ACT I: END OF THE WORLD


Chapter Three

When she came to, she'd landed outside the stadium.

Blurbs were running all over the place, no structure or plan. Dust and ruins laid around her body, almost like she was cut out of the rubble. Streaks of blood and water stained the ground. There was a slight ringing in her ears, but...

The sound was unmistakable. A beautiful myriad of sorrow and purity shifting. The operatic voices could have been depicted as calming, but juxtaposed against the chaos around her, it was eerie.

Then she heard a cry from her right. A woman trapped under a pillar.

She…she had to help her.

"You can't save them, you know. But I know you'll try."

That voice…

She raised her head, a single drop of blood coming to rest on her cheek. It was the little boy. He was standing in the middle of the chaos, unperturbed by the violence. Once again, no one could see him.

"They're waiting. Go find them."

"W-who are you?"

"Just a dream. Now don't you wanna help them?"

Help…

That's when she heard the new screams. All permeating from the same direction.

Somehow, she was able to lift herself up from the rubble and regain her balance. Her head was pounding and the sleeve of her cloak, shredded. When she looked over, a giant orb of water had emerged from the sky. Silver creatures were budding from it. The creatures fell to buildings and bridges in search of prey. One monster's tentacles swallowed a man's face and he fell to the ground, smothered.

"Oh my God, somebody help him!"

Against her better judgement, her feet began to move along the shaky ground away from the stadium altogether. She quickly made her way down the bridge, somehow managing to dodge the frantic people around her.

Her heiress training fought to halt her actions. She was raised to let other people do the saving. Even trained in the art of self-defense and weaponry, she dared not lift a finger for another person. But she wasn't an heiress right now. She was Ceres. And somebody needed her help!

"Dammit! Where the hell are the police? Everything's gone to shit!"

Finally reaching the man, Ceres stomped on the creature to force a response.

"Get the hell off him!"

Each stomp only slightly went through its body, made out of water.

The thing gave an ugly shrill before continuing its attack.

"You can do better than that."

Annoyed with his presence, Ceres stopped her assault and turned back to the boy who appeared from nothing.

"Seriously?! I don't need your sass right now!"

Just then the man began to scream in agony, drawing back Ceres' attention.

How the hell do I kill this thing? Thinking back to her former attack, she got an idea.

She pulled out the two dual steel fans concealed within her bodice. Making sure to hold the handles at precisely the right angle, she clanked the fans together before touching the monster with them. An electric current delivered an ample shock to the creature as it screeched. In no time, it lost the strength to cling to the man's head and dissolved away.

"Thank you, miss!"

But Ceres wasn't paying attention to him. She watched the last particle fade away and got to thinking.

If electricity kills these things…

With a new resolve, she ran past the man and moved further down the bridge, calling to the man, "Now that I saved you, please don't die tonight!"


She ran the opposite direction as everyone else, intent on reaching that giant thing launching all of these creatures. As she made her way, she could see tentacles slowly fading way with small emitting from them. Before she reached it, it had already stopped glowing.

Is someone else fighting the monsters too?

She pushed forward, seeing several more being launched from someone. When she arrived, two people were facing a swarm of bug-like creatures with glowing wings on the other side.

What the

"Tidus?"

"Ceres!" he turned toward her, with a hand outstretched. "Don't come any closer! It's not safe!"

A few of the bugs moved to attack him and he stopped to swing his sword. Ceres heard noises behind her, and realized more bugs had come in behind her. She moved closer to Tidus and the silent man to avoid getting hit. Watching Tidus use his sword and defeat them, she finally opened her fans and let them shield her.

"We were waiting for you," the man quietly muttered with almost a scolding tone.

"What?" Tidus exclaimed after killing another one, "this is who you meant?"

Halting another one from coming forward, Ceres leaned in. She struck the creature across the back, the steel lighting up with electricity and watched the monster fade into those blue orbs.

"What the hell are you guys talking about? Tidus, who is this?"

Tidus exhaled, already tired from the assault. "His name is Sir Auron—"

"We don't have time for this. We're late," the samurai butt in. Ceres went to give a sassy remark, but was interrupted by another monster. "See that machine? That! Knock it down, trust me!"

Ceres was too busy keeping the monsters at bay on her side to understand what was happening. She could hear a motor clanging loudly behind her. Within minutes, it sounded like something separated and then the bridge shook. Wobbling over, she put her hands out and used Tidus' shoulder to right her balance.

An explosion went off and heat rose from the ground around them. Glancing up, she saw the stern face of Jecht hurdling down towards them.

"Shit!"

Someone's hands came around her shoulders and pushed her back in the direction of the creatures she had been fighting. Where they were previously standing, the building pressed into the bridge and took the whole section with it, falling into a pit. Ceres was sure her legs would give out from the unexpected devastation.

Once it all settled, the building was left in place of the bridge; now a raised pathway lit with fire.

"Now what?" Ceres asked no one, seemingly glad to have been pushed to safety.

When she glanced at her companion, Tidus turned to Auron who just looked back at them.

"Go."

Excuse me?

Tidus made a wheezing sound before slapping her shoulder. Not waiting to get left behind, Ceres cried out and tucked her fans back in.

The three took running starts, toward the sinking building and jumped. But that wasn't the end. Fire began to combust from the windows below their feet so they kept running. Ceres did her best to dodge these dangers, but the heat was still hot on her ankles.

Apparently, she was faster than the other two, and arrived to the other side in no time. After making a split decision, she jumped up and caught the end of this new half of the bridge. A piece of metal cut into her hand, but she didn't care at the moment.

Summoning all of her strength, she pulled her body up onto the bridge and leaned over. Her body eventually toppled over and she finally let her arms rest. Glancing over the bridge, she watched the other two approach as well. But it seemed this bridge was moving further away.

The bridge…floating?

She turned her back to them, facing the new direction and nearly had a heart attack. She had no choice but to look up.

This bridge is floating!

She was frozen. She told herself to run but her body would not listen. Run? Where would we run to, it asked her. She faintly heard Tidus screaming Auron's name behind her.

"Auron!...Auron!"

Everything around them was being consumed by that…thing.

Is this what that child meant?

It's too bad none of them will be alive to remember this.

She couldn't stop the words from forming.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die." The words wouldn't stop coming. And she wasn't sure who she was telling them to.

Tears formed in her emerald eyes and her hands shook against the ground.

I wonder if you whine, too.

Oh yes, she was a whiner. She would whine and whine until the world swallowed them up. Because there was no more hope and she was gonna die today.

It's almost time.

He'd tried to warn her. But now it was here. Whatever it is.

They would all perish.

You can't save them, you know.

She paused her muttering when she faintly felt a hand close around her sleeve, pulling her to her feet. Her lip quivered at his words and she gripped the hand holding her up. She began to beg for her life. "Wait, Sir Auron. Please, please we have to go before it eats us. We have—"

She saw the look of resolve on his face and knew he would not let go.

"This is your story now...Choose carefully."

And they were consumed by the bright light.