By Final Fantasy GX
Disclaimer: I do not own Cyberchase. It belongs to PBS Kids, among others.
Summary: Will the returned Crimson Blade, altered but still as evil as ever, achieve his ultimate goal? Who will become tangled in his dark designs? And, most of all, who will survive his vicious onslaught? New allies, new threats, and old enemies combine to make the Cybersquad's desperate fight against Crimson harder than ever…
Rating: PG-13 (minimal gore, death, violence)
Author's Note/s: Um… yeah. This chapter is really just a run-up to The Final Battle: Part I. It took me so long to finish it because I had a rather bad attack of writers' block, but it's okay now. (I hope…)
!Warning: Fluff ahead.
Re-edit notes: Whoo-hoo. Four more chapters to go. The fluffness scene is also edited here.
Heh. What a craptacular start to the chapter (see opening sentence).
Chapter 11: ReflectionsMatt awoke with a start. "What the - "
Jackie was standing over him, shaking his shoulder in an attempt to wake him up. "Finally, Matt," she sighed in desperation. "Sure you slept deep enough?"
"Oh, ha, ha," the red-haired boy muttered, sitting up, trying to clear his brain of any remaining sleepiness. "Very funny, Jax."
The African-American girl snorted. "You'd better hurry up. We got something from Crimson Blade that might interest you." With that parting comment, she ran out of the room.
That was enough to get Matt up and running after her. "Why the heck didn't you tell me?" he yelled ahead, but she ignored his question and continued. As the pair skidded into Motherboard's main room, panting, Inez looked up from the piece of paper she was reading.
"About time, Matt," she teased, before becoming serious again and holding the paper out to him. "I suggest you read this."
Puzzled, Matt took it and leaned back against the wall. It read:
To the Cybersquad and Scythe.
I have come to the realisation that it is time for the Final Battle; time for us to end this. I need to extract my revenge on each and every one of you, as you, in turn, need to stop me from killing your precious Matt, among others.
So many hurts, so much emotion… all for this dance of revenge and justice in which we are all choreographed. Now is the last chance to resolve this. If you truly care what happens to Cyberspace, then you will be at the Northern Frontier, at sundown, for the Final Battle.
What am I talking about, you are thinking? I am telling you that if you lose, all of Cyberspace will then be covered in darkness. For if I succeed, and destroy each and every one of you – and I warn you, this is extremely likely to come to pass – then I will continue on to Dr Marbles. And then Motherboard will be defenceless. Hacker will "go forth and conquer", as I believe you hapless mortals say, and no one will be able to stop him. Therefore, he will rule all of Cyberspace. And therefore my revenge will be complete. The ones who deserve such a punishment will receive it.
So I suggest you make an appearance. This is your final chance for victory in the fairest possible way I can allow. If you do not turn up, I will then simply come to you. Do not bother trying to prevent your deaths. It is enough that I have planned sufficiently to ensure it.
Hacker will not be involved in this battle, as I know that this final chance is between you and me.
-- Crimson Blade.
"I can't believe him!" Matt burst out angrily, as he thrust the letter back at Inez. "Does he really think that we're going to fall for this new trick of his?"
Silence met his ears; the rest of the group stared back at him wordlessly. Finally, Inez spoke, "Matt… we all believe that this is the best thing we can do." Scythe nodded from his position beside her, while the others also looked agreeing.
"Okay, now I can't believe you." The eleven-year-old was unable to take in his friends' decision. "We can't trust him! He's evil!"
"That's what you said when you first met me," Scythe responded quietly, his voice echoing in the large room. Digit flew down from his hovering and landed on the table, looking at Matt expectantly for an answer.
The boy couldn't find anything to say to counter the statement; after a few minutes of silence and racking his brain, he finally turned his back to them and said, defeated, "Fine. I guess it is the best we can do. Better than him coming to us, I suppose."
"So it's settled," Inez said in confirmation, staring around at the group. "At sundown… we go and fight…"
-
Jackie sat alone in a corner of Dr Marbles' workshop, arms clasped around her knees, staring at the ground.
I wish Crimson Blade hadn't ever existed, she found herself musing, and frowned slightly as the next thought came to her. But then again… so much couldn't have happened without him. We would never have known Scythe, for one thing.
The African-American smiled slightly as she thought of the black-haired teenager. Slider could have been choked to death, like Matt almost had been, if it wasn't for Scythe. But Matt himself had almost been murdered again, that time. If Scythe hadn't beaten Crimson off her friend, he would most likely be lying on the ground at R-Fair City, ripped to pieces by Blade.
Maybe we would have found his labyrinth some other time. Jackie leaned her head back against the smooth wall, and sighed. Maybe not.
I wonder what he'll do if we win?
Another question occurred to her, and Jackie then sat up straight, pondering their situation carefully.
I think he'll return to the Northern Frontier. The only person he seems remotely close to is Inez, maybe Matt too. Not really the rest of us. He still seems slightly evil… though not as much as when I first met him… She shuddered at the memory of her encounter with the bats.
We're no good at physical fighting, anyway. Jackie shivered again. Scythe is the only one of us who can battle properly. And if that's what counts in this fight, then we're all doomed…
-
Matt stood in the main control room, staring up at Motherboard's screen. After this had gone on for over ten minutes, the supercomputer asked what was wrong, guessing already what it might be. The boy simply replied:
"This may be the last time I see you, Motherboard." He sighed, looked down at his feet, then shrugged his shoulders. "I think I may have made the wrong decision."
"You have made - what would seem - wrong decisions before." Static filled the screen for a few seconds, then her familiar face returned. "Yet everything has - always turned - out right in the end."
"Thanks, Mother-B," Matt responded, smiling sadly. "But Crimson Blade is a well-practiced killer. I just can't see us defeating him in combat, as you might call it."
Motherboard did not reply, only smiled, herself, in answer to the despondent statement. A few minutes passed, then she said, "I believe you - will defeat him, Matt. All you - have to do is - believe."
The eleven-year-old flashed her another of those unhappy smiles.
"I'll remember those words at sundown," was all he said, and patted the controls almost fondly, then wandered off, lost in his own thoughts…
-
Digit shivered convulsively.
The cybird was looking at the door of the very same freezer he had freed Inez, Jackie and Dr Marbles from. They could have been frozen to death, thanks to the immense cruelty of Crimson Blade. At the thought of the unbelievably heartless creature, however, he shuddered again.
I should be more hopeful, he said to himself, in his mind. I have to… ah, forget it. Heaving a great sigh, Digit then turned his back to the freezer door and leant against it. The cool metal met his own metallic surface with a chill only freezing temperatures – or, more accurately, fear – could generate, but the robotic bird did not flinch away.
I'm gonna die, he realised. I am going to die. He's going to kill me. Images of Matt being strangled, Blade trying to kill Slider, Scythe's intervention… all of them invaded his brain like… like what?
Well, like Hacker on Control Central, Digit then thought, allowing himself a small chuckle at the joke. He then shook his head and smiled, suddenly feeling much more cheerful. What am I worrying about? the bird then berated himself. I think it's better to go into this thing cheerful than down in the dumps.
Still grinning slightly to himself, Digit then pushed himself off the freezer door, and headed out of the room, leaving all doubts and worries behind him.
-
Scythe sauntered along the hallway with a seemingly casual air, but in truth, his mind was in turmoil. Thoughts crowded in his head, like Digit's had, images of events that had occurred from both his past and present. However, it was the ones of Crimson Blade that came foremost in his mind.
The protective covering of black armour clinked quietly in the silence of the corridor, echoing off the wiring that lined the walls in angular array, as he lifted the arm-guard and stared at the freshly made cuts sliced into his arm, alongside the fully healed, white-tinged scars of the same causing.
"This is the price for my deeds," he murmured. "And so, this time, I shall go into the fight with hope in my heart. Indeed, hope can be a good thing, rather than the forever darkness that even now clouds my soul in its endless depths. How can I escape from it? Will I ever be free?
"… No. I will never be free. And though dark's strange, cold beauty lures me, the light also calls me with a purer, heavenly beauty of its own. Caught between the two, I lean towards the darkness. Slowly it pulls me back in, back into the depths that will eventually swallow all. Nothing can save me from that fate yet.
"And Crimson Blade? Though we well know each other from one of his previous lives, he knows me not in full. Neither I know him as well I should. But still I will fight on. For Cyberspace. For Motherboard. For these people who have come to me in their time of need. How can I refuse such a request? How can I let them stand alone? There is little ability in this close-knit group of the physical combat kind, and only I may aid them."
Scythe was about to continue his musing when his sharp hearing picked up a small sound that came from just around the corner. As the teenager quickened his pace and turned it, he caught sight of a small figure, pressed back against the wall.
"Inez?" he spoke aloud, wondering what in Cyberspace was she doing here…
Her face turned to him, blank of expression, blank of feeling. Tear tracks made their ponderous way down her cheeks, shining like starlight; the girl gave another small choking noise as she caught sight of him, but did not try to wipe the tears from her face.
It seemed that the calm and collected personage she had always shown when around him was now gone in the face of fear, replaced by someone who had searched for hope and found none.
Knowing and yet not knowing, Scythe stepped forwards and put his arms around her, comforting, dispelling the fears that had accumulated around her, though he himself had never been comforted by anyone but Inez. So peace stole over them both, standing there in the corridor, never saying a word, just in each other's arms.
Finally Scythe drew back from Inez and regarded her seriously.
"What is the cause of your sadness?" he asked, in his quiet, emotionless voice, though he knew it was a ludicrous question, for already he knew the answer. Almost soundlessly, he whispered under his breath, "Go vegil tolo hi
Egor iriel firi
'Ni men hen u veth 'war."
Without warning, Inez's head jerked up. Grabbing his uneven shoulders, her eyes burning into his calm ones, she said fiercely, "Scythe. I am going to die. We are all going to die. We can't defeat Crimson Blade. None of us know how to fight, except for you." Her final-sounding tone almost chilled him with its certainty; little did he know that all of the Cybersquad were feeling something like this at the moment…
"No, you will not die – not if I can help it. Crimson Blade is the only one who will face death in this battle." Scythe reached up to his unbalanced shoulders, and grasped Inez's hands in his. "I will fight for you. For all of you."
"And then?" The question she gave him next was unexpected, caught him off guard. Her face was now dry of all tears; searching his expression with her own penetrating gaze, Inez waited for an answer.
"I will most likely return to my labyrinth, and Dasariah and Vil."
"Why do you feel such loyalty to them? When they are so obviously…"
"Evil? Cruel, even?"
"Well… yes…"
He laughed softly, mirthlessly. "It is difficult to explain. I am bound to them, as they are bound to me. There are other things, things that run deep, things that I cannot put into words… that is the only description I can give."
"You're full of mysteries, aren't you, Scythe?" Inez asked quietly, glancing up at him.
The teenager's only answer was a mysterious smile, although it was the first time Inez had seen him smile properly since she had met him.
Still wearing the same smile – he had a very attractive smile, she noted - Scythe drew closer to Inez, at which the girl didn't even move, obviously content with the situation. Putting a finger under her chin, he then bent even closer and tilted his head slightly so their lips met.
The kiss lasted for a few moments before the black-haired teenager finally drew away.
"Thankyou," Inez said sincerely, brown eyes warm.
"For what, may I ask?"
"For doing what I tried to do last night. For giving me hope."
"Then is my debt repaid…?"
He was actually making a small joke! A little confused at this sudden change of personality, Inez shrugged and patted his shoulder in mock disappointment. "I suppose so…"
Scythe's expression became serious, slightly sorrowful, like it had been back in the labyrinth. "You must remember that I am still evil, Inez… or twilight."
"I know."
"And that I have done terrible deeds in the past, of such multitude and description that you would turn your face from me in horror if you knew."
"I would not turn my face from you, no matter what your past contained."
With the slightly saddened look still on his face, Scythe then bent to kiss her again. This time, he let his lips linger for a while, and as he raised his head again, Inez sighed, drew closer, and leaned her head on his armour-plated chest, her mind full of speculation, waiting for sunset to come.
-
The entire Cybersquad stood in a row in Motherboard's main room. It was a few minutes before sunset. Each one's mind was racing, each one trembling with expectancy as they waited for Motherboard to generate a portal.
Turning to Matt, Scythe held out something that was sheathed in leather, something that glittered in the faint light. "Here," he said. "I want you to have this." As Matt glanced curiously at the teenager's face, then took it from his palm, Scythe breathed a small sigh and let his arm fall. "This may come of use sometime," he said finally, and said no more, directing his attention back to Dr Marbles. Matt's eyes widened as he realised what it was, then slid the knife into his pocket carefully.
"Digit… are you scared?" Jackie whispered, looking anxiously down at the nervous cybird. He grinned briefly, but the comforting smile soon faded from his face.
"Yeah," he responded, just as quietly. "Yeah, I am."
The African-American girl glanced up to see Scythe watching them; obviously he had heard the small exchange. A sad smile lit his face, and the young man whispered a few words suddenly; their companions all looked at him, surprised.
"The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass...and then you see it. White shores, and beyond a far green country under a swift sunrise…"
None of the Cybersquad knew what he meant; Matt looked at Scythe oddly and was met with another sad smile, before it was replaced by the teenager's usual melancholy, calm expression. Inez was the exception; she stared at Scythe for a few moments, her eyes dark with concern, then shook her head and sighed. She knew what it meant.
When the pink, sparkling doorway to the Northern Frontier appeared in front of them, Dr Marbles walked away from the controls and smiled at them.
"I'd just like you all to know," he said, in his somewhat high voice, "that Motherboard and I know you will do us proud. Good luck, Cybersquad."
Inez glanced at Scythe sideways; the teenager had an expression on his face that suggested conflict. Idly, she guessed that it was because he had been named as one of them.
Matt looked at Inez, guessed, also, why Scythe was suddenly looking a little uncomfortable, and heaved a sigh. Shrugging, the red-haired boy set his shoulders and smiled nervously at his companions. "Well… here goes." With this final statement, Matt walked towards the portal and leapt in, disappearing from sight in a multitude of pink-purple sparkles.
Digit followed after, looking a bit nervous himself, then Jackie, then Inez, and, at last, Scythe. The last thing Motherboard and Dr Marbles saw of the group was the teenager glancing back at them, a strange expression on his face. Some might have thought it was longing; others might have thought he was giving them a final farewell. They were never to know the answer.
Silently, the supercomputer and the cyborg watched the glittering portal sputter and, at last, disappear into empty space.