Hybrid Awakening
'…ve all have ze different side to us, merely when it chooses to awaken iz ze difference!!'
-Doctor Odine, unpublished notebook
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Timber, Square
Zanarkand snarled as his sharp blade carved through monster carapace as easily as it had air, and the lethal weapon slammed down full force on the Wendigo's skull, cutting the monster's brain neatly into two. Before waiting for his attack to finish, he had flung out a hand and called upon his GF from his mind.
Bahamut appeared amidst a tidal force of air, and unleashed his hellish fury upon the hapless monsters, clearing a way for Zanarkand to engage his Blitzkrieg, a most powerful Limit Break, where he spun around in deadly strikes, dealing out damage to all around him before cutting across the targets with an 'X' shaped Cross Cut.
While the young man was a blur of power, Zaon was using a far simpler, but no less deadly method. Using his prodigious strength and the weight of his massive blade, he simply knocked each one of the monsters around him away to deal with later. As one such monster, an Adamantoise, was knocked to land on its back, Zaon leapt onto its underside and cast a Flare behind him, propelling the monster with him on it forwards, Masamune outstretched, dealing death as it passed through the monsters like a hot knife through butter.
Anzu was far more cautious about their allies in the data central, holding back to shoot down any monsters that got close enough to be a threat. The Intel Officers were raising several different frequencies, asking for backup in the event that they were overrun. Despite all of the countermeasures and their presence in the Square, Anzu knew that the monsters were just too many to drive off. Her Supreme Bullet attack took down two monsters with a bullet to their craniums while another was blown to bits by her GF.
Zaon grit his teeth and ploughed through the monsters, "There's-too-many of them. We'll never make it."
Over the ferocious cries of the beasts and the sounds of fighting, Zanarkand hollered back. "We need to pull back! Zaon, are you listening!?"
"NO WAY! I'm not gonna pass this chance up and defy orders! I'm sticking to this spot until help comes-or otherwise!"
Zanarkand cursed under his breath and flung his sword into the throng of monsters in an extremely risky move that left him unarmed for several moments. The blade spun through the monsters, dishing out hurt on all sides. Hurt that was not easily forgotten, as the monsters all turned to him who had injured their comrades so.
What the hell? Monsters can't assess the situation!
His hand flew to his back pocket, where he drew a Bomb Core from, and junctioned all his Firagas to his Elemental Defence Slots. "Take this!"
The resulting explosion cleared a path long enough for him to rush through and retrieve Caladbolg. Immediately, he found himself encircled within impossible numbers of the creatures, which closed in, casting Curaga on their brethren.
"Shit."
**********
Quistis flew high in the air onboard a SeeD attack copter, one of the three that were deployed from Garden and now launched missiles into the flock of Thrustaveis that swarmed them. She recoiled slightly as the copter shredded the fiends with its rotor blades, but losing altitude as the influx of monster parts jammed the motors, which let out a high pitched whine as they fought to re-establish levitation.
"Dammit, main engines jammed. Stabilizers failing, impact imminent. Instructor, we need to evacuate."
Quistis nodded, and gestured for the others to jump off first. She needed to buy them some time to cut through the monsters.
Shiva, hear my call.
The Ice goddess materialized beside Quistis, standing two feet taller than her and looking rather large in the cramped cockpit. "Mistress, what do you wish of me?"
"Create a column of ice from the ground, and aim at those monsters. The other will be able to escape easier that way, including those with no Float spells."
Shiva vanished, and soon after her disappearance, a fifty metre long column of ice speared up, impaling several monsters and sending them shrieking to the ground. From her peripheral vision, Quistis saw several of her SeeDs leap onto the pillar and slide down with the expert agility that only an experienced SeeD possessed. Her objective met, Quistis punched the button that opened the thick glass cockpit and leapt out, mentally recalling Shiva to her mind.
"Float!"
The bubble of air wrapped around her, and she felt her descent slowing…guided by the spell as it reshaped air to form a cushion beneath her, not unlike that of a hovercraft. Within five minutes, she was past the cloud of monsters and on the ground, watching the chopper carve a fiery streak through the air as it exploded in mid-flight, clearing the skies of monsters.
On the ground, the battle was no less severe. She had landed in the square, and made her way hurriedly towards the data central. "Intel team, pack up and Evac! Relocate to the train station! Squad B, get out of here!"
A tall young man wielding a massive katana yelled back in defiance. "Not a chance ma'am! We stay to cover their retreat!"
Another cadet who gripped a light sword fought his way towards Quistis, and she saw that his left arm was wounded badly, hanging limp by his side. From the way he held his teeth, she knew it was serious. "Instructor, we'll cover you guys. Just-damn-get the hell out!"
Even as he spoke from behind gritted teeth, Quistis saw the Intel Officers dash out, under the cover fire of another cadet. She could not suppress a tinge of sadness that they would lose some very good cadets, but the beseeching look that the blade cadet gave her made up her mind. "Very well, Cadet…" she glanced at his nametag. "Zanarkand, and team leader Zaon. Your dedication shall be remembered."
It was halfway back to the train when she decided there were enough deaths.
"SeeD members, follow me. Move out and secure the Square."
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Zanarkand slashed like a man possessed, and fought so ferociously that hi blade was singing as it clove through the air and blazed from the Firaga he cast upon the titanium steel. Enhanced by the magic, the blade was a deadly beam of red-hot light as it seared limbs from monsters. Zaon unleashed Break after Break, rendering the monsters all but useless against the hail of bullets that soon followed from Anzu's gun.
Despite all their efforts, the fiends soon had them cornered, and Zanarkand had his back pressed against Zaon's and Anzu's as they all gasped for air, surrounded and without hope. Anzu was a deathly sheet of white as she spoke.
"Well guys…I guess…that…our tale ends here."
Zanarkand made no move except to tighten his one good arm's grip on the sword but he agreed with Anzu's not-so-optimistic projection. Zaon was shaking his head in disbelief. "Anzu…I'm sorry I got you into this mess."
The monsters which had been encircling them, as though to test their strength, sent a trio of Chimeras out to attack. Zanarkand slashed through them, but heard Zaon say something.
"Anzu…if I didn't ask you to join SeeD, this would never have happened. I'm sorry….what your parent must think of me now..."
"Hey, I wanted to come too! It wasn't your fault, and besides-"
Zanarkand slew the last Chimera and turned his attention to the remaining monsters, but not before he heard Anzu say. "I had a nice time with you guys."
Futile.
This was all futile, if everyone was to die in the end.
Zanarkand gathered the inner power of his soul, and shaped it into a being, not even consciously aware of what he was doing. All he knew was rage, rage at the futility of everything in life; his being born into the world, only to be enslaved and punished cruelly by his uncle, the futility of joining SeeD, the futility of everything.
He leapt out in a sudden move that caught even himself off guard and sliced through the monsters. "What's all this talk about death!? Do you want everything to just go to hell?"
"I don't know about you guys, but I will not allow everything to be in vain. At least we got the Intel Officers out, and now, let's get ourselves out!"
They stood there for a moment, watching mutely as the boy with the broken arm fight his way through the monsters, as though he was possessed.
And indeed he was.
**********
Zanarkand stood within himself, peering into a mist of colour, and seeing the world rather differently. He saw himself fighting, far better than he could have ever dreamed of, and was not making any conscious thought of fighting.
This was very strange.
Very, very strange.
Hello, Zanarkand.
He spun around, and realized that he was talking to himself. Well, in a sort of way. He was inside himself, and the other guy in control of himself was talking to him.
A mirror image of him stood before him, with the same blue hair which projected forwards for about three inches in a fringe before curving with sharp right angles down to either side of his head. (think anime)
"Who-who the hell are you!?"
I am you, or rather, a part of you. I am the one who keeps you within the world, the one who ensures you do not fade away like destiny foretold you would.
Instantly, images from a not-so-distant past flashed within his head. He saw a young boy, covered with blood from numerous gashes and cuts being transferred to the emergency room in a hospital, staining the floor red with his crimson life. His eyes were shut, and he murmured deliriously.
Zanarkand recoiled in horror as the scene resembled one from his own memory, where he had been rushed to the hospital by concerned neighbours after his lashing. That was the lashing that had cut deep wounds into his back, and the last thing he remembered after that was being covered with his own blood.
"I-I nearly died."
Wrong. You died. However, a part of you wished to keep on living so badly, and added to the Phoenix Pinion used by the medical staff, I was born from that combination. I am your anger. I am your repent. I am your deepest desires, which you keep hidden behind that mask of politeness the world knows as Shinken Zanarkand.
Zanarkand did not believe his ears. However, watching himself fight like a demon, he was forced to concede that it was not his normal style.
"So, what do you wish of me?"
I shall appear to you, in the times when you require me most. You will remember nothing of this, save the next time we meet. My duty here is done, and I believe you are now safe with an Instructor.
So saying, he felt himself coming to, remembering nothing of the past few minutes, and with Quistis by his side. Losing all energy, he fell to the ground, and was not worried somehow, by the cries of the others.
The darkness was inviting.
It always had been.
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A/N: It's getting longer! The chapters are getting longer!!!!!
Okay, thanks to all, and does Squall really seem to like Melanie? I didn't really think of that, only them as friends….or more later on.
Anyway, the next chapter will be about the other FFVIII characters!!!