He began walking towards her, each step bringing him nearer to his destiny, each step filled with dread and regret. Thunderchild didn't want to go, he knew he would but he didn't want to leave Domino behind.
All good things have to end he thought bitterly to himself as he reached the foot of the hill on top of which Jara now stood, he turned to say goodbye and saw Domino race past him up towards his nemesis.
"Huh? Domino!" he said, whirling back around and running after her.
Domino reached the summit of the hill and stopped.
If I can beat Jara then he won't have to leave me…we can cheat destiny! She thought as she pushed herself into Trance x2, or as she had come to call it more recently, Phoenix trance.
"Domino! No, don't…!"
She lifted herself up off the ground and flew towards Jara, her arms raised and an Ultima spell ready to use. Too late, she saw the red tint around Jara that indicated that she had also gone into trance, too late she realised the power she was up against.
Jara raised an arm and Domino felt the air around her electrify.
Thunderchild looked up, saw the lightning hit her, saw her scream and fall out of Phoenix trance and the sky. He ran to catch her, scooping her limp form into his arms and shooting an evil look at Jara.
"Your genome is pathetic, Yissan."
"Yes," he replied with a sob "But she is my wife."
Domino's eyes flickered open, her breathing was shallow but steady.
"Yissan?" she said
Thunderchild smiled and placed a hand on her brow.
"It's time to say goodbye Yugami…we both know why."
She nodded and sobbed, a tear falling from her eye.
"It's one of the hardest words I've ever had to say…goodbye." He said, reflectively.
Domino put her arm around him.
"Then don't say it…stay with me." She gasped
Thunderchild slowly shook his head.
"You know I can't do that, this is how it has to end."
Domino closed her eyes for a moment and sighed deeply.
"There's nothing more I can do? Nothing more I can say?"
Thunderchild sighed too and leant closer to her.
"No, not any more…just think that, our love will rise out of the flames around us, like the Phoenix that saved your life, Domino listen to me…though I may be gone, I'll always live on in your thoughts, that's how I know that my memory will last forever."
She punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"But memories are never the same as reality." She protested weakly.
Thunderchild hugged her closely and whispered into her ear:
"But sometimes they're all we have…goodbye Domino, live your life as though I never left you because…in your heart, I never did."
She pulled away from his embrace then pulled him close for their last kiss. When they parted she smiled faintly and whispered:
"Goodbye…Yissan, and remember that where-ever you go my heart will be with you…and so will I."
Then she lost consciousness again, leaving Thunderchild to carry her down to Nagy, Zidane and Proeliator and hand her over into Nagy's arms.
"Time to go lads." He said sombrely.
Nagy nodded while Zidane baulked at the idea.
"What! No! We're here to help you!" he protested.
"No Zidane…this is my fight…my destiny. There's nothing any of you can do."
Zidane went to walk up to Thunderchild, to force some sense into him but Proeliator grabbed him by his coat and pulled him back.
"Listen to the man Zidane, you can't interfere with destiny…you shouldn't even try."
"But what about Domino!" tried Zidane in desperation.
Thunderchild bowed his head and sighed.
"She'll move on, we all do. Just, be there for her for me? Promise?"
Zidane pulled away from Proeliator and bowed in front of Thunderchild.
"I don't agree with what you're doing…but I understand how you feel…two years ago I risked my life to return to my dying brother, I did it on my own…against the advice and wishes of all my friends, and I nearly died doing it, I didn't have to do it…but I wanted to…I needed to. Good luck Thunderchild, and I promise I'll take care of Domino."
Thunderchild smiled and patted Zidane on his shoulder.
"Thank you."
Nagy, still holding Domino and Proeliator now came to say goodbye.
"Be careful TC…and, good luck." Said Proeliator with a nod and a handshake.
"You'll win Thu, hands down…just make sure you come back alive, for Domino's sake, ok?" said Nagy with a smile, indicating the limp genome in his arms.
Thunderchild grinned and blushed.
"I'm lucky to have friends like you. Now go! Don't wait for me, get in the Phoenix and get the hell out of here!"
He turned and walked back up the hill towards Jara.
Nagy turned to Proeliator.
"You'd better bring the Phoenix here, there's no-way I can carry her all the way to Hallis…use the teleporter, Zidane do you know how to operate this thing?" he asked, indicating the slightly battered and aged control panel.
Zidane walked forward and looked at it.
"Yeah…I think so, I can try putting you within half a mile of the Phoenix, Proeliator, although you might land up in a wall or something."
"I'll have to take that risk." Said Proeliator with a grim determination.
He stood on the teleportation platform and as Zidane operated the controls, disappeared with a shimmer of light and symbols.
Then they turned around to watch the battle begin.
Reaching the summit, he drew Draconus and advanced slowly towards her.
"So…the circle is complete…"
"It ends here Jara…you know as well as I do."
Thunderchild was aware of creatures surrounding him, surrounding them, not quite visible but not quite invisible, they moved slowly and made strange disturbing noises.
"Can't you hear them Yissan? The lost, wanting to find their way home…I gave them a chance, I gave us a chance to bring it all back…and you condemned them to stay lost forever!"
He was disturbingly aware that the creatures he was seeing were the lost souls of Terra, brought back from their eternal slumber by Jara's meddling with the flow of souls.
"No-one should have to live with the guilt of several million lives being murdered. What right have we to dictate who lives and who dies Jara? We are not gods!"
Jara walked forward, a cruel smile on her face.
"But that's where you are wrong Yissan…for I am a goddess and you will fall before me like grass before a scythe!"
She lifted her arm and Thunderchild braced himself for a magic attack, instead she created a golden rod with three blades at either end, it looked a lot like Zidane's Ultima weapon but glowed with a fiery light.
Then she swung it at him and he moved Draconus to block the blow, when their weapons met there was a tremendous noise like an explosion and a bright light blinded him for a moment, when it cleared he saw her swinging it back around for another blow.
Proeliator materialised within inches of a crumpled steel structure, breathing out slowly he thanked whatever had caused him to miss a grisly fate. He took a moment to orientate himself and set off for where he could just about see the Phoenix in the ruined plaza. Far away in the distance there was a low rumble and the ground shook slightly underfoot.
"So…the battle's underway." He muttered, looking back over his shoulder as lightning rent the horizon, then he turned back, focusing on his destination and their survival.
They battled fast and furiously, Thunderchild using his ability to slow time to move as a blur of colours to onlookers Zidane and Nagy, but where-ever he moved, Jara was there blocking his move and making an attack of her own. They blocked, parried, attacked and somersaulted through the air, flashes of light being created whenever their blades met. Then for a moment they paused, circling each other.
"It isn't too late Yissan." Hissed Jara.
"To do what? Become a god of destruction of ruin? To become like the genomes you so despise?"
"I would treat you as an equal Yissan! Together we would reign over the reborn lands!"
"No chance Jara!"
"Then I have no choice than to kill you."
Thunderchild nodded and readied himself for another round of onslaughts.
"I'm prepared to die for what I believe in…are you?"
Jara responded to his question with a Thundaga attack which caught him off guard and threw him backwards. He rolled to the side to avoid being skewered by her blade which crashed to the ground where he had landed. Then he stood up and threw a Firaga spell at her which she brushed aside.
Nagy tapped his foot impatiently.
Where is Proeliator? He wondered, feeling the ground shake beneath him as Jara and Thunderchild once again traded blows above them. He could see the worry in Zidanes eyes too.
"You ok?" he asked the genome.
Zidane didn't move his eyes away from the battle but replied.
"I've never seen such power…such speed…not even Necron…"
Nagy nodded, scanning the skies for the Phoenix.
"Yes…I don't know what's happening up there but it's no ordinary battle."
Proeliator leapt inside the ship and ran into the pilots chair, he looked around with a momentary feeling of panic as he surveyed the alien writing and read-outs, but then what Thunderchild had taught him came back and he began to power up the ship.
"For gods sake Proeliator…don't screw up." He muttered as the ship began to come to life.
They had given up using their weapons and now had resorted to throwing magic at each other, Jara flung both her hands in front of her and a bolt of electricity arced through the air towards Thunderchild who saw it coming and sent a bolt of his own back. The two bolts met and blocked each other, the energy gathering in one large ball of light in the middle of the red and blue beams coming from Jara and Thunderchild respectfully.
Eventually Thunderchild weakened and the full force connected with him, sending him flying off the hillside and into the sky, where he stayed, hovering in the air. He raised his arms and cast Mega-Flare, sending four large balls of light crashing down on Jara, turning the hillside into an inferno as he lapsed into Ultima trance.
Nagy and Zidane ran clear of Thunderchilds attack as the hill behind them exploded, sending shockwaves through the ground and knocking both of them off their feet. When Nagy hit the ground Domino rolled out of his arms and hit a lump of masonry, causing her to jolt out of her unconsciousness.
"Wha…what's happening?" she slurred, semi-coherently.
"We're getting the hell out of here!" yelled Nagy as he picked her up again and ran with Zidane.
Behind them, out of the flames, rose Jara.
"My god." Muttered Proeliator as he flew into a scene of chaos, he could see Thunderchild to his right, hovering in the air with his hair a distinct light blue and a blue tail coming from his back. Meanwhile Jara in front of him rose up from the inferno that was their former battleground, she had her arms open and looked like an avenging angel. When she saw the Phoenix she sent a blast of energy towards it, causing Proeliator to rapidly evade and dive towards the ground.
The Phoenix eluded Jara's shot and before she could follow up with a more accurate attack, Thunderchild attacked her with his own energy force. Using Mega-Flare again he managed to distract her away from the spaceship and refocus her attention on him.
He then dodged left as she retaliated and cast Child of the Storm, sending powerful streaks of lightning hurtling down out of the sky at her, bizarrely she not only blocked the attack but returned fire with the same spell, knocking Thunderchild out of the sky and sending him crashing to the ground.
How the hell did she do that? He wondered briefly as he stood back up and returned to the air, a little more wary this time.
Proeliator landed the Phoenix nearby as the ground once again shook underfoot.
As Domino saw them heading towards the craft she regained almost full consciousness with a jolt.
"We can't leave him!" she yelled
"And we can't stay." Replied Nagy as another fissure opened up nearby, spreading fire across the ground.
Domino pulled herself out of his arms and ran towards Thunderchild, Nagy swore and followed her.
"Don't be stupid Domino!" he yelled.
Fortunately for both of them, a large fissure opened up between the battle and Domino, she went to jump over it but the violent shaking of the ground around her and the heat from the plummet to Terra's molten core persuaded her not to.
Nagy grabbed her and pulled her away from the edge and back to the Phoenix. She went limp in his arms, sobbing and wailing, her arms outstretched towards her husband who had sustained another direct hit from Jara.
Thunderchild saw Nagy, Zidane, and Domino join Proeliator in the Phoenix out of the corner of his eye and judged it to be the perfect moment to use what he hoped was the finishing blow to Jara, she also had the same idea in mind, hoping to kill Thunderchild and still be able to destroy the puny spaceship before it was too late.
They were now both fighting over a landmass that was tearing itself apart, in the near distance the assimilator exploded in one almost constant detonation, the ground rocked continuously and in areas close to the assimilator lava had leaked up through the ground and was spreading itself over the area. Dozens of fissures to the core of the planet had opened up, their heat causing the surrounding area to burst into flames. Lightning tore the sky asunder but the thunder could not be heard over the blasts from the collapsing assimilator.
He crossed his arms, just as Jara did and cast Overdrive, sending a whirling cascade of purple and blue light streaking through the air towards Jara while falling out of Ultima trance at the same time. Jara used the same technique and fell out of her trance, both attacks struck each other in mid-air and detonated, sending out a violent shockwave which threatened to knock the Phoenix into a fiery abyss.
Both fighters landed on their feet, staring at each other, they had landed within a circle of fire, there was no escape, one fissure had cracked the earth open between them and suddenly Thunderchild knew how he had to end this battle. He knew the only way he could defeat Jara…and he knew why he had foreseen his end in this place.
As Jara leapt over the fissure to advance and attack him, he broke into a run.
Domino squinted to bring the battlefield into a clearer focus, she could see Jara cross the fissure to attack Thunderchild.
"There's no way they can beat each other…they're too evenly matched." Said Zidane from next to her, Nagy nodded and grunted in agreement.
As the Phoenix took off into the air and circled once over the battlefield, Domino saw Thunderchild break into a run.
"What is he doing!" she yelled, banging her hands against the window.
She saw Thunderchild collide squarely with Jara, his shoulder hitting her chest, she stumbled and fell backwards into the gap she had just leapt and with her fell Thunderchild. They disappeared from sight almost instantly, and a flare of flame leapt up into the air from the fissure, sealing their fate.
"NOOO!" screamed Domino, as she collapsed to her knees.
"I've lost both their lifesigns!" Reported Proeliator.
A large explosion made Nagy look to the rear of them. The entire landmass was erupting in fire and explosions as the assimilator finally broke down into itself.
A chunk of rock the size of a small house flew past the ship, missing it by inches as more and more fissures opened up across the land, sending more burning debris up into the atmosphere and towards them.
"Proeliator, get us out of here!" yelled Nagy as another huge rock hurtled skyward.
The Phoenix accelerated rapidly and climbed quickly into Terra's stratosphere. Proeliator hit a couple of switches until one of the viewers on the control panel in front of him displayed an image of the landmass they had just left. It was slowly collapsing into the ground, there may not have been a sea there but if there had have been it would have fallen into the sea. As it was it was merely disintegrating, lava bubbled up in many places as the skies were dark with clouds of ash and debris, but, rather miraculously, the destruction seemed to be limited to that one small continent, the rest of Terra was still relatively intact.
Well, that's one thing that's good about this thought Zidane as the Phoenix headed across the stars towards Gaia, and home. He turned and looked towards Domino, she was still on her knees and her face was blank, almost in a state of shock. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, remembering the promise he had made to Thunderchild. She looked up, her face still blank.
"Even though he said he would go…I didn't believe it…at the end of the day, I never expected for him…to go like that."
Zidane picked her up by her arm and lead her towards the beds at the back of the ship.
"Come on…you need some rest."
She followed him, not knowing what else to do…now that her guiding star had faded away.
Once again, she was alone, adrift in the vast space of life.
And she felt so empty without him.