Lightbringer- Chpt. 12- Deliver us from Evil
Adalai- (brings fingers together Mr. Burns style) muhahhhhhaaaa...I doing something very evil this chappie.
Stinky, the surprisingly clean and skinny muse of Comedy- What?
Adalai- I'm sticking the hyperactive Clay with the stoic Scion, what did you think? They'll be at each other's throats the whole time.
Stinky- that's cruel.
Adalai- I like to call it comic relief. Sephy, disclaimer!
Sephy- Ellos owns nothing. And she knows she own nothing. She stays up at night crying because she owns nothing. When she's not writing this fic. So don't sue. She only has about 56 dollars to her name. She doesn't own me, either...
Adalai- eheheh...Just 'borrowing' you without asking.
Sephy- but she can send me to whup whoever says otherwise. (brings out giant buster sword stolen from Cloud and waves it around threateningly.)
Adalai- eeexxxccellent...on with the fic!
...
Panic had seized the Bell Tower. Citizens ran, all heading from the ship dock where gummi ships and Salvation lay. Bedlam insured without warning; they swirled back and forth like ants thrown in a water pond, ill prepared for it and running blindly in the hope that some miracle would sweep them off this doomed age.
One figure was an exception. Hands in her pockets, (or whatever passed for pockets on an Endless), grateful for the lack of dust that would otherwise cloud her sensate's (1) perception, she wound her way gracefully away from the Ship Hangar, seeking out Scion, sensate trained ahead in the direction of the Nobody. Too shell-shocked to care why she was heading in the direction of certain death, the crowds parted easily for Clay. What few did stop to consider her actions, merely assumed she was crazy. She certainly had company in that respect. The whole age around them had gone crazy.
Heading down a corridor, she once again found herself alone. But not for long. Scion teleported by her with a flash of light. Grabbing her, He teleported again, going straight for the In-Between Place.
But nothing happened. "Endless." Scion growled. "Whatever you're doing, knock it off."
Spinning around with inhuman speed, Clay summoned up a Gebo, the same type of weapon as Ellos. But hers was different; She had only one, and hers was sea themed, with spirals and vines running down a curved blade made of light gold, the tip curling into a hook, and a crescent-ax shaped piece of the blade projected from the other side. The end of the staff part had a hammer sticking out one side, and a crescent-shaped ax blade on the other. The chain, after it attached to the middle, extended a foot longer, a spiked ball hanging from it. A double-barreled shotgun ran down the middle of the blade, the middle of the weapon shaped like a modified gun hilt.
"My name is now Clay." She said, grinning. "We are going to that command ship and shutting it down." Scion looked at her as if she was crazy. "It surrounded by Heartless and Mindless. There is no way were getting in there. You're crazy if you think you're getting in there! If they see you're an Endless, they'll kill you."
If possible, Clay grinned even larger. Putting both hands on Scion's shoulders, she said, "They won't even know I'm there." As she spoke, Clay began to fade, color leeching out of her and her flesh becoming more and more transparent, until her body was completely clear, edged in light, until that, too, faded.
Scion whiled around, wide eyed. He knew that Endless couldn't teleport, but after what he had seen, he was beginning to have doubts.
Up here.
Scion stopped. He had heard Clay's voice in his head. Where is that Damn Endless? He thought.
Don't take my name in vain. Clay spoke again inside his head, mentally slapping him. I changed by body into low level electrical and chemical energy and went into the nerves in you brain. I am, basically, now a thought in your mind.
Then get out my head!
Aw, but I'm ever so comfortable in here, picking you brain. Think of me as that little voice inside your head that tells you what to do! You know, hunger.
That's a conscience, not hunger.
Then why do you have a craving for pizza now? Whatever. Same difference. Clay said. What matters is now you can get onto the ship. You've got two options; one, pass yourself off for a heartless or mindless and sneak in, or two, get captured. Think of it as a recon mission; we'll find out whose leading the heartless and where their home base is; you can always teleport out anytime you need to.
Scion considered it. The hyperactive Endless was making a certain amount of sense. But it didn't make him any less angry at her for getting into her mind. "Fine, you win."
Hmmnnn. I'm still getting an irrational need from you to kick my electric ass. Oh wait, you can't!
Scion cursed at the Endless under his breath.
Hey, I heard that!
Scion mentally grinned at the Endless-turned-conscience. I know.
...
Seeing the behemoth pause and it's purpose finally dawn on her, Ellos' expression did not change, but her direction did. Leaping from the building's edge, Ellos corkscrewed at the zenith of her jump, arms and legs spread out, gaining enough height to glide comfortably to a rooftop on the other side of the river on her one wing.
Leon and Riona saw what was coming too. Instead of heading for the gummi ships, they jumped into the water, swimming for the shore. Turning back to the Bell Tower, her eyes widened as she saw what happened next.
Moving with immeasurable grace, several of the tentacles merged into one, slamming to the sides of the Bell Tower over and over, until nothing but rubble was left.
My god...everyone that means everyone but us is dead...Riona thought, looking away. Suddenly she saw a flash of red and yellow from the wreckage. Looking up, she saw Cloud and Aeris', Cid's, and Yuffie's gummi ships fly up, executing a series of maneuvers, flying loops around the heartless as they gunned those same heartless down. Some of the few remaining Twilight fighter ships joined them, forming an escort through the living heartless fray. Unable to defeat the flying forces of the ships, they where concerned only with salvaging what little they could from the age. All else was lost.
Swimming across the channel, Riona began to panic. Searching frantically for Squall and Natalia on dark waters only lit by flaming wreckage, she paddled blindly, ever weakening, ahead, the cold of the water sapping her strength and paddling through a blackness that can only be born when all other lights have gone out.
Weakly brushing away a piece of wreckage, she felt the water rise above her head, flowing into her mouth and nose. With her last shred of consciousness, she felt her hand brush the edge of Squall's jacket in front of her. She felt through her chilled skin, rather than saw, Squall grab her wrist and hall her up out of the water.
And saw not his ice-blue gaze but the unearthly shine of lenses, semi-transparent matte-black, like swirling fog over vaguely defined human eyes, set in silver frames. Shocked and afraid but too frozen to do anything about it, Riona didn't complain as the owner of that inhuman gaze half set down, half dropped her on the cobblestone street.
To her credit, Riona held her ground and looked Ellos as straight in the eye as much as anyone could. Most people would have run at the sight of the tall, thin girl with her lensed glaze that seemed to bore into you and her single gleaming black wing, gold at the top fading into dappled purple-and-black at the bottom, which until now Riona had not known existed. Those who knew Ellos' reputation and what that wing symbolized would run all the faster. But Riona would not back down to any foe, Leon knew. It was one of the reasons he had fallen in love with her. But even he would have not thought less if she had cowered or shown fear. For ever rule, there's an exception, and that exception stood right in front of them. By him, Natalia whimpered in fear, always keeping Leon between her and Ellos.
Never one to dwell on the past, even if it was the resent past of just days ago, Ellos offered a suggestion. "I've got a ship ready. You're welcome to come with me if you want."
Leon shook his head. "Too many ships, too many guns. If the heartless don't get us, one of our own will."
Looking up, Riona saw what Squall said was true. The sky was almost completely covered with heartless and mindless; it would be like trying to get through a brick wall. One that fought back. Unable to help it, Natalia let out a small cry of despair, although whether about the heartless above or Ellos beside her they couldn't tell.
But the unspoken implication between the two warriors being, Ellos knew, You take too many chances. You may be more than human, but Riona is not. I don't trust you to remember that. Not with the one person I love the most. And even if they did survive, what kind of life would she lead with you? Constant wandering, fighting to survive, no home or family, forgetting a piece of yourself day by day? She was not offended by this. She knew it was true.
Digging something out of her pocket, she tossed it at Leon, looking at Natalia. "You have the ship. I'll go with you; just follow the tracking device. I'll find another way off." Leon protested. "I'll stay here and fight. This world has been good to me, It's my home, where I found Riona; I owe it that much. I just need to get Riona off the age first. If you had a home, wouldn't you fight to protect it, Ellos?"
"The swarm heartless will descend on you before you get a mile from them. They'll pour down you throat like a hungry swarm, choking you. Their tiny claws will gorge your eyes out, making sure you feel ever slash and wound before you die, watch you see your blood pour out your body and turn black. They'll save you eyes and ears for last so you can watch them kill your Riona before they rip them to pieces while they're still on your face. You'll feel your skin start to itch, then burn, then swell with unimaginable pain as the swarm particles rip apart you body on a molecular level.
"Then they'll take your heart. Your heart will drown in it's own evil, losing all that is good inside you. The only way to reclaim it being to recapture what you have lost, but there's no way to do it, because it's already gone. Lost in the depths of your own heart, searching for the true light."
"God has his tricks, and the heartless and mindless have theirs, too. But getting out of hells-on-earth full of heartless and mindless like no one else can? That's one of mine. Stay low, stay fast, follow me, keep their mouths shut and go at my speed."
Sensing the SeeD's hesitation, Ellos walked up to him and placed a reassuring hand on Leon's shoulder. He looked at it as if it where a coiled snake, ready to strike. "Home is where the heart is. Your heart is with her." Ellos said, referring to Riona. "Like the moon, you two shine with the reflected light of your love, your friends, your people. So you are home wherever you are, even in exile. The deepest shadows from the brightest of lights, so the light reflected stays strong, long after the sources of that light go out. You are their immortality, the reason why those hearts chose to come into the work knowing that when they went back from this world again, their short time spent here would not be in vain."
Looking at Ellos with surprise, Leon knew for sure now that he really didn't know Ellos. They had fought together, lived together, worked together, but he really didn't know her. Ellos' little speech was the most words he had ever heard the girl speak in a row, maybe even the entire time they had known each other. She turned and began to go into Old Venice, crouched low to the ground and blending into the shadows as only heartless and Forgotten can.
...
Finally, the behemoth began to move again, away from the shattered wreck of the Bell Tower. The largest one, which had paused over the building too big to be smashed with it's tentacles, also began to move in the same direction. Others joined it, forming a kind of escort to it's final destination, the accumulation of the invasion and the end of it's means. The unimaginably vast black and white masses descended upon the center of the city.
Perhaps some kind of machine descended from the bottom of the ships, causing what happened next. Perhaps it was some bomb, some gravira spell on a massive scale. Whatever it was, the result was a shattering concussion, reducing thousands of square feet of technology and culture in a blaze of light to dust. All that was left was a flat, perfectly circular plane where the center of the age once stood, the dome of the Senate building left miraculously and intentionally untouched.
And, to no one but everyone's surprise, panic ensured. People scatted in 360 directions, the general consensus being every direction except toward the doomed city center. All save the Forgotten, who had to shield her uniquely sensitive eyes and wait for the light-induced blindness to wear off.
Then, some of the ships began to change. The tentacles merged into one, the multi-faced heads becoming one head, tortured and sorrowful expression twisted with wrath. The ships had turned into icons; tall, thin, cloaked, vaguely human personifications of anguish and despair. The pointed bottoms drove themselves into the ground around the senate house like brooding watchers around a coffin at a wake, shovels gouging the earth, aimed at it's heart. The impact clouds from the explosion streamed outward past their feet.
The largest one settled at the head, two other smaller ones behind and beside it, so all three looked like a huge tower, capped with three heads that looked in every direction, missing nothing. The last two began to move again, looking out upon the rest of the city. Looking for something to smash.
Ellos blinked, ridding herself of the hazing purple spots in front of her vision as she stood on top of the building to see. Removing her glasses, she heard Riona and Leon let out a small gasp at the sight of her eyes, with was steadfastly ignored by Ellos as she gazed with something very much like awe at the colossal icons razing from the cremated crust of the center of Center city. Very little could honestly say it had impressed such a woman, but then again, impression was the Icons' purpose.
She saw Heartless and Mindless stream out of the foot of the ship in even greater numbers. But Ellos knew it was not the army; it was a guard of honor. Inside the Senate was the leaders of all the ages of the Twilight System; inside, the leaders of this invasion would reveal themselves and their true purpose while the Senate tried to draw up the conditions of their surrender to them; the leaders would be held there until they complied. There, the hearts of the Twilight System would be given over to those without hearts. It was beautiful in it's simplicity and effectiveness, the only beauty Ellos had ever really come to see and understand. They would not even have to search them out; their leaders would give them over to their enemies.
Placing the glasses back over her eyes, Ellos motioned to the others to join her. "We'll go to my ship, and after you get to it, I'll go on to the ships. Find out who's behind this and report back to you." Jerking her head, she, Leon, Riona, and Natalia ran, crouched under the cover of the shadows, Natalia and Ellos careful to stay as far apart as was unnoticeably possible.
...
Back to the wall, Ellos upholstered the plasma gun from her back. Holding it in both hands, she made a quick scan of the area, pointing the gun at all possible hiding places for gunmen and snipers. She did this twice, before declaring the area clear. The SeeD recognized it as military procedure, wondering briefly how Ellos had gotten military training. He had no doubts about her ruling of the area; Ellos' unique vision could scan an area for hostiles better than any tracking device or scanner ever could. Jerking her head, she motioned for them to continue as quickly and quietly as possible. The plaza might be empty, but that could change in a heartbeat.
Suddenly, when they where halfway out from the plaza, Ellos motioned furiously for Natalia and Riona to go back. They hid themselves under a collapsed roof southwest of where she and Leon where. Grabbing Leon's arm in a grip that felt more like steel and was more shadowflesh than muscle, she ran under the rotunda in the middle of the square, a wooden platform on stilts upon which bands would have played on better days.
Mere seconds after they had hid themselves, Mindless hounds burst from a side street to Ellos' left, driving a force of Twilight fighters before them, hot on their scent. Behind them, hideous, deformed monsters, the product of fusions between newly created heartless DNA and organic flesh, followed, heartless in the shape of black collars controlling the mad creatures before them. Ironically, these monsters had been made from other monsters whose job had once been to scare people. The band served one purpose; to drive out any humans that might be lurking in the ruins and turn them into heartless or mindless, as the situation warranted.
Leon rose, or tried to rise, from his position, but Ellos held him down. "When it's over." She said, an enigmatic expression that could be read as anger, irritation, or mere indifference. "You can't help them. We wait till they come out and we have a shot at their leader."
The band of monsters mauled and raked the soldiers, one by one, while the hounds finished them off and turned them into new mindless hounds. Finally, their where no more of them left.
Finally, the leader of this rag-tag team made his appearance, one of singular size and reputation. His name was Sephiroth, named after the Tree of Life, whose sole purpose ironically among the heartless was to end life. Leon recognized it as Cloud's rival, but to Ellos, who had never heard of this man, it was like going forward in time 20 years and gazing upon Strife's face. The similarities between the two warriors could not be missed; the long, white-silver hair, tan skin, triangular jaw, wide oval face, and tall, muscular frame could not be dismissed as mere coincidence. Especially conspicuous were those eyes; green-blue, but unlike Strife's, glowing with the same mako energy as in Cloud's eyes.
Sephiroth and his squad swept the surroundings; streets, windows, doors, cracks in the ground; all where scanned with remorseless and machinelike proficiency. When they came across a survivor, the hounds ripped the heart straight from the body, turning it into a mindless. They made their way across the plaza, slowly heading in the direction of Riona and Natalia's hiding place.
Having found the source of the squad's leadership, Ellos crept back into the shadows with the skill of a heartless, determined to finish this before the hounds could pick up the scent of herself and her charges. She brought out her plasma gun and shifted the sight from target to target. Should she do it now? Wait? Hope that the hounds would pass them over? She was in range, but Ellos' gun was designed for close range combat, not sniping. She decided to wait.
The team passed the hiding places of both Leon and Riona and Natalia. But one of the monster's stopped. It had the shape of a rust-colored blubbery ball, with 6 arm/legs, two long, sharp, crescent-shaped horns, and one yellowish, heartless-like eye. Bouncing up and down, it turned to investigate the collapsed roof under which Riona and Natalia hid. Noticing the monster's change in direction, several of the hounds followed it and began to sniff the air, trying to find what the monster had seen. It would be only seconds before they picked up on Riona and Natalia's scent.
Then, something unexpected happened. A flash of bight yellow and orange bolted from the ruins, the bouncing monster hot on her trail. She yelled something- a warning to Ellos, running away from the direction they had came. Sephiroth and most of the team proceeded after her, but did not attack. They were curious. It was unusual to see a girl out here, alone and so close to the ruined city center. Killing her would be quick, but questioning her would be just as quick, and more helpful. Leaving some soldiers behind, in case the sudden flight was a ploy, they pursued the lone girl down the twisting streets and alleyways of Old Venice.
Mentally cursing the girl in a way that would have made Cid tear up with pride, Ellos swung around, reacting to the girl's warning of the Mindless hound that had been sneaking up behind her. She fired at it, killing it instantly. Leaping from the shadows, Ellos drew her other blade from her back and attacked the three remaining Mindless hounds. She brought down the two blades up from under the first hound, slicing it into three pieces under it's armor. Casting Areoga, she twirled the blades by her side, gaining momentum for her next attack. With a shudder, the other two sent volleys of thin, needle-sharp spikes in her direction, which glanced harmlessly off the spell's barrier. Running to the second, she thrust the bat-wing one deep into it's chest and the other with the gun through it's neck and into it's chest and fired, hearing a muffled explosion as the hound's carcass flew off her blade and the bullet ripped a three-inch wide hole out the bottom of it's chest. Facing the third, she threw her bat-wing blade at it in a move very much like strike raid, the blade slicing it into two and returning, boomerang like, it it's owner.
Life was simple, Ellos mused. People were not. They made things complicated. Ellos was torn between desire for escape and responsibility to her other charges on one side and guilt and the responsibility she felt for this younger child on the other. Emotions and convictions battled in the wasteland of Ellos' human mind. For once in Ellos' life, emotions won. Turning to Leon, she spoke.
"Take Riona and go to Silver Street, the one with all the jewelers on it. 12 buildings down, you'll find a warehouse. Inside is a gummi ship- mercenary built, so it's tougher than it looks. Tough enough to get you out of the system. There's also a half million in munny I wasn't able to deposit that you can use as you like, start over somewhere. I'll get Natalia and find another way off the age." She didn't say what they both already thought to be a certainty; Natalia's death.
Leon briefly wondered how she had gotten hold of that kind of money and a mercenary ship- and then realized exactly how Ellos had escaped from the mercenaries that brought her in. "Ellos, you magnificent bastard." Leon murmured to himself, getting up and heading for Riona. Ellos headed off in the direction Natalia had taken.
Compliments later, Ellos thought.
...
Minutes later, Leon piloted the gummi ship through the ages' atmosphere and out into intra-space. Looking down at the age he had left, it seemed completely covered with inky darkness, long loops of lightning flashing across its surface.
He sent a message to Cid, Yuffie, Cloud and Aeris, telling them the age they were going to. Setting the coordinates of autopilot to Hollow Baston, he went to the back of the room, slight shiver running down his spine at the sight of the cage in the back wall.
Riona was already in Cryosleep when he reached her. Kissing her lightly on her forehead, he was amazed at how peaceful and beautiful she seemed when she was asleep. Like a real angel, not one of those blonde blue-eyed winged things painted in paintings or on the walls of churches. Sitting in the cryosleep booth next to her, he hooked his arm into the machine, antifreeze and nanomachines replacing his blood. Fading fast, one thought crossed his mind. Both warriors had known that Natalia was probably dead, so...
...
Why had she gone back?
...
Natalia wondered as she sprinted along the alleyways and backways of Old Venice. What made her wonder the most was she had not done this for Leon, of for Riona, but for Ellos. At first she had found herself terrified at what Ellos was capable of doing, and unable to really come to terms with what happened; still hadn't, in fact. Any trace of anything that could have become a friendship, or even acquaintance between the two girls had died, replaced by a deep sadness for Ellos. Ellos had nothing to live for, nothing to protect or love, not even any light in her being to let her be able to fight for the light, for good. She had lived for too long in the darkness to ever be able to fight for the light. No one trusted a demon who worked on the side of good. It was still a demon. But perhaps she could help Ellos exist somewhere in the shadows, somewhere where time and the world would lie down and pass her by. The shadow of nowhere, as Ellos had put it.
Expecting herself to go down under one of the Mindless hounds at any time, Natalia ran full speed ahead, not stopping to consider the miracle of her continued existence when she didn't feel those expected claws on her skin. She might have a chance, if only she could reach a certain spot.
It was a narrow channel, only big enough for a single gondola to fit down at any one time, but it connected directly to a much deeper channel. She could swim from there to almost anywhere, provided she got to it with enough time to spare, to throw off her pursuers.
Suddenly, as she turned the corner, something flashed in the middle of it. the man standing there before her must have teleported, or leaped, or something, because one second there was nothing there, and the next, a man hovered over the water, supported with one black wing, with blue-green glowing eyes and white-silver hair. Definitely something you didn't want to see in a dark alley at night. Hell, not even in a brightly-light one at noon.
The man had a long, thin, slightly curved sword in his hand, but did not try to attack her. Sephiroth had tried to remember how to look friendly and failed; the smile he had on his face only served to frighten the girl more.
Exhausted physically from running and the events of the past few hours, agonizing about the destruction of Twilight Town, which brought back memories of the destruction of her own home age, and frustrated about not being able to do anything to stop it in both cases, she merely though Sephiroth was toying with her, delaying the inevitable- making her suffer more. Whatever happened, she would not get out alive. She only hoped it would be quick. She wanted to tell that to Leon. She wanted to tell that to Riona. She wanted to tell that to her friends, the Nobody, her family, long dead. But mostly she wanted to tell it to Ellos. Because she had no other way to explain what she had done. Maybe Ellos would realize it, farfetched though it may be. Not that it would matter. Ellos wouldn't care.
Drawing her dagger, Sephiroth stopped but continued to smile at her with that creepy, forced look on his face, trying to calm her. Closing her eyes and hoping she was still facing in the direction the white-haired man was in, she made a sign from her home age she had told the priest of the Bell Tower she had forgotten, the Evil Eye which protected against demons, and attacked.
...
Ellos arrived but minutes too late. She saw the leader, the long, white haired man that looked like Strife step out off the alleyway. Sneaking down, she looked around. She knew Natalia was somewhere around here, but just where Natalia was she wasn't sure. She could smell her, detect her aura. Smelled in her aura she was dead, or close too it.
But to Ellos' surprise, she saw Natalia standing in the water, hunched over something in the water. Unable to believe her eyes, she jumped in the water and waded forward to the figure.
At closer inspection she saw that the person was nothing like Natalia. Different face, different eyes, different hair; she couldn't imagine how she had ever mistaken her for Natalia. But grief and guilt, and Ellos was soon to realize, could cloud perception like nothing else can. Realizing what the girl was doing, she charged at her, waving her weapon to frighten the girl away.
She had been picking the pockets of a corpse. Natalia's corpse. For a moment Ellos simply stared at it, for once in her life not sure what to do or to say. But as the arm bumped against her, Ellos started, broken out of her revere. Irrationally, the only thought on her mind was to prevent Natalia's heart from falling into the hands of the heartless and mindless. Placing her hand on Natalia's shoulder, she pucked from the Charter three marks and wove them into a spell to completely immolate the body so it could not be used to make a heartless. Satisfied Natalia's heart was now safe, she turned, heading for the senate dome. A burning desire for revenge, fueled by regret, made her push onward, towards the home of the one who had killed the only person who had ever looked upon her with innocence.
I should have killed him when I had the chance. Ellos thought. She had been too cautious, not following her instincts, because of Natalia. As the ancient saying goes, he who hesitates is a dead motherfucker, and Natalia had paid the price for her hesitation.
Unnoticed by Ellos, from the ashes of Natalia's corpse, from the shoulder where Ellos had touched her, two large, semi-transparent flowers, speckled in rainbow colors, about the size of her hand, bloomed.
Where one falls, two more shall arise.
...
Following Ellos, Strife paused, seeing the Forgotten go for the center of the city. What the hell is she thinking? He paused, wondering. His natural curiosity, which had gotten him into as many scrapes as it had gotten him out of, overcame him. Against his better judgment, he followed her, not out of revenge as she did, but curiosity at the minds behind the invasion, their purpose, what they hoped to gain, and what they planned to do, and, more importantly, what Ellos planned to do to them. Whatever it was, it would probably involve pain and discomfort; on their part, not on Ellos'. It might actually be entertaining.
Revenge, curiosity, duty; whatever led them on, Nobody, Endless, and Ellos walked forward, every step sending them forth to the same destination. All roads leading to one place; the frowning watchers whose heads seemed to brush the dome of the sky, the same sky under which they all passed, the same destiny they were all to play a part in.
...
Strife jumped down into a chasm. Looking up, he saw a line of razor-sharp crystals by the mouth. Reaching up, he broke them off and stored them in his pouch. The tall boy stared at the horizon. It was shade of Ultra-red, which meant dawn was still far off, for the moment.
Jumping out of the crevice, he looked around, spotting Ellos' cloak. A year ago that shade of grey would have blended seamlessly into the rock around them, but now the two shades of grey seemed as different in his eyes as red and blue. He'd come a long ways from last year.
After examining a rock and finding it held nothing of value, Ellos straightened up, looking for Strife. She was on edge all day, not because of Yul, but because of Strife. Strife had insisted on celebrating something called a 'Birthday'. It was a annual celebration of the day you were born, and you were supposed to exchange gifts and have a party. Ellos hadn't remembered when her own birthday was, so she and Strife decided to have it on the same day. But he seemed to have forgotten. Or maybe he was just trying to surprise her.
Seeing him come out of the chasm, she motioned him to come. Stepping carefully over obsidian glass, tall sulfur smokestacks, and patches of half-melted rock, skirting patches of drum sand, geysers, and other obstacles, he slowly made his way over to her.
"Do you have the stuff?"
Strife looked at the materials in his bag, pulling out and checking his list. "Yes, that's everything. We should be able to make the hilt, now. And Ellos..."
"Yeah?"
Strife grinned and pulled something from behind his back. "Happy Birthday."
It was this weird gadget, made of wood and metal. Turning it around, she looked at it, wondering what the hell it was and what it did. Throwing up his arms in exasperation, he said, "It's a pocket knife. Don't tell me you've never seen one before!"
Taking it from her, he showed her how the blade flipped out from the side and how to push it back in place. She nodded and slipped it up her sleeve and thanked him. Pulling her own present out of her pocket, she handed it over to Strife.
It was a charm, made from an old metal 7-tipped shrunken, that size of her palm, with a sunstone in the middle and powerful charter marks of protection flowing over the whole thing like oil. It was attached to a chain made of heavy metal links. "You like it?" She asked.
Strife grinned and fastened it around his neck. "Yeah. Wow. You've got Charter marks I've never even seen on this thing, they're so powerful. You made it yourself?"
Ellos nodded. "Listen, I've got one thing I've got to do. Don't worry, it won't take long and it's in the tunnels. Ok?"
"Ok, but we better make it quick. We leave at twilight." Strife said. He had built a small gummi ship from gummi blocks Ellos had manufactured. They where headed for the more habitable ages near where the door to the Present World, which Nobody were known to frequent.
Dropping down into a molehole, Ellos and Strife climbed down. Immediately to the left was a huge pile of rubble from where the tunnel had caved in. But Strife realized that rubble was not the only thing there. Three mounds, with rickety metal crosses over them were there. The crosses had no names or dates of birth, only various personal effects draped over them, to distinguish one from the other.
Taking out a few green twigs from her coat, the closest thing to a boquet she could find, Ellos reverently placed them on the middle grave, as well as a small, folded piece of paper. It was a inking of Ellos with 3 other kids Strife didn't know; he had seen her working on it many times before.
Breaking the silence, Strife asked, "Who were they?"
"They were my friends. We grew up together; called ourselves the Table, I don't remember why now. We draw up rules and rites of membership and all sorts of things. We where best friends; you couldn't keep us apart. They were all really weird, but in a good way." As she had done many times, she imagined what her friends would have done had they been here. She closed her eyes, squeezing her fist together. The act of remembering was painful in itself, but she always did it anyways.
Liz would have asked her if she was ok, screaming it in her ear with that metal funnel she used as a microphone and carried with her all the time, and then shouting through it for everyone to back off and get aspirin. Kat, with her bubbly-almost-ADD personality, would be bouncing off the walls and dancing irreverently on the graves, offering her own suggestions to Liz, each one more outlandish and impractical than the last. Cameron, the cool cat as always, would grab the diminutive Kat, blushing as she always did in the presence of any boy, and pull her off the graves. Then he would ask what kind of a sorry ass idiot would think to give Ellos aspirin and told her to go get the Roots. Then Kat would ask what aspirin was and send him into a flying rage.
That last thought made her smile.
"What happened to them?" Strife asked.
"We ran into a wounded Nobody when I was about 12." Ellos said. "He killed them all; only I survived, and got the wing. After than, the Roots declared I was 'gifted' and started training me in magic, science, and how to fight. King Mickey came and taught me too, and then I was too busy building the synthesizing machine and researching to make any real friends." At that time, that group of boys started attacking girls, including Ellos. She turned from merely introverted to extremely withdrawn. She'd never had another friend since.
And then Strife came. Even though he had his secrets, he was still her friend, the only one she had in this desolate place. His unruly long white hair that he hated, tanned skin, and green-blue eyes of a shade she had never seen before, quiet and gentle like no-one else she had ever met before. Not weak-gentle, but a strong gentle, strong in order survive where everything comforting in a person would be extinguished by the horrors they saw here. He had revived her curiosity of the present world, which she had abandoned and thought dead when her friends had died. And an amazing person, to accomplish what he had done in such a short time.
"Strife?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"Just for being there. For being you. Happy Birthday."
"Happy Birthday to you too, Ellos."
...
Adalai- Yeah, it done! Wootage. Finally, I'm able to post it. (stupid failed server...mutters) Next chapter will have lots of Axel, and that thing I can't tell you or else it will ruin the plot. It will be really juicy, that chappie. The chapter afterwards the one after that will be lots of Kairi for the Kairi fans. Now, since the only one I have is Sephy, he'll have to do the exclaimer.
Sephiroth- Remember, if you want to see a character, any character, real or imaginary, do the disclaimer and 'please review' line, just R&R and tell Adalai. Or just R&R. Please?
...
Author's notes
1.) Sensate- the large, flower-shaped organ on the side of an Endless' head. One of it's many uses is the sense things around it, giving it the same kind of sight as a Forgotten, only with a much larger view.
...
Do not leave us, O God, in darkness. Do not abandon us to the outer darkness and its emptiness. Do not bring us, O Lord, to the place without light, do not close out eyes with its blackness.
- The Brotherhood of the Tomb