Well, let's see if we can finish this fic up, eh? On with the show!
(And yes, I am that evil, Mucomi. Why else do you think I started writing?)
Chapter was delayed because I used the weekends to go snowboarding: I retain the right to go outside (Despite how little I use it).
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Chapter XXXVII: The Final Fantasy Of A Fleeting Dream, The Forgotten Age...
"Let's end this." Elena heard Jarred say, from somewhere. She looked around frantically, around the reserved spot of darkness that wasn't currently being ripped to pieces. Above her, she could see the Highwind, bobbing ever so slightly in the wind.
Psin! Talk to me, you useless heap of metal!
~What?! Oh, I get it. Nobody wants to talk to me until I'm dead. Very nice. I thought the deceased were supposed to rest in peace!~
Shut up! Jarred's up there, and we're down here. How am I supposed to get up there?!
~...~ Said the sword. It was such a thoughtful silence that it could be said. ~I think... I think you have a problem.~
Me?! Hey, you're nothing if I can't stop Jarred! You gotta help me get up there!
~What the hell am I going to do? Use my 'spooky Hilt magic'? I'm a f-&%-ing sword, goddammit! I can't do anything! I'm generally used to hack people into pieces, not figure out how!~ Psin shouted into her mind. ~I think there might be some magical properties in me, though. Try casting some magic.~
Elena wasn't exactly acquainted with the idea of casting magic without Materia; It had been more or less a fluke when she cast magic when she had Jarred's blood gem. She hesitantly tried to invoke some sort of magical aspect of the weapon she held. This went somewhere along the lines of thinking 'Workworkworkwork...'
Quite unexpectedly, it did. Well, it more or less summoned something that would help. Elena found herself standing on a black dragon, which roared and hissed under her.
~Excellent. My dragon will bring you to where you need to go. And if you have anything else you need help with, don't hesitate to bite me. Lets just get this over with, so that I can look upon the adventures of rust and decay and, hopefully, death.~
Black wings spread, and beat the air strongly. Above them, something clanked, and a fell over the rail. It hit the ground with a loud clank. Elena looked over the dragon's shoulder and wing and saw, with some horrified fascination, the severed head of Mech-Head. Above them, another loud clang rang out.
"Move, you stupid monster!" She shouted, looking up at the airship with grim anticipation. Somewhere, along with the clang of metal, someone was laughing. And it wasn't pleasant to hear.
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The Villis Me Ka turned the Massamune away with ease, and Jarred stood at ease once again, the long vicious blade held forwards menacingly in one hand, the other clutching the crystal dagger. Cloud And Mech-Head backed off, breathing deeply. Try as they might, Jarred deflected each attack with enough speed and agility to spare to be able to dodge Vincent's bullets.
Cloud leaned on his sword, panting heavily. Mech-Head did the same, although his mechanic body didn't really need air.
"I, I think we have a problem." Cloud gasped out, quickly lifting the huge sword once more, on guard.
Mech-Head was silent, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I seem to remember him going berserk when I slashed the machine during my siege. I take it the freak was attached to him?"
Cloud looked over at the demon for a moment, before directing his attention back to Jarred. Tifa and Rude had advanced upon Jarred, and were trying to hold him off.
"The machine?" He asked, confusion on his face. "You mean Seph X? yeah, he considered him his master. Dunno why that should help us, though."
The mechanic demon smiled wickedly, and reached towards something attached to his waist. He brought up something large and metallic, and laughed.
"I think it's time to use his head." He cackled, and raised the head high. "Oy, freak!"
Jarred whirled around to meet the demon, eyes blazing with fury.
"Say hello to yer friend, eh?!" Mech-Head shouted, and threw the metal head. While it was in mid-air, Cloud could make out some of the features of Seph X on it, and groaned internally. Jarred seemed to notice too, and his face became crestfallen. He caught it as it approached and stared at it. Mech-Head laughed, and whipped the Massamune up. "What're we waitin' for? Let's kill the bastard!" He roared, launching himself forward.
The demon moved with such speed that Jarred couldn't react even if he had wanted too. The Massamune slashed across his chest, ripping it open. The Half-Breed staggered back, and cried in pain: Mech-Head turned around, a pleased expression on his face.
"That's how you deal with insane Half-Breeds!" He stated proudly, posing.
Too late did Cloud notice Jarred righting himself out, blind rage showing on him.
"Mech-Head look ou-"He began, but was abruptly cut off by Jarred slashing the Villis Me Ka through his neck, and throwing the head of Seph X over the side of the Highwind. Mech-Head didn't even have time to blink. He was dead before he knew it.
Jarred Rath smiled maliciously.
"A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, a head for a head, don't you agree, Cloud?" He spun around violently, whipping his sword in an upward slash with a single liquid motion, effectively killing Rude. The Turk collapsed to the ground, his final seconds upon him. "You still have time, human! Lay down you weapons, and I will overlook this incident."
Cloud closed his eyes, cursing.
"Too many people have died already, Jarred. We can't stop now."
"Ya damn right, foo!" Barret growled, stomping through the doorway. Reeve walked behind him, cautiously holding a pistol. Red XIII trailed behind them, growling deeply.
"Hmph." Jarred said plainly, his mouth contorting into a sneer. "You fight for what is gone. You are all that's left of the planet, and yet you still fight for it?! Why?!" His wrist slash up suddenly, and shadows seemed to exude from his very fingertips. Magical lightning crackled through the air, and the steel flooring seemed to groan under sudden stress.
"I will end you."
Jarred vanished from where he stood in a burst of shadows. Everyone blinked almost simultaneously, and looked around them.
"Cloud, look out!" Tifa cried out in warning as Jarred seemed to stand up from Clouds very shadow.
The blonde swordsman had just enough time to raise the Ultima weapon protectively against Jarred's attack. Sparks flew as the blades met. The strength of the blow forced him back a step, and Jarred took advantage of it, preparing the killing blow.
Tifa grabbed his arm before the blow could land. The black skinned warrior glanced over at Tifa, and snarled. His free hand flickered with a blue light, and the horrifyingly familiar shape of an energy globe appeared in his hand. He threw it dispassionately, wincing slightly as he heard Tifa scream in pain as the exploded erupted inside his stomach. Her limp body fell to the ground, her sightless eyes staring outwards at the world.
"You ยค#/%!" Barret cursed, holding his gun-arm at the ready. It recoiled slightly as shells rocketed out, screaming through the air.
A wall of fire sprang to life around Jarred, and the bullets pinged off it as if it was a physical structure. Barret cursed some more, and let loose another barrage of bullets.
Jarred walked through the flames suddenly, his face contorted angrily. The Villis Me Ka whipped out, striking Barret's weapon, The Missing Score, a blow the sheared it in two. The long sword moved in silvery circles as Jarred twirled it in his hand, and dealt Barret a second, fatal blow across the chest.
The warrior turned just in time to parry Cloud's downward chop, a grin playing across his features. His foot lashed out, kicking Cloud's knee in, and a loud snap of bone was heard. Cloud fell into a kneeling position, with his forward most leg burning with pain. Jarred swung the sword back, that malevolent grin still on his lips, and Cloud tried to swing the Ultima weapon to stop the blow, but he just wasn't fast enough.
And the pain suddenly went away.
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Vincent watched with horrified anger as Jarred coolly dispatched his friends and comrades one by one, and took a faltering step backwards.
~He's even worse than I was!~ He thought fervently. ~At least I didn't want to change into Chaos! He's doing this all by himself.~
Jarred's head turned slowly to him, his crimson eyes burning with dark flames. The Villis Me Ka glinted suddenly, as it was brought upwards by Jarred. Vincent raised the Death Penalty, and aimed along it's shaft, pulling the trigger. Jarred was thrown backwards, and lay on the ground for a moment, before lurching forward again. At the sound of metal groaning, he stopped, and spun around.
Vincent's eyes went wide as he saw what was happening behind Jarred.
Elena hopped off the back of a black dragon, holding a sword in her hand that radiated light that outshone the very sun. Jarred recoiled at the sight, snarling all the more.
"Vincent! I'll take care of Jarred! Get out of here! This is going to get messy!" She shouted, holding the sword in front of her carefully. The Villis Me Ka moved in an arc as Jarred slashed out with it, but Elena parried it with ease. "Run, dammit! This is a battle you can't win!"
Vincent believed her. He had seen what Jarred was capable of, and it far surpassed anything Sephiroth could have done: He had wanted to become a god, whereas Jarred could tear them down. He nodded to the Turk, and stealthily made his exit with Reeve, who was jittery from horror.
Jarred growled from the bowels of his throat. It wasn't a nice sound. He stared at Elena with such hurt and anger that she almost lost her step.
"Why?!" He demanded angrily, clutching the Villis Me Ka tightly. "Why did you betray me?! Don't you understand that I want to make a better world?! I want to make it for us! Why would you betray me?!"
Elena advanced, grimly determined.
"You don't want a perfect world for everyone anymore, Jarred. You want a perfect world for you, and nobody that disagrees with you can possibly exist in it."
"You're wrong! You're all wrong! I will create a perfect world... A perfect world for everyone!"
"Lies, Jarred, and you know it. The darkness has corrupted you Jarred. You have to be stopped."
Jarred sighed slowly, and held the Villis Me Ka at the ready.
"Very well, if you're hell-bent on this. Good bye, Elena."
Elena was the first to attack. She lunged forward, stabbing at Jarred with the Betrayer. Jarred turned the stab away, and held up his hand, summoning a blue globe. Elena tried once again to invoke the magic in her weapon, and was rewarded when a soft blow glow surrounded her, protecting her from Jarred's globe. The globe was absorbed by the glow, and Elena took advantage of Jarred's surprise, slashing at his exposed chest. His chest opened, and the smell of burning flesh reached through the air, filling her senses. The warrior dropped the Villis Me Ka, holding his chest and cursing in pain. But he kept his eyes on her. He retreated a few steps, before reaching behind him, pulling out the crystal dagger.
It whirled in a silvery circle as he threw it. It planted itself in Elena's stomach, and the Turk staggered, coughing blood. The sword in her hand faltered, and Jarred saw his chance, and grabbed the Villis Me Ka from the ground, bringing it into an upwards slash. Elena staggered away just in time, and wrenched the dagger from her stomach, throwing it to the ground.
A second blow from Jarred was parried by Elena once again, and the Turk used the recoil from her sword to strike at Jarred while he tried to ready himself for another attack. The Villis Me Ka was raised protectively, as Jarred fearfully tried to keep as much space between him and the Betrayer as possible. Seeing her chance, Elena struck at Jarred repeatedly, forcing him back. The vile blade clanged dully, and with angrier notes with each blow. Red cracks began to form around the edges of the sword, and a sound like a wounded animal groaning in pain rang out, before the sword shattered completely. The short hilt was all the remained of the vile blade that destroyed souls, and it's dark essence was rapidly dissipating.
The Prince Of Darkness stared at the black shards around him, and let the broken hilt fall to the ground. His crimson eyes fell once again on Elena, and he smiled briefly, sadly, and kneeled.
"You have won, Elena. Even with my power, you have beaten me. Destroy me, then. Be done with it." He said softly, looking at the ground.
Elena raised the blade, behind her head, and looked down at the kneeling warrior below her.
~Finish it, human. He is beyond redemption.~ Psin said into mind.
Jarred looked up suddenly, almost pleadingly at her.
"Tell me, though, before you kill me. Did you ever love me? Ever?"
Elena's grip faltered on the sword.
"Y, yes, Jarred. I think I did at one point. But not when you're like this. This is just wrong, Jarred. Destruction only brings about more destruction."
The black skinned man smiled thoughtfully.
"You're right of course. As always." He muttered softly, barely loud enough for Elena to hear. He looked up once again, imploringly. "End it."
The Betrayer rose, and fell, and the wet sound of flesh being hewn was heard.
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Jarred was surrounded by blackness. Not the darkness like he had created around the world: That had merely been a lack of light. No, this was something much deeper. This darkness embodied every possible meaning of the word. Infinity spanned out in all directions, with nothing in between.
"H, hello?" He called out, for some reason. He didn't really expect an answer, and even when he got one it came as a shock.
Hello, Jarred. Nice of you to stop by. Not that you had much choice in the matter, I imagine.
Jarred was a bit confused by now.
"Erm, aren't I dead?"
Yes.
"Where am I?"
The Other side.
Jarred frowned suddenly.
"Of what?"
Can't say I'm too sure anymore. I used to know. I suppose it was never important if I forgot it so easily.
Silence.
Jarred coughed
"Er, if I'm dead, what am I doing here?"
Being dead, I suppose.
"Oh." Jarred said softly, obviously disappointed. "Doesn't the tall guy with the scythe come and-"
He was behind you.
"Ah."
He was very angry, you know.
"I imagine many people were."
More surprised than angry, really. More surprised than angry in most cases, actually.
"Oh." Jarred said. "Er, you're the Planet, are you?"
Come as a surprise?
"Not really," He muttered, and then perked up. "Then I'm to be judged?"
That's the idea.
"But didn't I destroy the planet?"
A minor setback. Give me a few thousand years and I'll be back on my feet, so to speak. The Lifestream provides, I always say.
"That's a nice saying."
I rather thought so too. Now, shall we get on with your judgement? Haven't got all day, y'know. I don't even think I have a day anymore, thankyouverymuch.
"Sorry."
Sorry doesn't bring me back, Jarred. Anyway, I don't think there's any denying what you did anymore, is there?
"No"
Why did you do it, then?
"I wanted to remake the world. Make it better."
Ah, a visionary, eh? Well, it's a worthy cause, I'll grant you. Why did you kill Cloud and the others?
"They stood in my way."
Simple solution. I highly approve.
"You do?"
Jarred, I made evolution. Billions of things have died because of it, and humans, demons, Cetra, and you, are the result. Death is not always a bad thing.
"Oh."
And you let Elena kill you. You could have reached out with the Darkness and destroyed her, but you didn't. Why?
"I couldn't. I, I loved her. And she made me see that I was wrong."
Always ready to see the error in your ways, eh? That's a fault if I ever saw one.
"What?"
The stone that suddenly falls down and beans someone doesn't realize the error of it's ways.
"But rocks don't think."
Says you. But you're dead, and speaking to the planet. Anyway I've made a decision. I will use you.
"Use me?"
To remake me. You think I wanna sit around like this for a few thousand years? No, you had good intentions, but bad guidance. We will remake the world to my liking, and then we will remake the peoples of the world. Demons, Cetra, Humans, And Half-Breeds, will all be reborn. I will seal your power, and remake you and your brethren as well, to act as guardians for the new world. This is your punishment.
"That doesn't sound too bad."
Ha! Have you ever tried making a tree with just molecules? It aint easy! Not to mention things like the twelve demonic races, the magical properties of their genes, creating enough energy to sustain a worldwide ecosystem, making the fake dinosaur bones to really confuse archaeologists , and then sitting around waiting for people to realize that magic actually does exist, and then the really hard bits start up.
"Oh. But I'm the Prince Of Darkness, eh? That's gotta count for something, right?"
... Y'know, it's that kinda attitude that got you on my 'People to Smite' list. Let's not have a repeat, eh?
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Elena sat down against the railing as Jarred's limp corpse fell the ground, blood trickling from the fatal wound. She heard the ring of metal from Psin's blade clanged against the ground as it left her nerveless grasp, and felt the cold gasp of wind as huge amounts of magic suddenly found itself standing around doing nothing (Which is a very dangerous state for magic: Usually after a few minutes of this dormant magic suddenly finds a way to use itself. (And thus, the platypus was created on the destroyed remains of the planet.)) And the black surface below shimmered, and then started to go all runny. From a from miles away, the blackness surrounding the planet seemed to melt away, dripping down into infinity, leaving in it's wake a completely devastated surface of a once blue-green globe. The Highwind bobbed high above it, the only thing unchanged.
Reeve peeked out of the Highwind, and when failing to see any insane black- skinned cataclysm-bringers, cautiously stepped out onto the deck. He noticed the distinct lack of darkness around them, and hastily looked over the railing, and groaned. He took a few steps back, and tripped over Mech- Head's legs and fell on his butt. His eyes were filled with disbelief.
"I, It's all gone. He wasn't kidding. He really did destroy the planet. What're we going to do? Everything's gone!"
Elena was vaguely aware of Reeve, but only vaguely. Right now, she felt the overpowering urge to sleep...
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... And she woke up on a fluffy bed, spread out luxuriously. She shot upward like an arrow, and stared at her surroundings. She recognized the dresser in the corner, the mirror on the door, the blue suit hanging on the door handle. Yes, this was her apartment. But what was she doing here? Where was Reeve? How had she gotten back to her apartment after it had been destroyed? Was this Jarred's doing? Did he pull a quick one or something? How the delegations had gone from bad to worse was anybody's guess. The Half-Breed ambassador had arrived, early apparently, and things had gone straight to hell from there. It had started out with trade negotiations, and had ended with death threats. Not unpredictable, really, considering that the ambassador in question was none other than Psin Rath, a notorious human hater, unlike his brother. Things would have gotten worse, if Wraith hadn't intervened. The tall Half-Breed promptly threw Psin out on his ass, and threatened to throw him out again if he came back, only from the top of the building.
The only plus side of the day had been the other meeting with a man of the Rath family, the Arch-chancellor of the Half-Breed academy of magic, who had come by to check up on some potentials. The man seemed to take everything as joke, and seemed to live with the philosophy that consequences happened to other people. Elena had been assigned to guarding him, and that had been fun. Jarred had assured her early on that if anybody threatened him then he could handle himself.
"You don't get to be arch-chancellor by writing names all day, y'know. There's actual magic involved." He had said, with a serious face for a full five seconds before he grinned. "Sometimes ya gotta lat the law down, just so people know what it looks like.
After the potentials had been visited (two were accepted, both humans, much to their parents joy.) the black skinned man undid the long robe and threw it away. Underneath it wore simple, dark blue clothes, with a spiked shoulder guard on his left shoulder and an axe hanging from a loop on his belt. He grinned broadly, and asked her politely if she would join him for dinner, some time after he visited some old friends, say five-ish.
Today, she was scheduled to act as President Reeve's elite Guard when he would go to visit Emperor Zann Talrath Kahn of the demons, and try to negotiate something or other. Elena didn't believe Reeve would get anything from Kahn: that demon wouldn't give his own mother a sip of water if thought he might need it later. Jarred would be there, of course. Kahn had summoned him personally to enlist some people into the academy. Elena had a feeling that things were about to get very lively over at Telatil, the demonic capital.
Elena shook her head. What had she been thinking about before? Something about Jarred? Was she obsessing about the Half-Breed all of a sudden? Oh, god, Reno would have fun with that if he found out. Rude would be silent, yeah, but even he would grin when he thought she wasn't looking. Spectre wouldn't even be subtle about it. And Wraith would...! The only mercy was that Ghost had long since left the Turks to become a priest. That would be sight if he managed it.
What had she been thinking about? Oh, well, couldn't have been important if she had forgotten it so easily...
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Ah, well, that's the last chapter. Didja enjoy it? I'll post the Epilogue in a while, when I get done tweaking it. It needs a lot of that.belieugh energy to ut you didn'you are the result.
(And yes, I am that evil, Mucomi. Why else do you think I started writing?)
Chapter was delayed because I used the weekends to go snowboarding: I retain the right to go outside (Despite how little I use it).
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Chapter XXXVII: The Final Fantasy Of A Fleeting Dream, The Forgotten Age...
"Let's end this." Elena heard Jarred say, from somewhere. She looked around frantically, around the reserved spot of darkness that wasn't currently being ripped to pieces. Above her, she could see the Highwind, bobbing ever so slightly in the wind.
Psin! Talk to me, you useless heap of metal!
~What?! Oh, I get it. Nobody wants to talk to me until I'm dead. Very nice. I thought the deceased were supposed to rest in peace!~
Shut up! Jarred's up there, and we're down here. How am I supposed to get up there?!
~...~ Said the sword. It was such a thoughtful silence that it could be said. ~I think... I think you have a problem.~
Me?! Hey, you're nothing if I can't stop Jarred! You gotta help me get up there!
~What the hell am I going to do? Use my 'spooky Hilt magic'? I'm a f-&%-ing sword, goddammit! I can't do anything! I'm generally used to hack people into pieces, not figure out how!~ Psin shouted into her mind. ~I think there might be some magical properties in me, though. Try casting some magic.~
Elena wasn't exactly acquainted with the idea of casting magic without Materia; It had been more or less a fluke when she cast magic when she had Jarred's blood gem. She hesitantly tried to invoke some sort of magical aspect of the weapon she held. This went somewhere along the lines of thinking 'Workworkworkwork...'
Quite unexpectedly, it did. Well, it more or less summoned something that would help. Elena found herself standing on a black dragon, which roared and hissed under her.
~Excellent. My dragon will bring you to where you need to go. And if you have anything else you need help with, don't hesitate to bite me. Lets just get this over with, so that I can look upon the adventures of rust and decay and, hopefully, death.~
Black wings spread, and beat the air strongly. Above them, something clanked, and a fell over the rail. It hit the ground with a loud clank. Elena looked over the dragon's shoulder and wing and saw, with some horrified fascination, the severed head of Mech-Head. Above them, another loud clang rang out.
"Move, you stupid monster!" She shouted, looking up at the airship with grim anticipation. Somewhere, along with the clang of metal, someone was laughing. And it wasn't pleasant to hear.
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The Villis Me Ka turned the Massamune away with ease, and Jarred stood at ease once again, the long vicious blade held forwards menacingly in one hand, the other clutching the crystal dagger. Cloud And Mech-Head backed off, breathing deeply. Try as they might, Jarred deflected each attack with enough speed and agility to spare to be able to dodge Vincent's bullets.
Cloud leaned on his sword, panting heavily. Mech-Head did the same, although his mechanic body didn't really need air.
"I, I think we have a problem." Cloud gasped out, quickly lifting the huge sword once more, on guard.
Mech-Head was silent, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I seem to remember him going berserk when I slashed the machine during my siege. I take it the freak was attached to him?"
Cloud looked over at the demon for a moment, before directing his attention back to Jarred. Tifa and Rude had advanced upon Jarred, and were trying to hold him off.
"The machine?" He asked, confusion on his face. "You mean Seph X? yeah, he considered him his master. Dunno why that should help us, though."
The mechanic demon smiled wickedly, and reached towards something attached to his waist. He brought up something large and metallic, and laughed.
"I think it's time to use his head." He cackled, and raised the head high. "Oy, freak!"
Jarred whirled around to meet the demon, eyes blazing with fury.
"Say hello to yer friend, eh?!" Mech-Head shouted, and threw the metal head. While it was in mid-air, Cloud could make out some of the features of Seph X on it, and groaned internally. Jarred seemed to notice too, and his face became crestfallen. He caught it as it approached and stared at it. Mech-Head laughed, and whipped the Massamune up. "What're we waitin' for? Let's kill the bastard!" He roared, launching himself forward.
The demon moved with such speed that Jarred couldn't react even if he had wanted too. The Massamune slashed across his chest, ripping it open. The Half-Breed staggered back, and cried in pain: Mech-Head turned around, a pleased expression on his face.
"That's how you deal with insane Half-Breeds!" He stated proudly, posing.
Too late did Cloud notice Jarred righting himself out, blind rage showing on him.
"Mech-Head look ou-"He began, but was abruptly cut off by Jarred slashing the Villis Me Ka through his neck, and throwing the head of Seph X over the side of the Highwind. Mech-Head didn't even have time to blink. He was dead before he knew it.
Jarred Rath smiled maliciously.
"A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, a head for a head, don't you agree, Cloud?" He spun around violently, whipping his sword in an upward slash with a single liquid motion, effectively killing Rude. The Turk collapsed to the ground, his final seconds upon him. "You still have time, human! Lay down you weapons, and I will overlook this incident."
Cloud closed his eyes, cursing.
"Too many people have died already, Jarred. We can't stop now."
"Ya damn right, foo!" Barret growled, stomping through the doorway. Reeve walked behind him, cautiously holding a pistol. Red XIII trailed behind them, growling deeply.
"Hmph." Jarred said plainly, his mouth contorting into a sneer. "You fight for what is gone. You are all that's left of the planet, and yet you still fight for it?! Why?!" His wrist slash up suddenly, and shadows seemed to exude from his very fingertips. Magical lightning crackled through the air, and the steel flooring seemed to groan under sudden stress.
"I will end you."
Jarred vanished from where he stood in a burst of shadows. Everyone blinked almost simultaneously, and looked around them.
"Cloud, look out!" Tifa cried out in warning as Jarred seemed to stand up from Clouds very shadow.
The blonde swordsman had just enough time to raise the Ultima weapon protectively against Jarred's attack. Sparks flew as the blades met. The strength of the blow forced him back a step, and Jarred took advantage of it, preparing the killing blow.
Tifa grabbed his arm before the blow could land. The black skinned warrior glanced over at Tifa, and snarled. His free hand flickered with a blue light, and the horrifyingly familiar shape of an energy globe appeared in his hand. He threw it dispassionately, wincing slightly as he heard Tifa scream in pain as the exploded erupted inside his stomach. Her limp body fell to the ground, her sightless eyes staring outwards at the world.
"You ยค#/%!" Barret cursed, holding his gun-arm at the ready. It recoiled slightly as shells rocketed out, screaming through the air.
A wall of fire sprang to life around Jarred, and the bullets pinged off it as if it was a physical structure. Barret cursed some more, and let loose another barrage of bullets.
Jarred walked through the flames suddenly, his face contorted angrily. The Villis Me Ka whipped out, striking Barret's weapon, The Missing Score, a blow the sheared it in two. The long sword moved in silvery circles as Jarred twirled it in his hand, and dealt Barret a second, fatal blow across the chest.
The warrior turned just in time to parry Cloud's downward chop, a grin playing across his features. His foot lashed out, kicking Cloud's knee in, and a loud snap of bone was heard. Cloud fell into a kneeling position, with his forward most leg burning with pain. Jarred swung the sword back, that malevolent grin still on his lips, and Cloud tried to swing the Ultima weapon to stop the blow, but he just wasn't fast enough.
And the pain suddenly went away.
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Vincent watched with horrified anger as Jarred coolly dispatched his friends and comrades one by one, and took a faltering step backwards.
~He's even worse than I was!~ He thought fervently. ~At least I didn't want to change into Chaos! He's doing this all by himself.~
Jarred's head turned slowly to him, his crimson eyes burning with dark flames. The Villis Me Ka glinted suddenly, as it was brought upwards by Jarred. Vincent raised the Death Penalty, and aimed along it's shaft, pulling the trigger. Jarred was thrown backwards, and lay on the ground for a moment, before lurching forward again. At the sound of metal groaning, he stopped, and spun around.
Vincent's eyes went wide as he saw what was happening behind Jarred.
Elena hopped off the back of a black dragon, holding a sword in her hand that radiated light that outshone the very sun. Jarred recoiled at the sight, snarling all the more.
"Vincent! I'll take care of Jarred! Get out of here! This is going to get messy!" She shouted, holding the sword in front of her carefully. The Villis Me Ka moved in an arc as Jarred slashed out with it, but Elena parried it with ease. "Run, dammit! This is a battle you can't win!"
Vincent believed her. He had seen what Jarred was capable of, and it far surpassed anything Sephiroth could have done: He had wanted to become a god, whereas Jarred could tear them down. He nodded to the Turk, and stealthily made his exit with Reeve, who was jittery from horror.
Jarred growled from the bowels of his throat. It wasn't a nice sound. He stared at Elena with such hurt and anger that she almost lost her step.
"Why?!" He demanded angrily, clutching the Villis Me Ka tightly. "Why did you betray me?! Don't you understand that I want to make a better world?! I want to make it for us! Why would you betray me?!"
Elena advanced, grimly determined.
"You don't want a perfect world for everyone anymore, Jarred. You want a perfect world for you, and nobody that disagrees with you can possibly exist in it."
"You're wrong! You're all wrong! I will create a perfect world... A perfect world for everyone!"
"Lies, Jarred, and you know it. The darkness has corrupted you Jarred. You have to be stopped."
Jarred sighed slowly, and held the Villis Me Ka at the ready.
"Very well, if you're hell-bent on this. Good bye, Elena."
Elena was the first to attack. She lunged forward, stabbing at Jarred with the Betrayer. Jarred turned the stab away, and held up his hand, summoning a blue globe. Elena tried once again to invoke the magic in her weapon, and was rewarded when a soft blow glow surrounded her, protecting her from Jarred's globe. The globe was absorbed by the glow, and Elena took advantage of Jarred's surprise, slashing at his exposed chest. His chest opened, and the smell of burning flesh reached through the air, filling her senses. The warrior dropped the Villis Me Ka, holding his chest and cursing in pain. But he kept his eyes on her. He retreated a few steps, before reaching behind him, pulling out the crystal dagger.
It whirled in a silvery circle as he threw it. It planted itself in Elena's stomach, and the Turk staggered, coughing blood. The sword in her hand faltered, and Jarred saw his chance, and grabbed the Villis Me Ka from the ground, bringing it into an upwards slash. Elena staggered away just in time, and wrenched the dagger from her stomach, throwing it to the ground.
A second blow from Jarred was parried by Elena once again, and the Turk used the recoil from her sword to strike at Jarred while he tried to ready himself for another attack. The Villis Me Ka was raised protectively, as Jarred fearfully tried to keep as much space between him and the Betrayer as possible. Seeing her chance, Elena struck at Jarred repeatedly, forcing him back. The vile blade clanged dully, and with angrier notes with each blow. Red cracks began to form around the edges of the sword, and a sound like a wounded animal groaning in pain rang out, before the sword shattered completely. The short hilt was all the remained of the vile blade that destroyed souls, and it's dark essence was rapidly dissipating.
The Prince Of Darkness stared at the black shards around him, and let the broken hilt fall to the ground. His crimson eyes fell once again on Elena, and he smiled briefly, sadly, and kneeled.
"You have won, Elena. Even with my power, you have beaten me. Destroy me, then. Be done with it." He said softly, looking at the ground.
Elena raised the blade, behind her head, and looked down at the kneeling warrior below her.
~Finish it, human. He is beyond redemption.~ Psin said into mind.
Jarred looked up suddenly, almost pleadingly at her.
"Tell me, though, before you kill me. Did you ever love me? Ever?"
Elena's grip faltered on the sword.
"Y, yes, Jarred. I think I did at one point. But not when you're like this. This is just wrong, Jarred. Destruction only brings about more destruction."
The black skinned man smiled thoughtfully.
"You're right of course. As always." He muttered softly, barely loud enough for Elena to hear. He looked up once again, imploringly. "End it."
The Betrayer rose, and fell, and the wet sound of flesh being hewn was heard.
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Jarred was surrounded by blackness. Not the darkness like he had created around the world: That had merely been a lack of light. No, this was something much deeper. This darkness embodied every possible meaning of the word. Infinity spanned out in all directions, with nothing in between.
"H, hello?" He called out, for some reason. He didn't really expect an answer, and even when he got one it came as a shock.
Hello, Jarred. Nice of you to stop by. Not that you had much choice in the matter, I imagine.
Jarred was a bit confused by now.
"Erm, aren't I dead?"
Yes.
"Where am I?"
The Other side.
Jarred frowned suddenly.
"Of what?"
Can't say I'm too sure anymore. I used to know. I suppose it was never important if I forgot it so easily.
Silence.
Jarred coughed
"Er, if I'm dead, what am I doing here?"
Being dead, I suppose.
"Oh." Jarred said softly, obviously disappointed. "Doesn't the tall guy with the scythe come and-"
He was behind you.
"Ah."
He was very angry, you know.
"I imagine many people were."
More surprised than angry, really. More surprised than angry in most cases, actually.
"Oh." Jarred said. "Er, you're the Planet, are you?"
Come as a surprise?
"Not really," He muttered, and then perked up. "Then I'm to be judged?"
That's the idea.
"But didn't I destroy the planet?"
A minor setback. Give me a few thousand years and I'll be back on my feet, so to speak. The Lifestream provides, I always say.
"That's a nice saying."
I rather thought so too. Now, shall we get on with your judgement? Haven't got all day, y'know. I don't even think I have a day anymore, thankyouverymuch.
"Sorry."
Sorry doesn't bring me back, Jarred. Anyway, I don't think there's any denying what you did anymore, is there?
"No"
Why did you do it, then?
"I wanted to remake the world. Make it better."
Ah, a visionary, eh? Well, it's a worthy cause, I'll grant you. Why did you kill Cloud and the others?
"They stood in my way."
Simple solution. I highly approve.
"You do?"
Jarred, I made evolution. Billions of things have died because of it, and humans, demons, Cetra, and you, are the result. Death is not always a bad thing.
"Oh."
And you let Elena kill you. You could have reached out with the Darkness and destroyed her, but you didn't. Why?
"I couldn't. I, I loved her. And she made me see that I was wrong."
Always ready to see the error in your ways, eh? That's a fault if I ever saw one.
"What?"
The stone that suddenly falls down and beans someone doesn't realize the error of it's ways.
"But rocks don't think."
Says you. But you're dead, and speaking to the planet. Anyway I've made a decision. I will use you.
"Use me?"
To remake me. You think I wanna sit around like this for a few thousand years? No, you had good intentions, but bad guidance. We will remake the world to my liking, and then we will remake the peoples of the world. Demons, Cetra, Humans, And Half-Breeds, will all be reborn. I will seal your power, and remake you and your brethren as well, to act as guardians for the new world. This is your punishment.
"That doesn't sound too bad."
Ha! Have you ever tried making a tree with just molecules? It aint easy! Not to mention things like the twelve demonic races, the magical properties of their genes, creating enough energy to sustain a worldwide ecosystem, making the fake dinosaur bones to really confuse archaeologists , and then sitting around waiting for people to realize that magic actually does exist, and then the really hard bits start up.
"Oh. But I'm the Prince Of Darkness, eh? That's gotta count for something, right?"
... Y'know, it's that kinda attitude that got you on my 'People to Smite' list. Let's not have a repeat, eh?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elena sat down against the railing as Jarred's limp corpse fell the ground, blood trickling from the fatal wound. She heard the ring of metal from Psin's blade clanged against the ground as it left her nerveless grasp, and felt the cold gasp of wind as huge amounts of magic suddenly found itself standing around doing nothing (Which is a very dangerous state for magic: Usually after a few minutes of this dormant magic suddenly finds a way to use itself. (And thus, the platypus was created on the destroyed remains of the planet.)) And the black surface below shimmered, and then started to go all runny. From a from miles away, the blackness surrounding the planet seemed to melt away, dripping down into infinity, leaving in it's wake a completely devastated surface of a once blue-green globe. The Highwind bobbed high above it, the only thing unchanged.
Reeve peeked out of the Highwind, and when failing to see any insane black- skinned cataclysm-bringers, cautiously stepped out onto the deck. He noticed the distinct lack of darkness around them, and hastily looked over the railing, and groaned. He took a few steps back, and tripped over Mech- Head's legs and fell on his butt. His eyes were filled with disbelief.
"I, It's all gone. He wasn't kidding. He really did destroy the planet. What're we going to do? Everything's gone!"
Elena was vaguely aware of Reeve, but only vaguely. Right now, she felt the overpowering urge to sleep...
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... And she woke up on a fluffy bed, spread out luxuriously. She shot upward like an arrow, and stared at her surroundings. She recognized the dresser in the corner, the mirror on the door, the blue suit hanging on the door handle. Yes, this was her apartment. But what was she doing here? Where was Reeve? How had she gotten back to her apartment after it had been destroyed? Was this Jarred's doing? Did he pull a quick one or something? How the delegations had gone from bad to worse was anybody's guess. The Half-Breed ambassador had arrived, early apparently, and things had gone straight to hell from there. It had started out with trade negotiations, and had ended with death threats. Not unpredictable, really, considering that the ambassador in question was none other than Psin Rath, a notorious human hater, unlike his brother. Things would have gotten worse, if Wraith hadn't intervened. The tall Half-Breed promptly threw Psin out on his ass, and threatened to throw him out again if he came back, only from the top of the building.
The only plus side of the day had been the other meeting with a man of the Rath family, the Arch-chancellor of the Half-Breed academy of magic, who had come by to check up on some potentials. The man seemed to take everything as joke, and seemed to live with the philosophy that consequences happened to other people. Elena had been assigned to guarding him, and that had been fun. Jarred had assured her early on that if anybody threatened him then he could handle himself.
"You don't get to be arch-chancellor by writing names all day, y'know. There's actual magic involved." He had said, with a serious face for a full five seconds before he grinned. "Sometimes ya gotta lat the law down, just so people know what it looks like.
After the potentials had been visited (two were accepted, both humans, much to their parents joy.) the black skinned man undid the long robe and threw it away. Underneath it wore simple, dark blue clothes, with a spiked shoulder guard on his left shoulder and an axe hanging from a loop on his belt. He grinned broadly, and asked her politely if she would join him for dinner, some time after he visited some old friends, say five-ish.
Today, she was scheduled to act as President Reeve's elite Guard when he would go to visit Emperor Zann Talrath Kahn of the demons, and try to negotiate something or other. Elena didn't believe Reeve would get anything from Kahn: that demon wouldn't give his own mother a sip of water if thought he might need it later. Jarred would be there, of course. Kahn had summoned him personally to enlist some people into the academy. Elena had a feeling that things were about to get very lively over at Telatil, the demonic capital.
Elena shook her head. What had she been thinking about before? Something about Jarred? Was she obsessing about the Half-Breed all of a sudden? Oh, god, Reno would have fun with that if he found out. Rude would be silent, yeah, but even he would grin when he thought she wasn't looking. Spectre wouldn't even be subtle about it. And Wraith would...! The only mercy was that Ghost had long since left the Turks to become a priest. That would be sight if he managed it.
What had she been thinking about? Oh, well, couldn't have been important if she had forgotten it so easily...
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Ah, well, that's the last chapter. Didja enjoy it? I'll post the Epilogue in a while, when I get done tweaking it. It needs a lot of that.belieugh energy to ut you didn'you are the result.
