Chapter Nine

Annihilation Incarnate

"Zafam! Slow down! You're gonna take my arm off here!"

Arthas was still pleading with the Al Bhed woman as she led him roughly along the coast, poring over all the machina that was set around here.

"Oh…but Arty!" Zafam complained, "Aren't they so cool? All these machina just lying there! Ohhhhh! You see that! That's an YX-27! You don't even see those drones anymore and…" She stopped suddenly, her face pale and her eyes wide.

"Zafam?" Arthas asked, "What's wrong? Is it the machina? 'Cause I can't…"

"It's coming!" Zafam turned to the warrior, "The bad, bad feeling! It's coming!"

"What? Oh, no, we have to find the others!" Arthas turned to look behind him, "Damn, where's Jonas? Where's Sain? That's not good! Zafam, let's get…" Zafam was firmly rooted in place, blind fear preventing her from moving. "Zafam! Zafam! Come on, we can't stay here! Zafam, we gotta move! Zafam!"

V

It could hear it.

The beast could hear the primal screams of pain, welling from its own children. He heard the drone of machina as they prepared to fire, heard the cries of men as they prepared to silence it. But under those sounds, were the sounds of fear. That the behemoth creature couldn't hear, but he knew that they existed. The humans' shallow breath, their racing hearts, their sweat hitting the sand before they even made a motion. It would have sent shivers up its spine, were it a different beast, but Sin was no normal beast.

Granted, there was one human who still angered him. It was so… inconvenient to have to use a human soul for its body, and this one was particularly oppositional. No matter, he had not the strength to oppose it for long, and it would be no slight for what lied ahead.

The screams have gotten louder, its child was crying for it. With a hearty cry of exuberance, he broke the surface at last, showing those pitiful humans the face of Death itself.

Let them cower, for they gazed upon the face of Sin!

V

"Fire!"

Zafam was pulled out of her daze by the sounds of cannons, but she still could not bring her gaze away from that colossus in the water. She was blind to her surroundings, not even aware of the person leading her along, calling her name repeatedly. She fell to her knees, tears welling in her eyes, "He is coming," she sobbed, "Everyone here will die… he is coming…"

"Zafam, get up!" Arthas pleaded, "We're not safe here; we need to get out! Zafam, please get up! Damn it! She's not listening! I can't just drag her…" Arthas looked out to sea as well, but his attention was affixed lower down, to the coast, where fiends were beginning to float to the shore. Arthas drew his sword, "Zafam! Zafam! Get up! Damn you, get up now, quit your belly-achin' and get up! We gotta go! Zafam!"

Zafam looked up. Who was this man? She knew she should remember… Why is he just standing there? Doesn't he see that death is coming? Why is he yelling? He should just leave… is he waiting for someone?

"Zafam!" Arthas yelled again, "Come on! I can't leave you here! Let's go, we need to get out of here!"

He was waiting for her? Arthas! He was waiting for her! They were both going to die if she…

The fiends were closing in, Arthas held the sword level, but knew he couldn't stop them all and keep Zafam safe. "Zafam!"

CRACK!

The fiends recoiled, one of them with a fresh new bullet hole between its eyes. Zafam stood, revolver raised and smoking. "I can take down five more fiends before having to reload. What about you?" she said calmly, smiling wide.

Arthas burst out laughing, "As many as we need to kill before we can get out safely, and mine doesn't need no reloading."

Crack! Another fiend recoiled, the bullet finding a home in its chest, "You can boast after we get out, deal?"

Arthas nodded, turning around to begin the slow, steady march to the other side, shooting and slashing as they went.

V

(A/N: This next part is pretty serious. Just fair warning, this section is not for the faint hearted et cetera…)

Sain laughed a loud maniacal laugh. "Destruction incarnate cast my enemies in your broiling embrace and leaved them withered husks in the twisting nether!" He held his hand out, palm open, and a great line of fire erupted forth. The creatures had no time to get away, and Sain took sick pleasure in watching them scream, thrash, and finally curl up and die. "Nyahahahahahahahaaaaaa!" He wasn't done just yet. More of them were coming, "Devastation incarnate, with my power as your conduit, send to my foes heaven's wrath and offer them rest in the vast reaches of the FarPlane!" Fiends scattered and ran as lightning bolts rained down on the battlefield.

Those that strayed from the group were singled out. They usually didn't survive the first blast.

"AAhahahahahahahaaa!" He reached into his sack and pulled a few components out. Muttering frantically, he tossed the components into the air, where it ignited and landed into another group of fiends with deadly ignition. He continued to walk on, taking great pleasure in the monsters running about, burst into flames and spending their last agonizing moments panicked and yipping.

It was so easy! He was all alone, with the exception of a few Crusaders, and those who were alive were in no position to argue with his methods.

A few burned fiend corpses here…

Some unfortunate non-aquatic monsters slowly drowned…

Keep them coming Sin! He had found no end to the sport!

Fiends limping about on hopelessly frozen limbs, waiting for the carrion birds…

Paralyzed monsters still crackling with electricity, their lungs unable to draw breath.

"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHH!"

V

(A/N: For those of you who took my warning, I hereby lift the sicko with a spell book alert. Thank you for your patronage. I would like to apologize if you found that bad, but that's the point. I'll tone down the corny laugh)

It had allowed the humans to live for far too long. The human host had already given up on his pointless resistance. It was time…

They had fired a large weapon on him, what the people of Zanarkand called a plasma weapon. The fools. Did they earnestly believe they could stop it with a few men and a thousand year old weapon not useful then? He extended his energy and as easily as he would crush and insect, the weapon fired no more…

It was time. He extended his energy again, this time his targets being the foolish humans who deigned to fight Sin.

V

Jonas hid in a nook in the canyon wall. This was insane! Why was he even here? They didn't allow people past the gate, and this was why! I mean look at it! That was Sin, the Sin! He couldn't possibly be able to… to…

"I wanna make a world…"

He rose, his words ringing in his head. Why did he hide now? People died while he cowered in a corner.

"…where people like me can have peace of mind…"

How many people died today? How many died here with the promise that they would defeat Sin this day?

"…knowing our loved ones…"

He locked his hands in prayer, calling upon the only power he had.

"…are safe…from it."

And all the chaos stopped. Fiends stopped their jumps, swords halted mid-swing. Even Sin, looming ominous in the background, was forced to yield as the fayth.

Yojimbo calmly ambled behind the summoner, "Been a while." He rumbled, "What do you want, kid?"

Jonas sighed, "People are dying out here."

"People die everywhere, kid, what do you want me to do about it?"

"I want to protect them, but I can't do it on my own strength."

"And of course, being the hero, it suddenly falls that you're allowed to call for someone to fight for you when it gets too hard?" Yojimbo admonished.

Jonas had no answer. He simply stared out over the freeze frame destruction.

"Listen, kid, I may not be able to help you on this one." Yojimbo said, in a tone as close as he could muster to apologetic.

Jonas looked at him, not shocked, but confused, "Why not?"

Because, as soon as I let the world go, I will have to protect you."

Before he could elaborate further, he calmly moved in front of Jonas, facing the sea and the colossal beast waiting there. The world was returned to normal, and instantly Jonas was hit with a wall of pure energy. To his horror, man, fiend, machina, everything! They all disappeared, vaporized, with no trace they were even there. The change was so drastic that he didn't realize Yojimbo was no longer standing in front of him. Was he dead? No the fayth don't die, he could still feel his presence.

It was only when the cries of the mortally wounded finally reached his ears that the full weight of the situation hit him.

He was a weak teenager, alone, without an aeon to shield him, in a field of death, staring face to face with Spira's oldest and deadliest enemy…