GUILTY GEAR
The Wedding Night
The Series
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Conceived and Written By: Sheo Darren
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Disclaimers
I don't own anything here but myself, my created characters and the story itself. This is the second to the last part, and I hope you enjoy it –and the surprise ending. The songs mentioned here are, in the following order: Liminality from .hack//Liminality, Duvet from Serial Experiments Lain and Sayonara Solitia from Chrno Crusade.
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This chapter is dedicated to Lone Wolf SIX, the online friend I met on fanfiction.net, unseen but unbelievably real. It's been a happy romp with you, and I hope you never run out of fun stories to write. As for your romantic troubles, I don't mind if you choose Cassandra over Hibiki the pencil held in Sheo's hand snaps audibly, though, and his words are said with gritted teeth and Yuuki is standing by watching him warily, ready to hold him back if he goes bonkers, just make sure that you don't mean to hurt Takane-sensei ^_^. Otherwise, I wish you the best of the best.
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Enjoy.
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The Wedding Night Series
"All Good Things Must Come To An End…"
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Part Five of Five: Sheo
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* * *
I'll be there by your side
In the land of twilight
In your dream I will go
'Til we find the sunrise
You are lost in nightmare
Deep in blue illusion
One more kiss to wake you up
Come be mine, you are mine
I will be there seekin' for liminality
No destinations to see, I wander
In quiet places so dark as eternity
I'm crying calling your name
I'm searching for you
Dreaming in the land of twilight
We are in the land of twilight
Deep in blue eternity
Search for liminality
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"Dreaming in the land of twilight… we are in the land of twilight… deep in blue eternity… searching for liminality…"
She could feel the realization of it arrive in her mind even as her song ended, as she voiced out those last words as a plea.
It was coming.
The end was near.
The sunlight shone still despite the sky shadowed by sinister ships of war. But soon it would shine no more.
The moon awaited its turn upon the horizon, silver sphere of special favor for lovers and romancers. But soon its wait would end forever.
The world was as alive and adrift and amazing as it had been for a hundred years, enduring onwards to a future unimaginable even by the dreamers.
But soon it would be gone, never to return.
"Even though the sun and the moon and the world disappear…"
The girl held herself against the otherworldly chill that swept around and within her, warmed by her own presence and the presence of the one she sought for so long, the one who was not with her now but was always beside her and within her in love.
"Even though they all disappear…"
She looked afar to where it all happened, to where and era and a world were rapidly drawing to an end.
"Even if they disappear, you will still be there."
* * *
Sheo Darren smiled at his creation, spectacles shining in the fading light. "I humbly apologize for being so late, but is this really the latest fashion sense in the Magical Girl wardrobe?" He eyed Yuuki's current state of undress with joking disapproval. "I know Puni Puni Poemi's costume was daring, but there was no real need to improve or continue on it. Conservative tradition has some good things running for it, you know. What will Loki-kun think?"
She bonked him on her head lightly for the teasing comment, but Yuuki was also smiling. "Baka. Hey, it isn't my fault I'm just wearing lingerie. Arvi stripped me down to this in the last chapter. Now," she added a bit threateningly, "If you don't mind, you can stop staring at me and put me down –or is it that you're into Lolita for real?"
"You never were much for a tease, Yuuki-chan." He set her down on her feet, but presented a coat for her use, which she gratefully wrapped around her.
"What took you so long?"
"I could say, 'plot devices', but that would be irresponsible. I just took longer than I thought to get all the firepower I needed–"
"–And convincing the new additions to your 'harem' to join up?"
He grinned a bit embarrassedly. "What do you think?"
For a moment Yuuki pouted in disapproval, but then she hugged Sheo hard, her tears beginning. "Thank God," she murmured, crying. "Thank God you're back at last."
"Hai. Thank God, indeed."
Sheo Darren turned to Sho Tsuzuku.
"Get out. Get out of my world."
* * *
The Wanderer touched down lightly, the Wings of Eternity folding upon themselves and withdrawing back into him once more, quiescent until his need calls out to them once more. In his hands Kamigami was asleep, its duty done, its name reclaimed.
A sigh escaped him, a sigh of regret at having to shed blood and lives.
Behind him, the last remnants of what had been Ranma Saotome were blown away by the wind.
He was alone, but not for long.
Footsteps preceded the sunlight flashing upon drawn steel. A lone figure confronted him.
Despite his silent lamentations, the young man who was once merely Elde Talonn looked up and regarded his foe.
"You never give up, don't you, Johnny-san?"
A hand on his katana, the coldness of the pirate lord's eyes was hidden by his dark shades –incidentally, the same make as the Wanderer's own. His dark smile was an evil counterpart to the heroic journeyman swordsman's regular beam.
"What did you do to Mai? Where is she?"
"She's preoccupied."
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The first indicator that there was something wrong was when Kawasumi Mai subconsciously noticed she couldn't hear the roaring of her companion's AKM. She was completely occupied crossing swords with Johnny, needing every bit of her skill and ability to match the pirate lord.
Earl Osborne was down. Not down and out for the count as Plave was but definitely down, pinned and held down by perhaps a dozen girls. The Filipino action hero was swearing loudly in English, Filipino, Japanese, Russian and Drow, clearly unhappy with his situation but seemingly unable to do anything about it.
"Well, what do you know?" Johnny had a small knowing smile on his face. "It looks like your friend's weakness happens to be cute girls."
Mai ignored the jibe or her ally's 'plight'. Earl Osborne was invincible a la Keitaro Urashima. There was no real way those girls could kill or even harm him.
But he couldn't provide fire support for her. This complicates things, she decided.
Further complications were on the way.
Several more girls appeared. They were all dressed in serafuku, cut-off jeans and bandannas: The uniform of Jellyfish pirates. They placed themselves between Mai and her opponent.
Johnny's grin grew further.
"Don't worry, Johnny," one of the Jellyfish girls said. "We won't let her hurt you."
Mai felt cheated, even though she wasn't the one being betrayed but these girls. "You…"
"Unfortunately, it seems that my girls are rather protective of me." Johnny tipped his pimping hat to his capable but foolishly idealistic foe. "I have an appointment to continue with your good friend. Perhaps we can continue our dance after he and I are done."
So saying, he left. Mai would have followed him, but the Jellyfish girls stood in her way, effectively blocking her path.
"We won't let you hurt Johnny…"
"Kuso…" The swordswoman lost her cool at such blind devotion and yelled at them: "You're just being used! He doesn't love you or care for you, at least, not anymore!"
"We know," they said sadly.
"Then why are you doing what he wants you to do? Why?"
"Because we love him." The Jellyfish girls were crying. "It's because we love him."
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"You used your girls to buy you time you needed." The Wanderer's dark eyes were even blacker than ever. "Sho Tsuzuku's own tactics: Use other people to fight for him."
"Sho Tsuzuku tactics?" Johnny laughed. "You are too kind. Everyone uses such tactics. Commanders rarely, if ever, personally take the risks. They always have their troopers willing to do so for them.
"Sho Tsuzuku tactics? Wouldn't you call the way Sheo had Talim defeat Giant Barney –or Sheo letting the bishounen defeat the EFZ girls, or Yuuki leading the GG fighters to their dooms and deaths, or even you yourself having Mai fight me– Sho Tsuzuku tactics' as well? Wouldn't you say that your side and my side are on the same coin?"
For a moment, he kept his peace. In his hands, Kamigami glowed once. He shushed it back to sleep with a word –and planted its blade deep into the ground.
The Wanderer stood up, a smooth fluid motion, all human emotion slipping away as a fey mood overtook him like dawn breaking upon the night. "It seems," he said with a steely tone, no compassion evident in it, "That perhaps I was mistaken to the extent of your corruption. It appears that you have fallen too deeply into the darkness to be saved.
"I am not like you or Sho Tsuzuku. Yes, my friends risk their lives for me, just as your girls do so for you. But unlike you, I care for them in return. I worry about them. I wouldn't have them put their lives and happiness at risk just because of me.
"The Wanderer will live alone forever. But around him the world and people will care about him –and he in turn cares about them."
"Fine. Have it your way." Johnny got into his stance. "Then let's get this over with, boy."
The cold aura that suddenly surrounded the young man was striking. This was Elde Talonn no more, Swordsman No More. This was the Wanderer as his original inception was: Warrior, protector, guide, journeyman.
Forever alone and alive.
"You don't deserve the honor of a fight," he said.
Johnny fell back despite himself.
From behind the Wanderer raised a titanic saurian head, the crest of crimson crystal its bridge and eyes, each of its teeth easily taller than the Swordsman. The muzzles of its huge 400mm cannons could fit entire vehicles in their cavernous mouths. They and various other weapons mounted on both the massive carrier Zoid and its escorting mecha were leveled directly at Johnny.
The Ultrasaurus had arrived.
"Elde-kun?" It was Kirika, talking over the external amplification speakers. "Daijoubu?"
"Hai, Kirika-kun." Only when he talked to her did his voice retain its warmth and kindness. "And you?"
"It was a bit exciting back then. We've got you covered now."
"Arigatou gozaimasu." To Johnny: "Surrender. I will not draw my sword to fight such an undeserving man as you, but I don't control the fingers on the triggers of those weapons. And by the looks of it, they don't like you very much."
"You'd let them kill me?" The pirate lord tried to look horrified; instead, he was chilled to the heart. "I thought the Wanderer–"
"–Couldn't kill?" He looked at Kamigami and remembered the life he had just taken –and the lives of those others he had killed before, and those his predecessor had slain. "I never really was interested in fighting or killing. I just knew I had to be who I was: Swordsman, Wanderer, Elde Talonn. The Motherless Child. The new bearer of the legend's cross.
He smiled just slightly, painfully, at his undecided dispassion. "Maybe I don't care that much anymore."
Johnny attacked him.
* * *
To their utter and complete surprise, Darkness/Eddie broke off its attack, turned around and simply went away without even giving them a second glance.
Millia, Venom, Robo Ky and Sumomo stared at the sight of the giant shadow being's retreat. They were all too stunned for words or actions or even thoughts. They simply watched Darkness/Eddie vanish.
Sumomo was the first to react. "Aiieeee! We won! We won!" She began dancing on top of Robo Ky's head. "Evil shadow monster is gone! We won!"
"Just what was that?" a consternated Millia asked Venom.
"He just went away."
"Maybe he was bored of us?"
"Maybe? Who knows?"
* * *
Sephiroth stared at the impossibility before him.
Cloud's heart sang aloud in pure joy.
"Ohayou, Cloud-kun."
Aeris Gainsborough smiled at him.
* * *
Lucia was all alone now, confronted and cornered by the Guilty Gear and King of Fighters fighters plus the Fruits Basket insert character, his back literally against a wall (there was such a structure that had somehow survived their battle, now conveniently positioned behind him to guard his back).
Asamiya Athena and Justine Harrier, the Goddess singer and archetype Gear formerly sworn rivals, now the closest of teammates.
The so-called 'man from the past', Axl Low, cheerily his 'evil sickle skip ropes'.
Leopaldon, the odd-looking but very formidable boss from Guilty Gear Isuka.
But it was Sol Badguy who was the most fearsome of the bunch.
This was not just any Sol. This was the Sol Badguy from the first Guilty Gear. This was the Sol who was so cheap and unfairly unbalanced (the original GG was quite slipshod in character balance). This was the one who could launched rapid unlimited series of Gun Flames as fast as the player could pump them out. He was the most fearsome opponent Lucia had ever met.
"Maybe not," suggested a voice out of nowhere.
Everyone looked up in surprise.
It was the Guilty Gear writers of note. All of them.
The so-called 'lone wolf' of the writers, Lone Wolf SIX, accompanied by Takane Hibiki and Cassandra Alexandra, his created cosplaying assistant Kokurabuji Hikki and the 'wolf pack' of Lone Wolves ONE to FIVE.
The crazy Canadian comic, Person With Many Aliases, escorted by Korean archer girl Makijina Mina from Samura Showdown.
The almighty Blackheart ZERO and his friend TRUE Unknown (no, they're not the pairing; they just don't have any girls paired up with them).
Even that new kid, Nik Hasta –self-proclaimed Sheo Darren/Kaiser Ryouga II/Talon Silverwolf fan– and his sidekick/assistant Chibi, were there.
And Lucia suddenly knew that it was all over for him now, and he didn't even have enough time to scream his outrage at his impending doom–
"Hit him, people!"
Sol: "NAPALM DEATH!"
Kagura: "CUTE KITTY BACKPACK BAG SNIPER CANNON STRIKE!"
Athena: "DEUS EX MASTA!"
Justine: "SHEER HEART ATTACK!"
Axl: "SHIRANAMI NO HOMURA
Leopaldon: "WOOF!" (roughly translates to whatever its IK is called)
Lone Wolves ONE to FIVE: "HOWL FROM BEYOND!"
Lone Wolf SIX: "TO THE ABYSS YOU GO!"
Hikki: "CHRONO STORM!"
Hibiki: "Shinu."
Person With Many Aliases: "FLYING NINJA KICK!" (actually a normal move, but I don't really care)
Blackheart ZERO: "ZERO FINISH!"
TRUE Unknown: "I am not going to use that stupid– oh, what the hell; no choice, no IK of mine to speak of. GODO-SHOHOKEN!"
Nik Hasta: "THE-ULTRA-MEGA-NIK-HASTA-DESTROYER-GIGA-HYPER-SUPER-KILLER-DESTROY-1,0,0-JOULE-THIS-IS-A-LONG-MOVE-NAME-TERRIBLE-INSANELY-INSTANT-KILLISH-SLASH!"
Chibi: "This is so silly." (throws a rock)
Everything went white, then black.
* * *
"Get out. Get out of my world.
Sheo Darren looked tired. He was not angry or furious or raging. Instead, he looked like he was immensely inconvenienced but uninterested in exerting any effort to deal with the annoyance. A striking emotion, but it was far different from anger and not very threatening –but it was striking, indeed, because it was totally unexpected.
"What?" Sho Tsuzuku was honestly –or as close to honest as he could get– astonished. "Am I hearing this right? No challenge to fight? No incendiary speech or demand for me to pay or threat of massive punishment and suffering? No minion summons or blasts of power or fancy martial arts moves?" His last comment summed it all up. "Just a request to 'go away'?"
"In a nutshell? Yes." Sheo walked over to the remains of ADV Arvi and picked up his glasses, wiped them clean and inspected them. "No scratches. Good." He put them back on.
"Sheo!" That was Yuuki, who now found her voice and was righteously angry at her master, easily shifting from happy gratitude to critical anger in the span of only half a minute. She was representative of everyone's feelings. "What on Earth are you saying?"
"I'm saying that if Sho Tsuzuku leaves without a fight, I'd be perfectly happy. I'm giving him the chance to leave this dimension and never return."
"Why?" It was Sho Tsuzuku's turn to be curious. "Why the change of heart?"
"Let's just say that I am tired and bored and apathetic and totally lacking interest in dealing with you. Actually, let me amend that: I am interested in dealing with you, but I don't feel like it. Not right now. Not anymore.
"You see, I have a modified version of Sol Badguy's psychological limitation. I don't like to exert myself very much, save when the matter at hand is of importance or interest to me, or if someone requests me to do so." Sheo tipped his glasses up his nose and continued. "It's what the Spanish call maňana habit: Apathetic laziness, also called 'lack of focus and concentration' by parents angry at their delinquent sons.
"I could go on for a while, elaborating on certain points that need more than just a brief explanation. But of course that would not be necessary and very imprudent, the last considering that every second you spend in my world –even just standing there– increases your power. As summary to all I've said: I'm not in the mood for this. Please leave now," concluded Sheo, the annoyance and anger replaced by honest disinterest. "Shoo. Go away. Scat. The works. Just go away."
There were several kinds of reactions to this closing remark. One, for Rock and Hotaru and Geese and even normally imperturbable Loki, was to stare at Sheo as if the author had gone crazy. The second party –Misaki and especially Yuuki– was to get angry and demand explanations.
That Girl was especially incensed. This was the rankest kind of betrayal for her, especially considering what she had undergone just for Sheo. She had fought and hurt her fiancé Loki despite him being the most important person in her small universe of feelings. She had expended her full power and her life in fighting Sho Tsuzuku, and nearly got raped by a tentacle monster for her efforts. Yuuki thought that she deserved something better than this. To quote Wufei Chang: INJUSTICE!
"Damn it, Sheo! I didn't throw myself into near oblivion for you, just to have you giving up so early before the fight! You aren't even trying! Words won't matter to Sho! You have to destroy him! There's no other way! You know that very well!"
Sheo looked at her. It was then that Yuuki saw something different in them.
"I meant what I said." An angry denial would not have had the effect and power of those honestly said words. "I didn't say, 'I won't fight him'. I said, 'I don't want to fight him'."
Simple, really, so subtle a phrasing that even those well versed in the English language would have missed it in translation.
The third kind of reaction?
That was Sho Tsuzuku's.
He laughed.
Sheo stared at the smirking super villain for a long moment, rolled his eyes, sighed and put a hand to his forehead, fingers trying to feel the pain and annoyance inside his head–
–And then just snapped out loudly in a very angry tone:
"Why is it people are so wedded to their ideas so strongly that, despite the obvious, they just have to be so stupid?"
So saying, he spun around to glare at Sho Tsuzuku: "FALL!"
A great weight seemed to plant itself on the super villain, pulling him inexorably towards the ground. He began to resist–
"JUST FALL, DAMN IT!"
Sho Tsuzuku found himself sprawled on the ground, his face half buried in the soil, exactly as Sheo had snapped.
It was Command Voice, a verbal application of Sheo's power 'The Will and The Word', where reality's components defy behavioral norms laid down by physics in order to execute whatever event or idea wanted by the caster, however absurd or impossible it was.
In layman's terms, it meant that whatever Sheo wants to happen, happens.
The verbal outburst was accompanied by a surge of force so strong that it blanked out all other sources of power nearby. The invisible pulse of energy brought everyone else in the battlefield around them to a halt. They all heard the Command –and found themselves following it despite their inclinations.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE EXERTING MYSELF WHEN I DON'T WANT TO DO SO?" The Filipino author was positively furious, black eyes ablaze, angry like no one there had seen him before. Everyone could hear him yelling his head off and could see the tightly clenched fists he was waving around. "BUT OF COURSE YOU DON'T! YOU HAVE NO GODFORSAKEN IDEA HOW MUCH!"
Sho Tsuzuku began to get up on his feet.
"STAY DOWN!"
Again the super villain was blasted into the ground by the sheer volume of force focused through Command Voice, going in deeper as to create a shallow impression upon the soil. Again he began to get up.
"I SAID, STAY DOWN!"
The power was exactly like I-Nou's Voice, but far greater in magnitude. This time, the almost-physical force that drove Sho Tsuzuku into the ground for the third time running created a crater fifty meters in diameter and a tremor that measured third on the Richter Scale.
"I HATE IT! YOU HEAR ME? I SIMPLY, POSITIVELY, ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!" Ranting as he was, Sheo was also summoning massive objects out of thin air and dropping them right on top of Sho Tsuzuku. Starting with the basic anti-'fan boy' anvil, bigger and heavier things followed courtesy his right hand's gestures: An M1 Abrams battle tank, a 747 jetliner, a Russian Tbilisi-class supercarrier, the Megadeus Big O, the aliens' mother ship from Independence Day, former WWF wrestler and sumo champion Yokozuna, the combined egos of all web comic artists and fanfiction.net writers who ever existed, and a half-dozen bananas (the last very heavy on the stomach).
"YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I HATE? HENTAI DOUJINSHI ABOUT TOMOYO AND TESSA! KIRIKA-MIREILLE PAIRINGS! EVANGELION X! WORDS WORTH! BLACKMAIL! BLACKMAIL 2! STUPID SLUTTY BIMBOES WHO FLAUNT THEMSELVES SO BLATANTLY THAT YOU WONDER WHY HALF THE WORLD HADN'T RAPED THEM TO DEATH, WHICH GOES TO SHOW HOW DISGUSTINGLY SENSUAL THEY ARE! BY MY ENGLISH TEACHER LOLA'S 'COLLEGE QUIPS', I JUST HATE THEM! YOU HEAR ME? I HATE! BURNING HATE RAGES THROUGH MY VEINS AND DEMANDS APPEASEMENT!"
"Is he really this scary?" Loki asked Yuuki, both of them sweat-dropping despite themselves, the former intimidated by his potential father-in-law's show of temper.
"Only sometimes. The last time he got as worked up as he is right now, that was when his classmates at his old high school had made fun of his efforts to help them fix their Kris Kringle. He's usually the reticent smart guy who shrugs off most stuff, but boy can he blow his fuse at times. Well, he asked them to write names on the strips of paper they would use for the Kris Kringle. They all wrote his name. If there's anything Sheo hates, it would be people not taking him seriously when he's trying to make a serious point."
"What did he do? To his classmates, I mean?"
"Oh, that? Sheo saw red, stomped away looking for some long hard blunt object to use in a violent manner, found none, went into the computer laboratory and found a plastic Monoblock chair with a broken leg, grabbed the leg, stomped back out, began whacking the steel posts near him and sending his classmates running for their lives, then broke his impromptu club on a stone bench and stormed away in an angry huff. Ever since then, his classmates had been very nervous when he's seated near plastic chairs."
"–AND LONE WOLF SIX JOINING THE HAREM GAME AND BREAKING HIBIKI'S HEART BY GETTING A COMPETITOR FOR HIS AFFECTIONS!" The inhuman howl was quickly followed by the International Space Station crashing down with great force. "LONE WOLFIE-CHAN JUST HAD TO COMPLICATE THINGS FURTHER WITH TAKANE-SENSEI!"
Mount Everest piled up on the earlier objects made for an interesting sight as well as shaking everyone off their feet, but its impact was nothing compared to the power of Sheo's anger at that greatest of peeves to ever be published on fanfiction.net: Fellow author Lone Wolf SIX joining the harem game.
Loki: "I thought he forgave Lone Wolf SIX for that digression."
Yuuki: "It comes back out every now and then when he's really pissed off."
(Nearby, Lone Wolf SIX shudders at the berserk howl and show of force. "He never will get over it…")
"AAAAARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH!"
The Great Wall of China appeared.
"KISAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! KOROSU! KOROSU!"
More random huge objects…
It seemed to take a long time, but in the short span of only ten minutes Sheo ran out of things to bitch about –not to mention unique things to drop– and was losing steam with his rants. As a final gesture of anger, he summoned a small feather that drifted slowly to fall upon the huge pile of debris and material, turning away contemptuously as the feather hit.
The resultant explosion, though contained by the author's power to a small area around Sho Tsuzuku, was roughly equal to Son Goku's Genki Dama powered by all the spirits of the peoples in the universe, the one he used to defeat Majin Boo.
When the light died away, Sheo was breathing hard not through exertion but through having screamed his head off so long. He glared at everyone, still angry, daring them to comment. No one could meet his eyes–
No one save Yuuki Darren, who met his glare and then tenderly hugged her creator, stopping his fury as easily and effectively as water doused fire.
"I'm sorry for not trusting you," she murmured softly, meaning it. "I'm sorry for not having faith in you."
"Me, too," he whispered back quietly. "Me, too."
"Remind me never to tick him off," Rock told a wide-eyed Hotaru, who nodded in agreement. Aside, Geese considered the lack of grace and style in Sheo's attack but, on the whole, approved.
"Nothing could have survived that," Misaki murmured in awe as they watched the fiery end of Sho Tsuzuku.
That was when the super villain rose from the dying flames.
Everyone drew back. Only Sheo was unaffected, glancing over his shoulder as he did and muttering, "This might take awhile."
The super villain wiped away a tiny trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. He was smirking.
"It seems," he said, "That I must take this fight seriously now."
Then he teleported right in front of Sheo.
Sheo pushed Yuuki away into Loki's arms and safety, even as he unleashed The Will and The Word once more.
Sho Tsuzuku's fist passed through Sheo harmlessly, and the author himself disintegrated into shimmering.
"What?" Then: "An illusion!"
There were hundreds of Sheo Darrens all around, all illusions except one of them, mirror images. The entire area was so blanketed with the author's power that Sho Tsuzuku couldn't sense the point of power's origin, his usual tactic to seek out the caster when confronted with this kind of trick.
So, he simply adopted a different tactic.
He launched multiple beams of power at each and every target there was.
All of the Sheo Darrens disintegrated simultaneously.
All except one, that is: The real one.
Sheo's left hand blunted aside the beam with a powerful AT Field, his favored method of defense. The Field of Absolute Terror was an effective defensive measure, invincible against any common attack and very resistant to any other weapon or attack. However, it was also quite detectable when in action, what with the visible hexagonal ripples of yellow-white energy lines swelling from the deflected beam's impact point.
Sho Tsuzuku also happened to have a Spear of Longinus handy. He threw it at Sheo.
"Look out, Sheo!" Yuuki yelled in warning.
In response: "Protect Shade!"
The Spear of Longinus was stopped cold by the impenetrable barrier. The author then gestured with his protective right hand, the hand creating the force field. The Protect Shade flared as it reflected the Spear of Longinus back into Sho Tsuzuku. The latter batted away the weapon casually.
"Sheo set Protect Shade to the same frequency and polarity of the Spear of Longinus." Yuuki's fists tightened upon themselves as her realization. "Just like in magnetism: Similar poles reject and repel each other."
"This example is not exactly supported by Einstein's world of physics," Sho Tsuzuku commented as he attacked again.
"You're right," coldly answered Sheo, even as he teleported and left illusions in his wake, even as he defensively threw up all kinds of energy shields and barriers and traps that his opponent took time breaking through. "But it's my world. Mine. My rules, my creations, my power: Everything I take for granted but which you people can't even begin to understand!"
"I will allow you that, Sheo. However," the super villain added as he came to a stop, "There is one thing about you that I do understand perfectly well: Your one and only weakness."
So saying, Sho Tsuzuku revealed a pile of VCDs. Sheo glanced at them warily–
–And flinched.
"Premiere XXX OVAs starring all your favorite girl characters, all fresh out of Virra Mall Greenhills courtesy the porn vendors, my favorite people in all the world!" Sho Tsuzuku laughed as he skimmed through the summaries of the porn shows. "Ah: Threesome orgy, with Mireille and Kirika and Chloe! Tessa the victim of dominatrix Mao and Chidori! Rei, a virtual doll and poppet for all the male characters in Evangelion to abuse!"
Sheo cringed.
"I do not need to describe the horror that Tomoyo is undergoing in this one, only that you need know that it might offend you– Hmm, this is interesting." Sho Tsuzuku then began describing the video contents with candidly accurate detail, and even the hardened amongst the audience were overcome with revulsion. Rock was covering Hotaru's ears and Geese did the same for Misaki, Loki was looking uncomfortable despite himself, and Yuuki was beet red with embarrassment and anger.
"Sho, you bastard! Stop it! Stop it right now or else–"
"Or else 'what', That Girl? What are you going to do?"
She would have gladly tried to throttle Sho Tsuzuku even knowing she'd die in the attempt, she was so enraged. Yuuki knew the tactic the super villain was using was practically the same one she'd used in desperation against Sheo before. That time, Sheo had been sent into a comatose state. She was afraid that this psychological attack would be worse in effect–
Then she caught the small smile that crept across Sheo's face.
"I don't need to hear any of this anymore," the author said as he straightened himself up and faced Sho Tsuzuku,. "All of those are blatant lies and exaggeration, things that never happened, products of fan boys and the demented immoral capitalist scum who cater to their desires for the by-product of human society that is cash." He smiled gamely, suddenly unaffected anymore by the sight of the porn, his will reasserting itself. "I have faith in my girls. They are and will remain beautiful to me whatsoever the time that passes and the evils that surface."
"That's a dream existence, Sheo." But it was obvious Sho Tsuzuku knew that such attacks would no longer be effective now. "Dreams are not real."
"But they will sustain me," answered Sheo cheerfully, "Even as I make them into reality.
"I hear Johnny says that I use Sho Tsuzuku tactics. Well, I'd be the first to admit I do. I never really was for martial arts fighting despite No Regrets. But you're spoiling for such a fight, so here's someone who can pose a match for you, Sho. Took me a while to think of him, but I think he'll suffice."
So saying, Sheo let loose the awesome power of The Will and The Word, summoning–
Everyone recoiled in shock.
–Sho Tsuzuku.
* * *
True to his words, the Wanderer did not draw his swords, believing that this was not worth the honorable contest of blades. Instead he let Johnny come at him, seemingly relaxed and unconcerned even though his body was as tense as a tightly coiled spring straining at its restraint. He ignored the calls of shock and fear over the Ultrasaurus' speakers, knew that he was alone despite them for his allies could not fire in fear of hitting him.
Johnny came at him almost imperceptibly, the man was so fast and even more so in his Mist Finer, his desperation driving him onwards and faster and harder than any taskmaster. Fingers touched the tip of his katana's grip and silently screamed their fury, almost willing to take on a consciousness of their own and unleash the death-dealing blade that only two before had stopped: Takane Hibiki and her student Elde Talonn, the Wanderer who stood before him and who was to Johnny everything that he had been and everything that he could not be.
He couldn't stop himself. He just had to let it out.
"DIE!"
.
"Swordsman: On."
Dark eyes flashed.
There was a blur of black and grey.
The Wanderer acted.
.
Hitomi Barrens had taught Elde Talonn a few things. One of these lessons was that one could never always rely on a sword. "Sometimes," she said, "You must fight alone, with nothing at your side but yourself. You will be your strongest and most reliable weapon."
A second thing she and Takane Hibiki before her had taught the Swordsman was to defend his person passively with no weapon but himself.
The word judo means 'the gentle way', an odd name (all martial arts aim to inflict most ungentle pain upon their foes) but appropriate given that judo's focus on throws and holds makes it seem more 'gentle' than karate or other comparable arts that rely more on direct blows. In the same flow of ideas was aikido, the fighting school that used your opponent's attack against himself.
The Wanderer deflected the Mist Finer aside with an effortless aikido counter, as if he was just parrying a stick instead of a killing sword. He then sent Johnny over his shoulder, using his opponent's momentum against him.
Johnny got back on his feet, preparing for another attack. Just enough time to capitalize on the Ultrasaurus' crew's hesitance to risk hitting the Wanderer as well and do one final–
The crack of a gunshot broke the battle's unnatural silence.
Johnny stood very still, and then he looked down at his chest where blood was flowing from a hole in his body.
Yuumura Kirika was leaning out from the emergency access door on one of the Ultrasaurus' neck compartments, one hand holding on to Chloe who in turn was holding a rail that kept them from falling, the other aiming the 1932 Beretta 8mm semiautomatic pistol, cordite smoke still drifting away from the muzzle. A dead shot, she easily could have put the round into Johnny's head even from that distance and with Elde in danger, surely killing the pirate even with the relatively small round's stopping power.
But she'd learned a lot from a young man named Elde Talonn. She once regretted her inability to feel regret when she killed people, a product of her indoctrination and training during a childhood meant to remake her into the ultimate assassin, a killing machine without equal. But the death of her close friend Mireille Bouquet, and then Elde's influence and compassion, finally broke that incapacity. The tears had flown from her freely one night.
Some still remained, of course. Some never really leave.
But she realized a beautiful thing, at that.
She had a free choice in her life.
And if she could not feel regret at killing people, she realized that she need not kill if that was what troubled her.
So it was that Kirika had shot Johnny in the back, not a fatal wound, but a disabling one.
But…
His katana fell down to the base of the cliff, a good hundred meters or so down to the rocky ground.
Johnny fell.
He found himself hanging from the precipice by one hand –and with his injured arm, too, the arm that Mai had managed to wound earlier. Pain lanced through that arm. He could feel the rock beneath his fingers begin to crumble, his grip starting to slip –and it did.
He didn't fall.
.
The Wanderer grasped Johnny's hand tightly even as he used his free hand to bury Astray into the ground as an anchor, keeping the man from falling to his death. "Give me your other hand," the Swordsman ordered tersely. "I won't let you fall."
Johnny looked into the younger man's eyes and saw the same shining idealism that he himself once had. This boy still believed despite himself. This boy sought to protect the people and things around him.
This boy was–
"I thought you didn't care anymore."
"I'm always who I was: Elde Talonn. I am always him."
And that answer told him as much.
This boy was a true hero.
Johnny smiled.
"Listen up, kid. I got a twin. He's named Johnny, too, and he's just like me –a better version of me, in fact. Find him. Have him take care of my girls for me."
The Wanderer's eyes widened. "Johnny!"
"I can't go on living like this," Johnny said softly. "Promise me, kid. Man to man. You'll find my twin and have him take care of May and all the others. If not for me–" He choked on the rather emotional words, but managed. "If not for me, do it for my girls. Please."
The pain in the Swordsman's eyes was too evident. He would never let anyone die if he could do something about it. He was a protector, a guardian of life.
But he was an honorable man to the end, a Swordsman who defended the right.
And for Johnny, this was what was right.
A wrong does not make a right.
But sometimes, it is what must happen.
"I promise."
Johnny smiled one last time.
"Tell my girls that I loved them very much."
And then he let go of the Wanderer's hand and fell.
But he was at peace.
.
It was over.
The Wanderer looked away. His predecessor would have watched, needing to know and realize and remember in a personal what had been lost and what she had been instrumental in making it so. She had to. She had to remember she was still human.
But he didn't want to see.
He knew it all too well.
He has lost his first true love long ago, after all.
And so he looked away, his thoughts and heart in turmoil.
But he knew one thing for sure.
I'll find your brother, Johnny. I'll help your girls.
I promise.
Kirika went over to him and hugged him, knowing what he felt. For once Chloe did not break them apart as she was wont to do, understanding that they needed some time alone, setting her jealousy aside and being the better for it.
He cried into his fiancée's shoulder. He cried for what he had done and what he had not been able to do. She whispered comforting words in his ear, crying as well because she knew what he felt and also knew that sharing the pain helps to lighten it in the end.
They were, after all, alive and human.
* * *
The newcomer was tall and muscular, easily and visibly a formidable martial artist. A black cloak was draped around him, as rough and simple and sturdy as the man it clothed. His mouth was an unsmiling line and his eyes lacking nay trace of humor. His white hair did not move even as a breeze dramatically appeared to ruffle everyone's hair and chill their spines.
He was Sho Tsuzuku.
And so was the super villain standing before Sheo and the other people there.
There are two of them?
Yuuki stared at one and then the other, wondered if she had a fever or a hallucination from her wounds, knew she was all right despite her earlier battle.
Sho Tsuzuku was there, alright: The super villain, the black-haired Geese Howard fan she had fought just earlier.
But the other guy, the Sho Tsuzuku that Sheo summoned, looked exactly the same except he had white hair and lacked the smirk. It was like he was the opposite of Evil Sho.
"There are two of them?" she moaned.
She had to think of something to differentiate the one from the other. Hence, the villain Sho was 'Evil Sho' and this new guy 'Good Sho'.
Or could Sho Tsuzuku ever be 'good'? In Hamlet terms, 'That is the question?'
Sheo sighed and then smiled in answer to his creation. "Not exactly. Never, to be more exact, but he'll suffice."
"So," Evil Sho drawled coolly as he stared at his doppelganger, his smirk gone for good.
"So," the other Sho –the summoned one–replied in kind.
"It took you a while to get here."
"I took the scenic route."
"I don't suppose that there are any of the others left?"
"There aren't. I got them all. You are the last one."
"And is that supposed to intimidate me?"
"No. It was supposed to prepare you for your destruction."
"Do you really think I'd roll over and play dead for you?"
"No." The summoned Sho shouldered his cloak aside and cracked his knuckles together menacingly. "That's why I'm going to enjoy this."
Then the two Sho Tsuzukus hurtled towards each other and collided in an unbelievably powerful display of mutual anger and martial arts fighting skills. The spectacle took on a Dragonball Z-esque atmosphere, what with the lightning trade of punches and kicks and teleports that the human eye could never follow save. The two were evenly matched, so evenly that the chances of one winning were fifty-fifty, take your pick. Geese was impressed with their ferocity and power, enough to consider if he might adopt some of their simplest moves for his own use.
Meanwhile, Yuuki and Sheo were involved in a very spirited (at least on Yuuki's side) discussion.
"Sheo, why are there two of them?" As if one wasn't bad enough…
"It's a complex and long story."
"We don't have much time. Summarize."
"Okay." The author coughed several times and then explained. "Listen carefully. Sho Tsuzuku was never evil in the first place–"
"Right…"
"–He just was a cold-hearted asshole–"
"Now, that, I can understand…"
"Knock it off. You're a harsher reviewer than Akira-san."
"Taka Ichiko is going to shoot you if he hears you calling his girlfriend that way."
"Are you going to let me finish?" The interruptions were raising Sheo's hackles, and the shouts and blows from the two Sho Tsuzukus' fight was not helping at all. When Yuuki nodded contritely, he continued:
"Now, from what I've gathered, something that has to do with Ranma ½ –don't ask me what it was; I've forgotten the explanation and I never asked for concrete details– had split Sho Tsuzuku into multiple beings. The original's power was decreased, evenly distributed between several versions of him as it was. Each version had his or her unique personality and driving forces. Our Sho –the evil one– happened to be the 'universal domination tyrant' type and decided to fulfill his desires here, much to our misfortune.
"Meanwhile, the original Sho had been going around several worlds and dimensions, looking for his alternate versions and killing them in order to get his power back. There's only one left: Our Sho, the evil one."
"Oh, I see. You summoned the real Sho Tsuzuku to deal with him. The dimensional law about 'original character is the only one who could defeat evil version of himself' still holding?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Otherwise, I'd have dealt with Sho already."
"But what now? We can't let True Sho do all the fighting for us!" Yuuki looked over to the titanic battle between the true Sho and his alternate version worriedly. "I'm not sure we can rely on him– less so on him winning, they're so evenly matched."
Sheo looked visibly worried for the first time that he had returned. "I've got an idea from a friend of mine," he said reluctantly, remembering what he knew of his impromptu plan. "If we can't destroy Sho himself, we can probably imprison him in an eternal void he can never escape from–"
.
…But Morgoth himself the Gods thrust through the Door of Night into the Timeless Void, beyond the Walls of the World…
.
"–I'm not sure if it will work in the fashion we need it to, but I think it can work for us."
Or will it?
Can I?
.
"The Dark serves me because I am The Dark." The gray man turned to Sheo, unfathomable eyes of opal black fixing upon his friend in a gaze meant both direly and reassuringly. "So it is with It and you. It will do your bidding because It is you.
"Awaken, Sheo Darren. Awaken yourself from this dream.
"Awaken to a new world…"
.
"Then do it." Yuuki trusted completely in him. "If you believe it can work, it will work."
Nodding grimly, Sheo then closed his eyes and let his consciousness slip into that deep abyss of his mind, the prelude to his most powerful creation to date– and as he fell he thought he could hear a familiar voice singing a song he knew...
.
And you don't seem to understand
A shame you seemed an honest man
And all the fears you hold so dear
Will turn to whisper in your ear
And you know what they say might hurt you
And you know that it means so much
And you don't even feel a thing
I am falling, I am fading
I have lost it all
And you don't seem the lying kind
A shame then I can read your mind
And all the things that I read there
Candle lit smile that we both share
And you know I don't mean to hurt you
But you know that it means so much
And you don't even feel a thing
I am falling, I am fading, I am drowning
Help me to breathe
I am hurting, I have lost it all
I am losing
Help me to breathe…
.
So far away, something stirs.
Sometimes, lost in thought, I feel like I am not myself and that the body I know as my own is not this mortal shell but something else entirely. When I feel lost in despair, when I hate the world for being so unfair when it is simply being itself –the world–, I lose myself into my imagination. I lose myself in a world I have created, a world that is mine alone.
I lose myself into It.
I'm not who I am.
I know these feelings are not feigned. I know I am not hallucinating or insane. I know I am no Hideaki Anno, even though I'm beginning to sound like him.
I know all this is true.
I know It exists.
I know because I made It.
I know because It made me.
I know because I am It.
I know because I am.
It is somewhere out there. It is as real as you and me– No. It is far more real than you or me. It is the only real thing in a world of unreality. It makes all of these real because It is real. It is all that has come in the past and all that will come in the future upon this world.
It is "the world destroyer" to legend. It is the Systema Nu to its discoverers, the System of Nothingness. It is an empty shell that seeks a soul and a heart of its own. It is natural and artificial, human and divine, angel and devil, Man and God, real and unreal, Heaven or Hell. It is to a boy the realization of a life's dreams and an equivalent lifetime's nightmares.
.
The two massive beams of destructive energy met together in a fiery stalemate, neither of the attacks winning outright. The true Sho Tsuzuku was using both of his hands to channel his ki into his attack.
Evil Sho was using only one.
He also noticed that Sheo wasn't moving or reacting at all, only standing there as if lost in a deep trance. Either he was unconscious, or the author was planning something.
Target of opportunity, that's what he is.
Evil Sho Tsuzuku aimed his other hand at Sheo even as he held off True Sho's attack.
Then he caught sight of Yuuki.
A more vulnerable target?
That's more like it…
.
That Girl's scream pierced through the subconscious world that Sheo was lost, snapping him out of his reverie. Automatically he flung a force field upon his companions there, even as he pulled himself away from that dark dream world and back into the real one.
Everything was going to hell.
"Yuuki!" Loki yelled.
The force field around her was starting to buckle from the beam Evil Sho Tsuzuku was hitting her with. Gathering his will to reinforce his thoughts, Sheo poured more power into Yuuki's defense, the shield firming up with the additional focus of power.
Evil Sho smiled diabolically and increased power to his attack.
The shield began to crack.
Sheo realized that Evil Sho had been staying too long in the world and had gathered enough power to fend off True Sho and simultaneously threaten them. Whatever was powering the super villain, it was enough. True Sho was not powerful enough to defeat Evil Sho by himself. He was out of his element here (actually, dimension was more accurate than element; all writers are almighty in their own dimension save for Sheo, the last's reasons for doing so quite well known from previous chapters). True Sho needed Sheo's help.
But the weakness inherent to the almighty author power of The Will and The Word was that in order to make reality so, Sheo had to focus on the idea. Distracted, without focus or concentration, he could not make The Will and The Word work out to its fullest potential.
And right now, Sheo was very distracted.
"Hold on, Yuuki!" Even as he poured more and more of his will into the barrier, he was yelling at True Sho to get it over with. "Hurry up and destroy him already, Sho!"
"We are dealing with a slight difference in power here," returned the latter in a neutral tone even as he unleashed even more of his ki. But Evil Sho merely laughed and released a proportionate level of power to match his foe.
Sheo would have gladly disintegrated Evil Sho in body, mind, and soul, despite an aversion to killing and to exerting himself. The Will and The Word could accomplish that rather easily. The problem was that in order to do that required much concentration on his part. And right now, all he could concentrate upon was Yuuki's plight.
One thing at a time, Sheo, he told himself, calming his mind and heart, focusing on protecting his creation– his surrogate child.
And then he saw Yuuki looking at him and heard her say in his mind:
"Let me go."
* * *
"You are falling. You are fading. You are drowning. You are hurting. You are losing."
The girl opened her eyes.
"You will lose it all."
* * *
"Let me go."
She spoke softly and without hurry, even as all around her the shell that protected her began to crumble beneath the destroying pressure of the foe who wanted to destroy her. There was no fear in her voice. There was no resignation in her eyes. There was only acceptance– and peace.
"Let me go, Sheo."
No…
"It's the only way to save this world. You can't do it with me in the way. You have to let me go."
No…
"Sheo…"
No…
"…If you truly love someone, you know… you know you can let her go..."
…
"…because you know that if she loves you… if she truly does, she will come back to you…"
…
"Sheo…"
…
"I love you."
He hears another voice speaking those words, another's lips echoes her farewell, another soul the parallel of.
"I love you."
"I love you, Sheo Darren."
"I love you, Sheo Darren.
"I love you very much…"
"I love you very much…"
Tears fall from his eyes and struck the ground.
"I love you, too, Yuuki. I love you very much."
Then he let her go.
Just like before…
.
He held her tightly within his arms, held her with such force as to deny her departure from this world by his protectively possessive embrace. He cried. He cried like he thought he'd never do anymore. He had her all to himself, and yet now she was slipping away from his world as quickly and surely as day faded into night.
None around him dared to bring themselves between in this last moment of farewell. No one would. No one could.
They were all alone.
He murmured her name, plea and order and Command Voice. One's name was power. Knowing one's name granted another being power over him or her. Her name was known to him. Her name was dear to him.
She was dear to him.
He loved her, cared for her, wanted her, dreamed of her. She was all that he could want and wish for. She was all that he wanted and wished for.
But even The Will and The Word cannot do all he wanted and wished it to do.
Even he had not the power to keep her with him.
Still he called her name, asking, praying for one last time with her.
She opened her eyes and smiled weakly at him, caressing his face as she did, holding his hand with what remained of her strength.
He forced himself to smile and held her hand too.
"Journey's end it is, journeyman. I've lived life and found it happy. I've lived with you and found Heaven in you.
"Another journey begins."
He weeps again, and she shushes his sobs with a touch, putting her fingers to her lips and then upon his, their final kiss.
"Mourn not overmuch for the fallen. We move on to a new life. Only remember: The end is only a beginning.
"Promise me that you will live. Live for me. Live for me, and I will live in you, for you and with you. Forever more."
"I promise," he said, meaning it. "I promise, Sylphe. I promise."
One final sight and sight, and then she closed her eyes, never to open them again.
"Farewell, Sheo Darren. Farewell, the one I loved…"
And then she breathed her last and was gone.
But she would never be gone from his heart and memory.
Sylphe Phenomena Eternal will live forever in him, for him and with him.
Sheo Darren.
.
Sheo held Yuuki tightly within his arms, held her with such force as to deny her departure from this world by his protectively possessive embrace. He cried. He cried like he thought he'd never do anymore. He had her all to himself and yet now she was slipping away from his world as quickly and surely as day faded into night.
None around him dared to bring themselves between in this last moment of farewell. No one would. No one could.
They were all alone.
He murmured her name, plea and order and Command Voice. One's name was power. Knowing one's name granted another being power over him or her. Her name was known to him. Her name was dear to him.
Yuuki was dear to him.
He loved her, cared for her, wanted her, dreamed of her. She was all that he could want and wish for. She was all that he wanted and wished for.
But even The Will and The Word cannot do all he wanted and wished it to do.
Even he had not the power to keep her with him.
Still he called her name, asking, praying for one last time with her.
She opened her eyes and smiled weakly at him, caressing his face as she did, holding his hand with what remained of her strength.
He forced himself to smile and held her hand too.
"It's over. I've lived life and found it happy. I've lived with you and found happiness in you.
"Another journey begins."
He weeps again, and she shushes his sobs with the last smile she would make as That Girl.
"Don't cry for me. We move on to a new life. Only remember: The end is only a beginning.
"Promise me that you will live. Live for me. Live for me, and I will live in you, for you and with you. Forever more."
"I promise," he said, meaning it. "I promise, Yuuki. I promise."
One final sight and sight, and then she closed her eyes, never to open them again.
"Farewell, Sheo Darren. Farewell, the one I loved…"
And then she breathed her last and was gone.
But she would never be gone from his heart and memory.
Yuuki would live forever in him, for him and with him.
Sheo Darren.
* * *
Daisuki to omou karane
Kizutsuitari
Tomadottari
Tsumetai hohowo yoseatte
Kokoro ga umareta
Itsumo imasuguni
Aitai
Mukuchi ni naruhodo sukiyo
Yasashisa dou shitara ieruno
Dakishimete motto tsuyoku
Atatakana mune wo shinjiruyo
Sayonara solitaire
Ashita he
.
"Sayonara solitaire… Ashita ne…"
The girl reached to her heart and touched it, finding solace in that boy who dwelt within her heart even as his own shattered in grief– and his world beginning to unravel at that final breath of one dearly loved, the will that sustained it losing reason to keep it so.
Now was the time.
Now was the time to arise.
"Mezamete, anata wa shounen…"
Awaken, my dearest youth…
"Mezamenasai…"
Awaken…
"Sheo Darren."
* * *
…Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven…
…As it was in the beginning, now and will be world without end...
…Amen…
* * *
It's not over yet.
* * *
Makenvalborg awakened.
Sheo Darren awakened.
.
.
To Be Continued…