Chapter XI

The Return of the Light Bringer

"We can take this thing down," Strifer called. He charged with the Gunblade and prepared to slice him- and ran right past. Strifer stopped and froze in a fighting stance. Five seconds passed before anyone noticed that the monster's knee had been sliced open. Strifer ran back and did the same to the other leg. "See? He's going down!"

"Let's go!" cried Bergljot. Her allies drew their weapons in renewed confidence. As they did, all of their ancestors appeared in the Farplane. Sora and Kairi looked on nervously. Bergljot nodded to them and turned to strike Mukesh.

"ROAR!" Mukesh screeched. He flapped his wings and shot up into the air. As he came down, the group scattered.

"Blizzaga!" screamed Anselm in retaliation. Ice crystals shot out of the staff and pelted the demon.

"HISS!" the creature cried in pain. The icicles were melted when they hit his burning body, but still caused injury.

"Aye!" screeched Yuffeth as she chucked a dozen Shurikens at the Heartless. She drew her daggers and leapt at him, managing to slice his abdomen several times before he realized what she was doing and escape.

"ARGH!" Ken'ichi screamed as he turned to strike Mukesh. Mukesh had just scratched Ken'ichi, causing a burning sensation in his back. Gwandoya joined him.

"Come on, power!" he cried and began to slam his shield into the monster. The fight continued in this fashion for what seemed like hours.

"Leilani, help!" Bergljot finally called as she dodged a blow and caused one. Leilani remained still, eyes closed, head bowed, and hands clasped in front of her chest with her staff between them. She had not moved the entire time. Renatus shook her head and made her way to Mukesh.

"He's surrounded! Strike now, everybody!" she called. With one loud cry, the entire group, with the exception of Leilani, charged swiftly. Each managed several hits before the creature escaped and flew straight up into the air. His wings flapped clumsily as they had been torn in several places. He began to fly towards the exit.

"Don't let that thing escape!" Anselm yelled, but it was no use. The group was tired and could barely lift their weapons, much less run after the monster. At that moment, Leilani's head snapped up, her eyes white fire and face fixed into a scowl.

"He won't," she hissed as white fog and light escaped from her mouth. It was as though she was out in the snow. Her voice was quiet, but had a hiss hidden behind it. She flapped her wings and flew at the monster.

"Did you know she could fly with those?" Ken'ichi whispered to the group.

Leilani flew straight at the monster and pointed the staff horizontally at it. The small sphere in the staff glowed with the same white fire that was in her eyes and shot a beam of light at Mukesh. The light pierced and encased him. With one ear-piercing shriek that made even the dead shudder, the creature was released and disintegrated. Leilani remained hovering in the air for about a minute. With as much warning as when her eyes changed, Leilani blinked and was back to normal. She looked surprised and closed her eyes. With a sigh, she fainted and fell to the ground. The ancestors disappeared as Ken'ichi ran over to her.

"Leilani? Leilani, wake up," he gasped as he held her. The wound that Sephiroth had given her bled onto his hand. Her wings folded to their resting position as she relaxed and awoke.

"Ken'ichi…" she sighed quietly as she opened hers eyes a little. She stroked his face and immediately closed them again and fell back into the deep sleep.

"Come, we should return to the manor," Renatus said. She led the group out and, with a fleeting glance back, Bergljot looked to find Sora and Kairi. They were next to the exit in a flash, along with somebody Bergljot did not even know she had been thinking about. He and Sora stood on either side of Kairi. The young silver-haired man nodded and smiled at her. Bergljot smiled softly at him and nodded back.

"Thank you," she whispered as she left. "Riku."

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"What menaces," hissed Ansem from his hiding spot above the Farplane. The group was beginning to walk out. "They should not have come out alive. What's this?"

"We have to take Leilani to a doctor," the blond man said frantically. "She just turned freezing cold, and her hands are bleeding heavily."

"My companion, Gillespie, can heal her since the local doctor was killed by Heartless," the Maester said hurriedly. The group began to run back to the manor as Leilani's blood spattered the ground.

"I see my efforts were not completely in vain. No matter. I will have Sephiroth," he said quietly. He was gone in a flash.

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"She'll be okay," Gillespie told the group a few hours later. "The force of her staff attack was too much for her hands and cut not only the monster, but her as well. I do not think she has done that before. She became cold because the force had adverse effects on her. While the light was burning to Mukesh, it was causing her to become freezing cold. It took a little while to be noticeable. I laid her in a bed next to the fire to get her body temperature back up and remove any toxins that I may not have detected."

"May we see her?" Ken'ichi asked.

"Of course."

As the group entered, they became deathly quiet. The young woman's hair was loose, instead of the braided bangs and long ponytail she had before, and her clothes were draped over the foot of the bed. Leilani was breathing shakily, and she was wrapped up tightly. The fire was only about a yard from her bed, which sat on the floor. Her wings were folded under her back. One hand was lying by her side while the other rested on her chest. They were both heavily bandaged, but blood still seeped through. Ken'ichi, not wanting to get very emotional in front of his friends, slipped out of the room and sat on the steps outside the house. The rest left one by one, until Bergljot was the only one left.

If he's as strong as they say, there's no way she can defeat Sephiroth… she thought. Bergljot walked over to Leilani and knelt.

"Hmm…" she moaned softly.

"Leilani," Bergljot whispered as she held Leilani's hand. "You'll be okay. I'll come back soon. You can have your battle and finally rest in peace. That's what you want, right?"

"Ugh," Leilani muttered. She was only slightly conscious.

"You'll be okay. I promise."

Leilani only remained silent. Bergljot felt as though she had to say something to make her feel better. Not thinking of anything else, she said the first thing that came to mind.

"I know… what it's like," she began slowly. "I know how it feels to hope for something, and never seem to get it. I know how you feel. I know the pain you're going through. No matter how painful, you can't give up. Believe me. I know."

But how do I know?

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"Well, we really should be going," Anselm said reluctantly as Bergljot came out of the room.

"You will be missed," Renatus nodded sadly. "First, let me know what channel your message system is on for the ship."

"Channel three," Gwandoya asked confusedly.

"I'll set one of my Commspheres to that channel."

"A what?" Bergljot got more confused each minute she spent on Ogden.

"Commsphere. They're blue spheres that sit on the ground and send video images to wherever you are. We can keep in touch that way," Renatus explained. "Hope to see you soon, whether on sphere or in person. Good luck."

The trio walked out quietly, boarded the ship, and waved good-bye as they took off into the universe.

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"I assume we'll be there by tomorrow," Bergljot whispered two hours later. Gwandoya was still avoiding her as much as possible.

"We would have been there yesterday if you hadn't had to go to that stupid library and take the others to Ogden," he growled irritably. "We could probably be there by late tonight or early tomorrow morning if you'd leave me the hell alone."

"Lay off, Gwandoya," Anselm hissed. He wrapped an arm around his wife and whispered into her ear, "I don't know about you, but he's getting on my damn nerves. Besides, I'm tired and I'm going to bed. I can't imagine how you feel."

"Let's go to bed. I'm extremely tired, but the strangest thing is that I have no reason to be," Bergljot whispered. She and her husband walked into the bedroom. She laid a hand on her abdomen and moaned a little.

"You okay?" Anselm asked.

"Yeah, just a little stomachache, I guess."

"Well, get some sleep. We don't want the savior to fall ill, do we?"

"Thanks," she whispered as she changed. Anselm watched her as he followed suit.

"Why did the last time literally have to be the last time before the light comes?"

"Because you didn't want me to have to go through the pain of both the Heartless and a pregnancy at the same time. Am I right?" she smiled as her husband lie down on the bed. She climbed in next to him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too. You'll feel better in the morning," Anselm said reassuringly. Bergljot rolled onto her side, facing away from her husband. He wrapped an arm around her, and whispered softly, "I will never let anyone tear us apart. He doesn't act like it much, but he feels the same."

Bergljot knew he was talking about Gwandoya. She merely shut her eyes tight, wrapped the blanket tighter around her, and snuggled up to Anselm. She soon fell asleep to thoughts, such as, how could he be that worried about me? He hasn't liked me since this started. How am I supposed to believe what my love has told me? I wish something would happen to prove it to me…

The proof she wished for was going to come sooner than she thought.

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"So, did you have a happy birthday?" Kleidon is asking.

Bergljot's group, Black Phoenix, is sitting outside an ice cream parlor.

"Yeah, actually. Anselm gave me breakfast in bed and took me out to dinner."

"Didn't you have to spend the night there?" Zimri is smiling evilly.

"Yes," Bergljot answers slowly.

Wethika, the drummer, becomes wide-eyed and her jaw drops, revealing half-melted ice cream. She recovers and says slyly, "How is he?"

"What do you mean?"

"In the bedroom, how is he?" Wethika repeats.

"Gross! You know I'm not having sex with anyone until I become an adult!" Bergljot shrieks, spraying everyone with ice cream and causing other people to stare. One woman with a three-year-old gives them a dirty look as she rushes the child out. The group suppresses giggles as the child asks what having sex means.

"Yeah, but you do have a crush on him," Zimri is staring in disbelief and wiping the ice cream off of his face and hands.

"Don't tell me you stayed at his house for several nights and never took advantage," Kleidon smiles as he licks his ice cream cone. "You looked happier than usual when we picked you up this morning."

"Look, even if we did make love, which we didn't, why is it any of your business?"

"You're right," the group said together.

"I will tell you this," Bergljot whispers as the group leans in. "I saw him with his shirt off, and he has one hot body. And the tattoo on his chest! Woo!"

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"Bergljot? Bergljot, wake up," a voice whispered.

"Who's there?" Bergljot moaned sleepily.

"Anselm. You've slept for nearly twelve hours. Get up, we're about to land and we need to buckle up."

"I'll be out in a minute."

SKREE! SKREE!

"Gwandoya, what's going on?" screamed Bergljot as she sat straight up in bed, suddenly wide-awake.

"We're being attacked again!" he said through the intercom. "Get up here now!"

Bergljot dressed while trying to get to the cockpit, but was still clumsily pulling on her boots when she ran in. Heartless ships were zooming around like flies, being smart enough not to get in the way of lasers.

"Sit down! If anything happens, we'll go to the map room."

"What happened? Why are they after us so suddenly?" Bergljot asked.

"They saw the ship and slipped out from behind a meteor," Anselm explained. "Fortunately, they're meant to stay in space. The ships are so flimsy, they have to reenter their own world. They were built specifically for space patrol only. Our atmosphere is too thick for them, so hopefully we'll lure them in and they'll burn up."

"Get ready, we're entering Drummond's atmosphere," Gwandoya said as he pointed the nose towards the planet.

"There they go," Bergljot said happily as she watched several ships fly past and disintegrate. By the time they reentered, all the ships were either gone or had wised up. "Let's go home."

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"Gwandoya, thank god you're okay," Gilda wrapped her arms around her husband. No sooner had the ship landed than she rushed out to greet them.

"Forget me, what about you? That distress call scared the shit out of me," Gwandoya held her in front of him.

"The Heartless came out and chased Zita while she was playing. She outran them, don't worry," Gilda said reassuringly as Gwandoya was about to snap. "I haven't let her go anywhere without me, Ace or Alpha since. The spell has also begun to weaken. They got onto the deck yesterday."

"Great," Bergljot nodded with a slight roll of her eyes. "I think we should go inside now."

As soon as Gwandoya stepped inside, he was knocked back out by what seemed to be a jet-black comet charging at him.

"Daddy!" Zita cried. Tears ran down her adorable face. "I thought you were killed."

"I will be if I don't get up."

"Zita, go get your brother and bring him to the kitchen so I can feed him," Gilda knelt next to her.

"Yes, momma," Zita muttered as she sulked away.

"So, what happened?" Gilda asked.

It took nearly two hours to recap everything from when they left until they returned. Gwandoya rarely said anything as he held his children on his lap, and Gilda rarely listened as she watched her husband. Anselm and Bergljot might as well have been talking to a box of rocks.

"…and then we returned here," Anselm finished.

"Sounds like you've been through a lot," Gilda said absent-mindedly. "Well, Ace and Alpha managed to make a home down in the basement. They probably won't be up here much. Gwandoya, can I talk to you upstairs for a little while?"

"Yeah, sure," Gwandoya agreed. He set his kids down and followed her out of the room.

"Are you two okay?" Zita asked.

"Yep, we're fine," Bergljot answered.

"Good, because I don't want to lose Mommy, Daddy, Omega and you two."

"What do you mean?" Bergljot was shocked to hear anything like that come out of Zita's mouth. "None of us are going to die. Who told you that?"

"I had a dream last night," Zita said quietly. "I thought that because daddy's dreams come true, mine would, too. Mommy had her heart stolen, and Omega was injured so badly that he died. My heart was taken, too. I saw what happened after. Daddy had his heart removed and died. Auntie Bergljot, I didn't see why, but you were moaning and screaming a little. I heard heavy breathing, and Uncle Anselm, you wrote a letter to Ace and Alpha. All I could read was, 'Bergljot died from blood loss.' The rest was blurry. You killed yourself after you delivered it. I don't want any of you to die! Nobody should have to die!"

"Zita, come back! It's not safe out there!" Anselm called. It was too late. Zita had screamed those last two remarks and ran out the door.

"Just let her go," Bergljot whispered. "If I had a dream like that, I wouldn't want to stay here, either."

"Right."

Gilda and Gwandoya walked into the kitchen and were glaring daggers at each other.

"Are you two-" Anselm started.

"Just," Gilda began harshly. She quieted when she saw Omega still there. "Just let us be alone for awhile."

"Okay. Come on, Omega. Let's go play," Bergljot said.

"Put him to bed. It's getting late," Gwandoya said as he poured a cup of coffee. It spilled all over the floor.

"Okay," Anselm said quietly. He and his wife took Omega upstairs and tucked him in.

"I don't believe I'm so tired, even after I slept for half a day," Bergljot said quietly. She gazed at Omega. "I hope our son is as cute as him."

"Yeah," Anselm laid a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to lie down."

"Me, too," Bergljot sighed. They stretched out on the floor next to the crib. "I won't fall asleep, you understand. I'll just rest my eyes for a minute."

"Uh huh," Anselm yawned in returned.

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"Don't you walk away from me!"

Bergljot's eyes snapped open. Gilda and Gwandoya were screaming at each other. They had been at it for at least an hour. Bergljot began to walk out of the bedroom and, upon looking at the clock, realized that she had fallen asleep. Omega was fast asleep in his crib, and Anselm was still lying on the floor near where she had dozed off. She crept out and laid down on the floor near the banister. She could just see over the edge.

"I'll go wherever I want!" Gwandoya yelled. He glared at Gilda. "Look, if I didn't have the ancestry I do, we wouldn't be in this mess! Well, guess what? I DO! So leave me the hell alone about it!"

"I don't care who your ancestors are, I don't want you going out there! Zita had a dream last night that you died, and I think it's going to come true! Please, stay here with us from now on!" Gilda begged.

"I said no, damn it! I have a job to do! The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I'll be back home!"

"The longer you're away, the more likely it is that you'll get killed!"

"I'm not going to take this shit right now," Gwandoya snapped finally. He stormed towards the stairs.

CRAP! Bergljot thought as she panicked. She rolled quickly back into the shadows. Fortunately, he didn't look in her direction. Gwandoya strode into his bedroom and slammed the door. Bergljot slid back to her spy spot and glanced down to see Gilda sobbing uncontrollably. She sat down and held her head in her hands. Bergljot could hear her shaky voice.

"What have I done? Why did this have to happen to us? Why?"

Tears swelled in Bergljot's eyes to see her in such pain. Bergljot stood quietly, and, with a dirty look, glanced at the door.

Insensitive jerk! She thought bitterly. If you don't want to help, fine! If you think this is an obligation, go ahead and think that! Just don't take it out on your family anymore.

"Bergljot," Anselm whispered from behind her. "I heard them, too. Omega woke up and started crying. I couldn't get him to shut up. Try singing to him. By the way, welcome home, light bringer."

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"Hey, hey, hey," Bergljot whispered quietly. She picked up the squealing baby. "You've gained weight. Hush, little one."

Omega only screamed louder. Bergljot sat down in the rocking chair and rubbed his back soothingly. Dozens of songs ran through her mind, but none of them were really good for a baby. She finally decided on one that she had performed with the band and began to sing softly and slowly.

"Can't find the answers. I've been crawling on my knees. Looking for anything, to keep me from drowning," Bergljot sang. As she began to recall the words, she gradually got louder and more up to the tempo. "Promises have been turned to lies, can't even be honest inside. Now I'm running backward, watching my life wave me goodbye… Running blind, I'm running blind. Somebody help me see, I'm running blind."

Omega began to quiet at the sound of her voice. It wasn't the sweetest song in the worlds, but Bergljot's voice alone could sooth nearly any savage beast.

"Searching for nothing, wondering if I'll change. I'm trying everything, but everything still stays the same. I thought if I showed you I could fly, wouldn't need anyone by my side. Now I'm running backward, with broken wings, I know I'll die… Running blind, I'm running blind. Somebody help me see I'm running blind. Running blind. Running blind. Running blind."

The child had fallen asleep. Bergljot continued to sing as she stood carefully to put him down to sleep. Her voice quieted a little as she did so.

"I can't find the answers, I've been crawling on my knees. Looking for anything, to keep me from drowning, I'm running blind. Running blind, running blind. Running blind, running blind. Running blind, running blind. Running blind, running blind."

Bergljot wrapped the blanket around him as tight as she could.

"Good night, little one," Bergljot whispered as she turned on the baby monitor and closed the door silently.

===============

"Thanks for getting him to go to sleep last night," Gilda said the next morning. Omega was curled in her arm as she fed him his semi-solid baby food. "He rarely falls asleep with strangers around."

"It was no problem," Bergljot smiled. She sipped her tea quietly. Anselm and Gwandoya were speaking in hushed voices in the living room.

"I hope Ace sends Zita up soon."

"What?" Bergljot looked up nervously.

"Every once in a while Zita spends the night downstairs, but she's usually up here by now," Gilda looked somewhat confused.

"That's because she ran away last night."

"She WHAT?"

"Zita told Anselm and I about her dream last night and ran out. I don't know where she went," Bergljot whispered. Gilda began to panic.

"Gwandoya!" she screamed.

"What now?" he snapped irritably as he came in.

"Zita's missing. She ran away last-" Gilda stopped as an ear-piercing scream sounded outside. The next moment, Zita was shooting into the room and nearly ran into her father. She was caked with mud, and her hair was a mess.

"Heartless… right outside… jumped me this morning…" Zita panted heavily.

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Okay, I still need three worlds. Any ideas will be accepted as long as they follow the rules I posted in the previous chapter. I have a couple more disclaimers. The song Bergljot sings to Omega is Running Blind by the rock group Godsmack. It's the first song on their album The Other Side. I found the lyrics on azlyrics.com, but if you visit, be warned of a lot of pop-ups. Thanks for reading so far, and keep sending in those reviews! They're much appreciated!