Thanks for reading the story story so far everyone. I hope you enjoyed it so far. This is the epic ending to my story, I hope you enjoy it, also I have a special bonus annoucement at the end of the story so keep reading. Also if any of you have any ideas or suggestions on what my next story should be about, feel free to send me your thoughts.
Chapter 15: Across the Universe
Lucy's eyes started to flutter open as she lay on the dusty ground. She didn't know how long she had been out, but her head still spun from Rufus' vicious attack. She groaned as she slowly made her way to her feet, suddenly she remember what had happened to Alex and her heart filled with rage as she picked up her gun and headed back to inside the disheveled reactor. Lucy felt the pain of her injuries as she hobbled down the corridors to the lab. Her right arm and left leg was bleeding heavily. Lucy took off her tattered cloak and ripped it apart to tie off her wounds.
When she reached the lab she saw Rufus incased in an orb of energy, black wings wrapped around him protectively, as he slumbered. Lucy fired a few shots at Rufus in vain as the bullets bounced off his protective shield. Suddenly Rufus' eyes burst open as he glared at Lucy. The shield slowly dissipated as he stretched his wings and landed gently on the ground.
"You bastard, YOU KILLED ALEX!" shouted Lucy in anger
"Stop the presses I killed her boyfriend." Stated Rufus sarcastically
Lucy growled in anger as she continued to fire at Rufus. Rufus raised his hand and produced yet another shield which blocked the gunfire. Rufus called forth Masamune, and slashed the a couple of times producing energy blades which he launched at Lucy. Lucy set off into a series of back flips and cartwheels dodging the blades. She fired again as Rufus easily dodged the bullets and fired more blades. Lucy jumped up and quickly bounced off the wall as she came straight at Rufus. Lucy threw out a kick, which Rufus blocked. She quickly followed it up by throwing a series of punches at Rufus, followed by a spinning back kick. Rufus dodged the punches then grabbed Lucy's foot as she kicked him and flung her into the wall. Lucy cried out in pain as she hit the wall. Rufus fired an orb of energy at Lucy which she barely had time to roll away from.
Lucy fired at a steel girder above Rufus' head causing it to fall on him. Rufus easily sliced it in half. Lucy took this moment to catch Rufus off guard, by rolling to his side then delivering a jumping side kick straight to his gut. Rufus was knocked back slightly but recovered his balance as quickly fired another energy orb at Lucy. Lucy back flipped away then fired 6 shots at the orb breaking it up, when she suddenly realized Rufus used it as cover in order to rush up to Lucy and grab her by the throat. Rufus tossed Lucy by the throat nearly half way across the room. Lucy hit the floor and rolled a bit before stopping herself and slowly making back to her feet.
Rufus charged up his sword and sent a wave of dark energy out toward Lucy jumped up into the air and clinged to a wall using her clawed arm, as she fired more shots with her gun. Rufus blocked these shots with a shield as Lucy jumped off the wall toward Rufus for a powerful kick. Rufus blocked the kick with his arm as Lucy back flipped away from him. Rufus slashed his sword at Lucy as Lucy barely managed to jump back a safe distance avoiding his sword.
Rufus continued to slash wildly at Lucy as she barely managed to dodge each attack. Lucy jumped up and bounced off the wall to flip over Rufus and land behind him. Lucy fired a few shots from her gun straight at Rufus, Rufus smirked as he stretched his wings and a wall of dark aura sprang forth behind him incinerating the bullets. Rufus swiftly turned as he threw out more energy blades at Lucy. Lucy barely had time to make a couple of last second flips in the air narrowly avoiding the blades.
Lucy jumped up once more and landed on an alcove of one of the reactor's damaged walls. From this distance Lucy began firing at Rufus, who flew into the air to avoid the gun fire.
"You're not as weak as I thought you were little girl, but you're still no match for my power." Boasted Rufus as he clenched his sword tighter
Rufus growled in anger as the charged straight at Lucy. Lucy made a split second flip over Rufus as he crashed right into the steel wall. Lucy used this moment to slam her feet into Rufus' back to jump up through the hole in the ceiling landing on the roof of the reactor. Lucy took a moment to catch her breathe and reload her gun. Suddenly the wall exploded as Rufus rose from the rumble and landed on the roof in front of Lucy.
"I must say I am impressed." Stated Rufus as he brushed some dust off of himself
"I'm just getting warmed up." Retorted Lucy
"So am I!" snickered Rufus as he surrounded himself in a flaming dark aura
Rufus stomped his foot into the ground and made a punching motion as he shot a pillar of dark energy toward Lucy. Lucy was able to roll out of the way of the pillar as exploded, however she was caught up in the shockwave and forcibly knocked off the roof. Lucy managed to make an aerial recovery guiding herself close enough to the reactor's outer wall to dig her clawed arm into in and slow her decent.
Lucy hit the ground hard and tumbled a bit from the reactor. Lucy looked a her damaged clawed arm and growled as she removed the signature gold claw. She rubbed her newly exposed arm as Rufus shot into the air and started to circle around Lucy from above. Rufus held out his arm as he started to shoot out beams of dark energy at Lucy. Lucy pushed past the pain she was currently feeling as she started to run away from Rufus' onslaught. Lucy ducked behind a nearby bolder for cover as she fired a few more shots at Rufus. Rufus easily dodged the bullets in mid air as he shot down toward Lucy slicing the boulder in two. Lucy dodged rolled out of the way yet again, as she spun around to fire at Rufus again. However as she pulled the trigger the gun merely clicked and no bullets came out.
"Dam, out of bullets!" exclaimed Lucy as she took a couple of jumps back distancing herself from Rufus
'What is it time for the fun to end already? Oh well I was getting bored anyways." Snickered Rufus as he positioned himself to finish off Lucy
Suddenly gunshots rang out in the distance as two bullets pierced through Rufus' back. Rufus fell to his knees as John leaped high into the air preparing to bring his sword down on Rufus' exposed neck. As John brought his sword down, Rufus surrounded himself in a protective shield. John back flipped away from Rufus as he rose to his feet. John swiftly made his way over to Lucy as he gallantly stood in front of her. John's crimson cloak flowed in the wind as he pointed his gunblade directly at Rufus. Rufus smirked at John as the bullet holes started to heal up, much to John's dismay.
"John what the hell…how did you….Geezz…you look like dad!" exclaimed Lucy as she looked at John confused
"I know….I know things have changed. But forget about my are you alright?" asked John concerned
"I've been better!" replied Lucy as she smiled at her brother
"Where's Alex?" asked John
Lucy looked away from her brother and started to tear up a bit.
"He's……dead." Replied Lucy solemnly
John turned his gaze from his sister to glare at Rufus.
"Then I have some payback to take care of. Lucy say back and take a rest…..you look tried." Replied John as Lucy nodded in agreement
"Well, well, well…..aren't you looking good? Last time I saw you, you were a bit on the wild side. I'm glad things worked out for you. Now at least you have some closure before I kill you." Retorted Rufus as he pointed his sword at John
"See ya in hell then!' replied John as he dash toward Rufus
The two clashed sword sending sparks flying. John backed away a bit as Rufus came at him with a fury of sword strikes. John stepped over to the side of Rufus then brought his sword down at Rufus with great strength. Rufus countered with his own blade as the two held their positions firmly. Suddenly John smiled as he turned his sword slightly then pulled the trigger on his katana, shooting Rufus right in the head. Rufus stumbled back a bit before his wound started to rapidly heal. Rufus then broke into a fit of laughter as he rose high into the air away from John.
"Impressive it seems I've under estimated you, but what makes you think you can really beat me by yourself?" asked Rufus confident
"I don't need to look around you; all of the WRO forces are positioned around your little barrier. I just need to distract you long enough for them to find a way through, or I could take down the shield myself by knocking you down a peg. Either way even you won't be able stop us all." Replied John with a smirk
"Oh please I've prepared for this moment for years. And no snot nosed brat is going to stop me! No one can stop me!" commanded Rufus as his arm started to glow brightly
Rufus raised his hand high into the air as he shot out 4 orbs of light into the air. The orbs passed through the shield as the WRO troops looked on in horror. The orbs broke apart into thousands of smaller pieces of light turning into Necro hounds and necro dragons, along with various other monsters. The summoned creatures began to attack the WRO forces as Rufus began to laugh evilly.
Denzel commanded his troops to hold their positions as they began to combat Rufus' creatures. Denzel sliced a few hounds into pieces as he radioed to Jr. to take the Shera into the air for more support. Jr. took the Shera into the air and turned his guns onto the flying creatures. Denzel took a second to look through the shield to check on John to find him engaging Rufus in a heated sword battle. Denzel took a deep breathe as he jumped into a crowd of monsters and started to slash wildly fending off their attack.
Meanwhile John started to angrily attack Rufus, Rufus blocked each of John's strikes with his own sword. Rufus counted John gliding back a bit then sending out a pillar of energy straight at him. John braced himself as he sliced right through the pillar. John followed up by pulling the trigger of his gunblade firing straight at Rufus, who blocked the bullets by raising another barrier in front of him.
"It's a futile effort. With all my power it's only a matter of time before I destroy you. Here you are cut off from your back up, with nowhere to run." Snickered Rufus
"Who says I want to run?" replied John smirking
Rufus flew straight at John sword raised the two clashed sword once again, when suddenly Lucy came out of nowhere with a flying kick nearly crushing Rufus' skull in. John took this moment to jab his sword straight into Rufus' gut and pulled the trigger multiple times. Rufus cried out in a surrounded himself in the dark aura once again. This time the aura caused a sizable explosion which knocked back the two Valentine children, sending them straight into the ground with a thud. John and Lucy groaned in pain as Rufus seized the opportunity to heal himself once again.
"You're really staring to piss me off! DARK METEORA!" Shouted Rufus as he started to charge his sword with dark energy and fired off his limit break
The giant ball of dark energy started heading for the Valentine children, jumped to his feet and prepared to defend himself from the attack, when suddenly the ground started to shake violently. A massive pillar of white light shot up from the ground causing the dark orb to dissipate. The pillar of light proceeded to rise higher and higher as it crashed into the protective force field. Rufus could barely defend himself from the burning light as it broke through his force field causing it to disappear.
The Valentine twins looked on in amazement a shadowed figure appeared within the massive pillar of light. The figure suddenly jumped from the pillar kicking Rufus right in the chest knocking the wind out of him as forcing him back a couple of yards. As the pillar slowly started to disappear the figure flipped through the air landing in front of the twins pointing his massive sword straight at Rufus. Lucy looked on, a throng of emotions passing through her, as she realized that this was Alex Strife returned from the dead.
"Impossible" exclaimed Rufus
"F#K You!" replied Alex
Lucy ran up to Alex and instantly slapped him across the face before wrapping her arms around him in an emotional hug.
"You Jerk I thought you were dead!" cried Lucy
"I was…..in a way….and I'm sorry." Replied Alex gently as he returned Lucy's hug
"Touching…very touching….how did you survive?" asked Rufus
'You better than anyone should know that it's impossible to kill a Strife." Smirked Alex
"You look different." Retorted John as he walked up to Alex
"I could say the same about you." Smirked Alex as he let go of Lucy and readied his sword
The two heroes stood boldly in front of Rufus ready for battle.
"Yes you and all of your little friends are like cockroaches, that I will crush under my foot." Exclaimed Rufus
Rufus raised his arm sword into the air when suddenly a buster sword came out of nowhere tearing right through Rufus' torso from behind. Rufus turned around in time to see a very angry Denzel Strife leap into the air and deliver a skull crushing knee strike to Rufus' head. Denzel then pulled his sword out of Rufus' torso and proceeded to slash him to pieces. Rufus stumbled back and fell to the ground. Denzel took a moment to catches breathe when suddenly he realized that Rufus was beginning to heal. Alex grabbed a hold of his brother and ushered him off to a safe distance from Rufus while he took time to heal.
"What the hell is going on here, he should be dead!" exclaimed Denzel
"It's just like the other creatures, he'll just keep regenerating unless we can break the nodes on his body spreading power through out him." Answered John
"But there are no nodes on his body!" exclaimed Lucy
"Well then He's thought of everything!" retorted Denzel
"Wait, the protomateria!" exclaimed Alex
"Of course, without he'd lose control of his powers." Added John
"And if we get lucky we can blow him away and he won't know how to heal himself." Added Lucy
"Good…so how do we get the protomateria out of him?" asked Denzel
"Kick his ass!" replied Alex as he ran toward Rufus
Rufus had finally restored himself when Alex leaped straight at him sword swinging. Rufus dodged Alex's fist strikes then fled into the air. Alex jumped high into the air following Rufus as the two engaged in a short clash of swords. Rufus flew a bit higher then fired an orb of dark energy at Alex knocking him back toward the ground. Denzel jumped into the air and saved his brother as John started to fire at the flying Rufus. As Denzel and Alex landed safely on the ground, Denzel removed his belt and handed it to Lucy.
"It's filled with ammo and potions make good use of them!" exclaimed Denzel as he followed his brother back into battle
Lucy drank a potion and reloaded her gun then headed off toward Rufus. Meanwhile Rufus was fighting off a three way attack from John, Denzel and Alex. Everywhere Rufus turned there was another one of the heroes trying to attack him. John started firing at Rufus, giving Alex cover to come straight at him. Denzel circled around Rufus and came at him from behind. As the two brother swung their swords, Rufus dissolved into shadows and reappeared behind Denzel. Rufus fired an orb of dark energy at Denzel's back flinging him a few yards away.
Alex came at Rufus with a swing of his sword. Rufus blocked Alex's attack with his own sword, when suddenly Alex popped out the switch blade sword from his Tsurugi and slashed Rufus across the throat with it. Rufus grabbed his throat in pain as tossed Alex away from him with his fiery aura. John took this moment to rush up to Rufus and fire at him. Rufus blocked the bullets with his aura as John side stepped him then stabbed Rufus in the side. Rufus punched John in the face then pulled out his katana from his side. Suddenly Lucy jumped into the fray by shooting Rufus in the back multiple times. Before he could recover Alex rushed back up to Rufus and unleashed a fury of melee strikes on him, followed by hitting him with a harsh spinning back kick to the face.
Rufus' anger grew as he fled into the sky and healed himself once more. Rufus pointed his hand at the heroes and fired orbs of light at them which took the form of more summoned monsters. As the creatures approached the heroes, Denzel grabbed his radio and called in Jr.
"CID NOW, USE THE CANNON!" shouted Denzel
The Shera suddenly appeared and flew to the heroes rescue. Jr. pressed a special button on his control panel and the Shera armed its self with a massive rail cannon, which it used to blow away all of Rufus creatures in the sky. Rufus growled in anger as he turned his attention toward the airship. Jr. fired the cannon directly at Rufus. Rufus braced himself by raising up a shield in front of himself as he was hit by the full force of the rail cannon. Jr. increased power as Rufus had a hard time fighting off the force of the cannon. Rufus' shield started to crack as Jr. kept up the cannon fire, the four heroes looked on from the ground as the hoped to god that this would work.
Suddenly Rufus' barrier shattered as he was engulfed by the light of the Shera's rail cannon. Jr. started to celebrate when suddenly he noticed Rufus still hanging there in mid air, having survived the blast. Rufus roared angrily as he healed from the blast. He gripped his sword firmly as he flew straight at the Shera. Rufus flew off to the side of the ship and dug his sword in slicing it through. Then he rose above the ship and fired several shots of dark energy through it's hull, causing the ship to begin to burst into flame and fall toward the ground.
Jr. panicked as the ship started to plummet, when he noticed Rufus flying right in front of the cockpit window laughing at him as he charged his sword for the final blow to the Shera. In a moment of desperation Jr. grabbed his lance and ran toward the cockpit window breaking through the glass and jumping out into the open sky. Rufus looked on in shock as Jr. broke through the cockpit window and stabbed Rufus in mid-air catching his fall. Rufus screamed out in pain as Jr. hung on for dear life. Rufus swung at Jr. with his sword as he tried to hang on.
As the Shera finally crashed into the ground causing the earth to rumble, Rufus pulled Jr.'s lance out of his torso and tossed him toward the ground. Jr. hit the ground rolling as Rufus rose into the air to heal again. Cid reached the rest of his friends as Rufus fired off some more energy blades at the heroes. Alex broke of two serrated blades from his Tsurugi and proceeded to deflect the energy blades along with his brother and John. The four heroes stood there in defiance of Rufus as hung above them in the air.
"You guys are really, really pissing me off!" exclaimed an angry Rufus
"Good!" retorted Jr.
"SHUT UP! I'm going to kill you all, then rule the world as a God!" exclaimed Rufus as he charged up a giant ball of dark energy in his hand and threw it at the heroes
Alex and Denzel used their swords to fend off the giant ball of energy as Lucy and John jumped over their shoulders in order to get a clear shot at Rufus. Rufus countered their gunfire by sending a pillar of dark energy straight at them. Jr. countered this by jumping into the air and charging up it lance to drive it straight into the attacks and dissipating the dark energy. Alex then leaped toward Jr. who used his lance to smack the bottom of Alex's feet propelling him directly at Rufus with great speed.
Alex used his dual swords to begin a furious attack against Rufus. Rufus barely managed to counter Alex's attack with his own sword as John joined in of the fight. Rufus fought off both the heroes single-handedly; when Denzel joined the fight as well Rufus couldn't keep up any more and was repeatedly slashed and stabbed by the heroes. He jumped away from the heroes to heal and used his power to create another Masamune sword in his other hand. Rufus continued to fend off Alex, John and Denzel with his own double sword attack.
Suddenly shots rang out as bullets tore through Rufus torso. Lucy jumped into the fray after shooting Rufus to deliver a harsh kick to his chest. Alex followed up by stabbing his two swords into Rufus' chest, while Denzel stabbed him in the gut, and John's katana sliced right through Rufus' head with Jr.'s head piercing his throat. Rufus suddenly surrounded himself in a dark fiery aura which caused a massive explosion fling the heroes in different directions. Rufus pulled out the weapons and healed himself as he rose into the air once more and charged up his sword.
"I will take great pleasure in all of your horribly violent deaths!" shouted Rufus as he unleashed his Dark Meteora Limit break yet again
The massive ball of dark energy came careening down toward the groaning heroes, as they lied on the ground still recovering from Rufus' last attack. John looked up in time to see the giant energy ball, without a second of hesitation John leaped into the air where he was engulfed in a fiery demonic aura as he transformed into the Demon chaos. John charged up his aura as he flew straight through Rufus' limit break full force destroying it. John roared loudly as he hung triumphantly in front of a shocked Rufus.
"I see you've gained control of the demon!" stated a shocked Rufus
"Why don't I give you a first hand experience? And then I can tear you apart with my bare claws." Stated John as he pointed his claws straight at Rufus
John darted straight for Rufus tackling him hard into the ground. Rufus slashed at John with his two swords, narrowly missing him as he jumped away. John's hand surrounded itself in demonic aura as he summoned forth a demonic looking version of his gunblade katana, which he used to fire bullets of demonic energy at Rufus. Rufus slashed away the bullets with his dual swords when suddenly felt something slash away at his back. Lucy had transformed into Chaos herself and clawed away at Rufus from behind. Lucy summoned forth her demonic gun as well as she fired at Rufus. Rufus flew into the sky barely avoiding the bullets as threw energy blades at the two demons.
The two Valentine children fought off the energy blades as they fired back at Rufus. Rufus dodges their shots sent out more energy blades which the twins easily deflected with their claws. Lucy and John charged up their weapons and fired powerful blasts of demonic energy straight at Rufus. Rufus used his two swords to brace himself from the blast. The twins charged themselves with more aura as they fired again. The intensity of the blast began to over power Rufus as the aura finally exploded around him destroying one of his swords.
Rufus began to fall from the sky as a massive fireball barreling toward the ground. The twins took a moment to catch their breathe, when suddenly Rufus stopped in mid-air dispelling the fire surrounding his body. Instantly he fired to powerful beams of dark energy scoring a direct hit against the twins causing them to fall to the ground with a thud. Rufus surrounded himself in dark aura once more charging his next attack when suddenly. A beam of light, in the form of Alex' blade beam limit break, shot into the sky hitting Rufus dead on, forming a massive hole in Rufus' torso, knocking him out of the sky.
As Rufus hit the ground Alex finished reassembling his Tsurugi and ran full speed toward Rufus. Alex caught him off guard by slashing him across the face as the hole in his chest healed. Rufus swung his sword at Alex as the two clashed swords once more. Alex fought back with all his strength as their duel intensified. Rufus summoned a pillar of dark energy knocking Alex back a bit before he sliced right through it. Denzel jumped over his brother as bringing his sword down up on Rufus' as Jr. came up behind using his lance to sweep Rufus' legs. Rufus started to spin in mid-air creating a small tornado of dark energy, knocking back the warriors then landing gracefully on his feet. The Chaos Twins shot into the air then sped directly toward Rufus. Just as they approached him, he jumped into the air and fired a giant orb of dark energy straight into their back causing them to crash into the ground with great force. Rufus gently landed on the ground in front of the defeated warriors pointing his blade at them menacingly.
"I commend you all for being stronger and harder to kill than I first envisioned. However, deciding to fight me was a futile effort. I've waited and planned too long and did you really believe you could stop me. My genius rivals that of the power I currently hold within my body and you are fools to think you could defeat a God like me." Stated Rufus arrogantly
"Guys how much strength do you have left!" cried Alex as he slowly made his way back to his feet
"Denzel we have plenty, the twins are still demon and Cid and I are good to go!" replied Denzel
"Who feels like living forever is over ratted!" smirked Alex
The other looked toward him in acknowledgement as they nodded in agreement. They readied their weapons as they started to glow summoning up all of their strength.
"What are you guys up to?" asked Rufus confused
They four heroes dashed toward Rufus for their final attacks. Alex went first jamming his sword into the ground followed by hitting Rufus with a series of bone crushing melee attacks, as he jumped back to recover his sword Lucy and John swept past him to fire demonic aura blasts into Rufus' chest launching him into the air. Alex tossed his Tsurugi after Rufus causing it to break into all six pieces. Everyone jumped into the air as Denzel and Alex began performing a double simultaneous Omnislash version 5. The twins powered up their weapons as Jr. spun around his lance gathering limit break energy. When Alex and Denzel were finished Alex re-completed his sword he charged it up for the final part of his new limit break. Alex charged his sword right through Rufus as Denzel did the same. John thrust his katana at Rufus with charged demonic energy, while Lucy tackled him direct firing her gun multiple times into his torso. Jr. trailed along the rest as he too pierced his lance into Rufus as well. All of the heroes limit energies started to meld with tremendous power as they drove Rufus straight into the earth.
"End of Oblivion!" shouted Alex
"Omnislash version 6!" screamed Denzel
"Hell Spawn Barrage!" cried Lucy
"Harbinger of Destruction!" bolstered John
"Corona Drive!" exclaimed Jr.
As all of them crashed into the ground a massive blast nearly half the size of a nuclear explosion engulfed the immediate area. For miles the WRO troops around witnessed the massive blast as they ran for cover. The necro creatures were instantly wiped out by its intensity.
As the blast started to settle and the smoke slowly cleared, the four heroes laid on the ground exhausted, with Rufus no where to be seen. As Alex's eyes slowly fluttered open his eyes suddenly widened as he saw the glowing Protomateria floating in the air about a yard away from the group. Suddenly, a barrier surrounded the protomateria as Rufus slowly started to reform inside the shield around the protomateria. Alex growled in anger as he slammed his fist into the ground. As Alex arose, the others slowly made it to their feet as well. Each one of them angrily watched as Rufus' head slowly reformed within the shield.
"Let's bust the shield down and get the protomateria be form he reforms!" shouted Jr.
"It'll just be a waste of energy. With all of us being so exhausted none of us have enough energy to break the shield." Stated Denzel solemnly
"So we're just gonna sit here and wait for him to kill us……SCREW THAT!" exclaimed Jr.
"CALM DOWN, Lucy, do you still have those potions Denzel gave you?" asked John
"Yeah, but there's only two……and their only regular potions!" replied Lucy
"DAM IT! FK this SHT! I don't wanna die!" cried Jr.
"Don't worry I have a plan." Replied Alex
"We'll hurry up now Rufus has reformed down to his shoulders, we don't have much time left!" shouted Jr.
"Cid Shut Up! John how much strength do you have left?" asked Alex
"No much, I got about one good punch in me maybe." Replied John
"Cid what about you?" asked Alex
"None man…I'm not like you freaks I can barely stand right now!" replied Jr.
"Ok….Cid what about the ship dose the rail cannon still work?" inquired Alex
"I can't really tell from here, but with the crash and all……I don't think he hit…..If I have some time I bet I could get it to work…..I HAVE NO GOD DAMM IDEA! WHY THE FK ARE YOU ASKING ME?" shouted Jr.
"Quiet! Now Lucy give one potion to me and one potion to Jr., Jr. Rufus is almost half way healed now so I want you to run as fast as you can to that airship and get that dam cannon on line NOW! Lucy give him cover, John Save up all your strength I'm gonna need some demon back up. Denzel I'm gonna distract Rufus long enough for Jr. to ready the cannon. If I fail…Denzel take my place and distract him long enough for John to remove the Protomateria and Jr. to blow him away with the cannon." commanded Alex
"Alex that's crazy…I'm not gonna let you do this!" exclaimed Denzel
"We don't have enough time! Denzel…..brother tell me you got my back?" asked Alex earnestly
\"Fine….I do….just don't fail…I could bare to lose my little brother." Replied Denzel
"Sure thing! Everyone get moving!" shouted Alex as everyone took their positions
Lucy handed Alex and Jr. a potion each, they drank it up as Jr. bolted toward the downed airship. Lucy followed Jr. as she gave one last look back toward Alex, fearful that she'll never see him again. Alex turned to Lucy and looked her straight in the eyes and smiled, Lucy smiled back then continued on toward the airship. Rufus was nearly healed as the last parts of his body and clothes started to reform.
"Denzel, keep Rufus away from John!" shouted Alex
Denzel nodded in agreement as Rufus finished reforming and broke free form his shield landing gracefully in front of the heroes and re-summoning his Masamune. Alex moved to stand directly in front of Rufus. Rufus glared at the heroes angrily as he charged himself with dark aura.
"I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU PESTS! ALL THESE YEARS OF PLANING AND CAREFULLY CARRYING OUT EVERY LITTLE DETAIL, WILL NOT GO TO WASTE BECAUSE OF SOME LITTLE BSTRD!" shouted Rufus
"Dear God please…..screw the prayer I'm going in." stated Alex as he made a run toward Rufus
Jr. reached the cockpit controls of the Shera, and desperately started checking on the systems. The ship was a total wreck, but the rail cannon didn't seem to be as damaged as everything else. Jr. set to work trying to repair the cannon as Lucy assisted him. Jr. estimated how long it would take him to fix the cannon; it would be at least 10 minutes before everything was ready to fire.
Meanwhile Alex leaped into the air and brought his Tsurugi down upon Rufus. Rufus blocked Alex then used his awesome strength to toss him aside. As Alex landed on the ground Rufus sent two pillars of dark energy toward Alex, slashed one of the pillars away then rolled out of the way of the other. Alex moved in and clashed blades with Rufus once more. In his weakened condition he couldn't stand up to Rufus as much, Rufus knocked Alex back again the fired an orb of dark energy directly at him. Alex jumped up then slammed his sword through the orb straight into the ground. Rufus rushed up to Alex and began to slash away wildly at him.
Alex barely managed to dodge to oncoming slashes as he back flipped away from Rufus, then rolled underneath one of his slashed and sprinted for his sword. Alex popped out his switch blade swords as Rufus came at him again. Alex blocked Rufus first strike then rolled under the second to thrust his swords straight at Rufus. Rufus repelled his attack by charging up a wall of aura knocking one of the blades out of Alex's hand. Alex ran at Rufus from the side then leaped at him sword raised, Rufus countered by slashing at Alex creating a wave of dark energy. Alex managed to slam his sword into the ground and use the momentum to pull vault himself into a front flip over Rufus. Alex turned around instantly and delivered a side kick to Rufus' gut knocking him back.
Alex used this moment to run back to his Tsurugi as Rufus sent two more pillars of dark energy at him. Alex slid past his sword then popped out two hollow blades from the main sword. He used them to slash away the pillars as Rufus rose into the sky and began to fire beams of dark energy at him. Alex dodged the beams as Rufus swept down at him. Alex side stepped Rufus then came in for a counter attack. Rufus smiled as he spun around creating a small tornado of dark energy. Alex jumped away just in time to avoid being shredded to pieces. Alex growled angrily as he jumped off a nearby bolder launching himself into the air.
Alex then looked down at the small tornado from the air as he through both his hollow blades straight down at it's eye. The blades pierced the tornado slicing Rufus and stomping his rotation. Rufus angrily blew away the swords with a expelling of his aura as healed himself up. Alex landed a couple of inches away from Rufus then bolted for his Tsurugi again. Rufus sent out some more energy blades at Alex as he ran. Alex narrowly dodged the blades as he finally made his way to his Tsurugi and pulled out the two serrated blades.
"Denzel the cannon's ready!" shouted Jr. over Denzel's radio
Denzel watched as his brother continued to fight off Rufus, he was glad that the moment had come for he couldn't keep watching his brother continually avoid death like this.
"Great pump it up as far as it will go and prepare to fire!" shouted Denzel
"I can't in this condition, If I pump it up to full, the whole thing will overload and blow!" replied Jr.
"THAT DOSEN'T MATTER JUST MOTHER FKING DO IT, THEN GET THE FK OUT!" cried Denzel
Jr. reluctantly turned up the rail cannon's power as he gave the signal to Denzel. Denzel in turn signaled to Alex. Alex prepared him self as John summoned up the last bits of his demon strength. Rufus slashed at Alex sending out a wave of dark energy, Alex leaped over then landed behind Rufus. Using his serrated blades he hooked them over the front of Rufus' shoulders holding him in place. John's eyes started to glow a fiery red as he made a mad dash at Rufus, followed by jamming his gold claw arm straight into Rufus' torso then out the other end. Rufus cried out in pain as John held the protomateria firmly in his claw.
"ALEX TAKE IT!" shouted John as he tried to hold on to the struggling Rufus
Alex dropped his sword as he took a hold of the protomateria and made a mad dash for the Shera. Rufus angrily charged a ball of dark energy in his hand as he jabbed it into John's gut knocking him back. Denzel moved in to check on John as Rufus sprinted after Alex. Alex had just reached the path of the rail cannon, when Denzel gave the order to fire. Alex tossed the protomateria directly at the cannon then made a mad dash away from the cannon. Rufus followed the protomateria his hand merely half an inch away from taking a hold of it, when the cannon suddenly charged up and fired. The protomateria instantly shattered as Rufus was caught in the blast screaming in agony. Lucy and Jr. bailed out of the Shera as the systems started to overload, Alex joined up with them as the heroes ran from the Shera.
Rufus tried to fight against the rail cannon blast with his own aura when suddenly his power started to flare out of control. As the Shera exploded for the second time Rufus disintegrated in the massive explosion that ensued. The four heroes as held their breathe as the smoke started to clear. Alex looked for any sign of Rufus, then started to relax when he realized he was gone for good.
"We're my parent's still in that thing?" inquired John
"No, we evacuated all civilians and non-WRO flight crew out before the attack." Replied Jr. relieved
"Are we still Alive?" asked Lucy
"Yeah." Replied Alex exhausted
"Good." Stated Denzel
All four heroes took a deep breathe as they collapsed on to the ground and passed out. WRO troops flooded the area as medical personal came in and carried of the four heroes. Cid Sr. inspected the damage to the Shera mark 5 along with Cloud Strife as the kids were carted off.
"God DAM, I'm gonna beat the SHT outta that boy! Look what he did ta my airship!" exclaimed Cid Sr.
"Relax Cid it could be could have won and we could all be dead by now." Chuckled Cloud
"Shut UP Strife, you and your family are like end of the world disaster magnets!" shouted Cid Sr. as he walked off
Cloud took one last look around the battle field and surveyed the tremendous amount of damage that had been done. He smiled slightly to himself as he slowly started to walk around and gather up the pieces of the First Tsurugi sword.
Two Days Later………
Two days had pasted since the great battle, the four heroes who would forever be remember as the ones who defeated Rufus Shinra once and for all spent most of it in the hospital. Luckily they were all pretty tough and mainly just needed to rest and recharge their batteries. All of them were placed into the same room so that no one would have to run around to visit them.
It was around 11:00 at night and John Valentine looked out the hospital window at the full moon. On the bed next to him lied Cid Highwind Jr. fast asleep and snoring loudly. John got out of bend and headed out into the hospital balcony next to his bed. John breathed in the crisp night air as he enjoyed the peacefulness of the outdoors. Alex had already left the room half an hour ago to take a walk and escape Jr.'s snoring. Five minutes ago Lucy left as well claiming that she wanted to get a cup of hot chocolate, he would have tried to stop her, but he felt that now was not the time to be the over protective brother.
As John enjoyed the peaceful moonlight he suddenly felt a warm hand place a blanket across his shoulders. He turned to see the smiling face of Izumi staring right at him.
"You're gonna catch cold out here?" she said sweetly
"I'm not that worried about it." Replied softly as he put the blanket around her instead
"I'm not the one in the hospital." She smiled
"Listen….I know we have got much time to talk….especially in private….but…."
"Yeah I know I wanna ask you something?" she interrupted
"What?" asked John as he stared at the moon
"When you said that if you came back….you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me…..what did you mean?" asked Izumi
"I had my mother sneak something into the hospital for me." Replied John as he reached into his pocket
"Oh." Replied Izumi sadly as she looked away from John
"It used to belong to my grandmother, then….my mother inherited it…when I told her why I wanted it she could be happier." Stated John
"What are you talking about John?" asked Izumi puzzled
"Izumi…all my life I had been surrounded by darkness, but you've always be there for me. During that battle I kept thinking we have to kill Rufus…because if we fail then he'll destroy everything I care about….my family….my friends…and you. Izumi….I love you…will you please accept this family ring and marry me?" asked John as he dropped to one knee and proposed to her
"Yes…yes...yes…yes!" Izumi burst into tears as she wrapped her arms around John
He placed the ring on her finger as the two passionately kissed under the moonlight. John closed his eyes as he and Izumi melted together, he was finally at peace.
Meanwhile at the other end of the hospital wing, Alex stood on the rooftop watching the very same moon. He sighed deeply as he heard the roof entrance creak open. He continued to watch the moon hesitant to face Lucy as she stood behind him.
"What are you doing up here?" asked Lucy
"Just thinking." Replied Alex
"Listen I wanna know what happened after you fell into the lifestream……I thought you were dead…I was….." she cut herself off as she tried to hold back her emotions that were building up
"I guess I was dead….in a sense. While I was there I had the chance to think about things. More like I was forced to think about things by some friends." Chuckled Alex
"Who?" asked Lucy puzzled
"It doesn't matter….the thing is while I was there I thought about some things." Replied Alex
"What things?" Lucy stared at his skeptically
"All my life, I always saw life as one way. As a child I grew up in the shadow of my father, but I was nothing more than a wimp. I didn't want to become strong for myself or for the people I cared about. I wanted to be strong…..be like my dad…..because I wanted to be anyone but me." Replied Alex solemnly
"Where's all of this going?" asked Lucy confused
"I realized….. that the real me was stronger than the fake me I created, because I was afraid. I just wanted to tell you that I was sorry for all those years I was a jerk because I could get my head out of my ass, especially recently." Chuckled Alex
"Thanks and….I'm sorry for not being more understanding." Smiled Lucy
"No….no that's the thing Lucy…were understanding…very understanding. Probably more than you should have been. And for that I'll be eternally grateful." Said Alex as he moved closer to Lucy
"I really care about you Alex, but these past few days have been really hard…I mean you just abandoned all of us because you couldn't take it. And….do you know what it felt like when I thought I watched you die….it tore me apart." Stated Lucy staring to tear
"I'm sorry and there probably aren't enough apologies in the world." Replied Alex
"I forgive you." Smiled Lucy
The two hugged briefly. Lucy started to walk away. As Alex watched her walk away he took a deep breathe.
"Lucy…wait." Said Alex
"What is it?" she asked as she turned to face Alex
"I care about you too. I know I've never told you….but its just hard for me to say it. All my life you've always been there for me through thick and thin. When I was in the lifestream no matter how much I tried to push everything out of my mind….my thoughts kept coming back to…..you. I guess what I'm trying to say is…." He stammered before Lucy interrupted him with a passionate kiss
Alex and Lucy melted together as they kissed passionately. Each of them releasing years of bottled up emotions. Finally they broke apart for a couple of seconds to smile at each other.
"Shut Up Alex…You suck at saying I love you." Retorted Lucy
"Guess it runs in my family." Smirked Alex
"I love you Alex." Said Lucy as she gazed into his eyes
"I love you too Lucy." Replied Alex as he gazed lovingly into her eyes
Alex moved in one more time as he kissed Lucy passionately again, wrapping his arms lovingly around her. Lucy wrapped her arms around Alex as well holding him close to her. Lucy could hear the beating of Alex's heart as she held onto him, Alex in turn felt the warmth from Lucy's body in the cold night air. They embraced quietly content to stand there under the moonlight enjoying each other's company.
The End
I hope you all enjoyed my story I had fun writing it. Also if I get enough reviews I'm gonna debut a secret ending to my story that ties up a few more loose ends. Also it shows you a little more about what happens to the characters after the end of the story. Please review all of you I enjoyed getting them.