Apocalypse

by Silas112

An innocent adventure? Or a plot to control the world? Join Joe as he travels through multiple realms with familiar faces of the Fire Emblem series. A plot bigger than anything they could imagine unfolds in this five part installment. Please review.

3. Apocalypse III: Bloodline Armageddon

Apocalypse III

Bloodline Armageddon

'It has been almost 1 year, (360 days exactly), since Satan was released from Hell, and the earth has been in a downward spiral ever since. As demons poured onto the surface of the earth, whole cities were leveled in a matter of minutes. Under this new threat of demonic infestation, all countries of the world united under a single force in an attempt to contain the problem of corruption. They are able to hold the demons, but pushing them back is a whole different mission. The group, (now adopting the name the Apocalyptic Elect), have grown even stronger since their adventure in Hell, even though their number did decrease that day. Each member of the group has changed in a different way. Lyn's abilities with magick have increased so much that she in invulnerable to almost all types of dark and light magick. Hector's hair, now instead of being short, comes down to around his ears, and his prowess with a sword has benchmarked around Mastery. Mike taught Jesse how to use a bow, and now they both have mastered the use of a sword and bow, and can fire 3 to 4 arrows at once. Alicia, mastering the use of one sword, has now learned to use a longsword and a short sword at the same time, increasing her deadliness with a blade. And Joe, finally tapping the power of his family's Bloodline, has developed psychic abilities to replace his use of magick. He can now perform telepathy (mind reading), telekinesis (moving objects with his mind), and can get visions by touching things with his bare hands. Because of this fact, he now wears black cotton gloves with the fingertips cut off. His purple hair now comes down to the middle of his back and is always in a loose ponytail, and he wears a black leather trench coat. As for his mind, the scars of that day have never left him. The now red sky of the earth is a constant reminder of Eli's sacrifice. Shortly after that day, Joe had his first real vision, seeing a big chapel made of stone and ice, enclosing a shrine with 3 strange keyholes in it. Joe then knew what they had to do; they had to find this place and unlock whatever secret it held for them. Every day after Hell's Day, (as they so appropriately named it), seemed like Hell to them, with a new fight every day. Joe continues searching the demons by summoning his visions out of them, looking for the one vision that will change everything…'

The clang of metal-on-metal rang out through the air like a stone through glass. The grounds around the ruins of New York City were stained with multicolored blood, as the fierce battle raged clangs and demonic screams echoing off into the red sky. A red demon with massed teeth running on all fours was impaled through the head by a blue, smooth-bladed sword, then immediately fell to the ground.

Joe ran from the dead body of the demon he just killed, and locked himself in battle with another fiend, this one wielding a sword, with a face that a mother couldn't even love. It had glowing red cat-like eyes, and was bald, had no mouth or nose, and two holes in each side of its head for ears. Its pale skin reflected an eerie pinkish under the sky, and dulling off of its black, tattered clothes. The thing may have been ratty and mindless, but it was a darn good fighter.

Joe held out a gloved hand, and the demon froze on the spot. Joe then took the demon's head off, let the body drop, and proceeded to the next one. Lyn was dodging around gracefully, sword sheathed on her back, launching fireballs and lightning bolts at approaching enemies, killing most of them instantly. Hector move fluently through and between demons, killing them with his sword, one after the other as he passed. Mike and Jesse hung back a ways, taking out enemies one by one with arrows, or slashing them down with their swords if they got too close. Alicia hung a ways away from the rest of the group to keep safe, for she fought with her eyes closed, sensing where the demons were, and connecting her short sword into the chest of a demon behind her, then impaling a demon in front of her with the longsword, letting it fall to the ground; dead.

"Guys, let's end this now, move away!" Joe yelled, parting another head from a demon's body. They all ran further away, except for Joe, who was now being swarmed by enemies, due to the lack of other targets.

He made an invisible barrier around himself to hold the demons off for a few seconds. He then knelt down on one knee, and began charging. His body began glowing purple as the barrier began to fade slightly. His eyes shot open and glowed a deep purple as the barrier faded completely. He stood up and threw his hands forward as a giant globe of purple light radiated outward from his body, destroying and obliterating any demons in its path.

When it was all over, only Joe remained, standing in a large crater. Joe climbed out of the crater as the rest of the group surrounded the leader of the demonic force they had just obliterated.

It looked almost human, except that its eyes were glowing red and its skin was jet black. It had a dagger in each hand, steel bladed and black handled, which matched it's ripped, black clothing. It stared at them as they stood with their weapons ready, waiting for Joe to approach. Joe walked forward, his sword perched on his shoulder, staring at the fiend eye-to-eye.

"Why have you come here?" Joe demanded, not breaking his gaze.

"We were ordered to come to this sector and kill any living creature we found", the leader spoke, its voice raspy and growling.

"Ordered by whom?" Joe asked, narrowing his gaze.

"Burn in Hell…" the leader answered angrily. Joe sighed and shook his head slightly.

"Always have to do things the hard way with these ones…" he said to himself. His eyes turned a tint of purple, and he raised a hand.

The demon leader lifted into the air, grasping at its neck, gasping for air. Joe closed his fingers a bit more, causing the leader to cry out in agonizing pain. Joe then suddenly clenched his hand into a fist, and the demon's head exploded, showering Joe in a bit of blood. Joe's face remained stone, and the blood ran down his forehead. The demon's body fell to the ground and lay still. Then all was silent.

"Do it, Joe. This might be the one you've been waiting for." Mike said. Joe stepped forward, towards the demon's lifeless corpse. He took off the glove on his right hand, and placed it on the side of the demon's body. His eyes shut closed as his mind reeled projections before him.

'There were 7 figures, each silhouetted against roaring flames, each demonic and menacing. Each one was increasingly more powerful than the last, each with their own distinct form and powers. Then one figure rose up behind all of them, garbed in a black trench coat, black hair, flames roaring all around it. Its eyes opened and glowed a bright emerald green.'

Joe then broke from his vision, coming back to reality.

"What was it?" Hector asked, helping Joe to his feet.

"Even stronger enemies," Joe replied as he put his glove back on, "We're in for a tough ride, guys".

They all walked a short ways away to the vehicle they were using. It was a dark green Jeep-style military vehicle that they had "found" during one of their first battles. Everyone climbed in; Joe started the car, revved the engine once, and then took off on the road, heading towards their base in New Jersey.

The base was located in the basement of the ruined Trenton city hall. Joe drove in complete silence, staring straight ahead, obviously lost in thought. Lyn took notice.

"What's wrong?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing." He replied dully, not breaking his gaze from the road. She didn't believe him, and wouldn't let it go that easily.

"What did you see in your vision?" she asked, taking a more direct approach.

"The front lines of our troubles…" he replied mysteriously. She simply sat back in her seat, utterly confused.

Joe had been like this for a while; brutally killing small demons when unnecessary, speaking in riddles, and sometimes not speaking at all for days. His visions apparently disturbed him to some extent, but he never showed it. He had to stay strong, for himself, for everyone.

They drove on for a few hours, mulling over their last battle in their minds silently. They drove on in silence, when all of a sudden, something cried out in a demonic shriek above, and a giant winged demon flew overhead. It was almost completely a skeleton of a dragon-like creature, except for the skin on its wings.

"Take the wheel." Joe said to Lyn. He then leapt from the car, (it had no roof on it, only a few rollbars), and, almost as if he was flying, soared up and landed on the back of the creature.

He pulled out his sword, and detached the demon's massive tail from its back. The tail fell to the ground with a deafening crash. The winged thing cried out in agony, stopping to hover in air. Joe ran up it's spine to its head, and shoved his sword through the creature's skull.

The car was a little ways away from Joe down the road, who had flown a few hundred feet ahead of it on the demon. The car was still moving towards him as the giant demon fell to the ground. Lyn was now in the driver's seat, so Joe made a leap for the other side of the car. He grabbed the rollbar on the top of the vehicle, flipped himself around, and landed safely in the passenger's seat. He wiped a few droplets of sweat off of his forehead, and continued watching the road.

Lyn drove from there, and they rode a few more hours until they reached the Trenton city border. This city, unlike so many others, still had a few buildings that were intact, including an old grocery store, a few gas stations, a couple of hospitals, and some residential homes. It was for this reason that they set up their base here, underneath the ruined city hall.

They drove for about another 20 minutes, till they finally reached the city hall. The roof of the stone building was just about caved in completely, and a few stone pillars lay around, crumbled and destroyed. They parked the car in front of the building, unloaded, and preceded up the stairs.

The wooden doors fallen off of their hinges, and inside lights were flickering on and off, and sparks occasionally popped from the walls, reflecting yellowish-white light off of the semi-polished marble floor. They turned left immediately as they entered, and walked over to a big wooden door with a black iron doorknob. They opened the door, pouring light down into a set of stone stairs going down into the basement; their current home. As they emerged from the bottom doorway, they were bathed in the soothing yellow light of the living room.

Their base consisted of the living room, a small kitchen, a bathroom, and 3 bedrooms. Lyn and Alicia slept in one room, Mike and Jesse in another, and Joe and Hector in the last. They unloaded their equipment as they walked in, and Joe immediately walked to his room and slammed the door.

Lyn, now furious, stormed over to the door, kicked it open, and slammed it shut again behind her. The door muffled the sound of the screaming, but they could still make out what was being said.

"…There was no need for you to completely obliterate that small demon back there! You know that if you had just held him still long enough, you could have gotten your vision without even having to hurt him!" Lyn screamed.

"What and just let it walk free to kill more people? Do you even remember why we went there? We needed to kill all of the demons in that area. Every, last, one…" Joe screamed back, slamming his fist down on what sounded like a desk as he spoke.

"It's not that you killed him, it's the way that you killed him that frustrates me. You have changed, Joe, and not for the better. You used to hate killing things when you didn't have to, and now you'll blow something up just as soon as look at it. You used to care whether someone in the group got hurt, and you used to be able to cheer everyone up during a long car ride or a long walk. That's that Joe I used to love, now, I don't even know if I know you anymore…" Lyn yelled.

The door then burst open; Lyn stormed out in tears, and went into her room and slammed the door. They saw Joe come to his bedroom door, and close it once more. Then there was silence.

"I think it's over between those two…" Alicia said somberly. The rest of the night was calm. Alicia made some food for everyone, but Lyn and Joe stayed in their rooms. After they finished eating, Hector's cell phone went off in his pocket, and he answered it. He hung up a few minutes later, and placed it once more into his pocket.

"Our next task," he said simply, "We have to be in St. Louis by noon tomorrow, or the whole city is gone." Hector explained.

They stayed up a little bit later, discussing plans for the next day, then all departed to their rooms for sleep. Hector walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

"So, St. Louis, eh?" Joe said, laying face up on his bed.

"You heard?" Hector asked.

"No, you're thinking about it." Joe said, tapping his forehead a few times, reminding Hector of his abilities.

"Ah…" Hector said simply. He then laid down on his bed, and fell quickly asleep.

Joe simply lay awake, his mind being pulled in a million different directions. He stared at the ceiling, searching around the world with his mind silently.

"I know you're out there somewhere," Joe thought to himself, "And I'll find you, my friend." He then rolled over and fell asleep.

Mike woke everyone up well before sunrise, and they all got ready for the trip. Soon, they had all of their supplies gathered, the car refueled, and were off, driving due west. Hector drove this trip, figuring that it'd be safer not to let Joe drive while he was in his current state.

Joe and Lyn sat on opposite sides of the back seat, not speaking. Joe silently tried to crawl into her mind, to see what she was thinking, but Lyn's magick mastery blocked his attempt easily, and he gave up.

"So, is this going to be a full-on invasion, or just a regular fight?" Jesse asked Hector.

"From what I'm gathering, it's going to be big." Hector replied nervously. Suddenly, Joe felt something nagging at his brain. He took his left glove off, and touched his hand to the side of his head, summoning another vision.

'He stood before a great battlefield, many dead scattered around; lifeless, expressionless. A small group of 6 people stood in the center of it all, gazing over their victory, the burning city behind them lighting the ground. Then, a shadowy figure walked out of the flames, moving slowly towards the unsuspecting warriors. It lifted its arm, and shot what looked like a dagger, straight through the back of one of the warriors. His bow fell from his hand, just as his sword did from the other. Joe watched in horror as Jesse fell slowly to the ground; lifeless, and sorrowfully. The shadowed figure, glowing with power, then walked towards the spectating Joe. As it came closer and closer, Joe could see that it was a red skinned, humanoid-like demon, with glowing orange eyes, and a hole in its right palm, presumably for shooting knives from. It reached Joe, but Joe didn't budge, not thinking it could hurt him, since it was only a vision. It then pulled a dagger out of its palm and slashed towards Joe. He moved back slightly, but the end of the blade still razed his forehead, leaving a small cut.'

He jerked awake from his vision and put his glove back on his hand.

"What happened?" Mike asked.

"Nothing, just thinking." Joe said. Lyn turned to look at him.

"Joe, you're bleeding! What happened?" she asked, pulling out a small cloth and dabbing his forehead with it.

"I am?" he asked, touching his fingers to his forehead. Sure enough, as he pulled his fingers down to look at them, they were colored with crimson blood. Joe's eyes widened and he sat back a little in his seat.

"What happened, Joe?" Mike asked again.

"I- I had a vision. There was this demon, a really really strong one. It had some kind of natural knife launcher in its palm or something. It shot one and killed Jesse, then came towards me as I was watching the vision. It swiped at me and just barely hit me, but I didn't think it could hurt me. This is…weird." Joe explained. Jesse just sat there and stared, pale as a ghost.

"Are, are your visions usually right?" Jesse asked nervously.

"Not a hundred percent of the time, but usually," Joe answered, "I can feel some very strong things out there. I can't sense their thoughts, because they're dead already, but I can tell that there are 6 of them. And one of them is the one that killed Jesse." Joe explained.

"But, wait, I thought that there were 7 demons in your other vision? And then one really strong one." Hector asked, still driving.

"There were, that's what's confusing me. But In any case, Jesse, I think you should sit this fight out." Joe said, his forehead now bandaged.

"What? No! I need to fight with you guys! We're outnumbered as it is!" Jesse protested.

"No, I don't want to take the chance." Joe said.

"But if I don't fight, then-" Jesse started.

"YOU CAN'T DIE!" Joe yelled, "I CAN'T BEAR TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANOTHER PERSON'S DEATH!" Everyone sat in silence for a few moments. There was a strange, heavy feeling in the air, and Lyn shivered.

"Someone just rippled the timeline, I can feel it. Very dark magick, very advanced, very near, but I can feel it." she said, searching around like a bloodhound.

"What's that mean?" Mike asked.

"Someone's fate has just changed." Lyn replied, eyes narrowing in thought.

"But, I thought that Fate was set in stone. No one can ever change their fate." Hector asked.

"That's true. Strange things are about to unfold. I have a weird feeling." she finished. Jesse laid still, not moving, just watching the signs and things on the side of the road go by. The rest of the trip was in silence.

They drove for another 6 hours, and finally made it to the historical city of St. Louis. The arch came into view a few minutes before they crossed the city limits, indicating that the city was still standing. As they entered the city, their eyes all widened in shock. All through the city, military personnel were posted; on the sides of the street, on top of buildings with sniper rifles, driving around in tanks, and setting up road blocks.

They drove up to what they presumed to be the headquarters of the outpost, and unloaded. It was there that they were greeted by a smiling face that they were all glad to see.

"Ah, here they are, the finest warriors the earth has to offer." General Williams said, saluting them as they approached.

"It's good to see you again, General." Joe greeted, shaking his hand. He didn't look any different than their first encounter, except for his hair, which was now all but completely grey.

"I take it you guys got the order from the capital to come here?" General Williams asked.

"Yeah. Last night they called Hector's cell phone and told us to be here by noon. Sounded pretty important." Alicia explained.

"It is. This, according to our knowledge, is going to be the biggest demonic invasion out of anything that's happened so far. The entire force is lead by some sort of demon assassin. Very agile, very skilled, very deadly. I believe it's called Greed." Williams explained. Joe stood in silence, pondering.

"What type of weapon does it use?" Mike asked, knowing what Joe was thinking.

"I believe it produces its own daggers from its body. Ejects them as either hand tools or projectiles from its own arm. It's quite disturbing." Williams said. Joe's eyes widened, and he turned to Jesse.

"That's the one, the one that killed you and injured me in my vision." Joe said. Jesse stood silent for a moment, and then spoke.

"Well, no matter how big or bad this thing is, I still want to fight, and you're not gonna stop me." Jesse said defiantly. Joe sighed, trying to relieve some of the stress that was building up in his mind.

"Fine, but promise me, that if you see that thing coming towards you, you'll run, okay?" Joe asked, sounding worried and scared for the first time in months.

"Alight, I'll try." Jesse answered.

"Okay. So general, would you happen to know what time it is?" Joe asked, sounding a bit more relieved. The General pulled out a gold pocket watch and flicked it open.

"Only 2 minutes to noon." He answered, clicking it shut and placing it back in his pocket. Suddenly, there was a rumble, and Joe's eyes flashed purple.

"They're early." he announced sarcastically.

Suddenly, purple tinted clouds appeared in the sky, and began swirling into a giant circle. The middle of the circle glowed a deep shade of green, and demons began falling and flying out of the newly made portal. Cracks in the ground also began to release demons all around. Joe, Hector, and Alicia unsheathed their swords, and Lyn prepared the spells she was going to use. Mike and Jesse strung a few arrows and prepared for the onslaught.

"Mike, Jesse, take cover over in that building and fire through the windows. Get out if you get in trouble. Alicia, take the area over there by those soldiers, they're gonna need all the help they can get. Lyn, Hector, you guys stay with me. Let's do this!" Joe ordered. They all nodded in agreement and took positions.

Gunshots echoed off of every surface in the city as the demons broke through the road blocks and entered the city to begin killing. Joe ran forward, jumped over the nearest soldier, and immediately began battle with the nearest fiend.

"Well, so much for fighting together…" Hector said, chuckling a little.

Joe was in a blind rage, running straight into the mass of demons, flailing his sword around madly, splashing blood everywhere, and parting limbs and heads from bodies.

He wouldn't let this vision come true; he couldn't.

Suddenly, he held up his hand, and a bolt of red lightning shot down from the sky, and landed in his palm. Where there was simply air before, now sat a red glowing sword made completely of energy, wielded in his hand. Now his rage turned into a rampage, demons falling left and right.

One of them grazed his arm, and he retaliated, by throwing his sword like a javelin through the fiend's head, then pulling it back to his hand with his mind to resume fighting. Lyn and Hector held back, killing the ones that Joe missed or let go. Alicia was giving support to the heavy equipped soldiers, who couldn't move very fast, but definitely got the job done right. Mike and Jesse relentlessly fired arrows out of the window of the building, making their target each time. The Apocalyptic Elect were back in action, and nothing could stop them.

Even though all of these demons were dying, there was still another problem to contend with. A great number of demons strayed away from the larger group and wandered into the city, and began destroying it; leveling buildings, blowing up gas stations to cause enormous explosions, and making huge craters in the sidewalks and streets. Within a few minutes of the battle's start, a fourth of the city was already in ruins. Joe finally made it out of the rabble of demons, blood soaked and panting, but satisfied with his headcount.

"Guy's we have to do something. A good portion of the city is already gone. Hector, come with me and we'll try and fix this. Lyn, stay here and stay alive." he said, catching his breath.

They charged through the city, not stopping for breath or death. They made it to a section of the city that was clear of demons and ruins, and stopped for a second to catch their breath again.

"Okay, they'll be here in a few seconds," Joe started, speaking over the rumble of the oncoming destruction, "I'll try and hold off as many as I can from the front, while you run around back to try and guillotine them, okay?" Joe finished, standing up straight.

"Got it." Hector said, also standing up straight again. Hector then ran back the way they came and took a hard right behind a nearby building, charging towards the now visible rabble of oncoming demons. Joe pulled his sword at the ready, and charged.

There were about 500 demons charging towards him, but he didn't care, all he knew at the moment was how to kill; and he did this well. He held his sword to the side, and as he collided with the oncoming army, he clotheslined a lot of the demons that came at him, parting their heads immediately. Meanwhile, Hector reached the back of the army, and began hacking away at the fiends fiercely, trying as hard as he could to reach the front.

On the other side of the city, the demon's numbers were dwindling, and more began spilling out of the cracks in the streets, refueling their numbers and strengthening the morale of the surviving demons. The soldiers' supplies began to empty, and their numbers then also began to fall.

General Williams stood in the center of the HQ, an MP40 perched on his shoulder, watching the onslaught.

"Bring in the tanks." he ordered to the man standing next to him.

"Yes, sir." the man replied, saluting and running off. Suddenly, a rabble of giant tanks rolled forward, crushing demons that stood in their paths.

"Move away!" Williams yelled to everyone as the tanks rolled in. The Elect members and surviving soldiers took heed and pulled back a little into safety, as the tanks began firing at the enemies.

Most shots hit their mark, but many of them missed and began striking buildings. Rubble flew around everywhere, threatening to blind anything that got in its way. One of the tanks fired and missed, and struck a building right in the corner where its main support beam was. The beam shattered, and the building began to sway, sending glass shards and bricks tumbling to the ground. The building then began to fall, slowly toppling into the intersection where the battle was occurring.

It smashed to the ground, sending dust, glass, stone, brick, and metal everywhere, crushing 3 tanks, a huge number of demons, and multiple soldiers in the process. Demons began trying to take control of the tanks, firing at buildings to knock them down.

Meanwhile, Hector and Joe were hacking away the last of the demons in their area, extremely satisfied with how their work had turned out. Then, Joe turned to make his way back to the HQ, when suddenly, he saw her; Greed.

The thing had red skin, was a little shorter than Joe, orange, glowing eyes, and a face like a female human.

"You…" Joe said, his eyes narrowing with hatred. It simply continued towards them, eyes fixed. It stopped a few feet away, and spoke, its voice strangely airy.

"So, still haven't figured it all out yet, have you, young master." Greed taunted mysteriously.

"Young master? What are you talking about?" Joe asked angrily.

"Apparently not. You mortals are so blind to everything around you." she said, staring him in the eyes.

"I can see well enough to sense your fright, you stupid demon. Your life ends today." Joe said, brandishing his sword.

"I may die, yes, but with me, I take one of yours." Greed said, smirking slightly.

"What are you talking about? You mean Jesse? Ha, don't make me laugh. He's perfectly safe right now, you'll never get him." Joe laughed.

"We sins can read Fate; we know when each one of us will die, and when each of you little maggots will die. His life ends today. And yours is not far behind it. You're all going to die in a matter of days." Greed said, ringing out in a chorus of demonic laughter. She then leapt into the air and vanished.

"Come on, Hector. We have to get back before she does." Joe said frantically. They charged towards the battlefield, not stopping, not thinking, and focusing on the sole idea of getting there in time.

Back at the battlefield, the demons' numbers were sorely dwindling, and they knew it. With the majority of the buildings on this side of the city destroyed, many of the fiends tried to escape, to run away, but most were cut down before they could make a second thought about it.

On top of one of the few buildings left, Greed reappeared, staring intently down on the battlefield, like a cat stalking a mouse. She then spotted her target; Jesse, standing unknowingly inside of a building with another human.

"Touché, human." she said simply, and then jumped down into an area of roaring flames beneath her. The last demon fell at the hand of Alicia's short sword, and then all was quiet. Only a handful of soldiers remained, including the General, and every member of the Elect.

"They never learn…" Mike said, walking out of the building with Jesse to join Lyn and Alicia in the middle of all the carnage.

"Of course not, we're the teachers" Alicia joked, sheathing both of her swords.

"Where did Joe and Hector go?" Jesse asked, noticing that they weren't present.

"They headed off to another area to stop some things that were destroying the city" Lyn explained. Just then, they heard someone yelling from behind, and they all turned to see Joe and Hector running towards them, screaming something inaudibly.

"We can't hear you!" Mike yelled to them. Greed then sprung, taking advantage of the situation. Everyone's back was turned to her, and Jesse was standing closest to where she was hiding. She walked out of the flames, and advanced towards the group. Joe noticed this from a distance, and tried to run faster, but his limbs wouldn't allow it, he was exhausted, but kept running and yelling.

"You have to come here, we can't hear you!" Alicia yelled at them. Greed came closer, and as she walked, she raised her hand forward, readying for her strike.

"NO!" Joe yelled, almost in tears.

He was helpless to do anything.

He watched in horror as the blade was ejected from Greed's arm, and embedded itself in Jesse's back, making him stagger slightly.

Jesse's face lit with shock and pain, as he fell slowly to his knees, then further down onto his stomach, face down on the ground. Everyone turned to see Jesse on the ground, the blade sticking up from his spine, and the demon standing there, a crazed smile on her face from her work.

"You bitch!" Mike yelled, stringing an arrow. Suddenly, Joe leapt over Mike's head, unsheathed his sword, and struck it right into Greed's chest, spraying more blood onto the ground. She fell to the ground, the crazed smirk still on her face as she hit the ground.

"Killing me is only step one in the process," she said, sputtering up blood as she spoke, "Like I said, no matter what you're all gonna die."

"And how can you be so sure about that?" Joe asked angrily, pulling his sword from her chest.

"You all went to Hell, and you all escaped. Hell is not just another city that you can simply go to and from whenever you wish; it's a realm, and no one gets out alive. Fate will hunt you down. None of you will live, you can't control Fate. 4 days from now, you'll all be dead." she said gleefully.

"4 days…That's the one year mark, exactly a year after we came back from Hell." Alicia said. Greed chuckled some more.

"It's just too bad the other group couldn't go with you. I'd like to see all of you dead at once…" Greed said.

"Other group? What are you talking about, we are the only Apocalyptic Elect there are, no one else." Hector said.

"No, you're not. Because you're going to die, there are now others that have been chosen, but now they'll never know. And it's all because he's going to kill you." Greed taunted, pointing at Joe. He stood there in shocked silence.

"What are you talking about, I'd never hurt anyone here. You're the one that killed him you bitch." Joe said angrily.

"You'll never understand, will you…you stupid…mortal…" Greed sputtered, and then died.

Joe turned away from her body, and looked at Jesse's lifeless form on the ground. Silent tears began to spill down his face and he took the small knife out of Jesse's back.

"It's all my fault, I couldn't get here soon enough…" Joe whimpered to himself. General Williams walked over, his hat in his hand and across his chest.

"I'll bring a medic to carry his body away." Williams said, then bowed and walked off.

"Joe, Greed's body, you can get a vision now." Hector said, indicating towards the demon's now lifeless body. Joe walked over to it, took his right glove off, and put his hand on the demon's forehead.

He closed his eyes, and watched…

'He was in a rural area, the red sky spanning out over green fields and sparse small houses. A boy of about 17 was running up the dirt road, a determined look upon his face. He carried a silver longsword in one hand, had short, spiked brown hair, blue eyes, a hard-set face, and was a little shorter than Joe. A pack of demons approached him from the front, and he raised a hand at them. His hand glowed purple and the demons all exploded, all at once. One of his hands was a normal human hand, garbed in a ratty, tan leather glove. The other hand, however, had claws protruding from the tips of the fingers, like dragon claws. The skin on this hand looked a bit harder than that of the other hand, and was a small tint darker than the other. He wore a hexagonal pendant around his neck on a brown leather strap. Up the road, 5 more figures could be seen, silhouetted against the sky. 2 looked familiar, while the other 3 were a complete mystery. All were different, but each had something in common; they were chosen. Joe watched as the only surviving member of his childhood ran down the road, guided by destiny and will…'

His eyes shot open, glazed with tears as he realized what he was seeing.

"It's…it's my brother…" Joe said breathlessly, putting his glove back on.

"Wait, what?" Mike asked frantically.

"I saw my brother. He's alive." Joe said, still exasperated.

"But, I thought your family was murdered by Satan?" Hector asked.

"They were, but remember what he said after I asked him about it? 'There was an unfortunate turn of events there…' I think he means that they didn't find my brother when they went to my house." Joe explained, his breathing becoming normal once more.

"Did you see anything else?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah, there were 5 other people too, but I couldn't really see them too well. But I could have sworn that I'd seen 2 of them somewhere before." Joe explained, wracking his brains.

"I get it now…" Lyn said, staring at the ground, "Greed said something about another group. These people that you saw, they are the other group of Apocalyptic Elect. Your brother is the leader, because he follows in your Bloodline".

"I just don't understand how he could have developed his powers so quickly, it took me forever." Joe pondered to himself.

"Does your brother have a name?" Mike asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, it's Vance." Joe said. They stood in silence again, for a few moments.

"Well, I guess our new quest becomes clear, no matter how much we don't want to accept it." Hector said with a bit of finality in his voice.

"Yep, we have to find the new Apocalyptic Elect before we all…die…" Lyn said somberly. They all walked over to the car quietly, wanting to get as much of a start as they could.

"Well, I can pick up his thought patterns a little bit, so we should be able to track him." Joe said, climbing in the driver's seat. He closed his eyes and concentrated on nothing but his brother; what his vision showed him, what little he could remember from his childhood, and the importance that his brother would have in the near future.

He locked onto his location, and shocked himself at where he found him. His eyes shot open, and he started the engine. They roared through the rubble and slaughter, and found a clear road out of the city, heading due north.

"Where are we going?" Hector asked curiously.

"Somewhere familiar…" Joe responded mysteriously, gaze fixed on the road. They rode in silence from there. After a few hours, the desert-like freeway began to fill with power lines, buildings, ruined houses, and some homeless people. They rolled into the city, the air heavy with the tension of homeless victims and the stench of destroyed hope.

"Are we…?" Lyn started.

"Yeah, we're home." Joe replied. They looked on in awe as Joe stopped out in front of his old house.

They unloaded from the car and walked up onto the lawn. Joe took in his surroundings, thinking to himself. He walked over to the old tree in front. The damage was still there from when the ice-cream truck had crashed into it. He put a hand on the mangled bark, and allowed his fingertips to touch it. A sudden image of a sullen, smirking, friendly face flashed across his eyes, and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

He walked over to the only small patch of living grass left in the yard, and again, allowed his fingertips to graze the blades of green. The faces of 2 young boys swam around his mind, playing in a yard, faces filled with joy. Then the image was gone, replaced with the death that was around them; reality. Silent tears began to fall from his eyes, brought on by the thoughts of everything that he had lost now.

He no longer had a life, and now he wouldn't. Knowing that he was only going to exist for mere days only brought on one feeling to his mind; hopelessness. He would never know what it's like to be an adult, to have his own home, to savor the feeling of a fulfilled life as an elder. They walked up to the house, and Joe's mind began to twinge.

"Guy's wait." he said, extending an arm back, "We're expected."

He unsheathed his sword and approached the door cautiously, which was hanging off of its hinges. As he was about to enter, a flash of purple ensued from inside, and someone jumped out from the door, colliding a silver blade with Joe's blue one. The two figures stood there for what seemed like eternity, just staring blankly at each other. Finally, Joe spoke.

"Vance? Is it you?" he asked. Vance just stood there, still shocked. Finally he let his blade drop, and sheathed it.

"I knew you'd find me." he said simply. Then they hugged, releasing 2 years of tension.

"Aww, brotherly love." Alicia teased.

They all walked inside and took a look around. The paint was peeling off of the walls, exposing bare white dry wall on the other side. Almost all electronic devices were gone, including the refrigerator, TV, microwave, computer, and lamps. The couch was still there, but had many holes in it and had faded dramatically.

"Wow, the things that a year can do to your memories…" Joe said, still looking around. Once they had taken in all of their surroundings, they sat down on the couch.

"Wow, just like old times, eh?" Hector said. Joe simply nodded. He knew that Hector meant well, but being in the house without Eli just felt, wrong.

"What happened to you Joe? You've changed so much." Vance asked. Joe turned his head to look at him.

"I grew up. And I've been doing this for almost 2 years now, and believe me, 2 years of death is enough to change anyone." Joe explained, taking a glance at Lyn as he spoke. She blushed a little and looked away.

"What about you? Where have you been these past 2 years?" Joe asked.

"In hiding. That day when you came home and no one was here, I ran away. I had a vision in my sleep, about dad and the devil coming to kill all 3 of us. So I ran, but I didn't have enough time to tell mom." Vance explained.

Joe rubbed his hands down his face, partly to dry the tears on his face, and partly because his worst suspicion had been confirmed; his brother was the only family he had left.

"How did your powers develop that fast? Mine just came to me within the past year." Joe asked, finally getting out the big question he had been meaning to ask.

"I'm not sure, but that day was my first vision, and I didn't know it was a vision until later, once I started having more of them." Vance explained.

"Where have you been staying?" Mike asked.

"With my friend, Pat. As soon as all this happened," Vance indicated to the sky outside, "I ran out and bought some swords for us. The guy at the shop thought I was out of my mind when I told him I planned on using them." Vance said sarcastically. Joe laughed softly for a second.

"Do you know why we came looking for you?" Joe asked.

"No, but I'm thinking it's probably not good." Vance responded.

"It's not. We killed Greed, one of 7 of Satan's main pawns, and, she gave us some news that we'd rather not have heard…" Joe said somberly.

"What? The earth is doomed?" Vance asked sarcastically. He definitely had Nate's sense of humor.

"It will be, if we don't wrangle up the rest of your crew in time." Joe said. Vance looked utterly confused.

"Wrangle up the rest of my crew in time? What crew and before what happens?" he asked.

"The second group of Apocalyptic Elect, which you happen to be the leader of, seeing as how you're in the Bloodline." Joe answered.

"No, you're going to be the leader, aren't you?" Vance asked.

"…No. The truth is, I'm going to die." Joe said simply, knowing it was the best way to break it to him. Vance sat there, staring at him blankly.

"No you're not, you're perfectly healthy." he said.

"No, I am going to die, there's nothing else to it. It's not from age or health or anything. Fate has chosen us to die because we went into Hell, so in 4 days, we'll all be dead, and it will be up to you and the others in your group to finish our work." Joe explained. Vance looked in awe, also feeling the same sense of helplessness that Joe had felt.

"…How am I going to know what to do if you're gone?" he asked.

"We'll fill you in as we gather up people. I know that there's going to be 6 of you." Joe said.

Just then, something bumped from upstairs and began moving towards the stairs. Joe shot up and unsheathed his sword as the person appeared from the bottom of the stairs. It was a boy about Vance's age, with short blonde hair, dark brown eyes, dressed in a T-shirt, a button-up overshirt, a pair of ripped blue jeans, and red sneakers. His eyes shot open as he saw Joe standing there with a sword pointed to his face.

"Uh, Vance? What's going on?" the boy asked quickly.

"Joe, put it away, this is Pat." Vance said, standing up. Joe looked at Pat for a few more seconds, then sheathed his sword and sat back down.

"Pat, this is my brother, Joe." Vance said, indicating towards Joe.

"Come here." Joe said to Pat, motioning him forward. Pat hesitated for a moment, and then stepped forward slowly.

Joe removed his glove on his left hand, and placed it on Pat's forehead. He closed his eyes, preparing for a vision, but nothing happened. Then suddenly, Pat began to glow blue, and Joe's eyes began to glow purple, as white energy flowed from Joe's arm into Pat's body. Then, it stopped, and Joe pulled his arm away.

"He's number 2." Joe said, pulling his glove back on, "I couldn't get a vision, only a very strong minded person could do that." They stared at Pat for a few moments.

"So that means 2 down, only 4 to go." Alicia said.

"Yeah, and 4 days to do it in." Joe added.

"Would someone like to fill me in on what's going on?" Pat asked, a crazed, confused look on his face. Joe then took a deep breath, and began telling the story, starting 2 years earlier, when he and Nate first entered the other world.

It was very painful for Joe to talk about it, and he had to stop occasionally to keep his mind straight. He ended with the speech that Greed had made earlier that day. Vance and Pat sat there, soaking it in for a few minutes. Joe then noticed Vance's hand, and something from his vision came to mind.

"Hey Vance, what's up with the claw hand thing?" Joe asked, looking at Vance's hand.

"Oh, it happened a few days after I went into hiding. I think it's got something to do with the Bloodline, like a power I haven't been able to adapt to yet, but I can tell it's strong. In the meantime, it works as a good weapon when I'm unarmed." he explained.

"We should work on that. If you expect to be a leader, you need to take advantage of any power available to you." Mike said. Joe nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Anything else you need to know?" Vance asked.

"Yeah. Who's responsible for all of this wreckage in the city?" Joe asked.

"Sloth. Another one of those sins you were talking about." Vance explained, "Its crazy, that thing. It looks like a cross between a tiger, a grizzly bear, and some kind of demon. It's got a head shaped like a bear, with glowing blue eyes, red fur, and horns. Its torso is a combination of scales and fur; the scales are greenish-black, and the fur is red. Its claws are about 3 inches long and are always covered in blood. Its lower body is completely demon; red scaled, black clawed, all that good stuff." Vance explained.

"You've seen it?" Lyn asked.

"Well, of course. You don't just expect me to sit around all day, do you?" Vance asked. They all laughed, relieving some stress.

"Okay, well, it looks like we're gonna have to kill this thing, too." Joe said, standing up to stretch. Just then, an explosion sounded from outside, and they all rushed to the door.

Standing down the street, towering 7 and a half feet tall, was Sloth, roaring into the sky.

"Well, how convenient, the foe comes to us." Pat said. They all unsheathed their swords and ran out into the street. Sloth let out another deafening roar, then charged at them.

"Well, with a name like 'Sloth' you'd expect it to be a bit slower, wouldn't you?" Mike asked sarcastically. It reached them, and Joe fell to his back, kicked his legs up, catching the beast in the stomach, and hurdling it over the rest of the group. It landed with a loud crash behind them, making a small crater in the ground.

It got up and roared again, this time running at them with its claws bore. Vance ran towards it, his clawed hand extended to the side, and he slashed its side as he passed it. Green blood began to seep from the wound, but it didn't slow the beast, it simply kept running, determined to kill its targets.

"This thing is so mindless it's ridiculous." Joe said, running towards it. As he reached it, Sloth made a slash and connected with Joe's right arm, spraying a bit of blood everywhere. It then wheeled back a bit a punched him in the side of the head, sending him flying to the side of the road.

Hector took the opportunity to run forward, and sank his sword in the thing's back. Sloth cried out in pain, reached its arm around, and pulled the sword out of its back. It then wheeled around and threw the sword at Hector, who dodged it, and ran to retrieve it.

"It's head! Destroy its brain!" Vance yelled. Pat then ran forward, jumped and flipped, and skillfully slashed at Sloth's head, cutting it in two. Sloth stopped moving, blood trickling down its body, and fell forward, face-down on the ground. Pat then sheathed his sword and ran over to Joe, along with everyone else. His arm was bleeding profusely, and he was almost unconscious.

"Whoa, Joe is human after all…" Hector said in disbelief. Lyn bent down and held her hands over Joe's arm. They glowed white, and the wound began to grow smaller and smaller, until it vanished completely. She then moved her hands over his head, and began healing that too. Joe's eyes slowly opened, and he sat upright again.

"Good job guys, that thing was a real brute." Joe said, having Lyn help him to his feet. He took the glove off his right hand once again, and placed it on the belly of the beast, and began his vision process.

'Once tall buildings were now rubble and ruins, smoldering from recent flames. Mangled cars lay everywhere, along with the drivers, who were now all but dead. The once blooming city of Chicago was a giant ruined memorial to those that sacrificed themselves for the good of their own kind. One small group of people survived though, and they were now rummaging through the street, salvaging anything they could find. One girl in particular radiated a certain power that could only mean one thing, and Joe knew what it was. She was a little younger than Vance, with long brown hair, an innocent but deadly set face, a thin body garbed in a sleeveless shirt, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes that were now dark tan with dirt. Her mind confirmed Joe's suspicions, and his mind set with the next task at hand…'

Joe took his hand away and placed his glove back on.

"We're off to Chicago. We'll find our next group member there." Joe said.

"Right. But one question. How are we going to fit everyone in our little car now?" Lyn asked.

"Good question. We'll just have to find a bigger vehicle is all." Joe replied.

"I think I can help there." Vance said, "Follow me."

They loaded into the car, Joe started the engine, and they were off, following Vance's directions. He led them a little ways across the city, to an abandoned garage in-between two ruined auto shops. Joe stopped the car and Vance hopped out, and walked over a control switch by the garage door. He pressed a red button on the top, and the door slowly slid open.

Inside the garage, there were multiple wrecked and disassembled cars, some raised into the air, and a few cars that looked like they still had some life in them. Vance indicated to an old van parked to the left of the door.

"That would probably be your best bet. Seats a lot." he said. Joe walked over to the van and began inspecting it, making sure it had all the necessary parts to run.

"Well, it looks to be in running shape, not the prince charming of vehicles, but it'll have to do." Joe said, wiping his hands on his shirt.

The van was an off-white color with slightly tinted windows. Through the windows they could see it sat about 9 people, and had brown carpet inside with brown leather seats. Joe tried to open the door, but quickly realized that it was locked.

"Where're the keys?" he asked Vance. Vance walked over to a small wooden rack on the wall and pulled off a single bronze colored key, and tossed it to Joe. He unlocked the doors, and everyone piled in and got seated.

"Hm, full tank of gas. Nice touch." Joe said, starting the ignition. The car sputtered for a moment, then roared to life. Joe stepped on the gas, and roared out of the garage, and down the street, speeding south down the freeway.

"It's about 3 hours to Chicago from here, so get comfy guys." Joe said, sitting back a little in his seat. They rode in silence, simply thinking about the task at hand, and hoping beyond hope that Fate could be fooled.

The countryside was completely barren; no trees, no houses, no cars, no pedestrians, nothing. The rural acres then began to thicken with buildings and trees. As they entered the city, they could see just how good they had it back in their hometown. Chicago was not only destroyed, but also overrun with demons and crazed, infected people. Pedestrians walked around the city randomly, blurting words to themselves, soaked in a mixture of demon blood, blood of their friends and family, and blood of their own.

"This is insanity. It's like, like…" Lyn started.

"Hell?" Joe added smartly. They parked the van next to the nicest building they could find, which basically meant the only building that wasn't reduced to mere feet of rock. As they filed out of the van, they could hear inhuman roars and loud screams in the distance.

"I think we just found our target guys, let's go!" Hector said, unsheathing his sword. They ran for a little bit, and emerged from around the corner of a building to a sight that they half expected. There was a group of 3 people, surrounded by blood-thirsty demons, growling and sniffing at the as they circled. Joe and the rest of them charged forward, weapons extended.

Joe made first contact, parting the head off of the first demon, sending it falling to the ground. One of the demons' eyes flashed white, and it backed away slightly, removing itself from the fight.

Alicia shoved both of her swords into the forehead of one of the fiends, and pulled them apart in separate directions, ripping the creature in half. Lyn extended her arm towards a demon, palm up, and launched a big javelin of ice into the chest of the demon. The giant crystal turned bright red, and exploded, sending pieces of the demon everywhere.

Pat and Vance both ran towards the last 3 demons, running side by side. They leapt into the air and kicked off of each others feet, launching them in opposite directions. They then jumped off of the sides of the buildings on either side of the enemies, propelling them back towards each other. They then held their swords to the side, and decapitated each demon as they flew past.

"Now that, was impressive…" Joe said, wiping some blood off of his face. Then there was one solitary demon, watching them all with glowing white eyes.

"This one's different guys." Hector said, warning them. The demon then began to glow white, and something started pulling itself out of its back. It was another creature, this one almost human.

His skin was milky white, and he was garbed in a buttoned up black trench coat and big black boots, and had black hair that covered the right side of his face. His eyes were completely black, no pupils or white.

"Another sin, I'm presuming?" Joe needlessly asked, knowing the answer already.

"Correct. I am Envy." he said, his voice cold and smooth.

"So, are we going to have to fight this out like your other colleagues?" Hector asked smartly.

"Fighting is so cliché, but if you insist, yes, I will challenge you." Envy said. He then raised a black gloved, glowing red and to the ground, and a wide crack struck across the ground, and more demons climbed out of it. These creatures were more menacing than the last wave, standing on 2 legs, with claws protruding from their fingertips and toes.

Their heads look like they were covered with a layer of red wax, with holes for eyes, which were simply glowing red slits. They had no clothes, simply red skin pulled so tight on their muscles that it looked like they could break in half from a quick blast of wind. One of them rushed forward, moving with incredible speed, and took a swipe at Hector. He moved out of the way just in time, and kicked the thing backwards.

"Damn, I wasn't expecting that…" Hector said suddenly. They all then moved forward, striking quickly at the disturbing figures. Every swipe that they made was simply dodged, then countered by an equally staggering swipe by the strange demons.

Envy then began glowing white, and rose into the air. He began wavering like a piece of wet paper, and melted away into one of the demons. The creatures eyes glowed white, and it began fighting twice as hard.

"He possesses creatures…" Joe said to himself, blocking a shot from one of the demons. Envy waved one of his arms, and Vance, Pat, and Alicia froze on the spot, glowing white, and unable to move. Lyn then raised a hand at them, and made a shield around them so that they couldn't be harmed.

Then it was only Joe, Hector, Lyn, and Mike fighting the two demons and Envy. Joe, Lyn, and Hector occupied themselves with Envy and one of the other demons, while Mike locked his sword into the arm of the other demon. It bounced off of its arm like metal. The demon went to swipe at Mike, when suddenly, a sword protruded out of the thing's face, and then pulled out again. The demon fell to the ground, and Mike was left looking into two familiar faces.

"…Erk? Sain?" he asked breathlessly.

"Yeah, it's us." Sain said. They looked almost no different from when they had last seen them, except that Sain's hair now came down to his shoulders, and Erk's was no longer brown, but black. The 3 of them ran over to Joe and the others and began trying to take out Envy and the remaining demon. Mike, Sain, and Hector struck at the same time at the demon, each one impaling it at a different spot. The thing fell to the ground, and began dissipating.

Then it was only Envy. Lyn ran over to the 3 that were frozen, and gave them back mobility, and they all joined the fray. "Well this is certainly unfair, 9 against one?" Envy said, his voice floating in the air.

He then began changing; his eyes grew wider and began glowing yellow, he grew 20 feet taller, his body turned into an inky-like crimson substance, and his voice grew demonic and menacing.

"That's a bit better…" he announced. He brought his arm down quickly towards the ground, attempting to crush the opponents. They all moved out of the way, and Envy's liquid-like fist smashed into the ground, leaving a crater.

"Guy's I've got an idea, don't worry about what happens to me, just keep him busy…" Joe said. They nodded and turned their attention back to Envy.

Joe charged towards the giant hulking figure, and began running up its side.

"You aren't a very smart human, are you?" Envy boomed, "You're solid, so walking on water is quite foolish".

Joe then began sinking into Envy's body. The last thing they saw of him was the tip of his blue sword sinking into the inky depths.

"JOE!" Sain yelled. Suddenly, a purple light began to emit from Envy's stomach, and it grew brighter and brighter. Then, Envy's body suddenly exploded, showering the area with blood and reddish-black ink. Joe rolled onto the ground and landed on his back.

"Well, that could have been more graceful…" Joe joked, getting up on his feet. A small area of the ink was still glowing white, and it began to pull together. It all made one big pile, and began molding into a human-like figure. Envy's body now laid before them, a hole in his stomach. He began laughing maniacally, spitting up a lot of blood in the process.

"No matter if you kill all 6 of us, you mortals are still going to die. Please, young master, finish your work, and the masters will be most pleased with you…" Envy said, speaking directly to Joe.

"Why in the hell do you things keep calling me 'young master', I have nothing to do with you, and I haven't killed anyone here yet, except for your kind." Joe said, getting frustrated. Envy simply laughed more.

"Still haven't figured it out yet, have we? Well, you will see soon enough, young mast-…" then he was gone. The group then turned their attention to the 3 victims they had originally seen being hunted by the demons. They turned to run, but Joe stopped the one standing in the middle.

"You, come here." he said, motioning her forward.

"Please, don't hurt me, I just want to…" she started, sounding extremely frightened.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you." Joe said. He took off his right glove, and placed his hand on her forehead. Just like with Pat, Joe received no vision, but simply pumped energy into the girl.

"She's number 3." he said, putting his glove back on.

"Number 3 for what?" she asked frantically.

"Vance, Pat, would you please take her aside and fill her in? We need to get reacquainted with our friends over here." Joe said, indicating to Sain and Erk.

Joe then walked over to Envy's lifeless body, took his glove off once again, and started another vision.

'He was standing in a black room that looked to have no walls, only darkness and flames. In front of him stood a figure silhouetted in shadow, blade hung loosely in its hand, surrounded by the bodies of his fallen. Joe moved forward a little bit and was horrified at what he saw. All around this person laid the bodies of his friends; Lyn, Hector, Mike, and Alicia, all were dead. The person turned to Joe, and began moving forward, his eyes glowing a deep shade of purple. Joe stood glued to the spot, as his own figure materialized in the light in front of him, his sword still stained with the blood of his comrades…'

Joe fell backwards, face drenched with sweat, eyes wide open and pupils dilated.

"Joe? What is it? What did you see?" Mike asked frantically, helping Joe to his feet.

"N-nothing, it was nothing important." he replied, eyes still wide.

"Did you see the location of our next member?" Hector asked.

"No, I didn't" Joe said breathlessly.

"Well, then what did you see that was so bad?" Hector asked.

"I SAID NOTHING, ALRIGHT?" Joe snapped loudly.

"Well sorry for being curious about our fates." Hector responded defensively. Joe then turned his attention to Erk and Sain, and something clicked in his mind.

"Lyn, I think that, the 2 familiar figures I saw in the vision, were these two right here." Joe said. He brought his hand near both of them, and his eyes began glowing purple in response.

"I was right! It was you two! You guys are the other 2 members of the new group." Joe said excitedly.

"Well, it feels nice to be important." Erk said modestly.

"Yeah, but it'd feel even better if we knew what we were important for." Sain joked.

"Well, in a nutshell, we're all going to die, and you guys are going to have to take our place when it happens." Joe explained. Sain and Erk looked at them as if they had little aliens crawling out of their eye sockets.

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but it's going to happen. Jesse's already dead..." Hector finished, looking down slightly as he said it. They stood in silence once more, and Vance, Pat, and the girl came back over, the girl looking greatly disturbed.

"How'd it go?" Joe asked.

"Pretty well. She's just taking it all in right now. Her name's Kristine, by the way." Vance said. Kristine stood there, the same look of appalled shock upon her face. Mike tapped her shoulder, and she seemed to come to.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said, rubbing her head a little bit.

"Okay guys, I think we should find a place to stay for the night. Maybe tomorrow we'll find another demon that will tell us where we're headed next." Joe said, motioning them all towards the van.

"But, shouldn't we try and find the last member of the group first?" Hector asked.

"No, because we have no idea where they would be, and it'd be dangerous to try and travel at night with our current situation." Joe explained.

"I understand that, but, look how much our group has grown. We could demolish anything that got in our way. Kristine could just use Jesse's sword." Hector argued.

"No, we're not staying out any later than we have to. We'll continue the search tomorrow." Joe said, more sternly this time.

"I understand what you're saying, I was just looking out for the group, seeing as how we're all concerned with time and all and-" Hector started again.

"WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME? WE'RE NOT LOOKING ANYMORE TODAY. WE'RE FINDING A PLACE TO STAY FOR THE NIGHT." Joe screamed, losing his temper. Hector opened his mouth to speak again, but promptly closed it, knowing that the subject was closed. Everyone suddenly shivered, as the heaviness in the air they had felt before returned.

"There's that ripple in the timeline again. I wish I knew who was casting it. It's extremely dark and extremely dangerous magick." Lyn said, nosing around the air. They all made their way back to the van, and loaded up. Hector sat in the very back, not wanting to set Joe off again.

"So you don't have any problems with coming with us, do you Kristine?" Vance asked.

"No, I have no family or anyone to return to anyway. You guys are all I have now." she said, sighing. Joe started the engine and roared it down the road.

"Have any ideas of where we might stay, Kristine?" Joe asked in a dull, monotonous voice.

"Uh, there should be a stretch of motels and hotels up here if you want to use those." she responded. He drove a few miles further up the road, and came to a business section devoted primarily to lodging. They found a building that seemed almost unscathed by wars, and decided to stay there.

The hotel was white with about 5 stories, each with a multitude of windows. As they unloaded and walked inside, they could see that all of the necessities were still available; electricity, water, and heat.

"Alright guys, I don't know what's going to happen during the night, so stay on the first floor." Joe said. They all roamed around, trying to find a room to stay in. Every room was the same; white walls, one big window, a big bed, a single bathroom, one closet, a television, a lamp, red carpet, and a single night table.

Joe found one that he liked, and unloaded his equipment into it. He then left the room and went to help everyone else find proper rooms to stay in. When they had all settled down into rooms, they met in the main lobby and sat down on the various couches, which they moved together so that they could talk.

"You okay now, Kristine?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. This all just took some getting used to." she said. Joe sat still, lost in thought, trying to work over little details in his mind.

"Lyn?" he said finally, only loud enough for her to hear while the others were talking.

"Yeah?" she answered, also whispering.

"Are you still mad at me? You know, for before?" he asked sadly.

"How could I be mad at you? We're all going to be gone in a matter of days. I think I have more important things on my mind right now besides being angry at someone I love." she replied. Then Joe, for the first time in months, smiled.

"Okay guys, long day tomorrow, we should all head in and get some rest, we're gonna need it." Hector said, standing up and stretching. They all followed his example and started towards their rooms. Lyn walked with Joe to his room and stopped outside the door.

"You know, there's enough stress and tension among us as it is. Maybe you should apologize to Hector; he was only trying to help, and you kinda went off on him big time." Lyn said.

"Not right now, I can tell he's uncomfortable around me at the moment. I'll apologize tomorrow morning. I promise." Joe said. He then gave her a kiss, went into his room, and closed the door. He threw his trench coat aside, and it flopped to the ground like wet paper.

He unbuttoned his black shirt and threw it aside, exposing the many scars and bloody cuts on his abs and chest. The year of fighting carved his body into a battle-ready statue. He then fell face first onto the bed, and fell asleep.

His mind swirled with violent torments of purple and red as he slept, forming faces in the swirling void. His faced twitched slightly as he slept, but he remained peacefully unconscious.

The same couldn't be said for Hector, who was tossing and turning on his bed as he slept.

'His mind was raging with torrents of demonic images, destroyed cities, dead innocent people, and glowing eyes. Then, suddenly everything went white, and he was standing in a completely white, light room, nothing around him at all. He began walking, hoping to find some sort of exit somewhere, anywhere. Suddenly, he saw a woman, dressed in a black gown, with flaming red hair, and a slender body, walking towards him in the distance. She reached him, and held a black gloved hand out to his face. As she touched his cheek, an icy cold chill ran all through his body. "Don't worry, you're safe here." she said, her voice smooth and soothing.'

Just then, Joe's eyes shot open, and he was wide awake.

"Hector!" he shouted to himself. He got up, pulled his shirt on, leaving it unbuttoned, and bolted out the door towards Hector's room. He got to the door. He tried to open it, but it was locked. He held a gloved hand up, and it began to glow purple, along with the door. He wretched his hand backwards and the door flew out of the frame and off of its hinges.

Lyn ran up next to him as the door crashed to the floor.

"What in the world is going on?" she asked.

"Hector's in trouble." Joe said simply. He ran into the room, and stopped by Hector's bedside. He looked to be asleep, but his face was twitching horribly.

'Hector's eyes lulled lazily as the woman rubbed her icy hand on his cheek. He wanted to stay in this place forever, to never have to face the torment of reality ever again. Just then, the woman raised her other hand, and a hole appeared under Hector's feet, filled with water. He dropped into the small pool, and began flapping around helplessly, trying to keep buoyant. The pool began to expand, growing wider and wider. The woman raised into the air, floating above the water. As he tried to swim towards the edge, it moved further and further out of his reach. She then held a hand down, and Hector's head plunged under the surface of the water. "The name is Lust, in case you wondered." she announced, still holding his head below the surface.'

Hector was now flailing like a fish out of water in his bed, coughing and sputtering up water like a fountain.

"I'm going in." Joe said, taking off both gloves.

He placed his hands on Hector's forehead as best he could, and entered his dream.

'He was standing at the edge of a very strange lake, not made by nature or man. In the center of it was a small torrent of upset waters, splashing and moving as the thing below the surface flailed for its life. Joe saw a woman floating above the water, her hand facing down towards the water. He jumped into the air and soared over to her, his sword unsheathed. He took a swipe at her, but she deflected it with a wave of her arm, and he passed right through her, hitting the ground on the other side of the lake.'

Hector began moving less and less, but still coughing up water, now with a mixture of blood in it. Everyone was now in his room, standing next to his bed, knowing that they were all helpless to defend him against whatever it was that was attacking him.

'Joe stood up and shook his head a bit, clearing away the fogginess that the landing caused. "Lust I'm presuming?" he asked, looking her in the eye. "Correct, young master. You humans are smarter than we give you credit for." she said, her voice echoing around the white void-like room. The disturbance in the water began to lessen, and the lake began to calm itself once more. "Let him GO!" Joe screamed, and held up his arm. Lust froze on the spot, and began floating towards Joe. He cuffed his hand as if he was holding a cup, and Lust's neck began turning purple. "How do you like it? Air is nice, isn't it? It's not nice to DENY it to someone!" Joe screamed. As he spoke he made a very hard tugging motion with his other hand, and Lust's left arm parted from her body, spraying blood everywhere; staining the holy white with red. He made a twisting motion with his hand, and Lust's head rotated around until it cracked, and she died on the spot.'

In a flash of blue light, Joe fell from the ceiling, carrying the body of Lust. Hector shot awake, his face, neck, and chest soaked with water and blood.

"...Joe, I'm...sorry that I...argued with you..." Hector sputtered, his voice hoarse and weak. Joe ran over to the bed.

"No, it was my fault; I've been such a stupid hothead lately. I'm sorry, it was my entire fault..." he said, wiping the blood off of Hector's eye.

"You have to...find the last person...I guess it was, just my turn, first..." Hector said, blood still trickling from his mouth.

"No, Hector, no. You can't leave us now, we need you..." Joe pleaded.

"...I'm...sorry..." Hector croaked. His eyes slowly closed, and then all was silent. Joe buried his face in the bed and wept silently to himself. Lyn came up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"It's not your fault, there's nothing you could have done to prevent it. You can't control Fate." Lyn said, trying to comfort him in any way possible. Joe lifted his head, got to his feet, and walked over to Lust's body.

He looked down at her lifeless form with more repulsion and hatred than anyone had ever seen. He then took his glove off, and laid his hand reluctantly on her side.

'He was standing on a street corner in a neighborhood that looked to be completely normal; no homeless people wandering around, no demons, nothing unusual. The house in front of him was a nice little house, painted yellow with white trim, a single big window, and a white door. It was squished between 2 houses; the usual style for suburban California. As he approached the house, a girl with bright blonde hair stepped out the door and began walking up the street. She wore a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. Her blue eyes were vaguely hidden behind glasses that reflected the glow of the red sky over the city of San Francisco.'

Joe opened his eyes and replaced his glove on his hand. He took Hector's sword from the side of the night table, and hung it from a belt loop on his pants.

"Get your stuff and get out of the building" Joe ordered, no tone in his voice. They all quickly followed the request, and left the room. Joe took one final look at Lust's body, and snapped his fingers as he stood in the doorway. The entire area around her body burst into flames, and he replaced the door inside the frame, using his telekinesis.

He walked into his room, buttoned his shirt, put his jacket on, grabbed his things, and walked out of the room and through the front door. They all gathered outside by the van, and watched the result of Joe's anger.

The entire building was engulfed in flames within minutes. The purple night sky was tinted with a twinge of red, as the twilight began to be breached by the morning.

"We're going to San Francisco, that's where we'll find our next member." Joe said. They all loaded into the van and sat down, one extra seat now vacant.

"So, we're supposed to get to San Francisco by driving from Chicago?" Sain asked sarcastically. He was simply trying to mask the pain he was feeling, and to lift everyone's morale a little.

"Sain, not really the time..." Erk said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Vance, get this thing to California" Joe ordered simply. Vance was taken aback.

"What are you talking about? You want me to push it there or something?" Vance asked angrily.

"No. I know you can teleport things, and I want you to try and get this thing to California." Joe said, still not expression any change of emotion in his voice. Vance looked to be in a state of shock.

"How...how did you know that?" Vance asked breathlessly. Joe just tapped his forehead lightly.

"Come on, we're not getting any younger here, let's get going." Joe said impatiently. Vance closed his eyes, and the car and everyone in it began glowing purple. Suddenly, they all disappeared in a flash of white light. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, and they were in a quiet neighborhood during the early hours of the morning.

"This is it, where we need to be." Joe said, opening the car door. They all took his example and unloaded from the vehicle. They were right by the corner that Joe had seen in his vision, but the surroundings were a bit different.

Houses were still standing, but some were on fire, some were in disrepair, and small demons were running amok in the streets.

"I must have been looking into past in that vision." Joe said to himself. They approached the house that Joe had seen, and knocked on the front door. The door opened, but they were greeted by the barrel of a rifle. Joe held his hand up, and the barrel of the gun bent upwards until it faced the ceiling. The girl holding the gun dropped it and began backing away in shock.

"Don't worry, there's no need to fear us." Alicia said, moving forward. The girl backed up until she was by the couch, and sat down.

"I...I knew something like this was going to happen. My dreams, have been telling me things lately. I saw a big group of people, very powerful, and, they came and took me, and, I was safe..." she said, her voice shaky.

"Well, we are here to take you, but that's because you've been chosen as a one of the Apocalyptic Elect." Lyn said.

"...What do you mean Apocalyptic Elect?" she asked, utterly bewildered.

"In short, we caused all this, and now we're the only ones that can stop it. And now all of us from the original Elect are going to die, and you guys are going to take our place to finish our work." Joe explained. The girl stood up, standing quite a bit shorter than Joe, who towered over everyone.

"Vance, Pat, Erk, Sain, Kristine, and now you, make up the new Apocalyptic Elect." Mike said.

"Do you have a name?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah, I'm Anna." she said, still staring in one spot, her pupils quite dilated. By this time, the sun was rising, which meant that back home, it was mid-morning by now. Joe stepped forward, towards Anna.

"Now, don't get freaked by this, but I'm going to have to put my hand near you make sure we were right." Joe said, taking off his glove. She simply nodded and stood still. He brought his hand forward, and she began to glow blue.

"She's the one." Joe said simply. He tried to pull his hand away, but something was forcing it towards her forehead. His hand made contact, and another vision started.

'He was standing in the great front courtyard of the White House, which was anything but white now. Big black towers protruded from the corners of the building, and it was colored black now, tainted with the scent of death. He started searching the building with his mind, scouring for some sign of life, any sign of life. In the Oval Office, he found it. A human-like life form, projecting power that even he couldn't believe. He picked up traces of his memory, but then the thing turned into some kinda of wispy form and blew away. The memories were enough, though, to identify their greatest enemy yet...'

Joe shot backwards from the girl and almost fell on his back. His eyes were bloodshot, his face was drenched with sweat, and he smelled of burning flesh now. He put his glove back on and ran out to the van.

"Come on, now, we don't have any time at all." he yelled desperately at them. They followed him out to the car.

"What is it?" Alicia asked.

"Nothing, but if we don't hurry, it will be." Joe said unlocking the car.

"Alright, but that doesn't answer my question of what you saw..." she replied.

"IT'S NOTHING, NOW GET IN UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE." Joe screamed at the top of his lungs. The heaviness returned to the scene, but Lyn didn't have time to announce its presence again.

"Vance, get this thing to Washington DC." Joe demanded. Vance closed his eyes again, and everything started glowing purple once more, but then faded back to normal.

"I can't, there's some kind of evil barrier blocking the entire city from unconventional ways of entering. Meaning we can't teleport." Vance said.

"Well then get this thing as close to there as you can." Joe said, more frustrated now. Vance began the process again, and this time they flashed away in a bright shine of light. They reappeared on a rural freeway, somewhere in Virginia. Joe roared the engine to life, and they sped down the freeway, cruising at just under 100 miles per hours, heading south, towards the capital.

"That's why we haven't gotten any new orders..." Joe said quietly to himself.

"How far out of the city are we?" Alicia asked from the passenger seat.

"At this pace, we should be there in about 10 minutes." Joe answered, still staring at the road. They drove for about 5 minutes, encountering only a few twists and turns on the road.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a demon appeared on the road, the size of a small boulder, sitting in the middle of the freeway in front of them.

"HOLD ON!" Joe screamed. He slammed brakes, but it was too late. They smashed into the demon, and the car lifted from the ground, did a flip in air, landed on its top, and rolled a few times off of the road, finally stopping on its wheels, which were now flat.

"Is everyone alright?" Joe asked frantically, his forehead bleeding a little. Everyone, a little shaken, agreed that they were fine, except Alicia. She was sitting with her forehead against the dashboard, glass littered in her hair.

"Oh no..." Joe whispered to himself. He kicked the inside of the driver's side door and it flew off of the car, landing feet away. He ran to the other side and wretched the passenger door off, and pulled Alicia out, laying her down on the grass. She was still breathing, but just barely; a big shard of glass had lodged itself in her neck.

"Guys, keep going...we're so close now, don't give...up..." she said, and then closed her eyes for the long rest. Joe shot up and kicked the car as hard as he could. It lifted from the ground, did a few flips and landed 10 feet away. Mike walked forward, took Alicia's longsword, and handed it to Anna.

"You'd better learn to use this..." he said somberly. She took it and nodded, attaching the sheath to her belt loop. Joe was kneeling down on his knees, his face buried in his hands. Lyn walked over and put an arm around his shoulder.

"...Why us? We didn't even ask for this! And now, we don't even have lives any more. We're just supposed to sit around and wait to die, and that thing, Gluttony, the thing we hit, it's already helped Alicia along the way..." he said tears streaming down his face, "We didn't ask to go to Hell, and we didn't ask to leave it either. That stupid being teleported us away and now we have to pay for it..." he finished.

He took out his sword and made a motion to bring it through his neck, but Lyn grabbed it and put it back in his sheath.

"We're going to make it. We're not all going to die before it can be finished. We've already got the group together, now we only need to stay alive long enough to put them on the right track..." she said. He looked her in eye, and nodded slowly.

He then got to his feet, and walked over to the flattened body of the demon Gluttony, the 5th sin. He brought his fingertips nears to its body, and suddenly a face flashed across his mind. He brought his hand away as Nate's eyes burned images into his mind.

"So, it seems that I've found you, my friend..." Joe said, speaking to himself as he walked away.

"Vance, get us to the White House, we're inside the barrier now." Joe demanded.

"Alright, everyone huddle together." Vance said. They made a circle, and Vance closed his eyes. They started glowing, and then were gone once again. They reappeared outside the front gate of the White House. It looked exactly as it had in Joe's vision; dead, evil, and menacing.

"This...this can't be right..." Lyn said, look around frantically.

"It is; this is what happens when evil gets what it wants..." Joe said. He kicked the gate and it swung open, allowing them up the path to the massive building. They started up the path, and Joe started on a long explanation.

"Okay, for you new members, this is the deal. When I first started getting my visions, I saw this big stone place that was frozen over, and had some weird hexagon-like keyholes in a wall. That's what we were looking for before we found out that we were all gonna die, and that is what you guys are going to have to find once we die. You're going to have to find the 3 keys and open whatever its hiding. We're thinking that this shrine place is the only thing that will be able to put Satan back in Hell where he belongs." Joe explained as they walked up the path. They seemed to understand what he was saying, so he continued.

"Now, I'm sure Hakalahs has the first key, so once we take care of the last 2 sins, we're going to have to take him out. Then, at that point, it'll be up to you guys to locate the last 2 keys. Erk and Sain have a lot of experience in adventuring and fighting, so they'll be invaluable tools to you guys once we're gone." Joe finished. They all nodded, and then walked in silence.

They approached the front of the building, and Joe opened the massive, black front door, and they entered. Everything inside was composed of either black stone or marble. There were doors on both sides of them as they entered, and a big black staircase in front of them. Joe closed his eyes, trying to navigate with his mind where they would have to go next. His eyes shot open, and he pointed to the stairs.

"Third floor, first room at the top of the second staircase." he said. They started up the stairs, and all readied their weapons. Kristine and Anna were fumbling with the swords, wondering how everyone could hold them up so high with them being so heavy. Joe walked over, and placed a gloved hand on each of their foreheads.

All 3 of them started glowing purple, and Kristine and Anna's eyes started glowing white, as energy and knowledge flowed into them. Joe brought his hand away, and looked at them expectantly. They both held up their swords with ease, now knowing the techniques they needed to stay alive. They then continued up the stairs, and emerged in a long black and marble hallway with many doors and halls connecting to it.

Joe closed his eyes again, and then quickly pointed right. They followed his direction, and started down the hallway. They got to the end, and made a left at the corner. The next staircase was visible from the end of the hall. They started forward again, moving cautiously. They got halfway through the hall, when all of a sudden, the lights dimmed slightly. A big black shadowy substance flew up through the floor, and hovered in midair in front of them. Red eyes stared out from the cloud-like blackness, menacingly staring them down.

"...I told you I'd find you..." Joe said, speaking to it indirectly. The eyes narrowed, and it suddenly flew up through the ceiling, into the floor above.

"Come on guys, that's our target!" Joe yelled. They threw caution to the wind, and made a mad dash towards the stairs. They bound up the stairs, taking them 2 or 3 at a time, and made it to the top. Right in front of the stairs was a door, the only wooden door in the building. It was dark brown hardwood with a brass knob. Joe threw a hand forward, knowing that the door would be trapped, and it flung open, allowing them to walk it.

They were in, not the Oval Office, but a huge black chamber, composed of the same stone and marble as the rest of the building, but lit much brighter than everywhere else. As they entered, the shadow was floating in front of them, in the center of the room, simply staring at them.

"Take your true form. Show everyone what I already know." Joe yelled as they entered. The shadow simply stared at them with its narrow, red glowing eyes.

"Do it now, or be struck down." Joe yelled, even louder this time. The thing hesitated for a moment, and then started lowering itself to the ground, molding itself slowly into a physical form. It formed legs, arms, a head, and a torso. It started taking color as it touched the ground. It finished changing, and Lyn, Mike, Erk, and Said gasped.

His grey eyes hadn't changed a bit in the year since it happened. His brown hair was still exactly hung to his shoulders; no longer or shorter. He wore his ripped black t-shirt, black button-up overshirt, ripped blue jeans, and black sneakers, just as he had before. The bloody scar on his chest still visible, standing a head shorter than Joe; a year's worth of height.

"Well well, well, took you long enough to get here. I was expecting you a week ago. Miss the bus did we?" he said sarcastically, taunting them.

"Now now, Nate, don't be so modest. You know we're early." Joe said, attempting at sarcasm. Vance took a step forward.

"This...is Nate?" he asked, shocked.

"Was..." Joe said simply.

"Oh no, Joseph, it's me. You see, Satan thought it such a waste to destroy a perfectly good soul like mine. So he immediately promoted me in his ranks," Nate explained, pacing back and forth, "But you, I never would have thought he'd save his most important position for you..." Nate finished, staring him in the eye.

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked angrily.

"Oh, still haven't figured it out yet, young master? I see you're missing a few of your numbers. Such a shame you had to kill them off so early on..." Nate taunted, narrowing his gaze.

"I did NOT kill them; your stupid minions took care of them for you." Joe screamed.

"No Joe, you killed them involuntarily. You know how the saying goes, 'you can't control your Fate', well guess what, you can change Fate." Nate said.

"You've still lost me" Joe admitted.

"YOUR ANGER, JOE, YOUR ANGER! Notice how every one of your friends died after you had a big argument with them? Your heightened anger is the only thing in the universe with enough harnessed energy to change fate, and that is what you did. Your subconscious mind wanted them dead, just as it always does when you're angry. So your anger involuntarily changed their fates so that they were killed. It was YOUR FAULT that they died, Joe, not ours." Nate said dramatically. Joe's eyes widened as he came to realized what Nate was saying.

"He's...he's right..." he whispered to himself. Nate started applauding, slowly and loudly.

"Congratulations, Joe, you've officially become Wrath, the last of the 7 sins." he said smugly.

"...No...That's only 6; Greed, Envy, Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, and Wrath. What about Pride?" Joe asked. Nate held his arms out from his sides.

"You're looking at him..." he said with a wild smirk on his face. Joe looked like he could be sick.

"That's what he meant by 'promoted', he's the 6th sin. And, I'm the young master, because I'm the 7th..." Joe said to himself.

"Well, now that the soppy sad stories are over, time to get down to business. I've been ordered by the highest power to kill all of you, including all of the new Apocalyptic Elect. So if you'll all hold still, I'll make this swift and painless..." Nate said, unsheathing his sword. It was the same red, jagged sword that he had before. Joe unsheathed his own, looking Nate in the face as if he could explode with frustration.

"You'll have to take all of us, if you want to kill even one." Joe said defiantly. Nate began slowly advancing.

"Have it your way..." he said. He ran towards Joe, and smashed his blade into his. Joe's arm buckled under the impact, and he slid backwards a few inches.

"Impressive..." Joe said. Joe then made his advance, making lighter, but quicker and swifter swipes. He then made a quick side-swipe and caught Nate's neck. The sword made contact, but swiped right through his body, like a stick through fog.

"Hm, very nicely done. I have to admit, I never thought our first fight would be like this." Nate said modestly.

"Enough talk..." Joe said simply. He held out an arm, and lifted Nate into the air with a flash of purple. Nate then dissipated into his cloud-state, and flew around in the air.

"Nice trick, isn't it?" Nate said, his voice cold and deep now. The cloud then flew over to Lyn and seeped into her body. Lyn raised her hand to her face, as if seeing it for the first time.

"Hm...Not quite as powerful as I'd like, but it'll have to do." Nate voice poured from Lyn's lips.

"Leave her alone! She has nothing to do with this!" Joe yelled.

"Oh, but Joe, if you want to kill me, I have to have a physical form!" Nate dribbled sarcastically. Joe jumped forward, and collided his sword against Lyn's.

"You sadistic bastard..." Joe said angrily. Lyn's eyes changed from green to grey.

"No need to compliment me, Wrath." he taunted.

"The name is JOE!" he yelled, swiping quickly. He knocked the sword to the floor, then jabbed forward and impaled Nate through the chest. The black cloud seeped out of Lyn's feet, and re-formed into Nate again, this time he was laying on the floor with another bloody hole in his chest. Lyn fell to the ground as the last of the shadow left her.

"No!" Joe yelled, running to her. She was trickling a little blood from her mouth.

"Don't worry, Joe...You had to do it...we'll see each other again soon...anyway..." she gasped, and then died in his arms. He laid her down gently on the floor. There were no tears this time, no choking sorrow, nothing. Joe simply picked up his sword, and walked over to Nate's body. He was laying on the ground, gripping his chest, sputtering up blood.

"Good game, Joe. But it's not over. I may have failed, but you will die. You may be able to change Fate, but you can control it, my friend..." Nate sputtered.

"You're no friend of mine, you bastard." Joe replied. He then shoved his sword straight into Nate's forehead. Nate was dead instantly, not even able to close his eyes. Joe walked over to the group.

"That's the last of them, we're safe." he said simply.

"Not so fast, my little puppet." a familiar voice announced out of the air. A blue light began to emit over Nate's lifeless body, and it began to expand, until it formed a big blue portal. Then, suddenly, a black-booted foot emerged from the portal, followed by a leg garbed in black jeans.

Joe watched as the figure of Hakalahs emerged from the portal, garbed in a black t-shirt, black leather trench coat, white skin, and black hair sticking straight up. His eyes no longer burned like flame, but glowed green, like a sinister poison.

"You still have me to contend with." he said. Joe stared at him, hatred almost visibly glowing around him; this was the one responsible, for Jesse's death, for Alicia's death, for Hector's death, for Lyn's death, and why he was still living.

"You did this purposely, didn't you? You wanted me alive last. You WANTED me to see them all die..." Joe said, hatred quavering in his voice.

"Very good, young one, yes I did. I want to make a proposal. You can leave all this; all this death, the hatred, the sorrow. All you have to do is join us, Wrath, and you can have infinite power." Hakalahs said, smirking slightly as he said it. Something around Hakalahs' neck caught Joe's attention.

It was a thin brown rope necklace, holding a golden hexagonal piece at the end, about as big as his eye. It clicked in his mind immediately what it was.

"...All you have to do, is kill your friend here, Mike is it? I will then consider your loyalties with us." he finished. Joe looked to Mike, who was standing there with his sword in hand. Joe started talking with him telepathically.

"You know I wouldn't kill you, right?" he said silently to Mike, through his mind.

"I know, but if we don't do something, we're going to die anyway." Mike responded back, thinking it so Joe could hear it.

"Well, you know what we have to do right?" Joe asked.

"Of course I do. I'll follow your lead." Mike responded.

"Alright, see you again in a few minutes..." Joe finished. He then turned his attention to Hakalahs, who was standing there looking quite puzzled at the awkward silence.

"You know what, Hakalahs; I wouldn't join you, even if my life depended on it. And yes, pun intended..." Joe announced sarcastically.

"Fine then, I guess you die then. Remember this, as the fall, of the 7th sin." Hakalahs announced dramatically. Joe turned to face Vance.

"Vance, I want you to take my sword once I'm gone. Use it; it's helped me all this way. It was good to see you again, brother." Joe said, a single tear starting to stream down his face. Vance simply nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. Joe nodded once in response, and then turned his attention back to Hakalahs.

"Let's go..." Joe said, walking forward, accompanied by Mike. Hakalahs brought out his blade, which was jet black. Joe jumped forward, and connected his blade with Hakalahs'. He then held up a hand, and blew Hakalahs back with a flash of purple. He flew back and smashed into the wall, sending rubble flying everywhere. Joe then took his sword in both hands, and raised it above his head.

"The power of the Bloodline is now relinquished..." he said at the top of his lungs. The sword and he began glowing yellow. Mike stepped forward, and touched his blade to Joe's.

"I sacrifice this soul, to relinquish the power of the Bloodline..." Mike said, his voice quavering a bit. Mike began glowing red, and then fell to the ground; dead. Joe and his sword then started glowing green. He glowed brighter, and then turned white, and then stopped. He let the blade fall to the ground, and stared at Hakalahs, who was back on his feet.

"I'm powerless now, go ahead. I don't care anymore..." Joe said, holding his arms out at his sides. Hakalahs advanced forward, and shoved his sword right through Joe's chest.

Fiery pain pulsed through his entire body; his veins, his mind, his eyes, his heart, his soul, all were on fire. The sword was then pulled from his chest, and he fell to the ground, blood leaking from his chest.

It was over; finally, after 2 years of suffering, it was all over.

He then slowly slipped into darkness.

'He was soaring through the skies, everything shining white and blue. He passed by many faces, most complete strangers to him. He then, ahead of him, saw faces that he knew very well. Lyn's smiling face was visible as he made his way forward. He stopped before all of them, all 8 of them, standing there before him. He shook hands with Eli and Marcus, smiling at seeing them again. He gave Lyn a kiss, and waved to the others. Then, Nate approached him, no longer evil, or weathered, or torn. They exchanged handshakes, and, for the first time in ages, they were at peace...'

Vance watched in horror as his brother's body fell to the ground, and remained motionless. Hakalahs then made for the sword, but Vance quickly raised an arm, pulling the sword quickly towards him with his mind. He dropped his own sword as Joe's rested in his hand. He felt the power of 10 million gods flow through his arm and into his body.

"So, who's next?" Hakalahs asked, grinning wildly at his accomplishment. Vance's eyes glowed brightly white.

"...You" Vance said. He sheathed the sword, and then gripped his clawed arm in pain. The black skin was darkening, extending further and further up his arm. The claws grew longer, black claws that reflected the light in the room. He grew a foot taller, much wider and stronger, as the black scales extended all over his body. Black dragon-like wings sprouted from his back as the transformation completed.

"...Bloodline..." Erk said in awe, as Vance hovered into the air. He let out a bellowing roar, and his body surged with power, glowing brightly white. Hakalahs looked in awe, as his doom hovered closer and closer to him.

Vance flew towards him, and made a slash at him. His claws tore a big chunk of flesh off of Hakalahs' shoulder. He cried out in agony as black blood leaked from his shoulder and onto the marble floor below him. Vance circled around and rushed forward, ready for another strike.

Hakalahs threw a red energy charge at Vance's wing with his good arm, and Vance fell to the ground. He up-righted himself, and landed on the marble floor with a great crash, making a few cracks in the floor. He then charged at Hakalahs, claws bore.

He made a swipe and ripped the flesh off of Hakalahs' stomach, then swiped again and took the skin off of his face. Black blood was now flowing onto the floor, as Hakalahs screamed out in agony, shaking the building with rage. Vance then took out his sword, and shoved it straight into Hakalahs' forehead, killing him instantly. His lifeless body fell to the ground, surrounded by a puddle of his own black blood.

Vance began glowing white again, and started changing back into himself again. As the black scales receded back down his arm, they stopped where they had been before, returning his arm back to as normal as it was going to get. They all surrounded Hakalahs' body, and Vance noticed something on his neck.

It was the hexagonal key that Joe had been talking about before. Vance bent down, and ripped it off of Hakalahs' neck. It was slightly stained black, but still shone brightly yellow in the light.

"This is one of the keys." he said, looking at it intently. He then pocketed it, and looked around at everyone else. Sain, Erk, Pat, Anna, and Kristine; his new family. He motioned them to follow, and they made their way out of the building.

"So, what do we do now?" Pat asked.

"We look for the second key, and I think I know where it would be..." Vance said.

"Your father." Sain said simply.

"Exactly. We have to find him and kill him now." Vance continued.

"Again." Erk added. Vance chuckled slightly.

As they walked down the path back to the main gate, Vance began thinking to himself.

'So, this is the full power of Bloodline. I have to learn to harness it, or I'm going to end up hurting someone...' he thought. As they walked through the main gate, Vance could feel someone poking around in the back of his mind, and knew that he was there. He smiled slightly, as they walked down the road, and the sky started changing from a deep red, back to a sickly green, and stayed that way.

It reminded him of Hakalahs' eyes, which were now dim forever. His brother was quite powerful, and he now had to live up to his legacy.

"One down..." he said, smirking to the sky.

To Be Continued...