Soundtrack: I changed up some things from the list of tracks I included in the direct link topic. Once the heroes arrive in the new location, "Eternal Abyss" is recommended, an Eccoremix off OCRemix. When out heroes fight Hyne the first time, "Dark Conflict", a Perfect dark remix off OCRemix. Hyne's entry into the cathedral should be accompanied by "Darkness Dawning" from Dark Side of Phobos. For the first stage of the final battle, "Advent: One Winged Angel" off the Advent Children soundtrack. And for the last stand, "The Last Summoning" is recommended, an FFX remix off OCRemix. Direct links should be in the forum topic.
Finale: The Final Fantasy
"Hm," said the young woman, turning around, stretching her arms out. "This is a mortal body, is it? Inefficient, weak and . . . ." she frowned. "This girl needed to go to the restroom when I possessed her. How annoying."
Hades managed a chuckle as Hyne turned toward him, glaring at him with Serra's eyes.
"Well, then, things are about ready to go, then, right?" she asked, and Hades shrugged.
"Go ahead, Hyne. Do your thing. But, I'd suggest we don't do it here. These people we've been dealing with have an annoying tendency to get back up at inopportune times, y'know."
"Agreed," Hyne replied. "Where to, then?"
"Center of the city would be a good place to make the dramatic destruction of the universe begin, I'd say. Let's roll."
The nunchaku twirled overhead, and then fell to the pavement beside Selphie as she stared down at Irvine. The sharpshooter looked back up to her, and saw her expression shift, the cold, lifeless demeanor she had exhibited an instant before vanishing into a look of shock and horror.
"Irvine?" she whispered, and dropped down beside him, grabbing him and pulling him into a hug. The sharpshooter blinked, confused, but his confusion melted as he heard her next words.
"Its over," she said, sobbing. "That thing . . . Its dead . . . ."
The instant Irvine understood what she was saying, he wrapped his arms around her, banishing the pain he felt, and pulling her in tight, managing something between a laugh and a sob of joy. She was back; Selphie was back in his hands, and everything was right with the world.
"We won, Selphie," he whispered into her ear. "We made it." Then, as an afterthought, Irvine reached up to his ear and pressed his radio. "Echo, stand down. Its over."
"Copy that."
"So," Hades remarked as he looked around the ruined plaza and burning vehicles. "Whaddya wanna bet that there's a bunch of happy sappy romance things going on as the heroes celebrate their apparent victory?"
"No bet," Hyne replied, her eyes closed as she focused her energy, and the power that Serra's body contained. "Now quiet. I have to concentrate; the power she acquired over the last four years is even greater than I anticipated."
"Yes, mommy," Hades muttered, crossing his arms and waiting for the next few moments.
Rinoa had downed a healing potion in the brief time that they had been separated; the wound on her stomach was nearly fully healed. She had followed the trail of destruction, to find Squall walking away from Illarra's beheaded corpse, wiping the slight traces of blood on the blade off with the hem of his coat.
"Is that it?' she asked as she ran up to him, and he nodded.
"Its over," he finished. "We won." he closed his eyes and shook his head. "But . . . we lost so much putting this to its conclusion." He opened his eyes and looked back to Rinoa, and then sheathed his blade. His right hand reached out toward her. "Let's go home, Rinoa."
"Good idea," she replied, and took his hand in hers.
"Y'know what would be awesome?" Hades commented as a single mote of light gathered before Serra's body. "If, when we breach the gateway and the barriers, that when the universe gets ripped a new one, when it happens, there isn't some gigantic explosion or some shit. I want the titanic, ultimate sound of the universe's destruction to be . . . a duck quacking. Yeah. That sounds about right. A fucking duck. What do you think, Hyne?"
She didn't answer, and Hades went back to his bored musings.
Hades' scythe may have been powerful and sharp as a razor, but as Quistis managed a cough as she lay in a pool of her own blood, it turned out that it wasn't as powerful or deadly as one would expect.
The warmth slowly returned to her extremities as the power Alucard had infused her with started to heal her wounds. The rip in her stomach sealed, her blood regenerating, and she slowly stood up, the front of her uniform soaked blood-red. She looked around the interior of Galbadia Garden, and saw Nash on the other side of the courtyard, struggling to get up and cursing to himself. Hyne and Hades were nowhere to be found, and neither was Serra.
A groan behind her caught her attention, and Quistis turned, to see Alucard slumped against the burnt monument, silvery light erupting from a dozen fissures in his skin, floating into the air and vanishing. He looked to Quistis, and raised a hand weakly toward her. With a sudden surge of energy, she ran over to his side, kneeling beside the blasted Guardian, grasping his hand tightly.
"What happened?" she asked, and Alucard coughed, silver light escaping his mouth as he did so, as if coughing up blood.
"They took her," whispered Alucard through a hoarse tone of voice. "Hades and Hyne have Serra . . . And they're going to use her to open the gateway . . . ."
"You mean-" Quistis began to say, and Alucard nodded sharply.
"It has . . . Begun . . . ." He coughed again. "The end . . . Hyne's Final Fantasy . . . ."
"We have to stop her," Quistis said, and Alucard nodded.
"She has gone . . . far from here. But You can still defeat her. You must be ready . . . for even in the heart of the city of dreams, she can be stopped. She must not . . . reach . . . Morpheus' Cathedral. The pool she desires . . . Zurvan resides in that structure. She cannot reach it."
He paused, and closed his eyes.
"You survived Time Compression," he whispered. "You can survive the transit to the city when Hyne opens the gateway . . . but you cannot defeat her as you are."
"I'm not going to just lay down and let her destroy existence," Quistis replied, and Alucard nodded.
"You would be like . . . throwing stones at a speeding train to her as she is. Even together, you are no match for her. The only thing that can stop her now is something more powerful than creation, or the end . . . ."
He suddenly opened his eyes, and his fingers tightened around her hand.
"Quistis. I cannot let myself pass yet. Not without . . . ." he stopped, closing his eyes, and took a deep breath. "I must admit this to you, my dear Quitis. When we ought, I did not abandon you because I thought you deserved destruction. I abandned you because I thought you betrayed me. Because, Quistis . . . I loved you, and I still do."
She stared down at him, at a shocked loss for words. Not waiting for her to say anything, he grasped her hand even more tightly.
"You must stop her. I cannot remain in this form; I am dying, and it would be millennia before I would reappear. I cannot wait that long . . . And so, I must ask this of you, my dear Quistis."
He planted her hand against his chest, silver light playing over her fingers.
"The Unbound operate differently from normal Guardians. We still follow some of the same tenets, but we do things differently when that happens. Thus, Quistis, I grant you the same status that the Bound you junction now grant you, but the consequences are far greater than mere physical strength.
"Draw the Unbound," he whispered. "Junction the Unbound.
"Become the Unbound."
"Gettin' bored," Hades muttered to himself. "I need something to kill, dammit." He rocked back and forth, tapping his foot impatiently, and looked back to Hyne in Serra's body. The girl's features contorted, and the intensity of the small orb of light began to grow.
Then, without any further warning, the ball exploded, and a shuddering vortex rippled out from where Hyne stood, a white swirl of destruction that unleash a strange, high-pitched and distorted waaak sound.
"Dude!" Hades shouted, pointing even as the wave rushed outward, blasting a hole in the universe. "Holy fuck! It is a duck quacking! Son of a bitch! I knew it! I knew it! That is so fucking awesome!"
Squall stood with Rinoa, holding her hand, and stared at the center of the city. The closest to the epicenter of the release of Serra's power, both of them saw the pulse of light rush outward toward them, engulfing them even as they pulled each other close.
Irvine and Selphie were still hugging and laughing, the sound of the helicopter's rotors fading away as it withdrew. They pulled back, and stared into each other's faces, and then were swept away in the white light surging from the center of the city.
"Suck it, beeches!" Zell shouted, pumping his fist in the air and doing a victory jig in the middle of the street over Malachi's charred remains. "Oh yeah! That is Zell Dincht who just kicked your ass, baby! Yeah! Booya in yo' face!"
Zell's impromptu endzone victory dance was rudely interrupted by a tidal wave of white light.
Seifer Almasy's feet were sticking out the windshield of a parked car. They were engulfed by white light.
"Hyne! Dammit!" Nash shouted, punching the floor. He looked around the courtyard, and spotted Quistis kneeling over Alucard, her hand on his chest, and what looked like blue and purple light cascading between them. His eyes widened as he realized exactly what was happening, and opened his mouth to speak, his all-consuming anger at Hyne momentarily forgotten.
But then the wave of white light swept over them all, and they plunged into an abyss that seemed to have no depth, no ending, no boundaries . . . the endless depths of time itself, and everyone held on as tightly as they could. However, only a select few survived; onlythose who had the strength of will and the experience involved in such a temporal transit remained when the surge of light carried them to their ultimate destination.
"Son of a bitch."
Seifer shook his head, wondering what the hell had just happened, and why everything was so dark. He pushed himself up off the ground, his palms pressing against cold stonework, and looked up. He'd had some insane, crazy dream, of floating and flying and fire and swirling around in a strange vertigo. His last memories were of flying through a car windshield, and now he . . . .
"Whoa."
Seifer turned, looking up and around him, at the nearly lightless surroundings he was immersed in. Buildings, seeming to have leapt from the pages of an ancient history book, loomed up around the small plaza he stood in, faintly illuminated by thousands of tiny pinpricks of light swirling through the streets and avenues, like lost souls floating on some non-existent wind. They drifted among and around him, floating like a gently flowing stream, passing into doorways and out of windows, a never-ending tide of miniscule mites of light. The sky above was an overcast gray, a swirling depth of endless, formless time, flowing in a sublime, almost casual chaos above. Aside from the flowing lights and the swirling sky, there was nothing moving, and absolute stillness in the strange city he awoke in.
With a chill, Seifer suddenly remembered what Alucard had spoken of, long ago, during the briefing before they battled Crell's armies.
"Carpasia," he whispered. The city of dreams, the place Hyne was seeking.
"Okay, this changes everything," Seifer muttered, and he could not have been more correct.
He turned, looking around the city, his hand no longer grasping Rinoa's. His crimson gaze fell across the city, stretching before him, as he stood atop a high tower along the edge of the metropolis. The vast, darkened city stretched out before him, a massive metropolis of ancient buildings, shrouded in darkness and lit only by the rivers of light flowing silently and serenely through the streets. Tall towers dotted the vast city as it floated in the void of gray time, sealed away from the mortal world.
This is . . . .
Carpasia, Squall.
What are we doing here?
Hyne has breached the gates of existence, and here we stand, on the edge of the end all things. Look, ahead.
Squall turned his eyes upward, and saw the vast crenellations of a structure in the center of the city, a mighty cathedral that would have dwarfed even the Presidential Palace in Esthar. Glimmering blue and gold lights drifted among the towers and buttresses of the ancient structure, and the river of light flowed and danced and swirled around the central structure.
Morpheus' Cathedral. Home of the Zurvan Pool, the force that grants any wish to the one who bathes in its waters. That is Hyne's ultimate goal.
The ultimate goal of all Guardians, you mean.
Please, Squall. I wouldn't enjoy a world where all that exists is pain and suffering. I far prefer to let people have their joys and happiness, to make that pain I inflict so much more powerful.
You expect me to believe you?
No. But you don't have any other choice. Hyne will travel to that cathedral, she will bathe in the pool, and everything will end. I trust you to make the proper decision in regards to this knowledge.
. . . Fine then. Let's go.
Squall Leonhart stepped off the tower and plunged down into the streets below, and began the hunt.
"Carpasia," Nash hissed as he stood atop the roof of a structure far away from Squall, and surveyed the city. "This is the City of Dreams . . . ."
Fire swirled around him for a moment, simmering around his feet.
"Garden, Carpasia, Dollet, whatever," he muttered, fingers tightening around his gunblade. "It doesn't matter where you go to, Hyne. I'm going to track you down and destroy you, no matter how powerful you are."
He stepped forward, off the roof, and plunged into the river of twinkling lights, and charged off through the city, the motes of illumination twirling in his wake.
"So . . . This is it, then," she whispered, looking out over the city before her. She closed her eyes, and shook her head.
This was your city, Alucard. Incredible . . . .
Quistis opened her eyes, and looked out over the city, and sensed the threads of fate weaving and flowing throughout this city, and knew where they would intertwine.
Slowly, deliberately, she raised the pipe - his pipe - to her mouth, puffed on it, and vanished.
"Squall?" Rinoa called. She turned around, looking up and down the street, disoriented. The lights flowed around and over her as she searched the environment, and drew her gunblade.
"Squall!" she shouted.
"Rinoa?" came a call, behind her, and she turned, to see Zell run around a corner in the street. He moved through the waves of glimmering lights and rushed up to her.
"Rinoa, the hell is going on here?"
"No idea," answered the woman, and she looked around once more. "But this place . . . There's only one thing I can think of it being."
"That 'City of Insomnia' or something, yeah," Zell replied. "And if we're here, then that means Hyne must have . . . ."
"Hyne . . ." Rinoa whispered, and her eyes widened. "Serra!"
"Shit!" Zell hissed. "That's right! Alucard said she was the key to opening the gateway!"
"If that bitch did anything to our daughter," Rinoa growled, clenching her gunblade tightly.
"Damn straight, Rinoa," Zell replied. "Let's find that bitch and rip her a new one." He paused. "But, uhh, where is she?"
"I think that over there looks important," Rinoa replied, pointing over the rooftop of one of the buildings, at a towering cathedral rising above them.
"As good a place as any," Zell replied. "Let's go."
"Wait, where are we again?" Irvine asked. Selphie closed her eyes, thinking.
"Shiva . . . She says it's the City of Dreams, Carpasia. And if we're here, then Hyne must have managed to pull off whatever it was she was planning."
"Not yet," Irvine responded, shaking his head, as he looked around the plaza they stood in. he reached up, touching his ear, and the radio placed there, but it was dead. He drew his Valiant and checked it, to see the rifle was in working condition. "It looks like we're alone. I guess that means its up to us to put a stop to Hyne and Hades, then."
"Right," Selphie replied, nodding. She clenched her nunchaku tightly. "But if Hyne opened the gateway, then that means Serra . . . ."
"Can't worry about that now," Irvine said, his voice tightly controlled. "We have to focus on the mission: we have to stop Hyne."
"Right," Selphie said again. "Shiva is saying to head for . . . A cathedral. That's Hyne's goal."
"And where is this cathedral?" Selphie closed her eyes, and turned slowly, and then nodded.
"This way."
Boots resounded along the darkened streets of Carpasia, and Seifer's long coat flew out behind him, disturbing the glimmering lights dancing among the streets.
Something, instinct, his gut feelings - Chimera genes? - was telling him that they were on the edge of something apocalyptic, and he didn't need the memories of Alucard's dire warnings to spur him on.
Somewhere, deep inside the battered, weathered knight, something told him that Serra was in danger, and that thought spurred him on even more than any need to save existence.
He did not realize it, but the course he was plying led to the heart of the city, closer and closer to Morpheus' Cathedral, where all other threads of fate were converging.
Rinoa heard the pair moving through the streets, and as they cut through an intersection in the empty city, she dimly saw Irvine and Selphie rushing through the stream of lights. She quickly called out their names, and they slowed, stopping at the intersection. Rinoa and Zell caught up with them, and the quartet exchanged what little they knew.
"Shiva says to head for the cathedral," Selphie told the others, and Rinoa and Zell nodded. Their instincts had been right. Without another word, the quartet of SeeDs turned and rushed off, following Selphie as she threaded through the streets, guided by Shiva on their route.
Moments later, as they delved through the avenues, surrounded by the unending dance of light and impenetrable darkness, they stepped out into another wide plaza, dominated by a single tall obelisk, that stood before a long, wide street running through the heart of the city.
In the distance, the quartet could see Morpheus' Cathedral, rising up over the city, at the end of that road.
"That's it," Selphie whispered, and the others nodded. The started to move past the vast obelisk, when cold dread shot through all four SeeDs.
As one, they turned, Rinoa readying her gunblade, Irvine raising his rifle, Zell sliding into a guard, and Selphie gripping her nunchaku. An instant later, those weapons wavered as they realized what they faced.
"Yo," Hades called, scythe balanced across his shoulders. He waved jauntily with one hand, but no one paid the Guardian any mind, their eyes instead fixed on the woman beside him. They recognized her features, her hair, the wings stretching from her back, but the strips of metal she grasped in her hands, and the sinister smile on her face, were not anything she would have ever possessed.
"Serra," Rinoa breathed, and the girl shook her head, giggling with an unearthly voice, that of the monster within her body.
"In the flesh, yes," she answered. "But if you want to get technical, no."
"Hyne," Selphie whispered, and she nodded.
"What can I say? I needed this girl's body to fuel my entrance into Carpasia, using the power she possessed. You really should have let Alucard kill her when he had the chance, you know. But now, she serves me no more purpose. Well, actually, she does . . . ."
"Gotta love a good meat shield," Hades added, and Hyne nodded.
Silence filled the empty street or several long, agonizing moments.
The Revolver rose up suddenly, and Rinoa slid into a guard, ready for combat.
"If she could speak, she would tell us to strike, without hesitation," Rinoa declared, steeling herself. "I know my daughter. She wouldn't care if she died. Serra would fight you to the death, and we're not going to let you enter that cathedral without a fight!"
"Hell yeah!"
"Right on!"
"Booya, bitch!"
Hyne sighed, and glanced to Hades, who stretched out, popped his neck, and slid the scythe off his back.
"What can I say?" he muttered. "Gotta expect some speed bumps along the road to ultimate annihilation, eh?" He spun his scythe around, and held it at the ready. "Let's dance, compadres."
Zell launched himself at Hyne in an instant, shooting toward her with flying kick. Hades dove into his path, intercepting the kick, Zell's foot slamming into his scythe. Hades lifted up and tossed Zell backward, but the brawler backflipped in mid-air and came around in a hard kick that slammed Hades in his face. The Guardian was pitched backward, and he burned away his skin in response, revealing his fire-blackened visage. Zell hit the ground and dove at Hades.
A storm of ice rushed in at Hyne, only to slow as it neared her body. She calmly extended her Death Fans as Rinoa chased after Selphie's ice, and Irvine loaded his rifle with the few rounds of Pulse ammunition he had on hand. The Revolver dove at Hyne in a vicious cleave, and crashed against Hyne's destruction fan as she casually deflected the attack. With deft ease, Hyne spun the Revolver over, exhibiting shocking strength, and jabbed her Void fan into the opening presented in Rinoa's defense. Her life force was sapped, and she fell away, gasping in shock.
A fullisade of ice spears dove in at Hyne's grinning visage, and began to break apart on contact with her barrier. She swept the Destruction fan across, blasting them to nothingness, and focused on Selphie. Irvine leveled his Valiant at Hyne and depressed the trigger as she advanced on Selphie. The rifle shuddered and shook, and Irvine held his arms steady. A column of white destruction leapt forth at Hyne, roaring toward her-
-and it died with a gesture of her Void fan. She cast a mocking sneer Irvine's way, and turned on Selphie once more.
Zell sent a brutal right hook at Hades' face, but the Guardian vanished, melting away and reappearing behind Zell. The brawler whirled, coming across in a high right kick that caught Hades across the jaw and spun him around. The Guardian twirled about, dancing on one leg as if the blow had barely fazed him, and slashed across with his scythe faster than Zell could follow. The brawler pitched himself back instinctively, but his chest erupted with pain as the blade cut a shallow wound.
Then Hades was gone, and appeared behind Selphie in a gate of black shadow, scythe raised.
Irvine whirled, stabbed at the Guardian with his rifle, and discharged a round of pulse ammunition right in his face. Hades was not appreciative of the gesture, as he was launched backward, robes smoking. Selphie formed up a powerful stream of ice magic and loosed it at Hyne as she advanced, but the ice died and faded against her energy-sapping aura. With a sadistic grin that spoke "my turn now," Hyne raised her Destruction fan and swept it out t Selphie.
The tiny SeeD screamed as blood burst from her chest and stomach, her skin ruptured by the wave of destruction, and she was pitched back onto the ground. Irvine looked down at her, and turned toward Hyne, screaming in outrage. His valiant dropped to the ground, and he rapidly drew his MP5Ks as amber light gathered around his body. Time began to slow for the sharpshooter, and he ran toward Hyne, weapons raised and sighting her in the sub-machineguns' crosshairs.
Then shadow pooled befor ehim,a nd hades appeared, toothy smile clearly visible as he jabbed a hand into Irvine's chest and sent a wave of death through his body. The sharpshooter fell backward, screaming in agony, and toppled to the ground, his strength stolen by Hades' sudden attack. Hyne nodded her approval, and then turned toward Zell as the brawler reentered the battle, roaring as always, fist cocked back to shatter whatever stood in his way.
Zell's fist couldn't shatter through the power of Hyne's Void fan, and he stumbled forward, his energy stolen in an instant, and Hyne slapped him across the face with her Destruction fan, blasting him viciously and launching the brawler across the plaza.
As Zell fell away, however, Rinoa returned to the battle, chopping once more at Hyne's face. She turned on Rinoa, Void rising an intercepting the gunblade. Destruction jabbed into her stomach and pulsed, blasting Rinoa backwards. She fell away, blood staining the front of her uniform, and she looked up toward Serra's face.
Hades watched the battle progress, arms crossed, and then pitched forward as Irvine emptied the chambers of one of his revolvers into his back. He turned, snarling, as Irvine started to rise, and put the SeeD back in his place with a rapid stream of Demi spells. Irvine writhed n the ground in agony, his revolver dropping to the pavement, and Hades turned back to Hyne.
Rinoa realized that she couldn't stop Hyne. The Guardians' power was like nothing she had ever seen before; not even Ultimecia could match this level of strength they exhibited. But where she couldn't win through force of arms, she could try another avenue of attack.
"Serra!" Rinoa called. "Serra! Fight her! Fight her like your father fought Griever!"
Hyne managed a chuckle at Rinoa's words, and walked toward her. She retracted her Void fan, and it vanished, and she grabbed Rinoa by the throat.
"This body is mine, stupid girl," Hyne hissed. "Her spirit cannot break free of my control. Your entreaties to her spirit are as noth . . . ." Hyne paused, her face contorting, softening, and Rinoa stared into eyes that suddenly, for an instant, did not show Hyne's cruelty and malice.
"Serra!" Rinoa screamed, but then her features hardened again, Hyne reestablishing dominance and sneering.
"She is mine! She always was, from the moment I killed her in your womb! Serra was my weapon from that moment on!"
"No!" Rinoa shouted, but Hyne then released her and slammed her across the face, hard, with her Destruction fan. The stone beneath Rinoa shattered, and she was hurled across the plaza, blood leaking from her mouth and nose, and crashed into the obelisk at the center of the plaza. Hyne sglared at the fallen woman, and then turned toward Hades.
"Clean up this mess, and make sure they don't interfere," she ordered him, and he shrugged and nodded. Hyne strode past Hades and the fallen, battered SeeD, and moved on toward the cathedral. He watched her depart to finish the task they had been waiting to begin for untold millennia, and then turned back toward the fallen SeeDs.
Zell started to rise up, but Hades jabbed the haft of his scythe into his stomach.
"Sit down, bitch," he snarled, and kicked the brawler in the face. Hades turned, surveying the SeeDs, and considered which one to kill first. He set the scythe across his shoulder, and rubbed his bony chin, deep in thought.
Finally, he turned on Rinoa, walked across the plaza, and stood over her.
"You know, I'll do you the honors of a quick death first, hon," he said, lifting his scythe. "You did give me a good feel with your tits, after all."
In a sudden burst of energy, Rinoa shot her leg up, and it slammed between his robed legs. Hades stood stock-still for a moment, and then bent over slightly.
"Oh, shit, right in the Dynamic Duo . . . ." he whined, stumbling away for a moment. He clutched his battered privates, and slowly turned back toward Rinoa. "Oh, that is it. No one kicks the Guardian of Death in the nuts and gets away with it!"
Perhaps it was fate, but as they ran through the streets in the city that existed beyond time, the two men who had both borne the name Squall Leonhart found themselves along an intersecting path. Hailing from different worlds, different times, and different lives, the two men, one centuries old, and the other barely in his twenties, charged through the streets. Neither man spoke to the other upon contact, but instead simply turned and charged along the roads leading to the heart of Carpasia.
Both men were driven to extremes, that was no question, but what they were driven by was far different; one Squall was fighting to save existence and his family, and everything he loved, while the other was fighting out of revenge for losing that which he loved. Those two desires, vengeance and selfless love, burned within the hearts of two men who bore the same name.
They were so similar, yet so different. Yet, despite their vast differences, one thing solidly beat within their heart, one thing that would not be stopped by anything, by heaven, hell, or even death: their hearts were filled with raging determination, to see this war out to the very bitter end.
Squall drew his sword. Squall channeled his emotions and power into his sword. Squall focused his power, refining it, and concentrated it. Squall's blade erupted in brilliant multicolored light, the god-killing light that he had perfected for the ultimate goal of killing Hyne.
Squall Leonhart burst out of the city streets of Carpasia, and charged into the plaza where four fallen SeeDs lay, Hades towering over Rinoa, with his scythe at the ready. The Guardian, despite being so focused on Rinoa, sensed the enemy approaching, and whirled to face the two Squalls as they thundered into the plaza, roaring like the lions they were named for.
Hades saw them charge, and he saw into their eyes, and he knew, in that instant, that he was so absolutely screwed.
"Oh, fuckberries-"
Nash went high.
Squall went low.
Hades went into three different pieces, burning away in an instant in a tower of shimmering white light, his scythe blasted apart. He vanished an instant later, his body burned away by the combined wrath of two god-killing blades and the refined power of Squall's Limit technique.
Hades was dead, or as dead as a Guardian got, and Squall knelt beside Rinoa, cradling her in his arms. She wasn't dead, and her wounds looked survivable, but that did nothing to sate Squall's rising hatred.
"Rinoa . . . "he whispered, and she managed a smile. She reached up to his face, and brushed his beard with her head.
"Hyne . . . She has Serra," Rinoa told him quietly, weakly. "We couldn't stop her . . . ."
"If that's the case, she shouldn't be too far ahead," Nash muttered, walking around them and moving toward the cathedral. "We can't delay too much longer, Squall."
"I know," he answered, and looked back to Rinoa. "Rinoa . . . Don't worry."
"What are you . . . going to do?" she asked him as he gently set her back down on the ground.
"What else?" he answered. "I'm going to save the fucking day, no matter what it takes."
The vast double doors leading into Morpheus' Cathedral opened as she approached them, sliding outward with all the weight of endless millennia behind them. Hyne strode into the entrance, looking about the chamber beyond, and managed a cackling laugh.
She was here. Finally. After so many thousands of years, she had the Cathedral, and the pool it contained.
The exterior of the cathedral was vast and massive, a tremendous structure that commanded the entire city's skyline. But the interior was the exact opposite. Spartan and threadbare, it consisted only of a vast vaulting chamber lined with ethereal blue torches and candles burning along the length of the vast room, and a dais that rose up above the floor, towering above her head, accessible by a single staircase that led to the Zurvan Pool, the source of all dreams and the power over creation itself.
She almost trembled with joy at the thought of what she could do once she had bathed in those waters, and started forward, the doors hissing shut behind her.
She had barely crossed halfway t the stairs leading to the dais when the double doors started their stately opening once more. Hyne brought herself to a dead stop, cursing quietly, and then manifested her fans and extended her vessel's wings.
The vast double doors must have been opening too slowly, and those who opened them had absolutely no respect for the sheer importance of this chamber, this structure, and this city, because Nash and Squall proceeded to kick the doors in with all their might, almost blasting the huge oaken portals off their hinges.
"Anybody fucking home?" Nash shouted, stalking into the chamber, Squall beside him. Both of their weapons were drawn, alight with their god-killing power, and they marched across the room toward Hyne as she turned to face them.
"I suppose Hades is dead, then?" she asked, and Nash nodded.
"And you're next, Hyne," he growled. "What do you say we toss aside all the stupid pretentious lead-up and get this fucking war over with, how 'bout?"
"Certainly," Hyne answered, smiling. "If you're the last bugs I need to crush to manifest my destiny, then so be it."
"Good," Nash growled, and fires started licking at his skin. He raised his modified Revolver in one hand, and the flames grew white-hot. He glanced to Squall as the other Elemental reached up into his hair and pulled his bandana down over his eyes.
"Let's end this," he said quietly, and raised his claymore before him in a silent salute at Hyne.
"Go to hell, Hyne!" Nash thundered, and his fires blazed up around him, and he hurled himself at Hyne, Squall a step behind, raising his sword to his side as he barreled in. Hyne extended her Death Fans, stretched her vessel's wings, and met their charge.
Outside, as Rinoa lay against the obelisk, staring at the distant cathedral, she saw fire and light shoot out through every window across the structure, and felt the entirety of Carpasia shudder for just an instant.
Within the cathedral, there was light, there was fire, there were screams and shouts of fury, and the two Elementals were launched backward, skidding across the smooth marble floor. Squall narrowed his crimson eyes, their glare piercing through the dim, blue-lit haze, as Nash's fires sent angry white light flickering across the chamber. Hyne, Death Fans extended, waded in, walking toward them.
Squall went wide and to the right, Nash went low and to the left. Hyne snapped her fans out as Phoenix and Diablos erupted from her shoulders, the mighty Guardians bowing before her indomitable willpower. Their wings reached out, Phoenix stopping Squall's claymore, and Diablos intercepting Nash's gunblade. The Death Fans lashed out, Destruction at Squall and tearing rips in the front of his coat as it shoved him backward, and Void sapping Nash's flames. She spun, Destruction rising up and crossing to slap Nash across his face and hurl him backwards, while Void brushed Squall's face and stole his energy for an instant. Hynes Guardian servants swept out their wings, and the appendages caught both Squall and Nash hard and launched them away.
Blood spouted from Nash's face, but his feet screeched against the marble floor, and he sprang back at Hyne, even as Squall thrust his gauntleted fingers into the stone beneath him to slow his movement. Raging white fire burned high around Nash, a geyser straight from the depths of hell, as he dove in at Hyne.
Diablos' wing snapped out, but Nash's blade bit into the shielding wing, refusing to let either it or Hyne's defensive aura slow his vengeance. She brought both of her fans up before her in a rapid cross, the Void fan striking first and sapping Nash's momentum. Destruction tore through the air, blasting gashes in the scientist's skin, and he reeled backward, unable to withstand the fury of her power.
Squall's claymore arced in behind Hyne, however, and she ducked, spinning around. Phoenix, at her command, sent holy fire searing at Squall, but his left hand snapped up and tossed the beam of destruction aside as if swatting a fly. He bore in, and Hyne intercepted his rapid cut, the Void fan deflecting the blade and wiping away part of the white light wreathing it. Destruction stabbed into his chest in an eye-blink, and Squall was hurled backward, his coat ripping and blood erupting from his stomach.
Nash shoved his physical agony aside and hurled himself at Hyne's back, his eyes blazing with fires that matched the ones swirling around himself and his sword. He descended on Hyne with a scream of vengeance, and she turned, looking almost annoyed. The Void fan waved before her, but he sent a gout of flame to his left, shoving himself aside, and skittered forward, chopping in hard with his gunblade as she pivoted to meet the attack. Destruction came down atop his thrust, and Void slapped across, but Nash dropped down low into a sweep at her legs. His boots met her left foot, and Hyne started to fall backward, but she flexed her hovering powers and spiraled away in a graceful dive. To add injury to the insult of her deft evasion, Phoenix sent a beam of holy fire into Nash's face, and livid red burn marks stretched across his face as he was sent flying backward.
Hyne ducked beneath Squall's arcing two-handed cut, and leapt back away from him, swishing forward with both of her fans and loosing a combined wave of annihilation and nothingness at the Elemental. Squall pivoted and rolled aside, and marble shattered where he had once stood, a thousand dust-fine shards erupting from the ground, only to fall right back as the Void fan robbed them of their kinetic energy. He dove in, blade flashing down in an overhead chop, and intercepted by Phoenix. Diablos manifested and struck, a wave of death slashing at Squall, but he bulled through it heedlessly and pressed his attack. Surging fires roared beside Hyne, and Nash, more angry than injured, dove in. Both gunblade and claymore chopped in savagely, and Hyne spun quickly and almost desperately, her fans lashing out, stealing life and blasting weapons away. She sent a surge of her own power out from Serra's body, and beams of light caught both her attackers full-on and launched them across the chamber, with fresh char marks across their torsos.
"This grows tiresome," she whispered as both Squall and Nash leapt to their feet, battered but more than willing to continue the battle, at whatever cost to themselves. The wings of Serra's body stretched outward, growing larger, and a rumble filled the bare cathedral halls.
Both Nash and Squall realized what she was doing, and lifted their weapons, rushing in before she could finish.
Black shadow rolled off one shoulder, and holy flames surged from the other. As Squall and Nash advanced in another indomitable charge, the wings expanded and split apart, becoming two wings, and then formed larger bodies and heads. The shuddering of the cathedral grew more and more intense, and the pulses of fire and shadow from Hyne's back became stronger and stronger.
She was summoning Diablos and Phoenix directly, and with the strength of her will and her control over Serra's body, Hyne could directly control both of the weaker Guardians.
Squall and Nash charged in, weapons posed to strike, but then Diablos and phoenix had fully manifested, and wasted no time going on the offense. The blazing bird of prey loosed a mighty storm of holy flame upon the pair of Elementals, staggering their assault, and Diablos dove in, shadows pulsing around its body as it slammed into both Elementals. They were launched backward, sent bouncing toward the broken cathedral doors, and straight through them. Ancient wood shattered as Squall and Nash crashed through them, and Diablos and Phoenix were right behind them.
"Fuck!" Nash shouted in fury as he rolled to a stop and sprang up, left fist lashing out and intercepting Diablos' own left hook. The scientist shuddered under the blow, but held firm, summoning intense flames and blasting them into Diablos' chest. "We'll never be able to stop these two and get to Hyne in time!"
Squall's only response was to raise his sword again, and intensify the white light rushing off the blade, and leap into the air to meet Phoenix as it took to the swirling gray sky.
Diablos' fist slammed into Nash's face, and he reeled backward. The Guardian channeled forth shadow magic, and Nash's fires met it, the Elemental snarling in anger.
"Okay, fuckface," he growled like an animal, leaping backward, away from a rapid pair of wing jabs from Diablos. "You want to tackle me? Let's even this up!"
Nash stared hard at Diablos, his glare causing the mighty demonic Guardian to slow in its tracks, and reached up to his forehead. With a tug, he untied the straps of his bandana, and slowly drew it off his forehead. The Elemental Control Restraint fell to the stone at Nash's feet, and burning-hot flames stared to spring up around his body. He strode toward Diablos, his muscles bulging even larger than they were before, his eyes burning like melted gold. Demonic horns began to sprout from his forehead and curved back over his head as his hair turned a bright shade of burning red.
His gunblade dropped to the stone, now nothing but a toy in his hands as his size grew until he matched Diablos' stature.
"Well, then, asshole," Nash called, waving one of his hands as his skin became a fire-charred black. "You want to tackle the real deal? Think you can fight Ifrit?"
Hyne stood in the cathedral, watching her enslaved Guardians go to work on the pair of Elementals, and then turned toward the dais at the far end of the cathedral. With a tight, satisfied smile at knowing that those two annoyances would not be getting in her way again, she advanced toward the dais. Hyne strode up the steps, and then stood at the Zurvan Pool's edge.
The pool itself was remarkably simple and spartan, just like the interior of the temple. A simple pool of jet black water about thirty feet wide, it rested still and unmoving, not disturbed by the tumult that had raged across the chamber mere seconds before. Hyne stared over the mystical pool, the source of all dreams, and laughed with joy. She started to crouch down beside it, and considered abandoning this vessel to touch the pool directly.
Those thoughts vanished as she sprang aside, diving away from a weapon that jabbed at her head. Her fans rose, and she twisted and hopped backward, off the pool's dais, and away from her opponent, who pursued, rapier in hand.
Hyne hit the floor, readied her fans, and took a good long look at the figure before her. Her eyes narrowed; she should have been surprised, but knowing what she did, she wasn't.
"He couldn't remain manifest," Hyne hissed contemptuously. "So, he gave it all up, surrendered his very identity, in order to let you junction him."
The figure who stood across from Hyne stared back with her intense blue eyes, beneath the wide-brimmed hat Alucard had worn. His rapier rested in her left hand, and his pipe was clenched between her teeth. Yet, she still wore her SeeD uniform, though the cut had become even more stylized and refined, and the tie was now in a cross shape, just like Alucard's had been.
"He said it would be different," Quistis answered, not truly certain what had become of her. She clutched his rapier, and stared back at Hyne, ready to face him. "I . . .wasn't prepared for this. Its hard to tell where he ends and I begin now."
"Junctioning an Unbound is vastly different from a normal Guardian," Hyne replied. "It almost never happens, because if you two stay like you are for long enough, it can become permanent, and all shreds of your mortal soul will be replaced by the Unbound, and the two of you will be one." Hyne shook her head contemptuously.
"To think he'd let himself be subsumed by a mortal like that . . . And for what? To save existence? To give the living world one last gasp of life before the end? Or some other misguided notion?"
Quistis narrowed her eyes at Hyne, and remembered Alucard's words.
Because he dared to love me . . . .
"It doesn't matter," Quistis declared with sudden ferocity. She raised her rapier, his rapier, and vanished, flashing into existence behind Hyne and stabbing at her back. She dove away and whipped around, Destruction fan smashing away the floor where she stood. Quistis had already teleported away, appearing atop the dais.
"I'm going to put a stop to you, Hyne, no matter what I have to do, or give up!"
"Away from there," Hyne shouted, and bolted up to the top of the dais. Destruction slashed across, slamming into Quistis as she turned toward the pool, and launching her backward. Hyne dove after her, intent on spilling her blood.
"Old Guardian of Existence, or new Guardian of Existence," she hissed. "It doesn't matter! I'll annihilate you all the same!"
Squall's left hand dug into Phoenix's feathers and clawed at its flesh as it flew through the skies over Carpasia. He held on tightly as the Guardian did its damndest to throw him off. Squall, meanwhile, did his damndest to hurt the Guardian, which proved more difficult than he expected, being unable to angle his claymore around for a good strike at Phoenix's body. He couldn't sheathe the blade either, mainly because he didn't have a sheath to put the sword into, the straps having been cut by Illarra during their battle in Dollet. Thus, he had to hang on tightly, mercilessly thwacking Phoenix with his sword as the Guardian tried to buck him.
Below, the battle between Diablos and Ifrit was far more evenly matched, as the two Guardians traded body blows for several moments, hammering each other with blows that would have shattered stone. Diablos came in with a brutal cross, and Ifrit dropped and ducked aside, slamming it with an uppercut. He brought his right fist up and rocked Diablos hard across the jaw, launching it into a nearby building and straight through. Ifrit pursued, shoulder-blocking Diablos the rest of the way through the wall.
The Guardian of Fire dove after Diablos, but the shadow demon managed to recover as Ifrit bore in, and stabbed forward with its claws. Ifrit came up short, but the claws still dug into his chest. Shadow pulsed into the wound, weakening Ifrit for an instant, and Diablos slammed into him, launching him back the other side of the building and back out onto the main street leading into the cathedral. Ifrit tripped over debris as h flew through the opening, and flopped onto his back. Diablos, never one to waste an advantage, leapt atop the Guardian and started pounding him viciously and mercilessly.
Diablos stood atop Ifrit, pumping beam after beam of shadow into his face and chest, snarling and laughing with a Hyne-induced sadism. Nash and Ifrit fought back violently, thrashing and launching blasts of fire, but Diablos weathered them in favor of payback directed at the fallen Guardian beneath it.
Then a dozen spears of ice stabbed into its side, and Diablos howled loudly enough to crack windows for a fair distance throughout the city. Ifrit took that moment to channel and focus a tremendous wave of fire, and grabbed Diablos by the throat, before loosing the blasts of flame.
The stone beneath the pair of Guardians glowed orange and began to melt, as a pillar of fire erupted into the heavens, blasting into the swirling masses of time and consuming Diablos' avatar with Nash's unrelenting fury.
When the glowing light of the firestorm faded, Diablos was gone, its avatar wiped away temporarily, and Ifrit shakily stood. He glanced over his shoulder, at a weakened Selphie as she leaned against the tall obelisk, beside Rinoa. Selphie gave Ifrit a thumbs up as best she could, and Ifrit nodded, before turning back toward the cathedral.
A piercing shriek filled the skies above as Squall continued his battle with Phoenix, but Ifrit paid it no find, instead focusing on his true goal: Hyne.
The deadly aerial struggle of thwacking and bucking ended when Phoenix banked close to one of the city's towers and brushed near it, slamming Squall into the wall. He was rather viciously scraped off of Phoenix's hide and started to fall down the side of the structure, but only as long as it took him to use his gauntleted fingers to dig a furrow in the side of the tower. He planted his feet against the tower and flexed his arm as quickly and violently as he could, tossing himself up into the air toward the top of the tower. As he neared the top, Squall stabbed his sword into the wall, and used that s leverage to pull himself up onto the roof of the tower.
And not a moment too soon, as Phoenix strafed the tower with a hellish storm of fire bolts, raining down on the tower like missiles. The structure shuddered, and stonework went hurtling into the air to plummet to the ground below, but Squall held on, readying his sword, and waiting for the Guardian to pass.
Phoenix shot past the tower, and an instant before it moved beyond his reach, Squall had leapt up, his sword leading, and stabbed into the Guardian's side, just behind its right wing. Pheonix screeched in agony, but Squall blocked out the roar, and instead climbed up onto the Guardian's back. Phoenix started bucking wildly, but Squall advanced up its back, stabbing his gauntleted fingers and sword into its hide like gruesome pitons. He had to stop and hold on for dear life as Phoenix did a spiraling barrel roll, and then, when the Guardian came out of it, he bolted forward, toward its head. Before the Guardian could do any more evasive maneuvers, Squall stood on its upper back, and spun, grabbing the Guardian by one of its wings.
His sword pulsed white, and he chopped down on the wing. With a titanic flash of light that lit up the entire city for an instant, the wing was sheared completely off. Squall spun on the writhing Phoenix and chopped down into its upper back, behind its head, and the blade dove deep into Phoenix's flesh.
With his Zanshin sight, Squall saw Phoenix begin to fade, unable to hold a corporeal shape, and spun, running off its back and leaping with all his might toward the nearest high building. He plummeted through the air for a second, and then two, and then hit the top of one of Carpasia's roofs, boots crunching tile shingles. Looking back over his shoulder, Squall saw Phoenix burn away in a torrent of white light and red fire.
With that danger dealt with, Squall oriented himself - noting that he was still very close to Morpheus' Cathedral - and dropped off the roof to find Hyne.
You cannot stop her, Squall.
I haven't achieved anything by giving up, and I'm not giving up now.
I agree, but you would be a fool to fight her, exhausted and alone, which you know you will be.
You have a suggestion, then?
Indeed; Griever did have one for Squall.
The rapier went high, and the Quistis spun around, ducking low and slashing across viciously, blade aiming for Hyne's knees. She vaulted over the attack, spinning around and slapping both of her fans down on Quistis's back as she passed. Quistis cried out in agony, but instantly teleported away, fading back into view behind Hyne and stabbing at her back. Hyne was already spinning, Void fan slapping her rapier aside, and the Destruction fan sliding forward in a stab at her stomach.
Quistis was already gone, reappearing a short distance away. Hyne turned on her, readying to strike again while she had the advantage of range, but then Quistis's rapier shifted. The blade elongated, and became more flexible, and in the span of an eye-blink, it had transformed into a chain whip, lashing out at a surprised Hyne.
"Clever trick," she hissed, even as her Destruction fan blocked the stabbing blade. Void flashed forth, and Quistis countered with a burst of existence, canceling the blast silently. She flickered into place beside Hyne, snapping her whip up at her head, but Hyne intercepted the strike with her Destruction fan, using the weapon's smaller size to easily catch the close-ranged strike and throw Quistis' whip up into the air. The whip shortened and sharpened as Quistis circled around Hyne, who turned calmly, waiting for her next move.
"HYNE!"
Ten feet of pissed-off Elemental-turned-Guardian Force barreled through the cathedral's entrance and straight toward Hyne at full speed, titanic fires erupting around it. Ifrit closed in, all the infinite infernos of hell chasing him as stormed toward Hyne's position, intent on crushing her where she stood.
Hyne spun, and, in a single gesture with her Void fan, silenced Nash's infuriated charge. The fires flickered, the guardian's steps faltered, and Hyne leapt up at him, slamming both of her fans down across his horned head a half dozen times, even as Quistis teleported into place behind her to strike.
Void and destruction shot through Nash repeatedly, and he was sent crashing back down into the ground screaming, blood and fire blasting from his face and chest, his eyes ripped and torn and broken. His body began to melt, reverting back to its normal form in a sea of simmering flames, and Hyne spun, almost casually, parrying Quistis' stab.
Hyne whirled around in a wild spinning motion, loosing streams of destruction and emptiness at Quistis in a violent assault. The floor and the air were torn asunder under the attack, and Quistis' rapid teleporting still couldn't keep her from eating the brunt of the attack. Destruction washed over her as she came out of a rapid defensive evasion, and as she was staggered, the assault hammered her mercilessly. Hyne fixated on her once Quistis was launched off her feet, and leapt across the distance between the two. Her fans slammed down on Quistis' shoulders as she started to stand, and she screamed in agony as annihilation and emptiness surged through her.
Quistis fell back to the floor, staring up at Hyne, inside Serra's body, and couldn't understand how thy could have ever hoped to defeat this monster. They could barely touch Hyne, and meanwhile, everyone who opposed her was destroyed or broken, helpless before her will. How they could begin to fight something that wielded such destructive power eluded her.
Alucard . . . I'm sorry. You hoped I could defeat her when we junctioned, but . . . She was right. I was just one last gasp of hope for the world.
"Bitch," snarled Nash as Hyne stepped over Quistis' fallen body, and he tried to push himself up to his feet. "Dammit, don't walk away from me!"
Hyne ignored Nash. She ignored them all. This battle was over, and she was going to end this, now.
Hyne advanced toward the dais, for the third time, ready to end existence once more.
"Hyne."
She stopped, and let out a frustrated, enraged, and exasperated sigh, before turning.
Squall Leonhart walked into the cathedral, sword in hand, and stepped past the fallen bodies of Quistis and Nash.
"Come on, then," Hyne hissed. "Existence's final champion. I suppose it is only fitting that I kill you before I achieve the Final fantasy. Come on, then."
Squalls topped before her, bandana across his eyes, and stared at her with his invisible gaze for several long moments.
"I can't destroy you," Squall stated, coldly and simply. Hyne blinked at the blatant admission. She watched as he reached up and pulled the bandana off his eyes, and then loosed a quiet, exhausted sigh.
"I'm almost at the edge, after fighting Illarra, you, and phoenix. Now . . . I'm almost spent, and I have to admit that."
"Then sit down and let me finish my-" Hyne bgean.
"But I'm not the type to surrender," Squall cut in. "And, strangely enough, neither is he. I guess we're more alike than I ever wanted to realize, no matter how sick and twisted he may be."
"What are you talking about?" Hyne asked.
Squall's answer was to reach up to his bandana and tap something on the side of it. There was a faint hissing sound of releasing hydraulics.
"Squall . . . ." Nash muttered as he tried to stand, knowing what he was doing.
"Don't worry," Squall answered calmly. "He may be an evil, sick, sadistic, twisted bastard, but he's all we've got left."
"Who are you talking about?" Hyne demanded.
Squall stared at her with his crimson eyes, and narrowed them.
"Let my daughter go," he hissed, and then tore the Elemental Control Restraint from his head.
Silence filled the cathedral for a few moments, and Squall closed his eyes. Slowly, almost ritually, he brought his sword before him in a two-handed grip, flat presented toward Hyne, and the tip pointed skyward.
His eyes opened, and the cybernetic implants exploded outward in a flash of white light, and a toothy, sadistic smile shot across Squall's features. Gleaming white illumination streamed from his eyes as he stared at Hyne.
"Well, then, Hyne."
The voice was not Squall's, but of the monster within him.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Griever asked, and then bolted forward at Hyne, roaring in animal fury, sword erupting in god-killing light.
"How about no?" Hyne replied coldly, and narrowed her eyes. She let her frustrations at the constant interruptions ripple forth, and her captive body was sheathed in amber light, the pulsating force of a Limit technique. Griever's glowing white eyes widened as he realized what Hyne was doing with Serra's body, and he thrust a hand toward Hyne as white radiance engulfed her.
Gray-white lightning coursed down Squall's hand and toward Hyne as she released the all-powerful assault of Serra's Limit technique, a beam of pure annihilation slamming into the bolt and shattering it, sending sparks and tendrils of electricity scattering across the chamber. But the beam served its purpose, allowing Griever the time to dive aside, letting the scything white light slice through a wall of the cathedral like a katana through cloth. He bolted ahead as the beam was firing, and chopped down at Hyne with the long claymore.
The Destruction fan intercepted, and Void dove forward, jabbing Griever in the chest. He reeled backward, his existence damaged by the nothingness of that weapon, and had to fall back on his heels as Hyne pressed her assault in a rapid series of chops and waves. The floor shattered, the air was rent apart, and distant walls cracked as Griever desperately evaded her assault, and then suddenly broke the pattern of retreat with a charging slash.
Hyne's fans intercepted the attack, and countered before Griever could retreat, slamming him alternately with both fans, tearing into his possessed body and sapping at his life force. He fell away again under her ruthless attack, clutching his chest.
"Impossible," he breathed. "How can you be so fast? So strong? You were never this powerful before . . . ."
"I don't need to bother explaining that to you now," Hyne answered, shaking her head. She readied her fans. "Its time for you to be unmade, Griever. I'm sure you'd enjoy the suffering I'd ordinarily give you, but I don't have time to torture you. I'll just have to wipe you out of existence."
"Hm. Well, then."
A thunderblast of sound erupted across the chamber, and pulsing white light surged around Squall's body. That body rapidly began to shift and contort, transforming within the cocoon of light as quickly as Griever could force it to.
"Perhaps I may have picked this up by co-existing with him for so long, but I think I'm not going to let you wipe this existence out without unleashing everything I have, Hyne."
Something clattered across the floor, sliding past Quistis to come to a stop near Nash. The scientist looked down at it, to see the black-edged claymore Squall had been using. Wordlessly, he scooped it up into his hands as the shimmering white light surged around Griever, his body growing and expanding. Feathered wings stretched out, muscled arms became apparent, and the titanic red crest rose over Griever's body as his face contorted into a grinning lion's visage.
Hyne stared up at the display, and sighed as Griever finished manifesting, and stretched his arms, before loosing a healthy roar.
"If you think that can save you, then fine," she replied, shaking her head. "But in the end, all these theatrics and dramatics are completely useless."
"We'll see about that, Hyne," Griever answered. He raised his hands toward Hyne. "Of all the Bound Guardians, I am the strongest. Let us see if you can handle my-"
Amber light rose up around Hyne as Griever spoke, and white light covered her body. Griever cut off his declaration and began to channel up his raw power, ready to sweep Hyne into an alternate dimension and bombard her with unfathomable power.
But then white light slammed into his face, and Hyne's scything beam cut deep into his flesh. Griever roared in agony and protest, and as he reeled backward from the devastating bolt of annihilation, Hyne shot into the air, toward Griever, and slammed both of her fans into either side of his huge head. His roar redoubled in volume, and the guardian's skin erupted, white light burning into the open air as the Guardian Force 's essence was assaulted by Hyne's power.
"Dammit," Nash snarled as he used the claymore o push himself up to his feet. "If only I could get at her while she's tied up with him . . . ."
"You can't kill her," replied Quistis as she, too, tried to stand, but with far less success. "Even with that sword, there's no way to permanently kill her."
Nash looked to Quistis for a moment, about to protest, and then stopped. He stared at Quistis for a few moments, and then grinned.
"No," he hissed. "I can't. But I do have another option . . . ."
Griever toppled back to the ground, unable to hold position against such overwhelming power. He stared up at Hyne as she floated above him, and tried to strike out at her, refusing to believe she had just so easily wiped the floor with him.
"Die, griever," Hyne hissed. "And let blind men stay blind."
Griever thundered in defiance, but Hyne shot down, smashing both fans onto his head. Shimmering gray and white light erupted from the impact point, engulfing both beings, and Griever roared in agony and pain, his scream shaking the walls of the cathedral . . . And gradually weakening, into the agonized pain of a mortal man.
Squall Leonhart lay on his back, clothes shredded, blood running from dozens of wounds and his skin charred, and could no longer see. Griever was gone, and with him, so was his abilities as an Elemental. He tried to sit up, his body screaming in agony and a thousand times heavier than before. He looked around, but could see nothing.
Squall Leonhart was blind and helpless before Hyne, who stood above him, cackling with glee.
"And so it ends," she declared. "The very champion of existence, the ultimate warrior, left cowed, blind, and helpless at my feet." Her laughter resounded in Squall's ears as he tried to rise, but his body was too exhausted, too weak, and too damaged. He could only stare up at Hyne with the empty pits of his destroyed eyes, and listen to her walk away, across the room and toward the dais.
"And now it all ends," she whispered, walking up the steps once more.
There was a whistle in the air, and Hyne spun, a fan lashing out and knocking the projectile down into the marble floor. She glared down at it, to see a curved saber embedded in the marble, and looked up, to see-
""Let! Serra! Go!"
Seifer Almasy bolted across the room, Hyperion in hand, screaming as he charged, having run flat out from the plaza outside when Rinoa had told him that Hyne had possessed Serra's body. An inexplicable rage had flown over the former knight at hearing those words; in Squall's ears, he heard the echo of his own cries as he had desperately tried to save Rinoa in deep space, and knew what drove the former knight at that moment.
Seifer dove in, Hyperion stabbing at Hyne's chest, but she spun aside,e asily evading the thrust. The Vid fan traced down his back, sapping his strength, but Seifer whirled, rising into a kick that rocked across hyne's face. She was staggered back, and he shot ahead in a spinning slash. The Void fan intercepted, and the Destruction fan lanced across into the fan. The impact of annihilation sheared right through the gunblade, shattering it.
Without missing a beat, Seifer ducked beneath the oncoming wave of destruction and tore his saber from the marble floor with his left hand. The blade arced across at Hyne's stomach, but Destruction stopped it cold, and the Void stabbed into his face. His muscles went slack, but he banished the weakness and surged forward into a thrust.
Destruction flew across, and the saber was destroyed, flying apart in a hundred shattered metal shards.
Seifer's right hand clicked, and he raised his arm, the single-shot cannon mounted in his cyborg arm sliding out. It roared, and the heavy slug flew at Hyne.
The round shattered against the Destruction fan, and the Void fan stole his strength again with another wave. Destruction slapped down over his extended arm, and the cybernetic attachment was blasted apart.
Seifer, running entirely on adrenaline, emotions, and raw fury, shot ahead, trying to punch Hyne, but she slapped his hand aside with the Void fan and smacked him in the face with the destruction fan. His face erupted in blood in a half-dozen places, and the former knight staggered backward.
But he didn't fall.
"Serra!" he screamed again, and took a step forward. Hyne raised her fans, but then stopped, her face contorting in defiance, which was quickly and suddenly replaced by a horrified expression, her eyes staring at Seifer's bloody face and ravaged body.
" . . . Seifer?' she asked, almost too quietly to hear. He stopped, staggering in place.
"Serra?" he called through the blood pooling in his mouth and over his lips.
But then Serra's face contorted into anger and hatred.
"She is mine!" snapped Hyne's voice, and Seifer's features transformed, back into the look of pure rage from before. The former knight shot ahead, and one last thought entered his mind as he made his final attack, a realization of possibly the only way to stop Hyne.
"No!" Seifer shouted in blatant defiance o the end, and his hand caught the front of Serra's uniform. He yanked, as hard as he could, putting all his strength into this single motion, dragging Hyne closer.
He pressed his lips to Serra's.
The cathedral went silent, still, and empty, save for one noise: the pounding of boots as Nash surged ahead on his last legs, channeling his rage into Squall's claymore.
Then, something changed.
The pulsing white light that Hyne had used to possess Serra had reappeared, flowing out of her body, as Serra's mind fully resurfaced, shoving Hyne out of her with all the power her will could draw upon, driven by that one kiss Seifer had made. As Hyne fled, Serra's arms reached up, wrapping around Seifer as the former knight's legs began to give way, buckling under his own weight. The tendrils of light surged into the air behind Serra, and Hyne's body, that of the tiny eight-year-old girl, reappeared, rage and disbelief clouding her features.
She opened her mouth, to shout something at her foes, but then Nash leapt over Seifer and Serra, his sword blazing with pure white destruction, and he screamed one final time.
The sword fell, and Hyne cried out in agony.
Nash flung the sword aside and shot ahead, grabbing Hyne as her body began to fall apart, cleaved in half by Nash's stroke. He gripped her head in both of his hands.
"I can't kill you, Hyne, so I'll do the next best thing!" He stared into her eyes, and pulsing blue and purple light surged from his arms and through her, and then back into him. Hyne let out a scream of denial as she tried to fight back, but, her corporeal body rent as it was, she was unable to resist.
As the blazing light engulfed Nash and Hyne, Serra looked down at Seifer, cradling him in her hands tightly as she guided him to the floor.
"Serra . . . ." she heard him whisper.
"Don't talk," she replied, tears running down her face. She could sense, somehow, that he was on his last legs, that this final charge had cost him everything. "I can't let you . . . Die on me . . . ."
"Serra," came a call behind her, and she looked behind herself, to see Squall, crawling forward, battered, bloody, an with his eyes destroyed and no longer able to see. "Serra, the pool . . . ."
She jerked up to her feet as she realized what hew as talking about, and shot across the room, running up the steps of the dais, and standing at the edge of the jet black pool. She stared down at it, and remembered the stories of the Zurvan and what it could do.
She turned, and cast a look back at those scattered across the room, at Seifer's bloodied face and dying body, at Squall's broken form, and Quistis' prone body, and Nash, consumed in the throes of his vengeance as he drew Hyne into himself, and looked back down toward the pool.
Serra took a deep breath, and plunged in, the black water rising up around her, and made a single wish.
Save them. Save them all . . . .