Chapter 33

A Dreaded Reunion

Leo reached the city just after the fighting started. Flying towards the capital, he saw the movement of the storm clouds and the ensuing electrical barrage that could have only been supernatural, in addition to the giant crimson fire that erupted in the northern woodlands of the city. He did not know exactly where the Empress was, but presumed she was responsible for the red fire. Leo commanded Tiamat to slow as he circled the city, scanning the moonlit battles in the middle ring. He could see that most of the enemy were massed in the parks and woodland, no doubt intending to fall back to the inner city if they failed to halt the Empire.

Though Leo's knowledge ended here. Gerra had been successful in changing the course of the battles, as originally most of the Galbadians were killed on the plains, their fleet annihilated off the northern coast. This second stand in the city had not happened previously, and taking the capital would not be easy.

Leo had failed the Empress at Wilburn, and possibly ruined her only chance to strike at Seifer's son. Win or lose, it would be almost impossible to locate the boy after this. Not now her enemies knew Ifrit was a target. Conversely, an innocent boy would be spared. Leo would have to ensure that he eliminated both Seifer and Gerra to make up for his failure. Eventually, he sighted the unmistakable fiery aura of Seifer in the west of the city, a battle taking place on a beautifully landscaped green area that Leo realised must be a golf course.

A hundred yards away flashed the blue of Bahamut. If he could slay both the Bloodhound and the Lionheart on his path to Gerra, then surely his failure would be forgiven. Leo descended into the melee, eager to participate after spending hours flying over the plateaus. It frustrated him that he had been largely uninvolved in any of the fighting until this point, save for his duels with the SeeDs. Though he had to remind himself that he was a Sorceress' Knight now, not an officer. His place was by Ultimecia's side.

He landed a distance away from the nearest fighters, giving himself enough time to get his circulation flowing following the flight. Leo approached the pockets of battles slowly, sighting Leonhart in the distance. He cut his way through Galbadian soldiers and SeeD cadets by the dozen on his path to the SeeD Commander, who was dealing death to Esthari in similar fashion.

Where is his Sorceress? Leo wondered.

Fixated on the legendary SeeD, he almost did not see the warrior of equal skill behind him. With Tiamat being an enslaved GF, Leo was not warned about a sneak attack, and his first hint was when he was suddenly engulfed in fire. Reacting quickly, he exploded out with a shield of Tiamat's own blue flames, turning to face Seifer Almasy.

'And who the hell are you?' Almasy laughed, holding Hyperion skyward and looking at Leo's unsinged obsidian armour. 'This isn't the set for the Sorceress' Knight II. It's a real battle, Iron Man!'

'Yet I am a Knight, Bloodhound,' Leo replied. 'I am Leonidas Christophe. Sworn to Sorceress Ultimecia, as you once were.'

'Another one? Hyne, fuck me!' Almasy replied crassly, but then his expression changed. 'You're wrong about one thing, though.' He gestured to himself with the thumb of his off hand. 'This Knight retired after the Battle of the Gardens. The only one I was truly sworn to was my mother, Sorceress Edea. There was a power vacuum in Galbadia after her defeat. Who wouldn't have taken that seat if they had the chance? I used Ultimecia's name, but anything I did afterward was just to poke the lion. Rinoa and I were once in love. Squall ended up living my romantic dream, not to mention succeeding everywhere that I failed, and I hated him for it. But that was a long time ago. Even if it will never be mutual, I respect the lion now.' He smiled faintly. 'He'll cut your bitch Sorceress down like he did in the future, unless I get to her first!'

'So, the Almasy bloodline goes back to Sorceress Edea?' Leo noted. 'Interesting. Alas, it matters not. It is the will of the Empress that your line comes to an end.'

Almasy levelled Hyperion, giving a mirthless laugh. 'We'll see about that!' he said dismissively, then his expression became fierce. 'Not only did Ultimecia ruin my mother's life, her present-self murdered her, and killed my father too. Then she took my daughter into slavery. I've waited a long time for some payback!'

He lunged with a backhand slash. With a single-armed flurry Leo knew all too well, Almasy had Leo backing up towards an approaching Leonhart. The SeeD leader circled around them, standing beside his old rival as he let up.

'This one's mine, Mr. Leader!' Almasy called.

Leo remained silent, splitting Harbinger in two. With a flash of his impressive gunblade, Leonhart once again enclosed them with a ring of Bahamut's fire, muting the battling around them.

'He's from the future,' he told Almasy.

'Yeah, genius,' Almasy replied with annoyance. 'I already figured that out.'

'I'll give you credit, Christophe,' Leonhart said. 'You're honourable for one of Ultimecia's subjects. But tell me, who is it that you are pursuing in this time?'

'Gerra Almasy.' Leonhart's eyes briefly went wide at the sound of the name. 'He was Ultimecia's Knight in my era, though he betrayed her.'

'Great fucking Hyne!' Almasy exclaimed. 'So, that's who he was! Phoenix, my ass!'

'I wasn't aware that Ultimecia ever had a Knight,' Leonhart remarked. 'She,' he looked at Almasy. 'recruited Seifer during the last war, but she had no one when we fought her in her time.'

'Did you speak the truth before, Lionheart?' Leo asked. 'Did you truly slay Ultimecia in the future?'

'We did. She sent her consciousness back through time, possessing the Sorceresses of this era. Her goal was to compress all time, seeking to end all existence. Destroying the Planet was not enough, she wanted to collapse the entire Universe. Though when her spell commenced, we were able to travel to a fragment of that future and destroy her.'

Compress time? Leo thought. End all existence?

He contemplated this, knowing that the Empress had access to the JME in the future. The prototype had been developed during the First Sorceress War. Compared to the Planet in the present day, Leo agreed that his harsh realm had been a nightmare. It was likely even worse years or decades after his departure, in the era that Leonhart was referencing.

'Is that really someone who's ascension you want to maintain?' Leonhart pressed. When Leo said nothing, he continued. 'Ultimecia clung on to life after we defeated her, long enough to travel even further back in time, giving her powers to Sorceress Edea.'

Leo was struck by a realisation. 'If that is true, it sounds as though the Empress sought to create a loop by making Edea more powerful. After so many cycles of that loop, she would become too powerful for even you to stop, Lionheart. A plan to compress time will ultimately succeed.'

'You're right,' Leonhart allowed. 'I've always suspected as much myself. Ultimecia's dying words were that she can't just disappear. It always bothered me that she followed me to a past I stumbled upon by mistake, giving her powers to a Sorceress she knew she would possess later on in the future.' He shook his head, saying quietly, 'I should have stopped Matron.'

'Yeah, dumbass!' Almasy told him, then waved Hyperion impatiently. 'Man, are you two just gonna bore me to death?' He raised his weapon again. 'Let's see what you've got, Iron Man!'

'You are both fated to die here,' Leo responded. 'That will not change.'

He raised both gunblades, one pointed at the Lionheart, the other at the Bloodhound. Leo looked from one to the other, unafraid in the face of two of the most famous gunblade wielders of this era. Hyperion started blazing with Ifrit's fire. And so began the Duel of the Three Knights, the two rivals fighting side by side for the first time since the Dollet field exam twenty years before. Almasy darted in, swinging overhand, with Leonhart attempting to smote Leo in the side.

Leo quickly deduced the SeeD Commander was the more calculated swordsman, as he parried their strokes with little window for counterattack. Almasy had more of a brawling and brash risk-taking style – much like his descendant, Gerra. Although it was because of this that he believed Almasy would prevail over Leonhart in single combat. Almasy had a lot less to lose. He had never been forgiven for his atrocities in the last war and never expected to be, likely believing being struck down in battle would be a fitting end to his legend. Unable to land a significant blow, the two rivals swiftly became divided in their offense, impeding one another. Almasy was becoming visibly frustrated. Leonhart was sent reeling into Almasy by a firm kick to the abdomen, whose response was to grab the SeeD Commander's shoulder and drag him to the ground.

'Out of the way, Lionheart! He's mine!'

Ifrit's raging plume surrounded his summoner. Hyperion blazing, Almasy gripped his gunblade two-handed now, striking with renewed intensity.

'Ready to die, Iron Man?'

Leo dealt a mortal blow at the first opening. Meeting a downward stroke of Hyperion with one half of Harbinger, he dealt Almasy a drawing slash across the abdomen with the other. Almasy looked dismayed as Leo moved away, but his face quickly contorted with pain as he sought to keep blood and entrails from spilling from the wound, stemming it with one hand. Still clutching Hyperion, the Bloodhound fell to his knees. Seeing his rival fall, Leonhart attempted to rush Leo, who merely pivoted to Almasy's flank. Wanting to ensure the grievously wounded Almasy would not rejoin the battle, Leo moved behind Almasy and broadly cut him backhand, rending his spine.

'Seifer!' Leonhart cried.

The flames of Ifrit emitted from the two wounds, replaced by orange glows that moved away from them. The Bringer of Hellfire had deserted his mortally wounded vessel. Almasy slumped forward with a pained cry, awkwardly rolling onto his back, his legs immobile. Leonhart leapt over his fallen rival and struck Leo continuously. The SeeD Commander ended the flurry by leaping into the air, a white line trailing his blade end. The line imploded, as it had against Ultimecia, knocking Leo onto his rear. On the way down, Leonhart tried to cleave his skull, but he firmly got both blades up to stop it. Leo pushed him away with one powerful leg, swiftly rising to his feet.

Now unimpeded, Leonhart continued the fight alone. The two were so intently locked on one another that they did not notice the giant tornado that was indiscriminately ripping men and women from the battlefield, heading straight for them. Eventually, they heard its roar, but ignored it even as it absorbed Bahamut's ring of fire. Only their GFs saved them as they joined the countless Galbadians and Esthari torn from the ground, who were now burning alive with Bahamut's intensified flames. Summoning their GFs, they were able to escape the twisting blue spiral of fire, at the same time as dozens of others were cast out of it to fall screaming to their deaths.

Suddenly, the tornado disappeared, hundreds of ablaze bodies dropping to the ruined fairways and greens of the golf course. Where the centre of the twister had been was a screaming woman with long white hair; the Cyclone.

'Vengeance!' she shrieked in blind rage.

She launched a neon chakram at Leo, who knocked it asunder. The spiked pinwheel returned to Fujin's hand, and she tried to get within Leo's blades, wailing like a banshee and blind in her fury. Catching two of her chakram's points in between one blade, Leo hewed off Fujin's arm below the elbow with the other. Howling once again, this time in excruciation, Fujin clutched at the stump and dropped to her knees. Leo was poised to her through before Leonhart could reach her, but between them appeared Pandemonium, forcing Leo to back up as the unusually constructed GF took form. The bag behind its back was enormous, and with a howl its raging winds were directed at him.

Leo was knocked off his feet and sent careening hundreds of yards, far from the ruined golf course. He commanded Tiamat to shield him from any impact, but still had the wind knocked from him as he was flung deep into woodland, blacking out after colliding with a broad trunk.

Now that she had openly betrayed her adoptive homeland, Tyris felt calmer than she had for years. The faces of Hikaru and Selena had been pushed to the furthest depths of her mind, for now. She had finally done it; her true loyalties were made known. There could be no mistaking it. Only Lieutenant Pandemona could have conjured that storm.

Concealing her power within the treeline, Tyris continued to wait long after the battle started. After some time, when it sounded as though General Zebalga's force had cleared the river, Tyris emerged. Wearing just her bodysuit, the Galbadians left her alone, and she cut a bloody path through her former brothers and sisters-in-arms, on her way to the red aura of Zebalga.

Tyris reached the sadistic General. He had his broad back to her, brutally cutting swathes through regular soldiers, ripping some of them in half with Doomtrain's power. There were limbs and maimed bodies all around him. Knowing full well the long-imprisoned Doomtrain would not warn him, Tyris sheathed her swords and drew on the combined power of Ramuh and Quetzal. Opening both palms, she sent the razor edge of two thunderbolts into Zebalga's back. His agonised cry was music to her ears as he dropped his khopesh, but he quickly forced Doomtrain to divert the lightning. He turned around, deftly picking up his fallen sickle sword.

'Lieutenant Pandemona, you duplicitous bitch!' he spat, blood and saliva emitting from his mouth. 'I am going to flay you alive and present your tainted hide to the Empress!'

'You really don't remember me, do you?' Tyris replied. 'My name is Tyris Almasy; I'm the daughter of Seifer and Fujin. You raped me when I was a child.'

'You will have to do better than that,' Zebalga said without a flicker of recognition, or a shred of remorse.

'You'll remember me,' Tyris said calmly. 'It was at the orphanage in Centra, the night Edea and Cid were killed.'

His eyes briefly went downcast, the tattooed eyelids Tyris had often seen in her nightmares visible for a second.

'So that's it,' he realised. 'The brown-haired one with the fiery temper, who charged us with a wooden sword as we stood over the Kramers' bodies.'

'Correct. I was seven.'

'I thought you looked familiar at your pass out parade,' Zebalga said. 'And it explains how you were able to acquire Ramuh. I never expected you to survive the mines. You must be the only one still alive from that night.'

Tyris shook her head. 'There was one other. The Daughter of the Armageddon Fist.'

He started to laugh in a low rumble. 'Do you really suppose you can kill me, when the Lionheart and so many others have failed? Come on then, Stormbringer! Avenge your Matron!'

The Liontamer strode toward Tyris the same way he had twelve years ago, and her innate fear of him returned momentarily. He represented pure malice in her eyes, even more so than the Empress. Her spear back in hand, she sought to banish those ghosts. She darted toward him, ambitiously thrusting for his groin. Zebalga grunted as he effortlessly blocked it with a turn of his body, his forearm knocking it off line. He sought get within her spear, but Tyris darted back as nimbly as a cat.

'You are still a child, Almasy,' he jeered. 'That telescopic pigsticker is little more than a toy!'

Tyris did not respond, thrusting and swinging to keep him at bay. He rushed her as she feinted, creating a false opening. She rolled forward on her shoulder, bringing the spear around in attempt to sever his achilles, but he stepped out of range at the last second. Pressing her offense, Tyris believed she had the General on the back foot, but made the same mistake she had against Rhodry. He grabbed her spear. With his khopesh glowing red, he broke it with a downswing and scornfully threw the end at her.

'What did I tell you?' he taunted with a malicious grin, which revealed those teeth filed down to sharp points. 'I should have cut your throat at the height of my climax, leaving you to rot between Cid and your Matron!'

'A mistake that I will ensure you regret!' Tyris said resolvedly, drawing her swords.

She allowed him to come at her again. Attacking how she thought he would, she scored a hit to his side, under his arm. But she knew his light armour had been made impregnable by the Empress, getting a backhand across her face for her trouble, ducking under his blade a second later. That dark laughter returned sporadically as Zebalga swiped at her over and over. Tyris lunged after parrying the last of his countless swings. He drew his bodyweight back, the curve of the sickle sword pulling her left gladius from her fingers.

He laughed again as Tyris brandished her remaining sword in front of her, firing a lightning bolt in the hope of beating him back, but it was ineffective against Doomtrain's barrier. Zebalga struck at her half a dozen times more, each stroke meeting the flat of her gladius. Then his large boot came up and caught her in her unarmoured solar plexus, knocking her from her feet. Winded, Tyris reacted with honed instincts, her arms fanning out in a breakfall. Her sword arm came out in front of her, her other arm planted on the trodden earth behind her. Zebalga was quickly on her.

His khopesh never met hers, as he was rushed by a trenchcoated man with a flaming aura and a sword of fire. At first, Tyris thought her father had come to her rescue. But the man's hair, beard and trench coat were all black. The sword was not Hyperion. With the General rapidly backing from his new assailant, they were quickly hidden from view by groups of warring soldiers. Tyris got to her feet. Picking up her other sword, she was about to follow, but then realised that the appearance of Ifrit within another must mean that something untimely had happened to her father.

He lies a short distance to the east, Ramuh informed her. He is at death's door, but still has some time remaining. Go to him while you still have the opportunity, child.

Silently thanking the trenchcoated man that had perhaps saved her life, Tyris let Ramuh guide her to her father's body. Around her, the Galbadians had answered a call to retreat to the inner city, leaving their dead as they had done on the Great Plains. Tyris guessed that the marines had been successful in securing the sewer network, that the westerners were now outflanked.

Anxiety slowly welled up within her as she tried to prepare for the inevitable meeting, something that she had dreaded for twelve years. Would her parents be angry that she had joined Esthar's army and fought against them? Would they be proud that she had sought to undermine them at the same time, and eventually turned on them?

Tyris found her father laying on his back, his offhand vainly trying to stem an awful cut across his abdomen, his other gripping the handle of his distinct gunblade. His legs were lifeless. Seifer recognised her straight away with her hood down.

'Tyris,' Seifer said, his breathing laboured.

'Dad,' she said, her voice cracking.

That was all she said at first as the tears came to her eyes, as much as she willed them not to.

'You did it,' he struggled, blood visible in his mouth. 'You did it with style, shoving all those lightning bolts up Zebalga's ass!'

She smiled softly. 'I waited until I knew it would harm them the most. I've come back now.'

Seifer coughed a couple of times, blood tainting his beard. He turned his head to spit the rest out.

'Damn, twelve years. There wasn't a day we weren't thinking about you, Ty.'

She closed her eyes as she sobbed. 'You're a bastard, Dad! You should have been at Edea's House to stop them! I hate you so much!'

He nodded with effort. 'I know.'

Tyris looked around and saw that most of the fighting had now moved from the park to the inner city. The green was trampled and ruined, littered with bodies, and abandoned vehicles. Now, the predominant sound was the groans and screams of the dying.

'We saw everything, Ty,' Seifer said. Tyris looked back to him, waiting for him to elaborate. 'Aunt Elle showed us everything. How Matron and Cid died. What Zebalga did to you. The mines. When you passed out as officer. Vlahos. The Thunder Plains. Timber. The meetings with Thalassa.' He paused to clear his throat again. 'We knew you would come back, one day. We've been with you the whole time. We don't expect you to forgive us, but we're proud of you, Ty.'

The emotion had amassed in Tyris so much that she could not speak. Choking back sobs, she tried to wipe her eyes, and finally managed to ask, 'Who did this to you?'

'Ultimecia's Knight.'

'Ultimecia? The Sorceress from the future?'

'Reina.' Seifer choked, now looking to the storm clouds above. 'Reina is Ultimecia, that's why she has to die. Her Knight came from the future.'

'Christophe!' Tyris realised. 'I've met him! I knew he was more than he claimed to be!'

'I'm dying, Ty,' Seifer said. 'Even if I can be saved, Rinoa or Quistis won't help me, not after everything I did. I don't expect them to. Christophe severed my spine; I'll never be able to fight again, and to me, that's worse than death.' He met her eyes again. 'You and Ifrit are my legacy. Watch over your little brother. As my firstborn, Hyperion is yours, if you want it. If not, give it to Ifrit, and do the Almasy name proud.'

'I will, Dad. You have my word.'

'Now grant me one last favour, Ty,' Seifer breathed. 'Make it quick. Kill me.'

Her mouth opened. 'No, Dad! I can't!'

'Just do it. It's okay if it's you, Ty. I deserve it, after what you went through.'

'Dad, please! No!'

'Kill me, Ty!' he struggled, coughing again. 'I'm in agony. I'm ready to die!'

Slowly, Tyris picked up one of her swords from the ground.

'I'll try and find it in my heart to forgive you,' she said, gripping the hilt with both hands and raising it above his chest.

Seifer looked back towards the storm clouds as a curtain of rain began to fall. Tyris moved to impale his heart, but for a fleeting second, she thought that she heard her mother's sharp voice in her mind, giving her pause.

Seifer looked back to her. 'Fucking do it! Kill me, you damned stupid bitch!'

Screaming, Tyris drove the blade into his chest. She let go and wrapped her arms tightly around Seifer as he died, his final ragged breath leaving him. Tyris did not want to let go of his body, crying into his bloodied trench coat.

After some time, she heard a gruff voice behind her. 'That can't have been easy.'

Grabbing her other sword, Tyris was immediately on her feet, turning to face the black-haired man that had saved her from Memnon. Ifrit's new summoner.

'You were watching?'

The man nodded apologetically. 'Don't worry, I know he wanted you to kill him. I'm sorry for your loss.'

'Who are you?' Tyris demanded.

'My name is Gerra.'

'Gerra? I've heard your name before! Christophe was pursuing you and Thalassa in FH!' she recalled.

'You've met him?' Gerra inquired, then said, 'Nevermind. I lost my gunblade on the Great Plains. It was a replica of your father's Hyperion. I was hoping you would allow me to honour the Bloodhound of Garden and wield his gunblade for the remainder of the battle.'

Tyris was wary, noting that Gerra spoke with the same high-inflected accent that Christophe had, which sounded like bastardised Centran. Was he from the future, too? But if he had been journeying with Thalassa, and charged Zebalga, he must have borne Reina's enemies no ill will.

'Does General Zebalga still draw breath?' she asked him.

'Yes. He fled to join his force's pursuit to the inner city.'

'Good. He's mine to kill, and mine alone,' Tyris said firmly.

Turning, she reluctantly pulled her other sword from her father's unmoving chest and smeared herself with his blood. Then she sheathed it and closed Seifer's eyes.

'Goodbye, Dad,' she said.

Tyris picked up Hyperion. She had never liked gunblades, always opting for spears or similar thrusting weapons, additionally trained by Selena with short swords for close fighting. Also, Tyris found the stubby Esthari gunblades ugly. The longer western models had always reminded her of her father. It did not bother her if Seifer had wanted Ifrit to inherit Hyperion. She walked towards Gerra, presenting the gunblade to him by the handle.

'My father wanted Hyperion to go to my little brother, so make sure you return it after the battle, or I will hunt you down!' she vowed.

Gerra smiled, but Tyris did not think he doubted her. 'I give you my word. If we're separated, I'll present it to Ifrit myself.'

Tyris blinked. 'Did my father tell you Ifrit's name?'

Gerra paused. 'He did when we met at Locomota. Sorry, but I do not know your name.'

'Tyris.'

'Okay, Tyris,' he said, turning to test Hyperion. 'What say we rejoin the battle?'