Author's Notes: Still feels kind of surreal that I'm done with this story. It's been a project for so long it's almost become a part of the background of my life.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy franchise
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Chapter 8: In the Annals of Time
The first thing that occurred to Drake as the portal dropped him off was that there was a resonance that he could feel through his boots. The air itself was charged with enough mana that he was starting to get a headache from it. When he opened his eyes, the dark film that Zeke was helping him with flickered a little and darkened, protecting his eyes more. He was the only one not squinting until the glow faded a little.
The crystals around them now looked like they had been worked by someone. They stood on a platform that had been shaped and had lines carved in its surface. It caught and directed light in a specific way instead of randomly like the rest of the areas they had walked through so far. Light bounced off of the edges of the platform instead of straight up underneath them, thankfully.
That took a backseat to what was in front of them, though. Kuja hovered in front of a crystal that was at the center of the mana resonance. Lines of light arced from it on occasion. The pedestal under the floating crystal seemed to be both in the process of being created and dissolving because of the sheer pressure of mana pouring over it.
"Nice of you to come." Kuja rotated in place, his hair rippling as it reacted to the pressure coming from the crystal. He had a neutral look on his face, though Drake didn't trust that. His pupils were blown wide enough that Drake wasn't sure he had any irises left, or whether or not he could see out of his eyes anymore. "I'm surprised you were able to beat the four Chaoses that I created from the crystal's memory." A slow grin crossed Kuja's face, making him look even more unhinged. "But you're too late. Take a good look." He gestured widely, one hand thrown back to indicate the crystal behind him.
"Isn't it beautiful? It's the original crystal. This is where it all began... The birthplace of all things." Kuja's grin and eyes grew wider. "Once I destroy it, everything will be gone. Gaia, Terra, Earth, the universe, everything..." Drake tensed at that. After the glimpse of Earth that he'd just gotten, the threat on everything he had known there struck him especially hard. "Your lives and memories, too, of course!" An uncontrollable, hysterical laugh ripped its way out of Kuja's throat.
Odette reached for Drake's hand. He gave her hand a squeeze, but didn't take his eyes off of Kuja. Ahead of them, Zidane growled and dropped into a ready stance, putting his new weapon, the Tower, together in front of him. The others readied their weapons as well.
"Shut up!" Kuja tilted his head to the side slowly, his laughter fading slightly, though he was still grinning widely enough that his rear teeth could be seen. "The only thing that's gonna be gone is you! I'll take you out right now!" Odette released Drake's hand to rest a hand on the hilt of her sword. Drake winced as he felt a pulse through the mana as it reacted to Zidane's anger. Kuja, on the other hand, scoffed, though he looked genuinely amused.
"You honestly think you can defeat me? Even if you do, Gaia's already doomed. Its assimilation by Terra has begun, and the Iifa Tree will incite a cataclysmic destruction of Gaia. Through its connection to Gaia, Earth, too, shall be dragged into destruction, one way or another. It's all over for you and your friends." Drake's mouth turned into a narrow line at that. He had a feeling he knew what sort of effect Gaia's destruction would have on Earth, and it wouldn't be obvious. "See, I win, either way." Zidane spun his swallow blade around to point one end at his brother.
"It doesn't matter! Even if Gaia is assimilated, the planet will remain, and we'll start over to make a new home!" Drake wasn't as sure as Zidane sounded. Even if the planet remained, it might have been wiped back to only plant-life, and they wouldn't be able to life off of just plants. On top of that, they would all be grieving those that hadn't survive. "Kuja, you're nothing but a coward! If you're gonna die, leave us out of it!" Drake lifted his eyes to stare at Kuja, steeling himself to not betray the unease he felt.
"Why should the world exist without me? That wouldn't be fair." Kuja's tone suggested that he truly believed it. It came from him as simply as if he was saying that fire burned or ice was cold. He gestured widely, emoting his disdain for the thought to an unseen audience. "If I die, we all die! Zidane, you will be my first sacrifice." A flick of his tail, and a spell was launched to tip the pedestal under the crystal from its precarious balance between creation and destruction into just destruction.
A roar made all of them look up, and they scattered as a creature that looked like a cross between a bat and a scorpion descended on them. Drake was a little astonished to find that the gravity at the center of the Crystal World was lighter than he had thought, because it didn't take much effort to jump from the crystal they had all been standing on to another, farther from the beast that Kuja had called. Either that, or Jay was giving him some help without being summoned.
He managed to get the farthest from the fight the fastest, though his crystal shifted uncomfortably under him after he landed. He held on to the point of the crystal with one hand as he adjusted to the slowly shifting gravity until his feet stayed attached to the crystal when he let go with his free hand. Only then did he look around to see where the rest of the group was.
Sabin, Edgar, Zidane, Amarant, and Steiner hadn't left the platform before the Crystal, but they had much more room to maneuver now that the rest of the group had evacuated the area. Eiko and Vivi were near each other, Odette and Dagger were on crystals next to each other, and Freya was a few dozen yards in front of Drake, closer to the fight than the rest while not being on the same crystal.
Drake rocked his crystal a little to get it to level out into roughly the same orientation as the main platform, turning to face side-on to the fight. He took a deep breath as Freya jumped into the air to maneuver into position to drop on top of Deathguise, and sighted down the energy-arrow that sprouted between his fingers.
"Easy, deep breaths, out longer than in." Cid the First whispered into his ear, and Drake automatically followed his instructions. His heartrate started to go down, closer to where it normally was, and the slight tremor in his hands faded. "There you go. Now just sight and release. Don't worry about where you strike, just move." Drake tamped down the spike of irritation at the reminder of the basics, but did so anyway.
Drake's arrow lanced through one of Deathguise's wings, not doing much damage, but getting its attention off of the close combat fighters momentarily, just long enough for Edgar to jump up onto its long tail to climb up and ride it like some deranged cowboy. Drake took another deep breath, and watched as Freya landed on Deathguise's back spearpoint first, and grabbed Edgar to jump off before he got whipped by the tail of their enemy. He didn't take kindly to being bundled under someone's arm like a sack of potatoes, but Drake was too far to hear what he was saying.
"Concentrate. Only note your allies to keep from lodging an arrow in their asses. Watch your target, note its movements. Find a pattern." Drake took another deep breath, but instead of letting it out immediately, he held it for a moment before slowly releasing it, sighting down his next arrow as he drew the bowstring back.
His next arrow struck a limb, though it was a glancing blow. He saw spells start to appear around the enemy, and felt a Might spell wash over him, warming his muscles until the slight ache from holding his bowstring was all but gone. He glanced over at Odette to see her flash a brief smile at him. When he glanced back at Deathguise, he saw that he was going to have to move pretty quickly.
Apparently, a single person with a bow struck the enemy as a higher priority target than the cluster of fighters below it. Drake had to evade it by jumping from crystal to crystal, though he did make an effort to go towards the others, not away. There were explosions that told him Odette and Vivi were trying to get the Deathguise from chasing after him.
A spell that couldn't have come from Vivi or Odette destroyed the crystal Drake was about to land on, making him yelp an expletive as he flailed ineffectively. Only a few moments after Drake flew ast where he would have landed, Freya caught him as she jumped past, just barely avoiding Deathguise's maw closing on the two of them.
Deathguise screeched in fury, and as Drake got his feet under him again, flaming stones started to whizz around, destroying more crystals. Drake and Freya split up to get out of the range of devastation and make less of a target of themselves. Drake managed to make it to the main platform and halted there, struggling to catch his breath.
Amarant and Sabin moved in front of Drake to protect him as a barrage of protect and reflect spells wrapped around the lot of them. The mana pressure kept Drake from getting a proper lungful of air, so he took a knee to make himself smaller as he concentrated on his breathing. Deathguise wheeled back to target the clump again, though the ranged group had to shuffle around to avoid attacks of opportunity.
Drake got enough of a breath to stand up and draw his bow again, aiming right for Deathguise as it soared towards them. In front of him, Amarant and Sabin charged up a couple of attacks of theirs as Steiner stepped up to their level with a spell gleaming on his blade. Between the four of them, Deathguise was finished rather quickly. It dissolved into pyreflies, scattering away from the battlefield.
One of them passed through Drake's shoulder, and for a moment he could have sworn he stood in a park he'd visited often on Earth. When he blinked, he was back in the Crystal World. He shook his head a little and looked around.
Kuja looked confused. His arms were crossed in front of him as he floated near the Origin Crystal, watching them. He sneered as he saw that someone was looking at him, and there was a mana spike before he floated down to confront them himself.
"Do you really think you can beat me? I can't believe you beat Deathguise. Well...my time is almost up." Just saying the words made Kuja's face twist in disgust. Even when he grinned again, there was a hint of pain in his face. "Time to die, everyone!"
Drake frowned as the first thing Kuja did was cast Reflect on himself. None of the mages in their group seemed concerned about that, as Reflect spells were cast on the group that stood on the main platform and more spells were bounced off of them. Drake, on the other hand, was feeling a bit lightheaded.
"You're feeling mana overload. It's not that common a thing, but you should probably do something to get that extra mana out or you're gonna pass out." Cecil's voice in the back of Drake's mind got through the brainfog, and he shook his head a little. "With the amount of mana around, you may be able to summon one of us without using Trance." Drake closed his eyes a little so that he could concentrate. It didn't help him much. He had no idea who he had summoned until he felt the weight lift off of him, proving that he had summoned someone.
Penelo stood to his left, casting healing spells through the reflect spells on his allies. Drake blinked a bit at that, but he was already feeling better as Penelo pulled mana from him for her spells. Edgar gave him a worried look, but Drake just smiled at him before pulling his bowstring back. Penelo grinned as she cast a group-wide Might spell before fading in a glimmer of light and a giggle.
"You alright?" Drake nodded to Edgar's question, and released the arrow on his bowstring, and watched as it arced towards Kuja. The energy bolt bounced off of a protect spell that Kuja pulled up, but it drew his attention off of the mixed spell that Odette had just bounced off of Zidane's Reflect spell.
"Yeah, Cecil told me the reason I was feeling off was actually because I had too much mana in me." He snorted and grinned lopsidedly, his eyes still on the fight. "Go figure, I have such a small reservoir that being in a mana-rich environment can overload me." Edgar snorted at that and looked back at the fight. "I may have to summon someone else as well, if the fight goes on long enough."
"Well, so long as I know you aren't about to keel over because of it, it should be fine." Drake shrugged and pulled his bowstring back, his grin fading only a little. "Though to be fair, maybe I should summon as well. My head feels like it's getting sat on."
"Yeah, that sounds like the early stages of the thing I was feeling." Edgar rubbed his knuckles over his nose as Drake loosed another arrow. This time, Kuja didn't notice the arrow coming in and it lodged into his thigh before fizzling out.
"You." Kuja's voice sounded like thunder. Drake grinned at him, a challenge to do his worst. A series of spells zipped towards him, only to be deflected by multiple spells that were erected by a red-clad woman that stood behind Edgar. Drake turned his head to nod to her, and got a nod in return.
"You know, Kuja...you found the wrong Whole Soul for the information you wanted." Drake heard a couple of people take in sharp breaths, but he continued. "This entire time, I've known what you planned. When you summoned a soul from Earth, mine was the one you were looking for." Kuja shrieked with fury, and cast spell after spell at him. They bounced off of the spells that Lulu, and now Odette, were holding up around him.
The adrenaline coursing through him gave him through the barrage kept him from shaking in his boots, though he couldn't say whether or not it was a good thing. It did give the rest of the group the chance to attack Kuja while his attention was on Drake. When Lulu left, Dagger and Eiko took over keeping the protective spells up on Drake.
Finally, the barrage of spells ended, and Drake was able to see Kuja, panting and bleeding, and still glaring daggers at him. Drake tilted his head to the side at him, keeping himself from grinning. He didn't want to antagonize Kuja into making his final spell stronger than it already was going to be, even if he was still riding the adrenaline high.
"Ngh...I'm gonna die anyway..." Drake frowned as he felt Kuja gather up all the spare mana in the air around them, and then add more to it, enough that he could feel the pressure of it in his ears. "I won't have to be afraid anymore, but I'm not gonna die alone." Kuja grinned maniacally, and the world started to burn. "You're all coming with me!" The spell snapped into place, but it wasn't centered on them.
"No!" The Ultima spell that Kuja had woven so quickly bore down on the Origin Crystal. Drake lunged forwards as if he could physically stop the spell from striking. He wasn't the only one, either, but the outer edges of the spell swept over them, turning everything to flames.
Drake groaned as he came to, and opened his eyes to see scorched black stone beneath his face. He grimaced and closed his eyes again, feeling what promised to be a truly horrifying migraine pound behind his eyeballs. All around him he could hear groans, and distant screams. Had he not been in so much pain, he might have thought that he was in whatever passed for hell on Gaia. Besides, as a Chosen, he wasn't destined to end up in such a place.
Zidane groaned somewhere to Drake's right, and the archer pried one eye open to turn his head in that direction. Somehow, his blood brother had mustered the strength to get up, though he was resting his weight on only one leg.
"What happened to the crystal...?" Drake moved his mouth to speak, but all he managed to do was cough. His throat burned with the telltale tingle that suggested he'd been burned not only across most of his body, but inside of it, too. "Where is this?" Drake swallowed a couple of times, and tasted copper.
"You stand before the final dimension, and I am the darkness of eternity..." The booming voice that invaded Drake's throbbing skull wasn't that of an Einherjar nor that of a Constellato. There was an echo of the distant screams in the voice that only added to Drake's migraine.
"Wh-who are you!?" Zidane seemed to have managed to get some of his energy back. A shaky breath managed to get Drake's skull back from feeling like it was about to split open, and he reached up to his eyes to cover them from the somewhat dim light.
"I think...that's Death," Odette croaked from somewhere. Drake grimaced and reached out with his mind for his awareness of the Einherjar, even though it made his headache significantly worse. "Kuja attacked the crystal. That would...effectively summon the entity known as Death."
"The Constellato are holding the Crystal intact through sheer force of will," Rydia whispered to Drake, thoughtfully keeping her voice low to keep from making his headache worse. "The destruction hasn't gotten very far. You're all on the verge of dying, though. Be careful." Drake couldn't help but groan at that last comment. Zidane limped past Drake, and the archer took a deep breath in.
"You must fight Death. We will help." That was a Einherjar that Drake didn't recognize, which meant it was probably one of the many archers. "Where you are, at the crossroads between life and death, we can be as well. After all, we have lingered there since our own deaths, so as to not be reborn, and remain the warriors Gaia needs for this exact moment." Drake blinked at that. "I am the first Chosen of Sagittarius. I have spent an eternity learning from those that came after me. You need only worry about those in your own group."
"What the heck are you talking about?" While Drake had been listening to the Einherjar, Zidane must have been listening to Death. "Why are you telling me all this?" Drake felt a weight on his head, almost like something was pushing on just his brain, not his skull. "Wh-what do you mean by that!?" Drake blinked, and realized that he was no longer hearing Death. Was it because he was a Chosen Or because there had been someone else speaking to him?
He pushed himself up into a sitting position on his knees, one hand pressing to his skull as the change in altitude increase the pain of his headache. The regen spell was working slowly, but it was easing all his aches in increments, which meant it wasn't doing much for his head yet. Odette was slowly starting to get up as well, and offered him a small smile. She had blood leaking from her nose, and a cut somewhere under her hairline that was still bleeding sluggishly.
"I exist for one purpose...to return everything back to the zero world, where there is no life, and no crystal to give life." Drake blinked as Death's voice came back, and he slowly tilted his head back to look up. Above them was what looked like a floorless coliseum. He squinted, and though it made his head throb, was able to focus his eyes to see farther, and noted that in the halls of the coliseum were statues of what looked like warriors of thirteen different classes. "In a world of nothing, fear does not exist. This is the world that all life desires." Drake shook his head and groped around with his free hand until he found his bow, and used it to help him get to his feet.
"That's...not true." His voice sounded like he'd been gargling sharp rocks. He felt that the Einherjar were not with him, and no longer blocking him from hearing Death's voice. "You can't claim that you know what all life wants from the desires of one." He leaned more weight than he'd like on his bow, and felt it humming in his hand.
"You're not ending anything! Never, not as long as we have the will to live!" Zidane had more energy than Drake or Odette did. Odette limped to Drake's side and rested her hand on his arm. He offered her a small smile, and winced as it cracked open a cut in his lip he hadn't been aware of.
"Foolish creatures. You have already deluded yourselves. One day, you will choose destruction over existence, as Kuja did." Drake shook his head, wincing as his muscles protested that movement. "When he sought to destroy the crystal, the purpose of life ended. Now, come, enter the zero world that you desire." Drake forced himself to straighten, and felt a couple of clicks in his spine before the ache faded.
"Life as a whole does not have a single purpose. It is the duty of every living thing to learn what their own purpose is." A heal spell washed over him, and he felt his muscles loosen. He nodded his thanks to Odette, who smiled weakly at him before looking around. Drake could feel her waver a little, so he moved his arm to wrap around her waist. "People tend to be either creators or destroyers. The one you have decided to judge all life off of was a destroyer." Drake paused to catch his breath, and smiled a little at Zidane, who had finally turned to look back at him. "Though at times, even creators must destroy to protect that which they have made." Zidane nodded and tilted his head back to look up at the sky.
"We'll destroy you, and prove you wrong! Through our memories, future generations will see that we can overcome any fear!" Drake heard the others starting to stir, and looked to his left, where Sabin was struggling to push himself up onto his elbows.
"...We can't...give up now." That was Dagger, trying to push herself up. Zidane wobbled and landed on his hands and knees. Drake and Odette separated, Drake to crouch next to Zidane and make sure he was alright, and Odette moving to Dagger's side.
"We have to fight together," Zidane muttered, just loud enough for Drake to hear. "Even if we lose, it doesn't matter... Our memories will live on inside of others." Drake frowned little at that, but didn't argue with his blood brother. "So, even if we are born to die, I'm not afraid." Drake offered Zidane a hand up.
"We're gonna live," Drake told him, and got a smile in return. "Life's worth is found in the space between birth and death, and the impact we have on others." Drake tilted his head to the side a little as he felt a buzzing in his head that felt like a Constellato. It blocked out any response Death had to his words.
"Those that cannot fight, we will bring to safety. We have the power to do that while keeping the crystal from collapsing, at least. But we cannot fight off Death at the same time." Zidane jumped, and Drake blinked. The Constellato were speaking to more than just him, for once.
"I honestly have no idea if I can or not," Zidane muttered, leaning on Drake. "I feel like I'm constantly about to pass out." Drake frowned a little at that, and glanced over at Odette. The two of them seemed to be the most energetic of the rest.
"I think...that might be because you aren't a Whole Soul," he finally said hesitantly. "Odette and I are largely fine. But we can't fight Death on our own." Odette nodded to that, and Drake turned his head to the coliseum above them.
"We can allow members of your party to lend their soul to another for a time." That sounded like Leviathan. The other that had spoken sounded like one of the moogles that Eiko had been raised by. If he remembered right, there had been a Constellato amongst them. "Once the battle is over, you all shall go back to how you were. It is best to match by skills, or friendships." Odette was going around, helping everyone to at least sit up.
"Amarant." Drake blinked at Sabin, who was resting his forearms on his knees, hands shaking. "You'd best protect my brother." Drake frowned at that while Amarant stared at Sabin before slowly nodding. Sabin nodded back, and light swirled around him before separating into two orbs. One zipped over to Amarant, sinking into his chest, and the other shot up into the sky before disappearing in the distance.
Almost immediately, Amarant's shakes stopped, and he was able to pull himself to his feet without help. He flexed his hands before nodding and moving to the edge of the group. Edgar laughed a little at that, and held a hand up. Drake helped him to his feet, catching him when he stumbled.
"You know, There's times where I'm glad the Contellato decided you couldn't be a Chosen, Zidane." Both Zidane and Drake frowned at that, but Edgar had more of a self-deprecating smile on his face than a taunting one. "You've got more natural skill as a thief than I do. We don't always get along, but I think it's time I set my jealousy aside." Zidane got an understanding look on his face and nodded as Edgar gently pushed off of Drake.
With the Constellato's help, Edgar's soul entered Zidane, and Zidane straightened. Drake frowned as he watched the other orb follow Sabin's into the dark sky above. Near Odette, Eiko split into two orbs, one of which entered Dagger's chest to stabilize her. Steiner and Vivi were talking, and Quina and Freya were as well, likely debating which would stay to fight. Finally, Vivi and Freya got up, the orbs that carried Steiner and Quina fading into the sky.
The chunk of rock that they were standing on shuddered and slowly rose into the sky, ascending towards the coliseum that had been visible from below. As they rose, power flooded into them, pulling them into Trance without them even having to concentrate on it.
The Chosen armor felt natural to Drake now, a crosswind tugging at his hipcape and hair. He lifted a hand to curl it around the wolf's teeth necklace that sat over his chest armor now. He smiled a little as he remembered the good luck ritual that had accompanied the gift from his mother. He hadn't ever seen her genuinely possessed by the Huntress before that point, but he had a feeling that Lady Maria had had her eye on him from the time of his childhood.
Vivi looked uncertain, but he had a dark blue tint to his clothing that hadn't been there before. Yellow shimmered over Zidane's form, though Drake thought idly that he could have afforded to have at least a loincloth, never mind that his body fur covered everything without anything showing. Orange shimmered over Freya as she adjusted her grip on her spear, looking upwards with a frown on her face. The white and teal garb that Dagger wore looked comfortable, at least, though the horned headband she wore looked like it was about to slip.
Colors of every shade of the rainbow bloomed around the coliseum as their rock arrived within its bounds. Drake smiled as he saw that the statues he' seen earlier came to life, each gaining the characteristics of an individual Einherjar. Archers strung their bows or checked their quivers, mages glanced around to see which physical fighter was nearby, dancers started to cast their buffs on those within range of them, and chemists began assessing what they had to combine on them.
Their foe slowly lowered from an indiscernible point in the sky, blue and white flesh. Drake thought for a moment if the scent of decay followed Death, but decided that it was better not to think on it. The color scheme was the only thing that matched the appearance of Necron in the game. Wings shedding their feathers spread, blocking the view of a fair amount of the coliseum as the gaunt figure of Death tilted its skull at them. Flesh was peeling away from the skull, revealing its eternally grinning visage.
"So, this is Death?" Odette sounded remarkably calm as she joined Amarant towards the front of their group, settling her crystal swords in her grip. "Strange, I was expecting something that looked like the grim reaper." Drake couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. Immediately, he felt the muscles of his back loosen as he turned side-on to the fight. Death wore a robe of tattered grey rags, which was significantly less threatening than a pitch black robe with a hood. The thin section between the bottom of the rib cage and the pelvic bone looked ridiculous, for sure.
"Pastel phase, maybe?" Odette snorted at Drake's suggestion, and the rest of their group gave the two of them odd looks. Drake just grinned. "We're not alone in this fight, though I doubt it'll be easy anyhow." Drake directed everyone's attention to the walls of the coliseum. Zidane blinked at the Einherjar that waved at him, grinning, but shook his head a little and returned his attention to Death as a spell started to form before the genderless entity.
A Holy spell shot down from somewhere in the coliseum and that seemed to open the floodgates. Einherjar from all across the ages launched their attacks, briefly confusing Death. Drake took a deep breath in and concentrated on imbuing his arrow with the essence of fire before releasing the string. Dagger seemed to think better of summoning an eidolon to battle with Death, and opted to cast Holy at Death as well. Vivi and Odette threw spell after spell at Death, trying to figure out what element would do the most damage.
Instead of lashing out immediately, Death cast a Shell spell on themself, blocking the majority of the spells that they were getting attacked by. It didn't do anything to stop the barrage of arrows from all the archers, though. For once, Drake felt less like he was a target and just one face in a crowd, likely because the majority of warriors in this battle were Chosen.
It didn't take long before there was a devastating magical attack that sent all of them to their knees. Odette looked frustrated once they were able to get back up to their feet, and Drake blinked as he realized that she'd been Silenced. Drake found a potion made of echo herbs in his pouch and handed it to her.
On his other side, Freya was shoving a gyshal green in Amarant's face. The scent was enough to snap anyone out of just about anything, even a blood rage like it looked like Amarant had been about to enter. Zidane and Dagger both ended up needing echo herbs as well, on Odette's other side.
"Not a fight where we can just go all out without thinking," Drake commented drily. "Someone mind being on item duty?" Drake pulled his bowstring back and tried a Thunder arrow to see how that would work on Death.
"I might as well," Zidane offered, sounding a bit disgruntled. "I'm the only one who can't reach. Even Amarant has attacks that can reach far enough." Drake shrugged and unbuckled the belt that held his belt pouch, offering it to his brother. Zidane didn't seem to have any obvious pouches anymore, after all.
It was impossible to tell just how long the battle lasted. No one's Trance wore out, and the only sign that time was passing was how many potions and ethers they used. The regen spell was barely able to keep up with just the ache that began to build up in their muscles. Drake paused a bit to rub his arm after a while, scowling up at Death.
The battle took more of a visible toll on Death than it did on any of the other combatants. The robe that Death had started out with was now more tattered strands than it was clothing. More flesh had been ripped from bone, and there were fractures in many of the bones that were now showing. Someone among the Einherjar had come up with the idea of attacking by sections, so there was a constant barrage now that seemed to be moving like a spiral. Not a single attack even came close to hitting any of the six just out of physical combat range of Death.
One of Death's wings fractured enough to fall do the ground far below, and Drake's eyes lit up. It was the first sign that they were actually nearing their goal of driving Death away. Zidane nudged Drake's elbow with something, and the archer turned to look before lifting an eyebrow and taking the canteen of cold tea. The tea was stronger than Drake would have liked, but it slaked the thirst he'd barely been aware of. There were many other things on his mind, after all.
"Why defy your fate?" Drake blinked at the first that Death had said since the beginning of the battle, however long ago that had been. Something seemed to click into place around them, and Drake frowned.
"The crystal is healed. Warriors of Gaia, we thank you for combating this foe that all mortals must eventually fall to. We, the Constellato, will drive Death from the Crystal." Light bloomed around Drake, and he sighed as he closed his eyes, feeling the teleportation spell grab hold of him.
Exhaustion hit him as a wind greeted his arrival back on Gaia, tugging his hood off of his head. He fell to his knees, and blinked at his hands as they kept him from landing on his face. His Trance had worn off, finally, which left him lacking most of his energy. He pushed himself back to sit on his heels as he looked around, and blinked as he saw that the rest of their group lay unconscious nearby.
Odette was the next to appear, and she failed to catch herself. Drake reached over and gently rolled her over so she wasn't on her face anymore. Freya appeared in short order, and an orb of light emerged from her chest to sink into Quina's, after which the Qu started to stir. By the time Odette was sitting up, Vivi, Dagger, Amarant, and Zidane had arrived, and Quina, at least, was sitting up.
"Holy shit, that was..." Edgar sounded somewhat dazed as he pulled himself up into a sitting position and looked around. "Oh, we're by the Iifa Tree?" Drake turned his head to look, and blinked as he slowly stood, using his bow to help him get to his feet. He was pretty sure that he was going to end up with bruises all over.
Drake flinched away just as a light came from the top of the Iifa Tree. Everyone who saw his reaction covered their eyes in time for all of them to avoid getting blinded by the explosion. Drake took a couple of steps back as the shockwave hit them, and grimaced as his ears rang from the sound. When he looked back at the Iifa Tree, he swallowed hard.
"I get the feeling this is no longer a safe area," he said carefully. The roots of the Iifa Tree were ripping out of the ground, making it tremble underfoot enough that he stumbled every few seconds. From where they were to the horizon beyond the Iifa Tree, there was nothing but destruction.
"So, what Kuja said was true...The Iifa Tree is beginning its violent reaction." That was Zidane, leaning on one of the spires of rock that Drake had climbed what felt like an eternity ago, back when they first had come to the Iifa Tree. The sound of an airship engine overhead made Drake look up, and he sighed, seeing the Red Rose going overhead.
Ignoring what the rest of the group was saying, Drake pulled back his bowstring and concentrated on working a type of magic he'd never used before into the arrowhead. When he released it, it turned into an orb of light that hovered in the air above them for a while. He sighed with relief as he saw one of the ships in the sky move towards their location. It took until a ladder was dropped for them to climb up for him to recognize it as the Hilda Garde, or one of its incarnations.
Drake watched as Eiko and Vivi climbed up first, Sabin and Amarant behind them to make sure that they didn't fall. The ground was shaking far too much for the ship to come level with the cliff they were all standing on, and the roots of the Iifa Tree were near enough that trying it was more akin to suicide than rescue.
"The Hilda Garde 3? Looks like Regent Cid came to rescue us." Drake looked over his left shoulder to see Zidane there, smutched with dirt and looking just as tired as Drake felt. "When'd you learn how to signal like that?" Drake shrugged and rubbed his arms. He wasn't looking forwards to climbing.
"The second I tried it. I'm guessing the Einherjar are just as tired as we are, I did it pretty much by myself." Zidane shrugged, then pulled Drake's belt and belt pouch off of him to hand it back to Drake. "Ah, thanks." It took a bit of doing to sling the belt back around his hips while still keeping hold of his bow, but he managed it somehow.
"Hurry up, the ground you're on is starting to crumble!" That shout was Regent Cid himself, leaning over the railing to shout down at them. Freya paused to consider, and then crouched, just jumping up to the deck of the airship as Steiner started to climb up the ladder. Quina seemed to be complaining to his/herself, and Odette was already most of the way up the ladder, with Edgar above her. Zidane started forwards, only to halt with a jerk as he looked around.
"Zidane?" That was Dagger, holding her hair back with one hand to squint against the wind towards Zidane. Drake had a feeling he knew what had just happened, and tugged his hood up to block the wind from his face.
"Ah, dammit." Drake tilted his head to the side and glanced at the edge of the cliff as a considerably large chunk of it broke free and fell with a sound almost like a growl. Zidane sighed and turned his head to look towards the Iifa Tree. "Why don't you two go on ahead? I'll catch up with you all later." Drake propped one hand on his hip as Zidane continued. "I have to take care of something..." Dagger looked confused and alarmed, but Drake shook his head with a small smile.
"You just heard Kuja, didn't you." Zidane blinked at Drake before rolling his eyes and nodding. "Right. Promise you'll come back alive." Zidane grimaced at that as Dagger looked between Drake and the man that she'd at least grown very fond of.
"Take care of Dagger for me. Kuja's still alive, I can't...I can't just leave him. I know...just because I came from the same planet as him, that's no reason to feel attached, but..." Zidane grimaced, his eyes on the Iifa Tree. "I might've done the same thing as him if I were in his shoes." Drake shrugged a little and glanced at Dagger, who still looked confused.
"Go on, Dagger, I'll follow." Drake turned his eyes back to Zidane. "I'll keep her safe. I know you well enough to tell when your morals are insisting you do something. And...I'm of the opinion that no one deserves to die alone." Zidane nodded.
"You and Vivi...and the rest of the group. You've all taught me how to take life more seriously. I'll definitely be coming back." Zidane offered Drake his hand, the one that held the scar that marked them as blood brothers. Drake sighed and clasped it tightly, conveying his concern in a way that words could never do.
"I'll keep the others from trying to come after you." Drake smirked a little. "This is your moment. The rest of us will have our own someday." Zidane laughed at that, Drake knew that was the gist of what Zidane had been about to say. "We'll get Burmecia, Lindblum, and Alexandria back on their feet before you get back, I just know it." Zidane shook his head with another laugh and let go, turning to look at the Iifa Tree as Drake moved to the ladder. Dagger was still standing where she had been before, a troubled look on her face. Drake stood by the ladder, looking up at the ship as the two of them had their moment.
"Dagger - I mean, Your Highness...The abduction is over. I can't take you any further. I'm...sorry for being so selfish." Drake glanced over his shoulder for a moment. Had he known better, he'd have thought that Zidane was proposing to Dagger because of how he was on one knee and holding her hands.
"No...You're not being selfish. You've done so much for us. If it weren't for you, I probably would've led a meaningless life. With you, I was able to see so much of the world and meet so many people. We faced many hardships, too, but...I think I finally know what's important. I'm so fortunate to have met you. I'll never forget our trip together. Thank you, Zidane." There was a pause, and Drake glanced back. Dagger was facing away from Zidane, blinking hard. "Promise me one thing...Please come back."
"I will." Drake had a feeling that Zidane and Dagger's promise meant something drastically different from the promise that Zidane had made to Drake, but he didn't say anything as he waited for Dagger to start climbing the ladder. He shoved the end of his bow into his belt so that he could climb with both hands, though it was a hard climb, with his muscles feeling so weak.
"Drake? Isn't Zidane coming?" Sabin helped Drake haul himself over the railing at the top, and Edgar helped after a couple of seconds. Drake let them help, his arms feeling like an overcooked noodle. One of the deckhands took his bow from him, and Drake leaned on the railing to look down.
"No, he's got something he needs to do. I made him promise that he'll come back to us alive, though." There was a yelp from Freya, and Drake's hand shot out to grab hold of her wrist as she came to the railing in preparation to jump over. "He has to do it alone. This is one of the last things from the story. He will come back, but I can't guarantee that anyone else that goes with him would. Or that he would if anyone else goes with him." Freya frowned at that, but forced herself to relax as she looked over the railing.
As the Hilda Garde 3 lifted up from the altitude it had been hovering at to pick up the warriors, Drake watched Zidane pick his way down the cliff face to the thrashing Iifa Tree roots. Eiko leaned over the railing to shout down at him.
"Zidane, I love you! You'd better come back!" Drake couldn't help but laugh a little at her words. Dagger looked pale, her lips pressed together so tightly they were white. When Zidane turned back to look, one hand shading his eyes, Dagger forced herself to smile and wave to him, while Edgar leaned on the railing next to him.
"If you don't come back alive, I'll marry Dagger instead of you," Ed bellowed. Drake and Sabin laughed, and Zidane made a rude gesture that was clear enough to see across the distance. An Iifa Tree root crashed into the rocks next to Zidane, and Drake stiffened until he saw his blood brother racing across the root towards the Iifa Tree, faster than Drake had ever seen him move before.
Someone tapped Drake's arm with something, and he turned. A deckhand with her arms full of canteens was offering him one. As he gulped the liquid inside of it, he sighed with relief. It was sweet, clear, clean water, just what he needed for his dusty throat. He was suddenly having a hard time remembering when he'd had anything to drink besides tea.
"So now what?" Drake pushed away from the railing with one last glance. Zidane was out of sight now, probably still somewhere in the root system, but Drake was sure that he was just fine. Regent Cid was barking orders to the deck crew in person, holding a handkerchief to his mouth and nose to keep the dust out.
"Now, we go home and recuperate. Odette and I have a wedding to plan, and Lindblum, Alexandria, and Burmecia still need to be rebuilt. We all have lives to live." Drake yawned and then coughed, covering his mouth with the crook of his elbow. "It'll take a while for Zidane to make it back, but he will." He was a little iffy on exactly how long it would take.
"Right. Think you could drop me'n Edgar off at our village? Home sounds pretty damn nice right about now." Sabin coughed a little as he turned to the regent, heading towards the door to the hold. The regent blinked at him and then looked over the warriors.
"I suppose so. Of course, you're all welcome to stay in Lindlbum for as long as you'd like, but if you wish to recuperate elsewhere, we're able to drop you off." Odette sidled up next to Drake, and he wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning his head against her.
"Lindblum sounds okay for us," she murmured, and Drake hummed agreement, his eyes on the scenery as it passed by. "Once we're recovered, though, we should go to Treno, and get things into order there." She sighed, sounding tired. "Though I bet the noblewomen there are going to be very disappointed to hear that you're engaged." Drake smirked and lifted his head to plant a kiss on her cheek.
"They'll just have to learn how to live with that disappointment. There's not a person alive that could tempt me away from you. Come on, let's go get some rest. I'm starting to feel like one big bruise." Odette giggled a little at him and walked with him into the hold.
Drake bunked with his blood brothers, like he had on the Blue Narcissus, but by the time he got there, Sabin was already snoring. Edgar was sitting on his bunk, his eyes closed, but smiled at Drake when he came in and flopped on his own bunk.
"I'm willing on betting that that last battle either won't end up in any of the legends about this journey of ours, or generations on down the line, scholars will refuse to believe that it actually happened." Drake snorted at Edgar's words, and sat up again to take off his armor. His range of motion was nowhere near where it was supposed to be, and Ed ended up helping him take off some of the pieces.
"Probably. So long as they don't absolutely butcher our personalities, I'm fine with it." Ed snorted at that as Drake turned to help him out of his armor. Sabin had fallen asleep in his, and was bound to be even more sore when he woke up. "Maybe one of us should write it down, you know, for posterity." Ed sighed as he cracked his neck and kicked the last piece of armor away from him.
"Probably someone who's been around the entire time. Which leaves...Hm. Either Vivi, Steiner, Dagger, or Zidane. Or you, but you were tightmouthed about anything pertaining to the future for pretty much the entire time, apparently." Ed yawned, and shifted on his bed until he was comfortable. Drake flopped on his bed again and stretched slowly.
"We'll have to talk about it when we're all feeling better," Drake murmured, closing his eyes. If Ed said anything else, he missed it as he fell asleep almost immediately. He drifted for a while, until the sounds of birds chirping drew him to open his eyes.
He lay in a field of grass, watching as clouds drifted by overhead for a while. The purr of some sort of engine droned on, accompanied by the scent of cut grass, and a distant, intermittent rumble. Drake sat up after a moment, frowning, and looked around.
The grass he was sitting in seemed to be floating in a sea of grey nothingness, but he wasn't the only one there. A middle-aged woman sat with her back to him, humming an out of tune lullaby to herself. Drake stared at her back for a moment, resting his weight on his hands before sitting forwards properly and looking down at himself. He still wore what he'd gone to sleep wearing, still covered in dust, and bruises were starting to bloom under his skin. He looked back at the woman again.
"Mom?" His voice cracked a little and he grimaced. It hadn't been emotion that cracked it, just thirst. The woman jerked a little at his voice and turned, her eyes wide. Drake smiled a little at her. Sure enough, it was his mother. To be specific, the version of her from Earth. "You don't look like you've been doing too well - ack!" He winced as he was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. "Ow, mind my bruises, please."
"I knew I saw you." Drake blinked at that and rubbed his mother's back. "I was waiting for a ride to Goodwill with some of your old things, and, and, just for a second..." She sounded like she was starting to cry. "God, Kole, I've missed you so much." Drake sighed a little and hugged her back.
"I've missed you, too. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm actually doing well." His mother pulled back to stare at him, and he smiled lopsidedly. His lip ached where it had broken open earlier, but didn't crack again. "I've got a long story to tell you. I don't think I can stay, though." His mother backed away a little and looked over him carefully, taking his hands in hers.
"I'll listen, for as long as it takes. Even if I can't take you back with me, I've been wishing to see you again." She lifted one hand to cup his cheek and brushed some of the dust away. "You've grown." Drake smiled a little.
"I've grown a lot. Okay, so, to start the story off, Earth is connected to another world, called Gaia. Not physically, but the spirits of the people on both worlds can migrate. Well, now they can, they couldn't for a while because of..." He sighed. "That's part of the story. There was someone on Gaia who wanted to pull someone from Earth. In order to do so, he killed many people on Gaia. He was only trying to get one, but ended up getting two..."
~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~
End Notes: And all that's left now is to get the epilogue up! That last scene was something that I'd been playing with for a while. I almost didn't put it in, but... It's a nice bit of closure. I figure it was a 'present' from one of the Constellato that figured that Drake had more than earned a chance to talk to his mom on Earth, even if it was the very last time.