Bhunivelze turns to all assembled, l'Cie and Eidolons alike.
"The time has not come to fight, but to join as one. It is our destiny, and also the last time that we shall speak, I imagine. In this moment, there is no battle. Only peace, and a balancing of what will be."
"I won't fall for your tricks." Fang is intimidating, even without her staff. She floats to the fore of the group, as they all hang suspended by stars. "I doubt that you are here to offer anything resembling peace."
The God smiles. "Peace. I'm not sure that's what you will call it, but at least it is an end. An end that is never final-and isn't that the concept of eternity? Today marks the end of us being polar opposites of the same coin. The coin has tossed, and we will now spin on edge for the rest of time, in a preserved dance of sorts."
"You make no sense. We can destroy you. Together, we are stronger than you. This is pointless. Meet your end once more." Light has had enough talk.
"I have one final gift to bestow upon my savior, my host, and the rest of you." Bhuni spreads his arms wide. "One last taste of my powers. We are a long way from your new planet. By the time that we arrive, the groups that are hunting you will all be long dead. You can return to your city once again as comets from an alien land, and you will arrive with a fresh start. This will set right all of the hardships that you face on your adopted new home now. I will be with you, and you can once again forge new names for yourselves without fear of persecution."
Hope's heart skips a beat in his chest, and Light turns to him, sadness in her eyes as she realizes his feelings. "My parents!" Hope cries out loud. He reaches out a hand borne of instinct-a form of supplication and hopelessness. He opens his mouth to protest, but the sound that rips from Sazh's chest is far more terrifying.
The group turns as Sazh shouts the name of his son, and the man steps forward unevenly. "No! My son, I have to get back to my son…You have to take us back! The same way that we came, we can use to take us back. You have to get us back there. I don't care if I'm a wanted criminal for leaving my post, I have to know that my son is alright…"
"The force that helped guide you to me is now no more." The God's voice booms like a cannon, reverberating to a pitch that is almost unbearable to hear. Whatever Sazh had been about to say is immediately snuffed out. "You saw what happened to your old master before you found me here. Anima helped pull you through. The being that was once a fal'Cie is now no more. I do not have enough power to port you there on my own. You will have to rely on your guardians to see you back from whence you came." He shrugs. "To me it is no matter. I need you safe, for your sake as well as mine. You will have to travel back."
"How long are we talkin here?" Sazh asks, his voice cracking. "Just how far away are we from our new home?"
"It depends upon the speed that you travel." The God shrugs noncommittally, as if the subject matter is trivial. He then turns up a mischievous grin, and leans forward, arms crossed, in His crystal casing.
"You are three stars away from the ball that warms your planet. I can speed your progress immensely, but even I don't have the power to rip space and time."
"No. We refuse to believe this." Snow speaks up first, clenching a trademark fist. "There must be a way. Some other way around this
"Do you remember your descent to that little green planet?" Bhunivelze muses. There is a pause here for everyone, and the God chuckles. "That was more of a rhetorical question, really. Of course you don't remember, you shot down in a crystal sleep as meteors from the depths of space. How odd, come to think of it, that you don't remember your first travel to the planet that you now desperately try to save." The forced mirth is wiped clean in the next moment, and the frown re-emerges. "I remember. I watched your descent, counting the streaks of amber and gold amongst the stars as the days ticked by. It didn't happen in an instant. I writhed in my little cocoon as I watched the imminent landing, all those years ago. Then I could FEEL you, so far away, starting new lives. Though I cannot physically move myself from my prison on my own, I still have the vision and sight of a God. My eyes pierce all, save for the essence of souls themselves."
"The point of the story is this: Now that you have returned to me, as I one day knew you would, you now have to trust me when I tell you-we are very far away from the home that your souls chose to go. Believe me, I have been contemplating a way to travel there far longer than any of you have, and I know precisely how long the fastest method of travel known would take to get to your adopted home. The only thing that can speed up the process, if you are a God, is to have worshippers channel their energy to bring you closer." He pauses in his tirade. "However immortal you may be, to withstand the pressures of Space and to stop your bodies in their aging process, you are not Gods."
"We will carry a God within us." Snow strokes his chin in thought. "When we release you from the prison that we put you in so long ago, you will become a part of all of us. Somehow. When that happens, won't we be able to harness the powers you now have?"
"Yes, hence I let you know that I would be able to help you earlier." Bhuni sighs, and shakes his head. "Weren't you listening? With the powers that I have to propel you closer to the planet, you will be able to arrive much quicker than relying on your Eidolons to propel you through the galaxies. It won't be a short trip for any of us. Thankfully, as l'Cie, you no longer hunger or thirst the way your human bodies did. You were so fragile. So weak. You should be thanking me. What has happened to you now is a gift."
"I see nothing that comes from you as a Gift." Light steps up now. "I should know better than anyone here to trust any powers that you choose to bestow upon us. Even the job of a savior for an entire world was thankless work in the end. It was a trick-a lie. I expect that this is no different. We are just transferring you to a much more personal prison."
"Then thank your dead Anima for the curse of the l'Cie once more, and let us be on with this, shall we?" The God has clearly had enough discussion. His eyes are eager to escape, to embark on something different in this new life. "Only your powers can release me from this stasis. Let's get on with this. I, for one, am ready to leave this point of Space."
"How do we proceed?" Sazh can hardly speak, but Hope admires him all the same for powering through. "We can grieve for the lives that we are leaving behind on the way. Let's do this and be done with it."
The rest agree, and the God smiles maliciously. "The same way you put me in here; you use your powers to release me. Fire at will, I stand at the ready."
"You don't have to tell me twice." This time, it's Serah who clenches a fist. "I'm ready to lend my arm to the fight."
Bhuni nods. "I expected no less. Hit me with all you've got."
Looking within themselves, the crew wastes no time.
With a concussive blast of energy, all the l'Cie of old combine forces together and channel all of their energies at Bhuinvelze. Great beams of energy and light explode from their palms, directed at the God. With an angry roar, the God throws his head back in pain, and the crystal encasing his lower half begins to crack. A tremendous heat bellows from them, almost too much for the heroes to bear.
"Just hang on!" Hope shouts over the din. The light that springs forth from him is Holy energy, and he can feel Alexander behind him, cradling him and lending strength to the mighty waves of energy that pulse from his hands. If Hope turns his head to either side of him, he can feel the respective colors and wavelengths from his friends that most represent their crystarium powers as well. Together, they form an indestructible team of energies and magick that the God simply can't comprehend-or combat.
Just at the point where Hope doesn't think that he can make it any longer, Hope realizes that the last of the crystal has cracked.
What have I done. Is Hope's first thought. Almost as if arriving at the same thought at the same time, the heroes lower their hands and stop channeling their energies at about same moment. The God roars once more, rolling His head and shoulders around. He floats in front of them, suspended in space as they are, eye to eye on the same playing field, free at last.
"Thank you for giving me at least a few brief moments of freedom before I am placed back into yet another cell." The God sighs. The heroes immediately close ranks and form into defensive formations, waiting with baited breath for what will happen next.
How is this going to work? How are we going to place the God into our brands? We may have just released Him for good-what have we done. The thoughts circle one another rapidly in his mind, but Hope shows no outward fear.
"We must work together for this next part." Bhuni address the group with an almost melancholy tone. "You must trust me."
"Not a chance." This is Light speaking. "We have no reason to trust you-now, or ever."
"But, you see my dear, we are going to be the same entity from now on. You must learn to trust me as you would trust a function of your own body. The analogy is very fitting." The God grins wickedly. "I have nowhere else to go now, save to where the lot of you choose to take me. Since I am going to be absorbed into your brands and bodies, you will find yourself with newfound powers that you may not have had in your previous incarnation back on your old world. This will lend you the speed you need to get back to your planet much quicker than you would normally-however, there is always a price. I'm afraid, like I said earlier, that you will find that ball of blue and green much different than when you left it last."
That was the part that they had to deal with. The fact that everyone they knew and loved, every memory they had developed in such a short amount of time, would be completely obliterated. Hope looks over at all of his friends, and Sazh most of all.
Dajh.
This isn't fair! Hope wants to scream. Just when he thought he was free of the monster that was his demon for so long, he now has to start a new life, all over again. Nothing is certain. Nothing is sacred. This just couldn't be. This was too much.
Sazh is screaming voicelessly up at the stars, which seem so much closer than they were back on Earth.
"Here, consider this my last blessing to all of you." The God can't know how much the thought of losing everyone that is important to them back home means to them. He couldn't know-he can't see hearts and souls, just cold facts. He leans dangerously close to the group.
"I can put you to sleep while I infuse into your brands-you will be transported home without a thought. You will wake up already having arrived, and this will be over."
There is an immediate protest within the group, but the God passes a hand over the assemblage, and it's lights out for all.