Legend of Talon
Chapter 7
Panting with rage, Talon stuck his sword into the ground, drew the holy sword and stuck it into the ground, took off his rarely-used shield and threw it to the ground, and then roared with all his might, until his lungs were about to burst from lack of air, and then he drew a deep breath and collapsed. A minute later, when he had summoned enough energy to sit up and look around, he realized everyone was staring at him, half in awe, half because they thought he was insane.
Bahamut stood up and approached him. "You're raving mad. I like you." Talon grinned.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a yell, and Barret came flying out of the valley, his gun blasting him off the ground. He landed inches from Talon, before screwing his face up in concentration, putting his hand in the air, and healing everyone with a single spell. Though he too was healed, he passed out from the effort.
Bahamut shook his head. "Idiot. I could've done that," he said to Talon.
Bahamut flicked his wrist at Barret, who woke immediately and stood up. "Thank you," he said. "We'd better go soon, Talon. We need to get to the Castle quick before something else decides to attack us."
Talon laughed. "You don't want to be attacked? I need to fight more!" Since he had been rejuvenated from Barret's spell, he was full of energy and needed to fight. "I want a fight!" he roared. His voice echoed across the canyon, until it faded completely.
Bahamut smirked at him. "If you wish to risk it, I will spar with you. But I cannot use my regular physical attack, for it would kill you instantly, so…" he turned and approached Cloud, who was helping Cid to his feet. "May I use your sword to spar with Talon, Cloud?"
"Yes, of course, but only if you'll heal Cid. He's a tad wasted after summoning all of his summons and then hitting Limit Break, even after being healed by Barret." Bahamut flicked his wrist at Cid, who blinked and stood up. Bahamut turned and picked up Cloud's sword, which had been flung by the fire.
He turned back to Talon. "Right." He walked into the clearing near the cave, and Talon followed him. They both tensed for battle. "Here we go. Good luck, Talon."
Talon put up a hand. "Wait. If you use a weaker weapon, then so do I." He flung his flaming sword toward the camp, where it fell with the blade in the campfire, which roared to life, giving them light. He drew the holy blade. "Let's go."
At that moment, the very first of the battle, Bahamut did what Talon least expected, and instead of charging at him, fired a quickly charged Fire spell, which Talon barely dodged. As soon as his feet hit firm ground, another Fire spell rushed at him. Talon once again leaped aside, and once again Bahamut fired a spell. Talon leaped over this one, and when Bahamut fired the next spell, Talon twisted in the air, hitting it with his sword, and it flew back towards Bahamut. It hit him straight in the chest, and he stumbled and fell.
"Right. Again!" He stood up and raised the blade. He leaped at Talon. Talon had been expecting this. He leaped aside, his sword in front of him ready to block a spell, and then jumped to avoid the weak Thunder spell that Bahamut shot. He came down on top of Bahamut, hitting him in the neck with the flat of the blade in a sideways swing. Bahamut fell to his knees.
"Once more." He jumped to his feet. Talon thrust his sword straight at him, but this time it was he who leapt aside, and when Talon swung the sword around at him, he dodged it. He began to run incredibly fast around Talon, who calmly closed his eyes, using the trick Master Tang had used so many times when sparring with him. All his senses sharpened. He could hear the exact position of Bahamut, somewhere to his left. He thrust the sword low, and opened his eyes to see that Bahamut had tripped, and had his face buried in the dirt. He stood up once again.
"You are indeed a mighty warrior, brave Talon. You easily countered me in magic, power, and stealth. Dually note that I could have easily killed you, by combining any two of the three together, say, if I had been firing spells at you while I was running. But in basic combat, you are a master."
Talon grinned. "I had a hunch you were being easy on me. Using Fire instead of Firaga or Flare…I should be insulted."
Bahamut shrugged. "I didn't want to kill you. Would you rather I had?" Talon shook his head. "I didn't think so. Come," he said to the group. "We must go."
Talon realized everyone had been watching the fight with interest, now knowing that their Chosen one was indeed strong (which was not what they had thought originally). He awkwardly backed up Bahamut's statement. "Yeah, c'mon, let's go!" He motioned for them to follow and began to walk, feeling stupid.
Cid caught up with him. "So…what'd Leviathan have to say?" he said quietly.
Talon could've sworn his heart stopped. "Uh…nothing! Why do you ask?"
Cid grinned. "Whatever you say."
Talon awkwardly tried to change the subject. "So, uh…with you on our side, nothing can stop us! Bahamut can annihilate anything!" Cid nodded. "Not to mention Cloud's Summons. They were pretty good. But is there a Fire Summon? If there's Ice and Thunder, then is there a Fire Summon?"
Cid opened his mouth to speak, but Wayne approached and interrupted. "Yes, there is. Ifrit, or Jinn, is the most powerful of the elemental summons. Who belongs to has been a mystery to this day, to most people." He grinned. "But as for me…" He opened his hand, and a bright red ball sat in it. "I know exactly who he belongs to."
Cloud, who had been wandering about behind them, gave a yell of surprise and ran up to Wayne. He pointed at him, his mouth flapping, but no sound came out. He finally managed to string some words together into a sentence. "You…are the holder of Ifrit? I have been looking for him for years! How did you come by him?"
Wayne shrugged. "He was passed down through my family. My father battled against Leif with him, until he was grievously wounded and passed him on to me."
Cloud tore at his hair, crying in anguish. "Who was your father?"
Wayne shrugged. "The name would mean nothing to you. He was a simpleminded sorcerer."
"You'd be surprised. What was his name?"
"Kain."
Cloud jumped. "KAIN? The legendary Dragoon Knight? He lived at least 4,000 years ago!"
Wayne laughed. "I've never heard of that Kain. No, my father was a sorcerer, not a fighter or a Dragoon Knight."
Cloud's surprise faded quickly, to a look of embarrassment. "Oh. Sorry. What about your mother, then? Did she fight at all?"
Wayne grinned. "My mother was a legend where I came from. She was a general, a sorceress, and not bad of a warrior. Her name was Celes."
This name seemed to echo through Talon's mind. Something deep inside his head knew that name, but he could not place it. He turned to look at Wayne. "Celes…I know that name. I can't say where…but I know that name from somewhere."
Wayne shrugged. "You probably heard it from that Tang guy. He was talking about the stories he tells before we found Barda."
Talon shook his head, and gazed at the mountains ahead, lost in thought. Next to him, Cloud was doing the same.
Finally, Tifa broke the monotony. She approached from behind and tapped Talon on the shoulder. "We've got a bit of a situation. Kimahri heard something, and he, Auron, and Wakka ran off. They haven't returned yet…" Her voice trailed off as Talon stopped and slowly turned.
"We have to find them. We need to backtrack as quickly as possible. They may be in great danger!" His face remained calm, but his voiced cracked with obvious fear.
Tifa cocked her head at him. "Something wrong?"
Talon shivered slightly. "Yes. Something's wrong. Something is very wrong. Oh, god, I didn't think –"
Tifa cut him off. "WHAT? What's so bad?"
Talon stared at her, horrified. "Doom Gaze. I saw him coming towards us earlier. I thought we would pass him, but the fools had to go back and investigate…they're goners if we don't hurry! Come on!" He began to run.
Everyone was lost behind him as he ran at top speed. In training, Talon had been known for his agility. Soon everyone was far behind him.
Suddenly, everything seemed to darken. Talon cried out, "NO!" and put all power he could muster into his legs as everything brightened again. In his mind, Talon knew that Doom Gaze had just killed one of the three warriors. That flash was the spell Doom. That accursed bird would kill them all unless they could hurt him enough, and quickly.
There was another flash of darkness. Talon cried out in frustration, and passed over the crest of a hill. As he looked down to the bottom of the hill, he saw the gigantic bird-like form of Doom Gaze. In front of him were Wakka and Auron, who were knelt over the strewn body of Kimahri. Talon cried out and leapt with all his might, landing next to Auron, stumbling, and then straightening up. "What are you doing? We must fight the bird before he kills us all!"
Wakka cast him an annoyed look. "If ya haven't already noticed, brudda, da bird is not a threat for da moment." He turned back to Kimahri.
It took a couple seconds for Wakka's words to sink in. He turned his head, and gasped. Now that he was looking at the bird more closely, he realized it had turned to stone.
"But – how did you – why – what – how'd you do that?" Talon spluttered.
Wakka laughed. "Break, brudda. It's one of my few spells. Turned that thing to stone, but it got Kimahri before I could."
Talon still did not relax. "Kimahri's dead, Wakka. The spell Doom Gaze used was Doom. It kills the target."
Auron nodded. "He's right. Kimahri has no pulse. He's dead."
Wakka slammed his fist into the ground and growled. "Ah well. We gotta finish this thing off. It should be restored in a few seconds."
Talon jumped. "Be ready to fight! We have to hurt it a lot in a short time, or it will take more of us!"
At that moment, there was a loud thud behind him as Bahamut, carrying Cid and Cloud, landed behind them. Bahamut shook his passengers off him, and then looked at Talon. "We will fight with you. I believe that if I am here, we can kill him for good."
Talon shook his head. "We can try, but I don't think so…he is an incredibly powerful creature. He will just be forced to flee."
Bahamut shrugged. "So be it. Let's just beat it to a pulp and be done with it." He smirked.
In the light of Kimahri's death, Talon could not bring himself to smile back. "I'll wait to the side. If one of you falls, I'll step in."
Bahamut shook his head. "No. We need our most powerful warriors. It will be you, me, and Wakka." He turned to Cid. "You step in if someone falls."
Cid nodded grimly, and slouched off to the side, followed by Auron. The three remaining prepared themselves for battle, each preparing different sorts of attacks. Bahamut placed his hands to his side, charging a Flare spell. Talon held his sword behind him, charging a Fira (or, as he now knew, a Firaga). Wakka…did nothing.
Suddenly, there was a white flash of light, and Doom Gaze got its color back and began to move. It shook itself off, and then cocked its head at Wakka, his eye gleaming oddly.
Bahamut dropped his guard. "This thing's dangerous? It's actually kind of cute…" his voice trailed off and he grinned. "Must I kill it?"
Talon's eyes widened. "Fool! Put your guard up! Attack him!" He himself was almost done charging his attack.
Bahamut shook his head. "No, seriously, what can this thing do?" Suddenly, there was a flash of black light, and Wakka crumpled to the ground.
"NO!" Talon and Auron yelled together. Auron leaped forward, wielding his sword, which was glowing black. He drank from the flask at his hip, and spat it on his blade. He leaped forward, high above Doom Gaze, landing behind it. He thrust his sword into the ground, and the four black balls sprung from the black hole created. All four slammed into Doom Gaze, eating their way in and out of him, and the bird fell to the ground, twitching helplessly.
As it began to regain its footing, Bahamut (who was serious now) stepped forward and performed an attack much like the one he used on Zeromus, twisting in midair to slash him four times, then firing a fully charged Flare. Doom gaze was encased in a gigantic orange ball, and from it came a muffled explosion. The ball faded, and the bird fell out of it, striking the ground and beginning to twitch once again. This time, Bahamut launched himself off of a rock and slashed the bird yet again, before continuing backwards.
Talon, his blade glowing an eerie brown, leaped as high as his legs would let him, seemed to float in midair for a few seconds, then came down holding his sword below him, and then adjusted himself so that it seemed like he was diving at the bird. Just before he came down, the Firaga spell burst from his blade, a gigantic meteor, that slammed into Doom Gaze just as Talon struck with his sword. The force of the explosion launched him backwards, where he landed, stumbled, flipped, and regained his footing. He looked up at the bird to see that it was on the brink of death, but was looking at him oddly. Its eye gleamed oddly at him. Struck with fear, Talon found that he could not move. His journey was over…he was about to die. Again. He braced himself.
Suddenly, there was a cry from somewhere to his right, and when he looked, he saw Tifa standing on the crest of the hill, holding a gray ball in her hand. She threw it, and it landed between the bird and Talon, where it expanded, becoming a bright blue creature, who waved a hand and disappeared. Tifa laughed in triumph, as Talon sat helplessly.
At that very moment, four things happened in very short order. There was a flash of black light, a gust of wind, a flash of blue light, and a tortured cry from Doom Gaze. When Talon lowered his arm (he had raised it to his eyes after the flash of light) he saw that the bird was once again on the ground, but it wasn't moving.
There was a thud, and Bahamut collapsed next to him. He glowed blue, until he was just a mass of bright blue light. The light seemed to shatter, and the pieces formed a blue ball. A hole into the Void opened, and the ball rolled into it. There was a snap as the hole shut.
There was another thud as Tifa landed next to him. She extended a hand, which Talon took gratefully. Once he was on his feet, he swayed drunkenly and knelt, leaning on his sword, panting. "I used all my energy on that Firaga…I can't even stand."
Barret, who came panting over the hill, knelt beside him and put a hand on his back. Talon suddenly felt relieved, and stood up, his strength returned. He looked at Cid. "What happened to Bahamut?"
Cid shrugged. "Either he ran out of magic energy, was here too long, or was just plain tired and felt like it. I like the chances of that third choice." Seeing the look on Talon's face, he added, "Don't worry, he's done it before…its not like he's dead or anything."
The word "dead" echoed through Talon's head. He whipped around, saw the crumpled shapes of Wakka and Kimahri lying in the dirt, and bowed his head. Auron walked to him like this happened every day. "Do not worry. They will be well kept by the Arestolites…again. There was no doubt at the beginning of this journey that we would suffer losses…and there is no doubt now that we will suffer more."
Talon nodded and turned away. Everyone was there now, and had taken in the scene. Wayne approached Talon and patted him on the back. "C'mon. We should go."
Talon nodded. "I want to get this quest over with. Let's go, and this time, we stay together." Auron chuckled slightly, and they all began to walk. Talon lagged to the back, torn between going on and giving the two warriors proper burials. He silently cast a Fira on each of them, so that their remains might be scattered across the wasteland that they were killed upon.
His stomach felt as if it were made of iron. His head seemed to fall forward automatically, and his eyes were attached to the ground. He walked on, toward the still distant mountain.
Chapter 7
Panting with rage, Talon stuck his sword into the ground, drew the holy sword and stuck it into the ground, took off his rarely-used shield and threw it to the ground, and then roared with all his might, until his lungs were about to burst from lack of air, and then he drew a deep breath and collapsed. A minute later, when he had summoned enough energy to sit up and look around, he realized everyone was staring at him, half in awe, half because they thought he was insane.
Bahamut stood up and approached him. "You're raving mad. I like you." Talon grinned.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a yell, and Barret came flying out of the valley, his gun blasting him off the ground. He landed inches from Talon, before screwing his face up in concentration, putting his hand in the air, and healing everyone with a single spell. Though he too was healed, he passed out from the effort.
Bahamut shook his head. "Idiot. I could've done that," he said to Talon.
Bahamut flicked his wrist at Barret, who woke immediately and stood up. "Thank you," he said. "We'd better go soon, Talon. We need to get to the Castle quick before something else decides to attack us."
Talon laughed. "You don't want to be attacked? I need to fight more!" Since he had been rejuvenated from Barret's spell, he was full of energy and needed to fight. "I want a fight!" he roared. His voice echoed across the canyon, until it faded completely.
Bahamut smirked at him. "If you wish to risk it, I will spar with you. But I cannot use my regular physical attack, for it would kill you instantly, so…" he turned and approached Cloud, who was helping Cid to his feet. "May I use your sword to spar with Talon, Cloud?"
"Yes, of course, but only if you'll heal Cid. He's a tad wasted after summoning all of his summons and then hitting Limit Break, even after being healed by Barret." Bahamut flicked his wrist at Cid, who blinked and stood up. Bahamut turned and picked up Cloud's sword, which had been flung by the fire.
He turned back to Talon. "Right." He walked into the clearing near the cave, and Talon followed him. They both tensed for battle. "Here we go. Good luck, Talon."
Talon put up a hand. "Wait. If you use a weaker weapon, then so do I." He flung his flaming sword toward the camp, where it fell with the blade in the campfire, which roared to life, giving them light. He drew the holy blade. "Let's go."
At that moment, the very first of the battle, Bahamut did what Talon least expected, and instead of charging at him, fired a quickly charged Fire spell, which Talon barely dodged. As soon as his feet hit firm ground, another Fire spell rushed at him. Talon once again leaped aside, and once again Bahamut fired a spell. Talon leaped over this one, and when Bahamut fired the next spell, Talon twisted in the air, hitting it with his sword, and it flew back towards Bahamut. It hit him straight in the chest, and he stumbled and fell.
"Right. Again!" He stood up and raised the blade. He leaped at Talon. Talon had been expecting this. He leaped aside, his sword in front of him ready to block a spell, and then jumped to avoid the weak Thunder spell that Bahamut shot. He came down on top of Bahamut, hitting him in the neck with the flat of the blade in a sideways swing. Bahamut fell to his knees.
"Once more." He jumped to his feet. Talon thrust his sword straight at him, but this time it was he who leapt aside, and when Talon swung the sword around at him, he dodged it. He began to run incredibly fast around Talon, who calmly closed his eyes, using the trick Master Tang had used so many times when sparring with him. All his senses sharpened. He could hear the exact position of Bahamut, somewhere to his left. He thrust the sword low, and opened his eyes to see that Bahamut had tripped, and had his face buried in the dirt. He stood up once again.
"You are indeed a mighty warrior, brave Talon. You easily countered me in magic, power, and stealth. Dually note that I could have easily killed you, by combining any two of the three together, say, if I had been firing spells at you while I was running. But in basic combat, you are a master."
Talon grinned. "I had a hunch you were being easy on me. Using Fire instead of Firaga or Flare…I should be insulted."
Bahamut shrugged. "I didn't want to kill you. Would you rather I had?" Talon shook his head. "I didn't think so. Come," he said to the group. "We must go."
Talon realized everyone had been watching the fight with interest, now knowing that their Chosen one was indeed strong (which was not what they had thought originally). He awkwardly backed up Bahamut's statement. "Yeah, c'mon, let's go!" He motioned for them to follow and began to walk, feeling stupid.
Cid caught up with him. "So…what'd Leviathan have to say?" he said quietly.
Talon could've sworn his heart stopped. "Uh…nothing! Why do you ask?"
Cid grinned. "Whatever you say."
Talon awkwardly tried to change the subject. "So, uh…with you on our side, nothing can stop us! Bahamut can annihilate anything!" Cid nodded. "Not to mention Cloud's Summons. They were pretty good. But is there a Fire Summon? If there's Ice and Thunder, then is there a Fire Summon?"
Cid opened his mouth to speak, but Wayne approached and interrupted. "Yes, there is. Ifrit, or Jinn, is the most powerful of the elemental summons. Who belongs to has been a mystery to this day, to most people." He grinned. "But as for me…" He opened his hand, and a bright red ball sat in it. "I know exactly who he belongs to."
Cloud, who had been wandering about behind them, gave a yell of surprise and ran up to Wayne. He pointed at him, his mouth flapping, but no sound came out. He finally managed to string some words together into a sentence. "You…are the holder of Ifrit? I have been looking for him for years! How did you come by him?"
Wayne shrugged. "He was passed down through my family. My father battled against Leif with him, until he was grievously wounded and passed him on to me."
Cloud tore at his hair, crying in anguish. "Who was your father?"
Wayne shrugged. "The name would mean nothing to you. He was a simpleminded sorcerer."
"You'd be surprised. What was his name?"
"Kain."
Cloud jumped. "KAIN? The legendary Dragoon Knight? He lived at least 4,000 years ago!"
Wayne laughed. "I've never heard of that Kain. No, my father was a sorcerer, not a fighter or a Dragoon Knight."
Cloud's surprise faded quickly, to a look of embarrassment. "Oh. Sorry. What about your mother, then? Did she fight at all?"
Wayne grinned. "My mother was a legend where I came from. She was a general, a sorceress, and not bad of a warrior. Her name was Celes."
This name seemed to echo through Talon's mind. Something deep inside his head knew that name, but he could not place it. He turned to look at Wayne. "Celes…I know that name. I can't say where…but I know that name from somewhere."
Wayne shrugged. "You probably heard it from that Tang guy. He was talking about the stories he tells before we found Barda."
Talon shook his head, and gazed at the mountains ahead, lost in thought. Next to him, Cloud was doing the same.
Finally, Tifa broke the monotony. She approached from behind and tapped Talon on the shoulder. "We've got a bit of a situation. Kimahri heard something, and he, Auron, and Wakka ran off. They haven't returned yet…" Her voice trailed off as Talon stopped and slowly turned.
"We have to find them. We need to backtrack as quickly as possible. They may be in great danger!" His face remained calm, but his voiced cracked with obvious fear.
Tifa cocked her head at him. "Something wrong?"
Talon shivered slightly. "Yes. Something's wrong. Something is very wrong. Oh, god, I didn't think –"
Tifa cut him off. "WHAT? What's so bad?"
Talon stared at her, horrified. "Doom Gaze. I saw him coming towards us earlier. I thought we would pass him, but the fools had to go back and investigate…they're goners if we don't hurry! Come on!" He began to run.
Everyone was lost behind him as he ran at top speed. In training, Talon had been known for his agility. Soon everyone was far behind him.
Suddenly, everything seemed to darken. Talon cried out, "NO!" and put all power he could muster into his legs as everything brightened again. In his mind, Talon knew that Doom Gaze had just killed one of the three warriors. That flash was the spell Doom. That accursed bird would kill them all unless they could hurt him enough, and quickly.
There was another flash of darkness. Talon cried out in frustration, and passed over the crest of a hill. As he looked down to the bottom of the hill, he saw the gigantic bird-like form of Doom Gaze. In front of him were Wakka and Auron, who were knelt over the strewn body of Kimahri. Talon cried out and leapt with all his might, landing next to Auron, stumbling, and then straightening up. "What are you doing? We must fight the bird before he kills us all!"
Wakka cast him an annoyed look. "If ya haven't already noticed, brudda, da bird is not a threat for da moment." He turned back to Kimahri.
It took a couple seconds for Wakka's words to sink in. He turned his head, and gasped. Now that he was looking at the bird more closely, he realized it had turned to stone.
"But – how did you – why – what – how'd you do that?" Talon spluttered.
Wakka laughed. "Break, brudda. It's one of my few spells. Turned that thing to stone, but it got Kimahri before I could."
Talon still did not relax. "Kimahri's dead, Wakka. The spell Doom Gaze used was Doom. It kills the target."
Auron nodded. "He's right. Kimahri has no pulse. He's dead."
Wakka slammed his fist into the ground and growled. "Ah well. We gotta finish this thing off. It should be restored in a few seconds."
Talon jumped. "Be ready to fight! We have to hurt it a lot in a short time, or it will take more of us!"
At that moment, there was a loud thud behind him as Bahamut, carrying Cid and Cloud, landed behind them. Bahamut shook his passengers off him, and then looked at Talon. "We will fight with you. I believe that if I am here, we can kill him for good."
Talon shook his head. "We can try, but I don't think so…he is an incredibly powerful creature. He will just be forced to flee."
Bahamut shrugged. "So be it. Let's just beat it to a pulp and be done with it." He smirked.
In the light of Kimahri's death, Talon could not bring himself to smile back. "I'll wait to the side. If one of you falls, I'll step in."
Bahamut shook his head. "No. We need our most powerful warriors. It will be you, me, and Wakka." He turned to Cid. "You step in if someone falls."
Cid nodded grimly, and slouched off to the side, followed by Auron. The three remaining prepared themselves for battle, each preparing different sorts of attacks. Bahamut placed his hands to his side, charging a Flare spell. Talon held his sword behind him, charging a Fira (or, as he now knew, a Firaga). Wakka…did nothing.
Suddenly, there was a white flash of light, and Doom Gaze got its color back and began to move. It shook itself off, and then cocked its head at Wakka, his eye gleaming oddly.
Bahamut dropped his guard. "This thing's dangerous? It's actually kind of cute…" his voice trailed off and he grinned. "Must I kill it?"
Talon's eyes widened. "Fool! Put your guard up! Attack him!" He himself was almost done charging his attack.
Bahamut shook his head. "No, seriously, what can this thing do?" Suddenly, there was a flash of black light, and Wakka crumpled to the ground.
"NO!" Talon and Auron yelled together. Auron leaped forward, wielding his sword, which was glowing black. He drank from the flask at his hip, and spat it on his blade. He leaped forward, high above Doom Gaze, landing behind it. He thrust his sword into the ground, and the four black balls sprung from the black hole created. All four slammed into Doom Gaze, eating their way in and out of him, and the bird fell to the ground, twitching helplessly.
As it began to regain its footing, Bahamut (who was serious now) stepped forward and performed an attack much like the one he used on Zeromus, twisting in midair to slash him four times, then firing a fully charged Flare. Doom gaze was encased in a gigantic orange ball, and from it came a muffled explosion. The ball faded, and the bird fell out of it, striking the ground and beginning to twitch once again. This time, Bahamut launched himself off of a rock and slashed the bird yet again, before continuing backwards.
Talon, his blade glowing an eerie brown, leaped as high as his legs would let him, seemed to float in midair for a few seconds, then came down holding his sword below him, and then adjusted himself so that it seemed like he was diving at the bird. Just before he came down, the Firaga spell burst from his blade, a gigantic meteor, that slammed into Doom Gaze just as Talon struck with his sword. The force of the explosion launched him backwards, where he landed, stumbled, flipped, and regained his footing. He looked up at the bird to see that it was on the brink of death, but was looking at him oddly. Its eye gleamed oddly at him. Struck with fear, Talon found that he could not move. His journey was over…he was about to die. Again. He braced himself.
Suddenly, there was a cry from somewhere to his right, and when he looked, he saw Tifa standing on the crest of the hill, holding a gray ball in her hand. She threw it, and it landed between the bird and Talon, where it expanded, becoming a bright blue creature, who waved a hand and disappeared. Tifa laughed in triumph, as Talon sat helplessly.
At that very moment, four things happened in very short order. There was a flash of black light, a gust of wind, a flash of blue light, and a tortured cry from Doom Gaze. When Talon lowered his arm (he had raised it to his eyes after the flash of light) he saw that the bird was once again on the ground, but it wasn't moving.
There was a thud, and Bahamut collapsed next to him. He glowed blue, until he was just a mass of bright blue light. The light seemed to shatter, and the pieces formed a blue ball. A hole into the Void opened, and the ball rolled into it. There was a snap as the hole shut.
There was another thud as Tifa landed next to him. She extended a hand, which Talon took gratefully. Once he was on his feet, he swayed drunkenly and knelt, leaning on his sword, panting. "I used all my energy on that Firaga…I can't even stand."
Barret, who came panting over the hill, knelt beside him and put a hand on his back. Talon suddenly felt relieved, and stood up, his strength returned. He looked at Cid. "What happened to Bahamut?"
Cid shrugged. "Either he ran out of magic energy, was here too long, or was just plain tired and felt like it. I like the chances of that third choice." Seeing the look on Talon's face, he added, "Don't worry, he's done it before…its not like he's dead or anything."
The word "dead" echoed through Talon's head. He whipped around, saw the crumpled shapes of Wakka and Kimahri lying in the dirt, and bowed his head. Auron walked to him like this happened every day. "Do not worry. They will be well kept by the Arestolites…again. There was no doubt at the beginning of this journey that we would suffer losses…and there is no doubt now that we will suffer more."
Talon nodded and turned away. Everyone was there now, and had taken in the scene. Wayne approached Talon and patted him on the back. "C'mon. We should go."
Talon nodded. "I want to get this quest over with. Let's go, and this time, we stay together." Auron chuckled slightly, and they all began to walk. Talon lagged to the back, torn between going on and giving the two warriors proper burials. He silently cast a Fira on each of them, so that their remains might be scattered across the wasteland that they were killed upon.
His stomach felt as if it were made of iron. His head seemed to fall forward automatically, and his eyes were attached to the ground. He walked on, toward the still distant mountain.