Chapter XIII- The Nightmare Ends
Jet awoke in the room where he had spent many nights on this journey. The sunlight streaming in was a bit bright for his liking and so with one solid motion he shut the blinds. It only took him three or so minutes to realize that he had done this without leaving the bed.
How had he done it?
The wind blowing through the nearby window gave him his answer. He had manipulated the air. Was this a hallucination? It must have been, because now he was falling through the ocean, as though he had been flung from a very tall building. He would have screamed, but he knew that he would not be harmed. In all the days of his unpredictable life he had never been so sure of the fact that when he landed, he would be safely standing on both feet.
And he was. He was standing on both feet in the middle of blazing inferno. The fire didn't burn him though. It did nothing to him. It was him. Jet was receiving signals from something, and trying desperately to piece them together. Was this something that the Guardians were telling him? But how could they? He didn't have his Ark Sceptre with him. He could not communicate with them.
And suddenly a brilliantly clear voice entered his thoughts, and he knew what he had to do.
---
The Schroedinger docked on the shore near Fila Del Fia, just inside the barrier. They didn't feel safe leaving just yet, and Gallows could barely move. Virgnia wrapped his arm up in a bandage, but Gallows could not shoot with his good arm ruined. Another warrior out of the picture. This attack plan was looking less and less reliable, but Virginia knew in her heart that this would be their last chance.
"Well, we might as well greet whoever is out there," Virginia sighed. "The hour grows late."
Virginia was the first to step out of the submarine and approach the massive structure. Clive was next, followed by Alfred, Todd, Maya, Gallows and Shady. Lombardia hovered overhead as she had promised and tried to be communicating with them, but the barrier blocked all sound out. It was, in fact, deathly silent.
"So glad you could join us," came the voice of Lucio.
And standing beside him was Beatrice.
"Lovely to see you again," she smiled.
And in an instant, all seven of them were encapsulated in floating blue bubbles and throw into the floating city.
---
"Jet!" Shane protested as Jet began to walk out of the colony. "You're not well yet."
Jet couldn't agree more. He was sick. Dying, probably. But he still had a job to do.
"Lombardia!" Jet shouted as loud as he could. He waited for a minute. Then five. Then ten more after that. But Lombardia was coming. He was certain. This sensation was the best he had ever felt and he would not let it go to waste. It was absolute knowledge that nothing could go wrong.
Suddenly the dragon touched down in front of him.
"Little one!" Lombardia gasped. "You are not well enough to fly."
"That's why I have you," Jet smiled as he climbed on.
---
"So, what do you think of my world?" Beatrice asked.
The orbs had been locked into place hovering just above a gigantic generator room that Virginia had never seen before. But this was definitely not in Fila Del Fia.
"Your friend Gallows was wrong. We weren't trying to get Fila Del Fia to fly again. We wanted to dig deeper. And guess what we found?" Beatrice asked.
Virginia tried to fire her ARMs, but the triggers would not work.
Beatrice laughed. "Please, put those down. All ARMs are under my control now. You see this room?! It's the planet's heart."
"It's heart?" Clive asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't you get it? ARMs, Dragons, Demons… they all are half-organic and half-machine right? Well did none of you guess that Filgaia was the same way?" Beatrice asked.
"Of course…" Clive cursed. "How did we not figure it out sooner?"
Beatrice turned to Lucio. "Your usefulness has ended."
And with one swift motion Beatrice raised her left hand, which in an instant became a massive talon. She plunged it through Lucio's heart and he fell dead on the spot. Beatrice turned to Virginia. "And now that this world has been restored, I intend to adopt it. It's not my Filgaia, but deep down I'm just a lonely mother looking for a planet."
---
"The barrier prevents me from entering!" Lombardia called. "What do you intend to do?"
"The barrier is no longer an issue," Jet said. And the moment he said it, the bright purple field of energy surrounding Fila Del Fia dissipated. Lombardia roared in triumph and rocketed towards the ground. When she touched down, Jet jumped off her back and began to run into the city. He was almost there.
---
"And now, my friends, it's time to dispose of you. The last remaining obstacle to my final victory," Beatrice said smiling. And with that, the orbs disappeared and the warriors fell to the ground. Maya pulled out her ARMs instantly and began shooting, but Beatrice simply laughed, absorbing each round harmlessly.
Her arm extended well beyond its normal length and smacked Maya against the wall. Virginia rushed to help her, but Beatrice's other arm backhanded her and sent her flying in the opposite direction.
Gallows raised his arm, and conjured an orb of bright white light, but it had no effect.
"The Guardians cannot help you now!" Beatrice laughed cruelly as she sent Gallows sailing with a glance.
Shady hid behind Todd, who had drawn his katana. Beatrice simply grinned cruelly and the katana shattered into a thousand pieces. Alfred rushed over to help his sister, who had now reached for her gatling gun and begun firing rapidly. Beatrice yawned and redirected the bullets to the ceiling, sending metal shards falling to the ground.
Clive lined up his shot and took it, but it also had no effect. Beatrice tilted her head slightly, completely avoiding the bullet.
"Enough of this!" Cried a voice.
Beatrice turned to see Jet standing just behind her.
"Another puppet come to play?" Beatrice smiled.
"We don't need the Guardians to defeat you. You forget, Beatrice. I was created to be a sample Filgaia. I was imbued with the power of the Filgaia. I am a Guardian!" Jet yelled. And with his words, his Airget-lahm began to glow brightly.
"Hmph! So be it! Let's match the power of the demons against that of an amateur Guardian!" Beatrice cackled. Jet began firing and the bullets seemed to hunt Beatrice down, each one hitting its mark.
Beatrice wailed in pain, but was clearly not down yet. She retorted by whipping countless tentacles of darkness at him. They began to bind his arms and legs and soon he was covered in the blackness.
"No, I don't think so!" Jet called. The tentacles disintegrated in the light that now began to glow from Jet himself.
"Jet!" Virginia cried.
"It's time for me to do what I was put on this earth to do," Jet announced. "I was created to give new hope to Filgaia, and that's what I'm about to do!"
Jet raised the Airget-lahm and took the open shot. The six round burst hit Beatrice squarely in the chest and she screamed in agony. Her body began to melt into a dark black ooze that spread across the floor until her scream finally stopped.
It was over.
Jet collapsed onto the ground and Virginia rushed over to him.
"Is he okay?!" Clive demanded.
"He's breathing, but he's out," Virginia sighed.
"Let's go outside. We'll know more then," Gallows suggested.
---
The exterior was the same old Fila Del Fia they had recalled. The land structure was the same, but it was still covered in the green grass and running streams.
"The world has begun to right itself," Lombardia announced. "And yet it is still the world of green and blue."
"Who's doing it this time?" Gallows asked.
Virginia nodded down at Jet who was resting in Gallows arms. "He's doing his job. He's remembering Filgaia the way it was supposed to be."
"So the world's gonna go back to normal?" Maya asked.
"Maybe a bit better," Clive chuckled.
---
Virginia sat in a bar in Little Twister. Sitting across from her was Jet, and to her right was Gallows. Clive, being the only uninjured one in the group was getting their drinks.
"I think I'm gonna give up this Drifting business," Gallows said. "It's getting too hazardous for my health."
"Me too," Jet nodded. "I've got more important things to worry about now. Like finding out exactly what a Guardian is supposed to do."
Clive set their drinks down on the table and nodded. "I need to spend more time with my family. I'm almost thirty."
"I guess I'll probably go home to Boot Hill," Virginia sighed. "It's been fun, but I think I wanna lead a nice quiet life far away from any adventure from now on."
Gallows chuckled. "Yeah. I suppose I should start living up to my priestly duty or something. But maybe I can set up a chapter far away from Granny."
"Yeah. Now that Maya told those Order members the whole story about our journey our names are clear again, so it's not like we have to hide, eh?" Clive pointed out.
"Well then I guess this our last round of drinks together," Gallows sighed. "Who would have thought our train ride would have ended up like this?"
"Well it's not really goodbye. We'll see each other again," Virginia smiled.
"I'll look forward to it," Gallows said as he set his portion of the bill on the table.
"We had some fun times. Didn't make a lot of money, but that suddenly seems much less important than it used to," Jet said adding his.
"I'll never forget our times together. Thank you all," Clive said, adding his portion.
Virginia nodded and placed her gella on the table as well. "Well then, for one last time boys, job well done. You're dismissed."
The four exited the bar together, but took separate tracks on the journey to their new lives.