By Leanne Ashley
Quick summary: (AU) SeeD battles Ultimecia & her followers. When a prophecy foretells the coming of a savior (Sorceress Rinoa) SeeD, led by Squall, is ordered to protect her from Galbadia's assassins as she journeys to defeat Ultimecia. Squall/Rinoa
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 21: Ultimecia
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The stone doors opened slowly, scraping the rusted metal hinges loudly into the dense air. A platinum light surged through the widening cracks and engulfed the six heroic fighters.
It was now or never.
Standing side by side, they waited for their eyes to focus to the slowly dimming light. They knew she waited for them.
Sorceress Ultimecia.
The bringer of death. The angel of darkness.
She welcomed their challenge.
They could see her now in all her murderous glory as she sat proudly upon her throne. She was, in fact, clad as a typical sorceress corrupted by evil. Her eyes were violet, flashing serpent shades of gold and green while her wings, ruffling like the dead leaves on a moonlit tree, were black and vulture-like. The intense purple veins on her face staggered down her cheeks as she scowled down at her enemies.
"So it's true…" she hissed. "Sorceress Rinoa… a produkt of Guardian Forces and earth energy. The puppet to humans… here to stop me?"
"That's about it." Rinoa stated simply. Fear was no longer an option as she stared up at her nemesis. If she was scared, she hid it well.
"Interesting. Why do you chose to save them?"
"It's the right thing to do."
"You will fight your own kind to do what's right?"
She shook her head. "We're not the same Ultimecia. This has to end."
The witch smirked and looked toward the others. "…SeeD…" she realized quickly. "SeeD, SeeD, SeeD. Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokust akross generations. You disgust me."
Squall clutched the handle of his weapon tightly as he glared up at her. Blood-thirsty bitch…
"Your world is on the brink of extinction and you have your kind working against you. The Galbadians…" She threw her head back to laugh. "Insolent fools!"
"You wouldn't have spared them," Squall spat angrily. "You don't even need them."
"'It is better to be at the right hand of the devil…then to be in her path.'" Ultimecia whispered venomously. "But you'll never know, young SeeD. Your vain krusade ends here. The price for your meddling is death beyond death."
She stared darkly into Rinoa's eyes. "I WILL reign, little girl. You will be my slaves for eternity." Raising an arm over her head, Ultimecia manifested a swirling mass of dark energy in her hand and sent it hurling towards them.
In an instant, Rinoa's wings fanned out to shield her friends. Extending her own arms out infront of her, she protected herself from the powerful magic just the same. Impressed, Ultimecia paused and watched the young sorceress with amusement.
Rinoa stepped forward slowly, letting her wings fold back against her. Tiny black sparks, left over from Ultimecia's attack, lingered and danced upon Rinoa's body, but she didn't seem to notice.
She was Sorceress Rinoa now.
There was no need to hold back her strength.
"Rinoa…" Squall trailed off.
She turned her head to glance back at the others. Her warm chestnut eyes were now a hauntingly vacant shade of gold.
"Yikes…" Selphie mumbled at the somewhat disturbing sight. "Rinoa…?"
"There's no holding back," she told her friends. "I am unleashing myself."
"What can we do?" asked Irvine.
She stared at them hesitantly before responding. "Leave."
Squall nearly exploded. "What!?"
"You've taken me as far as I need to go. You can return to time compression."
"Don't fucking kid around, Rinoa. I'm not leaving you!"
"Squall…please…"
"You can't-!" He stopped when he remembered Shiva's last words. "You can't… save the world alone."
Rinoa could only stare at him in surprise before another ball of energy was hurled in their direction. Again, she used her wings to span out and block the attack.
"There's only so much you kan take!" taunted Ultimecia. "You're too weak to sustain such energy. You kan't block my magic forever!"
"If only you knew…" Rinoa whispered quietly.
Ultimecia didn't seem to hear her as she smirked past her to the others. "Bored? Let's see how long she kan protekt you worthless parasites!"
Crossing her arms infront of her chest, she began to levitate. Small glowing orbs surrounded her as she chanted a summoning spell. "The most powerful Guardian Force…"
"Whoa, wait a second!" Zell protested.
"Griever…" she called. "MAKE THEM BLEED!"
"'Griever'!?" As the ground began to shake, Zell ran quickly to Squall's side. "I thought the GF Griever didn't exist!"
"Yeah, like I'd engrave fairytale pictures on my gunblade."
The ground shook harder as Squall stepped forward and placed a hand on Rinoa's shoulder. "We'll handle this," he told her sternly. "You-"
They stared into each other nonchalantly.
"…Just kick her ass."
Rinoa could only smile before the floor beneath Ultimecia's throne smashed apart, giving entry to a large lion-like beast that forced its way through the opening. It stood erect with its black, razor-sharp claws and fiery red horns piercing from the top of its head. It was indeed, the legendary Guardian Force known as Griever.
"GO!" Squall ordered.
Spreading her wings, Rinoa flew up towards Ultimecia, trusting Squall and the others to handle the beastly lion on their own. She summoned a mass of energy in her hand and sent it exploding into Ultimecia. The witch was seemingly caught off guard by Rinoa's strength at full potential. Though taken by surprise, Ultimecia retaliated quickly with a somewhat similar attack.
Meanwhile, Squall and the others couldn't watch Rinoa's battle for long. Griever was already showering its attacks upon them. Dodging most of the onslaught, Squall maneuvered his way toward the GF and slashed his gunblade across the monster's chest. It howled in agony and swung its arm at the commander, sending Squall smashing into the closest pillar.
Quistis, who had her whip wrapped tightly around Griever's neck, called out to him. "Squall, are you all right!?"
He pulled himself up from the debris and clenched his teeth. The injuries weren't serious, but it would surely slow him down. He looked up suddenly when he felt several warm drops of blood fall against his face.
Rinoa's blood.
Above him, Ultimecia had ejected her nails to at least a foot long and had stabbed them deep into Rinoa's shoulder. Blood cascaded down her arm and splattered to the floor at his feet. Pain shown through her eyes as she cried out in anguish, using one hand to pull the nails out, and the other to push Ultimecia back by her throat.
"Rinoa-!"
"Squall, look out!" Irvine yelled at him suddenly.
Regaining composure of his surroundings, he ducked just in time as Griever's spiked tail slashed past him.
"Can't worry about her now!" Zell shouted to him. "We gotta kill this fucker first!"
Damnit! He glanced up at Rinoa one last time before grabbing the handle of his gunblade.
Finally pulling Ultimecia's nails from her shoulder, Rinoa quickly manifested a ball of energy and sent it blasting into the witch to push her away. Given their temporary distance, Rinoa was given precious seconds to inspect her wounds. With the deep impressions and the severe amount of blood loss, the injury would've been fatal for an ordinary human being.
Breathing heavily, she cured herself as best as she could before taking another blow from Ultimecia. Over and over her powers were used, but she ignored all signs of fatigue. She had to constantly convince and remind herself that she wasn't tired. Not yet.
Not yet…
Holding her arms out infront of her, Rinoa conjured a swirling sphere of holy magic and raised it high above her head. The amount of energy that pulsed from her body was overwhelmingly powerful. As the mass grew thicker, her hands began to shake from the sheer stress of it all.
Come on…You can do this. You HAVE to do this.
The energy raged on. Sweat poured from her brow as her veins pulsed maddeningly from being caged beneath her skin.
Ultimecia raised her arms over her head and quickly summoned a similar attack with her own black magic. She smiled. This would be the showdown of elements.
This is it… Rinoa thought numbly. You can't change fate.
Preparing to unleash her attack, Ultimecia's eyes burned bright purple, indicating she had put her full strength into this black sphere.
Rinoa's eyes remained yellow as she stared calmly at her enemy.
Besides…
As she charged the energy at Ultimecia, the gold in Rinoa's eyes unexpectantly turned bright purple, catching the witch off guard.
"How-?" was the last thing Ultimecia uttered before their masses of energy collided.
…you already know how it all ends.
Authors note: ooOOoo confusing, huh? But here's a little hint: Sorceress Rinoa's eyes gold. Sorceress Ultimecia's eyes purple. Purple eyes are the sorceress' trademark of evil…. HMMM? ) Don't worry. The next couple chapters will do what they can. Well anyway, I'm back from New York! And I wish I could say that I'll have chapters up faster now but that's a tough promise P Don't get me wrong… I WILL finish this story even if it kills me. Not about to hang this story up when the best parts are right around the corner. The problem is finding the time to write… I start college in a couple days AND I have a job (barista!) So I write what I can before I go to bed on some nights. So in the future I'm really sorry about the waits.. there will be more :( and I appreciate all reviews and inputs :D (lady rinoa, I'll try put up chapter titles in the next update for ya edit done!)
