The Final Challenge
The spear came down and hit Megami on the shoulder. Pain flooded through her body, but there was no wound. It appeared as if the pain was a mere illusion at first glance, but she thought better of it after a moment. This pain the man, no Demon, had inflicted on her…it was a memory of past pain she had felt in a similar fight. He WAS an opponent she'd defeated in the past, but what exactly she couldn't say. In a split second, Megami saw him on the offensive again, but this time, a hail of bullets came from behind her.
Looking back, she saw the images of her allies. Each held out his ARM, backing her up in the fight with this man. Ryu walked forward, and Megami was comforted. She grabbed her bazooka, and fired one of her Light Shells at him. But unlike Ryu's barrage of machine gun fire, this one had no effect on the creature.
=You must fight with the past,= the voice told her, =I, The Soul Mirror, can see that you are trying to abandon even your past way of fighting. But you still carry the Duel Pistols at your side; the ARMs your own father taught you how to wield. Use their power, for the present is no good in my domain.= With his words, the area around Megami distorted. She found she could see out of both eyes again, and she was in the same clothes she'd been wearing the day of the accident. Her bazooka was no where to be found, all she had left was the pair of pistols she kept in her side holsters. Picking them up, she fired on the enemy.
These shots hit, but he wasn't out yet. He then cast a spell from the spear; a weaker version of the one used by the armored figure. Everyone was thrown back, and Megami felt she had to do something fast to keep her team alive. Turning to assess the damage, she saw that Ryu was badly wounded, he needed help fast! Ignoring her enemy, Megami found herself nursing his wounds with a Heal Berry. Ryu gave her a small smile, he was happy to see her care about him. Then he turned away to hide the blush on his face.
'You were a stubborn one, my love. I guess I know where I get it from. I wonder, was that voice in my head in the dream I had in Ballack Rise really his? Most likely, I was always thinking of him, even in my darkest hour. I only wanted to never be hurt again. I try my best never to be hurt again. Because all this thinking of you, and holding back tears of sorrow over your death is a royal pain in the butt,' Megami mused.
She turned back to the battle, protecting Ryu. Firing all the shots in her gun off for a Gatling attack, Megami knocked her foe backwards into a wall. He then vanished, like all the other enemies she had faced in this room of fights. Turning towards her allies, Megami looked at each one of them. They smiled; well Okami and Raion smiled while Ryu was just trying to hide his blush, and began to fade once again. This time, Megami couldn't hold back a tear, she didn't want to see them all leave her again. When she went to this ruin, the Drifter had no idea she would find her past, just as cryptic as before. All she wanted was to find treasure, not see scenes that only alluded to her existence, but offered no explanation as to where she came from originally. Longing to touch him once more, she watched as Ryu faded out, he was the last one to go. But before he left her once again, Ryu gave the woman he loved, whose children he fathered, a smile.
. . .
In the final room, Megami saw what appeared to be a treasure box on top of an altar. Opening it up, she saw two things inside. One was a small map, which held the location of a ruin she might want to check out next. And second, she saw a picture lying face down. Megami picked it up and looked. It appeared to be one of her and Ryu, although how the Soul Mirror had found it, she didn't know. If anything, that was a personal matter. Luckily, it wasn't something not for children's eyes. It was them in a loving embrace on a cool winter's night, before she was wounded and he was killed. The two of them looked so happy in that.
The Soul Mirror told her, =You have passed. Your test is over; take this and find yourself. There isn't much in that ruin, but I'm sure you can remember going there. It's called Serpent's Coils, and in that place your beloved showed he cared for the first time. I'd take care if I were you, you should not go there if you are afraid of the past. I saw how it hurt you, so you should be strong if you want to travel to that place.=
Megami was annoyed. "I'm not afraid of anything! And what happened to the Ultimate Treasure I was supposed to find here? For Pete's sake, I didn't come for something as worthless as a hint towards the past I lost! Why should I search for it? So I can remember and grieve about the allies who died long ago?"
=You know little, how do you even know if they're dead?= asked the Soul Mirror, =You didn't see the others; never found their bodies. I can't tell, since I'm hooked into your memories at the moment, but I do know that there's a chance that they're alive. Maybe, you should stay in town for a little and hope that one of them returns there soon. Who knows, maybe Ryu will one day come back to you and your children.= The voice faded away, never to be heard by Megami again. She sunk to the floor, angry at all her effort.
'I never want to deal with this again. I won't go to that stupid place, there's no need to remember the things that Ryu did for me. And I'm not wasting my time sitting in that little town, twiddling my thumbs. Lilka, Ashley, and I will leave, right away. It's not like Ryu is going to come back, how does this creature know he will? They would never have left me, so they must have died. If they thought I was dead, Ryu at least would hold me in his arms and carry my body back to town for a proper burial,' the woman told herself.
So she threw the map and picture down, and began to go back through the rooms. They were set up much like they had been before, when she'd first seen them. Megami could see what appeared to be wax figurines in each, depicting the scene she had remembered. She paid no attention to any of them, but when she came to the one with her and Ryu, she stopped. There he was, standing with her once again.
Megami took the two wax statues, and push their bodies together, just as she remembered in her dream world. Ryu and Megami were now in a loving embrace, as it was meant to be. But even that couldn't bring him back to life, it was no more than a picture she created for herself. Suppressing tears, the woman continued towards the exit. But on the way out, she saw what appeared to be a silver haired man standing on the steps. Looking up at him, trying to see what he wanted with her, she noticed his violet eyes. Then, he disappeared, he was just another illusion. Probably either a remnant of The Soul Mirror, or her own mind.
She muttered, "This was just a big waste of time. I got little money, few useful treasures, and just a few snippets of my past. I better go fetch Lilka and Ashley, and hope they're ok. Those people better be as good as the man told me they were with kids, else I'll be one annoyed lady when I get back to town to pick up my children." Remounting Hikari, who stood waiting for her mistress to return, she headed back to town.
- - - -
Teefa's Last Words…
It seemed only fitting to make the full fight be with Janus. You do fight him more than any other recurring boss, a total of seven times. And he's a royal pain to fight; Negative Rainbow kicks your butt.