AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't own anything from Bayonetta or Final Fantasy.
"Well, you all look nice and wet." Luka announced as he climbed out of the plane and onto the wing, Cereza in his arms. The pair looked up at him and both frowned.
"I smell like salt." Sephiroth said as he sat up. "Great."
"That is an acute observation, Cheshire." Bayonetta stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Anything else you would like to add?"
"I don't want to be a downer, but now what?" He walked in front of her, his eyes grave. "If you haven't noticed, we are currently stuck in the middle of the ocean with no real way of leaving it!"
"I could fly us over, but I can't carry you all." She frowned and turned to Sephiroth. "Not to mention that power is quite taxing."
"Don't look at me." Sephiroth frowned. "I can't fly with one wing."
"Couldn't you fly before?" Luka frowned back at him. "Back at the airport, when we met."
"I'd rather not." He turned away and ended the conversation. Bayonetta gave him a look but shrugged.
"I'll respect your choice." She turned back to Luka. "How's the little one?"
"I'm OK, Mummy." Cereza answered, her voice small. Bayonetta held a hand out and felt her forehead.
"Jesus Christ, you are freezing!" Her arm recoiled at the touch. "Darling, do you think you could cast that warmth spell again?"
Sephiroth nodded and walked forward, a small flame appearing in his hand.
"Well, you all survived. Congratulations." The Auditio interrupted them from behind, rising out of the sea and splashing the four with a large wave, extinguishing the flame and soaking them all. "I forget how hard it is to kill a witch."
"That's a lie." Bayonetta turned back to face the angel. "You slaughtered the Umbran Elders like they were nothing, Sapientia!"
Sapientia laughed, the mechanical sound booming from it. "Those Elders were weak and were arrogant with their abilities. They had grown complacent with the passing of time, and none were truly prepared for the might of Paradiso."
"That's because any of the Auditio had not left Paradiso in centuries!" She argued, moving closer to the angel. "We were unprepared for such a force."
"We had not entered the mortal realm in centuries because there was no reason to." It contemptuously replied. "You ascending to hold the Left Eye was what brought our attention and willingness to re-enter the mortal realm."
"The prophecy?" Bayonetta asked and Sephiroth gave her a weird look. "What does this sodding prophecy have to do with me?"
"It has everything to do with you." It answered. "The events that were set in motion five hundred years ago would not have occurred if you had not even existed!"
"Why!?" She screamed, startling the other three. "Why does everything always come back to me!?"
"Because you are at the centre of the chaos that is spreading throughout this universe." Sapientia stared at her. "A chaos we cannot allow to grow further. The resurrection of the Creator will allow a new universe, one without Chaos, one with order."
"This is the part where I will disagree." Sephiroth stepped forward, Shuraba flashing into his hand. "Remaking the universe will kill everyone in the previous one, and the new one will still have all the problems of the current one."
"The Father's Experiment. You are just as naïve as your witch accomplice; remaking the universe will allow peace to reign throughout. A perfect utopia for everyone to live in harmony." It turned to him.
"That's not what will happen! Forcing something to work will never work!" He argued. "Resurrecting the Creator will destroy everything and everyone inside of the mortal realm!"
"Impudent creation!" It roared. "Do you think we care for mortal life? They are but a sacrifice for the greater good!"
"A sacrifice I cannot allow you to make." Sephiroth raised the sword and took his stance. Bayonetta let her hair flow out and took her stance next to him.
"We are doing this one together." She whispered to him, and he nodded.
"What about the others?" He whispered back. "They won't survive this."
"Can you cast an Umbran Barrier?" She asked, and he nodded.
"You dare challenge me, Sapientia, the Cardinal Virtue of Prudence?" It sounded offended and enraged. "Your arrogance is insulting!"
Snapping his wrist, a purple barrier appeared in front of Luka and Cereza. Extending around them to form a dome, it snapped into place as Umbran etching flowed through it.
"Smart, but not smart enough." It taunted. "Once we are finished with you, we will deal with them!"
"You're very confident." Bayonetta smiled. "Can you walk the walk, or do you have to be shown how to really court a lady?"
It had enough. Raising one of its legs, it slammed it down onto the wing. Sephiroth jumped to the left, freezing the water to make a platform. Bayonetta jumped to the right, tearing off a small portion of the wing as she did. Landing onto it, she rode it like a surfboard on top of the roiling ocean from the angel.
Sapientia was more interested in the stationary one of the two. It growled, and several lasers shot from its legs. Sephiroth deflected what he could but was pushed back into the ocean. Sending a fist into its left leg, she tried to get its attention. It worked, and the Audito turned to her. It hissed and launched missiles at her.
Bayonetta blinked and began to fire her guns at each, exploding them before they came close. Ducking underneath the swipes it sent at her, she tried to analyse it. It didn't seem to have an obvious weakness, and nothing she could really exploit.
Sephiroth flew out of the water and landed onto the back of the angel, surprising both. Chanting in Enochian, he implored to the depths. A giant iceberg grew out underneath the angel, slamming into its stomach and throwing it up into the air.
Go for the head! His voice shouted in her mind. It has armour everywhere, and that is where it is weakest!
Surfing towards the head, she summoned a fist and slammed it into its forehead/chin/lowest part of its head. The armour barely cracked, let alone dented. Frowning, she reconsidered her options. If she couldn't break it, maybe someone else could…
She starting to dance, letting her power flow through her movements. Twisting, she landed on one knee and pointed.
"IASTA SA PIADPH!"
Her hair left her body and spiralled into a portal. From the depths, across from the partially stunned Sapientia, a giant black and orange spider arose. It roared once, revealing a lava-filled mouth that caused the nearby ocean to evaporate. The angel yelped in surprise and immediately turned and ran. Rolling her eyes, she began to surf towards it.
A giant block of ice slammed into the Auditio's head from the right, turning it to the left. Another one flew into it from the same direction, shifting it a bit more left. Bayonetta immediately understood what he was doing as more chunks of ice pummelled the side of the head. Gesturing to Phantasmaraneae, she made it walk forward until it was right behind the angel.
It took a couple of minutes, but Sephiroth managed to slam enough ice into its head to turn it around. As soon as it was within striking range, the spider demon latched onto its face with its mouth, burning and melting the armour away. Tearing away the fragments that were left, the porcelain face of the angel stared out at them with hatred.
"You impudent fools!" It roared as the spider disappeared and reweaved itself back onto Bayonetta. "You will die for your resistance!"
"Oh, please." Bayonetta winked at it, enraging it further. "The last one said that died a horrible death. Now, I'm not finished playing with you yet, so don't go off and die now!"
Are you serious? His voice sounded amused. I don't particularly want to fight this for that long.
She smiled. Even he was having a modicum of fun.
Sapientia then leaped up into the air, and then dove under the water. Sephiroth jumped off at the last minute, landing on one of the various chucks of ice still floating about in the water. He landed in a crouch, surveying the waters for their foe.
The water erupted around her as Sapientia re-emerged, its mouth open, from underneath. She barely had time to realize what was going on when the jaw snapped close, and she was swallowed into its stomach.
Summoning out Malphas's wings again, she hovered above the pool of strange liquid inside of the stomach, watching as her impromptu surfboard melted into goop.
"Naughty boy…" She shook her head as she held her nose from the spell. "This is not how you eat out a lady."
Sending a barrage of wicked weaves into the sides of the stomach, she heard it mutely roar with pain. Sending a wicked kick into the wall, she watched with satisfaction as it burst through the stomach and the exterior armour. Flying out, she saw Sephiroth still on his iceberg, defecting missiles with his ice, and Sapientia was bellowing in pain.
"You are testing all of my patience!" It screamed. "Just give up the Eye!"
"Why should I?" She answered, flying over to Sephiroth. "You're the one losing right now. And besides, I don't know why you want this stone. It would look awfully bad on you."
The Auditio began to laugh. Within seconds, it was laughing harder than either of the two had ever seen.
"What was so funny?" She turned to the winged man. "Was it something I said?"
"Probably." He answered, dropping his stance and turning to her. "The other two are not faring well."
"What's happening to them?" She glanced back at the plane, and noted the purple barrier was still standing. "Is there something wrong?"
"They aren't in a good headspace. They are also both freezing and hungry." He answered almost robotically.
"Well, shit." She looked back at the laughing Auditio as it seemed to recover its senses.
"You think this is all about the stone?" It chortled. "That stone is the least of our worries right now."
"Bayonetta." She turned to face him. "Go to them. I'll deal with this myself."
"What are you planning?" She looked at him in suspicion.
"I'm going to try and teleport you to Isla Del Sol." He answered. "Now go!"
She shook her head as her wings sprouted out again and she took off towards the plane. "Some plan. It better bloody work."
The barrier faded as she approached the pair, and her face fell at their appearance. They were shivering and holding each other tightly, and both looked miserable.
"Cheshire, Little one!" She called to them as she landed. "Grab on!"
"What's going on, Bayonetta?" Luka looked up at her, either forgetting to remind her of his name or simply couldn't be bothered.
"Sephiroth has a little trick up his sleeve that's going to get us all out of here." She answered as knelt. "Now, grab on!"
Just as their hands touched, a white light enveloped them, and they disappeared.
…
Sephiroth dropped his hand and his eyes dimmed. Turning back to the Audito, his thoughts remained on whether his spell was successful.
Don't worry so much. Khepri chided. If it didn't work, I can always teach you to rewind time.
"Ahh, Father Balder's experiment. Temperentia used to talk about you a lot." Sapientia seemed curious. "You have had tremendous growth in your power; a worthy successor for the Father."
"I am no successor, nor do I hope to be!" He snarled angrily, levitating some ice for emphasis. "You should forget about this delusion and leave us alone!"
"The Father has great plans for you." It replied. "If you will not accept your place, you will simply be destroyed and replaced!"
And with that it leaped into the air and dove back underneath the ocean, creating a massive whirlpool as it did. Balancing on his iceberg, he watched as it drew itself closer to the whirlpool and then tipped over the edge.
Sapientia was at the bottom of the vortex, its face split open and four eye tentacles were waving about. Sephiroth blinked at the sight, but payed it no heed. Jumping from the iceberg, he began to fall towards it.
The eyes opened fire, sending up beams of golden light at him. Weaving through them, he began to chant as he prepped a spell that his Lumen side was more then happy to remind him of. Releasing it before he landed amongst the tentacled mess, he launched the meteor at point blank range.
The Auditio screamed with pain as all four tentacles were ripped off by the impact. Landing on the porcelain face, he raised Shuraba and swung it down, splitting it in two.
Sapientia began to thrash about wildly, trying to throw the man from its head. Leaping up from it, he froze the tip of the vortex and landed onto hit, looking down at the flailing angel.
Well, now is a good time for you to start fulfilling parts of your contract, if any. Khepri spoke up. Summon me, and I will do the rest.
"If you say so." He shrugged and let Shuraba fall back into Inferno. Splaying his palms out, he spread his arms and wing wide as he drew his power.
"PDEE BARMA!" Sephiroth threw his arms forward as he released the spell. A portal to Inferno opened behind the angel, and out came a massive Madama Khepri. The demon winked at him, and then delivered a massive punch to the back of the Auditio. Sapientia roared in pain, then in fear as it realised what was behind it. A second fist rocked the angel, and it began to fall, knocked from its perch.
…
Bayonetta opened her eyes as the white light faded. To her relief, but not surprise, she wasn't dead, and neither were the two people gathered in her arms.
She was kneeling on a road, and tall buildings surrounded her. Looking at their immediate surroundings, she noticed that they were in an alleyway. On the ground lay several plastic tubes and needles, covered in dirt and dust.
"Where are we?" Luka asked as he noticed the ground. "Some sort of drug ring?"
"No." She answered, recoiling at the ground. "This is Isla Del Sol, I'm sure of it."
"Then why does this look like the remains of a goddamn meth lab?" Luka stood up, holding Cereza as far away from the ground as he could. "Isla Del Sol is where the elites of Vigrid live, not a cesspool of humanity."
"Because this is from a lab." She gestured to the floor. "Sephiroth teleported us to the only place he knew on Isla Del Sol that was relatively out of sight; this alleyway."
"Then what is so import-" The colour from his face drained as he realised what the discarded medical items were. "Oh my god..."
Bayonetta nodded, her mouth a grim line. She approached him, looking at the girl in his arms. "Little one. Are you alright?"
Cereza nodded. "I'm alright, Mummy. Are you alright?"
She paused at that. "I am, little one."
The girl smiled at her. Ruffling her hair, she turned to the exit of the alleyway.
"Now, the final step of this weird, fucked up journey begins." Luka spoke to her. "Are you ready, Bayonetta?"
"Cheshire." She smiled to herself. "I was born ready."