Part One of the End.
Thought this would be a bigger pain to write than it was, actually. Once I got the formula worked out and put on the Darker than Black OST, it wasn't too bad. A bit gory, this chapter, but we know how I like to be sometimes. Recently read All Quiet on the Western Front and picked up a few tips from WWI—I wish I was kidding. Very vivid book, but a quick read, thankfully.
Enough of my babbling, on with the chapter.
…
It was unreal. Lloyd watched the army Yuan had called prepare, and marveled that they and the group and the Seraphim were all there, together, and revolving around his purpose. There were over a hundred soldiers that had come from the Renegades, including Botta, as well as the ninjas, the Seraphim, and the Chosen's group. Despite the triumph of bringing the army together, Lloyd was far from excited. Already, adrenaline pumped through his veins and he was having a hard time sitting for more than a few seconds, or standing in one place.
There was no point in waiting or planning, it had been decided; a hundred people preparing at the base of the Tower of Salvation was going to attract the enemy's attention. They were going to march straight in—now. Lloyd was sure he was going to be sick before they got to their destination.
"You okay, Bud?" Zelos asked from behind him. Whatever the Chosen was thinking, he kept it well-hidden.
Lloyd shrugged. "Yeah, 'cept for the part where I'm scared out of my damn mind."
The Chosen of Tethe'alla chuckled, "Least we know you're sane, then. No way someone wouldn't be scared. We'll be okay, though. Bet there's only, like, a dozen Desians left; the angels took the rest out." They both knew he was only saying it because that was what they needed to hear. Still, it helped.
"Yeah, we'll take 'em down in no time."
"Yup! Revenge, saving the world, stopping the baddies, all in a day's work for Zelos and his hunnies!"
Lloyd snorted. "Yeah, sure… Hey, are you okay? You're still here…but…"
Zelos waved the boy's concerns away like petty pointlessness. "Oh please, Bud. Let's worry about the touchy-feely stuff when there's not an army waiting for us, kay? After we've kicked the shit out of Kvar, we can kiss and make up." Zelos was determined not to let Lloyd in.
"Just make sure you come out alive, Zelos. Don't go pulling any shit on me."
"Shit? Me? Never! Bud, I'm insulted!" Smirking, Zelos turned and flounced away.
…
It was time. The army was restless, the group was as prepared as they were going to be, and Lloyd couldn't stand it if he had to wait a moment longer. In almost no time, they were at the base of the Tower of Salvation, weapons drawn, waiting for an attack. None came.
Lloyd's heart was pounding as they moved closer, deeper, faster. His eyes didn't want to stop moving, and he felt the effects of the adrenaline that pumped through his blood. He was at the front of the group, leading them up the stairs of the Tower of Salvation, and into the ground level of the massive structure.
It was surely a trap. They were being lured into a building where they lacked the upper hand. He should have turned them around and marched straight back out, but the temptation to hunt down Kvar, the taste of his defeat was so close. The end of Lloyd's journey was all upon him, he had only to kill his enemy, how could he turn back now? It was not an option, as stupid as it was.
Yggdrasill pushed past Lloyd, into his Tower, and proceeded to lead the way through twisting tunnels, over bridges that spanned from one side of the Tower to the other, with drops down into dark mist beneath, and, once, through a tiny crawlspace. They were doing their best to avoid whatever traps that may have been set for them in the days between Cruxis' defeat and their attack. Still, every step that they took brought them higher and higher up the Tower of Salvation. Vivid images of the Tower exploding, collapsing, tumbling thousands of feet to the world beneath bloomed in Lloyd's mind.
If Yggdrasill had managed it, surely Kvar could. Their army could be utterly destroyed in the seconds that it would take the Tower to fall.
Yet they still stood, they still walked down empty halls and moved closer and closer to Kvar. Lloyd had been higher in the Tower, but he, Noishe, and the Seraphim were alone in this. The group and the Renegades were awed by the views, the weightless rooms, and the massive span of the structure. Glorious, to be sure, but Lloyd was tired of being up too high.
Finally, they reached the top, or so Mithos claimed. It was a massive room, thousands of feet long, and made of white marble, polished until it shown. The buzz of mana from Derris-Kharlan was so strong that Lloyd almost felt light-headed.
"What is this place?" Genis asked, and his voice echoed through the great, empty hall.
"I suppose you could call it a Desian storage hall," Kvar said as he walked toward them. Wherever he had warped from, he had managed to do it without alerting any of them. "This is where the few remaining Desians camp after one world has been regenerated and they are preparing to move to the next. Generally, there are only about a hundred or so that make it through the purging the humans attempt after the Regeneration, and they wait patiently up here."
There was a general hiss from the assembled army, and then several Renegades cried out as a massive army of Desians warped into the room. Whatever hope there had been that their numbers would have been depleted by the angels was banished. If anything, the estimates that Yuan and Yggdrasill had given him seemed to have vastly underestimated the number of men and women waiting for them. There were hundreds.
Lloyd was outnumbered.
"Now," Kvar said with flourish, "let the games begin!"
…
"Do you know what a paradox is?" Mithos' blue eyes were, as always, serious. The haunted look that had implanted itself in those eyes seemed so out of place on a child's face. Lloyd would almost have been less afraid were Yggdrasill's insane glint still dominant.
"Not a clue, Raine and Yuan would talk about it, but they never told me."
…
Lloyd and those of the group that were still with him cut their way through the onslaught of mad half-elves that charged them. Zelos, Kratos, Noishe, Colette, and Raine cut their way through the initial flood of soldiers. It was baffling to see such a massive number. Lloyd was sure that the angels would have destroyed more of them, but there seemed no end to the shining helmets and mad eyes of the Desians.
Most of Lloyd's actions now were purely reactive. He was fighting relentlessly, thoughtlessly, almost like one of Mithos' almost-extinct angels. He felt his sword slice through a woman, the blade finding the weak point in the Desian's armor, before his mind realized what he was doing. Flesh parted like water, melting away into the sea of pain and screams around them.
She was probably screaming now, wasting her last breaths screaming for help, for someone to please, please help her! She was lost, would soon be dead—trampled by the oncoming army, by the madness of war. But Lloyd had already forgotten her, had already moved onto the next battle, the next victim.
A man this time, the blood from his exposed neck splattered across Lloyd's face. Even detached as he was, Lloyd felt mortification bubble in the back of his throat. What was he doing? Starting a war with people Kvar had lied to and manipulated to kill for him…? He was as bad as the Desian…
These thoughts were washed away when, across their bloodied battlefield, he spotted Myrrh pulling a wicked blade from the mangled corpse of a Renegade soldier. She saw him in the same moment, and smirked widely, calling over the sounds of the dying, "Having fun yet, Lloydie!"
Lloyd charged her. He was already angry, already lost to the world, and Myrrh was as good as dead.
Myrrh was quick, and she parried every one of Lloyd's quick strikes. Around him, his friends battled on as well; he could hear Kratos' grunts, Zelos' random, almost panicked, laughter, and the soft chanting of Raine's healing spells. A burst of light was Colette to his right and several Desians saw first their armor, and then their flesh burned away by the angel's holy light. Despite the Desians outnumbering them, the group and their army were bearing down upon them without mercy. Lloyd was winning.
…
They were walking away from the group now, through the ashes of Mizuho. Taking in the mess, Lloyd waited for the half-elf to explain himself. For a long moment, Mithos could only stare off into the emptiness. "…a paradox is a contradiction," he said at last. "The basic analogy is the Grandfather Paradox."
Lloyd still stared blankly at the shorter boy and Mithos elaborated. "If you went back and time and killed your grandfather before your father was conceived, you wouldn't be born, and therefore, you couldn't kill your grandfather."
…
He bore down upon his smaller adversary. His swings were stronger, his arm not tiring, as he moved closer. Always, he held one sword defensively, blocking many attempted attacks that could have had his intestines exploring the bloody ground at their feet. He jumped back just far enough to evade her next swing, and brought both of his swords down on her shoulder. They struck home, through for his attempt, Myrrh's blade had managed a shallow gorge down his chest.
Still, Myrrh was knocked off of her feet and as she fell, Lloyd cut through her stomach, his swords leaving a trail through her almost-purple flesh. She screamed, and for once, Lloyd heard the cries that his swords left in their wake, and for once, he did not care. She had caused him too much agony, and watching the light in her eyes die was like pouring water on a forest fire. She wanted him dead, and it was as if she thought her eyes would do the job for her.
Empty. Her eyes lost their life, and a curse died on her lips.
It seemed impossible that the rest of the world hadn't stopped to watch the dying woman, but the battle raged around them still, and a moment later, Lloyd felt the warm blossom of healing mana take the sting from his chest wound. He swung 'round and cut through another Desian, this one trying to sneak up on Colette while the angel hurriedly cast another spell.
…
"Time does its best to eradicate any sort of paradox. They cannot exist. The contradiction causes ripples in time, such as Noishe and myself, to break through. Universes break apart; specific and dangerously detailed events like this Journey or the Kharlan War cannot be changed or all of time changes its course."
"Origin said something like that," Lloyd mused quietly, "but what does it mean? How does that even apply? Kvar didn't kill my Dad, and I'm still alive…and I didn't kill anyone…or are you saying I should kill his grandpa?"
Mithos sighed and shook his head. "No, fool, the answer is very simple. There is only one way that this can end, don't you understand yet? You have to let him win."
…
They were advancing still further; through waves of broken bodies, Lloyd tried to move. He didn't know where he was going, he only knew that he was searching for Kvar. But there was no sign of the Desian. He had disappeared into his advancing men, a phantom into a mess of madness. Looking for him felt almost pointless, but what other choice did Lloyd have? There was only one way out.
He had just shaken the body of a Desian off his sword; the already blood-slicked instrument almost seemed tired. Behind him, he heard Kratos growl in fury, and Lloyd rounded to see the man charging at Kvar. The Desian was laughing, standing away from the battle, watching the hell with twisted glee.
"Dad!"
Kratos was too busy to respond. He swerved around Kvar's first burst of lightning and slammed into the Desian's side, his sword cutting deeply into the half-elf. Kvar stumbled and fell, his head striking the marble floor with dizzying effects. The Seraph advanced, and Lloyd's breath caught in his throat. Kratos didn't know the plan, he didn't know what Mithos had realized. He couldn't kill Kvar!
The Desian had different plans for his demise, however, and as Kratos approached, lightning rained around them both. Kvar had no sense of direction; he simply needed to protect himself. It wasn't just Kratos who was shocked, but Raine and several Desians that had strayed too close trying to help their fallen leader.
"Dad, don't!" Lloyd shouted again. The lightning was dying away as Kvar regained himself and sat up, his red eyes unfocused. Kratos was hardly slowed by the spells. Somehow, Kvar was on his feet and ready to parry Kratos' attacks when the Seraph reached him. They moved rapidly, like a choreographed dance. Left. Right. Up. Down. It didn't want to stop, neither man would give in. Neither would break. Somehow, amidst the chaos, Kvar won.
The blade broke flesh. Kratos gasped. His eyes were wide, shocked. He had thought he could survive this ordeal. Death had not been an option. It had never been an option. Kratos Aurion fell. The blade had sliced cleanly through his heart. He was dead before he hit the ground.
…
"What?" Lloyd stared at Mithos as if he had grown a second head. "No way!"
"Think about it: why did Kvar come back in time? Because he lost. If he were to win, he would never have gone back in the first place, and…"
"And none of this would have happened."
…
Kratos' eyes were empty and staring, a trickle of blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. For the first time in his life, the grip on the Seraph's sword was loose and awkward. He lay at the base of the Tower of Salvation, dead.
Lloyd knew he was screaming. It was Sheena all over again, and tears had already begun to sting his eyes as he collapsed beside his father. The empty hole in his heart that had been ripped at and tugged by everything he had done through time was torn open. Every emotion possible bubbled through his mind, blinding him, making him scream and writhe.
Not Dad. Gods, please not Dad. He was going to keep him here. Keep him off of Derris-Kharlan. He was going to hear about Mom from Dad, he was going to train and travel and spend long nights talking and laughing. He wanted the childhood with his father that he couldn't have. He had always known he was going to keep his father with him—refuse to send him to that damned planet. And now…he was…gone.
"No!" he screamed "No no no no no!"
Firm hands tugged Lloyd to his feet and he looked into Noishe's green eyes. "Lloyd! Lloyd, hold yourself together! Lloyd!" He felt the harsh sting of fingers colliding with his cheek and almost in slow motion, stars blossomed in front of his eyes. The protozoan had hit him.
"Dad…"
Kvar was dead. The bastard was dead.
…
"That's how you defeat Kvar. You have to let him win, let time unwind and destroy the paradox."
…
Holy crap. Okay, next chapter is the last actual chapter, and then I've got an epilogue and we're done! Patience, the wait it almost over!