Chapter 46: Desolation

The ancient walls of the temple trembled and filled the air with dirt, the very earth itself shook with anger and pain, as the monster held deep inside itself struggled for release. Sin's giant, gnarled paws reached out through the tiny portal to the surface realm, scratching at the air, looking for something to grasp. Infuriated, it gave a shriek, like the sound of a train derailing itself and smashing into the ground. At last it withdrew, only to press its face to the window, and peered out with a huge, toxic-yellow eye. One would think that it had given up at last, as the eye blinked before its head was pulled away, and all was quiet for a few precious moments. But sin knew no limitations that it had, and was not giving up at all- it had simply changed its approach. It suddenly threw itself at the little portal, making it stretch and tear wider. Another time it charged and slammed at it with its shoulder, the portal at last gave way, and Sin was free. The great dragon leapt through, and burst through the ceiling of the temple, and erupted out for the first time in a millenia into fresh air. It gave a loud cry to announce its galiant return, and thrust a giant paw down onto the peak of the temple, smashing it like a child destroying a building made of toy blocks. The guado were utterly horrified, and screamed as they fled into the forest, praying that it would somehow keep them safe. But no one can possibly hide from the incarnation of their own past, their mistakes and fears, their deepest sins. Everyone instinctively cowered away in a hiding spot they found, covering their heads with their hands, and shrinking in terror, tightly closing their eyes and waiting for the lethal blow that such a monster would surely give.
Ascertained that all knew of its freedom, the dragon spread two giant wings out from its back, mechanical wings made from rusted support beams and thick cables, with a slimy, mucus-covered leathery membrane stretched between each digit-like "bone". With these spread majestically above its head, it rose up on its powerful hind legs, and opened its gnarled, pock-marcked maw to expell a giant cloud of acid and poison, which spread out as it thrust its wings downward, eating away at everything it touched. Very little, if anything could survive such devestation. The beast of destruction flew into the air, to seek refuge from any who might challenge it yet, before it had fully gathered its strength.
After the dragon's breath dissipated into the ground, a heavy silence took its place and filled the air. It seemed at first that no one survived. Suddenly, someone coughed from behind a pile of rubble, and slowly groaned as they stood up. Sora's brunette hair was matted about his face, and his eyes burned and teared up. "Hello!" He shouted, afraid that no one would answer.
"I'm okay..." a female voice feebly responded to assure him, and Jerdania crawled out from a deep hole beneath the roots of a tree. "Sora... do you know if everyone made it out of the temple?" She asked as she unsteadily walked towards him.
"I-I don't know... everyone else was ahead of me..." He shakily answered, and wrapped his arms around himself. Like Jerdania, his face was pale and covered with the sheen of a cold sweat, which had been sprinkled with dirt.
"Come on Sora... if you're not injured, we have to look for others." was the only thing Jerdania could think of to do.
Nodding, the boy quietly followed her, climbing over various bricks and tree branches, peering into the little hiding places the debris had created. Someone not too far away began to stir, and tried to push themselves up. "Help..." they softly pleaded, realizing they were unable to help themselves.
"Don't move, I'm coming!" Jerdania cried back to them, and knelt beside the survivor to slowly roll them onto their back. It was Akirame, and laying beside her was the unresponsive Riku. Somehow she had managed to drag him into a little nook behind a decorative wall. "Oh thank god, Aki... I was afraid you'd died..."
Akirame sullenly looked back up at her, then looked over at Riku. Sora and Jerdania both froze in horror. "He died before we even made it out of the Farplane." Akirame softly whispered, as she tried to push herself up.
"Oh Hyne... what are we going to do?" Sora asked with a choked voice.
"We have to find the others first, there's nothing we can do."
Amidst the rubble and debris, the chaos that no one deserves to ever survive and live to see, life was found. Those some of us would call "lucky", who'd managed to take cover in just the right places, were left behind to stand as memorials to that horrible event, to pass on the story that would haunt the history of the Guados for generations to come. A history that, in fact, should have ended millenia ago, but the rift in time had brought them back, rebuilt the ruins of a grand Utopian civilization, only for it all to be crushed yet again by a great tragedy. Lucky? How is it lucky to be left behind after something so devestating? To be left without a friend, a family member, someone you loved and gave your heart to... Akirame finally understood now, what her mother meant. The attack on her mothers village all those years ago, and she was one of the very few survivors. Perhaps she was lucky to live, since later she gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Akirame... but she was alone as well, she'd lost her own mother, her father, brothers and sisters, friends, her home, absolutely everything.
Sometimes, in great romances, a person will say that if they can not be with the one that their heart so strongly beats for, that they will die, that they will be crushed and become unable to stand breathing any longer. If only nature could be that merciful . . . heartbreak should kill us, indeed, just like it should have killed Akira, when Sephiroth's sword sliced through Riku's body, cutting his life short. But no... Akirame still lives, and she carries her body as we watch her now, searching the rocks and plants for any others that she recognizes. Her aim to live now has changed. Revenge. Burning, dark hatred and blood-soaked revenge. Sephiroth will pay dearly for what he's done.

At last, the sun gave up and let its light begin to die behind the ridge of the valley, and the dust in the sky started to clear away to show the stars still shining above, as if nothing had ever happened at all. In a large clearing outside what remained of the Guado city, a fire crackled in the steepining darkness. The "lucky" survivors had gathered together, and all silently stared into the burning flames, each deeply mulling over their own fate. Our familiar heroes and beloved friends still live, Sora, Irvine, Erik, Akirame, Ansem and Red, Serena, Kairi, Jerdania. None of them can utter words into the still air, though, none of them dare to break the sacred silence that has fallen over them all. More importantly, none dared to speak due to Riku's death. They all instinctively knew that a single word would be all it would take to send Akirame on an emotional holocaust, and they couldn't risk it. She still cradled his body, but now wrapped up in a blanket. His flesh had become stiff, cold and was slowly decaying. Up to this point the entire journey had been exciting, breath-taking, like the greatest camping adventure anyone could ever dream of. Now, it was deadly serious. They'd return home short of one dear friend. What would the people of Destiny Islands think? Such a young, serious boy, leading a group of foolish teenagers out into the wild unknown, and being returned in a blanket, unable to speak for himself and his actions any longer? Riku was dead. Gone.
Yet despite all this, Ansem seemed to remain disgustingly calm, and offered no solace or tears, but a serious presence, as if he were just calmly waiting for them all to come up with the answer. Just his existence was starting to eat away at Akirame, and she saw him as her new enemy now. He must have known that Riku would die, trying to seperate Erik from the group. Oh, and Erik himself would surely taste her wrath, for being such a complete idiot. Her nerves frayed, caught fire, and at last snapped, and an electric surge rushed through the whole group as she suddenly pounded her fist into the dirt. "Damn it, someone speak!" She screamed, and burst into a fit of coughing.
"Akirame, please calm down!" Kairi softly responded, standing up and holding her hands out to try and soothe her.
"Calm down! Are you kidding me! The fucking love of my life is dead, and this Ansem just sits there, like he knows everything that's going to happen! Damn it, this is wrong, I want him back!"
Erik bitterly ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Aki!"
"You're sorry? Well at least it's a start."
Sora quietly stood up and fidgeted with something in his pocket. "Maybe we should call up Cid and get them to come pick us up in an airship..."
"I'm with you." Irvine nervously mumbled and shifted in his spot, pulling his hat down lower over his face.
Dizzily Akira looked from one face to another, then stumbled back on uneven feet a few steps away from the uncomfortable heat of the fire, knelt down into the dirt and covered her face with her hands. "I wanna go home." She whimpered, and wrapped her arms around herself again.
Jerdania couldn't stand just watching her suffer like that, feeling equally betrayed by what had happened. "Everyone.. let's try calling Cid, set up some sort of camp here, and just rest tonight... there's nothing that can be done right now." She forced herself to say over the voices of the others.
Kairi nodded. "Jerdania's right..."
Mechanically everyone straightened themself out and pulled out the supplies they'd managed to recover, and spread out a small set of sleeping bags next to each other and found themselves huddling amongst each other, minus Ansem and Red, who obligingly took up a sort of watch.

She sits in the sand, feeling the cool ocean breeze run over her body, and enjoys the company of the ocean waves and the seagulls. She feels oddly grown up for once, and sees her body more as an object of beauty, something that could be admired, than a stumbling block. And why wouldn't she? A single glance at his face, a wink, a suggestive smile, and she can make his knees turn to jello. She's not the same timid girl who at one time would have blushed and outrightly run from his advances, but instead, as he sits down beside her, she aggressively turns to straddle his hips and slide her arms over his shoulders, and plant a kiss on his lips. Shivering as his heart trembles and his toes go numb and curl up into the beach, he pulls a strand of hair away from her face and looks up into her brilliant ice-blue eyes. "Thank you for letting me have this moment."
"Don't leave, Riku, please... don't make me wake up, I want to stay here."
"You already know it's a dream, Aki... you have to wake up eventually."
"It's real enough. I don't want to wake up and have to remember to breathe again, to put one foot in front of the other. I just want this right now."
He sighs and lays down on his back, sliding his arms around her small waist and holding her tightly to his chest. "I have to wake up too, Aki."
"How can you wake up, you're asleep forever now."
"I can't let go... I still have things that I need to do."
"Like save the world?"
He chuckles and rolls his eyes. "Yup, I gotta save the world before they'll let me go quite yet. I need you to keep remembering me Akirame, don't let me die in your thoughts. Keep me alive in your heart, and I'll be able to come back, I promise."
"Will you remember this when you wake up?"
"I'll try..."