"That was close!" Fox announced into his headset as he barrel rolled to avoid another beam from the psionic weapon on Venom.
"We're coming into its blind spot. It's got a minimum range." Peppy responded. "Perhaps some of the materials in the planetary crust interfere with its operation?"
"Whatever it is, it gives us an edge. We'll need every one we can get. You ready, Fara?"
I nodded grimly. "I'm ready, Fox. Let's do this."
They landed their Arwings in a loose formation around the passageway where they had first encountered the weapon.
"Fara, remember..." Peppy whispered to her. "You'll have to be ready to harness the energy in that chamber before he does. It's about the only chance we'll have. You have been paying attention to your training, have you?"
She nodded. "As much as I could in such a short time."
"We're only going to get one shot at this."
"One shot is all I'll need."
Before long, they arrived at the chamber again. Without turning to face them, her brother spoke. "You weren't strong enough to face me before. What makes you think you can win now?"
"Because I won't hesitate this time." Fara replied. "You can make this easy on yourself and surrender now."
He laughed coldly. "Surrender? Me? I hold all the cards, foolish sister!" he said, and raised his paw towards her.
I closed my eyes and gathered some of the surrounding power around her and the rest of the team. But only some.
"I see that you have grown stronger, dear sister...but it will only delay the inevitable."
I kept up the psychic shield around my teammates. If it went, we were dead soon after, so I had to hold that up at all costs. The game plan, in a nutshell, was to let him wear down his own power. However...I realized that he was right. He had more power, more experience than I did. I was too slow. I don't have the power to beat him alone...
More energy slammed into my shield. I couldn't really tell where he could get all this seemingly bottomless energy from.
"Lylat will be mine," he growled. "There will be only one rule and one order: my order."
"Not...if I have...anything to say about it..." I shot back. It was defiance speaking, I knew, but I wasn't going to give up. Fox and the others were depending on me.
"You cannot stop me!" he roared at me. I could see holes appearing in my shield where it was starting to fail. Another minute-less, honestly-and it would fail completely.
I whispered to anyone who would listen. Deities, long dead spirits...anyone or anything who would come to my aid.
Please...I can't do this alone. I have to stop him...
My pendant suddenly flared. I didn't know if I was hallucinating, or something had gone wrong with it, or anything for certain at that moment. Once again, I beheld the ethereal image of my mother.
You have to sever the connection, Fara. Your brother is not himself...
The hell? What connection? Between me and him?
Trace the lines of power, my daughter, and it shall become clear to you. Quickly, before all is lost to the darkness...
With that, she disappeared.
Trace the lines of power. Right...how was I going to do that? My mind raced like a ship at lightspeed. I could measure my remaining lifespan in seconds if I didn't come up with an idea-pretty damn quick.
I stared at the floor and all the sparkling lines.
All the sparkling lines.
Sparkling lines.., right, those lines. It was as though I could see the power radiating through the floor and into my brother.
There, over his heart. A node of pure blackness, like the void of space.
My eyes met his, one more time, and I gathered what was left of my power together. The shield around my team faded-I'd need everything I had for this, and if I missed...so be it. My aim had better be at the best it had ever been.
It was now or never.
"Giving up, Fara?" he asked mockingly, and readied the blast of energy that he thought would end this.
I suddenly thrust one paw out. "Not a chance!" I shouted and let loose with everything I had. A bolt of psionic power, like an arrow of purest light, shot forth and sped toward that sphere of darkness I had seen.
My aim couldn't have been truer. He screamed and dropped like a puppet whose strings had been cut, unconscious. I padded over to him, examining his form, checking for a pulse or some sign that he was still alive.
He might have tried to kill us all, but he was still my flesh and blood. If I could save him, I would.
I could feel it, barely. A faint pulse. "Are you..."
"Fara?" he asked, weakly, and I knew from the moment his eyes opened that whatever had controlled him, did so no more.
For the first time in my life, I viewed my brother as he truly was. And suddenly realized I didn't know his name. "Yes...?"
"I'm Darien...your brother..." he replied, bringing himself up to one knee. Damn, he sure had some resolve. That alone told me he had to be related to me.
"I know. What the hell was taking control of your mind?"
"A dark and powerful evil..." he started to say, but before he could finish his response, there was a loud and cold cackle around all of us.
"Foolish weaklings...do you think that you have the power to defeat ME?!" it said-in a voice that all of us recognized.
It was Fox that gave the darkness its name. "Andross..." he growled. "I defeated you!"
"You defeated my physical form, yes...but my psyche remained. My power gathered here, in this stronghold of the dark ancients, until a suitable host could be found."
Fox pulled his blaster. "I took you down once, ape! I can do so again!" he said, and fired one shot. It passed through the apparition as though it were no more substantial than the air through which it passed.
Andross laughed cruelly. "You stupid fool. I no longer have physical form and cannot be harmed by physical weapons. However..." he said as he tossed a ball of psionic energy back at Fox. "I can still harm you."
Fox took the projectile on the shoulder and screamed.
I readied myself for the fight, but Darien stopped me. "He's too strong, Fara. You're already weakened as it is."
"I can't allow him to terrorize the Lylat system again, Darien. One way or the other, the madness ends here!"
"Then let me help you," he said.
I nodded.
The apparation of the one-time self-styled "Emperor of Lylat" laughed coldly. "The two of you cannot stand against me. Not in this chamber. This is where the ancients fought their final battle. This is the seat of the power of the dark ancients..." he rumbled. "And it all belongs to me..."
"We'll see about that..." I growled...just as I was assaulted by a wave of black energy. If Darien hadn't bolstered my defenses just then, I would have been easily overwhelmed.
He was right-I was weakened. If I didn't find a way to end this quickly and decisively, then ending it would no longer be a problem because we'd all be dead.
How did the ancients do it? Unity and love, Peppy said.
Can I really ask my friends to sacrifice themselves to save Lylat? I thought. I...don't see any other way around it.
We have to do it, Fara, Darien spoke to me, mentally. Alone, neither of us can defeat Andross. With all of our power, we may stand a chance...
I nodded, then closed my eyes and felt the power around me. This may not require anyone to die today, after all. Besides, of course, that damned apparation of Andross.
Just like that moment with my brother, I could literally see the pathways of psionic energy that permeated the room...not only the room, but that which ebbed and flowed through all of my friends.
Like a blacksmith, I started to forge those threads into something more, something stronger. Something from each of us. I had to do it quickly, as I could see Andross growing more and more in power with each second-and while keeping my own defenses up.
"Now you understand the power that the ancients wielded..." Andross growled.
I finished weaving the strands of power together and fixed my stare back on that bastard, fire in my eyes, "Your power is nothing compared to that of the pure heart..." I growled back and hurled that bolt as though it was a lance of white radiance.
It shredded the black form of Andross' apparation as though it were mere tissue paper. It screamed and started to dissipate.
A familiar line echoed through the chamber, "If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"
Fox quipped. "Not the first time I've heard that. Time to go, NOW!"
We all ran for our lives back through the passageways-as they collapsed around us. As we made it back to the Arwings, Peppy suddenly shouted. "He's overloading the psychonite in that chamber! We won't make it before it blows!"
"Full power to the afterburners, guys!" Fox pleaded.
"It's no good!" Peppy answered, as the ground began to glow white behind us.
I spun my Arwing around and dove back towards the ground. As I did, I armed my Nova Bomb launcher.
"Fara! The hell are you doing!" Fox screamed over his comm.
I said the madness was going to end here. If it meant my life, so be it...but I knew the only way to save my team was to drop the entire network of tunnels on top of that weapon and let the collapsing rock absorb the force. And only one weapon in my arsenal could accomplish that.
"Find your own damn road to hell, Andross..." I said coldly as I thumbed the firing button, then pulled up, hitting the afterburners for all they were worth.
The bomb detonated, its energy countering the spreading psionic energy around the site of that weapon, cratering the ground below...and reaching out for me.
"Come on..." I said, gritting my teeth. "Just a little...bit...more..."
I was reaching the G-force limit of my Arwing and risked blacking out completely, alarms screaming in my ears as I kept my fighter in a full power ascent. Ten seconds to the edge of space, then five...as fire reached out for my tail section...
I let out a scream as my Arwing blasted into the void of space, joining the rest of the team.
"Fara, don't ever scare me like that again," Fox said to me.
"Sorry. I just had to do something quick..." I answered back. I felt weak from the exertion, between the fight with Andross and the madcap dash to get out of there before that weapon took us all out, but my team was safe.
That's what mattered most to me.
(Note: The chapter title for this chapter was taken from the Final Fantasy XIII battle theme of the same name. I found it...appropriate. If you pay attention, you'll see a couple more homages to the game.)