Lloyd: Man what?
Me: (sigh) Mangekyo Sharingan. It's this really cool yet freaky ability that allows you to torture people with in their own minds. Like when Itachi repeatedly stabbed Kakashi for 72 hrs in the Mangekyo world but it was only a few seconds in the real.
Lloyd: O-O Ouch!
Me: tell me about it. Hm…I never knew Itachi meant weasel! I wonder what Sasuke is then…well I found out Sarutobi means "monkey jump" but I still can't find Sasuke…
Lloyd: Are you seriously trying to find the true meaning of Japanese words and names?
Me: Yep! Now lets see…I can't find Sasuke… Oh! I wonder about Naruto or Shikamaru!
Lloyd: Mana help me!
Me: hmm…Naruto is "maelstrom" and Shika is "deer" maru is "round" so Shikamaru is "round deer"?
Lloyd: …
Me: sorry. I told a friend I'd find the translation to the Naruto names and I guess I kinda got caught up in it. (snicker) I can't believe Choji mean "butterfly" and Ino is "pig"!
Lloyd: (sigh) Jen Rem doesn't own ToS, FF, or Ash.
Third person POVThe screams seemed to echo though the cargo hold of the craft, causing Eria to break down to tears. Madison too, was fearful as the screams died away and became triumphant laughter. Rith just listened, confused on why the two girls that he now called friends were reacting the way they were.
"Why do you cry?" the clone asked, crouching beside Eria as she sobbed into her hands.
"I was sent to stop the Geostigma from killing her. Now she's a weapon." Eria muttered into between sobs. "Mom trusted me with this mission and…I failed."
"Don't blame yourself Eria. I was the one that created this twisted destiny for Tiamatt." Madison sighed, her fist clenched in frustration as she crumbled a sheet of paper and threw it to the side. "And at the rate I'm going, I won't be able to find a way to help that makes logical sense."
"That older woman means that much to you?" Rith asked, still not fully understanding the pain and anger the two teens felt.
Eria nodded, wiping away the tears that refused to stop. Standing up, the young Aurion walked to the closest wall to where the screams had come from and slammed her fist into the metal, denting it in her attempts. She continued this for several minutes before leaning against the wall that had managed to stay intact despite the beating.
"Eria, save your strength." Madison warned, setting her notebook to the side and putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "You are the only one out of the two of us who can attack and defend us so you need to conserve your energy."
"When the hell did you get so rational?" Eria snapped angerly. Madison blinked and became silent, her eyes downcast as she sat back down near her supplies and pulled out the GS.
"It is useless to bicker among ourselves." Rith said. "And Madison is correct. It is wise to save as much energy as possible."
"…" Eria looked at the silver haired boy and slowly nodded. "I'm sorry."
Rith merely blinked and turned around suddenly, several orbs in his arms glowing. "Do you want to escape?"
"What?"
"I will help you if that is what you want." Rith said, looking over his shoulder at Eria. Eria nodded, dumbfounded. "Please tell Madison."
Eria nodded again and tapped the other girl's shoulder while muttering an apology.
"Fira!" A blast of fire hit the side of the craft, causing the metal to glow red-hot. "Blizzara!" An icy blast cooled the steaming metal quickly. "Fira!" Rith repeated the cycle, the metal wall slowly beginning to crack. Once he was satisfied, Rith drew the Masamune, causing the now fragile metal to shatter.
"Rith you're a genius!" Eria squealed in delight, peering out of the hole to see the ocean below them. "Madison, come on!"
"Excuse me, but may I join you?" Rith asked, sword now clipped to his waist.
"Of course! You're our friend. You can't expect us to leave you here now can you?" Madison laughed. Rith nodded, the glint of happiness once again in his eyes as he revealed black feathered wings. "Cool!"
"…" He blinked, not really understanding what she meant by 'cool'. "I can carry you if you wish."
"Um, thank you." Madison said slowly as Eria giggled at her unease and spread her own wings. "What about Tiamatt?"
Eria was rigid and looked at the back of the room toward where the cockpit was located. "We can't fight her by ourselves. We'll just have to wait." The pain in her voice was obvious as she struggled to say those few words. "We should leave while we can."
Rith nodded, putting an arm around Madison before jumping through the hole he had created with Eria just behind him. They didn't know where exactly they were or where they were going but didn't care along as it was away from Hojo. Still something didn't feel right.
Plains outside MeltokyoEveryone was wide eyed as the scream faded to a mere mummer.
"Dammit!" Oblivion shouted, stomping at the ground in frustration.
"What was that?" a shaky Colette asked, clinging to a just as frightened Lloyd.
"The planet…" Terran muttered. "It's already in pain."
"Does this mean that…?" Sheena trailed off, not daring to finish as Kratos clenched his fist in anger as he reached the same conclusion.
"It's happened. The Reunion was successful." Oblivion growled, feeling that he had failed once more to prevent the prophecy. "Tiamatt as we know her is no more."
"…" Everyone was silent, Terran and Oblivion's fear quickly spreading throughout the group.
"What happens now?" Zelos asked quietly.
Terran sighed. "There's not much we can do except prevent her from summoning Meteor. But to do that she would need a large amount of energy available."
"…" Kratos now had Tiamatt's sword slung across his back and he continued to clench his fist in his anger. "…We will do what we have to…"
"Kratos?" Terran asked uncertainly as the Seraph spread his wings and took off suddenly.
"Where is he going?" Lloyd asked, shocked at the auburn haired man's sudden action.
Oblivion watched Kratos fly southeast before cupping his hands over his mouth and letting loose a wolfish howl that made the entire group shiver. Within seconds, dozens of cries answered his and a stream of wolves appeared out of seemly nowhere.
"How did you do that?" Raine asked, eyes glittering as Oblivion began to communicate with the wild creature through a set of growls and barks.
"What is he saying is more like it?" Genis corrected before gasping as several of the wolves took a human form a knelt before Oblivion with their heads bowed in respect.
"Kratos is heading Southeast in the direction Yuan mentioned earlier. It is likely that Tiamatt and the Remnants are in that direction." Oblivion said, seriousness now in his voice that seemed to demand respect and authority. "My wolves are willing to help us when the time comes."
"How did you do that?" Raine repeated in amazement.
"This is Lord Oblivion, Prophecy Keeper and King of the Wolves of Mars. All come to his call." One of the now human wolves answered, turning her steely glare at the half elf. "And Lady Tiamatt of Saturn and Earth is our ally. We will die if we must to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled."
Lloyd gulped nervously as he noticed the abnormally sharp teeth and nails the woman possessed and nodded. "So you'll help us?"
"That is correct Lloyd." Another one of the wolves said.
"How do you know my name?!"
"Lord Oblivion told us of you." The black haired wolf man grinned. "He has told us everything in fact."
"Zak! I want you to prepare the troops for battle against the most elite of the Remnants." Oblivion ordered. The blacked haired man nodded and let out a strange whine like growl before returning to wolf form and leading the pack away. "We need to follow Kratos."
Kratos POVI flew in the direction Yuan had mentioned earlier, my fears and hopes riding on the truth of his words. I couldn't help but feel guilt for why Tiamatt had gone with her enemy; the fact that I had been unable to stop her seemed to burn into my very soul. And Eria, the girl who was to be my daughter, she too had been taken along with the human girl who had been a part of Tiamatt's mind since I had met her in Triet. That guilt hurt me as well.
Now their were gone, stolen by a monster that used someone who meant as much to Tiamatt as Anna meant to me to lure her away. To see the fear in her eyes, it was unbearable. It reminded me too much of when I had met Anna, the fear that shone in her eyes at the mere mention of Kvar, it was too much to bear. And then the possibility that…no I mustn't think of that. It not for certain that we would have to resort to that but I knew, I could not live with myself if I were to be put in that position again.
"Please Tiamatt." I whispered to no one. "Please let there be a way other then that."
At least they had not gotten Lloyd. My son was all I had left of Anna and even if he did not know it, he was my most treasured possession. I was happy for him to have found someone that he was happy with. His relationship with Colette made me more intent of not letting Yggdrasil use her as Martel's vessel.
And Eria, she wasn't even truly my daughter but the fact that I was her father in some other dimension caused me to feel somewhat protective of her. I just hoped Hojo had not laid his twisted hands on her or he would pay dearly. And the girl Madison was definitely a strange one, but I could tell she was the one that was the primary mind of the Tiamatt I had come to love.
"Oof!" Something or rather someone had slammed into me, knocking the breath from my lungs. Looking at the blue feathers that fluttered in the air, I recognized instantly whom I had encountered.
"Eria!" the girl looked up at me, her face red from crying as she pulled a feather from her hair and in a second, forced the air from my lungs once again in her embrace.
"Dad!" she was crying as she called me that and I knew why. "Mom's…"
"I know Eria." I said sadly, patting her back. She must have been there when it had happened. "How did you escape?"
"Rith helped us." Madison said, in the arms of the Sephiroth clone that had forced Tiamatt into her current position. I put a hand on the hilt of my sword, glaring at the boy as he stared at me with an emotionless mask upon his face. It reminded me of the angels on Derris Kharlan, their souls and personalities controlled by Cruxis crystals.
"How dare you come to me after what you have caused!" I growled. The boy still didn't respond.
"Kratos, stop. It was Rith that helped us escape. Without him we would still be the ship or whatever it was we were in." Madison cried, defending the clone.
"My apologies. I did not mean to cause you any trouble." Rith bowed his head. "I was merely following an order."
"Dad it's true. Rith isn't really a bad person." Eria nodded, looking up at me with pleading eyes. "He's just misunderstood. Please don't hurt him."
I sighed, giving into to Eria's request. "…Do as you wish."
"Really?" Eria asked. I sighed again and nodded. "Thank you!" I felt her surprisingly strong grasp as I once again had the air forced from my lungs.
A suddenly screech filled the air, directing our attention towards where Eria, Madison, and Rith had fled from. A black mass seemed to swell skywards before changing directions and heading in our direction. Madison's eyes widened in shock as the mass took the shape of thousands of monsters, all of which where the same coal black in color with green eyes.
"Why does everything I create try to attack me?!" she mumbled as the cloud of creatures raced at us.
"What are those things?" Eria screamed, clutching my arm tightly.
"I called them Shadows when I wrote FD. They're the monsters Jenova uses to attack and hunt down her enemies." Madison explained.
"We should avoid them if at all possible." I said. "The others should be nearby too."
"Good idea." Madison and Eria agreed, following my back north to where the rest of our odd group was located…
Madison POV"So we're supposed to accept him just because he was ordered by Hojo to do what he did?" Zelos yelled, pointing at Rith. The clone, like always, was calm, showing no emotions as the group bickered over allowing him to join us or not. Kratos seemed to at least allow him to stay but I didn't know how long that would last.
"Rith helped us escape!" Eria yelled back in defense for our new friend. "He used magic to make a hole in the ship so we could fly out!"
"How do you know that he was not ordered to help you in order to gain your trust? What if he betrays us?" Sheena asked to young Aurion. As the group continued the argument, I suddenly had an idea.
"Guys!" I said, trying to get their attention but was ignored.
"He won't betray us!"
"Guys!"
"He aided in reviving Jenova. Your just lucky he didn't kill you." Terran said.
"He won't hurt any of us!" Eria cried defiantly.
"Guys!" I tried again, getting frustrated. Kratos and Colette heard me and looked at me before quieting everyone.
"I believe Madison has an idea." Kratos said calmly as everyone quieted down after Colette, to the surprise of everyone, yelled for everyone to shut up. Everyone now looked at me and I began to feel uneasy as stage fright took effect.
"Um… I just thought that…um… maybe we could spilt up into two groups. Like… um…Oblivion, Terran, …um… Eria, Rith, Me, and …um…Kratos, we could all…um…look for a way to help Tia while everyone else works at the pacts." I said nervously, fiddling with my hands as I looked at the ground.
"…That's a good idea." Oblivion muttered a moment later after considering the idea. "It would allow us to work at or own individual goals while still achieving the overall main goal of the entire group."
"Yes, that would make sense." Raine agreed. "We could work on making the pacts with the summon spirits while you find a way to stop Jenova."
"Exactly." I sighed, happy that the group could finally agree on something. "The group I mentioned has the strongest connection with Tiamatt, meaning that they would have a higher chance of succedding then the other group. The same is true if it were reversed."
"How did you come up with something like that?" Lloyd asked, seemingly amazed by the idea.
"I just looked at everyone in the group and thought of what would be the most ideal rescue party for Tiamatt." I shrugged. "I actually thought of it back on the ship when I was listening to the GS."
"…"
"What is it Kratos?" Colette asked the Seraph. He shook his head and stayed quiet.
"We'll save Tiamatt. Don't worry." Oblivion said, attempting to reassure the man.
"Yes. And I will try to correct my mistake." Rith nodded in agreement.
"Thank you." Kratos mumbled, giving a small smile as he looked up at the entire group.
"So it's settled. We're splitting into two groups." Lloyd announced as the screech of a Shadow filled the air. "Good then now's the time!"
Raine pulled the rhierds from the wing packs as Eria, Kratos, and Rith spread their wings. Soon the group was in two and flew in opposite directions, one to the north and one to the east, hoping that they could maybe bypass the monsters…
Me: damn. It's so hard to write something when your friends wont stop making you laugh! Oh and Chris, call my house again at 10:40 at night and I promise that I will make your life a living hell. And for crying out loud, if you want to tell me something about the story, don't call me! That's what the 'Submit Review" button is for down at the very bottom of the page!
Sorry to everyone who is caught in the middle! Anyways, Please Read and Review!