Ch.8: Light Pillar of Phenomena
Everyone turned to see a breathless MOMO standing on the elevator to the bridge. Alarmed at the anxiety and worry marring over her childish features, Shion ran over to 100-Series.
"MOMO! Are you all right? You look pale!"
"What happened?!" MOMO demanded, ignoring Shion's concern .She was perfectly fine, can't they all see? Shion took a step back at her tone but she went on, "I need to know! Something's happened and I need to know! What happened?!"
"We're not sure ourselves," Shion responded softly, glancing at the anomaly.
MOMO followed her gaze and gasped as her eyes fell upon on the bright column of light that shot through the middle of the pink web. She shoved a fist up to her mouth in a valiant effort not to scream in distress. Horror and sorrow filled her heart at the knowledge that Jr. was still in there. This time, she couldn't keep her worry and fear from her expression. Her vision blurred, and it took her a moment to realize that her eyes were clouded with tears. Jr.'s smiling face and cheery laughter kept replaying in her mind's eye, and her heart ached even more. Her knees weakened and buckled under her without her consent. She felt Shion embrace her lightly and coaxing her, willing her to cry onto her but she didn't care. She wanted Jr. She wanted him to put his arms around her as she sobbed into his shoulder… but no, he wasn't there with her.
Jr. …, please, come back, she pleaded, her heart and soul weeping incessantly, please come back! I don't care how, just… come back to me… please…come back…
Consciousness for chaos was a little further way but still, he swam doggedly towards the surface, feeling the soreness of his body as he did so. He shook his head weakly, lifting a limp hand to his sweaty forehead. I guess, I'm going to have to walk. Lowering the hand, he concentrated, then watched as his hand began to glow. He hovered his glowing hand to the damaged controls, initiating what little repair he could do to make it operational again. At least enough for the cockpit to open for him to tumble out. He managed to land on his feet, but almost kneeled over from the impact. He was still reeling from the shock, and his remaining strength was spent on repairing the E.S controls, and as a result he hadn't had enough strength nor ether to heal himself.
Nephilim could help him, he knew, for her healing powers were far greater from his own but he doubted she was nearby to do so. For now, it looked like he had to manage on his own, which he realized, was quite easy afterall. Compared to his past agonies, this one was pretty mild. Mild enough for him to keep standing and observing his surroundings. His vivid emerald eyes widened at what he saw.
A pillar of… light? It can't be the Song of Nephilim, can it? Chaos shook his head again, ignoring the accompanying dizziness. It can't be. There isn't any song… then… what is it?
Abruptly he cut himself off, annoyed that he could ponder of such things at times like this. There is no time for this. If I plan on rescuing Jr. on time I better get going now. I can't run in this condition, so I will have to walk fast. He looked at the origin of the light, his brows furrowing. Hang on, Jr., I'm coming! Just hang on!
Back at the Durandal, both the crew of the Durandal and Elsa watched in silent amazement and anxiety as the pillar began to expand. The silence in both ships was unbearable, almost deafening. Everyone had bustled to the windows to see what was going on. To them the sight was beautiful, albeit unusual. A pillar of light in the middle of the vast darkness… It was an unusual sight indeed, especially for those who knew their Little Master was involved in the phenomena. Time seemed to slow to a crawl until the column suddenly dissipated, dispersing into tiny stars that showered the entire universe with their brilliance.
"The pillar of light! It vanished!" Shion gasped.
No one responded. No one bothered to. Each was too caught up in their own thoughts and ponderings to acknowledge anything else. But they all shared one same notion: to pray that Jr. would be safe, and would return to their arms once more.
The room that Jr. and Albedo had their final confrontation was now dark and cold. Albedo was gone, and Jr. was sitting slumped against the bottom part of a broken Kirschwassers's container. Most of the Kirschwassers were nowhere in sight except for the four which were hovering in the middle of the room. The roof of the hall had been destroyed entirely and the walls were crumbling along with the stone pillars, showering debris onto the cracking ground.
Jr. barely registered his surroundings. His mind was roiling in turmoil at what had happened. He couldn't remember exactly, which was strange in and of itself but one thing was for certain; his brother was gone. No… killed. He had killed his younger brother, his twin with his own hands, and now to his horror and grief he realized that the right side of his chest was eerily silent and hollow; the echo of Albedo's heart beating was just a ghost whispering in his chest, mocking and sneering at his despair.
His eyes slid close once again, horrified at his doings. He had betrayed his comrades, and now he had just destroyed his own flesh and blood. Tears of grief cascaded down his cheeks like two rivers. What kind of a leader was he? What kind of an elder brother was he?
You are right, Albedo, he thought, managing a pained smirk through his tears, You are I are both monsters… in our own way… no matter what we do and how much we try to deny, we are still monsters.
At the sound of light fluttering he finally, slowly opened his eyes, Impassively he saw a Kirschwasser gliding towards him, holding her hand out to him as if to beckon him to join his brother, but he only stared. He didn't want any help right now… he just wanted to be left alone… couldn't they even grant him his simple wish? He closed his eyes and sighed. He was tired… so tired he wanted to crawl into a corner and sleep for weeks. He felt as if his strength was dissipating through his fingertips with every passing second…
Upon seeing Jr.'s lack of response, the Kirschwassers turned to rejoin her waiting sisters. She paused to look over her shoulder and said, "You brother… you will see him again one day… when that time has come…"
They had materialized out of sight –probably to meet up with Albedo – when Jr. opened his eyes. Confused and still dazed with turmoil, her final words only seemed to have tangle the already tangled thoughts in his mind. Yet he still had the presence of mind to be aware of his rapidly disintegrating surroundings.
Everything was crumbling down, raining debris of various sizes. The column Jr. was leaning on trembled, and a few of smaller debris bore down on Jr., snapping him into attention and action. His instincts were screaming at him to move away from the danger, and with immense difficulty he hauled himself to his feet and ran drunkenly to safety, but unfortunately he tripped on a broken piece of pillar and came crashing down. Upon hitting the ground, he instinctively rolled to his right, just in time to avoid a falling piece of column that missed his head by mere inches. Forcing himself to his feet again, he used what left of his strength to evade the showering wreckage. When he finally tripped and collapsed on the ground, dazed and winded, he didn't try to get up. He simply didn't have the strength.
"Great…" He managed to curse under his breath. There was no way he could avoid a falling pillar because he couldn't find the strength in him to move any more. He felt strangely calm as he watched the pillar slowly collapsing on him. Wait for me Albedo.. I'm coming… but it wasn't to be, for suddenly someone scooped him to his arms and then the sensation of being carried around. Jr. wearily glanced at his savior, who was looking back over a shoulder at the now crumbled rock pile in a shape of a line that was once a pillar, lying exactly in the place where Jr. had been moments ago.
"chaos!" Jr. rasped, surprised yet incredibly relieved to see his friend again. He hadn't plan to die anyway. Not without fulfilling his promises. "What are you doing here?"
"I wouldn't let you die, Jr." chaos replied with a soft smile, looking at the fatigued not-child with warm affection. The relied and joy in Jr.'s sapphire eyes had not gone unnoticed. A loud crashing sound echoed, signifying that a standing wall had fallen, forcing his attention back to their collapsing surroundings. He hastened his run. Thank goodness he had healed a little on his way here. "Right now, we have to get out of here."
When the red-haired U.R.T.V variant did not reply, he added, "Rest now… you deserved it for all what you have went through."
"Yeah, thanks," Jr. said softly. Before he closed his eyes, however, Jr. managed to mumble, "Don't forget you are not supposed to even lift me up in other circumstances, or without my permission. I let you go now as I am really, really tired…". As soon as his eyes fluttered close, oblivion had snatched him away. His head fell into the crook of chaos's arm, its neck support totally gone. Chaos only smiled at the sleeping redhead as he continued his hasty progress towards the E.S Asher.
Yes, of course, Jr., chaos mused, of course.
The End...such a classic line, but it isn't really the end. Just the end of the chapter. The story will continue...just gotta give it to my editor. So yes, until next time my fellow Xenosagians! (I just made that word up...)