Chapter 46: Apocalypse Upon Us

Akirame was completely devestated. Riku's eyes stared into nothingness, and the light within them that once made them so brilliant was now gone, leaving a dull void. How could this possibly happen? The vision she'd had so long ago, on a train headed towards Transverse City, had violently come true. All but for one part... Erik wasn't holding her back now.
Sephiroth grinned widely, carelessly flicking his blade and spraying blood all over Akirame's face. Riku's blood.
"I would kill you" he said, turning away from her to stare up at the struggling Sacrifice"but then you wouldn't be here to mourn and despair."
"Damn you..." cried the girl, clinging tightly to Riku's body, which was quickly losing its warmth.
"Akirame, let's hurry and get the hell out of here" Erik shouted to her, watching as the Sacrifice began screaming in pain, and the ropes dug deeper into her skin.
"I can't... I'm not leaving him here" Akirame loudly screamed back, tightly holding onto the slowly stiffening corpse. Sephiroth grinned at her obvious agony, but seemed otherwise completely occupied with watching the Sacrifice.
Erik nervously steered the griffon in to land on the little floating island, then leapt onto the ground and ran towards her. "Come on, Aki! We can take him with us" He told her, bending down to try and help her up.
Offended that he would try and remove her from Riku's presence, she pushed him back and her grip on the body tightened. "You're not taking him away from me"
"Akirame, we're all going to die if you don't hurry up and let me take his body"
Yet Akirame still protested and cradled Riku, possessed by him like a little girl enraptured by a doll. Erik had no choice, and he sighed as he firmly gripped her arms, pulling them behind her back, and wrestled her away. "Serena, hurry and get the body" He commanded as he tightened his grip on Akirame, who screamed and cried as she slowly relaxed in his arms. And Sephiroth only smiled wider. And then, he opened his mouth an laughed.
Soon they were all upon the back of the griffon, Erik in the lead, steering the large creature down through the smoke, trying to remember where the exit was, Serena tightly clinging to his shoulders, and Akirame in the very back with Riku's body propped up against her, Sephiroth's maniacall laugh following them all the way. They dove down through the red mist, then screamed when the ground rushed up towards them. Erik felt his heart stop as he pulled back on the creature as hard as he could, which also recognized the danger. It spread out its wings to catch the wind, trying to slow its rapid descent, giving a loud cry of alarm. Akirame tightly closed her eyes and held onto Riku's body as something told her just to let go of the bird. She felt the air surround her for what seemed forever, then cried out as pain richothed through her body as she roughly slammed into hard ground, then skidded for several feet until her back slammed into a rock. Trembling, she slowly opened her eyes after hearing a series of loud thumps and other bodies skidding across the dirt, and saw that they were but a few feet from the portal which had brought them here. Erik was lying on his back a few feet away from her, badly cut and bruised, Serena was already kneeling over him, trying to wake him up. The griffon had disappeared, but a large stone rest in its place, faintly glowing. "Wh...what happened" Aki asked in a daze.
Serena raised her head to look at her. "We crashed... hurry, help me wake up Erik."
Slowly shifting to raise herself up, she gently let go of Riku's body to crawl over and help rouse her friend. Slowly he opened his eyes and groaned in pain, then sat up and looked around. "Aw, damn..." he softly muttered, rising up on sore knees and limping over towards the summoning gem which lay on the ground.
Suddenly, the pyreflies stopped their screaming and everything fell still and silent as the red mist above them settled and fell to the ground. Even the cackling laughter of Sephiroth had stopped. They could clearly see the island hundreds of feet above them, the blue glow was now bright enough to almost blind them. Their hearts stopped, and they all could feel the doom that was approaching them. An inhuman scream emitted from the Sacrifice's mouth, and the unspeakable happened. The light forcefully pushed her against the ropes, and the sickening sound of flesh being torn echoed throughout the Farplane. The ropes, still holding tightly to her wrists and ankles, bore the strain as the maiden's torso was forced forward, causing her limbs to tear from their sockets, and blood sprayed everywhere. And Sephiroth laughed, laughed long and hard, his arms raised exultantly towards the sky, his head thrown back and his mouth opened wide as blood rained down upon him, staining him red.
"No" Serena screamed, suddenly rising to her feet and tightly clenching her hands together. "The seal"
Something was slithering out of the light, two huge scaly, lizard-like hands emerged to grip the sides of the arch, fingers covered with rust, blood and what seemed to Akirame to be thick cables that held the mess together. "Oh Hyne... is that..." she softly spoke.
"Sin...it's emerging from the prison where it's been kept captive for centuries... millenia.. oh no... an apocalypse is upon the earth" Serena gasped, stepping backwards. "We must hurry and leave this place"
"Come to me, my dragon, and we shall feast upon the destruction of the world" shouted Sephiroth madly.
No one protested as Akirame stooped down next to Riku's body, which somehow had seemed to grow considerably heavy, and tried to lift it. "Help, I can't get him" She sobbed, choking as she struggled against the weight.
Erik, unable to just abandon her there, quickly knelt down and helped her, quickly hoisting him over his shoulder and grunting under the load as he moved as quickly towards the portal as he could. Hastily he shoved Akirame through, watching as she stumbled into the hallway of the temple. "Here he comes..." He forced out in an exhausted breath, lowering Riku's body through the seemingly shrinking portal into Akirame's arms.
Serena stared fearfully at the other side, knowing what she was about to experience. "Erik..." she softly whispered, putting her hand on the boy's arm.
Erik looked back at her. "You have to do this Serena. I'm not leaving you here." He gently picked her up in his arms and with a deep breath, stepped through and gasped when suddenly her feather-light clothes were weighed down, and he stumbled and fell to the stone floor.
Serena softly gasped in pain as her spirit was suddenly wrapped in heavy flesh. Bones, muscle and skin encased her, and she blinked and took her very first breath of air, her newly formed lungs aching in pain, and her heart raced. At first she could only pant heavily, going into the shock of trying to supply her bloodstream with much-needed oxygen, a burden she had not born for thousands of years, and altogether had forgotten how to do. She slowly raised a thin, weak arm and could see that she still bore her thick dress. Pulling a curtain of long, heavy hair away from her face she tried to rise from the ground, and felt the sudden assistance of a pair of hands on her shoulder. "Thank you, Erik..." She coughed, rising to her unsteady feet.
But Erik looked up from behind her, assisting Akirame with Riku. "Serena..."
Serena slowly swallowed and raised her head, dizzy and confused by the sudden colors and textures that she could now see, instead of lights and colored hues of objects and people around her. A large, strong hand slid over her cheek and gently raised her head, turning it upwards to look into a face she couldn't possibly ever forget. "Ada" She cried out in her native tongue, wrapping her arms tightly around her beloved father's neck. "Daddy..." she sobbed into his chest, letting him hold her in just as tight an embrace.
Erik silently watched as Ansem held his daughter for the first time in years, and couldn't help but shed a tear of happiness for them, wondering what it was like to long to see a relative for so long, with such a sick, heart-wrenching passion. Ansem lifted his amber-colored eyes to gaze at Erik with approval and insurmountable gratitutude, then slowly pulled back the alabaster cotton hood that hid his child's face, to reveal a face that was a milky chocolate color, framed by thick, multi-toned reddish-blonde hair that tumbled over her shoulders and hung about her waist. Her beautiful, plump lips spread in a bright white smile that lit up her mulatto features. Erik was completely enraptured by her, and could not deny that he was very inclined to take her as his rightful bride right on the spot. This entire moment only lasted for but a few brief seconds until Ansem put Serena into Erik's care as he assisted Akirame by easily lifting the lifeless body and cradling it in his arms. "We must hurry back to your friends and get help." He said, swiftly walking down the hallway ahead of them.
Akirame quickly trotted up to walk alongside him, having to jog to keep up with Ansem's broad strides. Erik, still in a complete daze and gazing hungrily into Serena's shockingly deep blue eyes was awakened by her suddenly gripping his shoulders for support as she wavered on her legs and leaned into his chest, pressing her rather ample bosom into him. Erik, being a guy, and unable to help that fact, gave a large, impish grin of delight. "Now is not the time" Serena groaned at him, pulling herself up somewhat and unsurely putting a hand against the stone walls, then turning her head just in time to see the portal to the Farplane no longer there.
"Sorry." Erik mumbled, taking her arm and helping her walk down the hallway, only to have Irvine appear around a corner and crash into him. "Irvine, watch it"
"By Hyne, I finally found you" Irvine shouted, grabbing his friend's shoulders and shaking him. "You had me so damn worried! Oh, and who is this beautiful young friend of yours"
Serena looked unsurely from the red-haired cowboy to Erik.
"She's mine, Irvine, don't even think about it" growled Erik possesively. " Her name is Serena. Serena, this is Irvine, my friend."
Irvine grinned and politely took off his hat and put it to his chest as he took her hand and politely shook it. "Irvine Kinneas."
Serena smiled akwardly and once again looked over her shoulder. "Erik, we have to catch up with my father and Akirame..."
Irvine put his hat back on and looked confused. "So all ya'll wandered off together, huh? Go figure, you left us to chase after beautiful women"
Erik groaned impatiently. "Now isn't the time, Irvine! Hurry up and help me take Serena and find the others"
"They're all back at the entrance, I figured that something had happened in here when we walked out and you guys were missing! Come on, let's go that way, I'm sure the others thought of doing the same thing."
"But Riku, we have to get him out here fast" Erik protested as he followed his friend down the musty, dark hallways.
"Why, did something happen to him" Irvine asked with concern.
"He..." Erik's voice faltered"he's dead."