On a side note; Yes, people, Seph X is dead. Decapitation, by Mech-Head. And, unfortunately, there will be no revival of him. -_- He really was a fun character...

*Mysteriously pulls act together and grins wickedly*

Anyway!

Today's chapter is from ACDC, again. They just have so many cool titles! 'Paradise city'.

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Chapter XXVI: Paradise City

Kahn very nearly walked into Jarred and Wraith as he exited the control room. Jarred looked at the demon in surprise, and instinctively reaching for his axe, which wasn't there. Wraith's eyes went wide, while his hand went for his sword handle. Kahn looked at the two in surprise himself, and held up his hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Unarmed, dammit! Try to hurt me and I'll make sure you don't live long enough to regret it. I came with the Cetra." He growled. Jarred's eyes narrowed slightly, but he relaxed visibly. Wraith was a little less trusting, and kept his hand on his sword handle.

"Cetra? What Cetra?" Jarred asked. Another question came to his mind. "Who are you?"

Kahn smiled proudly, and spread his wings wide.

"I am Kahn, the last of the Demon Lord line, last ruler of the demons." A titter came from the control room, and Kahn scowled deeply. "Formerly, at least. Now, I am Kahn, exiled traitor."

Kahn watched as Jarred tried to take in all those titles at once, and finally his eyes lit up with recognition.

"That means your on MY side, doesn't it?" He asked with a smile. For some reason that seemed to cheer the child-like warrior immensely. He wore a proud smile.

Despite himself, Kahn couldn't help but find himself grinning slightly at the young warrior.

"Yes, Jarred, I am on your side." He said with slight reluctance. But only slight.

Something pink and slightly transparent appeared by his side, and began chattering at the demon at a pace that made his head spin. He could only grasp vague phrases of what it said.

"... I had to... For hours... He comes and... Your on his side suddenly!..." Kahn had to concentrate deeply to grasp the end of what she said. "You're so strange!"

Kahn took a deep breath, and sighed.

"Now, could you say that again in a language I understand?" He asked. "I do not know 'womanspeak'."

The pink thing scowled, and went back into the control room. Even Wraith looked visibly shaken by the things appearance. His hand had slipped from his sword hilt to his neck, while his other rubbed his pointed ear, as if trying to brush something out of it.

"What in the name of..." He muttered softly.

Jarred was gaping. His stance was slack, and his arms hung limply at his sides.

"Wha-... Were those WORDS?!" He asked in disbelief. "What language was it you called it? 'Womanspeak'?"

The demon lord folded his wings behind his back once more, and gestured to the control room.

"Yes, that I did. Unfortunately, Jarred, I don't think you have a hope of learning 'womanspeak'. It's for women." Jarred frowned sadly. "But we would like to have you in the control room now, if you will. There's a little matter of finding where the last Half-Breeds are hiding."

Wraith's hand leapt back to his sword hilt, and his eyes flared black. Ghost appeared behind the two, and Spectre floated towards them from the second floor of the Highwind. The trio had a dangerous look about them, each one with their hands on their respective weapons. But Jarred grinned.

"Sure, no prob!" He said lightly, and entered the control room. "We're still in the northern continent, right? Then go east!" He ordered happily.

Cloud was beside the black skinned young man, issuing orders to the members of AVALANCHE.

"You heard the kid, Cid. East!" The old pilot grumbled, and turned the steering wheel accordingly. The Highwind lurched to the side, and in the distance they could hear Yuffie cursing loudly, and Vincent shout something along the lines of 'Not so damned hard, Cid!'. Cloud turned to Tifa. "Do you think you could go ahead and give everyone some Materia?" She nodded, and obeyed. This was beginning to be slightly like it had been in the old days, five years ago.

Jarred frowned slightly.

"You guys of the 'Knights Of The Round Table' Materia, right?" Cloud nodded. Jarred's frown deepened "Well, hide it. There was some very angry people when they discovered it stolen." He warned, but his smile came back in an instant. "But other than that I should get us in!"

Kahn blinked. Jarred made it sound as if they were going to a Nightclub of some sort. Then again, if he knew Half-Breeds to any degree, then the last of the Half-Breeds had probably turned their last hold into one. And with HER as queen... Kahn shuddered. A Nightclub could be all he could hope for while SHE was in power!

"And will someone tell me who hid my axe?!" The black skinned warrior demanded suddenly.

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Elena had gone back up on the deck after finding Jarred asleep, and Joan with him. She had hoped to be able to talk with Wraith a bit more, maybe find out a bit more about Jarred, but to her shock had found him gone. Surely he couldn't teleport like Ghost? He seemed unable to do so, and relied completely for long distance moving. But she had been SURE she hadn't seen him anywhere in the Highwind. It was a puzzle, but one she didn't care enough about to try to solve. There were too many from before.

She said by the railing, looking out at the snowfields speeding down below. Night was setting now, with the sun dieing in the east, and the sea was once again coming into view. Its shimmering blue surface greeted her warmly, flashing her brief golden flecks of the sun.

"Looking for something?" A familiar voice said behind her. Elena didn't need to look around to know who it was.

Reno.

"No, not really. Just trying to look into something." She replied lightly.

The red haired Turk joined her at the rail.

"Don't think too badly about Reeve. He's gone ballistic ever since he found some files in Hojo's lab. Nothing to big."

Silence greeted this. The female Turk didn't really know why Reno was telling her this. She had always felt like the fifth wheel with Reno and Rude. They were always going off about how she needed to be strong.

"Don't you want to know what he found?"

Elena looked over at Reno.

"What did he find?" She asked dubiously. What could he possibly have found that would justify putting her on trial like that?

"We found a complete record of Jarred's life from when he was five to when he was thirteen, right before Sephiroth came back."

Elena raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"Don't you know what that means? We made him, Elena. The ShinRa MADE him the way he is." He snapped. "Hojo took the kid in when he was three, and turned into THAT. The records SAY that he escaped, but Reeve believes that Hojo released Jarred for a purpose."

The blonde woman frowned.

"Why should I care, Reno? He's just another person hurt by the ShinRa. He can stand in line to piss of the company's grave, like the world." She snapped back. "But despite obviously been screwed around wit, he's a nice person. You can't deny that."

Reno muttered something under his breath, and shook his head.

"Just promise me you won't get to close to the kid, alright? I know you like him 'n' all, hell I do too, but... He's dangerous, Elena. Vincent is nothing compared to Jarred." He said warningly. "Don't put too much trust in the kid."

Elena faced him fully, looking slightly angry at him.

"You know what most people said to me when I first joined the Turks? The same thing about you guys." She left hardly any doubt for who 'you guys' were supposed to be. "And yet here I am, five years later. And when I was with Jarred, do you know what he was trying to do nearly the entire time? Protect me some sort of monster or other. Nearly killed him every time he did it, too. On top of that, he showed me courtesy and respect, and was just plain nice. He went out of his way to try and get me back here, even when he could just as well have gone away with Ghost and left me on my own." She neglected to say that while Jarred was generally nice to her, Ghost hit on her. "And I won't hear a bad word against him. He's a nice kid, just a bit..." She faltered slightly, searching for the right word.

"F-#ยค&-ed up?" Reno supplied.

"No!" Elena said, appalled. "Just, immature, I guess. Some things he just doesn't know."

Reno kept his peace. Actually, he kept his peace while walking away.

"Just be careful, Elena." He muttered. "He's not what you think he is."

Elena snorted at that.

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Psin followed the Highwind as it made it progress east on the back of a black dragon, slightly angry he wouldn't be able to assemble his weapon until Kahn and Jarred were safely back. He brushed a rogue strand of silvery hair away, and cursed lightly under his breath. So much trouble to get even. So much trouble to get power that would rival that of Jarred's. So much trouble to keep himself on a favourable side of a forgotten woman with as much influence on the world as a snowflake in a desert. But, she had the power to grant him greater strength. He was already considerably stronger from having been named a knight. He wondered how much stronger he would become as a higher rank...

When he knew his power rivalled that of Jarred's, he knew he would challenge him for the final time.

At the thought of Jarred and challenging, his hand reached for the crossing twin scars under and over his eye. His humour darkened considerably, and both hands clenched into tight fists. He booted the dragon soundly, urging it to increase it speed. He unsheathed his sword, a Wutainese katana, and raised it above his head.

"Blood for blood, Rath! I'll make you pay for the blood I spilled!" He howled. "Just wait!"

The dragon howled along with him, as if it shared his primal hatred. Psin grinned suddenly, and threw down the katana.

"I have no further use of this. It shames me." He kicked the dragon once more. "Faster, beast! I have a demon to follow!"

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"What do you mean you don't know where he is?!" The Shadowlord demanded. He had suspected that someone might have been blocking his view from the Prince Of Darkness, but he never thought that they would be able to block everyone. "Nobody can even hope to block so many!"

The one demon who specialized in such... mental surveillance, stepped forth. He was one of the Tilo N'Gar race, without form or substance at all. A disembodied mind, perhaps. The Shadowlord had belonged to that race, before he had ascended to his present rank. This demon was called Malox Phor, and stood well in line to ascend to Shadowlord should the present one, himself, pass away. Malox took on the form of a 'normal' demon, with ebony skin and wings, and two long horns sprouting from the back of his head.

"We can sense that he is SOMEWHERE, but we cannot sense where. At appears that his strength has grown considerably since," Malox stumbled upon his words for a moment, still a bit surprised that such a spell COULD still be used. "Summoning the Blight. He has taken in some of the... abilities, of The Paler." The Paler was a name for Psin that was growing more and more popular. "He is unwittingly blocking us out, my lord. We can no longer sense him!"

The Shadowlord resisted the wild urge to throw something at Malox Phor. It wouldn't help any, and it would make him look foolish. Everyone knew nothing but magic could hurt a Tilo N'Gar.

"FIND HIM!" He shouted in reply. Malox Phor took two steps back in surprise and fear. The Shadowlord was renowned for being just, but every demon was completely capable of losing his temper. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE TO SCOUR THE WHOLE DAMNED PLANET, BUT FIND HIM, DAMMIT!" Malox Phor hastily bowed and exited, a visibly shaken.

The Shadowlord slumped into a rock, thinking.

~Stupid Kahn. Can't keep a damned lid on his temper, not for the life of him. HAD to pronounce Ti Me Ka. HAD to drag all of us into this. *I* never wanted another war with the accursed Half-Breeds, that's for sure.~ Although he had not wanted war to begin with, the Shadowlord was firmly resolved to kill the Prince Of Darkness, before he could get any stronger. ~Gods, I wish this would have happened a few hundred years ago, before those stupid humans made those... machines.~ Demons did even resolve to give a name to the Mako reactors. Such atrocities did not deserve names. ~And I'd show this new Prince just what a Shadowlord can do.~

The sound of a pair of feet coming towards him came to the Shadowlord's attention. He turned around to see Mech-Head walking towards him. The metal demon now wore a belt, with the Massamune's sheath tied in place on one side, and Seph X's head hanging from a loop on the other. He was the image of savage demon barbarism, at the moment. He regarded the Shadowlord with a pleased smile.

"If it helps, my lord, I believe I might know where to find the Prince Of Darkness, along with many of his allies." Mech-Head was speaking of AVALANCHE, the Shadowlord knew. "I saw them on the machine they call the 'Highwind'. It flew north when I last saw it. But I have... Sensed it change direction. It jolted east not more than a few hours ago."

The Shadowlord considered this. Mech-Head wasn't wholly unreliable; he had once been a great warrior with equally great regard and honour. It was only the betrayal of Chaos that had degraded him to such a loathsome being.

"Why should I believe YOU?" He demanded suddenly, trying to force some sort of explanation for the demon's acclaimed knowledge of their travel. "Why should I believe YOU, when all of the Council has failed to find him?"

Mech-Head smiled.

"Even Half-Breeds have limits to their speeds, and the Blight drains everyone. If the Prince survived summoning it, then he would be atleast be in a comatose state for a very long time. There is only one thing that could have moved him so far so fast from the spot he summoned the Blight. The Highwind."

The Shadowlord spat.

"That does not explain how you can sense where he is."

Mech-Head laughed.

"Have you forgotten what I am? I am Shelox, mighty one. My claws assimilate all they do not kill!"

"So?" The Shadowlord let false cynicism ooze forth. Inwardly he cursed himself for a fool, for not thinking of such earlier.

"I believe there is a human among them, one that I had afflicted with my claws. For a brief time, he was a demon. Malice, I believe he called himself. I do not remember. His presence among them went unnoticed at first, but the demon in him is stirring inside him now that I have returned. The stronger it grows, the more I can sense its rising. I can sense the taint of that demon among the human. If you like, I could activate it. Malice, yes, I am sure that was his name, was exceedingly useful to me when he was under my command. Resourceful."

This certainly was useful. The Shadowlord allowed himself a smile.

"Do not do so. I do not want them to know you are with us yet. You could spread fear among them more than I could; I am not as well known here as you are. Let the demon remain dormant for now." The Shadowlord stood and smiled. "I believe you have just earned Kahn's spot on the Council, Mech- Head. You would do well to try and keep it.

Mech-Head beamed. The Shadowlord lashed out, and grabbed the metal demon by the chin. He squeezed hard, and lifted him effortlessly.

"However, should the Prince of Darkness fail to be there, I should hope you have killed the Black Angel before I kill you. Because after that there will be no more lifetimes for you." He threatened, and let Mech-Head drop to the ground, clutching his chin indignantly. Mech-Head growled, but made no visible movements against the Shadowlord.

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Jarred had told AVALANCHE were they needed to go, and island they knew as 'Egg Isle', and was met by a few quizzical glances. They all probably thought nothing was there. Well, more the pity for them. Once he was satisfied they could find it, he left them to it. It was all nice to give orders and act like you knew what you were doing, but after a while of people asking what to do Jarred longed to escape. He told them where to go, stole his axe back from Wraith, who claimed to have it for 'safe-keeping'. And with that, began towards his reserved spot out on the deck, where he could get a good look at her surroundings.

He headed towards his reserved spot on the deck, his appropriate brooding ground if he ever felt the urge to do so around so many of his friends. He didn't feel like brooding now either, but he wanted time to reflect on what he had done. He remembered what the land had looked like where the Blight had touched it. Like the land around Midgar. The idea of it shocked and terrified him.

~Such things were sealed, she said.~ 'She', was the queen. He had met her, of course, and had been vaguely confused at what she had said. Something about black leather and nail beds. Needless to say, the encounter had left Jarred more confused and even less willing to learn. ~I should not have been able to use it.~

He saw Reno on the way up to the deck, muttering something about a 'killer headache' and drinking it off. Jarred thought about how drinking lots of anything could stop a headache, and really couldn't think of how that would work. From his experience, drinking lots of water usually was the cause of a headache.

"Strange people." He muttered, and continued on up to the deck. Now he was ready to brood. Some serious brooding was going to happen.

Opening the door, he saw Elena there. To some surprise, he didn't see Joan. Where HAD that girl gone? She was usually obedient enough, but she could disappear if she wanted. Maybe she could teleport like Ghost? She certainly had the potential to. He regarded the female with his crimson eyes, and made as if to leave. She didn't look in the greatest of moods, and Jarred preferred to do his brooding without an audience.

"Sorry." He muttered, and made as if to go. Elena smiled.

"Don't let me stop you; I'm just enjoying the north wind."

Jarred thought about those words for a second, thinking they sounded familiar. Suddenly he recognized them.

"Stealing the words I say, are you?" He accused with a grin, sitting down next to the railing opposite of Elena. "I may have to start stealing the words YOU say."

As he sat down a lock of his black hair dropped down, blocking his sight somewhat. He brushed it away, frowning slightly.

"I'll have to cut my hair when I get there." He muttered to himself, and looked down at his feet.

Elena looked at him with an inquiring glance.

"What, no pearls of knowledge you want to bestow upon me?" She said with a smile. "No stunning revelations about yourself?"

Jarred didn't bother to answer. He had come up here to brood, dammit. He wasn't about to be interrupted by Elena.

As a passing glance, he caught Elena looking at him with concern, now. He frowned, and decided to get it over with.

"What?" He asked.

The female Turk shifted nervously.

"Reno," She faltered slightly. "Told me some stuff about you. He told me you had something to do with Hojo."

Jarred froze, and looked upward at Elena.

"How much?" He demanded softly.

"Jarred, you should just tell u-" She was cut off suddenly as Jarred raised a hand. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words never came out.

"How much?!" He persisted, and lowered his hand.

"Wha, what did you do?" She asked softly, finding that she could speak again.

Jarred grinned.

"I silenced you for a second. Now speak."

Elena became a little afraid of the person in front of her. This wasn't the Jarred that was so easily pleased, or laughed at the merest of things. He was... Changed.

"He told me that Hojo... Made you the way you were. And he watched you until you were thirteen. Jarred, what did he-" She began, but couldn't finish it. Jarred's eyes snapped shut, and his hands balled into fists.

"I AM, Elena, I was not made."

"Reno said tha-"

Jarred looked upwards, his eyes blazing hotly with pained rage.

"I am not a monster! I wasn't made!" He ranted. "Your scum made me the WAY I am, but not WHO I am!" He leapt to his feet, and the air around him swirled ominously. In his hands burned what looked like black flames, leaping and swaying in the swirling wind.

"Of course you aren't, Jarred!" She said in frightened amazement. "I never said you were!"

Jarred put his hand to his axe, and as if realizing what he was doing, look aghast at himself. He ripped his hand away from his axe, and clutched his hands around him, as if trying to hold something inside. He fell to his knees, and what could be only described as sobs escaped from him.

"I killed her, Elena. I killed her without even touching her." He muttered, barely audible. "I AM a monster. I, I kill people."

Elena came close upon seeing the change in attitude. He certainly SEEMED approachable now. She laid a comforting hand around his shoulders. The young warrior shied away at first, but soon relented.

"There there." She said in a soothing voice. "None of that now. Vincent's done some terrible things when Chaos took over him, and we know that he wasn't responsible. It was Chaos. I don't think you're any different."

Jarred shuddered, and sobbed once more.

"You're wrong." He said sadly. "Nobody or nothing forced me. I did it because I WANTED to." He sobbed, and dug his fingers into his arms, until blood seeped forth. "I wanted them to die. Every last one of them."