Sephira: :{ We love you all? ;_;

Disclaimer: We don't own FF9. Square Enix does. Love and praise them. :D

~Chapter 17~

Viteros joined Cid on the bridge and looked out into the clouds.  "So…what's up?"

"What's up?  What's up!?  You stupid kid!  We're bein' bombed, that's what's up!"  Cid frantically jammed various buttons and triggers, and fired his missiles at the attackers.  "Who are these guys anyway?  Friends of yours?"

Viteros smiled ironically.  "You could say that.  We're currently probably being attacked by the skyship Destiny, either that or something else Terisas threw at us."

"Whatever it is, it's pummeling the crap out of my hull.  I'm gonna engage afterburners, so if you don't want your spiky ass hurt, you run back and tell your freak show buddies to hang onto something quick.  We engage in thirty seconds!"

Devil Nine nodded and hurried back, where he shouted, "Everyone, grab hold!  And hold on tight!" seconds before afterburners activated.

With an ear-ripping boom, the Highwind took off into the sky, leaving Destiny far behind.  Nevertheless, Terisas' skyship launched a few powerful energy beams that lanced out and struck a glancing blow on the left propeller rack.

Cid's voice came over the intercom.  "We've been hit!  All right, boys and girls, we're gonna make a crash landing as soon as…we're landing now!"

"Um…Cid?  Exactly where are we now?" asked Zidane, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"We're over the ocean to the south of the unknown continent!  Hang on!"

Suddenly, vertigo hit as the airship began to hurtle downwards at incredible speeds, and they all lifted slightly as gravity was temporarily displaced.  As everyone stared downward at the floor as if they could somehow see the ocean below, they could only hear the steadily rising shout of Viteros screaming,

"HOOOOOOLY FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

In retrospect, considering how dramatic their fall had been, the landing was kind of disappointing.  They splashed down with a mere 'splish', thanks to Cid rotating the propellers to give them some hovering lift as they fell. 

After they landed, Viteros smiled and wiped his forehead.  "Dang, that was the freakiest thing I've ever gone through…well, not really…"

Sephira smiled as well and said sweetly, "Viteros?  Come here, please…"

"Huh?  Okay…" Viteros walked over, curious.

POW.

"Aaaagh!" Viteros fell, rubbing his red cheek, with tears in his eyes.  "I thought we stopped doing that a couple of chapters back…"

"This is entirely your fault, you…you…stupid head!" shouted Sephira, for lack of a better word.  "If you hadn't spent so much time going on and on about nothing…"

"Hey, listen, we needed to know everything that-"

"Shut up!" Cid ran into the room, spear in hand.  "The enemies are right above us, and we're either gonna get blown up or boarded, so I suggest everyone gets their $!@# stuff together!"

There was silence.

"!$@#?" asked Zidane.  "What's $!#@?"

"Hey, that's true, man," said Viteros.  "What exactly does $!#@ mean?  Is it even a real word?"

"Shut the !$@# up you spoony bard," groaned Cid, "just get ready!"

As if to prove Cid's point, they all heard sudden thumps as soldiers dropped onto the top of the Highwind.  Cid flexed his arms and lifted his spear slowly, tracking the noise as it slowly crept along the hull. 

Abruptly, he stopped and thrust his spear up through the roof.

They heard a scream of pain, and a clatter as the soldier fell.  Then they heard the telltale whine as the MGs started up…

"Get down!" Cid shouted, as they all jumped to the ground and tried to roll under whatever was near.  Half a second later hundreds of tiny holes appeared in the roof as Terisas' warriors opened fire, peppering the floor with bullets. 

Viteros growled and rolled back out, gun-arm pointed upwards, tracking where the shots were coming from.  He opened fire, tearing more holes in the roof, until he saw-and the rest saw-that the roof couldn't hold any longer…

With a wrenching screech of metal the ceiling gave way, ripping apart and falling inwards, bringing the soldiers down with it.  Before everything had fallen Zidane was already in action, jumping upwards and slashing through an enemy's throat.

The next few seconds were a frenzied melee, with yells and gunshots until the invaders were dead.  Then Kuja looked upwards and shouted, "Look out!"

More soldiers were dropping down, some not waiting until they fell to open fire.  Kuja put his hands together, chanted quickly, and let a small red orb fly upwards.  As soon as it neared the soldiers; the orb suddenly grew, filling with crimson lightning.  Even while this was going on the others wasted no time, with Sephira conjuring up another orb, a blue one that floated up and covered the gap with a thin blue field that crackled with electricity. 

"Anything that touches that will be instantly killed," she said, looking up.  "And our esteemed friend's warriors seem to have inferred that as well…"

Terisas' warriors were no longer dropping down, and any that were desperately tried to swim through the air, trying to dodge the field, but to no avail.  Their pitiful shrieks of pain accompanied the disgusting stink of burning ozone.

Viteros grinned.  "Well, that should-"

The Highwind was flipped over into the water, making all of them fall onto the blue field.  Luckily, the electrical effect only affected the outside.

"What the hell is-" Cid half-shouted, getting up as another piece of the hull was blown apart.  A large contingent of Terisas' warriors rushed inwards, aiming their weapons at their disoriented enemies, followed quickly by-

"Angel," sneered Viteros as he brought himself slowly up to his feet.  "And I thought the situation couldn't get any more unpleasant…"

Angel-Black gave a thin-lipped smile, not even glancing at Sephira.  "Your hospitality is noted, Devil-Nine.  Unfortunately, I don't really have time for pleasantries.  I……….could stand here for a little while and gloat about how you people only focused on the sky attackers, giving absolutely no thought about the possibility of a U-boat, and call you narrow-minded primitives, but I really don't have the time.  Now………..the situation will get much more unpleasant should you resist.  You, Devil Nine, will come with me now.  The others can go about their business."

Viteros spat on the ground.  Zidane noticed it was tinged with blood.  "If you don't get out of here, I'll kill you."

"No, I don't think you will," replied Angel, this time with a broad grin.  "Open fire."

The others quickly tried to find cover, but to no avail.  They all felt themselves hit, and waited for death, but nothing happened…

Sephira glared down at her wounds.  "Darts!  You…" Then unconsciousness gripped her, and soon hit the others.

As she dropped to the floor, the real world flashing in and out of her view, Sephira seemed to continue falling. A dream?

            Plummeting through so many layers of dreams, those she had lived, those she had never experienced, some simply fantasy, others figments of her imagination so unreal, that she didn't know what she had been thinking when those had sprung to her mind. She had fought demons, lived through horrors that she shouldn't have known.

            As she fell, she caught glimpses of things that had been; many times she saw the hand that had struck her so many times, until she couldn't stop tears from springing to her eyes. There was that gnarled hand that had hit her, beat her, abused her frail body. Then there was that slender pale hand, from the androgynous mage who she had loved for so long. But, then, just like everyone else she had ever known, he had resorted to violence. Was she simply just nothing? A puppet that lived to be mistreated?

            Slipping further and further into her subconscious, Sephira choked back a sob.

            Finding herself suddenly standing, lost in darkness, she wiped tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, glancing around.
            "Where am I?" she asked, though she knew there was no one to reply.

            "Where do you think?" a soft voice answered from behind her.

            Sephira, yelping and spinning around, caught one glimpse of the figure behind her and fell backwards in a rather undignified manner on her bottom. Staring up at herself, she gulped.

            "Do not worry," her replica said reassuringly, collapsing to her knees in front of Sephira, who scuttled back a little bit. The other reached out, coming forward, until she was able to comfortably place a hand on Sephira's cheek.

            "Who are you?" the real mage asked, shaking.

            The other smiled. "Simply you. I am your heart, your soul. Do you know of the Crystal?"

            "Yes…"

            "Then, I suppose I am a manifestation of that."

            Sephira blinked. "The Crystal? Then it is true?"

            The Crystal Sephira gave a pitying little glance, then pulled forward, pressing a hand to Sephira's heart. "Do not worry, because, only by your consent can someone take this from you."

            "Excuse me?" she asked, flinching a little from the other's touch. Reaching a hand to remove the one from her chest, the Crystal Sephira took the hand and twined them together. Wrapping her arm around Sephira's back, she gently pulled the other forward, until they were so close their noses were touching, and Sephira gasped a little.

            "Only by your consent can you give your heart away. No one can take it from you," the Crystal Sephira whispered.

            "What does that have to do with…?"

            "He cannot use you without your consent…"

            Finally it clicked, and Sephira blinked. "No… Terisas said all he needed was the spell. I can do nothing once he gets that, and once he does, he will stop me."

            "No. He may be able to get that spell to release me from you, but, he cannot fully use it. So, do not worry. There is a light, a hope." Wrapping her arms around Sephira, the other held her comfortingly, resting her head on Sephira's shoulder. "No matter how far into the darkness you delve, there is still a chance."

            "I..."

            "There is. Trust me."

            There was a moment of utter silence, then abruptly the dream shattered, like a million shards of glass, and Sephira was thrown backwards, down.

            Collapsing on a floor of cold hard metal, Sephira glanced up, a sheet of hair falling over her eyes and spilling over her shoulders. Seeing a tiny child huddled in the corner of this room she was in, she crawled over the child, kneeling beside her.

            "Excuse me, I—" Gasping as the little girl looked up, Sephira threw herself back. Once again, it was she, this time, a young girl. This had been….before Kuja, she knew. A time she didn't remember. Why?

            Realizing the child hadn't looked up because of her, but because the door to the room had opened, she stifled a cry as Garland stormed into the room, slamming the door shut behind him, a murderous glint in his eyes. Seeing the child, he grabbed the young girl by the hair, dragging her away from the wall and tossing her across the room. Sephira gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, watching in horror as Garland proceeded to release his rage by beating the girl. It was far worse than anything she had ever received from Garland when she had been with Kuja. How could anyone harm a living creature in such a way?

            As Garland left, satisfied that the child was beaten senseless, Sephira fell back against the wall, crying for the little girl she had been. Was this why she didn't remember? Because it had just been too terrible? Seeing that tiny broken body laying motionless on the ground, she couldn't help but weep.

            And the scene before her dissolved, as Sephira cried for the child.

            Glancing up, she surveyed this next act in the drama that was her life. There stood a slightly older version of herself, when she had been…fifteen? Maybe. Standing, Sephira went to look at what the other was doing, as her back was turned.

            Gazing over the younger Sephira's shoulder, she gasped. Taking a step back, unable to watch, she compulsively, grabbed her wrist, tracing a finger over those scars that would forever be there. Watching the blood slowly drip to the floor from the other girl, who had the knife to her wrist, Sephira stumbled back, spinning around and slamming her fists into the wall.

            "I want out! Please! No more! Please, I beg of you!" she screeched. And the dream shattered around her, like all the others had.

            Where she materialized now, she did not know, though it seemed familiar. Taking in a breath at the realization, she shook her head. Why here? This was Angel-Black's room.

            Suddenly a pair of hands gripped her shoulders from behind, swinging her around. Angel stood there.

            "You can see me?" Sephira questioned. None of the other people of her dreams, besides the Crystal Sephira, had been able to see her.

            Angel scoffed, smirking rather…un-Angel-like. As she wondered what it was, she found herself shoved backwards and thrown to the bed. Crying out, she struggled for a moment as Angel moved over her.

            Sephira… It was that voice, the one of the person so like herself. The one she had first met first in this nightmare.

            It's time to—

            Angel wrenched her wrists over her head, pinning them there with one hand.

            -- wake—

            Reaching down and claiming her mouth with his, his free hand roamed, Sephira trying to scream.

            --up.    

            Sephira sat up quickly with a gasp, even though being rendered unconscious by a dart normally called for a slow time waking. Breathing roughly, she swallowed, blinking away tears, reaching a hand up to wipe a cold sweat from her face. As she did, she noticed the scars on her wrists looked fresh. It unnerved her, to see those wounds as though they had just been inflicted. Another thing she noted was a hand mark bruise around her arm, just above her wrist, where the Angel in her dream had gripped her.

What had that been? No normal dream…nightmare…to be sure.

Zidane awoke hours later, his head throbbing.  The others were getting up as well. 

"Where's Viteros?"

Onboard the Destiny, Terisas smiled as he lounged on his throne, a massive piece of pure obsidian carved into horrifying demons and monsters, as well as various symbols of darkness gleaned from the Shadow Bible.

Angel-Black stood at his side, arms folded.  He was utterly silent as he watch the newest………and one of the oldest………creations of Terisas slowly approach.

A door at the far end of the room slid open, and a shadowy figure slowly paced through.  It walked on the long, dark red carpet, passing the massive pillars, passing through the foreboding darkness.

Finally the figure came into the light just before Terisas' throne, and stood there a moment, allowing his master to appraise his creation.

The man stood there, tall, strong, with a certainly youthful face.  Though both hands were metal-clad, the left arm was covered in metal and machines, and stretched half a foot longer than the right arm, making his appearance asymmetrical and slightly grotesque.  There was a single wing, made out of metal, on the right side.  The once scraggly, unkempt hair was now shiny and combed into long, sleek curtains, and one almost covered an eye patch on the right eye.  Around the neck hung a large, iron cross.

The strangely handsome yet terrible creation stood there for a moment, and then bowed low, kneeling, and touched a metal fist to the ground.  "Master Terisas."

Terisas smiled broadly.  A smile of triumph.

"Arise," he said grandly, his voice echoing off the walls of the vast room.  "Arise, Devil Nine."