Fiona's eyes slowly opened to see that she was sleeping in nothing but a small shack that looked to be pretty damaged. She just stared up at the ceiling of it like a zombie. Too sad and depressed to do anything but lay there.
She could still remember it all, the sight of the bodies, that of Maria's mangled corpse, that of the villagers. Her daughter was dead now. She was the one person in the world that she loved just as much as Van because it was their child, one made of their love for each other.
A tear slipped down her eyes followed by several more. As sad as she was for all of this, she knew that it would be nothing compared to Van's. He had just lost the last of his family. She may have been his wife but they were the only one related by blood to him and now they were gone.
Fiona stood up planning to go find Van to give him some comfort and take some of her own. She was so mentally weak right then as well as physically. She felt herself stumbled a bit on her tired legs but caught herself on the burned walls. She stumbled over towards the door and walked out of it to see the charred remains of the village. She noticed the lack of dead bodies and wondered what happened.
She stumbled along, her red eyes dull and filled with tears. 'An entire village massacred in one night. No one here deserved anything like this,' Fiona thought remembering back to her encounters with the nice people. They made her feel welcomed here when she had nothing, yet now her existence was the cause of their death. It was all because of an obsession towards her that couldn't be fulfilled.
She walked towards the edge of the village clutching the blanket to her with all her might. It was so warm outside yet she felt so cold inside. Her daughter and Van could cheer that up but Van was very sad and their daughter was no longer there to comfort her in this state.
When she reached the edge of the village, Fiona looked up and her eyes widened when she saw what was out there. Hundreds of different graves scattered all over the place. There were those for the adults, those for the elderly, and those for the children who didn't even get a chance to live.
In the center of it all stood Van staring towards the ground with no life in his eyes. He looked like he lost the will to live. Fiona stumbled forward until she was right behind him before wrapping her arms around his waist.
Van clutched her hands in the front and let the tears he had been shedding fall down his face. "This was my home; these were my friends, my family. They are all gone now. If I knew our marriage would have caused this, I would have made sure to kill him before it happened. It is only right that I give them these graves after all that they have done for us," Van said in a soft tone.
Fiona looked down at his hands and noticed that they were covered in his own blood. That meant that he had dug most of those up by hand in the time that she was unconscious. She wished she could have helped him but she was worthless for that. She wished there was something that she could do for him.
"V-Van… W-what about Kristi?" Fiona asked in a shaky tone. She had a hope that their daughter got out alive. She then saw the grave look on his face and her hope shattered into thousands of small pieces.
"I am going to kill him Fiona! I am going to avenge all those that have died at his hands! I won't allow him to hurt anymore people!" Van said as his hands clenched in front of him. His rage was becoming too much for him to handle again. Yet he kept control because Fiona was right by him then. She calmed him like no one was ever able to do.
Fiona held onto him tightly. She was afraid he would go nuts like what she had heard he had done in the past when she wasn't there. "Van," she muttered and felt him stiffen in her arms but she just held tighter.
"Fiona, don't tell me no. We both want this greatly. He has hurt too many people and I am not going to let him get away with it," Van said and he felt Fiona's tears soaking into his back. He hated it when she cried. He turned around and wrapped his arms around her trying to comfort her.
"No Van. I want you to kill him, but I want to be there with you when you do it. Let me stay by your side until the end. Let me hold you until then," Fiona said as she cried into his shirt because of their loss.
"No Fiona," Van said and Fiona was shocked to hear him say that. "Not until the end, stay with me forever. I want you to be by my side when we face off against him. I won't let you get hurt either," Van said kissing Fiona with more passion than he could ever remember using while kissing her.
Fiona broke away from the kiss and resumed crying into his shirt. "I won't let anything happen to you either Van. We will work together and defeat him together," she said and felt him nod.
Zack once again ran through the sand storm towards the tent that he had been in several times before. He had a smirk on his face because he knew he had just taken out the one threat to his existence with the destruction of Van's home village.
He came to a stop and walked through the tent door and saw the old woman in her usual position staring deep within the flames before her. She was adding some sort of powder to the fire which caused the flames to once again rise high before lowering back to their regular size.
Zack smirked when he saw the old woman. "What is it that you say about my destiny now old woman? The half blooded zoidian that you predicted would be my downfall has been eliminated from this world. There is no chance that she can finish me now," Zack said approaching the fire making the old woman stop her staring.
"All is as I have said and will be soon enough. The warrior of the people is after your head. Do not underestimate him. He holds a power that is unlike that of any human you have ever seen. The power you seek will eventually be used against you and the half blooded zoidian will ultimately destroy you. The remaining zoidians are turning against you and one will ruin all that you have worked for. Beware," she muttered in her usual monotonous tone as she once again turned her attention completely on the fire.
"How the hell is that even possible? I told you that I have destroyed the half blooded zoidian! So how does it continue to pose a threat to me?" Zack yelled towards the old woman because his attempts at cheating destiny once again were failing him.
"Hatred consumes the soul of the warrior. Only that which he holds dearest is keeping him intact. Should his anger be harnessed and released it will be unlike anything you have ever seen before," she said as Zack's eyes grew wide. "He is coming! The end is nearing! Beware!" she yelled before her body stiffened and she fell lifelessly to the floor.
Zack watched as the woman died before his eyes and for once it wasn't his fault. He felt his hand shaking and had no idea why he suddenly felt so worried. He had faced Van in the state she talked about and Van didn't stand a chance against his full power. So why was no any different.
Zack turned around sharply and stormed out of the hut and towards the dissipating storm. It no longer had the strength to continue working since its creator is dead. 'Flyheight, what is it that your destiny holds?' Zack asked himself heading towards his base.
While walking Zack thought over all that he had been told. "According to the old woman, it is either the rage of Flyheight or the power of the halfblooded zoidian that is to be my downfall. No matter what the old woman thinks, the halfblooded zoidian is dead and I can handle Flyheight's rage just fine. What a senile old bat. The zoidian race is sure to back me in my agenda," he muttered disappearing from view.
The blade liger came to a halt in the hanger of the base and Van and Fiona hopped out of it with solemn looks on their faces. No one bothered to say a thing to either of them because they had seen that sort of look on Van before and they did not wish to see it again.
Van's eyes were cold, his fists were clenching at his side and he had this urge to hit something hard. He felt Fiona hold on him and he calmed down slightly and managed to keep in the urge he had been feeling.
"Van! Fiona!" Irvine and Moonbay yelled running up to them and froze when they saw the look in Van's eyes. "Oh no," Irvine muttered sadly. He didn't have to be told to know what had happened to Van's village. The look in his eyes could probably kill someone just by staring at them. "I'm sorry you two," Irvine said while Fiona stared at the ground and Van looked off to the side angrily.
"Irvine, Moonbay; we are going to be going after him once we stock up. Please stay here. We couldn't bear it if anyone else we cared for were hurt or killed. We have lost too much of it as it is," Fiona spoke softly as she clutched onto Van's shirt.
"But…" Irvine said but Van gave him a glare and he backed up a bit. "All that I am saying is that you will need all the help that you can get. I mean you don't even know where this guy is," Irvine said trying to think of something that will let him come with them.
"No need. I know where he went," Van muttered walking by them towards his rooms so he could grab a few things before they decided to leave. He came back a moment later with his fathers knife by his side and supplies in his hand. "You are not coming Irvine. Moonbay, please keep him from following after us," van said walking past Fiona and towards the hanger.
"No way! I want to come with you two as well! And there is nothing you can do to stop me!" she yelled as van and Fiona walked on. Her and Irvine followed and were intent on coming along as well.
Van and Fiona ran over to the blade liger and got into it before taking off. Irvine and Moonbay ran to the lightning saix since they knew they wouldn't be able to keep up at the speed the blade liger was going.
"Oh for the love of god!" Irvine yelled when he was about to run into his cockpit but noticed that the inside was completely messed up, courtesy of Van or Fiona most likely. They knew then that there was nothing that they would be able to do because they would never be able to catch up at this rate.
"Van, do you think it was a good idea to leave them behind. They could have helped us," Fiona said from the back seat of the blade liger but van didn't say a word as he pushed the blade liger to its limits. "Do you know where we are going Van?" Fiona asked a little skeptically.
"As strange as this may sound Fiona, I know where he is hiding. It is almost as if I can feel his evil presence all around me. I know the feeling all too well from our previous encounters with him. As for Irvine and Moonbay, it was the best thing for them. If they come then they will surely be killed and I will not sacrifice any more live to this guy," Van said as he started to shake a little.
Fiona wrapped her arms around his seat and around his neck at the same time. She too was like Van since she had no one else in the world. They had each other and their friends if they survived this but that was all. Fiona had this feeling deep within her that things weren't going to be easy after all of this was over. "So where are we going?" she asked letting her hold on his go.
"From what I can tell, it is an area about three hundred miles from here. There is no guarantee that he is there but it is the best we can do in finding him," Van said staring straight ahead of him with unfocused eyes. In reality, he may put up a strong front but he was feeling weak right then. His anger was giving him some unexplained power though.
"Van, please don't blame yourself for what happened to the wind colony. If you could have protected them then you would have. We were just too slow in getting there. It wasn't your fault though!" Fiona said and she saw van shaking a little more uncontrollably this time.
A tear or two fell from van's eyes upon Fiona's words. "I should have been able to protect them though. I should have been able to protect them and our daughter but they are dead now because I couldn't stop Zack. It is my fault!" Van said slamming his fist down upon the control panel.
"Stop him now then. Prevent him from repeating that tragedy with anyone else. I will be by your side, remember? You will never be alone because you have me, Irvine, and Moonbay to help you get through this. When he is gone, then we can rebuild all that he has destroyed and start anew. We can't replace those that he killed but we can move on and not live by our failures," Fiona said hoping that she could calm him down enough to think clearly in the battle ahead.
"I know we can't but I can't fail those that he killed by getting killed myself in this battle. I will kill him Fiona, only when he is dead can I actually put that to rest," van said and then the blade liger was shaken by and attack. The two of them looked up and saw a genosaurer ahead of them.
Van stared at the genosaurer and it became clear that Zack was expecting them. This was just an obstacle that they had to go through to get to him. "It's not him. Just a decoy," Van muttered launching forwards towards the zoid as it fired a charged particle beam to start things off. Van dodged it and came up from under it slicing the head off before it had a chance to move out of the way.
"Amazing," Fiona muttered noticing that Van didn't even try when he fought that battle. 'We can definitely do this. We can finish it off once and for all,' she thought staring ahead to where their final destination was.