Thwarted Demise

Disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I wish I did though

Summary: A re-telling of Episode II's ending by The Little Master himself. There are plenty of spoilers so BEWARE! This is semi-funny or perhaps not funny at all, but I enjoyed writing it

Chapter 2: Death match?

(Jr. POV)

Space-time anomaly/Former Miltia site

I wasn't gonna stain my hands with my brother's blood. No way. Yet, he seemed so damn hell-bent about dying that he refused my kind offer right away.

"What kind of deal is that?" he spluttered, "Are you aware that you are offering me the chance to live with you as though we were both on GOOD TERMS?"

"'But we are brothers!"

"That never meant anything to you, Rubedo! You are not trying to save me because you care about me! You are doing it because you wish to clean your stained conscience!" said Albedo, his voice dripping with bitterness.

"You are disappointing me Rubedo, and that's why…" the whole room began to shake beneath our feet, "…¡I will be the one to put an end to this quarrel and to you as well!" Albedo raised his arms and a burst of energy flared up around me. At that moment, I forgot all diplomacy and began shooting like mad through the blinding flames that threatened to engulf my body. One after the other, the cartridges fell empty at my feet with soft clunks and dissolved into dark blobs of metal; Albedo's evil laughter echoed across the dark walls making my blood boil until…

BOOOM!

The earsplitting explosion sent me flying against one of the containers located at the back of the room (if it hadn't been for Shelley pushing vitamins and milk down my throat everyday, I would have broken my neck and kicked off the bucket right there). Once the light, dust and energy had dissipated, I saw Albedo sitting on his throne with a beautiful and perfectly round bullet-hole on the middle of his forehead. I gasped in alarm and ran to my brother's feet while chunks of pillar rained down upon my head. The precinct was falling apart, but my life had little meaning if I'd accidentally done what I'd been avoiding to do…

To my relief, Albedo was still alive. When he raised his eyes to me, I noticed that a brilliant bullet was incrusted at the head of the throne. Hah! For a fleeting moment, I had put a bullet in his thick brain.

"Not bad, Rubedo…" he said pointing at the hole now adorning his brow, "…but your marksmanship sucks! You missed all but one!" The throne disappeared as well as the pipeline connected to his body. Albedo fell to his knees in front of me, dressed in old rags.

My worry did nothing but grow. "Albedo…you..."

"What's with that face? You look as though you had just lost your best friend" replied Albedo, his voice now soft and apparently free of insanity. He glanced at his hands and so did I. The bastard had begun to fade away! The corners of my eyes began to sting and I bowed my head hoping to hide the stupid tears.

"YOU BASTARD! You knew all along!" I shouted, my voice breaking.

"What are you talking about? I can't stand you or Nigredo," he said, but I could have sworn that he was actually trying to cheer me up. "You may say this is a release. At least I won't fear losing anyone anymore…"

"No more madness; no more Miltia; no more lonely nights…! And the best of all is that Rubedo does love me in spite of everything I've done…"

An unearthly light shined above our heads as four divine creatures descended from a brilliant pillar. With tear-stricken eyes, I saw how they took Albedo in their tiny arms and began to raise him to the heavens. The creatures were actually…Kirschwasser-angels.

Kirschwassers-angels?

WHAT THE HECK?

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I stood up and watched the scene completely flabbergasted. There was Albedo, being taken to heaven as though he were some sort of saint. Things couldn't have gotten weirder all right.

"Look Rubedo! I'm free!" cried Albedo, closing his eyes and extending his arms dramatically. He still looked very alive to me so I suddenly had an idea. I confess it wasn't a good one, but hey! It worked after all…!

Face dry and red aura blazing, I aimed my Makarovs at the winged Kirschwassers who halted in midair and looked down at me without blinking. "Albedo and I made a deal so get your little hands off him OR ELSE…!" I bellowed putting my fingers in the respective triggers.

The Kirschwassers looked at each other and then did what any normal being would have done if threatened by a kid as visibly 'perturbed' as I was at that moment: flee. The mushy background song stopped, the celestial light turned off and the four silver-haired 'angels' vanished letting Albedo free fall against the cold floor twelve feet below. The impact upon the ground was accompanied by the spectacular cracking of a neck.

"Did I just arrive?" murmured Albedo with his eyes still closed.

"Albedo! You are alive!" I yelled happily.

Albedo's purple eyes opened wide. An expression of mingled horror and fury took over his face as he stood up and placed his hands on his head which was hanging limply to one side of the severed neck. "WHAT? WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO, RUBEDO?" He glared at me and yanked his head off his body. He threw it to the ground and stepped on it with his bare-foot until a rather disgusting mass was left on the floor. Then he proceeded with his left arm which I barely dodged when he hurled it straight at my face. Albedo's beheaded and one-armed body wobbled aimlessly for a few seconds until his head reappeared over his shoulders and the arm-projectile materialized in the proper joint.

"Noooo…nooooo…" hissed Albedo while he clutched his new skull in despair.

The precinct began to shake once more. It was time to get the hell out of that place. More pillars collapsed around us and some of the glass tanks cracked, empting the water that keep the Kirschwassers at bay.

"Albedo, we gotta get out of here before we're swallowed up by the space-time anomaly!" I seized Albedo's arm and tried to drag him towards the exit, but my brother didn't budge.

"My efforts were a waste," murmured Albedo looking at me with oddly glazed eyes, "Rubedo…why…?" And he fell limp upon my shoulder completely out cold. It is needless to say that my knees buckled painfully under twice my weight, but I managed to heave the unconscious Albedo a few more steps until exhaustion finally took over my muscles.

"AWW MAN! At this rate we'll never get out of here!"

"Please, allow us to help you", said a small voice so similar to MOMO that, for a second there, I thought it was her. Six Kirschwassers with neat hair and sparkling clean uniforms were standing in front of me. Before I had time to answer (or react for that matter), the Realians dislodged Albedo from my shoulder and gently placed him on the floor. I watched in awe as two of them seized his heels, the other two took hold of his wrists, one secured his back and the last one marched proudly beside the others as they lifted Albedo's body and carried him effortlessly through the collapsing corridor with me sprinting at full speed behind them.

Now you know why the Kirschwassers are dressed like nurses…

To be continued…

Author's notes: Again, I hope I didn't make Jr. sound too OOC. I'm awful at describing things but I do hope you can visualize what's going on… :blushes:

Comments are appreciated!

Thanks!