Hey all, again. I see no one has reviewed.... *sigh* No one likes us anymore.... ;_;

Vit: Yes they do! ^____^

Sephira: ..... You're too cheerful.... -_-

Vit: ^_____^

Disclaimer: We don't own FF9 or anything to do with it. Lovely, lovely Squaresoft does, bless them. ^^ But, we have rights to our own creations. ^^

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- ~Chapter 12~

Silent for a moment, Terisas then bowed. "As you wish, child. Shall I send for my pet to comfort you?" When she didn't answer, he shrugged and left the room, shutting her in.

As he emerged into the hallway, he saw that Angel was leaning on the opposite wall, arms crossed. "You hurt her, didn't you?" he asked, moving forward and looking up at Terisas, his eyes angry.

"You need not concern yourself with her, child." Pushing past Angel, Terisas walked away, down the hallway, disappearing into the darkness of the shadows.

Staring as he left, Angel glared, his fists clenched. When he could no longer hear Terisas' footsteps, he whirled around and barged into the room, slamming the door behind him. Rushing to the back of the chamber, he collapsed to his knees beside the huddled girl and gathered her into his arms, holding her protectively.

"Are you okay? Please, I'm so sorry," Angel whispered, trying to comfort Sephira as she sobbed. Finding her hands, he tried to hold them comfortingly, only to release them as quick as he could when she cried out in pain. "What did he do to you?!" he asked in alarm, staring at the blood on his palms, and all over Sephira. Examining her, he winced, seeing the two knife wounds. "I'm so sorry," Angel said again, holding her close once more.

Lost for words, she jerked away from him and curled up, pulling her knees close to herself, shaking. Angel took her wrists, wiping as much blood as he could from her hands. Lookng around for something he could use to bind them to stop the blood flow, he found a length of surgical wrap, which Terisas used in his experiments. Unravelling it, he began to wrap up her hands, carefully and gently. She looked up, her eyes red.

"Please...Leave me..." she said quietly, pulling a bound hand from him and wiping her eyes with the back of her arm. "I want to be left alone..."

"No, I won't leave you alone right now. No, I won't," he murmured, placing his hands on either side of her face, pressing his lips slightly to her forehead.

"Leave me be!" she sobbed, pulling away from him. "Leave me!" Crawling away from him, she turned and rested her face on the cool wall. Looking up, she took her hands off of the cold metal, blood on her palms and the bandages. Her blood dripped down the wall, from where her hands had been stabbed.

Swinging around to look at Angel, who watched her, his eyes sad, she sobbed again, burying her face in her bandaged hands. Angel moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, twining his hands in her hair.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered over and over, trying to stop her from crying. "Please, love, stop your tears." Kissing her forehead, he smoothed her hair with a hand. "It hurts me to see you in pain..."

"Do not call me that..." she muttered, hanging her head.

"Call you what?" he asked, lifting her face with his hand, so he could look her in the eyes. She didn't reply.

Angel blinked, moving away from her and looking like he was thinking. Placing his chin in his hand and shutting his eyes, he bit his lip. Glancing up at her, he narrowed his eyes a little. "You should leave here," he said abruptly.

"Excuse me?" she murmured, cradling her hands.

Gazing at her, he placed a palm on the side of her face. "You need to leave. Terisas will do more than this before he is done...."

"..." She stared at him, swallowing. "How can I trust you?"

He frowned, looking a little hurt. "How can you..." he repeated, "how can you trust me? ...How can you not? I have tried to care for you..."

"You brought me into this predicament..." she reminded him dryly. He smiled a little and shook his head.

"I cannot defy him..." He looked away from her, his eyes a little distant.

"Then why do you now? I know that I am not meant to leave...." She frowned at t him, reaching out and gripping his wrist with a bruising grip. "Why did you even bring me here?!" she cried, wincing at the pain in her hand from clutching him. "Why?!"

"Please... do not ask...." he murmured, trying to shake her off. She only gripped tighter, though it caused her great pain.

"Tell me!" she demanded angrily. He glared at her and forcefully shook her off. Taking her wrists, he held them to stop her from punching him in the face.

"I can't! Can't you just accept that someone wants to help you?" he cried, upset. "I just want to help you! Don't you know that?!"

She remained silent, then looked up. "If you rely on others, you will never make it through this world. If you place everything on someone else, you will end up dead, or worse."

Angel watched her. "I pity you if you think you can get through life that way... I have to make it through that way, but, if I had the choice, I wouldn't..."

She remained silent, moving away from him and huddling up again. He grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. "We are going to get you out of here!"

"Leave me alone!" she cried, trying to pull herself free. "Leave me alone!"

He whirled around and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. "Come on!" When she refused to move, he picked her up, much to her protests, and carried her, as she kicked and screamed in anger.

"Just leave me alone!"

"Be quiet! Quiet!" he cried, getting to the door and trying to open it. When he couldn't, he sighed in exasperation and placed Sephira on the ground, opened the door, picked her up and slung her over his shoulder and set off, her screaming every step of the way.

"Let me down! Leave me alone!"

Throwing her on the ground and pinning her to a wall, he hissed, "Do you want to leave? Get back to your friends?"

She considered this for a couple of moments, then muttered, "Yes..."

"Then let me help you!" he cried. Leaning forward, he placed his forhead on the wall beside her and murmured, "Let me help you out of here... I don't want you hurt anymore than you are..."

Remaining silent, he took it as her unsaid agreement and took her by the wrist and led her off down the hallways of the airship they were on. The torches, set every few feet apart on the walls, gave off an orange glow, throwing everything into an odd illumination. Turning a couple of times, they suddenly heard gun shot and screaming.

"What is happening?" Sephira asked, instinctively grabbing his arm with her hand, though it hurt.

Angel glanced around, his magenta eyes peering through the semi-darkness, trying to see anything suspicious. "I don't really know..." He blinked. "Maybe...maybe it's your friends... We should go towards the fighting. I bet it's them."

"But..." she protested. She didn't want to go towards the fighting...she wanted to get away from it.

"Don't worry. I'll keep you safe."

"...Promise?" she asked quietly. She felt a slight blush rising on her face, and looked away.

"I promise."

She blinked, then followed after him as he followed the sounds of battle. As they neared, the screams became louder, the gun shots and firing rang in their ears. Sephira recognized their voices; it was them.

"Kuja!" she cried, starting forward. Angel held her back.

"Don't!" he warned, his voice a hiss.

"I want to see Kuja!" she yelled, glaring at him. "Let me see Kuja!"

Wrapping a hand around her mouth, Angel muttered incoherantly, taking a step back. "Be quiet. They'll hear us..."

It appeared some of them had. A group of soldiers ran towards them, guns aimed straight at them. Angel threw Sephira behind him, shouting out, "Stop! It is only I! Don't shoot!"

The men halted, one still aiming his weapon at Angel. "Where are you taking her, Angel-Black?"

Angel stared glared defiantly at the man. "I am taking her to Master Terisas..." he hissed, taking Sephira's wrist and taking a step forward. The soldiers parted to let them past. As they did, Sephira saw Kuja, along with Zidane, and Akumu beside them, collapsed on the ground.

"Kuja!" she screamed, breaking free of Angel and running forward.

"Halt!" Without even considering, a soldier fired his gun, shooting her in the back. She cried out and collapsed. Angel turned, furious, and kicked a man as he ran forward to collect the girl. The other soldiers jumped him, and he fought them, kicking and lashing out; he hadn't brought his katanas.

Defeating the men, he turned and stared at Sephira, unconscious on the ground. He took a step forward, then stopped, biting his lip. His fear of Terisas' wrath completely overruled his desire to help her. He wanted to, with all of his power, protect her, but the thoughts of what Terisas might do...

Seeing her blood on the ground, he took another step back, placing a hand over his mouth to stifle a cry of anger towards himself, then turned and strode resolutely off, his wings rustling behind him. He had gone too far already, and, if Terisas knew, he would punish him, and punish him greatly.

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

"Unhappy, Viteros? Not so!"

Akumu snapped her fingers. "Light!"

Banks of lights activated, but it was aimed in crazed directions, making an odd patchwork of light and dark covering the halls. Akumu smiled.

"Game not fair when I having all advantage, no? Genome, Devil, light and dark, Akumu and Khamrask! Die!"

She leapt through the air, sword flashing, disappearing, flashing. Viteros waited until the last second and then spun and landed his heel on her stomach in a brutal back kick. Following through with his spin, he leapt forward into a tornado.

Akumu dodged expertly, using the walls as platforms to leap off of, seemingly flying through the air.

Viteros growled, "You're not getting away from me, Aeris!"

Akumu laughed loudly. "Of all person you knowing chaos powers are, Viteros! Weapon work one, no two! You die!"

"I know you're in there! Aeris!"

Akumu smiled cruelly, but even that was hidden by her mask. She rushed forward, knife aimed straight at the Devil's throat, when suddenly he shouted, "Get back! Tara!"

She froze. Eyes shut, she sank to the ground. The Khamrask withdrew.

Kuja and Zidane hurried up. "What's going on?" asked Zidane, "what did you do to her?"

After a while, Akumu's eyes opened again, and she slowly stood. "I.where.?"

"Tara.let me talk to Aeris," said Viteros softly. "Please."

Akumu nodded slowly, and her eyes shut again. When they opened, those stolen emerald eyes sparkled with that unique glow that only Aeris had. "Viteros?"

"Yeah?"

"You.your friends.they need to know what's happening.what happened to Tara."

Viteros laughed bitterly. "Sadly, no friends. Just.allies in war. And Tara.do you really intend for them to go through that nightmare? You could just tell them!"

"They need to know.they can't really understand unless they go through it!"

"No! You can't just-"

Viteros started forward, but it was too late. Akumu ran forward and gripped Zidane and Kuja tightly, and the three of them froze.

Viteros glared down at the three, crumpled on the floor. "Aeris."

Suddenly, as if by magic, Khamrask appeared. They circled the four, and Viteros glared. "No one is gonna win this fight!" He aimed his gun at Akumu's head. "Freeze or she dies!"

The Khamrask wordlessly drew their blades.

Viteros spun, bullets madly flying through the air. Without stopping the shooting, he leapt at a soldier and landed a scissors kick, fell to the ground, and spun upwards and righted himself, kicking more in the process.

Suddenly, the Khamrask withdrew as quickly as they had come, disappearing into shadow. Before Devil Nine could even try to find out what was happening, another figure came into view.

Viteros turned and glared. "Terisas."

Terisas smiled and bowed low. "Ojikage, Devil Nine, I am so glad that the prodigal has returned to join us once more upon the field of battle. How many years has it been, Devil?"

"Not enough. And I can see you haven't changed a bit."

Terisas laughed mildly. "No, I haven't changed much outwardly, no. But the countless souls I have absorbed are growing in number, even as we speak. And, of course, you helped me so much in the process of your little quest. I daresay you've forgotten your inner strength, soul stealer."

"Soul stealer? Soul stealer?" Viteros laughed aloud, the strange mixture of rage, fear, and dark amusement echoing in his voice. "You, Master Terisas, the creator of the ancient weapon Soulcage, the wielder of the sword Hellcaller, the man who cursed me to demonic possession, calls me a soul stealer? It would seem, Terisas, that you are slightly blind."

"I wouldn't think so, my friend. How is it that you maintain your youth? You seem still at that tender age of when I infused you with demon powers, fifteen. But it's been.what.two hundred fifty years since the experiment?"

Viteros took a step back. "I."

"Never thought about it did you?" Terisas wore a broad smile, and when he did, Viteros felt chilled to the bone. "You're so young. Not even twenty years old! But you should be a very, very old man at the very least, probably dead! Were you just in denial again, my warrior, my soul thief?"

"How are you so young?" growled Devil Nine, recovering. "I don't see how you can stay this way.you've got no souls to steal, trapped up here inside Outer Heaven. If you had gone planetside I would have known."

"Indeed, you would have." Terisas walked a ways away, looking upwards. Then he slowly turned, arms out, gesturing grandly, as if to take in the entire world. "Don't you feel it, Viteros, when you kill? You feel that power, that link. That you're somehow connected to the person you've killed? No, the connection goes the other way! You are connected to me. You are part of me. Like a knife in my hand. You understand and fear me.I see it in your eyes. Those eyes filled with countless, stolen, mutilated souls!"

Viteros sank to the floor, shaking. "I.me.Mako.?"

Terisas laughed loudly, cruelty and malice both flashing into the air through his voice. "You remember the Mako experiments! Well, you and I both know that through those we were able to junction all the souls into you by making your body recognize them as Guardian Forces, while actually you just took them into you and devoured them. As much as I'd love to share the power of soul eating with you, I just had you transport the souls to me through your killing. That is how I've sustained myself, that is how you have sustained yourself, and that is how it will be, vampire. Soul stealer."

Viteros knelt there, staring at the ground, shivering. "I'm.I'm not!"

He leapt up, guns firing. But as the bullets streaked toward Terisas, they slowed in the air, coming to a complete stop a foot away. Terisas casually reached out and grabbed one, and held it in his hand. Then he said softly, as if just to himself, "This.what you shot at me."

Suddenly, rage tore his face, and with a snarl Terisas hurled the bullet back.

It seemed time slowed down. Viteros watched as the bullet seemed to glide through the air, slowly coming toward him. The bullet flew, and when it hit, it seemed that the black crystal that was his eye, Viteros thought to himself, "Is.is this where it ends?"

He flew back, hitting the floor. Then the pain hit.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGH!"

He writhed on the floor, agony tearing through him. Devil Nine brought his hands to his face and then quickly pulled them away as he felt flame burning, burning.

All he could see was fire, the all-consuming destroyer, burning away at the world. Then Terisas emerged from the flames. "Devil Nine," he said with a gesture of his hand, "Arise within this mortal shell and fulfill your destiny." Terisas swished his hand through the air and brought it up in a fist.

Viteros screamed as the fire spread from his bleeding eye to cover his body. Fed by fresh body to consume, the fire burst into an inferno.

Slowly, slowly, it died out, leaving something evil in its wake.

The figure that stood up.Devil Nine's true form.

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

Zidane blinked. Then as he and Kuja groggily got up, he stared around in wonder. "What's going on.?"

Kuja whipped his head around, with surprise, curiosity, and anger suddenly flashing in his eyes. "Where's Viteros?"

The thief gasped. "You're right!"

They both leapt up, quickly scanning the dark halls. Pulling back on the helmets of the Angel soldiers, they tried to decide where to go. Zidane started in one direction, when suddenly Kuja grabbed his shoulder.

"What?" asked Zidane.

Kuja merely put a finger up to the faceless mask. "Quiet.do you hear.?"

Weeping. Begging. A voice filled with terror, rage, desperation.

Sephira's voice.

There was a momentary silence.then the sickening rip of tearing flesh filled the air, accompanied by an agonized scream.

"No!"

Forgetting all caution, Kuja leapt up and ran through the darkness to the screaming, to the torment that beckoned through the forbidding black.

Zidane hurriedly followed, and then they saw her, Sephira, half-knelt, half- laying, on the ground, hand on her shoulder. On one a magnificent angel wing was held, poised, but the other side blood spurted from a terrible wound. Soldiers were ringed all around.

"Hey!" One of the soldiers stepped forward. "What are you doing here?"

Zidane growled. "What did you.?"

He whipped the gun to aim at the surprised soldier, who had no time to bring up his own gun before Zidane's bullets ripped through his chest. Before he saw the man die and fall, Zidane himself hurried away, dodging shots and aiming back.

Kuja hurried for Sephira.

He knelt by her, sharing her misery, sharing her pain. And all around them the fighting raged.

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Note From Vit (NFV): Mwa ha ha!! To see Devil Nine's true form, you gotta read part 13!! HAHAHAHAAA!!! Wait, you don't care. Rats.

Sephira: I think you're right... No one except my friend. (_) reviewed last chapter. I think it's my fault. They didn't like what I did in chapter ten. -_-