Disclaimer - I own Advance Wars! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
(A couple of workers at Nintendo appear and beat up Ascension.)
Ascension: Let me rephrase that... I don't own anything in this fic except Red Sun, its COs, Azazel and several random extras.
*****
CHAPTER 8: INVERSION
Following their initial defeat, things had gone downhill for Yellow Comet. The entire country's military was now gathered at the capital city, walled in by Red Sun troops on all sides. Though they had suffered many losses, the Yellow Comet soldiers proved to be as gallant as ever. Kelalith would have liked to order his infantry to tear the city apart with their bare hands, but he realized that he might need a better plan.
*****
Yal'Dan stumbled into a room on board the Red Sun flagship. He didn't have to look around to know that this was the room he was looking for. The eerie calmness spoke of the personality of only one person he knew.
Cabal. Over time, Yal'Dan's condition had become worse and worse. His pride, his honour, wielded shame like a brand, burning his mind over and over again. Half-crazed, he found himself turning to his old foe, ironically enough. Cabal. That unnatural temperance, the inhuman self-control, the lack of emotion. It must be some secret he kept. If only he could get it, maybe he could rid himself of this pain.
Yal'Dan's eyes darted all over the place. Cabal's quarters were painfully tidy and clean, with odd trinkets placed here and there. There was no bed, suggesting that the rumour that Cabal never slept was probably true.
Yal'Dan found his attention being drawn to a small crystal set into a stand, placed on the table. It glowed with an unearthly radiance, emitting some sort of aura which sent cold sparks down his spine. On closer examination, it seemed to phase in and out of existence, as if it did not belong to this world. Suddenly, a flash of lightning ripped across the crystal. Yal'Dan recognized it. It was the same way Cabal's eyes flashed. He staggered back. Cabal's presence was alive in the crystal!
With a jolt, Yal'Dan felt the mist in his mind fade away. A voice seemed to speak to him in an unknown language, and his torment evaporated like morning dew. The honour and guilt remained, but he was at peace with it. Such worldly feelings bothered him no more. Then the voice was gone.
Yal'Dan blinked. His sanity had been restored! The crystal cured him! But when he looked again, horror seized his heart. The crystal wasn't there. The stand remained where it was, with the indent where the crystal should have been, but the crystal was not. Though frightened, Yal'Dan also found himself curious about the room and decided to explore further.
*****
Sonja woke up groggily. Damn! That was the second time that week. Her head throbbed with pain, and stars flashed in her vision. The last thing she remembered was the Red Sun bombardment targeted at her. Then everything went black. She was surprised that she was still alive.
"Sonja! You're awake at last!"
Sonja recognized the voice. It was Sami. The infantry specialist was sitting by her side, accompanied by Andy and Grit.
"Thank goodness you're okay!" said Sami again. Then she reached out and smacked Sonja lightly. "You little twerp! You had us worried sick!"
"What happened?" asked Sonja weakly.
"We were out looking for you. One of your soldiers told us where you were. Turns out whoever attacked you fired duds. No one was badly hurt, but you got walloped by a shell. We took you here immediately."
"I see..." said Sonja, musing over the cloaked figure. He had spared her life. Why?
"Sonja. Ya know, the guy who attacked you, what was he like?" asked Grit.
"Him?" Sonja cast her memory and shivered unintentionally. "Cold. Very cold. And strange. Very strange."
Grit nodded. "Him," he said. "Hmm... I wonder if I'll get the chance to meet him again."
"You gotta be kidding!" exclaimed Andy. "I haven't even met him, and I already scared of that creep! And you want to see him again?"
Grit shrugged. "Hey, it won't hurt. I wanna know what exactly he's up to."
*****
Meanwhile, the Green Earth COs were gathered on the deck of a Green Earth battleship, accompanied by Nell and Max. Eagle was clutching a paper bag, his face an odd shade of green.
"I hate this," he moaned for the umpteenth time that trip.
"Aah, come on, Eagle," said Drake soothingly. "We all know that you're king of the sky, but you've got to get used to the high seas sometime or another. Here, you want a look through my telescope?"
Jess flinched at Eagle's reaction. "Leave him alone, Drake. Eagle was in a weird enough colour before you offered." Her voice was laced with false confidence. Anyone could see that she wasn't feeling too well herself.
Max looked up from a gun he was polishing. "Let's hope that he'll last long enough to fight Red Sun."
At the mention of their foe, everyone fell silent, each entertaining their own thoughts. Though different in each person's case, those thoughts all revolved around a common topic: Red Sun.
*****
Yal'Dan had found many more strange things in Cabal's room. A ornamental sword, with a sharpened metal hilt and a blunt wooden blade; A stash of books, all handwritten and heavily encrypted; A metallic mask; And a set of scales made from some alien rock. One end of the scales was marked 'For the Sun', and the other end marked 'For Azazel'.
Yal'Dan was fascinated by his finds but somehow felt unwilling to remove all the items from where they were, so he decided to stay where he was and study them one by one.
Hidden in the shadows, the cloaked figure observed him flipping open a book. Whether Yal'Dan knew it or not, he was almost completely under the influence of Cabal.
*****
The western wall of the Yellow Comet capital fell under a heavy pounding from Medium Tanks. Though he knew little about the finer points of fiery warfare, Kelalith had been able to use Yal'Dan's fire-launching artillery quite effectively. Though the flames did not cause that much damage, it did manage to keep the Yellow Comet COs and all their underlings awake all night long. The guards on the western front practically just fell down as Red Sun troops barged in.
Sami and Andy commanded the battered Orange Star army, fighting on wither of Kanbei's sides. Sensei had went out to some nearby cities to rally volunteers for a paradrop assault, Sonja was in no condition to command, and Grit... hey, wait, what happened to Grit?
*****
Grit stood on a hillside a short distance away from the southern front of the Yellow Comet capital. He had sneaked out the previous night to wait here and ambush the Red Sun forces, if necessary. Now he and his long-range troops were marching towards the foe, looking for a good place to set up camp and fire.
Suddenly, one of the rockets ran out of fuel. Grit halted the procession and detailed an APC to resupply it. He was just about to go and check on the other vehicles when he felt a chilling wind breeze over his small task force. When he looked up, it was as if time had stopped. Nothing was moving. Even the air seemed still. In the distance, the raging battle between Kanbei and Kelalith had paused as well.
The cloaked figure stepped out from behind a recon jeep. "Your will to meet me has summoned me here, Grit. Ask, and I shall answer."
Grit was slightly taken aback, but kept his composure. "How did you know I wanted to see you?"
The mysterious man smiled, appearing to be slightly amused by Grit's reaction. "The wind stole your words from your lips, and Fate stole your thoughts from your mind. Together, they brought word and thought to me, and here I am now. You wanted to know what I'm exactly up to, if I recall correctly. There is not much to say. I serve Balance. When that is done, I shall wait for death to claim me and continue to serve Balance in death until my reincarnation. And then I serve Balance in life again. The circle goes on."
He paused and turned to regard the Yellow Comet capital thoughtfully. "The flames burn high," he commented.
"That's why I gotta help them," said Grit. The gunfighter was a pacifist at heart, but there was nothing more he detested than seeing the innocent get in the way of crossfire.
If the cloaked figure heard his words, he didn't show it. "The citizens of Blue Moon still breathe, as you wished it. But not this time. Red Sun... they've been consumed by bloodlust. All of them. None will leave the ruins of that city alive."
"What?! Then I must get there now!" exclaimed Grit. "Get outta my way!"
He reached out to push the cloaked figure - and gasped in pain. It was as if he touched a wall of invisible ice. The moment his hand came near the man, he felt only cold. Such an intense cold that it actually burnt. The stranger did not react. Grit stepped back and drew his gun.
"If you don't move, I'm gonna have to shoot ya!" he threatened.
Again, the cloaked figure showed no reaction. Grit threatened him again. Still he stood, still as a statue. Incensed, Grit clenched his teeth and pulled the trigger.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. In slow motion, Grit saw the bullet soar towards the cloaked figure in a straight line. And then, its path changed. The head of the bullet twisted ever so slightly, just enough so that it streaked past the cloaked figure without hurting him.
Grit was taken aback. "Nice magic trick," he remarked sarcastically.
"It was no trick, Grit," said the cloaked figure. "You feel no hate for me, and I feel no hate for you. No harm may be done to either of us by either of us while those two forces are reacting with each other. So too will this energy guide your projectiles when you fight Red Sun later. Go. As with last time, your interference here will make no difference on the long run."
The next thing Grit knew, he was in the midst of battle, shouting orders left and right as his ranged units pounded at the surprised Red Sun troops.
It was as the cloaked figure said. For some reason, none of his units were able to do any serious damage. But at least no civilians were hurt, and he managed to confuse Red Sun.
*****
Kelalith was hard pressed. Failure had followed his initial success. Sensei had arrived with paratroopers, Grit with rockets and artillery, and he had just received news that the fleet was taking a heavy beating from combined Blue Moon and Green Earth navies.
"Retreat to the south!" he ordered. "We'll rendezvous with the fleet on the shore!"
Only a small portion of his troops followed him. The rest had already shut their senses to everything but battle, fighting with an inhuman frenzy to the end.
*****
"Too late!" thought Kelalith as he got to the shore. Enemy battleships had closed in, and were bombarding his troops. "Yal'Dan, Cabal, I might need your help about now," he muttered through gritted teeth.
As if on cue, the sea churned. Great chunks of flaming rock broke the surface, so hot that water evaporated around them. Burning chunks of metal flew in arcs, setting Green Earth and Blue Moon battleships ablaze. Yal'Dan had arrived.
But something was not right about him. Focusing his sight on his friend on the deck of a Red Sun battleship, Kelalith noted that he was different, but somehow very familiar. He stood there impassively, arms crossed, cold lightning flashing in his eyes. Kelalith recognized that expression. It was as if his two comrades had become one.