Author's Note: Yeah, killing Talia was dark. It was because I realised I couldn't have a final confrontation with Abaj without it being like all the others, unless he did something really evil. Abaj was always supposed to be Olose's rival, but on the grand scheme of things, he's no worse than any of the other villains. So I knew I had to do something to make this finale special. To make him evil and hated. So I came up with the idea of him murdering Olose's child.

And I know it's a break in character for me to do it, believe me, I didn't like doing it, but it certainly makes for a dramatic ending. It also makes Olose a more interesting character, he's always taken everything in his stride, he's almost been too 'perfect' at times (which is why I think I got irritated writing him as a main character at times) but this is different. I introduced Talia purely for the reason to have Abaj kill her for this finale. And even then, I nearly chickened out. Just the day before writing yesterday's chapter I reconsidered, and almost didn't do it, and just have him kidnap the child and Olose rescue her. Yeah, I'm a wimp.

And funny TheFrogKiller mentions killing Arcadia, I did consider that. I also considered him murdering the entire crew in one idea I had. (That was going to be interesting, Nadia was going to kill Jeren while fighting Trevia, Suse was going to take a wound for Olose as Abaj tried to kill him and so on). But in the end I decided it would be more dramatic to just focus on one death, making it very focused. I dunno if it's better or not, but I at least found it easier to write this way.

Oh, and thanks for pointing that mistake out by the way! I'm angry I didn't spot it myself, I wrote the fight really carefully to make sure Nadia didn't do anything with two arms, and completely missed that! I've gone back and changed it now. Sorry for keep pointing out problems in your story by the way. I mean, I do it in all reviews, I'm always nitpicking things. It's a surprise anybody puts up with me, between my whining in author's notes and criticising other people in reviews. I'm only ever trying to help people improve, but I doubt it reads like that.

Right, anyway, I'll shut up now and get on with the climax. These author's notes are becoming more of a blog! And that cannot be good.

CHAPTER 57

THE CLIMATIC BATTLE

Abaj flung the limp body of the baby aside. Olose's entire body convulsed. He felt as if he was going to throw up. He emitted a small whimper sound as his eyes began to tear up. Olose dropped to his knees. He couldn't think. His mind wouldn't accept what just happened. It couldn't have happened. It simply couldn't have.

"Yes, this is worth it." Laughed Abaj, walking over to Olose. "Sacrificing my plan to stand over the fallen hero, although can you really call yourself that if you just give up?" He snarled.

"She was my daughter." Olose said quietly.

"To watch as he refuses to even fight back. To even stand up. To know that I have beaten him." He cackled loudly.

"I loved her." Olose muttered in a barely audible whisper.

"And to know that you can kill me now, you could even defeat me, and it won't bring her back." Abaj smirked.

"We were going to do so much together." Olose said tearfully. "I was going to raise her, look after her, train her to fight, teach her to read, I was going to love her and be with her forever."

"To know that the pain you suffer will never go away!" Abaj's rant was utterly uninterrupted by Olose's muttering. "To watch you realise your own immortality is turned against you. That you shall live until the end of time suffering! Feeling the pain that I felt, forever! It will never leave you! It will never get better!" Abaj's words fell on deaf ears. Olose heard nothing.

"I loved her." He whimpered. "We were going to do so much. She was my daughter. You can't of taken her." He wept into the ground as his body collapsed. "You can't. This is a dream, I'll- I'll wake up and everything will be fine."

"Broken! Defeated! This is my vengeance at its finest!" Abaj laughed. "That is why you're so pathetic. We're immortal! Gods among men! But you, you bind yourself to those pathetic mortals, and look what it has done to you."

"This-" Olose wept. "This isn't a dream." He whimpered in realisation. "No. She's gone. She's gone. You took her from me." Tears streamed down her face. "Abaj. You took her from me."

"And I am already victorious." Abaj smiled to himself. Olose's mind exploded.

"ABAJ!" He suddenly sprang to his feet and drove his fist into Abaj's gut with all the strength his rage had to deliver. The result was astounding.

Abaj soared into the air and crashed down on the ground at the end of the street. The strength of the werewolves at its finest. Olose grabbed Nadia's silver sword and charged Abaj. Abaj rose to his feet, sneering and drawing his own blade, it too silver.

"Ah, yes. This is it! The ultimate finale! AND MY VENGEANCE!" Abaj screamed as Olose charged him. Olose was blinded by anger. His words meant nothing. The environment around him meant nothing. All he could see was Abaj and his dead daughter. Talia. Killed. His grip on the sword tightened until his hand was white from the pressure. Abaj was running at him too. The two warriors charged each other, and swung their silver blades. The swords clashed. The climatic battle began.

The strength of the two opponents were too much for any blade to contain. The silver swords shattered as they hit each other, exploding. Shards of silver flew in every direction, cutting and scarring both warriors, sending smoke into the air. Lightning crashed behind them as Olose threw the first punch, slamming into Abaj's ribcage. It shattered every bone there and sent Abaj rocketing into the second floor of a nearby shop. He crashed through the stone wall like it was paper. Olose ran and leapt up into the building, through the hole he had created.

Abaj was already stood there, and kicked. Olose shot back down into the street below and crashed into a chocobo cart. They weren't even in their werewolf forms. They didn't need to be. Not anymore. The anger both felt gave them unbelievable strength, strength the human form wasn't ever supposed to contain. Abaj leapt down at Olose, but Olose had already picked up one of the wheels from the cart and thrown it at Abaj like a disk. It slammed into Abaj and knocked him out of the air, the wood shattering and splintering in all directions. Olose took the opportunity as Abaj was falling, and ran in, kicking him in the chest with all his rage behind it.

Abaj shot through the building behind him, an item shop, and crashed out the other side. Olose stared through the hole at where Abaj had landed. Abaj growled. The two ran at each other, hitting each other inside the shop.

Olose through a punch and Abaj blocked it, his arm shattering in the process, the bones unable to hold back the strength of the punch. His arm quickly regenerated as Abaj through a punch if his own. Olose didn't need to block it, there was no point. Nothing could stop hits that powerful, and he'd just break his arm as he did to Abaj. The punch hit him and he rocketed through the wall, crashing into the weapons shop next door.

Olose quickly hurled whatever weapons came to him. Swords, spears and knives, all thudding into Abaj's body. Abaj was momentarily stunned as Olose ran and tackled him, the two crashing back out into the street and the lashing rain. Abaj got to his feet, hurling the weapons lodged in him to the floor.

"This is it!" He shouted over the thundering rain. "The end!"

"I will kill you, Abaj." Olose said plainly.

"Oh no, Olose. You don't understand." Laughed Abaj. "This isn't the twilight of the immortal as it was last time. Not any more. This is the dawn of the immortal! The dawn of my rule! Tonight, I will defeat you and then the world shall be mine!"

"You're crazy, Abaj." Olose began to speak.

"The pain you inflicted on me, Olose, is the cause of THAT!" Abaj slammed into Olose, sending him flying down the street and slamming into a building at the end, sending stone fragments flying everywhere. Abaj charged once more, and Olose grabbed the shards of stone, hurling them Abaj as he approached. They slammed into Abaj, tripping him over and knocking him to the floor. Olose ran at him before he could get up, moving with superhuman speed.

"Don't you talk to me about PAIN!" Olose screamed, kicking Abaj in the ribs and sending him rocketing straight up. Olose leapt into the air and slammed Abaj downwards, causing him to crash into the stone street, rocketing down it like a meteor. Abaj got up and hurled a stone fragment at Olose, hitting him and distracting him enough for Abaj to deliver a strike that sent Olose rocketing through the air and crashing into the upper floor of a tavern.

Olose climbed out of the fragments of the bed he had crashed into, in a luckily unoccupied room. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed as Abaj leapt through the hole. Olose was quick and hit Abaj hard. Abaj countered, slamming Olose with an overhead strike so powerful that the floor beneath the two immortals collapsed and they plummeted into the bar below.

People screamed and ran as the two warriors locked, tearing at each other and trying to overcome each other through their own strength. The two pushed against each other before Abaj, his mind much clearer than Olose's, dropped backwards and kicked Olose over him, using Olose's own strength to propel him. Olose crashed out of the tavern wall and into the street on the other side.

"You're pathetic!" Snarled Abaj as Olose got up. "Why keep fighting? It won't bring her back! She's dead!"

"I will have my vengeance, Abaj." Olose stated.

"Your vengeance will bring you no peace." Cackled the evil monster. "You hero types are all the same. You think that defeating me will make the loss of your daughter go away? That it will be any easier in any way? You can't win Olose! The winner of this fight has already been decided, and it's me."
"You-" Olose fell to his knees again. "Took my daughter, from me. From Arcadia. You took our daughter from us." He looked up, tears mixed with rain blinding him. "She was a week old, Abaj! A week! Take me! Take Arcadia! But not her! She's completely innocent! She didn't even have a chance to live!" He sobbed.

"And that's what makes it so painful." Abaj taunted. "Yes, I considered killing your wench, but I knew that she had lived, she had a life. Stealing one that never got one. Now that is the way to anger you."

"She never had a chance." Olose muttered. "She never had a chance. You took it from her. And you took her from ME!" Olose sprang upwards, tackling Abaj and charging with him down the street. He threw Abaj with incredible force at the building at the end of the street. Abaj crashed into it with such incredible strength the entire building caved in upon him. Olose stood there panting for a moment before Abaj burst out, in his complete werewolf form, black fur almost invisible against the night sky.

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" He roared. "YOU CANNOT! I AM IMMORTAL!" He charged at Olose, who had used Abaj's yelling to take on his own werewolf form, and the two beasts clashed.

If the street couldn't contain their rage before, this time the city couldn't contain them. Abaj swiped, clawing down Olose's face. Olose kicked Abaj with all of his strength, and Abaj rocketed through the building and crashed directly through the outer wall of Tavnazia. Olose ran at him on all fours, but Abaj had already righted himself and lunged at Olose. He hit Olose and Olose shot backwards across the city in the same direction, slamming into the cliff that surrounded Tavnazia, triggering a huge rockslide, burying the hero.

"It is over, Olose." Abaj panted. "Over! I WON!" He roared. "Get up Olose! I'm not done with you! You won't take my vengeance from me! No, you won't! This can't be over!"

"YOU'RE DAMMED RIGHT!" A blur of grey fur tackled Abaj and he flew outside of the city once more, crashing down in the forest that surrounded it. Abaj couldn't stand before Olose was upon him, sticking his claw through Abaj's chest and hurling him, using Abaj's own internal organs as a handle to get his grip on. Abaj crashed down by the river. "Look familiar, Abaj?" Olose screamed. "You killed me here, all those years ago!"

"Well, I'm sorry to be repetitive." Abaj smirked.

"You took everything from me. You murdered my entire race. You turned Nadia against me. You caused the death of my family. You even killed me, Abaj." He began to walk towards the beast. "But her. Why did you kill her? WHY? She was a child! She was innocent! She didn't even experience life! WHY DID YOU DO IT?" Tears streamed from Olose's werewolf face, running down the fur.

"Because it hurts." Abaj answered. "It hurts you."

"Yes, Abaj. It hurt me." Olose muttered, the strength in his voice failing. "It hurt me. AND I'LL SHOW YOU JUST HOW MUCH!" Olose sprang at Abaj once more, this time tackling him into the river. The two splashed down, the river running red with their blood as they clashed.

The two smashed against the shore, and before Abaj could get to his feet Olose struck upwards. Abaj rocketed completely clean of the woods, breaking down the trees as he did so. Olose ran at him, and Abaj struck Olose as he approached, sending Olose flying into the distance. Olose crashed down painfully, forming a crater as he did so. Abaj tore across the landscape at incredible speed. Abaj struck Olose, knocking him back again. He tore at Olose, ripping into his flesh. He tore chunks of Olose's skin from him and held them in his claws. He picked Olose up and threw him once more, again Olose sailing into the night.

The wounds in Olose regenerated as he stood in the field, seeing Abaj approach. Lighting struck being him, causing his silhouette to stand out clearly. Olose flung the strike as Abaj got close enough. Abaj struck too. The two warriors hit each other and shot off in opposite directions.

Olose got to his feet, his wounds still regenerating, dazed from the attack. Abaj suffered no such problem and was on top of him quickly, ripping at him again. Olose threw Abaj off, high into the sky. Abaj crashed down in another wood. The warriors had travelled that far. It wasn't any wood. It was that wood. Lycan wood. Where it had all started. The battle had taken them to there, as if it was destiny luring them to it. This was where, one way or the other, it would end.

Olose tore across the landscape, approaching Abaj. He slammed him down onto that path. Where he had met Arcadia. Abaj crashed down in the mud, but Olose didn't stop. He let out a terrific scream as he tore into Abaj. He didn't just tear into his flesh. He tore his apart. He ripped at Abaj until there was nothing less. Abaj managed a final howl just before Olose managed to tear off his head.

Olose stood there, panting. He fell to his knees. It was over. He stared at the bloody mess of guts in front of him, all that was left of his arch nemesis. Abaj was right. It didn't bring him peace. It didn't bring her back. Olose's werewolf form slipped away as he knelt there, naked, screaming into the air in agony, in the very place where everything had begun so long ago.

Two weeks later Olose stood over a small stone, alone. 'Talia Sampson' was inscribed upon it. He had visited it everyday. Arcadia had barely been able to make the journey. Her sorrow was so great she couldn't face it. But he'd be there. Somehow as if it would make up for never being able to care for her. Never being able to raise her. He couldn't be there for her life. He'd be there in her death. He'd never forget her. For as long as he'd live, he'd never forget her.

Once again he fell to his knees, weeping. She was gone. He'd never be able to care for her. To raise her. She was murdered before his eyes. Everything Abaj had said was true. The pain didn't go away. Abaj Tuh was dead, but that wouldn't bring him peace. Not ever. She was gone. Her chance at life snatched away. He'd never be able to raise her, never able to give her that life. It was his fault. Abaj had done it to get vengeance on him. He had got her killed. It was all his fault. All of it! He had killed her! And she was gone, forever, because of him!

Olose cried into the ground, curled up before the grave. Somebody was behind him.

"Olose. I'm so sorry." A broken voice managed to say. "Oh goddess, I'm so sorry." It was Nadia. "I didn't know."

"Nadia." He stated. "Leave. Now."

"Olose, please, I'm so sorry." Nadia sobbed. "I had no idea. I was tricked."

"I know, Nadia." Olose said simply. "I could have saved her. He would never have taken her, were it not for you." He gulped. "I want to forgive you Nadia. I don't want to blame you. But I do." Nadia let out a loud whimper.

"You have every right to." She said quietly. "I don't deserve forgiveness. I can't expect it."

"We were all to blame, Nadia. I-I got her killed as much as you." Olose had replayed that conversation with Abaj in his mind a hundred times. That moment. When he had chosen to take her life. Abaj's unstable psyche had been thrown off balance by Olose's words. Dammit, if only he'd been more careful! He'd give anything to replay those moments. Anything. "I-" He paused. "Nadia. I forgive you. I can't quell that feeling of anger for you. Not yet. I think I need time." He looked down at the grave. "It still hasn't sunk in, you know? That she's gone."

"It still hasn't sunk in that I've lost you." Nadia wept. "You were my best friend, my brother, my captain, and I threw it all away because I'm stupid."

"I'm still here." Olose sobbed. "I'm still here. We can make things up. But she's gone. Forever. Taken from me. There is no vengeance. There is no peace. She's gone forever and she'll never come back." He turned to Nadia, who had the end of her arm still wrapped in a bandage. Life was going to be much more difficult for her now. "Head to Bastok." He told her. "Their engineers might have something there for you. Something to make your life easier."

"Olose, I-" Nadia began.

"Perhaps, when you come back, I will have had enough time. I'll be able to look you in the eyes and forgive you." Olose let the tears run down his face. "Please, Nadia, go."

Nadia turned and left Olose, knelt before that gravestone, weeping for his lost daughter.

She was never coming back.

Author's Notes: Urm, now you've read that, I have to say I'm not sure if I overplayed it. For starters, the way the final battle works is a new one for me, but that's because I didn't want it to be like all the other fights, so I had them flinging each other around. I'm also aware it seems slightly cheap that they ended up in Lycan Woods at the end, as well as slightly unbelievable, but I figured it was the most dramatic location, and helped emphasise just how hard they were hitting each other. That's supposed to be a side effect of their werewolf strength, being able to hit each other around like rag dolls. Hopefully it worked to make it dramatic without being over the top or too comical, I'm not really sure, first time I've written like that before.

I'm also aware I also slightly overdid the italic yelling, but I figured it was the best way to convey their rage. I hope that didn't seem too corny either.