Disclaimer: Well, my evil twin said it was hers. Now I'm the one in trouble.

I stopped playing FFX-2 for the time being. I'm hooked on Final Fantasy: Unlimited...It's sweet. I

also bought a PSX so I can play FFVII and FFVIII and Chrono Cross again. I know, I'm hopeless.

I've been trying to set up my account for FFXI, but my ethernet connection doesn't want to go

through. Damn it...

Chapter 20

Mikoto hiked up her long skirt, trying valiantly to keep up with the running Blank. However,

the dress she wore did not aid her in ease of movement. It didn't help that she couldn't see her own

feet either, the dense fog covering her footfalls.

Her forehead creased in worry, she still had not seen what had exploded, and sent the

shockwave earlier. The boarded up homes that lined the narrow streets obscured her view.

Then the black sky lit up, the tiny red pinpoints that were easily mistaken for stars growing

larger and larger. A festering boil covering the inky ceiling in red.

The heavens fell.

She stared in horror as fireballs crashed into the buildings around her. The structures exploding

violently outward, flames consuming the homes in a fiery flood. She vaguely heard the frightened

screams as the citizens of Alexandria fled the inferno. Their forms disappearing into the silent darkness

beyond the circle of fire.

Mikoto continued to run, trying to shut out the raw fear that permeated the air. It was choking

her, like breathing underwater. Filling her lungs, and spreading throughout her body as if she had a

fever. The overwhelming fear...

She gripped her head as the strangling feeling intensified. Gasping for air, struggling against the

onslaught of emotion. She must shut out the fear, the fear... The FEAR!!!

She couldn't stop it, it was too strong. Mikoto fell to her knees, her eyes squeezed shut. She

shook her head trying against hope to stem the tide of fear. A tidal wave crashing against her. She

breathed heavily with the effort of it.

The fog around her reached out. Sending ghostly tendrils up her arms and caressing her in it's

deathly hold. Drawing her into it's insanity. The seemingly weak hold effectively keeping her in place.

"Mikoto?" asked a familiar, yet incredibly faraway voice.

She was withdrawing deeper, the fear crowding herself further and further inward. She felt

herself becoming smaller, more insignificant against the growing fear.

"Mikoto!?" further now...

It was a voice, far away, somewhere in the distance. It faded, like her sense of herself. Lost in

the depths of her mind.

"Mikoto!"

The last thing she heard as she faded away. Replaced by an endless ocean of fear. A tiny

island cast adrift amid a stormy sea.

Lost within the recesses of her mind.

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Then in a flash, all was better. Mikoto opened her eyes, confused. The fear was gone.

The explosions still filled the city, but they seemed distant, disjointed. As if the sounds did not

match up with the visual.

She wondered were Blank was, and why he didn't stay. It hurt her to think he just took off

with blatant disregard to her well being. Besides, it seemed so unlike him.

"MikOTO?"

She turned at the sound, the strange overlapping of a voice. The thief was there, but not facing

her. He knelt down, his attention focused on something just out of her sight. She frowned in growing

confusion.

"MIKoto? Are YOU alRIGHT?"

The genome stepped forward, ready to reassure him, but stopped suddenly. Unable to believe

what she saw in front of her.

Her body was laying limply on the cobblestone ground.

Her eyes grew wide as she fought the uncharacteristic urge to scream. Was she dead?

She was transfixed on the sight before her, not noticing her surroundings. Her slight body

unmoving. The drab dress she had worn was twisted around her legs, and soaked from the tepid water

covering the ground.

Having trouble focusing, she tried to control her rapid breathing. Actually it was more like

hyperventilating. I can't be dead, how could I have died? It isn't possible...

"I can't be dead," she whispered aloud to herself. More of a reassurance than anything else.

She looked back to the thief, he was still hunched over her still body, trying in vain to revive

her. Finally, he made a frustrated noise and picked her up, her wet dress soaking his arm and side.

Her head was nestled into his shoulder, her face peaceful. He headed towards the castle, his slow

steps betraying the effort it toke him to carry her.

She wasn't heavy, but Blank wasn't exactly Mr. Universe either. His build more lithe than

muscular. Something she had noticed recently to her growing embarrassment. She nearly had a blush

on her cheeks by the time he turned a corner.

Suddenly, she shivered, a freezing chill passed down her spine. She looked up to see an

apparition pass through her.

The spirit was sobbing, holding it's ghastly arms around it's transparent form.

Mikoto stepped back, taking a better look around herself. The spirits were all around her.

Coming out of the debris that was once homes. Fading in and out as they floated down the streets.

Many were crying, some shouting, and some just hovered there, watching her with lifeless eyes.

Looking at, but not really seeing what was in front of them. Some specters traveled upwards, drawn to

some unseen place. Mikoto followed one with her eyes, high into the sky.

But it was not a sky, rather a twisted mass of souls. The mingling colors glowed faintly,

bathing the shadow Alexandria in a sickening yellow. Churning and bubbling like a witch's potion in the

cauldron of the sky.

She felt them call out to her, their pain and suffering seemed to envelope her. Offering false

solace. She huddled back, not wanting the fake comfort, the lies.

Suddenly frightened of the oblivion of death.

She was not ready to just fade away.

-----------------------------------------------

Mikoto wandered the streets of Alexandria. The lanes engulfed by a twilight zone feel. She

wanted to get back to her body, but had no idea how. Perhaps she could just jump back in.

It was worth a shot.

She sighed, sidestepping a passing ghost. What did she do to deserve this? It seemed like

everything and anything was happening to her these days. When did her life get so interesting?

Alexandrian soldiers rushed by just as one of the still intact buildings exploded. Most got out of

the way in time, but one did not. The woman's body was crushed under a falling support beam with a

sickening thud.

After a few moments a new specter rose from the ashes, shouting angrily at herself. She then

collapsed into a weeping heap. Sending waves of sorrow from her wretched form.

The genome turned away, unable to watch as another fell.

And another and another.

The fireballs claimed the souls of Alexandria. The avenues were filled with their otherworldly

moans and sobs. Crying out in a tormented symphony of pain. She knew the sound would haunt her

nightmares to come.

She adamantly refused to believe she was dead, she just needed to get to her body. Mikoto

hurried to the castle, trying to ignore the pull of the dead surrounding her. The feeling of dead weight on

her chest, over her heart. A deep ache.

Then the fiery rain stopped. A silence traveling from the living world to the dead.

Great white wings blocked the vault of the sky. Downy feathers covering the ground in a snow

on grey ash. Garnet must have summoned Alexander. It's great mechanical legs pulsed, and creaked

slightly as the behemoth crouched to defend it's city. It's holy purpose.

Alexandria lay sheltered under the wings of a mechanized angel.

The wings quivered slightly as the bombardment continued. Large spots of heat and light

appeared through the ivory feathers. But Alexander remained firm and steadfast.

Mikoto inwardly cheered, Alexandria would be saved.

She watched as the sounds of explosions drifted farther and farther away. Not noticing the

dense fog still around her feet. In the living world the fog undulated in waves, the floating substance

becoming thicker and more substantial at each passing second. Mikoto started at the sudden solidness

of the fog around her legs, looking through the haze that separated the two worlds.

The fog, no she realized with a moment of clarity, the Mist, shot upwards. Mirroring the falling

of fire beyond Alexander's wings. Fire and water, coming together at the conjunction of all light, white.

The Mist twisted together, condensing into orbs right underneath the inside of the feathery

expanse. Colors appeared through the spheres, the explosions setting the turquoise, magenta and

canary yellow in stark relief.

Then they fell. Expanding into Mist monsters, they tumbled and crashed into the ground. Great

silver wings appearing, their forms reminiscent of the wings of Alexander. But it was not the wings of a

silver dragon, as she first had thought. No this beast was larger, more menacing. Plumes came off of

it's head as it's four wings beat a rhythmic tune amid the battle cries of smaller creatures. It's hardened

claws shone like diamond in the twilight.

And it was headed towards the castle.

------------------------------------------------------

Mikoto followed the beast, ignoring the Mistodons and other such monsters around her. The

creature came to a halt in the center square of Alexandria. For standing there, with weapons drawn,

were Beatrix and Steiner, ready to protect the castle. Both had a hard edge to their faces, their bodies

tense with anticipation of the upcoming fight.

"BeaTRIX, dear, WOULD you liKe the HONors?"

"I DO beLIEve IT is yOur tURn, ADELbert."

"As YOU wIsh."

Their voices were distorted, but they could not even hope to hear her. She tried to warn them,

warn them of the danger this creature seemed to posses. Where Mikoto was she could literally see the

evil, malevolent forces coming from the beast. Alas, they could not hear her.

Steiner raised is sword, Excalibur, high into the air. Then rushed at the dragon-beast. He

swung horizontally, slicing into the dragon's side. But, that didn't happen. The powerful sword merely

glanced off the side of the beast's unnaturally hard armor. If the captain was surprised, he didn't show

it. Instead he tried slashing the creature's wing, and this time it went through. Dark red, nearly black,

blood cursed out. Dyeing the nearby fountain's water crimson. The wing fragments fell to the ground,

splintered bone shards made tinkling noises as the fell on the stone.

The creature's claw came up, cutting three deep gouges into Steiner's armor. The razor sharp

points going through the steel. Steiner winced in pain, his own blood pouring in rivulets out of the

wound. Mikoto heard Beatrix scream, the sounds very near. The captain kneeled on one knee,

holding up the sword in a defensive position. However, the dragon just slashed at the metal, cutting it

into four pieces.

The last thing Steiner saw was the fierce glowing eyes of his killer.

The monster's fangs cut into Steiner's torso, lifting him off the ground. Then flinging him across

the courtyard. A bloody heap.

"ADELBERT!!!"

Beatrix was wild eyed with fury, her body started to glow around her. She was going into

Trance? Streams of energy rippled from the swordswoman, clawing at the unfortunate creature. The

dragon roared, the cry echoing the wails of the dead. Blood spurted from it's eyes and nose, then it's

mouth, a waterfall of one's life blood. It made a strangled noise, drowning in the black substance. The

general started hacking at the beast, not caring that it was already dead. Her love avenged.

"Beatrix..." said a melancholy voice beside her.

Mikoto looked to see the haunted eyes of the late Captain of the Knights of Pluto of

Alexandria. He was a specter now, his form transparent and chilling. Saddened eyes, dimmed by the

horror of agony and death stared back at her, "Are you dead too?"

The genome looked surprised, "No, I do not think so."

"So I really am dead."

"I am sorry."

He shook his head, "No, tell Beatrix that I....that I am sorry. And that I never would of left her

if I had a choice. She's the world to me... Please, I'll never see her again. Will you do this for me, if

you're not dead and stuck here?"

Mikoto nodded solemnly, she would leave this limbo.

Beatrix stopped her mutilation of the beast with a resigned sigh and went to Steiner's side,

cradling his head in her lap, "AdelBERT... why DID you leAVE? YOU just haD to GO and Get

YOURself kiLLED," she paused tears coming to her eyes, "Why NOW? WHY...why whEn

EVERythING we eVer WANTed is FINallY here?"

"Beatrix..." whispered a low voice next to her.

The general furiously wiped her eyes, as she clasped Steiner's hand within her own, "I had

WANTed to SURprisE you, WoulDN'T IT have SURprised EVERyBODY? AND now...DAMN

you ADELbert."

"I'm so sorry, my love."

"I bet YOU'D be APOLOgizing now," she laughed with no humor in her voice, "BUT, it is

MY tURn to ApoloGIZE....I am SORRy for TreaTING yoU so BADly aLL thoSE YEArs ago.."

"I have long since forgiven you, dearest."

Beatrix shut her eyes, the pain visible in the grim set of her mouth, "And," her voice low, "I

WANted to THAnk YOU...for All of THE happINEss you'VE giVEN me."

"The happiness I received from you surpasses that tenfold."

She stroked Steiner's still warm cheek, "GOODbye, love...FROm bOTH of US."

The man next to her was nearly in tears, "Farewell, dear Beatrix."

Mikoto silently walked away as Steiner enveloped Beatrix in his ghostly hold. A final embrace.

-----------------------------------------------------------

The genome was the only person headed into the castle. Everyone else was hurrying out, going to

fight the Mist monsters that terrorized the city. Mikoto was annoyed, she had tired to pass by the

infinite number of bodies, but at every juncture the press of bodies was overwhelming. She didn't feel

at all comfortable passing through other people. It was too otherworldly.

Alexander still shielded the city, it's massive legs created craters nearby the castle. And now

some of the other summons could be seen flying outside the castle windows. Bahamut, on it's great

wings, was tearing the flying monsters out of the sky. The mangled forms falling into the streets below.

Odin, the messenger of death, rode around on it's wild horse, striking down whatever was within reach.

Shiva, Ramuh, and Ifrit were there as well, sending beams of ice, lightening, and fire respectively. She

wondered if Ark and Leviathan were there, she couldn't see them. Atomos most likely wouldn't make

an appearance, it's attacks would suck up everything in sight.

Such a great power, the eidolons. Mikoto was glad there were only two summoners left.

She finally made it past the never ending flow of guards and soldiers. Now to find her body,

she was sick of this limbo. She spotted Zidane, shouting and generally making noise. Garnet was

nowhere to be seen, probably off in a safe place from which she could summon without interruption. It

took lots of concentration to summon so many.

"...SOME guy wiTH a Belt ON his HEAd...YEAH, scrEAMing aBOUT some CHICK..."

Mikoto listened to the guards, apparently Blank has gone that way, with her body. She went

down the passage way, weaving in and out of the continuous stream of people. She spotted the

redhead next to Amarant and Lani, her body on a couch in the hallway with them..

"What HAPPenED?"

While the bounty hunters asked the thief about her, she quickly gathered her courage and

reached her hand out to her still chest. She was barely breathing. The tips of her fingers disappeared

into her torso, and she could feel it, her hands inside of her chest. Spines, like fingers, delved inward,

jolting her back.