onto the ground next to it.

     "NOW IT'S MY TURN TO RETURN YOU THAT FAVOUR!" It snarled, and started gathering the energy for its next attack.

     "Fuj…" There was a slight quivering in Raijin's voice, but he did not turn to look at her, for his fear of suffering the same fate as his precedents featured prominently in his fretful mind… holding his neck as still as a block of wood.

     "Be brave, Raijin." She replied, but she knew just how unconvincing she sounded…

    Hyne… what am I supposed to do now? I thought that status ailments would bring it to its doom… but I was too naïve…

    If only there was some way to beat it…

    Maybe there is… but there's no way in hell I'm going to find out what, before it vaporizes us with that attack of his, just as he had done with Squall and the rest.

    Is that how I will end my life… pitifully without a bang or struggle?

    HELL, NO!

    She shook herself out of her momentary weakness, and took aim at the Monster with her weapon.

     "Fuj… I thought you said Physical Attacks were useless?"

     "NOT MINE."

    ZAN… She whispered, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and lifting the pinwheel stretched way out to the back in an acute angle, before letting it fly towards the Monster.

    The spiraling pinwheel whizzed in a flurry of hazy movement towards the Monster, its blades glinting with a strange whitish glow.

     The Monster simply stood by grinning at it, his expression mocking.

      "You should know that physical attacks are absolutely futile against my skin, which had already withstood the numerous slashings and bludgeoning by your comrade's previous attacks, in case you hadn't noticed. My muscles are sturdy as an Admandatine's shell, where no weapon in this world can hope to pierce through them. What are you trying to do then, entertain me?"

     "We'll see…" Fujin did not rise up to the bait, but smiled mysteriously at him instead.

     "Fuj?" Raijin glanced at her in confusion, and even more so in terror.

    He knew that when Fujin smiled, she was usually up to no good. And the results were often nothing short of a disaster, if his experience served him right.

    By then, the pinwheel was close enough to the Monster for it to feel the sheer amount of energy generated by its airborne spinning activity.
    The Monster shot out a hand to catch it, thinking that it would be a cinch to stop the weapon right in its tracks.

    To its utmost surprise, the wheel deferred from its original path, away from the Monster's grabbing fingers, and resumed to its original course again.

    The Monster could only gape stupidly at it while the blades aimed for its right arm socket…

    And sliced cleanly through the intersection, severing the arm from its socket.

    Dark colored blood spurted from the severed blood vessels from the yawning hole that had once been linked to its arm. A stench, vaguely resembling a mix between maggot-infested rotten eggs and the coppery smell of blood filled the nostrils of anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity. Several of them tried to curb their urge to hurl, some unsuccessful in their attempt as the pong oppressed their senses in an overwhelming way.

     "What the…?" Still in shock from the unforeseen loss of its arm, the monster was unable to react, the pain yet to register on its nerves.

   The arm crashed onto the ground, throwing up showers of dust that covered all from tip to toe.

     "FLARE." Before the dust had settled, Fujin followed her physical attack with another magical spell, not leaving anything to chance at all.

   Severed from its owners protection, the whole length of the arm exploded in a dazzling yellowish light, followed by a distortion of its form before disintegrating into merely ash to fertilize the grass around Timber. This had effectively spelt the end of any possible attempts by its owner to attach it back to the rightful place.

    The Monster stood there staring at them blankly, blinking in blatant disbelief.

       *            *              *

    Get up, Squall Leonhart. This is not the time to rest. There's a Monster you have to defeat; one that is about to destroy Timber, and when that's done, the world over. How can you just lie there when so much is at stake? Will you be able to bear the burden on you soul and conscience if you didn't do anything to stop it, when you could? Wake up now, for Hyne's Sake!

    Don't bother me… I'm tired… too, too tired. Ever since Matron and Headmaster died, I've been feeling lethargic to the core of my bones, muscles and blood vessels, but I could not rest… not even the slumber at night could lay to rest my troubled mind, always filling it up with these… horrible dreams. My heart feels vacant, as if someone had taken away the stuff inside and replaced it with a vacuum. Now that I can choose to lie asleep, jump into oblivion, why shouldn't I? Stop bothering me.

    How can you be so weak? Is this what a Commander should do? The lives of so many people are depending on you, and you choose to hide in your cocoon of cowardice! I am bitterly disappointed in you!

    Who are you to lecture me? No one has the right to tell me what to do. I shall decide, and I have. I will not care about the fates of others… I used not to care anyway.

   What about Rinoa? Selphie? Irvine? Quistis? Zell? Just to name a few? They will die too if you cannot be strong enough to recover from your fall. Are you saying that you do not care about their well-being as well?

    Whatever… just stop bothering me!   

    The conflict in his mind grew more and more intense, and the Commander started tossing and turning in his attempt to quiet them, but to no avail…

    A foreign voice broke through the conflict, breaking the two up, or if you will, adding the weight to one side of the scales, thus tipping that side in favor.

    It was a voice invoked by his memory of the advice from one older, wiser than he was… someone who could not be with them as yet to battle with the Monster, but made up for the absence with invaluable information.

    The creatures have a weak spot - Light. Lots and lots of it.

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   A/N: Well… that's it… all that I could come up with due to the presence of afore mentioned state of mind. Anyways… I hope I didn't do anything stupid this time round, but if I screwed up again, I would have to ask for your forgiveness beforehand.

   Well, away with the depressing stuff! It's high time I thanked you guys!

    Celeste Spring: I don't think I can express my appreciation for your constructive criticism fully. It is so hard to find someone who's willing to point out something I've overlooked in my heady rush while writing the story. I would have continued to embarrass myself further if you had not reminded me of the glaring faults in my story, so thank you… haha that's so lame. I think you will make a good beta reader, if you aren't already one.

   Kelani 2593: Hi, glad you liked reading my fic. But I have to end it, sorry to disappoint you, cos if not this is what happens. My mind goes completely blank… burnout I guess. As they say, all things must come to an end, good or bad. Tell me when you've posted something so that I can read it!

   Soul of Flame: Yes… you updated your fic many times. I read all of them, which was totally awesome heh. Thanks for your kind words in the review!

    Jengab057: Oh thanks! This is the first time I ever saw someone wishing me good luck in a review hahaha… I really need it. Wishing the same to you!

    Cherry5124: Well, I hope that this was soon enough. Thanks for your review.

    Quistis88: Yeah, it's supposed to be funny, something I hoped would work ha. But then, imagine the disapproving look that would be on the good Doctor's face when he tries to convince her to sedate Rinoa. Too bad I couldn't insert it in the story. Well, here's a little stab at it.

    Dr K.: What do you mean you want me to inject Rinoa with sedatives? Are you out of your mind? Maybe it's you who needs some medical help.

    Squall: Please, Dr K… I'm only doing this to prevent her from getting hurt.

    Dr K.: *snorts* Yes, fine, I believe you. And Sorceress Ultimecia was a kind soul.

    Squall: Alright… I confess… I want you to sedate her cos she's too naggy, and it's grating on my nerves.

    Dr K.: Hell if I'm going to interfere in a marital spat… I have a life too you know.

    Squall: Dr K… what say you if I volunteer for a week of free labor in exchange for that little service of yours? Haven't you been lamenting lately about lack of help for your filing?

   Dr K.: Tempting… but no.

    Squall: How about the limited autographed edition of Dr Odine's autobiography…

    Dr K.: How did you know I… alright, alright. But if you dare to leak this out…

    Squall: Deal?

    Dr K: *grumbles* Where is she?

    Vikki: Hey there! *waves* Thanks for your email! And for your assurance that I have remembered the attacks adequately enough not to screw up *sticks out tongue*, did wonders for my confidence, you know?

   Okay, that's it, folks. I'm gonna try to regain my previous pace of at least two chappies per week. I realized that I cannot rush my writing too much, so I ask for a little patience while I struggle with that humongous wall staring at me in the face. Meanwhile, have a nice weekend! See ya!