The city was on fire. Inside in the center of the makeshift city lying on the pyre was Hades. It was the farewell they offered to the leader who had brought them this far. The army that surrounded it watched it burn until morning when all the fuel was spent. The morning winds scattered the ashes.
There was only one thing left to do now, and it would prove to be the hardest task for the remnants of the army. They had to destroy Odin's city. Unlike this place it was defended. There were archers on the wall, knights in the courtyard. But more importantly these archers and knights would be fighting on the defensive. It was much easier to defend than to attack, much easier to stand your ground rather than take someone else's, especially when you have high walls protecting you. They just had to survive, the army had to conquer. Chaos was now acting commander of the army. Bahamut was his second in command. Chaos broke off his silent reverie and called together his generals.
"Assemble the men, board the ships and sail around the mountains. I want our forces surrounding the city of Odin by noon tomorrow." The generals just stared at him. He ignored their stares and continued. "Have the men form groups when you get there. There won't be many humans left in the city, I expect you'll have to track them over the plains." With that Chaos moved off towards Bahamut, after getting on his back, the massive beast took off in air.
The generals just turned to one another and spoke amongst themselves. "He's crazy if he thinks we can destroy that city as we are. We're at a complete strategic disadvantage." Another general countered, "Its too late in the game to choose sides. Frankly I'm prepared to take a few things on faith." He quickly shuffled off and began to assemble the men. The other generals followed suit.
Yuffie, Vincent, and Chaos had followed the conversation from the back of Bahamut. Yuffie turned to face Chaos. "What are you planning? You said that they would have to track the humans over the plains, what does that mean?"
"What does it usually mean? I expected the humans would choose not to stay in their castle by the time I was finished with it." he coldly replied. "This… Will probably be… This is… the most devastating defeat in this entire war."
All three of them moved to the front, and watched the flight. In a matter of minutes they were closing in on the mountain range between the two areas. After they passed over, Yuffie could see the shadow of the great Midgar Zolom in the marsh below. He snaked and moved in such a way. Soon they were over the marsh and in the distance Yuffie saw a shining city. There were flatlands on each side. Attacking the city seemed like an impossible task. High Walls and guard towers at each corner. In the center of the city there seemed to be a tall tower that shimmered like an emerald in the light.
Bahamut began speaking with Chaos. "We are here. What is it you intend to do now?"
In a stern voice, "I can do nothing. Our future is now in your hands."
Bahamut was taken aback, "Wh… What?"
"Your dragon's breath blast, like you brother's you must use it to crush the city."
"Only dragon's much older than myself are capable of it. My older brothers were both over 500 years my senior," Bahamut Lamented.
"I've watched you perform in battle feats that would astound your brothers. The only thing stopping you is your lack of confidence in yourself." Chaos moved back a bit on his neck. "I believe in you, why won't you believe in yourself?"
Bahamut rapidly dropped to a lower altitude. The city was directly ahead of them, and was growing in size at an alarming rate.
"What are you doing?" Chaos screamed.
"I won't give them a chance to use their gravity trap on me. I'll fire while we're still moving through the are!"
"Uhhh, are you sure you'll have enough room to pull out going at this speed?" Chaos nervously inquired.
Bahamut let out a bellow of laughter, "We'll soon see!"
Chaos changed in position prepared for a quick escape, if need by he could catch the wind and float down to the soft ground. All Yuffie, Vincent, and Chaos could see from where stood they stood was they could see the back of Bahamut's head. Suddenly there was a source of bright light just in front of his face, the radiant light strung out in rays in all directions. Suddenly there was a blast and the bright streak of bluish white energy flew through the morning sky and struck the wall of the city vaporizing it completely. In fact it vaporized everything completely until it struck the base of the great tower in the center of the city. The tower fell over like a tree under the axe of a lumberjack, the shimmering light at the top of the tower was now gone.
The power and force of the blast had slowed Bahamut down greatly; they were now slowly passing over the city observing the destruction. He took a sad pride in the shattered walls, the broken houses, crumbling buildings, the torn roads… but…
Yuffie had a quizzical look on her face. "Um… Vinny? Shouldn't there be people down there?"
As if on cue Chaos began searching with his eyes, he did not see any casualties in the wreckage. Quickly he spread his wings and wind caught him up of Bahamut's back. Bahamut soon passed over the rest of the city while Chaos gently glided down into the city. When he landed he immediately ran to the first intact house. After entering and looking around for signs of life he came to the conclusion that he feared the most, 'Just s I suspected they left at least two days ago. They couldn't have gone far… This entire region is all plains… Where could they have go? Leviathan is guarding against an escape by sea, so they must still be somewhere on the continent.' Just as that last thought crossed his mind he heard Bahamut holler his name as he passed over the city once again. Chaos ran outside, and looked for his friend, Bahamut passed over once again, but much slower, as if he were landing. Chaos ran to his destination, All the way to the Western edge of the city to the great gates that opened out into the plains. There was a vast opening within the city at the gate. In the center was a large monument, like an obelisk. Bahamut was standing with his back to the gate reading it. Chaos ran beside him and likewise began to read its inscription.
other tales of the great 13 knights, may it be
known that this was their city. The city where
they grew up, where they learned to fight, to
ride, to shoot to love. It was in defense of this
city, and of all people that together they rode
out as a beacon of light to those who had fallen
to darkness. May it be known that they fought
until the bitter end in defense of the innocent,
against those who would destroy us for being
just as we are, human. May this monument to
their honor and glory serve also as their
tombstone, even though only one of them is
buried here.
Rest in Peace,
Arthur sons of High-Lord Alexander and Demi-God Shiva
Rest in Peace,
Sons of Odin
Bahamut turned to Chaos. "How did they know of their deaths?"
It dawned on Chaos, "That chocobo we saw. Arthur… it must have been him riding it… Of all the knights his bond to the gods is strongest, it must have protected him long enough for him to come back and explain what happened. That's the only explanation." Chaos stepped forward and traced his fingers over the words, 'those who would destroy us for being just as we are, human.' He tapped his finger on the stone and looked to the ground. 'I wish only to be vindicated from this charge. We had no choice, there was nothing we could do. Was there?'
"Chaos!" Bahamut interrupted him from his thought. "When I first flew over the city, I heard a voice in the wind. I only noticed this when I came back to search for you."
Chaos nodded. Closing his wings back in again he quickly climbed on Bahamut's back and they soon took off into the air. Again they were going north, close to the ground, but much more slowly, they were both listening for the fell voice in the air. Chaos's hand darted forth and pointed in a North Westerly direction. "That way!" Bahamut shifted his weight and they continued again.
Yuffie crossed her arms and exclaimed, "What voice? I didn't hear anything!"
Chaos shrugged.
Vincent took the time to explain, "He is a demon, he has a… heightened sense of hearing."
Yuffie glared at Vincent for a moment, "Can you hear it oh wise one?"
Vincent turned back and stared off over Bahamut's shoulder.
Yuffie ended the conversation with a mildly victorious "Thought so."
As they neared the sea the voice became louder and clearer. Chaos could only pray to himself that what he was expecting was not who they would find. They came to a small inlet leading into the sea, and Chaos knew it was over. There was a small by in the inlet, and two thin landmasses created a choke point leading into the sea. There was an empty dock at the innermost shore. Chaos quickly scanned over this, then began looking around the rest of the bay for any other sources of life. That's when they saw him. Beached on the Western shore of the bay was none other than the great sea beast himself Leviathan. Beached on the shore and writhing in pain, Leviathan was calling out different curses in more languages than Chaos knew of. It was only when they landed that they all saw the true extent of his pain. His entire side was blackened, it must have been hit with something truly dreadful. Some areas had a layer of dead blackened skin, slightly less areas had a thin pus coating forming over itself, far less had nothing altogether. Had he not beached himself on his good side his blood would have flown out, and Leviathan died of these near mortal wounds.
Chaos dismounted Bahamut and moved closer to Leviathan. "Great High lord Leviathan, tell us who has wounded you so, so we may seek vengeance in your name."
Leviathan had been concentrating on his own pain, he had not noticed their coming. "Alexander…."
Bahamut looked at him in surprise. "Alexander? But Alexander is only human, how could one man do so much?"
Leviathan's voice was filled with a steady malice now, "Alexander has a new… toy…" Leviathan averted his eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry Chaos, I let them escape." His voice began to sound desperate.
Chaos moved closer. "Calm down, just tell me what happened."
"Two days ago… I heard voices… from here… I came to check what they were, and suddenly a great wave of energy hit me. Not a wave… a beam… I'm lucky it mainly grazed by side… But then I saw it… 10 ships. It looked like they had packed their entire population onto those 10 ships. But there were two more… yes.. two more that were carrying Alexander… and Odin… and Alexander's… CONTRAPTION! You should have seen it! It was huge, they needed those two ships side by side simply to carry it. They were going to kill me… But some of the humans from one of the boats begged them to spare my life. They said that since I was limited to the sea, I could not hurt them when they arrived at their new homes."
Chaos was frantic now. The worst-case scenario had just taken place. If the humans had scattered to all the different continents two days ago, they had close to no chance of ever catching up with them. The army of beasts was running on a deadline. 'and tops' Chaos thought to himself, 'we would have enough beasts for an army for roughly two more weeks.' There might be a few beasts who lasted through the ages, Chaos, Bahamut, and Leviathan included, but they would be alone. They had lost the war, the race of beasts had failed.
"There is more…" Leviathan choked out. "Alexander held an assembly on the boats, I heard what they spoke about. He said that so long as the beasts had their champions the human race might still fall. So he has elected himself and his son to challenge you."
"To what?" Chaos was speechless, Bahamut was giddy.
"That old man and his son? Against us? We've crushed armies together, and they think two mere humans can defeat us?"
Leviathan became angry, "Don't underestimate them! Look what they did to me!!"
"Quiet both of you!" Chaos interjected. "What else did they say?"
"The men from the ships said they would go with them, to protect them. He replied to all of their offers: 'I will allow no other to follow me where I am going. Go now you are all forgiven.' Not a man moved, their eyes glazed straight ahead till one by one they stepped back and not a word was said. And old Alexander was left with his son and his own words echoing in his head. He then prepared to fight. [Dispatch – General]" Leviathan took a moment to catch his breath. "They came to me afterwards. They said they would wait for both of you on the Northern Continent, where the slaughter began."
Chaos stood up. "I guess of all places, there makes most sense."
"Chaos…" Leviathan called out once more. "I should be mostly healed in about two weeks. Concerning the war…"
"The war is over Leviathan… We lost… You may do as you wish. Personally… I've given up too much for this… So many innocent people have died because of me, it would probably be wisest for me to end my own life…" Leviathan's heavy breathing stopped for a moment, and Bahamut gave him a concerned look. "But I would hate to keep Alexander and Odin waiting. Bahamut! Would you fight by my side?"
"War or no war I stand by you my brother in arms. Should we fall I will only be quickened in my fraternal reunion. Should we prevail, I'll… I will continue as I did before the war."
Leviathan looked up at the others, "If I do survive this… then I will find those humans who saved my life. They will have a hard life where they have chosen to live. It will be years until the ground gives them enough to support themselves. I will make sure that the sea will provide more than enough for them to survive. So long as I live, those people will live under my protection."
"Where is this place?" Bahamut asked. "I'll visit you after our victory."
"The long island West of the Western continent. (Wutai)" He replied. "East of here." He laughed out.
The three said their good-byes. Chaos and Bahamut left Leviathan on that beach, and began flying North towards the Northern Continent.
Both were deadly silent during the trip. They were concentrating on the upcoming battle. What weapon could have dealt such a near mortal wound to the great leviathan? They were about five miles away from the continent when Chaos began to speak. "Drop some altitude, take us along the shore west of here." So Bahamut did, and they slowly passed near the shore, and Chaos intently scanned it as they passed by. He was searching for one spot in particular, the spot where the war began for him. When he finally found that small clearing on the cliff he unfurled his wings and flew off Bahamut's back to the spot. 'It is still here, right where I left it.' Jacks and Litia's grave. To the dead he said, "I'm sorry for desecrating your grave old friend, but I'll return your tombstone when I finish this battle." Still stuck in the ground at their heads was Chaos's demon sword. "It has nothing to do with the war. This is a private challenge, so I feel justified in using this." With one hand he pulled the sword out of the loose earth and slung it over his shoulder. Then he walked over to the edge of the cliff and jumped off, flapping his wings to gain altitude. Bahamut came around for another pass, when he was nearly under Chaos, Chaos closed in his wings and dropped down onto Bahamut.
"Got a new toy I see."
"A little something I picked up from an old friend." In no time they were back in the air, looking for signs of Odin and Alexander. They wouldn't have to look long.
They were now passing over the remnants of Chaos's city, what later would be reclaimed and renamed by the Centra.
A booming voice called out from the distance, "CHAOS!"
Both Bahamut and Chaos looked down into the forest near the city, in a small clearing near the gates to the city stood proud Odin. "You find Alexander, I'll take care of this one." Chaos called out. With that he jumped off Bahamut and spread his wings to slow his descent.
"Good luck!" Bahamut called back.
Chaos landed on one side of the clearing, Odin stood tall and proud at the other. In between them stuck into the ground were numerous weapons, pikes, spears, tridents, maces, battle axes, hand axes, katanas, bastard swords, claymores, short swords, staffs, and propped up against some of the weapons were various sized shields. Odin stood ahead of him, he wore a full shining plate mail, and a helmet with two great horns sticking out of the top.
Chaos unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Odin. "Remove your helmet so that I can verify whom it is who challenges me."
Odin propped his sword and shield against his leg and removed his helmet. It was the same man Chaos saw at the High Council meeting. "My heart died when Arthur returned to us, and told me of my children's fate. I would have liked to face Hades, but you as his champion will just have to do."
Chaos flashed him a smile. "Worry not High-Lord Odin, you'll be with your children soon, and there will be plenty of time to challenge Hades in life stream." Chaos looked about the clearing and smiled to himself. "You didn't overkill it with the weapons did you?"
Odin smiled back, "Not all of us can carry an immortal blade." That reference of course was to Chaos's demon blade. Odin replaced his helmet on his head and picked up his sword and shield again. There was a loud crashing sound in the distance. Both fighters turned to their heads towards it. "Seems your friend has found my father. Prepare thyself."
Chaos remained silent for a moment, then they rushed at each other. Dodging blows and parrying weapons, the two fighters fought sword to sword for nearly an hour. At the close of that hour half of Odin's sword fell off while he was parrying one of Chaos's blows. Odin threw the remainder of his sword at Chaos as he freed a pike from the ground. But the pike did not last long, on Odin's second stab with the pike Chaos grabbed it behind the blade and with his sword chopped it off. Quickly reacting to this, Odin used the remainder of the pike as a bat and hit Chaos over the shoulder buying him some seconds to choose a new weapon. He retreated a few feet and pulled a large battle-axe out of the ground. Both fighters then returned to their battle stance.
"Why did you and your father decide to challenge us? It impossible for our army to track down all the humans before their madness sets in. You've already won." Chaos commented.
Odin smirked once, "I guess you have no way of knowing. My father had a dream two days ago, the eve of my brother's return. He saw my mother. When he approached her Bahamut, and yourself blocked his path. He could not get to her. Remember what Shiva said so long ago? Something along the lines of 'the demi-gods will leave this plain until a clear victor is found.' We've already defeated Levantine, and there is little he can do so long as the people stay inland, but you and Bahamut are all that stand between us and a clear victory. With your deaths my mother will be able to return to this plain."
Chaos pondered this for a moment, "I'm amazed your brother was able to make it back to the city. He took the full blast of the poison, killed Hades and still managed to get away."
"Yes, he returned to us early that evening. After explaining to us what happened he went to bed with his wife and died early the next morning. He asked me to take care of his wife and the our people." His voice sounded weaker, "Broke my heart to tell him I had to kill you first." Another blast from far away rocked the ground.
"Enough of this. We end this now!"
"Indeed." Odin charged forward battle axe over his head and took a wide vertical swing at Chaos was taken slightly by surprise but was able to dodge back and to the side far enough to only take partial damage. The axe left a gash on his right shoulder directly above his armpit. An inch deeper and the bones in his shoulder would have been severed. The axe became deeply embedded in the earth, and while Odin tried to pull it out, Chaos gave him a left hook to face. Odin fell over to the side. Quickly getting up he removed his helmet and threw it to the side. He spit out some blood and a few of his teeth, then wiped the blood out from under his nose. There was a trident standing next to him that he selected as his next weapon.
The fighting resumed both sides trading blows and sweating blood, suddenly Odin saw an opening. He jabbed his trident into Chaos's midsection, but Chaos was able to catch it before it penetrated anything more than the skin. Odin pushed for his life into the trident and the barbs managed to penetrate his skin, but chaos held still the trident with one hand. With the other, in one foul swoop, Chaos decapitated Odin. His lifeless body fell to the ground, his head a few feet away from it.
Chaos groaned as he pulled the trident out from his midsection, throwing the bloodied weapon out to the side. Sadly, "You should have kept the helmet on." Chaos took to the air in the general direction of the explosions, one hand covering his stomach, the other carrying his sword.
Chaos landed and was shocked by what he saw. It was nothing short of the flaming remains of Bahamut. One of his wings was gone, and there not nothing but bone left on his right flank. "Alexander…"
"He put up a good fight. Lasted much longer than Leviathan." Chaos turned around and saw Alexander emerge from the dense forest.
"What… What did this?" Chaos asked in an awed voice.
"My suit of armor." He laughed for a moment. "Hades was always an evil one. Hades. I knew it from the moment I laid eyes upon him. If the opportunity ever came, he would betray everyone to gain power. So for three years I worked on my suit, in preparation for this day." He walked up to Chaos and offered his canteen. Chaos refused. "You wouldn't believe how shocked I was when I learned Arthur killed him. I was even more shocked when I saw you in my dream. At that moment I knew I had to kill you..." He took a drink from his canteen and poured the rest of the water over his head. "If only so I can see my wife again."
"You speak as if I was already dead…"
"Soon enough." He began to walk back to area of tree line he had entered. "You want to see it? Its right through here." He stopped at the edge of the tree line and called out before he dove through, "You might stand a chance… If you can catch me before I get there!" For and old man, he was fairly quick.
Chaos tore after him. Using the demon sword he tore through the vines and undergrowth that stood in his way, but Alexander was smaller, and put much distance between them. When he finally got through the forest he saw what Leviathan described as Alexander's contraption, and what he himself called a 'suit of armor'. Chaos stared up at what he would call 'the greatest war-machine of their time'. He caught a glance at Alexander standing next to the entrance of what he could only imagine to be the head at the center of this monstrosity. It stood on one giant pillar at its center, and had two more arm like pillars at its side. The top had various instruments and funny looking things. Chaos had no idea what those were about. But at its chest was a focusing crystal, he had a vague idea what that was for. "So… Will you face me? I who hold the very reigns of the world?
Chaos pumped his wings and took to the air, Alexander locked himself in his cockpit. Chaos's demon sword began to give off a purple glow while the monstrosity ahead of him started making low grumbling noises. Suddenly the area where the focusing crystal was located began to shift, and there was a bright light behind. Chaos just hovered in the air level with Alexander. Alexander just smiled as he worked his controls. As Chaos looked over the great machine he noticed that the focusing crystal had begun to give off a glimmer. Something clicked in his mind and he dove to the side, a twitch of a finger later a spear of pure energy shot through where he was.
Chaos began making his way towards the monstrosity, weaving in and out, left and right, up and down, slowly getting closer and closer. Till finally one of Alexander's shots grazed his leg. The pain from the blast just froze Chaos mid-air for a moment in torrential pain, enough time for Alexander to put another shot through Chaos's wing. Chaos went into a nosedive and crashed into the ground. He stood up on both feet and nearly fell over when he put his weight on his hit foot. The focusing crystal shifted once more, it was aimed at his torso. Alexander was in his cockpit savoring the moment. In his right hand Chaos was still carrying the Demon sword. He looked over the monstrosity once more. 'What are those weird pointy things on the top?' he thought to himself. 'No matter. Only one thing left to do.' Chaos stepped forward on his left foot, and with his right hand he launched the demon sword at focusing crystal. Alexander didn't even notice until the lights in his cockpit began lighting up. Through the opening in front of him he could see Chaos still standing there, the exact spot he left him.
"Alexander! I figured out what those things on the top are! They are for aerial bombardments! Like Neo and Zero Bahamut could perform. That beam cannon on your torso is your only middle range weapon!" he yelled. In a lower voice he said almost to himself, "What will you do when I come in close?"
Alexander was busy in the cockpit checking gages, trying to figure out what would happen if he activated the beam cannon again to notice Chaos. Chaos forced down the pain in his leg and made a running jump at the mech. He landed a about level with his sword on the torso, and with his talons began climbing up the front towards Alexander. In between gages, Alexander noticed that Chaos was gone from his field of vision. 'This can't be good, I lost most of my maneuverability while fighting Bahamut. He could be anywhere.' He thought o himself.
He lifted himself from his seat and changed to positions of his head to get a better view out of the small peephole. He leaned closer, he could hear something on his torso, like a soft tapping. Then it went silent. The fear of god was inside him, he was trapped in his cockpit, he had no idea where Chaos was his machine was now making random tapping noises. She moved a slight bit ahead to get a better look. Just like in a horror movie when the tension has built up the most a great black hand with talons for fingers shot through the peephole and made a grab for him. Alexander fell backwards, and if he was in any less good health, he would have died of a heart attack right there.
Chaos felt around with his left hand, the cockpit must have been roomier than he thought. Pulling his arm out, he looked inside, Alexander was in his seat against the back wall flipping switches. Chaos was loosing patience with this game With his immense strength he began pulling at the armor plates at the head, hoping to make the peephole large enough for him to reach in and finally kill Alexander.
Alexander had an idea, it was a desperate dangerous idea, but he was out completely. In his mind he was kicking himself in the ass, he had a chance to kill him once already, he failed to do so. Now he had to go through with it or he would die for sure. He flipped one last switch and watched as the pressure gage lit. "Chaos! Hang on tight, it would be a shame if you fell off now!" Alexander grabbed the controls and began shifting the legs under him. He could feel his center of gravity shift. 'This is my last chance to stop.' He thought to himself. 'No… I'll see you soon Shiva.' He pushed the controls further and the huge mech leaned dangerously forward, until finally gravity pulled it off its support and down onto the ground.
The entire time Chaos was still venting his rage on the armor plates. With one hand he was hanging on for dear life, with the other he was still ripping layers of armor from around the peephole. He could feel the mech lean forward, but by the time he realized Alexander was trying to topple forwards it was too late.
Chaos wasn't crushed, but he was pretty well stuck. Parts of the mech were pinning him down, he could see inside the cockpit and had a pretty good reach with one of his hands. Alexander was still strapped into his seat. 'Pity.' He thought to himself, 'If he wasn't I could have ripped him up by now.' "So, great high lord Alexander… Is this what you had planned?"
"To a degree, no I just have to explode the focusing crystal." He began to flip switches and play with gages again.
"Wha.. What?" Chaos wasn't sure if he had heard him correctly. "Won't that kill us both?"
"You probably, me maybe." Alexander reached forwards and found a large red button. "I'm sorry." With his palm he slammed it in then settled back in his seat.
The engines began to whine to life, the noise got generally louder. "Alexander! Alexander! Stop this and fight me like a man! The way your sons and grand sons fought! You should be dead! This is my victory! Have you no hon-!" But Chaos was cut off. With the cannon firing and the Focusing crystal damage the explosion was much greater than Alexander thought it would be.
Yuffie Vincent and Chaos watched from the sideline as the entire mech came to pieces and those pieces went flying in each direction until there was nothing left. Nothing but the broken pieces of shattered dreams.
Chaos opened his eyes. 'I'm still alive.' Then he tried to move. 'No response from either leg. One arm. Now both my wings are gone.'
"Chaos?!"
"Ya…." 'So Alexander was still alive.'
"I'm sorry I had to do that."
"If I could stand I'd kill you for it." 'jesting at a time like this…' he thought to himself.
"I'm going to die here. I'm losing too much blood, and I can't move. My controll panel..." he laughed out. "is actually sticking through my right arm." Alexander said.
"Same here… I lost... a few limbs, can't move." Strangely enough there was very little pain. Chaos remembered something from a medical seminar he once attended. 'When the body has suffered a mortal wound, and pain is at an extreme the brain releases a neuro toxin to block out certain receptors until death. What we plan…' Chaos let out a sigh.
"Chaos, I did it for… I just wanted to see her once more."
"Shiva?"
"Yes. I just want to let you know that I understand why you joined the war, and I know what happened here. I don't think anyone can truly blame you for what happened."
"Regardless, they were my responsibility... But… Thanks… I think we could have been friends had this not happened." Chaos began feeling around with his right hand.
"Yes... I agree..."
He found what he was looking for, something with a pointy edge. "When you see Shiva, give her my regards and apologies."
"Thank you…"
With his final breaths Chaos calmed himself. Then in a quick hand motion he took the pointy thing, whatever it was he used it to stab himself in the heart once. Yuffie saw it coming but was still shocked beyond belief. She grabbed a hold of Vincent and began hugging him like a teddy bear. She didn't want to watch anymore. With all his strengths he pulled it out and stabbed himself again. Chaos's eyes began to glaze over as he pulled the steak out once more and dropped it. 'This is what it feels like, this is what it feels like to die.' His hand fell lifeless to his side, and everything went dark.
He was whole again, his wings and limbs were restored, and he was floating in some darkness. Then he saw it in front of him. Shiva, she floated towards him and when she reached him cupped his head in her hands and kissed him once on the forehead. "Thank you." Everything went dark.
Yuffie was still hanging onto Vincent, she could not see him but her arms wrapped around his midsection and her head resting against his chest. From the corner of her eye she had seen what happened to Chaos, what he did to himself, and his meeting with Shiva. Vincent was holding her head with his human hand, and his other hand he had on her back.
There was a ding and two elevator doors opened before them. Chaos stepped out of the elevator and back into the Shinra office they had originally left from. With a simple hand gesture he ushered Yuffie and Vincent out of his memories.
Well, I'm at a point in the storyline, where everything is starting to get resolved. I'm going to have to go back through some of the chapters and beef them up or something, they just seem too short. Anyways, I'm also attempting a second fic about Sephiroth, and how he became who he was, but its proving to be alot harder than I first expected. Mainly because of battles, I want to describe them, but i don't... If you understand what i mean... It just seems so boring what i have in mind, senselessly describing the movements of an army, but just saying they were victorious and moving on seems too apathetic and hollow a way out. So i'm struggling to think of an effective way to do... this... stuf... yea...
Anyways, like this story, my original thoughts on the matter weren't about Sephiroth, they were about his clone. But you can't collect 500$ without passing Go (monopoly.). So I'm gonna have to sit down sometime after the wedding and figure out what I'm gonna do. Oh ya, that reminds me, i'm gonna be at a wedding for about 1 1/2 weeks, directly afterwards we're moving my sister into her new place at med school in Dalllas. It sucks cause i've had to help her move in and out of college a grand total of eight times (twice each year.) and cause of the class timings she will never have to help me. Kinda makes me feel used... ohwell... enough whineing for now, Have fun!
Erzi-Candy: At first I was planing on making Hades angry, but noble, but decided against it after I had him kill Chaos's city. In anycase, I'm glad to hear i have your continueing support! Thanks!
Neko-Yuff16: Yep, i'm trying to do one every five days, but i'm going to be gone for a week or so. As a result the next chapter won't be out for awhile. Keep Readin! Thanks again!
Hotaru170: I'm glad to hear you like the story. I'm sure i've said it before, but part of the reason i kept on with this fic is simply because Chaos had never been done. As you read through fics like this sometimes you find one you really like. When you think back over the game or story or whatever you associate that fic with the it more than ones you don't like. Like if you found a post meteor story you loved, you might associate that as the true ending to the story. In essence thats what i wanted to do, no one has really done Chaos in depth, so i wanted to make a lasting impression on what he was like, I wanted people to remember this fic. Thanks again for your support! Good luck on Only Time!
Shadow Reaver: Thanks for the compliment! Keep reading, and i'll try to keep writing!
Eva: Yess... indeed exploding people could be a fun turn for any fic, or a dramatic... thing depending on how you play it off... meh... Good luck!
Pixie: Make him... or her update Destined Souls!
Felichel: Chaos was badass, in the game he was all like 'I have wings smashy smashy!' Keep readin! glad to hear you like the story!
Cattibrie393: my mistake, i thought you meant it as a deragatory word. I know how you feel, my father makes me go camping with him like twice a month. We don't do anything, we just hang out in the middle of nowhere doing the odds and ends you do while campig. We barely even talk, and its so much fun to sit down and see what all you missed while you were gone. County fair sounds like fun! Thanks for the review!
Paine Kisaragi: Glad to hear you like it! I'm nearly finished with it, but i'll be gone for awhile starting this week. So I'll update if i can! Keep readin, and thanks again!
--Iflyte