He awoke to the steady thrum of a machine beside him and the phantom feeling of excruciating agony searing through every inch of his body. Even so it was worth it for a fight that had actually challenged him in a way he hadn't felt since the Mist Dragon had been his opponent.
He eyed the machine next to him. It thumped about twice a second, a construct of magic and power hooked up to him and also to the sleeping form of Gamma as she lay next to his bed. Almost like a heartbeat as… he felt for his ribcage and found it still crushed so it was acting for his heartbeat. With a flush of magic through his chest he pulled the organs within back into use, his own heart beating once more and tore the machine off.
It screeched at the act but that was fine he was already well on his way to good health and getting back into the action right off the bat. So even as Gamma was startled awake by the noise he posed coolly and leaned back on his new bed. "I return to the living once more."
Gamma paused half asleep, looking between him and the machine for a brief moment before pushing herself up from her bed, and slamming down onto the floor all in one smooth motion. He didn't have a handkerchief, so he just pulled up the sheet on the bed to wipe away at her nose.
But she pushed his hand away struggling to speak. "The machine you need to stay attached it's keeping you alive so." There was clear panic in her eyes, so he just calmly patted her on the head.
Then he took her hand and brought it to his chest. "I've already restarted my heart its fine, I'm not intending on going anywhere right now. You can feel my heartbeat right?"
Gamma looked away as she nodded a blush on her face. But whatever words were to come were erased as the door slammed open Eta staring at the both of them and the machine for a moment.
He already was patting Gamma with his right hand, so he raised the left and found it a bloody stump swathed in bandages. The two of them winced but it was only a flesh wound as he let his right rip out the bandages and stitches they'd put in place on it.
A quick flush of magic flowed into it, and he watched his hand knit itself back together healthy and whole once more. "Come on Eta I have two hands again so you can get head pats too."
She walked forward which was as good as a yes and leaned in, her own hand reaching up to check his heartbeat on his chest. "You're not dying anymore, because your body isn't even slightly human to the point I had no idea how to treat you."
"I know I already messed with my own physiology a long time ago. I mean I couldn't exactly remain as a human now could I?" Calmly he resumed patting both of them on the head, relaxing calmly into place. "Humans live such short lives, and I can hardly leave you all behind with how hopeless you'd be. I promised Alpha at least three hundred years and I'll stay for at least that long." And much longer than that with how well it was going.
Eta nodded and took her hand off his chest. And then lowered it even as he caught it going down. "Does it still work?"
"Yes it does." He pushed her hand further away. "But is this really the time to focus on what I've done to replace the organs I no longer needed on my path to become immortal."
Eta pushed forward without hesitation. "Nothing is more important than that. For instance while hooking up your heart for blood flow I noticed you took several organs out of your waist, why don't you need them anymore?"
Because they weren't useful to him of course. But Eta was not convinced by even his most logical arguments so there was only a little he could do going forward. "I'll tell you about them later on but shoo for now I want to hear about the state of the city. When I fell asleep it was just after the demon died, how fares the state of Midgar in my rest."
Eta pouted but stepped back letting Gamma pull a sheaf of notes that they had obviously prepared for him.
He had so many questions to answer. How well were the incumbents faring, the dragon would surely have left by now but he could surely still get in on the fun and pick a faction to win. Or if things had progressed pretty far in he could just pull a surprise come from behind turnover and back Alexia to put the royal family back in action.
So many choices to see.
Gamma straightened clearing her eyes for a moment before staring directly back at him. "Everything goes as you have foreseen; Shadow Garden has succeeded on all counts for following your orders."
He nodded with confidence even as he paused to take it in for a moment. That meant they were all holed up out of trouble and hadn't actually done anything didn't it? But then this was Gamma who would be kept away from any fighting so she probably wasn't that aware of who the new competing factions for the throne actually were. "Good and how fares the dragon himself long as he has been one of my greatest allies."
She sat even taller. "The Mist Dragon is nesting on the castle itself, as a symbol of the new order ruling over Midgar. His very presence enough to cow those who would dare oppose our rule."
Our rule. He turned the words over in his head because it actually made some sense. Once he had gone down the only other people who had ever spoken to the Mist Dragon before were all Shadow Garden members and now he truly did understand.
Long ago he had told Beta many stories about princesses, knights, heroism and high ideals. It had been with an intent that one day she would step up and find the courage to write a story all of her own.
Instead, she'd stepped up and decided to become a princess and convinced her sisters to help overthrow the old monarchy to achieve it. He should have guessed because they were the only side with a prior agreement with the dragon in the first place. "I see you have achieved much in my absence."
Well, there goes the plan to try and put them back on the throne, but hopefully Beta would still remember him even now after she'd seized power. Stepped up and won a bloody civil war the likes of which he'd missed entirely, but he could work his way up and figure out how much had changed in the…
Was it months. I mean the civil war had concluded entirely so that made it at least weeks. "How long was I out."
Gamma answered with a smile. "A day."
Marquis Dacuacain sipped at his wine calmly in his seat. "It is a regrettable consideration but not one without levers we can pull. The dragon is a lost cause, but it clearly does not wish to rule in actual court and so all we need to do is manipulate the puppet on the throne to get what we want."
His old friend Count White smiled back as he sipped at his own. "They are too bold to understand how these things work I agree, using force to push their way in despite being known as outcasts mere days earlier. It is the greatest weakness of commoners that they think just gaining a title means the same as being able to rule."
They were of like mind. "Even if the names change the way we rule does not. For familiarity breeds contentment in the minds of the rabble and the current rulers are nothing like they are used to. All we need do is offer an alternative face to have them rally and when they listen it will be clear who the true rulers are. I believe both princesses still live do they not?"
White turned to look at him. "Iris does not suit our purposes in my opinion while she would be first she is too arrogant and wilful to be easily controlled, why go to the trouble for someone who won't even have the decency to follow orders."
But then weak willed and innocent. A failure of a princess with no power of her own, if you wanted to go looking for such a person wasn't there only one name that came to mind. "Shall I contact Princess Alexia then, because we're oh so kindly going to help take back her kingdom."
If they won they would be her only trusted advisors who'd helped when she needed it most. If they lost they could abandon her and disappear using their contacts with the Cult itself with no one the wiser to realise it. Such was politics of course.
Count White shook his head a similar smile on his face. "No need I've already taken the initiative to invite her to our little gathering today and she will be here shortly."
The law was not something of absolutes, there was no justice or innocence, only power and those willing and able to use it to further their ends. The thirteen night blades had been founded on such principles and with such a powerful backer they would always have a place in the world.
A guard came and announced their guests arrival, and shortly afterwards she was ushered into the room. A few members of the Crimson Order following in lockstep behind her.
She would have to learn to leave the commoners at home in future but then that would be for once they'd built up trust. Once they were as close as family and there would be no question as to whether she should believe them. For now it was easy enough to humour her, like letting a child keep a dog on a leash to let them feel safe.
For they were her fathers loyal subjects distressed by the overthrow of the true rulers of Midgard and eager to see her back on the throne. Just as they'd served him for all these long years, so too were they willing to bow their heads to her to see justice done.
"You really think you can help me take back the kingdom from them?" Hesitant and demure like a good woman should be in his presence.
"Of course, while the usurpers think they have a strong grip it is only surface deep. We know where the real levers of power reside and can use them to help you get back on your feet. They'll regret standing against us once we reclaim our power."
Her smile relaxed into a quiet, sombre one instead. "You really are bad at this aren't you?" Then it was gone replaced by venom and spite of her own. "But don't worry as much as you try, I've already accepted a better offer."
Her guards stepped forward and between one step and the next they changed, the same black coated uniforms of the usurpers manifesting in moments as they went from harmless to murder.
"Guards." The two by the door died before their swords were even drawn. There were more further in the mansion but it would take going through their assailants to reach them, and he wasn't even armed. "This is all a misunderstanding I'm sure." He turned to White hoping he had a plan.
He never got the chance to look back before the blade took his head.
He stood on the precipice, the battlements of the castle around him and a city lined with ants beneath him. Like a god looking down on the mortals as he stood in a world apart, triumphant and transcendent as he towered over all of existence.
Aloof and alone as he stood free from a world that carried on easily enough without him. But that was fine because it wasn't like this moment was supposed to be shared with anyone else in the first place.
It was an act of the greatest importance upon which the fate of the future rested. "I promised you a meal whenever you asked, and yet ended up running out early yesterday. So today I have acquired a picnic basket and the two of us can eat up here watching out over the city."
A tentacle pulled the picnic basket he'd secreted away before bringing Alpha and he presented it to her with a grin. After only a moment she relented and the two of them laid out a sheet and pinned it through the stone to begin their meal.
Alpha started the conversation. "I did catch you when you fell, but I'd rather you didn't get that injured in the first place."
That was always true he supposed, but he had chosen to live by the blade, so it wasn't like he hadn't expected such a thing. "It was a calculated gamble it's true, Fenrir was a monster though and had to be put down. He had stepped onto the path of the demon and if left longer would have destroyed everything, so it was better to risk it."
She had nothing to say in response to that and so they ate in silence next to each other for a moment. After some thinking Alpha started again. "Midgar is going to remain in turmoil for a while, but we do seem to be getting things in order. Beta is hard pressed at the moment."
"It's her first few days in charge she'll be fine and giving her a chance to grow into it on her own is good for her. Consider yourself as forcing me to relax, making sure I don't do anything stupid while I'm on probation." Eta had even brought the school nurse to give him a lecture about taking it easy for the next few days. "The die is cast and down there they will find their own solutions to the problems they face."
Alpha nodded even as she looked askance. "At times like these I think I stress the most, before I can plan to do more and after I can consider what the mistakes were but now all we can do is wait."
"We have raised them well and so even if you leave them alone they will still carry out our will." And by the term we he meant that he was taking full responsibility for Beta deciding to take over the kingdom. Even if he had been asleep when she'd carried out her diabolical scheme, he had still raised her and so he could still take all the credit.
Alpha cocked her head at that. "You don't intend to rule openly even now then?"
He grinned at the question. "Even if I could sit upon the throne openly and dictate the world as it must be, would such a thing not constrain me too much. That the cult would know where I was at all times and plan around my actions. My place remains in the shadows holding the strings, an unseen figure that they might fear me as much for my presence as they do my absence."
She smiled and leaned against him at that. "You're going away for a bit aren't you?"
"Just a short hop over to Orianna where I have some things to take care of. Only one country going into rebellion might well start a reprisal so I want to make them afraid." That and he'd promised Rose to help her liberate her country and with Mordred still there she didn't really stand a chance otherwise. "I'll be sure to bring back souvenirs, it's an art country so maybe some new music for Epsilon or some paintings."
"As long as you bring yourself back that's fine."
That was easily enough. "This place is my home so of course I'll come back to you all. Just make sure not to burn it all down in my absence. Beta and Gamma can be quite a handful when you let them loose so try and leave the country recognisable."
She nodded into his shoulder. "Your home will be waiting no matter what we won't let them step a single foot in your absence within the city walls."
They'd taken the few scraps of profound quotes he'd given them and turned them into gold. Till the point where he seemed to be the poorest of any member of their old group. "When I have been blessed with such diligent subordinates all I can do is worry for the other side. They must quake in terror in their homes when they hear of you for our foes have not a decent assistant between the lot of them."
"Shadow Garden was truly my greatest creation."
Alpha blushed in response but then to her it was a childish fancy, a game they might one day grow out of rather than the goal and meaning of her life. Even so it was something he could never relent on in pursuit of his dream. "Saving you all saved me as much as anything else, for before that all I was doing was killing and piling the corpses high like Fenrir did."
He nodded firmly because it was a dire portent indeed. He had almost ended up as a one note villain defined by a single sentence. Without even a nefarious plan or deceit how could he have ever hope to call himself an eminence in shadow.
In all rooms there was a focus the shining piece that took centre stage for all eyes were meant to gaze upon it. But just as all eyes were drawn to centre stage, none would look within the shadow cast behind it.
He ignored the things like the droning of the official hidden on the other side of the throne talking to Beta. Such a small thing as reality could not hope to break through into the more perfect world that existed within his dreams.
Let them try and curry favour with her, what could such words mean in front of the man who raised her as a child? Nothing of course because his place in the world was assured, and if he were but to speak he could claim it all as her shadowy advisor.
Right now he was practicing it perfectly, unseen to the rest of the world as he turned metaphor into reality with one simple trick as the world failed to notice him, ever unworthy of the truth.
The adjutant, mere extras began to leave even as Beta herself remained alone in the room the two of them waiting in silence before she finally spoke as she stood up from the throne. "Shadow you're feeling better."
It was time.
To step out from his place as the man behind the throne. "You have truly stepped up, who would have thought when we first met that you would be here now standing at the pinnacle of a nation."
She smiled back. "Everything is thanks to your guidance that I was able to make it this far." She gestured towards the throne where she'd left the crown. "You can sit in it if you want." Beta was almost hesitant to say it, but well it was a throne she'd worked hard for.
And he did want to sit in it. Calling to order the great reign of his eminence, King Cid the unknown. He plopped down with aplomb and posed for the audience that this moment might be remembered forever.
Given Beta already had a camera out perhaps it would be as he smiled for her shot. And if they were taking one photo why not more, for he deserved it.
Thoughtful King Cid, Plotting King Cid, Stern King Cid, Merciful King Cid and with the rate Beta was taking pictures soon there would be King Cid the photo book for anyone who wanted to purchase one. A fun private picture book kept just between the two of them.
With an officious air he proclaimed his order. "For my first decree we shall head out to begin uncovering the treasures hidden within this castle." Or in plainer terms he wanted to go exploring now that he had permission to be here.
Beta stood straighter returning to the practiced depth of her role as his secretary in Shadow Garden. "So far we've found the main vault of the kingdom but there was nothing of interest to you in such a place."
There was plenty to interest him, for instance gold, gold and more gold. Although right now his coffers weren't empty after his gambling spree in the tournament so he could put that off. Still no good castle could have only one vault, and in a magic kingdom there had to be some secret magic weapon only royalty knew about.
He stared back at Beta ever the image of wisdom. "The old capitol of Midgar was Alexandria and was held in such high esteem due to the presence of the dragon shrouding it within an invincible mist." He strummed his fingers against the rest of the throne and gave a knowing grin. "The current Capitol was chosen for similar reasons for while they never had a dragon there was always magic in this place waiting untapped for those with the knowledge to seek it."
Beta nodded her own grin coming as she saluted. "So that's why the catacombs beneath the city are so vast that the Cult could hide inside them. Is that the reason you were so interested in Midgar Academy as well."
"I have been investigating the seven great mysteries of Midgar Academy, from the bodiless murder, to the ghost in the library they all point to a single thing if one only had eyes to see it. That the veil of reality trembles that what lies beneath might one day awaken."
Beta nodded even as she pulled a piece of paper, jotting down into it his words. "Should we set up a guard around the school for when it awakens?"
Cid smiled at her. "The academy can wait for it is not yet time, right now we are going on an adventure." To explore every nook and cranny of Betas new castle, for there was no point in having a fancy mansion if he didn't take the time to explore it.
It had been a good exploration, but now it was morning once more. The first rays of light filtering through as he looked out on the rising sun. Long shadows stretching out across the world as day broke once more.
He watched the night end his perfect playground shattering under the rays of the sun as the city began to rise. As his dark persona began to fade away as he prepared himself to take on the role of Cid again.
Next to him a dark elf in a military uniform did the same as she mused to herself quietly. "It will be harder to use as a training facility due to the ease they can mix with the city itself."
He shrugged because letting people enjoy the city was the point. "It will do them good to stretch their wings and fly the nest. The city nearby gives them the chance to dance in the shadows for the first time in a land still safe where we can watch over them."
Lambda startled at his words and turned to look at him, stroking her hair and fixing her cap before she turned to see him, the picture of professionalism once more. "That is true and training for espionage missions with a city filled with people rather than an empty one will be good training for them all." There was a but waiting behind those words though and he waited for it.
"But once they are alone in the city, what happens when we have to deal with them wanting to go home?" Lambda asked the question easily. As though they had been kidnapping children unwillingly for years without a second thought for the plantations.
He hoped that wasn't quite what she meant. He'd already known that Alpha and Epsilon had been taking in a number of the possessed at various points. Had learned from him how to do it just so they could help anyone they found who was like them. He was at least going to pretend this was kidnapping the sick, and not just kidnapping.
"What of it if they want to go home."
He stood towering over the world once more. "You must never forget it is something we must do only because the Cult itself are monsters. That their experiments leave children broken and mutilated until their parents cast them out, not because they are wrong but because people do not understand. True victory comes when we have undone their works, and they are no more. In the world where we have won there will be no abandoned children to recruit, and Shadow Garden must be good enough to still gain recruits."
She nodded falling into place a step behind him as they watched the sunrise. "That is not how things are though right now, and for the ones today it is best they do not go back."
"That is true." He agreed to her words simply enough. "But I think I would live long enough to see that change, and when that comes to pass I will show that the rules always allowed it. When you do not look ahead you will find your successors look back on actions taken in necessity and declare it as the right way to do things."
She nodded. "I will take that into consideration and ensure the rules regarding it are clarified further for when you go over them next."
"I wrote the rules so naturally they will change as I will it. The most important thing for Shadow Garden to continue existing is simple though. We must be a good enough place that they want to come back, that even if they might leave for a time it will not be in resentment. I would hope that you stay at least in part because you enjoy it here as well."
She bowed her head without hesitation. "I am truly thankful to have been able to become a member of Shadow Garden." She waited like that as though expecting to receive judgement from him for her previous words.
He looked back up to the rising sun. "Good because I too enjoy spending time with you all." He'd touched upon a pretty heavy topic so now to lighten the mood. "So now that's done with let's go and train swordsmanship."
Everyone in Shadow garden was a knight otaku so it would be fine.
However, even as they left she asked one final question. "You would allow people to leave Shadow Garden?" The question was asked with a tone of incredulity.
It really shouldn't be. All of them had been recruited by the seven shades who he'd allowed to leave for several years and only done monthly checkups, so it wasn't like it was without precedent.
"If we reach the point where I can only get members because they have no other choice. Where each one would turn away if they were just offered a chance anywhere else. At that point I would have already lost." A game where no one else wanted to play it wasn't any fun at all.
He was cool and fun. Blackmailing and threatening people into not leaving was neither of those things.
Fenrir's final trick was to leak a tiny bit of magic out into the air around you and immediately ignite it like a rocket to propel yourself forward. The theory was so simple that he was sure even Delta would be able to understand it.
But his sword was made from slime, held together solely by the overwhelming control of his own magic. All that had happened so far was he'd put a hole in his perfect blade and watched it collapse in his hands in front of him.
Still even if the face of failure he might persevere. His sword held perfectly in his hand as he felt the magic around him flow, the fuel bursting free of the confines of his sword as it became like a rocket igniting to propel him forward.
The moment that fuel and engine, air and sword all ignited at once. The word engine transforming into the nicer word bomb, and then proceeding to blow up in his face without a second thought.
He dusted himself off on the ground once more, so perhaps this still wasn't working. He could use the technique with a real sword just fine but then he'd have to give up on the entire slime tech tree, his beloved brainchild that made the epitome of a cool costume, and he'd rather die than do that.
"Are your injuries still acting up." Gamma called from the doorway, he'd thought he'd been alone but it didn't really matter. The shades all knew the rules of the game as he turned to the door to see her rushing over.
A moment later Gamma decided she'd like to join him on the ground, a perfect face fault as her run turned into a tumble mid stride. So that was the end of his private training session. "The ground is so lovely at this how nice of you to drop in. Do you come here to train often?"
She pulled herself up absentmindedly wiping away the blood pouring form her nose. "If I don't train, I will never get better." Gamma phrased it almost as a question. "Which is why I make time to do an hour of it every morning."
But then even if she did train she'd never get better. And that was okay because swordsmanship was practically a hobby for her rather than something she did on an actual battlefield. Being bad at one's hobbies was perfectly fine as long as you enjoyed them. "You truly have an undefeatable spirit that will lead you well."
It at least wasn't the wrong thing to say because Gamma smiled a soft and warm expression in return. "Should I tell Eta that your injuries are acting up still?"
He blinked and thought back to his actions. "I'm not injured and in fact the technique worked perfectly." He held a thoughtful pose for a moment, staring into the depths of his sword while searching for something profound to say. "If I dare not risk failure how might I find success. This will be the fiftieth technique to enter the realms of my mob fu genius, that I might steal defeat when only victory should be possible."
Gamma looked almost confused at his words before smiling back. "You've created a technique that lets you lose in battle."
He nodded with a grin. "It is my finest work, a masterpiece of craftsmanship and showmanship that renders me no different to anyone else on the field of battle. A flaw in my own perfection that I might seem mortal even if only for a moment."
Gamma seemed to stop working as she considered that. "You're training not to become stronger but in an attempt to understand weakness?"
But there was reason to his madness. "Of course, Shadow can hardly walk around at school can he? He would be too imposing and crush everyone around him without thought, but who would suspect that the utterly meek and average Cid was also Shadow. It is my guise for walking among normal people. That for a brief moment they might believe that I am one of them."
Understanding bloomed on Gamma's face. "Because your role of Shadow takes you too far from the citizens and so you live as Cid as a contrast. That only through seeing through their eyes can you appreciate the depth of the impact of your actions."
It was like the greatest joke told on humanity ever. "I failed at it last time, until the point my true will still shone through and all who gazed upon it seemed to have recognised my greatness. But one day I will achieve it, an inglorious defeat with neither recognition nor shame."
Gamma nodded in understanding. "You too are concerned about the gap and struggle to overcome it. But even if you're not very good at being normal it helps that you're trying." If he was a normal person those words might hurt.
He wasn't so it was just how things were, and for his dream it was worth it. The shift between the perception as a mob and Shadow was something he'd put significant work into cultivating. "Well, I guess I'm going back to training."
"Would you spar with me then if you are trying to lose. This may be your most difficult battle yet." Gamma the weak extended a sword from her hand, magic pulsing through it unevenly as the great blade turned jagged and unstable. She took a stance, her feet too far apart to move properly and her sword too far out of line with her body.
She was truly the most difficult opponent to lose to. For in the first second of battle she was going to trip, the sword would fly wild and who knew what would happen next. He took his own stance, prepping himself in his mind.
Strongest versus weakest, that she might ascend to victory even as he fell in defeat.
Half dream and half memory caught on the verge of wakefulness and death she hung for who knew how long. Like all things it ended, and she awoke to a sky overcast with clouds so thick they blotted out the Sun and the sound of a shovel.
"You're finally awake, I guess there really is enough of you to put back together then." The voice was soft and sweet and almost familiar, the whisper of someone she hadn't seen in an age.
Surtr tried to speak the name, and found her lungs weren't working. Tried to raise herself up but even as she pulled on her limbs they weren't moving. No matter how much she twitched she couldn't seem to do anything.
But the voice was still there talking to her. "I think you're trying to move, but I haven't collected anywhere near enough of you for that, you're basically just a head right now. Now the good news is that I have lots of corpses on hand so we can build you something new pretty quickly."
No lungs to speak. But she had spent an eternity without her body and there were ways around such a thing. "Hel I see you're still alive, from the clouds it seems Dollanar has returned, and we failed."
There was a silence following her statement as the footsteps slowly trudged closer. "The shade is rather telling, it gives a truly gothic vibe and I can't say I miss the sunlight. You got wiped out Fenrir is dead, Gaunt might be and only Mordred walked away. But you're a darling so I'm sure it's all their fault anyway and the old man has already forgiven you."
She accepted it with bitter resentment. She'd done her best and still failed against a demon even with all her sacrifices. "I lost not even to the dragon but a human who let Diabolos curse mutate their flesh."
Hel hummed in response, a thoughtful moment passing between them. "I'll be sure to pass that on and yet there are only two safe methods of transforming oneself. So, either a vampire or one of us has gone traitor could you narrow it down?"
She thought back, he'd kept his cloak covering his flesh in the sunlight but had lost it in the battle without suffering any ill effects. "Not a vampire, the mutation of the flesh was similar to the possessed but far more controlled. Is there anyone who springs to mind for a traitor?"
"No idea." Hel shrugged. "Might even be old tenth having faked his death and trying to stage a comeback, but still can you pull yourself back from this without help?"
She'd been trying to for a while now. "Too far away, or perhaps something has been done to my limbs."
The voice was almost whispering in her ear in response. "That's fine I have a second plan and a spare bead, so I'll just fuse a ton of corpses into you as a replacement and we can get on our way. But in exchange I need a knight to cut my way into the heart of the lawless city to find out what the vampires within are up to."
Hel appeared in her view. Almost dainty and fragile if not for her blood red eyes and the fangs extending far larger than a humans should. "You'll help me with that for a bit and I'll even help you get started on building your own organisation."
That would be taking her away from her mission. "Shouldn't we all be heading out to cut down the dragon now that it's reared its head?"
Hel paused. "The old man has gone to speak with Mordred about how to deal with it. And as he has not called I intend to be nowhere nearby when everything goes down."
AN: Well epilogue is at least two chapters now, ah well my pacing isn't too bad. But I will post it just so that all know it is coming along, and anyway it is mostly fluff for these parts so cutting the chapter wherever doesn't matter much as long as each scene holds on its own.
Anisomeone: Epilogues are for fluff, so yes you may have plenty. I give thee Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Lambda in this chapter. Hopefully Epsilon, Eta, Zeta, Delta and more Gamma next chapter, lets see how far I get on for writing it. Also, I really need to at least mention that Claire still exists, because I now realise she hasn't appeared even once in this story.
Well Epsilon, Zeta and Eta team are intended to go to Orianna so Zeta will be working with other Shadow Garden members. Although that team will not be going directly with Cid at the beginning.
borregodillon9: I will endeavour to make the next arc just as awesome