You get to find out a little more about Amias (my made up Eidolon) in this chapter. This twist in the plot was unexpected even to me. It just sort of…appeared on the screen as I typed. I only loosely plan my stories anyway. ENJOY AND REVIEW!
Chapter twelve
"Cowards die many times before their deaths;
the valiant never taste of death but once."
- William Shakespeare
The male Genome found himself resting face down on a cold, hard surface. His whole body was wracked with a pain he had never experienced in his life, so he made no attempt to move. His head was swimming and he squeezed his eyes shut.
Where am I? he thought through a haze. The last thing I remember was standing outside Alexandria…and summoning Amias…but…what happened after that? Am I dead?
'WHAT IS THIS?' an incredibly powerful voice boomed above him, easily snapping him out of his detached state.
Carefully, he lifted his head and looked up.
WHERE THE HELL AM I? a voice screamed inside his head. I-is this…Gaia? No! I-it can't be…!
The land was black as night and the sky was a poisonous red that held a jet sun, lifeless and ugly, in its expansive hand. He realized he was on some sort of plateau, far above the ground; the remnants of a winding staircase curled around it like a constrictor.
But he realized abruptly that this couldn't be Gaia, surely not, because around him stood the three most magnificent Eidolons he had ever set eyes on. One was all too familiar for his liking, Bahamut, the King of Dragons. His massive, armored body hovered heavily in the sky, beating his powerful wings that sent dust skimming across the ground below.
And there was Alexander! The one who had defeated Bahamut ten years ago. Its gigantic wings were spread in a hostile manner and great pillars of steam billowed from various parts of its mechanical body.
Both were facing an Eidolon Zidane did not recognize but knew all too well. It was a colossal beast, reaching up to half of Alexander's height. It crouched on its eight legs; its snout was long and cruel, rimmed with razor fangs that dripped with green saliva. The beast's four eyes, red as lava, burned into the other two Eidolons. From the middle back its body was armored with a scaly tan hide, yet the entire front of its body was carpeted with a thick layer of fur, of the richest of blacks. It's crocodile looking tail swept the ground menacingly.
Amias.
'What is going on?' Alexander boomed, causing Zidane to cover his ears.
Amias laughed wryly. 'I…am not dead. I told you, I am the Eidolon of Death. My reason for being is to destroy my brothers. My Summoner did not seal me; the most ancient of Eidolons sealed me, because they feared me. They trapped my body away in the deepest recesses of space and time, and enslaved my soul to the amulet until one worthy enough to set me free would claim it.'
Zidane could hardly believe his ears! Kuja had been wrong! Amias had used Zidane to get to the other Eidolons to fulfill his destiny!
'Now my brothers,' Amias snarled, 'what were you saying about…wanting to watch me suffer?'
He leapt into the air, casting a long shadow over the Genome and the wasteland. Bahamut seared away, diving to the left, while Alexander stood its ground; no physical attack could hurt the mammoth machine. Skidding across the ground, Amias turned and leapt again at the Dragon King snarling wildly.
'Z-Zidane…Zid..?'
Amias snapped onto the dragon in mid air, who began howling manically, tossing and turning in a vein attempt to throw the beast off, for Amias had latched firmly onto the dragons arm. Crunch! It came away in the Eidolon's mouth and black blood gushed to the floor. Bahamut screamed in furious agony.
Zidane turned his head, still unable to move his body, toward the voice that had just rung out across the platform.
Alexander aimed a Holy Beam at the eight-legged Eidolon, but it bounced harmlessly off its scaly hide. Amias ignored its attempt and continued its struggle with the dragon King. But he was caught off guard, and before he knew what had hit him Bahamut's tail had knocked him off his many feet and across the darkened landscape.
Zidane looked across the obsidian platform and couldn't believe it. I…must be…it can't be? Can it? Am I imagining this?
Amias rose quickly to his feet before Bahamut could gain any ground and tore through the air again, using its powerful back legs to propel him off the ground. Bahamut opened its mouth and black flames ripped through the air. The black furred beast merely knocked them aside with its elegant snout and hit the dragon dead on his chest, knocking him from the sky. The King was now pinned against the dusty floor.
'Z-Zidane…I…'
'THIS IS THE END FOR YOU, KING OF DRAGONS!' Amias screamed into his face.
'Garnet…G-Garnet?' Zidane staggered to his feet, never taking his eyes off the figure that crowned the throne. He flinched as the pain ripped through his senses and coughed up more blood. One foot over another, slowly, slowly, he made his way toward the seat of thorns. Crimson blood gushed from various cuts and he thought he might just fall to pieces.
But he didn't care.
'ALEXANDER, HELP ME!' the dragon screamed, terrified now as Amias raised its clawed paw.
Amias laughed. 'It is too late, brother, no one can help you now!'
'Help me Zidane!' the dark haired woman pleaded to the Genome.
'I-is that…you…Garnet?'
Zidane hardly recognized her. Her dark hair was a tangled mess, entwined with the long black thorns that bordered her body. Her face was drawn and her brown eyes were sunken. Her shriveled limbs were cut and bleeding, some thorns were even piercing her skin.
But he was too overwhelmed. Tears ran freely down his bruised face. He wiped the blood from his lips, leaned forward - no longer feeling the pain in that blissful moment- and kissed her.
The paw came down and Bahamut was decapitated. Its scaly body now a lifeless lump beneath the Eidolon of Death.
'You see the fate you have dug yourself, Alexander?' Amias roared triumphantly. 'You shall face the same endless destiny as he, now!'
'You cannot defeat me,' Alexander cried. 'I am not of blood and flesh; your physical attacks are futile! This will be your last day.'
Zidane broke the kiss. 'Y-your alive…a-are you…?'
She looked at him desperately then, tears streamed down her cheeks. She tried to pull forward but the thorns cut deeper into her skin. 'Zidane, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry for everything! I never meant it to go this far…I never meant for anything to happen at all! Please forgive me Zidane! Oh let the world forgive me!'
Zidane shook his head, absently wiped the blood that trickled from his forehead into his eyes away. 'You're not the one who should be sorry. I should be the one to ask for your forgiveness, Garnet. I left you too many times to count without ever thinking of your feelings. I'm an idiot. I deserve to die; you don't.'
'Don't say that!' she cried, then calmed a little. 'We both have wronged each other. If we are blessed with another chance…then…I…I…' Her chocolate-brown eyes brimmed with tears again.
The sight was unbearable. Zidane leaned forward and kissed her again. 'Don't…Everything's okay now…as long as we're together again.'
Alexander, who had been summoning his energy while Amias and the defeated Bahamut had been battling, released an abysmal Holy Judgment attack on the Eidolon of Death. The white light burned in the sky and the column and staircase shook violently as it hit Amias dead on and exploded. Even the houses through the portal in Alexandria quivered from the aftershock.
Zidane tore himself away from his trapped wife to look disbelievingly at the colossus dust cloud that was forming in front of him. His world was blacked out and he put a hand over his mouth so the dust wouldn't get in. No! No! This can't be! Amias was our last hope! He can't be -
'DEAD!' Alexander boomed. 'I have destroyed the destroyer! Now our plans will prevail, even if I must rule alone, it will make little difference to the outcome! I am now the new Eidolon of Death and -'
'Not quite.'
A burst of laughter erupted from Zidane's mouth as the clearing dust cloud revealed an unscathed Amias.
'I told you; I am Death. I must fulfill my purpose, and I shall not die until I do it!'
'Zid…Zidane?' Garnet's voice whimpered behind the Genome. 'What's happening? Is that an Eidolon?'
For the first time in many months Zidane snapped back to reality. He had been so overcome with seeing his wife well again that he had forgotten what he was there to do. He was meant to destroy her, for she was the source of their power.
He looked at her pleading eyes, her desperate expression, and remembered her willingness to begin again.
She was not possessed any longer! How could he do it? He would not have to do it, surely? If she no longer governed them then killing her would make no difference. But…if Amias failed… the Eidolons would reign supreme and continue using Garnet as a weapon to keep the portal open… he would have to…
Amias, you must win!
Amias was quivering very slightly. Two of his four eyes were closed and his tail lay motionless on the floor that had become cratered from Alexander's attack. The mechanical Eidolon seemed taken aback by its invulnerability and was standing there at a loss of what to do. The eight-legged beast began to glow a grass green as it summoned a powerful aura.
Zidane turned alarmed to his wife. 'I must get you out!'
He unsheathed his dagger and began to lash trough her thorny throne at a terrifying speed. The black vines fell away from her visage and she grimaced in pain as they were torn from her flesh.
Once her arms were free Zidane clutched them tentively and looked into her eyes. 'This is really going to hurt,' he said softly.
He gripped his wife's hands a little tighter and pulled her to her feet. She released an agonizing scream as the thorns that were lodged into her back and legs slid free revealing asymmetrical holes that spewed blood thickly. She collapsed into his arms, but he found he was too weak to hold her and they fell to the floor together.
'THIS WILL BE THE DESTRUCTION OF YOU!' Amias screamed as his aura increased.
Panicking, Alexander desperately released a Holy Beam but it relflected uselessly off the incredible beast before him.
'I PRESENT TO YOU MY FINAL ATTACK,' it cried, and Zidane heard distantly in his head, This is all I can give you, mortal, I'm sorry.
Wh-what did it mean by that?
'END OF THE EIDOLONS!'
there was curious silent for a moment in which Zidane found himself wondering if he would wake up. But looking to his right he saw four massive black balls of magic shoot up from Amias' body into the red sky. They hissed as they flew, faster than anything he had ever seen, then as quickly as they rose, they shot to the ground.
He missed! He missed Alexander!
The black-furred beast then began to emit vigorous waves that slowly pushed Zidane and Garnet along the platform. After sweeping by them Zidane heard the sound of explosions in the far distant where the energy waves had come to a stop.
And all of a sudden Zidane realized what it was doing. It's not destroying Alexander specifically, it's destroying this entire planet! 'We have to leave now!' Zidane cried.
'Zid.' Her voice was strained. 'I…I can't move. I'm so…tired…it hurst so much… I just want to be with you. Nothing matters now, as long as we're together. Gaia is saved.'
'N-no! I wont give up!' He hauled himself to his feet, felt the pain rip through him and screamed, his chest felt weak from his broken ribs and as he tried to sustain both his and Garnet's weight, wounds ripped open and blood began to gush faster than ever. 'I WONT GIVE UP!' he screamed. 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you!' He took a step forward. 'I want to have my children with you!' He took another step forward. 'I want to never leave your side again!' He supported her around her waist. 'I WILL NOT DIE HERE YET!'
'Zidane…'
The man felt some of her weight lifted off him as she struggled to keep herself upright. 'I wont give up then either. Let's go home, Zid.'
Feeling the tears well up, he nodded and they began to limp down the obsidian steps together. Pulse wave after pulse wave came and structure shuddered. Zidane guessed that it wouldn't last for much longer, especially when he realized that the distant explosions were gradually getting closer. They had to reach the portal before the explosions did! But…he was just so…
'Zid, I'm so tired…' Garnet groaned and stumbled slightly.
'It's okay. Come on, we have to hurry.'
Amias released more black magic balls that rained around them. The entire earth shuddered and as pockets of earth were spewed up into the air, craters formed and filled with a viscous ebony liquid that the planet was vomiting up, as if it was its blood. The ground cracked and Alexander tipped slightly then crashed to the floor. The impact was immeasurable and - now painfully making their way across the dead land - Zidane and Dagger tumbled over.
The Queen of Alexandria stared up at the scarlet sky. The thin wafers of cloud were swirling around Amias, gathering in masses above the source of its power. Every part of her body ached and she could feel her blood pooling behind her back. In some places she could feel the stab of the thorns that were still imbedded within her. Why go on? Why?
Then the answer came to her. Him. Zidane's face blossomed in front of her. His cheeks were smeared with blood and tears and in his eyes the determination of a hundred men glistened brightly. She can't give up yet. Even though she was content with dying with the one she loved at her side right now, she knew it would be better to live with the one she loved.
So she raised her arms and encircled them around his neck. The Genome heaved her fragile form up and she supported both him and herself as steadily as she could. Garnet had witnessed the brutal assault her old Eidolon Bahamut had laid into him; and thought he would die for sure. He had put himself through all that to save her - to save Gaia. She could not give up yet!
Come on Amias… Zidane thought, glancing over his shoulder. Yet looking at him now, he realized something. His aura was steadily growing but the look on the beasts face was so distinct… He's…not is he?…Oh gods…we have to hurry!
'Garnet,' Zidane said breathlessly, 'I'm sorry but we have to move faster. Amias is about to release his ultimate attack. He's trying to hold it back until we're out of this world but I don't think he can stop himself much longer.'
The portal was so close, and yet it seemed miles away to the couple. And things only got worse.
Garnet tried to hurry but stars danced before her eyes and as hard as she tried to fight them off, blackness enveloped her and she passed out.
'No!' Zidane cried as she toppled over. The ground shook and he heard Alexander scream. We don't have time! I…I have to…
He carefully picked Garnet's unconscious form up and stumbled slightly. He was so weak he could hardly hold himself up let alone another person! He cried as pain tore through his arms and chest. He took a step forward but fell to his knees. I can't…do…it…Garnet…I'm so sorry…
Yet the gods must have been listening, for a savior came to him then. And it was in the form of an owl.
CAN I JUST SAY SOMETHING? You know what REALLY pisses me off? Is when people read my stuff and don't review! Some of you people out there have even put this story in your favourites…and haven't bothered to review! PLEASE REVIEW! It only takes a moment of your time and it compels me to continue to write! Without you THERE WOULD BE NO STORY! Okay, I'm done ranting now (smiles innocently).
Sorry about another short chapter! But I don't want to cram everything in, you know? I have to admit I REALLY enjoyed writing this chapter. I just love putting my characters through pain! Lol. Accept Mikoto. Mikoto should never be put through pain. Ever. Ahem…anyway, next chapter coming up soon.
R&R…EVERYONE (glare). What do you think is going to happen?