Climax: This is it people. The final climactic battle for Adonis. And now we'll finally have all the names of the clockworks. For reference, since I shall be ending the contest and releasing all the names and meanings withing the next or after next chapter, the names as, in order, these: Monoa, Duo, Tresian, Shisan, Fivare, Kuroku, Sieten, Hachimi, Kyu, December, Elf, and Zwolf.
Anyways, just one more chapter here, then we're moving on. This one's kind of long, and I've been gone for a while, so sorry for the wait. Here you people go! RR -Doomboy2000
(shimatta! While editing these up nice, I found is horribly screwing them up! It's randomly deleting commas, periods, exclamation and question marks before end quotations. Crap.)
tick
"Come on, the top of the stairs is just ahead!" shouted Orchid as they raced up another flight of stairs. Behind her, Jenine ran, leaping two stairs at a time, Montblanc flying just in front of her. They came out at the end of the long ascent, and entered into glaringly bright lights.
"Well, well, well"chuckled a voice, its source unknown as their eyes did their best to adjust to the harsh lighting. "Looks like the six o'clock failed."
"More clockworks" growled Jenine, stepping forwards as the her eyes adjusted. They could make out the figure of a man, medium height and somewhat muscular build.
"Only one" he smiled. His eyes were inky black. "Only one, just little old me, little, harmless Sieten. Harmless as a fish. As a Charcharadon carcharias." His smile became a split-face grin. His teeth were sharp. "A great white shark."
"This guy's creeping me out" said Orchid nervously. She brought the keyblade to ready in front of her. They could see the clockwork fully now. His flamingly red hair stuck back behind his head at random angles, creating a sort of windblown look for him, provided that he had just come out of a hundred mile an hour wind. His eyes and grin portrayed an insanity that suggested that this might well be the case. He wore a tightfitting longsleeve black leather shirt which was missing the right arm, a glove of the same material on his left hand, and matching pants. He wore tough black combat boots. All of these had an assortment of straps and buckles holding them tightly to his form. His right arm was starkly mechanical, made up of a whole slew of mechanisms, their uses unknown to the trio that faced him. From his shadow, they could see that almost all of his right side was made of such mechanics. In his right hand, he held a strange machine, vaguely L-shaped, and made of angled black metal. It was a little larger than his hand, and it could be assumed from how he held it that it was some sort of weapon. Orchid had never seen anything like it. "What is that"
"This" asked Seiten, looking down at his hand, getting a look of astonishment as if he was surprised to find the mechanism in it. "Oh, this! You mean this little thing." He grinned again, then whipped his arm around, so that the thing was aimed at them. "This is a gun. It fires bullets. Bullets hurt you."
He pulled the trigger, and thunder filled the room.
The impact slammed hard into Orchid's side and she went down painfully on the floor with Jenine on top of her. The young woman had just tackled Orchid from the side while slicing time, just barely managing to knock the Keyblade Master out of the way of the bullet that the clockwork had fired.
"Are you alright" asked Jenine worriedly as she got up quickly, eyes on the clockwork as he grinned gleefully.
"Yeah..." groaned Orchid as she stumbled to her feet. "It's like a miniature cannon..."
"Only much, much faster, kupo" added Montblanc.
"Exactly" chuckled Sieten. "Let's see if you can dodge rapid fire."
"Thundara" cast Montblanc. Lightning ripped through the air, striking the gun. It was flung from Sieten's hand with a curse from him as his arm recoiled in reaction to the pain and electricity. "Quick, get it"
"On it" said Jenine smartly as she made a dash for the weapon. Sieten ran for it also, but was no where near making it as Jenine shimmered blue and blurred out, reappearing by the gun. She picked it up and turned back, only to come head on with a charging clockwork shadowless. Sieten barreled into her, knocking her over and grabbing the gun from her with a manic laugh, which was short lived. "Not so fast"
The gun suddenly sprouted a knife, then two more. Sieten dodged backwards, dropping the target as he avoided other incoming weapons. Jenine scrambled to her feet, more knives ready to throw.
Sieten hissed at her, then shifted back more so he could see both her and the other two he was against.
"You can't slice time, can you" noted Orchid. "Then this'll really kill you"
She raised the Clockwork Grape in front of her and pointed it at her target.
"Slow"
A clock emblem appeared in front of Sieten, its hands slowing down to nearly a crawl before it disappeared. The partial shadowless screamed his shock agonizingly slowly as Orchid smiled in truimph. But then his cry pierced the air, and he was charging towards her at full speed. Shooting past a shocked Montblanc, his hand snaked out and grabbed Orchid's throat, slamming her against the wall behind her, holding her with a strangle.
"H..how did you do that" croaked Orchid, as she struggled with his arm.
"I may not be able to slice time...but that's because I've got inertia." He grinned. "I can't be fast time, but I can't be slow time either. Your spell lasted only a few seconds." His grip tightened.
"Let her go" shouted Montblanc. "Thundara"
Another bolt of lightning fell, this time striking the clockwork on the back. He arched backwards with pain, letting go of the girl as he stumbled back a step, and that was all she needed. Whipping the keyblade around, the pointed it at his stomach, point blank.
"Fira"
There was an explosion, and Sieten went flying back across the room. Or at least he should have. Instead, he only skidded back a few yards.
"See" he grinned as he stepped back, dodging an attack from Jenine as she blurred by to get back with Orchid. "Inertia."
"Inertia or not, nothing's gonna stop me from moving you from here to dead, clockwork" snarled Jenine as she skidded to a halt in front of the other two.
"Well, see this" he asked, holding up his right arm, pointing it at them. "This is a gun too. It fires bullets. Bullets hurt you."
They barely had time to react as the mechanisms in his arm snapped and turned into place, moving his hand and forearm coverings out of the way, and locking the workings of his forearm and upperarm together at the joint, forming one long cannon. The opening was miniscule in comparison to the thickness of his arm, but the amount of mechanism behind it suggested whatever came out, no matter how small, would come out with great power. In a matter of seconds his arm had gone from limb, to limbripping cannon.
"Now die" he said, grinning his shark-tooth grin.
The noise was deafening as he fired. There was only time for one thought, one word as he did.
"Slow" shouted Orchid.
The air in front of her warped as the clock emblem slowed to a crawl, then dissappeared. Bullets that had been ripping towards them at tremendous speed and power swam through the air between them and the clockwork like fish. Instead of being instantaneous, the bullets would reach them in a matter of seconds. But that was all they needed.
"You can't... you should be dead" screamed Sieten in rage as they started to dodge out of the way.
"You know" said Jenine grimly, as she blurred in to time right beside him, knife to his throat"I was about to say the same thing to you."
The keyblade struck home, and clockwork shattered like glass.
The light of Sieten became nothing more than power for the keyblade.
tick
"So you finally came home, dear brother" said Vins dispassionately, long, silky white hair blowing in the wind and rain. "I knew you would. You were drawn here, by my power, my presences, my...perfection." He said this last part slowly, savoring the very word. "I have no shadow, Arcanis. That is because I have no darkness. I am light incarnate. I am power, and reason, and might. And now, my brother, one way or another, I shall finally remove the flawed, tainted thing that you call your self. You understand, don't you"
"Oh, I understand your offer well enough, brother" spat Arc. There was a flash of lightning, illuminating all in its glow. Arc's eyes burned just a moment longer after it faded. "And I choose death, rather than join you. Look at the monster you've become! You're not even human anymore"
"Exactly" he shouted exhaltingly. "I am much, much more than human. I am Shadowless, one without shadow, without sin, without impurity. You could be all this too, yet you throw it away for this...this humanity." He said it much as one might regard something so foul, that it seems to taint the mouth just by mentioning it.
"When people are given too much power, they can do three things" said Arc quietly, though his voice carried fine over the wind and rain, and crash of thunder. "They can deny it from themselves, control it, limit it. They can unleash it, and become mad in their power. Or they can go completely sane."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing" noted his brother quietly. There was a faint whirring of gears as he raised his hand and clutched his fist. "Power is to be grasped, sanity to be embraced, emotions to be forgotten, feelings to be crushed! These weak sympathies for the tired, useless, imperfect people of this world are nothing but hindrances in reason's path to perfection. Flaws will not be tolerated. This city will run, smooth as clockwork, perfect and pristine, no exception. No one can prevent me from perfecting Adonis. Not you. Not Dar'ck. Not your silly little street gang and key wielding little girl." Then he added in a low tone"Not even father."
"You killed our father...purely so you could run this city like a tyrant? Is that it" shouted Arc, swinging his sword through the falling water.
"He was weak. He couldn't muster the backbone to bring out this city's full potential."
"Is that what you think" snorted Arc disdainfully. "He was stronger than you'll ever be. He had a heart."
"A heart weak with frail humanity."
"You know Vins, we always had to wait for you. You were always the sickly child. Why don't you go back inside and play with your little clockwork toys before you catch cold out here in the rain"
Vins snarled and winced as though struck, his normally beautiful sculpted face contorting with rage into an ugly mask of fury. He raised his open hand out to the side, thumb downwards. "Kikuichimonji"
At his command, the stones under his hand in the floor glowed a bright white, and from that whiteness emerged the great sword of power, hilt first, sliding easily into its master's hand. The sword was a long, single bladed masterpiece, the hilt worked in red leather and gold weave. The katana was almost five feet long, thin, yet amazingly resilient and strong. Its reach was impressive, as was its sharpness.
"This almost seems familiar" said Vins with a grin as he crouched, bringing his blade into position. "Only this time, you're on your own. Do you really think you can beat me"
"I've grown stronger" assured Arc, readying Sequence and his shield. "And you've grown only weaker."
"You're just jealous" he countered.
"Why should I be jealous of a sick, frail, imperfect little boy"
Vins let out a scream of rage, then lunged, sword outstretched and time blurring blue around him.
tick
"Damn. How many of these things does he have" growled Orchid as they warily eyed the two clockwork Shadowless, a man and a young women. The latter had long, raven black hair, while the former was entirely shaved. The woman wore form fitting black cloth and netting, a ninja like outfit, and she was armed with an oversized shuriken; the ninja star was nearly three feet across. The man wore a sleeveless tan shirt, and pants of the same color. He weilded two sai, the three pronged fighting blades. Her legs were clockwork, highly increasing her agility, a feat she displayed with her flashy enterance. His eyes were clockwork, giving him sightless sight, and his shadow betrayed that his spine was mechanical also. His senses were inhumanly accute.
"Twelve of them. There are three more after these two" said Jenine.
"I am Hachimi" said the kinoichi, then gestured to the man beside her. "And this is Kyu. He doesn't talk much."
Kyu grinned. It was not a comforting sight.
"Get out of our way, or prepare to fight, Shadowless" said Orchid irritatedly.
"There's no point talking this over with them" said Jenine, before blurring out in time. Nobody moved for a second, then there was a clang of metal on metal as Kyu easily blocked her strike with one sai, not even looking her way as she leapt back. There was a pause in the moment after, then the battle began in earnest.
As Jenine fought with her silent opponent, each blurring out and in of time, Orchid and Montblanc, back to back, faced off against the agile Hachimi as she sped around them while slicing time, looking for openings, and striking when she saw them.
"Thundara" cast Montblanc, raising his rod aloft. Lightning cracked down, causing the clockwork to stop just short of being hit, momentarily resuming normal time. Catching sight of her, Orchid turned and let loose a spell of her own.
"Slow"
The familiar clock emblem appeared in front of the clockwork just as she started slicing time again, the hands slowing to a crawl. Hachimi was suddenly moving as if swimming in molasses, but as the air shimmered blue around her, she soon resumed normal speed, but no faster.
"Take this" shouted the ninja irately, bringing one hand up before her face, two fingers raised. "Water Veil"
Water surged up around the girl and the moogle, and shot skyward around them, through them. There was a drowning sensation to it, despite the fact that they didn't feel wet, but felt the surging rush of it nonetheless. When it subsided, Montblanc opened his mouth to respond with a spell, but nothing came out. Orchid tried to use Deluge, but with only as much success as the little mage.
"That should Silence you" smirked Hachimi. "So now we're even. Let's go."
Orchid stared angrily at her in silence, then nodded, almost imperceptibly, before launching herself at the kinoichi.
Meanwhile, Jenine was having her own problems facing the silent Kyu. No matter how fast she moved, no matter how thin she sliced time, no matter what she did, he always seemed to be a step ahead of her and blocked every attack with ease. Leaping into the air, the mechanic let loose a veritable rain of knives, their steely glint shining like so many deadly raindrops. There was a blurring in front of Kyu as his arms moved too fast to see, and the sharp clang of sais hitting knives. Steel flew this way and that, away from the man, as he deftly blocked each and every strike.
"Fine then" growled Jenine, grabbing a knife out the air as it flew near her. "Take this"
As she reached the arc of her leap, she pushed off against the wall behind her, launching her at the clockwork Shadowless, hoping to take him by surprise with a head on assault. She didn't.
Jenine hit the ground hard, clutching at her upper arm where he had stabbed her. He stood over her, grinning eerily as he raised his weapons for the final blow.
"No" shouted Orchid, knocking away Hachimi, as her voice returned. She raised the keyblade skyward. "SHIVA"
For a moment, the air was crystal clear, then all shattered like glass. Giant shards of ice slammed upwards from behind Orchid, forming an enormous icy crystal, perfectly formed. In the center glinted the form of something, something powerful. She raised her head, her eyes opened, and the ice shattered around her like so much delicate glasswork.
She was beautiful. Her skin was tinged a deep blue, and her hair a darker shade. Her eyes were icy sapphires with piercing gaze. A long, silky gown of the faintest blue gossamer enclosed and clung to her perfectly formed body, swishing and moving with an unseen wind. Her arms and neck were adorned with golden trinkets, armlets, rings, necklaces and bracelets. Fine ribbon was twined in her hair.
I am here, young master. How may I serve you?
As before, Orchid was not sure if she actually heard the voice, or if the words, no, the thoughts, were just in her head, directly. Looking around, she could see the awed looks of the others in the room. Apperently, they too could hear the omnipresent voice of Shiva.
"Those two" stated Orchid flatly, pointing the keyblade at Hachimi, then Kyu. "Deal with them."
As you wish.
There was a rush of icy wind as she glided past Orchid, towards the two clockwork Shadowless. Jenine and Montblanc both ran for safety near Orchid as the goddess raised up her arms, directing them at the two Shadowless.
Blizzaga.
Frost and ice exploded outwards from her palms at the two clockworks, who blocked fitfully, but uselessly against the cold. Frost clung to their clothes, shards of ice tearing at them. Their breath came in gasps, the very air freezing in their lungs, feeling like a thousand thousand needles piercing their flesh. When the torrent stopped, they were cold, stiff and afraid. But she was not done with them.
They are strong, to still be alive.
She raised both arms above her head, and between her hands, a faint blue light began to glow, quickly growing in size and intensity.
Diamond Dust.
She leveled her arms at the two clockworks, and unleashed the fury of the arctic. From her palms, a howling blizzard tore loose, freezing any and all in its path. The two hapless Shadowless could do nothing but stare in horror as the ice closed in over them, freezing them solid, stuck in place. Then all was shattered, and they were no more.
It is done, my master.
"Good" said Orchid, breathing deeply, then exhaling slowly. "You can go now."
There was a shimmer of icy wind, and then she was gone.
tick
The rain fell with aching slowness there in that blue-blurred, time-slowed world on top of the tower. They fought with blades, with cunning, with time, and without honor. They knew that if either of them fell on the rain-slicked stones of the tower roof, they would not be given a chance to get up. If they fell down, they would stay down. They knew each other too well.
"You can't win against my perfection, Arcanis" shouted Vins as their blades clashed, the rebounded from each other.
"I will" screamed Arc, throwing a punch with his right, shield in hand. "I will free Adonis"
"You will die" snarled his brother.
Lightning struck at barely the speed of falling rain, while thunder was a slow deep rumble, and rain slowly floated on downwards. But not them. They, brothers, moved with unerring quickness, thrust, block, and parry all in swift succession.
"I am light, I am perfection, I am power incarnate" yelled Vins, each word punctuated with a blow that Arc blocked weakly. "You are nothing, you are flawed, you are weak"
Arc jumped back, dodging out of Vins's range, which was considerable, due to the Kikuichimonji's length. Then he charged.
He attacked with hatred, with rage, and with fury. Vins backed away, grudgingly giving ground in the time slowed world, stepping back through near still rain drops as lightning crawled up and down the sky behind him in the blue haze. But Arc was relentless. Any opening was immediatly assailed, forcing his brother to back away as blow after blow rained from shield and sword.
"What are you doing" screamed Vins at him, rain dripping down his face. "You can't defeat me"
"I will" shouted Arc. And then he struck.
The world flickered back into color, and rain that had seemed to stay in the air for ages suddenly finished their descent to the ground in a shattering clamor that was almost deafening after the near silence of slowed time. Vins skidded away on his back across the stone, his katana spinning away from him across the tower as Arc walked slowly over, breathing heavily.
His long white hair hung in a wet, sopping mess about his head as Vins began to rise. He touched his cheek curiously with one hand, and it came away bloody. A great bloody gash now marred the perfect face of the Lord Mousseux.
"Arcanis..." he hissed quietly. The rain pattered down around him, then he threw back his head and screamed his rage to the heavens, shaking the world from tower top to bottem's deep. "ARCANIS"
The very stones beneath his feet shattered as clockwork melded and reformed around their master, and lightning struck. Metal and gears encased Vins, transforming him, mutating him into something much, much more. When it was finished, he turned, and faced Arc, a terrible visage to behold, speaking in a low, deep rumble that creaked with gears, and cogs, and hatred.
"Now die, dear brother."
ti-
"Come on, you guys, we have to hurry"
Orchid stopped and turned. She stared at the other two, standing there in midstride.
"You guys" she asked, walking towards them. "Jenine? Monblanc? You okay"
The other two made no response, but just stood there. It was then that Orchid noticed that they, along with everything around her, had taken on a peculiar deep blue haze, that continued to deepen by the moment.
"That color...it's like..." she started, trying to place why it felt so familiar. "It's the color of time"
She gave the older girl an expiramental push, but nothing happened.
"So...Vins must have shut down that thing, the Clockwork Heart...and now time's stopped. But why not me"
She suddenly noticed a whirring noise that hadn't been there before the world had stopped moving. Tracking where it was, she finally looked down to her hand.
"The keyblade..." she said, turning it so she could see better. "Clockwork Grape."
The little timer clocks on each of the grapes were whirring overtime, spinning like mad.
"They must be generating time for me" said Orchid. She started up the stairs, then turned, turned again, then finally turned around and went back to the other two. "Sorry, you guys, I gotta go help Arc and stop Vins"
Then she ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
-
The raindrops no longer moved, and they hurt like stone when Arc slammed through them.
He skidded limply across the stones before a giant, mechanical hand plucked him up like nothing more than a rag doll. Vins had become a monstrosity of unbelievable proportions. The giant, mechanized arms and torso grew out of the very tower itself, composed of the myriad clockwork parts and geared components that made up everything of Adonis. Where the head of the monstrosity should've been, was a shining figure of white; Vins Mousseux.
He raised his arms exultingly into the air as the clockwork body threw Arc about casually as if he were of no consequence.
"Now, brother, do you believe me" shouted Vins. "Do you see my power, my perfection? No one can stop me"
Arc groaned fitfully as one giant hand picked him up by the back of his coat between two fingers built like mechanized barrels and held him in front of his Shadowless brother.
"You could have joined me by my side, brother. Dar'ck is already with us. We would have been brothers three once more." His grin became a look of disgust. "But you had to throw it all away"
The raindrops no longer moved, and they hurt like stone when Arc slammed through them.
-
Orchid passed by with barely a glance to December, Elf, and Zwolf, who stood still as statues in the topmost room of the tower. The twins had looks of surprise on their faces; he had a look of calm knowing. His wings were both awesome and terrible to behold.
She continue past and up the stairs out onto the roof, not sure what to expect. What she got was a large mass of something hurling towards, knocking her off her feet and sending her skidding across the stone with whatever had hit her.
"What the" she started, getting up and looking at what had assailed her. "Arc"
Yellow tinged glasses broken, coat in tatters, and face covered in blood, Arc groaned fitfully, wishing the rain would hurry up and fall, and wash all the pain away. But the rain didn't fall.
Orchid quickly cast Cura before looking about for who she knew had to be there. When she saw him, he was not what she expected.
"Vins" shouted Orchid, half in rage, half in surprise. Gears whirred and clicked as he rose above her, eerily lit from behind by a frozen bolt of lightning.
"Ah, the little Keyblade master" he said smoothly. "Oh, the famous people I kill today."
"You'll kill no one today, or ever again, Vins" yelled Orchid as she charged and leapt at him to attack.
She was flung backwards by a blow from one of the giant mechanical hands, and landed lightly on her feet, water skidding up beneath her, then freezing in the air it lost contact with her. She leapt again, this time predicting the counter swing and bouncing easily off the monstrous limb. Coming to the arc of her leap, she cocked her arm and prepared to unleash the keyblade.
"Shooting Star"
She swung, letting go of the keyblade as it flung in a flurry of light and motion at the monstrosity that was once Vins. He blocked with one arm, and the Clockwork Grape struck deeply. He recoiled slightly as the keyblade bounced back away and to her hand, the wound smoldering from the impact.
"Strike"
She swung again, and once more the keyblade struck his arm, and yet more explosions of light resounded.
"Strike"
There was a screeching noise as metal tore and stretched under the force of the blows, the clockwork arm of the monster breaking under the relentless assualt.
"Strike"
The keyblade tore threw, severing the arm and cutting deeply into the other before spinning back to Orchid's hand, where she threw it again.
"Strike! Strike"
Two more blows, and the other mechanical barrier was destroyed, and nothing stood between Orchid and Vins. The keyblade now glowed a bright white, having gathered power from all the previous attacks. She held it before her as the glow focused at the tip.
"Wish"
The energy shot out in one concentrated burst, striking the Shadowless square in the chest, in the heart of pure light. There was an explosion, and the force sent Orchid tumbling to the ground, and the frozen raindrops scattering. When it cleared Vins still stood.
"Hah...hah...you see? You can't defeat me" he shouted fitfully. "I...I...am perfect"
"No" she said simply. Then she ran up and leapt the distance up to where Vins resided in the mechanical shell of his monstrous clockwork body and stood there before him. "You are nothing now."
She struck, and there was a brilliant flash of light as the keyblade pierced him.
Where once the man called Vins had been, there was nothing now.
Orchid sighed, and stepped back, then stumbled as the clockwork body began to crumble beneath her. She jumped away, and it stopped in its decay, debris frozen in midair.
"Why.." she started, then remembered. "There's no time"
She ran over to Arc and shook him gently, trying to rouse him from his unconsciousness.
"Arc, Arc" she cried out. "You've got to wake up! You've got to do something! Time's stopped"
He groaned, then flopped over onto his back. He got up slowly, using Sequence as a walking aid to stand. "Where..? What happened" His eyes snapped open and he rounded on her quickly. "Vins? What happened to Vins? Where is"
"He's gone Arc" said Orchid quietly. "Your brother's gone."
Arc stood there quietly, then sighed slowly. "My brother's been gone for more than eight years."
He walked over and curiously inspected a lone raindrop, floating gently in midair. He held his hand out close to it, and when he had nearly touched it, it fell gently onto his skin, rolling off just as easily.
"So he really stopped the Clockwork Heart" he sighed.
"Can you fix it" asked Orchid, her voice tinged with concern. "I mean, you are a, a prince."
He made a noise that could have been a snort, could have been a laugh. "A prince, huh? Well then...let me see..."
He walked out to the center of the tower, ignoring the clockwork wreck that was all that remained of his brother. He closed his eyes, and was quiet for a long time, if time had any meaning in that timeless world. Then he opened them.
"Yes" he said quietly as Orchid walked up. "He only shut it down. He didn't break, as I feared. I can restart it."
He bent down and picked up something small and gleaming off the ground. It was a golden ring, ornamented with a little gear.
"The royal signet. I guess it's mine now" he said, slipping it onto his right hand's index finger. Then he raised the clockwork hand up high, and shouted. "I, Arcanis Mousseux, am now Ruler of Adonis, City of Time, Clockwork Masterpiece."
For a moment, nothing happened. And then suddenly, the world had color again, and the rain was falling.
-ck
Ricksen smiled and danced for joy. They Heartless were gone, the gearfreaks they had been fighting had disappeared in a moment. It was in that moment that he had felt an eternity, but he shrugged it off and yelled happily with the other fugitives. They knew it was over. The long wait was over.
tick
Jenine and Montblanc hurried up the tower steps and into the rain on the rooftops, unsure of what to expect. Whatever the likely possiblities had been, they had not included a man and a young girl dancing like fools without a care in the world, cavorting about in the rain, laughing like maniacs.
"Ar...Arcanis" asked Jenine hesitantly.
He turned, then smiled brightly, and ran over, picking her up in a giant bearhug.
"It's over, Jenine! It's finally over! He's gone" he shouted ecstatically, turning and swinging her about wildly.
"Did you hear that, Montblanc" asked Orchid excitedly, running over to the little moogle. "We did it! We beat Vins! We freed Adonis"
"Kupo, that's great" he squeaked happily, turning a backflip in the air.
"Put me down, you big oaf" shouted Jenine, blushing furiously as she was swung about by Arc.
"Heheh, sorry, sorry" smiled Arc, setting her down gently. He smiled and turned about happily in the rain. "Gods, I feel as if a weight's been lifted off me."
The clouds began to clear, and light lined the horizon.
"The sun's coming up" said Orchid, smiling at Arc.
"And today is a new day" he agreed.
