Chapter 41
"Do you guys think Melia's gonna want to stay here?"
"Hm..." Dunban's voice rang out in the air. "We would have to ask her."
"Probably," I spoke as I entered the room we had been staying in for the last while.
"Andrew." Shulk looked at me. "What makes you..."
"Listen, Shulk. She's a princess," I spoke. "She has a duty to stay near and stuff." Even though she's gonna be coming along, this is what a more normal plot would have Melia doing...
But so much crazy crap has happened anyway, so let's throw logic out the window if we haven't already.
"I... I guess," he replied. "Well... I think... I think it's best... for us... to... be ambassadors." He groaned. "I... I want to find Fiora, but... splitting up isn't..."
"You may leave being ambassadors to me."
The princess walked forward.
She looked around us all. "Forgive me, but... I heard you all mention the duty with being ambassadors. And Shulk... you wish to find Fiora, yes?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then I shall handle the duty of being an ambassador," she replied. "As of both Homs and High Entian blood, as well as being the Crown Princess, it would be my duty to carry out this task."
"Then we could look for Fiora," mused Shulk. Then understanding dawned on his face "Wait... but Melia, that would mean..."
"Yes, Shulk. I will remain here."
Her firm words echoed across the otherwise now silent room.
She bowed her head, and slight traces of melancholy entered her voice. "We must now say goodbye."
"Is that what you really want?" interrupted Sharla.
"I... yes," responded the princess, her posture slightly shifting. "However... promise me that when you all find Fiora, you will come back here."
Oh yeah. With her dad dead, even with Kalian filling in for her, she's still probably gonna be endlessly busy, I thought. It would overall be really difficult for her to catch any breaks...
"I will be here waiting for you," she continued.
"I... I don't... I don't know what to say," admitted Shulk. "But... thank you, Melia."
In unison, all five other party members started to move out, with the teleporter.
I paused, feeling something at the back of my mind.
A sharp object cutting flesh, blood bursting out in an almost kind, merciful way, somehow.
"What...?" I murmured, looking behind me.
What is that...?
"Andrew! Are you coming?"
I grunted at Shulk's voice. "Yeah, yeah." I ran off after him.
Then I sensed a scythe swinging out, slashing a person in two.
I let out a grunt. That...
"Andrew!" Shulk looked back at me. "What's wrong?"
"I... have to check something out," I replied. Hope curiosity doesn't kill the cat this time... "Go on without me."
"What are you gonna check out?"
I groaned. "Listen. Just... I have to check this out. Meet me in front of here in... let's say two hours."
"That's a pretty long time," he noted. "And you have to go alone?"
"It is probably best if I go alone, yeah."
"But... it could be dangerous."
With my luck, it's likely to be a thing that will try to kill me. "I should be fine. If I don't show, assume I'm dead or very lost."
"Absolutely sure you don't-"
"Shulk!" Melia's voice, as her body came through the teleporter.. "We should be going!"
"Coming!" he shouted. "Alright... OK. Be sure to show up, Andrew."
"Yeah..." He walked through the teleporter, and I breathed out.
Wonder who that person is, wielding a scythe...
If they want a fight, this should be fun.
I walked through the teleporter, using my senses to move out, using teleporters into Eryth Sea.
"He he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he..."
My god, who the hell can laugh that long?! I looked out.
There was a girl, about half a head shorter then me, wielding a massive scythe twice my size.
She held it over her shoulder, as her cape drifted with the wind, back and forth.
It took me twenty minutes to get here, I thought. So I should have enough time to investigate like Phoenix Wright! "Hi-"
She turned with blood-stained teeth. "Ha ha ha... more meat to join the table!"
"Wait, what?"
The scythe moved forward, as well as her body.
I drew my sword to block the impact, and slid away. "Ow..."
"I hope that you put up more of a fight before dying." She licked her teeth. "More then those two, anyway."
I looked at the blood-soaked battlefield. Shotgun gauntlets remained untouched, as did a sword. A sword that...
She killed Rain and Storm, I thought. "Damn. Never did finish their story..."
"Heh he heh... so you're the famous Outsider I've heard about!" she snickered. "Wow... how pitiful."
"Thank you," I replied. "Always so nice to be told I'm pitiful."
"Andrew the Outsider... you should know my name too, since it's the last one you'll ever know," she mused. "I am Rose."
"Like I care," I replied. "You're the one who's gonna wind up dead!"
She laughed. "How rich." She moved forward, and our weapons met in a fierce shower of sparks.
How come fiction has so many scythe users that are female?! I thought, dodging a slash. There's Maka Abarn, I think, Ruby Rose, Shinoa from Seraph Of The End and whoever this girl is! What the heck?! Are swords just that much cooler so guys have to- "UGH?!"
I staggered back from a wide slash, and she tabbed me with a mini spike on the scythe.
"HAH!" She threw me, and into a tree.
I groaned. "Ow... Whip Slash!" I swung, and she stopped the attack with her finger. "Well, that's a first."
"You're disappointing." She slashed, and I just ducked underneath, rolling away.
"I heard that you survived Zulf and his ability to stop time, like me, so I got excited to see how you fought.
"But you are nothing!"
I grunted, releasing a shockwave from my sword she slashed apart. "Damn!" I raised my blade to block, as the curved segment of the scythe scratched my face. "Ow!" I leapt away as she reared back to swipe.
"Fooled you." Rose was behind me.
"Ugh...!" I slowed time, deflecting her attack. She's really tough... and also a cannibal. That's a messed up.
Oh yeah. Add Stella Glow's Hilda to the mix too. What kind of-FUDGE-DOODLES AND POPSICLES!
She slashed again, and I slid away.
Huh... if her name is Rose... I wonder if she's a reference to our scythe-wielding protagonist of RWBY... I felt my instincts scream at me, and I dodged an otherwise fatal slash across my throat.
"Heh heh heh... Crescent Eclipse."
She leapt high in the air, and I staggered suddenly, holding a hand to my chest out of reflex.
My hand came away, blood in the shape of a crescent moon.
"What are you?" I grunted, wiping my hand on my shorts.
"You would call me a cannibal." She licked her lips. "A human who's gonna kill you!"
I felt my eyes widen as she lunged, and I just nullified a strike. "RRGH...?!" Her speed just...! Did she slow time, too?!
A foot came to the side and slammed me into a tree. "Ugh...!"
"This is no fun." Rose stared at me. "Zulf said you were strong. How is that?"
I groaned. "You're... a human...? Are you an Outsider?"
"Sure, if you wanna call me that. Words mean nothing when you're dead, anyway."
"Shit," I muttered. Time's still slowed down, but I can't...
"I'm gonna end this." Rose laughed as a demonic aura surrounded her. "This is my Soul Trigger."
She appeared blood-soaked, and wings sprouted, before she looked like Death, with her cloak's hood over her eyes.
"Joy..." I grunted, as I utilized my own Soul Trigger.
"RAWR!" she screamed, lunging at me with a smile.
I let out an apprehensive grunt, as the weapons met. She's...! I gasped, staggering back as the curved segment of the scythe stretched out to cut me. "Ugh?!"
"Heh heh heh... I usually don't use Arts," she laughed. "But that should make things fun..."
"Huh... so life is some kind of game to you, huh?" I winced, straightening. Can't judge... right now I see it the same way, kinda... "Huh...!" I flew up from her slash, and sensed a cross-shaped projectile flying at me. "Geh!" I used Aura Wave to counter.
Rose smiled. "Crescent Eclipse." She leapt after me, and I used Defensive Reversal to negate her Art.
Wings sprouted from her back.
"Stab Strike!" I shouted, as she used her hand to stop my attack. "OH C'MON! GUH!" I flinched as she impaled my abdomen, before stabbing me to a tree.
"All too easy." She slashed across my face with her weapon.
"Huh...!" I rolled from another slash. "Ugh..." I let out a painful breath. "Ow... that hurts." An aura condensed around my sword. "Aura Slash."
Her eyes widened as she swung her scythe, and she gasped as I overpowered her.
"RAH!" I lunged. "Stab Wave!"
She gasped as I stabbed her, unleashing the lethal shockwave.
She was blasted back, and soon stood, bleeding vaguely from the wound.
"Fudge-doodles and popsicles," I muttered. I felt my form flicker. "Damn...!"
Rose stabbed through my face with her scythe.
I collapsed on my back as everything in my ear screamed, rushing back to normal.
She took her weapon out as she too reverted to normal. "That got exciting at the end, though... Andrew."
I stared at her as feeling in my arms vanished.
What have I been living for? I wondered. For my friends... for living's sake... for pursuit of knowledge... what have I been living for?
I closed my eyes, still able to sense her scythe ready to stab me again.
"DIE!" She plunged her scythe in my face.
I felt too weak to even protest in any way.
"DIE!" Her eyes grew more crazed as she continued.
What I've been living for... Rational thought also felt impossible as she continued to stab me. I don't know what it is yet... but...
It is not dying to yet another female character using a scythe.
She was blasted away. "AH!" She screamed. "What...?!"
I stood as energy suddenly flooded my body, wiping blood away from my eyes.
That feeling... and not We The King's song... I looked behind me. When Zulf beat me up again...
A red, translucent demon flickered into existence, with a massive sword in its right hand.
I stared at her. "That's... Jake's Soul Trigger..." she breathed, staring.
"Huff... RAWR!" I used my own personal Soul Trigger as well, and slashed.
The ghost demon swung, and she dodged to see me move at her. "Ah..."
"Cross Slash!" I crossed her, before bending the will of the ghost demon to my own, slashing her.
She collapsed, as the ghost demon had nearly cut her in two.
I panted, falling to my knees as I felt my very existence itself flicker. "UGH...!" I coughed up blood as everything once again reverted to normal. "Huff..."
"Curse you... for... winning...!"
I groaned as I stood up straight. "Huff..." I walked over, holding my sword in a way to stab down. "It's time I end this."
"Then do it."
I stared. "Huff..."
"Hmph..." She threw up blood. "Not... sure... to kill me... 'cause I'm a girl...?"
I shook from exhaustion. "Yeah... I guess that's... that's... right..."
The Soul Trigger... if it's as Zulf says... where does her Soul Trigger and Jake's go...?
She slashed me with her scythe, and I flinched back with a painful wince.
"THEN KILL ME, OUTSIDER!" she screamed.
I sensed wildlife starting to gather around, as I walked back to her.
I closed my eyes with a breath, before opening them.
"Goodbye." With one last stroke of my blade I cut across her throat.
There was a loud gurgling sound as she finally died.
I slowly walked off with a wince of pain.
What is happening to me...? Am I a monster?
WHAT KIND OF MONSTER AM I?!
...
"Andrew! How are you so bloody?" asked Shulk.
"You don't have to know," I replied, tired. "And please don't pester me, I am tired and..." I wiped more blood from my face. "I really want Sharla to heal me."
She sighed as she got out some cloth and shot healing ammo into me. "As a medic, may I ask how you got into a fight that has you injured so seriously?"
"Later," I replied with a yawn. "Please... I just... wanna relax for a second before we go."
"I will hold you to that promise," she warned, passing me the cloth. "And don't make this a regular occurrence."
"I'll try not to." I wiped al the blood from my face. "Melia... she's coming with us, isn't she?"
"How'd you know?" wondered the blonde.
"Through the powers of guessing," I replied. "On a slightly more serious note... I'll tell you the next time we make camp." Which is probably gonna be in Sword Valley... I feel so tired... "Ugh..."
"Here." Sharla shot an energy-boosting round into me. "Better?"
"Yeah, thanks." I stood, with a now very bloody cloth in my grasp the sniper took back. "Wait... where's everyone?"
"Oh, yeah. We gotta head to this place where Alvis is waiting with everyone," answered Shulk. "So let's head there. He's gonna help us get to Valek Mountain," he added.
Sharla followed him as he started, and I walked after the both of them.
Those two have gotten very accepting, I thought, chasing after them.
...
"Ow..." I walked out. "Back in Makna Forest again, huh...?"
"Yeah... huh?" Shulk gasped. "GET DOWN, EVERYONE!"
He tackled me, and the two of us were cut anyway by the talons of a certain, massive mind-reading bird that loved to screw us al up.
"DINOBEAST!" exclaimed Riki, bouncing back and forth as he equipped his Biter.
"A Telethia..." mused Alvis. "This is interesting... and a bit unexpected."
Shulk winced as he stood. "Ow..." He unleashed the Monado.
Seeing the beam, I felt weaker by the Ether pulsing outwards.
"There's nothing to do... but fight it!" yelled Dunban, drawing his own sword.
In that instant, the Telethia let loose a beam of pure Ether, and I gasped as I was sent flying from the attack.
"How's it so fast?!" gasped Shulk. "It... ANDREW!"
I gasped as I hit a bridge. "Ugh...!" It got ever so closer, and I felt myself weaken even more. "I..."
"Monado Purge!" shouted Shulk, the Art striking the beast.
However, it wasn't enough.
The Telethia destroyed the foundation on one side of the bridge, and the bridge itself collapsed.
I was sent falling to the fast flowing river down below, too weak to use anything that could prevent my fall, or even slow me down.
As soon as I hit the water like a sharp impact, everything appeared black to myself.
Fun fact: This fanfic started with Chuggaaconroy being in Xenoblade.
It was swiftly changed when I fully realized I didn't know about his reactions about most of the game.
Anyways... thank it all so much for taking time to read this piece of work! Always nice to know that there's people out there who'll read even this piece... that dulls in comparison to (likely) thousands of superior works.
Thank you all once more, and have a good one!