Lightbringer- Chpt. 14: The Wells of Darkness

Adalai- Ok, finally I get up off my cantankerous ass and write the battle chappie between Ellos and Sephiroth. I won't lie to you, my readers; my muses did not leave me (Stinky's so fat he couldn't leave if he tried.) I just wasn't in the writing mood. In other words, I was being lazy. I'm always lazy, but I do not always act lazy, usually because I'm too lazy to act lazy. I'm so lazy I'm active. Just don't ask me to exercise.

Dante, Zena, and Stinky- WTH? We didn't understand a word you just said.

Adalai- Neither did I. Sephiroth, disclaimer!

Sephiroth- If you haven't figured out that Adalai does not own anything, then you are really stupid. Like, little brother stupid. Stupid!

Sephiroth swung his masume at Ellos, intending to catch her unawares while still dazed. But Ellos recovered too quickly and brought her white angel wing Gebo up with her left hand to block. The indentions in the blade under her gun reformed, caving in 2 inches deep and curling into hook-teeth, their purpose similar to that of a medieval swordbreaker dagger (1); the teeth would cut into the edges of the blade, catching the sword blade of an opponent, frequently breaking it entirely.

Ellos had grown used to such transformations in the blades. Surprised, Sephiroth freed his sword by backing away from Ellos, sliding it out of the indention sideways. The teeth left several deep gashes in the metal. It also gave her enough room to use her Gebo effectively; one of the drawbacks was, though it had a longer reach, you needed more room to maneuver than a sword.

"Endless blades." Sephiroth remarked. "I should have seen that coming. Living metal and wood, they evolve and changed as need suits them. Like their wielders." Ellos drew her other blade, the bat-winged one. She twirled it expertly, admiring the detail and complexity of it, both in design and detail. Perfectly balanced and adjusted to her hand, it seemed to sing, sound coming from it that was more than just a normal swish of blade through air; almost like voices. She shifted it into a guard position; the edges flattened and sharpened, the points of the wing extending and thickening to become razor sharp. Ready to main and tear and feast on blood.

Constantly twirling the blades to keep up momentum when she wasn't attacking, Ellos feel the deep groves of the handles conform to her moving fingers and the weapon pulse against her fingers like a heartbeat. Using sword technique, She brought the black blade down on Sephiroth's head, who blocked with a high block over his head. His hands full, she swung the white blade to his side, but he blocked it with the outside of his arm, drawing blood. Kicking Ellos away, he disappeared with a flash of dark energy.

But Ellos, using her unique sight, was able to locate him when he materialized and was ready.

Thus, they were evenly matched. Sephiroth couldn't defend against two weapons with only one sword, so he teleported to avoid it. Ellos couldn't get at him because he teleported, but he couldn't sneak up on her with his teleportation, because her sight allowed her to see tell-tale energy signs emanating from where she knew he was going to appear. So, Ellos tried to confuse him; shifting techniques constantly, searching for a form of fighting he was unfamiliar with. That was one of the strengths of her weapon; it was a hybrid of many different types of weapons, and could fight as such. She started with sword technique, then as a staff, a spear, as an axe, a throwing lance, using her attack similar to a strike raid, and other times as some other, completely knew technique, using completely new moves that utilized all parts of the weapons.

It was changing subtly to face it's attacker; It became longer, thinner, and stronger, the material developing small holes and bubbles inside to make the blades lighter, the spikes thinner and more pointed. It had always been special in a way, making her wonder is her blades had some kind of heart. But it merely acted like a regular weapon, throwing off different bursts of magic and energy as it felt the situation warranted, parts moving on their own and sending jolts to throw off and damage Sephiroth's blade every time it parried. Every movement, every hit, brought forth a new harmonious note from the thing, blending together in a song.

In direct disregard for conventional fighting common sense, it got easier, not harder, to fight. As if his blade remembers and analyzed the weaknesses of it's opponent, finding ways to best hurt him and get through his guard and passing the information to her subconsciously.

Twirling the black blade once and bringing it over her head, she rushed at him, slashing downward and to the side over him. He blocked it with his sword and, remembering the trick she had pulled, drew his fist back to punch her and wind her before she could attack his side.

BAM!

Shit. I forgot the gun. Sephiroth thought, unable to fully dodge the blast but managing to twist enough aside to avoid it hitting anything vital.

The bullet should have missed him completely, but Ellos' bullets where not like normal bullets. She made her own, and the ones she had loaded where a particularly nasty kind. They where modeled after STX bullets; core of soft lead, tiny compartment inside filled with nitro, covered in a bronze-like metal outer shell, stainless steel jacket and copper-plated metal nose-cap, screw threads acid-gorged though the metal nose-cap. When fired, the metal jacket slipped off, 6 2-inch blades extended outwards. When the nose-cap hit flesh, it would split into 6 sharp hooks, pushing the lead contained forward, which would then expand and flatten, spreading the force of the shock over as wide an area of the body as possible and releasing whatever was in the compartment inside.

Ellos may have missed him- but the knives didn't. They cut two 2-inch deep gashes in his side. The bullet hit the wall and the nitro blew open a large hole, stone chips flying from the crevice.

Having enough, he teleported away to the far corner of the room. Both warriors began to chant spells.

(Hi! Ni! Ya! Behold the man of flint, that's me!) Ellos chanted in an ancient language, weaving charter marks and other types of magic into the words, sunstone flashing. (Four lightnings zigzag from me, strike and return.) (2)White, red, yellow, and black lightning bolts flew over both blades.

Sephiroth used Sin Harvest. It spread out, a red wave of energy over the floor, red pillars smacking into the ground from the ceiling. Ellos waited, jumping when it hit her so that it caused the least amount of damage. Even so, it completely drained her elemental magic abilities temporarily. One of the red energy pillars headed straight for her. Stabbing the white gebo into the ground, she brought the bat-winged one up in a two handed block, hands on the spiked crescents. The pillar hit the gebo, red lightning streaming up into a shield over Ellos. Black lightning hit the red wave on the ground, neutralizing it. White lightning hit the pillars, making them disappear. All three lightnings returned to the gebo, and then the last one, yellow lightning, flew forward to strike at...empty air.

Ellos cursed herself, just as Sephiroth teleported behind her, looping an arm around her neck and cutting off her air. Ellos felt something cold and hard piece her back, and saw the blade of his sword protrude out the front of her chest.

But Ellos' heart hadn't stopped. Even with a sword through her chest, it still continued to beat normally, as if nothing had happened, bleeding from her chest and sending small jerks up the masumune as it moved up and down with her heartbeat. Both stood still in shock. Sephiroth was the first to recover. Reaching up, he grabbed her cheek and started to twist her head to the side, Ellos straining against his grip.

He was going to snap her neck.

Reacting on instinct, Ellos unfurled her wing from her back, the force of it yanking the masumune painfully out of her chest and throwing Sephiroth back several feet, just out of reach of her Gebo. She grabbed a potion pill, cracking it above her head with her left and at the same time swinging at Sephiroth with the bat-wing blade (I'm imagining this in my head, one hand sprinkling dust over her head and the other attacking, and yea gods, it is hilarious.)

The blade looked as if it where going to miss him. It seemed to pause somehow in mid-air, thinking, and then the three sections of the bat wing blade and the spiked crescent blade, separated by the wing's spines, came apart, connected by a chain and acting as a whip-sword, twining around Sephiroth's waist, the chain then self-shortening and pulling the pieces of the sword blades, long, stretched out and slightly curved, in a solid ring around his middle, crescent blade digging into his side and keeping the rest of the blade in place. Ellos gave it a vicious tug, intending to slice him in half, only to have him teleport away again.

Using the temporary lull to grab an either, a liquid one in a jar and drank it (3), replenishing her MP. Then she raced over to where she knew Sephiroth would reemerge.

He appeared again, this time wrapped in a pillar of Flame, protecting him from Ellos. Or so he thought. Ellos grabbed the white Gebo from where she had stuck it in the ground and threw it in a sweeping arch at Sephiroth, catching it as it came back. He drew back in time to only receive a shallow cut across the abdomen. "It appears that you have done the most damage to me this round." Sephiroth stated. "Even if I did impale you through the heart. But just because you can cause me more damage, doesn't mean you will be able to kill me. That requires a certain type of darkness. A 'good' darkness, if you will. A darkness born from light; not lack of it. The darkness in which the true light sleeps, the shadow cast by the light; protecting it, not seeking to consume it."

Ellos knew what he was talking about. "The darkness of Kingdom Hearts."

"Your filled with it. Took me long enough time to figure out the ridiculous riddles of that Endless, Maleficent. She said that Ansem and I would grow so powerful we could only be killed by a Forgotten born of Jenova. You're saturated by that energy. But you have no way of channeling it." He grinned. "So I'm not really worried. After all, damage to the body can be healed easily. As long as my heart survives, I can always build another body." He grinned, casting cure on himself. Just as Ellos wanted him to.

Sephiroth felt the spell take away the various cuts and wounds accumulated from the battle. But the cut on his stomach sent a stab of pain through him, starting to throb with a non-physical pain, deepening and widening. It glowed Red, white, black, and yellow. He growled and cast Sin Harvest on Ellos. She stood calmly as a red light started to form over her head. Then a sharp, head-splitting pain came from the wound, which had opened and begun to bleed. The red light above Ellos' head broke apart in red, white, black, and yellow lightning. He tried to cast it again, and failed. Not even so much as a spark.

Ellos grinned. "You like it? My own invention, that spell. Though it might come in handy. As long as you don't cast any sort of magic on yourself, including potions, the wound won't deepen any. If you do, well, it will only take one more cast to make it deep enough to kill. It may not get your heart, but having to make a whole new body will be a pain in the ass. And I'll win this fight."

But he did have his Jenova abilities. That was magic, so it wasn't blocked by the spell. Sephiroth still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

He dived at Ellos, in a frenzy of standing and leaping blows, too fast for a normal human to follow, much less block. Unprepared for the onslaught, she crossed the gebo in front of her, but Sephiroth managed to get through her guard. When she fell, he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, dislocating the joint. "Stop holding back!" He hissed.

"Only if you stop too." Ellos said, kicking him in the knee, dislocating it and sliding away from her. She twisted her arm and wrist in a position not attainable by humans with normal joints, relocating her wrist.

Cantankerous double-jointed shrew. Sephiroth thought, repositioning his own joint.

He teleported behind her and brought it down on Ellos' back before she could turn. But instead of meeting flesh, it met specter.

Leaning out from Ellos' back was her astral self, raptor-like claws clutched around the blade, grinning evilly with a too-large smile filled with long, thin, needle-like teeth. Ellos turned around, specter merging into her flesh as her batwing gebo extended into it's whip-like self, twining around his legs and cutting his flesh. Pulling, she toppled him to his feet, only to have him slash her across the legs with his masumune. She collapsed, legs cut straight through the bone, unable to get up. Sephiroth took his chance. He still had the Meteor materia, and since it was a magic object, it didn't count as a spell. He began to glow white, meteors forming around him and forming into one big one, which hit Ellos. Black stone from the room rained down on her, the crystal from the top and the roots surrounding it collapsing on her, crystal shattering.

And that's the end of her. Sephiroth thought. Pity, he was beginning to enjoy himself, having an opponent that could actually stand up to him for once, not weak little girls running away from him and being a pain in the neck.

"Come on, you." Ellos weezed, shaking off bits and pieces of stone, wood and crystal. "You can do better than that; big warrior like yourself." She was dusty, had several broken limbs and ribs, covered in cuts and bruises, nearly dead, but she was still alive and moving. Long, jagged pieces of crystal where embedded in her flesh, contaminating her blood with Mako energy and Jenova cells. She shuddered, face pale, the effects of Mako poisoning and hostile alien cells already taking its toll.

"Why...will...you...not...DIE!" He yelled at Ellos, who was using one of her gebo as a crutch.

"Why won't you?" Ellos said, leaning against the wall, breathless. Arms found their way around her throat, spiked wheels digging into her neck, crystal shards digging deeper into her back, increasing the flow of Mako and Jenova cells into her bloodstream.

"Because I won't let him." Axel said, grinning maliciously, head passing though the crevice in the wall created by Ellos' bullet. Ellos' fingers scrabbled on the spikes and around the death-choke of her attacker. Her fingers sliced open on the blades and slid off the wheels, slick with blood. She couldn't breathe though Axel's grip on her throat. One wrong move and those wheels would slit her jugular. Her heart might be able to still beat after being pieced with a sword, but she doubted she could live without blood. "Just for the record, so you know who beat you." He snarled viciously. "My name's Axel. Commit it to memory."

Ellos stopped struggling. That line, and that name, had stirred a twinge of deja-vu. He tightened his hands on his wind and fire wheels, preparing to cut her throat.

"Stop." Ansem spoke from behind him, pushed forward by his glowing-eyed attendant. "She's of no use to us dead."

Axel frowned, mad at being ordered around by Ansem. He was his equal, not his superior; where did he get off ordering him around! Ellos slumped against Axel, finally going unconscious due to blood loss, injuries, trauma, and Mako and Jenova cell poisoning.

"A Forgotten could be useful around here." Ansem spoke, calm and uncaring on the outside but desperate on the inside.

A Forgotten...Axel thought. She said that Ansem and I would grow so powerful we could only be killed by a Forgotten born of Jenova...Suddenly a plan formed in his mind. He could use this girl to his advantage; if what the Endless said was true, held in his hands, literally, the key to Ansem's demise. Ellos may have been born of a Certa; even if she wasn't, perhaps that reference meant someone heavy infected with Jenova cells, as Ellos had certainly been. It wouldn't be hard to provide her with what she needed to channel the dark energy from Kingdom Hearts.

"True." Axel spoke. "But I get to keep her." Not waiting for Ansem's response, he opened a portal in the ground, the darkness in it twining up Ellos' legs and completely covering her, pulling her down to wherever the portal lead to.

Sephiroth disappeared as well, teleporting away. Alex left, Lady Axel close by his side. Leaving Ansem all alone with his thoughts. Well, almost. Malachi didn't really count, Ansem mused, looking at the glowing-eyed creature by his side.

Axel was mad. You could almost see steam coming from his eyes and nose. Of course, that didn't bother Lady Axel. She liked a challenge. Draping over his arm again, she proceeded to calm his temper the only way she knew how; distraction. It was a good thing the stretch of corridors to their rooms where relatively dark and deserted.

At first cold to her advances, he suddenly grabbed her around her waist and flipped her over, kissing her hard on the mouth. She giggled, trying to catch her breath.

"Do you think we'll make it to the rooms with all our clothes on this time?" She said, trailing off seductively.

"There's always a first time."

"Animal." She said, grinning. "What's got you in such a great mood?"

Axel opened his mouth to speak, and then caught something in the corner of his eye. A group of Shells had wandered by, their faces obscured by the cowls of their raincoats. But one had stopped in the middle of the crowd, looking at him. It was Sora. His hair was blonde and cut short, but it was him. But by the time Axel turned around, he was gone. He shook his head. He must be imagining things.

"Did you see...him?" Lady Axel said, clearly shaken. She had seen the same thing as he had- he had not imagined it.

Romance forgotten, both of them headed off to their rooms. They needed to talk through this, figure out what was going on.

"Hey Kairi."

"Whu...What? Lego mi blankie, Sel...Zzzzzzzz..."

"Wakey-Wakey tiiimmmeeee..."

"Go away, Tifa...Zzzzzz..."

"You leave me no other alternative...and I thank you for it..." Tifa said. Scooting Kairi over, she gingerly placed her head and shoulders so it hung down between the bars of the kennel, right above the muzzle of a Mindless hound. It jumped up and growled at frustration at the tasty morsel, so close and yet so far away.

At the growl, Kairi woke up. Screaming, she swung up, only to hit her head on one of the bars. Chuckling, Tifa helped her up. "Don't ever do that again, Tifa!" Kairi screamed, one hand over her heart. Seeing Tifa chuckle, she added "That wasn't funny!"

That only made Tifa laugh more, clutching her chest. The noise woke the other occupant of the room, a girl in a yellow thing that looked kind of like a pair of tight overalls, and a peasant top. She looked almost exactly like a younger version of Tifa, but with dark brown, almost black eyes, instead of burnt sienna, and with shorter, darker hair. She had introduced herself as Dagger and they had left it at that. They were a lot of people who didn't like to talk about their pasts, here.

"Leave her alone, Tifa." Dagger said tiredly, not wanting to get dragged in the middle of those two. The third inhabitant of their cell, Yuna, having been woken up by Tifa and Kairi's little row, stood up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"She started it!" both girls said simultaneously, pointing fingers at each other. Dagger massaged her temples as she spoke. "Tifa, you will not wake Kairi up like that again. Kairi, you will be nicer to Tifa in the morning. And you will both get along." Dagger said. Then, as an afterthought, she added "Or else." It really didn't sound convincing. She had never been good at threatening. That was Zidane's specialty.

Speaking of Zidane, she saw him stick his head out the kennel 5 cages down from them, looking around. Spotting Dagger, he waved, grin on his face and tail swishing smugly.

I wonder what's made him so smug...Dagger thought, smiling. Yuna came up behind her, looking over her shoulder at Zidane's antics. "The guards threw someone in with the guys." She said. "I don't know who it is, though."

"Well, whatever it is, it's not female." Tifa said. "I don't hear Irving feeding it one-liners in that irritating southern drawl of his."

"What the #$% are you doing waking me up in this time in the morning! I'm going to shove that cowboy hat down your $%&ing throat!"

"Irving's up." Tifa said. "And so's Barret."

"Which can only mean..." Dagger said. There was a flash of black lightning. "Vivi's up too." It never ceased to amaze her how the diminutive, quiet black mage could be so grouchy in the morning. Not usually as violent as to throw lightning, but Irving had bullied him into downing 7 shots of hard liquor last night. And hangovers did nothing for a sunny personality.

"Thank god Sir Rust-a-lot isn't in the same cell as Zidane, we can't keep them off each other." Yuna said, a touch of exasperation showing in her voice at the thought of those two's fights.

"Hey Dagger!" Zidane called. "Anybody in your cell know someone called Tidus?"

"YES!!!" Both Kairi and Yuna called, crowding up to see him. How in the hell did he escape? Kairi thought. Both ran out the kennel onto the platforms in front of the cages. Startled by the noise, the various demons, devils, and half breeds, collected from worlds and used as guards in the prison, looked up at the noise before resuming...whatever it was that they do.

Zidane stepped back, opening the door and giving a mock bow to Tidus, who was stepping out of the door, frowning at Zidane's antics. Seeing Kairi, he ran over and hugged her, leaving Yuna feeling left out and little jealous.

"I was so worried that you'd died." Tidus said, after she broke the hug. "What happened?"

"Me and Tifa got attacked by this guy in a black raincoat. Next thing we knew, we were here."

Tidus felt someone tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he found himself staring into the eyes of a tall woman with shoulder-length brown hair, flipped up, and a hair wrap. She had unusual eyes; one blue, one green. She looked familiar, somehow, even if he had never seen her before in his life.

"Do I ...know you?" He asked.

Kairi looked around. The others seemed to be waiting for something. Looking at Tidus as if they expected him to do something.

Tidus only looked at Yuna. She had this strange look on her face. Almost like she was disappointed, maybe because he looked like someone she knew and had hoped it was him. Also, this look of vain, desperate hope, and heartbreak. He saw that look on Selphie when this guy gave her his number at a party and when she met him latter and he acted like he didn't know her. Like she though he was his boyfriend but was just acting like he didn't know her.

His girlfriend...he'd never really had a girlfriend; he'd gone out plenty, but never had a real relationship. The girls he'd seen never really seemed to fit. Didn't he?

Suddenly Tidus' eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell backwards, unconscious. The others seemed to be expecting this; no one panicked, and Barret caught him as he fell.

"Is he going to be ok?" Kairi asked timidly, worry in her voice. Barret answered in his deep baritone. "Yeah. We all did this, when we encountered someone from our other lives." Kairi looked at him, still puzzled. "Oh. Yeah, you don't know. Well, it all started like this..."

Ellos sighed, taking a breather from work. The Keyblade wouldn't be complete for another 6 months. Right now, no spells where needed, so Strife was forging the body of the Keyblade, and told her he would get her if he needed her. So here she was.

Ellos flipped open a book and began to read. It was an interesting book, called Prey by Michael Criton. It was all about nanotechnology, and it was very interesting. She'd barely been able to put it down. Flipping through the pages- Ellos was a fast reader- she looked up, distracted by something. A sound from above.

Ellos looked up. The metal ceiling of the Shelter was beginning to move. The screws where working, pushing the tower up. During dawn, the tower went above surface, opening vents inside it to bring fresh atmosphere down into the depths of the chasm. Ellos leaned her head back, inhaling a long breath of what passed for 'fresh air' on Yul. Hot, full of smoke and ash, it was nevertheless better than stale, sulfuric air.

Ellos returned to her book. As she read, voices began to sound off, starting from the top levels and going down to the bottom; a primitive communication system. The clang of metal against stone was heard as people dived into rooms, locking the doors and quaking in fear. Others, less fortunate, had to make do with anything they could find; crevasses, crags, hiding places in the synthesizer; anything they could find.

A man leaned over the railing, shouting at Ellos.

"Mindless came through the vents to the surface! Hide!"

Ellos sighed, not seeming to care. She had always preferred to stand and fight, instead of delaying the inevitable and possibly making it worse. Nip problems right in the bud while they're small and easy to take care of, instead of putting it of until it becomes a real problem. Also, you had the advantage when you where on the offensive.

She put down the book, hiding it among the rocks. She jumped up, grabbing the bottom hook of a long, metal chain that ran downwards from the top of the cavern. it was used to hall things back and forth from the levels, but Ellos often used it to get between the levels quickly.

Hauling herself up hand by hand and shimming up the chain, she swung her head from side-to-side, looking for Mindless. She spotted one, a soldier mindless, grabbing her bat-wing blade and flinging it at it and catching it when it returned, slicing it in two.

She slowly worked her way up, making sure all the mindless in the center cavern where gone. She began to climb down, heading for the bottom.

Looking down, she saw something white and large come up from the bottom. The mindless equivalent of a Darkside, but with large angel wings. She saw the tips of it's trailing scarf first, then its head, turning from side to side, searching for a target, emblazoned with the weeping face Mindless sigil. Then the huge, sharp shoulders and tapering arms, angel wings, narrow torso and tiny, short legs. It's head snapped forward, non-existant gaze snapping onto Ellos. They stood there, face to face.

Eyeless to Eyeless.

And they shall kill those they once loved.

Magic the Gathering, Scave Zombies

Author's Notes

1.) Swordbreakers- Knives carried by Knights during the Middle Ales and used to fend off blows in close sword combat situations, this dagger received its name from its function. Strong rigid teeth cut into one edge of the blade would catch the sword blade of an opponent, frequently breaking it entirely thus giving this dagger the name "Swordbreaker Dagger". The dagger was held normally in the left hand, while keeping the right hand on the sword. When the opponent's sword became immobilized or broken, the task of defeating him was simple and victory was most certain.

2.) An old Navajo war chant. I wanted to translated it in Navajo, but couldn't find at free online translator.

3.) I always found it odd that there was only 1 brand of potions or ethers, not multiple brands. So Ellos will have all different types of potions; pills, jars of liquid, ect.

Stinky- you're evil.

Adalai- What?

Stinky- you made Ansem fall in love with Ellos, who is the only one who can kill him and his enemies are going to try to use her to kill him! I mean, he's evil, but not even he deserves that!

Sephiroth- yeah! You made me look weak! I had to be rescued by Axel!

Adalai- yes, but Ellos was losing and you were winning when it happened. You would have won anyway if Axel didn't intervene. And I wanted it to end with a bang.

Sephiroth- but it still made me look weak. Now Cloud will be teasing me and I won't be able to stop him.

Adalai- quit your fussing, quit your fussing. And read the line.

Sephiroth- R&R please. I like to hear feedback from my fans, even constructive criticism.