i know i said this chapter would take a while... but i just couldn't stop myself from writing it... so addictive! lol Well on with the story.
After so many years, it had come to this. One last battle against another previous foe. When had all of this started anyway? Was it that first SeeD exam? Squall had no idea where it began, but he knew that it had to end this time. The walk towards Ultemicia dragged on for what felt like hours, but as the finally reached her it almost felt too quick. The Sorceress turned to them with that sinister smile, that almost every Sorceress seemed to have, and began to laugh.
"Children," She laughed. "SeeDs… SeeDs SeeDs SeeDs. Curse all SeeDs! You fought me last time and I was too weak to stop you, but this time is different! I will not let you humiliate and destroy me once more. This time I will destroy all SeeDs!"
She laughed even louder as the group began to close in on her. Max stood at the head of the group ready to attack, when Ultemicia stopped laughing and looked at her son. Her face contorted into the most hideous grimace as he came closer.
"You!" She cried pointing at him. "You disloyal child! How dare you show your face here! You have sided with the ones that have been charged to kill us! How could you betray me this way my Knight? Was it not I that gave you strength when you were weak? Did I not give you power?"
"Enough!" screamed Max. "I have had enough of this! All my life I have been tortured and tormented by your evil powers, but no more! I will not let you control me or try to sway me any longer!"
Max readied his sword, as did the others with their weapons.
"This time around I will kill you and make sure you never return!"
Max Ran at his mother at full speed, with Squall, Rinoa, and Zell right behind him.
"Now you will die!"
He began attacking her but his slashes missed their marks with every stroke. Squall and Rinoa joined in the fray and soon their combined attacks struck Ultemicia. Even with the help of Squall, Rinoa, and Zell, Max had a hard time landing any blows, but continued nonetheless. Ultemicia laughed at their feeble attempts to attack her and blasted them all away with a Maelstrom Spell.
"You pitiful SeeDs!" She snickered. "You cannot hurt me this time. I am far more powerful than our last encounter."
As Ultemicia raised her hand to cast another spell, Max rushed in just fast enough to land a blow on her and stopping the spell. Moving on this momentary lapse in her composure, Squall and Rinoa charged Ultemicia, striking her right after each other. She flew back and hit the center section of Tears Point with a slight cracking sound. As she hit the ground, Irvine shot a rain of bullets at her as Selphie and Quistis unleashed their limit breaks of Shockwave Pulsar and "The End". The barrage of attacks from everyone proved to be too much as Ultemicia took every blow with its full force. Only after a slight pause in the groups attacks, could she recover and blast them all away with another Maelstrom spell.
"Curse you SeeDs! Very well then, I shall give you my punishment. The ultimate GF, Griever, Come to my aid once again!"
Ultemicia raised her hand as a small orb formed and threw it into the ground. Soon, the background of Tears Point melted away as the GF Griever flew down to greet Max, Rinoa, and Squall. The rest of the group had suddenly disappeared and left those three to fight alone. The GF had definitely looked better. Its once proud mane, now tattered, seemed almost ready to fall off in chunks. Its wings looked no better and, in fact, Max wondered how the poor GF stayed airborne in such a decrepit state. Squall, however, knew much better than to give in to the creatures' horrible state and began his attack.
"Eden!" He called forth the most powerful GF they gained on their previous journey to defeat Ultemicia. After its long entrance and charge up of its attack, Squall called to it.
"Eden, unleash your, Eternal Breath!"
Eden blasted Griever with its attack and the decrepit GF landed in front of the group of three barely able to stay in the air. As Max and Rinoa attacked it further, Griever fell completely to the ground on all fours, unable to regain flight. With one final blow, Squall destroyed the GF and Tears Point came back into the background, as did their friends and Ultemicia.
"No! How could you defeat Griever?" The Sorceress screamed.
Ultemicia picked up what little remained of the GF and pressed it close to herself.
"I shall join with Griever, and show you my power!"
The pieces of the defeated GF dissolved into her and she flew into the air turning into an odd Griever-Ultemicia ball that throbbed with a strange pulse. It floated above the group for a few moments before finally uncurling and revealing Griever and Ultemicia half formed as one. This was beginning to look like the last time they fought her, thought Squall. Some things should never be repeated. As the fused Ultemicia-Griever monster floated down to them Squall and the rest of group prepared for another full-out attack.
"Squall." Said Max. "Let's try this together, ill attack her first and you finish her off okay?"
With a single nod both Squall and Max jumped into the air after Ultemicia.
"Soul Flare!"
Max shot out a flare spell at the fused monster and attacked with one slash clean through. Making sure to keep up the devastating attack, Squall began his Lionheart Limit Break and completely decimated the bottom half of the creature. The upper half of Ultemicia-Griever struggled to keep in control and flailed around as it remained in the air. The creature definitely had very little health left and with a combined limit attack of the rest of the group it quickly disintegrated into the air. An odd calmness covered Tears Point as the monsters around them vanished along with their friends once again.
"Is it over?" Asked Max.
"No." Said Rinoa with her weapon still ready. "If this keeps going like last time… she'll come back one more time."
As they suspected, complete darkness replaced Tears Point and once again the Ultimate form of Ultemicia showed its face, or lack thereof. Something seemed different about her this time, however, something hidden deep within.
"My children." The faceless Ultemicia spoke. "I am the pure form of Ultemicia. Now you shall see my true power SeeDs!"
The "ground" around her erupted in flames as her power rose to its pinnacle. Even to Squall her power had grown since their last encounter. Maybe this was the time…
"Rinoa!" Cried Max. "Repeat these words… Ego redimio vos , malum. Ego exuo vos of totus vox in vultus of bonus. Redimio."
She repeated his words without delay but before she could complete it, Ultemicia cast her Apocalypse spell and reduced their health to almost nothing. Squall quickly healed them all.
"Complete the spell Rinoa! He said with haste. "Or she'll attack us again!"
Rinoa drew on all of her magical powers and repeated Max's spell before Ultemicia could react. In an instant, all movement of Ultemicia stopped and Max breathed a sigh of relief. For the second time, an ancient spell had worked. First Rinoa's resurrection and now this. With her bound by the spell, Max could finally end the ridiculous game she was playing and stop the destruction of the world he loved so much.
"Squall," began Max. "Take Rinoa farther away, when I finish Ultemicia there may be an explosion and she looks kind of drained."
"Alright," relied Squall. "Come on Rinoa, we have to get away from here." He lifted her and began to run from Ultemicia's frozen form. Max, however, walked towards her.
"Hello mother." He continued towards her. "It's been a long journey hasn't it? Look where it has taken us. Whoever thought your once loyal Knight would do this to you?"
He closed in on her and reached out to touch her. His own flesh and blood, his mother, his enemy, everything he hated about himself and the world stood before him, just waiting for him to rip from this world. He rubbed his hand on her once more and then floated into the air, his sword poised to land the final strike.
"Good bye mother. Now I can live in a world free from your hatred and free from your control." He raised his sword. "Farewell."
Max began to plunge his sword into Ultemicia's heart, but at that same moment, a tiny bit of her energy pierced his heart as well. He did not notice until he had forced his sword deep into her that he too had been hit.
"What?" He looked down at his bleeding chest. "No! M-mother!"
With what little life Ultemicia had left, she smiled.
"Welcome home… my son."
Squall made sure to get far enough away, but as he turned back to see what had happened the explosion knocked him onto the "ground". He got up and looked off into the distance, but no trace of Ultemicia or Max remained.
"Max? Squall ran back to where Max should have been, but… "Max! Where are you?" He searched all around the area they fought Ultemicia and found only one thing… Max's sword. As he looked over the blade writing began to appear. He could barely read it but he could tell what it said.
"Squall," began the inscribing. "Thank you for everything, and please keep this world full of love and strength."
Squall tightened his grip on the sword.
"No Max, thank you."
My my... but... what happened to everyone after this... stay tuned for an epilogue next chapter. It should be nice for all you RinoaxSquall fans.:) Well i hope you liked reading it as much as i like writing it! Vincent Sekod
