> Twilight the Traveler
>  by ilbgar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> L'cie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	AN:   This story will be a sort of meta-crossover. I don’t know why you wouldn’t already realize this, but I don't own anything in here and it will contain spoilers. Specifically for Final Fantasy XIII, XII, IV, III, and VII, not necessarily in that order. Though I can guarantee XIII being first. As well as spoilers for Lord of the Rings, and that’s just what I have planned so far. There will be anime in here too. I will mostly use video games and shorter anime as the worlds she'll visit, though OCs might exist.

Each individual ‘world’ will have an exposition to explain the world’s background as well as how she knows these characters, then delve into the main story-line. 

The parallel worlds in this story act like how I think other dimensions would act, separate timelines of universal evolution, they do not affect each other without direct interference from someone in one of them. However, unlike other dimensions, the laws of physics will be virtually identical. Alternate timelines may come up if there's an idea I want to try out that didn't make it the first time through a world. 

There will also be some head-canon, though only intended to flesh things out a bit, and an overpowered protagonist who will eventually become god-like, while slowly becoming a bit darker. I’m writing this purely for my own entertainment, you can read and/or comment or not as you please. This is my first story that I’ve actually planned to put online. So, now that you’ve been warned, let the story begin! 


***


Twilight had been sent to a parallel world by Cadance after Twilight had confronted her at the wedding rehearsal. That was when she'd realized that this wasn't the real Cadance she was dealing with, Cadance didn't solve her problems like that. Cadance had never been able to stand seeing anyone with anything resembling a bond fight, never-mind Twilight and her brother. She'd have cast a spell to calm them down, then had them talk the issue out. Assuming she wasn't under some kind of spell, the Cadance she'd encountered was not the real thing. 'Pre-wedding jitters' didn't account for Cadance suddenly developing a personality more similar to Blueblood's than what she remembered. Nostalgia might have colored her perception a bit, but unless she'd misheard and misinterpreted every action and conversation she'd had with Cadance, she couldn't be that wrong.

At any rate, she’d ended up a biologically four-year-old human girl, her outfit was a light blue shirt, a dark blue skirt, which matched her hair in color and had the starburst of her cutie mark on it, a pair of knee-high white boots, and a lavender backpack. Her lack of a horn would have freaked her out if her magic wasn't fine, which was actually a bit perplexing, but she  wasn't going to question it, (she didn't really have anything to experiment on it with, even if she was willing to mess around with the most temperamental function of her own body, which she wasn't.) Anyway, she didn't see why she should worry about her magic being intact. The odds of the cause being sinister when her magic felt exactly the same as before were... low. No one knew her magic better than her, so anyone skilled enough to fake her magic would be so far beyond her level that they'd have no trouble beating her in a fight, as such she tried not to think about it.

As for why she was human, she suspected that the same laws that had reversed her aging had also changed her into the dominant local species. That, or her species simply became human upon entering dimensions with humans. Of course, the fact that she'd been unwillingly ejected from her home reality might have something to do with it. It might be a problem if she ended up remaining human on her return to Equestria. Then again, if she'd figured out a way to return, then having been turned into a different species would be a minor problem compared to finding her reality across the infinitely vast multiverse.

She’d appeared in the city of Bodhum, a seaside town famous for its long white beaches and the annual fireworks display, and was a popular tourist destination, in the world of Cocoon, an apt name, since the people inhabiting the artificially made floating planetoid (which was hollow, with several million inhabitants living inside of the sphere) were utterly dependent on the fal’cie, god-like beings that did everything from making clothes and food, to managing the weather. They appeared to be very complex magical constructs to her, which raised the question of how exactly such beings were created. She couldn't find any information on it in public channels such as the library or 'internet', and (taking advantage of her biological youth to ask questions about the world that would have sounded strange from an adult or even a child of 10 or older) no one she asked seemed to know either, which struck her as very suspicious. These people sure trusted the fal'cie a lot considering how little they knew of the origins of their benefactors. She would need to investigate. 

The irony of that last thought did not escape her. Princess Celestia had intentionally allowed her origins to fade into legend to make the elements more difficult to find. The book about them from the Ponyville Library was one of less than a dozen copies in all of Equestria. It was not a coincidence she'd sent her personal student to the town closest to where the elements rested on the eve of Nightmare Moon's return. The princess knew she hadn't been able to beat or reason with Luna last time, and she was not confident in her abilities to do so this time. Thus, she'd gambled on Twilight not being too stubborn to realize how her companions had decided to be her friends, whether she liked it or not. Besides, she'd known Princess Celestia longer than anyone who wasn't Luna, and spent more time around her teacher than anyone else. The Princess kept secrets from her, sure, but if the Princess didn't want to share things from a past stretching back over 1000 years, who was she to pry? Besides, the ponies didn't leave literally everything to the fal'cie.

She’d been put in a Sanctum facility, (the Sanctum was a theocracy with absolute legislative, executive and judicial power, although the fal’cie built Cocoon, they only rarely participated in its affairs, at least officially, which she suspected was only true if looked at in a certain light) because, as far as they knew, she was an orphan. Not that they were likely to believe her story if she told them otherwise, though they might just decide to experiment on her if they did happen to believe her and decided they wanted to figure out how to learn magic without having to fake it, so she was understandably leery of attempting to tell them. 

She’d taken an interest in swordplay after seeing how effective it could be when a teenage girl with pink hair had overpowered her instructor in the use of her weapon. The man had laughed it off and said he didn’t have much left to teach her if she was better than him already, though the girl had been fairly stoic throughout the affair. Twilight had proven talented in the use of the weapon, though she also carried a pistol. She simply didn’t feel comfortable without a form of at least medium range defense.

The main reason she wanted to be able to defend herself without magic was that the magic she knew was at a disadvantage at close range. She'd learned that the hard way when the fake had snuck up behind her and smacked her over the head, then sent her here while she was dazed. If she'd been better at more physical means of dealing with threats instead of merely having a passing knowledge of the physical side of self-defense, she'd never have been sent to another world, though there was another reason she used non-magical means of fending off assault as well.

She couldn’t use magic in public because the people here were xenophobically afraid of it, though not without some cause. There was a world below Cocoon known as Pulse with fal’cie of it’s own. Several centuries ago, there had been a war between the two, which had cracked the shell of Cocoon.  This war, known as the War of Transgression, had left deep scars in the form of an almost pathological terror of Pulse, and a few artifacts scattered across Cocoon. Though the giant garbage dump that was the Vile Peaks probably had more than a few buried secrets. She highly doubted the military simply missed the machines wandering the wasteland despite their periodic purges, which she was nearly certain were from Pulse. The alternative was that they were built by the Sanctum to deter scavengers or people curious about Pulse and hoping to get something out of the pieces taken to repair Cocoon, but she highly doubted that was the case.

There was a logical reason behind this terror though. The fal’cie had the ability to turn people into servants known as l’cie against their will. A person turned into a l’cie gained the use of magic, something humans generally lacked, but had to complete a task or be turned into a mindless monster, a cie’eth, doomed to wander the world until they turned to dust after their corrupted bodies could continue no longer. If they did complete their task, or Focus, they would be turned to crystal and supposedly gain eternal life. 

Supposedly being the operative word, there was no mention of how long exactly a person would remain crystal, or if becoming a crystal was even continuing to live. Still, the whole 'Pulse is the source of all evil' thing was a bit hard to swallow, even by a large portion of the citizens of Cocoon native to it, with whom she found a few kindred spirits. However, that wouldn't stop people from being spooked if she performed magic. She could probably prove that she wasn't a l'cie fairly quickly, but then she ran the risk of being experimented on to figure out her powers. Magic without becoming an unwilling sacrifice or having to use technology to partially mimic it's effects was likely too good for the government too pass up. There was a chance she'd be treated well, but the risk was too great for her to chance it.

She spent her days practicing with her sword, and eventually instructing on it’s use at NORA, as of roughly age 10, a group founded by Snow, Yuj, Maqui, Gadot, and Lebreau, fellow residents of the Sanctum facility. The name stood for ‘no obligations, rules or authority’. She wasn’t an official member, but they seemed to consider her one. It was a common joke among the official military branches that NORA members used swords instead of guns, but they generally used both unless they happened to excel in one or the other. 

Lebreau, for example, was a decent sniper, though Yuj was a better shot than any of them at close-range (20 feet or so). Gadot used a heavy broadsword, taking advantage of his strength and it's weight to strike down opponents he tended to soften up with a grenade beforehand, while Maqui preferred a rapier, landing three hits for each of Gadot's, though he still did less damage overall and usually wore down his enemies with a lot of small wounds as opposed to a lot of big ones and avoiding being hit in return as he was much less durable than Gadot or Snow. Snow fought with his bare hands, with the occasional hand grenade used to stun his enemies or reduce them to pulp depending on their toughness, though he had his strength augmented with the same kind of technology used to mimic magic. 

It was worth noting that some of the more level-headed (in combat at least) members had joined after hearing that she taught here, and these members were mostly the contacts of hers who shared her deep-seated mistrust of the Sanctum. They felt it best to join a group independent of the Sanctum, and the presence of more than a few like-minded individuals was icing on the cake. This group was mostly composed of medics and technicians, as few were confrontational people by nature, and served to patch up the combatants of NORA and maintain their gear. Though the small number of hackers trawled Sanctum channels for potential threats as Psicom was annoyed by their activities independent of the government. The Guardian Corps was fairly ambivalent. As long as they didn't directly hinder GC forces, they didn't care.

While some people were a bit put off by being instructed by what they believed to be a child, she quickly changed their opinion, she wasn't a master, but she was a firm believer in practice makes perfect, and she practiced a fair amount, the near-daily sparring certainly didn't hurt either. She was also going through the numbers for a way home for approximately an hour a day, and, when she reached the age of thirteen, working at the local library. She practiced with her magic when she was absolutely certain no one was around. 

Her power seemed to have increased a fair amount since the time before she was sent here, thanks to having practiced in secret, and being given a decade or so to let her core grow. Magical cores were technically only where the magic collected, much like blood in the heart, but a larger magical core meant a greater amount could be channeled at once, essentially 'pumping' more magic in one instant. Magical cores grew with the use of magic, and over time. Thus, mages grew stronger with age unless they didn't use magic at all, at least as a general rule. This was part of what made the princesses so powerful. 

She was now fourteen and she’d finally finished crunching the numbers to return to her home reality, she was setting her affairs in order at this point, she’d probably come back one day if this wasn't a one-way trip, but first she had to deal with Cadance's impostor. She wanted to clean up the mess at home first before trying very hard to unravel the web here. She was pretty sure she'd need some support from home if she wanted to reach the heart of the corruption that seemed to be rooted in the Sanctum. As such she'd informed the others she'd be gone for a couple days, and been a bit out-of-touch with them. She didn't exactly carry a phone around, too easy to track if her hacking was traced. She was careful to avoid leaving a trail, but someday she might go too deep and find something they didn't want her to know badly enough to kill over. For example, she'd gotten access to the blueprints for several of the less powerful pieces of military tech, she simply lacked the resources to build one herself. She was pretty sure they could execute her for that, but she honestly hadn't known what was in the file, though with the name 'Scorpion' perhaps she should've guessed.

She thought over all this as the rest of her mind worked at managing the library. She mainly just sorted the books and gave directions, but she still took some pride in her work. To her delight, there were somewhat more people than usual in the library today. She was a bit curious as to why this was, but enjoyed it nonetheless. Still, there were some rumors floating around that the Vestige by the Hanging Edge was under government investigation. It was a relic of days before the War of Transgression, located near Cocoon's outer rim. The area was once a thriving  metropolis, but residents were forced to abandon the location when Cocoon's shell was cracked during the war. It was since designated a restricted zone and, with civilian access prohibited, soon became nothing more than a spot you were supposed to avoid, though the more curious or adventurous sometimes visited it to have a look. Nothing to raise the government's suspicions though, especially after so long. Come to think of it that might be why, the history section had seen most of today's visitors after all. ...Why did she suddenly have a bad feeling? The Vestige might be from Pulse but- Oh. Oh no.

Suddenly the doors burst open and a squad of Psicom soldiers, Psicom being an acronym for Public Security and Intelligence Command, trooped in. Psicom was an army division tasked with fending off Pulsian attacks. Suddenly she had a much worse feeling. What were they doing here? Please be an evacuation and not a hit squad.

Her question was answered in the next few moments, “Attention all Bodhum residents, a Pulse fal’cie was discovered within the city, all potentially contaminated citizens are to be deported to Pulse.” the squad captain yelled over a megaphone. Oh, good, not a hit squad.

The visitors to the library began to panic as they heard they were being sent to what had been called hell by many on at least one occasion. Surely they didn't think Pulse was all that bad, besides running around in circles wasn't going to help anything. It reminded her of Ponyville's tendency to freak out over every little thing, to the point a bunny stampede was treated like a massacre on the streets. “This is the will of the people of Cocoon. If you resist, we are authorized to use lethal force!” the captain said, one hand on his gun. Okay, nevermind! They could be a hit squad if everyone didn't stop panicking! She didn’t know any other way to calm the people here down, so, slightly panicking, she did the famous librarian ‘shh!’ in hopes of at least preventing anyone from making enough of a fuss to get themselves shot. Surprisingly, everyone continued to panic, but more quietly. ...Wait, how was that even possible? That made absolutely no sense! She forced herself to ignore it. That way lay self-combustion, like last time she tried to figure out how people did things that violated the established laws of reality, either through being Pinkie or experiencing intense emotions.

“Okay…” one of the soldiers muttered, seemingly just as confused as her. Realizing there wasn’t anything else she could do here, she walked over to the squad captain. She wasn't a therapist and only knew the basics of psychology, and it wasn't like she could sit down with everyone here. She doubted the soldiers would be that patient even if she thought she could manage it.

“Turn over your weapons and report to the train station, and don’t even think about trying to leave the city. The perimeter guard has orders to shoot first, ask questions later.” he said, she nodded and turned over her sword, pistol, and the taser she had as an all-else fails weapon. It was relatively easy to conceal, and close to non-lethal as long as she didn't shock someone over and over.

The majority of the people in the library were calming down, though some of the very old and very young were still a bit wide-eyed and several were threatening to burst into tears. The squad captain looked to see if anyone was watching and/or listening, before leaning towards her and quietly saying,

“Sorry.” She nodded at him. The members of Psicom were people just like the rest of those present, they weren't enjoying this.

She made her way to the same train station she always used. She noticed what appeared to be the same girl with pink hair that had inspired her, but older, and wearing a primarily white outfit with a red cape and a pair of black shorts, and Sazh, the train conductor she’d met on her train rides. The two of them were in the midst of conversation when she approached. Before she could join or even overhear the conversation, they had given their weapons over to a Psicom soldier and joined a line. 

“Your weapons and personal effects will be returned upon arrival to Pulse!” a Psicom soldier announced. It seemed they were keeping track of what belonged to who as people boarded the train. She got in line behind pink hair and Sazh. A man and a woman suddenly broke out of the line and ran, holding hands. She was unsure if they were in a relationship, or simply afraid and clinging to the nearest non-hostile.

“Open Fire!” a soldier yelled as they ran. A group of soldiers that had seemingly been doing nothing raised their guns and gunned down the couple mid-stride. People cried out in shock and fear, threatening to panic and run as well. She simply stood there, the only thought that ran through Twilight’s mind was ‘I’ve never seen someone killed before. How can they just do that without a second thought?’ as a Psicom officer raised a megaphone and yelled, “Do not leave your lines!” in an attempt to regain some semblance of order. Logically, Twilight was aware that soldiers were trained to follow orders, even if that meant firing on civilians. Even knowing that, she couldn't find any real justification for shooting people in the back when the soldiers guarding the exits would almost certainly catch any potential escapees unless the deportees fled en masse. A bubbling rage began to fill her before she forced it down. She'd only get more people killed if she lashed out now, especially if she used magic, which would likely confirm Psicom's fears from their perspective. She wouldn't be surprised if they called in an air strike in response to magic if this is how they reacted to people fleeing.

After the deportees calmed down to the point they weren't about to turn and run, the line began moving again. People had a blue robe forced on them, which was shortly followed by a pair of invisible handcuffs clamping down on the hands of those wearing the robes, likely due to Antimatter Manipulation Principle, or AMP, technology carried by at least one of the soldiers. AMP technology was able to mimic the effects of several forms of magic, since it used small amounts of antimatter, and antimatter operated on the reversal of the laws of physics, though it lacked the true variety of real magic, as the manadrives created in this manner were only really able to synthesize the effects of the use of one, maybe two, types of magic unless they were very advanced. They were also slower than natural magic, but she considered the loss of flexibility the bigger trade-off. A specific pseudo-spell needed a specific manadrive, which had to be made specifically to accomplish the effect. The AMP technology that amplified Snow's strength, for example, could only do that, and years of research might go into tweaking for those effects. It had taken 50 years of research to go from the concept to anything like today's AMP tech, though a lot of that was spent making sure the containment of the antimatter was nigh-indestructible.

They got on the train and were seated, three guards were in their car alone, she’d seen another nine get on the train.  Considering they probably had several times more bullets than there were people here, this could go very badly if someone tried to resist.

“Are you sure about this?” Sazh asked pink hair. The guards were checking on the deportees at all times, as if expecting resistance. 

Pink hair shushed him by saying “Be quiet.” 

“Good luck.” Twilight said, having been seated on pink hair’s other side, fairly certain that the other girl was planning to attack the guards. She was not fond of Psicom right now. She was fairly ambivalent most of the time since they'd never done anything she could say for certain was completely unjustified, but after what happened earlier, she had to admit she was kind of cheering the other girl on. Especially since if her bright-haired friend was successful, then the guards wouldn't kill them.

There was suddenly a sound resembling breaking glass as the train crashed through something, which greatly concerned her since there shouldn't have been anything on the tracks. The soldiers struggled to stay standing by simple virtue of inertia, which led to pink hair taking the opportunity to jump out of her seat and take out the first guard. He dropped a small gadget that glowed blue, which pink hair proceeded to smash. The invisible handcuffs on the deportees disappeared, though Twilight questioned the wisdom of having the guard with the device so close to belligerent captives in the first place. Of course, there was probably a range limit. Though having multiple in case one got smashed probably would have been a good idea.

“She did it!” Sazh said as the deportees began to get out of their seats. 

“Freeze!” one of the remaining guards said as they opened fire on pink hair, who threw off her robe in the face of one and kicked him in the face with a cartwheel.  A surreptitious barrier killed the bullets' kinetic energy and prevented civilian casualties. Twilight had punched the other in the back of the head, having spent years practicing physical defenses since magic was not, generally speaking, an option. She'd also taken self-defense on her brother’s recommendation in her own world, and finally had a reason to use it where it would be slightest bit effective in this world, (possessed goddesses, ursas, dragons, and spirits of disharmony were unlikely to be more than annoyed by a punch in the face and she usually fought with weapons otherwise) knocking the guard unconscious. Human form was a lot different from pony form, but a lot of the basics still applied.

“I’m Twilight. Let me back you up.” Twilight introduced herself as she retrieved the gun of the guard she had knocked out, she had glimpsed fires and Psicom bioweapons (animals that had been domesticated, trained, and enhanced by Psicom for use as weapons) out the window when she got up. She didn’t think the Purge was really exile. Pink hair retrieved a gun of her own from the other guard. Twilight noticed that while her outfit was primarily white, she had a darker top on underneath. 

“Name’s Lightning. Just don’t hold me back.” she said as they made their way up the train. Something in Twilight had shattered when she saw that couple gunned down, and with the knowledge they were probably being sent to their deaths the whole time, she wasn’t going to hesitate in at least knocking the guards unconscious. 

They ran into the next car, Twilight reacted on trained instinct when the first pair charged at them from the sides and shot them dead at point-blank range, then froze up. Lightning took care of the next pair. Twilight shoved her horror to the back of her mind, not at all happy about what she'd just done despite the resolve she'd had not a minute ago.

‘I can freak out later, it’ll just get Lightning and myself killed if I fall apart now.’ she reasoned, and forced her hands not to tremble. Meanwhile, Sazh was getting the deportees out of their seats, and calming them down, many wanted to fight once they realized there was a chance, slim as it was, of escape. 

Back with the girls, Twilight had retrieved another gun from one of the fallen soldiers and the two of them had made their way to the next car. Twilight took out two of the soldiers immediately, feeling slightly less guilt and self-loathing this time (but only slightly), and dealing with it more quickly. Lightning snapped her fingers and activated a type of manadrive known as a grav-con that gave a person a degree of control over gravity, hence the name. Lightning must have secreted it on her person, something Twilight had not had the confidence to try.

She glowed blue as she flew over two of the guards and smashed her foot, which was clothed in a military-grade combat boot, into the farthest one’s face, instantly knocking him out, and took his gun with some impressive acrobatics as she dodged gunfire. Twilight shot another guard as Lightning took out the last one with a hail of gunfire from two guns. Rather overkill, but it got the job done. The door to the car opened as Sazh and the rest of their fellow deportees came in. Sazh handed over Lightning’s gunblade and Twilight’s sword and pistol. 

“They all want to fight.” Sazh reported, indeed the Purge victims were sporting almost every conceivable form of ballistic weapon, she could have sworn she saw a crossbow. Of course, without training, they were much less of a threat to the people they might be fighting than otherwise. Even assuming there were some people who were trained, no one besides, Sazh, Lightning, and herself appeared to have a weapon they were trained with, and very little of one's training with one weapon would carry over with another. It was less obvious with guns since guns tended towards the same basic shape, though differences in weight and clip size would throw off all but the most experienced. The point was, civilians with weapons were much less dangerous than a group of trained soldiers would be. Then again, a random guy with a gun shooting you could still kill you with or without training.

Sazh was wearing a green coat and pants, his usual outfit, with his usual hairstyle of an afro. Lightning switched her gunblade to blade mode as she said “Good for them.” handing over the guns she'd retrieved from the Psicom soldiers to a pair of deportees. Several of their own assortment appeared to have been taken from the fallen soldiers. They got a clear view of the Hanging Edge, the area where the Pulse fal’cie had supposedly been found. It was chaos as Psicom soldiers and bioweapons clashed with the rebelling civilians. 

Several fighters and bioweapons immediately began firing on them, either they had some way of knowing that the people on board had overthrown their guards, or they'd decided that it was only a matter of time and intended to sacrifice the guards. Lightning grabbed a missile launcher from Sazh with a “Give me that!” and began destroying the Psicom fighters. A bioweapon unleashed a hail of lightning and blew one of the cars on the other end of the train off. Psicom soldiers and rebels were at a stalemate in most areas, but the presence of bioweapons immediately turned the battle in the favor of the Sanctum, due to sheer numbers, and/or near-invulnerability to ordinary bullets in the cases of the canine bioweapons and Behemoths respectively. 

When there were no non-humans present, the civilians did a good job of handling the Psicom forces, with support from NORA, as she had seen a large number of group members that she recognized coordinating the rebellion on other roads. She watched as canine bioweapons and Behemoths, as well as Warmechs, slaughtered the Purge victims where they were nonetheless. Warmechs were essentially robots of varying shapes that acted as tanks and heavy artillery. R and D was a priority for the Sanctum ever since the War of Transgression, though Psicom certainly got the lion's share of the advances as evidenced by the bioengineering in the bioweapons and the advanced technology in the warmechs. What information she had on them suggested a lot of time and energy went into making them nigh-unhackable, as having their weapons turned on them would render them far worse than useless. A friend of hers had noted that you'd need direct access to the systems of a warmech for it to be possible, and their electronic security was far better than almost all of the database firewalls, the time and effort involved being the main reason why the latter's security was abysmal by comparison. Then there was the obvious problem with trying to hack something trying to kill you.

She suddenly heard a droning noise. She looked behind them to see a Mansavin warmech approaching, a type that resembled a scorpion. This one was white and had four sawblades on each of its two forelimbs, flying over them and getting closer. “Uh oh.” she said, pointing at the warmech. It looked a bit different than the blueprint she'd photographed rather than risking a download of. Perhaps her hacking had caused some modifications to be made?

Lightning aimed the missile launcher at the warmech, “Dammit, it’s out.” she said after only getting a click out of the missile launcher. 

The warmech landed on the roof of the car, and began tearing it open with its tail. “Run!” Sazh yelled. Lightning ran over to the opening and jumped up to the roof. Twilight, not about to let someone face that thing by themselves, went after her, careful to avoid the jagged metal as she climbed up. “I meant away!” Sazh yelled, his voice becoming shrill with fear. Sazh climbed up after them, just in time to see the warmech jump up and land in front of Lightning.

“Hey, hey, let’s be rational now!” Sazh said as he struggled to his feet. Lightning backflipped out of the way as the warmech swiped at her with one arm. “They’re sending the big guns out, now what?” Sazh asked. 

“Watch and learn.” Lightning said, readying her gunblade.

“I’ve got your back.” Twilight drew her sword and pistol as she said this. 

The warmech readied one of it’s arms, the sawblades began to course with electricity as they started spinning. Definitely new. It smashed the sawblades of its right arm into the train where Lightning had been a moment before. Lightning charged the machine the moment it pulled it’s arm back. She left a deep scratch on it’s face as she slashed it, Twilight slashed it in the other direction, surreptitiously using her magic to increase her force by about 50% with telekinesis, creating a second scratch resulting in a scar across it's face in the shape of an X. 

She silently thanked Snow for getting her on strength training. She wasn't anywhere near as strong as him and barely on the same level as her stoic companion, but she'd be completely doomed if she hadn't taken up conventional weapons and couldn't access her magic. She'd mainly been focused on technique since she didn't think her physical strength would transfer across the walls between parallel worlds. Snow had to convince her to start a heavier regimen of exercises to ensure she could hit hard enough for it to matter.

They dodged out of the way just as it fired a laser. The three of them took the opportunity to empty their clips into what was presumably the energy core of the machine. Twilight once again enhanced her attacks, this time with a small spell to increase penetration by 25%. Her pistol was meant for rapid fire and reload, and as such, had a bit less power than Sazh's twin pistols, but her magic made up for it. The mech reared up, jumped back, and grabbed the sides of the train. 

“Fall back!” Lightning called as the mech began to shake the train. 

They retreated to the next car of the train. “Hey, this thing’s not so tough!” Sazh called. He really shouldn't tempt fate.

“Are you trying to make it mad?” Twilight asked him. The rockets on the mech activated. 

“Hey, that wasn’t a challenge now!” Sazh held up his hands defensively. The mech began to shake the train harder, before lifting it up. 

They retreated to the car furthest from the mech, the other deportees had long since run off while they kept the mech occupied. This proved lucky as the other cars were pushed off the road one by one. Sazh was hurrying off the second to last car as it began to fall off. 

“Jump!” they called. He jumped just in time, landing heavily on the car with a grunt, barely avoiding falling to his death. The mech was headed for them, though it’s flight was a bit uneven, their bullets being fired into it's core appeared to have damaged it’s systems. That laser attack seemed like a major design flaw, one not corrected since she'd discovered the blueprint. What idiot decided exposing the machine's major weak point was a good idea? Then again, most people would be a bit too preoccupied with getting out of the way of the giant laser to take advantage of the opening.

“Heads up.” Lightning said as the mech neared them. 

“This thing just won’t give up.” Sazh said panting. 

“Not to mention we’re running out of train.” Twilight said, glancing behind them to judge the distance better. Together they finished it off with a combined assault to avoid either taking a nasty fall or being crushed under it's bulk/sliced into a number of pieces by it's sawblades, but were knocked back as an explosion from the mech knocked it off the train car. It fell down the chasm, hopefully to be destroyed on impact. 

“Oh, thank heaven.” Sazh said as he sat down heavily on the roof of the train. “We did it!” he said with a smile.

Lightning looked over the side, as if expecting the mech to come back, though this was not out of the question since it could fly, or at least it could before that last attack. A group of fighters flew overhead, hinting at the total chaos going on around them.

“Hey, explain something to me. You’re a soldier aren’t you? If you’re a member of the Sanctum’s army, why are you trying to stop the Purge?” Sazh asked Lightning. 

“I quit earlier.” was Lightning’s eloquent response as she jumped off the train car to a road that was lower than theirs. Oh she was going to be a barrel of laughs, Twilight could just tell.

“Hey, where are you going?!” he called after her in exasperation. A chocobo chick jumped from his afro to his hand. “We just can’t catch a break can we, chocobo?” Sazh asked it. The chick chirped at him. “That’s a good question.” 

“Come on, let’s follow her before she leaves us behind.” Twilight said as she hurried down the side of the train to the lower road. She'd seen far stranger things than a person talking to an animal that appeared to understand them. Fluttershy had done it all the time. She was curious when he'd gotten that chick though. It hadn't been there a couple weeks ago, though come to think of it, she hadn't seen much of him lately.

“I’m getting too old for this.” Sazh said with a sigh. After they caught up, the three of them fought their way through the forces of Psicom, dodging aircraft fire. They hid behind some debris from a lone Psicom soldier, who was guarding a transgate, a teleporter the Sanctum used to transport units long distances quickly. They had passed an unguarded one already, she wasn't sure if the soldiers who had been guarding it were otherwise occupied, dead, or merely incapacitated, but they weren't anywhere nearby when they'd passed the gate.

“Not wanting to get Purged, that I get, but taking on trained soldiers?” Sazh asked Lightning. 

“Not to mention their pets.” Twilight said, referring to the bioweapons. Behemoths were enormous vaguely lion-like creatures that could take on a squad of trained soldiers and massacre them. They were honestly more vulnerable to swords and other melee weapons than guns as ordinary bullets and other blunt attacks tended to bounce off their thick hides, which required piercing attacks to cut through. The canine bioweapons, Gorgonospids she believed, were weaker than the human soliders, but were born hunters and pack hunters at that.

“Better to die than go to Pulse. It’s hell without the brimstone.” Lightning answered them as the Psicom soldier, seeming to sense he was being watched, used a keypad to activate the transgate and call two of their canine bioweapons, temporarily draining the transgate. Come to think of it, perhaps the guards for the previous transgate they'd come across had done something similar before being forced to leave, believing that they'd either make it back before the gate recharged, or they wouldn't make it back at all. Either way they weren't going to reprimanded for leaving the gate unguarded if it was useless.

“Hell isn’t sounding that bad right now, because this place ain’t exactly paradise.” Sazh said. 

"Not to mention their pets." Twilight made a gesture at the canines. She really didn't think Pulse could be that bad. It was like they expected fal'cie around every corner, waiting for people to make into glorified slaves.

“Those are just domesticated peacekeepers, nothing to worry about.” Lightning reassured them. 

“Maybe not for you, but I want to stay-” Lightning charged at the Sanctum forces. “Hey!” He called. As Twilight leapt over her cover and ran behind the enemy while Sazh and Lightning were arguing and killed the bioweapons, the soldier was turning to face her while Lightning came at him. 

“Wha-?” that was all the soldier had time to say before Lightning killed him as well. They made their way across the road as the fighting continued. 

They wiped out the Psicom in their path before the soldiers could kill them instead or call in reinforcements. Twilight watched as a group of rebels were slaughtered by a Behemoth that had moved to its secondary form, a bipedal sword-wielding monster. In a fit of rage, she killed it with a blast of magic, momentarily forgetting that she was trying to keep a low profile on that in her anger.

“You used magic.” Sazh said, slowly backing away, as if afraid she'd turn on him if he moved too suddenly. It hurt to see him react that way, but she could understand why. If she were a l'cie, then it was possible that all of this was her fault. She wasn't, but she could see the logic.

“I know what you’re thinking, I’m not a l’cie.” Twilight said calmly. Panicking would make her look guiltier, so she reined it in.

“Then how can you use magic?” Lightning asked gunblade at the ready in gun form, specifically pointed at Twilight's forehead.

“It’s going to sound crazy.” she warned them. She was really hoping to avoid being shot. Keeping the person holding a gun at her head from dismissing her explanation out of hand would be good for her continued living.

“This whole mess is crazy, try us.” Sazh said with his hands briefly thrown in the air. He had a point.

“I’m from an parallel world, I was sent here because I tried to interfere in the plans of someone. I was about to get back when this whole mess happened.” she explained. 

“Makes about as much sense as the rest of this crap.” Sazh said, shrugging, Lightning holstered her gunblade. 

"I need all the help I can get." Lightning explained. Twilight was not sure if Lightning believed her, or if her thought process was more like 'Well Psicom's already trying to kill me, what's the point in avoiding being around a l'cie?' Of course, there was also the option that Lightning had been of the impression that she'd been in contact with the fal'cie responsible for this mess, resulting in said mess. Lightning might be willing to forego killing her without some kind of proof that she was a l'cie because she wasn't a terrible person who'd kill someone over a maybe.

They continued on, Twilight was killing the bioweapons and Psicom soldiers on other bridges with her magic, focusing on the ones that were outmatching the deportees. She wasn’t even feeling the drain yet. 'When she was absolutely sure no one was watching' wasn't very often, so her magic had been building up, despite her slight use of it, for 10 years. She was unlikely to feel the drain for some time. She was honestly surprised she hadn’t exploded or at least lost control from magical overload. Although her magic built up quite slowly once it hit her 'maximum.' Thus, 10 years of build-up didn't give her effectively unlimited magic. More like two months worth.

There were some deportees ahead of them, but before they could reach that area, an air strike destroyed the road in the people’s area. She grabbed as many as she could see through the dust cloud and watering eyes from the blast of displaced air, telekinetically, and moved them to the remaining ends of the road not destroyed by Sanctum forces. Some of them still fell to their deaths, screaming all the while as they followed the section of road down. 

The people she’d moved to either side panicked as they realized they’d been saved with magic and ran off down the road in the direction there was still road. She'd never encountered such a negative reaction to magic, as if it were inherently evil and foul, and the death all around. ...She was going to have nightmares about today for a long time, assuming they survived.

“Now what, do we turn back?” Sazh asked, still coughing from the dust that had risen from the road’s destruction.

“We don’t have the time.” Lightning told him. She was right. They couldn't afford to backtrack when there was this strong a military presence trying to kill every poor soul unlucky enough to live near the fal'cie they'd discovered. Every moment they spent here was a moment someone was trying to shoot them until they were dead, then a few more times just to be sure.

“So, what do you suggest we do?” he asked.

“Quiet.” she snapped at him. She snapped her fingers and activated her manadrive again. 

“Hey, hold on, you can’t just leave us here!” Sazh yelled grabbing on to her. 

“Let go!” Lightning yelled at him as she writhed in his grip. 

“Hell no, you’re the only way out of here!” he yelled. Lightning kicked him in the stomach and punched him in the arm, then pushed him off. 

However, having been designed with only one person using it at a time in mind, her manadrive deactivated, and she only got a blue spark when she snapped her finger again. “I think that could get us across.” Twilight pointed to a troop transport that was moving towards their side of the break, probably to investigate the magic she’d just displayed and to take care of the survivors. 

She hadn't bothered about trying to stop Lightning because she wasn't really sure what Lightning's goal was here. Hers was to survive and save as many people as possible. Most likely she'd join up with a NORA group, but she'd mostly just be winging it until then. Anyway, Lightning was more or less a stranger, and if she really wanted to go off on her own, Sazh took precedence as a friend and single father. ...Though come to think of it, she hadn't seen Dajh around recently. She'd ask him about that later if they lived. Besides, Twilight didn't really have a specific destination in mind, and she'd run out of magic sooner or later, so traveling in a group of at least two would be best.

“Right?” Sazh asked, having recovered from his kicking. 

“Looks like.” Lightning said in minor annoyance. They made their way to where the transport was heading, Sazh still holding the arm Lightning had punched. 

A full squad was on the transport, led by an elite. Elites were a huge leap from a regular Psicom soldier in terms of physical power and weaponry. They also had access to high-level manadrives and better armor, they were the pinnacle of Psicom’s human forces. As a general rule, they wore full-body armor, but then, so did most of the Sanctum's human forces.

“Alright put down your weapons, I’d hate for this to get messy.” the elite said, readying his spear.

“Messy? What’s he mean, messy?” Sazh asked.

“I’d say he wants to kill us without a fight.” Lightning said as they readied their weapons.

“If he expects us to do that he’s sadly mistaken about our intelligence.” Twilight said. She was worried she was starting to get jaded about mortal peril, but this guy was annoying by virtue of sheer condescension.

“Time’s up!” the elite yelled in anger at being snubbed like this by what he would believe to be 'Pulse-tainted scum'. 

He charged them using a pair of rockets on the back of his full-body armor. Twilight blocked with her sword, said sword visibly glowing purple as she reinforced it to prevent the force of a person in that much armor smashing against it from snapping the blade. “Magic…” the elite whispered in horror. She pushed harder against his spear and sliced through it, hitting the elite so hard he smashed into another road entirely, certainly dead. Their armor wasn't that good. She inwardly cursed herself for using that much of her limited pool of magic on an enemy that didn't deserve it. She wouldn't have access to this much magic at once again anytime soon, so she needed to conserve it when she could.

“In my defense, oops.” she said as they wiped out the soldiers before they could radio the news that there was someone who could use magic here. 

“I’m suddenly really glad you’re on our side.” Sazh said once they'd finished, looking at the elite she’d sent flying. He walked over to the carrier's interface. 

“Well, I was the personal student of the one in charge of the sun. I suppose you could say she was the equivalent of a fal’cie magically, but without the l’cie thing and nicer.” Twilight told them as they finished the last few soldiers. 

After a moment of silence, Sazh said “Okay…” and turned to Lightning, apparently deciding to change the subject. “So, what’s your angle soldier?” Lightning didn’t say anything. “What, is it classified or something? You quit, didn’t you? What’s it matter now?” he asked as he began fiddling with the controls for the transport. “It’s not like I’m gonna go out there and tell everybody your secret.” 

“The Pulse fal’cie.” Lightning said quietly. 

“Er, what?” Sazh asked. 

“My ‘angle’ is that I’m after the fal’cie.” Lightning walked to the control panel and pulled on an unusual lever, fully activating the transport. “Still happy that you tagged along?” Lightning asked as the transport began to move. 

“Didn’t really have a choice.” he responded. What was he supposed to do, go off on his own?

“Well, I hope we don’t die.” Twilight said dryly. A radio could be heard broadcasting the voice of Primarch Dysley, the human head of the Sanctum. 

“On behalf of Cocoon’s citizens, I would like to thank our brave Pulse pioneers, and express our best wishes for a successful relocation. Your noble and selfless sacrifice ensures the continued safety and peace of our society. Were it not for this remarkable gesture, every resident of Cocoon, your families, your friends, your neighbors, would be exposed to the dangers of the world below. By choosing to leave Cocoon and participating in this migration-” there was a screech as the broadcast cut off. 

“Pretty smart, using their loyalty to Cocoon and their ties to others against them, despicable and manipulative, but smart. If they don't lay down their arms outright, their resolve will probably be shaken.” Twilight said in a tone of mild disgust. A few minutes of silence passed. Twilight couldn’t see well enough to tell who was who on the ground from this distance in the meager light provided by the fires, so she focused on stopping the air support. However, a lot of people were still dying. Sazh watched a fighter attack a group of rebels before retreating from the area to avoid the same fate as the others. 

“This is an out-and-out massacre. These people won’t even live long enough to get to Pulse, much less die there.” Sazh said. 

“That was the point.” Lightning told him. 

“I was beginning to suspect that.” Twilight said sadly. Twilight had shot down the nearby air support and was simply watching, mentally beating herself up for not being able to do anything for the people on the ground from this far away. 

The only response Sazh could come up with was “What?” 

“Sanctum logic.” Lightning said.

“It looks like the Purge was just conjured up to eliminate a threat. It does make a horrible sort of sense. Why carry the danger all the way to Pulse, when you can just stamp it out, here and now?” Twilight said in a slightly ill tone. 

“Execution masquerading as exile, that’s what the Purge was from the start.” Lightning said. 

“‘Relocation to Pulse’, how can the government get away with this kind of crap?” Sazh asked. He turned to Lightning, “It sounds an awful lot like you knew this was gonna happen.” he said with a trace of suspicion and narrowed eyes.

Lightning shook her head, “The Purge was Psicom, the Sanctum’s private troops, not the Guardian Corps, I was Guardian Corps.” Ah, Twilight had thought the outfit was familiar. The Bodhum Regiment of Guardian Corps had occasionally run into NORA on patrols, but they usually either supported each other in fighting hostiles or ignored each other and the Corps local commanding officer tended to look the other way as NORA was basically a militia in regards to how they acted towards the local hostile wildlife. As Snow once put it, "What kind of hero says no to people wanting to help their hometown?" 

Sazh shook his head. “Psicom, Guardian Corps…” he waved his hands at each group. “Soldiers are soldiers, aren’t they? The Pulse fal’cie and their l’cie are the enemies of the state. If you tell a soldier to kill an enemy, do you really think it's gonna matter which uniform they’re wearing?” Sazh asked. 

“It might have mattered to that one.” Lightning gestured to one of the fallen Psicom soldiers on the transport. “He couldn’t shoot, so he got himself shot instead.” Lightning said.

“And what about you? Orders say shoot, do you pull the trigger?” When he didn’t get a response, he said, “Fine, forget that I asked.”

“Hey guys…” Twilight pointed to a group of flying bioweapons headed straight for them, it seemed that Psicom had figured out where what was destroying their forces was.

“Shoot down as many as you can, we’ll deal with any boarders.” Lightning said. She shot down bioweapon after bioweapon, but some still managed to get onboard through sheer weight of numbers. However, these were taken care of by Sazh and Lightning. 

After about five minutes, the last of the bioweapons were killed off.

“Geez, I’d say that was overkill for one transport, but since we beat ‘em I guess it wasn’t.” Sazh said. A siren began to wail, an immense groaning noise was heard. “What’s that?” Sazh asked, pointing at to a slowly opening section of the metal overhead. 

“Attention Purge deportees! Attention Purge deportees! Put down your weapons and surrender immediately. Your removal is the will of the people of Cocoon. This is no longer your home. Should you attempt to flee, the Sanctum will employ every resource necessary to bring you to justice.” A voice whose identity was unknown announced as the flagship of the Sanctum's fleet, the Pulse Vestige where the Pulse fal'cie causing this whole mess had been found, along with reinforcement bioweapons, aircraft, and troops, came through the opening.

Twilight shot down a number of the bioweapons to try and limit casualties. The soldiers usually reached the roads, but the largest aircraft took some damage as as she attempted to force them to pull out. “Cease hostilities and surrender at once.” the announcer finished. Twilight noticed any groups that surrendered were lined up and shot, and she was beginning to see why a number of people were so cynical. She'd never really trusted the fal'cie or the Sanctum that much, but this was beyond despicable. All these people had done was happen to live near a fal'cie, or simply be near a fal'cie, since she doubted that the people who'd been visiting Bodhum were being spared.

“Is that it?” Sazh asked, gesturing to the building being moved by Psicom forces, several large aircraft were moving it with tractor beams. 

“Yeah, the fal’cie is inside of that building.” Lightning told him.

“Hm, a Pulse fal’cie, huh.” Twilight said, wondering what made it any different than the Sanctum’s. Was it any better? Or was it actually worse, and the Sanctum considered all of this justified because of how bad they were? That was a terrifying thought. What could be so bad that all of this was justifiable in order to avoid it?

After another minute or so, they were hovering near a relatively clear and undamaged road. “What do you think makes the Pulse fal’cie any different from the Sanctum’s?” Sazh asked. 

“You read my mind.” Twilight said. 

“Well, I wouldn’t really mind if I had to keep wondering.” Sazh responded after glancing at what was going on around them. 

Lightning, who was looking down at the road they were approaching, stood up all of a sudden, snapped her fingers for some reason, and said, “Time to jump.” 

“Wait, hey, hang on!” Sazh yelled as Lightning jumped a height of several stories off the transport. “What the-? Hey!” he called as Lightning fell, only to activate her manadrive at the last second and land completely unharmed. “Damn.” he said, his mouth slightly agape. “Well, here goes nothing.” he placed a hand over his eyes.

“Uh, Sazh, I forgot to mention that-” Twilight cut off as he walked off the platform. “-I can teleport.” she finished lamely. She watched him fall, prepared to catch him, only for him to hit the blue bubble-shaped anti-gravity field Lightning had created. She carefully judged the distance, and teleported down. 

“Hey, wait a second, could you do that the whole time?” Sazh asked in surprise. 

“I tried to tell you, but you'd already jumped by the time I finished. As for why I didn’t just teleport us across the bridge, each person increases the amount of magic required for teleporting exponentially, it also increases exponentially over distance. I’m good, but I don’t think anyone besides my mentor and her sister is that good.” she explained. She'd never teleported as a group on purpose before. Spike had relatively little mass compared to 2 full-grown humans, and her teleportation was rusty as that was one of her flashier powers. Besides, bringing down fighters took some serious power since she had to throw around enough energy to shred a wing or just make the whole thing explode as she was not familiar enough with the fighters to know their weaknesses. She'd already burned through about half of her stockpile at this point. She'd need to start conserving it if it was going to last the next 24 hours, though she had a feeling it wasn't.

“Well, you may have to do it next time, that was my grav-con’s last hurrah.” Lightning said, annoyed, as the anti-gravity field died with a fizzle. That must have been why she'd snapped her fingers on the transport, to make sure it was working. Her grav-con was smoking slightly now, obviously fried. Mechanics and electronics were not Twilight's strong point, so she wouldn't be able to fix it. Lightning would have to do without until they got another one, unless Lightning herself knew how to fix it.

They started off in the direction of the Pulse Vestige hiding the fal’cie. After an interval of 30 minutes, they managed to get inside by finding an opening that was less than ten meters from the road and having Twilight teleport them over before it moved away, only to be blocked by a metal door sealed with a red rune with arrows on the top and bottom. Lightning had attempted brute force attacks, but this only caused tiny crimson lightning to spread from the points of impact. 

Meanwhile, Twilight had studied the seal, attempting to disable it with her magic, though she noticed the seal seemed very slightly weaker after a minute of almost continuous assault by Lightning, so she joined in with her own sword, she didn’t want to use her pistol as she only had so much ammo, and it was difficult to conjure bullets in large numbers, not to mention the danger of the bullets ricocheting. 

“Still won’t budge, huh? It looks like the door’s winning to me.” Sazh had opted out of the assault on the door, stating that he’d rather not have bullets ricocheting around the room and quite possibly into them. 

Lightning muttered something that sounded like “Why didn’t I listen?” 

“Could you say that again?” Twilight asked. 

“Beg your pardon?” Sazh said. 

Lightning muttered again. “It was me, this was my fault.” 

“Come again?” Twilight and Sazh asked at the same time. 

“Cover your ears.” Lightning ordered. 

“Blast charge?” Sazh asked. Lightning nodded. Twilight wasn't sure where she'd have hidden that during their trip, and so, doubted the truth of that statement. However, she wasn't going to call Lightning on it. No, she had a better idea.

“I’ve got a better idea.” Twilight said aloud. She concentrated on the seal and, with a mix of brute magical force and finesse, dissolved the seal. A blast charge had too high a risk of shrapnel anyway, and she didn't want someone getting impaled if Lightning had managed to smuggle it in. She wiped some sweat off her head, “Phew, the fal’cie are certainly powerful when it comes to magic.” she admitted as the door opened with a clanking noise. Much as she hated the fal'cie for what they were doing (or causing in the case of the one she was dealing with) she could admit to the power and skill of her opponent. She was considered a genius when it came to spellcraft, and she'd needed as long as it took most spellcasters to learn how to cast a new spell (emphasis on how) to figure out a momentary cancellation.

“Did you just out-magic a fal’cie?!” Sazh asked in shock with a near-shout.

“Well, only for a minute, the seal will be back up soon, so we should really get through now.” she said. They hurried through the doorway, a few seconds later, the door closed back up as the seal reasserted itself. Several bioweapons attacked them almost the moment they got in. 

After wiping them out. Sazh said, “If those thing are still around, then there might still be soldiers trapped in here too. Though they’d probably be l’cie now.”

“If they’ve been in here for very long, they’re probably cie’eth by now.” Twilight said nervously. She’d seen a cie’eth once, they weren’t very keen on things that weren’t also cie’eth. It had wandered out of the Vile Peaks and surrounding wastes, and proceeded to almost kill the entire patrol. Twilight being nearby and the arrival of a squad of Guardian Corps soldiers were all that had kept the patrol from being killed, and the cie'eth reaching the city. Though the squad might have reached the cie'eth before the cie'eth reached the city anyway thanks to the NORA members delaying it for a few minutes.

“Either way, not even human anymore. Just Pulse l’cie, the enemies of Cocoon. We can’t show them any mercy.” Sazh said sadly. After a few more encounters with the bioweapons, Lightning was growing increasingly distant. 

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. Lightning had begun acting strangely after Sazh's comment.

“I thought you came here for a fight.” Sazh said. Knowing him, he was trying to rile her up enough that she'd answer.

“My sister...” Lightning began, the pause saying nothing good.

“What about your sister?” Twilight got the feeling the answer to that question would be unpleasant. 

“She’s a l’cie.” Lightning answered her. Yep, there it was.

“What? A Pulse l’cie?” Sazh asked. 

“The fal’cie has her captive, but I’ll find her.” Lightning said. 

“Do you know if she’s still…” Sazh left it hanging. Lightning began to walk off, but was stopped when Sazh rushed in front of her. “What was her Focus? When she became a l’cie what did the fal’cie order her to do? It wasn’t ‘blow up Cocoon,’ or anything like that?” Sazh asked. 

“That seems a bit much to expect of one person, if it were ten people, I’d be willing to buy it, but one?” Twilight said reassuringly. Of course, that was assuming that the fal'cie cared if it's new servant could accomplish the task it gave them, but Lightning didn't need to know the other half of that thought.

“I don’t know.” Lightning said guiltily. Another door up a flight of stairs, in the shape of a keyhole, glowed red as the seal and door disappeared. 

Hulking bluish-gray masses of stone and crystal mixed with corrupted flesh began spilling out of the door. Cie’eth, they couldn’t be anything else. The fal'cie was probably using them as guards since they weren't good for much else anymore. It sickened her to know that these things all used to be people. This was worse than killing someone.

“Listen to me, here’s how being a l’cie works. When a person gets cursed by a fal’cie, they become a l’cie. Then they get a Focus.” he sighed. “How do I put this?” he asked as the cie’eth lumbered around aimlessly on the top landing like mindless beasts. “If they don’t carry it out, a l’cie ends up as one of those things. What I’m saying is, if your sister’s gone that far… I mean-! She might still-! How can I-?” he sighed again. “Oh, man. The point is, there isn’t any way to turn a l’cie back into a human, and there’s definitely no way to turn a cie’eth back. Whether she completes her Focus or not, there’s no changing her fate. She’ll live her life as a fal’cie slave.”

Lightning looked down, her breathing labored by emotional pain. “Don’t make her suffer.” Sazh finished. Lightning pushed him away. 

“Why don’t you just say it?! Any l’cie, anyone who might ever become a l’cie, they should all be wiped off Cocoon!" she shouted. "People like you started the Purge in the first place.” Lightning continued just above a whisper. Twilight wasn’t able to think of a way to end the argument, so she stayed out of it. They both had a point. You shouldn't give up on family or friends easily, but if there was no way to turn someone back from being a walking mass of violent stone, likely in constant pain and quite possibly still conscious but unable to do anything...

They fought their way through the cie’eth, more bioweapons, and a few Psicom droids until they reached a more open area, where a girl bearing some resemblance to Lightning was lying on the ground. They powered through the few cie’eth in their way and made their way over to the girl. “Serah!” Lightning called, she examined her unconscious sister for a moment, before picking her up.

“I’m no expert on the fal’cie, but that brand looks like it’s almost through to me, and I know a lot about magic.” Twilight said, more than a little worried. Lightning wouldn't be in any state to fight if something like... that happened to her sister and she wasn't sure she was willing to put Lightning's sister down even if she was that far gone.

“We have to go before the army-” Lightning cut off as she almost ran right into Sazh who was staring at Serah’s shoulder, more specifically, the mark on her shoulder that closely resembled the rune on the doors, her l’cie brand. “What?” Lightning asked him. 

“That’s a Pulse brand, that girl is a l’cie.” he said in a dead voice.

“I told you that before.” Lightning said guardedly. This could be bad. Twilight began to walk towards them slowly, to avoid spooking them.

“Pulse l’cie are the enemies of Cocoon.” Sazh continued in the same dead voice as he reached for one of his guns, putting one finger on the trigger.

“So you’re saying they should die?” Lightning asked angrily. She was really not sure who she'd side with if it came to a fight, so it was best to avoid said fight ever happening. Sazh was her friend, but killing Serah now didn't seem like the right thing to do. She could just set a barrier up between them, but she doubted Lightning would take being separated from her sister when she'd just found her very well, and fighting each other would probably get them all killed in the long run.

“Listen, if she fails her Focus, you saw for yourself how that’ll end.” Sazh began.

“Which makes killing her some kind of mercy?” Lightning asked angrily.

“Okay, let’s all just calm down, before someone gets shot.” Twilight said, attempting to break up the verbal badminton before her comment came true by interposing herself between them.

“You came…” Serah said weakly, having woken up at some point during the argument. Lightning slowly put Serah down.

“Serah!” Snow called as he and a pair of children she didn’t know came down on a moving platform. The boy had white hair, an orange jacket over a white shirt and dark green pants, and there was a green scarf wrapped around his neck. Snow was wearing his usual white trench coat with black pants and a black bandanna. The girl had fuschia hair and a pink top with a skirt that appeared to be made of feathers on.

Snow ran over to Serah and grabbed her hand. “Serah.” he said again more quietly.

“Is that… my hero?” Serah asked with a smile. Snow held her hand to his head. Twilight really hoped that Serah was just saying it like that because she was happy to see him, and not because she couldn't see anymore. She didn't know the exact symptoms preceding becoming a cie'eth, but she didn't like the sound of going blind regardless.

“Let’s get you out of here.” Snow said.

“Hands off. I’m taking her home.” Lightning told him. Twilight noticed that Serah seemed tired, as if she was ready to fall back asleep at any time.

“Sis, I-” Snow was cut off as Lightning interrupted him.

“I’m not your sister! You couldn’t protect her! It’s your fault she-” She cut off as Serah said, “You can save us.” 

“Serah?” Lightning asked.

“You can save us.” Serah repeated. “Protect us all. Save… Cocoon.” She finished weakly. 

“Serah, was that your Focus?” Lightning asked.

“Anything, I’ll do anything. Leave it to me- you’ll see.” Snow nodded as he talked. “I’ll protect Cocoon! I’ll save everyone!” he promised.

“Somehow, I’ll make things right.” Lightning added.

“You just need to relax.” Snow said gently. Serah smiled and closed her eyes.

“Thank you.” she whispered, before she began glowing blue, her brand was actually shining.

“Serah!” Lightning called as her sister began to float upwards. A surge of magic was building in Serah. Crystal fragments began filling the air around Serah as she rose higher. Snow held on as long as he could, but Serah rose too high for him to reach.

She began turning to crystal almost the moment she was out of Snow’s grasp. Her arms moved into a position of prayer. A small light detached itself from the main body of magic and spiraled into Snow’s hand before flashing brightly and turning into a crystal tear. He stared at it for a moment before he jumped up, trying to grab onto Serah. “Serah! Serah!” he called in anguish. She felt sorry for him and Lightning. What kind of cruel joke was it to be reunited with a loved one, and then they effectively die less than 5 minutes later?

“Why is she turning to crystal?” pink girl asked in awe. 

“L’cie who fulfill their Focus are turned into crystal, and gain eternal life.” white hair said. 

“The stories are true.” Sazh said as Serah came back down to the ground. 

“Serah… sweet dreams.” Snow said softly.

“Sweet dreams?!" Lightning pushed Sazh out of her way before grabbing Snow by the collar. "She’s not sleeping! Serah’s… She’s-” she pushed Snow away. 

“She’s alive!” Snow said.

“No.” Lightning obviously didn’t want her hopes raised only to have them dashed again.

“The legend! Remember the legend! L’cie who fulfill their Focus are turned to crystal and gain eternal life! It has to be the same with Serah!” he turned to them one by one. “Eternal life! She isn’t dead!” They all either looked away or at the floor. “Serah’s my bride-to-be, I promised to be hers forever. I don’t care how many years I have to wait-” Lightning punched him square in the face, knocking him on his back. 

“It’s over! Open your eyes and face the reality!” Lightning yelled at him. After a few moments, the building began to shake. They struggled to stay on their feet. White hair knelt down and covered his head with his arms. Snow struggled to his feet.

“Oh! Wait!” Sazh yelped. 

“What now?” pink girl asked. 

“The army!” Sazh said in epiphany. 

“I thought we’d have more time!” Twilight called as a small piece of masonry landed on her head, causing her to sway drunkenly. 


*** Meanwhile Outside. *** 


Psicom bioweapons and ground forces were readying themselves for the destruction of the Pulse Vestige. “The target is almost in place. Surface team, what’s your status?” a Psicom captain asked over the radio.

“Good to go, we took some heavy casualties in the bioweapons, and we lost a few fighters to what we suspect is magic, but the remainder of the resistance is under control. The NORA militia coordinating the rebellion has taken heavy losses and is in full retreat. The assault proceeds as planned.” A soldier on the front responded as gunfire could be heard in the background. 

“Leave no trace, as far as the Sanctum is concerned, the Pulse Vestige never existed.” the captain ordered. Bioweapons fired on the top of the Vestige. Searchlights lit up the Vestige so the Psicom troops could see what they were shooting at. 

“Fire at will!” a soldier called. Grappling hooks, specifically designed for the purpose of damaging the structures they latched onto, were launched from the aircraft. Huge clouds of dust and bits of the building itself rained down as dozens of impacts took place.


*** Back Inside The Vestige. *** 


Pillars collapsed and pieces of debris rained down on them. Snow and Lightning did their best to shield Serah from the falling debris. Twilight was attempting to create a shield, but she couldn’t concentrate enough for it with all the knocks she’d received to the head from falling pieces of metal and stone. 

“What’s happening?” pink girl asked. 

“Must be a Sanctum strike, bring down the Vestige and the fal’cie right with it.” Sazh said. 

“It might be the head trauma I’ve suffered, but I’m tempted to applaud the person who came up with the idea. They can’t come in without risking being made into l’cie, but they still need to get rid of the thing, so they just drop its own building on it and take care of everything at once.” Twilight said in a slight daze as she dodged chunks of the ceiling falling on her. 

“But I thought they were taking it back to Pulse. That’s what the Purge was, right?” pink girl asked as she and Sazh held onto each other in an effort not to be knocked over. 

“They don’t care how. All they care about is getting everything from Pulse off Cocoon, dead or alive, it’s all the same.” Pink girl backed away from him a bit. White hair grabbed her hand.

“We can’t stay here! Even if they knew we were here, they’d kill us anyway!” he yelled. The shaking began to subside, slowly. Moments after the tremors subsided, another red seal faded from a door further up the stairs, this one circular. The door opened with an ominous rumble.

“I’ll be right back. Hold on.” Snow told Serah, holding her hand. 

“Hey, Trench Coat. Where’re you going?” Sazh asked. 

“Date with the fal’cie, we’ve got some things to talk about.” He started up the stairs.

“What? You’re gonna ask it to help her? Have you lost your mind, kid? That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out!” Sazh told him. 

“Well, then what do you want me to do?” Snow asked, snapping at Sazh. It took a lot to make Snow angry, but apparently the level of horrible of today was enough. Sazh opened his mouth, then closed it again, stumped. Lightning started up the stairs. 

“Lightning?” Snow asked. Sazh shook his head and followed. 

“Come on, you’re... slightly less likely to die if you go with them.” Twilight said, grabbing pink girl’s and white hair’s hands. In all honesty, there was a pretty good chance they would all die if they didn't get out of this place now. Either the military would kill them, or the fal'cie would. Then again, the odds that they'd make it out of the Vestige in time by themselves was pretty low.

“Well, if I’m going to die anyway, I might as well be doing something, right? Just in case, I’m Hope.” white hair said in a resigned sort of way.

“I’m Vanille.” pink girl said. They ran to catch up to the others, After climbing the stairs, going through the door, and climbing down the other set of stairs. They found themselves in a dark room with a metal dome.

“So this... is the fal’cie.” Hope said, slightly disbelieving. His voice carried a clear note of 'Is this it?'

“I have to admit, I’ve seen scarier and more impressive things than this.” Twilight said. Really, this was a bit underwhelming. Appearances could be deceiving though, and this thing could be harmless-looking on purpose to get people to lower their guard, so her own guard was higher than usual if anything. A lowered guard would be useful if they wanted to magically enslave someone.

“Serah’s a crystal now. You gave her a Focus, and she did it.” Snow pointed at the unresponsive dome. “You got what you wanted, now let her go!” When the fal’cie continued to ignore him, he dropped to his knees and begged. “Please. Just turn her back!” he propped himself up on one knee and placed a hand on his chest. “I’ll be your l’cie instead!” He still got no response. 

“It’s not going to listen to you.” Twilight said, starting to get angry again. What did this thing care if one more person died? There were hundreds dead because of it already, and that was the optimistic estimate. One more wasn't going to change anything as far as this thing was concerned.

“You go on begging, like this thing gives a damn what we want!” Lightning pulled out her gunblade, switched it to blade mode and began slashing the dome, only to be pushed back by her own force, not leaving a scratch on the dome. 'What is that thing made of? I'd like a sword made of that.' Twilight thought. 'Now's not the time!' the rest of her mind told the part that had noted this.

“Lightning!” Snow called worriedly.

“It’s this thing’s fault the Purge started, and it’s people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon. That means this thing needs to die!” she cried out. 

Panels lit up yellow beneath them, gears began moving in the walls surrounding them as the room brightened. The dome opened a crack, a bright light shining from inside of it. A pair of hand-like metal constructs rose from the floor to either side of the dome. The light became blinding as the dome opened all the way. It faded to reveal a strange being.

“What the-” Sazh asked. A green being with metal all over it’s body and a purple crystal embedded inside it was levitating inside the dome. It’s only limb was an arm that ended in three blades. Hope turned as a tone sounded from the entrance, moments after the crystal embedded in the fal’cie had flashed. A red seal had appeared, he tried throwing his boomerang at it, only for it to bounce off a wall of red magic. 

“It’s blocked the exit!” he called, clearly worried and frightened. Twilight doubted what she'd tried before would work again. Indeed, based on what she could glean of the barrier, it had been intentionally reworked to prevent that from working again. She probably wouldn't have the time to study it in detail and find another way to disable it without using a blast that would kill them all. That left them with no option but to fight.

“Come on now. You really think that you can kill a fal’cie?” Sazh asked, as the fal’cie began to make it’s manipulators twitch. 

“We won’t know until we try.” Twilight said, readying her sword and pistol, while eyeing the manipulators. She’d keep them occupied with her magic while the others took down the main body. It was likely that the manipulators were going to keep coming after them until the main body went down. 

“I’m doing this for Serah!” Lightning said, raising her gunblade. Snow also readied himself for a fight. 

Sazh looked down. Twilight thought she heard him mutter,“Dajh...” The fal’cie appeared to be preparing itself as well. Screens with the brand on them appeared around it. The chocobo chick chirped, before diving back into Sazh’s hair. “I’m in. As long as you don’t mind an amateur.” he pulled out his guns “I got these things, so I might as well use ‘em.” Twilight decided not to ask him what happened to Dajh unless he brought it up. It sounded like something he didn't want to talk about.

Hope came back to the group. “It’ll kill us all if we don’t take care of it.” he explained as he drew his boomerang. He still seemed nervous, but not unable to fight.

“I’d rather not lose any more friends.” Vanille said as she drew an unusual hybrid of a staff and a mace. Yeah, because that didn't raise all sorts of questions.

“Thanks.” Lightning said, genuinely grateful. 

“I”ll take care of the hands, you guys go after the main body.” Twilight said. She began attacking the manipulators with magic and physical attacks, drawing them away from her companions. She'd send blasts of magic at one while hitting the other with physical attacks directly. She had to rely on barriers and shields to take the attacks the manipulators lashed out at her with, otherwise she'd have gotten a lot of broken bones.

“Are you a l’cie?!” Hope asked as he and the others pounded away at the fal’cie’s main body. He didn't stop fighting, but he did sound rather panicked.

“No, I’m from a parallel world, everyone can use magic to some degree there.” The manipulators were continually trying to crush her, unaware that the actual fal’cie was being badly beaten by her companions. After the fal’cie took a great deal of damage, it’s crystal glowed blindingly. When the light faded, the six of them were floating in a dark void with a crystal overhead.

“Where are we?” Lightning asked as a bell began to toll. 

“What’s going on?” Snow asked, the bell tolled. 

“I’ve got a bad feeling.” Twilight said, the bell tolled again. A powerful burst of blue magic erupted from below them, directly into the crystal above them. The crystal shattered and disappeared to reveal a huge demonic figure. A large number of bells began to toll. They gasped in surprise, shock and/or fear.

Waves of blue magic pulsed from the creature, before tentacles of the same grabbed onto them all. These caused a great deal of pain where they contacted their skin, so she couldn’t concentrate enough to do more than struggle physically against them. The figure raised a hand, and bursts of energy flowed through the tentacles, redoubling the pain, they all cried out, a small part of her mind not occupied by the agony she was experiencing noted that it seemed sharpest at her waist. 

A final pulse of energy flowed from the figure before the tentacles dissolved, and they started to fall before everything went dark. She saw a gargantuan beast destroying Cocoon in a vision, just before losing consciousness. 


*** Meanwhile Outside ***


The Vestige suddenly began sprouting blue crystals, a wave of magical energy pulsed from the building, destroying the Psicom forces and the Hanging Edge. The Vestige began to fall, only for another pulse to radiate from the building as it hit a body of water, this pulse crystallized the water, before returning to it’s point of origin. 


*** The Next Morning ***
 

They all woke up, one by one. They appeared to be on some sort of crystallized body of water. The only such body of water near the Vestige's location was Lake Bresha, so that should be where they were.

“This must be... Lake Bresha?” Sazh asked. Lake Bresha was located near Cocoon's outer rim, directly beneath the Hanging Edge, so that was probably a good guess. It was once a bustling center of activity, but the area was now home to monsters that lurked among the ruins dotting the shore. He looked up to the metal overhead, which had greenish light coming through holes in it. “We fell from up there and… the lake turned to crystal?” Sazh asked. “Help me out here! Did the fal’cie do this?” Sazh asked. 

“I’m just guessing here, but I’d say this is the fal’cie equivalent of dead man’s grip. If it could normally do this sort of thing, it would not have been that easy to kill.” Twilight theorized. Vanille fell to her knees. 

“We’re still alive, how?” she asked. Yeah, falling onto water from the height they had would have hurt like it was concrete, never mind falling on these crystals. They should all be dead, so the question was, as Vanille had said, how?

“Serah!” Snow said. “No one survives a fall from that high, not without a miracle.” Snow said, glancing up at the area from which they had fallen.

“Certainly not onto something this hard.” Twilight agreed, stamping experimentally on the crystallized water, not even scratching it, let alone cracking it. Considering the kind of force they would have exerted when they fell, she wasn't really surprised. If that didn't crater the 'ground' around them, very little would.

“Serah must have saved us!” Snow said with certainty. Well, that wasn't impossible, but she doubted it. Serah was still crystal as far as she knew, and it was unlikely that she could do much to influence the world around her the way she was right now.

Lightning glared at him “Serah? Listen, it’s all your fault that she got-” 

“Hey!” Snow called pointing at the cie’eth behind approaching from behind Lightning. Twilight noticed a mark on Snow’s arm as he blocked the attack aimed at Lightning. The mark glowed blue as he drew his fist back, the glow spread to his hand as he punched the cie’eth, sending it flying back, shards of ice flew through the air.

“How did I-?” Snow asked, holding his hand in front of his face.

“Snow, look at your arm.” Twilight said, a deep fear settling into her. There were fewer arrows, but the basic shape was the same as Serah’s brand. The mark of bondage to a fal’cie. Shit. Then again, this did explain how they'd survived. After all, it wouldn't do if the fal'cie's newest servants died before their task really began.

“You’re a l’cie! The fal’cie cursed us, we’re all l’cie now!” Hope cried out in anger and despair as more cie’eth surrounded them and the first got back up. They all drew their respective weapons.

“Well, first we have to deal with these guys.” Twilight said.

“Right.” Lightning said. 

Their abilities had increased in physical terms, and their new magical abilities made the fight a great deal easier. She noticed her magic seemed to recharge as quickly as she used it, and was already stronger. Her physical strength hadn’t increased as much, but it had increased. Her speed and endurance for physical punishment had improved as well, as she was moving noticeably faster and a blow that would normally have knocked her down didn’t. They quickly took care of the cie’eth, then sheathed/holstered their weapons. 

Snow took a good, long look at his brand. “Oh that’s just great, we really are l’cie.” Snow said. Lightning grunted. 

“Looks like it.” Sazh said, glancing at the brand on his chest.

“You too?” Snow asked Vanille. 	

She nodded. “Right here.” she lifted her skirt to reveal a brand on her hip.

“On my stomach,” Twilight said, before anyone could ask. Hope stared at his wrist, which had his brand on it. He fell to his knees. 

“Why did we have to attack that thing? I barely even know any of you! Why me?!” They looked away guiltily. Twilight especially because she'd been the one to convince him to come with the rest of the group. “Just leave me alone!” He muttered incomprehensibly for a moment. Then he got up and yelled, “All of this is your and Serah’s fault!” at Snow. 

“Watch it!” Snow growled. 

Hope found himself picked up by his jacket. “Now you listen to me, we’re l’cie, yelling at each other isn’t going to make these” Twilight waved the wrist that had been branded in his face “go away.” she let Hope go, he dropped to the ground and scurried back, stopping when he hit Lightning’s legs. He looked up to see Lightning glaring down at him. He moved over and held his hands to his head in a crouching position. 

“Sorry.” Snow said softly. 

“That was a bit too harsh.” Twilight apologized, the kid was clearly under a lot of stress. Vanille walked over and put her hands on his shoulders. 

“Everything is going to be just fine.” Vanille said comfortingly. “You’ll see.” She pulled him up. “Come on, off we go!” They started along the path, fighting their way through the cie’eth and local wildlife. Apparently, the crystallization only worked on non-solid materials unless you had an actual l'cie brand on you.

“Guess we should introduce ourselves. I’m Snow Villiers.” Snow said. 

“Sazh Katsrovsky.” Sazh said in turn. 

“Hope Estheim.” Hope said. 

“I’m Vanille.” Vanille said, Twilight noted the lack of a last name. She was starting to get suspicious about Vanille, but they couldn't afford to divide the group right now, so she kept it to herself.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said, she ignored the looks from a couple people. Oh, because people could be named Snow, or Hope, but Twilight was weird? She really didn't see what the problem was.

“This is ‘Lightning’ Farron, her real first name is anybody’s guess.” Snow said. Lightning grunted at him again. They continued up the slope. 

“The magic is cursed, but if we’re cursed either way, there’s no reason we shouldn’t use it, right?” Snow asked after a fight with a couple cie'eth.

“I suppose not, it seems to rely on our brands as a focus point, we can probably use it from any point, but it will certainly be easiest at our branded spots.” Twilight advised. 

They stopped at a ledge formed from a section of road. “So, if we’re l’cie, we have a Focus, right?” Twilight asked.

“Right, but if we don’t know our Focus, how do we complete it?” Lightning asked.

“I think… I saw it.” Vanille said.

“Saw what?” Lightning asked.

“That is how a Focus comes down, people.” Sazh held his hands parallel to the ground. “The fal’cie don’t spell it out for you with clear-cut instructions, all you get is a hazy glimpse.” Sazh explained. That seemed counter-intuitive. Why would you sabotage your own servants? Who you'd given a time limit?

“And you know this, how, exactly?” Twilight asked. That was downright suspicious. How the hell did he know that?

“Well, that’s what they say. You know, legends and all.” he said defensively. After a pause that lasted long enough that Sazh would know they didn’t quite believe his explanation for his knowledge. Lightning turned to Hope. 

“Did you see anything?” she asked. 

Hope considered for a moment then said, “Well… It’s all kind of foggy, but- I saw this huge, towering-”

“Creature destroying Cocoon?” Twilight asked. This was either really good, or really bad.

“W-wait a minute. Hold on. Did we all have the same dream?” Sazh asked.

“Ragnarok.” Lightning, Snow and herself said at the same time, the name had just popped into their heads.

“So, we did all have the same dream. We all heard the same voice.” Sazh said.

“Does that mean that was our Focus? But how are we supposed to know what to do from that?” Hope asked in annoyance.

“That’s the tricky part. The dream’s the only hint the fal’cie gives us, deciding what to do with it, that’s our job.” Vanille said.

“Again, how do you know about this?” Twilight asked. Vanille pretended not to hear her, and she didn't press the issue, but she resolved to keep a close eye on their companion.

“Okay, okay…” Sazh said, before turning to them. “We’re Pulse l’cie, right? Enemies of everything Cocoon! So, does that mean our Focus is-?” Sazh left it hanging “Are we supposed to-” 

“Save her.” Snow interrupted him. 

“Say what?” Sazh asked. 

“Our Focus is to protect Cocoon!” Snow said with conviction. 

“Really? Okay, and why is that?” Vanille asked him, unconvinced. 

“Serah told us. Let’s do it! We’re all in this together. I’m going to go look for Serah. She should be nearby.” Snow said before running off.

“I’m coming too!” Vanille ran after him. “Wait!” she called. 

Sazh sighed. “That boy can’t stay still!” he said, before following them.

“Really…” Hope said, somewhat aggravated. 

“That’s Snow alright.” Twilight said, in mild exasperation, as she followed after them. Hope was a few seconds behind, Lightning was a little behind Hope. Snow was waiting at the next ledge.

“We fight it! Ragnarok!” he jumped off his slightly raised portion of the ledge and continued. “That’s the reason we’re l’cie. So we can stop it, So we can keep Cocoon safe!” 

“Really? Give us one reason, that makes any sense, to believe that? Just one.” Sazh said, raising a finger.

“Serah.” The others looked a bit confused by his statement. 

“I think I get what you’re saying. Since Serah told us to save Cocoon, then turned to crystal, she must have completed her Focus.” Twilight said. That made sense. That was supposed to be how a l'cie turning to crystal worked.

“Right! Since we have the same fal’cie, that means ours is to save Cocoon. Our Focus has to be the same. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnarok! It makes sense!” Snow said, only for Sazh to shake his head. 

“The hell it does! You’re just grasping at straws there, son! Pulse fal’cie are Cocoon’s enemies, and we just got drafted by one of them.” He slowly approached Snow. “If I were the kind of man who bets… I’d put us on the other side.” Sazh finished coldly.

“So that makes Serah an enemy too? Well I don’t buy it.” Snow said loyally. 

“There’s a problem with your theory Sazh,” they turned to her “the only things we know about Pulse are from the Sanctum and their fal’cie, and most of that is likely several centuries old, or propaganda. Who’s to say all of Pulse still hates Cocoon? Or even that that hatred was universal in the first place?” Twilight asked. That being said, she somewhat agreed with Sazh. If these things were benevolent, they would care more about all the lives they ruined. If they were malevolent or uncaring, that made it a lot more likely that they'd order Cocoon's destruction, and made more sense considering their actions.

Snow turned and walked over to Lightning. He held his branded arm. “We have the power to save Cocoon. If we work together and carry out our Focus-” he cut off as Lightning drew her gunblade, switched it to blade mode, and pressed it to Snow’s throat all in one quick motion. Twilight was barely able to follow that. Lightning was both fast and quick and the brand had only enhanced that.

“Our Focus? The fal’cie took Serah from us, and now you want to help it? Whose side are you on?” Lightning asked.

“Didn’t you hear what I said before?” Twilight asked. Just because their Focus might be to destroy Cocoon, that didn't mean they should avoid fulfilling it at all costs. If it turned out their Focus was to save Cocoon, then she'd be more than willing to do so. She didn't care who gave her the mission if it meant saving millions of people.

“Freeze!” a soldier said. A full platoon of 64 soldiers surrounded them. Kind of overkill for a relatively small group, and it sure seemed like they'd have to check their fire to avoid hitting each other. Besides, how did they sneak up on the group. They were arguing pretty loudly, but they should have heard these guys coming since they were wearing full armor.

“Place your hands behind your heads!” another soldier said. They slowly did as he said. Lightning grunted, before doing the same, letting her gunblade fall to the ground with a clatter.

“What, you fall of the Purge train?” the captain, most probably in charge, asked. 

“Maybe.” Lightning said coolly.

“Are you talking back to me?” the captain asked, walking over, pointing his gun at her neck.

“Nice gun.” Lightning commented, before disarming and knocking the Psicom captain out with a series of her name-sake fast blows.

“Stop her!” one of the soldiers said. 

“Freeze!” another said as Lightning stepped on her gunblade in such a way as to cause it to lever upwards into her hands. She was clearly very experienced with it. She took out five soldiers before anyone could do anything. They all drew/unholstered their weapons and joined in. Several magical attacks hit the soldiers, a fireball, a shard of ice and a bolt of lightning. 

“My fal’cie! They’re l’cie!” one said as they realized that Twilight had attacked them with magic. After a few minutes, every soldier was either dead or unconscious.

“I thought they’d be tougher than that. These guys are Psicom. They’re supposed to be the cream of the crop.” Sazh moved his hands back and forth over the nearest soldier’s mask. Vanille began praying, holding her hands in an unusual position of prayer. 

“Well, we’re lcie, our brands seem to make us stronger based on how much we fight and how long we’ve been l’cie. Even though it hasn’t been a full day, we’re a heck of a lot stronger than your average human already.” Twilight explained. 

“Besides, Psicom’s an anti-Pulse task force, they haven’t fought a real war in centuries, we’re better trained in NORA.” Snow said, walking over to them. “These are just a bunch of rookie troops, swinging around over-priced toys.” 

“So, what you’re saying is that regular old soldiers and a militia group have more training than the special forces.” Sazh said, a slight chuckle in his voice.

“Nothing we l’cie can’t handle.” Snow responded.

“Well, yes and no.” Twilight said. The rookies and new recruits could be handled easily by most NORA members, but their commanding officers on the other hand...

“Their grunts are green, but their elites are cold-blooded monsters. If they hit the field, it’s game over.” Lightning explained. If Twilight hadn't had enough magic to one-shot that elite from before, it could have been a tough fight.

“Uh-oh! Then let’s run away! Ciao!” Vanille said before running off down the path. 

“Hey wait!” Sazh called. “What’s a man to do?” Sazh asked as they followed Vanille. After each fight, Sazh, Lightning and herself would salvage ammo from fallen enemies, Vanille would take animal parts and decorate her weapon with them, Hope would take anything that might be useful as a component and tinkered with integrating it into his boomerang. 

Sazh groaned. “It’s not right. Why’d kids have to get dragged into this?” Sazh asked. Hope and Vanille were too far ahead to hear the four of them. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I was 16, but when I got sent to this world, my age was reset to four, so I’m actually 26.” Twilight told him. “So, not really a kid.” she finished as they stared at her. She'd looked older and matured relatively quickly, so it was an easy mistake to make back home that she was in her twenties. Of course, mentally at least, she was significantly older now. Oddly, she looked her biological age as a human. She figured her genetics were just a bit different.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep the kids out of trouble.” Snow said, recovering the quickest from that little revelation. He'd always been the quickest to adapt to changing circumstances, whether in a fight, or life in general.

“The only problem with that is, you’re one of ‘em.” Sazh said, before walking away, chuckling.

“Hey!” Snow called, a bit put out. 

“Trying to take on the Pulse fal’cie, that was our first mistake. We should have left it to the Sanctum.” Sazh said. Vanille started calling them over, having noticed they were falling behind. “Why not? I mean, we’ve counted on the Sanctum’s fal’cie for food, water… everything we’ve needed from the day we were born.” 

“Except me.” Twilight said. “I’ve never liked the idea of being utterly dependent on something with it’s own mind and ambitions.” she explained. Paranoia had it's benefits sometimes. Like now.

“You still both helped us do it, the kids probably just didn’t want to die, but there must have been a reason besides that for you two.” Snow said.

“It needed to pay for the suffering and death it had caused.” Twilight said darkly. That thing might have had good intentions, but it certainly didn't seem to care about individual humans or relatively small numbers of them.

“There might have been something. Not so sure anymore.” Sazh said, walking after the younger members of their party. They were walking down a train car that had fallen from above and was still partially above the crystallized lake. She noticed a crystal figure that looked like… “Hey, isn’t that-?” she asked. 

“Serah!” Lightning called, she ran over to her sister 

“Serah!” Snow called, inches behind his fiance’s sister. He placed a hand on her head when he reached her, saying “I’ll get you out of there!” he grabbed a nearby piece of metal and started chipping away at the crystal holding Serah in place. 

“Let me help!” Vanille said, grabbing a knife-like piece of metal and began digging herself. 

“Thanks!” Snow grunted out. Sazh grabbed a piece himself and joined in, closely followed by Twilight. 

For a moment, Lightning hesitated, then, "We can’t stay here to dig her out.” Lightning said sadly. 

Twilight paused, thinking it over. “She’s right, Psicom will be right behind us. We had to take out a platoon just to get here, imagine what we’ll have to deal with when they’re looking for us specifically. Besides, even if we dig her out, how do we get around without risking hurting her?” she said. Cold as it was, the simple logistics of the situation made it impossible for them to take her with them. She could levitate Serah, but it would kill her combat effectiveness, and she'd effectively become dead weight herself.

“So we just leave her here?” Snow asked angrily. 

“If they find us, we’re all dead. Do you think that’s what Serah would want? I thought you were going to save Cocoon.” Lightning began to walk away, but paused as Snow said. 

“If I leave her, then I’ll never know. We’ll be fine, I can handle anything they throw at us. No one’s going to die. I’ll protect Serah and Cocoon.” Lightning walked up to him and punched him square in the face. Their new status as l’cie had made them all physically stronger, but tougher as well. So Lightning’s punch had about as much effect as it had the last time. Which was to say, he was laid out on the ground again.

“She doesn’t look protected to me!” Lightning shouted at him. 

“I can save her!” Snow shouted back as he picked himself back up. Lightning punched him again, sending him back to the ground. 

“You’ve failed once already! What can you possibly do now!?” Lightning shouted at him. 

“Whatever it takes!” he responded, a bit more weakly, thought it looked more like the pain was responsible for that than any loss of determination. Lightning slowly unclenched her fist.

“Oy, you two are hopeless.” Sazh said as he walked past the two of them. “You just can’t admit that you want to stay as much as he does.” 

“It wouldn’t change anything.” Lightning said. A metallic sound was heard behind them. Sazh fell on his back as he turned to see another Mansavin model approaching. No wait, this was the same one! HOW did it find them?! How the HELL had it survived the fall, and then managed to find them again?!?!

“Not again!” Sazh yelled. An ethereal sword cut the warmech’s tail off. 

“All at once! While it’s distracted!” Twilight yelled as the warmech’s systems were momentarily frozen trying to account for the sudden loss of an entire limb. They weren't in great shape to begin with, but this was the final straw. They hit it with a full blast of magic and physical attacks, already weakened by the loss of one of it’s limbs, it was unable to adequately defend itself from them even after it unfroze and slumped over after a few minutes. Lightning was obviously making a supreme effort to keep her emotions in check as she walked off. 

“You’re leaving?” Snow asked. 	

After a few seconds Sazh said. “We want to help Serah too… but even if we had tools, we could be digging for days and Psicom’s right behind us, not to mention our doom counters.” he gestured to Snow’s brand, referencing their brands’ countdown. “For now, we’ve gotta keep moving. Just for now.” he said a placating tone in his voice.

“So I just abandon her and save myself?” Snow asked angrily. 

“What about your Focus? What happened to Mr. band-together-and-save-the-world? Isn’t that what you promised? Now you want to forget it all and die right here?” Sazh sighed as he backed off from the pair following Lightning's tirade. “Snow, you’re nothing but talk.” Lightning started off. 

“Try not to die, you won’t be saving anything as a corpse.” Twilight said sincerely as she walked after Lightning. He was too stubborn for her to convince to come with them, and of all of them, he was the toughest and least likely to get killed by staying behind.

“Stay out of trouble.” Snow told Sazh, who sighed and walked past him. 

Vanille hesitated. “Get going.” Snow said, his usual grin returning. 

“Sorry.” Vanille apologized. 

Hope looked back and forth between Snow and the rest of the group. “Go on, we’ll see each other again.” Snow told him. 

“But…” he began. 

“It’s okay, Light’ll take care of you.” When Hope still hesitated, “Just save it for next time. You’ll get left behind.” 

“Next time. Count on it.” Hope said before he followed the rest of the group. There was a surprisingly dark undertone there. She couldn't help but wonder what history these two had.

Just before she was out of earshot, Snow said “I’ll protect Serah and Cocoon, that’s my promise.” to Lightning. 

“Great job so far.” Lightning responded sarcastically. As they reached yet another ledge, they hunkered down as they saw a large aircraft, probably a carrier-class down in the valley below, they could see another unit of Psicom troops being given orders as fighters soared overhead. 

“They must be hunting down anyone who might’ve survived the Purge.” Sazh said. 

“I hope everyone made it out okay.” Vanille said softly. 

“So do I.” Sazh said. 

“Unfortunately, there isn’t anywhere safe for them now, Cocoonians are so afraid of Pulse that even former friends and their relatives might turn on them.” Twilight said somberly. She was afraid of what might have happened to her friends in NORA. They'd been helping the rebellion, and if they managed to survive they'd need to go into hiding.

“Damn it all! Just ‘cause they shared a neighborhood with a fal’cie… they get treated like rats, just some pests that need getting rid of.” Sazh said. 

“People really hate Pulse, don’t they?” Vanille asked sadly. 

“Fear would be the best word, hate doesn’t fit.” Twilight responded. Fear made people more irrational than hate at times.

“Tens of millions of people… all scared to death of Pulse boogeymen. They wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if they knew l’cie like us were around.” Sazh said, a hand grasping at his brand. 

“But… they Purged the entire town!” Vanille responded. 

“It’s crazy, I know… But the Sanctum’s fal’cie did nothing to stop it. Up until now, Eden’s always stepped in to correct their errors in judgement… but I guess humans just aren’t worth the effort anymore.” Sazh chuckled darkly. “They’ll probably just let us kill each other off.” He had a point. 

Eden's behavior before now mostly consisted of keeping the humans inhabiting Cocoon happy with entertainment and healthy by providing security and sustenance. In a situation like this, someone basing their predictions on the past couple decades worth of behavior would have expected Eden to curb the violent response to the discovery of a Pulse fal'cie, and it would likely have been a genuine exile. Eden had not done that. What changed? What was different about this? Could she simply be underestimating the fear, hatred, and paranoia of fal'cie native to Cocoon? Or was something else going on?

Hope got up. “L’cie are not human.” he said, far more darkly. Wow, what happened to this kid? Sure they were probably all going to die or worse, but she'd at least kept her sense of humor.

“Listen you, that’s enough!" Vanille snapped at him, grabbing his hand, only to see his brand and let go guiltily. “We’re still alive, that’s something.” Vanille said placatingly.

“If it makes you feel better, you still look, sound, and act like a human, so you’re probably still a human, albeit ones that are able to use magic and are unusually difficult to kill.” Twilight said in an attempt to reassure him while at the same time being honest about the situation. She was pretty sure she failed miserably. The area began to rumble as an aircraft approached. 

“What?” Hope asked. 

“Where is it?” Sazh asked. 

“There!” Lightning pointed to their right. A trio of fighters passed so close that the wind knocked most of them down. 

“They’re sealing off the area, must be trying to trap any stragglers.” Lightning analyzed. They all got up. “We’ve got to get moving before we’re caught in the net.” Lightning said. 

They hurried, dispatching any cie’eth, Psicom, or wildlife in their way. They reached an open area that overlooked the rest of the lake, upon seeing the completely crystallized body of water, Vanille exclaimed. “Whoa! This whole place is crystal!” The power required to change so much water into crystal must have been immense, she was concerned about the effects this would have on the ecosystem though. The water table was almost certainly all messed up from Bresha being made crystalline.

Sazh said “I wonder what becoming a crystal would be like.” wondering aloud. Well, Serah hadn't seemed to be in pain when it happened to her, so there was that.

“Are you going to complete your Focus?” she asked with genuine curiosity.

“Maybe, if I knew what it was. I probably don’t want to know though.” he responded. 

“Hey Lightning, did Serah say anything to you about her Focus?” Vanille asked. 

“Nothing.” Lightning responded, one hand clutching at her own brand. 

“I'm sure she just didn’t want to worry you.” Vanille said, trying to lift Lightning’s mood. 

“Or she thought she couldn’t trust me.” Lightning said somberly. 

“Well, I don’t mean to get anyone’s hopes up, but I might be able to produce a counter-spell, given enough time.” Twilight said. They froze for a second, then all turned to her. “Under the right circumstances, I can see a spell once and replicate it. It shouldn’t be impossible to create a spell that reverses the effect since I’ve not only seen but am constantly feeling the effects of this particular spell.” she explained.

“That’s handy, but hold on a second, since you know the spell, couldn’t you turn people into l’cie?” Sazh said in mild horror. It wasn't like there were any non-l'cie around.

She nodded. “But I wouldn’t even consider casting it on anyone. As a side note, I could also turn them directly into cie’eth by either setting the clock to zero, or not giving them a Focus, automatically reducing their time to zero. Again, not something I would even consider.” She thought it best to get the possible thoughts of what she could do with it out and refute them.

“Just out of curiosity, how many people could you turn at once?” Hope asked nervously. Maybe her strategy wasn't the best idea.

“To answer your question, I would estimate 34, assuming I was at full power. Of course I would, again, never do that, certainly not when I don’t know how to reverse it, or even if I’ll be able to figure out how to do so before… time runs out.” They decide to avoid the subject for a while and walked on, eventually reaching a temple of sorts. It was crawling with Psicom soldiers, bioweapons and even a few elites. They made their way through with a mixture of brute force and sneak attacks. 

"Are ruins like these common?" Vanille asked. 

"Not especially." Hope said. "It's probably an old temple-city from when people openly worshipped fal'cie. They'd build and maintain the temples themselves because making the fal'cie build their own temples would kind of defeat the purpose. This sort of thing died off a couple hundred years ago though." He explained. 

This pseudo-religion had existed since not long after Cocoon's founding according to official records, and experienced a surge in membership for decades after the War of Transgression. After a century or so, the faith started to die out, and about 200 years ago, it completely vanished. No one even bothered to maintain the temple cities scattered across Cocoon anymore. Even the religion's capital barely received attention. The ability of AMP technology to mimic the effects of magic was believed to have a hand in this. It made the fal'cie merely powerful beings rather than gods whose feats were beyond the ken of mortals. Then again, as technology in general advanced, the congregation of those who worshiped the fal'cie directly dropped, especially after major advances. She'd like the chance to admire the sights, but they simply didn't have time.


*** With Snow ***
 

Snow suddenly felt a great deal stronger, he was surprised to find he was making better progress than before on the digging out his fiance. Thinking back to Twilight’s earlier words, he thought that the others must have been doing a lot of fighting, not questioning how that was also affecting him. He shrugged, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” he said, before digging with renewed vigor. 


*** Back With The Main Group ***


After fighting their way past the forces of Psicom with a mix of ambushes and direct assaults, they reached an area with large crystals jutting out, some blue, others orange, the orange crystals were presumably crystallized fire. 'Wait, it turned liquid water and gaseous fire to crystal? How does that work?' she wondered, slightly annoyed this hadn't occurred to her before, and she was supposed to be observant! Perhaps it targeted everything that wasn't solid or organic instead of just liquids? Unless there was liquid flame involved, that made the most sense.

“Hey guys, I’ve got the same bad feeling I got when we attacked the fal’cie. The something’s-about-to-try-and-kill-us feeling.” she told them within moments of getting said feeling. They drew their weapons, but put them away when nothing happened. Vanille ran ahead of the group. 

“Stay close.” Lightning advised, beginning to get a bad feeling of her own.

“I want to look around.” Vanille said in a cheerful carefree manner. Twilight's dangerous enemy had failed to materialize, so she didn't see the harm.

“She reminds me of Pinkie, a bit carefree, but she means well.” Twilight said, still nervously clutching her sword and pistol. A warmech that resembled a flying dragon suddenly burst through the crystals, Vanille ran screaming back to the rest of the group. 

“I hate it when I’m right about this sort of thing.” Twilight said as they drew their weapons. 

The warmech proved little more than a nuisance at this point. It didn't even have time to launch any powerful attacks before it's wings were disabled by a flurry of bullets and ice spells poking holes in it's wings and weighing it down, causing it to fall to the ground. Falling further damaged it, as it fell from a sufficient height to create a small crater, a disadvantage of the sheer mass it had. They took the opportunity to attack it with a full-force combined assault, leaving only a smoking heap.
> Vile Peaks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*** In A Conference Room In The City Of Eden *** 


The officers of Psicom watched as the five l’cie took down a warmech easily. Admittedly, they had a clear strategy, but that didn't make anyone feel much better. Then they headed towards a fighter that had been transporting officers, which was the last thing they saw before the video feed from the heavily-damaged warmech died. The youngest member of the group ripping out some circuitry certainly didn't help it keep transmitting.

“Send a full squadron of fighters, we need to get rid of them before they get any stronger.” A man with silver hair, General Yaag Rosch, a general of Psicom, ordered. 

“Yes sir!” several lower-ranked officers said, saluting before beginning to organize the deployment Rosch had ordered. 

‘Funny, we purge the whole town and we end up with half a dozen l’cie anyway. It's like the universe is mocking us.’ he thought morbidly. “Computer, what do we know about the l’cie?” he asked. 

A calm female voice replied, “Subjects are 6 in number, one was left behind, presumably to dig his fiance, who was also a l’cie, out of the newly crystallized Lake Bresha, namely, Snow Villiers, one of the leaders and founders of the youth group, NORA, which stands for ‘no obligations, rules or  authority.’ NORA's membership has increased a great deal in recent years, as has the overall quality of their fighters, though they were not considered a threat to Sanctum forces before the Purge as there are documented cases of mutual aid when encountering Monsters. He uses AMP technology to enhance his physical strength. However, he is only a single person at the moment. Attrition will take him down with relative ease. Threat Level: Medium.” A picture of a man in a black bandanna and whit trench coat was shown briefly. 

“Second subject is Hope Estheim, a student from Palumpolom who is proficient with the boomerang he carries, he has also shown talent with magic since becoming a l'cie, however, he is still a teenager physically and mentally and probably the youngest and least experienced member of the group. Threat Level: Medium.” A picture of a boy with white hair in his early teens was shown briefly. That green scarf was pretty distinctive when combined with his white hair.

“Third subject is Sazh Katsrovsky, a train conductor whose son was made a Cocoon l’cie in the Euride Gorge incident. He uses twin pistols and has shown talent with flame-based magic. However, his age is beginning to catch up with him. Threat Level: Medium.” A picture of a man with dark skin a green coat and pants and an afro is shown briefly. 

“Fourth subject’s full name and age are unknown." This immediately set off alarm bells in Rosch's mind. The Sanctum was very careful to keep at least some kind of file on everyone. "'Vanille' has demonstrated considerable talent with magic and uses an unusual weapon that is a combination of a staff, whip, and a mace. High probability of being a Pulse element. Threat Level: High.” A picture of a teenage girl with a bit too much pink on her was shown for a few seconds. It wasn't that unusual for pink hair to appear among the populace, though, that was not to say it was common. Still, only Estheim's hair color was distinctive enough to be useful as an identifier so far.

“Fifth subject is Claire Farron, AKA, ‘Lightning.’ Was a member of the Guardian Corps Bodhum Regiment, but quit and voluntarily joined the Purge chronologically after her sister became a Pulse l'cie, presumably due to that event. Has intensive military training and is known for masterful use of her prototype weapon, a gunblade. Since becoming a l'cie, her fighting abilities have eclipsed most unaided humans, magic will tip the balance entirely in her favor in a one-on-one confrontation. Threat Level: Very High.” A picture of a woman with a cold expression on her face was shown for a short period. 

“Final subject is Twilight Sparkle. Worked at the library in Bodhum and had shown great potential for use of one-handed swords. She became the instructor for it at NORA, though she is not officially a member, she doesn’t charge a fee for her services either. She also uses a pistol in combination with her sword, to devastating effect. 

She has demonstrated magical power on a level with some of the lower fal'cie since her transformation into a l’cie, there are no known upper limits to her reserves. Threat Level: Extreme.” a picture of a teenage girl who had blue hair with a pink stripe and a purple stripe in it was shown as the computer finished. 

“On second thought, send two squadrons.” Rosch amended his order, feeling slightly nervous for the first time in quite some time. Six l'cie was bad news, six l'cie with a single one having a High rating on their Threat Level was very bad news, six l'cie with three of the group having a threat level of High or above was 'start praying' news. He wasn't even sure who he would be praying to since his faith in the fal'cie had been rather shaken by the Purge.


*** With The L'cie ***


“Check it out!” Vanille exclaimed, pointing at a fighter that was parked just beyond where the heap of metal that had once been the warmech was. Well, now they knew where those Elites had come from. Hope had grabbed a few chips and circuits from the warmech's head and had tinkered briefly with his boomerang before holstering it. Twilight was beginning to suspect it was a coping mechanism. Eh, there were worse ones. It was harmless at worst, and helpful at best, provided it didn't develop into a compulsion.

“Let’s get going, there could be more around.” Sazh said. Twilight noticed a strange, owl-like bird watching them, but since it was clearly not some kind of camera, and wasn’t hindering them in any other way she could discern, she ignored it. They stopped directly in front of the fighter. 

“This’ll make things easier!” Vanille said happily.

“Isn’t it a little too convenient this was here?” Twilight asked, she didn't believe in coincidences anymore. It was really lucky this thing was still here, even with a warmech for a guard. Who left an airship where l'cie could get it?

“Well, knowing our luck, it’s probably missing it’s engine.” Sazh said, a hint of laughter in his voice. 

“You two shouldn’t be so negative.” Vanille criticized.

“And you shouldn’t get your hopes up so high.” Sazh rebuked her. 

“I’m just naturally paranoid.” Twilight said with a shrug. 

Vanille huffed and stamped on the ground in petulant frustration. They all went over and started to climb onboard.


*** 3 Minutes Later ***


They managed to hack into the fighter’s systems with a combination of Twilight's hacking skills, Sazh’s talent with machinery, Hope's knowledge of circuitry, and Lightning’s insider knowledge of military technology. The sudden acceleration that occurred when it had lifted from its hangar threw them all back in their seats regardless of how it happened. 

Dozens of fighters began to converge on them almost the moment they were in the air. They flew toward a gate, only to face a ring of cruisers that were aiming large energy cannons at them. Twilight quickly made a barrier around the ship as they started to fire. Her stockpile was almost burned out, and her l'cie brand didn't seem to be charging it, so this was going to be the last thing she used it for.

“How many tricks do you have?” Sazh asked as he struggled to dodge. 

“A lot, I’ve made it one-way, so feel free to shoot back!” she wasn’t feeling any real drain from the attacks that only clipped the barrier, but the rare direct hits were starting to chip away at it, and her stockpile was nearing bottoming-out. Lightning grabbed the weapons controls and made a hole in the ring of cruisers, though the nearest ones to the destroyed cruiser were damaged enough to catch fire and crash into the walls of their exit. 

“Did we get ‘em?” Vanille asked, peeking over the seats. 

“We got some of them.” Lightning responded as fighters began to pursue them, two full squadrons by the look of it. Twilight cast a spell that enhanced the ship's weapons, making them fire Ruin centered around the bullets, a spell that was non-elemental they had learned from their ‘crystariums’ as they had decided to call what they got their l'cie abilities from. Ruin was so named because it was only meant for destruction, it did nothing but damage anything it was used on. Mainly via the concussive force it generated.

Needless to say, Lightning was quite surprised when the ship began firing Ruin instead of normal bullets, though it could be assumed the other pilots were far more so. Single shots would down a fighter, or destroy a hunk of a floor of one of the buildings of the ruins they were flying over. 

The pilots remaining after they had left the space above the ruined city were the cream of the crop of their pursuers and began flying up another chasm after them.

“How are you gonna lose them?!” Hope asked as the shield developed noticeable cracks from continued concentrated fire. Ordinarily, the shield wouldn’t be a challenge to maintain under such weak attacks, but she was making it one way and maintaining a second spell at the same time, stretching herself thin and starting to eat into her normal reserves at this point. The regenerative ability imparted by the brand couldn't keep up with a continuously cast spell of this magnitude, though the regenerative ability seemed to be very slowly increasing to accommodate. This suggested that their l'cie powers were evolutionary in nature, growing stronger based on the challenges they were presented with. Perhaps they could make use of that.

“Got me kid!” Sazh responded.

“Well, you better figure out something fast, my barrier will only survive another couple minutes of this!” Twilight warned. Another hit visibly thinned the weakening shield. 

“Then let me drive!” Lightning responded. 

“No thank you!” Sazh yelled. They finally reached the surface, they stared in awe at the beautiful sight of the open sky before them for a few seconds, before the sound of gunfire and an ominous cracking sound brought them back to the reality of things.

“They’re still on us? They make that warmech seem like a quitter!” Sazh said. 

A fighter flew slightly ahead of them and finished off the barrier with a missile, which shattered with a sound akin to breaking glass. Twilight slumped over, exhausted. 

“We’re starting to take hits!” Sazh said as the fighters continued their assault. Twilight stopped her secondary spell and put everything she had left into another barrier. It was slightly stronger than the original, but completely drained her.

“That’s all I’ve got, you’re on your own for now.” she said weakly. They continued on, flying over a river and a barren wasteland.  

“Hey, could you teach us that?” Hope asked. 

“Not on the spur of the moment while under heavy fire.” she said wearily. Using that much magic at once had outstripped the regenerative power of their brands completely. She'd need at least 10 minutes to recover, though that was a lot faster than how long she would have needed before.

“Then could you use us as batteries, or something?” Vanille asked, slightly desperate as their fighter continued to take hits.

“Yes, I could, but it would be unpleasant in the extreme for everyone involved.” she answered, after a moment's thought. Odd that Vanille had thought of that. Wasn't she new to magic?

“It’s not like we have many options.” Lightning said neutrally.

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you, also not Sazh because I’m not messing with our pilot.” she said. She cast a spell of her own invention, it drained magical energy from another magic-user and added it to her own stockpile, she didn’t use it for two reasons. 

First, the princess had asked her not to, seemingly slightly disturbed that a spell that could drain magic from other beings existed and that her student had created it almost without even trying. Second, it made the participants feel ill and unfocused, including herself, and presumably any caster. She was only using it now because they'd volunteered and they would all likely die if she didn't. 

She cast the spell, which she called Drain, on Lightning, Vanille, and Hope. She fought through the nausea it induced (as you had a ton of foreign magic flooding your system, or were losing a large amount of your own for no reason your body could discern) and reinforced the barrier. This proved fortuitous as the fighters began launching more missiles at them in addition to their gunfire. Sazh skillfully piloted the fighter through a gap in the rocks that the gunfire caused a rock slide in, while the less skilled pilots of the other fighters were killed by said rock slide. She had no idea he was this good, though she'd been reasonably sure he'd never been in a ship like this before. Sazh began fiddling with the television onboard, and the craft’s other systems, as their pursuers were currently nowhere to be found. 

Finally, he slammed his hands down on the console and leaned his head in, causing his afro to spark with electricity as it came in contact with the hologram. “For the love of all that’s good!” he said in exasperation. Apparently, somebody up there took pity on him, and the hologram began to show a news broadcast.

“Next an update on the status of the Purge.” a female announcer said. “Just moments ago, the Sanctum announced the successful conclusion of the Purge, along with the safe arrival of the Cocoon migrants to their new homes on Pulse.” 

“Propaganda, all lies.” Twilight said bitterly. Sazh shook his head and changed the channel. 

“Yes, that is correct. There’s no denying that the enormity of the strain the Purge placed on us all.“ The primarch said. He was an elderly man dressed in priests robes, she always felt like there was something just a little off about him, but he had yet to do anything that could be construed as not in Cocoon's best interest. Even the Purge had been what most of the populace wanted and technically could've solved the problem. The moral implications aside, it was possible that Dysley had merely acted as he thought was best. She didn't believe that though.

“But given the tens of millions of lives at stake,” he shook his head sadly. “there truly was no alternative.” he finished. The screen changed to a new male announcer as Twilight changed the channel.

“Primarch Dysley stood by the move, and the necessity of the relocation. When asked about the possibility of future Purges, the Primarch remained noncommittal, stating only that he would weigh all of the options and consult with the fal’cie Eden.” the announcer said. 

"Yeah, that’s right, if it makes the Sanctum look bad, it never happened.” Sazh said sarcastically. Vanille touched the hologram, causing another view of the Primarch to show up. She was pretty sure this was the previous channel.

“In all the centuries since the War of Transgression, Cocoon has been spared Pulse aggression. It is essential that we maintain this peace. That is the Sanctum’s focus. We will continue deploying every resource available to combat these threats to the harmony our society.” the Primarch said.

“A fancy way of saying that we’ll be running for the rest of our lives.” Sazh said. "However long that is." he added darkly.

“Hey, uh, who is this guy?” Vanille asked in confusion. 

Sazh groaned. “What do they teach kids in school today? That’s Galenth Dysley. The Sanctum Primarch. Did you sleep through history or something?” he asked. 

“Sorta.” Vanille answered sheepishly. 

“Primarch Dysley, the human head of Sanctum, the bridge between the fal’cie Eden, who commands the other fal’cie, and the human race. He’s also in charge of Psicom and the Guardian Corps. He's essentially king and high priest at the same time.” Twilight explained in detail. 

“Which makes him murderer-in-chief.” Sazh said. 

“But he’s also just a cog, an important one, but just another fal’cie pawn.” Lightning said. 

"I wouldn't be very surprised to learn he was a l'cie." Twilight said. The others looked at her in some surprise, before nodding after they'd thought it over.

“The majority of the population agrees with the Sanctum’s handling of the Purge. 70% would support future Purges were the need to arise.” the announcer continued. 

“Oh sure, why don’t we just Purge everybody, that’ll fix it!” Sazh said sarcastically. 

“I highly doubt the support would be that strong if they knew what had actually happened... though you should be careful what you wish for.” Twilight said “There would probably be a faction so terrified of Pulse that they’d support it anyway.” She added as an afterthought, not noticing the look that briefly crossed Vanille's face. A red warning light began to flash. 

More fighters appeared from the clouds behind them and began to fire on them. “Bonus points for perseverance.” Sazh said as he piloted the fighter around most of the shots. An incredibly, blindingly, bright light began to shine in front of them. Once they got past the cloud cover, they got a better look at the light, which turned out to be Phoenix, the fal’cie that acted as the sun and served as the head of the fal’cie controlling the weather. 

She’d always liked it because it reminded her of Celestia for some odd reason, probably the whole sun-deity thing. It was an orange orb that was permanently sending out tentacles of energy of the same color. Being the sun and all, there wasn't much risk of it being killed anytime soon, so there was little reason to worry about that.

“Allow me to introduce Phoenix, head of the weather fal'cie and Cocoon’s own light in the sky.” Sazh said. The fighters were continuing their pursuit. “Here we go again.” Sazh muttered. 

“Fly in. We’ll lose them in there.” Lightning ordered. Sazh proceeded to do exactly that. Sazh had little difficulty in dodging the tendrils, but the other pilots weren’t as lucky. They ended up vaporized. 

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I like this fal’cie!” Sazh said. 

“That makes two of us.” Twilight agreed. Reinforcement fighters began to pour into the area around Phoenix. Sazh got the fighter out of the way of one tendril, but didn’t take the slightly transparent shield into account. It flickered and died after being subjected to enough energy to vaporize a city block. A much smaller tendril and a missile from one of the fighters clipped one wing and destroyed the other, clipped being a relative term as four inches were sliced off. Apparently plasma could serve as a makeshift blowtorch. Good to know.

Sazh struggled with the controls as they plunged into a nosedive. The ship was unable to fly properly with it's wings damaged to this extent on top of the gunfire damage.

He yelled “Everybody brace yourselves!” as he continued his losing battle. Twilight did as she was told, but she'd recovered some magic so she also placed a shield beneath the fighter in such a way as to absorb the force of the fall to a degree. 


*** After The Crash ***


The next thing she clearly remembered was waking up to see herself in what appeared to be a garbage dump. The others were in the process of waking up as well, though Lightning was the only one actually standing up.

“Alright, who’s not dead? Sound off.” she asked, the others groaned. Lightning and herself seemed to have taken the crash best, as they could stand and were the first to fully regain consciousness. So when a trio of bioweapons showed up, they fought the creatures off. Though Twilight mostly flung spells at them until the end of the fight. When they had finished the bioweapons off, Vanille shook Sazh awake, then moved to Hope. 

More bioweapons and some drones were coming after them, but between the five of them, they were able to win easily, she was becoming a bit concerned in a way. At this rate, it would take a full platoon of soldiers to stop one of them soon. Ordinary people shouldn't have this kind of power, too much risk of one doing the wrong thing. It was made pretty clear that the fal'cie wasn't picky about it's l'cie when it made teenagers into them. What if it picked someone who decided to murder as many people as possible out of spite?

“Glad that’s over.” Vanille said, sitting down.

Sazh joined her. “Man, I’m beat.” he said. Lightning walked past him. “What? Don’t we get a break?” Sazh asked.

“They’re tracking us.” Lightning said harshly, turning her head slightly. 

“We may not be so lucky with the next platoon they send.” Twilight said more sympathetically. Assuming it was only a platoon.

“I know, I know, but the the rest of us aren’t soldiers! We don’t have the same kind of stamina you do.” Sazh responded.

“You’ve got enough to complain about it.” Lightning responded.

“Say, how is it that you’re fine?” Sazh asked Twilight after a moment.

“Perhaps my natural affinity for magic is enhancing my l’cie abilities and accelerating the effects of the enhancing power of the brands.” she hypothesized. That was her best guess anyway. She seemed to be gaining power a bit faster than the others.

“That makes sense… I guess.”  he said as Lightning began to walk off, 

“Sorry Sazh!” Twilight apologized, hurrying after her. Lightning was more at risk than anyone else if she went alone. Besides, the others should catch up momentarily.

“Oh, that’s just- Forget it!” Sazh complained.

Hope came over, “I think, umm…” he started. 

“I’d stick with them if I were you.” Sazh told him, knowing what Hope was going to say. 

“Later then.” Hope said, hurriedly waving. Twilight helped Hope over a metallic pillar, which proceeded to roll down and take out the already rickety bridge as soon as they were past it. 

“Uh… glad that didn’t happen when we were climbing over it.” Hope said in mild awe at how close to death they’d just been without realizing it. 

“Yeah... I’m sure they’ll find another way around.” Twilight said, a little concerned that she was wrong. They made their way through the area after Lightning. 

“Only you two?” Lightning asked as they caught up. She hadn't exactly gotten far. She might not admit it, but her stamina was starting to be worn down. Constantly fighting and on the move was enough to wear even her down and it was starting to affect her speed.

“For now anyway.” Hope said, he glanced back, “Should we wait?” he asked.

“They’ll catch up with us, eventually.” Lightning responded. They fought their way through the Psicom forces and Pulsian artifacts on the rampage. These mostly consisted of malfunctioning machines that had hitched a ride with the debris, though a couple war machines were scattered here and there. At several points, the girls had to shield Hope from attacks that either caught him off-guard or he wouldn’t be able to withstand. Eventually they reached a clearing in front of a cliff face. Hope struggled to catch his breath. 

“Do you think we can get through this way?” Hope asked. A slightly disturbing thought occurred to him, “You… do know where you’re going, right?” he asked. 

“I’ve been on missions here before.” Lightning responded. Twilight couldn't help but notice that she didn't actually answer the question.

“Nothing to do with the Purge though, right?” he asked. Twilight couldn't see how something out here could have much to do with the Purge. Except perhaps researching what might be waiting for the Purge deportees, but she didn't see why the Sanctum would do that when they were planning to execute them.

“The Purge is Psicom’s baby. The military is split into two arms; the Public Security and Intelligence Command, also known as Psicom, and the Guardian Corps. I was Guardian Corps, the Bodhum Security Regiment to be exact.” she replied.

“Alright, but I still don’t understand something. If you weren’t a member of Psicom, then why did you board the train?” he asked, confused.

“For Serah.” she said simply. That was a sentiment Twilight could respect and agree with.

“You mean, you’re telling me you got on the train so you could save your sister? That sounds crazy. I don’t think I could ever do something like that.” he said in disbelief.

“It isn’t always a question of can or can’t, some things in life you just do.” she told him.

“A good philosophy.” Twilight said. The right thing was usually the hard thing. 

“Easy for people like you two to say.” Hope said, disheartened. Lightning waited a moment, then began climbing the cliff using the various debris. 

“Lightning!” they called, only for her to ignore them. 

“She left us…" Hope said. 

"Huh, I wasn’t expecting that.” Twilight said, a tiny bit bitterly. She knew that her friends leaving her after the wedding rehearsal was at least as much her fault as theirs since she'd approached the issue about as badly as possible, but she still felt betrayed. 'Maybe you should demand an apology before helping them when you get back.' a traitorous part of her thought. She shook it off. Where did that come from? If it was as much her fault as theirs, then at most, both sides should apologize.

She thought she would be able to follow Lightning with teleportation, but she could take care of herself for a few minutes, she wasn’t so sure about Hope. A short time later, about five minutes, Sazh and Vanille ran up to them. 

“We finally caught up!” Vanille said as she and Sazh caught up. 

“What happened to Grumpy?” Sazh asked. Twilight pointed up the cliff in response Sazh’s question.  “Looks like you two got left behind too.” Sazh said. 

“Yeah./Yep.” Hope/Twilight said at the same time. 

“I’m starting to think all of this is pointless. Can’t keep up. Can’t get home. Don’t even know what my Focus is, never mind whether I should fulfill it. It’ll be over for me soon.” Hope said despondently, lowering his head.

Vanille moved over to him and pushed his head up again. “It’s not over yet.” 

Twilight got up from her sitting position. “I’ve felt like giving up before, but I haven’t yet and don’t feel like starting now.” If there was no point trying, then you might as well try anyway since the outcome could only be different if you tried.

“Why don’t we start by getting you home? We can do it together.” Vanille said cheerily.

“The problem is that I don’t have one anymore. Not now that mom is-” Hope trailed off.

“What about your dad?” Vanille asked.

Hope was silent for a minute then he said. “You see, we were just visiting Bodhum, but they forced us onto the train with everyone else. Mom was frantic, she wanted to get us both out, so she tried to fight, but…” his voice began to rise with anger, “She was tricked! Snow used her!” 

Vanille backed off a bit, “Let’s just get you home, okay? You’re dad’s gotta be worried!”

“Let him worry. Why should I care? He doesn’t at all.” Hope said bitterly. 

“Any father cares.” Sazh said with an expression that clearly said he was speaking from experience.

“Sazh?” Vanille asked.

“Are you feeling alright?” Twilight asked, not referring to his physical health. He was probably worried about Dajh, but he could tell them in his own time.

“It’s nothing, just forget it.” He walked over and examined an old mechanism, after that he pulled a lever that caused an electromagnet to create a staircase up the cliff from metallic, rusted, rubble.

“We’ve got time, we’ll get you home, and I’m sure you’re dad’ll be happy to see you safe.” Sazh said, nodding to himself. They climbed the impromptu staircase and found themselves in a sort of clearing a short time later with a view of a cruiser class airship that looked much different from Psicom’s.

“Isn’t that-?” Vanille asked.

“A Pulse warship.” Sazh said helpfully.

“You mean, they really made it this far?” she asked.

“Nope. Not during the war and not since.” Sazh said.

“No, assuming the information the public has access to is correct, all they did was crack Cocoon’s shell. Then the Santum’s own fal’cie pushed them back.” Twilight said.

“They might’ve tried," Sazh held up a finger "but none of their forces made it into Cocoon. Did you sleep through all of History class, or what?” Sazh asked. 

“You could say that, yeah.” Vanille said with a laugh. “But, then what’s a ship from Pulse doing here?” she asked.

“Once the war was over, people couldn’t live on the rim anymore. Places like the Hanging Edge.” Hope said.

“The fal’cie took different things from Pulse, from scrap metal to whole buildings, then they used it to rebuild things here. War reparations on a whole new level. 

What we’re walking through, the entirety of Vile Peaks, is the leftovers, anything that was extra, unusable, or hitched a ride, in a word: garbage. The automatons we’ve been having so much trouble with probably got here completely by accident.” Twilight explained, she had to admit she was curious as to why Vanille didn’t know any of this. It was improbable she'd managed to sleep through all of history and even more-so that she'd managed to not pick up anything in day-to-day life.

“Who’da thunk? A Pulse fal’cie and who-knows-what, mixed in with the trash?” Sazh asked, bemused by the fact that their current plight was the result of an accidental hitchhiker. 

“Who’da thunk?” Vanille said, lacking her usual enthusiasm. Hm, that was a bit suspicious, but she might just be unhappy about their situation.

“Does anyone else think it’s weird that people and things from Pulse have been quiet for centuries if they’re all supposed hate Cocoon? ...Unless something happened to them after the war.” Twilight asked. No one answered. The idea that the Purge might have been for nothing was too horrible to contemplate.

Much like at Lake Bresha, they hurried along, as they didn't really want to think about that. The implications of that included the Purge being almost meaningless as there was nothing from Pulse that could really do much to harm Cocoon if there weren't any people to make into l'cie. If the Purge had been exile instead of execution, the Sanctum could actually have made things worse for Cocoon, by virtue of giving the Pulse fal'cie a small army of displaced people who would likely be bitter and angry at Cocoon's government, if not the people of Cocoon in general.

They continued onward, after fending off a large group of automatons and drones, which seemed to regard them as a bigger threat than each other. Twilight suddenly got the feeling they were being watched a moment prior to Lightning jumping off the nearby ledge. She could be stealthy when she wanted to be.

“Hey, welcome to the party, glad you came!” Sazh said. To his credit, he managed to keep almost all the sarcasm out of his voice.

“You miss us?” Vanille asked. Lightning grunted before walking off. 

“Would it kill her to smile?” Sazh asked. 

“I’m beginning to suspect it would.” Twilight deadpanned. They kept going, plowing through the enemies in there way. As they approached a pile of junk, she got a bad feeling. She drew her weapons and began preparing the debuffing type spells she had learned from the crystarium, debuffing types weakened enemies indirectly, weakening defenses and the like. She was beginning to suspect the crystarium spells were created by other l'cie over the years, as the spellwork was fairly simplistic, focusing on ease-of-use.

“I’ve got that same bad feeling.” she said. She was starting to wonder if it was a l'cie power, or if it was simply intuition.

“That makes two of us.” Lightning said drawing her gunblade. 

“Three of us.” Hope said, nervously drawing his boomerang and casting a spell that caused it to spark with electricity, which she copied unintentionally with her own weapons. Enthunder was apparently a spell that infused one's weapons with electricity without harming the user, increasing one's resistance to electrical attacks as well. A far larger automaton burst from the pile suddenly. 

“What the heck is that?!” Sazh asked. 

“A Pulse Armament.” Lightning said, switching her gunblade to blade mode. 

“Which is bad for us, isn’t it?” he asked.

“We’ve taken out Psicom warmechs, it can’t be impossible to beat a heavily rusted and aged version from Pulse.” Twilight reassured. The warmech threw a piece of the pile it was recently under hard enough to be embedded into a nearby pile. “Okay, this might hurt a lot afterwards.” she said, nervously eyeing the thing's arms. Geez, all but the strongest of Cocoon's warmechs would at least have trouble with this thing. No wonder the war was so bad.

The armament would swipe with it’s arms, which they mostly managed to dodge. Though it would occasionally use a flamethrower. That they couldn't dodge. It finally opened itself up, charged it’s core, and fired it like a wrecking ball, causing the ground underneath them to collapse, though they managed to avoid a direct hit.

The warmech pulled it's core back inside with a chain, and followed them down after their fall, which they were largely unscathed from. 

“I thought we were goners for a second there. Everybody alright?” Sazh asked. 

“Yeah, looks like being a l’cie is a good thing on these occasions.” Twilight said. They were stronger and faster, but they were also a lot tougher. A fall like this wasn't a serious concern as long as they didn't land the wrong way.

“Incoming!” Vanille said as the machine landed. 

Twilight switched to healing magic while she slashed and shot at the machine. It used a cleansing steam that dispelled any debuffs, rendering them useless so they switched to buffing spells, this type strengthened the user and their allies, and it used the cannonball attack two more times before it’s core took too much damage and it toppled over, deactivating. 

“So, Pulse is crawling with that sort of thing?” Sazh asked. 

“The public doesn’t get access to that kind of information, I’ve checked thoroughly.” Twilight said. She'd even tried hacking into government systems looking for files about this subject once. They had fairly weak firewalls since they hadn't had to worry about hackers for a long time, but everything about Pulse had nasty security. The ones around the fal'cie were stronger still, so she left those files alone entirely. That had been very suspicious, but she and her fellows weren't willing to take the risk involved in tampering with those files.

“Corps doesn’t get intel either, soldiers in the field fight completely blind.” Lightning said. Made sense. Grunt soldiers didn't have clearance much higher than civilians.

“Yeah, I noticed. But don’t you need to know exactly what you’re up against?” Sazh asked. 

“Target’s a target.” she responded. Eh, they both had points. Information on a target's weaknesses was usually helpful, but stabbing or shooting something enough times tended to work too.

“You like to keep things simple, huh?” he asked. 

“I stick to my goal.” she said. 

“It must be easier that way.” Twilight said. 

“So, as long as you have a goal, you can fight?” Hope asked.

“You can stay alive.” Lightning said, starting to walk off before adding, “In my book, that's good enough.” 

“I suppose so.” Twilight said, before following after her. A few minutes later, they stopped at a clearing dominated by an old galleon-like warship. 

“Not much of a future for us, is there?” Sazh asked as the three of them sat down on the deck. 

“Hard to picture a happy ending.” Lightning agreed. 

“I haven’t had much time to work on the counter-spell I talked about between almost constant fighting and getting knocked out so often.” Twilight said, she sighed, “And what I’ve got so far isn’t promising, any tampering with the brand could result in cie’ethification, so I have to be slow and careful.” she was thankful they hadn't asked her about how she was studying their brands.

"Ah, don't worry about it, I didn't really expect that to work." he patted her on the shoulder. “Besides, we don’t even know where to go from here.” Sazh said. 

“I do.” Lightning said as she stood, and looked up at the far-off white oval that was the underside of the city of Eden. “There.” 

“Eden? The Sanctum’s seat of power?” Sazh asked, then he chuckled darkly. “Oh yeah, that’s a great idea. We charge right in there. Give ‘em a taste of l’cie terror!” he became disturbed when Lightning didn’t respond. "You’re actually serious." he said in realization. 

“Keep running- either we die or turn cie’eth. A Pulse l’cie has no place to hide. No... If they want a fight, then why not take it to the Sanctum’s door!” she said, filled with a bloody determination. 

“This isn’t a game!” he said. 

“No. It sure damn isn’t.” Lightning said.

“It wasn’t a game the minute people’s lives were ended or altered beyond imagination.” Twilight said. She really thought this wasn't a good idea. Then again, she didn't exactly have many better ones. Some kind of goal was better than nothing. Ideally, she'd like a secure place to research their brands, but that wasn't going to happen. The Sanctum would be turning cities upside down if that was what it took to find them.

“It started with Serah, the fal’cie took her. Then the Purge, and now I’m a l’cie too. The Sanctum’s hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who’s pulling their strings? A fal’cie. Eden.” she glared at the city above them. “Cocoon’s Sustainer and Guiding Light. It probably ordered the Purge too. Fal’cie are all the same, it doesn’t matter if they’re from Cocoon or Pulse, we’re just pawns to them: expendable. I’m not dying a fal’cie slave.” she finished. 

“So? What are you gonna do?” Sazh asked. 

“Destroy it.” she said coldly. 

“By yourself? Are you crazy?” Sazh asked. 

“Wait a second, Eden’s in charge of and powers the other fal’cie, if something happens to it, won’t Cocoon go…” Twilight made a motion that conveyed an explosion with her hands. Not that she disagreed with Lightning's assessment, but the cost was too high.

“She’s right, if anything happens to Eden, it’s lights out Cocoon! Even if you pull it off, what’s that even gonna get you? Satisfaction?!” his expression slowly turned to one of horror. “You want that. You’re a Pulse l’cie now, you just want to snuff out Cocoon!” he said. 

“No! What about Serah?” Vanille asked. “She told us to save Cocoon! It could even be our Focus to make sure Cocoon doesn’t-” 

“Our Focus doesn’t matter.” Lightning interrupted Vanille “I don’t take orders from fal’cie. How I live is up to me.” she said with an air of finality. 

“Don’t you mean, how you die?” Sazh asked. 

“Either way, if I don't figure out a counter, it’s until we get killed or turn cie’eth, which seems to be even worse if the ones we've met are the norm.” Twilight added. 

“Think like that and it’s already over. Better to pick your path and keep moving.” Lightning said, before turning to Sazh.

“Don’t worry. I’m after the Sanctum. I’m not out to destroy the world. Though if it did come to that, wonder if our ‘hero’ would try to stop me?” Lightning asked. 

“You want to fight Snow now? Just like that, and you’re enemies?” Sazh asked. 

“The next time we meet, we might be too.” she said. 

“I’m coming along.” Twilight said, coming to a decision.

“Wha-? Oh, not you too.” Sazh said in a mix of anger and exasperation. 

“You don’t understand, I’m going in order to keep an eye on our trigger-happy friend whose face will break if she ever smiles. I’d rather not see the world destroyed.” she explained. If it came to it, she'd turn on Lightning to prevent Cocoon's destruction. She wouldn't let one person's bitterness kill millions.

After a moment of silence Sazh said “Lately, you’ve been acting more and more like her.” He was right. She was acting more like their soldier friend. She blamed all the killing.

“Who’s to say if that’s a bad thing or not?” she asked no one in particular. Lightning began to walk off, Twilight following behind. 

“Snow deserves it!” Hope said, before following after them. “Wait for me!” Hope called, prompting them to halt. Hope took a moment to catch his breath when he caught up, then said, “I’m going with you.”

“I can’t babysit you anymore.” Lightning said.

“The battles will only get tougher as time goes on. Are you absolutely sure you want to come along?” Twilight asked him, slightly worried that he’d end up dead if he did come along. They were all stronger, faster, and had greater endurance than a normal human, but that only got you so far if you were out numbered a thousand to one, not to mention the warmechs and bioweapons.

They were facing the entirety of the Sanctum’s army after all. Anyone who could face down all of that and survive, let alone win, would probably be considered a god, or have to actually be one in the first place.

“I'm not afraid, I can fight.” Hope said. A sort of sixth sense alerted them to the approach of a group of seventeen Psicom soldiers. Unlike their counterparts from Lake Bresha and one or two from earlier in the Vile Peaks, these had red armor, as opposed to orange, probably higher-ranked troops. The Purge would officially have only necessitated basic grunts, which made sense as they were only supposed to have been guarding the deportees. Thus, they'd needed to summon the bioweapons and ferry in the warmechs.

“Great, a hit squad.” Lightning said. 

“We’ve dealt with elites, it’s not like these guys are going to send missiles at us.” Twilight said. One threw a small object, which they avoided with contemptuous ease. It landed in a pile of junk that was above the path they had previously taken. It exploded, sending the pile down onto the path behind them, and setting it on fire. Huh, she didn't know they could do that. Those metals certainly didn't look flammable.

“A grenade? Really? If we’ve beaten warmechs, why would a single grenade kill us?” Twilight asked as they drew/unholstered their weapons and quickly defeated the group. Hope was particularly impressive in that he aimed the boomerang so that it ricocheted off three of them over and over until they lost consciousness. He was really getting good with that thing. Trial by fire would do that. His upgrades likely helped as well. She would later find out that his boomerang actually had AMP technology that allowed him to manipulate the direction of the boomerang even after he'd thrown it. His experience with magic and practice was drastically increasing his influence over it, to the point of pseudo-telekinesis.

“Not bad.” Lightning complimented him.

“Really? Thanks.” Hope said gratefully. 

“Still, now we couldn’t go back if we wanted to, and they couldn’t follow us if they wanted to.” Twilight said. She could move the debris telekinetically, but the pile to either side would slide in and she'd have to keep moving the pieces. That was assuming Sazh and Vanille hadn't just run off when the grenade went off too.

“There’ll be more soldiers, we should keep moving.” Hope said. When Lightning didn’t respond, he continued. “Lightning? Are you worried about the others? I’m sure they got away okay.” he reassured. 

“You can too, if you leave now. With us, it’ll be fight after fight, there’s no telling how it’ll end, it’s anybody’s guess.” Lightning said. Twilight could teleport a single person past the wreckage and back into the clearing where Sazh and Vanille might still be. They should be pretty easy to follow if they weren't, as there was only one other path out of the clearing besides those they'd already taken.

“I know that. But- I need to get stronger." Lightning didn't respond for a moment. "Lightning?” Hope asked. 

“Call me Light, both of you.” she said.

“What’s the plan from here?” Hope asked. Twilight concentrated for a moment, discovering that this took noticeably less effort now, and conjured up a map. 

“As close as I can tell, we’re about here.” she pointed to a spot roughly in the center of the Vile Peaks. 

“If we’re going to Eden, the fastest way would be to head through the Gapra Whitewoods, then to Palumpolom, we should be able to find a way to Eden from there.” Twilight said, then looked up at the others. “Does that sound about right?” 

“Yes, that was my plan.” Lightning said. 

“Rather predictable, but then again, time is of the essence.” Twilight said. That was pretty close to a straight line, but they didn't have the time for detours.

“Then it’s a good thing I live in Palumpolom, I’ll be able to show you all the shortcuts.” Hope added helpfully. 

“Alright, but no side trips.” Lightning agreed.

“No need, I’m pretty sure l’cie aren’t welcome at home.” Hope said. That was really dark. They fought their way past almost exclusively Psicom forces, until they came upon a trio of Psicom trackers, causing them to hide behind some rocks, checking over another Pulse Armament, this one inactive. 

“Any trace of the l’cie?” one asked. 

“Nothing, no sign it’s been activated.” the one tinkering with the machine said. There was the strangest combination of relief and disappointment in his voice.

“Huh?” the first one noticed them despite their cover. “Who’s there?” he asked warily, the three of them broke cover, faced off against, and easily overwhelmed the Psicom soldiers. These guys were basically engineers, so there wasn't much chance of their being combat-specialists.

“What was Psicom doing here?” Hope asked.

“Probably thought we’d try and use a Pulse machine to escape.” Lightning said. 

“Makes sense looking at it from their perspective.” Twilight noted.

“Maybe we should try it.” Hope suggested. He began checking out the armament. “What does this do?” he asked, reaching for what appeared to be controls.

“Um, Hope I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Twilight said. Lightning was more vocal in her disapproval. 

“Hey, you’re gonna hurt yourself! Don’t touch that!” she said. 

“Wait. What if it works?” Hope asked, climbing onto the robot. 

“Leave it!” she ordered, only for the armament to begin moving. It began to take lumbering steps forward. “I told you to leave it.” Lightning said in annoyance. 

“Stop! Stop already!” Hope cried out, causing the armament to stop. “I think I got it.” Hope said as the armament seemed to be obeying him. “Hey, Light! I think I can work this!” Hope called as he experimented with the controls. 

Once they were sure Hope wasn’t in any immediate danger, the girls went to examine the area by a large piece of metal next to a nearby trench in hopes of finding a way across. Hope brought the armament over and simply punched the piece of metal with it, causing it to fall over, forming a bridge. 

After a bit of ‘platforming’ the armament ended up in a space too small for it to turn in and with a cliff in front of it. It slowly lumbered forward as Hope attempted to turn it around. He screamed as he fell off the cliff with the armament. He was fine, the armament not so much. 

“Nice landing.” Lightning said sarcastically, before jumping down a series of ledges to him, while Twilight simply teleported down. 

“Give me a minute, still winded.” Hope said, swaying drunkenly. 

“You’re too soft.” she said. 

“We can’t afford to take a break if just one of us is winded.” Twilight said apologetically, while helping him up. Lightning walked off. 

“Wait up!” Hope called as he hurried after her. As they went further, Hope grew increasingly exhausted. He finally tripped over a rung of another bridge and collapsed for a moment. 

“This isn’t working.” Lightning said. 

“Huh?” Hope asked worriedly. 

“I mean, you’re a liability. You’ll just slow us down.” she continued. 

“What?” Hope asked, this time edged with panic. 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t protect you when-” she cried out in pain. Her brand was glowing pink. 

“We can’t just leave him out here!” Twilight said, before crying out in pain herself as her own brand began to glow purple. “I know what it’s like to be abandoned, and I am not doing that to anyone!”  she said. 

“You’ve got to take me with you!” Hope said.

“Enough!” Lightning said angrily. The pain was intensifying. 

“The whole world is against us. I can barely keep myself alive. Let alone a helpless kid!” Lightning managed through the pain.

“If we leave him, then how are we any better than the fal’cie you hate so much? We’d be treating him as if he were expendable!” Twilight argued. They both cried out as the pain intensified. 

“I don’t have the time to be your babysitter. You want to get tough?” Lightning asked. Hope shook his head in negative. “Do it on your own!” Lightning yelled at him. The pain became excruciating as incantation circles of the colors their respective brands had been glowing formed around them, roughly 25 feet in diameter each.

They got out of their circles just in time to avoid the appearance of two figures, each seven feet tall. Lightning’s was a knight in brown and white armor with a spear and shield. Twilight’s was an angel in a purple dress with a rod that had an eclipse figurehead and long black hair, one of her wings was black instead of white. 

“I didn’t know they could do that.” Twilight said in awe, glancing at her brand’s location.

“This cannot be happening.” Lightning said. ‘Fallen Angel’ and ‘Odin’ popped into their heads. Fallen Angel fired a blast of pure magic at Lightning, which Twilight blocked with a barrier. Odin jumped over to Hope, who skittered backwards about a foot until he remembered about the angel in that direction. 

“Look out!” Lightning called as Odin moved his arm back to deliver a strike. Hope shielded his face with his arms. Lightning blocked just in time. 

“You two handle Odin, I’ll deal with Fallen Angel.” Twilight said. Said angel snapped her fingers and a barrier appeared between Twilight and the others. It wasn't a spell, just pure energy manipulation with magic as the energy used. A counter appeared above her. 

“Let me guess, Doom counter?” she asked. Fallen Angel nodded, then fired a third-tier fire spell at her. Each tier was exponentially stronger than the last. She copied the spell, then replicated it, the two spells cancelled each other out. 

“I can replicate any spell I see, do you know this one?” she asked as she teleported behind her adversary, and used an electrified sword and ice-imbued pistol on her. The angel staggered forward, but was unharmed. 

“Huh, are you immune to magic, or can you only be affected by purely magical attacks?” She'd need to stop using hybrid attacks if she wanted to find out. She rained every spell she knew with combat applications on the angel while firing her unbuffed pistol at it. The angel was hurt this time, but the wounds healed almost instantly. 

“So you can’t be harmed by anything other than pure magic. Not only that, but you possess an extreme healing factor. This could be difficult.” Twilight said. She was sick and tired of this crap. She was going to beat this thing and they were going to get out of this place.

She engaged in a seesaw contest, the angel and herself would trade magical blows, and the angel would use a spell she didn’t know, only for Twilight to copy it and add it to her own repertoire. This went on up to the point of exhausting all but the fourth tier spells, when her counter was almost up, the angel suddenly stopped and bowed. The counter disappeared at the same time. 

“You have earned my respect, my lady.” the angel said. She stood erect, and said, “You may call me for aid in future battles.” before disappearing, leaving behind only a crystalline eight-point star which was quickly absorbed by her brand. The barrier disappeared. 

The others had long since finished their fight with Odin, and were staring in awe. Lightning was less affected than Hope, who was gaping open-mouthed, while she was merely wide-eyed. She looked around her, the surrounding area had been reduced to rubble, and was either melted, frozen, sparking faintly, or on fire, for a good forty feet around her. A good chunk of it was not in the position it had been before the battle had begun either. Of course, she'd never have had the energy for this without the recharge abilities her brand granted her.

“I’m really, really, glad you’re on our side.” Hope said finally. Twilight and Lightning dragged themselves over to the other end of the bridge, aided by Hope. Their brands were still glowing faintly when they got there. Apparently summoning a creature through an incantation circle was exhausting on an almost spiritual level.

“Your brands look different. Were those Eidolons? Like l’cie can summon?” Hope asked. 

“Apparently they’re real.” Twilight said, completely exhausted. Now that the adrenaline from the fight had worn off, she was sure she was in no condition to keep fighting. She could probably last a couple more battles, but she would rapidly lose combat effectiveness.

“Magic and mumbo-jumbo, I must’ve hit my head on that Purge train.” Lightning said. 

They stood up slowly, “Um, am I really in your way?” Hope asked. Lightning started off. 

“I’ll do better! I’ll try harder, I’ll-”

“Hope.” Lightning cut him off. 

“We’ll toughen you up.” she had the ghost of a smile on her face as she said this. “I’m sorry about before.” she apologized. They encountered more Psicom troops almost immediately, as if purposely ruining the moment. A full platoon with support from drones and canine bioweapons surrounded them. 

“I’m going to try out those new spells I learned on these guys.” Twilight said. 

“Nice to know beforehand. Got my back, Hope?” Lightning asked.

“Yeah.” Hope said confidently. After a few minutes, the entire platoon was wiped out, including the drones and bioweapons. Hope was breathing heavily. “I still can’t believe just the three of us managed that.” he wheezed. Just yesterday they'd needed 6 people to do that, now they'd managed it with half as many, so she could see why he was surprised.

“We’ll stop here.” Lightning said decisively.

“Sorry.” he apologized. 

“We’ve all been slowing down for a while. L’cie or not, we aren’t gods. Don’t sweat it.” Hope used a nearby rock as a pillow and fell asleep in moments. He must really have been exhausted.

“I’ll look around.” Lightning said. 

“I’ll keep an eye on him.” Twilight said. Twilight used the time to work on the counter-spell some more. She had neglected to mention that she was experimenting with her own brand for it, so she couldn’t really test anything with all the others nearby and conscious. She still paid enough attention that she noticed someone coming a few minutes later. It turned out to only be Lightning. She saw a touching little scene when Lightning noticed that Hope fast asleep. 

“Mom?” Hope asked with a smile, obviously dreaming. 

“Not by a long shot.“ Lightning said a ghost of a laugh in her voice. 

“You go on and sleep. I’ll keep watch.” Twilight said. 

“You sure?” Lightning asked.

“Out of the two of us, who can throw balls of fire that create explosions more powerful than that grenade from earlier?” Twilight asked. 

“Point taken.” Lightning conceded, before settling down for rest.


***In The Conference Room in Eden***


"Sir, we've lost over a hundred people in the Vile Peaks." one of Rosch's lieutenants said, his voice trembling slightly. It wasn't all that shocking for him to react that way, a group of five people, most of whom were essentially civilians, taking down over a hundred trained soldiers in a day? The sheer ludicrousness of that report would make most people look at you like you were crazy. Rosch was not most people. 

"Do we have any footage?" he asked.

"Yes sir, two videos, one taken by the hit squad's camera meant to record the l'cie's deaths', and the other by a full platoon with bioweapon and drone support." the lieutenant responded.

The officers were called together, and the videos were played. They watched in a mixture of awe and fear as three of the original six l'cie took down the seventeen person hit squad with ease, they'd barely even used magic beyond healing some minor injuries. Then they looted the bodies and left with a callousness rivaling that of an experienced campaigner. Though they'd needed to learn fast.

"Well, if the second video does not show otherwise, we can assume that the l'cie have split into two groups, ignoring the loner." Rosch said in an attempt to break his officers out of their stupor. One of the l'cie, the Sparkle girl, had taken out eight of the soldiers by herself, appearing to teleport around the battlefield. He was fairly sure that was exactly what she'd done. A teleporting foe was a nightmare. Set a trap? They can ignore most substances if they can concentrate. Ambush? Don't bother, they can pop up behind you, or to one side, or above you.

The second video proved even more disheartening. The platoon had the group surrounded, but was torn apart by the powerful magic demonstrated by the Sparkle girl, though her companions weren't pushovers either. It appeared the computer's assessment of Farron and Sparkle was correct, those two were the most dangerous. Farron actually cut a drone in half with her sword glowing pink from magic, and he could swear she actually looked a little bored doing it. Then again, she tended to school her features, and there wasn't much that was more disheartening than having your forces torn apart by someone who wasn't even trying, or at least didn't appear to be trying.

"I am going to request that our troops in the area between them and Eden be reinforced." Rosch announced. These l'cie could not be let anywhere near Eden, the city or the fal'cie.

His request was granted when he showed the Primarch the videos. Unbeknownst to him, Dysley had smiled at this news as soon as Rosch left earshot. "It seems that I got lucky with who became a l'cie this time." he sobered slightly. "Still, nothing is absolutely certain yet. I must take care not to be overconfident. They may be pawns, but they do have minds of their own." 

His plan might need some speeding up, with how quickly the l'cie were gaining strength. Their split had helped. When l'cie were given the same Focus, their fighting caused every single one to gain strength from it rather than just the one individual. This could easily be turned against him though. Should they gain too much power too quickly, then the military would get desperate and might strike without his approval. "I'll have to be careful in my manipulation of these events. Raines should prove useful however." He grinned again, the Maker would be brought back to this world and he would have release at last. That was worth any minor headaches this new development caused him.
> Gapra Whitewoods
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The three of them carefully made their way to the entrance of their next objective, the Gapra Whitewoods. Lightning had her gunblade in gun mode, and Twilight had her pistol and a second-tier fire spell at the ready in order to snipe any guards. She stifled a yawn, she was up half the night keeping watch and trying to work on the counter-spell, but having no success with the latter, she had decided to switch her attention from removing it altogether to either removing the Focus in such a way as to give them infinite time, or removing the timer component so as to prevent cie'ethification from ever happening in the first place. 

"You awake enough for this?" Lightning asked. She was a liability if she couldn't stay alert.

"Yeah, I've pulled all-nighters before, I'll be fine." Twilight responded, this was technically true because she used to do them all the time in her own world, but she hadn't done them much at all in this world or body, so she was struggling to stay awake if not in the middle of a fight. They hurried in, dispatching the guards with ease and the necessary speed to keep them from alerting those inside, hacked the terminal controlling passage through the gate, and got in, only for a security protocol to cause the door to close with a metallic grinding noise almost as soon as they were through. Lightning carefully watched for guards, then gave them the universal 'all clear' signal.

"I still can't believe being l'cie makes a person this strong, this fast. We made it in almost scarily easily." Hope said, perturbed that a place supposedly crawling with Sanctum forces was so easily to get into. If it were this easy for a trio of l'cie to make it past the Sanctum's defenses, an army would smash right through. Their current surroundings were a cyborganic forest with more feral versions of the bioweapons running around. This was where they were trained and augmented into their domesticated forms, so that made sense. 

The trees here were significantly stronger and hardier than their organic counterparts, and were capable of limited growth and self-repair without supervision. This made them perfect for containing the wildlife. In theory the military maintained a pretty strong presence here, but in practice the animals were all but free to roam within the borders of the forest. The military mainly just contained their future bioweapons here unless they were about to enter training or be augmented.

"The door closing will slow down pursuit." Lightning said. True, but they'd force it open one way or another.

"But aren't there troops on this side? We can't relax yet." Hope asked. Also true, but there weren't that many in comparison.

"This would also appear to be where the bioweapons are trained/domesticated, so we'll have to deal with them too." Twilight said. That particular piece of information was not exactly public knowledge. At least it wasn't supposed to be but it was leaked intentionally to keep people from snooping around in the area. Still, best to make sure everyone was on the same page.

"Right... We press on. I'll take point, you two watch our backs." Lightning said.

"Actually, why don't you let me take point?" Hope asked.

"Sure you can handle it?" Lightning asked. 

"Point is the most dangerous position." Twilight said carefully. None of them were in a particularly good place emotionally. Last night's outbursts had merely been the result of restrained stresses breaking through the emotional equivalent of a dam. A major shock could send them right back there.

Hope moved over to a few feet in front of Lightning. "It's not always a question of can or can't, there are some things you just do." he said in a fairly good imitation of Lightning's tone when she said much the same thing.

Lightning smiled. "Now you're learning." Hope smiled in return and turned to start on the path to Palumpolom. "Keep your eyes front, we'll watch the rear." she reassured.

"Point's already dangerous, don't do anything too reckless." Twilight advised.

"Got it." Hope responded. 

They encountered only the native and pre-domesticated wildlife and the very occasional drone at first. The Behemoths proved little challenge when the three of them struck together against one. However, that wasn't to say they escaped all of the battles unscathed, a trio of Behemoths and at least a dozen wolf-like pre-bioweapons surrounded them once. They were very nearly killed that time, second-tier spells were only useful when they could actually be used and third-tier spells took even longer to cast, not to mention that they'd blow themselves up too using spells of that magnitude at close-range. 

She thanked any deities that didn't consider them pawns or hate their guts that she'd learned the second and third tiers of the Cure spell-chain. Spell-chains were simply the basic spell and it's upper tiers, each with successively more power and efficiency, but a longer casting time. It had already saved their lives a few times. Though a spell to bring fallen allies back would be useful as they were only fine if nobody died. Considering how many things were trying to kill them, well... they'd been lucky so far. Hopefully all the horrible things happening to and around them made the universe feel it owed them some good luck.

When they were about to use an elevator to move to another level, Hope asked Lightning. "Have you ever been here before? On duty, I mean." The Whitewoods had several levels, the canopy of the trees, the trunks, and the floor of the forest around them. Any wildlife that was scheduled to be turned into a bioweapon was moved into holding areas on the ground, with specialized lasers that prevented the wildlife from moving beyond the area. They would deactivate if there were no more readings of hostile wildlife, so they were forced to seek out the animals and put them down in order to advance, rather than simply out of self-defense. She really wasn't that bothered by it, as they were not thinking beings. The humans she'd killed, on the other hand, were leaving her wracked with guilt. She kept it to herself though, the others had plenty of problems already.

"No, unfortunately, I haven't. This area's under the Woodlands Observation Battalion's jurisdiction." she turned to him. "You scared?" she asked.

"Not really. I'm ready to fight if I have to, it's not like I really have a choice if I want to see tomorrow." Hope said.

Lightning held a small survival knife out to him hilt-first. "To keep you safe." she said simply. Hope examined it. "I'll want it back." she added.

"Lightning." he called, causing her to stop in her tracks towards the elevator. "I'm glad I followed you. By myself, I wouldn't have stood a chance." 

"You know, with the way you two are acting, I'd almost suspect you both have a thing for each other." Twilight thought aloud, accidentally causing them to choke as they swallowed wrong. "Sorry, forget I said anything." she said sheepishly. She blamed the lack of sleep for her lack of tact.

Lightning cleared her throat. "Let's get a move on." she said, deciding to ignore that. They moved over to the elevator and rode it up.

After a few minutes, Hope glanced upwards suddenly as they were walking down one of the paths. "What is it?" Lightning asked. 

"We need to hide!" Hope pulled them behind some foliage. A trio of Sanctum soldiers riding in hovercraft flew by, on patrol.

"Isn't it kind of weird how they just passed us by?" Twilight asked. 

"Yeah, they didn't even seem to be looking for us. I mean, we're l'cie and we're on the loose." Hope said in mild confusion.

"Psicom must be keeping it all under wraps, they don't want their failure publicized. Obviously they think it's better to lose us than their pride." Lightning explained.

Twilight shook her head. "They're willing to endanger millions of people all for the sake of pride?" she asked incredulously. "That's incredibly... it's not stupid exactly, that's not quite the right word." she said, struggling for the best way to phrase what she was trying to say. "Suicidally self-destructive! That's the word!" she said snapping her fingers. Seriously, pride wasn't going to prevent Cocoon's destruction, which, as far as the Sanctum knew, was their goal. Inter-service rivalry was just going to get more people killed.

"Then again, that means the other soldiers don't know about us. Right?" Hope asked.

"Right, they don't know anything at all about any fugitives." Lightning said in a tone that spoke volumes of her contempt towards Psicom.

After several more sets of enemies, they came upon a door blocked by beams of electricity.

Hope sat down to take advantage of the opportunity to rest as the girls tried to figure out how to open the door without getting fried by the intense energy blocking their path as there wasn't a control panel on this side. She couldn't hack something without some way to access it, and there wasn't an access point. "Wonder how the others are doing?" he asked.

"You mean Sazh and Vanille?" Twilight asked as she contemplated on whether it would be a better idea to fry the circuitry with lightning, melt it with fire, simply teleport the group to the other side, or use a more mundane method such as hacking at the door's inner workings. There seemed to be a minor fal'cie in charge of this door (as it was this door), so she had to be careful how she approached this, though they'd beaten a fal'cie before. They didn't want to alert any of the fal'cie, because it would quickly reach Eden, then they'd have the army come down on them like a tsunami.

"Who knows? But even if they ran, they'll get caught eventually. Then they'll have to choose: Fight or surrender." Lightning said. 

"Surrender... Do you think he's still alive?" Hope asked.

"You mean Snow?" she sighed. "He's far too stubborn to die. And that's his best quality, he's arrogant and chummy from the get-go. He thinks he's everybody's pal. Never liked him much. He leads around a bunch of kids- this gang called 'NORA.'" 

"I happen to be the instructor on swordsmanship there, so I resent that just a little bit." Twilight deadpanned.

"Where'd they get the name 'Nora?' Hope asked.

"It's an acronym. 'No obligations, rules or authority.' Not normally my thing, but someone has to make sure they don't get themselves killed." Twilight said. That was the second reason she'd joined the group. The first being that the founders were friends of hers. She hoped they'd all survived the Purge. She'd been a bit out of touch with the group for a couple weeks as she'd been busy setting her affairs in order before leaving this world. That was one of the reasons she hadn't been with them during the Purge. That and simply not being able to find them.

The barrier suddenly over the door went down. "It's irresponsible." Hope said as he walked past. 

"Yeah, this isn't way too convenient or anything." Twilight said once again in deadpan as she followed him. The door was re-energized behind them. She smelled a rat, but she couldn't do anything about it right now. It was always possible that they'd happened by just as the door went through some kind of self-check that required rebooting the system, but nobody was that lucky.

Some time later, they stopped for a short rest. Hope was angrily opening and closing the knife Lightning gave him. "What's eating you?" Lightning asked.

"It doesn't take an empath to tell you're upset about something." Twilight added.

"Is it the l'cie thing?" Lightning asked. Hope gave no response save a metallic shink as the knife opened. "It's Snow isn't it?" Hope froze for a second, letting them know Lightning hit the mark that time. 

"What happened?" Twilight asked. 

"You wouldn't understand." Hope said. 

Lightning walked over and knelt down next to him. "The three of us are partners Hope." she said.

"My mother was killed. Because of him." He outlined the events of his mother's death during the Purge. "It's his fault. And he needs to pay for it." He unsheathed the knife and held it in front of himself. "I'm not ready yet, but I will be. Soon." he sheathed the knife. 

He stood up as he said, "That's why I followed you two." He started forwards. "Snow dragged us all into this. You two, Light's sister, me... He's gotta pay." Hope finished.

Twilight felt she should defend her friend, but at the same time, there was some truth to Hope's claim that Snow seemed to have dragged them all into this to some degree. When he'd decided to challenge the fal'cie, they'd ended up joining him, and now they were l'cie. 

He needed to take some responsibility, if he was in fact responsible. She decided to say nothing until she had a better idea of the situation. Preferably when she'd heard Snow's side of the story. She could defend Snow once she learned the exact details of what happened that night with Hope's mother. Hope was still influenced by grief and anger, so she couldn't rely only on what he'd said. Besides, no one forced them to fight the fal'cie with him. They could have run off at any time before actually instigating the fight. Then again, Snow should have known that she at least would have followed him, and if he understood Lightning at all, he'd have known she would want revenge.

They found their way blocked by a pair of tree branches. Lightning took out one with her gunblade, Twilight incinerated the other with Fira. It was a rather large branch, she didn't just do it to burn something and take out some of her frustration on something that wasn't a sentient being.

"Could I use one of those?" Hope asked, it was unclear if he was referring to the gunblade or the spell.

"Bit too heavy for you to use properly." Lighting said as she sheathed her weapon. 

"You'll have to adjust to a far larger drain for the higher tiers." Twilight explained, Hope was improving though, he could use all of the first-tier spells without a problem, even spells of opposing elements in succession, which was extremely difficult for your average mage to do. 

One or two of the better students from her school in Equestria might have been able to fire off the second-tier spells they had some affinity for, but almost none had the versatility to use spells of opposing elements so quickly after each other. The energies simply didn't hold together. Then again, the brands might have something to do with that. Certainly her control seemed to be keeping pace with her power increasing without much in the way of exercises to prevent the power boost from shooting her control in the foot. That was the downside of an increase in power. If you didn't work at it, you suffered a loss of precision. Eventually, you'd just be throwing huge amounts of energy around without any structure or finesse. Alternatively, you could have a person with very little power, but great precision. Their stamina would be garbage, but they could do a lot with what they had. Having both power and precision was best.

"Okay." Hope pulled out the knife, unsheathing it, then walked ahead. It seemed he was taking a third option.

After a moment, Lightning said "Serah, I should have listened to you."

"Did I miss something?" Twilight asked, sensing a story here.

"Nothing, let's keep moving." she responded. Definitely a story here, but Lightning wasn't the talkative type, if she didn't want to say anything prying would get her nowhere.

They soon found a trio of Sanctum troops either knocked out or dead, it was hard to tell with their full-body armor, but they weren't bleeding as far as she could see. "What happened here?" Hope asked. 

"Bad luck." Lightning said after a moment's examination. "They came looking for us, and found something a lot worse." Likely a Behemoth.

Hope began to bend over, reaching for the soldiers, "We can't just leave them like this!" He said, before Lightning shoved him back. Twilight stopped mid-cast of her Curaga.

"Don't touch anything!" Lightning reprimanded him. "Control your emotions. If you want to survive, forget about sympathy."

"But, isn't there a too-far point?" Twilight asked, attempting to think of some way to convince Lightning that they should heal the soldiers. She wasn't expecting them to miraculously see l'cie in a new light or anything, but didn't basic decency demand they prevent people who weren't trying to kill them from dying?

"How can I explain?" Lightning asked, walking forward a few paces, then turning around and kneeling down in front of Hope. "Think of it like a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal, and shut out everything else. Still your mind. Move on instinct." She got up and turned towards the far end of the path. "Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you." she finished.

"Strategy. Good. I'll take anything to help me get through this." he walked a few paces in thought. "I'll call it 'Operation NORA.'" he said decisively.

"NORA?" Lightning asked.

"My mother's name." Hope answered.

"Your revenge?" Lightning asked.

"Yes." They started to speak, but cut off when Hope said. "Don't tell me. I know getting revenge on him won't ... bring her back. I know that!" He looked as if he were about to cry. "But 'sorry' won't cut it either." After a tense moment, he started up the path. 

"Snow didn't kill your mother. The Sanctum did." Lightning said. 

"Whose side are you on?!" Hope snapped at her. 

"The side of the truth." Lightning answered.

Hope pulled out the knife and unsheathed it. "Fine. I'll fight the Sanctum with you. I'll learn to survive." Hope finished, turning towards and starting to walk up the path

Twilight noticed a camera near one of the soldiers as she turned to follow him. "Ah," she blinked, then her expression cooled. "well crud." she hurriedly electrocuted it. "Looks like we'll be running into soldiers from now on." she said, holding up the cameras remains.

"Gee, that's great." Lightning said sarcastically. 

Hope took the camera and began to dismantle it. "At least this way we can be absolutely sure it won't be able to transmit, these sort of things aren't useful for what they're made for when they're in more than a dozen pieces." He pulled out a few parts that had survived the frying and dropped the rest of it over the side of the metal walkway into the yawning drop just to be absolutely sure. He integrated the new components into his boomerang. Twilight hung back slightly and used Cure on each of the soldiers. Not enough to wake them up immediately or even guarantee their survival if they didn't wake up before another predator showed up, but enough to give them a chance.

They began to encounter soldiers within minutes of moving on. Finally, at the end of another elevator ride, they all got the 'boss fight' feeling, as they'd decided to call it when they felt a sort of instinctive urge to prepare themselves for a difficult fight, at the same time. They unsheathed their weapons and preemptively applied buffing spells as they cautiously made their way forward.

Another type of bioweapon called Aster Protoflorian jumped out of seemingly nowhere. It had four limbs and a blue bulb on it's back. It began making odd trilling noises.

"This is it. Operation Nora!" Hope charged at the beast with his boomerang in one hand, the survival knife in the other. He and Lightning hammered it with physical attacks to attract it's attention while Twilight used the opportunity to cast Libra on it. 

"Careful! It can change it's elemental weakness!" she called. She took advantage of her knowledge of it's weaknesses and blasted it with whatever it happened to be weak to at the given time with one hand and fired shots from her pistol from the other.

She was content with a cover-fire role as Lightning and Hope seemed to be doing fine, with only occasional need for healing. Though the thing's vine attack was unpleasant.

After they defeated it by a particularly vicious group attack alongside their Eidolons that severed the vines it was trying to defend itself with at the time, Hope said. "Operation Nora, Stage One complete."

"You did well." Lightning said.

"Nice job you two." Twilight said.

They went through the door the bioweapon had been guarding and found themselves on a cliff overlooking the sea. On the other side of a bay was a city.

"That's it. Palumpolpom." Hope said.

"That's where you live, right?" Lightning asked. 

"What say we stop in when we get there?" Twilight asked.

"No. We're l'cie now, and no one's there but my dad." Hope said shaking his head. 

"Hope, you'll have to tell him what happened sooner or later." Twilight said gently. She wasn't going to force him, but his father deserved to know.

"Hey, there they are!" a soldier at the head of a group of soldiers similar to the one they encountered in Vile Peaks, but with two platoons this time shouted. 

"I'm getting real tired of being interrupted in the middle of a conversation by attacks." Twilight said in annoyance. They called their Eidolons back out and dispatched this group, though they only just barely won as their Eidolons disappeared mid-battle, drained from their earlier fight. It seemed like this group was better-trained and better-equipped than their counterparts in Vile Peaks. Considering they were getting nearer to the capitol in a way that made their goal obvious, this made sense. 

They walked a little closer to the city, found a small, well-hidden cave and settled down for the night. Unless they started carpet-bombing, they shouldn't have to worry about the Sanctum. She set up a couple alarm wards before she went to sleep though.
> Palumpolom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They had snuck closer to the city early in the morning and were currently hiding out of sight, ironically enough, behind the road blocks that Psicom had set up. As a veritable arsenal was being deployed in the area and a small army of troops, at least 1000 strong, and that was only those that they could see, began taking up positions, a voice could be heard over the loudspeakers on one of the ship's radios. 

"Attention all units. This is Director Rosch, Psicom division. Cocoon is caught in the grip of a Pulse-born terror. If we allow the l'cie's activities to continue, panic will rip the world apart. The peace and stability we have fought so hard to maintain will become nothing more than a memory.

The Pulsian variety of l'cie threaten our very way of life. They must be eliminated. There can be no hesitation. That is all." the voice finished, having been that of one of the two commanders of Psicom, Yaag Rosch. Rosch was one of the highest-ranking members of the Sanctum military. He was well-known for being level-headed by Sanctum standards, though he was wary of Pulse even before the events leading up to the Purge.

More locally, they watched troops being briefed, or reporting in, the forces still being organized. 

A Guardian Corps soldier said, "Task Force reporting." to a Psicom officer, his exact rank was unclear, his uniform suggested he was above captain, but he certainly wasn't an elite.

"Begin operations immediately. The l'cie are headed in the direction of Eden, I don't even need to tell you how badly things will go south if they manage to get there." the officer ordered.

"Sir!" the corps member saluted and walked off with the rest of his squad.

They'd taken advantage of the soldiers attention being on the officer to sneak even closer, specifically behind a truck parked not 20 feet away from the officer. Hope surveyed the scene in front of them. "We can make it. We just have to get to the station and board the train for Eden." he said.

Lightning looked at all the security measures on the area. "Do you think it's still running?" she asked. 

Twilight considered it, "If only to transport soldiers and officers, yes." she neglected to mention things too volatile to be flown in on regular transports. They'd deal with those if they came across them.

"Besides, if it isn't, between my talents with technology and Twilight's brains, I think we'll be able to make just about anything intact run." Hope said.

Lightning glanced at him, "Then punch straight into the heart of the Sanctum? Now you're thinking like a Pulse l'cie." she said.

"Well, we are Pulse l'cie." Twilight said, shrugging. She had a spell to fix their little time-bomb problem half-figured out already, but she'd hit a bit of a roadblock.

"This is Operation NORA. Snow's not the only one I'm after, the Sanctum's got to pay too." Hope said. Lightning grunted. "Hey, you're the one who said we had to fight. Every minute we waste, we're tempting fate." He wasn't wrong. 

"And fate is notorious for being bad at resisting any form of temptation." Twilight added. She'd noticed it also had a sick sense of humor.

"There's an underground tunnel not far from here." Hope pointed at an opening some distance away. "I used to play in them all the time when I was a kid. No one uses the entrance anymore, so even the army doesn't know about it, and by the time they do figure it out, we'll be long gone. I know exactly where it is. We can sneak in right under their noses." He finished.

"Sounds good." Lightning said.

"It's certainly preferable to having to fight our way through all these guys." Twilight said, nodding.

"Great! Here we go." Hope said, sneaking to a pair of crates a bit further up.

They began to sneak past the soldiers, only fighting when they could guarantee a quick and quiet one, as they made their way over to the opening.

"Huh. No more rivalries now. Psicom's brought in the Guardian Corps." Lightning said, seeing the two branches of the Sanctum military working together was almost unheard of outside history books. It seemed Rosch didn't care about the rivalry between Psicom and the Guardian Corps, or he simply cared less about Psicom's pride than capturing them.

"We must have made a deep impression getting through the Whitewoods." Twilight said. Come to think of it, they had killed off an awful lot of the potential replacements for all the bioweapons the Sanctum had been losing. Maybe that was why?

"There are some old drainage pipes we can use to sneak past without being seen just past that thing under the green tarp in front of us. The tunnel entrance is a little bit further past the last one." Hope said. They carefully made their way past the patrols and through the pipes to an opening in the side of the mountain in front of them.

Lightning was glancing behind them as they entered what was apparently a food-making plant. Another fal'cie, resembling a gold crystal with butterfly wings could be seen floating in the center of this, likely providing the power and directing the place.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. Only kids like me will even know about that entrance." Hope said. 

"They'll find it. They'll call in a team and canvass the whole tunnel system." Lightning said.

"You're getting as paranoid as I am." Twilight said as she set up a barrier similar to the one their brander had used, only with a purple eight-point star instead of their brand. "Okay, that's going to be really useful in the future, I can just tell." she said. A barrier that could stand up to missiles at a minimal cost, learning this spell was the best thing that had happened in that building by a long shot. She thought she detected faint traces of someone else's magic when she used it though. That was why she used it so infrequently.Well, that and it was draining to the point that she couldn't cast for 30 seconds afterward, and it only took form as a wall.

Certainly that barrier would confirm they'd gone through this place, but first they'd have to find the tunnel, and then to take advantage of this knowledge they'd have to either find the other end of the tunnel, or force the barrier down, and she'd be able to sense the latter happening, giving them plenty of warning. Besides, that barrier would need the kind of force you'd get from a tank moving at terminal velocity landing on it to bring it down, not to say that it couldn't be chipped away by weaker attacks. 

Hope blinked. "Huh, so you can do that now. Still, we'd better hurry, once they find evidence, by which I mean the soldiers we took out on our way here, they'll tighten security like a noose." Hope said.

"So, where's this thing come out, anyway?" Lightning asked. 

"Well, to be honest, all I know for sure is that it comes out in the city." Hope said sheepishly.

"We'll be finding out today then." she said.

They encountered Flan-type monsters, which were any that were formed of a jelly-like substance, and an armored lizard type, which took a surprising amount of punishment to bring down. Their armor was tough to the point that she took a sample for later study. 

A few minutes later, when they had gotten much closer to the fal'cie, she asked Hope about it. She was studying it's magic earnestly in hopes of breaking down some of the problems she'd been having with the brand. Although it was a Cocoon fal'cie and their brander was from Pulse, so she wasn't sure how much help this thing was going to be.

"Name's Carbuncle. It's in charge of this food-making plant, and it's one of our enemies. Being Sanctum and all." Hope said. 

"So... Kill him, and we cut off the food supply. That'll make us popular." Lightning said sarcastically. She really only seemed to switch between anger and sarcasm in terms of inflection half the time.

"People already have plenty of reason to hate us, don't you think?" Hope asked.

"Yeah. You're probably right, hungry people make for angry people." she said.

"On the other hand, maybe it's about time you guys learned to stand up on your own two feet. Where I'm from, people are expected to go through daily life without being utterly dependent on god-like beings for the basic requirements of survival. 

Though I'll admit that the argument is weakened by the fact that the most powerful magic users in existence are our rulers who also happen to move the sun and moon. Then again, they don't usually get involved in daily life." Twilight said.

"So, how do you deal with anything really bad? It's strategically unsound for the rulers of a nation to be at the front-lines of a major conflict." Hope asked. Huh, that seemed more like something Lightning would ask. She must have been rubbing off on him.

"We haven't had a war in centuries, and I was a member of a group that dealt with crises. My friends and I are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful magical artifacts known of. Though our natural talents are enough to deal with more minor problems such as manticores." Twilight explained.

They walked a bit further "Look at us: Pulse l'cie, using a Sanctum fal'cie to tell where we're going. Sort of ironic." Hope said, a slight chuckle in his voice. They were now on another side of the fal'cie, but almost as close as before.

"Not really. We've relied on them our whole lives. The food we eat, the light and water, it's all from the fal'cie. You know, I think Cocoon was really built for them. The rest of us are just leeches. Parasites." Lightning said.

"You think?" Hope asked.

"Not me, I'll conjure my own food and water, thank you very much." Twilight said, glancing at their crystalline observer. She could feel it watching them, lack of eyes or not, and it was creeping her out. Why hadn't it called down the Sanctum on them? There was definitely something going on here.

"They protect us, nurture us, take care of, well, normal people. They treat us like we're special almost like..." Hope struggled for a word.

"Pets." Twilight suggested, realizing the implications of that word a moment later. How had she never thought of it before, it was so obvious that the fal'cie didn't regard the humans as equals. They didn't get involved more often because they considered human affairs beneath them.

"Like pets." Lightning repeated. "To them we are just pets. That's it, now it all makes sense." Lightning clenched her hands. "I've been so blind all this time. I was born into a fal'cie world, and raised on a fal'cie leash. It was the only life I knew how to live. When it was taken from me, I was completely lost. I was a puppet without a master to follow, my life had no purpose."

She turned to them, "Hope, Twilight, both of you listen to me. This l'cie curse took everything from me. My future. My dreams. I didn't want to think. So I fought instead. As long as I was fighting, nothing else was real. I was running away. The two of you got swept along with me." Lightning finished. Crap, now what were they supposed to do? They didn't exactly have a safe-house set up in case fighting Eden didn't pan out.

"But Lightning, I don't understand." Hope said.

"Operation NORA is over." Lightning said.

"What?!" he asked.

"I..." she began.

"No! You told me to fight!" he said frantically.

"I made a mistake!" she yelled.

"But- You can't do this! You can't just build all of that up, then abandon me." he said.

"I won't abandon you. I won't." she said, griping his shoulders.

"No one's abandoning anyone." Twilight said, before turning to Carbuncle. "This thing is part of the cause of all this. You were right when you said that the fal'cie needed to die, but I think Cocoon won't be safe until all of them, from Pulse or Cocoon, are gone." The others were perturbed by the cold anger in her voice. Twilight was intelligent, but never cold or calculating.

She drew her sword and used it to slice the fal'cie in half with a wave of lavender magic. She preferred to use structured spells as they were both more efficient and more precise, but she was so angry right now that she didn't care. The moving platforms stopped, then began to fall, the lights overhead began to slowly dim, and they started to hurry towards the exit. Her brand reacted to that fal'cie's death with a surge of new power, she could assume it was because of it being a fal'cie, and that the others were similarly affected.

"So what do we do now?" Hope asked as they reached stable ground, causing Lightning to stop. "We're l'cie. Ticking time bombs. Enemies of Cocoon. If we can't follow the plan, do we just lay down and die?"

"I didn't mean we should give up." Lightning answered part of his barrage of questions.

"Then what battles do we fight? And against who? Tell me that!" he said a hint of desperation bleeding through the anger in his voice. 

"I don't know yet." she said.

"Personally, I think we should target any and all fal'cie, maybe if they blink out one by one, people will be able to adjust." Twilight said. 'I'm thinking the massive power boost wouldn't be unwelcome either.' the same voice from Vile Peaks commented slyly. She was starting to get worried about that. Voices in your head that talked back were never a good sign.

"At very least, I know we can't lose hope." Lightning said.

"Speaking of hope, I think I'm close to figuring out the counter-spell, I'm planning to lengthen our remaining time to far beyond the lifespan of a human, that way we'll be dead of old age before our brands can advance all the way." Twilight said. She hadn't had any luck with her 'Removing their Focus' idea, so she'd go the other way, she hadn't made much progress, but so far it looked promising.

"Still, there's always the possibility that you'll hit a dead end, or that they'll advance all the way before you finish." Hope said, sitting down on the nearby staircase.

"You know, you remind me a lot of how I was." Lightning said to Hope.

"Huh?" Hope asked.

"When my parents died, I had to be strong for Serah, I thought I had to forget my past. So I became 'Lightning,' I thought if I changed my name, I could change who I was. I was just a kid. Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect anything, it only destroys." Lightning moved over to the stairs and sat down next to him.

"Serah tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen." she stood suddenly at something only she could see. "I threatened her, the only one who believed her was Snow." Lightning said.

Hope snapped. "Don't say it! Don't say his name. It brings everything that happened that night back. I keep playing it in my head, what happened to her over and over. Then I see his stupid face and he's... smiling. How could he smile when she's dead?" Lightning reached to put one hand on his shoulder. 

He jerked to a stand. "I know! I know there's nothing I can do about it. No matter what happens, she's not coming back! I hate knowing that! When I was fighting, there was no time to think about it. It felt good just to give in. But now, you start talking about hope..." he sniffled. Lightning walked over and took one of his hands. "I'm sorry, I'm messed up." he apologized.

"No... It's my fault." Lightning said.

"The world's what's messed up." Twilight said. Seriously, whoever designed this world needed a good punch in the face, Creator or not.

After a minute or so, they reached an elevator that appeared to go to the surface. Just before they got inside, Lightning half-ordered, "Talk to your dad." to Hope.

"What? Why?" Hope asked in surprise.

"Fighting without hope is no way to live." she used the nearby control panel to call the elevator down. It was starting to lose power too and she'd probably just fry it if she tried using a Thunder spell to power it, so they'd have to hurry. "It's just a way to die. I want you to find the Hope you were named for. Staying alive I can help you with, but I can't- I can't give you hope. If you go to see your father..." 

"You think meeting my dad would make anything any better? He's never listened to a word I've said. It's just- He'll never believe all this l'cie stuff." The elevator began to rise. "Snow believed Serah didn't he?" Hope asked.

"Yeah." Lightning answered.

"We'll help you convince your dad then. Also, Lightning, I found an interesting bit of the spell, I believe I could reverse the spell on your sister keeping her a crystal, provided she be in my sight for a full minute. The cie'eth countdown won't start up again or anything." Twilight said. 

"You really think you can?" Lightning asked, her voice more hopeful than Twilight had ever heard it. 

"Yes." Twilight answered with full confidence. Even if their brands advanced all the way, she'd give Snow and Lightning one last reunion with Serah.

"Say, what are you hoping for?" Hope asked Twilight. She hadn't exactly talked much about what she wanted to do.

"Simple, I've already got the spell to return home figured out, I just want to make sure all my friends here are safe." Twilight said.

"Wait, so you're staying to help us? You don't have to do that." Hope said, incredulous.

"Don't be ridiculous, what kind of friend leaves you to rot in your time of need? Because this definitely counts." she answered. "After all, a true friend always helps a friend in need." she said, smiling slightly. She'd avoided really thinking about the wedding rehearsal if she could, but she wanted to have everything straight in her head... just in case. It occurred to her that the others might have simply felt that Cadance needed comforting more and that they believed Twilight to be in the wrong in that situation. If that was true, they hadn't betrayed her, not really. Maybe if she convinced herself of that, she wouldn't say anything to make things worse when she got back.

"Sometimes you act like a soldier, others you're far more innocent than is healthy around here." Lightning said, the faintest of smiles on her face. 

They drew/unholstered their weapons as the elevator neared the top of it's climb, ready for anything. They arrived in an enormous coliseum-like building to the sound of an announcer broadcasting over a set of speakers like before. 

"In a recently convened emergency conference... the Sanctum announced that the fugitive l'cie had been located. The military plans to apprehend the l'cie and carry out a public execution." They noticed a camera-fed image showing the area they were in on an enormous screen, before showing the three of them specifically.

"These images are coming to you live from the scene in Palumpolum." the announcer continued as the camera switched to a view of the three of them. An airship came into view, along with the camera which had been feeding the image of them, airborne soldiers and fighters. Normal Psicom troops, numbering in the hundreds by themselves, surrounded them from every angle, including the nearest wall and roof of the building. Airborne troops and fighters circled overhead.

"It's an ambush." Twilight said readying an overpowered Firaga. Essentially a normal Firaga with more power put into than was originally intended. Less efficient than a normal Firaga, but stronger. With her brand's recharge ability boosted by Carbuncle's death, she could afford to use a lot of power at once.

"These are l'cie. Show them no mercy. They aren't people, they're targets." Rosch said from his command position.

They got into a back-to-back position as reinforcements, including several bioweapons, arrived. Twilight and Lightning shared a look.

"Start running." Lightning said, readying her gunblade. 

"We'll keep these guys busy." Twilight said to Hope as she created a second ball of fire in one hand. No point having both hands slinging magic and leaving herself wide open. She could technically keep a large number of orbs of flame orbiting herself, it just took a lot of concentration.

"But-!" Hope began.

"You survive, even together, and with our Eidolons, there's too many." Twilight said. So much for that reunion or getting back, but there was no point in all of them dying here.

Before Hope could make a decision, there was an explosion from a wall of the building. Several soldiers in that area got taken out by a figure that appeared to be Snow. One was thrown over the railing, and Snow apparently took a gun from another. 

After a moment, he threw a blue orb and shot it, causing it to shatter and expand before sending out large tendrils of ice. The armed forces were thrown into chaos, though their actual numbers weren't reduced by very much.

It turned out to be the handiwork of two tall blue-skinned Eidolons that resembled human women. Snow jumped off the ledge and grabbed onto the Eidolons as they transformed into a somewhat bizarre motorbike. A woman wearing a skimpy blue outfit who had black hair and was armed with a two-pronged lance landed on it as it formed completely.

They rode the bike down one of the ice tendrils, with Snow's companion taking pot shots at the Sanctum troops with Snow's pilfered gun. 

"It's him!" Hope said in a mixture of disbelief and anger.

Lightning grabbed his arm and pulled him along, taking shots at the soldiers and downing several. Realizing Lightning's plan to take advantage of the mass chaos, she joined in with her pistol on individuals and first and second tier spells on small groups. 

Meanwhile overhead, their allies were assaulting Rosch's command platform, one of his soldiers got shot as the duo fired on the bike and were fired on in turn by the woman. The camera on board had more holes in it than Swiss cheese in about ten seconds. 

She distinctly heard the general order "Move, take us out!" before his platform slowly moved away from the battle. They had taken out dozens of soldiers at this point, she was trying to avoid thinking about what she was precisely doing as she slaughtered more than Lightning and Hope combined thanks to her 'area of effect' or 'crowd control' spells, spells that were for dealing with three or more opponents. The third tier was easy for this due to sheer power and scale, the second tier was more difficult to use in this fashion, but certainly not impossible for closely grouped enemies.

They ducked instinctively as the bike passed over their heads. Snow chuckled as he landed the bike with a spin. "Yeah!" he exclaimed, likely due to an adrenaline rush from the ride. The group approached him, Lightning looked rather annoyed, though Hope was surprisingly calm.

"Lightning!" Snow called out. Suddenly, another dozen soldiers rushed them, only to be cut down with little effort. The five of them got within a few feet of each other, only for Lightning to push Hope into Snow's arms. 

"Take care of him." Lightning ordered.
]
"Lightning, listen to me." Snow said.

"Get moving!" she said.

"You don't understand, Serah's alright! She'll turn back!" he said.

After a moment of silence, she said, "Take care of Hope." before rushing off, followed by Twilight. They could tell him later, or Hope could do it.

"Wait!" he called.

"And then there were three." the woman said, before running after them. 

After essentially carving a path out of the building with their new companion's help, the three of them began making their way through the city. 15 minutes later, after the woman introduced herself as Fang, they stopped as she pulled out a phone. "Gotta check on blondie, he's liable to get into trouble if he's left alone too long." She had a brand as well but it was hazy and bleached compared to theirs, and the spell it represented was disrupted to a great extent. She dialed the number and her phone rang a few times before it got picked up. After a moment, she roared into it, "You damn well know what's up!" she listened to the voice on the other end, presumably Snow. 

She sighed, "Right, what's your status?" Fang asked.

After getting  a response, she said "I'm great, you're great, everybody's great." she turned to them. "Reunion time, figure out a rendezvous point. That line is hyper-encrypted, so don't worry about eavesdroppers." she said.

Lightning took the phone and it could be assumed that Snow called her 'sis', because she said, "I'm not your sister."


*** Meanwhile, At The Location Of Their Ambush ***


A Corps soldier was arguing with Rosch. "This city is under our jurisdiction! Since we're the ones defending it, we should have a say in what's done to protect it!" he said somewhat angry.

Rosch ignored the man, saying into his headgear, "Attention all units, ignore any and all fire zone restrictions. Fire at will." 

The soldiers muttered and fidgeted uneasily. "What!?" the same soldier, apparently the ringleader of the dissidents asked, horrified at how many casualties that could cause. Rosch made a mental note to have this one made a low-ranking officer, he at least questioned orders that seemed to go against his duties as a protector openly. Of course, he also openly defied authority, so 'low-ranking officer' was probably as far up the ladder as he was going to move up, even assuming he survived.

"Do whatever it takes to kill the l'cie, they are no ordinary enemies. Over." Rosch continued.

"'Do whatever it takes'?! You want us to start a war in the streets? The civilians are still evacuating! That kind of collateral damage is unacceptable!" another soldier said.

"You don't know what it's like out there!" the first said.

Rosch drew his sword with a ringing sound, and pointed it at the ringleaders. "You don't seem to understand why we're here. Who exactly do you think it is that's terrified of Pulse and begging us to kill the l'cie? Not the Sanctum, and certainly not us. It's the people of Cocoon." he sheathed his sword and addressed them. 

"This information was delivered to me minutes ago, the fal'cie Carbuncle... is dead." the soldiers gasped. "Magic was used to kill it and the l'cie are known to have gone through that area. I don't think I need to draw a picture for you." Rosch finished. This was bad. According to historical records, killing a fal'cie provided l'cie a large power boost.


*** Back With The Girls ***


"We'll meet at Hope's place. Felix Heights, 35-A." Lightning said, she'd turned the phone to speaker at some point in the conversation.

"Right, see ya there. Tell Fang 'hey.'" he said.

"Take care of Hope." Lightning ordered.

"All over it, I'll tell you more about Serah when we meet up again. I found out that she'll turn back on her own eventually, there's still hope." Snow said

Twilight and Lightning shared a look, telling Snow about Twilight's progress could wait until they took care of the more immediate problem. "Snow you need to listen to me, it's about Hope. His mother was-" she cut off as the phone had apparently changed hands in the short space of time and now Hope was on the other end. 

"Lightning it's me. I've decided-" static began to override his voice and all they caught was something about Operation NORA.

"Hope? Hope! Answer me!" Lightning raised her voice a bit.

"Yelling isn't going to fix it." Fang said, holding a hand out. "I'll admit it, I"m impressed they got the interference up so fast. You can chat when we get there." Lightning handed over the phone. "I've got point, you lot fall in behind. And try and cool off that head of yours."  

They followed after Fang, fighting their way through soldiers and drones. As they hid next to a wall, Lightning asked her. "Who exactly are you?"

Fang chuckled, "Ugh, I don't even know where to start. I've got some screws loose, but I'm a l'cie, like you both. The difference being... I wasn't born on Cocoon." Fang stated.

"Welcome to the club of non-Cocoonians, is Vanille from Pulse as well?" Twilight asked nonchalantly.

"It's Gran Pulse, and how'd you know?" Fang asked, blatantly surprised.

"I pieced it together from a few things, her unusual knowledge on l'cie and magic, contrasting her lack of knowledge of history, she held her hands in a position of prayer different from the one normal among Cocoonians. All in all, I've suspected her of being of Pulsian origin for some time. I simply didn't bring it up because I felt no need to drive a wedge between the group, and I was lacking in irrefutable proof. It was possible she had in fact slept through history class, unlikely she would have done so often enough to render her ignorant of common knowledge, but not impossible. Similarly, she might simply have been part of an obscure religion, explaining the unusual position of prayer. It was also possible she was simply very talented with magic. What is the world below that everyone on Cocoon seems to hate so much like, anyway?" Twilight asked curiously.

"I might take you there some time if we make it out of this, Vanille and I turned to crystal there and fell asleep for about five centuries as near as I can tell. When we came around, here we were. The reason Cocoon's in an uproar and the reason you're here now are one and the same. Vanille and I woke up." Fang glanced at the sky as she finished her speech. 

"So, what you're telling me is that Serah will wake up on her own someday too?" Lightning asked.

"Yep, we didn't do our jobs right. That's why it made her a l'cie, we messed up. Sorry." Fang apologized.

Twilight was silent for a moment, before she punched the wall next to Fang hard enough to leave a small crater, small meaning the size of a cantaloupe. This startled some birds, which drew the attention of the nearby soldiers for a few moments before they went back to patrolling. "Every person who's suffered or died because of this whole mess is at least partly your fault, give me one good reason not to slap you into next week." she said, controlling herself with some difficulty. After all, Fang was probably feeling guilty already.

"I think Lightning should do it because it's her sister that ended up a l'cie." Fang commented. Lightning took what amounted to an invitation and slapped Fang hard across the face. "That it? I was kinda half-expecting you to try to skewer me." Fang said in mild surprise

"I'll admit I'm still tempted to do exactly that, but I won't. ...For now, anyway. Whether or not we're square? That's up to Serah." Lightning growled.

"Snow said almost the same thing and he didn't hit me." Fang said.

"Then he already knows this." Twilight surmised.

"Wow, I feel a heck of a lot better. Glad I apologized!" Fang said. Twilight felt her right eye twitching. 

"You apologized... to make yourself feel better." Lightning stated, echoing Twilight's thoughts. Her face seemed stoic as ever, but something about it screamed there being stabbing in the future.

"Guess so." Fang said cheerily, before turning to Lightning. "How about you, feel better now that you hit me?" Fang asked.

Lightning grunted, "It didn't change anything."

"My jaw disagrees." Fang said, rubbing at said area.

"Wait, how did you and Vanille become separated?" Twilight asked, much calmer now.

"The Euride Gorge incident? That was us. I'd lost my memory of my Focus and what happened after being branded, Vanille too, but her brand didn't go inactive like mine, so I got this stupid idea to attack a Cocoon fal'cie to jog our memories. The plan didn't work, the fal'cie turned some poor kid into a l'cie, Vanille and I got separated, and I didn't even get one memory out of the deal." Fang explained. Wait a minute, that was about the last time she'd seen Sazh, and he'd mentioned planning to take Dajh to... Oh no. She thrust the horror down. There wasn't any proof that was what had happened, but if it was why she hadn't seen Sazh or Dajh since then, then she had one more reason to hate the Sanctum.

"Felix Heights is up there." Lightning pointed to an opening in the nearby brickwork. "Still a ways to Hope's place."

"Then we better pick up the pace." Fang said.

"I say we go through that gate." Twilight said, gesturing towards a gate that some soldiers passed by a few moments before. If they were careful, they could slip past the patrol.

"Right." Fang nodded.
> The Brand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They reached the gate with little difficulty as the patrols had moved on... mostly, and Fang sat down and pulled her phone out again. "Okay, let's get Snow on the line." Fang said. She attempted to call him, but the phone didn't even ring. "Damn thing's still jammed." she closed the phone with a small snapping sound. "Eh, he can take care of himself." she said, unworried. 

"We'll just have to believe that he can do that and take care of Hope." Twi said. It wasn't that she didn't trust Snow, but there were a lot of enemies around. All it would take to get killed or badly hurt was one stupid mistake, and brains weren't Snow's strong suit. He usually fought what amounted to dangerous animals in NORA, so he could afford to fight with his fists and leave his head more or less out of the equation.

"Hey, Fang." Fang 'hm'ed' at her, "The others are safe right? If any of us got caught, they'd make an announcement." Light asked with the faintest hints of concern. It seemed her ice queen persona was starting to thaw with recent events.

"Yeah, they would. They'd have to let everybody know that the big bad l'cie can't hurt 'em no more. These Cocoon people -bunch of cowards and blowhards." Fang said.

"'These Cocoon people' have spent centuries under fal'cie rule, in constant fear of a Pulse invasion." Light retorted defensively. 

"Also, 'any more' not 'no more' a double negative makes a positive." Twi said. 

The other two looked at her strangely. Okay, she'd admit that it wasn't really the time, but the stress was exacerbating her OCD. "I work at a library, have minor OCD, and read a lot of books. Grammar errors drive me nuts, okay?" she said defensively.

"Anyway, if it weren't for Serah, I'd be out there too. Hunting l'cie. Would've been nothing but targets to me." Light said, thankfully letting the matter drop.

"Well, I can't honestly say Gran Pulse is less twisted. 'Cocoon's a floating nest of vipers ready to strike.' Or so I thought." Fang said, running one hand through her hair.

"So you became a l'cie in order to fight us 'vipers' then. And destroying the nest is your- I mean our Focus now." Light said, piecing the story together.

"Until we woke up here, we'd been in crystal stasis. Which means we must've completed our first Focus." Fang groaned. "Why can't I remember that part? I can remember my childhood, it's clear as ever, but the one thing I really need is just... gone. Blank, like the page at the start of one of those old books with nothing on it. I can reach for the memory, but there's nothing there." she sighed. 

"Maybe it's linked to your brand being indistinct while Vanille's is still going." Twi theorized.

"Maybe. Then there's my brand, it's all messed up and I'm still not sure if that's really good, or really bad. What could've done this to a fal'cie brand, ya know?" Fang asked, looking at the offending shoulder. "Vanille and me, we lost our past and our Focus." Fang finished. She had a point, if Twilight was right, her counter-spell wouldn't affect the brand's appearance, just the spell. In Fang's case, the disruption of the spell was more like it had been partially removed. She couldn't quite identify the energies involved. It definitely wasn't normal magic though. It seemed... higher quality? She'd noticed that Celestia and Luna, and even Cadance's magic seemed more potent than the magic of a normal pony. They got more out of it than a regular pony would have. Whatever had messed with Fang's brand was higher quality still.

"And now, you want to find them? Be a Pulse l'cie, an enemy of Cocoon?" Light asked.

"Pulse and Cocoon can rot for all I care. But if I don't figure out our Focus soon... Vanille's gonna turn into a cie'eth. I'll tear down the sky if that's what it takes to save her." Fang said with the kind of determination an older sibling felt to protect a younger sibling.

Some time later when they were in a narrow passage, Fang asked. "Hey Lightning, Sparky, either of you see Vanille's brand?" 

"No, call me Light." Light said.

"Yes, it had a couple arrows when I saw it a couple days ago. Also, 'Sparky'? Really?" Twi asked in deadpan.

"Well, that's a relief." Fang said. In response to their questioning looks she continued. "The brands tell you how long until cie'eth city. You start getting more arrows, then you wind up with an eye. Once it's all the way open, you're done." Fang said, before walking towards them. 

"Let's have a look." she said. When they hesitated, she added, "Don't be shy." and they both let her have a look. "Nowhere near, you've got plenty of time. Still, it's different with different people, and if you get a nasty shock, the process can jump ahead. It's even been known to happen the minute you're branded if the Focus was something really easy, difficulty is a factor for how much time you have too. Vanille's brand must be pretty far along by now. I've got to save her and get her home." Fang said.

"Back to Pulse, you mean?" Light asked.

"To Gran Pulse." Fang corrected with the barest hint of annoyance. "I've heard that the Sanctum stops people from leaving Cocoon. I'd like to see 'em try and stop me." Fang said, thumping a fist into her other palm.

"So, that's your plan, wish I had one. Without Serah. Without a future, I didn't have anything to plan for. There was no way out of this mess, and no way to fight it. For now I'm stuck trading blows with the Sanctum, but that's not a plan. 

Even if we topple the government, where's that leave us in the end? With nothing to fight for? I really hope you finish that spell in time Twilight, because otherwise, I might as well already be dead." Light said. She... might have a point. Reuniting her with Serah would still leave her with an effective death sentence hanging over her head. Either the Sanctum would kill them, or their brands would turn them into cie'eth. They had less than a month, best-case scenario.

"What about your sister? You've got plenty to fight for, just think about it. Don't you want to see Serah after she wakes up? That right there is your future. And all you've gotta do to get there is survive. It's simple!" Fang said with a chuckle.

"Right." Light said, in a somewhat unconvinced tone. Just then, a group of fighters raced by overhead, the unusual number and lack of a proper formation meant it wasn't a normal patrol, which meant they were heading somewhere. There weren't many things that could prompt that. One of those was the discovery of l'cie.

"Snow, Hope." Light realized.

"They found 'em!" Fang said.

An explosion flared over a building. "We've got to hurry!" Twi said as they began to run in the direction of said explosion. 'Most people run away from explosions.' her increasingly independent inner voice snarked. 'I'm busy right now!' she thought/yelled back. She was starting to become very concerned, hearing voices (when no one was actually speaking) was a very clear sign that you were going crazy. Especially voices that talked back.

They arrived to find Hope battling some sort of insectoid warmech while Snow lay prone on the ground behind him. They rushed over to support him, while firing spells and bullets at the warmech to keep it from taking advantage of Hope's momentary lapse of attention upon their arrival.

"Not bad, kid!" Fang said, referring to the numerous scratches and scorch marks that had been on the thing before it arrived. Considering Snow's condition, it was likely Hope had done that all on his own.

"I think Snow's okay." he told them. 

"Good, now let's trash this thing." Twi said.

"Sure you're up for it?" Fang asked.

"Thing'll never know what hit it!" Light answered.

Twilight opened up by spending her clip and slashing at one of the warmech's legs, while casting Libra. She had actually been doing this with every foe they encountered since she learned the spell, though it only gave generalities and wouldn't be very useful as a precise measurement of an entity's power. She was thinking about creating a bestiary of their foes when this was all over. It would likely be of use to people in the future. This warmech was apparently called the Ushumgal Subjugator. Hope cast a spell that shielded them from fire-based attacks called Barfire, it reduced incoming fire damage and thus fell under the buff spell category. 

The reason he did so became obvious as it sprayed them with flaming napalm. It still hurt a fair amount, despite the Barfire, but wasn't unbearable. Fang and Lightning tag-teamed it with their own weapons, finishing with an Aeorora and Thundara from each of them. Hope had continued to buff them up with Protect, a physical protection spell, Shell, a spell that did the same thing with magic and energy-based attacks in general, Bravery, a spell that augmented physical attacks, and Faith, which strengthened magical attacks while this was going on. After those, he used Haste, a spell that doubled movement speed and the subject's flow of time and effectively multiplying their movement speed and dividing reaction time by 4, on them. 

He had taken on the job of healing their injuries as well. His supporting role allowed the rest of them to be far more effective. They soon turned the thing into a smoking pile of metal when Hope joined in after he finished buffing them all up.

After making sure it wasn't going to get up again, Hope turned to Light and held out her survival knife. She took it back, and he said, "Um... Operation NORA didn't really work out." hesitantly.

Lightning pulled him into a hug, "You'll be okay, I'll keep you safe." she told him.

Hope said nothing for a moment, then he responded with "Lightning, I- Me too." he paused. "I mean, at least I'll try. I'll watch out for you, too." he continued with less certainty. Lightning broke the hug, and they both chuckled.

"I hate to break this up, but we should really get out of here before reinforcements arrive." Twi said. There was no way no one had noticed the battle, and she was frankly surprised they hadn't already had a battalion come down on their heads.

"Don't forget about this one." Fang called from next to the still-prone Snow.

"That one will be alright." Light said walking over. She picked him up and draped him over her shoulder, "He's too stubborn to die." she explained with a small smile. 

The group began to walk in the direction of Hope's house. Unlike the relatively light-hearted others, Twilight found herself in dark musings. 

'I wonder if the princess or the girls will be able to look at you the same way after all this.' the same voice said, phrasing the question as a statement. 

'Of course they will!' she told it, but there was still that seed of doubt. She'd always been taught that nothing had more value than a life, and yet here she was, taking them by the dozen.

'You're not sure, and that's not surprising. A lot of people died because of you.' the voice said, a hint of an accusing tone present.

'Well if I hadn't done that, then they would have killed us!' She was only half-convinced by her own argument, and she was pretty darn sure her... 'companion' wasn't buying it in the slightest. This continued back and forth, she was growing increasingly concerned, having a voice in your head that could talk back was definitely a bad sign. A voice with it's own personality was a terrible sign.

She stopped as she noticed the others staring at her, save Snow who was still unconscious. "What?" Twi asked, cursing the nervousness she failed to keep out of her voice, which made her look guiltier.

"You've been muttering to yourself for the past twenty minutes." Hope said in a mildly worried tone.

"I'm fine." she said, not looking them in the eyes and cursing the fact that she was the third worst liar she had ever met, preceded by Applejack, who simply couldn't tell a lie with a straight face, and Rainbow Dash, who simply lacked the tact to know when to lie out of politeness. She didn't like lying, but she was still just as horrible at it when she actually wanted to do so.

"Wow, that was the least convincing lie I've ever heard." Fang said, vaguely impressed.

"Fine, I was arguing with the voice in my head. It's very annoying with it's constant pessimism, but I'm sure it's just a result of stress." Twi gave in with a half-lie. She was not sure at all that it was simply the result of stress. 

"..." They stared at her, "Okay, we've got to get rid of this l'cie thing." Hope said.

"Guys, I'm fine!" Twi attempted to reassure them.

"Voices in your head and you're fine?" Fang deadpanned.

"Just one voice, and it's just stress, I'll be perfectly fine when this is all over." Twi said, she was almost certain the voice was smirking, how a voice could smirk was something she'd question later when she was less uncertain of her sanity.

"I guess." Light said, unconvinced.

They turned as the tell-tale sound of soldiers approaching, a full platoon by the sound of it. The question was how they found the group, although that would have to wait until the soldiers were dealt with.

"I'll deal with them, you guys go on ahead." Twi said, they nodded, trusting her to handle it, and rushed ahead. 	

One Firaga, a Blizzaga, and a Thundaga later (each overpowered), the platoon was wiped out. Only for more footsteps to become audible. She sighed as another platoon approached. 

Several minutes later, "How many are there?" she asked in exasperation as a fifth platoon approached. This was getting ridiculous! Why were they all charging head-on except for a couple snipers each platoon? Wait, what if they were trying to exhaust and overwhelm her with numbers? She wouldn't put it past them to try that, especially since she was alone.

'I agree.' the voice said, mildly annoyed as well. 

'So, now that we're alone, what exactly are you? A voice that serves as an outlet for stress isn't generally this sophisticated, I should know.' she asked it as she dismantled the latest platoon. When one had been pushed to the edge of sanity by a letter she had believed to be tardy, you got a pretty good idea what a voice that was stress-related was like.

'Well, I'm going to keep that to myself for now, you should really concentrate on these guys, they still pose a threat if you're distracted and they have sufficient numbers.' it said as a spray of bullets from a nearby soldier almost hit her. She was slowing down from repeated assaults. Her magic was improving by leaps and bounds in terms of reserves and the maximum amount she could use at once in a structured spell, but her body wasn't improving in the physical aspect of fighting by nearly as much in comparison, significantly better than a normal human, but there were still obvious limits. 

L'cie brands enhanced your abilities in every aspect, but concentrated on what you were already gifted in, in this case her magic, her physical strength and endurance to a lesser extent, and her speed had improved the least of all. Attrition was still enough to take her down if she wasn't let up on long enough to heal herself. Suddenly, two full platoons with support from drones and bioweapons rushed into view in a classic pincer movement and at her. Under sheer weight of numbers, one got through and fired his gun into her abdomen point-blank. She fell to her knees and coughed up blood as they closed in.

The voice sighed, 'I guess that old saying is true. If you want something done right...' she blacked out. She came to just as it finished, '... you have to do it yourself.' it said cheerfully. She found the platoons completely wiped out, the manner varied from gunshot wounds to being bisected or incinerated. She was completely healed and the bloodstains on her shirt were gone as well.

She stared wide-eyed for a moment. 'I'll ask again. WHAT ARE YOU!?' she yelled at it. 

'All you need to know is that we have a common interest in you staying alive.' it responded, then yawned. 'Taking over temporarily took a lot out of me, I'll be going to sleep for the next few hours.' it said, then was silent. She frantically tried to figure out what was going on as she raced towards where the others had been headed.

An alternate personality, perhaps? It would explain how it took over, but not how it had been speaking to her up until now, because she was certain that voice she'd been hearing periodically was that thing's. Generally those with multiple personalities were unaware of the actions or thoughts of the others. She could reason it out later, she thought to herself.

She arrived just in time to see Hope ring the doorbell of what was presumably his house. "Nice to see you're alright." Light said as it made a single toning sound, glowing blue for a moment before fading. 

Twilight nodded, not trusting herself to speak after that incident.

A few seconds later, a middle-aged man with brown hair, in blue military clothing, possibly a Sanctum officer, rushed out and said "Hope!" with evident relief. 

Hope looked down for a moment, then said. "Dad... Mom's gone." 

His father blinked, then turned to the rest of them, "Quickly come inside!" he said. They all went in, hopefully they could get some rest here.


*** Secret File: The Voice's Retaliation ***


"Looks like she's still awake." one soldier said as they moved closer in a loose formation. Even after being shot point-blank with a whole round, she was still conscious? What the hell were l'cie?

"You might say that." the l'cie said, a grin spreading across her face. There was a flash of a light that was darkness as she disappeared, followed by an identical flash in the middle of their group, and she reappeared in their midst. The risk of their being hit by friendly fire made the soldiers falter just long enough for the l'cie to heal herself. 

A second later, the three soldiers nearest to her had been beheaded too quickly for any of them to follow, blood trailing down the sword in the l'cie's hand. The grin on her face had spread into the realm of insanity, and they got a look at her eyes. This l'cie was supposed to have purple eyes, but hers were blood-red. Unless she had a sister who was also a l'cie, something was very wrong here. The malice they could all feel wasn't exactly encouraging.

She teleported into another group and bisected another soldier, shooting another point-blank in the face, and burning a third alive.

"Shit! Open fire or we'll all die!" the commanding officer yelled before following his own orders. They took a few casualties from friendly fire, but the l'cie was tearing through troops, drones and bioweapons. Literally in one case. Before, she'd just been trying to take them out as quickly as possible, not actively trying to slaughter them. What the hell did they wake up?

In less than two minutes, the entire force had been wiped out, except for the commanding officer, who the l'cie was holding by the neck, slowly crushing his armor and his neck.

"Damn you!" he yelled in defiance before firing a round point-blank. The shots were caught by black energy, and left to fall harmlessly to the ground.

"A good try under the circumstances." the l'cie complimented, demented smile still in place. "But you can't overwhelm my defenses with one round from one soldier."

"What the hell are you?! You weren't this strong a minute ago!" the officer cried out as he struggled in her grip as his armor started to give. She'd torn a drone in half a minute ago, so she was obviously toying with him. His armor was better than the stuff on rank-and-file soldiers, but it wasn't that good.

"Now why would I tell you that? I guess I can give you a hint though." the l'cie said as she tightened her grip further still. "I'm not the same l'cie you were fighting from before, and yet I am." With that remark, she casually finished the officer off. 

She used Waterga to force the blood out of her clothes, and then patched them up while having a hovering fireball dry her off. Her counterpart was stirring and she couldn't remain in control while Twilight was awake... yet.

"Nice to get my fix though." she commented, smile threatening to grow beyond what was physically possible with a body that possessed a skeleton.
> Gearing Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They all walked inside at a quick, but not frantic pace. No need to make anyone watching suspicious if they weren't already. Twilight began reading one of the books from a nearby bookcase as she sat down heavily. Healing didn't restore your stamina, and for some reason she was even more tired than she'd expect from fighting that many enemies, maybe her... 'companion' using her body was hard on it.

Lightning took Snow into one of the bedrooms and laid him on the bed, patched him up, and began watching the news with a smaller TV in the room. Fang began inspecting her lance. Hope and his father talked quietly in one of the rooms in the back of the house.

Other than a bit of small talk, they spent the next half hour in these positions. Curiosity getting the best of her, she decided to check in on those two. Fang appeared to have the same idea. 

Hope's father, Bartholomew, held his head in his hands and sobbed quietly. Then, Hope got up and said, "We're gonna rest up, then we'll leave. If they find out you're harboring us, they'll-" Hope was interrupted by Bartholomew banging angrily on the table. "You're my son! This is your home." Hope sat back down, and Bartholomew put a hand on his shoulder. "My son." It was nice to see the two of them getting along.

Smiling, they went back to the area the rest of the group was hanging around in. Fang turned the TV on.

"And now an update on the situation in Palumpolom." a male announcer said as they television came on. "The l'cie continue their desperate flight, and the military has launched an all-out campaign to eliminate them, though they've had no success in locating them so far. In the event you must leave your home, please follow the instructions that will be broadcast on this channel momentarily."

They noticed a cluster of picture frames on one wall, one in particular had Hope, Bartholomew, and a woman in a light green dress and who's hair was the same shade of white as Hope. "Must be his family." Fang said referring to Hope. 

"Makes sense to me." Twi agreed. She turned, "I'm going to check on Snow. Technically, he's my boss since I'm in NORA honorarily, and Lightning's healing spells aren't exactly top-notch." she said, hoping that would discourage any jibes. Fang waved her on as she channel-surfed, trying to find something not about the paranoia directed at them. There was something equal parts disturbing and sad that she was having difficulty doing so.

She came in as Lightning was inspecting her survival knife. "How's Snow?" Twi asked. 

"He'll be fine when he wakes up." Light said, back in 'soldier-mode' now that no one was in imminent danger of dying.

"Roughly twenty-five hundred civilians believed to have come into contact with the l'cie are now being held in quarantine by the Sanctum." an announcer said, as images were shown of people in cages who were clearly unhappy about the situation. It was difficult to tell if it was the same announcer or a different one as the voices sounded very similar but he wasn't being shown. "Our latest insta-poll has shown a vast majority of the people are in favor of immediate Purging of these individuals." The girls twitched at that. 

Snow began to groan as he got up. Twilight turned the TV off. "Hey." Light said. He looked over at her. "Lay down." she said with a little more force.

"Before you hurt yourself even more." Twi put forth.

"All right." he said, laying back down.

Light sat down on a chair next to the bed, which allowed Snow full view of the survival knife. "Huh. I see you got the kid's toy away from him." Snow said, glancing at it.

"Actually, he gave it back to me. Said that he didn't need it anymore." Light responded.

"Go figure." Snow said, smiling a bit.

"It was too much." Light said.

"Hm? What was?" Snow asked.

"What happened to Serah. All I could think about was, 'What could I have done differently?' I hated myself for not trusting her. It hurt too much. I couldn't face it." they were all silent for a moment after that.

"Look Snow. I.. I'm sorry. Forgive me." Light said morosely.

"For what?" Snow asked, slightly confused.

"Everything. I took out my feelings on you." Light said.

"If you'd tell me your real name, I suppose I could." Snow said, a smile creeping across his face.

Light chuckled. "Just have Serah tell you when she comes back." Light said.

"Deal." Snow said.

Twilight bolted fully upright as she remembered. "Oh, that's right. Snow, I could turn her back if I could just get near enough to see her, the crystallization is a part of the brand's spell that's actually supposed to be reversed eventually and I actually saw it happening, so it wasn't that hard to figure out a reversal. I think I'm getting close to removing our cie'eth problem as well." Twi said, having realized that Snow likely didn't know about her progress, since Hope had been somewhat fixated on ending his life.

"So, we don't have to wait for the crystallization to wear off?" Snow asked, happier than she could ever remember seeing him. She hadn't seen a smile that wide since Pinkie.

"Nope, a good thing too, because otherwise it could take years at best." Twi said, though considering how happy he was, Snow was likely at least dimly aware that Serah wouldn't turn back on her own any time soon.

The door opened with a sliding sound. "My dad said he'd like to see you guys. He wants to talk." Hope said from the doorway.


*** Sanctum Headquarters: Rosch ***


Rosch was not a happy man, he was hoping someone would have found the l'cie's hiding spot by now. The reports he'd gotten weren't promising. Seven platoons wiped out, the last two with almost no survivors. The l'cie would soon be nigh unstoppable with anything less than full battalion strength if this series of failed attempts continued. 

Primarch Dysley had informed him before this whole mess (in a conversation that had turned in the direction of Pulse threats) that anything that didn't kill the l'cie made them stronger, literally. That could very well be where the saying 'What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.' had come from. So failed attempts to kill them made them that much harder to kill. If he didn't know any better he would suspect that they were being pushed to their limits intentionally, but that would make no sense, so he put it to the back of his mind.

Still, he'd lost far too many people already, at least 500 hundred of his people had been killed or incapacitated by the l'cie. That settled it, he decided that he was sending Skytanks at them next. If they took two of those at once down, well, they were probably all doomed anyway if that happened. There were some mid-level fal'cie with less power than that. 

They'd already proven themselves capable of killing fal'cie. Carbuncle's death attested to that. The disturbing thing was that there were no signs of a struggle, it certainly wasn't a combat fal'cie, but it was as if a single attack had sliced it in half. That was a scary thought, check that, it was a terrifying thought.

That would require enough power to slice through a skyscraper made of reinforced steel like butter, even a skytank would be on it's last legs after that, if it was even still flying.

If they reached that level, they might decide to go after the Primarch or the fal'cie Eden itself, and have a decent chance of succeeding in the attempt. In fact, he mused darkly, considering how they would realize all the attempts to kill them had been directed by those two, it was likely they would go after one or the other, or both. There was a very real possibility that that was their Focus, considering they were Pulse l'cie, and they would want to fulfill it out of a sense of self-preservation if nothing else. Hell, considering how hard Cocoon was trying to kill them, they were less likely to want to protect it by the second.

"Prepare a pair of Skytanks. The moment the l'cie are found, send them to the location. I'll be going as well." he told one of his subordinates, too involved in his own thoughts to notice which. 

"Yes sir!" the officer said, saluting crisply, before leaving to relay the orders.

Hopefully, this worked, or else, to put in the terms one of his officers from the field had used upon viewing some of the videos taken of the l'cie in combat situations, they were boned. He would have reprimanded the officer if he hadn't been the only other person present and privately agree with the sentiment.

Particularly since this was the video from a security camera that had only recently been installed, it was shorted out during the fight, but it had lasted long enough to show just one of the l'cie take down four platoons by herself, though she had slowed down noticeably by that point. The Sparkle girl was definitely the most dangerous.


*** Back At The Esthiem Residence ***


The five l'cie and Bartholomew were situated in the living room, they were all silent, waiting for someone else to start talking.

Snow got down on his knees and bowed his head. "The blame is mine. I couldn't save her." he said.

Bartholomew held two fingers to his head like he was fighting off a headache.

"If it wasn't for Snow, I wouldn't be here now." Hope said, sticking up for Snow.

"Snow. Did Nora... Did she say anything to you? Anything at all?" Bartholomew asked.

"Hope. She didn't have enough time to tell me his name, but she said to get him home." Snow said.

"And that's exactly what you've done." Bartholomew said. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Seeing you all face to face like this, it's hard to believe you're all dangerous fugitives, but the entire world is scared to death of you l'cie." they shifted uncomfortably at that. "No, not even just you." Bartholomew continued. "People who've helped you, bumped into you... sometimes it's even just someone who walked by one of you. The common people and even the Sanctum think they're 'tainted' and that every last one should be Purged."

"That's idiotic, it's not like being a l'cie is some kind of contagion." Twi said, shaking her head. She sighed, "Then again, most Cocoonians are so terrified of Pulse, I wouldn't be surprised if they thought that was how it worked after the initial branding." she said.

"You make it sound as if you're not from Cocoon." Bartholomew said, slightly confused.

"Parallel worlds thing, magic is a part of daily life in my world, there aren't any fal'cie either, before you ask, my coming here was involuntary. I suppose if I'd been born here, I'd behave in much the same manner as everyone else in response to all this, assuming that I didn't end up a l'cie in such a timeline. 'The Sanctum can do no wrong. Pulse is evil.' and all that." Twi said.

"The Santum's just a puppet of the fal'cie! To them, our lives don't mean anything at all." Snow said.

"Believe me, that's not true, they really want the five of us dead." Twi said dryly. 

"We'll stop this, take down the Sanctum, and  save Cocoon." Snow said, unfazed.

"Have you thought that through?" Bartholomew asked. Snow paused, thinking. "If l'cie take down the Sanctum, fear of Pulse will only get worse. It won't stop at fear either. People will take up arms and stand against you. Can you imagine it? The rampant violence." Bartholomew said.

"I can, it would be a bloodbath, if soldiers with even rudimentary training couldn't stand against us, what hope would ordinary civilians have? They might even start executing people who fought and survived because they were 'tainted.'" Twi answered with shudder.

"When the government's control is gone, the citizens will revolt." Lightning said. 

"So, what then? Should we just smile and eat a bullet? That means you too, you know." Fang said

Bartholomew chuckled darkly. "I know I'm part of this, I'm on your side of the fence, harborer of l'cie and just short of public enemy number one, with the seven of you filling that spot, including your wayward friends." 

'Hope must have told him about Vanille and Sazh.' Twilight inferred.

"Coming here was a bad idea after all." Hope said morosely.

Bartholomew put a hand on his shoulder and said "This is your home." Father and son chuckled. "We're all here, let's figure this out together." Just as he said that, the lights flickered and went out, all of them at once.

"They must have found us." Light said. The sound of booted feet moving around outside confirmed this. "Heads up!" Light called a moment before a pair of Dragoon-type soldiers burst through the sky light. Three gas canisters were dropped in, even as Lightning and Twilight fired on the flying Sanctum troops. Coughing, they fell back.

Dragoons used jetpacks to hover a few feet off the ground, and had fairly thick and strong armor, but weren't that different from normal soldiers otherwise.

Soldiers burst through the windows and poured in, several felled by potshots by the girls, who found they could see surprisingly well in the dark, even with the partial obscurity caused by the fog. Apparently another l'cie power, she was beginning to wonder if they could even be considered human anymore. Improved night vision implied enhancements to their eyes and/or genetic changes.

"Hope, in the back!" Snow called, even through his coughing. He slumped over a bit.

"You're not ready for this. I'll stay here." Hope said. The girls held off the soldiers as they tried to attack. "Snow, help my dad!" Hope told him. Snow nodded and went to do as Hope said with a grin. 

He grabbed Bartholomew's arm saying "Come on!" and pulled him further into the back. Two soldiers trained their guns on Hope just as he started to turn around, only for a fireball to slam into one, and Lightning's leg into the other. Twilight and Lightning's handiwork obviously.

After taking down yet another platoon, the soldiers stopped coming in, clearly waiting for the l'cie to come to them. They had taken cover behind one of the walls not in direct line of fire to any of the windows. Just as Snow and Bartholomew came back into the room, a searchlight from an aircraft was directed at them.

"Who ordered the battalion?" Fang asked.

"Rosch, probably. I'd assume he's unhappy about our continued wiping out of any of his forces we encounter." Twi said dryly.

Peeking out from behind their hiding spot, they could see a large number of soldiers, the lower limit of a company (80) by the look of it, had their guns trained on the windows.

"They'll take out the whole building next." Light said.

"Probably deciding if they should do that right now." Twi agreed.

Light waved Snow and Bartholomew closer, they hurried over. "Dad!" Hope exclaimed.

"Hope!" Bartholomew did the same as he embraced Hope. "Thank goodness, are you hurt?" he asked, concerned.

"No, what about you?" Hope asked in concern.

"Still in one piece." Bartholomew answered.

"My turn." Snow said. He took off his coat and moved to the edge of their current 'safe zone', after taking a deep breath, he held his coat in plain view of the nearest window. As could be expected, the soldiers began firing immediately, and his coat had more holes than Swiss cheese in seconds.

"Snow..." Light started, only for Snow to stop her with a raised hand.

"Don't shoot! I'll show you what a l'cie looks like." Snow said. 

The soldiers who had been firing all this time, stopped at almost the same time, presumably at least partially because their clips had finally been emptied. Snow walked out of their hiding spot, leaving his tattered coat behind. He walked in plain view of the soldiers who trained their laser sights on him. He stepped out of the building entirely through the ruins of the wall in the spot that had been the ruins of the second window at first. He held his hands in the air.

"Me! I'm a l'cie! Surprised? Expecting some kind of monster? I'm flesh and blood like you, an ordinary citizen of Cocoon! Don't you get it? This has been our home our whole lives! How could we even think about destroying it? We want to protect this place just as much as you do!" Snow told them.

The soldiers began to mutter amongst themselves. "He's on our side?" "He's lying, it must be a trick." "But what if it's not?" 

"You must be Snow Villiers." a familiar voice said. The man walked to a spot just in front of his troops. "Yaag Rosch. PSICOM Division." he introduced himself. "I can understand your plight, but the Pulse threat is not so easily dismissed. The very existence of you l'cie puts every last one of us at risk. Tell me, do you really think your life is worth more than the lives of the millions of Cocoon citizens? Personally, I do not." The soldiers began to recover their 'Have to kill the l'cie to protect Cocoon.' mindset. "And so, it falls squarely to me to order your execution. It is that simple. It is my responsibility to see you put down." he pointed directly at Snow, then turned around. "Your lives are forfeit."

"Aw, cut the crap! You want l'cie, then kill l'cie! Why does anybody else have to die? The Purge has gotta stop!" Snow yelled at him, waving his less injured arm sharply.

"Do you really think we want to Purge our own people?" Rosch asked angrily. "If even a trace of Pulse remains, the populace will erupt into chaos. Without sacrifice, without the Purge, Cocoon will die no matter what happens to you l'cie." Suddenly a Fog grenade dropped down in front of him, causing more of the obscuring gas to be dispensed right in the middle of the group of Sanctum troops. "Who fired? I gave no order!" Rosch asked between coughs. An explosion was seen and heard nearby, suddenly, gunfire and melee combat erupted around them, the soldiers were panicking and firing on each other. 

One of the soldiers cried out "Fall back!"

"We're leaving." Light ordered. She turned to Hope and his father. "Hope, tie up your dad." she said addressing Hope, then addressed Bartholomew. "We threatened you and forced you to help us. Got it?" she asked.

"That should keep them from killing him outright." Twi agreed.

"There must be-" Bartholomew started to argue, but cut off when Hope told him "Do as she says!" Bartholomew sighed and gave in. Hope started to tie his hands behind his back. "I can't let you get dragged into this. I want to stay here, but there's no place for a l'cie. I'm going with the others. We'll survive somehow. I promise you that. We've managed so far. Dad. I hate to run out on you-"

"You're not running!" Hope flinched as Bartholomew yelled this. "This is not running away. You've made a choice. You'll survive and do what needs to be done." he reassured Hope.

"You mean... complete my Focus?" Hope asked.

"Don't you worry about that! You make the choice." Bartholomew told him.

Hope hugged his father, after breaking the hug, he said "Thanks, Dad." 

They heard Snow recover from the gas, and the sound of a siren. The aircraft had moved closer, the four of them rushed out to help Snow take it down. "Our turn, Hero!" Light ordered.

"What? I can handle a little gas." Snow argued. 

"Catch your breath, I'll throw in some hits for you." Hope said. His face paled as a second aircraft, now identifiable as a Skytank came into view behind the first. 

"Okay, we'll need all the help we can get." Twi said as she used Esuna and Curaga on Snow, he wasn't in his prime, but he was definitely able to fight again. 

"Guess I'll be drawing fire, since my ranged attacks aren't great." Snow said.

Hope and Twilight worked together to get the whole party buffed. Just in time for the things to launch missiles at them, while the turrets fired on them. Snow had launched an ice crystal, destroying one missile mid-flight. Twilight grabbed the rest and used telekinesis to fling them back at their launchers. Then they began raining magic on the turrets, which fired almost constantly. The main guns fired, hurting them badly until a double-Curaga was used on everyone. Once the turrets were destroyed, the hulls which launched the missiles, were next, Since the Skytanks were taking heavy damage from having all their missiles flung back at them, the hulls didn't last long at all. The central portions of the Skytanks were also soon destroyed, only having enough time to fire the main guns one last time before they went down blazing. However, two more rose from either side of the building to replace them.

"Again? There's no end to these guys!" Fang said.

Then Skytank on the left turned on the Skytank on the right, firing it's main gun on it, and causing it to crash. The survivor hovered low to the ground in front of them, letting out a small number of soldiers, one of which approached and said. "Heya, Fang." in a friendly manner, before removing his mask, showing them his face and red hair. "Need a ride?" he asked.

"Don't get cute." Fang said, releasing her lance from it's previous threatening position. She waved her arm at them. "Right, let's move it you lot." Fang said, clearly familiar with him. They all got on, trusting Fang to have allied herself with someone trustworthy and not really having much choice. Twilight wondered how Fang knew these people, but she decided that she'd wait to hear the answers.
> Palamecian Rescue or Things Get Complicated
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Skytank flew them to the Lindblum, the ever-moving cruiser-class airship which served as headquarters of the Cavalry division of the Guardian Corps. They usually disposed of the monsters roaming the uninhabited areas of the outer rim of Cocoon, and served as a rapid-response force for any disasters that occurred. The regulation of the environment by the fal'cie made that uncommon, but not unheard of. Their roles as rescue workers and in fending off airborne monsters made the force popular among civilians. Their transport set down in one of the hangars, and they got off. They were led to a command post with several television screens. 

Their mysterious benefactor turned out to be Cid Raines, commander of the Cavalry. He had black hair and wore a white cape with the collar spiked up over a blue military uniform. He was aiding them because he had a similar view of the fal'cie to her own, an oppressive and restricting rule at best, with only the illusion of true freedom, and the treatment of people as little more than means to an end. 

Rygdea was the name of the soldier who had brought them here, he was one of Cid's closest, both in rank and in terms of friendship, subordinates.

"So, what are we doing here?" Snow asked. He'd been provided with a new coat by Cid's people.

"There's something you need to see." Cid said, gesturing the 5 l'cie and Rygdea to watch, and then turning on the TV to a channel that first appeared to be broadcasting a view of some cloud cover, until the clouds moved to reveal a relatively large airship. 

"Isn't that the one we saw at Lake Bresha?" she asked, upon recognizing it. 

"Yes, though in actuality, it is a fal'cie modified into an anti-Pulse weapon. It also carried the Vestige during the Purge. Now listen." Cid explained.

The camera image changed to a frontline view of the ship. "There she is." a female announcer began. "The Palamecia pride of the Sanctum Skyfleet!" Fighters, bioweapons, and lesser warships were shown flying past, this was obviously a whole fleet. The camera was clearly either mounted on a moving platform, or a fighter, because it began to follow a pair of fighters along their course around the ship. "This mighty flagship currently serves as a prison for the l'cie apprehended in Nautilus." the camera panned out to show a full view of the Palamecia and it's convoy of warships and fighters. She noted a pair of soldiers jog past behind them out of the corner of one eye. "The l'cie will face official sentencing upon the convoy's arrival in the capital." the announcer finished.

"So what's with the freak show?" Snow asked, angry due to seeing how their friends were being held in front of them almost tauntingly. ...Wait a minute, that was odd. Shouldn't they want the l'cie put down as quickly as possible?

"So that the Primarch can stand in judgement of the villainous l'cie, with their execution as the climax. The people will cheer their demise, and the dominion of the fal'cie will once again be completely undisputed." Cid explained, glancing at them.

"All part of the plan." Light said, cold stoicism masking her emotions.

"Then why parade them in front of us like this? They could simply bring them to the capital in secret, but they're being about as noisy as they can about it. Merely publicizing the trial when they reached Eden would prove to the public that the Sanctum was doing it's job." Twi asked, then realized that there was a very good reason. "Unless they plan to try to use those two as bait to draw us out of hiding to a heavily armed and armored airship surrounded by warships and fighters and crawling with Sanctum forces even if we manage to get on board." she finished, one hand pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, but every trap can also be an opportunity for those who are flexible enough to take advantage of such things." Cid said. Hm, sounded like he was speaking from experience.

"In a display of a totally unwavering dedication to duty, the Primarch himself has boarded the Palamecia and focused his personal attention on the resolution of the l'cie crisis." the same announcer said happily.

"Okay, there is no way they're not baiting us, it could have been trying to keep the citizens from panicking before, but no way would that be true with this." Fang said.

"Now they're using people as bait." Snow said, his mood souring a little further.

"Yeah: 'Here are your friends. Come and get 'em.'" Light said.

"Well, if they're daring us to mount a rescue... I'll take that action. All in." he brought his fists together and regained some of his usual cheer.

"It would be downright rude of us to refuse such an elaborate invitation. Especially when they had to go to all this trouble." Twi said, smirking. She was slightly worried she'd gotten much crueler since being made a l'cie, but she'd be more than willing to dispatch anything trying to kill her friends. She was dimly aware that she had a bit of an abandonment complex ever since the rehearsal, which led to her somewhat stupid levels of loyalty edging towards suicidal bravery (and apparently homicidal anger if her friends were endangered).

"All righty, bets are on the table. We leave when you're ready. I'll be standing by." Rygdea told them, he waved before running off. 

"Hey guys, I've got a new spell that will come in handy." Twi told them. 

"What's that?" Hope asked.

"You know how in some video games you can level up and upgrade items? Well, I've figured out how to do the same with our weapons and accessories by putting modified l'cie spells on them. They'll even be tailored to our strengths and get a small immediate boost." she explained.

"That does sound useful, our stuff getting stronger as we use it." Fang said.

"Plus, it'll cut down on wear and tear." Light agreed. 

After she finished casting the spell on their equipment, they followed Rygdea. "You guys ready already?" Rygdea asked.

"Yeah." Twi, Snow and Light said at the same time.

Rygdea nodded and flipped a switch. Floodlights came on one by one, showing a red and white airship. "This baby back here is actually a Psicom vessel. It'll deliver you to the Palamecia." he said.

"Oh, so we're cargo now." Snow said in mock-offense.

"Actually, I'd say we're the payload." Twi drawled.

"Either way, a parting gift to our rotting government. Take those Psicom guys apart for us." Rygdea said.

"I suppose every one we deal with is one less you guys have to." Twi nodded, seeing the logic.

"Yes, but are we supposed to take on all of them? I'm pretty sure the entire division's on board." Light said. "We're l'cie, but we're not that powerful, they'd bring us down by attrition eventually." Crap, that was right. The certainly had more stamina now, but an entire division was beyond them, even if they used their Eidoloins. They'd simply collapse from exhaustion eventually, then they'd get a bullet or five through the head, then they'd likely be incinerated or something just to be safe. No miraculous recoveries for them. They'd need to either do as much sneaking as possible, or rest at some point.

"I don't care how many lackeys they've got. Bring 'em on! Vanille's in there." Fang said.

"I'm sure she's fine." Hope said.

"You can't execute someone who's already dead." Twi said, somewhat morbidly.

"Besides, Vanille's tougher than I could ever be." he finished with his head hung a bit lower.

They turned to him, "Hope, are you scared?" Light asked.

"To be honest, yeah, terrified actually. But I'll be okay. Because I have you, and this guy," he pointed at Snow. "and Twilight," he pointed at Twilight. "and Fang." he pointed at Fang. "We're all in this mess. We've got to stick together." he finished.

Rygdea chuckled, "Right, enough with the bonding. It's go time." he said. They followed him further along the path towards their ride.

"Say, what did you mean 'this guy?'" Snow asked, amused. Hope just laughed in response.


*** The Bridge, The Palamecia ***


"Sir, are you sure you don't want me to stay as well?" Rosch asked the primarch as he was about to leave. 

"Yes Rosch, if the l'cie are able to fight their way past our escort, the soldiers inside the ship itself, and Jihl here, then what hope would you have of stopping them?" Dysley asked bluntly, chuckling slightly.

"I suppose you are right. I'll be waiting on further orders sir." and with that Rosch left. 

'I'll have to handle this myself if they do manage it, they'll be most vulnerable to an aircraft-based fight, since their access to l'cie powers that are of any use is limited.' Rosch thought, he'd get the most powerful fighter in the fleet, the Proudclad, and wait for them to come out if he got even a hint of their presence on the Palamecia, then wipe them out in the air, where they were at their weakest. He nodded to himself as he walked to his transport.

'It seems all is going according to plan.' Dysley thought, a slightly cruel smile on his face.


*** The Airspace Outside The Palamecia, Roughly 20 Minutes Later ***


"Hold on, I've got to give them the authorization code, or they'll shoot us down." Rygdea said.

"Well, it's not like we're going anywhere." Hope joked.

"I think Snow's sense of humor's infected you." Light said, mock serious.

"Is it very contagious?" Fang asked, going along with the gag.

"Oh yes, it spreads like the common cold during cold and flu season." Twilight said in a fake serious tone, before they all burst out laughing.

Rygdea entered the code, they waited for about ten minutes before Rygdea activated the comms and asked "What's the holdup?" in exasperation.

"Stand by. Verifying identification code." an operator said.

"You let me land this bird, or I'll crash it into your face!" Rygdea threatened, annoyed. How did it take this long to check a four digit code?

After another minute, the operator said "Code verified. You're free to dock. Welcome aboard."

"Well, it's about damn time." Rygdea said huffily.

A pair of fighters used tractor beams to guide their ship to the dock, which pulled out of the flagship as they approached. A row of blue ovals served as guides to where they were expected to fly. They passed through, landed, and they started getting ready to get out. "Well, this is where we split up, the commander can't let the Sanctum know he's on to them." Rygdea said.

"Makes sense." Twilight said. If Psicom realized Raines had figured out there was a great deal wrong with the current rule, then they'd find some means to silence him, this might vary from demotion to killing him. Probably the latter considering how Psicom usually dealt with things.

"This is close enough, we can get the rest of the way there ourselves." Hope said with a somewhat forced amount of confidence.

The ship left almost as soon as they were all off, they waved goodbye, then turned towards the ship's interior. The ship was made of greyish metal with lights of various colors serving as highlights.

"Code red! I repeat, code red! This is not a drill!" a voice announced as they neared a door, only moments after the ship had left. Eight soldiers walked into view, pointing their guns at the group of five, except for one with a staff. Apparently, someone had realized something was up. All that time 'checking' the code, was probably used scrambling the soldiers.

"Alright, let's tear 'em up!" Snow said, determinedly.

"We're here for Vanille and Sazh! Stay focused!" Light told them.

"We're not leaving without them!" Twi said.

The one with the staff turned out to be a 'mage' of sorts, the staff was full of advanced manadrives, letting the soldier cast spells of the basic types with almost impunity. There was also one who wielded a gunblade like Lightning and seemed pretty good with it as well as better-trained than their compatriots, they were somewhat more trouble than their run-of-the-mill compatriots, but not a real threat, nonetheless.

"Cheap knock-offs." Light said, annoyed.

"They say that mimicry is the highest form of flattery." Twi said. "Still, they seem to be prescribing to 'send a thief to catch a thief' this was some sort of attempt to defeat us based on that principle. Though they failed so miserably I feel kind of insulted." she added. Was that really the best they could do at copying them?

Another group showed up, the proportions were the same, but the numbers had been doubled. Two Lightning knock-offs, two Twilight knock-offs, and 12 regulars. This fight proved significantly harder, but still not life-threatening. "Looks like they want to play." Fang said once that group had been dealt with.

"No kidding, where to now?" Snow asked.

Fang smiled as she pointed up to the metal framework above the door, which appeared sealed shut. "Right up there." she said.

They jumped and climbed, (and teleported in Twilight's case) their way up the framework, until they reached a platform over the door. They rode an elevator up to the roof of this cavernous room, and fended off a small number of soldiers in the hall leading to a series of platforms suspended on the ship's outside.

They had to jump down to reach them, and the height made it impossible to jump back up since there were no footholds or ledges. 

"Guess we won't be going back that way." Snow said.

"We'll find another route." Light said.

"Too bad teleportation requires exponentially more energy for each person, or this would be a snap." Twi said ruefully. Well, technically, it required more energy in a non-linear fashion with greater amounts of mass, but that was the simple explanation.

"I'm way ahead of you." Fang said pointing to a bridge that led to another opening.

They fought their way through the soldiers, and drones, and made their way to the bridge, using fighters as staircases up to that height. They took cover behind a wall, soldiers were milling about, preparing for the incoming l'cie. They might have been expected, but they apparently weren't expected to push through their forces so easily.

"Let us through! Block our way, you die!" Snow called, several gunshots answered him. They were pretty on edge, then again, they were dealing with people who had massacred Sanctum forces up to this point.

"You tryin' to get 'em angry?" Fang asked.

"Eh, I thought maybe they'd run." he said, flippantly disregarding the fact that people had been trying to shoot him about ten seconds ago. "There's been more than enough blood spilled."

"You thought they'd run? Let me refresh your memory, those soldiers think they're protecting Cocoon from us, the 'evil' l'cie. They'd be willing to die if it meant stopping us. The fal'cie have them all brainwashed." Light told him

Snow thumped his hand into the wall. "Damn fal'cie." he growled "We cannot let this go on." he declared.

"Let's go." Twi said, preemptively unleashing a Thundaga to scatter the soldiers.

They fought their way through the halls, and sets of the type of platforms outside several times. "Attention all crew, code green! I repeat code green! Security forces stand by! Hostile forces have boarded the ship!" an announcer yelled over the blaring sirens. 

"Well, this should be unpleasant." Twi said. Wait, why was code green a bad thing? What color was all-clear?

They began to fight their way through waves of soldiers again, they were making steady progress, but the place was a labyrinth. They kept having to backtrack and having to fight reinforcements in areas they'd already cleared. They continued in this manner, cutting down entire companies until the siren began blaring again. 

"Code purple! I repeat, code purple! Security breach! All units on alert!" the announcer sounded decidedly nervous now.

"All these colors, what do they mean?" Hope asked curiously.

"Means that we're doing our job, and making a lot of Psicom guys nervous." Fang said.

An explosion rocked the area.  "Who're they fighting?" Hope asked warily.

"Vanille." Fang said in a low voice. They continued onward, passing through a chamber with pillars that energy flowed through and some of the stronger varieties of 
bioweapons.


*** The Bridge, The Palamecia ***


Reports were coming in from two ever-expanding areas of the ship of entire companies wiped out with little to no effort. The two l'cie who had been imprisoned had escaped, and the five l'cie who came to rescue them were proving nigh unstoppable. A video showed one of them backhanding a soldier into a wall hard enough to leave cracks. Backhanded! She had wanted to send more soldiers for moving the captured l'cie, but the primarch had forbade it, stating that the number she'd wanted to send would have left a gaping hole in the defenses.

Alright, she granted that an entire company for two people had seemed like overkill at the time, but now it appeared it might not have been enough anyway! Jihl was on the verge of a panic attack after the piece of news she received next. 

"Colonel! We've lost track of the intruders!" one of the female operators called worriedly. They might be too busy dealing with the reports to watch the camera feeds very closely, but they weren't stupid enough to believe that there was nothing wrong when a tenth of the division was either convinced that the l'cie were around the next corner with a decent chance of being correct, or had already fallen!

"That puts us at code yellow, no wait, code blue? If we were orange, that would mean..." She'd be the first to admit she wasn't a nice person, her sadistic streak was the tip of the iceberg to be honest, but she didn't want the l'cie to destroy Cocoon! She was pacing back and forth in an attempt to keep herself from falling apart, that was the last thing they needed right now, the commanding officer coming apart at the seams.

"The escapees made it through, they're entering the engine room!" a male operator called, distressed. With the group of five l'cie seemingly inexorable, relatively few troops could be spared for the escapees, this fact didn't make her feel less like cursing when she heard the news that two of the enemy l'cie were in the engine room of an airship.

"Damn l'cie." she growled, allowing herself that much.

"Intruders located, they're on the starboard side's weather deck." another male operator called.

"Make it rain!" she snapped. 

She was too absorbed in her own thoughts to hear the primarch mutter. "Desperate times demand flexibility. Code white." the monitors flashed said color briefly, the operators too busy to notice as they were dealing with the overwhelmed soldiers asking for orders as their companies were being picked off, one by one.


*** The Weather Deck ***


"Hm? the wind is dying down." Hope said, they'd been forced to stay at the door when they reached this point, trying to figure out a way across without being blown off by the wind until a moment ago.

"Yeah, it's stopping and we're decelerating." Light said.

"Okay, this can't be a coincidence, they're not that convenient." Twi said. Something was up here, and she was going to find out what sooner or later.

"They must be up to something." Light agreed.

"Couldn't we have just gotten lucky for once?" Snow asked.

"Have you been paying attention to the last couple weeks?" Twi asked in deadpan.

Bioweapons began to come out of the woodwork, or metalwork in this case. "That looks a lot more like bad luck." Fang said.

"You've got a point." Snow admitted.

"Not to me, that we can actually do something about." Light said, unholstering her gunblade.

"I'm with you on that." Twi agreed, sending a fireball at a bioweapon.

They fought their way past the bioweapons, soldiers and drones, making their way in what was probably the bridge's direction. Until they ran into a draconic yellow bioweapon with wings that had metal bands on them, anyways. A Kalavinka Striker, apparently.

"Physical attacks will be ineffective and it absorbs lightning magic." she warned. Her Libra was getting good from all the practice.

"So Light... How do you figure this makes us lucky?" Fang asked.

"Because when we kill it, we'll be one step closer to Vanille. How's that?" Light asked. 

"Well, when you put it that way!" Fang brandished her lance. 

Hope began using debuffs on the thing while the rest of them attacked it. It soon fell, and then fell off the ship, but another appeared in it's place. "Another one!" Hope called.

"Geez, are these the usual around here?" Twi asked.

"One big, bad stroke of luck after another. I'm so happy I could cry." Snow said sarcastically.

The Striker flew overhead and past them as if mocking them. "Tease us will ya?" Fang challenged.

"Come down here!" Snow yelled at it.

There was an explosion a little bit behind them, and Sazh and Vanille emerged from the cloud of smoke. They were waving their arms and coughing in an attempt to remove the smoke from their insides and outsides.

"Vanille!" Fang called, getting the pink-garbed girl's attention.

"Fang!" Vanille called happily. They rushed over to each other.

"There you are." Snow said in Sazh's direction.

"Miss me?" he asked. 

"Not you, the monster!" Snow said pointing at their newest adversary.

They didn't even bother with debuffs this time now that they had backup in the form of their two fellow l'cie, they just blasted it until it died, falling onto the ship. The moment they were sure it was dead, Fang and Vanille rushed to each other and embraced. Then Fang bent down, realizing what she was about to do, Twilight turned to the boys. 

"Alright guys, look away." she said, just as Fang lifted up Vanille's skirt to check on her brand.

"Thank goodness, you've still got time." Fang said, choked up.

"Fang, there's... there's something I need to tell you." Vanille began, only for Fang to hug her again.

"Making me worry like that, we'll talk later missy." Fang said, not altogether very sternly.

Sazh sighed. "What's wrong?" Snow asked him.

"Huh? Oh, uh, nothing, nothing. So, what's on the agenda?" Sazh asked.

"Toppling the Sanctum." Snow said.

"No, I mean really." Sazh said.

"He's serious, we're taking down the Sanctum, and giving Cocoon back to the people. The fal'cie have called the shots for long enough." Light said, supporting Snow.

"If we actually manage to pull this off, it'll be a miracle." Hope said.

"Well, good thing lady luck's on our side." Fang said.

"I've faced down a corrupted goddess with less support than we have here, this won't take long." Twi said encouragingly. "Oh, I almost forgot." she quickly explained and cast the same spell she'd used earlier on their own equipment on Sazh and Vanille's. "There, everyone's accounted for." More bioweapons of the same shape, but larger, and in purple and white, flew overhead.

"Not more of 'em!" Sazh complained.

"This is getting really old really fast." Snow said.

"Well, then check this out, a miracle, Gran Pulse style!" Fang rushed towards the edge of the ship, closely followed by Vanille.

"Vanille, go fish!" Fang ordered, leaving the rest of them confused.

Vanille seemed to understand perfectly, saying "Right!" before sending a hook into the thing after it sent a spray of icy breath at them. The rope attached to the hook extended until Vanille called "Fang!" while pulling on it. Fang used her lance to help Vanille bring it down to the ship. The dragon-thing screeched once before quieting down.

"That's a good girl." Fang said soothingly, before turning to the rest of the group. "Let's get on!" she called. Twilight saw that same owlish bird from before watching them again, there was something odd about it, but she couldn't place it. She decided to worry about it later. They all got on, with magical construct safety ropes tethering them to their... vehicle. Which proved a wise decision, as Sazh almost fell off, only barely hanging on to his seat when they got off the ship and into the air.

"Believe in lady luck now?" Fang asked him as he struggled back into his seat.

"Yeah, lady bad luck!" he called over the rushing wind.

"Well, get ready, because it's time to Purge a primarch!" Snow said.

"You got it!" Fang called.

Twilight put a shield up as fighters began to fire on them, realizing the bioweapon had been commandeered. It was a measure of her increase in skill and power that the shots plinked harmlessly off, even direct hits from full bursts didn't noticeably drain it as they began to look for the bridge, this was not true of missiles however. Missiles certainly did less damage, but they still drained a noticeable chunk of the shield's energy. Luckily she had a lot more of that to work with, and much faster regeneration of what she had used.

They began taking evasive maneuvers to dodge the projectiles, and Twilight made the shield one-way just long enough for their ride to use it's breath weapon again to make a hole in the ship near where they believed the bridge to be. They jumped off and into the hole, Twilight dissolving the tethers just in time.

They found themselves in an oddly designed room, there were platforms with no obvious way between them. She really hoped they hadn't specifically redesigned this room so that teleportation was the only sane, feasible, way across. Teleporting the group was inadvisable, doing that gauntlet of teleporting would make her useless for hours even with the enhancements to her reserves and regeneration. Then she noticed the monitor with a diamond on it, that must have been put there to be the controls for the creation of a bridge or something along those lines.

After helping each other up, they took a look at the orange glow in the direction they were about to head. "Dysley's through there." Light said.

"We're almost through with this mess." Twi said, filled with determination.

"We're still gonna have our talk, but let's survive this first. Yeah?" Fang told Vanille.

"Right." Vanille nodded, agreeing.

The monitor turned out to be little more than a high-tech switch, it turned green as it caused a metal bridge to make a path to the next platform over, they explored thoroughly, wiping out all the Psicom forces to keep them from taking pot shots at the group, and connecting all the platforms, thoroughly checking to make sure this place didn't have any hidden secrets that were going to bite them later if not taken care of. 

They finally made it to the door, which was actually rather underwhelming in it's design for such an important area. They steeled themselves, and went in. They walked in to see the primarch on a white throne, with a blond-haired woman officer standing next to him. The operators were cowering at the sight of them, but to their credit the were still trying to perform their tasks despite their obvious terror.

"I've been looking for you Nabaat!" Sazh called, pointing at the woman. They hurried over, Nabaat, who was the other head of Psicom, wouldn't have reached her position if she weren't a very capable commander, especially due to her somewhat unsavory personality. She jumped down and drew a rapier as Sazh drew his gun on her, they were pointed directly at each other.

"Your eminence, please escape while I cover your retreat." Nabaat said to the primarch.

"Why don't you leave Jihl?" Dysley asked in a bored voice. "Or rather, take your leave. Humans have no business here." he finished.

"What?! Your eminence!" Nabaat called, turning, only to take a Ruin directly in the chest, being killed on the spot. Dysley had pointed his staff and fired the destruction-oriented spell. 

"What? Magic?" Sazh asked. 

Twilight's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, that magical signature was very similar to Carbuncle, only stronger, which meant... 'Oh crap!' she thought.

Dysley began to chuckle evilly. More Ruin spells circled his staff, the operators gasped, and then screamed as they were killed one by one in quick succession. The ceiling above them dissolved.

"Monster!" Snow cried, outraged. "People are not yours to use!"

"What else does one do with tools?" Dysley asked coldly.

Snow charged at Dysley, only to be sent flying back by a shield with a spell matrix design she hadn't seen before. She copied it, hoping it would come in handy if they survived the fight that was almost certainly coming.

"Cocoon is, in reality, nothing more than a factory, built by fal'cie, for the mass production of human thralls." Dysley told them as Hope healed Snow.

"Not anymore it's not!" Snow told him defiantly.

"What can mere humans do? Without our help, death is all of which you're capable. You saw all the fools, the mindless mobs drunk on fear of a few l'cie. Though I suppose that given your excellent performance thus far, their fears weren't completely unwarranted." he smiled with an odd mixture of cruelty and approval.

"If they only knew that a l'cie was the one filling their cups!" Light countered.

"L'cie?" Dysley asked, then chuckled, "Do you mean me?"

"He's not a l'cie." Twi said.

"Huh? Then how can he use magic?" Hope asked.

"His magical signature, it resembles Carbuncle's, and, to a lesser degree, our brander's. I don't think I need to explain what that means he is." Twi responded.

Dysley smiled, "Most impressive, she is correct. Perish the thought of my being a l'cie, child." he began to float upwards, magic gathering around him and the same suspicious bird flying towards him. "I am more than that!" he cried as a blinding light came from his staff.

When the light faded, the bird was gone, as was Dysley's human form, and in their place was a towering, bronze being with gold lining, alien markings visible on his skin, and four face-masks grafted onto the sides of his head as adornments. He now had a snake-like throat with gills. His eyes lacked pupils and he had an eerie grin with sharp, dagger-like teeth. His form had shifted to quadrupedal with four clawed feet, and the face-masks were actually pauldrons and ailettes on either side of his head. They instinctively took a step back from the monstrous figure.

"I am fal'cie! My name is Barthandelus, voice of the Sanctum, and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'cie." he said in a very slightly echoy voice. They backed off a bit more. "Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for the Purge, and did it not come to pass? Yet now you would spurn our counsel!? You must be taught your place!" he finished. 

Shaking off her instinctive fear at the sheer size and power radiating off of what they were facing, Twilight quickly cast Libra, discovering that the pauldrons and ailettes could attack as well. "Take out the pauldrons and ailettes first!" she called out, snapping the others out of it as well.

They got into formation with Hope and Twilight buffing the party. Hope was about to start casting debuffs, but stopped when Twilight told him that Barthandelus was immune to all of them. He switched to switching between spell-casting and healing. Twilight switched between sword and gun-wielding and spell-slinging. The Waterga, Blizzara, Thundara, and Firaga proved annoying, and Barthandelus' own Ruinga was nothing to laugh at. 

His attack-range changed once the pauldrons and ailettes were gone. He called out, "This is the power of a fal'cie!" as he used an immensely powerful attack called Destrudo, followed almost immediately by a massive laser attack called Thanatosian Smile and then the destructive Baptism in Ruin moments after that. If it weren't for their buffing and Hope starting to heal them almost the moment Destrudo damaged them, they would have died. They had a few more close calls, but eventually defeated him.

The fal'cie let out a horrible growl, then toppled forward, disappearing into little sparks of light and magic. "A fal'cie running the Sanctum." Snow mused.

"Then I guess that means Eden wasn't controlling things after all." Hope said.

"As I said," Dysley's voice said from nowhere, causing the room to shake, "I am Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'cie." Dysley finished as he reappeared above them, unscathed.

"Well, that's rather unfair." Twi said dryly.

"Guess fal'cie don't go down as easy as the rest of us." Sazh said, taking their failure in stride.

"Ease is not the issue." Dysley said as he touched down on the floor once again. "You have not fought to win. You should all know quite well already the sure way of dispatching our kind." he gestured grandly with his staff. "Ragnarok." he said, the name of the entity they had seen in their vision.

"What's Ragnarok?" Fang asked. Fang suddenly gasped in pain, and grabbed at her brand, breathing through clenched teeth.

Dysley chuckled evilly. "Pitiful l'cie, you have forgotten your Focus. Ragnarok is the beast, fueled by rage, one of you must become, in order to fulfill you Focus. Laying waste to Cocoon." He pointed at them, sweeping his arm from one to another. "You have had the dream, one among you must defeat Orphan and destroy Cocoon." he said, teleporting next to each of them.

"Orpah? What is Orphan?" Light asked.

"The font of Eden's power, and through Eden, the font of power for every fal'cie save myself, since my link is also direct. Orphan fuels Eden with strength. Eden, in turn, sustains the remaining Cocoon fal'cie and your kind through them. In destroying Orphan, you'll release a force such as this world has never seen. Cocoon will be torn asunder." Dysley clenched a fist.

So, if I did that, destroyed Orphan...?" Fang asked, the pain having faded somewhat apparently.

Dysley chuckled evilly as he appeared next to her. "Your Focus will be fulfilled." he said, disappearing as a gunblade and a fireball passed through where he used to be. 

"So what? Who says it has to be?" Light asked, angrily.

"Why should we sacrifice millions for our own sakes?" Twi asked, more angry than Lightning if anything.

Snow held up the crystal tear from Serah. "Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal. Save it. And that's what we're going to do! She was trying to tell us how to complete our Focus-" Snow cut off as Dysley began to laugh menacingly.

"Poor, self-deluded fool. Allow me to help you see the truth of things. The moment you and your friends arrived, your fiancé wept crystal tears, this was because her Focus required bringing you together." a cruel smile spread across his face. "The only thing that girl accomplished, was assembling the tools for Cocoon's destruction. That was her Focus, one she most certainly fulfilled.

Two l'cie who had almost succeeded in destroying it the first time, a girl with more raw magical power than most fal'cie and the potential for still more, a trained soldier who lost everything because of the fal'cie, a man who would do anything for his son but lost him to Cocoon's fal'cie, a boy who lost his mother due to the Purge ordered by the Sanctum, and a man who lost friends and his bride-to-be due to the will of the people of Cocoon. You all have either a reason, the power, or both, to cause Cocoon's destruction."

Snow looked at the tear, at a loss. "Did it truly never occur to you? Or did you simply refuse to countenance the thought at all?" the ship began shaking. "If you will not face the truth, then face the true peril of your plight." The owl-like bird, now identifiable as another Cocoon fal'cie, morphed into airship form as it hovered above them.

"Ah yes, one more thing." Dysley waved his staff and sent an identical spell at each of them, hitting all of their brands. 

"What did you do?" Twi asked. Shit, don't be what she thought he did.

"Did you believe I was not aware of what you were attempting to accomplish, miss Sparkle? You might even have managed it, had you been given more time. You are the most intelligent of this lot, and greatest in terms of sheer magical power. However, that particular spell is a personal invention of mine. Any further experimentation on your brand or the others will only result in cie'ethification. I will not allow any holes for you to try to wriggle out of this through. Rather foolhardy to tinker with your own brand, I must admit I'm not sure if you're brave or insane. Now, run l'cie, and see how stark reality is." Dysley said, disappearing in purple smoke.

"Wait, you've been messing with your brand this whole time?" Fang asked.

"I needed a test subject, and I wasn't going to risk someone else." Twi defended herself.

The ship began shaking more, clearly not going to stay in the air much longer, cutting off further conversation until they could  get somewhere safe. "Come on!" Light called. They hurried on board the transformed fal'cie.

The ship burst out of the slowly crashing Palamecia in an enormous cloud of smoke and debris. "This is bad, the yoke's jammed!" Sazh said as he tried and failed to control the ship.

"What?!" Light and Hope yelled.

"Knew it was a trap!" Snow said, fists clenched.

"That doesn't make sense! Why set a trap when he could have just let the ship crush us in the crash?" Twi asked. 

"Something's coming!" Hope called out. 

An unusually designed fighter, clearly superior to the usual type, was headed for them, it launched a full eight missiles at once, only for their ship to dodge, or pre-explode the missiles with gunfire on it's own. "Hang on!" Snow called.

The unknown fighter continued to fire on them, while their own ship continued to dodge and return fire. When it couldn't dodge, there was an explosion and a lot of smoke and fire, but when it cleared, a green barrier surrounded the ship. "That wasn't me." was all Twi could say.

"The hell kind of ship is this? Flying and fighting on it's own?" Sazh asked.

The ship accelerated towards Eden, focusing on dodging fire rather than returning it now. "Shouldn't we do something?!" Hope asked, hands on his head like Sazh and Vanille.

"Ya got me kid! I give up!" Sazh yelled.

They passed through a blue magical barrier with no trouble, thanks to a series of circles that allowed them through, likely courtesy of Dysley. Their pursuer was unable to pass, however. They traveled through the city, all looking behind them. Vanille looked in front of them and gasped. "Sazh, look out!" she screamed. 

They all turned to see their ship rapidly approaching a building. Sazh frantically tried to move the controls out of their locked position to no avail, and they screamed as they went straight into the wall, only to disappear in a flash of light, and reappear in a subway-like area. They all slumped over or sat down in relief. After taking a minute to recover from that ordeal, they disembarked.
> A Very Unpleasant Ark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Once they were all off the strange fighter and had examined their surroundings for any immediate dangers, Lightning asked the question on all of their minds. "Where are we?"

The architecture was reminiscent of the Vestige, but it was a little different too. Sort of like how an oak tree and a pine tree were easily recognizable as both being trees, but there were obvious differences. "This place looks like a piece of Pulse." Vanille said thoughtfully.

"Pulse? You mean like the Bodhum Vestige?" Sazh asked, looking around. "Something like that, this close to Eden..." he mused.

"Yeah, well there's just two things I want to know. First, after the Purge and all that l'cie paranoia why keep a chunk of Pulse under the floorboards?" Fang asked.

"Maybe Dysley put it here to study Pulsian artifacts and see what he could get out of them, then he couldn't get rid of it later because there was an entire city built on top of it." Twilight hypothesized.

"Is this what the primarch wanted us to see?" Hope asked. Huh, and she hadn't thought the Sanctum could get any more hypocritical.

"A place for l'cie to accept their fate." Light said thoughtfully. 

"Do you really think our Focus is what Dysley said?" Hope asked.

"You mean... become Ragnarok." Vanille said hesitantly, as if saying could make it true.

"Destroy the fal'cie Eden, shatter Cocoon. Looks like that's what the visions are telling us." Sazh said.

Twilight sighed, "I've been looking at the spells on our brands, and it looks like Dysley was telling the truth about those at least, even if I do manage to create a counter-spell, I'm more likely to set these things off than help." she announced. Say what you will about Dysley's moral character, his spellwork was good. Even an attempt at removing the spell he had placed on the brands would more likely than not just set them off anyway. 

If she had a week or two of free time and access to research materials, then she would probably have been able to break it. An impressive feat, considering that Dysley had had the better part of a millennium to work on such spells. However, there was no guarantee they had that week, and she certainly wasn't going to have that kind of spare time even if they did. Never mind research materials. Her conjuration wasn't able to make anything complicated like the tools she'd need to do in-depth research and she had little manufacturing experience, so that wasn't an option.

"So it's back to square one, out of luck." Sazh said.

"That's the other thing. Why didn't you tell us you were mucking around with your own brand to try to help us?" Fang asked sternly.

"Because I knew you wouldn't approve, and I wouldn't have been able to make any real progress without a test subject. I certainly wasn't going to use one of you without your permission, and asking it would necessitate telling you what I was doing." Twi responded.

"You could've turned yourself into a cie'eth, it's happened. One of the l'cie I knew tried to get rid of their brand that way and ended up one of the Undying cie'eth. A normal cie'eth will turn to dust eventually, but an Undying will wander like that until something puts them out of their misery!" Fang told her angrily.

"It wouldn't have changed anything if I had known that beforehand. A true friend helps a friend in need, it's not conditional, you can't just not help if you don't feel like it." Twi explained, not budging.

"You'd risk that, for us?" Hope asked.

"Of course." Twi responded. "You're my friends." she said simply.

"People must take making friends really seriously where you're from." Sazh said thoughtfully. 

"Well, that's some of it, Equestria is about as friendly and nonviolent as it gets, but it's also that I didn't make any friends until I was 14 in my world, so I'm also trying to make up for lost time. Before that I considered making friends kind of a waste of time I could spend studying instead. I barely even spoke regularly to anyone besides my family, excluding my teacher of course. I never once attended one of the parties I was invited to." Twi admitted, somewhat shame-faced.

"Huh, that's kinda shocking. I knew you weren't exactly a social butterfly, but you were always pretty loyal to the friends you did make. To the point of bending over backwards to make them happy sometimes." Sazh said, mildly surprised.

"Hey Snow? Snow? Cocoon calling Snow!" Vanille asked, the brooding man. It was a little unreal to see him without a cheerful smile or angry frown on his face. Those seemed like the only expressions he could make sometimes. Snow was either ignoring Vanille, or lost in thought, it was hard to tell. If it was the latter, and it probably was, that was also unusual. Snow tended to go on gut instinct most of the time, and it almost never led him wrong.

"You know, it's almost like Dysley wants it to happen." Hope said, thinking back to their encounter. Hm, that was strange.

"Sure seems that way. He didn't exactly seem to mind explaining it." Sazh said. He swept his arms out. "'Here's your Focus on a silver platter.'"

"But, that doesn't make sense. Why would a Cocoon fal'cie want us to destroy Cocoon?" Vanille asked confused.

"That does seem to go against their nature." Twi agreed.

"Maybe it's a fal'cie thing, you know what I mean? Some bigger design we just don't understand." Hope proposed.

"From what I've seen, the main difference between humans and the fal'cie, besides physical form, is that the fal'cie possess far more power individually. They don't think on a higher level than us, they aren't metaphysical beings." Twi said. 

Still, that didn't answer the question. Why would Barthandelus want to destroy the same thing he and his fellow fal'cie had been protecting all this time? The other fal'cie must have known, or at least had some idea, since he clearly arranged things so they would survive the ordeals placed in their path long enough to gain the strength necessary to do what he wanted them to do. That meant the other fal'cie didn't object, so they must want something badly enough to destroy all their hard work but were unable to do themselves. Perhaps the fact that Orphan provided them with their power meant they couldn't fight it directly? That would explain why they needed the seven of them to do it, but not why they wanted it done in the first place. She neglected to voice her thought as this was nothing but conjecture for now.

Fang snorted. "Hey Snow, nothing from you? Fang asked, turning to him.

"..." Snow didn't respond. She was starting to get concerned. She'd never seen him this morose.

"So, this way then?" Sazh pointed in the direction opposite the one they had come from. No one had any better ideas, so they started off.

"You shouldn't believe everything a fal'cie says. Barthandelus says our Focus is to destroy Cocoon, but who knows? Maybe he's just trying to trick us into helping him do something else." Vanille said in hopes of reassuring them. 

"Considering how he views us 'mere mortals' as tools, I wouldn't put it past him." Twi agreed.

They reached another 'station', a part of this tunnel system that resembled an underground train station, area, and Snow said "Hey, uh, I've gotta apologize, looks like I was wrong." to Lightning.

"About Serah's Focus? Not like you to second guess yourself." Light said.

"Yeah, well, even heroes make mistakes." Snow said.

"What about your plan to protect Cocoon? Either way, your faith in Serah was strong, that got you this far." Light said.

"It was all wrong." Snow responded sadly.

"Yeah, you tried so hard to convince us, that you ended up fooling yourself too. You've been a total idiot, but still, you saved me. You trusted Serah, let that faith drive you. It even made me want to believe it." Light told him. 

"The rest of us are behind you all the way, Snow." Twi said in encouragement.

They walked a bit further, still not encountering anything unusual. "Does anyone actually have any idea where we are?" Twi asked. 

"We could have been dumped just about anywhere by that portal, I want to say we're close to Eden, but it's hard to be sure where, because a lot of places are close to Eden." Light said. Eden was more or less in the center of Cocoon, so that made locating anything by virtue of being near it rather difficult. Of course, there was also the chance that they'd been dumped somewhere intentionally confusing.

After walking up a staircase, they entered an area that didn't have a snowball's chance in a sauna, in a volcano, on the sun, of passing as Cocoonian in origin. She was dimly aware that the metaphor she had used was completely impossible, but if she couldn't be a little illogical in her own head then where could she be?

As if to illustrate this. Hope said. "I can't believe we're still in Cocoon."

"Actually, it's just a little bit creepy." Sazh said, glancing at the tall metal objects scattered around.

"It probably doesn't help that those metal things resemble silver sarcophagi just a little bit." Twi said. She glanced down at the floor and discovered some sort of spell woven into a Pulse-brand shape. A moment later, the area was bathed in red light from the floor, and the brand-shaped spell became clearly visible as their own brands reacted. 

She examined them, and discovered the brands had had some latent power unlocked. After, relaying this to the others, they fought off the pair of automatons that had emerged from the nearest sarcophagi, and then they walked over to a spot that gave them a nearly unobstructed view of the area. Of course Twilight had to blast another pair of the automatons from the same sarcophagi, which led her to believe that a large number of them were down some kind of tube connecting the sarcophagi to a storage facility housing a large number of the automatons.

"This place..." Vanille put a hand to her chin. "it must be an Ark."

"An 'Ark'?" Light asked, eyeing the area warily.

"That's what they called 'em." Fang added, glancing around with a hint of surprise and awe.

"Long ago, the fal'cie, who made their home on Gran Pulse, became afraid of invasion from the outside. As part of their battle preparations, they created an army of living weapons. They stored those weapons in Arks, buildings like these. They hid the Arks all over the world." Vanille said in the voice of one who is reciting a legend they'd heard around a campfire.

"Everyone on Gran Pulse knew the legend." Fang said.

"So, this is basically a Pulse armory." Light surmised.

"Ahuh, most of us didn't believe in them, but a few people tried searching anyway. They never found a thing though. Of course, who'd have thought to look on Cocoon?" Fang asked.

"Right under our noses too, some secret they kept. Makes you wonder what else they don't want coming out." Sazh turned to them. "What are those Sanctum guys up to?" he asked. Probably all kinds of unsavory programs hidden in the shadows if a fal'cie was secretly in charge. The databases she left alone because they had nasty security probably had all kinds of 'interesting' information about such things.

"The story's not finished. There's more." Vanille said.

"They used to say the Arks had another, more practical, purpose." Fang said.

"Really?" Light asked.

"Anything to do with that spell that reacted to our brands?" Twi asked.

"That's right, the Arks are supposed to force l'cie to master their shiny new powers." Fang explained.

"Ah, I suppose unlocking a hunk of sealed power is helpful in making sure less of the l'cie die in the attempt." Twi said dryly. Though considering that the seven of them were l'cie for some time and had had some trouble with the automatons, the new l'cie sent here would likely die in droves as often as not.

"So, I get it. Dysley's goal in sending us here was to forge us into stronger weapons. Right." Light said.

"Not cie'eth, but still monsters, nevertheless." Sazh said, shaking his head with a slight chuckle in his voice.

"Just think of it as training for the fight ahead." Hope said. There was a metallic clunk.

"What was that?" Sazh asked. They turned to see more of the automatons, these were in pristine condition compared to the ones in the Vile Peaks as their earlier ambushers had been. Twilight and Lightning fried them with Thundara spells, only for replacements to hop out of the same metal sarcophagus, as well as reinforcements from the others nearby. Apparently they were just going to keep coming now that there were l'cie here.

"We've gotta keep moving!" Hope said. 

"We'll cover you guys." Twi said as she fried another.

Lightning had made her teach the former Guardian Corps member the spells for enhancing gunshots, from simply adding an element to increasing force and penetration, the latter of which was surprisingly more difficult to do very well. These spells would work for virtually any weapon, or even bare-handed, once you mastered their use, and the two of them had. So it was unsurprising to the girls when Lightning downed another one by emptying her clip into it's head.

They fended off the automatons until the others were some distance away, then ran after them, Twilight sent a Thundaga behind them for good measure, destroying the automatons still active. They began encountering drones of the 'hedron' type soon after. 

Hedrons were dodecahedrons tied to an element. A cryohedron would be tied to ice for example. They proved little challenge when faced with their opposing element. However, they had a tendency to self-destruct if the battle wasn't going in their favor.

As they were climbing a staircase, after navigating a fairly simply, but annoying, maze of narrow paths, Fang said. "Huh, all this time I thought these Arks were just stories." Fang said.

"Well, they're real enough." she cleared her throat. "Dusty enough to have clouds of the stuff, but real." Twi said, then coughed once to clear her throat. "Makes you wonder what else from the realm of mythology is real, doesn't it?" she asked before conjuring herself a glass of water and swiftly downing it.

They continued, towards whatever was awaiting them further in. They began encountering more flan types, and strange slug-like animals that they had had a brief encounter with the less dangerous and less hardy relatives of in the Gapra Whitewoods, as they re-entered the subway-like tunnels.

They soon reached an area of narrow catwalks over an immense drop. Sazh picked up a rock and dropped it over the side, curious. After a minute of listening for a sound, they heard the echo.

"Well, let's not fall down there, shall we?" Twi said nervously.

"Couldn't you just grab us telekinetically?" Snow asked. 

"Yes, but if I didn't catch you in time or fell off myself..." Twi left it hanging.

"What about that teleporting trick?" Sazh asked.

"It requires that you be relatively slow moving or staying still, for two reasons. First, it is difficult to warp from point A to point B if point A is rapidly changing relative to B." Twi explained. This applied more for the sake of one's frame of reference than anything else, as few could teleport without some kind of frame of reference and not kill themselves due to miscalculations a lack of one brought on. Thus the rotation of the planet and the direction of up tended not to have any effect.

"That makes sense, what's the other reason?" Sazh asked.

"Teleportation doesn't get rid of momentum you had pre-teleport, so if I was going fast enough beforehand, I'd still go splat, just up here instead of down there. Though considering how much more punishment we can take in comparison to a normal person, it would be on the borderline between going too fast to teleport anyway." Twi said. 

She cocked her head slightly. "Maybe I should test just how much more we can, not now of course, but-" 

"That's really creepy." Hope commented.

"What is?" she asked, shaken out of her musings by Hope's comment.

"You're not bothered at all by talking about yourself dying, in fact, you want to see how it would work." Hope said.

"It's not like I'm going to throw myself off a skyscraper... unless I have a grav-con. I'd still need a good reason, though. I'll be careful with my tests... unless I completely forget about trying this in the first place since we'll be busy for some time." Twi said.

"Has she always been this completely lacking in a sense of self-preservation?" Fang asked Snow.

"Honestly? Yes. One time a wild Behemoth got lured over by the sounds of fighting from some NORA members taking out some weak monsters that had been getting too close to the city. Twilight was nearby, she jumped in, beat down the Behemoth by herself, and then lectured them on what they'd done wrong. She was ten at the time, well, biologically anyway." Snow answered, causing the others to give Twilight rather bemused looks.

"Well, I wasn't going to just let them die, besides, that guy was holding his sword all wrong, calling that a stance would be an insult to the word and everyone who uses a sword, and his swordplay had only it's unpredictability going for it since it was little more than angry flailing." she said, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.

They let the conversation drop, all having a little laugh at her expense, she chuckled, she'd been almost asking for that one. She kept overreacting about that one guy's swordsmanship. It really wasn't that bad, she just tended to get riled up when people got into life-threatening situations.

They reached a bridge spanning another chasm, but it was infested with Daemons. The similarity of the name to the word demons was a fairly apt description of the creatures that had supposedly been the result of a fal'cie, well, screwing up. Not that most people would know about that, it was so obscure, they probably hadn't even found it to make it classified. Wouldn't want people thinking the 'wise' and powerful fal'cie weren't infallible.

They looked like some sort of horrible mutation of a human in yellow and blue robes. The things refused to die unless you cut their heads off, or hit them with the equivalent of a missile in the face with magic. They were seemingly without blood, thankfully. She could live quite well not covered in blood from an exploded monster or nine. Finally, they reached a room with strange orange statues. 

"These things, they're alive." Sazh said in mild awe when he saw one move.

"What's the Sanctum up to?" Light asked.

"Perhaps these were here before and they're being studied, I'd certainly like to know how they work." Twi theorized.

"Are they planning to start a war?" Light asked. These things were likely the source of a number of features present on today's warmechs if they had been researched.

Suddenly two of the four statues jumped off their pedestals and attacked with their monstrous swords, before forging and sending out a floating sword each that aided their masters. They found out that the swords were useless without their masters, since when an Enthundered Lightning and Snow smashed one of the statues it's sword clattered to the ground and rapidly corroded. 

The other forged and sent out a second sword, but the girls held off the swords while the boys took out their master.

"Huh, the living weapons thing was true too, from what I can tell, it's bio-mechanical." Twi said, grabbing and pocketing a sample for study later. It would be amazing to be able to build machines like this herself, though robotics was not her strong suit. Her knowledge of them was relatively limited.

"So, there'll be a lot of these things in here then." Sazh guessed.

"Knowing our luck, almost certainly." Light agreed. There was an elevator just past the room they were in. After deciphering the ancient, yet surprisingly advanced, controls, they took it further down. "Well, on the bright side, we won't run into Psicom down here." Light said as they waited for the thing to reach the bottom, passing several yellow lights.

"Are you kidding? They'd have to send a whole battalion to get past all this stuff." Fang said.

"I'm beginning to think Sazh was right about the monsters thing, no single person should have this kind of power. I'm not doubting any of you personally, but what would have happened if a l'cie turned against the people of their town or village out of bitterness on Pulse?" Twi asked.

"A bloody slaughter, every time it happened." Fang said grimly.

"Exactly why making l'cie is a stupid idea." Snow said. Just because you granted a random human power didn't mean they were going to do what you wanted, or that they wouldn't turn on you or the people around them. Especially when being made a l'cie was commonly considered a death sentence.

They entered yet another subway-like tunnel, finding more flan and little creatures similar to Zwerg Droids in appearance, squat with small wings. They proved quite vulnerable to magic. They continued in this manner until they reached an area styled like a bunker. 

"We must be getting close by now." Hope said.

"I'm getting that boss fight feeling, something's just ahead." Twi said, cautioning him. They stepped out to a rectangular room, inside was a familiar face.

"Raines?" Snow asked.

"What?" Fang asked.

"How did he get here?" Twi asked, then realized the feeling of danger hadn't faded in the slightest. In fact, it had intensified. She began to form a Ruinga in either hand behind her back, just in case. The others appeared to pick up on the bad vibe and were wary as well, with the exception of the ever-trusting Snow.

"Hey, easy guys, Raines is a Sanctum officer, but he's been helping us out." Snow was kept from approaching Raines by Fang's upraised arm.

"Why exactly are you here?" Fang asked suspiciously.

"..." Raines said nothing as he approached.

Twilight and Lightning came to the same exact conclusion at the same instant. 'Dysley got to him!' 'Gee that took you a while.' 

She ignored the newly-returned voice and rushed at the man with Lightning while Lightning yelled, "You traitor!" 

He casually disarmed Lightning, but then she smirked, that being his only warning that she had actually been a decoy. Twilight tried to hit him in the face with both spells at once, but he ducked under it, and they exploded harmlessly behind him. They stepped back a few feet. "I put you on the path you're on now, that was my Focus." He twisted his arm, revealing his Cocoon brand.

"You're a l'cie?!" Fang said in a mixture of surprise and anger.

"Yes, since long before we met." he pointed Lightning's gunblade at them, before lowering it slightly. "I did my best to assist you, as I was bid by the Sanctum fal'cie who gave me this brand, Barthandelus. Now do you understand?" he asked, lowering the blade completely. "The fal'cie have watched over you, guiding your each and every step, the 'luck' that saved you, time and again, was a deliberate machination, each and every time." Raines told them.

Twilight had thought that that fighter from Lake Bresha was convenient, and they'd had a large number of lucky breaks, which apparently weren't lucky breaks. All those times a fal'cie could have discovered them but didn't were because they had chosen not to report them, or Dysley hadn't done anything. 

"But surely, you must be asking, why? The Primarch, or perhaps I should say, Barthandelus, is crafting you into the instruments of Cocoon's demise." Cid explained.

"We've been played for fools." Fang said.

"There's just one thing about all this that makes no sense. A Cocoon fal'cie? Why?" Sazh asked.

"The why is quite simple: to restore the Maker." Cid answered.

"The Maker?" Hope asked.

"I once read a very old, and heavily corrupted, file about an entity that created the world of Pulse, the three gods in charge of the world, and the humans and the fal'cie. Are you referring to that entity?" Twi asked. The file was really badly corrupted, what she'd just said had taken nearly a week's worth of effort to decipher. Even then, she hadn't learned anything besides what she'd just said. She was convinced it was a deletion attempt gone wrong. 

"Yes, and as you said, the Maker is the entity responsible for creating both humans and fal'cie. Long ago, the Maker departed this world, leaving both races behind. In a sense, you could call humans and fal'cie siblings that had been orphaned by the same parent. 

The humans quickly forgot the order imposed by their creator, and began to war among themselves for the first time in history. The fal'cie focus on recalling their lost deity, and returning the world to its former glory. This is the purpose that lies at the heart of every action taken by every fal'cie, whether of Cocoon or Pulsian origin. Calling back the Maker requires a fitting sacrifice." Cid said.

"Yeah, we heard, the destruction of Cocoon." Light said, having regained her footing during the conversation.

"Yes, the lives of everyone on this world, in bloody tribute." Cid said, just a hint of bitterness in his voice. He sent the gunblade back to Lightning in shuriken style. She caught it easily, getting into a defensive stance as she did. He wouldn't have disarmed her as easily as he had if she hadn't let him.

"No, that's crazy talk." Sazh said, shaking his head in denial.

"Actually, a few things have fallen into place. Since the fal'cie don't really have a higher authority other than the currently missing Maker, they didn't really ever grow up. Imagine a child being told to stand in one spot and then left to brood on being abandoned for centuries. Their bitterness must be enormous." Twi said, a hint of pity and sorrow bleeding through. It certainly didn't excuse their actions, but it helped explain them.

"But there's still something that doesn't make sense. What do they need us for? Couldn't they bring Cocoon to an end with a thought? People are totally dependent on them." Hope asked.

"Their existence is tied directly to the creation, maintenance, and protection of this metal shell. Their very nature, their Focus, if you will, is what prevents them from taking direct action against Cocoon, holding them firmly in check. Their l'cie are similarly bound." Cid explained.

"So they need us... because Cocoon fal'cie and their l'cie can't destroy Cocoon. They needed tools." Hope said.

"If we can stop this by doing  nothing, then we'll do nothing." Vanille interjected. 

"Noble, I expected as much." Cid responded, unfazed.

"You lied to us." Snow said, seething. "What happened to your dream of rebuilding Cocoon for the people?" Snow asked, clenching his fist. "Was it all a lie?!" He asked, angrily.

"No, it was a shadow of my dream. When I was human, I wished for change, and when I built the influence to cause it, change did happen." he briefly showed them his brand again. "I gained all the power I could hope for, but became nothing more than a puppet with no will to wield it." His brand began to glow, brighter and brighter. "The fal'cie was not the one who changed, it was me." he explained.

"I see, so that was when you were made a l'cie." Twilight said sadly.

"A l'cie, tied to an inescapable Focus." Cid responded.

"I suppose that depends on if you consider becoming a cie'eth escaping." Twi sent back, quickly recovering her resolve.

"True enough." Cid said smiling a bit, then becoming serious again. "But at the time, I believed myself a slave to my destiny, I had all but given up on any dreams of freedom." Cid said.

"What are you saying?" Sazh asked. Why was Raines telling them all this?

"I came here of my own accord, not on the orders of any fal'cie. Seeing you fight brought all of it back. Brought back that future that I once strove for." his brand was building up a surge of magic, and beginning to sparkle from it. "I too, will challenge my fate." his brand began to flicker, before causing Cid's entire body to shine blue for a moment, then releasing a wave of magical force that pushed them back a couple feet. 

His body coursed with blue magic as he began to float. Cid snapped his fingers, and a larger copy of his brand appeared, then more surrounded them in a circle until only one spot remained open. "If I can defeat you here, then the fal'cie plan will fail." Cid said, real determination in his voice as the last spot was sealed.

"Raines!" Fang called, appearing to recognize this.

"I will use all my remaining power." he swung his arms, as if forming a spell matrix with them, which appeared to be precisely what he was doing. He shone brightly, and when the light faded, he was a half crystallized figure, some sort of half-cie'eth. "I will set you free!" he cried, his voice distorted.

They dodged his kicks and clawed punches, and defended against his magic while Hope buffed them up. Once he'd done that, he Slowed Cid, and they piled both physical and magical attacks on. However, when the Slow spell wore off, Cid threw them off. "An impressive display, but I'm not finished!" he roared, then transformed into another cie'eth form. Now he had wings, six of them.

With his wings he began flying out of the way of attacks, and striking from the air, while they shifted almost entirely to spells, except when he was attacking them directly, the only time when he couldn't dodge a physical strike, though bullets only seemed to annoy him. 

Finally, a combination of Fira, Thundara, Blizzara, Watera, Aerora, Ruinga, and a direct physical strike from Snow brought him down. He lay on the ground panting heavily. They sheathed their weapons, he was in no condition to fight. "Raines..." Light said, a hint of sorrow coming through.

"It's funny, isn't it? All I wanted was a moment of triumph." he panted for breath, "How it ends isn't important, just do what you know is right." Sparks of blue light were beginning to come from him. "Trust yourselves." he finished softly, before another blinding flash of blue light emanated from him, lasting longer, and revealing that Raines had been frozen in crystal.

"Wait, does that mean he completed his Focus?" Sazh asked after a moment.

"I don't think so." Snow said.

"His Focus was to help us, it doesn't seem that fighting us to stop us fits into that. ...Unless he'd already fulfilled it and he was delaying turning into crystal somehow." Twi said. Could you do that?

"All Raines did was try to save Cocoon in his own way. His own way..." Snow ran off.

"Hey!" Sazh yelled.

"Where are you-?" Light asked.

"Snow!" Vanille called.

They turned as Vanille gasped, to see Raines disintegrating into bits of light. They chased after Snow after Raines disappeared completely. They fended off noticeably fewer than usual monsters, went down with an elevator, and fought their way across another bridge.

"Where's Snow? We must be close to the bottom now." Vanille asked.

"There are still fewer enemies than there should be, he'll just have gone ahead." Twi said reassuringly.

Once they entered a hexagonal room, the doors locked and they had to defeat all the enemies to open them. They traversed several more before taking yet another elevator down. This time however, monsters attacked, more Daemons. Another wave of them followed the first. "Ugh, not again." Hope said as a third wave attacked.

'This is annoying.' the voice in her head said. 

'So, what do you want?' she asked.

'I'm an alter ego, if you die, I die, so I'm rather interested in your continued survival. It would be easier if you'd stop restraining yourself.' it responded.

'What do you mean? If I went all-out, I might hurt them on accident.' she was rather keen on keeping that from happening.

'What you want to protect is not automatically what I want to protect. In all honesty, I don't particularly care about the others.' it said, a hint of annoyance coming through.

'Let's just agree to disagree.' she told it, realizing they'd reached an impasse. This was an issue she would not compromise on.

They walked on, eventually reaching a large, imposing gate. They opened it, and found the ruins of what appeared to be an old industrial complex, and Snow. "Hey guys." he said, glancing at them.

"So, what's the story?" Light asked him.

"Thought you guys would be right behind me, turned around to see that you weren't, decided that this was a good place as any to wait for you. Cleared out the monsters too." Snow said laconically.

"But we ran into plenty on the way down, fewer than usual, but there were a lot. I suppose that means they'll regenerate their numbers in our wake." Twi said. They'd have trouble retracing their steps if it came to that.

"So, how about down there?" Sazh asked, crouching down to look over the side of the ledge.

"If the stories are right, it's a maze." Vanille said.

"Well, that's the last thing we need. It's pretty much been a straight shot to get here and we've done alright because of that. However, we might have trouble if the paths begin to branch much." Twi said.

"This place is a l'cie boot camp. All kinds of challenges from Gran Pulse are waiting." Fang said.

"Challenges huh? To get us all ready to go wipe out Cocoon?" Sazh asked.

"We could just wait here if turning cie'eth sounds better." Fang told him.

"I believe this is the sort of situation 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' is for." Twilight said dryly.

"I have had enough of this!! WHERE'S THE WAY OUT!?" Sazh yelled.

"Way out? Who said there was a way out?" Snow asked him. He punched his fist into his palm in preparation. "Bring it on. My mind is made up. Maybe I'll just end up a cie'eth, but until that happens, I'm going to make Serah proud." Snow said, holding the crystallized tear from Serah in front of himself. Twilight sighed in relief, Snow was back to normal.

"I couldn't bring myself to admit that this tear meant goodbye. That's why I kept searching for her." he threw up the tear and caught it. "But I didn't need to look, Serah was here the whole time," He held the tear to his heart. "right here. Watching over me. Now I get what this tear's been telling me. It's been saying not to let our Focus win.

It's not the fal'cie we should listen to, it's Serah and Raines. Do you know why?" he asked them. "Because our Focus doesn't matter. What matters to me is that we protect Cocoon, whatever it takes." Snow cracked a grin as he finished.

"Ditto, but let's not give up on ourselves just yet, there's not much point in saving the world if you lose all the people you care about in the process." Twi said, walking over and placing her hand on the one holding the tear.

"Same here. I'll help you do it." Vanille said, also putting a hand on theirs.

"Alright, I'm in." Hope agreed, joining them with Sazh's chocobo chick, which postured a brave position, before falling off, they chuckled at that.

"I mean, come on, when a chocobo agrees, you know you're on the right path." Snow said, chuckling.

"There you go, that's right." Sazh agreed. 

"Well, you can count me out." Fang said, walking over to one side.

"After being through all this, and hearing all that? We can't just sacrifice all those people, besides, I don't like Dysley or the fal'cie in general, with only one exception I've ever encountered. I certainly don't want to follow his orders." Twi said.

"Amen to that." Light agreed. 

"You all want to go it alone..." Fang suddenly turned brandishing her lance, "then so will I!" Fang said.

"Fang? What are you doing?" Light asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I say, let Cocoon get what's coming to them, they hate us for being l'cie. What's it to me if they die? Better that than watch a friend go cie'eth!" Fang said, Twilight began to prepare a Waterga, the least lethal of the highest tier spells. If it came to a fight, they'd do their best not to kill her, but she was badly outnumbered by opponents of comparable ability. "If you don't have the nerve for it, I'll do it myself." Fang said somewhat haggardly. "Go on alone, get stronger, and smash Cocoon out of the sky!" Fang yelled at them, before falling to one knee.

"Fang!" Vanille called out worriedly.

'Wait, something's off.' she realized.

'Her brand's about to send out an Eidolon, stupid!' the voice answered. She really ought to give it a name.

"You turn cie'eth, and there's no coming back!" Fang said as her brand began to glow orange. "I'm not letting it end that way!" she screamed as a purple incantation circle formed around her. A light shot out of her brand, releasing another Eidolon. This one was a purple dragon with red claws and bat wings.

"What's he doing here?" Fang asked as the rest of the group surrounded her. "Oh, I get it. Come to take pity on me? To take care of a broken l'cie?" Fang asked it, as it's wings changed to a smaller but more lethal-looking form with red-and black energy blades on the end.

"That thing's here to help us?" Snow asked incredulously

"They certainly don't show it until you overpower them." Twi agreed with his sentiment.

"Yeah, that's what they're for. They help us, Eidolons are our salvation. If we can't decide what to do next, they come put us out of our misery!" Fang yelled, partly at Snow partly at 'Bahamut' as it 's name apparently was.

"Oh, so that means you haven't made up your mind yet." Snow reasoned as Bahamut charged a sphere of magic, then launched it at Fang.

Twilight, Lightning and Snow sent the sphere flying away from Fang. "Of course she hasn't, otherwise she would've attacked instead of just readying her lance like that." Twi said "Most people wouldn't be entirely sure of attacking their friends under any circumstances." she continued as she sent a Ruinga at the draconic Eidolon.

"What are you doing? Why are you protecting me?" Fang asked as they each pulled out/unholstered their weapons and pointed them at Bahamut.

"Protecting one of our own." Light answered.

"Remember what I said earlier? You don't just pick and choose when to help your friends. When they need your help, you help." Twi said.

"We can do without their brand of mercy, and we don't need a fal'cie's orders either! I'm fighting this Focus to the end. We all are." Light turned to Fang and held out a hand to her. "So please, fight with us." Light pleaded.

Fang though it over for a second, then she grabbed Lightning's hand. Lightning and Vanille helped her to her feet. "Ready when you are!" Fang said, twirling her staff.

"Libra says it's not weak to an element, but it is weak to debuffs!" Twi said, as the draconic Eidolon cast Doom on them. Twilight noted there was a slight variance in the Doom it cast, causing a different amount of time on the clock with Bahamut in comparison to Fallen Angel.

Hope healed and buffed them, while she debuffed Bahamut, and Snow drew it's attacks, Sazh, Vanille, Fang, and Lightning attacked it directly. They dodged it's devastating attacks as best they could, but even being clipped by the thing resulted in a battering, even through their buffing and Bahamut's debuffing.

However, they eventually caused it to yield with Fang striking the finishing blow. It transformed into an airship like form, before leaving behind a crystal for Fang to call for it. Fang glanced at her brand, noting the change in it's appearance. 

"Look! A new path!" Vanille pointed ahead of them, a crude path of blue energy had been formed, leading down. "Maybe that thing did save us!" Vanille said in epiphany.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to call it a sign of me being right?" Snow asked.

"No way, because if we did, then reality would fall a part at the sheer illogic of Snow Villiers being right." Light said, causing them all to double-take.

"Did Light just make a joke?" Hope asked, voicing their thoughts.

"Too late to avoid the universe falling apart then." Snow shot back, smiling. His face got serious, "Listen, keep our eyes on the goal, and we'll figure something out." Snow  explained. 

They started walking down the ramp, now that she got a better look at it, this place resembled a ruined temple more than an industrial complex. As they got lower down, a welcome sight greeted them. "Hey look at that!" Vanille called pointing at a brown, rusted, but completely intact ship of Pulse design.

"Oh, an airship?" Sazh asked.

"Ahuh, and it's from Gran Pulse!" Vanille told them.

"Well, that would explain why it looks so much different from the Cocoon airships." Twi agreed, though she was already aware that it was from Pulse because of a couple spells woven into the ship's structure. Why show off?

"I guess it was one of this Arks'... weapons." Vanille said, one hand on her chin. "Or something."

Twilight noticed a green light above them, some sort of spell in a seal like their brands. "Any idea what that is?" she asked pointing at the odd sight.

"That's a gate to Gran Pulse!" Fang said.

"Right." Light said.

"So, that's our exit? A gateway to Pulse, or bust?" Sazh asked.

"Could be one of Dysley's tricks." Light put forth.

"True, but we don't have better options." Twi said, as she began examining the spell, she noticed it was quite old and felt different from Dysley's. Hm, probably a good sign.

"Uh oh, that's no good. You think it'll take us to Eden?" Vanille asked.

"Nope, no more of these ships flying themselves, I'm doing the flying. That thing's not going anywhere these boys" He held his hands up. "don't tell it to." Sazh said.

"The gate doesn't seem to be Dysley's doing, it's old and the magic has a different feel to it." Twi mentioned.

Fang scoffed. "That is a Gran Pulse ship, not a Cocoon ship." she said.

"Really? You just leave it to me." he thumped his chest and broke out in a coughing fit. They chuckled at him.

"Either way," Snow said as Sazh recovered. "we're on borrowed time, so we might as well go. We get lucky, maybe we'll even find some way to get rid of these goofy tattoos." Snow said, holding up an arm.

"But there's no way to do that, Dysley fixed it so we can't." Vanille said morosely.

"You never know. Maybe we just didn't think to look for one." Fang reassured her.

"If nothing else, we know Cocoon's safe for the time being. I'd say it's worth checking out at least." Hope said

"Maybe, but what about your dad?" Light asked him. The others groaned, the smiles slipping off. 

"I made him a promise, a promise that I'd do what I had to. He said only I would know what that was. The world's full of lies, There's no way of really knowing what's right. All we can do, is believe in ourselves. It's easy to sit back and let people trick you. Like how the Sanctum had us all thinking that a l'cie was some sort of monster, except for Twilight, because she had another perspective to look at things from." He turned to them. "I'm done with their lies.

Fal'cie, this whole Focus thing, from here on out I use my eyes." Hope said turning to them one by one. "Think, and act." Lightning smiled. "I might not make all the right choices, but as long as I'm the one who decided what to do, there's nothing to regret." Hope finished.

"Alright, let's do it. I'm with ya, bad choices and all." Sazh said, patting Hope roughly on the back.

"Of course, I'm still not sure how it's gonna turn out. Pulse is hell, ya know?" Hope said.

"Oh is it now? How many times have you been there?" Fang asked him.

He chuckled, "None! But I want to go, and see what it's like for myself." Hope said.

"Okay people." Snow tossed the tear up and caught it again, then pointed at them. "So, everybody in?" Snow asked.

They all made various gestures of assent. "Off to hell we go." Light said. They climbed on board and Sazh got the ship working with surprising ease. They flew to the gate, and through it to where Pulse was waiting.
> Welcome to Pulse 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The portal was a layer of greenish light shifting back and forth from blue surrounding them as they traveled through it. Sazh struggled with the controls as he fought the turbulence and the blue light became dominant. They went through the other side of the portal to see a beautiful sight, an entire world spread out in front of them. There were forests and mountains, plains and plateaus, it was much more wild than Pulse. In a way that was difficult to describe, that made it more beautiful.

"You did it!" Vanille congratulated Sazh for getting them there in one piece.

"Yeah! Told you didn't I?" Sazh said, raising his arms in self-congratulation. 

Just as it seemed things were finally going to go off without a hitch, a strange, flying, purple, worm-like creature nearly hit the ship. Well, Pulse promised to be interesting, if nothing else. "Playful little critter, isn't he?" Fang asked them.

"Yeah, well he can play with someone else." Light complained.

"I'll be happy to play when we're not half a mile above the ground." Twi said dryly.

Vanille giggled, "Happens all the time." she said. 

Twilight raised an eyebrow, this qualified as normal on Pulse? 'All you people are crazy.' the voice in her head deadpanned. 

'It's not that bad... Arcana.' she responded, having settled on a name.

'Arcana. It will do for a name, I suppose.' the voice had a little bit of a smile in it's inflection.

The worm-thing was coming back around for another pass. "He seems to think we're lunch." Fang said, unsurprised.

"Yeah, like a seafood buffet." Sazh commented as the others tensed for a fight.

"Seafood, cute." Light said.

"Guys, here it COMES!!" Hope said as the creature did another flyby, this time shattering the windows. The sudden drop in air pressure caused the air inside to rush out and sent Hope and Vanille flying out, Hope grabbed Vanille's arm, Vanille grabbed the end of a piece of metal sticking out of the ship. They screamed as they clung desperately onto their respective lifelines, before Vanille lost her grip and they began to fall.

Snow reached out for a moment as he clung to a pole, while Sazh, Twilight, and Lightning tied themselves to a rope that Twilight had conjured and tied to the ship's relatively intact front. There was no point in having everyone fall off, there'd be no one to rescue the others. 

Sazh fought with the controls as the ship went down in a manner eerily similar to their other crash. She'd find it suspicious if they landed in a junk yard or something, but she could worry about that later. 

"Fang!" Snow called, "Get 'em!" he yelled. He was clearly referencing her Eidolon's ability to fly.

"I'm on it!" Fang called as she hopped off the side of the ship and angled herself to fall after -and faster than- the other two. 

Lightning quickly untied herself, and went after Fang, having also realized Snow's meaning. Fang threw her Eidolith, the crystal housing one's Eidolon when they weren't in 'use', and Lightning shifted her gunblade to gun mode and shot it, causing Bahamut to appear in a much quicker version of it's earlier appearance, a cloud of inky black condensed, and then it's incantation circle formed before it burst out. Bahamut was mechanical, so it presumably didn't actually have a biological gender, however, it was masculine in appearance, so it would henceforth be referred to as 'he'. The system had worked well enough for their Eidolons so far.

The two of them allowed Bahamut to catch up, and grabbed onto him. "Here goes!" Fang yelled over the wind as the ship fell past them, Bahamut began putting on some extra speed, and started to catch up to Hope and Vanille. 

"Hey! Over here!" Sazh called as they neared the ship which continued to plummet. Twilight cut Sazh and herself loose, and they jumped off the ship as Bahamut neared, Snow a moment behind.

"You okay?" Vanille asked Hope as they kept on falling towards the ground, even with the reinforcement granted by being l'cie who'd seen as much combat as they had and for so long, they would still probably die if they fell onto rocky, level terrain like this from this height.

"Oh yeah, I'm just great." Hope replied sarcastically just before they were pulled onto Bahamut's back. 

The ship hit the ground with a dull, metallic thud. They flew over the area on Bahamut. Unlike Cocoon, Pulse was a wild, untamed place. The forests, plains and rivers were all wild and free, and the animals were stronger, tempered cousins of their Cocoonian counterparts. Since they'd had to struggle to survive instead of having their needs provided for, they were much hardier than their cousins on Cocoon. It was a simple matter of natural selection. The prey that survived was selected to pass on it's genes, and the fastest, strongest, and smartest were selected for this reason. In turn, the predators that had the most success hunting their prey were selected to pass on their genes, in the evolutionary equivalent of an arms race.

"This is amazing, I've never seen a place like this, at home, or on Cocoon." Twi said, gazing around in awe. There was something artificial about all of the fields and forests she'd seen in Equestria except the Everfree. Which made sense since the Everfree was the only place where nature wasn't under the total control of a sentient being. 

'It's certainly different.' Arcana agreed, less impressed than her counterpart.

"Home sweet home, welcome to Gran Pulse." Fang said.

They finally landed at the spot where the ship had crashed, the Terra Incognita, Fang said, which could be assumed to have been what scared off the majority of the monsters, and made it what would be their home base for the foreseeable future. Twilight would simply raise barriers at night so they could get some proper sleep. Being able to conjure mattresses was much appreciated by all. She hadn't done it before because they'd have stuck out like a sore thumb to anyone tracking them, but they were looking for people here, so she didn't see how it could hurt.

They spent the next week exploring the nearby area. She soon learned that this place didn't just look different from Cocoon, it was far more savage. Mercy was a foreign concept, likely to get you killed if you showed it. Only the strong survived here. The animals were far stronger, faster, smarter, and more cunning. Most of the Monsters on Pulse simply attacked, but these showed the basics of strategy, often cooperating in attacking when the l'cie wandered by. They even showed the basics of intellect, learning mid-fight.

Chocobos were run down and devoured by wolf-like Gorgonospids. King Behemoths devoured the poor unlucky souls who wandered too close, including their own kind, the same with the far larger Oretoise and the larger-still Admantoise, who were themselves at the near-nonexistent mercy of a fal'cie called Titan, the overseer of the nearby vista, himself large enough to swallow the Admantoise, which was the size of a heavy cruiser-class airship, whole.

He was at least as tall as the Palamecia had been long, if not taller, and appeared to be made of stone and whole trees. They found no evidence of any living people, though ruins there were plenty of. Monsters were too numerous to count, and three seemed to spring up for every one they took down, but there wasn't a single person to be found.

Their spare time was spent on sparring, they got their weak points up to par, then concentrated on their strengths. They shot up leaps and bounds, due to the fighting between opponents of nearly equal strength, and their brands making all of them stronger if one of them was made stronger through combat. The party of four, Snow, Sazh, Lightning, and herself, returned to base camp after searching in and around the area of the Paddrean Archaeopolis and along the way to and from it.

She'd seen strange mounds of stone that bore an eerie resemblance to the cie'eth, but they hadn't attacked the group and were clearly not man-made, so she had assumed they were features common to Pulse. 

"Oh, my feet are killing me!" Sazh complained as they returned to find Fang and Vanille talking.

"Oh, you're back!" Vanille said excitedly. 

"Hey guys, any luck?" Fang asked.

"No sign of anyone else, though we did find plenty of bloodthirsty wildlife and crumbling ruins." Light said, in a tone that wasn't quite sarcastic, but it was close.

"Some of which looked like it was through a war." Twi noted, idly inspecting a piece of stone she'd collected. Some of the damage was quite obviously unnatural, whole buildings didn't just have half of their lower floors disintegrate in a fashion resembling a blast radius.

She decided that she was going to be shifting her focus of the research into the brands from a reversal to studying the brands and making a version of the spell that provided all of the benefits with none of the downsides to overwrite the originals with. Immunity to being made l'cie by other fal'cie, for one. Though dramatically increasing the amount of power each individual had and therefore cutting down on the deaths resulting from monster attacks and accidents was a very nice bonus. 

Also, studying the brands for this did not require any testing on herself or others, so no fiddling with their brands was necessary. Of course, she'd have to teach some people the spell, she wasn't going to be able to cast it on a size-able number of people in a timely fashion. 

Then again, if those she taught wanted to, they could lord themselves over the human race. She'd just teach her friends, and maybe the people they most trusted. Of course, she could just adapt the spell so anyone could learn and use it easily. You couldn't control the populace with something that just anyone could do.

Sazh sat down on one of the ship's seats, which they'd been using as couches after tearing them out of the remains of the ship. "Long day?" Vanille asked as she patted him on the back.

"Well guys, we've run out of places to search around here." Snow said, then glanced around. "Huh, where's Hope?" Snow asked.

"He's off with the chocobo, getting supplies." Fang said, pointing with her thumb in the direction they had come from. Twilight had to wonder how they'd missed him coming back, the path didn't branch out much until you were pretty far from camp. 

There was a "Kweh!" as said chocobo chick flew over.

They made various noises of greeting. "You all by yourself?" Sazh asked as it landed on his hands, then it began fluttering around their heads in amusing way. They chuckled, though Twilight was getting the feeling something wasn't right. It began kwehing earnestly at Vanille. 

"Huh? His brand!?" Vanille asked, concerned. Wait a minute, since when did Vanille understand chocobo? Oh, wait, the chick was gesturing at the front of it's wing, roughly where someone's hand would be on a human.

"We've gotta find him!" Snow said.

They began to run in the direction Fang had pointed earlier, dispatching more flan and slug monsters. She had just labeled the creatures as monsters because they were called that by nearly everyone, and you could almost get killed by something non-sentient only so many times before you stopped having much empathy for them. They fought and ran their way through the narrow, dim, cold passages between the sheer rock walls, including wiping out the larger flan that lurked in the small, better-lit clearings.

"Why'd his brand advance faster than ours? He seemed fine!" Vanille asked worriedly.

"You'd be surprised what people can keep bottled up because they don't want to worry the others or be a burden." Twi said, speaking from personal experience.

Vanille's eyes widened in concern. They soon found Hope passed out by a stream. "Hope!" Snow called. 

Snow slung Hope over his shoulder, and they carried him back to camp. Night fell, and the started a campfire. Hope lay on one of the seats, the rest of them were scattered around the camp, their mood rather grim. Vanille got up from her position next to Hope, walking towards the others.

"So this is how it ends?" Snow asked, pacing angrily.

"Just wait, now how long has it been since we left Cocoon?" Sazh asked, throwing a hand in the air to show his annoyance. "Not a single soul for miles around, not a single clue about this whole l'cie mess. What I'm saying is, we did well just getting this far." Sazh finished.

"I suppose he's right, you'd expect us to all be dead by now, considering how many things have been trying to kill us." Twi said.

"But... we could go a little further." Vanille said.

"Meaning what?" Sazh asked, curious.

"There's still one place-" Vanille was interrupted by Fang calling out "Vanille, are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Vanille responded, nodding.

"You know, if we don't find anything this time, we won't be getting another chance at it." Light warned.

"Oerba." Hope said, from his position lying on his back. "The place it all began." his eyes slowly blinked open. "The place where the Pulse fal'cie lay dreaming. Vanille and Fang's home." He angled his arm to look at his brand. "Just maybe, there might be a chance that that's where we'll find the answers we're looking for." Hope finished.

"You're right, if we can get there." Fang said.

Hope chuckled, "Go ahead without me." he groaned as he sat up.

"We can't just leave you!" Vanille told him as she gripped his arm.

"I'll be fine. You've all taught me so much, showed me how to fight." Hope said, before partially collapsing, only stopped from hitting the ground by Snow catching him in time.

'Wait, he shouldn't be this weak from the brand advancing, another Eidolon?' Twi wondered.

'Yeah, probably, considering everyone gets weakened from their Eidolon appearing.' Arcana deadpanned.

"What did I tell ya? Leave the fighting to me." Snow said, hugging Hope.

"I'm scared." Hope admitted.

"We understand, you're not gonna go through this ordeal alone you know." Light said.

"The supporting role can be even more important than the damage-dealers." Twi reassured.

"That's what scares me, I don't want to see you get hurt because of me." Hope said, before covering his face with his branded arm's hand. "It'd be better for everyone if I just stayed behind." Hope's brand flashed into brightness, an orb of light similar to the Ruin spell surrounding it. The invocation circle was yellow and more of an invocation square under-laid by a circle this time.

Hope gasped and grunted, as a triangular pyramid made of bars of green light rose out of the circle, before four beams shot from the invocation circle, joining in an immense, and very bright, star-like object above them.

A twelve-foot tall giant in what resembled yellow samurai armor dropped from the sky directly in front of Hope, making surprisingly little impact considering the height of it's fall and probable mass. The group had been pushed back by the invocation circle and further by the giant's landing. 'Alexander' flashed in their minds as the giant pulled an arm back for a punch. 

Twilight managed to push Hope out of the way, only to get thrown into a nearby rock wall instead. "Twilight! Are you okay?" Hope yelled in concern.

After a momentary examination, she responded. "Nothing's broken, I'll be up in a minute." it was possible she'd been concussed, but she wasn't too dizzy.

Even the Eidolon seemed to be surprised at her after she said that. "Are you kidding?! You got smashed into solid rock by this guy!" Fang pointed at the giant. "You stay right there until we deal with him!" Fang said.

"How about we compromise? I'll heal and buff you guys instead of Hope this time." Twi offered.

Fang sighed. "You just can't let somebody else fight without helping can you?" she asked. 

"Nope." Twilight answered shortly. The others got into formation, readying spells and their weapons.

"Mention ordeals, and look what happens!" Fang commented, twirling her lance into a better position.

"This is why you don't tempt fate." Twi said from her position on the ground, head lifted just enough that she could see her companions.

"It's not an ordeal, it's a gift. Hope," she nodded at him. "this is the kind of power you've got inside, and it's telling you not to give up. Trust me." Light said.

"Oh, I get it. It's here to show you the way." Fang said, smirking. "Show you that you've got what it takes to get back on your feet and do this thing!" she told Hope.

"All of the Eidolons have come when we were at our lowest. The Shiva sisters came when Snow was losing faith in himself, Odin came when Light was afraid she wouldn't be able to make it, Fallen Angel came when I started to lose hope, Brynhildr when Sazh couldn't find a reason to keep going at all, and Bahamut when Fang was torn between her new friends and her old one." Twi agreed. "This one isn't any different!" she told him.

"You mean... that came from me?" Hope asked. He looked up at Alexander's face, then down at his brand, before regaining his determination, and moving to the front of the group.

"Ready?" Light asked them. They nodded or grunted confirmation.

Alexander cast Doom on them, as Twilight cast Libra. "You guys hit him hard, I'll keep you alive!" Twi called. "He doesn't have an elemental weakness, but he's not immune to anything either!" she called after using Libra again to discern the full details of their enemy. It usually took a couple casts to find out everything Libra was going to tell her.

They'd agreed, by mutual consensus, that the reason they didn't use Eidolons against other Eidolons was that it would be like forcing one of them to fight another. So it was therefore perfectly logical that sending all of their Eidolons out at once during this fight was not going to happen.

Alexander used mostly physical attacks, and Twilight was struggling to keep Hope, the main target of said attacks, alive long enough to cast Protect, but managed it. She slowly worked her way along the others, buffing and healing them as well. Impressively, the others' attacks were doing little, if anything, to slow Alexander down, but he wasn't as fast as he was at the start of the fight, and he was, while quick for his size, not very fast to begin with. 

She was kept busy healing and buffing the others, so she didn't really have any opportunities to attack the thing between those and how often one of the others was right next to Alexander. She did manage to land a couple Ruins during the fight.

Finally, Alexander yielded, becoming a wall of yellow pillars, which Hope climbed onto, before turning into an Eidolith.

"That's some beast you tamed there kid." Sazh said.

"Yeah. I always thought that the Eidolons came to set us free through death, but now, I think maybe they're here to snap us out of our slumps." Hope said.

"Oh, you mean like the one you were just in." Snow snarked.

"I'll ask for help earlier, next time around." Hope promised.

Vanille came over and hugged Hope. "I told you, on Gran Pulse, we're all family. You can moan all you want, but you're stuck with us." she said, eliciting chuckles from the group.

"Heh, you're never alone in hell." Sazh said with a chuckle.

"Listen funny man, don't call this place hell, alright?" Fang told him.

"So, we're all agreed then?" Light asked. They made various gestures of assent.

Twilight had to wonder if they would find anything in Oerba, but put the thought out of her mind. There was no point in worrying about it. If they found something, then she would have worried about it for nothing. It would serve no purpose to make the others second-guess the decision, too. Besides, if they didn't find anything, well, they wouldn't have time to look elsewhere. So it didn't really matter, now did it?

'Quit trying to fool yourself.' Arcana commented.

The next morning, they fought their way to the Archylte Steppe. They surveyed the rolling plain before them for a moment, before Hope said "Let's go." and they started off.

Less than a hundred feet from the spot they'd stopped at, one of the same kind of mounds that they'd encountered before rose into the air and began to levitate.

"This stone, it's..." Vanille began.

"Look familiar?" Light asked. 

"It's a cie'eth, it's in the last stage." Fang explained.

"Cie'eth, huh." Light said, somewhat warily.

"Don't worry, it's not a threat to anyone anymore. If a l'cie fails their Focus, they become a cie'eth, and start wandering the wilds. Eventually, they lose the will to go on, and turn to stone. But still, even in this state, they can't forget the task they once had." Vanille said.

Fang took over the explanation. "So they call out to l'cie, over and over, 'Complete my Focus.'" Fang told them.

"So they're doomed to eternal regret, huh? Must be pretty horrible." Sazh said.

"Hey we should help this one out. I mean, come on, we can't just ignore it. Listen, if we fail our Focus, it could be us suffering like that." Snow said.

"I'm in." Twilight said immediately. He was right. They might not have a lot of time, but there was always time for kindness.

'I know I'm going to say this again in the future, but you're far too nice for your own good.' Arcana said in minor annoyance.

"Wow, what a happy thought." Sazh said sarcastically. "That's not like you." he added.

"But going out of his way to help someone? That's Snow all over." Light said. 

So they went to every cie'eth stone they could find, and completed their failed Focus. Each stone began to glow upon having it's Focus completed, and this caused other stones to activate. Some even allowed teleportation between stones whose Focus they'd completed. They also gained the trust of a group of chocobos and were allowed to ride them all across the steppe after fending off some predators. 

While walking near the Paddrean Archaeopolis after completing a fallen l'cie's Focus for them, they saw a fal'cie fly through the air in the direction of a tower. "Well, guess we might see that one on the way to Oerba." Fang said.

"Why's that?" Twi asked. How many fal'cie were they going to have to take out before they stopped picking fights?

"The only route there from here goes through Taejin's Tower. Take a wild guess where it just went." Fang said.

"Ah, yes, well, we've got experience fighting fal'cie by now." Twi said with a shrug. She might be getting jaded. They made their way through the steppe, and found a crevice that led into a cave that presumably would let them get to the tower. 

As they fought their way through the robots that were supposed to be maintaining the cave system, but were now malfunctioning, Twilight kept thinking she heard rumbling. When they were walking over a bridge that was formed out of a metal grate, the rumbling was long and loud enough that it actually forced them all to hunker down or fall over.

"Well guys, we've got company!" Snow said as a rolling sphere with orange spikes thundered by.

"Whoa. Look at that thing!" Sazh said.

"Let me guess, that's a fal'cie?" Snow asked.

"Yep, that's Atomos, he's busy carving out new tunnels." Vanille told him.

"Making roads where roads ain't meant to go, huh? Kinda sounds like us." he fist-pumped. "Alright! Roly-poly. Let's hitch a ride on that thing!" Snow said.

"Now you're thinking Gran Pulse style!" Vanille said.

As they kept going, they found an area that opened out to the air. Vanille gasped, then giggled as she ran over to a patch of flowers. "These flowers. You remember them right?" Vanille asked Fang.

"Yeah, sure I do. They grew all over Oerba." Fang said.

"We can't be far now." Vanille said.

"It's my fault Gran Pulse ended up like this, isn't it?" Fang asked.

"Wha-?" Vanille asked flabbergasted.

The others stopped and stared, their brains needing a moment to process the sudden change of topic but mostly because of what Fang had just said. "I remember everything. I became Ragnarok. I scarred Cocoon. And I left Gran Pulse in this mess. It was me." Fang said.

"What are you talking about?" Vanille asked quietly.

"It all came back to me. Everything that happened with our Focus. All of it." Fang said.

"You're lying." Vanille said, before her brand began glowing red.

"No, it's the truth. It's all my fault." Fang said quietly.

"Don't say that!" Vanille said, then her brand erupted into an invocation circle. This one was blue and resembled a clock. Vanille ran out of the circle as a mass of spidery limbs rose out of the circle, closely followed by what resembled a four-armed man.

"The Eidolon knows the truth. Ha. I knew I was right." Fang said.

"Wait, so you were lying." Vanille said.

"No more than you were. Admit it, you remember everything." Fang scolded.

"It wasn't! It wasn't you're fault." Vanille said.

"Vanille. We should really talk about this later!" Fang said, readying her lance.

"Like after we deal with this Eidolon." Twilight said as the rest of the group joined Fang and Vanille.

'Hecatoncheir' flashed in their minds as the fight started. As it's predecessors had, it cast Doom first. Twilight responded with Libra, as usual. She was surprised to discover she didn't feel all that threatened. One side of her said 'We've dealt with worse.' while mentally shrugging. The other said 'It's not that threatening, in terms of power or presence.' actually slightly bored. She shook her head, yep, definitely jaded.

"He isn't vulnerable or immune to any elements, and he's immune to most status ailments, but he is vulnerable to Deshell and Deprotect!" she called out.

Hecatoncheir turned out to be another Eidolon that mostly focused on physical attacks, so Hope and herself buffed the party with that in mind, Deprotected and Deshelled their foe, and smashed him with magic. The others kept him occupied while they did so. When Hecatoncheir yielded, he became an enormous gun, which Vanille climbed into the cockpit of before it became another Eidolith.

Fang paced. "I knew something was off. You've been shying away from our Focus ever since we woke up on Cocoon. I couldn't figure it out, but then it all made sense, after hearing that story from Raines. You already knew. You knew that Ragnarok was the name of destruction." Fang said.

"It wasn't fair. You had to do all the horrible stuff, and I didn't have to do anything-" 

"That was no reason to lie to me!" Fang interrupted Vanille. "Did you think that's what I want? You of all people!" Fang drew her arm back and made a fist with it as her words became laced with anger. Vanille ducked her head, and received a light tap on it. "Poor kid. You've had it rough." Fang said.

"Fang..." Vanille said quietly.

"Listen, you're not alone anymore." Fang told her.

Vanille started to cry. "I'm so sorry." she said.

Fang hugged her, and Vanille buried her head in Fang's shoulder. "Keep that up and you'll have me crying too. We have a new family now. We stick together, you here me?" Fang asked.

After a little while, they were ready to move on. They entered the next set of caverns. They looked around a seeming-dead end. "No way through. Man, that fal'cie must have been slacking." Sazh said. Twilight nodded. How odd, it had seemed quite diligent when they saw it earlier, and it had probably had centuries to tunnel.

Hope screamed, and Twilight had her sword half-drawn before she realized he'd just activated another Armament, this one was apparently a different type known as a Juggernaut, and in much better condition than the Armament they had fought. She put her sword back in it's sheath. Maybe she should take a vacation when this was over, it was a good thing she didn't start casting a spell or she could've hurt Hope.

"Ah! Stop! Stop already!" Hope yelled. The Juggernaut ignored him.

"Ugh, it's the Vile Peaks all over again." Light said.

The Juggernaut walked off the ledge into the pit that Atomos had been rolling through. "Hope! Get out of there!" Light said.

Atomos rumbled towards him. Twilight teleported down, (hoping to teleport back up with Hope in time) just as Atomos was about to crush him, and now she would get caught in it as well. She'd never get a shield strong enough to stop Atomos up in time. 'Drat, no time!' she thought as the barrier she placed in Atomos' path barely slowed Atomos down as it shattered, only for the Juggernaut from before to get in Atomos' way. 

'You're also lucky when you gamble with your life.' Arcana noted, continuing from her earlier line of thought without missing a beat.

"Is he trying to stop it? You can do it!" Hope called.

More Armaments and Juggernauts dropped into the pit, and began to aid the first in stopping the fal'cie. "What are they doing?" Light asked.

Working together, the regular Armaments and Juggernauts made Atomos slow, and finally stop. "Well that was cool. Go robot guys!" Snow said.

"Good lesson for us. Not even a mighty fal'cie is a match for the power of teamwork. That is inspiration right there." Sazh said.

"Save the sermons old man. Let's hop on Trailblazer here, while we still have the chance." Fang said.They got in the cockpit, and rode Atomos to the Sulyya Springs. The resident fal'cie didn't take the intrusion well, and sent a boatload of monsters at them.

Snow took out Serah's tear, and held it up during a lull in the action. "Whatcha doing?" Vanille asked.

"I was, uh... just talking to Serah. Just telling her... that we're all gonna be okay." Snow said, before letting Vanille hold onto the tear.

"It's so pretty. It reminds me of when we met at that beach." Vanille said. Twilight glanced at her, now there was something she hadn't known about before.

"You met Serah?" Snow asked.

"I tried to hide our Focus, and she ended up a l'cie. I wanted to say I was sorry, but..." Vanille trailed off.

"Well, when we rescue her, maybe you'll get the chance." Snow said.

"Yeah. I hope so." Vanille said.

"Come on." Snow said, walking towards the other end of the springs.

"I think that Serah saw the same vision of Ragnarok that we did. Which means Dysley had to be lying when he explained her Focus. I think she beat it. She handed Cocoon over to us, and that's what made her turn to crystal!" Vanille told him.

Twilight followed the line of reasoning, then nodded. "Makes sense to me." she said. If despair and anger could prematurely turn someone into a cie'eth, then perhaps the opposite could turn them to crystal before they fulfilled their Focus.

Snow stopped for a moment. "Yep! I know." he yelled back.

Realizing that the monsters it sent were simply serving as cannon fodder and making the intruders in it's domain that much stronger, the fal'cie, who Vanille called Bismarck, pulled itself onto land to fight them.

She opened with Libra, which was a habit at this point. It was apparently weak to lightning, and absorbed water, but was immune to all debuffs. It took a ridiculous amount of power to damage it at all, even with Enthundered weapons and lightning spells. Anything below Lightning or Fang's level of strength was little more than a paper-cut to it, annoying, but ultimately inconsequential if not in massive numbers. This left Sazh, Vanille, and Hope out of direct physical attacks, and instead they kept a constant stream of the Thunder chain on the fal'cie as suppressing fire.

It got serious when it took a few semi-serious blows, and began to throw monsters at them while still attacking. While annoyances on their own, the monsters kept them from fighting Bismarck nearly as effectively as they had. Twilight started raining down Thundagas in retaliation, taking care of the majority of the monsters and dealing a substantial amount of damage to Bismarck, then reverted to hitting Bismarck with physical attacks as her constant use of high-grade spells drained her reserves faster than they regenerated.

Finally, the fal'cie tried to escape into the water, but since the water was not 100% pure, it conducted electricity quite well, so all they had to do was stick their Enthundered weapons into the water and let the lightning spells take care of their enemy for them, or at least, they would have if Bismarck hadn't realized what was happening and moved back onto dry land. Still, it was on it's last legs, and it's tidal wave attacks, Waterjas, and small earthquakes had lost much of their earlier punch. Finally, a joint Thundaga from Twilight, Hope, Vanille, and Sazh, along with a new technique Lightning developed that seemed to have her everywhere at once and striking everywhere on her enemy at once finished the thing. They were rewarded with a surge of power, the apparently customary reward for the felling of a fal'cie by a l'cie.

"So what was that technique you used at the end?" Snow asked as they all caught their breath, they'd need to make camp soon. They were too exhausted too keep going much longer. Their magic recharged incredibly fast, but their stamina didn't.

"Army of One. I take our enhanced l'cie powers and push them to the limit. It takes a lot of concentration and leaves me pretty exhausted afterwards, physically and mentally, luckily, our recovery rates seem to be improving as well as our other attributes." Light answered him. It was a mark of the progress their relationship had made that his question got an immediate answer from her, rather than a grunt or partial answer.

They finally got out of the cave system, and outside into the open air. They stopped for a moment in a clearing, to catch their breath. Lightning looked up at the at this point looming Cocoon. "Hey, Serah. What dreams are you having up there?" Light asked.

"We should stop here for the night. Tomorrow's gonna be even tougher than today." Fang said.

Later, Lightning walked over to where Snow was holding Serah's tear up to the light of Phoenix. "How's Serah?" Light asked.

"Same as we left her." Snow answered.

"Feels so far away now." he turned to her. "Serah says she wants to talk." he handed the tear to Lightning. "She'd probably prefer if you skipped the lectures." he said as he grabbed some sort of wind-born seed.

He was knocked back as Lightning sliced the seed with her blade-mode gunblade. "Once we're home, what's your plan? You two are getting married, right?" Light asked.

"What's that?" Snow asked.

"Serah wants to know." Light said, dead serious.

"Don't scare me like that." Snow said cheerfully.

"You are getting married, aren't you? Don't you let her down, you hear me?" Light asked him, before tossing him the tear.

"Don't worry. This tear will be her last. I'll make sure of that." Snow promised.

"That's all I need to know." Light said, nodding at him while sheathing her weapon.

"We will see her, right?" Snow asked.

"Don't go there. No room for doubt." Light told him.

"You're right." Snow agreed.

"We'll see her again, and soon. You convinced me of that, so stay strong." Light told him.

"Don't worry. We'll finish this, and go see her together. That's a promise." Snow said.

They got up the next morning, with a feeling of anticipation. One way or another their journey wouldn't last much longer, their brands all had eyes by now, and several of them had begun to open, Twilight hadn't made much progress on a spell for overwriting the old one, so they couldn't put too much hope in that either. They got a close look at the tower the fal'cie, Dahaka according to Fang, had flown to yesterday. It was actually only half standing, the upper half had toppled over sometime in the distant past, even so, it was an impressive structure.

"We get through there, and we'll be in Oerba." Vanille said, excitement in her voice.

"You're almost home." Snow said.

"Yep!" Vanille said.

"Doesn't exactly look like it's gonna be a leisurely stroll." Sazh said, watching the draconic enemies flying above.

A few moments later, Dahaka flew right by them, casually taking out said draconic enemies with fireballs. "Not impressed, I could do that too." Twi said, granted she couldn't one-shot the monsters quite that easily. Still, if it was trying to intimidate them, it failed.

"Oh, so we just have to head through this fal'cie's lair to get to Oerba, huh?" Hope asked. 

"What's another fal'cie at this point, huh?" Light asked. She had a point. They weren't exactly going to avoid a confrontation with Bathandelus if they had a chance to finish things.

They made their way into the tower, and found a circular room with four stone statues. They heard a strange whispering that sounded a lot like 'leave.'

"I'm not the only one hearing that, am I?" Vanille asked.

"It... couldn't be them, could it?" Sazh asked. Twilight was analyzing the statues, and found an immensely old and complex spell that seemed to be for the animation and granting of sapience to nonliving things, though the power requirements were far beyond her. She was so surprised and amazed, that she almost didn't notice the lack of any other spells, which meant that whatever was going on was a latent ability of these statues.

"I don't know. It's weird, like voices in my head." Hope said.

"It's the statues." Twilight said simply.

"I hear it. 'Your presence here draws the tyrant's gaze. Leave this place at once.'" Fang relayed.

"We can't leave, this is the only way for us to get through. Please! Help us." Vanille pleaded.

After some more whispering, Fang relayed "'As you wish, look for us, and the way will open.'" to them.

The statues placed their swords in slots, and the walls rearranged themselves to allow an elevator to come down with several musical notes. "That was easy enough." Snow mused.

"You never know, could be a trap." Hope said.

"Could be, don't see any stairs though. Do you?" Sazh asked.

"Nope, this is our ride- bumpy or not." Fang said.

They climbed up the stairs to the elevator, and got off a floor higher up, only to encounter Dahaka the instant they started across the walkway. This fal'cie resembled a mechanical snake, it had a mask on it's head, a pair of scrawny arms, and it's tail was interspersed with three orbs. "Looks like it was waiting for us." Light said, drawing her sword. Dahaka circled overhead, and the orbs glowed as it sent a blast at them. "Get back!" Light called.

The blast made a hole in the wall and set the walkway ahead of them on fire. Dahaka flew upwards, apparently satisfied. They found Water and Blizzard spells ineffective at dousing the flames, so they examined the hole.  "Think it's a trap? Dahaka didn't bother coming around for a second pass after it opened this up." Sazh asked.

"Maybe, but we don't really have any better options." Light said.

"I don't recommend blasting our way up, considering that the top half of the tower's already fallen over, this place can't be structurally sound." Twi agreed. Having half of the building collapse did not give her much confidence in the remaining half.

"Onward and upward." Snow said.

They soon found more statues, and after doing their missions, which retrieved the statues' power, in a manner similar to the cie'eth stones, the statues put the flames out in way of thanks.

Dahaka came for another pass as they came out of the hole. This time it seemed mad. The statues had mentioned that it had stolen their power, so maybe restoring the statues weakened Dahaka. That, or it was enraged over their intrusion, or both.

They readied themselves for a fight as it neared. "Great, here we go again!" Fang said.

"Can't take a hint." Snow said cheerfully.

"You're one to talk." Light responded.

"Good thing we have practice fighting fal'cie." Twilight said.

They all heard a woosh of displaced air, the three statues appeared and began an aerial fight with Dahaka, until one unleashed a wave of energy and cut off an orb and a chunk of tail.  "I'll be damned!" an awed Sazh said as Dahaka retreated up the tower.

The statues turned to them and after some unintelligible whispering, returned to their original positions and disappeared. "Huh? Are they sad?" Vanille asked. They'd gotten that impression from the statues, but it was hard to tell exactly what they were saying.

"Well, I guess the way really is open this time." Light said.

The walls had shifted when they'd restored the third statue, so they took the elevator up to the next floor. No sooner had they gotten off than Dahaka showed up. "Well, that was a fast recovery." Twi said dryly.

'I think it's just not all that affected by having a hunk of it's body removed, it's kind of creepy.' Arcana noted. Well, it wasn't like most fal'cie followed the conventional laws of biology anyway.

This time it iced over the walkway in front of them, blowing a hole in the wall again. They restored the three statues on this floor, causing the ice to melt and the ceiling to shift so that the elevator could go up. Then Dahaka came back, madder than ever.

Dahaka rocketed around in front of them as they readied themselves to fight it. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" Sazh yelled at it, only to back off as it passed perilously close to the walkway. "My bad! I'm definitely not your size!" Sazh said, the air rushing past him from the fal'cie passing by.

They weren't very surprised when the three statues from this floor appeared, they were surprised when Dahaka smashed 2 of them into the wall with it's tail, only to lose another piece of it to the last of the three statues even as the first two disappeared. Dahaka retreated again, and the remaining statue turned to face them. "They saved us again." Hope said.

"Oh, you want to help us?" Vanille asked. The statue somehow managed to convey a nod in it's speech, before disappearing. 

"Well, look, the way's clear." Snow said after a moment.

They made their way to the top of the tower with no further trouble beyond some cie'eth that weren't more than nuisances at this point. They rode a metal disk up, and found themselves in an closed area with pillars of metal meeting overhead and making a cage around them. "Hey, look at that." Snow said, pointing at the other end of the enclosure. Dahaka was floating there, but it seemed off.

"It's acting strangely." Light said.

"He must be weak from losing his tail." Fang said.

"Probably, but there's that old saying. A wounded beast is twice as dangerous." Twi said as Dahaka coursed with electricity, it's true draconic face and form revealed.

"Looks pretty feisty to me." Snow said.

"He's bluffing to scare us off. Let's just go with that, alright?" Hope asked. Dahaka raised it's arms in preparation for battle. "Come on, we can do this!" he said as the fal'cie roared.

Twilight used Libra on Dahaka as Hope started buffing and Fang started debuffing. The others started to attack Dahaka to distract it. "He's only vulnerable to Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil, he has no elemental immunities or vulnerabilities, and physical attacks are halved!" she called out. 

Fang switched to attacking when she got those three effects on their enemy, while Hope and Twilight began to Enfire everyone but Hope and Lightning, who were Enthundered. Dahaka wasn't idle while all this happened of course. He rained magic down on them.

Finally, just as the group started to attack in earnest, Dahaka sent a firestorm at them, Hope and Twilight began healing the group, only for Dahaka to follow with a bone-chilling ice-storm. Then he sent out a wave of unusual magic just as they were starting to recover. 

Twilight's eyes widened as she realized that it was dispellation. Dispel magic cancelled out other magic. They each lost three buffs, which Hope worked to restore as Twilight fully took over healing. Twilight tended not to use dispel magic because most magic-users would find their systems all out of whack from using it, herself included. Dahaka waited a bit longer than usual before casting again, so it was apparently paying a price for the dispel magic.

Dahaka had done major damage, but their own attacks had taken their toll. He was covered in scorch marks and small cuts from spells and attacks. They each sent a high tier spell at him. Hope and Lightning used Thundaga, Snow used Blizzaga, Vanille used Ruinga, Sazh used Firaga, Fang used Aeroga, and Twilight used Ruinja, the fourth-tier of the Ruin chain, which caused an explosion equivalent to a powerful depth charge without being overclocked.

Dahaka screeched, before fading into black energy, which then dissipated, leaving behind yet another power boost. There was a quick tone, and another elevator rose up to a platform on one side of the roof. "There's the way down." Twi said.

A statue, she thought it was that one from the second set of three that dealt the blow to Dahaka, appeared. "Look who's back." Snow said.

Vanille giggled. "He's saying thanks." she said.

"'At last we are free. We go now, to hunt down evil where it hides.'" Fang relayed.

Hope walked towards the statue. "I guess that means there are still more monsters like that one out there." he said.

"Sounds like it, somewhere out there on Gran Pulse." Light said.

The statue disappeared in a flash and a sound akin to the clash of metal on metal. Sazh chuckled. "Gone just like that. For a big hunk of rock, that thing sure can move!" he said.

"Guess they're just doing what they can too. Trying to 'save the world.'" Fang said.

"Yeah, well, it's not all on them. Last time I checked, we're still in this fight." Light said.

They walked over to the platform where the other elevator waited. "Oerba's right down there, then, isn't it?" Hope asked.

"Yep." Vanille confirmed, nodding.

"So what's it like?" Snow asked.

"Well, it's kind of small. But it's warm and green and very naturey!" Vanille said.

"Around the fal'cie, it's flowers as far as the eye can see, huh?" Fang said.

"So, what are we standing around for? Let's have a look." Twi said, there was something in the back of her mind bugging her ever since Oerba had come up as their destination, but she couldn't place it. Obviously they might or might not find any answers, but there was something else.

"The view from here ain't so rosy, I'm sorry to say." Sazh said mournfully, looking over the edge of the tower at Oerba. 

Now she realized what it was that had been bugging her, why would Oerba be unaffected by whatever cataclysm had wiped out all of civilization as far as they could see? The answer was that it probably was affected, if not wiped out, she just didn't want to countenance the thought because of what it meant, both to Vanille and Fang on a personal level, and for the group's situation as a whole.

"You want to wait here?" Light asked.

"No, I need to see for myself." Vanille said.

They all walked over and looked at the same view as Sazh. There wasn't a patch of green to be seen. "It's all gone." Vanille said quietly.

"Every trace of color. We're chasing shadows, this whole idea of losing our brands is hopeless!" Fang said.

"What? Just because Dysley said so? There's gotta be a way." Snow said.

"Let's keep on looking. That's what we came here for. We all agreed and now we're here." Hope said.

"You think we can do it?" Vanille asked.

"Sure. Look what we've done so far  How many people can say they've beaten three fal'cie?" Hope said.

"There's no going back." Light said. They didn't have the time to try and go back.

"You don't think I know that?" Fang asked. They got in the elevator and rode it down. Amazing how durable Pulse built these things for it to still be running after all these years.
> Oerba, Gateway to Eden
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The first thing she noticed about Oerba was the crystalline sand threatening to engulf it as they descended from the tower. Maybe when you turned to crystal, the crystals started to break down if you didn't turn back? She didn't think she wanted to know. The second thing was the occasional little blue spark of light floating about, something about them was melancholy. It was as if they were mourning souls, trapped here. The third thing was that the village was in ruins, that was visible even from this distance.

"Sorry, guess Oerba got hit by whatever it was too." Twi apologized. Some things were fairly intact by the look of it, so it was likely that the people had simply abandoned the village or died out. Perhaps they'd been hit too hard by the losses incurred in the war and gone into decline? Then again, the fal'cie had taken a fair amount of material from Pulse, so that could be it too. Maybe both?

"What are you sorry for? This isn't what we were hoping for, but it's still home." Fang said solemnly.

They walked a bit farther, fending off the hordes of cie'eth wandering the village, which raised unpleasant thoughts of the villagers' fates, especially with the looming prospect of it happening to them. She really didn't want to know if they'd all been made l'cie then failed their Focuses, or been massacred by cie'eth who'd then made this place their home, or maybe some of both. The buildings hadn't been abandoned long enough to completely cave in, but the paint had all been worn off long since , and the metal underneath rusted. They seemed well constructed, but the layer of dust on everything but the floor showed that no one had been here in living memory. Well, normal human memory anyway.

"So, which one is your house?" Hope asked Fang and Vanille.

"What do you mean, which one is ours? All of them. They're all ours." Vanille said, making a sweeping gesture.

"How does that work?" Twi asked, curious. A communal village?

"Everyone in the village lived together." Fang explained. Ah, it was communal then.

"One big, happy family?" Snow asked.

"One heck of a lot of places to hang your hat." Sazh commented.

"We're back." Vanille whispered as they all started to walk forward.

"So, want to take a look around?" Hope asked.

"We'd better, got to find something to help us lose these brands." Fang said.

"That's not the only reason we're here. You're finally home. Make the most of it." Sazh said

"I'm sure you have a lot of great memories of this place, so take a little while to travel down memory lane." Twi said. 'While you still can.' was left unsaid.

They split into two groups, Lightning, Hope and Snow would take a closer look around where they'd already been in the village, while Fang, Sazh, Vanille, and herself would take a look around the rest of Oerba. They took care of a few more cie'eth along the way, and looked inside a couple houses. They were fairly homey for being several centuries in disrepair, and, in the second, they found a little robot. 

It was an orange (though that might just be the rust), boxy little thing on treads, like some kind of miniature tank with the gun removed. Vanille seemed to recognize it. "Bhakti!" Vanille called out in recognition.

The little robot rolled forward as Vanille knelt down in front of it. "Friend of yours?" Sazh asked.

"Yeah!" she nodded at Sazh. She laid a hand on top of Bhakti, causing it to chirp in response. "You're okay, I was worried." she said, only for Bhakti to shut down within seconds of her saying that.

"Looks like he wanted to say goodbye." Fang said.

"Poor thing, he's been alone for so long and he turns off just when some of his old friends come back." Twi said sadly. That was just cruel.

"He's not ready for the scrap heap just yet. A bit worse for wear, yeah, but nothing I can't fix. Just need to track us down some parts." Sazh said. 

"Let's get tracking then." Twi said.

They added the parts Sazh said he needed to the list of what they were looking for, and got some help from the still-functioning units wandering the village, Lightning's group brought back the last part they needed, and Bhakti was soon up and running again. "Thanks Sazh." Vanille said, while playing around with Bhakti, who seemed very happy. The other units didn't seem to have to much in the way of emotions by comparison. Perhaps Bhakti had evolved beyond it's programming over the 500 years since the war, and the others hadn't? They hadn't seemed to care when Fang and Vanille returned after 500 years, so she had to assume Bhakti's bond with them was responsible. 

"You're welcome, but we need to hit the road." Sazh said.

"He's right, you can come back for Bhakti when we get this mess cleared up." Fang said.

"Alright, be good Bhakti. I'll be back soon!" Vanille told him.

They searched the whole village like their lives depended on it, because they did. By the time they were done, there wasn't a single cie'eth left in the area, and the only place left unchecked was a broken highway with a chunk missing in the middle. "That's the only place left to look." Fang said slightly morosely. It was unlikely they'd find anything there, and if they didn't, they really were done for.

They started walking down the highway, careful to avoid any holes or broken glass when, as they neared the broken end of it, they started to hear a familiar voice. "Ragnarok. Come Day of Wrath, O Pulse L'cie..." That was a very familiar girl's voice. "...Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn..." 

'That sounded like- but it couldn't be.' 

'I'm getting nasty vibes.' Arcana said warily. 

"...That fallen souls might bear our plea..."  "...To hasten the Divine's return. O Piteous Wanderer, Ragnarok..." Serah, who they'd seen turn to crystal, appeared in a burst of light.

Lightning stiffened, as did Snow, there was something off about her, and this couldn't really be Serah, but she certainly looked like Serah, right down to the pendant around her neck. The couldn't-be-Serah person almost whispered the last few lines of what sounded a great deal like a prophecy.

"... Make of this day, a brave new epoch. Deliver the Divine, Ragnarok." the Serah doppleganger finished.

"What?" Lightning asked in shock.

Snow started to walk forward. "Serah! How did you-?" he trailed off.

"I was waiting. For you to open your eyes." something was off, she was certain, but she couldn't place it. Not-Serah stepped over to Snow and hugged him.

"All the time I was asleep, I knew what was happening. I kept trying to think of a way to save Cocoon- together." Not-Serah said.

"Serah?" Snow asked, noticing something wasn't quite right. He pushed her away.

The owl-like bird that Barthandelus had had as a familiar glided by overhead. "You get it now. There are no gods with miracles to save us, no matter where you look. That's why we have to call one. Destroy Orphan. We'll save the world." Not-Serah paced in front of them as she said this, Twilight was almost completely certain she knew who this really was.

"Stop it!" Light called, reaching for her gunblade. They were all logically aware that this wasn't Serah, but it looked like Serah, so Lightning and Snow would hesitate to attack, just like Lightning was right now. She hadn't even actually touched her gunblade. Twilight wasn't entirely willing to attack someone wearing the face of a family member of one of her friends either. Just in case.

"You can't do that. You love me too much." Not-Serah said, more than a little bit of a sneer in her voice. Twilight thought she was getting a handle on what she was missing. "You do, don't you Claire?" Not-Serah asked. 

Snow stepped between them. "Listen up. We're all shooting for the same goal here." Snow said.

Twilight's eyes widened as she finally figured out the scrambled signature coming from Not-Serah. Her eyes narrowed, that confirmed it, this was Dysley. A wave of purple magic flowed from the disguised fal'cie, before revealing the form he'd taken as Primarch. "And this is the result of that." he said.

"Is there anything you won't stoop to!?" Twi asked angrily. That was low, even from a guy who'd ordered mass-murder.

"You son of a-" Snow tried to punch Dysley in the face, but he teleported out of the way. Snow tried again, only to be blown backwards by Dysley's shield. Twilight quickly used Cure on Snow, letting him shake off the blow.

"You betray your fal'cie to chase after dreams and shadows. The world you claim to wish to protect now faces the end of days with no hope of salvation." Dysley said sternly.

"I thought fal'cie couldn't destroy Cocoon because they don't have true free will in regards to it." Twi said.

Dysley smirked, "Oh, it won't be fal'cie who destroy her. For centuries now, Cocoon has provided generously for her human inhabitants, their every want and need, in fact. You might even say, coddled them. This has resulted in their deep-seated fear and hatred of change and all that is alien." His owl-like familiar, a rukh, she realized (that had been bugging her), settled on a metal beam behind him as Dysley talked.

"Fed, nurtured, and ready to detonate at even the slightest of sparks. The seeds of destruction take root, even now." there was a hint of triumph in Dysley's voice.

"What did you do to Cocoon?" Light asked, pointing her gunblade at the deranged fal'cie.

"I simply resigned and appointed my l'cie Raines as Primarch in my stead." Dysley explained.

"Raines? He's alive?" Snow asked.

"I restrung the puppet to serve my needs, yes." Dysley answered, prompting scowls and sad looks from the group. "Though it's eyes had long since turned to glass. Of course, the Cavalry's eyes will see our friend as nothing more than a traitor to their cause." He pointed his staff towards Cocoon.

"They'll say 'The fal'cie got to him too.' or some such drivel. And imagine- when I spread word that Orphan is the one tugging at his strings- what happens next." he finished.

"You're gonna use the Cavalry to take that thing out?" Sazh asked.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I'll feign the howling of Pulsian wolves, and let the fear-addled sheep slaughter each other instead. Either way, the end is at hand." he laughed evilly.

Twilight decided she really wanted to hit him with Ruinja, repeatedly.

"But what of yourselves? Will you enjoy the festivities beside me? Or perhaps..." he rose into the air and began to shine as his rukh flew towards him. "Greet the end here, in the land where it all began?" he asked.

His fal'cie form had changed somewhat, his coloration was now white and gold, his adornments were gone, and his face was missing. It looked like that first form was not his real one, and that was at least part of the reason he'd survived the first time. They readied themselves in the usual manner, buffs and Libra.

"Why not destroy the world that despises you?" Barthandelus asked, as he fired a relatively weak laser.

"Like we'll go along with you after everything you put us through! He's weak to Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil!" Twi called out.

Once those were applied to him, they rained attacks on him, dodging the occasional laser. Then his face appeared, and he used a strange attack that removed their buffs, and his debuffs. Then he used a laser attack reminiscent of Thanatosian Smile, Thanatosian Laughter. It was much stronger than the first encounter, but so were they. Still, a Gatling gun but with lasers was no laughing matter.

A first set of adornments appeared on either side of his head, and their damage-dealing dropped drastically. They kept up their assault, until a second set of adornments appeared, and their damage dropped further still. Barthandelus' own damage-dealing was rising however. 

Twilight moved up to the fourth tier spells, mainly Ruinja. Barthandelus started to use Poisonga, Cursega, and Dazega, which poisoned, dealt set damage over time, or threw you off like you'd just taken a hard blow to the head, respectively, and his normal laser attack began inflicting Pain and Fog, status effects that put you through and made it difficult to withstand any significant amount of pain, and temporarily blinded you, respectively. They smashed him with magic and En-buffed attacks. Finally, they finished him, and he dissolved into light.

Still, none of them were surprised when he reappeared, unscathed. He'd survived a similar beating before, why should this be different?

"The time has come." Dysley said. They raised their weapons, and pointed them at him, in case he'd decided to go all-out on them for round three here and now. "Allow me to extend my invitation. To save a people beyond hope of salvation, there is only Ragnarok." he tapped his staff to the ground, causing the rukh to reappear. It morphed into a fighter again as it flew over to the edge of the break in the bridge.

"Cocoon suffers. Release her from the pain." Dysley said, before disappearing.

"So, this is the end of the rainbow, huh?" Sazh asked as they stood in front of one last cie'eth stone, a purple one. "Here's hoping the pots full of tips on dealing with crackpot fal'cie." he said.

"You know, I don't remember this being here before we fought Dysley, guess it's new, huh?" Fang asked.

"Yeah, must be. I suppose it could be a record of what happened. You know, after we turned to crystal." Vanille said, before walking over to the stone and touching it, she backed off as it started to glow green at the spot she touched, before a green circle was projected from it. Old Pulsian writing began to appear, and Vanille started to read it.

'Cocoon, where the slaves of Lindzei dwell, is the enemy of all life fostered by Pulse's sacred hand. So our fal'cie determined Pulse's will, chose l'cie and gave them a Focus: Become Ragnarok, and bring an end to Cocoon. And so the beast arose, defeated Lindzei's hateful fal'cie, and prepared to tear apart Cocoon.

But Her Providence betrayed our l'cie, draining Ragnarok of strength. Their Focus only half complete, the l'cie were taken to the enemy's land... by Barthandelus, curse his name. And the Goddess said: "L'cie who rest upon Cocoon will reawaken, however long they may wait. And Ragnarok will rise again, to tear the land from it's seat in the sky. Her word... is absolute.'" The projection faded.

"Guess the jig is up." Sazh said, sitting down.

"Cocoon is done for, isn't it?" Hope asked.

"Hey, don't sweat it. If we go ahead and smash Cocoon, you know some Maker's sure to roll up and save the day!" Sazh said, with some sarcasm evident.

"I suppose that's not impossible, but somehow I doubt it. Besides, isn't the Maker the one who made the fal'cie?" Twi asked. If it hadn't shown up by now, she doubted it would show up for anything short of the destruction of the reality it had supposedly created.

"As long as fal'cie are around, this fight is never gonna end. So let's finish it. Let's get Dysley." Snow said. He had a point.

"So what do we do about Orphan?" Sazh asked.

"We help Orphan. What else can we do? If we can manage to keep it safe-" Fang was interrupted by Lightning.

"Another war breaks out somewhere down the road. We're l'cie, it's not like we can make people stop fighting." Light argued.

"Lightning, you told me on Cocoon, it's not a question of can or can't. We just do it! Maybe it won't do much, maybe only one person will listen to us, but even then, isn't trying better than doing nothing?" Hope asked.

"Because ripples can make waves!" Vanille said, grabbing his shoulders and giggling happily.

"Well, the kids have gone crazy, but for once, going crazy doesn't sound too bad." Sazh said, the ghost of a smile on his face.

"Revolutionaries always get called crazy." Fang said.

"It's true, always at least once." Twilight said. The others all gave her the same look. "What? I'm in. If we convince everyone to stop fighting, then Barthandelus' and Orphan's plan falls apart."

"When I was on Cocoon, I wished on those fireworks. I wished, to not let anything happen to Cocoon this time. But I shouldn't have wished for that." Vanille said. There were various exclamations of surprise in response to that. "Wishing isn't enough on it's own either. I'm making a promise this time: That I will keep Cocoon safe, I promise, no matter what."

"Guess it takes losing everything to make you realize how much you have to fight for." Sazh said

"And we're the only ones who can do it. Right?" Snow asked.

"Right." Hope answered.

"Alright then, let's tie up loose ends." Light said.

They all responded with various affirmatives, before turning to the ship. They walked up to it, climbed aboard, and let it carry them towards Cocoon. This was it, either they stopped Dysley's plan, or everyone, including them, was doomed. Twilight taught the others the third-tier spells they didn't already have (all their non-specialties) as the ship headed for Cocoon. They'd need every advantage they could get.
> Eden and Orphan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	People had begun gathering in a large stadium to celebrate the end of the l'cie threat. The amount of damage a mere handful of individuals had done was staggering. Hundreds of Sanctum soldiers, Psicom and Guardian Corps alike, had been felled and the lucky survivors had been traumatized by the sheer helplessness they'd experienced, finding years of training suddenly useless in the face of the very thing they were supposed to protect Cocoon from. The fleet and bioweapons were crippled by their losses, as well as the l'cie having gone through the Gapra Whitewoods and killed off most of the potential replacements for the fallen bioweapons.

However, the few weeks that had passed since the Palamecia had crashed and the l'cie disappeared had been enough time for the people to start healing. No one could really fault the former Primarch for resigning after almost being killed, that kind of stress was not good for someone in their eighties. The new Primarch, and former commander of the Cavalry division of Psicom, had become fairly popular. The race scheduled to begin the festivities opened with a speech from said new Primarch.

"People of Cocoon. My fellow citizens. We have survived the twilight, and gather now to welcome the dawn on which we decide our fate." Raines said over a loudspeaker, and with a screen showing his face to those on the track and in the audience. The crowd was roaring in anticipation. "Many are the lessons we have learned during our long night of hardship and sacrifice." The cars began to array themselves on the track. "And now we face choices, which must be made as our hearts dictate, and not be left up to uncaring chance. Let us forge ahead with unflinching courage, and honor the fallen with action. With theses hands, we shape the future." he finished. Snapping his fingers, Raines signaled the beginning of the race.

At first, everything was normal, then one of the racers noticed a strange green symbol in the sky. "What the-?!" A group of seven people, accompanied by various creatures, and a ship (though that last one quickly flew off), burst through, along with flurries of things ranging from rose petals to ice shards. 

"Oh damn!" The racer cursed as he swerved to avoid the low-flying ship, then got blown off the racetrack and into the air, only to be caught effortlessly by two of the creatures.

"Close call!" a man with a bandanna and white trenchcoat said from on top of the racecar. "And the hero saves the day!" Snow exclaimed, waving to the once-again cheering crowd, which was shown on an enormous screen for all to see.

"Incredible!" someone in the crowd said. The crowd thought that this display was part of the festivities, having been unannounced to make it more gripping. Then as Snow was lifting his other arm to wave, his brand came into view, and was immediately zoomed in on by the camera. "L-l'cie! That's a l'cie brand!" the same guy said.

"Probably should've covered that." Snow said with a wince.

"Great job Snow." Twi said sarcastically as she passed him on another car, which she had commandeered after knocking out the driver. He managed to blow their cover less than 5 minutes in.

A large number of Sanctum troops and bioweapons descended on the track as an officer said, "Intruders on the race circuit! Confirmed Pulse l'cie! All units respond with lethal force!" over the same loudspeakers that Raines had used less than five minutes beforehand. That was a fast response. There were several possibilities that might account for the quick response. First, the people were still paranoid, which was not unlikely. Second, Barthandelus was manipulating things to give them a bit more of a power boost by fighting these soldiers. Third, the garrison of Eden was just that well trained. Of course, it could just be a combination of these factors, and it didn't really matter in the end.

"Catch me if you can!" Snow taunted them over his shoulder.

Hope jumped down from a ledge overhead. The racecars avoided him, then a large bioweapon stopped in front of him, hovering. "Hi there." he said nonchalantly. The bioweapon tried to skewer him, only to be stopped by Alexander smashing into it. "Cut 'em off!" Hope ordered hurriedly. Alexander raised his hands and started trying to stop the oncoming cars.

"Woah, I think we have a winner!" Snow said as a car that had been sent flying passed close by over him.

"This is easier than I thought it would be." Twi said as she destroyed yet another warmech. With her allies spread out like this, she could cut loose with her magic without risking harming them. What's more, she was keeping the non-humans of the Sanctum's forces occupied, so she wasn't restrained in the slightest by trying to avoid killing sentient beings. She usually tried to avoid overkill when fighting sentient opponents, so as to give them at least a chance to survive. With bioweapons however, she went straight for execution.

Meanwhile, Lightning rode Odin in equine form. "Now!" she yelled. She jumped up as Odin began to revert to a humanoid form, and then he threw her towards the oncoming cars. Lightning shot at them with her gun-mode gunblade.

She switched it to blade-mode as she grabbed the first car that came into reach, then jumped onto a passing car, digging her sword into the car. "You're dead!" the driver yelled hatefully.

"You first!" she shot back, throwing him out of the car, then using her blade as a lever to flip the car so she was standing on top. Fang laughed as she passed by on Bahamut. They took out several drivers of the nearest Psicom vehicles together.

The Sanctum soldiers were concentrating their fire on Vanille, but had yet to get past Hecateoncheir's guard. "Fire!" a soldier called. "Take her down!" another yelled.

"Hey! Stop that!" Vanille yelled as her Eidolon deflected bullets back at her attackers. "Uh oh." she said, noticing one of the soldiers pointing a missile launcher at her.

"Block this!" he yelled, firing the missile and sending Vanille and Hecateoncheir flying in a ball of fire. Luckily, Sazh tore through Sanctum forces on Brynhildr's racecar form, and caught just in time Vanille and Hecateoncheir with his own Eidolin.

"Odin!" Light called as the platform she was on crumbled. Odin reverted to equine form and leapt up to her catching her. Lightning grabbed the two curved blades this form granted her and began to dismantle the Psicom forces she encountered without missing a beat. Odin reverted to humanoid form and aided his master in fighting foes on a level platform, before once again donning his equine form as the platform lost altitude due to it's damaged systems failing.

Twilight was still drawing most of the warmechs and heavy artillery since she proved to have the most firepower with Fallen Angel by her side. She'd discovered that while Fallen Angel didn't have an alternate form, she could still ride her Eidolon to take advantage of her flight, and it provided her with a similar degree of healing as Fallen Angel in addition to her companion's bombardment abilities granted by her powerful magic. This proved useful, as she sure that she would have lost consciousness from her wounds if she hadn't been healed as quickly as she had. She could practically feel her brand amplifying their strength from all the conflict the seven of them were going through. After what seemed like forever, Phoenix brightened up for the day. They regrouped, as the forces they'd been fighting had all been wiped out.

A sound at the edge of their hearing was unnerving them all. "What's that sound?" Light asked, trying to strain her senses enough to tell what she was hearing.

Twilight had an epiphany. "Wait, didn't Dysley say he might 'feign the howling of Pulse wolves' before?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah? So?" Snow asked.

"There's an Ark underneath Eden." she answered him as calmly as she could. The others all froze momentarily.

"...Dammit." Sazh said after a moment as a column of smoke rose from in the city.


*** Nearby, A Temporary Sanctum Command ***


An officer was talking to a patrol over the radio, but was having trouble understanding what his subordinate was trying to say between gasps for air and the sound of gunfire. "Say again patrol, and speak clearly." the officer said.

"The armies of Pulse! They're using transgates!" the soldier said, hurriedly reloading from the sound of it as his fellow patrolmen continued to fire on the monstrosities emerging from the gates.

"Transgates?! How many are coming through?" the officer asked. If there were Pulse creatures coming through then this was a full-on invasion, the l'cie were just an advance party!

"Numbers unconfirmed. But it's a full-scale invasion! Eden's being overrun!" the soldier responded. "Dammit! We're surrounded!" he yelled as a scream from a soldier who was taken out by one of their enemies was heard. Across the city, strange purple portals opened up, and everything from an Admantoise to cie'eth poured out of them.


*** Seat Of The Sanctum ***


Raines waited in his office, an explosion sounded outside, visible from the office. A soldier ran in. "Sir! An army of creatures is attacking the city. It's a Pulse invasion force." Another explosion sounded outside. "Your eminence, we must evacu- Guh!" he shouted the last part as he was shot by Cavalry soldiers.

Another explosion, the largest yet, was visible as it happened. "So Raines, is this the Cocoon that you dreamed of?" Rygdea asked.

"My dream is but a fal'cie's fantasy now. End it." Raines said, eyes closed.

Rygdea took his gun out, and was about to comply when another explosion rocked the building. Winged cie'eth flew past, then were hit with massive conflagrations from the direction the l'cie were last known to be in. "Dammit Raines! You're not getting out of this that easy. Now grab a gun, and help us keep these things from killing everyone!" Rygdea yelled, tossing Raines a gun.

Raines stared at him a moment, shocked, then nodded, knocking the gun. The soldiers didn't question the change in Raines' loyalties as he was originally the Cavalry's commander.

Shooting was audible in the halls as Sanctum forces that were probably here to escort Raines as Primarch began to fall back in the face of a nearly endless assault by Pulsian forces. "Damn idealism! Feed it blood, and it howls for more!" Rygdea said as the Cavalry soldiers ran out to aid their fellow humans. They might have a different opinion on a lot of things, but they could all agree that they wanted to stay alive long enough to have the argument in the first place. That meant taking care of the Pulsian creatures and not getting killed first.


*** With The L'cie ***


"There's too much chaos for it to just be the stuff in the Ark." Twi said, observing the rampant fighting below them.

"Maybe the Cavalry made their move." Hope suggested.

"Yeah, and they're saying Eden's crawling with Pulse nasties, so looks like Dysley did let 'em loose." Sazh said, listening to a radio from a fallen soldier for a moment. Panicked shouts were audible from it. "This is out of control. What's gonna happen to Cocoon?" Sazh asked.

"It's all-out war." Light said, thinking over how the local garrison would handle this. The Guardian Corps in Eden was well-trained, but they didn't exactly have a lot of combat experience. Combat was very different from training, and if the panic audible over the radio was any indication, it was affecting the defenders' fighting ability and morale badly. Of course, Eden got first pick of any veterans of the Corps, but they were relatively few in number.

"A three way war in the streets, the civilian casualties are going to be enormous even if we stopped it right now." Twi said, gritting her teeth in frustration. Even their group couldn't stop a force this large. If they got the cooperation of the Sanctum armies, things might be different, but they'd shoot first and ask questions later.

"Did we cause this by coming back?" Hope asked as several cie'eth flew overhead, before being shot down by Twilight. "Barthandelus prediction... it's all coming true." he said.

"Well his future stops right here. We're the ones who decide what happens next." Snow said. That bastard wasn't going to tear apart anyone else's life if they had anything to say about it.

"Let's get moving!" Vanille said.

"We need to end this before these things spread outside Eden." Twi said. They could at least keep the deaths in the thousands instead of the millions if they managed that. Preferably before the Sanctum forces were overrun as well. From the sound of the radio, the Cavalry and Sanctum loyalists were mostly cooperating against the Ark's monsters, but they would likely turn on each other if the battle started going their way.

"Right." Light said, nodding.

"Okay." Sazh said. They hurried forward, taking care of whatever got in their way, Sanctum and Pulse forces at the moment. They came across a huge gap in the road that they had no hope of getting across. Their Eidolons needed more rest after such a long period of use before they became usable again. Besides which, most of their Eidoloins didn't have flying forms. Twilight didn't have the power to teleport 7 people across a gap like this either. "Uh, okay, I don't know about this." Sazh said.

"If only we could fly!" Vanille said morosely, looking over the drop-off edge.

"We can jump." Lightning said, handing each of them a grav-con from a handful probably looted from fallen Sanctum soldiers, specifically, knock-offs of herself, before taking her own advice. 

A large portion of the soldiers they'd fought had been knockoffs, and though they'd been a challenge, they weren't much of a threat in small numbers. Still, it looked like they'd caused a shift in the battle doctrine of the Sanctum's military. The pseudo-mages were annoyances individually, but in larger groups they brought a lot of firepower to the fight. The Lightning knock-offs, meanwhile, were adept at switching between ranged and CQC (close-quarters-combat) almost instantly, removing what had been a major weakness of Psicom's human forces. Before, they were almost all bordering on helpless if you got in their faces. Not so much anymore. The only major downside was that the gunblades they used had smaller clips than the standard-issue arms, which made reloading an issue. A human could only reload a gun so fast, no matter how well-trained. They'd taken advantage of the openings this provided more than once.

"Nothing to it!" Sazh said, before also jumping off.

"See you ground-side!" Snow said, following them. Hope was just behind him.

"Wait a minute!" Vanille called.

"Come on, you'll be fine as long as you use that before you hit the ground." Twi said, pointing to the grav-con and jumping off.

"You don't want to get left behind, do you? Just remember not to drop the gizmo." Fang said, before falling backwards off the track.

They struggled to keep their eyes open through the wind as they fell. Sanctum forces were moving around below them. Lightning switched her gunblade to gun-mode, taking the hint, the others all got their weapons out. They soldiers were scattered as Lightning landed activating the grav-con to neutralize the momentum of the fall, which could apparently be spread around her. It had to go somewhere, she supposed. They took advantage of the soldiers' disarray to secure their position by wiping out said soldiers in a small area around themselves.

"You could have warned me!" Vanille complained once she'd gotten up from the landing.

"That's how they get around on Cocoon." Fang answered.

That's how Light gets around." Hope corrected.

"The rest of us aren't crazy enough to do this if we don't absolutely have to." Twilight said slightly sourly. She really didn't like jumping off of high places. A primal part of her brain kept screaming that she was going to die all the way down.

Fang laughed. "Let's go." she said.

They fought their way through the enemies, and found a way to a lower level after watching a confrontation between the Sanctum and the Cavalry. They ended up on a little platform next to a busy road, they only relaxed when they were sure they weren't about to be attacked. "So the Cavalry's here to, uh... what exactly?" Sazh asked now that there was a lull in the action.

"They're here for Orphan." Light answered. "It'll probably be close to the fal'cie Eden, which means they'll be headed to the heart of the Sanctum." Light reasoned.

"Right, and a lot of bad things will happen if they manage to destroy it." Fang said.

"Goodbye Cocoon." Hope said.

"Then we better get there before they do." Snow said.

Lightning suddenly drew her gunblade an instant before a transgate opened, spewing Behemoths. "Let's move!" Light said, jumping into the street with superhuman speed and moving in between the cars until she finally used Army of One to take out the lead Behemoth, only for the second to use it's horn as a sword against her own, and send her flying. Lightning was the fastest among them, slightly exceeding even Fang. However, she was on the bottom of the heavy hitters in terms of strength, outmatched by, in descending order, Snow, Fang and Twilight, the simple difference in mass was also a factor, but their strength was magically enhanced, so it was less important than one might think. The Behemoth ripped it's horn out and made it into a powersaw-like blade as it switched to bipedal movement. The others joined her, and together they made short work of the Behemoth, and started in on the rest.

Once they'd taken care of the Behemoths, they found themselves facing a group of amphibious monsters. The citizens were hiding behind crude barricades formed out of their cars, and were using any weapons they had to take potshots at the monsters from the relative safety of behind these barricades. Though they weren't likely to last long if the monsters' attention wasn't on the l'cie since it was rare for any of them to have any sort of military training, even the ones with weapons were few and far between.

"We're never gonna make it." Sazh said, putting his face in one hand as several more of the monsters came out of a transgate. They were 'spawning' almost as fast as the group could get rid of them. If this was going on throughout the city, it was only a matter of how long it would take for the Sanctum forces to be overrun, and the Ark creatures took over Eden, before spreading to the rest of Cocoon. 

If the way the cream of the crop military was being outmatched was any indication, then the regular military wasn't going to be able to stop these things. The Ark was probably at least half empty by now, considering the sheer number of monsters rampaging through the streets, but for all she knew this could be less than a tenth of the Ark's population.

"Not with that attitude, we won't!" Vanille responded.

They fought their way through the monsters, Cavalry, and Sanctum forces, until they came across a familiar fighter. A figure they recognized from the stadium and Hope's house stepped into view from behind it. "Rosch?" Hope asked, surprised.

"I see your power has grown, Mr Villiers, as well as that of your allies. No matter, we will lay down our lives if that is what's necessary to stop you." Rosch said.

'Yeah, if they send the entire army at us, diverting everyone fighting the Pulse creatures, then they might manage to take us out through attrition.' Arcana said derisively.

'Stop mocking humanity Arcana.' she thought back in a scolding manner. That was uncharacteristic of Arcana. She'd been sarcastic and didn't care about other people's lives, but she didn't look down on them. 

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, we're on the same side here. We came back to stop all this!" Snow retorted.

"Nevertheless, you are l'cie." Rosch said, before teleporting into the fighter, it didn't appear to be magic, so it was probably AMP technology, or a function of the fighter itself, which Libra told her was called Proudclad. "We can trust the pawns no more than the fal'cie moving them!" Rosch said, activating the fighter. "Humanity's fate rests in it's own hands!" he said as the mask of a beast came down over the cockpit. The sad thing was, she couldn't really blame him for that opinion, not after all the misery the fal'cie had caused, and the number of deaths they caused themselves. Granted, the soldiers had attacked them almost every time, but self-defense as a motive didn't bring people back to life.

"All elements are cut in half, but attacks do normal damage otherwise!" Twi called. The Proudclad's attacks were relatively unvaried, only missiles, and two different salvos of laserfire. A weaker one, and a medium level one. Of course, their bodies were at this point tough enough to tank attacks from the relatively small missiles the Proudclad possessed. 

However, Rosch did something after their attacks began to take their toll on the machine. It suddenly launched a salvo of much larger and more powerful missiles. Hope and Twilight had to switch to healing duty to keep everyone in the fight, but the machine was starting to slow down and it's attacks were weaker. 

Finally, a voice said over a radio presumably on the Proudclad "Commander Rosch! Fall back, that's all she can take!" The Proudclad flew away, smoking slightly.

"I don't understand... we want the same thing! Why can't we work together?" Vanille asked.

"These people are so completely blinded by fear that they can't even imagine it." Fang explained, walking a few paces in front of them. "Are we too late?" she asked.

"Not yet, and we can't give up. We're the only ones who know the truth. Am I right?" Snow asked.

"Only we know about the plan to destroy Cocoon." Light said.

"Raines might, but he could be dead, with all this chaos he probably is dead." Twi said pessimistically. Besides which, his master probably wouldn't let him talk.

"Let's act under the assumption we're the only ones. We're the only ones who know which fal'cie is behind it either." Hope said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Time for some payback!" Fang said, hitting a fist into the palm of her other hand.

"That's what I'm talking about. Once everything is out in the open, people will finally have to wake up from this long nightmare!" Sazh said.

"Let's show 'em how human we still are!" Light said.

Some time later and distance away, a group of soldiers was under orders to hold off the Pulse creatures. A scout was running away from a living weapon, only to trip. The soldiers opened fire in hopes of keeping their comrade from being trampled. However, at that moment, the l'cie arrived, and Twilight destroyed the living weapon with a Ruinja. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, an Oretoise walked into view through the raised dust. The soldiers and l'cie momentarily worked together to take down the Oretoise, the soldiers taking advantage of the l'cie's arrival to fall back.

"Suppressing fire! Fall back!" the commanding officer yelled. 

They were having trouble getting through the tough hide of the Oretoise, so their attacks were doing less damage than they should have. One of the soldiers was caught outside as a gate was closed behind the soldiers, he banged on the door. "Hey! Wait! Open up! Let me in!" he yelled. He turned around as the Oretoise started towards him, perceiving him as the easier prey, but was hit with several of the third-tier spells, and a Ruinja, finally downing it.

The soldier raised his gun towards them, and said "L'cie!" his hand was trembling noticeably.

They raised their weapons in preparation, but relaxed slightly when Snow raised his arm and said, "Easy now."

After a moment, the soldier hesitantly asked, "Are you gonna try and go through this door?"

"No, we're going in the opposite direction at the moment actually." Twi responded.

"Then go on, I've only been ordered to keep any enemies from going through this door." he said, lowering his gun, and sitting down.

"You know that you'll probably be killed by the next thing to come in this direction all by yourself." Twi said seriously.

"I'm trying to protect Cocoon. I'm perfectly willing to die for that cause." the soldier responded.

"...Let's go." Snow said turning away and starting off. They couldn't save everyone, and every moment they waited was a few more people dead or hurt. After a fairly large number of encounters with the other factions, they came upon a large white gate that looked sturdy. Snow banged on the door. "So close!" he said.

"We'll find another way through." Light tried to calm him down.

"We don't have time for that!" Snow responded.

"He's right, the eyes are almost all the way open, we could become cie'eth at any time." Twi said, glancing worriedly at her brand. The eyes were less than half an inch from being all the way open.

There was a groaning sound that had a similar effect on most of them as nails on a chalkboard. The sound continued when the gate began to rise. They readied themselves for a fight, but Twilight and Snow lowered their weapons/relaxed as soon as they recognized the figures on the other side. "Gate got ya beat? Hero?" Gadot asked.

"Pretty lame." Lebreau commented from the hover.

"Heya Snow, where ya been? Looks like you took Twilight with you." Maqui asked.

"Guys!" Snow laughed.

"Nice to see you're alright." Twi said, smiling the biggest smile she'd had in days.

They landed the hovers. "So Snow, you're a Pulse l'cie now huh?" Yuj asked.

"Yeah. Good times." Snow said, showing them his brand.

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Yuj asked, walking a few paces towards Snow. "Why the hell didn't you come and find us?" Yuj asked.

"Yeah, we've been waiting." Lebreau added.

"Us and the rest of the Purge fugitives, we found an empty Vestige to hide in." Maqui tacked on. They shared relieved looks upon finding out that at least some of the Purge deportees had survived.

"But damn, those Pulse fal'ce sure know how to pick 'em." Gadot said.

"Yeah. Out of all the idiots in the world, they chose this one." Light said.

"Yes, but he's our idiot." Twi said, eliciting laughs from both groups.

"Hey, wait a minute! I'm your fearless leader. You're not supposed to laugh at the boss!" Snow complained. At that moment, an explosion sounded, immediately putting an end to the mirth.

"Just like old times, eh boss?" Gadot asked.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of the civilians." Lebreau said.

"And you concentrate on saving Cocoon." Maqui finished.

"We all will! Together!" Hope said.

Snow ruffled Hope's hair. "Now, what's our motto?" he asked.

"Fal'cie are no match for NORA!" the four of them, Gadot, Lebreau, Yuj and Maqui, responded. They turned the hovers back on, and waved, saluted, or gave a thumbs-up as they left.

They continued, reaching a point not far from the heart of Eden, and discovered little blue lights floating around like in Oerba. "What the-?!" Sazh asked, looking around.

Several of them tried to catch one, only for it to slip through their fingers. "What is this stuff?" Vanille asked.

Fang tried to catch one, and actually managed to brush it. "Huh, some sort of crystal?" she wondered aloud.

Sazh eyed the particles suspiciously. "I don't like this. Is Cocoon falling apart already?" he asked.

"Could be. Maybe Orphan's having trouble holding everything together with all this fighting going on." Hope theorized.

"Well, this is probably the most chaos it's ever had to deal with so close by." Twi reasoned.

"The clamor of this conflict rouses the Maker." a giant hologram of Dysley's head said, then chuckled evilly.

"Oh yeah? Well we'll be stopping this ruckus soon enough." Sazh responded.

Dysley's face shifted to an annoyed expression, then he appeared in the flesh in a flash of blue light. "Do you believe you can halt the Cavalry's charge?" he 
asked, brandishing his staff. "Filled with righteousness, they will slaughter Orphan in the name of freedom. Your only recourse will be to deliver them death, swift and certain." he said.

"No, unlike you they'll listen to reason." Light said.

"We're not going to just slaughter them if we can avoid it." Twi said firmly.

Dysley chuckled, "We will see about that. I will savor Cocoon's demise from atop the highest seat in all of Eden." he said. The fires across the city were worsening since no one could take the time to deal with them. Even if they won, they'd still have thousands of civilian deaths. "You, too, should hurry along to our great capital. After all, your loved ones miss you so." he said, grinning. They were most definitely surprised by that. He chuckled at their expressions. "Don't be so surprised, surely you remember how the Cavalry took Serah and that Dajh was taken in by Psicom. Bringing them to a different location was a simple matter. Now come, l'cie, and fulfill your destiny!" he said, floating upward, before disappearing in a ball of white light.

"Your destiny huh? Well, we'll decide our own destiny!" Hope retorted.

"Right, over Barthandelus' dead body." Light said.

"You know, I have no problem with that." Twilight noted.

Not long after they left, an Admantoise began to take thundering steps toward them. Considering it's massive size, they preemptively summoned all eight Eidolons. The sheer mass of the creature made it's stomps attacks on their own, but it also tried to skewer them with it's tusks. However, their Eidolons leveled the playing field, and after a ten-minute brawl, they finally killed it. After dismissing their Eidolons and stopping for a short rest. They continued through Edenhall, which was being used as a shelter, and out to a sort of courtyard just outside where Eden, and by extension, Orphan, was.

"So, this is the heart of Cocoon." Fang said, taking a look at the impressive building. It almost looked like a temple crossed with a cathedral.

"It's incredible." Vanille said, awed.

"That's where Eden sits, controlling all the other Cocoon fal'cie. It's also where we'll find the battery keeping it all running, Orphan." Hope said.

"Good to know. So what's our plan?" Snow asked.

"Your usual plan. We charge in through the front door, unless someone has a better idea." Light answered him

"Right the front- Hey, wait a minute! Where are you going?" Sazh asked. Lightning ignored him and kept walking. Sanctum soldiers rushed to block their path, along with a Behemoth of the domesticated variety.

"Right." Light said, completely unsurprised. It only made sense that they'd keep a large force back to guard Eden itself. As far as most, if not all, of the Sanctum knew, taking down Eden would be checkmate.

"Right." Sazh said, more because he was resigned to having to fight than anything else. Suddenly a transgate opened, letting a Juggernaut through, and sending the Behemoth flying into a group of soldiers. A living weapon appeared in another transgate behind them.	"I hope that's our backup." Sazh said.

"Well, if it is, then I don't think our backup is happy to see us." Light responded. After fighting their way through the two Pulsian enemies and Sanctum troops, they found themselves facing one last squad between them and the door to Eden's throne. "Another squad." Light noted, having reached the spot a few seconds before them.

"Okay... what are they up to?" Hope asked.

Suddenly, a bright light came streaming from the direction of Eden, and the soldiers were transformed into cie'eth. These cie'eth were pure white with the exception of the tips of their upper limbs, unlike earlier cie'eth, who had at least some coloration. Libra called them Forsaken Cie'eth. Her knowledge of the process allowed her to quickly figure out that this was what happened when a l'cie was given a brand without a Focus. She couldn't help but feel slightly grateful to Dysley for stopping her from experimenting further with her brand if this was going to be the result. On the other hand, she was disgusted and horrified by what had been done to all these people.

"They're all cie'eth? All of them? Just like that?" Vanille asked, horrified.

"A friendly reminder of what we're up against." Sazh said grimly.

"And a reminder that we're running out of time ourselves." Twi said, she was sure the brand would finish it's countdown in less than an hour. They needed to finish this, fast.

After they fought their way through the cie'eth, who were considerably more dangerous than their human counterparts, they found the Proudclad on Eden's doorstep, in a smoking heap. Cie'eth corpses were scattered about.

Looking around, Sazh said, "Looks like no one was spared." The Proudclad suddenly turned on them, though the metal groaned.

"He really wants us dead!" Fang said. Noticing it's form had changed, Twilight used Libra again, and discovered that not only were the elements halved, but magic was halved too. She relayed this to the others.

The Proudclad was different from before, in a strange mode that made it use a moderately powerful blaster instead of it's normal attacks, but when it had taken significant damage, it suddenly healed itself, changed form and launched a wave of energy at them, which was difficult to withstand, but they managed. 

'Okay, that doesn't even make sense. How can a fighter heal itself?' Arcana asked.

'How should I know?' she shot back. Though Arcana was right, how did a machine use healing magic to heal itself? Magic used one's DNA as a template in healing your body, repairing it based on the state that would be considered healthy, but a machine wouldn't have DNA. The only explanation she could think of was that the Sanctum had managed to jury-rig something similar using AMP tech and the blueprints for the machine.

Since it's form had changed, it suddenly lost a lot of damage resistance and reverted to it's original style of attacks. The difference was that the group was stronger now, not to mention they knew it's attack patterns. They soon wrecked the fighter, and Rosch dragged himself out. Rosch pulled himself up holding his chest with one hand, he coughed harshly, spraying the ground with flecks of blood.

'Well, he's done.' Arcana said, unimpressed.

"Rosch, it's over." Light said.

"You're not in any condition to fight any longer." Twi said, a hint of pleading in her voice. Killing someone she knew by name was different than killing someone who was wearing a mask, and she didn't particularly like the latter anyway.

"Never mind that, what of my soldiers?" Rosch asked. Light glanced at one of the cie'eth corpses scattered across the ground, almost involuntarily. That was answer enough. "I see." Rosch said.

"Why are you doing this Rosch? I mean, haven't you done enough?" Sazh asked.

"Enough? Under fal'cie orders. I've orchestrated mass murder. All to answer the fears of a panicked populace. For a people utterly dependent on the fal'cie, it was the only solution I could offer. Even if that solution was a farce." Rosch answered, his words laced with bitterness.

"Then you knew the fal'cie were using us?" Hope asked.

"I had believed their rule was best for Cocoon's present and future prosperity." Rosch gasped out. "But it seems I grossly misjudged their benevolence. I had doubts ever since the Purge, but was still convinced that it would be best to follow the orders of the fal'cie until now. If this is my punishment, then I accept it." Rosch finished with his head bowed.

"So you're just going to let everything go to hell, is that it?" Fang asked.

"You're right, one thing remains." Rosch said, standing up and pulling out a radio. "This is... this is Psicom Director Rosch. Attention all Psicom and Guardian Corps units. Suspend l'cie operations. I repeat, suspend l'cie operations. All units should focus their attention on evacuating the civilian population. I do not issue this order as an absolute. You are free to make the choice." As soon as he finished, he dropped the comset and fell to the ground, supporting himself with the hand that had been holding the radio.

"Rosch!" Snow called.

"Go. You're here to save Cocoon, aren't you? Or was that a farce as well?" Rosch asked.

Snow took a deep breath and started forward. "Stay alive. We'll see you when it's over." he said, stopping for a moment.

Twilight restored him to full health with a single Curasa. "Now you don't have any excuses for dying." she said sternly. She'd had the distinct impression he was considering suicide by monster, and she wanted to make sure he didn't. They'd need people like him to rebuild. People who the citizens trusted. People who were willing to believe in humanity rather than some 'gods.'

"I'll trust in your humanity, l'cie. Cocoon's fate is in your hands." Rosch said as a pair of Behemoths approached. He lobbed a grenade at them, then fired a full round from the pistol on his hip into their heads. He got to a nearby contingent of Psicom soldiers, and joined in the evacuation efforts himself. It should be noted that upon receiving his order, every remaining member of the military prioritized civilian evacuation. The fact that nearly all of the die-hard fanatics were, well, dead certainly helped.

Meanwhile, the l'cie had entered Eden's throne room. It was predominantly red with hints of golden-yellow, and there were a few statues and the like scattered around the room. It was suspiciously empty of either people or anything resembling a fal'cie.

"Where's the Cavalry?" Vanille asked nervously.

"If they made it this far, we'll see 'em soon enough." Fang said. As if on cue, thundering footsteps could be heard, as cie'eth like the ones outside lumbered into view.

"Not them too... they're all cie'eth!" Snow said. His comment was followed by a rumbling that shook the room. The walls and ceiling disappeared piece by piece, until they found themselves in a strange space that consisted of nothing more than floating platforms and a rush of red lights on it's edge. Twilight was interested in the mechanics of this space and it's creation, but they had more pressing concerns.

"Where are we?" Sazh asked.

"Some sort of space Eden made, if I had to guess. It seems to be some sort of pocket dimension, likely meant to serve as a bridge for us to reach Orphan. It's the perfect defense otherwise. You can't kill what you can't interact with." Twi answered him. They gave her strange looks in response. "What? I studied various sciences relating to the dimensions and laws of physics trying to get home." Twi explained.

Several cie'eth attacked them, but were beaten back fairly easily. "This is it. A lot of dreams died to get us here, and we can't let it be for nothing." Light said.

"You said it. It's not just our future we're fighting for anymore." Sazh added.

"We'll do it for everyone. Fal'cie rule ends here." Hope said.

"It's time to end this madness." Twi agreed.

"Dysley! We're coming for you!" Snow declared.

They fought their way through the cie'eth and Sanctum soldiers who were stationed here, who were probably so brainwashed that they wouldn't believe or even care if they found out about the plan to destroy Cocoon. They certainly didn't seem to care about the dimensional shenanigans around them. When they got to certain points, the platforms changed and rearranged themselves. Finally, Fang asked, "Where's this end?" in frustration.

Sazh shrugged. "If there is one, I can't see it." he answered her.

"I can't do this. All these cie'eth were people once, like us." Vanille said.

"But that's what Barthandelus is going for. Don't you see? Make us feel guilty, lose faith... and the second we give up, it's Focus time." Hope said.

"Wait 'til we're broken, then slip on the leash." Snow summarized.

"Yeah, well, when you think about it... Having that empathy puts us humans at a big disadvantage." Sazh responded.

"Maybe, but it's what makes us dangerous too." Light said.

"And what makes someone human." Twi added, before they started off again.

Fang and Vanille stayed behind for a moment. "Fang? What's wrong?" Vanille asked.

"Oh nothing. Just that time's running short." Fang said with her arms crossed and a surprising amount of calm.

"It's okay. My mind's made up this time." Vanille said, prompting Fang to glance at her. "We'll just make Cocoon our home." she said decisively.

"Yeah. I guess we will." Fang agreed with a small smile. The rest of the group was waiting a few feet away, having stopped before making any significant progress without the two.

After a bit more of the often-changing maze, they found themselves in a white corridor with couches on either side. "It looks like Barthandelus left us one last gift. I can sense his magic just ahead. We won't get another chance to rest." Twi said.

They prepared themselves as best they could, then stepped into a room with gears and strange machinery on the far wall, as well as an empty throne. "Ready?" Light asked.

"Yep." Vanille nodded affirmatively as she spoke.

"Yeah. Ready." Hope said, nodding as well.

They descended the staircase to the edge of the platform it was connected to, still about a story off the ground. Twilight noticed that there was a silver pool under floor around the throne. Suddenly, the whole room began to shake. "This is it." Snow said.

"Moment of truth, Hero." Light said, before jumping off. They followed her in ones and twos.

There were little lights like in Oerba, but this time they didn't seem to be crystals. "Little lights. Like in Oerba... but they're different too." Vanille said curiously.

The room shook again, and Dysley began to speak as two larger crystals appeared. "That is because the ones in Oerba have had centuries to fade. Life's spark shines on once removed from it's fleshy shroud, and it takes quite some time to fade away." Dysley began.

A little boy that looked like a miniature Sazh was encased in crystal on the left, and Serah completely crystallized on the right.

"Dajh!" Sazh yelled. 

"Serah!" Snow and Light called, a moment behind Sazh as Dajh had appeared that long before Serah had. Twilight could tell that Dysley had done something, but he'd used a spell she was unfamiliar with and it wasn't cast right in front of her, so she was having difficulty identifying it based on what she was able to glean from it's surface since she didn't have the time for detailed analysis, which would require at least two minutes rather than ten seconds.

The rukh flew past them and landed on the throne as Dysley appeared in a strange blueish-black portal. "Dreams, meanwhile, shatter in a flash." he said, before banging his staff into the ground and causing Dajh to shatter into fragments as small as the motes of light in the air around them.

"Dajh!" Sazh cried, one hand outstretched in a futile attempt to reach his son.

Snow turned to Serah and, realizing what Dysley was about to do, cried out, "No!" Dysley ignored him and repeated the process with Serah.

Snow screamed angrily and charged at Dysley. The result was pretty much exactly what happened in Oerba. Twilight healed Snow and said, "That wasn't the real Dajh or Serah. I figured out what you did Dysley. You scrambled your signature, then made copies of those two before we got here so that I wouldn't be able to analyze the spell as you made it. Then you would torment Snow, Light and Sazh with the apparent death of a loved one." Twi said.

"Wow, you figured all that out that fast?"  Hope asked, even Dysley looked more impressed than annoyed.

"I was something of a prodigy back home, but it wasn't until he destroyed the constructs that I could tell what they were." Twi responded. Breaking them down gave her a better idea of what they were. It didn't particularly matter who did the breaking.

"Yeah. They don't make miracles, they play tricks to make you think they did." Hope said. They all pointed their respective weapons at Dysley, while a barrier came into being above them, blocking the door to ensure they didn't try to escape. A wise choice since at this point Twilight could have teleported the whole group up thanks to her immensely improved reserves, though it would still have been exhausting and not something to be done on a whim.

Dysley chuckled. "An impressive deduction, and spot on. You truly are talented. Perhaps if you become a cie'eth before we reach some sort of conclusion, I'll visit your world and grab a few inhabitants to make into l'cie. You certainly turned out well." Dysley was obviously baiting her. Logically she knew that, but she was still getting angry over it.  "If you are wondering how I know about that, I had Minrva here listened to your conversations since the very beginning, parallel worlds isn't all that far-fetched a concept to me. However, I should deal with the present before concerning myself with the future. 

At last, my errant l'cie, you have arrived. Men fight men, and battle beasts, whilst those who cannot defend themselves are slaughtered by those same beasts. Cocoon wars with Pulse. There can be no end to such conflict. But Cocoon's end is both imminent and inevitable. Will you not at least slay Orphan as act of mercy? Think of it like putting down a rabid dog if you must." Dysley said. He was being surprisingly reasonable about this. Then again, not actively trying to force them into this from the outset was pretty reasonable by the standards she'd come to expect from him.

"'Mercy'? You mean 'murder'." Light responded. "And Cocoon's not going to die, we didn't come here for that." Light shifted her gunblade to blade-mode and pointed it at Dysley. "We came for you!" she finished.

For a moment, Dysley looked honestly disappointed, then his visage became cold and slightly superior once more. "Such willful insolence. Disappointing." he said as he began to float, releasing wisps of dark smoke. "You prolong Cocoon's suffering. And to what end? Refusing me merely condemns another to face your Focus tomorrow." He raised his staff, which began to glow as the rukh, now identified as Minerva, and who was presumably a fal'cie with exceptional skill in hiding it's presence flew towards Dysley. "If you truly seek salvation, you will obey!" in a flash of light, he became his final form from Oerba, but with angel wings. "Fulfill your Focus and gain eternal life!" he ordered in the distorted voice his fal'cie form always had. She suspected this was his final form.

Twilight began with Libra as Hope began buffing and the others peppered Barthandelus with attacks to keep him off-balance long enough to prepare adequately. "The same as before for elemental damage and status effects!" she called.

They attacked in earnest as soon as Hope finished buffing, but Barthandelus had by this time gotten used to the new power behind their attacks and used a new spell that hit all of them: Ultima. She copied it and threw it back at him as Hope healed their semi-serious wounds. It was technically a first-tier spell, but had power on an even higher level than Ruinja. With precision, one could take out a small building with Ultima. Once their wounds were healed, Hope began debuffing Barthandelus. However, just as he'd applied the last debuff, Barthandelus used Thanatosian Laughter, which had gotten a power boost that left them barely standing until they were healed.

After several more rounds of this, he succumbed to the injuries they had dealt him, and turned silver as his adornments disappeared, screaming in agony as he began to sink into the pool of silvery liquid. "Hey, put a lid on it!" Sazh barked, not having any sympathy for the puppet-master.

Just before Dysley's sank all the way he stopped screaming and said, "Release! At last, release!" the emotion in his voice could only be described as joy as he finally went under.

"It's done." Light said, lowering her blade.

"All right!" Snow said, fistpumping.

"Fang!" Vanille said. The two Oerbans touched their forearms together, presumably something from Pulse or perhaps specifically Oerba.

"We did it, huh?" Snow asked Hope. 

He nodded cheerfully saying, "Yep."

Twilight couldn't join in. She felt like something else was coming, something powerful. Lightning was also staring at the pool, as if she also had misgivings. The sound of flapping drew all of them to look up. "It's that bird again!" Hope said, as Minerva flew down and dived into the pool in a burst of light.

The room began shaking again, as an immense surge of magic built up directly in front of them. Twilight suddenly felt very small. The highest amount of power she'd ever seen used was when Princess Celestia raised/lowered the sun. What was coming had about 10,000 times that much power. This made sense, since it powered the fal'cie serving as the sun, and hundreds of thousands of others. She was certain that this was Orphan. She trembled, Celestia hadn't been scary because she was their benevolent ruler whom they'd long trusted, and there was also the fact that she was simply significantly less powerful than this thing. Orphan was about as far from benevolent as you could get. It wanted to die, and it didn't care that doing so would kill off everyone on Cocoon, and anyone surviving on Pulse.

"A haven, yea. Yet it must fall ere we be saved." a being with a voice that sounded like two voices overlapping said as it rose from the pool in a continuous version of the burst of light from earlier. "Too frail a shell, and humans should not thrive." an obsidian fist smashed into the ground, knocking them of their feet. "Too stout a shell, and they would not die." it continued as they got back on their feet and it continued to rise. "Slaughter and Salvation! Two irreconcilable Focuses we bore." They finally got a good look at it as it stopped rising. The right half was a dark obsidian with a thick arm and red eyes, it was clearly masculine. The left half was off-white with a thin arm and blue eye, it was obviously feminine. In between them was an incredibly disturbing baby's face with it's eyes closed. there was a perpetually moving clock behind the thing's main body. The bottom was formed entirely by a massive sword. "Yet bound were we, in a cocoon prison impervious to our power. And so we thank you, l'cie, for granting us our longed for birth." it said, lacking any real sort of gratitude.

"Dysley?" Snow asked in a whisper.

"No. Not anymore, anyway." Sazh answered him.

"Th-that's Orphan." Twi said.

"What's wrong?" Light asked, noticing the state she was in.

"I can sense that thing's power, it so completely surpasses anything I've ever encountered it's ridiculous." Twi laughed nervously as she brought her trembling body back under her control.

"That is correct. We are the Abandoned One. Born but now to die. Our name is Orphan. By our hand, the world shall be remade and know redemption!" Orphan declared, lowering itself to keep the sword that composed it's lower body below the silver pool.

They began as usual. Twilight cast Libra, while helping Hope buff the party up. "It's immune to Pain, Fog, Daze, and Death, all attacks are cut to half their normal damage!" she called as they finished buffing the group up. It wasn't a moment too soon, because Orphan lifted itself up and used the gigantic sword that formed it's lower body to attack, leaving them inches from unconsciousness or death. While they healed each other, Orphan created a globe of white light, and began to heal what little damage they'd managed to deal at regular intervals. However, it's offensive capabilities were almost nil compared to that first attack, it just slapped at them with it's white arm. It's obsidian half simply did nothing. Twilight felt her hopes rise, perhaps they stood a decent chance of winning after all. 

She'd honestly been terrified when she'd felt the power this thing possessed, but now she realized that the majority of Orphan's power was tied up keeping Cocoon afloat and it's fal'cie functioning, and then there was the fact that it wanted to lose. Suddenly it used that sword attack again, and the white orb faded, only to be replaced by a black orb on the obsidian half's side. The obsidian half had a much stronger arm swing, and it's orb sent lasers at them that also inflicted status ailments, keeping Hope tied up in healing and buffing to the point where he wouldn't have had a chance to apply the debuffs if he hadn't while the white orb was there.

This continued with it using the sword attack after the white or black orb faded and switching to the other one, until it suddenly used the sword attack, she really needed to give it a name, without the orb disappearing first, it was lucky that the sword attack only ever badly wounded them instead of killing them, or they'd all be dead by now. She suspected that was on purpose. Their evolutionary abilities their brands granted them were not immune to their own effects and almost-killing them made them a tiny bit tougher each time, and the amount increased. Orphan was going out of it's way to make them even stronger. Seemingly just to make matters worse, she was having to fight through the most awful headache. Arcana had been strangely quiet ever since it started.

Finally, Orphan began to laugh, raising itself up like it was about to use the sword attack, but instead sent out a wave of incredibly painful magic at them, forcing most of them to their knees, with the exceptions of Fang, who was leaning on her staff, and Twilight, who was somewhat able to shield herself, but wasn't able to raise a shield for the others with Orphan's power suffusing the area.

"Have you ever paused to consider the reason fal'cie make l'cie out of humans?" Orphan asked as it lowered itself to it's usual level. "We fal'cie are crafted for a single purpose, and granted finite power to that end. It is not so for men. Men dream, aspire, and through indomitable force of will achieve the impossible. Your power is beyond measure. We take l'cie in order to wield such power." Orphan explained, answering it's own question. "Through you, we obtained freedom from our bondage. Now only your Focus remains." 

A tiny black mote sizzled on one of the obsidian side's fingers. "Defy it, and all will be for naught. Cocoon's sacrifice, and that of Gran Pulse as well." The mote expanded into a blue orb that continually caused Vanille pain, and Orphan restored it no matter how many times Twilight dispelled it, and began to adapt the spell to resist her efforts. "Yet, if we but summon the Maker, we will be given the chance to begin again. All our sins absolved! The world born anew!" Orphan upped the pain it was subjecting Vanille to, saying, "Submit l'cie! Become Ragnarok and lead us into the light!" Orphan ordered.

"Stop it! Let her go!" Fang pleaded.

Orphan regarded her as if she were an insect it was giving serious contemplation to squashing. "We have no need of flawed l'cie." it said dismissively.

"Orphan! I'll do it. I'll destroy you." Fang said.

"What!?!" Twi yelled. She couldn't give this thing what it wanted! 

Orphan let the spell end, and Vanille dropped to the floor. "Ragnarok. The will to guide a world unto oblivion. Can you bear the sin of our salvation?" Orphan asked seriously, the first hint of an emotion besides anger and arrogance visible and audible. Was that... empathy?

"You heard me. I said I'll do it!" Fang yelled.

"No, Fang don't! You're playing right into it's hands!" Twi yelled, forcing herself to stand.

"You can't! You can't forget our promise! I'll be fine. We promised to save Cocoon! We promised!" Vanille said, stopping with a gasp when Fang pointed her lance at Vanille.

"I made another promise too. To protect my family." Fang said. Twilight had cast a few Cures on herself and the others, causing them to regain consciousness just in time to see Fang raise her lance to strike Vanille. "Sometimes you've gotta choose!" Fang yelled.

Snow came over and latched himself onto Fang's lance, preventing her from going any further. "Back off!" Fang yelled.

"What are you do-" Snow began to ask.

"This ain't the place to be losing it lady!" Sazh said, having grabbed her by the waist.

"You too, huh?" Fang asked as she struggled to break free.

"What do you gain from hurting Vanille? We're in this together!" Light said, she and Hope had forced themselves to stand, and place an arm each between Vanille and Fang. Twilight stood in the middle just behind them, ready to keep Fang from getting to Vanille if she decided to attack. She was honestly in the best condition of anyone here.

"This is my Focus, no one's going to stop me!" she yelled. She screamed angrily, sending Snow flying with a kick. Then she launched herself upwards, and threw her staff up at the halfway point of her jump, kicking it higher, she began to glow with an orange light as she caught her lance again. She rocketed down towards them, resulting in an explosion when she landed. There was a blinding flash of light, and suddenly, there were four cie'eth in the room. Twilight, Fang and Vanille were still human, but each of the cie'eth was next to the equipment one of their friends had been using except one, since Snow used his bare hands. Hope, Sazh, Snow, and Light were cie'eth.

"Why? Is this what you meant to happen?" Fang asked.

"I can't believe it... after everything we've been through... they're gone." Twi said, falling to her knees.

"After all we went through." Vanille said, falling to her knees as well.

"All of 'em." Fang said, dropping her lance. Orphan simply laughed at them.

Twilight felt a surge of rage, how dare Orphan laugh at what had happened, how dare it! This was all it's fault! It needed to DIE! She cried out in pain as the headache became headsplitting. 'Finally.' Arcana said, her voice gleeful. Twilight fell to her stomach, clutching her head. Everything currently in the room felt the dark aura coming fro her all of a sudden. She let go of her head, a pleasant smile on her face, but the instincts of every cell of every living thing within a thousand feet screamed at them that they should get as far away from her as possible if they wanted to live. Orphan was not an exception.

"What is this?" it asked, curious more than afraid. It had wanted death for centuries, so it was not particularly intimidated by the threat of imminent death.

"Ah, well to start off with, I'm not Twilight Sparkle. I'm Arcana. My relationship with Twilight is a condition that schizophrenia dreams about someday becoming. I'm what's know as an Other. We're a defense mechanism existing in every sentient. We are usually small and unable to ever take control because a normal person doesn't experience trauma at a rate great enough for us to achieve that level. Which is to say, exceeding the level where it can be processed in a reasonable span of time such as a decade. We are what happens to all the emotional trauma that ought to break a person but doesn't. We're a fragment that did break.

Our personalities are dependent on what sort of trauma we're used to deal with. In my case, the murder, or inability to save from certain death, of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Before that, Twilight was thrown from her world into another after getting abandoned by her friends. It therefore makes sense that I would form and achieve a level where I could overwhelm my host before any of yours did." Arcana explained, still smiling even as she also continued to release a terrifying amount of bloodlust.

"Wait, you're saying everybody has one of you?" Fang asked, horrified at both the explanation, and it's implications.

"Oh yes, but don't worry. Virtually none will ever reach the point where they can take over, or even speak to their host. I had to play the part of being helpful to avoid arousing my extraordinarily paranoid host's suspicions, though at the very beginning, I did my part to increase the amount of trauma I had to feed on." Arcana explained.

"When she was talking to herself!" Vanille said in epiphany.

"Bingo! That was actually me, I began acting more friendly towards her after she unintentionally let me go on a small killing spree. That platoon turned out to be closer to ten platoons, so after she got hit by a spray of bullets and lost consciousness, I took over for the first time. Unfortunately, I was forced to take a backseat again when she regained consciousness. I served as little more than an adviser while I waited until I'd gotten strong enough to take over permanently, though I may have jumped the gun just a little." Arcana admitted, then turned to Orphan and her grin widened slightly. "And thanks to Barthandelus' jibes and these four becoming cie'eth, I've finally reached that point." She casually caught a laser that Orphan fired at her, having become tired of waiting, as interesting as it found this.

"Come now Orphan, wait just a moment and then I'll kill you." Arcana said, just as casually closing her hand and obliterating the laser.

"She's got no idea what's going on, but is piecing it together bit by bit. Her guilt and terror will cement my dominance, and I'll be free to follow my instincts." Arcana said, her smile widening to the point of being disturbing.

"Which are what?" Vanille asked quietly.

"You mean you haven't figured it out?" Arcana asked curiously, cocking her head to one side, then smiling in that horrible way again, shadows covering her face except for her teeth, which showed a smile that threatened to widen beyond what was physically possible. "To kill everyone and everything in existence." she said simply as the bloodlust she emanated spiked, before walking up to Orphan, who was smiling as it found that Arcana was casually batting away it's attacks with ease. It was finally going to die! "Not only are you the most powerful, but if I kill you, I kill everyone on Pulse and any survivors on Cocoon." she blinked. "Sorry, haven't used vocal chords in about a month. Reverse the worlds and you get what I mean. Anyway, since you want to die, I'll be happy to oblige you." Arcana said, gleefully, before sending the cie'eth who were approaching her flying with some back-handed blows. 

She sighed, "Why can't anyone wait their turn?" she asked, before shaking her head. "Anyway, you'll get your salvation and the sacrifice of some few hundred million people at least." Acana said.

"Salvation is born of sacrifice. Miracles of misery. From shattered shards, a new crystal legend will arise." Orphan said, voice rising in triumph. Arcana sent a beam of black magic at Orphan, only for it to strike a shield that it dissipated against, leaving only eggshell cracks. 

"It seems that I didn't put enough power behind it." Arcana noted, before making a spear of black magic twice as thick as that first beam. "Let me remedy that." she said, before sending the spear flying into the shield, obliterating it, and taking a small hunk off the obsidian side's arm. Relatively speaking. 

"Yes! The Day of Wrath is come!" Orphan cried out in triumph.

Suddenly, just as Arcana was about to send a pair of spears at Orphan's faces to either side of the baby's to finish the job, she clutched at her head. "Stop it!" she cried. "How are you resisting?!" Arcana asked, before falling to the ground writhing in pain as the bloodlust rose and fell erratically, before disappearing. 

She got up and said, "Sorry... about that... I did not let that... thing out... on purpose." Twilight gasped out.

"Yet again, you l'cie fail us. How many times must we be denied salvation?" Orphan asked plaintively, the white half healed her, then both halves made a dark purple orb and levitated her up, before subjecting her to immense pain, while doing the same to Fang and Vanille.

"Become Ragnarok again, or release that entity again, we care not so long as we are destroyed. Deliver us what we have too long been denied." Orphan ordered, repeatedly torturing and healing them only so that it could torture them more. The brands were increasing their toughness in response, and it was only a matter of time before they broke from the torture. Then either Ragnarok would destroy Cocoon, or Arcana would.

"What do you want?" Fang asked, physically and emotionally exhausted.

"Steep yourselves in hatred, let it fuel your souls with the strength they crave." Orphan said, before raising a clawed hand to continue. "Your awakening demands an offering of pain." It said simply, before four fireballs smashed into it, causing it to drop them.

Fag was caught by Snow, Vanille by Hope, and Twilight by Lightning. ...Wait, what?

"Miracles out of misery, you've got to be kidding me." Sazh said, having retrieved his guns. They were back, and apparently they're brands were bleached like Fang's, meaning they were inactive. She once again felt a hint of the divine energy that she'd felt lingering on Fang. Perhaps... the Goddess Etro had done this? Maybe the gods weren't so bad after all.

Hope healed the three of them. "Yeah Fang, who'd be dumb enough to swallow that crock?" Hope asked.

Lightning walked over, carrying Fang's lance and pointing her gunblade in gun-mode at Orphan. "Sure, we've all had better weeks." she said. Twilight just smiled, eyes tearing up.

"You're alive." Vanille said in wonder.

"But you can't be!" Fang said in disbelief.

"Could be more fal'cie smoke and mirrors." Light admitted.

"Guys, I'm sorry." Snow apologized.

"We made you go it without us." Light said, handing Fang her lance back.

"Second time now, isn't it?" Fang said, shaking her head as she took the lance, the two of them nodded to each other.

"But... where were you?" Vanille asked.

"Somewhere cold and dark, just thinking about everything that happened up to now. And then... and then it was like-" Hope cut off and Snow picked up the line.

"It was like I had a glimpse of the future. Everyone was smiling and laughing. Even Serah and Light." Snow said. Lightning looked at him surprised.

"I don't know, it was like a new Focus or something." Sazh said. "You know, I'm thinking, didn't really make sense of course. I mean, knowing we were worm bait and all, but... As luck would have it, next thing I know I feel somebody pushing me right along." Sazh said as his chocobo jumped out of his hair momentarily.

"You were there too Fang. Same side. All of us. Together to the end." Light said.

"We promised, didn't we?" Vanille asked. Fang smiled, but Orphan chose just now to finally sink under the pool, moaning.

They approached, pointing their weapons at it. Lightning switched her gunblade to blade-mode. One by one, their brands flashed with light. "The heroes never die." Snow reassured as Orphan sunk all the way under. "Come on! We've got a world to save!" Snow declared.

"If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we also have the power to save it. You say you want your Day of Wrath, do you? We'll it's coming right up!" Hope called.

"Time we gave the people what they really want." Sazh said.

Twilight regained her full resolve, and readied her sword. "Let's do this!" she exclaimed.

Vanille prayed for a moment, then said, "We can do it." with confidence. "I know we can. We made it this far." she continued.

"Right." Light agreed.

"Let's make a real miracle happen!" Vanille said.

Fang chuckled, before stepping forward. "Well Lady Luck sure ain't on his side!" Fang declared, brandishing her lance.

Childish, but insane-sounding, laughter rang out as the pool began to shine again. An orb surrounded by the clock the larger body was attached to rose from the silver pool. It turned to them, revealing it's babyish face, and opened it's solid white eyes which lacked pupils. "You overreach yourselves." it said chuckling. It's voice sounded like multiple voices laid over each other.

"No. We overreach you." Light said.

"Is that so?" Orphan asked skeptically.

"You don't believe in anything. You gave up on life before you were even born. You sat poisoning Cocoon from the inside, waiting for someone to come and destroy you. Sure, you think the end of the world is salvation. All you care about is death's release." Light said.

"If you're so desperate to die, then go ahead, but leave the rest of us out of it!" Twi said, pointing an accusing finger at the monstrosity that had been responsible for so much death and destruction.

"We don't think like that." Light finished. The others brandished their weapons, getting them into more comfortable positions. "When we think there's no hope left, we keep looking until we find some. Maybe Cocoon is past saving, but it's our home. We'll protect it, or die trying!" Light pointed her gunblade's blade at Orphan's face. "We live to make the impossible possible! That is our Focus! Humanity's Focus!" Light declared.

Displaying a surprisingly childish personality, Orphan simply yelled angrily before attacking with a grin. According to Libra, it had the same immunities to status effects as the larger body, and was immune to both physical attacks and magic. "Wait, what the hell?! It's immune to damage!" Twi called. 

"Well then we'll just smash it until it isn't!" Snow said, pounding one fist into the other. Right. They'd hit this thing with everything they had, until it didn't have anything left to resist with.

"Yeah!" They cheered. Orphan cast Doom on them, and they responded with their most powerful attacks followed by the strongest attacks they could spam. Finally, they punched through it's immunity. It's clock disappeared, and it sprouted arms. They blasted it with what they'd broken it's invulnerability with, pounding away at it until it finally glowed brightly and began screaming as it began to explode piece by piece.

"We're here to stop him We've come to save Cocoon, right?" Light asked.

"Right!" the others responded as a chunk of the wall behind Orphan began glowing, and some sort of portal opened. The light grew more and more intense until it became blinding. They received a massive surge in power, what was customary for felling a l'cie plus a huge bonus for slaying what was essentially a fal'cie Demi-God.

Meanwhile outside, Phoenix dimmed and everything that ran off the fal'cie who's power source was now gone flickered and blinked out, including city lights and the fal'cie themselves. The ceiling above them practically disintegrated, and they were pulled upward as gravity's effects weakened their hold. 

"Stay together!" Light called. 

"Hey, grab my hand!" Sazh said to Hope, and reached out to him.

"Okay!" Hope said, grabbing on. They managed to grab onto each other, but Fang and Vanille were separated from the rest of the group and were falling back towards the ground. Twilight would have teleported down, but the energy from Orphan's death had probably rendered the surrounding space unstable if that portal was any indication, not to mention the crystal and glass fragments floating through the area. She'd be lucky not to end up with glass lodged in something important if she teleported to them, and that obviously meant she couldn't teleport them back to the rest of the group even if she made it there unharmed. She could avoid glass fragments once if she was lucky, but it would take a miracle to bring the other two back without a glass shard embedded in something vital in at least one of them.

Fang and Vanille held hands as they dropped lower. "Vanille?" Fang asked as her friend became a bit downcast, but recovered.

Their brands began to glow brightly. "Ready." Vanille nodded. A massive amount of magic built up, before the two of them were obscured in a bright light. There was a flash accompanied by a pulse of magic, and the Pulse creatures turned to dust, which was absorbed by the bright light. The dust was used to form a creature that resembled Hecateoncheir, but had normal arms in place of the spidery limbs, and was feminine in appearance. That was what they'd seen in the vision when they'd been branded. Raganarok. It roared, then raced down the buildings and through Cocoon's crust, and mantle, before coming out the other side. A strange liquid spread out from where it came out on the other side across the outside of the planet, and a pillar of the stuff rose from the ground on Pulse. However, the small planet's sheer weight began to crush the pillar, which began to crumble. Ragnarok roared and the liquid crystallized, and expanded, now able to take the weight of the Cocoon. The five of them were on the ground on Pulse somehow, and had crystallized. A few minutes later, they returned to flesh and blood.

Twilight was first, she settled down to wait for the others, or for her magic to recover and let her free them herself. Her magic was almost completely exhausted after the fight with Orphan and Arcana's hostile takeover. Lightning was second, after waking up and examining herself, Light looked at the crystal pillar and said. "They did it. They saved the world."

"No, they gave us a new one." Snow responded.

"Nice to see you guys up and about." Twi said smiling.

"Well, that's one gift I'll forgive them for not wrapping." Sazh said.

"Yeah." Snow said.

"Does this mean... did we complete our Focus?" Hope asked.

"Cocoon's seen better days, that's for sure." Snow responded.

"I'd say that qualifies as a demolition. Focus complete." Sazh said.

"It really is a miracle." Light said.

"No one ever said we had to kill everyone on Cocoon, just destroy it's main battery." Twilight commented happily. Loopholes were great.

Hope examined his wrist, and exclaimed, "My brand! It's gone!" which prompted the others to check the spots they'd been branded at. They each found that their brands were also gone, but their l'cie powers seemed untouched with the exception of their rapid rate of magic recovery being gone, and presumably their accelerated growth. As Snow was looking at his branded spot, he noticed a pair of figures approaching, but they were obscured by the glare from the sun.

"An', an', an', there was this whole big bunch of chocobos there!" Dajh said, as he became visible enough to be identified, and while walking alongside Serah.

"There was, was there?" Serah asked, smiling. She leaned over and gestured towards the larger group of former l'cie. "Look there!" she said, prompting a sharp intake of breath from Dajh. 

"Serah!" Snow called, grinning as he ran over to her, at the same moment that Sazh ran over to Dajh.

"It is." Light said as if to confirm it was real, and smiling.

"Dajh!" Sazh said as he embraced his son.

"Daddy!" Dajh said as he hugged his father back.

"Snow!" Serah called.

"Serah!" Snow responded, as he hugged his fiance and laughed.

"They're gone, aren't they?" Hope asked somberly, the two absent members of their party being what he was referring to. Lightning put a hand on his shoulder. "I guess they meant for this to be goodbye. Then again, we've changed our fates before." Hope said.

"Don't worry," Twilight put a hand on his other shoulder. "I'm sure we'll be able to persuade Rygdea and Rosch to help us, all I really need is a detailed map and I can teleport in and teleport them out." Twi reassured. Undoing the crystallization would be child's play after that. 

Serah and Snow came over. The sisters hugged and Serah said, "I missed you."

"Serah... I'm sorry." Light apologized softly.

"It's okay." Serah responded.

"Hey! Come on, the apologies can wait! We've got a wedding to plan! You're gonna allow it, right?" Snow asked.

"Wow, you don't waste any time do you?" Hope asked in a very slightly deadpan voice.

"Nope." Snow answered unashamedly.

"That's right, just charge in, guns blazing." Sazh said. They laughed at that.

"I swear to you, I will make her happy." Snow said.

"I believe you." Light responded. "Congrats." she congratulated them, smiling. From her, that equated to permission. A Sanctum vehicle approached from the air, interrupting the moment. It landed, releasing a squad of mixed Cavalry, Guardian Corps, and Psicom soldiers, along with Rosch, Rygdea, and Raines.

"Nice to see you're all alright." Twi said, as the Sanctum party approached.

"Well, that's mostly thanks to your efforts, which have gone a long way to improving the public's image of you." Raines said, gazing at the pillar holding Cocoon aloft.

"Don't thank us, Fang and Vanille were the ones who kept Cocoon from falling." Hope said.

"Oh, right, we could use your help getting them out of there." Snow said.

"Who are Fang and Vanille?" Serah asked.

"Some friends and former l'cie like us." Snow said.

Rosch blinked. "Did you say 'former l'cie'?" he asked.

"Yep, apparently defeating Orphan was our Focus, and it doesn't matter that Cocoon's inhabitants weren't killed off. Best loophole ever." Twi said happily. "We just got decrystallized on our own and our brands are gone. We still seem to have the powers though." she explained.

"Well, we can offer our assistance within reason." Rosch said reasonably.

"All I really need is some mapping of the crystal near where they are, then I'll be able to retrieve them." Twi said.

"How?" Rygdea asked. Oh right, she never did tell him about that.

In answer, Twilight teleported several feet to the left. "I can reverse the crystallization once I get them out. I was studying our brands in hopes of keeping us from becoming cie'eth, but it didn't really work out. I did figure out how to undo the crystallization." she explained. That had been relatively simple. Since that was supposed to be undone at some point according to the spell structure, then it was merely a matter of figuring out how it happened normally and following that.

"That's kind of broken." one of the soldiers commented bitterly. Being able to teleport was just unfair.

"Think how we felt when we found out." Sazh said.

"Well it's not my fault that- well, actually, yes, I suppose it is my fault." Twi said, a hand on her chin in consideration. The soldiers watched bemused.

"Anyway," Raines said, deciding to intervene before things devolved any further. "that's perfectly within reason. We'll map the point where the pillar connects to Cocoon, and you can retrieve your friends." Raines said, agreeing.

The next couple weeks passed in a blur. Twilight got Fang and Vanille out of the pillar with help from the three officials after a few days, and restored them to normal. The group's members were also helping with the efforts to relocate the majority of Cocoon's population. 

Twilight adjusted Rarity's gem-finding spell for precious/heavy metals and pointed the authorities in the direction of the lodes she found, as well as providing the Bestiary she'd compiled on the native wildlife to help them deal with natural problems of Pulse. She'd also kept the grav-con and purchased a book and parts for it's maintenance, as well as some manadrives. Normally they weren't available to the public, but the former l'cie had gone from public enemies to heroes. She was hoping to create a version that didn't require antimatter to use, as antimatter was both dangerous, and very expensive to produce. 

Some of her hacker friends were helping the reformed government shore up holes in it's security. With the fal'cie gone, much of the reason to mistrust the government was also gone, and her little band of dissidents was cut down by more than half. NORA was also providing security to the town of New Bodhum that was springing up, as were a number of new militia groups in other towns as a large number of Cocoon's citizens began moving off of Cocoon. Without the fal'cie, Cocoon was going to need a lot of work to keep running. Especially since more than a few facilities had been designed specifically for fal'cie to run them. She provided her research into the magic they'd used in hopes of at least making it possible to run some of the facilities without fal'cie help, but they didn't have much luck. AMP technology simply couldn't replace a lot of the power sources involved. Not without some major advances to allow for far greater levels of manipulation.

They all attended Snow and Serah's wedding and reception. She got to showcase her unbelievably horrible dancing, which they had a good laugh about. A couple days after the wedding, Twilight called everyone over to her house in New Bodhum, which was oddly small. They went inside, and discovered it was slightly but noticeably larger on the inside than the outside.

"I- but- what?!" Hope said, stepping in and out, examining the house's exterior and interior. 

"After everything we've been through, this doesn't even faze me." Sazh said with a shrug.

"I was looking into dimensional travel as well, and a little examination of that pocket dimension that led to Orphan really helped. The inside of the house is in a pocket dimension separate from normal reality. Explaining in detail would require a degree in theoretical physics for you to understand. Although, I guess it's just physics now." Twilight said with a shrug as she walked over to the group.

"So, why did you call us here?" Rosch asked.

"To say goodbye, since you, Rygdea, and Raines probably don't know, I'm actually from a parallel world. I was about to get back when the Purge happened." Twi said. She brought out several charms in the shape and color of her cutie mark and handed them out. "Keepsakes." she explained. "If everything goes well, I'll come back within seconds from your perspective. Travel between other worlds and dimensions is funny that way. If not, well then you should channel some magic into those if you plan to come after me. They're designed to take you to where I am. Having someone in physical contact will drag them along as well. I'd normally try and dissuade you, but I'm aware that it's wasted effort." Twilight explained.

"You got that right." Fang said, "After, everything we've been through together, you couldn't convince us to stay behind if we found out you were in trouble." she said smirking.

"Yeah, and between all of you, you could out-stubborn me." Twilight scratched the back of her head. "Anyway, you guys probably remember the incident with Arcana." she said. The others nodded, either having been present, or having had it explained to them later in great detail. "Well, I've placed a seal to keep her locked up here." Twi said, tapping her head. "Since her magic is so different from mine, she won't be able to undo it from inside, and she can't overpower it since I'll always be as strong or stronger than myself. If she does get out, these will turn black." Twilight said, holding up a keepsake. "Keep in mind that she will try to kill you if you still decide to come after me then." she warned.

It was not an exaggeration. Twilight and, by extension, Arcana, knew the others fighting styles and abilities, and the Other wouldn't show any mercy. Since the thing was created mostly from the trauma of killing sentients, that's what it most wanted to do. It was terrifyingly evil, and that still disturbed her. What did it say about her that something like that could come from her?

"Well, see you guys in a minute. Assuming nothing goes too wrong." she said, chuckling nervously before charging a powerful spell and vanishing. There wasn't a flash of light or any strange smells, she was simply... gone. There was a small popping sound as the air rushed into the vacuum she left behind. The rest of those present waited for the verdict from their respective keepsakes.


 *** Twilight's Perspective *** 


Twilight Sparkle was intelligent, she didn't flaunt the fact, but she knew she was. It was rare that she found something she was completely unable to comprehend. Traveling to another world was one of them. The experience could be equated to tasting what purple sand felt and looked like while she was being repeatedly disintegrated and reintegrated. In short, she didn't get it. Her nervous system apparently didn't either, since this sort of thing ought to be excruciating, but all she was getting was a rather pathetic tingling.

She hadn't had this experience the first time, because the impostor had knocked her out first, then sent her to Cocoon. Some tiny fraction of her mind not occupied with the trip itself wondered if it was different traveling between each world, and if it was always maroon to either side. As she thought that, the color switched to a bloody red, then black, then flickered between the two.

When she finally arrived, she immediately staggered over to a nearby trash can, and threw up from the sheer sensory overload. Once she'd recovered, she immediately noticed she was still human, so this was obviously not Equestria, or at least not her Equestria. A look up to see a crescent-shaped moon grinning sadistically simply confirmed it. "Well, at least I'm six instead of four this time." she said, looking herself over. Either the age thing was random, obeyed a law of physics she didn't know, or her spell to get back had made some modifications to the effects of inter-world travel... or some combination of the three. She seemed to have retained most of the physical attributes she'd gained in her previous adventure, thanks to their source being magical, but anything that had been the result of exercise or her age was gone. She had about 65% of her former physical abilities left.

She could detect a magical signature nearby, without any better ideas, she decided to grab something to refill her stomach, then check it out. She'd just see after that.
> A Pleasant Stroll... Or Not
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She had happened upon a library while wandering in search of something to eat the next morning. She'd gotten some jewels on Pulse thanks to the jewel-finding spell that she learned from Rarity. Jewels were far less common in every place she'd been besides Equestria, so she was able to trade them for a fairly large quantity of money at a jeweler's that she discovered using the same spell to find the largest nearby concentration of jewels. It occurred to her that a jeweler that would accept jewels from a six-year-old without any questions was probably crooked and had almost certainly underpaid, but she didn't have any other real options at the moment. She decided to visit the library to research her current world before getting some food since her stomach could wait. She'd like to know beforehand if she was going to be hunted like an animal for using magic or something. 

She learned of the conflict between Lord Death and those serving him, and the Witches, an apparently all-female sub-species of humans who could use magic naturally and who had committed numerous atrocities over the centuries, ranging from human experimentation to soul experimentation. Souls were apparently the source of power in this world. The strength of one's soul determined your power. There were two ways to gain soul-based strength. 

The first was through training, and was how those under Lord Death mainly did so. The second way was utilized by both Kishin Eggs and Demon Weapons. They ate the souls of others, absorbing their power and adding it onto their own. 

The difference between them was that Kishin Eggs ate human souls out of some sort of fear or similarly negative emotion and were corrupted by doing so, while Demon Weapons, people who could transform into various magic weapons that were effective against Kishin Eggs and Witches, ate the souls of Kishin Eggs in order to prevent their taking more lives in the pursuit of power. Both ate Witches souls for the exact same reasons as they ate their usual meals. For the Kishin Eggs, they provided a major power boost if you could kill one and eat her soul, and for Lord Death's subordinates, they were trying to keep any further losses from occurring due to the Witches and their experiments, as well as the Kishin Eggs' reason.

Meisters partnered with Demon Weapons in order to help them bring out their full potential, the ultimate goal being turning the weapon into a Death Scythe, one of Lord Death's personal weapons, and an immensely powerful Demon Weapon that could only be created through the devouring of at least 100 hundred souls. 99 souls from Kishin Eggs, and 1 soul from a Witch. She didn't like the idea of eating other people's souls, but so far as she could tell, Lord Death seemed like the good guy here, or at least the lesser evil. She'd like to meet him if possible. 

After a little more research to familiarize herself with historical events, she learned of what the Kishin Eggs aspired to be. The Kishin, the God of Madness who's mere presence spread insanity, even sealed as he was. Those prone to fear and paranoia were especially susceptible to his influence, this usually manifested as a magnification of the usual symptoms of paranoia, as well as nightmares and violent tendencies.

Wait a minute, she was paranoia-prone! That meant she'd have to be fighting off the Madness Wavelength all the time. Something that brought out the worst in someone and tried to break their mind sounded like exactly the sort of thing that would prompt the seal restraining Arcana to break down. She did not need this! However, she needed time to research the spell for inter-world travel some more, since clearly something was wrong if she was once again not in Equestria, and perhaps a stronger seal for Arcana. Frankly, she didn't like the thought of the seal having even the slightest chance of being broken. That thing shouldn't be allowed to roam free under any circumstances. If she went to another world, then the circumstances might be even worse. Thus, she had to stay in this world until she managed to reinforce the seal some more, or the Madness Wavelength was dealt with.

While she was having these thoughts, she suddenly felt a spike of hostile intent, a gift she'd received thanks to her short possession. Her theory was that since Arcana was, on some level, her, the ability to unleash that much hostile intent had allowed them both to also sense hostility directed at them. 

A humanoid creature burst through the window and attacked her, screaming about eating her soul. She could only assume this thing was a Kishin Egg. She had instinctively teleported out of the way of the first strike, and then stabbed the thing in where the heart could be assumed to be while shooting it in the head three times. It, amazingly, didn't die from that, so she Enthundered the sword, and electrocuted it, that finished it, and it dissolved into a black spiral that resolved itself into a red orb with black, tarry patches. The corrupted soul of a Kishin Egg.

She grabbed it, intending to put it int her backpack for future study, but it was simply absorbed into her through her hand. She shuddered, that had felt wrong. She hurried out, realizing that more Kishin Eggs would probably not be far behind, and that it would place innocents in danger if she fought them in the city. She was proven right when she came across another not five minutes later, this time she used enchanted gloves and put it's soul in her backpack. She needed to study this phenomenon, but she was certain Arcana had something to do with it. Between Arcana and the l'cie brand, her magic was probably completely out of whack compared to pre-Cocoon Twilight.

She had realized during her reading that the Witches must have developed some method of concealing themselves since they had managed to stay relatively hidden for the past few centuries, the problem was that she had no idea how to do it, or even how to take a look at her own soul, which, it was several times implied, was a very, very, basic thing. She managed to jury-rig the technique after a few days of hit-and-run fighting. She ended up with 35 souls by the time she was able to sense her own. It took the better part of another day to figure out a crude solution to her Kishin Egg problem. 

The spell reduced her bleedoff of energy a great deal, which it seemed was how they hunted, but also cut her power to 1% of her original amount, leaving her vulnerable. She did reach 40 souls total in that time, and the number of Kishin Eggs after her dropped to a negligible threat level, about one a day. She was forced to mostly rely on her physical abilities since her magic was effectively crippled. She spent some time in the wilderness, fine-tuning the spell until they were little more attracted to her than a normal human, though for some reason she still encountered Kishin Eggs fairly frequently. She was also closely examining the souls and herself, trying to figure out just what had happened when she absorbed that one soul. 

It seemed that Arcana, her ties to the element of Magic, and the l'cie brand had interacted with each other and her soul, resulting in what could best be described as a soul-sponge. If she came into direct contact with a soul in a condensed form such as these orbs, it was absorbed. Presumably there was an upper limit to how many souls could be absorbed in a certain span of time, but she was unwilling to test for it. It was likely that highly condensed soul-based energy would be similarly affected, but she had no way of testing that. She also suspected that it would make her more vulnerable to the Madness Wavelength, but had no baseline to compare her symptoms with.

She had absorbed a total of 39 through various accidents and experiments. They had caused a small but noticeable increase in both her magical power and her body's physical attributes. Apparently they did that second part. She couldn't detect any negative effects from having absorbed them, but refrained from absorbing more out of a sense of disgust at the very idea of absorbing a being's soul. So long as there wasn't direct physical contact, she could interact with them normally. Well, as normally as one could when there were souls involved.

Twilight had been visiting nearby towns to research at the libraries, but they hadn't been very helpful in figuring out how to use her soul itself as a weapon like it was said Meisters and weapons could. She'd made little progress beyond being able to check on her soul in terms of practical application either, and she really didn't want to poke around her own soul in case she damaged something. That would be bad.

The nightmares she had to assume were from the Madness Wavelength weren't pleasant, but she managed to adjust to the lack of good sleep. The violent tendencies/urges were as repressed as possible.

She had 65 souls in her backpack at this point, having more than gotten that 39 back from more fights with Kishin Eggs. She'd fine-tuned the spell that hid her presence so it was the best she could reasonably expect it to be. She'd created a second version she was planning to use for combat situations, it let her use 5% of her full abilities but still hid her reasonably well, the first version was for civilian life or stealth. She was using the second version for now, and she was back to a fight with a Kishin Egg a day instead of every other day, but they were usually no threat. She was hoping to give the souls to Death as a peace offering, since he'd probably need some form of a sign of goodwill from a magic user. She had fairly little respect for their souls since they had been trying to kill her and eat her soul, had probably killed a large number of people before trying their luck with her, and quite obviously weren't going to any afterlife.

However, she first came into contact with some agents of the DWMA, Death's Weapon and Meister Academy one of the rare times that she attracted two Kishin Eggs at once. A girl with blond hair in a black coat over a schoolgirl outfit, and a boy who appeared to be an albino in a black sweater with yellow sleeves and red pants and who was a scythe Demon Weapon were on a mission to investigate why Kishin Eggs were being drawn here and then disappearing.

The day began normally enough and Twilight was actually considering going to Death City to join Death's school beforehand, or at least go there and talk to him about some things. She had reached the physical age of ten, and she essentially felt like she was wasting her time doing nothing right now. One could only learn so much from another world's texts on physics, and she was stuck for now on improving the spell to send her home. The problem was that she didn't know the co-ordinates of home in the multiverse, so she was essentially shooting in the dark each time she used it. If nothing else, she'd like some help with the Madness Wavelength, she'd be happy to reciprocate in any way she could.

Anyway, she was pretty much just minding her own business when she got the usual warning of an approaching Kishin Egg except with two sources, meaning that there were two, which was rare ever since she got the spell for hiding her presence down. She almost didn't notice the two people hiding behind a rock and watching her when the Kishin Eggs attacked.

She was unfortunate in that she was only able to sense those of hostile intent. Those with good intentions, or at least, who did not intend to cause her harm, could slip right past her. She was also unfortunate in that she'd already used magic by the time she noticed them. The small gasp from the girl being what had alerted her to their presence in the first place.


*** Maka's Perspective ***


"Hey Maka, shouldn't we help her out?" Soul asked, looking at the girl with dark blue hair about to square off against two Kishin Eggs.

"According to Lord Death, the one responsible for the strange behavior of the Kishin Eggs is almost certainly a Witch, so she should be able to handle herself. That said, be ready to help out if necessary. She hasn't made it onto the DWMA's wanted list, so we should treat her like any other human being unless she starts threatening us." Maka answered.

The girl was surprisingly proficient with her sword, though it appeared to be glowing with heat as if it were just pulled out of the forge, which Maka could only assume was a spell. She was holding her own against the Kishin Eggs, and then she teleported behind one in a flash of light and stabbed it through the head, killing it and causing it to become a simple orb. Maka couldn't stifle a gasp. That ability would be deadly in a fight, she could move out of any trap they might rig, and could strike from any direction at any time. 

The girl glanced at them momentarily, holding off the remaining Kishin with only one hand on her sword. It was as if she didn't even feel threatened now that there was only one of them. She soon finished the Kishin Egg by cutting it in half, then turned her attention back to them, calling out, "I know you're there! Come on out!" 

Maka and Soul cautiously stood up, and Maka asked. "I'm Maka Albarn, what's your name?"

The girl answered. "Twilight Sparkle, and before you ask, yes, that was magic. I'd like to talk to Lord Death about my situation. As I understand it, most Witches don't share my sentiment that killing should only be self-defense or when those close to you are threatened. As such the DWMA hunts virtually all Witches on principle. I'd like that to not apply to me." 

She pulled off the lavender backpack she was carrying and set it on the ground, then she rummaged inside and accidentally dropped something, causing it to echo cavernously. Maka and Soul stared. How was it even possible for such a small bag to echo? Twilight finally facepalmed and pulled some gloves out of her pockets and put them on, before she said. "I've got 64 Kishin Egg souls in here, not counting these two, and I'd at least like to hand them over since I have no authority to deal with them." She pulled a couple out of the bag to demonstrate, before putting them back.

Maka was momentarily speechless, the girl in front of her had more than half the requirement for becoming a Death Scythe sitting in her backpack! She cleared her throat and said, "Well, our mission was to investigate the Kishin Eggs just disappearing like they'd been, so I think Lord Death won't mind if we happen to bring the one responsible back to Death City. Though we should get in contact with him first. Follow us." she said. It was common for small-fry Kishin Eggs to kill each other and absorb each other's souls, but these Kishin Eggs had been drawn by a tempting soul, and not bothered fighting each other. There was a radius of at least 20 miles around this spot that Kishin Eggs had been drawn from. That rough circle of strange activity had been what clued the DWMA in on what was going on. Most murders were caused by Kishin Eggs, so they usually only lasted a couple days before mundane law enforcement killed them. The Meister-Weapon teams were only sent out to deal with the nasty ones with strange powers or who were too strong for normal soldiers to deal with. 

"Are sure about this Maka? She is a Witch." Soul asked, being the less trusting of the two.

"This from the guy who wanted to jump into the fight a minute ago?" Maka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I want to talk to your headmaster, what could be less productive towards that than attacking his students?" Twilight deadpanned.

"Point." Soul said after thinking it over for a second.


*** Several Days Later : Twilight's Perspective ***


Twilight was handcuffed before she met Lord Death, though she was assured it was entirely protocol. She thought there was a slight possibility that she might be able to break out of them with brute force, but had no reason to try. She'd already had the souls 'confiscated', though she wasn't sure it could really be called confiscation if she willing gave them up and went out of her way to hand them over. Truth be told, she was actually kind of relieved not to have them anymore, there was no risk of accidentally absorbing any of them like that one that had been in her bag when she'd touched it without gloves. They'd provided her with a hooded cloak to cover her features, so whatever happened, no one would recognize her.

She was quite surprised when she entered the Death Room to talk to him. He was seven feet tall with a black cloak, and a cartoonish mask that resembled a ghost more than a skull. "Hiya!" he greeted her with a goofy, high-pitched voice.

"...Huh, I was kind of expecting you to be more intimidating." was all Twi could say in response, before her mind caught up to her reaction and she blanched. "Sorry, sorry, my life's been kind of weird, so I kind of have a skewed view of the world." she apologized.

"Ah, yes, you're the Witch who was attracting all those Kishin Eggs. Care to tell me why?" Death asked.

"Well, believe it or not, I didn't know how to conceal my presence very well, so they were attracted to me like flies to honey." Twilight explained. She suspected Arcana also had something to do with it, as they'd kept coming even after she managed to jury-rig a way to hide her soul.

"Hm, didn't you have a teacher of some kind?" Death asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Well, yes, but..." she inwardly debated explaining her origins, then decided that she had to tell the truth if she expected him to trust her. She explained about her life and what had happened. Death didn't interrupt beyond the occasional question, or request of clarification. Once she'd finished, after showing him a few things she took from Pulse and Cocoon to prove she had been there, although she'd been planning on using them to prove that she wasn't crazy to the others in Equestria, she waited for his verdict. Death had spent a few moments in deep thought, before asking her if she would mind becoming a student here. He also advised that she come up with an alias, since Twilight Sparkle sort of stood out, making her easily identified when combined with her fairly unique appearance. Most people didn't have purple eyes, or pink and indigo stripes in their hair for that matter.

She answered positively to his first request, that having been one of the reasons she was here in the first place. She grudgingly agreed to the second. She knew it was probably a bad idea to stand out since scrutiny could reveal that she used magic, and that wasn't going to end well, even if she didn't actually have a Witch's soul. Death had been quite surprised when he found that little detail out. She picked the name Tara Strong, partially because it simply wasn't already on the student roster, and partially because she personally liked the name for a reason she couldn't discern.

She had the handcuffs removed, and then left to sort out her affairs. After she left, Death took on a thinking pose. "Hm, well, she gave me quite a bit to think about. Other worlds with entities like that... she may have opened the largest can of worms imaginable." he said, thinking over what he'd been told. Her soul had a hint of something foul on a level he'd never encountered, but that was probably due to that Arcana creature she mentioned. She'd mentioned being affected by the Madness Wavelength, but she seemed to have it under control for the moment. Still, she needed to give it an outlet of some kind, or she'd end up like Stein.

She'd quickly advanced to the EAT class, despite not having a partner. That led to her taking on some missions, as they were always a bit under-staffed in that regard. She was told to hand over any souls from Kishin Eggs, since she didn't have a weapon partner to feed them to. She was quite glad, absorbing souls simply felt wrong, though it seemed to be entirely psychological since no one else had that problem.

So her current situation was really no surprise. Tara was walking through a town in Japan on the way to take out a Kishin Egg that was of the more sentient variety. Kishin Eggs were unofficially divided into those who retained their minds, and those who became little more than semi-humanoid animals. This one fell into the former category. She was surprised when it started using throwing stars against her from the shadows though. It seemed to be very good at long-range fighting, but it's attack had revealed it's rough position, so she teleported up there, and barely avoided having her head taken off by a sword that reeked of bloodlust. She was hardier than a normal human, but being beheaded would kill just about anything complex enough to have a head in the first place.

After dodging that, she engaged it with her own sword, Enthundered to hit the Kishin Egg with electricity using it's own sword as a conductor. However, the Kishin Egg, a Kishinized traditional samurai who'd managed to eat enough souls to get to about the first quarter of the way to being a full Kishin, dodged, and counter-attacked, before being forced to deflect the bullets from her gun. She suspected that his sword was special, as those bullets had a spell that increased the force behind them precast, and her gun had had that l'cie spell variant on it that made it stronger with combat and over time for over 8 years. 

Her gun was more than three times as powerful as it had started out as, making the pistol's appearance deceptive of it's true power, especially since she'd been learning to simply teleport bullets into the chamber recently allowing for seemingly endless fire. Her sword was similarly enhanced by the spell on it, the metal was strong enough to carve through concrete like a hot knife through butter. The Kishin Egg was repeatedly dodging her slashes, and blocking her pistol-fire. It wasn't a problem of technique, she'd had plenty of practice and was something of a prodigy with swords. The problem was that she simply wasn't fast enough to get around her enemy's guard. Her speed was always her weak point, and that appeared to be hurting her now. She'd always had plenty of magical power, and she was far stronger than any normal human, but her speed was subpar compared to her other attributes. Even some of her fellow classmates were faster than her. Blackstar came to mind, though since speed was his strong point that wasn't really a fair comparison.

Death by a thousand cuts didn't sound fun, so she decided that she was going to have to pull out some of her l'cie spells. Only up to the second tier though, the third or fourth tier would destroy the surrounding houses and quite possibly kill people. She sent a Fira at the Kishin Egg at close-range, only for him to dodge, despite the spell's targeting ability that let it alter it's course mid-flight. However, she'd been expecting that, and there were a trio of Ruin spells waiting for him. He took a direct hit, but as these were only the first tier spells, albeit overpowered versions of them, he took little damage, and nothing outright debilitating, but he certainly wasn't going to move as fast after that.

"Tougher than I thought." he said, the first words spoken since their fight started. She didn't respond beyond calling a Thundara down on him.

He was indeed moving more slowly, but he wasn't that affected. Certainly less than she'd been expecting, though healing abilities weren't uncommon among Kishin Eggs, especially as they got closer to being a Kishin. She didn't think she'd be able to break through his defenses at this point however. She managed to block the first strike, but he was fighting much more aggressively now, apparently having been testing her defenses before. She had Enthundered her sword again when the first wore off, locking him into dodging her attacks, and then he used more throwing stars, along with a few metal needles, and a few knives, to force her to block. However, she merely took hold of them with her magic, and redirected them back at their thrower. To his credit, he managed to block almost all 15 thrown weapons.

He pulled the needle that got past his guard out of his shoulder, but his wounded arm wasn't holding onto his sword quite as tightly as before. She took advantage, pressing him hard. He was having far more trouble blocking with a semi-debilitated arm. She managed to slice an arm off, shocking him with electricity in the process, and took advantage of his momentary pause to cast Fira at his head at point-blank range. He dissolved into the usual red orb with black, tarry patches. She carefully placed the soul in her backpack. She habitually wore her gloves now. It was easier than putting them on and taking them off all the time.

"And that's another mission completed." Tara said. She technically had a 100% mission success rate, but since she didn't have a weapon partner, she simply gave the souls to Death. As such, she hadn't collected a single soul by the academy tally. She had one of the best and worst track records at the same time.

She started off towards an inn to stay for the night. If she left first thing in the morning, she should be able to make it back to Death City by noon on Saturday. She had gotten a fair amount out of the courses at the Academy. She could even use the Soul Force technique. Soul Force was essentially just forcing your soul wavelength into your opponent, reducing their ability to use soul-based powers. Easy in theory, difficult in practice. Your soul wasn't supposed to leave your body until you were dead. However, if you weren't used to the technique, it caused backlash as using it left your own soul exposed to your enemy's wavelength. An experienced user was able to block this, while making their own attack more damaging. It had once been described to her as headbutting your opponents soul. If their 'head' was harder, you were only hurting yourself.

She briefly contacted Lord Death to inform him of a mission success. He secretly worried about all his students when they went out. Missions were always a roll of the dice, because very few factors were absolute. There might be more Kishin Eggs than had been thought, drawn by whatever drew the target of the mission, or the Kishin Egg might have suddenly gained a large amount of power by absorbing a large number of souls or multiple powerful souls such as other Kishin Eggs, and then there was blind luck.

She fogged up some glass, and muttered, "42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door." under her breath as she wrote the numbers down. This was how you contacted Death, who was able to use mirrors for transportation and communication. Though he was only able to move throughout Death CIty. This was due to the seal on the first and only full Kishin that required him to anchor it. She was fairly sure she could figure out a way around it for him eventually, but she wasn't touching the only thing preventing the Kishin from being unleashed on the world. If the Kishin was freed, then she'd devote some time to releasing Death from his bindings. That was unlikely since he'd been sealed for centuries, but weird stuff happened around her.

"Hiya! How ya doing Tara?" Death asked with his usual high-pitched voice.

"Very well, I managed to defeat the Kishin Egg and collect its soul without a scratch." she responded.

"Ah good. When can I expect you back?" Death asked.

"Tomorrow at about noon." Tara answered.

"Alright, you know, maybe you should take a break from missions for a while, you spend all your weekends on them and after classes you barely leave the library beyond a few excursions with Maka and Soul." Death suggested. He was right, she hadn't really been making any progress on what she was studying anyway. She spent time with Maka and Soul the most because they were the only ones besides Death who knew she could perform magic. 

She'd encountered Black Star and Tsubaki during one of these excursions with the pair's mutual friends. Black Star was a boy Meister with spiky blue hair, a set of black clothes, and arrogant to the point of a god complex, while Tsubaki was a tall girl with black hair and a yellow dress who was the Demon Weapon of the pair. She reminded Tara a lot of Fluttershy in that she was very kind and was rather acquiescing to others. She was the only one the group knew who was able to put up with Black Star to the degree that would be required to resonate with him.

On the surface Soul and Maka didn't have personalities that would mesh well, but it seemed to be a case of opposites attracting. Maka reminded Tara a lot of herself. She was bookish and despite having a great deal of talent with her soul resonance, a special move that could only be performed by those whose souls were linked, was modest and actually a little under-confident.  Though Maka was certainly more athletic than Tara had been pre-Cocoon. Soul was brash, and a little self-centered. However, he was an extremely loyal friend. Like Rainbow Dash.

She had a feeling that something big was about to go down, but had nothing concrete to back it up, so she had simply prepped a few extra rounds of bullets, and put some work into improving her Soul Force. She was pleasantly surprised to discover Soul, Maka, Black Star and Tsubaki waiting for her.

"Hey you guys, nice to see you all, how have you been?" Tara asked.

"Well, Soul and I tried to get a Witch's soul, but..." Maka said glumly.

"I beat a swordsman guy who beat ninety-nine Kishin Eggs!" Black Star said loudly. He was actually a good assassin when he put his mind to it, but he was too loud and showy to get the job done a lot of the time. An unfortunate side effect of the kind of arrogance that led one to declare that they would defeat the Creator. You couldn't expect to beat someone powerful enough to create a universe unless you could do something rivaling that. She didn't bother trying to tell him this though. The odds of him ever actually meeting the Creator in person were pretty low, so she didn't see the point. Besides, he was fairly harmless.

"Well, I beat a ninja Kishin Egg. He was good, but I was better." Tara said. He honestly acted more like a ninja than a samurai, what with the sneak attack and the ranged attacks.

"Who votes we go grab something to eat?" Soul asked.

"I could go for some tea." Tsubaki said.

"Well, let's go then. I'm buying!" Tara offered. She didn't exactly do much with her money from missions and the allowance every student in the DWMA received. She didn't exactly go shopping for new sets of clothes with any frequency. Nor did she usually go out for dinner. As such, most of her money ended up sitting in her bank account collecting interest. They went to the usual cafe and had a group lunch.

Little did they know, Death had a certain... 'special' assignment for them the next day.
> Professor Stein
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The day started off as usual. She woke up, got dressed, had milk, cereal, and an apple for breakfast, took a quick shower, and made it to her first class about ten minutes early. As usual, she got out a book while she waited for everyone else to show up. According to what information she sifted out of the usual class dramas and kishin egg kill counts from the classroom gossip, some weirdo was coming after DWMA students recently. He was apparently a zombie with a hole in his forehead.

The thing was, their previous teacher, Sid, had been killed by getting a Statue of Liberty through the head. (She didn't know either.) The connection was clearly implied. She didn't doubt the existence of zombies after all the weird stuff she'd seen, but the question was, who had made him into a zombie? It was unlikely that anyone with less than expert level knowledge of the body and soul would be able to do such a thing. She briefly considered the possibility that it was just a rumor, but dismissed the thought. Life was never that simple. Certainly, her life wasn't, besides, it came from several sources. Even school rumors didn't spread that fast unless it was on purpose.

"Hey! Quiet down, class is starting!" a man with medium-length red hair, a tuxedo with a cross-shaped tie, and black shoes entered. This was Maka's father, Spirit, better known as Death Scythe. He was the only Death Scythe in the world who was actually a Death Scythe, as the others were other types of weapons. He was also the only one currently stationed in Death City. The others were scattered all over the world, usually in the vicinity of where they were born, in order to help keep the peace.

He was divorced with Maka's mother as of a month ago, and Maka was strangely proud of the memory. He was a womanizer, and had lost Maka's mother because of it. Maka was now distrustful of all men due to that. Her mother traveled the world now, sending Maka postcards with a fair amount of regularity. Spirit tried to win back favor with Maka whenever he could, but his attempts were generally unsuccessful to the point of a sort of pitiful hilarity.

"Attendance is a pain, so I'm not going to take it." he stated, putting down a clipboard presumably for attendance on the teacher's desk. "I'd like to say something right upfront as well. The bell doesn't decide when class is over." he jerked a thumb at himself. "I do." Most of the class was impressed. The exceptions were Maka, Soul, herself, and some girl who was barely awake enough to be considered so. Tara was fairly sure that he was just doing this to impress Maka, Maka had a generally low opinion of Spirit and was unimpressed by his efforts most of the time, and Soul's opinion of Spirit was colored heavily by Maka's

After a few seconds, Soul asked, "Hey, Death Scythe, are you going to be teaching us from now on?"

"I'm only the substitute. I'm here until we find a replacement for Sid, who died a couple days ago. Also, I may be a substitute, but for the time being, I'm in charge of this class. So, as long as I'm here, you'll refer to me as Professor Death Scythe." Spirit growled in annoyance. "Now let's take attendance." his mood suddenly shifted to cheery. Most likely he just buried the annoyance.

"I thought you said you weren't going to take attendance!" Soul called out in annoyance.

"I'm only taking attendance for the girls, not the guys." he said, a slightly perverted look on his face.

Soul stamped his hand on his desk. "Dammit! Quit acting like a creep!" he yelled. Tara privately agreed with the sentiment.

"Oh please." Maka said, being fairly sure that there was zero chance of that working on Spirit. 

"He doesn't know when to quit, this one." Spirit growled in annoyance, before licking his pen, searching for and finding the name Soul Eater on the sheet of paper on the clipboard, and writing the worst possible grade for Soul down for that day. E, for some reason.

"Okay, let's get this class started now." Spirit said, clapping his hands twice.

"Hey old man, what'd you write down just now?!" Soul yelled, half getting out of his seat.

"Ah, that reminds me." Spirit said, turning his back to the students.

"What now?" Soul asked suspiciously.

"Maka, Soul, Tara. Lord Death wants to see you in the Death Room. You're excused from classes for the day, so get going!" he made shooing motions with his clipboard. 

"He wants to see us?" the three of them asked. Maka, Soul, and herself glanced at each other curiously, before filing out to get to the Death Room.

Once they navigated the veritable maze that was the DWMA building, Maka knocked on the metal door with a cartoonish skull at the top that honestly resembled a ghost more. "Hello?" the door opened, seemingly on it's own.

"Well, I guess that's an invitation." Soul noted, scratching his head.

"Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this." Tara thought aloud as they started down the path of guillotines towards their headmaster. ...Dear heavens she'd just realized how wrong that sounded.

"I wonder what Lord Death wants to see us about." Maka thought aloud.

"Who knows?" Soul responded disinterestedly.

Tara was aware of Blackstar above them with Tsubaki in her weapon form, but did nothing as he didn't really mean any harm. "Look at them down there. Think they can show their backs to me, do they? Tsubaki...let's go." Blackstar said. 

"Right." Tsubaki agreed, before Blackstar struck a pose with her weapon form.

"Assassin's rule number 1! Dissolve in the darkness and erase your  breath, wait for an opening to attack your target!" he called, getting Maka and Soul's attention.

"Oh look, it's Blackstar." Maka said as if talking about the weather.

"Why are you standing up there yelling like an idiot?" Soul asked.

"He's right you know, brag about assassin rules after you kill the guy." Tara advised. She'd tried telling him that before, but his head was thicker than the academy's walls. She was hoping that if she repeated herself enough, it would eventually get through to him. He would be a great assassin if he could just be quiet until the job was done. He had the talent and the skillset, but he just wasn't able to contain himself.

Tsubaki partially reverted to human form, one of the scythes at each end of the chains became her head in a glowing yellow light. "They found us pretty easily." she sighed.

Blackstar smiled good-naturedly. "It can be real difficult to hide when you're as big a star as I am. Oh well, that's a disadvantage I think I can handle. After all, I wouldn't want surpassing God to be easy, that would take all the fun out of it! Pretty big of me, huh Tsubaki?" Blackstar asked his partner. Odd, that third sentence was surprisingly deep for one of Blackstar's rants.

Tsubaki giggled. "Oh yes."

"Seriously?" Maka asked.

"It is Blackstar, you should be used to it by now." Tara reminded her friend. Blackstar's God Complex was annoying, but he was a friend, so Tara put up with it since it didn't seem to be overly harmful. Besides, she didn't want him to doubt himself, self-doubt paralyzed the soul. She had a 'tolerance' for lack of a better word, since she had to live with fear, paranoia, and self-doubt for pretty much her whole life thanks to her psychological makeup. It didn't prevent her from casting, but she was told that her power was more than cut in half. If that was the case, then she was actually kind of glad. She had to restrain herself to avoid blowing up buildings as it was, she'd rather not have to restrain herself from blowing up city blocks.

Blackstar and Tsubaki joined the three of them heading towards Lord Death. "Hey Blackstar, what are you doing here? Were you guys called in to see Lord Death too?" Soul asked.

"What if we were?" Blackstar asked. They stopped at a mirror with the ghost-like skull and three candles on three little candlestick-holders on a small platform in the rough center of the Death Room. The Death Room looked like it was outside in the middle of the day at all times, complete with clouds. The number of iron crosses waxed and waned, but never became overwhelming enough to make it difficult to fight in here. That was probably on purpose.

"Here, I'll call him." Maka said before fogging up the glass and writing the numbers, muttering the little rhyme under her breath. "42- 42- 564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door." A tone sounded several times as the numbers disappeared and ripples washed out across the glass surface. She'd asked him once how this worked, and, long story short, it was an ability specific to full-fledged Shinigami, the ability to travel by and communicate through mirrors. Studying it had improved her ability to create pocket dimensions like the one in her backpack, and she had worked a couple kinks out of her spell to get home. She would not be able to replicate it, however. "Lord Death, are you there?" Maka asked as the mirror turned white.

"Ya, Ya!" Death answered as the mirror turned black with him in a blue area in the middle that was triangle-shaped, although the corners were outside of the field of view provided by the mirror. "Hi! Hello! What's up...? Thanks for coming." he said.

"Scythe Meister Maka reporting in." Maka said cheerfully.

"Yeah and Dark Arm Meister Blackstar, too." Blackstar added.

"And Tsubaki, I'm his partner." Tsubaki said.

"Unassigned Meister Tara reporting." Tara said. She didn't have a partner, so she couldn't be assigned a type. The others had given her strange looks when they found out that she didn't have a partner, especially since that meant she fought with a 'normal' sword and pistol. Of course, they didn't realize that these were not ordinary weapons anymore. Seriously, her pistol had the kind of power you'd expect from a low-end sniper rifle and her sword was unnaturally sharp and almost seemed to cut the air if she swung it as hard and fast as she could.

"Well, what did you want with us?" Soul asked.

"Right... I have a little assignment for the five of you to take on." Death said.

"Assignment?" everyone in the room besides Death asked.

"Some extra lessons." Death said. 

"Huh?! Those extra lessons that stupid people get?" Maka asked, horrified. "Those lessons?"

"Well to hell with that..." Soul said, turning to walk away. "I'm gonna be a Death Scythe! I'm way too cool for extra lessons." Soul said.

"Do you remember your duty as meisters and weapons?" Death asked.

"Yes, our duty as meisters is to feed our weapons 99 Kishin souls and one witch soul. We collect evil souls in order to keep the world at peace. We work to create a Death Scythe, a weapon of the Grim Reaper, Death." Maka said, practically copying the textbook.

"You are absolutely right! But do you know how many souls all of you have managed to collect?" Death asked. He raised his hands and formed a zero with the thumb and pointer finger of each. "Exactly zero!" he said, leaving everyone but Blackstar and Tara with their jaws dropped and noticeably paler, as if they were on the verge of fainting.

Tara was too busy frantically apologizing to be left shell-shocked, while Blackstar just laughed for some reason. This earned him a Reaper Chop, which could very well be what Maka's Maka Chop was based on, except she used a book to make up for the fact that she lacked the overly large hands that Death possessed. Though it was odd to see someone in a mirror do that... Wait how in the actual hell did that work? Could he pass part of the way through the mirror if he wanted?

"It isn't something to laugh about, Chuckles. Anyway, are you ready to learn what your extra lessons will entail?" Death asked, getting their attention squarely back on him rather than their downed and only semi-conscious friend. "Maybe you've already heard the rumors. About Sid, who taught here at the Academy until recently." Death said.

"See...? I was right. It wasn't just a story." Soul said, he and Maka still kind of out of it, along with Tsubaki. Blackstar was now surrounded by a small pool of his own blood. Tara's instincts seemed to have been spot on.

"Yeah, but a zombie? I always thought he was a really good teacher." Maka said.

"I remember learning a lot in those lessons he gave us." Tara said, starting to calm down a bit.

"You're right, when he was alive, Sid was regarded as an excellent teacher. However, when he became a zombie he changed. He has been released from the fear of death. Now he wants others to have the same freedom he does. He is attempting to train students to free themselves as well, but when a student won't listen, which is the case for every one he's contacted so far, Sid attacks. Another difficulty is the one who made Sid a zombie in the first place. We still don't know who it was, or their motive. It could be a witch, or a more lucid Kishin Egg, or perhaps even a member of the DWMA." Death explained.

Blackstar suddenly stood up like nothing happened, despite the obvious mark on his head. "Alright, leave it all to me sir! For our extra lesson we just have to eliminate these guys?" Blackstar asked.

"Yep, that's pretty much it. Now I don't want to put too much pressure on you, but if you fail to complete this mission you all be expelled." he said seriously.

"What!? You're gonna kick us out?!" everyone but Blackstar yelled.

"There's nothing to worry about, I can take care of guys like this in my sleep!" Blackstar said, trying to be reassuring in his own way.

"We're all doomed!" Tara said miserably.

"Come on! Let's go!" Blackstar said, dragging the rest of them along. 


*** 2 Hours Later ***


They were at the Hook Cemetery, where Sid had been buried. It was seemingly purposefully creepy. There were hooks everywhere, on the fence enclosing the cemetery, on the trees, there were even some on the gravestones. It took them a few minutes to find Sid's oddly shaped gravestone, which had a circular hole in the center by design, and minuses turned on their sides on either side. The top was pointed like a sword as well. It was almost like someone had designed this gravestone as weapon. 

"Come out zombie! Nap time's over!" Soul yelled.

"Hey Tsubaki, this is Sid's grave, right? Are you sure this is where we want to start looking?" Blackstar asked. "I thought zombies got up and moved around a lot." he said. He had a point. If she were a zombie, she certainly wouldn't stay near her grave if she didn't have to.

"We might as well check this place first, if only to make sure he's not here." Tsubaki answered.

"I'm not gonna let myself be expelled over some zombie! Come out already!" Soul ranted.

"Looks like an ordinary grave to me." Blackstar said.

"I never even listened to your lessons, so there!" Soul continued to rant. He began to laugh dementedly.

"Soul seems... a bit disturbed." Tsubaki commented.

Maka was drooping onto the ground next to a tree. "I can't believe I'm going to be expelled just like that. I always thought I was a great scythe meister like my mother was." she drooped lower, until only her head and arms were actually on the tree. She made a pitiful little noise.

"What's wrong with Maka?" Blackstar asked.

"Where are you, huh?! It's like you're afraid!" Soul continued to rant in the background.

"Blackstar, aren't you the least bit worried about all this?" Tsubaki asked him. Blackstar just looked confused.

"Hee hee, we'll pass even if it's over all our dead bodies." Tara said, giggling madly with more than a few hairs out of place. The functioning members of the group backed a few steps off from her.

"Where the hell are you hiding?!" Soul yelled.

"Hey Soul, let's deface Sid's grave. If that doesn't get him out here, nothing will!" Blackstar suggested.

"Yeah, and while we're at it let's insult his teaching methods too!" Soul agreed instantly.

They started yelling insults and demanding he come out. "Okay, you guys can stop now." Tsubaki said.

Maka and Tara snapped out of it, sensing hostile intent an instant before their zombified quarry burst out of the ground and grabbed Maka in the same movement. "Maka!" Soul called.

"Are you scared girl?" Sid asked, holding a knife-like branch from a tree with a metal blade attached. "I think you are." He let go as he nearly took an Enfired bullet in the arm courtesy of Tara and jumped away as a scythe was launched at him. Soul had thrown himself at Sid while transforming. Soul stuck in the ground point-down.

"That's what Sid's become?" Maka asked.

"Guess so." Soul said.

"On the bright side, he doesn't seem to have begun eating souls, so he's not that far gone at least." Tara noted, drawing her sword as well.

"Maka, Soul, Blackstar, Tsubaki, Tara, good morning, good afternoon, good night." He grabbed his gravestone, grunted from the effort, then pulled it out of the ground. "How have you been, and all that." He brandished his improvised weapon, before putting it under one arm. "I always tried to remember my manners, that's the kind of man I was." Sid said.

"Tsubaki, let's get ready to end this guy." Blackstar said.

"Right." Tsubaki responded before turning into her chain-scythe form. Her weapon form was special in that it had several different forms besides the base one.

Meanwhile, Death was using his mirror to observe them, along with his son Death the Kid, who was sitting in a yellow chair with just a touch of ornamentation that just so happened to be symmetrical. Death the Kid, usually called Kid, had black hair with three white stripes on one side. He wore a suit with a pin like the mask his father wore. He wore black shoes and utilized two Demon Pistols of identical make and model because of his OCD which he was in denial about, despite the fact that it was obvious and caused him to obsess over symmetry to the point of barely being able to function.

"So Sid..." Tara began, Enthundering her sword and causing it to crackle with electricity.

"Tell us why you're doing this." Maka said, putting one hand on Soul's weapon form and spinning him around to get him in a proper position for her stance.

"Ding-dong! Dong-Ding! Being a zombie's amazing! There's so many things I can get away with now that I could never have when I was alive. Class is in session, I always was a man who started class right with the bell, punctuality is important after all." Sid said.

"We agree on that much at least." Tara said. Sorting through what spells she could disguise as abilities of her weapons. She would only be able to use the spells that matched what she'd cloaked her weapons in. Of course, if the others were in danger, she would throw hiding her magic out of a window on the fiftieth floor onto an angry mob. 

"This'll be fun, I get to teach you a lesson now teacher." Blackstar said smirking. "Since it's coming from me, you know it'll be a big one." Blackstar said moving into a ready stance.

"We don't want to be expelled, so we'll take your extra lesson!" Soul said, his voice modulated by his weapon form. "But I gotta say that I don't know what we could learn from a decaying piece of flesh." Soul said.

"If you become a zombie, death no longer looms over you. You can escape from fear and be free!" Sid said.

"You sound like a Kishin." Tara said sadly.

"That's wrong and you know it! You were never the type of man who would say that." Maka said in an attempt to get through to him.

"You'll understand once you die!" Sid said, twirling his weapon as he jumped. He landed and was about to attack her when Tsubaki's chain wrapped around the gravestone through the hole in it's center.

"Blackstar!" Maka said in realization.

"There'll be no need to thank me for the lesson, it's on the house!" Blakcstar said as he struggled to pull the gravestone back.

"I never was the kind of man" he pulled on his gravestone and smashed it into Maka while pulling Blackstar along and into Maka. Tara kept him from following through on that with three gunshots and some swordplay. She really needed a non-lethal fighting style. Her current one was pretty much 'kill it until it dies' and they needed to disable him, not kill him. They needed him to tell them who made him a zombie.

She fell back as the others would make disabling him much easier. "I'd recommend you give up. Even three-to-one, one star meisters like you don't stand a chance of beating me." Sid said.

"I'm hungry! Can we kill this guy so I can eat his zombie soul already?!" Soul yelled.

"We have to capture him if we want to find the one who made a zombie." Tara told him.

"Sid's right, he is very strong. One star meisters like us can't compete with him. When he was alive he was designated a three star meister." Maka said.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Sid, if you keep swinging your tombstone around like that, you might break it, then what'll you fight with, your hands?" Soul asked. "If you're not careful you'll up and die again." he continued.

"It's my tombstone I can use it however I want, can't I? Anyway it's time for second period." Sid said.

"Doesn't a tombstone require an actual tomb, making that just a gravestone?" Tara asked in deadpan.

Sid ignored her question. "Ding-dong! Dong-ding! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, when this lesson is over, you're all gonna die." Sid said, adjusting his hold on his gravestone.	

"Then I guess I'm cutting class today. I think I'll go home and take a nice hot bath." Maka sent back, before launching herself at Sid, only for him to deflect her attack, and send her skidding back.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you working together?" Sid asked. "You have to establish a connection between the souls of weapon and meister!" he reprimanded.

"You're giving advice to the enemy?" Blackstar asked incredulously as he began to swing Tsubaki mid-flight.

"I've always been an enthusiastic educator!" he yelled, swinging his own weapon around, which was met by Blackstar's foot. "That's the kind of guy I was!" he said as flung Blackstar away. "And now I'll teach you how to die!" he followed Blackstar up with enough speed to render him a blur. Twilight teleported up and raised a shield and her own weapons to block as Sid performed a special move. "The Living End!" he yelled, a pink, cross-shaped explosion smashing right through her hastily-constructed shield and into her guard, most of the force was absorbed by her shield and guard, but there was enough left over for the two of them to make an imprint in the ground when they smashed into it.

"Are you guys alright?" Maka called as a dust cloud from the impact obscured them. Sid turned on her, running out of the smoke. He stopped and crouched as the dust cleared. He was originally partnered with a knife Demon Weapon, but he only needed his gravestone to fight at this level... he certainly deserved the ranking of three star meister.

"Maka! Keep him occupied for a minute! I have an idea!" Tara called.

"Ding-dong! Dong-ding! Looks like class is over, are you ready to die yet?" Sid asked. "Well, whaddya say? Aren't you afraid of dying?" Sid asked. "If you become a zombie, then you'll be free of that fear of death forever!" he said.

Blackstar groaned as he rubbed the spot he landed on. "So what's the plan?" he asked. 

"I attack Sid in tandem with Maka, and you take the opening we provide to use Trapstar to, well, trap him." Tara said, before racing out to engage Sid. She shot him in the foot, then smashed the blunt side of her sword into Sid's solar plexus. The solar plexus was one of the body's weakest points. The sheer force she used made the attack strong enough to cause internal bleeding, despite only using the blunt side of her sword. She may be one of the slower members of the EAT class, but she was one of the strongest in terms of physical strength.

"Hm, that was an impressive attack, just what you'd expect from someone with as much combat experience as Tara. Of all the students at my Academy she has the most by far, due to an unusual series of events. As such she's gained a certain knack for hitting the weak points of her enemies." Death commented.

"Well, I'm not going to sit back and let you two hog all the fighting! Besides, I'm getting tired of this guy's lectures, who'd listen to a lump of rotting flesh anyway?" Blackstar yelled as he sent Tsubaki's chain around one of Sid's arms, drew him in and struck him in the solar plexus again, compounding the damage she'd already done. "Especially when there's a big star like me around!" She supposed that the plan wasn't completely thrown out the window, but it was certainly going to be harder to give him the necessary opening with Blackstar in the midst of the fighting.

"Hm, with that kind of damage, Sid won't be able to keep fighting at full strength much longer." Death noted.

"Tsubaki, Shuriken mode!" Blackstar ordered. Tsubaki shifted from her chain-scythe form to a giant shuriken with five points, forming a star.

Tara shot Enfired bullets at Sid to keep him in the shuriken's path, but he merely blocked with his gravestone and jumped up, although it appeared that Tsubaki could influence her flight path, since the shuriken moved to intercept him. "You can't run away!" Blackstar yelled.

"Like I'd even try!" Sid said, jumping on top of the shuriken, before using it as a springboard to turn to Maka.

"Maka, he's coming!" Soul said.

"I can see him!" Maka responded, moving into a defensive stance.

"The Living End!" Sid said, the barrier Tara raised falling to the attack, which was stronger this time, as if Sid had been holding back before and increased his power, accounting for the shield this time. Sid chuckled, before noticing that Maka was unharmed because she had just barely avoided the attack, leaving Sid open to her counter-attack. 'She avoided it with such a minor margin for error?' he thought, perplexed. 

"People need fear to survive, we experience it so we can grow stronger!" Maka said, before smashing her foot into his face, her foot which was in a steel-toed combat boot.

"If she wasn't afraid in this situation, I'd call that reckless. However, Maka has the courage to fight in spite of her fear." Death said.

Maka continued the attack, smashing Sid into the ground with enough force to leave an imprint. She then used his face as a springboard  to jump past him.

"Maka... let's do what he said, see if you can match my soul's wavelength." Soul said.

"But that hasn't worked for us a single time before." Maka objected.

"So what? This is us, we can do it." Soul reassured.

Maka nodded slightly. She twirled Soul above her head, then they both cried out. "Let's go, Soul Resonance!" They screamed involuntarily as Soul's blade began to glow blue. The others paused, feeling the rising power the two were emanating. "The legendary superskill of the scythemester, Witch Hunter!" Maka said, as Soul's blade became a crescent moon-shaped blade with a toothy mouth three times it's original size. Maka started to run towards Sid, but began to lose her balance as she found herself unable to properly control the power she was currently wielding and accidentally fired it off as a blast of energy that almost hit Blackstar. Luckily he dodged in time to avoid it. It did create a small trench in the direction it went, and caused the fence where it passed through to be outright obliterated.

"Are you trying to kill us?! What the hell Maka?!" Blackstar yelled.

"Oh that's nice, this is all your fault, do it right idiot!" Maka yelled at Soul.

"What!? You've got it backwards! How is this my fault? You're the idiot!" Soul yelled back. "Getting mad at me for nothing... Die!" he jerked his blade at his Meister.

"Die!? How can you say that?!" Maka yelled at him, warding off the blade.

"Such incredible power!" Sid said awed, and slightly nervous when he realized that could easily have hit him instead.

"I wanted to do this without the superskill." the ground under Sid's feet was crushed. "I wanted to do things the simple way." Maka said as she swung her scythe at Sid while Tara fired (or at least appeared to) a trio of Fire spells from her still Enfired gun. Sid disappeared.

"Huh? He's gone." Maka said, confused.

"No, he's just hiding underground." Soul responded. Blackstar's eyes narrowed. Tara paused momentarily to reload her gun. She still preferred to do it the normal way if she wasn't in the middle of a fight, as teleportation was costly enough that a hundred or so bullets would noticeably drain her reserves. Not a lot, but conserving as much energy for later as she could would be best since they still had another fight on their hands.

"He's down there?" Maka asked.

The ground behind Maka cracked, unfortunately, Maka's body blocked it from her companions' view. Sid burst out of the ground and tried to hit Maka, only to be stopped by the combined efforts of Tara and Blackstar. Tara was blocking his gravestone with her sword, and Blackstar was holding Sid's arm back with Tsubaki's chains again. Unfortunately, Tsubaki's chains were not as secure this time, and Sid was able to slip out of them in time to dodge their counter-attacks, slipping underground.

"Damn, he dodged our attack again." Soul said.

"Now Blackstar." Tsubaki said.

"Yeah, I got it." Blackstar responded. "What Sid's doing now is using the first of the assassin's rules." he said.

"Dissolve in the darkness and erase your breath. Wait for an opening to attack your target." Tsubaki continued his speech. The three the still-human members of the group formed a triangle, leaving only a tiny blind spot directly above them and between them.

Tsubaki, let's get a headstart on this guy." Blackstar said as Tsubaki's chains encircled the them.

"Right." Tsubaki said as her chains halted.

The chains slowly crossed the ground around them like metal detectors of some kind. 'That zombie bastard's not upstaging me in this performance.' Blackstar thought.

'Blackstar's movements are different from how they normally are.' Maka noticed.

'He's finally taking this fight seriously.' Tara thought.

'Only one man's gonna die in this graveyard.' Blackstar thought, he grinned as the chains finished forming a five-point star. 'And it's not gonna be me.' he thought. "Trapstar." he said aloud. "Assassin's rule number two: Concentrate on the target... If I listen carefully I can hear his soul's Wavelength." he muttered as he used the Wavelength from the chains as a sort of soul echolocation. 'I can pick it up through Tsubaki.' he continued in his mind.

'His breathing stopped.' Maka noticed, slightly concerned as he'd never done this in front of her.

'He's just about there.' Tara thought confidently.

"And now..." Death said, leaning in.

Sid came halfway out of the ground, wielding his knife-like branch with the small piece of metal on the end. Blackstar was on him in an instant. "Trap Star activate!" he said as Tsubaki's chains encircled Sid. "I think that it's about time I sent you back to the grave... You really stink." the chains looped around Sid tightly... accidentally dragging Maka, Soul, and Tara in too. Blackstar laughed.

"What are you doing tying us up along with this guy?!" Maka, and Tara asked in unison.

"Well I wouldn't have to if you hadn't gotten in my way." Blackstar answered nonchalantly.

"Hey let us outta here!" Soul yelled at him. Blackstar just continued to laugh.

"When I'm done with you you're gonna be so dead!" Maka yelled.

"Seriously! Let us out of here!" Tara yelled at him.

"So far so good. Maybe it's time to take a break from this." Death said, turning the mirror off like a TV.

"So now they just have to find the person who made Sid into a zombie, right?" Kid asked.

"That's right." Death answered. 

Liz and Patty stood next to Kid, on his right. They were his Demon Pistols in human form. Liz was the more serious of the two, and the taller and elder sibling of the pair. Her brown hair was chest length, and like Patty, she wore a sort of cowgirl outfit. However, Liz's hat, while white like her sister's, was bent upwards in a slightly different place. Both wore red vests with white ties. Liz wore jeans, while Patty wore baggy shorts.

Patty had chin-length blonde hair, and a bubbly personality, especially compared to her more grounded sister.

"Do you know who's responsible?" Kid asked.

"..." Death said nothing, essentially confirming Kid's suspicions.

"He's no ordinary enemy is he?" Kid asked.

"You're familiar with my current weapon, Death Scythe, correct? If so, then you should also know of the meister who trained him." Death explained.

"Yeah, it was Maka's mother, wasn't it? What about her?" Kid asked.

"Actually that's not exactly right. Maka's mother was the one who made Spirit into a Death Scythe, but he had another partner before her." Death continued to explain.

"So that means... the one responsible was his first?" Kid asked.

"Yes, Dr. Franken Stein is the man behind all this. Not only was he Death Scythe's first partner, but he was also the single greatest meister to ever graduate from the academy. He's a tough one." Death answered.

Meanwhile, in a house not far from the Hook Cemetary, a man with stitches all over his body and a giant screw through his head typed at a computer while smoking a cigarette. He had grey hair, though it was natural, rather from old age, and wore a lab coat over a literal patchwork shirt and black pants. He sighed, "Can't seem to get my head on straight." He paused in his work to tighten the screw by a few turns. He pushed back on his rolling chair a bit, laying his arms behind his head. "I give up. Too tired." he said wearily.

"So this meister was your weapon Death Scythe's first partner..." Kid mused.

"And you sent a group of students to collect his soul?" Liz asked.

"He should send you big sis, you could do it!" Patty said enthusiastically.

"Only if I really felt like dying that day." Liz deadpanned. "You're overestimating me a little bit, Patty. I wouldn't last two seconds." Liz responded.

"Why are you sending students on a suicide mission for remedial lessons?" Kid asked. Death hummed. "You know what's going to happen, don't you? They'll die." Kid said with the tone of one discussing the weather.

The group found themselves outside a building with stitches and arrows all over the place. Sid had directed them here after they'd captured him... after Blackstar had let the rest of them out of Tsubaki's chains.

"So this is where we'll find Stein." Soul said, looking at the building. "Let's hurry and finish this guy off, I'm ready for these lessons to be over." Soul said. "I've gotta say, this is one of the weirder buildings I've seen. He even put zigzag stitches on his laboratory." he said, before looking down at his feet to see some kind of clockwork mouse with patches acting much like a real one would. He narrowed his eyes as it slowly moved away.

"Interesting architecture, I wonder what kind of guy this Stein is." Maka said.

"Well, he'll likely be a scientist of some kind. An analytical fighter seems likely." Tara said, pretending not to notice the nervous sweat on Maka's face. This guy was strong, they could sense his presence all the way out here without any special abilities.

Stein had been typing at his computer, while screwing in the screw, until he suddenly kicked off from his desk, causing his chair to roll back at a decent speed. They all readied themselves as they heard the sound of said chair rolling towards them after the door opened with a creak. "Something's coming out of there." Soul stated. Tara Enfired her pistol, and Enthundered her sword in preparation.

Stein, or a scientist who happened to be in the building with him, yelped as the rolling computer chair tilted over as it hit the doorstop, sending him to the ground with it. They all stared. Stein, she assumed it was him for the moment, dusted himself off, then reseated himself. "Damn it... Still doesn't feel quite right." he said, adjusting the giant screw in his head. 

'How is that even possible? That clearly goes through his brain since the other end is sticking out.' Tara wondered.

"Hmm... Maybe that'll take care of it." Stein said as he stopped turning the screw. "Okay." he said, getting up from the chair and pulling it along, giving them a view that showed even it was stitched. "I'm going to try that again. I think I know what I did wrong." he said, going back inside.

"Um... Shouldn't one of us stop him?" Soul asked.

"But we just met him. Isn't that rude?" Maka countered.

"I would, but I kind of want to know what he's gonna do next." Blackstar said.

"Me too." Tsubaki agreed.

"Ah, why not?" Tara said finally.

The exact same thing happened. Stein rolled towards them facing backwards, and fell over as his chair hit the doorstop, yelping as he did so. The group of DWMA students all had the same thought. 'Is this guy for real?'

"Was there something you kids needed me for?" Stein asked from the ground.

That comment snapped them out of it, causing them to remember why they were here in the first place. "Yeah, if you're really Dr. Stein." Soul answered.

"You did this." Maka pointed at Sid. "You're the one who turned Sid into a zombie." she said accusingly.

"Oh... so that's it... I'm guessing you guys are all students from the academy then?" Stein asked.

"Of course, you didn't think you could just undo death without Lord Death noticing eventually, did you?" Tara asked.

"Why did you do this? Do you have some sort of grudge?" Maka asked.

Stein put himself back on the chair and crossed his arms over the headrest. "No, nothing of that kind. My motive is simpler." Stein moved one arm into a ten'o clock position. "Experimentation and observation. Basically, I just wanted to see what would happen. Really that's all a true scientist cares about. And, I am a scientist." he put the arm back on the headrest. "Everything in the world is a test subject. That includes myself of course." Stein said, suddenly, his expression changed, and Tara got the strangest feeling he was looking at her soul.

"Hey, do you feel that Soul? I think that something strange is happening." Maka whispered to her partner.

"Huh? Like what?" Soul asked.

"Your souls' Wavelengths aren't very stable."  Stein stated, garnering their attention. "What's more, they're quite different from each other. I see one that is careless and arrogant, and another that is earnest and strong-willed. They appear to be in resonance, but they aren't." Stein said.

"What the hell? You mean you can see our souls, even though we're still alive?" Soul asked. "In that case, you must be a Meister." Soul deduced. 

"He was able to read the character of the souls too... Only the best Meisters can do that." Maka added.

"So what? Maka, you can see souls clearly like that too, right?" Soul asked.

"Oh... y-yes, of course I can!" Maka said a little too quickly.

"Your soul seems confused by that last statement. How cute." Stein stated.

"Shut up! Quit it! Stop looking at my soul you creep!" Maka said covering her chest with her arms.

"Yeah, shut up little doctor man... No one wants to hear you talk anymore. Hya-hoo...! How about we change the subject to a more interesting conversation topic?" Blackstar asked from the roof of Stein's lab.

"You mean like how the hell you got up there without anyone noticing?" Soul asked.

"Close, I meant me." Blackstar replied without missing a beat.

"When did he...?" Tsubaki asked, especially confused since she'd been standing right next to him and, as his partner and the one who spent the most time around him, she should've noticed.

"Who cares if you can see souls? What does that matter, huh? Not like you're gonna see anything interesting. Far as I'm concerned, the only soul worth looking at is mine!" Blackstar said, jumping down from the roof and landing in a crouch.

Stein chuckled. "Yours is an interesting one. Your soul is extremely self-centered and more than a little wild. It must be rather difficult to find a partner with a soul compatible with yours, isn't it?" Stein asked.

"No more talking." Blackstar said, before launching himself into the air, and aiming a kick at Stein, who blocked, allowing the chair to twirl, absorbing the momentum. He blocked the follow-up from Blackstar's other leg, then punched Blackstar hard enough to draw blood, sending him flying.

"Blackstar!" Tsubaki called worriedly.

"Hm? Ah yes I see it now. You must be the wild one's partner. You're always willing to compromise, and possess a very accepting nature. It makes sense that you're the one who's able to cooperate with his soul's wavelength." Stein said.

He turned to Tara. "You do not seem to have a partner, as those are not Demon Weapons. Your soul combines the earnest, hard-working aspect of the blond girl with a tendency to place the needs of others before your own like the raven-haired one, and a certain protectiveness. You're willing to get your hands dirty to protect your friends. However, there's a trace of something darker in the depths. It seems to have been restrained, much like how your soul is only functioning at roughly 40% capacity due to a cloud of self-doubt and paranoia that appears as black chains around your soul. I must say your soul's a puzzle wrapped in a riddle." Stein said, looking at her in much the same as one does a frog they're about to dissect.

"Who do you think you are old man?" Soul asked, using aggression to mask his unease. CQC was Blackstar's specialty, but this guy had all but swatted him aside.

"Now that I've collected the necessary initial data from all of you. I think we're ready to begin our experiment." Stein said, with a smile that reminded Tara of Arcana.

Soul transformed into his scythe form, and Maka grabbed him before rushing at Stein. Stein dodged her attacks with ease, even with Tara firing Enfired bullets and the occasional Fire spell at him. "You must be Scythe Meister Maka." Stein said, smashing his legs into her, while sending his chair into Blackstar's face, causing him to fall back down to the ground.

"Ow, my face!" Blackstar said, grabbing at it.

'He hasn't even gotten up from his chair until now, how much combat experience does this guy have?' Tara thought as she rushed at the rogue doctor. She was getting a weird impression, as if she was on the verge of grasping something, but not quite getting it. She didn't have Soul Perception, it was genetic as much as a technique, though her DNA was already quite different after the l'cie incident, and her soul had effectively been mutated, so something similar wasn't out of the question. 

"Hm, let's see, Scythe Meister Maka..." Stein said, adjusting his screw, while catching Tara's arm with one of his own and throwing her at the building behind him, using his own momentum against her. "Something's familiar about that name. If I could just put my finger on it..." he hit his palm with his other hand closed into a fist. "Ah! Your mother was a meister as well, and your Spirit's little daughter aren't you?" Stein asked.

"Who's Spirit?" Soul asked.

"That's what my father was called before he became a Death Scythe." Maka answered him, before raising her voice. "But I want to know how you knew about that!" she said to Stein. 

"I can still remember even now. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. He must be the deepest sleeper I've ever met too, to not wake up when I injected him with anesthetic even momentarily. So you are indeed Spirit's darling little daughter. And the daughter of the woman who ended my greatest experiment." Stein said.

"Wait, are you saying you experimented on your weapon? That's horrible!" Tara said.

"I have to wonder what kind of test subject you'd make." Stein said, ignoring her as she struggled to pull her gun out of the house and her sword out of the concrete. It would be another twenty seconds before she had them out. Her sword could slice through concrete, but she needed to build some momentum first.

Stein pushed himself towards Maka and Soul, a hand outstretched. "It's just a tap, we can block it." Soul said.

"Okay." Maka agreed, tightening her grip.

Stein smashed into Soul hard enough to create a small shockwave, but Maka held firm, the tell-tale sparks from a Soul Force attack appeared, however, and she was knocked her back.

"What... What did he...?" Maka asked.

"What  the hell did he do to me?" Soul asked.

"He seems to be able to attack with his wavelength directly, without a weapon to enhance it, of course, he won't be able to reach his full power without a weapon of some kind. Still, don't let him hit you with that too many times. Soul Force can deal internal damage to a human, but it's real purpose it to disrupt a person's wavelength and weaken soul-based abilities." Tara explained, walking over to the pair with a wary eye on Stein.

"I don't believe this..." Kid began, apparently Death had decided to watch the fight. "Sure, Demon Weapons have valuable physical attack properties, but their primary purpose is to magnify their meister's soul wavelength since they normally can't channel it on their own. But that man, he can attack with his soul directly, without the need of a weapon to access his power." Kid said, a note of wonder in his voice. Soul Force was a rare ability, usually five or fewer in a generation could use it's completed form.

"Yup. The relationship between a meister and their weapon partner is comparable to the one between a guitar and an amplifier. On it's own, an electric guitar is only capable of emitting so much noise. However, if you hook it up to an amplifier, you enhance the sound waves, and the result is much more powerful than before." Death explained.

"Witch Hunter. The technique Maka used in the battle with Sid is a perfect example of this. Even if she did fail with it in the end. But in 
Stein's case, he can use the guitar to make a huge noise without an amplifier, to continue the metaphor." Death explained.

"That's incredible. I can only imagine how strong he must be when he does use a weapon." Kid said as they watched Stein stand and push the chair away.

"Let's see here, now how shall I begin my experiment?" Stein said, moving his pointer and index finger like scissors. 

Maka suddenly stiffened. "What's wrong Maka? Chill out. Your soul waves are completely chaotic!" Soul said. Tara stiffened as well when she turned to Stein, she'd just unlocked Soul Perception it seemed, and what she was facing said they were quite doomed if she didn't start using third-tier spells on this guy. His soul was easily three times as powerful as Maka and Soul's put together.

Maka yelled as she rushed at Stein, only to get a Soul Force attack that knocked Soul out of her grasp as he said, "That was a dumb move!" Stein grabbed Maka by one of her pigtails and lifted her up so that her feet barely touched the ground. Soul turned back to human and groaned out "Maka." from the ground, apparently still recovering from the injury.

Stein lifted Maka's shirt up to reveal her stomach. "Ah, you have lovely skin. Simply lovely." he took a marker out of his pocket. "Where do you think I should insert the knife first?" he asked before he started to draw on her stomach. "Let's see if I can turn your smooth skin into sandpaper."

Tara couldn't shoot her gun or a spell for risk of hitting Maka, nor could she use her sword as it would take too long to get it out of the cement if he redirected her again. She put her weapons down as quietly as she she could, then rushed at him to use Soul Force.

"You're about to need a new pair of glasses, bastard!" Blackstar said running at him from behind while Tara rushed at Stein from the front. "How could you already have forgotten that I'm here?" Blackstar asked.

"Easily." Stein said disinterestedly.

"You're not the only one who can attack with soul waves without a weapon!" Blackstar said as his hand sparked blue.

"Your talent isn't even that rare." Tara said, her own hand sparking purple.

"What?" Stein asked, momentarily surprised. That moment was all they needed. The two students stopped on one foot, pivoting to throw their entire body's momentum behind the strike, and smashed their hands into Stein. The chest for Twilight, and the back for Blackstar. This caused three things to occur simultaneously. A blue wave of soul energy, intermingling with a purple one, swept out from Stein. Stein was forced to let go of Maka, who was flung away.

"Amazing!" Soul said, still struggling to stand.

"They can both do that too?" Kid asked.

"He may appear to be a child, but Blackstar's soul wavelength is incredibly large, and for his age, he's a genius at using the direct soul attack against an opponent. Tara is similarly gifted." Death explained. "Still, it won't do them much good against Stein." Death said ominously.

Sure enough, Stein remained standing, almost unharmed. Blackstar backed off a few steps, as did Tara. "Those attacks should have done a lot more damage." Tara said worriedly.

"A surprise indeed. The wild one and the one without a partner can use Soul Force. I suppose that it makes sense for the latter, but both at once is unexpected." Stein noted.

"What the hell is going on?" Soul asked. "This is useless."

"You deflected my soul attack." Blackstar said.

"Yes, you may remember how I checked your soul data just before the fight began? When I did that, I familiarized myself with your soul's wavelength. Now I can adjust mine so they match. When the wavelengths are the same they cancel each other out, so your attack is powerless. You see, in the exact moment you attacked, we temporarily bonded. Much like the connection between a meister and their weapon. It's impossible to match two different wavelengths at once, so I merely matched yours, and let your attack take the brunt of your friend's." Stein said. 

Tara gaped. That was terrifying! He could completely get around Soul Force!

"A human can actually accomplish all that?" Kid asked.

"It's only possible if the person in question has an extremely flexible wavelength. Stein does. That's one of the reasons that he is so difficult to defeat in a fight." Death explained.

"That experiment was fun, but now it's my turn." Stein said, before almost casually smashing a Soul Force attack in Tara's face and sending her flying, then rushing at Blackstar. He grinned an instant before he used both hands to channel his wavelength at Blackstar, causing Blackstar to scream.

"Blackstar!" Tsubaki screamed. Stein kept on smiling as he continued to hit Blackstar with his wavelength.

"Leave him alone!" Soul yelled. Stein ignored him.

Tara fired a shot at Stein, but missed since she was still dizzy from hitting the nearby wall. Stein finally stopped, and Blackstar fell to the ground, blood trailing from his mouth and eyes, and a fair amount from his head when he hit the ground.

Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, and Tara called out, "Blackstar!"

"This is too much for them to handle. They need help. Let's go." Kid said.

"Okay, sure." Liz agreed.

"Let's go!" Patty said childishly.

"Kid, you can't gt involved. This is a test for them to complete on their own. Besides, you're a Grim Reaper, you aren't a student here." Death said.

"Alright. Then in that case, consider me enrolled as of this moment. Dad, I would appreciate it if you would register me for classes." Kid responded. "Liz, Patty." Kid addressed them.

"Yes, Kid." they said at the same time.

"Hey! All of you! Come back here!" Death called.

Soul had moved over and examined Blackstar. "What did he do?" Soul asked.

"Tsubaki, you know that I was never a man to run away, but you shouldn't fight an unwinnable battle. You should go." Sid said.

"Damn you Stein! You won't get away with this. I'll kill you!" Soul moved over to Maka. "Right, let's go and get him, Maka." Soul said.

Maka was staring at Stein with wide eyes. "No way." she said, slumping to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Soul asked.

"This is impossible." Maka said.

"Hm, the little girl can see my soul, huh?" Stein muttered.

"We can't, the difference in power is too great." Maka said.

"Hey, come on, what's wrong with you Maka?" Soul asked.

"I can't... he'll defeat me." Maka said.

"What's the matter with you Maka? Why are you just sitting there?! Get up!" Soul told her, putting an arm on her shoulder.

"She must be able to see his soul." Tara said, walking over. The dizziness had faded, and cold rage was putting her mind to order.

"You wouldn't be acting so tough if you could see the shape of his soul like I can!" Maka said, proving Tara right. She readied her 
weapons, which she'd had to retrieve after she recovered, in case Stein made a move, but for the moment, he simply stood there, his grin still present from blasting Blackstar.

"You're wrong! I wouldn't care, Maka! All you saw was a single soul, right? You didn't see your future. You can't give up before you even 
fight!" Soul shook Maka a bit. "You're supposed to turn me into the greatest Death Scythe ever! You don't want that idiot father of yours to outshine us, do you? Look up and listen to me! Do you hear me Maka? I'm talking to you!" Soul yelled. Maka raised her head.

Soul smirked. "Okay. Now look over there and tell me what you see. He's been standing there waiting patiently for you to finish your temper tantrum. Isn't that nice of the good Doctor Stein?" Soul asked.

"Come on, if we die, we die cool." Soul said.

"Sorry about that, I'm better now." Maka apologized, smiling as she stood.

"No problem." Soul said.

"I've taken down opponents stronger than me before. If you don't mind some help, I'm happy to offer." Tara said, grinning.

"Keep him in one spot so we can hit him with Witch Hunter."  Maka said. Tara nodded. She moved into the path Stein and Maka would 
have to take to reach each other.

"Now let's try this again." Maka said.

"Let's go, Soul Resonance!" Maka and Soul said in unison. Stein simply stood in one spot, under Tara's watchful eye.

'The resonance of the souls. Meister and Weapon harmonize, the meister passes the soul waves to the Weapon, the Weapon then 
magnifies the waves and passes them back. They repeat this process until they create a soul wave greater than the sum of it's parts.' Stein thought, watching them.

Maka and Soul screamed involuntarily as they began to glow blue. "Let's keep this up until we reach our limit!" Soul said.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Maka agreed.

'I'm impressed, she can use Witch Hunter at such a young age.' Stein thought. "You're putting everything into one hit?" he asked 
aloud. "Come on! Let's see how much your souls can handle!" Stein challenged.

"The legendary superskill of the Scythemeister," Tara got out of the way, as it was clear that Stein was not going to doge. "Witch Hunter!" Maka yelled, before swinging Soul at Stein from the ground up at him. Stein caught it with his bare hands.

Maka screamed involuntarily as she put her all into the attack. "You can control the Witch Hunter too." Stein noted as his glasses 
cracked, repelling the force with his own wavelength. "But I'm afraid your skills are too rough!" Witch Hunter shattered. Maka was left sparking with Stein's yellow wavelength as Maka and Soul were sent flying away from each other.

Stein started forward, until Tara got in his way. "You'll have to go through me first." she said, then ducked under a Soul Force attack, but was hit by the other, only for nothing to happen. "Funny thing, the idea to cancel attacks like this has occurred to me, but this is the first time I knew my opponents wavelength well enough to do it.

'Her soul is flexible enough to do this?' Stein wondered.

"I've unlocked Soul Perception as well, while it's not as advanced as yours getting hit by your wavelength directly supplied what else I needed to know, I know it well enough to match it now." Tara explained, trying to buy time for Maka and Soul to recover.

"I see, she's just delaying Stein, rather than seeking to defeat him. While it's impressive that she managed that trick, she really should have gone on the offensive, Stein's nothing if not adaptable." Death said.

"I see," she dodged one Soul Force, only for another to smash into her stomach, affecting her this time, and then a dual Soul Force to smash into her chest. "then I'll just have to adjust my wavelength so it's different from what you know." Stein said as that second attack sent her flying. Her soul wavelength was too disrupted for her to cast magic right now, and she could barely move, let alone stand and fight. Stein continued to Maka unopposed. Tsubaki was holding Blackstar, and couldn't fight effectively without a meister and keeping Sid chained up anyway. 

"You managed to remain conscious." Stein noted, dully impressed. A blue light streaked over Maka, and resolved into Soul, who resorted to using his body to shield his meister.

"Back off. I won't let you touch my meister." Soul said.

Stein raised a hand. "In that case, I'll start with you." Soul growled as Stein moved his hand to Soul's head. "You earned a passing grade, good job." Stein said.

"Huh?" Tara, Maka, and Soul asked at the same time, completely confused.

"Your extra lessons have been completed." Stein said, removing his hand from Soul's head. "You gave up your own body to protect your meister, that's all you need to earn a pass from me." Stein said, smiling.

"Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear the first time, I'll say it again. Huh?" Soul asked.

"Oh. This was all planned out by Lord Death. He asked me to do him a favor. He wanted me to help you wanted me with these extra lessons." Stein explained.

"But if you were in on it, why did you kill Blackstar?!" Soul asked pointing, only to see Blackstar being supported by Tsubaki, but sitting up.

"I bet you think you're a funny guy, huh? As if I'd die from an attack like that!" Blackstar said weakly.

"He's still alive?" Soul asked.

"Are you even human? That would have killed a normal person!" Tara asked, dumbfounded. Did he have Demon Weapon ancestry? Come to think of it, she didn't know much about Blackstar or Tsubaki's families. She knew what they'd done in Blackstar's case, but she didn't even know his mother's name.

"Yeah! And what about Sid the zombie?" Soul asked.

"Oh, right, sorry about all this. I was never the kind of man to tell a lie back when I was alive, but a lot of things have changed since then." Sid said sheepishly.

"Oh, you don't say. Then what the hell was the point of all this, to see if you could scare us to death?!" Soul asked angrily.

"Seriously?" Maka asked, she'd thought she and Soul were going to die!

"Look on the bright side, Maka can see souls now, and you two can actually use Witch Hunter too." Tara said. "You also didn't get hit with his wavelength three times in quick succession." she added, struggling to rise from the ground even after a couple Cure spells. "I swear I'm not making Lord Death tea tomorrow." she added bitterly.

Death chuckled. "You're better now than before aren't you? Too bad about the tea though, she's quite good at making it." Death said.

"It was just a test, but I confess it was fun scaring you kids like that! You should have seen your faces!" Stein laughed heartily.

Maka, Soul, and Tara all had the same thought in reaction to that. 'This man is seriously sadistic.'

Stein got back on his chair, spun around on it at speeds that would make you dizzy just watching, then abruptly came to a halt. "Hey everyone, I'm sure you're all tired. Why don't you spend the night in my laboratory. 

Everyone under 18 except Tsubaki said, "That's a big fat no!" in unison.


*** The Next Day: First Period At School. ***


"I'm still worn out from last night." Soul said.

"I dreamt Stein was using me in his experiments." Maka moaned.

"I don't even want to talk about my dreams." Tara said, sitting next to Maka. She usually didn't want to talk about her dreams, but tonight's had been worse than usual. She hadn't even been able to get her usual 6 hours of sleep. She was really glad her body had adjusted thanks to her lingering changes from her l'cie powers. She wouldn't be able to function if it hadn't.

"Tsubaki, was Stein a bigger star than me yesterday?!" Blackstar asked, horrified by the thought.

"Seriously?" Tsubaki asked. Even she had a limit to how much of that she'd put up with.

"I wonder if they've hired a new teacher to replace Sid yet. Hey maybe your father will be our new teacher." Soul said.

"No, anyone but him!" Maka groaned. Huh, that was weird, that rolling sound seemed famil- Oh Death, no.

Stein's chair fell over the doorstop, skidded into the room with him on it, and stopped roughly five feet from where the teacher's desk was. "Alright class, are we ready to get started?" he asked opening his book and speaking as nonchalantly as if he were at the desk, despite the fact that almost every student in the class was staring at him open-mouthed.

"This isn't even funny." Soul spoke as if he had a stomachache.

"This might be the first time... I've actually wanted to see my father." Maka said, horrified. Considering how low Maka's opinion was of her father, that spoke volumes of how she felt about this situation.

"What possessed Lord Death to make him our teacher?!" Tara asked.

"Damn, that guy sure knows how to get attention." Blackstar said bitterly.

"We're gonna start by dissecting some frogs. It should be pretty exciting." Stein said as he adjusted his screw.
> Death The Kid, Or, You Have OCD Too?!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Death the Kid began the day as usual. The toilet paper was folded neatly into a triangle, every picture frame was aligned exactly parallel to the ground, and the candles had all been burned down to the same height as the ones on those opposite them. "Absolutely perfect." Kid commented contentedly. 

"Balance between the two sides. Perfect symmetry. That is the most important thing in this world. Now it's off to school." he said, walking out his front door. His mansion was quite possibly the most symmetrical building on the planet, except perhaps the DWMA building.

"Liz! Patty!" he called. The two of them were already outside, having been waiting for him. 

"Now you're in a big hurry? Why bother going if we're already 3 hours late?" Liz asked.


*** At The Crescent Moon Schoolroom ***


"Alright class, I've got something interesting planned for today. We're doing another dissection lab." Stein said.

"Excuse me Mr. Stein, if I could point something out? Ever since you became our teacher, we haven't done anything but dissect animals every day." Maka half-complained. Tara had suppressed the madness-induced urges seeing things get dissected brought on by doing her best to read the textbooks over watching the dissection. She hoped the Madness was creating her urge to join in, rather than merely exaggerating an existing desire.

"Oh? But you see Maka, today is going to be different. Today's subject is almost unimaginably more interesting than a mouse or a frog." Stein responded, prompting questioning looks from the students. "Are you ready for it? Today we'll be poking around inside of this little guy here." he gestured to a white bird with a red face in a cage next to him. "It's a very rare species of cuckoo. I believe it's endangered." he said calmly but with a slightly gleeful smile.

As one might expect, the class responded almost as one with a resounding "Dissect an endangered species?!" Tara caught herself considering the pros and cons of the act for a moment, before crushing the thought down into the murky depths of her mind. "Um, isn't that illegal?" she asked.

"Yeah, I don't think we can dissect that. An endangered species is really rare and almost extinct pretty much by definition." Maka said.

This, unfortunately, only seemed to encourage Stein. His face was partially covered by shadows. "All the more reason to dissect this one before the whole species dies out." he said, his dark glee rising. The bird was immediately nervous, and rightly so.

"H-He's seriously crazy. He must be insane." Maka said, freaking out a bit.

"He's even crazier than I am!" Tara said, almost as freaked out as Maka. She was well-aware that the Madness Wavelength was slowly eating away at her sanity, but she was nowhere near this bad! Was she going to end up like that? 

Maka snapped out of it after noticing a downcast Tsubaki to her right. "Hm? Maka? Tsubaki? Why don't I see Soul or Blackstar up there with you?" Stein asked, curious. Tara would also admit to a polite interest. "Are they planning to come to class today?" he asked.

"They're probably skipping." Maka answered. "Again." she added more quietly.

"Knowing those two, they're probably going to fight someone or eating. Possibly both." Tara added, not missing the sad look on Tsubaki's face.

"Those two idiots are hopeless." Maka said quietly. 

"Well, they are the only boys out of the five of us. There are some things guys don't feel comfortable doing/talking about with girls." Tara commented.

"Geez, if they want to get together so much, maybe they should just be partners." Maka said sarcastically. "Huh, what do you guys think?" Maka asked.

Tsubaki grabbed Maka by the shirt and started shaking her. "No! That would never happen! Do you hear me?! Never! Never! Never!" she denied vehemently as Maka's face took on a bland expression.

"Uh, Tsubaki? Maka was being sarcastic." Tara said, becoming concerned that Tsubaki knew something they didn't and it was tearing apart her peace of mind. Also, Maka seemed to be having trouble breathing while being thrown around like a ragdoll.

"Then I guess they'll be missing out on the excitement." Stein said, his chair slowly rolling across the floor as he became serious. "I'm sure you're all aware by now that there's a new student coming today, Though he's running a bit late." Stein noted. 

Tara had not, in fact, heard that. "Huh, and I can usually put together what's been going on from the classroom gossip." she blinked. "Wait... they're three hours tardy on their first day?" Tara asked. Was he alright? Ten minutes would not be unusual. The school was a labyrinth and new-comers could easily get lost. Three hours was a different story.


*** Meanwhile At The Entrance To The DWMA ***


"Yaaaah! Listen up! There's someone who needs to be assassinated by the great Blackstar! Right here! Right now, at Death's Weapon and Meister Academy, one rumor stands above the rest! The son of Lord Death himself has enrolled! Everyone's talking about the new kid instead of me. I'll have to kill him!" Blackstar announced/monologued loudly.

"Clearly, I guess it's a good thing you've got your priorities straight." Soul deadpanned with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"When the hell is that damn kid getting here anyway!? I've been waiting here for 3 hours!" Blackstar ranted. Though he had a point.

Meanwhile, several flights down the stairs to the DWMA, Liz, Patty, and Kid were almost at the building in question. "Well look at us now, raised on the streets but here we are about to start at the academy. We've come a long way huh Patty?" Liz asked her sister.

"Yeah! It's gonna be so freaking awesome!" Patty responded excitedly.

As they started up the last flight of stairs, Kid commented on the school. "Have you ever seen such a beautiful building? My father's school is magnificent! Perfectly balanced. Perfectly symmetrical."

As they finally reached the top of the stairs, they encountered Soul laying against the pillars. "Hey. Are you the new kid we've been hearing so much about?" he asked the trio.

"Yes, this is my first day. Are you here to show me around?" Kid asked.

Soul chuckled. "You showed up 3 hours late and you think I'm here to show you around? If you'd been here at 7 like you were supposed to you could've looked around yourself." he countered.

"What's that? Did you say 7?" Kid asked coldly, before having a minor freak-out. "It can't be 7! Change it to 8 dammit! 8 is better!" he yelled. Soul's expression could be best described as 'What the hell is this guy talking about?' "It isn't physically possible to cut the number 7 in half symmetrically! That's why 8 is better! With 8, it doesn't matter if you cut it vertically or horizontally or even diagonally, it's perfectly symmetrical!" Kid said, backing his statement up with some... odd logic.

"Take it back. Please, I'm begging you! Just say 8! Please!" Kid groveled.

"Uh, dude, is there something wrong with you?" Soul asked, he'd seen Tara have a few OCD episodes when she found a heavily disorganized bookshelf or room in general, but never anything this bad.

Patty simply laughed at the display, while Liz responded. "Yes. He's completely insane."

Blackstar had somehow gotten onto one of the 3 giant red spikes sprouting from the academy building. "Yahoo! Nobody's gonna be taking attention away from me!" the rest of Blackstar's rant was drowned out by Liz.

"What is that? A monkey?" she asked. "Yeah, it's definitely a monkey." she decided. "Look up there Kid. That thing is yelling something at you... I think. Not sure what though." Liz said. Kid looked up with a slight groan.

Blackstar continued to rant, and somehow broke the end of the spike he was on, causing both himself and a few feet of the spike to fall. Kid was horrified, the symmetry was ruined! Blackstar landed in a crouch and was miraculously unharmed. "Face it Kid, I'm much too big a guy for you to handle and you know it. See how the very ground shakes beneath my feet?" he asked.

"Look what you did, it's not symmetrical anymore you jerk!" Kid growled angrily.

"Ugh, nice. Now you've done it." Liz groaned in exasperation. Patty 'Oooohhhh'ed.

"Are you ready for this? I'm gonna give you a taste of my Blackstar assassin's skills!" Blackstar said, hopping in place.

"It's not an assassination anymore if you've been seen, idiot." Soul commented.

"You are a disgusting pig!" Kid said, throwing the other two boys for a loop momentarily. "Are you so willing to risk the loss of your soul that you'd pick a fight with a Grim Reaper? Liz, Patty, weapon forms." he ordered.

"Riiiiiight!" Patty saluted cheerfully.

"We've done nothing but fight since we got off the streets, I could use a break." Liz commented a moment before the sisters turned into a pair of twin pistols in a burst of pink light.

"If you want a fight, come and get it! Come on Soul!" Blackstar yelled.

"You're the one who wants to pick a fight Blackstar, not me. That being said, I'll play along this time. I'll warn you just once new guy, if we do this you'll 
lose." Soul said quietly as Kid eyed them warily.

"Damn straight! We're going to make one badass team together!" Blackstar exclaimed, before becoming serious. 'He's got to have some guts to try and outshine me of all people.' he thought.

'We'll have to be careful, this guy was strong enough to defeat Anubis.' Soul thought.

'These 2 punks might not be perfect, but they were able to fend off Stein's attacks and even defeat Sid. I can't let my guard down.' Kid thought. "Let's go." he whispered, then pointed a pistol at each of them. He opened with a hail of gunfire.


*** Back In The Crescent Moon Classroom ***


Maka and Tsubaki sighed wearily, before looking around in confusion as gunfire became audible. "Sounds like a hand-pistol, maybe two." Tara noted.

"Professor Stein, it's Soul and Blackstar. They're fighting someone outside." a random classmate who's name Tara did not know said. This immediately made Maka and Tsubaki concerned for their partners, and Tara because of it being her friends, and there was a good chance they were fighting the new student who was supposed to be Lord Death's son. Reapers were very powerful, and they were in serious danger if that was the case.

'Soul, you idiot, what is it now?' Maka thought before standing. "Excuse me Professor Stein, there's a rule about students dueling on campus. It states that in order for the duel to continue a teacher must be there to witness it." Maka said.

"See? It's right here on page 3 about halfway down." Tara said, pointing to it in the rule book she'd pulled from her bag. She'd memorized the book, as had Maka. For some reason, this tended to throw people for a loop.

Stein had by this point strapped the bird down and removed the feathers on it's chest in preparation for cutting it open. He was actually about 10 seconds from cutting into his unfortunate victim when he was interrupted. "I hate to stop here, but it can't be helped." he said, sticking his pair of knives into the table near the bird's head and feet, causing it to tense then visibly relax. He began to move to his chair. "We'll have to postpone the dissection for now. As Soul and Blackstar's partners, I would like Maka and Tsubaki to come with me. Tara as well to help break up the fight if need be since she is one of the only people who can use Soul Force besides myself. Everyone else, study something until we get back." he said, beginning to roll towards the DWMA's entrance.


*** Meanwhile At The Entrance To The DWMA ***


Soul and Blackstar dodged the first volley of pink shots. "We can't even get close to the guy!" Blackstar said in aggravation.

"What was that? You're looking for a more up-close and personal fight? Fine by me!" Kid jumped the moment he finished speaking, and ax-kicked at Blackstar on his way down, which Blackstar blocked with crossed arms. 

Soul rushed at him from behind as Kid landed fully, one arm transformed into a scythe. Demon Weapons did not have to transform completely, but were only able to wield themselves so well under most circumstances. Meisters were not the only ones who benefited from partnerships. As Soul slashed down at Kid, he was blocked by one of the twin pistols. "Dammit!" Soul cursed. Kid moved the other pistol to Soul's chest.

"What the hell?!" Blackstar exclaimed. Kid fired, leaving Soul lying on the ground for a moment.

Then he started to writhe around, screaming bloody murder. "Oh God that hurts! What the hell kind of guns are those!?" Soul yelled.

Patty giggled. "Did you think a pair of normal pistols would be enough for a Grim Reaper? We're not normal guns that shoot bullets. We shoot a compressed version of our Meister's soul wavelength when fired." Liz explained.

'Dammit!' Soul thought.

'How dare he go easy on us!' Blackstar thought.

It was at this point that Stein and the girls arrived. "Oh my, they probably shouldn't have picked a fight with this opponent." he noted.

"Dr. Stein, is that the boy? The one with the guns, is he the one we've been hearing about?" Maka asked. 

"Well, he's wearing a pin of Lord Death's mask, but that's not exactly rare around here." Tara commented. Death wasn't held in the same regard as, say, God, but he was a highly influential figure. He literally had his own line of merchandise.

Stein nodded. "Death the Kid, son of Lord Death himself. It was his own decision to attend, but he won't be a normal student. On a one-on-one basis, his abilities are far greater than anyone else's here." Stein expanded.

Tsubaki looked most concerned by the fight unfolding before them. She sighed. "Tsubaki? Is something wrong?" Maka asked.

"You've been a little off today." Tara commented with some concern.

"Oh no, it's nothing." Tsubaki answered, though the expression on her face was one she was told she used whenever she had a problem she didn't want to bother anyone with.

"My dear soul-seeing young Meisters, can I borrow you both for a moment?" Stein asked.

"Uh, yeah?" they both responded nervously. Tara was pretty sure he got a kick out of being creepy whether or not he freaked anyone out. 

"I have a special lesson in mind for you both today." Stein said.

"Which would be what... exactly?" Tara asked.

"No need to be nervous. All I'm going to do is ask you a simple question. Watch the duel closely. Pay close attention to the souls of Kid and the two Demon Pistols as they fight. Pay especially close attention to their wavelengths." Stein said.

Meanwhile, Blackstar jumped up and lashed out at Kid with a powerful kick. Kid dodged backwards towards a charging Soul with his arm once again transformed into a blade, which he used to block Kid's shots, but was unable to continue the attack.

The two girls activated their Soul Perception, or whatever it was that Tara had which was similar, and concentrated because they were still unused to it enough that they couldn't keep it active subconsciously.

"Well, this is unusual." Tara commented. From what she'd seen, her Soul Perception was not as advanced as Stein's or even Maka's, but she was able to tell that the three of them, despite their differing personalities, were well-synced.

"Yeah, usually matching three different wavelengths to each other is almost impossible, but their connection is strong and very stable." Maka said.

"The weapons also seem to... respect him? I can't get a good enough read to be sure, but that doesn't seem right." Tara added.

"No, that's not it. Admiration's a better word." Maka corrected, somewhat surprised that she was able to discern the nature of what she was seeing that much better than her blue-haired counterpart.

"A good effort, and a good observation. Those two weapons are siblings and are known as the Thompson sisters. Their lives were much harder before they met him, as they lived on the streets. It's natural that they would admire him. Kid benefits as well. 

It's a good influence on him to be around such different people. Their laid-back attitudes help keep him calm and fend off the worst of his neurotic tendencies." Stein explained.

"Plus their teamwork is phenomenally better than those two." Tara commented as Blackstar and Soul more-or-less dodged all of Kid's shots, but failed to even try to make a plan or attack together.

"They do make a really good team." Maka agreed.

"Don't they." Stein agreed.

"Our two idiots don't even compare." Maka said with annoyance at her partner and friend's antics.

Soul and Blackstar finally got together. "Alright Soul, let's hurry up and finish this guy off." Blackstar said.

"It's about time." Soul said with a smirk.

"For what?" Kid asked.

"You should quake with fear of your impending death!" Blackstar exclaimed.

"You know who you're talking to right? I am literally Death's son. That jibe was so lame it makes me want to laugh." Kid sent back.

"You won't be laughing when you taste our power of friendship!" Blackstar shot back.

"That's right, it'll blow you away. The power is beyond belief." Soul said confidently.

"What?" Kid asked, warier than ever.

"Let's do it." Soul said calmly, but confidently. "Transform!" Soul called out, doing some faintly ridiculous poses before becoming his scythe form in a flash of blue light, before disappearing above them.

"How did he even get that high?" Tara asked. 

Kid was awed. "That's so cool!" Patty exclaimed.

"I don't think they're taking this very seriously." Liz commented in an 'Ugh, again?' sort of tone.

"Come on Soul!" Blackstar called as Soul came back down and he reached his hands up. Unfortunately, when Soul came to earth, he landed with his handle next to Blackstar and his blade on Blackstar's head. This split one of his hair-spikes and caused him to scream as blood spurted from his head.

"Why the hell did you catch me with your head, moron?!" Soul yelled.

"I don't know!" Blackstar responded.

Tara facepalmed. "Everyone who just saw that is now dumber for it." she sighed. 

"Do it right this time idiot!" Soul yelled. 

Blackstar tried to lift Soul, but failed. He strained as if trying to lift a truck, but Soul's scythe didn't budge. "You're freaking heavy! I can't pick you up!" he grunted as he continued to fail to budge Soul.

"What are you talking about? I'm not heavy. Maka swings me around without breaking a sweat." Soul said, genuinely confused, as Blackstar reopened his 
head wound. It was very simple actually, Demon Weapons caused several things to happen depending on how poorly their would-be Meister resonated with their soul. It ranged from light burning, to, as seen before them, the weapon being impossible to pick up in the first place.

"Blackstar and Soul are definitely lacking in the compatible wavelength department." Maka commented.

"So it seems." Stein said, slightly amused by the spectacle in front of him.

"Their personalities simply don't mesh well. You might argue with Soul a lot Maka, but you're there for each other when push comes to shove. Similarly, Tsubaki is probably the only one who could consistently tolerate Blackstar's God complex. Thus, those 2 can't resonate very well." Tara commented, completely missing the slightest of blushes on Maka and Tsubaki's faces, which rapidly faded.

"I'm just trying to lift you up!" Blackstar said through gritted teeth, before pushing some of his wavelength into Soul, causing him to untransform his head and choke out some blood.

"Why the hell are you hitting me with your Soul Wavelength?! That hurts you idiot!" Soul yelled angrily.

"Oh. My bad." Blackstar apologized. Tsubaki simply stared open-mouthed.

"I would have been very surprised if that actually worked." Tara said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"It's almost hard to watch. These idiots can't even seem to sense each other's wavelengths." Maka observed dryly.

"Whenever a Meister and his/her weapon fight together, they need to adjust their wavelengths so that they match. Otherwise, well, the show in front of us is a good example." Stein explained.

Soul turned away from Blackstar. "Blackstar it's over between us." he said.

"What exactly are you saying Soul?" Blackstar asked.

"If we try to stay together like this, I'll only end up hating you." Soul explained, slightly choked up."It's for the best." he added.

"Huh?" Maka asked. Tsubaki, Maka, and even Stein had similar confused expressions on their faces.

"...Is he crying?" Tara asked.

"So can I shoot them yet?" Kid asked, deciding not to question what just happened.

"Let's wait. I haven't seen any good soap operas recently, and this is just starting to get good." Liz answered.

"Oh. I understand, but even though it's over, would it be okay if we stayed friend?" Blackstar asked, surprisingly bashfully.

"You idiot! Of course we're still friends! We'll be friends forever!" Soul responded, running towards Blackstar in slow-motion.

This was followed by a somewhat odd volleyball of saying each other's names. "These two definitely need professional help." Maka deadpanned as they finally reached and hugged each other.

Kid finally shot them, sending them flying a few feet. "Oops, sorry, my fingers slipped." he apologized. He did not sound all together very sincere.

"Dude! You completely ruined the moment!" Tara called. She had a relatively higher tolerance for corniness than the others.

"We can't just quit in the middle of a fight!" Soul said determinedly as he got back up.

"Right! We're not giving up 'til we beat him!" Blackstar proclaimed.

"Okay. We'll see how well that goes." Kid responded.

Soul and Blackstar rushed at Kid again, yelling involuntarily. Soul's arm transformed into a blade once again. "Let's see how you handle my Soul Wave attack!" Blackstar said, one hand crackling with yellow soul energy. He tried to hit Kid with a direct Soul Force, but Kid dodged and kicked Blackstar's legs out from under him before knocking him upwards.

"Martial arts is Blackstar's specialty, but Kid is just playing with him!" Maka observed with some awe.

"Reapers have above-average strength and speed, and being Lord Death's son and a Meister, we have to assume he's had at least some training. You can overcome superior speed and strength with skill, but the opposite is also true." Tara explained.

"And the way he's been fighting today, Soul doesn't stand a chance either." Maka added, slightly worried.

Soul slashed at Kid with his transformed arm, only for Kid to block him and send him flying. "You're as slow as you are stupid." he commented.

"You're going down!" Blackstar called, rushing at Kid again as Soul tried another rush. Kid shot them both almost point-blank, but was unprepared to have a gray piece of cloth wrap around one leg, courtesy of Blackstar. Blackstar smirked. "You idiot, you fell for it!" Blackstar said as he pulled Kid's legs out from under him, and to the ground.

"Gotcha!" Soul called as he transformed in mid-air and landed less than an inch from doing serious harm to Kid, though he did cut off a few wisps of hair. Kid backed off, pulling Blackstar face-first into Soul's blade and causing him to let go of his impromptu rope.

"Okay. Now I really want to kill that guy." Blackstar said weakly.

"Our partners are pretty useless huh?" Maka commented. 

"Thus, we see how I can manage to perform well enough to defeat Kishin Eggs on missions without a partner." Tara said. That was about as melodramatic as she got... when not freaking out from a lack of organization.

"And now it's time... to see the power of a Grim Reaper." Kid said. Dust was forced away and circled Kid. He, Liz, and Patty, said in unison "Let's go Soul Resonance!" Prompting a powerful soul to manifest visibly to those with Soul Perception. It was roughly the size of Stein's last night, only instead of a giant yellow orb with a screw and glasses, this one was blue with three white lines on it's left side.

"Are their souls... expanding?" Maka asked, confused.

"Now they're showing off their full strength." Stein commented.

"Well those two are officially doomed." Tara said as the Soul Resonance caused Kid and his weapons to nearly triple in strength.

"Okay! Let's do this!" Soul egged their opponent on.

"Reaper Schmeaper! Bring it on!" Blackstar said.

A  black ghost flew across the soul, coming back and forth, as a trio of black spikes sprouted from each of Kid's arms, and he crouched as Liz and Patty turned into guns the size of medium-sized dogs. "Execution Mode Ready. Prepare to die." Kid said, before standing up again. Dark energy surrounded him as he began to charge up his attack.

"Uh, I don't like the looks of that." Soul said, having second thoughts. He didn't have anything like Blackstar's ego to back up his confidence.

"Come on, what are gonna do little man?! I've swatted flies scarier than you! So there!" Blackstar said with a cocky laugh.

"Resonance Stable. Noise Level at 0.3%." Liz intoned.

"Black Needle Soul Wavelength fully charged!" Patty said cheerfully as pink energy encircled the giant guns, coalescencing into an orb of the same at each of the gun's barrels.

"Preparing to fire." Liz said as skulls of dark purple energy formed around Kid. "Feedback in 4 seconds." One could see pink energy flowing into the barrels as Liz and Patty began to countdown. "3." Liz said. 

"2!" Patty said. 

"1." Liz said.

"Firing now!" Patty said cheerfully.

"Death Cannon!" Kid said, before firing two powerful blast of soul energy.

"This doesn't look good! We should run!" Soul said as the blast approached.

"Hah! Don't be ridiculous! No way something like that's going to hurt me! I'm the great Blackstar!" he finished just as the attacks reached them and created a huge could of black smoke with skulls formed in it. Kid turned away and Liz and Patty reverted to their original forms. Soul and Blackstar were revealed to be lying on the ground after the smoke cleared. Motionless, but still breathing and without visible injuries.

"Blackstar!" Tsubaki ran out to help her Meister.

"I'll go take care of the worst of their injuries." Tara said calmly, walking towards the pair.

Maka sighed. "Aw man. What were those idiots thinking?" she asked.

Stein lit a cigarette and placed it in his mouth. "It looks like total defeat." Stein said casually. "Although you can hardly expect any less of the son of the Grim Reaper. His potential is great and already far above that of any other Meister at the academy. Besides, I get the impression he hasn't shown us his limit." one of his eyebrows began to twitch. "Lord Death's very own flesh and blood. What I wouldn't give to study that one." a dark grin formed on his face.

Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, Kid spit up blood, got a massive nosebleed, and collapsed. Liz and Patty returned to human form and crouched down next to him, though their faces suggested this sort of thing happened often. Soul and Blackstar had gotten up by this point thanks to Tara's Cure spells, which, while able to heal wounds, could not cure illnesses, exhaustion, or allergies, and noticed Kid's state.

Patty giggled as Kid continued to lie there. "Oh great. Here we go again." Liz said wearily.

"What happened to him?" Stein asked curiously as he rolled over in his chair.

"Not much, it's just a little cut." Liz answered.

"So what got cut?" Stein asked.

Maka answered him this time. "I think I might have an idea what it was." Stein looked over at her. "I'm pretty sure his hair got cut off just a little when Soul 
attacked him that last time. Once the explosion happened and everything calmed down, Kid finally noticed his bangs weren't symmetrical any more, since one side was shorter than the other, so he spit up blood and fell over." Maka explained.

"Makes perfect sense to me." Tara nodded, to odd looks from the others.

"He's the one bleeding, not us, so that means we actually won the fight huh?" Soul asked.

"Yeah, right. We won and I Blackstar have defeated the Reaper." Blackstar said and laughed. "I knew it! Who's gonna be talking about this guy now?" Blackstar continued to laugh.

"Are you sure you're alright Blackstar?" Tsubaki asked her Meister in concern.

"Of course I'm alright! I beat Death today! I'm one step closer to surpassing God!" Blackstar answered.

"Yeah, it was amazing." Tsuabki commented, playing along.

"Hey." Maka addressed Soul.

"Hey." Soul responded.

"Don't let yourself get involved in stupid fights, alright?" Maka asked. "Come on. You used to tell me the exact same thing Soul." she reprimanded him. 

Soul stared at her for a moment, then broke out in chuckles, which rapidly devolved into full-blown laughter. "Yeah, I guess I was the uncool one of us today, huh?" Soul asked.

"Please try not to do anything to crazy from now on?" Tsubaki asked.

"Yeah right! Nothing's too crazy for me now!" Blackstar was bending his spine backwards at a nearly-impossible angle. "I've beaten up a Reaper after all! What's crazier than that?" he asked, laughing.

"Well technically, you got a double KO with Death's son." Tara said, but was largely ignored. "Or would that be a triple KO?" she mused aloud.

"Tsubaki's the only one for him." Maka said. "I don't think anyone else could handle Blackstar." Maka added.

"Yeah, you're probably right."  Soul agreed. He rubbed his head sheepishly, and Maka smiled and offered him her hand.

"Come on, let's go home." she said.

"Yeah." Soul nodded. "Sorry." he apologized. They both pulled, and Soul stood up with ease.

"Let's stay cool, okay?" Maka asked.

"You got it." Soul answered, and they high-fived each other.

"Well, I'm going to fix the school. The broken spike is starting to bug me. It'll probably help snap Kid out of it too." Tara said, walking off to the broken spire. She kept spares in her bag since this was the twentieth time something similar had happened.

Patty poked Kid, who was being carried by Liz. Thanks to the fact that nobody was paying attention. Twilight was able to teleport up to the spike. Her practice at doing this allowed her to repair it easily. So she was back down with the others in time to witness Lord Death's arrival. "Wassup! Wassup! Wassup!" he said, raising a blocky hand in greeting after appearing from seemingly nowhere. Most likely he had simply used a nearby mirror.

"Hi Lord Death!" Almost everyone chorused. Stein and Kid were silent, though Kid was still out of it, and Stein still raised a hand in greeting like the others.

"So, I heard my son had a rather eventful first day at school. Kid can be difficult sometimes. I hope no one was hurt too badly.~" he said cheerfully.

Tara had a thought, and whispered to Maka. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Maka nodded, and they attempted to see the soul of the Grim Reaper from sheer curiosity.

"Huh, I can't see it. Maybe he doesn't have a soul? No, that doesn't make sense, Kid has a soul, and he's Lord Death's son." Maka muttered as Lord Death turned to them. Tara tapped her on the shoulder, and pointed wordlessly to the city limits, which prompted a strangled gasp from Maka as she discovered that Lord Death's soul encompassed the entire city!

"Yes. I'd say he has a soul." Tara muttered. She knew that she'd be screwed if she fought him one-on-one, but she hadn't thought she'd be that badly outmatched.

"Alright everyone. I'm going to go ahead and take Kid home now. He could use a little rest. ~Bye!~" he singsoned as he waved a blocky hand at them.

"Right, see ya later!" Blackstar said.

"Hey Maka, Tara, what are you two doing staring off into space like that? Let's go back inside." Soul said.

Maka shook off the sight she'd just seen, while Tara started towards the entrance, deep in thought. "Yeah, okay." she said, following him. 'Well, I guess that's actually kind of comforting. Lord Death can handle anything that might come at us.'


*** Meanwhile In Europe ***


A bell tolled the hour as a pink-haired teenager of indeterminate gender walked down an alley. A witch in a hooded cloak flew on a broomstick over the city, as the sadistically grinning moon had some blood run down it's face. This occurred whenever a particularly violent scene played out. Wars had been known to turn the moon completely blood-red during large battles. "Good. Eat all you can." she whispered. "Then eat more. And more. Eat as much as you need to. Consume everyone and everything in your path. Until you become the ultimate evil." she finished as a mass of black blood erupted from the child's back.
> Black Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Tara was following Stein to the hospital wing of the DWMA for support in the form of Spirit. Stein had heard that the Demon Sword was spotted in Italy. Maka and Soul were over there for a spree of missions to recover some of the 99 Kishin Eggs they'd recently lost. Worse, it was spotted near their current location. 

She'd heard of it during her time in this world. It was famous for slaughtering dozens of people at a time and eating their souls, then disappearing back into whatever shadows it came from. It was supposed to be on a level with a full-fledged three-star Meister. They'd beaten Sid only because there were three of them, and he hadn't had a Demon Weapon.

Spirit had apparently been expecting Nurse Medusa, and grabbed Stein's leg and began to say things that made her want to hit him, until he discovered it was Stein, causing him to freeze. "Hey there Spirit. I've been looking for you." he said nonchalantly.

Spirit screamed like a little girl and jumped onto the nearest bed, facing away from Stein. "Gah! Not Stein!" He hid under the blankets. "I don't know what you want with me, but all the scars from your experiments have finally healed! I'm not afraid of you anymore! I'm not afraid of anything! How do you like that Stein?" he said with surprising fierceness despite cowering under a blanket.

"Well, then you must have noticed that I switched the middle toes on your feet." Stein commented as if talking about the weather, idly pushing his glasses up with one hand.

"What!?" Spirit hurriedly pulled off his socks and examined his feet. "Are you completely insane?! How could you do something like that to me?!"

"Made you look." Stein said, amusement in his voice. Spirit gaped at him. 

"You know that little daughter of yours sure has grown up quickly. I have to admit I was concerned when I heard you were getting married, but seeing how happy you and Kami were together reassured me. Although at first I'd been thinking 'There's no way this will work out.'" Stein said, causing Spirit to make some strangled attempts at speech. "Then I thought, 'Those two have found a love that is sure to last forever.'" Stein added cheerfully.

"Um, about that. You might know this yet, but Maka's mother and I divorced. It's been more than a month now. It's over for good between us." Spirit said, downcast.

"Oh, I know." Stein responded.

Spirit grabbed Stein by the collar and started shaking him. "Then why the hell did you talk about it like that you jerk?!" Spirit asked. "Dammit! I'm gonna kill you you heartless labrat freak!" Stein yelled, shaking him more vigorously. 

"As jerky as that was of Stein, we came here for a reason and it wasn't to tease you." Tara interrupted. "We need your help with something." Tara's face took on a hard expression.

"Ah right." Stein's usual nonchalance disappeared. "The Demon Sword's been spotted in the area Maka and Soul last reported from. I don't think I need to explain to you what that might mean." he said.


*** Meanwhile In An Italian Church ***


Maka and Soul were investigating a church where Maka had discovered a Meister and Demon Weapon pair. Until a few moments ago, there had been about 55 human souls in there as well. Then the humans simply vanished, far too quickly even if the pair inside were hostile.

Soul preemptively transformed as they neared the door. Maka got a very bad feeling, but shook it off. 'I'm getting the feeling we should turn back, but as a member of the DWMA, I have to know what happened here.' she reasoned, before pushing the door open with one hand.

"You see. I tried to tell you. That door only opens inwards." A teenager with pink hair said. It was hard to tell if they were a boy or a girl, but they were wearing a half-dress, half-shirt in black.

"What the hell? He's in here all by himself. Where'd his partner go?" Soul asked.

"No, that shouldn't be possible." Maka said, seeing something with her Soul Perception.

"Huh? What's up?" Soul asked.

"Lady Medusa, it looks like two others have arrived." a deep, masculine voice whose source could not be identified said.

"Keep it down Ragnarok. You need to be quiet now." the Meister said, seemingly to himself.

"I'm seeing the soul of a Meiser and a Demon Weapon, both ten meters directly in front of us. Which means... that Meister has a Weapon inside his body." Maka said, prompting a sudden shift in the disposition of the pink-haired Meister.

"What are you saying Maka? His partner is inside him?" Soul asked, glancing betwen her and the Meister in front of them. "How the hell is that even a thing?!" he asked

"Not for long. It's about to come out." Maka said warily.

The Meister with pink hair suddenly clutched at his head and cried out in agony, before letting go, but continuing to scream. A hulking figure made of black blood burst out of his back. It dwarfed the figure of it's host, and it's body merged with said host where it's waistline was. It had 2 large arms ending in gloved hands, a white band around one shoulder, spikes on it's shoulders and back, and a face consisting of a white X with a pair of white eyes with black X's in the center.

Maka took a step back cautiously. The figure ignored her after a glance to bonk it's host on the head. "That hurts me." the Meister complained. The figure continued to chuckle as it proceeded to bonk, poke, and prod it's host, eliciting complaints, until finally the Meister yelled "Stop it! I've had enough!" which made the figure back off a bit.

"Now, now, Crona. You're scary when you're stressed-out like this." the figure, presumably Ragnarok, said.

"Okay, this is getting weird." Maka said, then set her face determinedly. "You should know that the hunting of human souls is strictly forbidden. Are you students? I haven't seen you at the Academy." Maka said.

"The what? What Academy? She said it was okay to eat the humans' souls, so I did. If she said it was okay, I don't see what was wrong with it." Crona said, while Ragnarok played with his head. He blushed a bit. "I'm uh... I'm not really good at talking to girls, they make me nervous." he said nervously.

Ragnarok lowered his head down to be level with his host's. "Never mind that Crona. Her soul looks tasty, and the other Weapon's isn't bad either." Ragnarok said.

"Weapons and Meisters are not allowed to hunt and collect human souls for any reason. We hunt only those who have become Kishin Eggs." Maka changed stances with Soul. "Now it's our duty to put a stop to this. You will not hunt any more human souls, you hear me?" Maka asked.

"Let's get her Crona." Ragnarok said in a bored tone while poking his Meister. Crona nodded. Ragnarok turned into a cloud of black ooze, which Crona stuck a hand into and pulled out a black broadsword.

"It turned into a broadsword. What kind of blood is that?" Maka asked. Crona's face was momentarily covered in shadow, before he swung his Weapon back and forth, before dragging it along the ground in front of him as he rushed at them.

"He's going to strike from below!" Soul called out in warning. 

Maka used Soul's blade to block the attack, then while Crona was pausing, she called out "Stop this!" before punching him in the face.

"Are you going to start poking me too?" Crona asked, before dodging backwards from a stabbing attack. Maka used Soul to lever herself up, then drop-kick him from midair, sending him to the ground.

Maka raised Soul to deliver what she thought would be a finishing blow. "You've got him now!" Soul cheered her on. Maka's swing connected with Crona's back, but stopped abruptly after breaking the skin. 

A witch in a green cloak, presumably this Lady Medusa, riding on a broomstick, was watching the fight with dark amusement, especially that last attack. "Did you think you could cut him in half?" she asked.

Maka was understandably shocked. "Oh no, not with a stroke like that one." Crona said, droplets of black blood falling to the floor behind him. 

"Black... Black Blood?" Maka breathed out the question.

Crona leaned in. "Yes, that's right, my blood is black." he responded in a whisper.

Maka backed off a bit. "What's up with this guy? His body's really freaky!" Soul said.

"I think I have an idea. I'm not sure how it's possible, but I think his Weapon and his blood itself are one and the same. I could cut through his skin without any problems, but as soon as I hit his blood vessels his blood hardened and the blade stopped completely." Maka said.

"Well if you're right then how do you propose we go about beating him?" Soul asked. 

"Our normal attacks will be almost useless. I'm not sure even Witch Hunter will cut through that stuff. It'd be different if I could hit him with my Soul Wavelength directly like Blackstar, Tara, or Professor Stein. I might be able to do some internal damage that way. Otherwise, I have no idea what to do." Maka reasoned.

Outside, Medusa was growing impatient. "Crona, why are you taking it so easily? Do something." she ordered.

"She's not like the ones before, those were boys. She's a girl, I'm no good with girls! What am I supposed to do with her?" Crona responded.

Medusa chuckled. "How silly. Kill her and eat her soul of course." the witch said.

"What's with this guy?" Soul asked. "And who is he talking to anyway?"

A tiny grin made it's way onto Crona's face. "Oh okay, you're saying I can kill the girl? I didn't realize that. Maybe I could play with her hair first. Just for a little while. The doors here open inward. The only open one way." Crona paused for a moment as he tilted his head back. "Ragnarok," he held the broadsword perpendicular to the ground, "Scream Resonance."

A pair of red lips appeared on the sword. They were split in what was unmistakably a grin. They inhaled, then screamed. The noise was loud enough to visibly affect the air. A wave of purple energy in the shape of a mouth rushed towards Maka and Soul, distracting them for long enough that Crona could rush at them and slash downwards, leaving a wave of purple energy there even as Maka dodged.

"He's coming Maka! Guard now!" Soul warned. Maka use him to guard against the strike from Crona, but Ragnarok's scream intensified and Soul started to take damage.

"Soul!" Maka cried out, forcing Crona away with a kick. "Stop it!" she called out. "Are you okay Soul? Talk to me." Maka asked.

Soul grunted, a bit of blood oozing out of him, as all weapons who took damage did. "You don't need to worry about me right now. I am your Weapon partner Maka! That means I am always prepared to die for my Meister!" he ground out through the pain. 

Ragnarok began to scream again. 'What do I do now? That screaming causes vibrations along his blade and because of those vibrations, each second of contact is like thousands of strikes. With his blood hardening so quickly, my attacks don't work either. I can't do any damage at all, and I can't afford to guard against his hits or else Soul could die!' Maka thought.

Crona swung Ragnarok in lazy circles, then rushed at them. Maka dodged to one side, and tried to kick Crona's legs out from under him, but he simply used the momentum to attempt a strike. Maka dodged backwards, and tried to think of a way out. 'I screwed up, I should've just left well enough alone.' Crona began to attack with stabs, which Maka dodged, just barely.

"What's the matter Maka? Quit dodging and start fighting back!" Soul yelled. Ragnarok continued to scream, and the attacks were starting to cut off strands of hair. "Maka!" he called.

'If I attack, then the same problem as if I were to guard crops up. Soul's tough, but he's not that tough.' Maka thought. 'I can't use Soul to block his sword or attack myself. The only thing I can do is run away or hope to outlast him.' she reasoned, still dodging the stabbing attacks. Crona's grin returned, considerably wider, as he slashed at her legs, forcing her clumsily back and into the doors. Doors which did not open outwards.

"We're getting out of here!" Maka said, then tried to force the doors open. They wouldn't budge. "Open up!" she called.

Crona raised Ragnarok. "It's not going to work, you know? You need to pay more attention to what people say and your surroundings." Crona said.

"Oh no..." Maka was literally backed against a wall right now. Since the door wouldn't open, it might as well be. 

"Those doors only open one way. Inwards." Crona raised Ragnarok for a strike.

"Maka! Stop it now!" Soul cried out.

"But Soul! If I guard you'll die!" she countered.

Crona brought Raganarok down. Soul returned to human form and used his body to shield his Meister. A massive amount of blood spurted out from the gaping wound this created. Soul collapsed. "SOULLLL!!!!" Maka screamed.

"Go on Crona. Finish them. No need to play with your food." the witch ordered. "Kill them and eat their souls Crona." 

"I think I can deal with that." Crona responded.

"Goody!" Raganarok agreed.

Maka pulled Soul's head up. "Wake up. Please Soul, wake up!" Maka was on the verge of crying.

"You dumbass... Hurry... get out of here!" he ordered weakly.

"Okay." Crona said as he approached.

Maka ducked her head. "Soul... Soul this is all my fault." Maka apologized. Just as Crona was about to finish them, a black scythe-blade sliced through the door and into him.

"Ah! What's happening? How did that get there?" Crona asked, surprisingly calm for someone who'd just been impaled. The door was kicked into splinters by 2 familiar faces. Professor Stein, and Tara, who proceeded to each smash a Soul Force into Crona, forcing him away to the other end of the building.

"Professor Stein! Tara!" Maka exclaimed. Both individuals in question had grim expressions on their faces.

"If the professor is here, then this Weapon must be..." Maka trailed off as the black scythe reverted to human form, revealing Spirit.

"Your papa has arrived." Spirit said. 'That's right Maka, take a good look at how brave and selfless your father is.' he thought, turning to see Stein and Tara treating Soul. 

"Will Soul be alright?" Maka asked with great concern.

"My Cure-chain can restore wounds, but it doesn't work on blood loss. His life's not in immediate danger, but he'll be out of commission for a while." Tara explained.

"He lost a lot of blood in a very short period of time. He's going into shock and if he doesn't get treatment soon he might not make it." Stein added, using his lab coat like a blanket for Soul.

'She's not even looking at me!' Spirit thought. "I gotta say though, that was an easier fight than I expected." Spirit said, watching Crona warily.

He got up, unnerved by all the damage he'd taken at once. "I hardened the blood around the wound as much as possible to stop the bleeding, and we're mostly recovered from that Soul Wave attack since they were only trying to force us back. Do I get a thank you?" Ragnarok asked.

"Yeah. Thank you." Crona said, not altogether very genuinely grateful.

"Hey! Thank you very much!" Ragnarok grabbed his Meister by the head. "Are you gonna make me hurt you?!" he yelled, pulling on Crona's face.

"Professor Stein." Maka said to get his attention. He turned his head towards her. "Who are those two?" she asked. "What are they? I've never seen anything like this." she asked.

"What you see in front of you is the reason the Academy was created in the first place." Stein said.

"The reason the Academy was created?" Maka asked, looking at the pink-haired Meister more intensely. "Does that mean he's a Kishin?" Maka asked.

"Technically no. Not yet at least." Stein answered.

"If he were a Kishin, you'd be exposed to what can effectively be summed up as contagious insanity simply by being in his presence. He's only a step away right now though." Tara explained.


*** Flashback: Death Room ***


"Listen to me Stein, take Death Scythe and Tara and do whatever it takes to stop the Demon Sword from fully awakening as a Kishin once you find it." Death ordered him.

"That is the reason you called me back to the Academy in the first place, right?" Stein asked. "I'll take care of the sword." he accepted the mission.

Death nodded. "We cannot allow the Kishin to be reborn into the world. If another Kishin were to fully emerge, it would not only accelerate the development of more, but it's wavelength could even strain the seal to the point that the original Kishin breaks free. We must avoid that at all costs. Otherwise, we'll be trapped in a vicious cycle of madness that will end in the world's destruction. It is no exaggeration to say that if there are ever 2 fully awakened Kishin wandering about, the world as we know it could end within the week." he explained.


*** End Flashback ***


"Alright then, let's take care of this, shall we?" Stein asked.

"Yeah." Spirit agreed, transforming into his scythe form again.

Meanwhile, Ragnarok continued to torment his host. "Crona quit standing there staring into space like an idiot. If you don't get it in gear we'll go back to sleep deprivation therapy again." Raganarok threatened. In what way could that benefit anyone?

"No! Don't start waking me up every hour again! I don't like it, the dark circles under my eyes will come back and I don't know how to deal with the dark circles!" he tried and failed to get Ragnarok's hands to stop abusing him, resulting in a surprised squawk as Ragnarok dug into his nose.

"The Grim Reaper has sent his greatest Meister armed with Death Scythe. This should be a good test of Crona's progress. Let's see how long he can last." the witch said. 'Crona...get them now.' Medusa ordered, using a spell as a sort of telepathic link, if what Tara could see was correct.

Stein took a stance. "Spirit, can you stand against the Demon Sword?" Stein asked.

"Of course I can. What do you think I am, a rusty old dagger?" Spirit asked. "It's been a long time since we were partnered like this, hasn't it?" Spirit asked.

Stein laughed. "We're not as young as we used to be, that's for sure." he said.

"Speak for yourself. I haven't aged a bit!" Spirit responded.

"Would you attack already! Hurry up you idiot!" Ragnarok ordered, punching Crona on the head before retreating into Crona's body.

"But I've never seen a man with a giant screw in his head! I don't know how to deal with a guy like that!" Crona exclaimed as he rushed at Stein.

"You eat him! Swallow his soul!" Ragnarok responded. Crona tried to strike at Stein, but he blocked with Spirit, who was unaffected despite Ragnarok's vibrations. Stein then used Spirit as a lever to throw Crona to the floor behind him, then blasted him with a Soul Force, causing some black blood to spatter on the ground.

"Professor Stein hit him with his soul wavelength...! This way he might actually be able to do some internal damage." Maka said.

"That was the point." Tara was keeping an eye on Maka and Soul to ensure no further harm came to them. "Since the black blood prevents blades from piercing Crona's body, you have to use attacks that are blunt, bludgeoning, or energy-based. Soul Force or even a simple punch in the face are more effective than trying to stab him." Tara explained.

"Have another." Stein said, his hand crackling yellow. He gasped as a spike of blood pierced him from behind before it disintegrated back into liquid blood courtesy of a Fire from Tara targeting the puddle the spike came from. "That's the blood from the wound we gave him. He can control it even when it's outside his body?" Stein asked, then looked up as he realized Crona had also spat up some blood during his Soul Force, and Tara couldn't hit them all with Fire. She couldn't use a stronger Fire spell because she couldn't dial up a Fire spell up enough to be worth it, or dial down a Fira to avoid catching Stein in the blast either.

The droplets of blood in the air were turning back to liquid upon being hit by Fire attacks, but they slowly reformed and there must have been a hundred at least. Eyes similar to Ragnarok's appeared on them, and they spoke with Ragnarok's voice in a higher pitch as they formed spikes on one end. "Bloody Needle!" The spikes elongated, and Stein jumped back just in time to avoid being made into a pincushion.

"Professor!" Maka called worriedly.

"Every drop of his blood is a weapon! How is that even possible?" Spirit asked.

"Most likely he's using his soul wavelength to control the blood, regardless of whether it's in his body. We have to stop him here and now, or he'll definitely become a Kishin with all the souls he's been eating." Stein explained. "What's more, the balance of power between these two is very uneven. The weapon's soul is easily the dominant of the pair, ruling over the Meister's more introverted soul like a king, confining it. At the moment, the Meister still has some strength left to fight back against the weapon. Though he will be swallowed eventually, and that's when things will get dangerous." Stein observed. 

"There's also some kind of spell on him." Tara reported, discovering this thanks to her own experience with magic and a little Soul Perception.

"Ah, so that's what that snake is. I was wondering why there was a snake coiled around him. That probably means he's under a witch's control." Stein surmised. 

Medusa was surprised. "She knew it was a spell? Either she's had extensive dealings with witches in the past, or I've discovered an out-and-out traitor to our side." she noted. "Either way, tonight has proven quite interesting." the witch said, the darkly amused grin on her face widening slightly.

"If you let him hit you with that technique again, I'm going to stick thumbtacks in your shoes. Got it Crona?"

"No! Thumbtacks in my shoes would stick in my feet whenever I tried to walk! It would hurt, I don't think I could deal with that, really." Crona whined. 

"Careful Stein. Injuring him only makes him more dangerous!" Spirit said. Stein nodded, then started to rush towards Crona. 

Ragnarok noticed this and responded by having the remaining blood droplets in the air, roughly half having been permanently reverted to liquid after the fifth shoot-down by Tara, send spikes at Stein. Stein dodged and Crona stuck out Ragnarok to block Stein's attack, then tried to attack himself, only to be blocked aggressively by Spirit's scythe.

"Oh, I see, Professor Stein has a specific fighting style. He uses my father only to guard like a shield, then attacks with his Soul Force." Maka observed. Stein smashed a Soul Force into Crona, sending him flying out the church doorway. "Oh wow!" she exclaimed, awed.

Stein dodged more Bloody Needle spikes, then ran out after Crona. He was not counting on a drop of blood appearing in the air around him. "Damn, a time lag attack!" Stein said.

"Goobeeyah! It's time to die Screwhead!" Raganarok said, apparently having taken full control if Crona's vacant expression was anything to go by.

Stein was unable to move properly with his earlier injury, and so Tara teleported over and deflected the attack, though she got a small cut on her hand for her trouble. She hoped the blood wound she's gotten from that wasn't going to get infected by whatever this stuff was, but Stein seemed fine and Soul was in much worse shape than she was when they found him, so she said nothing. 

She moved out of the way as Stein recovered. "I think I'd like to dissect you now." Stein said. He was clearly annoyed.

"Goobeeyah! Screw yourself! You won't live that long!" Ragnarok yelled foully as more droplets surrounded Stein.

"You ready?" Stein asked Spirit.

"Yep!" Spirit said confidently. Stein began to spin Spirit around him fast enough that he blurred, and the drops began to rapidly circle him, attempting to get past his defense. For some reason, he stopped spinning Spirit. Tara had to trust him since even if she raised a shield around Stein, it wouldn't last against concentrated attacks from those spikes and she couldn't possibly deflect them all herself.

"Bloody Needle!" the spikes said triumphantly. 

Stein jabbed Spirit's handle into the ground and said "Spirit Body!" prompting a white doll-like creature with a screw through it's head and each arm to form around them. It's nose resembled a carrot.

"Oh dear, this might be too much for me!" it said as several needles punctured it and the rest were deflected into the ground in a circle around it. Tara couldn't tell whether it was trying to be mocking or genuinely concerned, and she had no idea why it had a personality. 

Ragnarok seemed to take it as mocking him and got angry. "Goobee! Let's see you stop all these!" he seemed to blink as he noticed that Spirit's scythe form was by itself. "Huh? Where'd the screw-head freak go?" he started to look around. "I don't see him. Where the hell is he, dammit?!" he looked up just as Stein came back down to earth, kicking Crona on his way down, and making the boy/girl dizzy. 

"Damn! He scrambled what little brains you have left! Hurry up and snap out of it before he uses his Soul Wavelength again!" Ragnarok said, grabbing his Meister by the face once again.

"There are stars and birds and planets floating around me... I don't know how to deal with that. I can't handle astronomy and ornithology at the same time!" Crona moaned.

"Those two are easier to deal with than death, you moron! Suck it up and come to your senses already!" Ragnarok ordered.

Stein rushed at them. "Double-palm Soul Force! Twin Spears!" he said, smashing the attack into them. The Meister and Weapon cried out, spraying blood behind them.

"More needles?" Maka asked, but the blood stayed liquid and on the ground.

"No, it's over now." Stein said.

"He's been hit by Soul Force too many times, his wavelength is too badly disrupted for him to control the blood outside his body anymore." Tara explained.

"I hate to say it, but you're finished." Stein said.

"So much for round one. It looks like the black blood has a weakness to fire, or perhaps heat. That should be looked into. It looks like I have some more experimenting to do." Medusa said. 

Suddenly, Crona and Ragnarok started to scream in unison as spikes of black blood erupted from Crona's body and retracted over and over. "What's happening to him?" Spirit asked a bit disturbed.

"They're going through Soul Rejection." Stein explained. Soul Rejection was what happened when two incompatible Soul Wavelengths tried to work together. The side-effects of trying to wield a Demon Weapon while you own Soul Wavelength was not adjusted to match were a lesser form of this. If one tried to force their wavelengths to try and work together, then... bad things happened. This was just one example. It looked like Crona's blood and body were turning on each other.

"Their Soul Wavelengths were united but they're falling apart now." Maka said.

"It makes sense. Rangarok would blame Crona for their loss, and Crona would resent him for it. One's emotional state has a huge effect on their ability to sync with their partner. Or so I've heard. I can only tell so much with my new Soul Perception, and I've only had it for a few weeks." Tara said.

The witch above them noticed Crona and Ragnarok's predicament. "It seems I've found his limit. Oh well, Soul Protect, Release." she said. 

Stein, Maka, and Tara looked up as they half-sensed, half-saw a powerful witch's soul. "It's another soul! I don't know where it came from, but I can sense it!" Maka said, terrified of the evil backed by power she was feeling. She'd encountered powerful souls, but none of them this clearly evil and with this kind of power behind said evil.

"I feel it too, it's a witch." Stein said.

"She's above us!" Tara pointed at a figure above them on a broomstick.

Medusa chuckled, then laughed. Her soul resolved itself into a massive purple orb with arrows surrounding it like beams of light from the sun. "A witch, huh?" Spirit asked.

"Yes, and a very powerful one. She has a strong soul. My guess is that she's the one who put that Weapon inside the kid's body, and that she's been pushing him to become a Kishin." Stein answered.

"That's the witch's soul? But how? One of us should have seen a soul like that before now..." Maka wondered aloud as she half-hid behind the church wall. "It's incredibly strong!" she said.

"Soul Protect." Stein said.

"Huh? What is that?" Maka asked, confused.

"Soul Protect is an advanced spell that all-but blocks off a witch's magic in return for hiding their souls even from Meisters with anything below exceptional Soul Perception, having been specifically designed to counter it. Even then, they'd have to be trying and very close to the witch in question in order to discover the witch is not a normal human." Tara explained.

"The techniques isn't all that complicated, but it needs a fine degree of control. The witch's soul is enclosed by magic. This blocks the wavelength. The witch is camouflaged and her soul appears no different from a normal human." Stein elaborated.

"So that's the soul of a real witch? Mama defeated something like that in order to turn Papa into a Death Scythe?" Maka asked.

"Not necessarily. From what I've heard, witches are not usually this strong. Of course, there's a good reason there have never been more than 13 Death Scythes in the world at any given time." Tara answered.

"Pathetic. Crona is such a weakling. I'll have to punish him later." Medusa said. "Nake... Snake... Cobra... Cobra..." the witch was now in plain view. Black arrows squirmed around her. Her green cloak had white markings on the hood that resembled snake eyes, and her arms were not covered by the cloak but were covered in tattoos resembling snakes. "Nake... Snake... Cobra... Cobra... But before we go, I'll punish you too." a twisted smile spread across her face. "Won't that be fun?" She gestured with her hands and said "Vector Arrows!" causing the arrows to shoot down at them, twisting and turning in midair in ways that real arrows could never have.

Tara raised a barrier in front of the church doorway, but need not have worried. Stein and Spirit said "Let's go Soul Resonance!" and prepared an almost instant Witch Hunter, destroying ever last arrow. 

Medusa was not the least bit perturbed by this, in fact she seemed almost pleased. "Most impressive." one of the snake tattoos on her arm peeled off and flew down, transforming into a very large snake. A real one at that. The snake grabbed Crona and took him back to it's master.

"I just dropped by on a little errand, but who'd have thought I'd encounter the DWMA's best Meister and Death Scythe. What an unexpected pleasure. I'd love to stay and play with you kids, but perhaps another time." Medusa said before flying away.

"Hey Lady-!" Spirit called.

"Let's leave her for now. I'm more worried about Soul." Stein said. Tara had healed the cut she'd gotten earlier almost as soon as it happened, but for some reason she felt off. She ignored it to focus on the now. 

Maka was staring at Soul with a guilt-ridden expression. Spirit put a comforting hand on her shoulder, recognizing that expression. Her mother had looked almost the same whenever he got hurt during a fight. "Papa..." Maka said, her defenses down.

"Come on, let's go home." Spirit said.


The Death Room. 1 Day Later.


"Interesting. Those two had a pretty rough time of it it seems. How's Soul holding up?" Death asked.

"Stein's operating on him now, he was hurt pretty bad, but I think he'll be alright." Spirit said. "Still, it was weird seeing magic used to help people. Tara seemed upset healing his wounds was all she could do."

"She might not look it, but Tara is something I've never seen before. She is not a Witch or a normal human, yet she can use magic and recovers both health and stamina faster than she should. Still, that's beside the point. 

The Demon Sword has arisen, and it's working with a Meister. Embedded in him no less from your reports. Behind it all is a powerful Witch. Hm..." he thought for a moment, then raised his blocky hands. "Goodness, it's getting pretty crazy around here, isn't it?" he asked. 

"Aren't you taking this a bit too lightly?" Spirit asked, sweatdropping.

"Oh?" Death asked.

Meanwhile, Maka sat outside the hospital wing's door with a guilty expression on her face as Soul was operated on and Tara's blood was examined for contamination. Considering how Crona had cut into bone, contamination was pretty much a given for Soul, though she didn't know their blood was being examined.

The door opened and Stein came out. "Oh, professor." Maka called.

He paused as he noticed Maka. "Have you been here this whole time?" He scratched at his head. "Why didn't you take a nap or eat or something?" he asked.

"I have to know how Soul is!" Maka almost shouted.

Stein grinned and made a peace sign. "The operation was a complete success!" Stein said happily. "Once he rests up, he'll be as good as new." Stein said.	

"He's okay." Maka said quietly and in relief. "Oh thank you Professor Stein!" Maka thanked him. "Is Tara alright?" she asked. 

"I haven't been able to find anything unusual." Stein answered nonchalantly.

"Um, Professor, is it alright if I go in to check on them now?" Maka asked.

"Yes, that's fine." Stein said with a smile. Maka ran inside.

"That's a nice fake smile you've got there. Now why don't you tell me what you couldn't tell Maka, how are they really?" Spirit asked.

Stein lit a cigarette and took a smoke. "Neither of them have any injuries that are permanent, beyond some slight scarring, it's almost as if Soul were never injured. Something's been bothering me about the black blood Ragnarok is composed of though." Stein said.

"What's up?" Spirit asked.

"We have encountered substances similar to the black blood before, though this version is a far cry from the primitive attempts of other witches. One of the more dangerous aspects of these substances which they all share is that they can be passed along.

As you're aware, there is normally little chance of contamination as any wound would immediately begin to bleed, removing any trace of the black blood. However, if the wound is rapidly closed or hits bone marrow, this is not the case.

Soul was more or less guaranteed to be infected from the moment he got that wound, it hit the bone marrow of several ribs. Tara might have been fine, but her Cure spell sealed the wound before the trace of black blood left her system. The end result is that they both have traces black blood in their circulatory systems. Worse, Tara's vulnerability to the Madness Wavelength is being amplified by her infection. 

It's only slight because their black blood is dormant for now, but they'll both be more susceptible to it's influence. Permanently. They're in no real danger as long as a Kishin doesn't appear and the blood remains dormant though." Stein said. "Well no more than usual anyway." he added.
> Hospital Hijinks And Excalibur The Annoying!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Tara was leaning against a wall, reading a book, more or less simply here under observation at this point, when 	Maka came in. She took one look at the guilty expression on Maka's face and said "It's not your fault. Stein and Spirit working together had trouble with those two. You couldn't possibly have known the who your opponents were before meeting them either." 

"But... Soul... he got hurt because I couldn't just leave it alone! I have to become as strong as he is! I will! That's a promise." Maka was crying by the third word, and it was obvious the blame was permanently on her shoulders, at least in her own mind. Maka really did remind her of herself.

Suddenly the door burst open. "Soul! Tara! Are you okay?!" Blackstar ran in yelling. Noticing that Tara seemed fine, Blackstar turned his full attention to Soul. He grabbed Soul by the neck and started jerking him up and down yelling "You're going to be alright! Blackstar is here for you now! Open your eyes!" he attempted to pry Soul's eyes open. "One look at my big handsome face and you'll be cured for sure!" Blackstar was now flinging Soul around like a rag doll.

"Blackstar! Noooo!" Maka screamed, before a Dual-Chop crashed down on his head. Maka had finally managed one in with both hands at the same time. Blackstar was sent flying into the nearby hospital bed, blood spurting from his mouth. Maka got a slightly sadistic smile in response.

"Good job on your Maka Chops, Maka, you can finally do two at once!" Tara said happily, more or less ignoring Blackstar. It wasn't nearly as bad as when he'd been Reaper Chopped a couple weeks ago, and he'd been fine. Tsubaki simply stared. You'd think she would be used to the crazy by now.

"Sorry about that Maka!" Tsubaki apologized once she snapped out of it. "Maka?" she asked, concerned when Maka's guilty expression resurfaced. Maka rubbed at her eyes furiously and chuckled artificially, returning to a more normal expression.

Some footsteps signaled the approach of Doctor Medusa. She'd referred to her as Nurse Medusa in relation to Spirit's perverted fantasies. 

There was something that had always felt off about the seemingly good-natured medic, but Tara had seen nothing wrong even with point-blank use of Soul Perception. She couldn't go around accusing people just because of feelings either, especially not after what happened last time she hadn't had proof to back up her finger-pointing. Besides, there was absolutely nothing concrete to suggest that she wasn't as nice as she appeared.

"Oh my goodness, what happened to the door?" she asked. She had dirty-blond hair with a braid in the front, a classic doctor's coat over a black and rather skintight suit, blue shoes, and yellow eyes. "It looks like things have been rather lively in here." she said.

"Doctor Medusa." Maka said, snapping out of her inner thoughts.

"Good Afternoon." Tsubaki, Maka, and herself, said in unison, bowing. There was no point being impolite, and no reason at all to let Medusa know she was suspicious.

Blackstar had apparently recovered already, as he threw off the covers and asked "Hey Doc, what's up? Are you here to check on Soul and Tara are doing?"

"Well I feel fine, just had a nasty dream and didn't want to go back to sleep." Tara said. The nightmares were worse than usual, she didn't wake up in a cold sweat very often any more.

"Actually, Miss Maka?" Medusa asked.

"Yes?" Maka asked, hesitant. "What is it?" 

Medusa was clearly embarrassed. "Can you do me a favor and help me out with your father? I can't get him off my leg." she said. This prompted them all to look and see that Spirit was indeed cuddling Medusa's leg and saying perverted things. Maka responded in the usual way, A Maka Chop which left Spirit in the hospital bed this time. Maka's expression was very satisfied at having done that.

"Soul had a difficult lesson didn't he? It seems as though he was in bad shape." Medusa was inwardly quite happy with what she'd found. 'I recognize the after-effects of magical healing, and Tara's magic was exactly the same as the magic in Soul. She's definitely responsible.' Witches whose talents lay in healing were generally shunned by the others, so that explained Tara's presence. At least, it would if she hadn't shown a talent for a variety of magic. Most Witches favored one type or theme, even the Grand Witch herself had a distinct predilection for space-time manipulation. She'd keep this to herself for now though.

"Yes, I'm sorry. It's all my fault that he was hurt." Maka apologized.

Medusa put her hands on Maka's shoulders and said "I'm not placing any blame. What matters is that he's okay now. As for you, this will only make you stronger in the long run." 

"Yeah." Maka nodded, good cheer returning. Tara really didn't understand why she was so suspicious of Medusa, but she did her best to keep it from affecting their interactions. For a split second, she thought she caught a hint of dark magic, but that shouldn't have been possible since a point-blank Soul Perception had shown nothing. She'd literally been less than 2 feet away from Medusa. With that in mind, she put it down as her imagination.

Some time later, Tara dozed off and had an odd dream. She was in a library of sorts, but the books all had black covers, and there were 6 crystals on pedestals placed equidistant from each other around the room.  She was sitting on a chair of sorts with a stiff back and a pen and blank book on a table in front of her. A black door on the opposite side of the room opened, and a figure that looked exactly like her stepped through. There was one difference in their appearance.

"No... it can't be... I sealed you away, and you didn't break the seal, so how are you here?!" she asked.

Her doppelganger grinned, though that only made the malice she oozed more terrifying. "Madness is illogical and unpredictable by nature. I can't fully escape, but I can reach out when you're defenses are lowest. That is to say, in sleep through your dreams." Arcana said, smile widening with just a hint of insanity and letting her glimpse a bottomless pit of evil.

"So, you can't actually force me into anything then." Tara said guardedly.

"Ah, no, I'm afraid not. I can speak to you, but I am once again reduced to an advisory role. Although now I can also let you access a power boost in the form of the black blood you were infected with when you rushed in to prevent Stein being injured. You healed your hand before the trace of it could be bled out, and it's infested the nearby bone marrow cells. Since it has a direct relationship with your soul, you won't be getting rid of it when you head to the next world." Arcana explained pleasantly.

"One, why would I listen to someone who will do their best to maneuver me into a position where she can take over my body and kill everything. Two, why would I willingly allow that stuff any more influence than possible after seeing what it did to Crona's mental state. I'm not entirely stable as it is." Tara countered.

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day. My being your enemy does not mean I don't give good advice. Besides, I'm nothing more than the manifestation of the weakness in your heart. Were you to try and take on the darkness your own anger, fear, guilt, and despair forged, you would be driven insane or broken beyond repair. I am stopping that from happening simply by existing. You can still feel negative emotions, but they will be somewhat muted and you will recover more quickly. To that extent, we have a symbiotic relationship.

As for your second point, the black blood also provides a massive offensive power boost, and you saw for yourself how tough Crona was, being able to get right back up from being impaled. If you're outmatched, you may have no other choice. Besides, even though I would love to be in control, you have it for the moment, and if you were to die, so would I. Since I have yet to seriously harm anyone you care about, I think it's a safe gamble that you have the impression it's possible to keep me under control." Arcana answered.

"Hm, it's a last resort nonetheless. I'm certain something like that would practically take a battering ram to the seal that's keeping you in my head where you can't hurt anyone. Possibly excluding me." Tara said, arms crossed.

Arcana smiled. "Guilty as charged. You might be logical and intelligent, but you tend to place others before yourself. You'll be more than willing to use the black blood when your friends are in trouble." she looked up, presumably at the real world instead of the mental/soul-based construct they were talking in. "However, our time seems to be up. See you soon." Arcana simply waved as the room faded from Tara's sight.

"It seems Original has encountered a very interesting substance. I'm very curious how much mental and emotional havoc it will wreak," Her smile rapidly approached the limits of what was anatomically possible. "and how much the seal can take before it crumbles." she mused aloud.

Tara awoke to screaming. Specifically, Soul's screaming his lungs out and thrashing in his bed roughly five feet away. "Gah! What's wrong?!" she said, slightly drowsy.

"I don't know, you were both muttering in your sleep, then Soul started screaming!" Maka answered.

"What's the matter?" Doctor Medusa asked calmly, presumably used to screaming.

"Good! Doctor Medusa, it's Soul!" Maka said. Soul continued to scream and thrash, Maka offered her hand, and he took it tightly.

Once Soul calmed down, he reassured them. "I'm alright, I'll be okay. I just had a bad dream that's all." he said.

"That's very good to hear Soul, but if anything does come up, call me right away, alright?" Medusa asked, before walking away, once she was behind the curtain, she paused. 'Ragnarok's black blood is mixed in with Soul Eater's and Tara Strong's.' a dark grin spread across her face. 'It seems I have new research subjects. Tara should prove especially interesting since she not only possesses magic, but from what I can tell, her DNA has undergone mutation. For some reason, her files are classified, which makes me that much more curious about her past.' she thought, a snake of purple energy curled out of her mouth briefly before she recalled it. 

'I have to remember not to let my power show around Tara. She hides it well, but she's suspicious of me and she possesses Soul Perception, albeit only a little above-average. She has good instincts too, although she's hesitant to follow through on them.' she thought, forcing her face back into her 'Doctor Medusa' personality.


*** Sunset ***


Maka was getting ready to leave. "Okay Soul, I'm heading home, unless you need something. Are you thirsty? Do you want me to get you a drink before I go?" she asked.

"Nah, don't worry about it. What goes in must come out, and I don't want to use the bathroom in these stupid bedpans." Soul answered.

"Do you want me to bring anything when I come back besides a change of underwear?" she asked.

"Hm... nope I can't think of anything." he said, closing his eyes tiredly.

"Okay." Maka said, eyes downcast.

"Hey Maka, I'm in this bed because of something I did, not because of you. Don't get all worked up about it okay?" he asked.

"Sorry." Maka apologized quietly, before leaving.

'Crap. I think I made her feel even worse. Way to go Soul.' he thought

"Well, I'll be heading to the Death Room, I have to talk to Lord Death about something. I was told I'm just not supposed to leave the DWMA grounds, not stay put." Tara said. "Be back soon." she said.

She caught sight of Maka following her father just as she left Soul to his own devices. She really ought to talk to Lord Death about this, if only to inform him of her 'condition.'

Several minutes later, she was telling him about what happened. "Hm, that certainly sounds troublesome. Unfortunately, we simply aren't capable of removing something embedded in your bone marrow without amputating your whole hand, and I think we can agree that should be a last resort. Especially since there's no guarantee that it would work given the nature of the black blood.

As much as it pains me to say it, you will simply have to do your best to keep your counterpart contained. I won't forbid you from using the black blood, but I'm sure you're aware that Arcana will take advantage of even a crack in the seal, from what you've told me about her anyway. Be sure to pull back before that happens." Death advised.

"Yes, and if she was telling the truth, she literally came from my weakness, which makes anything she might do my fault as well. Considering the sheer glee she showed at the thought of killing millions, it's safe to say she won't be planning anything good." Tara mused aloud.

"I don't think you should blame yourself too much. If you weren't traumatized by what you've been through, it would make me question your ability to feel emotion at all." Death responded.

"Well, that doesn't help my situation now and if you forge a sword you're complicit in any killing done with it, regardless of your intention. If I had dealt with it better, Arcana would never even have appeared." Tara said, still blaming herself.

"You are asking far too much of yourself." Death said, a rare serious expression on his mask/face. He raised a hand. "At any rate, why don't you sleep on it? We don't seem to making much progress." he suggested.

"I guess I probably should, I might be able to get some answers from Arcana actually." Tara mused, walking away deep in thought.

Death watched her go, then sighed. "At times, she seems to almost be Asura's anti-thesis. She refuses to give in to negativity to the point her soul split, and then she manages to resist even that. It's very impressive, but if she keeps trying to handle everything herself she'll be crushed by the weight of the world." he put a hand to his chin. "What to do...?" he asked himself.

On Tara's way back, she was commandeered by Sid and Blackstar, mainly Sid. She was headed to the library anyway, so she wasn't all that inconvenienced. She was, however, horrified by the state the library was in when she got there. There were as many books on the floor in haphazard piles as on the shelves of the bookcases. 

She just barely restrained herself from re-shelving, realizing that Blackstar was probably being made to clean the place.

Blackstar had a thoroughly bored expression on his face as he looked around. "Well, you wanted me to come here, so here I am. What am I supposed to do now?" he asked.

"Clean! Put the library back in order!" Sid ordered. "Tara knows the system better than most of the people who work here, so she'll be able to explain it to you better than I can, but you're not going to be getting any help from her cleaning up." Sid said.

"Huh? No way, not me!" Blackstar objected.

"Listen you brat! On your last extracurricular lesson, you didn't collect even one Kishin Egg soul!" Sid said.

"Yeah, well, that's what remedial lessons are for, right? I've been doing enough of them lately. How is stacking a bunch of books going to help? Cleaning? No way! I'm too big for that! Stars don't clean!" Tara was getting the distinct impression that he was sulking. "Isn't there anything better for me to do? Why can't I do something like when we fought you and the crazy professor?" Blackstar asked. He was definitely sulking.

"Listen up for once Blackstar! When it comes to raw power, you're in the top three in your class, but here you are with nothing to show for it! It's not fair to Tsubaki, she's trying hard and you're holding her back!" Sid had managed to get to the door while they weren't looking somehow. "What you need right now is punishment! Something mind-numbingly tedious and boring to get you back on track!" Sid said between the half-closed wooden doors.

"This is a huge mess, aren't you at least going to help me?" Blackstar asked.

"That would defeat the purpose of this whole exercise. I don't spoil my students, that's not the kind of man I was." Sid said, waving his hand and slowly closing the door. "One more thing, Tara, resist your OCD and don't put any of the books back. You'll justify helping Blackstar with the rest before long." Sid said, before closing the door and walking off.

Tara tried to explain the Duo Decimal system to Blackstar, but he'd already found a comic book/graphic novel/manga book (it was hard to tell from just the cover sometimes) and was laughing his head off at every other page. She sighed and picked out a book to read and tried very very hard not to notice the disorder around her.

Eventually, someone noticed Blackstar's loud laughter, she was honestly rather surprised it took so long. "Hey, keep it down, would you? You're in a library." Kid complained.

"Whoops! Yeah, sorry." Blackstar apologized then noticed who he was talking to. "What are you doing here Kid, are you being punished too?" Blackstar asked.

"No, I'm here to check out a book. I'm conducting some research into the symmetry of famous weapons. I'd actually like take the book your sitting on if you don't mind moving for a second." Kid said. 

Tara was left wondering how this mess wasn't leaving him going nuts, maybe he was less incensed because the books were fairly symmetrical individually? Hm, that was the opposite of her problem.

"Oh, right here?" Blackstar asked, moving over and grabbing the book in question before handing it over.

"What does the cover say?" Blackstar asked. "E-Ex-caly-bur?" he asked. 

"Almost, Excalibur." Kid corrected.

Tara took a closer look. The book was light green and had EXCALIBUR in golden letters as the title. She immediately got the universal expression of all who had met the current Excalibur. Based on what she'd learned from the fairies in his cave, the sad thing was that he used to be sensible and a force for good to rival Lord Death, but he hadn't handled immortality well. His sanity had eroded over the eons until he was little more than a babbling fool with enough power to destroy a city.

"Yeah, what's that?" Blackstar said.

"From what I've heard it's a legendary Weapon pre-dating the human versions. It's also known as the holy sword. They say he who draws the holy sword from the ground will be deemed a hero and shall receive ever-lasting glory and fame. I've heard that someone who obtained Excalibur in the past went on to become a mighty king." Kid said.

"Yep, it was King Arthur he was the mightiest of the Knights of the Round Table and his reign was, for the most part, a time of peace and prosperity like the citizens of Britain had never seen. Although-" Tara was cut off from mentioning what happened to King Arthur or Ecalibur's current state by Kid.

"I bet a sword as powerful as this one has absolutely flawless symmetry! Oh symmetry!" Kid said. Tara could have sworn she saw a sparkle in front of Kid.

"Hero? King? That sounds perfect to me!" Blackstar exclaimed, a similar sparkle in his eye.

"Oh, you mean Excalibur, huh?" Stein asked, freaking Tara out a little since he'd gotten so close without anyone noticing.

"Hey Professor, are you here for punishment too?" Blackstar asked.

"Punishment? What are you talking about Blackstar?" Stein asked.

"Do you know anything about the legend of Excalibur?" Kid asked.

"The Holy Sword Excalibur. It was too much even for me." Stein said, turning away.

"Really?" Blackstar asked.

"Even you couldn't draw the sword Professor?" Kid asked, before looking closer at the book. "The holy sword Excalibur..." Kid said.

"Now I'm really interested!" Blackstar said loudly. 

"I'm not all that surprised Professor Stein couldn't draw Excalibur." Tara admitted. "He might be an exceedingly powerful Meister, but there's no accounting for Excalibur's current personality... and they've already left." Tara sighed, noticing them not being there.

"I might as well clean up, they're not coming back any time soon." she rubbed at her head in annoyance. She started on the nearest pile, Tsubaki eventually came by and joined in. With the two of them working at it, the library was clean before Sid came back.

"Let's see. Are you still hard at work like a good boy Blackstar?" he gasped at the sight of the library not only organized but even swept and mopped. "Ooh! See what you can do if you put your mind to it?" he asked.

"Oh, hey Professor Sid, we finished cleaning a while ago." Tsubaki said, pausing in reading her book.

"Tsubaki! Tara! So that sneaky little brat dumped his punishment on them and took off did he? Back when I was still alive I hated it when dirty tricks like this were pulled!" Sid growled.

"It's okay Professor, I like to clean." Tsubaki said.

"And I like to organize." Tara said.

"If you're looking for Blackstar, he's not here. He and Kid went to find the Holy Sword. Why, did he do something wrong?" Stein asked.

"The Holy Sword?" Sid asked taking a few steps closer.

"Yes. Excalibur." Stein answered.

"The same sword that tears the air and shakes the very ground?" Sid asked.

"Yes, they're after that Excalibur." Tara said, her 'Excalibur' expression returning briefly.

Stein turned his face back to his book and gave his screw a few turns. "Let's stop talking about it." he said.

"I tried to tell them, but they'd already left." Tara said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Sid rubbed his head and sighed. "Yeah, in some ways this is the ultimate remedial lesson. I'll let this one slide, that's the kind of man I was. I have some tests that need grading anyway." he said, leaving the way he came.

Tsubaki approached Stein. "Professor, I have a question. What kind of weapon is the Holy Sword?" she asked.

"Oh, that huh? Whoever draws the sword is said to be made a great king, given wings of light and granted the ability to soar through the sky. The sword can cut through the very fabric of space with a single swing. It is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon in the world." Stein said.

"I see, but only a hero who's been chosen can match Soul Wavelengths with it, right?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, that isn't true. Surprisingly enough, Excalibur also has the most flexible wavelength in existence. It can match with anyone just fine." Stein answered.

"The problem is his personality. Nobody can stand to be around him for more than half an hour." Tara said, her Excalibur expression returning in full force. "I have never encountered anyone more annoying, and I once dealt with the literal spirit of chaos!" she finally gave in to her aggravation and threw her hands in the air.


*** The Next Morning ***


The 8 of them (Tara, Maka, Soul, Blackstar, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patty) met outside their classroom. Kid and Blackstar shook hands. "We've both got fine partners already, huh?" Blackstar asked. Kid nodded.

"Looks like the gang is all here." Soul said, trademark toothy grin on his face.

"Hey Soul." everyone said in unison.

"So are you all fixed up now Soul?" Blackstar asked as the two of them fist bumped. "The real party can't start without you around." he said.

"Yeah, I'm a lot better now." Soul answered.

A few girls giggled over some thing in the background. "Blackstar, I'm beginning to think other people have been laughing at us." Kid said, leaning over a bit.

"Those two? They're the ones?" one of the three asked.

"Yeah, it's for them." another answered, causing them all to giggle.

It was at that moment that Maka appeared from inside the classroom. "Hey Blackstar, Kid, c'mere I think you better see this." Maka said. 

They all followed her in, and discovered a strange shrine of sorts. It had a banner at the top with the words 'I'll always be waiting for you' with the letter 'f' replaced with a cane with eyes. Below that were two pictures of Excalibur wreathed in pink flowers each having a banner below them with Kid and Blackstar's names. The whole thing was tied down with rope in a candy-cane patter. Tara facepalmed. "Yep, this seems like the kind of thing he'd do." she said, suppressing her urge to burn the thing.

"Is he serious?" Kid and Blackstar asked in unison.

"What is that?" Maka asked.

"Don't know, but it's intense." Soul answered.

"Trust me. You don't want to know." Tara said, her Excalibur expression returned in all it's glory.

"That freak." Blackstar said in his Excalibut expression.

"Disgusting." Kid said also in his Excalibur expression.
> The Enchanted Sword Masamune
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After her usual breakfast, Tara arrived to find that Professor Stein had cancelled classes for the day, so she simply started to read the textbook. Whenever she was bored, she would read the books, take notes, and do the assignments in them. She kept the assignments organized in her apartment, and had any assignments they received ready weeks beforehand. It was impossible to be tardy like this! 

She concentrated on her book harder to shut out the urge to laugh like a maniac. With the exception of Maka, no one else was any where near this studious, and eventually, even Maka grew bored. This was probably why she asked "I wonder if something's come up with Professor Stein canceling class like this, or maybe he's just skipping so he can dissect something. What do you guys think?"

"Well, I wouldn't put the latter past him, but it's probably the former." Tara answered.

"Who knows with that guy, but don't worry about it! Today'll be cool, especially without Sir Spaz-a-lot." Soul responded.

"I'm guessing you mean Blackstar. Now that I look, Tsubaki isn't here either." Maka said, a trace of concern entering her voice.

"Hm, now that you mention it, could they be on a dangerous mission? That would explain the Professor." Tara hypothesized.

"Oh, haven't you guys heard? Someone overheard some teachers talking in the faculty room earlier. Apparently, they're out to collect the soul of the Enchanted Sword." a girl Tara didn't know said. Tara was not well-acquainted with anyone beyond her established circle of friends and the faculty. Of course, that tended to translate to 'Sorry, what's your name again?'

"Enchanted Sword?" Maka asked.

"Sounds like Masamune, a katana." Tara answered.

"I hope they're okay. It's gonna be tough, they say the sword is on the verge of becoming a Kishin." the girl said, concern bleeding through.

Maka and Tara shared a glance, then looked at Soul. "Let's try asking Lord Death." Tara said. With a little coaxing, they got Soul moving and they started down to the Death Room.

When they got there, they went for the direct approach. "Lord Death, I want to know why you sent Blackstar and Tsubaki after Masamune!" Maka said.

Tara blinked. 'Perhaps a bit too direct.' she thought for a good three seconds before changing her mind.

Death sweat-dropped and put both hands out in the universal 'stop' position. "Woah there Meister! Who invited you to the Death Room in the first place?"  he asked. Stein waved from behind them.

Maka and Tara stood straighter. "As the DWMA handbook states in the 118th rule, in the event of an emergency students are allowed to enter the Death Room without first obtaining permission!" Maka quoted.

"Really!? It does?!" Death asked surprised. Odd, hadn't he written the thing?

"Yes." Tara flipped through the handbook she kept in her backpack and showed him the rule in question. "See?" she asked.

"What type of enemy is this 'Enchanted Sword' father?" Kid asked as he, Liz, and Patty walked up.

"Kid? You're joining in on the party too?" Death asked.

"The Enchanted Sword guy isn't like the Demon Sword guy is he?" Soul asked.

"I hope not." Maka responded.

"... Well there's yet another image I'll never get out of my head." Tara shuddered. Blackstar acting like Crona and Tsubaki acting like Ragnarok. That was just weird and wrong.

"No, for starters, the Enchanted Sword doesn't have a witch with him, though he might actually be less dangerous if he were under a witch's supervision. The Enchanted Sword exploits the fear in people's hearts. He uses fear in order to possess his targets and control their bodies like puppets. Once they have been completely brought under his control on the spiritual level as well, he consumes their souls." Stein said, his expression was serious.

"Unless someone stops him, he will become a Kishin." Stein said with an air of finality.


*** Meanwhile In Needlepoint Village ***


It was pouring rain outside, but a late teen was currently inside a small storehouse. "How could that Star Clan murderer dare show up here?!" he asked angrily as his hands trembled while gripping a sickle. He grabbed one hand with the other and forced the shaking to stop. "Will this sickle even work against someone like that?" he asked with a fearful quaver to his voice. "I'm old enough now to take revenge for my parents' murders by those Star Clan bastards!" he said, trying to convince himself. Blackstar was the only surviving member of a powerful clan of assassins. The Star Clan had become obsessed with power and began taking human souls, after the DWMA took them out, Blackstar was spared as he was an infant at the time. He was taken in, and the rest was history.

Suddenly a deep, creepy voice said "You see I think... and therefore I am... and therefore I eat." The teen turned to see a man with a wide-brimmed hat, a white traveling cloak, a set of good leather traveling boots, a pair of dull brown pants, and a shirt.

"Hey, who are you?" the teen asked, understandably suspicious.

"I think therefore I eat. You have fear hiding in your soul don't you?" the man asked.

The teen immediately got defensive. "Fear? Why would you think that?" the teen asked, then noticed he was still holding the sickle from earlier and hid it behind his back. "No, I don't have any fear." the teen responded.

The man seemed indifferent. "We'll see now won't we?" he asked as one would discuss a normal day's weather. "With my power, your fear could disappear permanently. Gone just like that." the man said. "So, how about it?" he asked suddenly directly in front of the teen.

A minute or so later, a man in a green sweater and jeans who was middle-aged and balding walked in carrying a pile of short wooden poles. "Ah Ryoku, there you 
are. I brought some stuff we can use as weapons if that assassin comes back." he said, putting the poles down and began to sift through them. "13 years ago we put up those needles, in all that time we haven't had a single thief come along." the man had yet to notice the katanna Ryoku was holding and Ryuko had yet to react in any way, never mind turn around.

"Not that you have anything to worry about! I'll protect the village like I did back in the old days! No one could take me!" he said, then paused. "Huh, that's an unusual sword you've got. Where'd you get something that fancy? There shouldn't have been anything like that in here." the man commented. Unseen by him, the sword crackled with dark energy for a moment. "Uh Ryoku, are you okay?" he asked, concerned at still not getting a reaction from the teenager.

"..." Ryoku finally turned around and the man got a good look at his face. He had strange tattoos criss-crossing his face and each other, and his eyes had turned black while his irises had become red. The man screamed and ran, but the possessed teenager caught up to him without real effort.

Meanwhile, Tsubaki and Blackstar were waiting for Masamune to appear on a tree at the edge of town, when Blackstar heard the man's screaming. "It's him." Blackstar said calmly. "Let's go!" he said, jumping down. 

"Right!" Tsubaki answered, and jumped down as well. They ran in the direction of the scream Blackstar had heard.

Back with the old man, he was sitting on the ground, terrified of the possessed teenager. "No... wait Ryoku... what's gotten into you?!" the man yelled in fear.

"Ryoku...?" the sword the Ryoku was holding said using him, clearly responsible for the possession. "Who is this Ryoku? I am the Enchanted Sword Masamune. I think therefore I am hungry... for souls." the sword said, using Ryoku to begin raising itself.

The man whimpered in terror, but Masamune paused as the sound of running feet became audible. Just as he managed to turn, Blackstar leaped into the air and kicked his possessed body in the face pushing him back. The man got up and ran off yelling.

"So you're the Enchanted Sword, huh?" Blackstar said, then paused as he got a good look at the teen. "Wait a sec, you're that kid from earlier, the one with the money. What's hell's going on?" he asked.

Tsubaki walked up. "It's the Soul Possession technique... just one thing that sword can do." she explained.

"I've never heard of that before. How's it work?" he asked.

"You know how normally Meisters and Weapons synchronize their Soul Wavelengths to unify themselves...? That's not what the Enchanted Sword does. Instead of matching he simply takes control of a person's soul and uses them as a puppet. When he's finished with the host, their soul is devoured." she looked at the blade which was currently crackling with dark energy. 'That's the Enchanted Sword Masamune, it used to be so beautiful, but that beauty has become clouded by evil and darkness.' she thought.

The sword glowed red briefly, as if in recognition. "Oh, it's you, is it?" Masamune asked, before rushing at them. 

"What now?" Blackstar asked as they moved back to avoid being skewered. They then jumped over and past a slash. 

"He may be powerful, but he can't control two Soul Wavelengths at the same time. Listen Blackstar... if you were to shoot your Wavelength into that boy, the Enchanted Sword would be forced to separate from him." Tsubaki explained. They landed on their feet silently like the ninja they were. "After that, leave the rest to me." she said, transforming into her Chain-scythe Mode. 


*** Death Room ***


"Hm, that could work, but what do the plan to do with the sword afterward? Anyone who picks it up could be possessed, and wearing gloves isn't going to cut it since Soul Wavelengths pretty much ignore most clothing." Tara wondered. Her gloves were specially-made to keep her from draining people on accident.

"That's a good point, but I think we can trust Tsubaki and Blackstar to come up with something." Death said. They nodded, and watched their friends intently through the mirror.


*** With Tsubaki And Blackstar ***


"Just shoot my Soul Wavelength at them, right? That's all you need me to do?" Blackstar asked.

"Yes." Tsubaki answered seriously. Ryuko rushed at them again. "I joined the Academy in order to hunt down the Enchanted Sword." Blackstar blocked a slash with Tsubaki's chains. "This is my fight." she said, uncharacteristically grim. "And I'm sorry... to put you in the middle Blackstar." she apologized.

"Tsubaki... Come on, please tell me that's not what you're really thinking... You know better than that don't you?" he said as he struggled to hold Masamune back with the chains. "Weapons and Meisters..." he forced Masamune away. "we depend on each other don't we?!" he lunged at Masamune, forcing him further away. "You can lean on me Tsubaki... And you can do it a heck of a lot more than you do now, got it?" he asked.

"Yes." she said with a smile. 

Blackstar rushed at Masamune, who slashed at him. He ducked under it, and got behind Masamune, then blocked another slash. He was about to hit Masamune's possessed body with Soul Force, when Masamune spoke. "Puppet Shadow." a black thing reared up and slashed at Blackstar, cutting him along the shoulder.

"Blackstar!" Tsubaki called in concern.

"What the hell was that?!" Blackstar asked as he skidded back. He then got a good look at the wiry black creature coming out of the ground where Ryuko's shadow lay. "You've gotta be kidding me! The Enchanted Sword can even control a possessed person's shadow?! How does that even work!" he yelled. He had a point. 

The shadow retreated into the ground, growling "Shadow!"

Masamune glowed red briefly as it ordered "Puppet, get him!" The shadow rushed across the ground, before emerging near Blackstar and slashing at him,  the attack was blocked, but Masamune's attack forced Blackstar to take a jump backwards.

"So it's two against one, huh? I can handle that!" Blackstar said. The shadow stretched out it's arm and tried to pierce Blackstar's shoulder, only for him to duck 
under the blow and back-flip out of the way. "Let's shake him Tsubaki! Ninja Sword Mode!" Blackstar called out.

"Right!" Tsubaki responded, shifting to a Japanese short sword that was only a little longer than a knife. 

A tentacle of shadow lunged for him, but he said "Speed Star!" and his speed increased to the point of blurring around the battlefield to avoid the strike and several more. It was really impressive that the shadow was so flexible, and even more so that Blackstar was dodging so easily. He appeared next to Masamune, but the slash at Blackstar swiped through an after-image. "You missed!" he began appearing in spots in a rough circle a few feet away from Masamune. "You can't catch me! Hyahoo! I bet you can't even see me, can you? Nope, you can't! And do you know why? Because I'm one dude who's way ahead of his time! You'll be lucky to even see one hair on my head! Blink just one second and you'll miss me! That's how fast I am!" he called. 

Unfortunately, he slipped on some mud and went sliding straight into a rather odd statue. It was an eclipse on the top, a rectangular body with a horned being on it, and two red fins sticking out. It was connected to the ground by a pedestal. It looked like it hurt too.

"Maybe you should save Speed Star for days when it's not raining, huh?" Tsubaki asked.

"I'm just a dude who's way ahead of his time, ya know? Does that mean I was born too early because time can't keep up with me? Man... Speed Star... is way deep, huh?" he asked.

The shadow loomed over him, and he just barely dodged being impaled in the face. "Damn, I can't hit him when I have to spend all my time dodging his attacks!" Blackstar growled. "I have to try something else." he said.

The shadow formed a drill around the katana Ryuko was holding. "Playtime's over, now we fight for real." Masamune said.

"That stance...! Careful Blackstar, he's going to shoot a beam from the sword!" Tsubaki warned. Blackstar braced himself.

"Now die. Puppet Thrust!" Masamune called out. The shadow was fired at Blackstar as a beam attack.

"I can see it." Blackstar murmured. A huge cloud of dust was thrown up by the attack, but as it cleared, it became obvious that Blackstar had deflected the attack. He smirked a little.

Apparently insulted by this, Masamune said "Branch out Shadow!" spikes erupted from the shadow, stabbing Blackstar several times. He grunted in pain as the shadow removed itself from him and reformed in front of Blackstar, managing to give him a cut across the forehead.

He staggered back a step, but said "I'm not done with you yet!" through gritted teeth. Masamune charged at him, causing Blackstar to duck under a slash. He retaliated with a Soul Force attack, only for it to be deflected with Masamune's blade, leaving Blackstar open to an attack from the shadow, opening a cut on his stomach. 'Damn! I'm still ahead, it's not my time yet!' he thought.

The two combatants clashed swords. 'C'mon... c'mon... come on!' Blackstar thought. They passed each other, Blackstar landing near the statue again. Masamune rushed at him. 'Is it my time now?' he thought. Both Masamune and the shadow attacked, but Blackstar jumped over both. "Tsubaki! Chain-scythe Mode!" Blackstar said, causing Tsubaki to shift again. Masamune and the shadow gave it another try. "Now Tsubaki!" he said.

"Okay!" she agreed.

"Let's go Soul Resonance!" they said in unison. Tsubaki's chains rapidly formed a five-point star. 

"Shield Star!" Blackstar called out, as a yellow star formed inside the chains. Masamune's strike couldn't get past the shield, only causing a sound similar to that of metal on metal as the sword contacted the yellow star.

"I'll do anything it takes to stop you. You dive into destruction without considering what lies ahead, and now Blackstar has you." Tsubaki said.

"Puppet!" Masamune called. The shadow lunged at Blackstar and extended both sets of fingers to try and impale him, but he dodged and jumped up.

"Your time is up! Mid-air combat is something I'm good at!" he readied his signature Soul Force technique. "Which makes this... MY TURF! Blackstar Big Wave!" he hit Ryuko with his Soul Wavelength, forcing Masamune to release him. "Now Tsubaki!" Blackstar called as he caught Ryuko.

"Right!" Tsubaki responded, catching Masamune by the hilt, and passing him in mid-air. No one watching missed the happy smile on her face. 'Blackstar... thank you. I'll be back.'

"Interesting. Coming inside was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Masamune asked, a dark grin spreading across his face.

Tsubaki landed, kneeling, but still holding onto the sword. 'From this point on, it really is my fight. I will stop the Enchanted Sword.' she gasped as the same tattoos Ryoku had not a minute beforehand appeared on her. Apparently, they were a sign of Masamune's influence. She then screamed as green energy crackled throughout her body and a blinding light appeared.


*** Death Room ***


"What just happened?" Soul asked.

"Tsubaki's gone inside the Enchanted Sword." Stein explained.

"Why would you do that Tsubaki?" Maka asked.

"What was she thinking? How's she supposed to fight without a Meister?" Soul asked.

"It doesn't make sense for her to fight him alone." Tara said, concern etched on her face.

"You don't get it, the fight is taking place inside their souls, anything could happen now." Death reprimanded. "It had to come to this. You see, Tsubaki is the only one who can stand against the Enchanted Sword." Death explained.


*** With Tsubaki And Blackstar ***


"Tsubaki, you're in, now make sure you come back out." Blackstar said.


*** Inside The Souls ***


The inside of Masamune was disturbing. Shadows, representing people's souls which were absorbed into Masamune, were scattered about over blood-red water and a black sickly grinning moon with blood dripping down it's face from both it's mouth and eye looked down on it all with sadistic glee.

"This is the inside of the Enchanted Sword." Tsubaki said aloud. "Where are you? I know you'll be coming after my soul in order to possess it." she asked.

"Soul Possession? No, not that. I think I'll devour your soul just the way it is." Masamune rested on the arm of one of the shadows as if it were a tree branch. "I have to admit it's nice to see you again... Tsubaki." he said.

"Hi brother." Tsubaki said, scythes forming in her hands in a burst of yellow light. She could bring them out without transforming since this was also inside her soul. Masamune brought out his sword form in a burst of pinkish-red light.

"Ready?" they asked at the same time as they got into their respective stances.


*** Meanwhile In Needlepoint Village ***


"Ryoku?" a villager asked as they approached Blackstar and Tsubaki, intent on making them leave, but noticing the unconscious teenager.

"What happened? Is he okay?" another asked.

"This is the Star Clan's fault! Look what they've done to Ryoku!" another answered.

"It's terrible!" one said.

"Get out of our village, murderer!" one yelled as he started beating on Blackstar with a stick. Blackstar simply sat there and took it. 

"Tsubaki." he murmured.

"Did you hear me?! I said get out! Get out!" the villager stopped after a particularly brutal strike, panting for breath.

"Okay, just make sure you come back!" Blackstar said, smiling despite the blood running down his face.


*** Inside The Souls ***


Tsubaki charged at Masamune, screaming involuntarily. Masamune blocked effortlessly, knocked her away causing her to lose her balance, and then grabbed her by the face and lifted her up. "What's the matter Tsubaki? I know you didn't come to visit, so why isn't there any force behind your attacks? You're just like your namesake the Camellia Blossom." he let go just long enough to grab Tsubaki by her hair and dunk her head under the water.

"A flower without fragrance. It proclaims nothing, blooming in pathetic silence.  No scent, no voice of your own. When your petals scatter it is quietly tragic." he kicked her away while cutting her along the waist. "Such a boring flower." he said as Tsubaki struggled up. "You know what I think? If this was the outside world you'd be dead right now." Tsubaki panted raggedly. "What's the matter? Your soul's trembling. What are you so afraid of? Is it death?" he asked.

"I may die today, but I will stop you!" Tsubaki said adamantly, her eyes narrowing.

Masamune started, then clutched at his face with one hand. "Stop it! Stop looking at me! Those eyes... you are the one who brought me here. The one who put me on the path to becoming the Enchanted Sword." he accused.


*** Meanwhile In Needlepoint Village ***


The villagers continued to beat on Blackstar, who continued to sit there and take it.


*** Death Room ***


Death chuckled. "Blackstar's showing more restraint with those two than I thought was possible for him." he said.

"I still can't believe Tsubaki and Masamune are brother and sister." Maka said.

"But Blackstar has no idea about that does he?" Soul asked.

Death nodded. "He trusts her, and for now that's all he needs to know." Death responded.

"Tsubaki hasn't moved since she screamed earlier, are you sure she's alright?" Maka asked.

"Hm, if you don't mind Tara? Don't worry, everyone here is in the know." Death asked.

"Alright." an illusion began to form, but was cut off as she noticed Stein eating lunch.

"We brought snacks everybody!" Liz and Patty called out as they hefted 2 large bags.

"Snacks at a time like this?! Are you two dipsticks crazy?!" Maka yelled.

"Anyway, I'll illustrate while Stein narrates." Tara said, a pair of vacuum hoses connected to each other appeared, along with an image of Tsubaki and Masamune's soul at each end. Tsubaki's was yellow and seemed distressed, while Masamune's was red and seemed almost arrogantly confident.

"Tsubaki and Masamune are trying to take over each other's souls. Masamune is trying to possess Tsubaki's while Tsubaki tries to absorb his." Stein explained.

"Ah, turning his own technique against him. Nice." Kid said as he snacked. "Still, do you think she can win?" Kid asked.

"It will certainly be difficult. She's fighting Masamune in his soul, so he's got the home court advantage, and he has far more experience with the Soul Possession technique as it is one of his trademarks. Yeah, her chances of winning are low altogether." Stein ate a troublesome piece of food that he'd been trying to grab with his chopsticks for the last few minutes, before resorting to stabbing it.

"Still, that might be the best chance she's got. Transporting him in sword form would be difficult, and it's almost impossible to destroy a Demon Weapon while in their Weapon form, especially a Kishinized one." Tara noted, looking at the situation logically.

"Brother and sister locked in a fight to the death! I can't even imagine! I couldn't go on living without you Patty!" Liz said, shaking her sister and crying.

"There, there." Patty patted her sister on the back, seeming unconcerned.

"Those who start down the road to becoming a Kishin reveal their own weakness. The original Kishin sought escape from the fear of death. The question is, why did Tsubaki's brother travel down this path? What does he seek to gain by becoming a Kishin?" Stein asked.

"The motivation tends to be fear, bitterness, or jealousy. Though a simple lust for power isn't uncommon." Tara added.


*** Inside The Souls ***


Tsubaki stood and rushed at her brother at speeds most humans couldn't match or even follow. "You have so many other options. You could use your Smoke Bomb or Shuriken forms," Tsubaki sent a scythe flying at him, only for it to be deflected effortlessly. "but you stick with that Chain-scythe instead." Masamune said, seeming angry. Tsubaki reached him, but her attack was blocked. "Why are you holding back?" he growled even as he gave her a cut along the shoulder. "Pity? Do you pity me?!" he yelled, his face twisted in anger.


*** Death Room ***


"That's not good." Tara said with forced calm as Tsubaki's soul started to get pulled into her end of the vacuum hose. Since Death's mirror was not even close to ordinary, she could use Soul Perception through it and get the general idea of what was going on, which was reflected in her illusion.

"It's not over yet." Death said.

"Tsubaki and Masamune both come from the Nakatsukasa family. That clan possesses special Weapon abilities that are handed down through the generations. In theory, Masamune should have inherited the previous generation's abilities, as he was the eldest child. However, Tsubaki inherited them instead. No one is sure of the reason." Stein explained. Tara would simply put it down to the randomness of genetics. There was nothing guaranteeing a child would inherit a particular trait from their parents, so there was nothing stopping the younger child from inheriting the power.


*** Inside The Souls ***


"You inherited everything that should have been mine by birthright. This sword is the only thing I inherited. For the longest time, I was treated far more delicately than other children. I was babied and spoiled, getting whatever I asked for. One day I realized it was because everyone thought I was inferior. Ironically enough, you were the one who showed me that sad truth." Masamune said, making an extremely shallow slice across Tsubaki's cheek.

He grabbed at his face in apparent emotional pain. "The pity in your eyes when you looked at me because you thought you were the strong one. You hid it, but I could see it anyway. I'll never forgive you for that!" Shadows rose up in a pillar surrounding him. "Tsubaki, dear sister, I'm going to kill you. I will become a Kishin..." he let go of his face and you could see the madness in his eyes. "And then I'm going to master this sword!" he proclaimed.

"...Puppet Rain." he said softly. Shadows wrapped their arms around Tsubaki's wrists, ankles, and neck, causing her to cry out in pain. Unbeknownst to her, the illusion showed her soul about halfway sucked into the hose.


*** Meanwhile In Needlepoint Village ***


The villagers continued to beat on Blackstar, who smiled as he remembered how he and Tsubaki had met during their first day as official students. One of the villagers noticed Tsubaki sitting there and (correctly) assumed that she was with Blackstar. He was about to bring the stick down on her, but Blackstar caught it effortlessly.

"Listen you snot-nosed brat, don't even think about interrupting Tsubaki again or I'll kill you!" he snapped the stick in half with one hand, sending the villager sprawling to the ground. "You got me?" he asked, the blood on his face making him terrifying. "Just sit there and keep your mouth shut." Blackstar finished.

"Oh yeah? Well screw you Star Clan member!" the villager threw the stick at Blackstar's face and ran off.


*** Death Room ***


"What the hell is wrong with these people?!" Soul asked.

"The Star Clan was responsible for killing hundreds of people, many of them for money or to eat their souls. It's only natural they'd make enemies. Though I fail to see what attacking a boy who was a baby when the clan was slaughtered for their crimes does to help anyone." Stein said.


*** Inside The Souls ***


"Any last words before I kill you Tsubaki?" Masamune asked. Tsubaki was silent. "You truly are a pathetic little Camellia blossom aren't you? Nothing to say." the shadows drew her right in front of him. "And now Tsubaki, your soul belongs to me." he said, before impaling her. The illusory Tsubaki soul was completely sucked in.


*** Death Room ***


"What was Tsubaki thinking, taking him on all alone?" Maka asked.

"Tsubaki is a powerful, adaptable Weapon, but this time her opponent is too strong. I should have been the one to face the Enchanted Sword." Stein said.

"I wouldn't give up on her just yet." Tara said. She had confidence in her friends. It would take more than this to stop one of them.

"She's right. Tsubaki isn't really alone. Blackstar's right there with her, and he won't budge. She wouldn't be able to fight otherwise." Soul agreed.

"That's right." Death said with a nod before placing a hand to his heart. "What's important right now is what's in here. We all know that Tsubaki is a powerful and adaptable Weapon with many modes of attack. But that's not where her true strength lies. That's in her soul." Death said. 


*** Inside The Souls ***


"What are you feeling right now little sister? Do you still look down on me? It must be nice to have such a sense of superiority over others. You just stand there, quiet and smug, taking care of everyone else because you're the strong one. How can you deny it? That's who you've always been." Masamune accused.

"Please tell me that's not what you're actually thinking. You know better than that Tsubaki, don't even listen to this guy!" Blackstar said, placing a hand on her shoulder after appearing from nowhere, then disappearing just as quickly.

Tsubaki opened her eyes as her soul began forcing it's way back out of the hose. "You're wrong." she said, causing Masamune to kick her away. She landed in a sitting position, and stood without trouble. "You're wrong!" she yelled. "You're wrong! You're Wrong! You're Wrong!! YOU'RE WRONG!!" she yelled louder and louder, utterly denying Masamune's accusation.

"I'm not taking care of you anymore! I'm going to stop you!" her Chain-scythes, changed into her Ninja Sword Mode. "Please, feel in your soul how serious I am! I'm begging you." Tsubaki said, switching her hand to a reverse grip to increase her power.

"You don't stand a chance!" Masamune growled. "You're just a pathetic little Camellia Blossom! You might act brave, but in the end you have no scent or voice!" Masamune yelled, clearly losing it.

"You're wrong! I won't let you call me a pathetic flower anymore! I have a friend who's helped me realize that a Camellia Blossom... does have a fragrance!" Tsubaki shouted back.

At that moment Masamune completely snapped. He roared in rage, and shadows lunged for Tsubaki as she ran at him. Tsubaki slashed and stabbed the shadows, cutting herself a path. She used the nearest shadow as a springboard to launch herself into the air and try a falcon slash on Masamune, who roared as he swung his sword at her. A shockwave rolled through the soulscape, destroying the shadows and momentarily causing the water to turn blue. They had impaled each other in the same instant.


*** Meanwhile In Needlepoint Village ***


Tsubaki's body stirred, sitting up. Blackstar noticed immediately. "Tsubaki!" he called. Tsubaki turned into white smoke and was drawn into the sword. 

"She's going inside the Enchanted Sword? That can't be... Did he beat Tsubaki? Does that mean it's over?" Blackstar asked, falling to his knees.


*** Death Room ***


Both souls had disappeared into their ends of the hose. Tara could only stare. "Did they taken each other out?" she asked. Despair and disbelief warred for dominance in her voice and emotions.

"Tsubaki!" Maka called. "I can't watch this, it can't be real!" she said, closing her eyes.


*** Meanwhile In Needlepoint Village ***


Blackstar turned to the nearest villager, who happened to be the old man Ryuko had attacked while possessed. "Hey old man! Give me that stick!" he said, grabbing the stick and yanking it out of the man's hands. He began to prod the sword with the stick.

"Hey Tsubaki! Come out of there already! You haven't lost to him have you?" Blackstar asked. "You can put on a better show than that, come back out on stage!" he started to lightly hit the sword with the stick. "Encore! Encore! Encore!" with each 'encore' Blackstar hit the stick more often and with more force. "Tsubaki, encore! Give us an encore!" Blackstar said.


*** Inside The Souls ***


"At last... you've finally shown me what you're feeling." Masamune said as slowly began to fade away from the feet up. "I always thought that the Camellia Blossom was a boring flower. One without fragrance." He was gone from the waist down now, and the soulscape had switched to Tsubaki's. The moon was replaced with the sun, the water was a clear blue, and the shadows were replaced by Camellia petals. 

"But I was wrong wasn't I? I realized as soon as I touched your soul." he said, his eyes having returned to those of a normal human.

"Masamune..." Tsubaki said sadly and weakly.

"It's a nice fragrance." he said, smiling as he vanished completely, leaving behind a Kishin Egg soul. 

Tsubaki hugged it and shed tears. "Brother..."


*** Meanwhile In Needlepoint Village ***


"Encore! Encore! Encore! Encore! Come on Tsubaki! Encore!" Blackstar called as he jabbed the sword with the stick he was holding. "Encore dammit! Give us an encore! We want an encore!" he was yelling now.

The sword erupted into smoke, sending Blackstar flying back and causing his stick to be sent flying above him and back down on his head. Tsubaki became visible as the mist faded. "See? I told you I'd come back." she said.

"Tsubaki?" Blackstar asked.

"I just had to pay a visit to my brother." Tsubaki said.

"Oh, you did huh? Well welcome back. Are you alright?" Blackstar asked, seemingly unconcerned, but it was easy to tell it was an act.

"Oh yes." Tsubaki said with a smile.

"Are you sure you're really okay?" Blackstar asked seriously.

"Yes, I promise I'm okay." Tsubaki answered.

Blackstar smiled widely. "Alright then, come over here." Blackstar said. Tsubaki looked surprised. "Come on, Blackstar's giving you a big hug." he said.

Tsubaki teared up, then ran over and hugged Blackstar as she started crying. "I'm sorry! Look at you Blackstar, you're all covered in blood! Are you alright?" she asked.

Blackstar patted her on the head. "Nevermind about me Tsubaki, I'm fine." he said, only to get a whap on the head from one of the villagers. This was the last straw, and Blackstar said "Alright! That's it, you asked for it!" then decked the villager in the face.

Ryuko finally woke up a few seconds later. "Oh, kid's still alive? That's good news." Blackstar said, completely oblivious to the expressions on everyone's faces.

"The Star Clan are all monsters!" a villager said.

"Beating up a little kid..." another said.

"Get out of here, now!" yet another growled.

"You ever notice how the smallest dogs bark the loudest?" Blackstar asked as he stretched. "Why don't you mutts shut up?!" Blackstar yelled, apparently fed up with the physical abuse and name-calling. The villagers grew progressively angrier. "You're scared of an enemy that doesn't exist anymore, how lame are you?" he raised a finger to the sky. "What's the point of worrying about the past? A real star always keeps moving forward!" Blackstar said.

"Don't give us that!" one of the villagers yelled.

"Never come back!" Aggravated, the villagers formed an angry mob and chased Blackstar and Tsubaki out of town by throwing rocks and sticks. 

"Who'd want to come back here anyway?" Blackstar called, sticking his tongue out at the villagers.

"I'm sorry! Once you get to know him, he's not bad, really!" Tsubaki called.

"Even if he wasn't a member of the Star Clan I still wouldn't like that guy." Ryuko was grinning despite what he'd just said.


*** The Death Room: Several Hours Later ***


Once Blackstar got treated for his injuries, the ninja duo headed to the Death Room. "So Tsubaki, now that we've taken care of the Enchanted Sword and you've dealt with some baggage from your past, you're still gonna be my Weapon partner right?" Blackstar asked.

After a beat, Tsubaki said, "Of course!"

"Alright!" Blackstar said with a grin.

The two of them stepped into the Death Room proper, where everyone said "Welcome back!" in unison.

"Hey, what'd we miss?" Blackstar asked cheerfully.

Tsubaki bowed hurriedly. "I'm sorry we made you all worry." she apologized.

"Hey, hey, good work you two!" Death praised them.

"You guys were amazing out there!" Maka agreed.

"And you finally bagged a soul." Soul said.

"The problem child finally redeems himself." Kid said.

"It sure took you long enough though!" Soul said.

"Well I've always been a little bit ahead of my time." Blackstar said, giving them a thumbs-up.

"You did it Tsubaki!" Maka praised. 

"I was kind of worried for a minute there, but everything turned out fine." Tara said, smiling.

"This little baby cried you know." Liz said, pointing at Patty.

"Nuh-uh! That was you sis!" Patty complained.

"You know Lord Death, I think I may have underestimated what those kids are capable of, they're pretty good." Stein said.

"They are still young after all, they've got plenty of growing up left to do." Death said.

"Attention!" Blackstar called from on top of the mirror behind Death. "I hope you're all ready, 'cause I'm about to show you something incredibly awesome!" he proclaimed loudly.

"Oh, this should be good." Kid and Soul said at the same time.

"He went back to normal pretty quick." Tara deadpanned.

Death 'Hm?'ed.

"Listen up! Thanks to that soul we bagged, Tsubaki's got a brand new Weapon form!" Blackstar announced. Those watching 'Oooh!'ed. "Let's show 'em Tsubaki!" Blackstar said.

"Right!" she agreed, dissolving into white smoke.

"Enchanted Sword Mode!" Blackstar called as Tsubaki reformed into a katana almost the same as the one Masamune had used, but a shade lighter. A single swing created enough air pressure to equal a gust of wind. Unfortunately, it seemed to be extremely draining as Blackstar collapsed onto the ground after a single swing, prompting sweatdrops from everyone else.

Tsubaki reverted to human form, and lifted Blackstar up. "Blackstar!" she called, concerned.

"My Soul Wavelength got taken away. I'm gonna miss it." Blackstar groaned out.

"I don't think that's what Blackstar had planned. He might not be ready for that Mode yet. This is interesting though. It seems Tsubaki's inherited her brother's power." Stein observed with a smile as he smoked a cigarette.

"He's probably going to have to do some special training if he wants to use Enchanted Sword Mode for very long. I wonder if Tsubaki's other forms got a boost too?" Tara noted.

"This settles it, I was born way too soon." Blackstar said as Tsubaki fanned him. "The times are never able to keep up with me."

"Then we'll wait for them together, right Blackstar?" Tsubaki asked. Blackstar nodded weakly.


*** Meanwhile: A Witch Meeting. Unknown Location. ***


"Jouma... Jouma... Jouma, Jouma, Dabarasa!" the Grand Witch said. She had black witch's clothes that covered virtually all of her skin, and her hat looked like some kind of monster that wanted to eat you. Bandages covered one eye, which she had lost decades before. "As Grand Witch, I declare this Witch's Mass open. Let us begin." she said. The witches repeated the words the Grand Witch had begun with, including Medusa, who was in the back with Crona and Ragnarok. Apparently it was a prayer or something similar.

After Witch's Mass, Medusa said, "Come along Crona." as she put her hood up.

"Yes ma'am Lady Medusa." Crona said, complying.

They had barely taken three steps when a witch with orange pouches on her cheeks reminiscent of a frog, waist-length silver hair, a green and polka dot dress that ended at the knees, black pants, white boots with heels, and an orange frog hat stuck a stick out to bar their path. Next to her was a girl in a trenchcoat that covered the lower half of her face with a black rat head hat, and short pink hair. "Hold it." she said.

"Oh dear." Medusa said with mock worry.

"Ah! What's going on, she won't let us go! I don't think I know how to deal with this situation!" Crona said looking at his/her hands.

Ragnarok grabbed Crona's face. "You can deal with it by shutting up already!" he said.

"Good evening Erica Frog, did you need something?" Medusa asked cordially.

"Ribbit. I think you know why I'm stopping you." Erica said.

"Well if it's about Crona, then I'm not the only one who brought a non-witch to the gathering. That little witch over there brought a human with her, so I don't see what the problem is." Medusa said, turning her head towards a swordsman who was carrying the aforementioned witch on his back. The witch happened to be 5 or so, and her powers had yet to manifest strongly, so as long as the human in question was trustworthy, no one really made an issue of it.

"The security of the Witch's Mass certainly has gone downhill, but that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about tonight Medusa. I have some questions about what you've been doing. First, what were you doing stealing something from the Grand Witch's room? Second, why on earth would you sneak yourself onto the staff of the DWMA? You're practically asking to get killed." Erica asked.

Medusa snapped her fingers. "Crona get me my coat." she said, ignoring Erica.

"Yes, right away Lady Medusa." Crona said, putting the snakeskin-patterned coat on Medusa's back. Medusa put the coat on.

"My research at the Academy has been fully approved, as you well know. The Grand Witch herself is on my side Erica." Medusa said, and started walking off.

"Just a minute." Erica stopped Medusa again. "The Grand Witch's eyesight is failing. She doesn't see what a nuisance you've made of yourself lately. That Academy was built to hunt down Kishin Eggs and Witches. If you slip up just once, you'll take all of us with you. You won't be the only one in trouble.

Then there's him." Erica glanced at Crona and Ragnarok. "Why would you try to create a Kishin? They go after Witches as often as normal humans. You've taken this too far, it's time for you to stop." Erica said. Before she or the Mouse-Witch beside her could react, Medusa had her hands inside each of their mouths.

"You meddlesome little frog and mouse. I think I'm going to have to punish you." Medusa said, a twisted smile on her face. Erica and the Mouse-Witch trembled, fully aware that Medusa could kill them whenever she wanted right now. "Maybe not right now though. The school nurse mustn't be late with so many patients to care for." Medusa pulled her hands out of their mouths, and waved the liquid off them, then started to walk off again. This time she was unmolested.

"I can't stand that Witch." Erica growled, eyes still teared up. The Mouse-Witch nodded her agreement.
> Talk With The Devil
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Tara was back in the somewhat disturbing room to speak with Arcana about the Black Blood and the seal. "I can see you want to talk about something. Feel free to ask me whatever you want. Be aware that while I won't outright lie to you, I may not always tell the whole truth. Now ask me a question if you wish." Arcana said, trademark smile in place. 

Tara was less than trusting of her darker counterpart, but had no one else to ask who fully understood the seal, the black blood's effects, and their semi-shared biology. It was pretty clear that Arcana's physical abilities, including healing, were far in excess of Tara's. They'd spent a few of these sessions beating on each other before Tara managed to add a section to the seal that allowed her to have her regular dreams if she actively did not want to deal with Arcana, and their abilities weren't much different from the outside world.

"I have two questions. If I were to use the Black Blood, how long could the seal hold, and how exactly would it affect me? We're both aware that between my origins, you, my connection to one of the Elements, and of course the l'cie incident, I'm human in only loose terms." Tara asked.

"Well, you would display many of the more basic abilities Crona and Ragnarok possessed such as a boost in your soul-based abilities, physical strength and durability, and a smaller boost to both speed and healing." At the slightly impatient look on Tara's face Arcana held up a hand. 

"However, you know all of this already, so I assume you were asking about mental effects. Based on your mindset, I predict that you would approach everything with a calm and logical analysis that would probably come across as super-creepy to normal people if you were to use the Black Blood. Your sense of right and wrong would be more or less removed as well.

As for how long the seal will hold out under constant bombardment by insanity, about 15 minutes. You must be so glad you installed an auto-repair for when you have spare magic." Arcana explained. 

"You're being awfully helpful. I can believe you've never told an outright lie to me since you clearly like the name I gave you if you're still using it and either told a half-truth or something a dark reflection of myself would believe on the other occasions we spoke. Tell me why you aren't simply refusing to answer or telling me something extremely vague." Tara asked suspiciously.

Arcana held up three fingers. "Three reasons. First, you expect me to try something like that, so it would make you more suspicious if I didn't. Seeing you get flustered and paranoid not only throws some negative energy my way, but it's very entertaining. Second, I am a manifestation of all the darker emotions you buried. In a sense, I am the truth in regards to your negative emotions, what you'd be like if you never felt anything positive. Since I am a reflection of the truth, I have difficulty lying. Your own poor skills at lying compound it to the point that even lies of omission give me problems, which is the main reason I'm telling you all this, but I'd be a fairly poor liar even if you were a master. Also, I'm in a good mood today." she shrugged. "That's really it."

"Hm, I guess I can accept that." Tara said, then concentrated for a moment, and a chess table and set appeared. "I thought so. It's my soul/mind-scape, so I should be able to influence it. We probably have some time to kill before I have to get up and I highly doubt you'd let me out of here without a fight unless I was waking up anyway. A fight I would probably lose." Tara said, causing Arcana to nod in agreement. 

"Would you like to play a game or three?" Tara asked, throwing Arcana for a loop and causing her grin to falter in surprise for a moment. "We have nothing better to do, and you have yet to threaten me since that first incident with Orphan, beating on me for the fun of it doesn't count. I have no reason to be overly hostile. It wouldn't get me anywhere anyway." Tara explained.

"...What the hell, I literally have nothing better to do and I like being just functionally insane rather than 'babbling-maniac' insane." Arcana said, smile returning full-force and then taking the white pieces. At first glance this was ironic, but white moved first, which implied aggression.


*** Hospital Room ***


Tara and Soul had managed to visit Nurse Medusa at around the same time so as to avoid making Maka more guilty by rubbing her perceived fault in her face. Tara was fairly simple, requiring little more than a blood sample, but Soul had more or less needed a full physical since his original wound was much more severe.

"How have you been feeling?" Medusa asked Soul as she took his vitals.

"About the same as usual. ...Except for some weird dream that I've been having over and over." Soul said.

"A strange dream you say?" Medusa asked. Tara felt her suspicions bubble up, but pushed them down. Now she was just being irrational, any doctor would ask that!

"Yeah, and it's been bothering me because I can remember it so well. Like it really happened. I'm always in this dark room, like pitch-black, and there's a record going. It keeps skipping like it has a big scratch on it, and it's playing a jazz song I'm pretty sure I've heard before, but I can't remember where.

After I've been sitting there listening to the music for a while, this little devil in a suit appears from the other side of the room and starts dancing out of time to the music."


*** Soul's Dream ***


Soul sat on a chair, wearing a suit, next to a record player that was trying to play jazz, but kept skipping every few seconds. A red demon with stubs for horns who was about two feet tall and wearing a suit was dancing swing. "Swing! Swing! Swing!" he commented gleefully.

"Dude, this isn't swing music, it's jazz." Soul deadpanned.

"Ah, but jazz is so much more appropriate for night time." the demon responded.

"I'm pretty sure music's not picky about when it's played. You get to decide, so why not listen to actual swing?" Soul asked.

"That's right, the decision's mine. Yes sir! You know, you can decide too, you're eligible!" the demon threw in, pointing at Soul.

"When you got cut open like a fish being gutted, you must have been afraid. Am I right?" the demon asked as he shimmied behind Soul. "And wouldn't it be nice to have a mind strong enough to get rid of the fear you've been feeling, right?" the demon asked, a giant toothy grin on it's face.

"If you forget your fear, you'll become reckless. That's something they teach at the Academy." Soul countered.

The demon put a hand on his chair. "Heh, are you some kind of idiot or are you just blind?  Do you think you're in Heaven where you can't get hurt anymore? If you don't want to die down here like a rat you're going to need more power than you've got now. Power so overwhelmingly strong you can say goodbye to all your fears!" the demon said exultantly, trying to convince Soul.

Soul was pulled out of his chair by one arm as the demon tried to lead him somewhere. "You're nothing without that power, now come on and get out there already!" the demon said exasperatedly.

Soul stopped the demon. "No wait, please, I don't want to leave this room. Let me stay in this room until I wake up! I'll even put up with the lame music!" Soul said desperately. The door on one side of the room opened to a black void.

"Seek out the power you need! Find a rule to break! It will make you stronger, stronger perhaps than you ever thought possible!" the demon said, his grin stretching into the realm of insanity.


*** Hospital Room ***


"Why are you so afraid of leaving the room Soul?" Medusa asked.

"Whenever I leave the room, the darkness looks like it keeps going forever. Then all of a sudden there's a light. I go toward it, but when I go through... I'm coming out of Maka's stomach." Soul was left breathing heavily and sweating when he finished speaking.

'Interesting, the Black Blood in his system seems to be affecting him even while dormant.' Medusa thought, the slightest of smiles on her face.

"I'm suddenly so glad I didn't go through the door." Tara said, then realized she'd said that out loud.

"Wait, you too?" Soul asked.

Realizing she wouldn't be able to get out of this without some kind of explanation, she elaborated. "Yeah, only I have a chess set where that record player in yours is, and my 'demon' is just me with red eyes and functionally insane. She wants me to do something or other, but she's kinda roundabout. She tries to convince me over chess rather than send me out the door." Tara explained, not wanting to have to explain that she had Black Blood from a minor injury she'd gotten, which would immediately cause Medusa to realize it was in Soul's system too. She still didn't trust Medusa completely, so she strung along partial truths.

Not wanting to explain the exact origins of Arcana was more of a secondary concern. She was planning on telling everyone in her circle of friends eventually anyway, along with the rest of her story since being thrown out of Equestria.

'Well now, it doesn't seem to vary all that much from person to person. The differences with Crona can be explained by the Black Blood in him having it's own consciousness as well as how young he was when his normal blood was replaced, but I'd like to be more sure.' Medusa noted with interest, keeping her dark glee carefully masked. 

She'd run some tests on some samples she'd kept around since replacing Crona's normal blood, and was a bit surprised to discover that fire was a weakness of the Black Blood. The compounds that allowed it to harden broke down in the presence of flame and extreme heat. It would be best to check for other weaknesses, but she had a limited supply of Black Blood, and Crona might die if hit with any new weaknesses. Why risk Crona when there were other test subjects available?

"I'm sure I'm fine though." Tara said with a slight smile. Medusa was the only one who noticed, but Tara wasn't actually looking directly at either of them as she said that. An inability to lie well was somewhat working against Tara.

Soul seemed to accept this, nodding. "So, other than that, how are we doing?" Soul asked.

Medusa looked at her clipboard. "Well, you have slight arrhythmia, but other than that, neither of you seem to have any other problems. I predict you'll both make a full recovery." she got out the pump for checking blood pressure.

"As for your strange dreams, it's not unusual for traumatic events to cause recurring nightmares. Your counterparts probably symbolize your fears or something similar. I don't think you need to worry about it. Was that all, or were you concerned about something else?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not sure concerned is the right word, but Maka's been off ever since we left Italy. I think something's bothering her." Soul said, his voice laced with an emotion that was most definitely concern.

"Soul, you got cut down right in front of her, trying to defend her. Most people would feel guilty about it, and more than a little angry at themselves for 'failing' their partner. I'm sure that's why Maka's acting funny around you. As for me, I helped rescue you two and got hurt doing it. Professor Stein as well, but he is both a teacher and more distant that either of us. She's probably ready to tear her hair out. The only reason I haven't talked to her is because I believe she needs to talk to you more." Tara reprimanded.

Soul nodded slowly. "I'll talk to her about it soon." he promised.

After Medusa finished checking Soul for problems, he started to change out of the clothes he'd been wearing for school. He didn't have much of a scar, but there was a faint line of paler skin where he'd been cut with Ragnarok. Healing spells could repair damage, but there were limits, and this cut was nearly 2 inches wide and almost twice as deep.

There was knocking on the door, then Maka entered with a slightly muttered "'Scuse me. Then she noticed Soul changing, somehow her eyes zeroed in on the mark that had been left despite Tara and Stein's best efforts. A guilty look crossed her face. "I'm going home to get ready for the party, see you there." Maka said quietly, before closing the door.

Medusa blinked. "That was guilt if I ever saw it." she commented.

Soul scowled. "I must be an idiot! Of course she'd feel guilty about me getting hurt, that's just like her!" he said. Demon Weapons were meant to serve as both sword and shield for their Meister. Demon Weapons were far hardier than normal weapons and the human body, which was kind of the point. It was their job to protect their partner, so if they got hurt in the process, they were doing their job. Of course, that was what logic said, and emotions rarely got along with logic.


*** Earlier That Day ***


They were staring at a rather odd brown jar. It was big enough to stick most of one's arm in, decorated with faces that were all wearing surprised expressions, and filled with what looked like regular water.

"A jar?" Blackstar asked, voicing the obvious question on their minds.

"Yes, a jar." Stein said. Stein had told them he had exercises planned to boost all of their abilities. For some reason, Maka had elected to bring a blushing cat with dark purple fur and a witch's hat, who was called Blair. It was Blackstar's turn first.

"Is it a special jar?" Blackstar asked.

"Nope, nothing special about it. The water, on the other hand, is very special. It's called Soul-sapping Water because it sucks out your Soul Wavelength. Compared to that, the jar is extremely ordinary indeed. Go on, try sticking a finger inside it, just for a second." Stein suggested.

"Alright, but I'm still a little iffy about this jar." Blackstar complained as he stuck the ends of his non-thumb fingers inside the water, which prompted a flash of yellow light. Blackstar immediately felt like he was having all the strength drained from him. He dragged his hand out of the water and fell to the floor.

"What the hell was that?!" Blackstar gasped in shock. "I knew that jar was dangerous!"

"No, just the water. I did tell you to stick one finger in, not dunk your hand in it. Try to acclimate one finger at a time." Stein deadpanned.

"So I just have to get to where I can stick my whole hand in there and I'll be able to use Tsubaki's Enchanted Sword Mode professor?" Blackstar asked.

"That's the basic idea." Stein said.

"Just don't stick your whole arm in or you won't be able to walk afterward." Tara warned. Granted, she'd been fine after a few minutes, and she had an idea to use very low powered Thunder spells on herself to force her nervous system to make her body move, but that was only because her Soul Wavelength was stupidly powerful internally as self-doubt only affected one's Wavelength when they tried to use it to affect the outside world. 

On another note, her electricity idea required far finer control than she had and a much weaker electrical spell than even the weakest possible casting of Thunder. Besides, a partially paralyzed soul was not conducive to fine control either way.

Considering 35% of her supposed full power was about a match for Blackstar at full strength, she wasn't willing to chance it. Come to think of it, maybe that was why Arcana was so powerful. She had no power limiter in the form of self-doubt, plus all the power she derived from negative emotions. That would make at least 3 times as powerful as Twilight was, which might explain why her magic had just done what she wanted rather than using spells for very specific effects. She'd practically be a demi-god compared to a normal human or Twilight herself.

"Alright! This'll be a nice break. All I've been doing lately is muscle conditioning and it's getting old!" Blacksar said, holding the jar over his head.

"Well, that seems completely unfair." Maka deadpanned.

"Waddya mean?" Blackstar asked.

"You can get stronger by dunking your hand in water, how does that work?" Maka asked, an emotion somewhere between jealousy and exasperation in her voice.

"Isn't it obvious? Because I'm the Great Blackstar! I beat Death! I'm not letting a jar beat me!" he proclaimed, psyching himself up.

"Professor Stein, can I have some of that water too?" Maka asked.

"I'm afraid not. The only students who could last long enough to get any real benefit from this type of training are Blackstar and Tara. Tara's Soul Wavelength has an internal strength beyond that of most of the teachers, and Blackstar's constant self-aggrandizement motivates him to try and live up to it. I doubt he even realizes it himself. 

'There's no stage too big for me! I can do it.' That's his answer to everything." Stein said as Blackstar dunked his fingers into the jar again, pulled them out as his strength waned, then stuck them back in as soon as he recovered over and over. "Thus, he doesn't mind pushing himself in order to accomplish the goal. Once he's said that, he'll put as much effort as it takes into the task at hand. He'll try as many times as it takes, because he's already decided that he'll succeed. He's trying to surpass God. Of course he'll become stronger." Stein explained.

"Right." Maka nodded.

"Of course, since that's Blackstar's way of making himself stronger it won't work for everyone. You'll have to find your own way of doing it, something that works for you." Stein said

"My own way..." Maka muttered. 

"Right now you're certainly lacking something. A certain level of stress and anxiety is perfectly understandable, even normal under the circumstances, but you don't want to take it too far." he continued.

"Wait, what do you mean lacking something?" Maka asked.

"Once you figure out what it is, come see me and we'll decide what to do about it." Stein finished, then turned to Blackstar. "Didn't I tell you to start with one finger?" he asked as Blackstar tried his hardest to weather the water's effects with his whole hand dunked in the water. He seemed to be in great discomfort. "You can take the jar home, today's lesson is over anyway." he said, walking off exasperated. Tara followed him. 

They were going to talk to Lord Death. She had to hurry as Maka was planning to throw a party for Blackstar, Tsubaki and Soul. They were celebrating the former 2 finally collecting a soul, and Soul getting permanently discharged from the hospital and being allowed on missions again.

When they got to the Death Room, she told Lord Death what had been happening with Arcana. "Hm, that is troubling. The seal is alright for the moment though, right?" Death asked, one hand on his mask's chin.

"Yes, I examined it as soon as I woke up. I specifically designed it so that it would require that Arcana have outside help if she wanted out. She's 4 times as strong as what I can muster to affect the outside world at best, but only 10% stronger than what I could use without being limited by my tendency for self-doubt. The seal would hold just fine even if she were 8 times stronger, so unless I voluntarily overclock the Black Blood's influence it should be fine." she answered.

"Speaking of the Black Blood, I think it's aggravating my natural paranoia. I keep looking for ulterior motives in the school nurse's actions. Granted, something about her's rubbed me the wrong way since day one, but still, that's unhealthy. It's definitely making the nightmares worse." she continued. She was barely getting the usual 6 hours now.

"Well, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about. I think that you should focus on getting stronger as your main method of keeping Arcana sealed. If the seal keeps her contained as long as she isn't significantly stronger than you, then reducing the percentage difference in your strengths would be most effective. 

As such, you have my permission to absorb the Kishin Eggs you gather on missions. Frankly, the only reason I hadn't already given you permission was that you were very unlikely to voluntarily take any souls into yourself now that you know what happens." Death said. 

When a soul was devoured or otherwise absorbed, it was completely subsumed by the absorber, effectively ceasing to exist as a separate entity. Kishin Eggs were eaten by Demon Weapons partially because it made the Demon Weapons stronger, and partially because Lord Death was a firm believer that the punishment should fit the crime. There were exceptions to the rule if the soul was significantly more powerful than the absorber, or if they were similar enough. Thus when Maka and Soul had failed to get their Witch's Soul, their count was reset to 0, but Soul kept all the souls he'd eaten.

Similar souls tended to 'fool' the soul that absorbed them, rather like how one's immune system knew not to attack their own organs. Family members tended to be similar enough that they were ignored.

Tara hadn't wanted to absorb the Kishin Eggs because she disliked the idea of stripping the identity of another being from it, even a monster had a right to a will of it's own. She didn't object to others doing so because she saw it as a necessary evil to keep the Kishin Eggs from hurting people, but she was already plenty strong compared to the average Kishin Egg, and her training regimen had gotten her to the point she could overpower them if it came to that.

Still, Arcana would try to kill everything that moved, breathed, or emitted heat if she got out and she'd eat their souls after doing so just to get stronger. Considering the alternative, she supposed eating Kishin Egg souls was the lesser evil.

"Alright. Next time I'll absorb the soul, or souls if there's more than one Kishin Egg." she said neutrally. She wasn't exactly happy about it, but she was going to do it.

"Right, in that case, there's a mission I'd like you to accompany Kid on." Death said, after pulling a piece of paper from... somewhere and handing it to her for her to look over. "Also, I think I should give you the soul you collected on your most recent mission. I'd been planning to tell you this for a while now, and it would be best for you to get the first one out of the way." Death said handing her the red orb. 

Reluctantly, she took off her gloves and absorbed it. She shuddered at the feeling. "That is never not going to feel weird, is it?" she asked as she put her gloves back on.

"Look on the bright side, at least you won't start to like it." Stein noted.

"Feel free to hit me repeatedly if I do." she responded, only slightly sarcastically. She'd pick up her own jar of Soul-sapping Water later, she needed to hurry to get to the party. "I'll be seeing you guys. I can't keep everyone waiting!" she said, then hurried off to the nurse's office after checking her new watch. She'd gone for a digital watch so she wouldn't have to try to puzzle out the minute hand's exact location. She tried very hard to ignore the feeling that she was just a bit faster than she was when she came in, as it was followed by a decidedly unpleasant feeling she couldn't identify.

"It's a good thing she's on our side and she dislikes violence so much. Otherwise we'd have to deal with the equivalent of hostile Soul-sapping Water that can fight on a level with a Two-star Meister if push comes to shove. That's ignoring her analytical mind and whatever power boost the Black Blood would give her." Stein said.

"Not to mention that all of the enhancement spells she uses have counterparts that do the opposite, which she didn't use during your last encounter because not everyone there was in the loop about her powers. Fancy fighting her when you're moving half as fast as normal, and your attacks are having a quarter of the effect they had in that first fight, while the opposite is true for her?" Death asked.

"That would be problematic. Lucky she's on our side. Incidentally, I've been having doubts about that nurse of ours myself." Stein responded, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Hm, I have noticed a few odd things about her, and Tara has good instincts underneath the exacerbated paranoia. I'll look into it." Death promised.


*** Maka/Soul's Apartment Approximately 2 Hours Later ***


Maka had made the food for the party, which had been devoured eagerly from the couches around the table. Blackstar patted his distended stomach. "Well it may not have been good, but it sure was filling!" he proclaimed.

"I've got an idea, why don't you make it next time?" Maka asked, developing a tic mark.

"Oh don't listen to him, it was great!" Tsubaki said.

"Tasted fine to me, besides which, he ate more than the rest of us." Tara agreed, jerking a thumb at Blackstar.

"Yum yum!" Patty patted her stomach contentedly.

"Yeah, thanks for the snacks." Liz agreed.

"You two have a nice place here. It's so tidy! You must make a point of keeping it clean." Kid commented as he looked around.

"It helps that Maka yells at me whenever I make a mess." Soul responded.

"So is it just the two of you here?" Kid asked.

"Yoohoo!" a womanly voice called. A woman with yellow eyes and long purple hair walked up to the couch Kid and Soul were sitting on. Her figure was well-endowed, which was made obvious by the fact she was wearing nothing but a bath towel!	

...Which she let fall. "Which one of you boys wants to come take a bath with me?" she asked, casually showing herself off. Tara was left feeling decidedly inadequate about her figure. Normally, she didn't care since she was not originally a human/primate, but it was practically being rubbed in that she had a flat chest in this case.

"Is it always like this around here?" Kid asked, freaked-out.

Soul had gotten a massive nosebleed. "Yeah, anybody want the sexy kitty? She's free." he half-groaned in response.


*** Meanwhile Across Death City ***


Medusa was walking through some narrow, shadowy alleyways, a specific destination in mind. 'Infiltrating the Academy was well-worth the risk. I'll need to run some tests on those two.' Medusa thought. She held up a brass key. 'With this key it should be easy.' She stopped walking as Eruka Frog stepped into her path and Mizune blocked the street behind her.

"Ah, Eruka Frog and Mizune, I was wondering when you'd reveal yourselves." Medusa commented.

"Medusa. Do you know why we're here, or would you like me to explain?" Eruka asked.

"Oh please, tell me." Medusa said, acting as though there were nothing to worry about.

"Ribbit. Ribbit. Fine, I'll tell you. We're here to kill you." Eruka said with a glint in her eye.

"Oh that's terrible! Here I thought we were friends." Medusa said in a false sweet voice.

"It's nothing personal, we simply have no interest in attracting the attention of the Grim Reaper, nor do we care for whatever experiments you have going on at the Academy. You've become a liability." Eruka explained.

"And liabilities must be silenced. I understand our policies, but before you do that let me give some advice. Soul Protect or not, your outfit is practically a big sign saying 'I'm a Witch.' There are plenty of young Meisters wandering the streets, and they know a Witch when they see one. Plus, living with the God of Madness under their feet, sealed away or not, makes everyone in this town a little paranoid, even if they're resistant to his wavelength." Medusa warned.

"Sweet of you to warn us, but we can always use our Transformation Magic to escape, which is a luxury you don't have." Eruka responded.

"I see, so that's the plan." Medusa said as the pieces came together.

"We know you have us completely outclassed, so a fair fight is out of the question. Using magic for anything but Soul Protect isn't a good idea if you want to maintain your cover as a nurse, it'd be a dead giveaway. That makes this the perfect place to attack you.

If you keep your Soul Protect up, you can't use magic. Without magic you're effectively a normal human. We'll defeat you easily, then escape in our animal forms. If you do release your Soul Protect to fight back, then we can still escape in our animal forms. Meanwhile, the Meisters will discover that you're a Witch, and hunt you down. It's a win-win for us no matter what you do. Not a bad plan, hm?

That's the story of how the mouse and the frog beat the snake. Funny how the world works when you'll be the one croaking tonight instead of me." Eruka finished.

Medusa sighed. "If you're going to kill me, then please get on with it and don't make me listen to your bad jokes first. That's just plain cruel." Medusa commented dryly. 

"Soul Protect Release!" Eruka said, which caused a gust of wind as pent-up magic was released, Mizune did the same, to the same effect. Both Eruka and Mizune were glowing purple very slightly.


*** Maka/Soul's Apartment ***


Maka and Tara started as they sensed the Witches, though Maka had sensed and reacted to them a split second earlier. "Witch!" Maka said, raising her voice but not quite shouting.

"Huh? What's going on Maka? You startled us." Liz asked.

"There are Witches in Death City! No time for explaining!" Tara said, before opening the window, then jumping down while casting Protect to keep the fall from causing any harm.

"Wait, what the-" Blackstar was cut off as Maka spoke. 

"I'll be right back!" Maka said, leaving the more conventional way, through the door.

"Hey wait a minute Maka!" Soul called.


*** Meanwhile With The Witches ***


"While I would love nothing more than to drag this out, the Meisters will be here any minute, so we don't have the time to make you scream in agony. Oh well, no one gets everything they want out of life." Eruka mocked.

"Honestly, I'm insulted." Medusa commented, disrupting the confidence Eruka and Mizune felt for a moment, which they quickly masked with anger. "You must have the brains of a frog and a mouse if you actually believe a tactic like this will work." a sadistic expression overtook her face. "I'll have to punish you. I can always use more test subjects. It's too bad you aren't even good enough for that." Medusa said. 

She was tempted to fight back, but her instincts were telling her to hold off for the moment. She was definitely going to keep her doctor's coat on. Taking it off was asking for a random student to show up just when she started to use magic. ...Perhaps she'd been reading a bit too much manga. Anyway, she had remained physically fit, unlike most Witches who relied almost exclusively on their powers, so she could probably simply outrun them, and she knew the city's layout well enough to out-maneuver these two.

It would be best to wait until she was outside the city in case they decided to rush her when she revealed the nasty little secret, or rather, secrets she put inside them. That way she could use her magic if they decided to pull a 'taking-you-with-me' maneuver. 

The two more junior Witches were getting increasingly nervous at the confidence their opponent was displaying. 'This isn't good. The longer we wait, the more likely a Meister is to show up. That must be why Medusa isn't releasing her Soul Protect and slaughtering us.' Eruka thought, but was unable to break the stand-off because her instincts were screaming at her that she would die if she pushed Medusa. Mizune finally panicked and fired a Whisker Beam at Medusa about 30 seconds after their stand-off began.

To all of their surprise, a DWMA Meister with long blue hair appeared in a flash of light, blocked the attack, then, moving almost too fast for either Eruka or Mizune to follow, let alone react, jumped up to where Mizune was floating, about 5 feet off the ground, and smashed her into the ground with a Soul Force to the face, before following her down and skewering her neatly in the heart. "Mizune!" Eruka called out in shock, watching helplessly as her friend dissolved into nothing but her soul.

Eruka ran into a nearby alley, transformed into her frog form, and slid through a sewer grate. She'd be killed if she stayed, so she had to at least get out of the city before she could risk human form again.

"Are you alright Nurse Medusa?" Tara asked, concerned, even as she casually stuck the Witch soul into her backpack. Any suspicions she had were crushed under a completely metaphorical foot and out of her mind. Medusa had been attacked by Witches on the street in the middle of Death City. That threw her being on their side into serious doubt. Therefore, she was to treated as an ally rather than a potential spy.

'Well, I've certainly gotten something out of this, even if I don't bother with Eruka later. From the look on her face, Tara seems to have lost her mistrust of me thanks to this little incident.' Medusa thought. Out loud, she said "I'm fine, you arrived just in time. You have my gratitude." Medusa bowed. It was of course an act, but she had to keep up her Nurse persona.

Tara sighed in relief. Still, she'd ask Lord Death if his decision extended to Witches' souls. She'd barely been in time this time, and physical training was too slow to give a decent improvement in less than a month, and her Haste spell and it's compatriot buffs boosted her based on her base abilities. That was their major flaw. Boosting oneself by more than one's original ability was very taxing on the body and her reserves, so she couldn't get around it that way. Running footsteps alerted them to Stein and Maka approaching. 

'That didn't take long. I wonder how Tara got here even faster than they did though, she's easily slower than Stein at very least, and a bit slower than Maka without her Weapon.' Medusa filed that thought away for later. It was probably another spell, but she'd need to look into it more.

"Are you two okay?" Maka asked as she caught her breath.

Stein simply stood with his hands in his pockets, not the least bit drained from the exertion. "We detected two Witches in the area and came as quickly as we could. Although it seems someone else was faster." Stein noted.

"We're both fine. I managed to catch one of them by surprise, the other one left after her friend got killed." Tara informed them stoically as she showed them the Witch soul before replacing it. Kishin Eggs were essentially serial killing abominations, but Witches were significantly more human. Several Witches had joined the DWMA side over the centuries, showing they didn't have to be evil and/or destructive, which put more blood on her hands. "I suspect the fight would have been tougher if she'd been less surprised and I hadn't hit her with a Soul Force almost in the same instant as when she saw me." she explained.

"It wasn't a fight so much as a one-sided extermination." Medusa noted.

"True, but I also suspect she wasn't all that powerful for a Witch. Nothing like the one controlling the Demon Sword." she countered.

"Yes, that Witch was both powerful and cunning, she wouldn't release Soul Protect in the middle of a crowded city without a reason. Especially this one. She certainly has an interest in Demon Weapons and Meisters, and I wouldn't be surprised if she infiltrated the city to have a large number to study. She might even manage to take a position at the Academy. 

Of course, that requires that she keep a low profile. One slip-up and she could find herself up against the Grim Reaper himself. Even a Witch of her caliber wouldn't be able to stand against him, especially if he had a Death Scythe on hand. At any rate, it's a relief you weren't hurt by those Witches, Doctor Medusa. We only have one School Nurse, it would be trouble if something happened to you." Stein said. 

"Yes, thank you." Medusa nodded, internally deeply suspicious. That was oddly specific. She had to assume he suspected.

"But still, if I see that sword or it's Meister again..." Maka trailed off, a familiar guilty look on her face. 'I promised I'd become stronger, but there's no quick way to do that, and if we run into that Witch or that Meister again, we'll lose. Dammit! I don't know how much longer I can handle this!' she thought.

"Hey! Maka!" Soul called from the other end of the alleyway. "You shouldn't run off like that, it's too dangerous." Soul scolded.

"I'm fine Soul." Maka reassured, still looking down on herself. She slowly placed a hand on his chest where he'd been cut. 'I refuse to let him get hurt like that again. I wasn't able to look at his injury, even when it was barely there. I won't be controlled by fear anymore!'

"Look Maka, I chose to revert to human form to take the hit for you. It's not your fault." Soul said.

Maka nodded slowly, then walked over to Professor Stein. "Alright Professor, I'm ready. You told me to figure out what I was lacking, and I have." Maka told him, full of determination.

Stein smiled. "Very good." he said approvingly. 'At last, Maka's found the courage to fight her fear.' "In that case, I'd like you and Soul to come to my office Sunday afternoon for a special lesson.

Tara smiled. Maka seemed to have started recovering from her guilt at last. She'd need to work on getting stronger too.


*** That Night. A Rocky Plateau. The Desert Surrounding Death City. ***


Eruka stopped, still in frog form. "I should be far enough, I can rest a bit now." she said, relieved. "I'll get that witch next time." she growled, only for a foot to come down and partially squash her.

"Ah, that feels nice and cool on my feet. I could get used to this." Medusa said, smiling pleasantly and applying just a bit more pressure.

"H-How did you find me!?" Eruka squeaked in terror.

"Remember when you stopped me at Witch's Mass and I responded by shoving my hands down your throat and the late eldest-Mizune's? I put some of the thousands of snakes in my body inside you both as insurance. The ones in Mizune escaped her body's destruction and returned to me, but the ones in you are ready to tear you apart any time I want. They also let me track you wherever you go and use your various senses. You could literally be on the other side of the planet, and I'd still know exactly where you were. I believe I've made it clear you can't outrun me.

Honestly I was going to use them to kill one or both of you after that little stunt you pulled earlier, but my instincts told me not to. A good thing too, because I have an errand I need someone to run. So in return for not killing you here and now, I'll ask you a little favor. I'll even remove a snake from you if you're successful." Medusa proposed, dropping a bronze key in front of Eruka. Crona watched silently.

"A key?" Eruka asked, in pain from Medusa repeatedly squashing her just enough to be painful, but not actually cause harm.

"Yes, you'll need it to release an inmate of the Witch's Prison. That's the favor I mentioned. He's number 13 among the prisoners, unless you're somehow even more stupid than I already thought, you know what that means." Medusa said, smiling cruelly. 

"Th-The man with the magic eye? Not him! He's the one who took the Grand Witch's left eye! I'd be banished forever if the Grand Witch even thinks I did that! Forget banishment! She'd probably just kill me!" Eruka's increasingly panicked rambling was cut off by another round of squashing.

"Probably, but I'll definitely kill you if you refuse. So, do you pick 'Probably die' or 'Definitely die' little frog?" Medusa asked.

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it!" Eruka cried out.

"Good, I have an experiment planned with 13, there are some questions I have about Soul Eater." Medusa said as Eruka reverted to human form.

"You're going to use him in an experiment? He's a criminal even by our standards! You must be out of your mind! Ribbit!" Eruka asked as Medusa continued to squash her face.

"You don't feel as good on my feet anymore." Medusa observed. "Change yourself back into a frog." she ordered slightly petulantly. The moon chuckled darkly overhead.

"Okay." Eruka moaned.


*** A Few Days Later ***


A guard sat on a chair next to a cell. Like all the others, he wore a helmet styled like a grey wolf's head. He was getting annoyed with this particular inmate. He kept saying "1+2." over and over and then asking how many times he'd multiplied. It would be creepy if it wasn't so annoying. Normally he ignored the prisoner, but he was in a bad mood and this guy was wearing on his last nerve.

"There he goes again." he muttered as the familiar addition problem became audible. "I'm getting plenty sick of this."

Suddenly, the inmate grabbed the bars of his cell and asked "What's the answer? Tell me, how many times did I multiply?"

The guard decided to answer him this time, if only to break the monotony. "You've been adding ones and twos since you got here, you haven't multiplied anything." he said, voice laced by annoyance.

A moment after he said that, a roar of such force it created a gust of wind sent the guard tumbling from his chair, and causing the prisoner next to him to cry out in fear.

Prisoner 13 sighed in his cell. "I can't see. I can't see anything but darkness. It's been literal ages since I've seen a good comedy." he noted. Like all the other prisoners, he wore a shirt and pants with green-and-white stripes. Unlike the others, his clothes were old enough that they'd gotten ripped and torn despite the fact that he'd barely moved from this spot since being imprisoned. Thanks to his sharp hearing and the extremely echoy and cavernous quality of the place, he could more or less tell what was going on in the prison, especially when he roared that loudly and used the sound for echolocation.

Later that night, the guard was fast asleep thanks to a drugged drink. Eruka hopped along in frog form, snickering at the sleeping guard, who had a 50-50 chance of living after letting a prisoner escape on his watch. Since he'd been drugged it would normally be given a pass, but the Grand Witch really knew how to hold a grudge against someone who caused her actual harm, some of which would fall on the unfortunate guard.

13 also had a strong sense of smell, and though Eruka was being careful to be quiet, he could still smell the approaching frog. Since animals never got in here, he assumed it was intelligent. "Who's there?" he asked as Eruka reached the cell.

"I'm here on behalf of someone who wants to break you out of here." Eruka said, key jingling a bit as she lifted it towards the lock.

"A free handout from the outside, huh? What kind of person do you think I am?" 13 asked, causing Eruka to break out in a nervous sweat.


*** About 5 Minutes Later ***


"THANK YOU!!!!" 13 yelled as he hopped along, hobbled by his arm and leg restraints, as well as the ball-and-chain on one leg. "It's real easy to escape from a cell if there's someone from the outside with a key! But you wanna know what I was gonna try before you showed up?" 13 continued, talking unnecessarily loudly. He'd been in that prison for so long, a different set of acoustics was messing with his hearing a bit.

"Never mind that! We have to get out of here before they catch us!" Eruka said, hopping along as well, but because she was still in frog form.

"See, I was planning to do that thing they do in the movies where they use a spoon to tunnel their way under the wall by working away at the ground! I always thought that was a really cool idea, so I thought I'd try it myself! 'Course, not being able to see would've made that hard, but I get by just fine on sound, smell and touch." he was talking more normally as he adjusted to being outside for the first time in a very long time. He'd never actually seen a movie, but he'd heard about them from the guards and the occasional semi-sane prisoner. Most of the inmates were those who had killed Witches, or done things despicable even by Witch standards. His attacking the Grand Witch was the equivalent of regicide, which normally would've gotten him executed. He wasn't normal though.

"But they must've thought of that, because all I ever got was wooden chopsticks! You can't dig with those, they break!" 13 said, yelling again, purely from emotion this time. "So I tried to think of another way out. I thought about it all the time, but I'm a fighter, not an idea-man, so I never came up with anything." 13 commented.

"I suppose it really doesn't matter now, but you could've peed on the bars everyday and gradually eaten away at them, right?" Eruka asked.

"Actually no. I've got a really strong sense of smell, and wearing a blindfold only sharpens it, so I wouldn't have been able to stand the smell. Besides, the guards would've figured out something was up when I never used the bathroom and the bars smelled like that. They're not morons. Which might explain how they managed to surround us." 13 explained, at which point the guards came out from the snowed-on trees around the pair of fugitives.

"Oh no! You can't fight with your arms and legs shackled like that, and I don't have any magic that's going to take out a big group like this!" Eruka said. Normally she wouldn't have said that in front of the guards, but the guards would charge them if there was even a slight chance of recapturing the prisoner, and 13 didn't know about her abilities, or rather, her lack of combat abilities.

"Listen up Prisoner 13, the man with the magic eye. If you resist we'll show you no mercy!" one of the guards said, all of them leveling their spears at 13.

"I was locked inside that prison for over 200 years. I'm not going back there without a fight. You must be crazy to think I would." 13 growled, before getting speared in the face and abdomen repeatedly in response, showering the area with blood.

Eruka stared for a good 3 seconds, then cried out "Oh no! This is really bad! I'll end up dead too if I don't get you out of here!" Medusa had been quite clear what failure would mean for her. Her jaw dropped as 13 crushed the spear that had been lodged in his mouth with his teeth. Many of the guards took an involuntary step back.

"Calm down. The only way to kill me is to chop off my head, and even that might not work. Plus, last time I checked, spears aren't good at chopping. You should know that." he said, an air of menace having replaced his rather carefree demeanor.

"Damn!" a guard cursed, drawing a flamethrower and sending an enormous gout of flame at 13, which had no effect beyond charring the shackles on his hands and feet to the point he snapped them like twigs.

"The Grand Witch wasn't keeping me alive all this time for the fun of it. She couldn't kill me, so she dumped me in that prison." he removed the blindfold with one hand. He had short brown hair, almost buzz-cut, but the most striking thing was his eyes. One was brown, but the other, with a 'NO FUTURE' tattoo above it, had no pupil or iris, instead it had a series of red lines depicting a small circle inside a triangle, which was inside another triangle, which was inside a circle. "'Course that would've been tough considering... I'm immortal." he grinned a wolf's grin.

The guards screamed as they were slaughtered.

Later, 13 and Eruka approached Medusa, with Eruka riding on his shoulder in frog form.

"I see you've done it." Medusa observed.

"Yeah, I brought the guy." Eruka reverted to human form in front of 13.

"Good work Eruka." Medusa said.

"Alright, I did my part, now take all your snakes out of my body like you promised!" Eruka demanded.

"Oh dear, you seem to have misunderstood. I specifically said I'd remove 1 snake for completing the task, as I will do for all of the following." Medusa said with false sweetness.

"Wait, how many of them are in me?!" Eruka asked.

"That's on a need-to-know basis, and you don't. Even if I did remove them all at once, your body would be ripped to shreds in the process. Be glad you're useful alive." Medusa responded.

"That's awful! You Devil-woman!" Eruka said, crying helplessly. Like it or not, she was Medusa's to do as she wished with until there weren't any snakes in her body.

"So you're the one who freed me? Wasn't expecting it from a Witch." 13 said with a note of bitterness.

"Yes, I'm Medusa Gorgon." Medusa introduced herself, removing her hood. "It's a pleasure to meet the man with the magic eye." she said.

"Hm, even I can't remember what my name was anymore. What else could you call me but 'man with the magic eye?'" a smile slowly spread across his face. "I lost a lot of things as a prisoner, but now I'm free. I like the sound of that so much, I think I'll make it my new name. I don't think there's gonna be anyone around who'll tell me my real name, so I might as well take my pick." the newly-named Free said.

"Very well then, pleased to meet you Free." Medusa said. 'Free huh?' she thought, inwardly smirking. 'We'll see about that, now won't we?'

"I owe you a favor. I'd like to repay it somehow." Free said.

"Oh, no no. Don't worry about it." Medusa said in a false sweet voice.

"Please let me. I try to get all my debts settled. Besides, unlike most people, I have nothing but time." Free explained.

"Well, there is something you could help with." Medusa baited with a smile that was almost innocent, before becoming a cruel smirk. "There a certain Weapon and Meister pair I'd rather like to see crushed." Medusa continued.

"You mean from the DWMA?" Free asked rhetorically. Who else even had Weapon and Meister teams?

"That's right." Medusa answered.

A grin broke out across Free's face. "I don't like Death or that school of his, and I especially don't like all those damn rules. I'd be more than happy to do that for you. Just tell me where to find them."
> Omake: Alternate Worlds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight Sparkle had gone to bed intent on getting up early tomorrow to help the others with the raft, but was starting to wonder if that was the best idea. This was a very strange dream, and she hadn't eaten anything that she knew gave her weird dreams. She'd found herself on a stained-glass pillar of some kind, depicting herself working with a chemistry set. She didn't look particularly happy or unhappy, but it felt more like something was missing than that anything was particularly wrong. 

Yeah, that was basically how she'd been before some investigations into the supernatural in her world involving a strange triangular being that resembled the one on the dollar bill. She found versions of it scattered across history with a little digging. One thing led to another, and here she was, in a parallel world. She'd been kind of obsessed with getting back at first, but she'd realized she didn't have the materials or power necessary to do so after a couple years. Getting de-aged and being gotten through to by Sora, Riku, and Kairi might have had something to do with that.

She'd never had friends before, so she was a bit overeager to do what they were doing or planning, which got her in trouble before she managed to reel herself in enough to be something of a voice of reason to the others. Not to say the others weren't able to figure things out on their own, but Sora and Kairi were very optimistic, and Riku wanted some kind of adventure, finding living in Destiny Islands stifling.

"So much to do... So little time... Take your time, don't be afraid." a soothing voice said from everywhere and nowhere at once. A translucent door appeared. "The door cannot be opened for now." the voice explained.

"So... what do I do to get it open?" she asked. It was a dream, so she should follow it to it's conclusion to wake up.

A staircase of crates appeared in pulses of light, leading to a pair of chests. "Climb up and pick a chest. The left contains a Potion, for healing your wounds. The right contains a Protect Chain, an enchanted accessory which reduces the effectiveness of attacks used on you. You may only pick one." the voice explained. Well it was a dream, magic wasn't that far-fetched.

Hm, it sounded like she'd be expected to fight soon. Potions were useful if they accidentally got too rough with their sparring, but reducing incoming damage sounded better. She chose the Protect Chain, then slipped it on her wrist. She didn't really feel different, but it might just be because you weren't supposed to feel the difference. The door slowly solidified from the edges inward, so she climbed down and pulled it slightly open.

Bright light shot out, momentarily blinding her, but she adjusted. The light felt warm and friendly, and she started to walk towards it. The light grew brighter and brighter, then abruptly faded, leaving her on the smaller sub-island connected to the smaller of the two islands that made up Destiny Islands by a wooden bridge. The island kids used this island for playing on after school and on weekends. The sub-island had a Papou tree that they picked sometimes.

She noticed Sora, Riku, and Kairi in a sort of circle around her. The dream must have been using people familiar to her as liaisons of a sort. As if to confirm this, the voice spoke up. "Hold on a moment, would you mind telling me more about yourself?" it asked.

Approaching Sora, she stopped when he asked her. "What do you think is most important?"

"Friendship." she answered. She couldn't believe how much of a hole not-having other people in her life had left. Her family was nice and all, but Shining Armor was off at college, and her parents were usually busy with work, author and night guard respectively. Her mother would have a couple hours for spending time with her a week thanks to her deadlines, and her father was often asleep during the day so he didn't fall asleep on the job, so she only ever saw him awake for his breakfast and dinner, the reverse of her own. Her surrogate family of the islanders felt more like a family in that they were there nearly all the time.

"Is friendship really so important?" he asked, before fading away. Okay, definitely not the real Sora. That was not something he'd ever say.

She went towards Kairi next. Kairi asked "What do you want out of life?"

She had to think about that for a few seconds. She hadn't really thought about what she wanted to do with her life ever since discovering she almost certainly couldn't get back to her home world.  She studied at the library if no one was around to hang out with, and did activities with them if someone was available, but she never put much thought into her future. She wasn't really sure what she could do. The islands didn't have a ton of research opportunities, and she didn't think she'd find being a librarian very fulfilling. Now that she thought about it... "I'd like to expand my horizons." Making friends or learning new things weren't enough by themselves. Neither fully captured her interest alone. 

"Is expanding your horizons really what you want?" Kairi asked before fading away.

Riku was the last one. "What are you afraid of?" he asked.

This was another easy one. "Losing my friends." She'd admit she'd gotten a bit of an abandonment complex, but she'd been ripped out of her old life by what she believed to be a demon (after being tricked into nearly allowing him into her world, which she intentionally botched at the last second, leading to her being sent to another world instead) and she'd been somewhat paranoid before that happened!

"Losing your friends. Does that really frighten you so much?" Riku asked before fading away.

The voice began to speak again. "So, you value friendship. You wish to expand your horizons. You fear losing your friends. Your journey shall begin in the dead of night. It will be long and difficult, but don't give up, and you'll come through stronger than before." it said.

Light obscured her surroundings again, and this time she found herself on another stained-glass platform. This one of Sora with a strange key-shaped sword surrounded by shadowy creatures. Was it some kind of warning?

"Power sleeps within you. Give it form and it shall give you strength." the voice said. Three stone pillars rose from the platform beneath her feet. An object appeared and began to float over each. A broadsword, a shield, and a staff. 

"The power of the warrior, invincible courage, a sword of terrible destruction. The power of the guardian, kindness to aid friends, a shield that repels both good and evil. The power of the mystic, inner strength, a staff of both wonder and ruin. Choose wisely, because in order to obtain, something must be lost." the voice warned.

Hm, she'd like to pick the staff, but she didn't think she'd be able to change her mind after picking one, so she really needed to think this through. She didn't really want the sword of terrible destruction as that sounded fairly indiscriminate, but she wanted to push people away even less, so she'd choose the staff and give up the shield. Besides, defense was well and good, but sometimes sheer power was necessary. You couldn't always avoid or negotiate with your problems. Inner strength was also good, as power was useless without the will to wield it, and worse than useless without the proper direction to use it for the right reasons.

She chose the staff, which disappeared into sparks of light, and gave up the shield, which was consumed by shadows.

"You've chosen the staff and given up the shield. Your path is that of the black mage. One who wields magic for destruction. This does not make you evil, but be careful not to cause harm without meaning to." the voice said. 

Suddenly little shadowy creatures appeared around her, the same as those that had been surrounding Sora. They had yellow eyes, but were entirely black beyond that. Their antennae and clawed hands twitched at random. They sort of looked like dogs and were roughly the same size, though there was definite insect influence in their forms. The staff reappeared in her hands. Luckily she was familiar with this type of weapon as it was what she used in the spars the islanders got up to for fun.

"You've gained the power to fight the shadows. Beware the forces of Darkness, they would see your light snuffed out. Keep it burning strong." the voice warned.

She had developed decent combat reflexes and was reasonably skilled with the weapon in her hands, so they wouldn't have been that tough if they weren't able to sink into the ground and become temporarily invincible. Besides, there were only five of them, nothing she couldn't handle. She was almost as fast as Riku, so it usually took at least two of the others to fight evenly with her. Though she was physically the second-weakest of the quartet that made up the core group of her friends otherwise. Death by a thousand cuts was her preferred combat strategy.

Kairi didn't spar often, or even do much physical work. She sort of served as the group's leader or at least organizer. Then again, Kairi's slingshot tended to be a pain to fight if someone else was keeping her opponent occupied, so having one of the others as a partner gave her a bigger advantage than just their fighting ability.

Anyway, the shadows got destroyed one by one, until she was alone on the pillar again. She didn't relax though. If they could sink into the ground and act like normal shadows, who knows what else they could do?

"Watch out for sneak attacks, the shadows are fond of those." the voice warned as a batch of 7 shadows appeared in their shadow forms. She was forced to jump out of the way of an attack from behind, but another shadow clawed her leg. She felt a spike of pain, but there was no wound.

"Okay, definitely not a normal dream." she muttered. She fought off the shadows, and then took a closer look at her leg where she got scratched. It looked none the worse for wear, but she felt a little bit off. Like some of her energy was sapped against her will.

9 shadows appeared this time, and she was getting a little bit concerned. How long would this go on? She'd start getting tired soon if she didn't get a break that lasted more than a minute, and while the shadows weren't any stronger individually, there were a couple more each time she beat a round. 

Once she beat them, she stopped and thought things over. She'd felt a strange power boost about halfway through the second round, and it was abruptly a little easier to dodge the shadows and to destroy them. What was that? No seriously, what the hell was that!? Killing weird shadow things gave her a sudden power boost? How did that work? 

Her internal rant was interrupted by the arrival of 11 more shadows. Seriously, where were they even coming from? For that matter, if this wasn't really a dream, then was this going to affect the real world? She wasn't sure how she felt about getting power-ups she didn't understand. 

One of the shadows dropped a Potion, but 13 more showed up seconds later. She was starting to think that they'd keep coming after her until they overwhelmed her through weight of numbers. Worse, it was starting to work. Speed was an advantage sure, but the more enemies there were, the more numbers ate at it. Plus, she was starting to get tired from fighting almost non-stop and that was making her slow down. Now she had two of the power-ups to worry about too.

The next batch had 15 of them, and they were stronger. Like, a lot stronger. Then she got another power boost while she was fighting them and they weren't quite as hard to beat. Still, if they got any stronger or more numerous then she might not be able to take them on alone. 

Of course, exactly that happened with the next batch. They piled onto her and started clawing at her. A pool of shadowy ooze spread beneath her and started dragging her down as the shadows kept her from trying to escape. Just as she got completely submerged, she found herself on a different pillar with a picture of four symbols. She felt strangely... refreshed. What was going on? Shaking her head and resolving to look into this once the dream was over, she examined the symbols.

One looked like a crossed-out heart with a cross sprouting from the bottom, while the second appeared to be the bottom of the first turned upside-down and turned off-white. The third looked like a stylized heart, and the fourth was a black, pointed version of a heart. What did they mean?

"The forces of Light and Darkness have been clashing ever since both came into existence. You will be at the center of the latest struggles. Remember that Darkness is no more evil than Light is good, it all depends on the user. Still, users of Darkness tend to leave shadows in their wake..." the voice explained. 

Twilight noticed that her shadow looked darker than it should. What was really weird was that since the pillar was the only source of illumination, her shadow shouldn't show up on it in the first place, and until now it hadn't. However, it was not only there, but getting darker. It started to look like the shadows from before, until a small pool of shadow ooze appeared, and it clawed into the three dimensional world. She took a defensive stance. This one felt different from the other shadows.

The others had only beaten her with numbers and by exhausting her. She'd have wiped out individual shadows twice as strong as that final group with little trouble if she was fresh, but there were 17 of them and she was exhausted, which left her unable to fight them off. This thing felt strong though.

Her shadow rushed forward, almost seeming to teleport. She barely blocked the extremely fast attack. It was stronger than her too. She deflected the strike, feinted to the right, then struck from the left. Okay, it fell for that, so she was smarter than it. She pulled double-feints when she could, but it seemed to be getting faster and stronger as she dealt damage, and she had no idea how much more it could take. It also seemed to be starting to learn how she fought, as it was falling for feints less and less.

One hit had left her on the ground, momentarily-dazed. She recovered just in time to avoid the follow-up and land a combo attack. It threw her off after that, and did teleport this time. She dodged the first strike, but it teleported again and she barely blocked, which left her open from behind when it attacked again. She rolled with the hit, but still felt woozy. She hurriedly used the Potion she'd gotten off one of the shadows. They could be swallowed, or poured on a wound to heal it, though she used the former since she didn't have any visible wounds.

At this rate, she was going to lose. She dodged another teleporting backstab and knocked her shadow away from her, it sprang back up like nothing happened and charged her. She dodged and managed a passing strike, but it turned on her and smashed an attack into her guard. If it got much stronger then she wouldn't be able to block anymore. She decided to go on the offensive. Defending and attacking when the opportunity presented itself wasn't going to work much longer.

She dodged the next strike, then started pounding away at her shadow. She got attacked in return, but she pushed on. She was barely conscious when she finished it. She collapsed to the floor as her shadow sank back into it's pool of darkness. The pool began to spread, and she forced herself to her feet. She was only able to get up because beating her shadow gave her another 2 power-ups. Even so, she didn't have the strength left to fend off the tentacles of shadow reaching from the expanding pool for long.

She did notice that when she destroyed a tentacle it made the pool shrink slightly, but she didn't have the energy to destroy tentacles fast enough to slow the spread of the ooze by very much. Eventually she was backed to the edge of the pillar. There was nothing but an abyss down there, so she really didn't want to fall off the pillar.

She got her feet caught in shadow and her staff was ripped from her hands by the tentacles, disappearing as it left her grasp. She struggled in the ooze, but she started sinking anyway. She instantly lost feeling in anything that sunk more than half a foot in the ooze, like it stopped existing. That hadn't happened with the other pool of shadow. It was cold and somehow managed to convey darkness through her sense of touch, it was very uncomfortable and slightly disturbing. 

"The Darkness seeks to smother the Light, while the Light seeks to extinguish the Darkness. Who's to say either one is in the right? No matter which you side with, something will be hostile to you. In the end, the most powerful weapon of all, which neither Light nor Darkness can fully understand, is the Heart." the voice explained as she sunk up to her waist.

"No matter what happens, remember that your Heart is the single greatest weapon in existence. Nothing is a suitable substitute or replacement. Nothing is worth trading it for. Nothing can equal a Heart in value. Remember that." the voice finished as shadows consumed her.

She started awake, falling out of bed. She lived with Sora and his family, and if she was honest she might have a thing for him. She was more concerned about the dream right now though. She could tell that the power-ups were still there, and checking her wrist informed her that she still had the Protect Chain. That wasn't just a dream, but what was she supposed to do about it?

She decided to do what she usually did when something confused or intrigued her. She got out a pen and paper.


'Dream Report 1


Last night, I had a strange dream. It involved living shadows and strange symbols. I had to fight my own shadow after defeating roughly 60 smaller and weaker shadows. Normally I'd write it off as some sort of dream logic scenario for conquering my inner demons, but the events and objects I acquired in the dream have translated to the real world.

Assuming the events of the dream are real, I have a multitude of questions to answer. What was the identity of the mysterious voice I heard? Where did those events take place? How did I get there? What was the significance of choosing between the sword, shield, and staff? What were the shadows and how do they relate to my own shadow trying to kill me? 

In addition, I acquired an item called a Protect Chain. It is enchanted to increase the wearer's defensive abilities. If it exists and functions as it was explained to, then magic must exist, which explains a few things about Bill Cipher's abilities, which I had previously assumed were either common to his type of being, or were a result of prolonged time spent in the Nightmare Dimension. Is it possible to travel to other worlds/dimensions using magic instead of specialized technology? Could I use magic to return to my home universe? I know that this is not my home reality because upon arrival I was de-aged to about 4 biologically. That would only happen if I ended up in a different reality. Specifically, parallel worlds. The same would not happen in alternate universes or other dimensions.

I have to wonder why this happened now as well. Is there something coming that I need to be prepared for? I can't prepare for something if I don't know what I'm supposed to be preparing for. All I can do is be on guard for strange circumstances. I don't even have a timetable for when this supposed event might happen, so for all I know it could be today or in six months.

What's more, I'm probably going to have to recalibrate all of my equipment if I want to experiment on the Protect Chain to discover the enchantment's inner workings. I don't have the time to prepare in such generalized terms when I'm also supposed to be working on the raft with my friends.

We'd like to see other worlds. Riku and Sora want to go on an adventure. Kairi wants to find her original world, not being from this one either, and that's no small motivation for the rest of us. Myself, I just want to see other worlds for the sake of seeing other worlds. 

My curiosity hasn't dimmed in the slightest from the mishap that led to my getting displaced from my home reality. Rather, knowing that there are probably an infinity of worlds has increased it. I want to know. Facts, people, everything in between. I'm honestly concerned about how much it's consumed my thoughts of late. It's unhealthy to obsess, though I don't think I'm quite at that point. Certainly I'm not a good person to judge my mental state, no one should try to do so really, but I doubt I'm a raving lunatic.

At any rate, I'll finish this report here since I'm due to go to the smaller island to help the others with the raft. I'll continue this later.'
> Souls, Bonds, and Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As it turned out, Lord Death's decision did indeed extend to Witch's Souls. When she absorbed it, she could literally feel the power boost, especially to her magic. She was pretty sure the others noticed the power boost almost immediately, especially Maka, who told her that her soul had visibly grown. That was the problem with Soul Perception or whatever she was using as she wasn't convinced that was what it was, it was difficult to look at your own soul as ordinary mirrors did not reflect souls. Lord Death's was an exception, but she didn't want to bother him over something so trivial.

At any rate, she decided to explain her story to them on Sunday (the day after tomorrow). Soul getting hurt like that had gotten her thinking. Next time something went bad on a mission, one of her friends might die. She needed to tell them before something happened. 

Besides, she was getting close to completing medicine that applied the effects of her buff spells, and it would be difficult to explain about those without revealing something that would inevitably lead to more questions about her past. Though the effects only lasted 3 minutes as opposed to the 5 they lasted when she cast the spells, and the pill needed a few seconds for the effects to kick in. She was having trouble with the Bar and En buffs, as well as making slow progress transferring her Cure spell into medicine form. Still, if she was successful, then the DWMA could provide it's operatives, including her friends, with medicine that doubled their combat abilities and was the ultimate battlefield medicine.

Cure could replace entire lost limbs with enough power behind it, albeit with scars if large areas were replaced. Sure, it didn't work on poisons or genetic issues (like cancer) but there was plenty of damage that could be repaired by her newly dubbed 'Potion.' Certainly not a very original name, but people without actual knowledge of the topic wouldn't be able to follow the conversations about it well. Wouldn't want the Witches getting their hands on universal healing magic, or worse, magic that temporarily doubled a person's magical power.

Part of the reason it was taking so long was that she was making sure that people could create the medicines with Soul Wavelength rather than magic. Using magic to create the medicines only took a couple weeks to figure out with the materials Lord Death was giving her for the research she was conducting. Of course, she was storing the paper research in a section of the vault in the DWMA building for restricted or dangerous materials, while keeping the Datalog (and another copy of her notes) she'd gotten from Cocoon that had the information stored on it in a vault inside of her personal pocket dimension, which she had with her at all times, being inside of her purple backpack. 

Datalogs normally stored information in encyclopedia form automatically, but she'd gotten one that let her personalize the entries she made and edit them as she wished. It also had far more memory than a normal Datalog would be expected to as this was for long-term research and storage. She was hesitant to tinker with it beyond maintenance as she only had 2 of these left, and if she messed-up, she wouldn't particularly have a second chance. Still, the computer in here was a lot more advanced than the ones currently used by this world's branch of humanity, and she saw no reason not to give them a sample. She'd ended up giving Lord Death the third one to see if it could be used to update the computer tech of the local branch of humanity, and while an exact duplicate was not feasible with today's resources, a much more powerful processor was, and a number of supercomputers  had at universities and research facilities that had more than double the processing and memory of their predecessors had been made thanks to the tech she'd provided. She was offered a hefty sum for it, but she turned it down. She wasn't doing this for money. She just wanted to help people.

Lord Death wasn't keen on the idea of Witches  getting their hands on the research either, though he was going to allow the Potion's recipe to be released as the benefits of a medicine that could restore entire lost limbs with sufficient use outweighed the risks of a Witch reverse-engineering the original spell. She'd decided to put some effort into simplifying the process upon learning that, since she'd been intending to avoid doing so to keep it from being too simple and thus easily-copied before then.

Her next project was the manadrives. She'd gotten a few of each type, and was planning to see if she could get an alternate way of casting spells out of them. Of course, since she didn't have any anti-matter on hand, she couldn't use that. It was exceedingly dangerous anyway. She was going to examine the basic principles to see if it was possible to create 'batteries' of a sort that could fire off spells as long as they had charge. That would come later though.

Anyway, she started to compile her journals of what had happened ever since she'd left Equestria. She'd started keeping them since shortly after arriving in this world. She'd realized the details of her escapades would start to escape her over time, so she'd written down everything she could remember of her journey up to that point, and everything she'd deemed of any importance since. Partially to chronicle her adventures, partially as a precaution against memory wipes. She'd be letting them read these to tell her story to them beyond a brief explanation of her origins. 

Since today was Friday, and the party was over with, leading to everyone leaving to do as they chose over the weekend, she decided to try and crack that last obstacle in making the Potion. She'd made it possible to make the Potions with Soul Wavelength, but it was exorbitantly draining as you were trying to infuse medicine with enough energy to regenerate lost flesh, which was even more exponentially costly than the spell itself. Normally this wouldn't be too bad, but it was to the point that Lord Death himself couldn't make more than a dozen before it started negatively affecting him. She'd nearly blacked-out making one, and it was hours before she was able to cast properly again. It simply wasn't feasible to have them this costly, so she was trying to make the process more efficient.

After 30 hours, several cups of coffee, and a couple hallucinations (Note to self: Black Blood definitely exacerbating personal vulnerability to the Madness Wavelength) she managed to get the process 25% more efficient. That would have to do for now, she'd been sticking her hand into the Soul-Sapping water when she was doing pure calculations, so she'd managed some training too.

She got her usual 6 hours of sleep, waking up at about 6:30. She went to the DWMA building to tell Lord Death about her breakthrough and wait for the others. The meeting had been arranged for 8 AM, which gave her enough time to grab breakfast, teleport her way to an alleyway near school, and present her progress.

She'd only herself to blame for not being able to directly teleport inside the school. She'd helped set up some wards for the school that prevented direct teleportation into the building. Someone on Lord Death's Level would be able to ignore them, though teleporting inside would be more draining, but anyone weaker than about twice Professor Stein's level wouldn't be able to bypass them from the outside. The perimeter of the wards matched the perimeter of the building itself. Considering the deliberately confusing internal structure, that had taken some effort.

At any rate, Lord Death said that being able to make 15 a day himself would do for the DWMA's needs, though he would appreciate it if she could get it any less draining. Stein could make a few at this point, and if she wanted she could make one, but other than that only Death Scythes had the kind of power you'd need to make one without completely exhausting yourself, even with the improvements she'd managed. Thanks to the Wavelength component, they also restored your Wavelength, though it was all from the same energy, so it tended to focus on the one (of your body or soul) that was in worse shape.

At any rate, she'd ironed out the last few bugs in her Haste, Protect, Shell, Vigilance, Auto-Esuna (a spell that set Esuna to use itself as soon as some kind of negative effect was inflicted on the target), Faith, and Bravery medicine, though that only took a couple hours. Those took about 1% of the effort of a Potion. That meant that they could be mass-produced by the students who could understand the theory. Granted it wasn't that complicated, but somehow she didn't think Blackstar or Soul would be making any anytime soon.

Since she had nothing better to do, she made a Potion with the new formula. Since it was 25% less costly and she was significantly stronger than when she'd tried to make a Potion the first time (A Witch's Soul would do that.) she was just 'pretty drained' by making it, as opposed to 'about to collapse'. She put it in her backpack/personal pocket dimension, then started making a piece of the buff-medicine for each of them.  Since each piece was all the buff spells besides the Bar/En spells, that meant 7 not counting herself, or about a tenth of a Potion in total.

Not long after she finished, the others arrived. "Hey Tara, what's this about?" Soul asked.

"I think it's time I told you guys a few things about myself." Tara said.

"Hm, you know, now that I think about it, I really don't know much about you beyond your name and some of your personal preferences." Kid noted. They didn't really know much about Tara's personal history. It wasn't really something you asked about unless there was something obviously wrong or they opened up to you. Plenty of people at the DWMA had troublesome pasts.

"Huh, he's right, you've never really told us about yourself." Black Star said after blinking in confusion.

"Well that's all about to change. First off, a question. Have you ever heard of Parallel Worlds?" Tara asked.

"What now?" Black Star asked, even more confused.

"Parallel Worlds are supposed to be various versions of reality that exist 'next to' ours. They don't have different laws of physics or anything, but history would be completely different, or even the dominant species, or the Earth might just be devoid of life, or not exist at all. They haven't been proven to exist yet though." Maka explained.

"Yes, well, I can confirm their existence, not being a native of this world myself." Tara said, deciding to drop one of the real bombshells now so that the others wouldn't cause a total freak-out.

"Wait. What?" Liz asked, summing up the others thought processes.

"Yeah, this is actually the second one besides my home world I've visited. Helped save the other one, but that can wait." she explained. "Another thing I should mention is that I wasn't originally human, apparently crossing worlds changes you to match the dominant species. How willing the travel is doesn't seem to matter." Tara mentioned.

"Is there anything else we should know?!" Soul asked, exasperated.

"A few things actually, first, I changed my name from Twilight Sparkle because I'd garnered a reputation as a Witch before I joined the DWMA. As for the second... well, I have a bit of a... problem with my soul." she said, bracing herself to explain.

"Perhaps I should take over here. As you know, the most common way of becoming a Kishin Egg is to devour a human soul. However, those who commit sufficiently horrific crimes and especially those who do so repeatedly such as rapists and serial killers can become Kishin Eggs as their morals decay. Twilight is a special case in that while she killed hundreds of people, almost all of them were trying to kill her first. Thus she is one of the only unwilling mass murderers to ever live. This resulted in a portion of her soul Kishinizing and splitting off from the rest into a distinct personality, formed of all her worst traits. 

Twilight named it Arcana, and it would like nothing more than to kill every living thing in existence. Twilight managed to seal it away before it managed to gain the power to take over permanently, but it's not gone forever." Death explained, causing horror to flit across his listener's faces.

"So what? It's not anything special then. Kishin eat souls and they usually have to kill people to do that right?" Black Star asked obliviously.

"There are several reasons why Arcana is more dangerous than Twilight, as she possesses all of Twilight's abilities, only she's stronger. First off, Twilight's never gone all-out against you. As a non-native, she can use magic despite not being a Witch, and she can double her physical and spiritual abilities in addition to attacking with flame, ice, electricity, water, wind, earth, or non-elemental magic, and she can do the reverse for her opponents. She has never once used magic in your spars beyond enchanting her weapons with elemental magic. Want to fight her when you're half as strong as normal and she's twice as strong as she usually is?" Death asked, cocking his head. Black Star lost his usual confident expression.

"Not only that, but she can conjure objects into existence and direct them with levitation." Death said as Twilight demonstrated by conjuring up a pen and making it dance in midair. She would admit to having thought of conjuring a storm of knives, though if the target wasn't ludicrously resistant to direct magic, then it was unlikely to be worth it to do so over throwing a higher-tier spell at them. "Besides, she knows quite a lot about physics and can create pocket dimensions to store objects inside, how did you think she fits so much into that one backpack?" he asked as Twilight pulled out a pole that couldn't possibly have fit inside her backpack. She'd put it inside that morning specifically so she could demonstrate her pocket dimension.

Maka perked up. "So that's how you do that." she said, thumping a fist into her open palm.

Twilight nodded and turned her hands towards them, palms up. "Yeah, there's something else too. You know how I'm always wearing these gloves? Well there's a reason for that. Arcana's influence, among other things, turned me into a sponge for Soul-Wavelength, and when I touch people with my bare hands I involuntarily start sucking out their Soul Wavelength, like soul-sapping water in person form. I enchanted these gloves to prevent that, while still letting me use Soul Force. 

Soul Force doesn't work as well on me either because of my absorption abilities, which is why Stein needed to go all-out on me with his Soul Force attacks, and even then he needed three attacks to completely short me out, it usually takes you 5 to significantly weaken me Black Star. The worst part is that Arcana said what happened to me is a common mechanism for dealing with trauma which means any sufficiently traumatized being can develop one of her." Twilight explained.

They were starting to look a little freaked-out. "Don't worry, it took hundreds of deaths and... murders to even create Arcana, and hundreds more for her to get strong enough to take over even temporarily. Besides, with my origins, I wouldn't be surprised if it was significantly easier for these things to appear in my species." Twilight said, attempting to ease them.

"What do you mean?" Kid asked.

"Well, I'll need to give you a bit of a history lesson to explain. I started out as an equine, and about 2500 years ago, we were extremely paranoid and violent. Like, anything larger than three family groups would end up killing each other in less than a month. By the standards of that time, I would be considered one of the most well-balanced of my species to ever live by anyone who didn't know about Arcana, despite my neurosis. That should give you a pretty good idea how bad it was.

Eventually, the other races got so fed up with or frightened by us, they formed an alliance and attempted to exterminate the pony races. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, having been beating the crap out of each other since before they were capable of forming intelligent thoughts made said ponies really good at war, causing the alliance to suffer hideous losses relative to them. It was to the point where despite the fact that they were fighting each other half the time, the minute forces from the alliance showed up, the ponies would curbstomp them, then likely as not go back to what they were doing beforehand. A few races were pushed to the point of extinction before they managed to appease the violent maniacs they'd managed to annoy." At this point the others were wearing genuinely horrified expressions. 

"There were some good effects though. The ponies with clearer heads were horrified by what they'd done. A few decades of research went into a spell that would permanently curb their tendencies towards paranoia, violence, and psychopathy. They were able to successfully use it on themselves, but they had difficulties with the vast majority of the population, who were understandably suspicious of a spell that modified behavior. Though finally being able to build a proper civilization now that they wouldn't start killing each other was tempting.

It took 5 centuries to completely administer the cure, but it's used with every birth now. When genetics came along it was discovered that the spell worked by turning off a number of genes that led to the violence and mental disorders, while increasing emphasis on their opposites. Of course, it tended to have reduced effectiveness on powerful mages, and dark magic tended to 'repair' the changes and that was disastrous on people who weren't used to suppressing their violent urges, so there was the occasional evil overlord over the years. Hence the outlawing of dark magic.

However, it paved the way for the ponies to more or less unite into three tribes, divided along sub-species lines, so it was a good thing overall. Granted, it would be roughly another millennium before they merged into a cohesive nation, but they were not nearly as bad then as they were before that point. 

The point I'm trying to make is that my species' basic genetics tend towards 'completely insane and very violent' being the gist of a psychological profile, and I'm pretty sure that carried over as a human. Which means that Arcana is probably what I'd be like if I'd gone through my life without those modifications to my genes. I'm not saying that's exactly what I'd be like, but I probably wouldn't be all that different." Twilight explained, somewhat unnerved by the thought.

"If you were trying to make us feel better it didn't work." Kid said, calmer than the others, but still disturbed. 

She nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, in retrospect I don't know why I thought that would be reassuring, but there's more. You may remember me mentioning trouble sleeping, that's because I'm more vulnerable than most to the Madness Wavelength and it causes some pretty nasty nightmares. It's gotten worse recently too." she said, she had yet to mention the Black Blood, as she didn't want to guilt-trip Maka on top of all the other things she was dropping on the group. She'd just started to recover from her guilt over Soul.

"These tell my story up to now if you want to look them over." she said, pulling copies of her journals out and handing them out. She'd been careful to edit the most recent version, giving them one that had been sanitized slightly while her real one sat in her pocket dimension with the rest of the set of originals. "I've also managed to make medicines that have the same effects as my buffing spells and Cure. These little pills here double your abilities across the board for 3 minutes and having a decaying effect for the next minute or so. It takes a couple seconds to take effect though.

The method for making the Potion will be released shortly, since we're confident we can get plenty of use out of it even if it gets copied by Witches. It's simply too useful for us not to use it. Of course, it requires imbuing it with magic or Soul Wavelength, so it's not something ordinary militaries or the vast majority of Kishin Eggs could do." she said as she pulled out the pills, then the Potion. 

"This thing heals wounds and restores your Soul Wavelength, though it tends to focus on the one in worse shape. Keep that in mind before you use it." she warned, holding the Potion up.

"Are there any side effects?" Kid asked, examining the pills.

"Not unless you use enough of them to get a straight hour's worth of use out of them or more than one at a time, but don't try and push it beyond double your normal abilities when you make them. Not only does the cost increase exponentially, but any more than twice your baseline is really hard on your body. Trust me, I've checked." she had the barest hint of a healing factor thanks to Arcana and all the souls she'd absorbed, so it was slightly safer to experiment on herself. Even if one of her experiments drove her unconscious, she'd be in better shape than almost anyone else who wasn't a Shinigami.

"You should really stop experimenting on yourself. One of these days you're gonna get hurt." Soul said with some concern. 

"I'll be fine. Anyone want to test your E.P. out with a spar?" she asked.

"E.P.?" Maka asked, glancing between the pill in her hand and Twilight.

"Enhancement Pill, it was the best name I could come up with, I'm not very good with naming things. It's pretty hit-and-miss." Twilight said, shrugging. Spike was one of the exceptions.

"I'll do it!" Blackstar said, before popping the pill. Tsubaki followed suit as they readied themselves. Twilight decided to go all-out this time, starting with removing her gloves, then teleporting next to the pair of ninja. 

Blackstar would barely have had time to deflect the Soul Force normally, but having effectively had Haste cast on himself he was able to smoothly avoid the blow. Since Haste doubled movement speed and halved the speed of his perception of time, it more or less cut reaction time to one quarter of the norm, and with double speed that made dodging a relatively slow fighter like Twilight rather easy.

On the other hand, Twilight went in knowing the effects the pill would have, so she was prepared to teleport away from him, not trusting her normal speed in this situation. She dodged several blows this way, before slashing at him with the flat of her sword. He ducked under it, but that left him open to a straight punch from her other hand which just barely connected, followed by a Fire spell that he dodged hastily.

'Jeez, she wasn't kidding about draining people, she barely touched me but I could feel her sucking out my Wavelength.' Blackstar thought, a grin spreading across his face despite himself.

'I was right, absorbing that Witch's soul seems to have strengthened the absorption ability.' Twilight noted, the barest hint of a feral grin on her own face. That entire exchange had taken all of ten seconds after Twilight's first teleport.

They flew back into the fight. Twilight relying on teleportation to avoid Blackstar's temporarily boosted speed, and Blackstar avoiding direct contact as much as possible. Tsubaki's weapon form was resistant to the draining effects, and Twilight's sword had never had any such ability. Plus since she wasn't using her pistol, as it was nearly impossible to avoid causing injuries with it, she could use both arms to swing her sword. That contributed a great deal of extra speed and strength to her swings.

Still, she was alright with sending low-end spells at him, mainly Water to avoid causing overt amounts of harm, that Fire had been an accident. She tended to default to the Fire-chain if she wasn't paying enough attention. She had a theory about that, but she wasn't really sure.

She'd noticed that her Fire spells seemed stronger than her other spells, and her Blizzard spells were a bit weaker. The stronger her magic got, the more obvious the difference became. She also seemed to have much more of a problem with cold than she used to, while heat bothered her much less. If she was right, she had a Fire Affinity, and her strengthening magic was causing it to manifest to a degree.

Affinities for elements allowed for the casting of spells not normally possible, and provided a boost to power of the same type of spell, while weakening spells of the opposite element. They would also make you more resistant to spells of your Affinity. Of course, opposing spells would be more effective. 

Considering it would give her a major weakness and any significant strength to her Affinity would take months to build up, even after the l'cie brand made her immensely more powerful, it hadn't ever seemed like it was worth the effort. Then again, she didn't use Blizzard all that often, and she had yet to encounter a being that could use much ice magic that wasn't a fal'cie or l'cie. Maybe she ought to give some thought to training up the Affinity.

3 minutes later, the effects started wearing off, Blackstar noticeably beginning to slow down. She gave him a shallow cut as his speed abruptly started to fall, then backed off as she was not keen on fighting him while his speed, toughness, and reaction time were all falling like rocks. He'd hit her with a Soul Force just before the effects started wearing off and she was still recovering, so her control was rather off right now.

"Did you get faster for a second there, or did I get slower?" he asked with a confused look on his face. From his perspective, it must have looked like she sped up all of a sudden. Haste allowed him to talk normally despite the speed boost and temporal manipulation as part of the spell.

"You got slower, the pill's wearing off. Watch out for that. It can really throw you off if your abilities are weakening mid-fight. I've gotten used to it after using these a few dozen times, but you aren't." she explained. She'd tested these on herself as soon as she'd made sure they were safe for human consumption, and gotten used to their effects. How else would she know how many you could take in a row before negative side effects started showing up?

"Still, that was an impressive display. These pills will be useful, and using your magic against us will help us get practice in for fighting Witches." Kid noted. Blackstar had reacted to attacks he'd normally have had trouble following.

"That's really impressive, but why didn't you tell us about this stuff sooner?" Liz asked.

"Well, one, it didn't seem like it was all that important when Arcana is the only thing that could end up involving anyone else and I told Lord Death everything pretty much the moment I met him, and Maka and Soul already knew about my magic, so it's not like I didn't tell anyone." she explained.

"Do you mind explaining more about the pills, and that other vial you pulled out?" Maka asked. She was curious as to the pill's exact effects.

"It needs roughly 5 seconds after you swallow it for the effects to take hold, so keep that in mind when you start using it. It mimics the effects of several spells. Protect, which halves the physical damage you receive. Shell, which halves magic and energy-based damage. Haste, which doubles movement speed while halving the rate one perceives time. That one is why Blackstar's reaction speed got so high. There's also Faith, which doubles spiritual power, Bravery, which doubles physical power, Vigilance, which doubles the power and range of your senses, and Auto-Esuna, which will automatically dispel any negative effects used on you. To be specific, most poisons and spells that cause negative effects will be removed. The pills are different from the spells in that the latter immediately wears off after 5 minutes have passed. Unlike it's healing-related counterpart, the E.P. takes far less energy to create, so it's going to be fairly easy to mass-produce." she explained before pulling out said vial with red liquid inside, the Potion.

"As for this vial, I call it the Potion. Yes, yes, I know. Not a good name, but it's pretty hit-or-miss with me. Basically, it's portable healing in a bottle. It can restore physical wounds, or an exhausted Soul Wavelength, though it's all from the same energy, so it tends to work on whatever's in worst shape. It can heal up to losing a finger, but that's the limit per bottle, and I wouldn't recommend more than 2 or 3 over an hour since we're not sure how multiple uses over a short time would affect a person. It's derived from my Cure spell, which has the same effect.

It's harder to tell if this has side effects since it's so much more draining to make. I can literally only make one at a time, so testing if multiple uses cause side effects is kind of hard. Granted Lord Death can make 15 of these things before he starts feeling drained, but we're kind of saving them. These things should improve mission survival and casualty rates by a lot, you'd be surprised how much a little less blood loss can help." she noted. She'd learned more than she ever wanted to know about how much damage the human body could take before it gave out while researching these things. She also didn't really want to know the exact figures for casualties during missions, but now she did.

It wasn't like there were a whole lot of deaths during missions, but injuries were common, what with the targets generally being homicidal at the best of times. There was a good reason most students weren't allowed on missions until they graduated. The EAT Class (Especially Advantaged Talent) was the exception, and represented the talented combatants of the school. The NOT Class (Normally Overcome Target) was ostensibly for those who simply wanted enough control over their powers to avoid hurting others, but about half of them would either become teachers or end up serving under Death in some other capacity, usually as adult hunters. On the occasions where there were epidemics of Kishin Eggs, it was not unheard of for more talented members of the NOT Class to participate in hunting them down. 

"These really will be useful, but what about your pocket dimensions? Those sound like they'd be useful for holding these in the first place." Maka asked. She was very interested in the idea of personal storage spaces that were bigger on the inside. Since it wasn't in this reality, the weight wouldn't transfer to the object that served as the door between the pocket dimension and their universe. You could carry heavy gear in a pack you could normally barely lift without problems.

Twilight scratched her head sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm not able to make these things very often, because doing so makes me pass out for the next couple hours. I basically have to create a miniature universe, which is incredibly draining. Even after I wake up, it's hours before I can cast again at all." she said with an embarrassed shrug. She supposed that that may not be an accurate assessment of how much it drained her since she hadn't tried since absorbing the Witch's soul, and for some time before. She doubted it made a massive difference, but she'd probably be out a bit less time.

"Oh, so much for that idea." Maka sighed.

"Actually, I've been working on getting some for you guys for a couple weeks, usually just before bed when passing out is what I'm supposed to do. I've got a duffel bag that's smaller on the outside than the inside for each of you." Twilight responded cheerfully, causing Maka to do a complete 180.

"Really?! Let's see!" she said eagerly. They might not look like much, but they'd be so useful. "I've also enchanted them for increased durability. Still, be careful with them. Severe damage to the outside makes the pocket dimension collapse and spew it's contents into the environment around them." Specifically, she'd enchanted them with the l'cie spell. That provided a base boost to durability, which increased over time. They wouldn't block bullets, but they would survive things that would rip giant holes in a normal duffel bag. The red one was for Soul, the green for Maka, the yellow for Tsubaki, the blue for Blackstar, a black one for Kid, and a light brown and dark brown one for Patty and Liz.

"I'll finally have a place to put our mission supplies!" Maka said happily as she took hers. She usually traveled light because heavy supplies would slow her down, which could be fatal in a fight, but now it didn't matter.

"Symmetrical, I approve." Kid commented, looking his over. Yeah, she'd been expecting him to say that. She'd specifically gotten duffel bags with 2 smaller straps parallel to each other, because she knew that Kid would start to freak out over it if she got the normal single strap ones. Of course, the fact that one of straps getting torn would still leave the other one available to grab the bag with, preventing it from being overly awkward to carry, was a nice bonus.

"That should be everything. You guys can keep those copies of my journals, I have 2 other sets just in case." Twilight announced.

"Ah, Stein's waiting for you two. Best get going." Death told Maka and Soul as they all started to leave. Twilight was planning to talk to Kid about the mission she was going on with him in a few days. Ever since the incident with the Demon Sword, involving Soul nearly dying, and Stein and herself being minorly injured, Lord Death had required that students take missions in groups of at least three, or 2 teams. Whichever was more convenient. After that, she was planning to do some training in a new pocket dimension she'd made for that purpose. The 'walls' of a pocket dimension were nearly indestructible from the inside, and even if she broke it down somehow, she'd just be ejected. Things were looking up.
> Ghosts and Werewolves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Maka and Soul had been bickering all week, and she was pretty sure it had to do with their training with Stein. She hoped he hadn't done something stupid like intentionally screw with their relationship in order to make their bond stronger when they made up. That plan banked on the 'making up' part happening. Considering the fact that they were barely able to talk to each other for more than a minute without devolving into thinly veiled insults, she didn't think this was working. She was worried about them getting hurt on their mission because their Wavelengths were off. Much like Blackstar was unable to lift Soul since their Wavelengths were out of synch during their fight with Kid, which they promptly lost due to that and their overall poor teamwork, if Maka couldn't use Soul's weapon form properly, then they'd be screwed.

"Come on, can't you three row any faster?" Kid asked, standing on the prow of the ship in an outfit resembling his father's appearance. No ship would come near the hunting grounds of this thing, so they'd needed to use a rented boat. 

"Well maybe it'd go faster if you helped too, or maybe if we were using a motorboat, you know, with an engine? Those things people made so they wouldn't have to do stuff like this!" Liz complained.

"Quit complaining." Kid said as he took off the copy of his father's mask, while Patty continued to sing 'Row, row, row your boat' as she'd been doing on-and-off ever since they'd started rowing.

"Hey, how much further?" Liz asked as the girls rowed. They'd been on this boat for hours.

"Not much. We're already in the area where the people and chunks of towns have been disappearing, we just need to figure out what's causing it." Twilight answered, staring into the distance.

"We need to be careful, no normal Kishin Egg could cause the kind of damage in the reports." Kid warned. The reports noted that it was like something had eaten large chunks of the towns on several islands. She was aware of the danger, but she was distracted by the problems Maka and Soul were having. Her group wasn't even in much danger at the moment, but she had no idea what was going on with the others. "I think we're going to have a first-hand look momentarily." Kid said, staring at the island they were passing.


*** Meanwhile, In London ***


"Hyahoo! The Great Blackstar, in London!" Blackstar yelled to no one. Their mission had taken them to the English capital. Much like Twilight was accompanying Kid and his team, the two teams of their group of friends who were more normal (in comparison to Death's son and the world-hopper) had been sent on the same mission. Ever since the disaster during Maka and Soul's mission in Italy, no teams went on missions without backup.

"Aren't you cold Blackstar?" Tsubaki, who'd traded her usual yellow dress for a pale gray coat asked as the snow continued to fall.

"Nah. It'd have to be way colder than this to even bother me. Normal people get frostbite when I start getting chilly!" Blackstar proclaimed, to a sigh of exasperation from Tsubaki. "This whole thing about having to have backup bugs me though. Ever since Soul got hurt, we can't go on missions alone anymore." Blackstar jerked a somewhat-accusing finger at Maka and Soul. "You guys better not slow me down." he finished.

The pair merely grunted and continued to avoid speaking to each other while glaring in opposite directions. Tsubaki walked over to try and defuse the situation. They were getting worse. "Hey you two, look at how beautiful this place is at night. Yay London!" Tsubaki tried and failed to get them to stop giving each other the silent treatment. 

As Maka and Soul almost completely ignored each other and Tsubaki, Blackstar muttered "Man, they really are getting worse." under his breath with a frown. "Anyway Maka," he continued in a louder voice "I can't see souls, so this one's up to you." he said. Even if she didn't find anything, a momentary distraction from their feud might help.

"Alright, I'm focusing in on any souls nearby." Maka said as she folded her hands together and closed her eyes while she concentrated. She discovered a soul sitting on one of the towers of the bridge they were currently investigating. There'd been reports of a figure that had appeared on this bridge and begun terrorizing people who came across at night. The squad of policemen who'd been investigating had been ambushed and brutally beaten, though their attacker seemed to have been careful to avoid outright killing them. This had led to a call for someone from the DWMA to investigate. 

"There's one up there on the tower opposite us." Maka said, pointing at what was on closer inspection a figure on the tower. She stiffened when he seemed to notice her pointing at him when it ought to be difficult to determine anything specific about a person from this distance. He gave off the clear impression of a grin as he jumped down, landing hard enough to form a crater.

"What's with this dude?" Blackstar asked. This was definitely not a normal guy, but he couldn't see the guy's soul, so he couldn't really tell beyond an instinctual knowledge that this guy wasn't a human.

"I'm not sure. I don't think he's a Kishin Egg though. His soul is green, but there's a bunch of stuff mixed together. He looks about as strong as Stein, maybe a little lower, but there's human and Witch in there, and something else I've never seen before." Maka answered.

The grin on the man's face widened as he neared them. "I knew somebody from the DWMA'd show up if I caused enough trouble. Had to be careful not to rate a 2 or 3 star, but that wasn't so hard. It was a bit of a stroke of luck you showed up so soon though." he said cryptically. That implied he'd been trying to draw them out for some reason.

Blackstar grinned. "This guy wants a fight. I say we give him one." Blackstar said. The guy had basically confessed to being the troublemaker, so they didn't really have any reason to try and talk him down.

"Be careful, the Witch portion of his soul probably lets him use magic." Maka warned.

"Alright, Tsubaki, let's go. Enchanted Sword Mode. I wanna take him down fast." he ordered.

"But you still can't use that for more than 10 seconds, even when you're not fighting." Tsubaki objected.

"I only need to last a few seconds so I can take him out. Even without being able to see souls, I can tell this guy's really strong." Blackstar countered.

"Alright." Tsuabki glowed white as she transformed into a black katanna, which Blackstar caught in one hand.

The man's grin turned into an analytical expression. "Hm, this one's strong. I'm a little impressed." he muttered.

"Let's go Soul Resonance!" Blackstar shouted, causing Tsubaki's weapon form to spark with black electricity, and cut-like tattoos to appear on Blackstar's face.

"Amazing. Their resonance is still stable when they've pushed it this far, and his soul..." Maka trailed off. Blackstar's soul had expanded to the point it was roughly the same size as their target's. It also had Japanese characters etched on it that weren't there before.

"London bridge is falling down dude!" Blackstar shouted as he charged at the man. Normally he didn't go for a straight-up charge even when he wasn't taking the fight seriously, but he didn't have a lot of time before using the Demon Sword form overwhelmed him.

"Wolf wolves... wolf wolves... Ice Cone!" the man chanted as he slowly moved into an odd position that almost looked like bastardized meditation. This resulted in a spike of ice rising from the ground in front of Blackstar.

"Tsubaki!" Blackstar called.

"Got it!" she said as their shadow grabbed onto  the spike and held it down.

"Wait, what? Did they do that with their shadow?" the man asked. That could be troublesome.

"Wow, he's really improved." Maka said, slightly awed. Blackstar immediately collapsed when he tried to use that mode the first time, but now he could actually use it in a fight.

"How about a taste of my new technique! Shadow Star! ...Star! Star. star." he said weakly as he collapsed from the strain of using the Weapon form.

"Blackstar! I told you it was too much for you." Tsubaki said as she shifted back to human.

"He didn't even last 10 seconds." Soul noted. "Wait a minute." an expression of consternation crossed his face. "Why didn't you use the EP?" Soul asked.

"Huh, guess I forgot." Blackstar wheezed while Tsubaki watched their target like a hawk in case he tried to take advantage of Blackstar's weakness.

"He might be strong, but Blackstar's also a crazy idiot." Maka deadpanned.

"Huh, that happened." the man commented, turning away from the ninja duo in disinterest. They weren't his targets anyway, and he didn't think a temporary doubling of one's fighting abilities would've helped them much, the kid would just have ended up drained twice as fast. He'd prioritized getting his body back to it's peak in the last week anyway. "Who's next?" he asked.

His answer came in the form of a scythe blade straight through his liver and one of his lungs. A wound that would be fatal against almost anyone. "You shouldn't let your guard down like that mister." Soul advised, one arm transformed.

"He did it! Wait, no..." Maka's eyes widened when she realized that this guy wasn't being more than inconvenienced by the wound he'd been dealt. "Soul, get out of there!" she yelled.

"Heh, that happens sometimes. Of course, I'm the kind of guy who can afford to get stabbed in the vital organs a few times." the man grinned. 

Not liking that grin at all, Soul backed off to Maka's position, the girl in question having moved a lot closer than the group started out. "What's with this guy?" Soul asked. 

"Look, his wound's closing!" Maka pointed out. Indeed, the hole Soul had made was visibly healing, letting off steam as it did.

"Yeah, that's a major bonus to being an immortal, fast healing." the man said with a smirk.

"Wait, an Immortal?" Tsubaki asked. The Immortal Clan was wiped out a long time ago after it started attacking humans. There were rumors of survivors, but most of them had been stamped out. Contrary to the name, Immortals were not actually immortal. They merely possessed powerful healing abilities even in their human forms and did not die of old age. Their werewolf forms healed even faster and were significantly stronger and more durable, making them a lot harder to hurt in the first place. Being beheaded or total physical destruction were the only known ways to kill them every time.

"Maybe seeing what I really look like would help." the man said, before screaming involuntarily as green lightning crackled around him and a painful-looking transformation began. His body began to shift and take on a more lupine appearance. He sprouted black fur and a tail as his hands and face became covered by a finer layer of gray fur, grew claws, and his face became a muzzle. The changes to his soul were even more drastic if anything.

Maka couldn't help but ask "What's happening to his soul?" as the green orb roughly tripled in size, and grew three spikes on the top. The arcane-looking circle on the side where the unusual eye and 'No Future' tattoo were remained unchanged, likely because the former was not native to this being's body. "I know who we're dealing with now. this guy's a legend even by Immortal standards. The legendary Wolf-man who stole the Grand Witch's eye." Maka said. To put that into perspective, it would be like someone tearing off Lord Death's arm and living to tell about it.

"Shit, this is bad." Soul said grimly, before pulling out his EP from it's resting place in his pocket. Maka did the same and they quickly took their respective pills.

"Now Soul, time to transform!" Maka said as soon as they'd both swallowed their pills. 

"Yeah." Soul agreed without complaint, shining blue as he jumped upward and shifted into his scythe form, which Maka caught deftly. They'd practiced using their abilities while under the EP's effects, though this was the first time they'd done so together since their fight had begun. However, there was a slight problem, as Maka settled into her usual stance and said "Let's take him down Soul!" Soul's form solidified, which was quickly followed by Maka dropping him.

"Hey, what the hell Maka?!" Soul saked, then noticed that her gloves were blackened, almost charred.

"I can't hold on to you, your handle's too hot." she explained, staring almost dumbly at her gloves as if her hands had betrayed her. They'd never had problems like this before.

"What?" Soul asked disbelievingly.

'It's just like that time Blackstar tried to wield Soul when they fought Kid. Blackstar couldn't lift Soul because their Wavelengths weren't in synch. It's not as bad this time, but I don't think Maka and Soul's Wavelengths are in synch.' Tsubaki thought.

Meanwhile, a rather unusual frog sat on the railings on one side of the bridge. A black snake outlined with purple lurked inside it, transmitting what the frog saw to it's mistress. "Hm, I was right, their Wavelengths are out-of-synch. With all that Black Blood inside you... how do you plan to get out of this one?" Medusa asked as she stared into a crystal ball she kept in her lair. "If you aren't careful you and your Meister are going to pay the price for your reluctance to use it's power." she grinned maliciously. "And so the experiment begins."

'Why is this happening? It's so hard to breathe. How do I do that again? If just inhaling and exhaling is hard, I must be doing something wrong. Then how am I supposed to use my weapon? I can't even breathe right.' Maka thought, breathing heavily. 

"Flying Wolf Fist!" The wolf-man reared a fist back then shot his whole body forward at Maka. "Let's go!" Maka managed to bring her arms halfway into a block before she got smashed into by the wolf-man's entire body's weight.

"Maka!" Soul cried out as he reverted to human form. 

"Ice Cylinder!" the wolf-man said, gesturing with a hand to raise a pillar of ice behind Maka, which she crashed into. She barely recovered in time to duck underneath his follow-up blow, which shattered the pillar into head-sized chunks, several of which smashed into Soul.

"Soul!" Maka cried out in concern, a moment before the wolf-man kicked her off the bridge. She grabbed one of the metal rods placed on either side, and used it to swing herself back onto the bridge, just in time for green lightning to begin crackling around him again. 

He opened his mouth, causing a cartoonish version of an eye to appear, and a white light began to shine in the center of it, but just before it fired, a stalagmite of ice skewered him, causing him to break off the attack.

"Crap! I really am rusty from spending so long in that dungeon! I was always careful not to put those where they'd skewer me." he said, before ripping the ice out of his body and letting the wound heal. "I'll have to practice later, but it's okay for now. After all, I'm Immortal." he said as the steaming wound closed. Maka and Soul stared, well-aware that even with the EP, it was very possible that he'd have killed one of them with that attack considering how strong the attacks without any buildup were. Their opponent's clumsiness from about 200 years of inactivity was all that had saved them.

"For an immortal magic werewolf he's sure clumsy. Then again, if I spent 200 years in prison I'd probably have some control issues too." Eruka commented quietly.

"Alright, that's going to be a nuisance until this fight's over, but nothing I can't handle. Maybe fighting without my edge in magic will help me get it back too." the wolf-man said, rubbing the spot the giant hole he'd accidentally put in himself had been. He'd done a little training to get his body back in shape, but he hadn't used much magic at all since escaping imprisonment.

"Maka!" Tsubaki called, prompting the other girl to turn her head to the weapon. "We have to do something! If you can't fight with Soul, try using me!" she half-ordered, half-suggested.

"It won't work." Maka denied. "I don't have any training using your weapon forms, and even if could figure out how to use you in time, I'd be at too much of a disadvantage to beat him." she shot the idea down.

"You Meisters... you think just because the 'Great Lord Death' says so, people are good or evil. He judges everyone by his rules and standards, and then decides whether they get to live or die." the wolf-man said contemptuously.

"What are you talking about?" Soul asked incredulously. The guy trying to kill them was trying to lecture them on morality?

"You all follow your master so blindly, never questioning whether he's right. What makes him the perfect choice to decide how the world should be?" the wolf-man began walking towards them. "He trains you to hunt down those he deems unworthy and take their souls. I wouldn't be safe in a world like that, so I decided to hell with that future! I refuse!" he blurred over to Maka, who barely dodged his punch, which shattered the concrete beneath where her feet had been a second before. "I say it's my turn to be the judge!" the wolf-man pulled back both arms, forming a giant sphere of ice in them, with the ball-chain partially encased in it. "I won't play by some wannabe god's rules any more!" he said, throwing the giant ball of ice at Maka, who tried to dodge, but was hit anyway as the wolf-man used the chain the ice was partially encasing to swing it into her anyway.

"Maka!" Soul said, seriously worried at the punishment she was taking as she flopped onto her back then tumbled onto her face from the force of getting smashed into by a wrecking ball of ice.

"Soul, turn back into a scythe." Maka ordered, turning her head to look at him, a small trail of blood leaking from her mouth towards her chin.

"Wait, you couldn't even hold on to me before." Soul objected.

"It's our only chance! Just do it!" she argued.

Soul was quiet for a moment, then nodded before repeating his earlier transformation. 'Using a weapon when your Wavelengths aren't in-synch is incredibly hard on the body, mind and soul, but she doesn't have a choice right now. She's a scythe Meister, and he's her weapon.' Tsubaki thought.

"Maka your hands..." Soul said, seeing the steam coming from them as she gripped his handle.

'I'm going to become...'she thought, gritting her teeth. '...stronger!' she charged at him, then stabbed him in the gut with the blade of Soul's scythe. "Take this!" she shouted.

"Really?" he smashed a fist into her face, sending her skidding back. "That didn't work for your friend, what made you think it'd work now?" the wolf-man asked.

"How's this?!" she charged him again, only to get punched into the railing. "Damn..." she struggled upright again.

"What are you doing? You need to have a plan! Calm down, take a breath." Soul said.

"Stay out of it! I'm doing this my way. I refuse to let him beat me!" Maka snapped.

"Don't be an idiot! If shouting like a spoiled-brat made you stronger, everyone would do it!" Soul shot back.

"Shut up! That attitude is why our Wavelengths are out-of-synch in the first place! That's not cool Soul, it isn't cool at all!" Maka argued.

Soul's eyes widened as he was eerily reminded of the little demon by the way Maka was acting. "Gain power... I can show you how if you need." it said in the back of his mind.

"Shut your mouth Maka! What do you know anyway?" he shouted, as Tsubaki's hands started to tremble and clench into fists.

"That is enough you two!" Tsubaki yelled forcefully. The sheer oddity of Tsubaki being forceful was enough to grind the argument to a halt. "You two are a team. You need to work together if you want to do anything. One person can't decided anything without the other. You decided together, you work together, and you fight together." she reprimanded them.

"Oh yeah, because Blackstar asks your permission every time he goes off to do something stupid!" Soul countered sarcastically.

"I'll admit, Blackstar makes some dumb calls from time to time, but it's my job to back him up no matter how dumb he acts. If we're fools, we're fools together, that's the kind of team we are." Tsubaki reminded them.

'I've been focused on getting stronger ever since the Demon Sword hurt Soul like that, but there's no reason to do it alone. Maybe Tsubaki's right, I was so focused on catching up to Soul, I've been pushing him away.' Maka thought, a small wind kicking up as her soul became briefly visible, small winglike appendages sprouting behind it. 'No matter how hot it gets, I won't let go.' she gripped Soul's handle tighter even as his handle cooled.

"I don't get what you were so worried about. I'm not even all that strong. If you're done telling me what to do, maybe we can work together now." Soul responded to Maka's thoughts, as weapon's had been known to do. Soul appeared in his mind/soulscape, dressed in a suit, a few feet behind the demon. "Hey, demon-guy." he said, succeeding in getting the demon's attention.  "You can lead me wherever you want. Let's see your plan, and we'll see if I follow it." he said calmly.

"In that case, right this way." the demon gestured Soul to follow him. "Overwhelming madness and power are waiting." he warned.

Soul grinned. "Sure, let's go."

Meanwhile, in reality, Maka and Soul said "Let's go, Soul Resonance!"

"Hm, took them long enough." the wolf-man muttered. He'd had explicit orders from Medusa to give them a chance to work out their issues. He made a point of avoiding messing with people's personal issues, so he was willing to follow that order. It would be different if they were strategizing how to beat him though.

The vestiges of a small tornado surrounded the scythe and his Meister, as they glowed a silver-blue color. "Wow, their resonance rate is incredibly high." Tsubaki said, shielding her face with one arm.

"Excellent, the Black Blood is doing it's work." Medusa noted gleefully.

Maka suddenly felt a crushing pressure. 'Something's wrong. Is Soul devouring me?' Unbeknownst to her, this was due to the influence of the Black Blood. To an outside observer with Soul Perception, it would look like that was indeed what was happening.

"This should be interesting. A Demon Weapon with Black Blood has the power to devour their Meister's soul. Let's see how high you can raise your resonance rate before that happens with or without your support Soul Eater." Medusa grinned.

"Dammit, it feels like my sanity's being ripped away! But..." he grabbed on the side of his mouth and pulled from inside the dark plane he entered every time he became his weapon form. "I won't let it!"

"The legendary Superskill of the Scythe Meister! Witch Hunter!" Maka said as Soul took on a crescent-moon shape a with a toothy mouth formed of white energy. The red eye normally found where the blade met the handle had grown and moved to the center of the blade.

"Fancy technique! Fine, then I'll bring out one of mine. Wolf, wolves, wolf, wolves, Wolf-tail Wall!" he said, the spell causing his tail to grow into a sort of tower shield.

"We can break through that!" Maka shouted as they came down on the wall, swinging. They stayed deadlocked for a few seconds, then she smashed her head into Soul to try and drive him deeper through the wall. 'It doesn't hurt, it's not hot, I'm not scared! I will not be beaten! I won't ever let Soul get hurt like that again!' Maka thought, before pulling her head back for another try. "I'm going to get stronger!" she shouted, smashing her head into Soul's handle and finally piercing the tail-shield. "Figure-6 Hunter!" she shouted as she slashed most of the wolf-man's tail off and dealt a cut to his chest that started to bleed, unlike almost every other wound he'd been dealt.

"Gah! How in the hell?!" the wolf-man cried out in pain. How did she do that?

"Did we get him?" Soul asked.

"Not quite." Maka said, before throwing Soul aside and pushing the wolf-man off the bridge.

"What the- A Meister abandoning her weapon and attacking herself?!" the wolf-man asked disbelievingly.

"Maka!" Tsubaki cried out fearfully as the girl and the wolf began to fall. 

"Down you go!" Maka yelled in his face before kicking off him and grabbing the edge of the bridge, forcing the wolf-man down even faster. Unfortunately, the snow on the ground began to melt from her body heat and she started to lose her grip. Just as she was about to fall off, Soul grabbed her by the wrist. 

"Well, your wrists aren't fat at least." he joked, starting to lift her back up.

"Soul!" Maka sighed gratefully, then gasped in pain as a trio of claws shot into her stomach-area.

"Not so fast! I'm not falling off this bridge by myself. I'll be taking somebody with me, and it might as well be you!" the wolf-man had extended his claws and was using Maka to keep himself from falling.

'Dammit!' Soul thought as he struggled and slowly lost the battle to keep this much weight from pulling him off the bridge. 'There's no way I'm letting Maka go!'

Just as Soul was about to lose his grip, a blade cut the wolf-man's hand off, and without anything to keep gravity from claiming him, he started falling again. "Man, that was close." a panting Blackstar said as Tsubaki started whirling back towards him. "It's a good thing I'm here to look out for you two." he added, catching Tsubaki with one hand.

"This isn't over!" the wolf-man shouted as his hand started to heal. "Wolf, wolves, wolf, wolves!" he chanted. 'I'll just take a page out of that girl's book and kick off an ice cylinder. All I have to do is make one right underneath me. I'm not even winded yet, and they're all exhausted. Once I get back up there, they're toast!' he thought with a smirk. "Ice Cylinder!" he shouted, only to be encased in his own ice. 'Oh. Right. Still falling. Need to work on my precision.' he thought as he landed in the river with a splash. 'Geez," he thought as he sank. 'I start a fight after 200 years rotting in a cell, and I screw it up. I really need some practice before I try something like this again.' he thought. He'd have to wait until the ice thawed a bit before he could break out. That might take a while considering how cold it was around here.

"That was quite the screw-up, even for him." Eruka muttered.

"I've seen enough to convince me, the Black Blood research should let me create a Kishin, though a second trial never hurts..." Medusa thought with a smile.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Soul asked once they'd gotten their breath back.

"I'm fine, thanks." Maka nodded.

"From the way your hands look, I guess I'll be doing the cooking for a while." he half-joked with a grin.

Maka smiled back. "That should be fun to watch." she responded. Soul got up and started to walk towards the other team. Maka was about to do the same, when she coughed harshly, leaving some blood on her gloves. She started at the color 'Black... Blood...?' she wondered. She decided to ask the school nurse about it when she got back.

"So, how are you holding up Blackstar?" Soul asked as the two of them approached the ninja duo. 

"I'm doing great, but I'm gonna need to do some serious training if I want to use Enchanted Sword Mode in a fight." Blackstar said with crossed arms.

"I think we all did very well under the circumstances." Tsubaki said happily. They'd beaten the wolf-man, and Maka and Soul weren't fighting anymore.

"Let's report to Lord Death, then rent a hotel for the night." Maka said.

"Fine with me, I'm ready to hit the hay." Soul said with a yawn.


*** Meanwhile, With Liz, Patty, Kid, and Twilight ***


"What do you mean? It looks like a nice, normal little town." Liz asked

"I'm not sure if normal applies here." Twilight noted with narrowed eyes as they rounded a bend, to see what at first appeared to be a wall, but revealed itself to be a number of colossal bite marks. She couldn't detect any souls. Admittedly, the town was still far enough away she wouldn't notice any singular souls that weren't strong enough to serve as decent Meisters, but she should be able to tell if there was a large group around.

"What the heck happened here?!" Liz yelled.

"The people who lived here were swallowed by something." Kid answered.

"Plus their homes, please tell me we won't have to fight something that big." Liz said fearfully, a nervous sweat breaking out on her head.

"We'll need to gather information on what we'll be facing. Let's see what the villagers know." Kid said as they turned the boat towards the pier.

A few minutes later, after splitting up to look for survivors, Kid and his weapons found someone cowering in their house, wearing a brown cloak, while Twilight talked to the only other survivor they'd found. The Kishin Egg probably didn't consider them worth the effort, which said worrying things about it's abilities. Most Kishin Eggs were either weak enough that your average soul would be a decent contribution to their power, or lacked the higher reasoning abilities to decide that prey that couldn't fight back wasn't worth the effort it would take to get it. This one was both strong enough that it had the leisure to ignore human souls ready for the taking, and clear-headed enough to do so.

"Can you tell me what happened here?" Kid asked.

"It w-was the mist." the man stuttered.

"Mist? Interesting. What do you mean? What kind of Mist?" Kid asked.

"N-no." the villager muttered in terror, clearly not all there anymore.

"Calm down. No one's going to hurt you. We've come from the DWMA to put a stop to the being responsible for this." Kid said.

"From- From the Academy?" the villager asked.

"Yes, so I need you to tell me in as much detail as you can what happened here." Kid said calmly.

"Black Dragon." the villager said quietly, prompting a slight intake of breath from the fledgling Reaper. "The Black Dragon came and ate our village!" he screamed.

"Black Dragon? Hm, that's going to help us a lot, thank you." Kid said. It was unlikely they'd get anything else out of this villager. He was too shell-shocked to be of much more help. He'd let the authorities know to come and pick up the survivor later. He wouldn't last long out here alone.

"I heard the other villager call it 'The Black Dragon' too, so it's not just something this guy decided to call it. This Kishin Egg's built itself quite the reputation in the area." Twilight said as the group met up again. This looked bad. Even if it was a special ability specific to this Kishin Egg, being able to control the weather would require a lot of power, especially to sustain it over a whole town. This was looking to be a tough fight. Of course, the coastal attacks suggested something that could swim or at least float, which might let them win simply by doing enough damage that it couldn't stay above the waterline anymore.

"I'd like to look for clues about previous attacks in the library. There aren't any more witnesses, so if we're going to find anything else to tell us what we're up against, it'll be there." Kid said.

"I guess that makes sense." Liz agreed.

"I'll take the history section, you guys look for any books someone was looking through when the attack happened, someone might have been looking for weaknesses or something along those lines if they had some warning." Twilight said.

A couple hours later, the Brooklyn natives were looking at picture books. Well, Patty was and she'd roped Liz into playing along. After a couple minutes of this, Liz asked Kid "Are we done here Kid? This place is cramped, and musty, and I think it's actually colder in here than outside." 

"Don't be lazy, preliminary research into one's target is necessary... is what i'd say if I didn't hate this place too."  he closed the book he'd been reading. "I think I've got enough basic information, let's find Twilight and then leave."

"Good, so where are we going next?" she asked as Patty peeked around the bookcase, pretending to be a monkey.

"I'll tell you later." Kid said as he headed for the history section.

Upon finding Twilight, they noticed a small pile of books at her feet. "Oh, did you find anything?" Kid asked.

"Yes, well, maybe. I've been looking at shipping records in hopes of finding something that's been preying on ships in the area or something along those lines, but I haven't found much, though I've learned the names of a number of ships that have sunk in the area. Though there was something interesting. There were reports of a ship that preyed on other ships after having sunk itself. A ghost-ship named Nidhogg, which also happens to be the name of a black dragon that appears in Norse mythology. I doubt it's a coincidence, but I imagine that the ship's a bit newer than the Vikings, or else we'd have heard about it by now. Probably a Kishinized sailor possessing his ship or something." Twilight surmised.

"I came to a similar conclusion. After all, just because a ship's sunk doesn't mean that it's going to stay sunk." Kid agreed. "The people of this island believed that there was a ghost-ship preying on other ships. As this part of the Baltic Sea sees a lot of shipping under most circumstances, it would be prime hunting ground for a sea-going Kishin Egg. Of course, it's possible that this thing has been around for some time and merely grown bolder and/or greedier more recently. It could mask its presence by the simple fact that an area with more shipping will have more shipwrecks by simple virtue of statistics, so if it were careful it could be decades before someone realized something was wrong. Of course, if this thing were absorbing entire ships full of people for a long time, then I suspect it would be a Kishin by now, so I have to assume it's holding off for some reason or is relatively new." Kid said.

"I don't like where this is going." Liz commented. 

"If I had to guess, it's either a Kishin-worshipper planning to offer those souls up, or some kind of ghost possessing a ship that can't actually absorb the souls themselves." Twilight offered.

"Ghost?! What do you mean ghost!?" Liz cried out in terror.

"Oh right, you're scared of ghosts. Relax, there's no guarantee ghosts will even be involved." Kid attempted to calm down.

"I'm not hearing a 'ghosts don't exist'!" Liz said continuing to freak out.

"We deal with souls outside their bodies all the time, ghosts aren't much of a stretch." Twilight noted.

"I'm not going to lie just to give you temporary relief." Kid responded. "Permanent relief, sure. Temporary, no."

"Let's just get her on the boat, aggravation at having to row more should calm her down." Twilight said with a sigh as Liz continued to panic.

10 minutes later, Twilight was proven right as Liz went back to complaining. "Why are back in this stupid rowboat?! Whatever we're doing out here better be real important Kid!" Liz yelled in exasperation.

"Of course. Would I make you row all this way for no reason?" Kid asked.

"Knowing you, maybe." Liz answered him.

"Well, let us answer your question with another question. Where exactly would one expect to find a boat?" Twilight said, gesturing expansively at the sea around them as fog began to roll in.

"What's with the creepy fog?" Liz asked nervously.

"A cloud!" Patty chirped happily. She was right too. Fog was really just a low-altitude cloud.

"It seems that we're getting close. Stay sharp." Kid said.

"Wait, what?" Liz asked.

"My Soul Perception ignores things like this mist, and it's telling me there's a lot of souls on the portside." Twilight confirmed Kid's impression.

"What does that mean?" Liz asked, increasingly nervous.

"Normally my Shinigami powers merely inform me of the number and general placement of souls nearby unless I deliberately focus them. That's usually not much help since I tend to operate in areas like cities, but in this case there aren't a lot of humans in the area, which means this is probably our culprit, as I doubt a civilian vessel is hoarding several thousand human souls." Kid said as a dark shape loomed in the mist, before revealing itself to be a corruption of a normal wooden ship. It had what looked like enormous human eyes set in the front, near a vertical mouth with wooden boards for teeth.

"What in hell is that?!" Liz asked in a mix of terror and horror. 

"You see that writing near the stern?" Kid asked. 

"Nid.. uh.. hog?" Patty asked, the gloom making it difficult to read.

"It's Nidhogg, pronounced need-hog, and it's what Twilight was talking about earlier. Looking at it I can see why the villagers believed such a legend. Right," he pointed a finger at the ship. "we're heading up there! Let's go ladies!" he said authoritatively. 

"Uh uh, no way! That's a ghost ship, which means it's full of ghosts! Which means I'm not going anywhere near it!" Liz objected loudly.

Patty and Twilight were rowing meanwhile. Twilight with about as much complaint as before, which was to say none at all, and Patty with more gusto than usual. "Let's go! Let's go! Move it!" she shouted rowing furiously. Noticing the speed they were headed towards the other ship, Twilight had begun rowing to counter Patty, though it didn't seem to be helping much.

"Wait, wait! Patty Wait!" Kid yelled frantically, gripping the small wooden point at the front of their boat like his life depended on it as the psychotically grinning girl continued to row. He smashed into the larger boat and leaving a trail of blood as he slumped over. "You idiot, I told you to wait didn't I?" Kid asked, his voice muffled by the wooden hull. 

Patty giggled. "Whoopsie, sorry." she said with a psychotic smirk on her face. Twilight worried about the mental stability of the company she kept sometimes.

"If you want to damage the other ship you have to ram them in the middle!" Kid reprimanded her.

"You're mad because she didn't aim for the center?" Liz asked from where she was lying on the boat's floor.

"Pretty sure that's not the issue here." Twilight said as she healed the collection of scrapes and bruises she'd received, shortly followed by Kid's nose.

"Now do it again!" Kid said, pointing to a different spot on the larger ship.

"Okay!" Patty agreed.

"Wait, what?" Liz and Twilight said at the same time.

"Row!" Patty yelled gleefully as she pulled the ship back, rowed towards the spot Kid had indicated and built up speed. Twilight resigned herself to their current course of action, and simply cast Protect on everyone. What followed was pretty much the same as their first ramming, though the trail of blood Kid left behind was smaller.

"Okay, let's board." Kid said, muffled by the ship again.

"You two are insane!" Patty declared blearily from the bottom of the boat.

"Or you just have a death wish." Twilight said with a deadpan inflection, healing everyone's injuries again.

"No, it's worse than that! You're crazy insane jerks with death wishes!" Liz complained, not noticing Twilight teleporting everyone onboard by using the the locations of the souls to fill out the rough dimensions of the ship, filling in the blanks of what she couldn't see. Liz immediately started freaking out when she realized what had happened.

"It seems the souls are all being kept inside the ship somewhere. In we go." Kid said.

"KAY!" Patty said, not particularly exuberant for once.

"I'm pretty sure they're all just floating around in there. I don't think this guy much cares about someone sneaking in." Twilight said, studiously ignoring the skeletons tied up around the mast who seemed to be dressed as tourists. That suggested that this ship was either commandeered by it's current captain, or that someone had been lucky (or unlucky) enough to survive getting this close before the four of them, though it seemed the ship's captain had taken exception to the trespassers if that was the case.

"Hey, guys, I have a better idea, how about we stay out here where there aren't any ghosts? Besides, it's a lot harder to ambush us out her in the open, right?" Liz rationalized. Twilight had to admit she had a point there. 

"Sorry, Liz but we need to find and secure the souls or else our target might decide to eat them himself to ensure his survival." Twilight said as she followed Kid. Even if he was nothing special now that they were on the ship with him (which she doubted) the power boost he'd get from eating hundreds of souls would make the fight a lot harder.

"Aw man, I hate this place already." Liz said, walking jerkily due to her nerves. She and Twilight turned back a few seconds later, the former because she thought she heard something, the latter because she thought she sensed something bloodthirsty behind her, but there was nothing there when they looked.

"Come on you two." Kid called. The girls glanced at each other, then made their way inside the ship, a bit more wary now. As they went inside, a head rose from the deck, which rippled as if it were water. 

The Kishin Egg wore a flat-topped hat and had a permanent insane grin on it's face. He chuckled evilly. "What do you know? A fresh quartet of souls made their way to me all on their own, and these are some strong ones." His smiled widened very slightly. "Lord Kishin will be pleased if I get him some strong souls. Quality trumps quantity after all." he sank back into the ship's hull, planning to ambush his new... guests.

A few minutes of walking, with Liz hiding behind Patty and in front of Twilight, led them to a door. Kid's Shinigami powers and Twilight's Soul Perception allowed them to pinpoint the location with the highest concentration of souls, though it seemed that they were mostly just sealed off from open-air, as if the Kishin Egg were afraid they'd escape. They were stored at least a floor below the ship's deck, and there was likely a pretty solid door between them and any routes to the surface, but they went all the way down to the bottom of the ship. Several thousand souls would give even a normal human a pretty good start on becoming a new Kishin, and there were at least 3000 here.

Kid opened the door, and they found at least a hundred souls floating around in this first room alone. Even if there was no blood on the walls or anything, Twilight felt disgusted at the number of people that this thing must have killed in hopes of satisfying it's 'master' or hunger. "No normal Kishin Egg would be able to gather this many souls and resist the temptation to devour them, so it can't be planning anything good with them. If I had to make a theory, I'd say something along the lines of that Kishin-worshiper idea you had earlier is most likely. Though some kind of gluttonous Kishin that wants to feast on as many souls as possible at once isn't impossible." he said before entering the room and heading towards the center. The souls seemed to twitch in reaction to his presence. 

"So, can we have these souls since they don't belong to anybody?" Patty asked innocently.

"NO! Do you want to end up a Kishin Egg?!" Twilight emphatically denied. 

"She's right. Anyway, I need to safeguard these souls, regardless of their captor's intentions." Kid said, reaching the center of the room and making an odd sign with his fingers. It appeared he was about to put the souls to rest, that, or send them to his father. He was interrupted by a figure pulling itself out of the wooden floor as if it weren't a solid obstacle, and sticking a large gun barrel in his face. 

The Kishin Egg was bending his head back just a little too far for a human skeleton to be able to accommodate, and wearing a sweater vest with a red collar over a white shirt. He had tan trousers and a mop of orange hair, an almost literal mop because that was honestly what it looked like. "What have we here? I was sure you were a strong soul, but a Grim Reaper? I must have gone a little overboard with the gathering." he commented while firing the gun several times as Kid dodged. He sank back into the floorboards as Twilight returned fire.

"Okay, we found him. Now what do-"  Twilight was interrupted by the Kishin Egg rearing up and shouting "NIDHOGG!" Then the floorboards caved in beneath her. "Ah son of a-" she began in exasperation before falling about a story, the hole sealing behind her. She attempted to teleport back up, but ended up upside down on the ceiling of the level she was on before falling again. "Note to self," she said through gritted teeth as she healed the broken hand she'd gotten from landing on said hand. She was careful to set it in it's proper position first, but that was merely a precaution and the healing spell healed the bone just fine. "do not try to teleport through walls when they are connected to something's soul."

Kid, Liz, and Patty were having their own problems. Kid had Liz and Patty transform into their weapon forms as soon as Twilight fell... or he would have if it weren't for one thing. Their opponent did the same thing to Liz that he'd done to Twilight. Liz, predictably, screamed as she fell into darkness.

"Liz, no!" Kid yelled worriedly. Twilight was a friend, but had more experience with direct combat, as well as healing and protection abilities. Demon Weapons were somewhat tougher than normal humans even in human form, but Liz would be in deep trouble were she unlucky enough to injure herself while landing. Besides which, Liz was one of his weapon partners so if push came to shove he would prioritize her unless he knew she was fine, and he himself was at a distinct disadvantage with Liz out of the picture.

Patty, on the other hand, laughed and said "She fell! She fell!" in a childlike manner while slapping the boards where her sister fell.

"She's your sister! How can you laugh at a time like this?!" Kid scolded her, before the two of them paused as their opponent began to chuckle.

"This ship is my body and my body is the ship. I can control it like one of my limbs." he grinned with dark humor. "All I have to do is outlast you. I seriously doubt you can damage the ship badly enough to permanently hurt me, and don't bother looking for explosives to try it that way. I make a point of not keeping much of that sort of thing around. You can cut me to pieces or punch more holes in me than Swiss cheese, but I'll keep coming back together as long as the ship is intact." his smile widened beyond the point of sanity. "I don't think you have the same luxury." he aimed the gun barrel at Kid, who tensed, but then relaxed as the Kishin Egg didn't fire.

"My companions and I believe that you're planning to offer up these souls to the Kishin, is that correct?" Kid asked, hoping to buy a little time for the missing girls to regroup with them.

The Kishin Egg chuckled. "I don't see any point in not telling you. We're going to try to kill each other either way, so I might as well give you my motivation. You got it in one. It gets more difficult to operate out here by the day, so I'm going to present the Kishin with these souls, he'll surely reward me for that. He might even let me join him, but I won't get my hopes up." the Kishin Egg shrugged.

"Kishin? Are you referring to Ragnarok?" Kid asked. Hey, if he was answering questions for free, might as well take advantage.

The Kishin Egg looked almost insulted. "Him? He's a pathetic weakling compared to the real deal. I'd expect someone who lives so close to know that." he responded.

"Close? What are you talking about?" Kid asked, his eyes narrowing. Twilight and some of the DWMA faculty made up about 95% of the people who were supposed to know Asura's location. Which begged the question of how this guy knew. Lord Death had thought it best to at least try to keep the number of people who knew the Kishin's location as low as possible. Though it was heavily suspected that the Witches knew the Mad God's location, it was likely they wouldn't try anything, as the release of the Kishin wouldn't particularly benefit anyone besides the Kishin.

The Kishin Egg tilted his head slightly. "You really don't know, huh? Well, there isn't much point telling you. This ship and I have places to see, things to do, souls to swallow. There are plenty of people in the world who'll fall under the sway of the Kishin's madness, seal or no seal. They're just like this ship and myself, hungry for power, so consumed by our lust for it that earthly power will never satisfy. Personally, I think the reason so many Kishin Eggs are feral is that they're so consumed by their hunger they can't think of anything but devouring souls." the Kishin Egg reached out and grabbed one of the souls, licking it. "Everyone who desires the kind of power that can finally satisfy that craving seeks the Kishin in their own way, whether that's becoming one themselves like Ragnarok, or by reaching out to the original like me. These things are my ticket into my God's good graces, and I won't be handing them over to you!" the Kishin Egg yelled, suddenly firing the remainder of his gun's loaded ammo at Kid.

Kid dodged backwards, to his right, then his left, shedding his cloak in the process as a smokescreen. "Hey Kid," Patty began, a rare semi-serious expression on her face. "I'm gonna transform now."

"No." Kid denied. Patty gave him a confused look. A nervous sweat broke out on his face. "I can't."


*** Meanwhile With Twilight ***


"Okay, I'm back on the deck despite not having taken enough stairs to get back up here from the level I was at before falling through the floor. Clearly this place does not conform to Euclidean geometry, or the Kishin Egg has scary levels of control over this place. I'm not entirely sure which would be worse." Twilight talked to herself. It was habit she had whenever she was alone, or thought she was alone.

"Oh no, there wasn't supposed to be anybody from the DWMA here, and it's that girl who fought me before and didn't get very hurt. I don't know how to deal with this." Crona said as he and Ragnarok touched down on the ship's deck.

The hulking figure of Ragnarok emerged from Crona's body briefly. "I say we stick to the plan, except we add another soul to the menu!" Ragnarok turned itself into it's weapon form, a broadsword which she couldn't help but notice was about twice as thick as her own sword.

Crona's grin reminded her a great deal of Arcana in her worst moments. "That sounds like a great idea." he blocked the pistol fire from Twilight without much trouble as he rushed her. Twilight didn't dare use any of the higher-tier magic she knew while she didn't know her allies locations. Instead, she kept things at the first tier and Enfired weapons. Her buffing spells were perfectly fine though. For some reason, her debuffs were just sliding off of Crona. They'd done the same during her first encounter with him, but that had been due to the Witch being nearby... or so she thought. Maybe his prolonged contact with a Witch had made him resistant to magic? Spells that were meant to do damage directly had more effect, but Fire was the only one that he couldn't ignore after a few seconds, so maybe that was only part of it. Even her affinity and his weakness working together weren't enough to make first-tier spells particularly dangerous to him. Perhaps the snake circling his soul was actively repelling magic, in addition to the resistance Crona had built up through what was likely months of exposure at minimum, due to the Witch controlling him wanting her minion in decent fighting form.

She was left to engage him in close-combat, which was also not a fun place to be, as he seemed to have been practicing and/or eating a lot of souls since they last met. She was barely stronger than him, and she could feel the floorboards buckling underneath her from the strain of the contest. He, on the other hand, was a lot faster than she was. She had to dodge at least a dozen blood-based attacks within the first 5 minutes, and it was only getting worse. The problem with using physical attacks on him was that cutting attacks didn't penetrate past his circulatory system, and the cut gave him a new opening to attack her with his blood. She wasn't particularly keen on getting any more of that stuff in her system and even less so on dying.

What was worse, he seemed to learned his lesson from before and started dodging when she tried to hit him with Soul Force. She nearly lost a hand from his retaliatory strike just now. She could probably grow it back or reattach it if she was quick enough with a lot of healing magic, but that wasn't the point here.

'You know, you could always draw on the Black Blood in your body, this fight would probably be over in less than 5 minutes if you weren't stuck barely fending off his attacks. That's plenty of time to spare.' Arcana said reasonably. The worst part was that she almost agreed. She, at the moment, was PRETTY sure that if she died, then Arcana would too, but there was a chance her dark half would manage to survive, and then there'd be a very smart, very dangerous soul-eating maniac running around in this world and others thanks to the spell she'd made to travel between them. Of course, if Arcana broke free thanks to the Black Blood, the result would be much the same. However, she'd prefer not to die if at all possible, and it was looking increasingly likely she'd have to use the Black Blood if she wanted to survive. Still...

'Yeah, no deal. I'm not quite on the ropes enough to risk an omnicidal maniac being released to kill people and eat their souls.' Twilight responded, barely avoiding being skewered. As Arcana could tell she was wavering, she felt a psychotic smirk spreading across her counterpart's face. Ever since the Black Blood had entered her system, she'd been more sensitive to Arcana's moods and thoughts, especially in combat, though her addition to the seal had mitigated it somewhat. She could only hope the others were doing better in general.


*** Meanwhile With Liz ***


"Ican'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan'tIcan't do this!" Liz borderline screamed as she hugged herself and tears of terror streamed down her face. She moved in a jerky fashion, as if she couldn't decide whether to run like a scared little girl or be stealthy. "Patty? Kid? Where are you?" she asked, almost, but not quite whispering. "I hope the ghost didn't eat them." she muttered, starting to calm down. She'd seen Twilight fall, so she was slightly less surprised than she would have been normally when the same thing happened to her, and managed to avoid injuring herself when she landed.

"Kid can't use Patty because he can't hold her weapon form properly if he tries to make it symmetrical, and he'll get a nasty nosebleed and pass out if he doesn't make it symmetrical. I have to get back up there, and quickly." She felt a surge of panic and started ranting in an attempt to drive it off. "I'm not the least bit scared of this stupid ghost ship, no way is this scary to me! I'm one of the legendary Thompson Sisters, the Devils of Brooklyn! Nobody wants to run into me in a dark alley! I'm not scared of anything!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. She was aware that if she didn't believe herself, then anything that could hear her probably didn't either.

"How did I end up on this freaky ship anyway?" she moaned. "We must have had a whole litter of black cats cross our paths to be unlucky enough to have the guy we mugged turn out to be a Grim Reaper! There's literally only 2!" she sighed as her rant ran out of steam. "I don't even know if I'm going the right way."

"Yes," a cheerful and youthful voice began. "this is the right way."

"Gee thanks. That's nice of you but how do you kn-" she paused and did a quick 180 degree turn. "Who said that?!" she demanded, only to find nothing but empty air behind her. "Okay... either I'm hearing things or..." she trailed off and slowly turned back around, only to freeze at the sight that greeted her.

"You're doing well, just keep heading this way and you'll meet up with your friends." said a nearly transparent girl in a pink dress and red shoes with blond shoulder-length hair with a ribbon on the top holding it out of her face said. Where normal eyes would be on a living human, there was a pair of glowing blue orbs, the size of a marble each. These faded to a pair of dull and unhappy eyes

Liz closed her eyes and turned away. "Iwon'tlookIwon'tlookIwon'tlookIwon'tlookIwon'tlookIwon'tlookIwon'tlookIwon'tlookIwon'tlook! If I don't look she'll go away!" She shook her head vigorously as she said this.

"Come on, just a little further this way!" the ghost girl said cheerfully, apparently not caring about the panic Liz was in, and also suddenly right in front of her. Liz turned her head upward and stared at the ghost for a few seconds, then scrambled a good ten feet away. "I'm the spirit of a girl who was eaten by this ship. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." the ghost attempted to calm Liz down. It didn't work.

"Nope! Do I look stupid to you?! I've seen how this story goes and I'm not doing it! Ghosts are restless souls, and 'restless' almost always means bitter and angry! You're mad because you got eaten, so now you're going to eat me!" Liz accused.

"I have no reason to eat you, and I don't think I could if I wanted to. Just follow me, and you'll be able to get back to your friends." the ghost countered.

"I can see through you! You just want me to let my guard down so I'll be easier to eat!" Liz continued to panic.

"No, you just have to trust me." the ghost replied patiently.

"I might have big boobs, but I'm all skin and bones, I'll be all tough and stringy!" Liz responded, still panicking.

"Just trust me." the ghost repeated, a flash of annoyance briefly visible on her face.

"I'll taste terrible too! I promise!" Liz cried out.

The ghost's right eye visibly twitched as she repeated "Just trust me." clearly at the end of her patience.

As Liz continued to wail in terror, the ghost girl finally lost patience with her. "Alright, that's it! Quit blubbering like a five-year-old and follow me, or I'll scare you to death!" she yelled, causing the teenager to freeze, then slide to the ground with a groan.

"Yes ma'am, I'll follow you anywhere." she responded meekly.

"Good! Glad we got that straightened out. Now get moving!" The ghost started to float down the hallway in the direction she'd indicated was correct, with Liz crawling after her. "I don't know what you're so upset about, I didn't even live long enough to get a body like that." the ghost muttered irritably.

"Oh, right. Sorry for rubbing it in." Liz apologized. 'Patty, your big sis ain't doing so well.' Liz thought to herself.


 *** With Kid and Patty *** 


The Kishin Egg fired at them as they ran away, until they passed through the door to the room, at which point he chuckled. "Guess they weren't paying attention earlier. Running away won't do any good."

Kid on the other hand, was worried about something else, which he considered much more important. 'I specifically partnered with these two to avoid exactly this sort of situation! My father tried to pick out a good partner for me, but no! I had to have symmetry! Stubborn idiot! So when I found a pair of weapons that happened to be the exact same type and model, I picked them almost without thinking about it! I mean, come on! When was I going to have opportunity like that again, right? 

Less than 0.1% of the population manifests the ability to turn into Demon Weapons. The likelihood of getting 2 that look exactly the same is abysmally low, so I took the chance! All I cared about... All I wanted... was symmetry! Is that really so much to ask? Now all my efforts have been completely and utterly wasted! DAAAAAMMMMIIIITTTTT!!!' Kid ranted internally.

They nearly ran into a hail of bullets as the Kishin Egg emerged ahead of them. Said being smirked. "Weren't you paying attention? If the ship is my body, what makes you think you're safe anywhere inside it?" he asked rhetorically. He began to slowly emerge from the ceiling as he continued. "I'm honestly kind of disappointed. I was expecting a Grim Reaper to at least be strong enough to put up a fight. What, can't fight without your friends?" he asked snidely.

"You haven't seen anything yet! I don't need a weapon to kill you and put a stop to your acts of evil." Kid shot back.

"What you call evil, I call the food-chain. If I kill you here, then that means I was stronger, and I can do as I wish with your soul. If you're stronger, you'll use my soul to empower one of your weapons, yes? The only difference between those that serve Death and those that serve the Kishin is who they prey on. Death's minions prey on those that serve the Kishin and Witches who cause chaos, while we prey on those unfortunate enough to cross paths with us. What makes you so much better?" the Kishin Egg asked.

"Some of what you said is valid, but there's a distinct difference between carrying out judgement on those who treat the lives of others as meaningless beyond the benefit it provides them, and committing mass-murder to snack on your victims' souls for a power boost. There is no problem with free will, but killing just because you want to is a line no one should be allowed to cross." Kid rebuked the Kishin Egg

`	"Oh? Where exactly is the line between what is allowed and what isn't? Just because you say 'here' doesn't mean everyone else will agree." the Kishin Egg replied, eyes narrowing as he pointed his gun at Kid.

Kid shifted his stance slightly. "That doesn't matter! Evil and Good must be in balance, too much of one or the other will lead to stagnation at best and rampant chaos at worst. Therefore, I will continue to fight until the world is in balance and then fight to keep it so. Balance is key, and while I'm fine with freedom in general, as a Grim Reaper I refuse to grant anyone the freedom to kill." he responded. 

His response was followed with gunfire and having to dodge spikes coming out of the walls that were made out of said walls as he and Patty ran.


*** With Twilight ***


Things were steadily getting worse for her. She'd gotten a bunch of cuts and while she'd left the small ones for a few seconds to minimize risk of getting more Black Blood in her system, she'd immediately healed any larger ones and she was absolutely sure the amount of Black Blood in her system was a lot higher than before. She was becoming convinced that using it was the only way she would be able to win. She was about to ask Arcana how to activate it, though she had an idea already, when Liz showed up from one of the entrances to the ship's interior, but not the one they'd entered.

"Oh hey Liz, feel free to jump in any time!" Twilight called. Huh, what was with the ghost girl?

"Wha- Twilight?! Who's that?" Liz asked a moment before Kid and Patty burst out of a sudden hole in the deck. Like all of it's smaller brethren, this one closed immediately afterward.

"Normally I'd give you a dressing-down for making it so I couldn't use Patty, but this isn't the time. Liz! Patty! Transform!" Kid called, hands outstretched.

"Kay!" Patty responded, fist-pumping as usual before transforming.

"You say that like it's my fault you're neurotic." Liz deadpanned before following suit.

"Hold it! We're not done yet!" the Kishin Egg emerged on the stern-end of the boat.

Seeing him, Crona disengaged from Twilight by swinging so hard into her guard he knocked her into the opposite wall, then jumped over to the Kishin Egg and hit him with 3 slashes in what looked like a z-pattern turned 45 degrees. She got the distinct impression Crona had not been going all-out on her for some reason. Perhaps the witch he served wanted to test her or Crona. Regardless, she felt like this was about to go badly.

Crona flopped around bonelessly for a few seconds before saying "Ragnarok, Scream Resonance." in a monotone voice. A pair of red lips appeared on the large black broadsword Crona wielded, and began to scream loudly enough to cause pain. Crona joined in as he embedded Ragnarok in the deck, which began to glow with a blue-green light.

"What? How is this possible?" Kid asked as the souls that had been stored inside the ship all began to come out and float above the deck.

"You know how I'm like a sponge for spiritual energy? I think this is a weaponized form of that." Twilight replied. The air was too saturated from the spiritual energy of the Demon Sword and the souls he was bent on absorbing for a teleport. Besides which, she hadn't quite recovered her breath from getting soundly beaten, so she didn't think she'd make it. She started forward anyway.

"Wait, then-" Liz began as Ragnarok let out a final scream and the souls began to stream into the sword, which Crona raised aloft.

Twilight raised her gun to fire Enfired bullets with one hand and a Firaga with the other, but the sheer number of souls between her attacks and the sword, who absorbed energy from or otherwise sapped the attacks in desperate attempts to save themselves, killed their force.

The ghost girl from before briefly appeared next to Liz's Weapon form. "Sorry stupid scaredy-cat, but I've got to go now. Goodbye." she said sadly, before following the other souls into Ragnarok's maw.

Liz gasped in horror as the ghost girl was the last of the souls to be devoured. "Bastard." she growled, though it was unclear if she meant Crona, Ragnarok, or both.

For his/her part, Crona screamed briefly as Ragnarok's Weapon form retreated back into his Meister, then burst out of Crona's back.

"That's Ragnarok's true form." Twilight informed them, backing away from the hulking figure made out of Black Blood.

"That? But there's barely anything human about him besides general shape!" Liz responded.

Patty voiced her opinion more crudely. "You're all icky and gross!" she laughed. She was... not wrong.

Ragnarok began to twist and shift in ways a solid object or living thing could and should not. The spike on his shoulders grew as long as a human's arms, his arms twisted into wings, and his neck became out-and-out serpentine. "Remember that legend we came across earlier?" Kid asked.

"The Black Dragon?" Twilight asked, preemptively buffing everyone.

"Yeah. I think we're dealing with a modern-day Black Dragon." he replied.

"Hey, my blood is black you know." Crona commented absently, as if he hadn't just committed an atrocity against both humanity and nature.

"Yeah," Twilight said, reloading her gun without taking her eyes of Crona by teleporting the old clip out and the new one in. "we noticed." she deadpanned.

"I judge you." Kid said, shifting his stance into one that looked odd, but was surprisingly solid for how silly it looked. "Reaper Combat Art. Mortal Sin Stance." he paused for a moment as Ragnarok reverted to his Weapon form, which was noticeably bigger. "It's time to die." Kid said with narrowed eyes.

"I'm afraid... of everyone." Crona began. "Hell isn't some place you go, it's hiding right here," He tapped his forehead. "inside your head." he was silent for a few seconds. "I need to learn to deal with people better, but to do that, I need to get enough power so no one can hurt me." Crona continued, before staring directly at Kid, presumably because he'd issued that ultimatum. "If you get in my way, I'll have to kill you." he finished in a monotone.

"Oh will you now?" Kid asked, before blurring over to Crona and smashing a leg into his face, followed by firing Liz and Patty into his abdomen from point-blank range and forcing him into the air. Twilight teleported over and joined in, though her Enfired bullets were having less effect than before. Considering how many souls had just been absorbed by these two, that made sense.

"Power isn't going to free you from fear, supreme domination won't chase your inner demons away. Trust me when I say that getting stronger doesn't help. If my life had gone a little differently, I might not be much different from you, so if anyone can relate to your predicament, I can. What you're doing won't solve anything though. I deal with fear by powering through it and the emotional support of my friends." Twilight spoke over the barrage. Crona seemed more shocked at the number of hits he was taking than hurt, and a Firaga would hit them too at this range. "Cowering from it only makes it worse." she finished as she kept up the barrage while Kid paused to leap into the air and land on Crona.

As he made an arc to the powerful Kishin Egg, Kid chimed in. "She's right. Committing acts of evil like these will not help you." he pushed Liz and Patty's Weapon forms against Crona's face. "Strengthen your spirit if you want to be free from fear." he added as he fired another barrage on Crona, sending him crashing through at least one level of the ship. "Always keep good and evil in balance." Kid finished as he landed on the main deck.

"Did we get him?" Liz asked.

"Doubt it, stay on guard." Twilight answered. He didn't really look like their attacks had bothered him much, and the Black Blood granted the user minor healing abilities, and that was ignoring the boost he'd gotten from all those souls. She wouldn't be very surprised if he offered as much resistance as titanium at this point.

Kid tensed and then jumped away as his instincts screamed out in warning a moment before a blade of purple energy slashed through the space he'd occupied a moment before. "Screech Beta!" Crona cried out, before the dust he'd kicked up cleared to reveal he was flying with wings made of Black Blood.

"I wasn't really expecting that to finish him after all the souls he just took, but it's like he wasn't hit with enough attacks to give a 3-star Meister pause." Kid noted.

"You don't understand. You aren't me, so how can you understand what it's like? Even the little one can't understand." Crona countered. His eyes slid to his left in a slow manner that made it feel like he had to force them to do so. "If the little one can't understand, how can any of you? I don't know why I'm surprised." his eyes moved to the right. "If the little one doesn't understand my feelings, how could members of the DWMA?" Crona asked no one.

"Hey sis, does that thing look like...?" Patty trailed off.

"Yeah, that's what we used to be like before we met Kid." Liz responded. "We loved the power we had from being born as Weapons, we walked around Brooklyn like we owned the place. No one ever seemed to notice that our lives weren't all that great once you got past the fact that we could just take what we wanted from most people. No friends, no family, we only had each other." 

"Oh." Patty was silent for a moment. "...Yeah, but actually I was asking if that looked like a boy or girl, 'cause I can't tell." Patty said, following a rare serious moment with her usual carefree attitude. "And you're always telling me off for daydreaming." she chuckled.

"Seriously? That's what you want to know right now." Liz asked. Patty focused on the weirdest things in the middle of a fight.

The Kishin Egg Crona'd cut to pieces twitched, then his head started hopping towards the bow of the ship. The damage dealt to the ship thus far began to slowly mend. "I'm not done yet, you fools! As long as this ship is intact, I can't be killed!" he hopped onto a cannon near the middle of the group of them.

"I can't believe he's still alive." Kid commented, bracing himself for incoming cannon-fire. Twilight was a bit more proactive and raised a small shield to cover them.

Crona responded with a dull "Oh no." Since he didn't tend to put much emotion into his voice, it was hard to tell if he was worried or not.

"I spent ages collecting all those souls! I'll be taking yours by way of reimbursement! The Flying Dutchman won't be letting some brat ruin all his hard work!" the Kishin Egg proclaimed. Huh, so that was his name.

"Ready..." the cannons moved into a line. "Aim..." the cannons adjusted their trajectories to hit Crona, the current object of the Dutchman's ire. The Dutchman hopped away to the nearest railing then shouted "Fire at will!" The canons fired the first round in unison, but a cacophonous 2 minutes of irregular fire followed. She wasn't sure how he was reloading, but she suspected he was using his influence over the ship to do so. When he finally stopped firing to see his handiwork (that or he just ran out of cannon balls, he'd definitely shot at least 50 at Crona, and nearly all of them had exploded) he chuckled.

However, when the dust cleared Twilight wasn't even particularly drained by keeping the shield up, and she doubted Crona was harmed. "H-How are you still alive? That would've brought a ship down!" the Dutchman muttered.

"Damn you're annoying." Kid replied in, well, annoyance. He paused and turned to look behind him. Twilight followed suit, and decided to boost her barrier a bit further at the sight of Crona's soul swelling. The red orb already dwarfed Stein's, now it was approaching the size of a building. "Crap, I think he's building up for an attack!" Kid commented.

"Probably." Twilight agreed, putting pretty much everything into her shield. They were probably not going to be attacked directly, but that didn't mean they wouldn't get hit by the blast so common in powerful soul-based attacks.

"I hate, hate, hate everyone." Crona said, slowly raising Ragnarok. "That's okay though. I can blow them all away with my screams." He positioned Ragnarok at 9'o'clock. "I know how to deal with dead people." he said. Ragnarok began to scream again, joined by Crona moments later. Crona rapidly spun Ragnarok above himself as black lightning briefly danced inside the orb of their linked souls, then the wings of blood and orb of spiritual power were absorbed by their owners, who gained a purple aura as they spun. "Screech..." Crona began, halting his spinning and pointing Ragnarok at the ship below him. "Alpha!" he shouted, sending a wave of purple energy with a mouth of blocky teeth at the ship. A thin line was carved across the deck, and for a moment it seemed like nothing happened. Then the ship began to thrash before a titanic blast of purple energy cut the ship in half. The Dutchman screamed, then his body split in half vertically.

"It looks like that did it for the Dutchman. That sword is strong." Kid observed.

"Less being impressed, more leaving!" Twilight reclaimed her power from the shield, ripped up some floorboards with telekinesis, fashioned them into a raft, then teleported the group and raft some distance away from the ship in the span of 10 seconds. Desperation was a good motivater.

"Even with how long he had to charge first, you have to admit it's impressive that he destroyed that ship in one shot." Kid commented.

"Yes, but he's getting away!" Twilight pointed to Crona, who was flying away as the ship sank.

"It's over now, Reaper boy." Crona said as the bloody wings flew him overhead.

"Oh no you don't! Beelzebub!" A small sphere of black energy appeared in Kid's hand, which he threw ahead of him and hopped on as it resolved itself into a skateboard with jets coming out of the bottom which allowed flight. 

Twilight left one of her charms to mark the raft's location, then followed him by teleporting up and towards Crona. She'd discovered that teleporting upside-down didn't change the direction of her momentum relative to herself, so she could let gravity kill her momentum by teleporting into a different orientation and having gravity drain the momentum it had been giving her not a moment beforehand. Of course, fighting upside-down took some getting used to and her aim suffered a bit, but she could join in on aerial battles at least for a little while. Being able to renew the buffs on Kid, Liz, and Patty was a nice bonus too.

"What did the Dutchman mean? Did he know about Asura's location? The number of people who don't report to my father and know about that should be in the single digits! How did he know? Is someone feeding information to Kishin Eggs?" Kid wondered and worried aloud, but put it aside and started firing at the Demon Sword in hopes bringing him down. Twilight joined in intermittently, having to pause to teleport to a different spot to avoid plunging into the ocean or falling too far behind.

"Listen up Crona!" Ragnarok began authoritatively. "If those two catch up, you won't be getting any dinner tonight!" he threatened.

"Hey, no fair! You're the one flying, and I can't lose any more weight, I don't know how to deal with being any skinnier than I already am!" Crona protested.

"Just give up!" Kid called. They kept landing hits, but Crona seemed fairly unbothered by them beyond cries of pain. Maybe they could wear him down gradually, but it didn't seem like they were doing much beyond being an inconvenience.

"Dammit!" Ragnarok cried when he noticed the Meisters were gaining on them. Of course, Ragnarok was probably going to have trouble maintaining solidity if he took many more soul-based attacks, and then Crona would be vulnerable to physical strikes. That was probably Ragnarok's concern. 

They continued to fire on the pair of fugitives for about a minute, then the fog began to lift just as they neared the distance where they could launch physical attacks on their targets. "Hm, it looks like Nidhogg was causing the fog this whole time." Kid noted. With the ship destroyed, the fog was rapidly dispersing.

"Nice to see the sun again." Twilight commented from the apex of one of her teleport-precipitated falls.

"We can sunbathe later!" Liz reprimanded them.

Kid gasped then stopped. Twilight conjured a small piece of wood to sit on as she joined him. "What is it? Do you see something?" she asked him.

"Yes! It's amazing!" Kid responded, staring in awe.

"Well, what is it?" Liz asked impatiently.

"The sky! Look at the clouds! They way they're flowing towards the sun! They're perfectly symmetrical!" he announced to the world.

"...I cannot believe he stopped in the middle of a chase over this." Twilight deadpanned. It was nice, but it wasn't that nice.

"Seriously? You wackjob." Liz accused.

"This is truly beautiful! Oh how I love you symmetry!" Kid shouted before racing off in the direction of the sun.

"No wait! Kid! We need to- and... he's gone. Oh look at that, Crona and Ragnarok got away while we were distracted." She cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted "Fine! I'll head back ahead of you guys!" A thought occurred to her and she used her charm to grab the raft she'd made earlier with a teleport. As she'd expected, the Dutchman was on it. The raft was made of his ship after all. It made sense. She smashed a Soul Force into each section of his body, which was apparently too much for him with how much damage his ship had taken, causing him to dissolve into his soul, which she absorbed. "Well, at least we managed to complete the mission we were assigned, but the Demon Sword is getting dangerously powerful." she said as she lay down to rest for a couple minutes and let her magic recover a bit.

"Still, I don't like the idea that we might have a leak. I'll have to ask Lord Death about it when I get back." She sat up and started rowing with a pair of conjured oars. She suspected the others hadn't used Beelzebub before because there wasn't room for her to ride with them. She grabbed a Potion and gulped it down so she had enough energy to wreathe the oars in magical energy to increase the amount of push they gave her. She didn't have the kind of power to teleport to the nearest landmass with an airport or harbor that wasn't deserted, and she was confident that the trio could take care of themselves. Now to get back to the DWMA.
> Trepidation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It took a while for Twilight to make it back to the DWMA, but considering how long Kid had probably spent chasing the symmetrical sky, she was reasonably sure she'd arrived ahead of him. She went straight to Death's office. She needed to talk about a few things.

She found him waiting in front of his mirror. "Hey there! How'd the mission go?" he asked cheerfully.

"Well, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that we ran into the Demon Sword and he absorbed all the souls that the Flying Dutchman had been collecting, roughly 3000. He got a major power boost from it, and has apparently gained the ability to fly thanks to the souls he absorbed. He... I suppose 'mutated' is the best word, into a dragon made of Black Blood. He escaped without any major injuries that I noticed." she said regretfully. 

The version of her from before she'd been sent to other worlds wouldn't have given up on someone after a half-hearted attempt to convince them to turn away from the path they were walking, but that version of her had access to the Elements of Harmony, and without the set of purifying artifacts, she didn't think she could do anything for Crona. He was simply too far gone. She'd have to kill him if she fought him again. 

She'd usually at least try to reason with the Kishin Eggs that weren't feral or attacking people indiscriminately(what few there were), but she was no therapist. She had a track record of exactly 0 successful reformations, and it was especially upsetting for her this time because she saw herself if she'd had no one to rely on in Crona. Perhaps she wouldn't be eating souls, but the essence was the same. She might very well have ended up one of the villains she'd defended others from in this life. She knew better than anyone the darker thoughts her mind could turn to without someone or something to drive them away. That was one of the reasons she rarely sought out a leadership role. As long as she had someone she believed in to guide her, she was sure she wouldn't succumb to her darker impulses. Arcana, ironically enough, helped by actively preventing her from staying in a bad mood via absorbing said bad mood.

"What's more, Kid said that the Dutchman knew where the Kishin was, which means we might have a leak." she added. It was obscenely bad if someone was leaking information to the more lucid Kishin Eggs or Witches. That would mean someone high-up the chain of authority was a traitor. The number of people who had actual knowledge of the Kishin's location should be less than 30, and a good chunk of those were Death's Death Scythes or the more senior members of the faculty.

"Hm, that does sound troubling. Did you all make it out okay?" he asked with some concern. The Demon Sword was looking to be approaching the kind of power where it might give him some trouble if he didn't have a Death Scythe on hand. It was no laughing matter.

"That's the good news. I took a few hits from Ragnarok, but everyone else was fine. We also managed to finish off the Flying Dutchman and I absorbed his soul, so I'm reasonably confident he won't make a comeback." she interjected a joke at the end to try and cheer him up. Very little of what she'd just said was comforting.

"I see. Do you have any idea if more of the Black Blood entered your system?" Death asked with slightly narrowed eyes. 

"I asked Arcana and did a couple checks. I'm pretty sure I have about twice as much Black Blood in my system as before. Strangely enough that won't shorten my theoretical timeframe for using the Black Blood without risking Arcana's release by more than 30 seconds. Apparently having more doesn't increase it's influence by very much. I'd need to more or less replace my blood with the stuff to be at particular risk as long as I use it less than 10 minutes at a time. I'm concerned that using it will spread the areas of infection though. At the moment, it's fulfilling the same functions as normal blood, and more or less dormant. However, my research into the small amount I was able to isolate from my bloodstream indicates that the contagious effects will apply to myself if I activate it. Activated Black Blood can be spread through Soul Resonance, fluid exchanges, or simple contact, but dormant Black Blood requires a direct transfer of body fluids. I'll give Stein some later, and I think he'll correlate my findings." she reported. She had a few syringes in her pocket dimension, and she was able to isolate a quarter cup of Black Blood after drawing a pint of normal blood from her body. Enough to run a few tests.

She hadn't had a lot to do on the trip back, and the ship's cabin she'd had to herself was fairly private. Casting her spell to place an area in a pocket dimension separated from normal reality had gotten rid of the shifting due to the waves, though she'd had to be careful not to make it difficult to remove, which had required a few modifications. She'd been very careful to make the spell incredibly difficult to undo once cast. She'd rather not lose her work because of some kind of anti-magic field or artifact that unraveled spells.

"Hm, I don't know what to tell you that you aren't already doing, but speaking of Stein, I have a job I want you to help him with." Death said. It wasn't like she was activating the Black Blood whenever she felt like it. 

"Sure. What is it?" Twilight asked curiously. 


 *** With Maka. The Dispensary ***


Maka had gone straight to Doctor Medusa after they got back from the mission. She'd had some blood drawn, and was about to hear her test results. "Alright, here are the results of your blood tests." Medusa said as she walked over and sat down across from Maka.

Maka nodded and braced herself. "Okay, what do they say?" she asked.

"Your red and white cell counts are normal, and you don't have any chemical issues like a hemoglobin deficiency either. It's good news, you're a very healthy young lady." Medusa said, telling the truth thus far.

Maka blinked. "Are you sure?" she asked. When Medusa nodded, Maka mused aloud, "That's weird, I was sure the blood I coughed up was... black. Do you have any idea why that might be?" Maka asked.

"Well, it's possible some blood ended up in your throat, darkened as it coagulated, and then the low-light environment made it look black to you when you coughed it up to clear your throat. Blood tends to darken over time, and human eyes have difficulty seeing color without much light. Maybe that's why the blood looked black to you." Medusa theorized.

Remembering that it was night when they fought the Man With the Magic Eye, and that the other's outfits had looked a bit duller than usual, Maka accepted this logic. "Yeah, I guess I was just being paranoid. It's just... unsettling seeing it again, y'know?" Maka asked.

'Oh, I know. I saw you cough up that Black Blood through Eruka's eyes. Such a powerful Soul Resonance should have infected you too, but when I tested you, there wasn't a trace of it. Tara had obvious contamination, and it stuck around. Soul is still infected as far as I know.' Medusa's eyes narrowed slightly as Maka worked some kinks out of her body. 'So what's so special about you?'

Maka took notice of Medusa's expression. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, no. I was just thinking over what medicine to give you." Medusa opened a nearby drawer and pulled a clear plastic bag filled with classic pills out. Half red, and half white, about a quarter as wide as Maka's pinky finger and the first segment of said finger long. "Take one of these pills every morning when you get up, and every night before going to sleep." she explained. 'These pills enhance the effects of Black Blood. Assuming there's any left in her system, these should have an obvious effect. If not, then they should help prevent whatever purged her system from working a second time.' she rolled the chair over to her desk and pulled out a prescription bag, placing the pills inside. "By the way Maka, how's Soul been lately?" Medusa asked, partially in interest of maintaining her 'caring school nurse' persona, and partially out of genuine curiosity over whether or not he'd kept having the dream.

"What do you mean?" Maka asked, unsure what she was referring to.

"He mentioned having a recurring dream involving a little devil. He seemed quite troubled by it, so I wanted to know if he'd still been having it." Medusa explained, smiling slyly as she held out the bag.

"What? What dream...?" Maka muttered, taking the bag of prescription medicine.

"Oh, didn't he tell you? That's odd, he told me." Medusa answered.

"Oh, that dream. I think it's all gone now." Maka said, before laughing nervously. "He's doing fine!" she answered aloud, while thinking. 'What dream? Why didn't he tell me? Oooohhh. I'm gonna kill him!' angrily, and with a hint of what someone listening might have thought was jealousy. Aloud, she continued to laugh nervously. "Is that all Doctor Medusa? Okay, see ya, bye!" she rapidly retreated through the door, while Medusa continued to smile at the reaction she was getting.

"Honestly, she couldn't lie her way out of a kangaroo court favoring her." Medusa rolled her eyes. "She didn't actually think I'd buy that, did she?" she wondered aloud as turned back to her work.

Meanwhile, Maka adjusted her uniform's tie self-consciously. "So he told Doctor Medusa and not me?" she muttered irritably.  She started stomping down the hall as she continued. "So basically, he trusts her more than me?! That's it, he has some explaining to do!" she said through gritted teeth.

Back with Medusa, she reached down to one of the lower drawers of her desk where she kept the medical files of her patients, unlocked it, and pulled it open. 'Hm, maybe I missed something in Miss Albarn's file. I'll have a look at Tara's as well.' She'd noticed that even without magic, the latter's physical abilities outstripped what her body should have been capable of. It would have been obvious if she'd activated the Black Blood for those feats, and she'd demonstrated them before ever coming into contact with Crona regardless. 'The Black Blood shouldn't have left her system after entering it, and I'd like to know if I have any other surprises waiting for me.' Medusa mused as she searched for their files. 'That's odd... they're not here. The only other people with keys to this drawer are Death and...' her thoughts cut off at the sound of paper landing on the table a few feet behind her.

"Were you looking for these doctor?" Stein asked. Maka and Tara's files were sitting on the table next to him.

Medusa's eyes narrowed for a split second before she returned to her false kind expression and turned to him. "Oh, you startled me Stein. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that." she was internally rather concerned that she hadn't noticed him come in.

"Soul Eater, Maka Albarn, Tara Strong. Why are you so interested in those three?" Stein asked with a placid smile.

'I knew he was suspicious.' Medusa thought. "Well, those two have been through a lot lately, and Tara seems off."

Stein sat facing the back of the nearby chair Maka had recently vacated. "Can you explain what this is? I took it from Maka, and I have to admit, I'm not familiar with this particular medicine." he asked as he pulled the bag of pills Medusa had given Maka from his pocket.

'Has he figured me out? Or is he just guessing?' she wondered. Dark purple, nearly black sparks briefly danced across her right hand as she asked herself, 'Should I kill him?' "Oh, that's an herbal remedy I created myself. It was designed to boost blood circulation and regulate the pulse." she explained.

"Ah! I see." Stein nodded.

'The best lies are ones of omission. Since Black Blood fulfills all the same functions as normal blood, the medicine will do exactly what I just said.' She faked a hint of a blush as she said "Well, you caught me. I'm secretly obsessed with herbal remedies." she placed a hand on her cheek. "It might seem strange since it's non-traditional medicine and all, but I'm just a bit concerned. I was hoping to make something for Tara too, and I wanted to refresh my knowledge of her physiology." she admitted with an embarrassed look on her face.

Stein chuckled. "How sweet of you doctor. That's actually rather endearing." he said with a smile, which promptly vanished. "But tell me, are you helping them because you're a doctor... or because you're a Witch?" Stein asked. He looked at the reflection in the window out of the corner of his eye, as Medusa's head had angled downward at that last remark. Her eyes had narrowed, and he inwardly braced himself.

Medusa suddenly turned around, pouting a bit. "You're horrible! Calling a lady a witch! I don't have to take this, it's sexual harassment." she responded, offended. She wasn't sure if this was flirting or not, but it sure seemed like it.

Stein laughed as he spun in the chair. "Well, if you're going to sue, then promise me you'll go after Spirit first. He does way worse than say a few things about how you look!" he suddenly fell over, as this chair wasn't modified for this sort of activity like his usual one.

Medusa turned and rubbed the bridge of her nose at the sight of Stein on the floor with the chair upside-down on top of him. "If you broke that chair, I hope you were planning to pay for it." she commented.

As he turned the chair upright and left, he leaned on the wall of the hall outside. Twilight had been waiting outside, just in case Medusa got violent. Stein lit a cigarette, and took a long drag on it. 'For a moment, It think she seriously considered killing me.' he gripped his trembling arm. "Damn, still shaking. I'd almost forgotten what fear felt like. I guess this was a good thing then." 'I suppose the ball's in my court now.' he mused.

Twilight had been about to jump in when she felt the hint of murderous intent coming from the room, but when she neither sensed magic, nor heard a scuffle, she waited. She felt sick at the thought that Medusa had been a Witch this whole time, and she'd ignored her instincts on the matter. Her friends had been at Medusa's mercy, and even with her power boost, a poison could have easily brought Twilight herself down. She was hardier than a normal human, especially after absorbing that Witch's soul, but that only meant a higher resistance when it came to toxins. It would probably be easier to poison her food than to kill her in a fight. ...She'd start checking her food more thoroughly now.

'Just a little longer, this charade doesn't even have to last the night. All I have to do is prevent them from bringing back evidence of my being a Witch until tomorrow, then I'll have plenty of time to fulfill my objective.' Medusa thought.

As the teacher-student pair walked down the hall, they came across Sid, and a dark-skinned woman with brown hair who was mostly covered in bandages. In fact, the military pants she was wearing were the only clothes she had on besides the bandages. She honestly resembled a mummy more than anything else. This was Mira Nygus, Sid's partner, a Demon Knife. She served as a combat instructor, and was the head of the DWMA's equivalent of the CIA while Sid was dead and until he officially returned to the organization following his revival by Stein. Sid had resumed the position immediately afterward, but the point stood that Nygus was a capable combatant even in human form, and a decent commander and tactician. She also had a strong amount of faith in the organization she served. Not a religious fervor, but it would take a lot to shake her loyalty.

"Well?" Sid asked. The question he was asking was obvious. It was the reason he was dressed in his black battle gear, reminiscent of body armor commonly found on riot police, if less covering in order to prevent loss of mobility.

Stein adjusted his glasses. "Yes, I'm certain. What about the location of Medusa's home?" Stein asked.

"Already found it. I was a very meticulous man, that hasn't changed." Sid responded.

"We can handle this case professor." Nygus opened her eyes, revealing light blue irises that almost looked stormy grey. "Alright?"

"Just be careful. We're dealing with a Witch, this isn't like a Kishin Egg." Stein warned.

"If it were me, I would've left booby traps." Twilight commented. Either physical or magical. Probably both, to trip up anyone relying on magic or simple skill at detecting traps. She hadn't set up any around her house because other people lived nearby and her friends visited every now and then, that was really all. Paranoia was only paranoia until it happened.

"Trust us you two, we've seen a lot of allies lose their lives to Witches. We know it's not going to be easy." Sid reassured them.

"Sid, let's go." Nygus said.

"Yeah. All we need to do is find physical evidence of what Medusa's planning, then Lord Death can issue a warrant. We've seen the tip of the treacherous snake's tail, now we just need to follow it to the head." Sid said as the Weapon and Meister walked away.

Meanwhile, in what was looking to soon stop being her office, Medusa closed her eyes. 'Eruka, I'm contacting you through the snakes in your body.' she thought, the barest hint of magic being used to accomplish what was essentially telepathy. While Soul Protect was believed to completely suppress a Witch's magic, it actually left them able to use the barest hint of it. They'd struggle with basic things like flying on a Witch's broom, but it was possible to do extremely low-energy spells. Considering she was taking advantage of an existing connection, this was simple enough. 'Look in the attache case I left for you. You'll find the item you need in there.' Medusa waited a moment as Eruka followed her instructions from within the ruins she was stationed in, not far from Death City. 'Yes, that's it. I trust you know what you need to do?' Medusa asked. Eruka's grin was answer enough. She might dislike Medusa, but she liked the DWMA even less, and if she had to do these things, well, she might as well enjoy herself right?


That Night. Approximately 8:30 P.M.


Kid, Liz, and Patty finally reached the DWMA building from on Beelzebub, which Kid dismissed as they neared the ground, Liz and Patty returned to human form a split second later. "Glad we're finally back, that was a crazy trip." Liz commented, stretching. Holding one's Weapon form for hours at a time was not unlike staying still for half an hour. It was unlikely for any of your body parts to fall asleep, but it wasn't entirely comfortable.

"Liz, Patty, head home to Gallows Mansion. I need to speak with my father." Kid ordered solemnly.

Meanwhile, Sid and Nygus had made their way to Medusa's home in a ruined city in the desert surrounding Death City. Nygus had preemptively become her combat knife Weapon form, just in case. The few seconds switching forms took could be the difference between life and death. Simply having her sheathed to keep both hands free was making Sid slightly nervous. The dealing with a Witch who was both devious and powerful, only an idiot would expect this to be easy.

Sid carefully made his way over to Medusa's house, and threw a rubber ball at it from across the street. If any traps were going to be set off by movement, he didn't feel like being next to them. Nothing. The ball bounced off the door, pushing it open a bit. "Unlocked... that's downright suspicious." Sid commented.

"This just screams 'trap' to me." Nygus responded.

"Yeah." Sid agreed. He carefully made his way over, as while the ball failing to cause any traps to activate made it less likely there were traps, it didn't eliminate the possibility, before peering in through the slit between the door and the wall around it. He stiffened when he saw the various organs and similar samples sitting in jars full of purple liquid, probably a preservative. He could swear that the eye in the jar was still responding to his movements. "This is supposed to be a school nurse's home?" he asked, a little disturbed. He warily moved inside and to the desk in one corner of the room. "Well, this proves it." he noted, staring at the wall.

"A magic circle covered in Witch's writing. This makes it certain, but it seems very convenient, it's like she wasn't even trying to prevent someone from finding out about it." Nygus said, prompting Sid to glance around warily, before he noticed a book with a green arrow near the top of the front cover sitting on the desk. It was nearly the same color as the wood, so he hadn't noticed it at first glance in the dim light of the candles slowly burning down.

"That looks like a diary... awfully convenient that it's just lying on the desk, not even locked or in a drawer." Nygus said, increasingly leery. This was way too easy. No traps, the evidence they needed practically handed to them on a silver platter? Something was very wrong.

"Yeah, I wasn't the kind of man who went snooping around in women's diaries... but this is a Witch, and I'm not keen on spending any more time here than necessary." Sid, getting nervous. He'd suspected a trap before, but this was practically asking for it. He started flipping through the diary, then gasped.

"What?! What is it?!" Nygus asked. Sid was rarely surprised enough to gasp, and it was almost never good.

"She knows everything about the Academy! She'd even managed to smuggle out the recipes for the EP and Potion! It's all in here! Unless this is the most elaborate and accidentally true set-up in history, she even knows about the Kishin! If I'm right, this is what she's been researching Black Blood for! She wanted to make a Kishin, or free the original, she doesn't care which!" Sid was so caught up in his tirade, he failed to notice the black orbs with large red lips start appearing in the room. "We need to tell Lord Death and Professor Stein immediately!"

"Sid!" Nygus called out in warning as she noticed the strange... animals? Were they animals? Regardless, they hadn't been there a minute ago.

Sid turned and began drawing Nygus in one fluid motion. "The hell? What are these things?" Sid asked. Had he or Nygus been well-versed in magic like Twilight or almost any Witch, they would have realized what was about to happen. One of the orbs suddenly grinned, before exploding like a grenade. Sid screamed as the rest followed suit, reducing the building to rubble.

Eruka turned away from her handiwork, smiling slightly. "I may not like Medusa, but destroying things, especially the DWMA's, is lots of fun, and my Tadpole Bombs are great for that. Now I just need to get this" she swung the attache case, a silver briefcase covered in the outlines of arrows. "to Medusa." She walked away as the rubble smoked slightly behind her. It wouldn't do to throw up too much smoke and dust, otherwise someone might investigate, so she'd pulled back a bit on the Tadpole Bombs. Nevertheless, even if by some miracle he'd survived, she doubted he'd be in any condition to tell anyone anything.

Back with Kid, he stood in front of his father in the Death Room. "Well, well! It's been a while kiddo! Nice to have you back. Tara tells me you managed to take down the Flying Dutchman, good job!" he made an 'o' with one blocky hand. "That being said... she also told me you ran into the Demon Sword." he added. 

"Father, when I fought the Dutchman, he mentioned the 'Kishin right next to me' and I must ask, do you have any idea how he could have learned about... him?" Kid asked. Death had only told Kid of his... older brother relatively recently, within the last couple years actually. "As for the Demon Sword, I frankly don't understand why people seek power so fervently they'd slaughter thousands and risk their own deaths, sometimes simply to give the souls to someone else." he added.

"Well, to the first, some Kishin Eggs can trace the small amounts of Madness that leaks out of the seal back to the source. For the second... people and gods alike have weaknesses, which they attempt to cover up with strength and power. Many are satisfied with things like wealth, the connections they have with others, and the power they can otherwise gather from the earthly realm. However, fear and desire are two sides of the same coin, and people will do things they normally wouldn't when they're scared. Imagine for a moment, that you were always frightened. What would you be willing to do to escape that?" Death asked. Kid stiffened slightly. 

"That is the sort of thing that creates entities like Asura. He was always afraid, and so when he sought to gain enough power that no one could hurt him, becoming a monster was an acceptable price. In many ways, he's even embraced it, seeing madness as the 'correct' state of things, or the basic one ayway. Now the Demon Sword is following that same path. My concern is the stability of the world. Though it saddens me when people begin to follow Asura's path, I cannot let a few selfish individuals destroy the rest of humanity to satisfy their desires and banish their fears. That is why I sealed Asura away. The fight wasn't going well, and I had few options left after losing 4 of my remaining 7 loyal followers. I sacrificed my ability to ever leave Death City's boundaries to preserve this world. One day, you might have to make a similar choice. I might not be here forever. Should another Kishin arise, or the original break free, I might not be able to stop them. I am admittedly somewhat out of practice with fighting someone who can actually stand against me." Death admitted. Despite his best efforts, he'd gotten a bit rusty since he'd used himself to anchor the seal on Asura, and should he face a Kishin at their full strength, he doubted his ability to win without outside help. Few were on his level though. The Grand Witch might be cooperative if things got bad enough, but there were so few other candidates. Excalibur was definitely at least partially insane, though Death suspected at least some of it was an act. Eibon was, as far as he knew, dead, and he hadn't heard from the others in quite some time.

Kid thought this over, then nodded solemnly. "I understand father." he left, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Whew! I'm glad he was satisfied with that. I was worried he might ask me about something he wasn't ready for, like the stripes in his hair." Death said, obvious relief in his voice.