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After nearly an hour questioning Lena, I’d have had a more interesting conversation with a tree; I searched the Tear of Two Souls, with no results before falling asleep from exhaustion. I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t ready to pass out, since I was completely restless and irritable.
I woke up at three AM, after merely two hours of sleep, when somebody knocked on my door calling loudly for me to wake up. After the excitement in the morning yesterday and completely obliterating Twi-LIGHT’s forces, it had been uneventful and if I’d of been extremely active waking up would have been even less pleasant. I suppose there was a rather dismal bright side. I pressed a button on the clicker that activated the random controls of the room, and unlocked the door.
“Are you awake?” Cloud asked opening the door. I hurtled my feather pillow at him, but he ducked in time saying,
“Hey! Feather pillows can break a person’s nose if they’re thrown hard enough!”
“And I’ve broken many-a-nose that way.” I said irritably sitting up. I’d been using the spongy circus peanut shirt for pajamas with white shorts for the last while. “And no duh I’m awake if I unlocked the door, dumb ass.”
“Crabby when woken up, aren’t you?”
“Are we under attack or something? I only fell asleep a few hours ago.”
“No, Maaya wants you ready for the second attack on Nioglow. She’s putting you in charge of a quarter of the forces, twenty-five thousand soldiers. The plan is to attack Nioglow on all sides so they’re completely surrounded. Their forces aren’t going to be in the best of shape because half of them are just returning from Mazar now.”
“You seem unusually enthusiastic.” I said standing up and stretching. “Are you in charge of one of the quarters or something?” I added sarcastically.
“Actually, I am.” He said and entered, but still hovered near the door in case I threw more projectile pillows.
“What?” I asked dumbfounded. “You’re not even part of Exodus! Did Katsu and Maaya lose their minds?”
“Very funny.” He said dryly, “Besides, I hardly did any non-military fighting before I met you. Since military fighting is done as part of an army, and I was sent to Mazar, it’s nothing new to me.”
“It still doesn’t change the fact you’re not legally part of Exodus.”
“And even though you have the status and skills of a commander, you’re not supposed to be taking part in battles like this because you’re a princess.”
I grabbed the other pillow with lightning fast speed and hurtled it at him saying,
“Do not call me a princess.”
He caught it, and tossed it back to me saying,
“Relax. I didn’t mean to hit a nerve. You’ve got a half hour to get ready; Maaya will tell you the rest then.”
“Sayonara.” I said forcefully while turning off my laptop. He didn’t leave though and asked,
“What’s got you so touchy? You’re usually harder to tick off than that. And when you are, you’re usually kidding.”
“Jeez, can’t I even get a little peace? Just leave me alone.”
“I’m just concerned, don’t bite my head off.”
“I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“Akiko and Kairi?”
“Not exactly.”
Try you and Lena. How can I tell him the truth about that? I know I’ll have to face that sooner or later, but there’s too much else going on right now…
“Nothing you want me knowing about I take it?”
You’re the only one who should know.
“If you thought it wouldn’t affect you, would you still be interested?”
“Of course I would. You’re my friend after all.”
“Friend, huh?” I muttered quietly.
“Did you say something?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“Are you…mad at me for something?”
You should tell him right here and now.
Yeah…but if I let him know I get so disconcerted just because of him it’d be totally obvious I lie when I say ‘he’s nothing to me’.
It’s going to bite you in the ass later. Like when Lena gets her own body. If you don’t act, he’ll be just as far away as Akiko.
Or farther.
I felt his hand on my shoulder as he added quietly,
“You can at least tell me that, right?”
I felt my heartbeat accelerating, and was half turned around to face him, when he leaned down, kissing me. I blinked stupidly for a few seconds before turning around completely and wrapping my arms around his neck I tilted my head slightly as it melted into a full mouth-open kiss.
“You know,” He said as we parted, “A week or two in Tsubasa on the beach and in the sun wouldn’t be so bad when this is all over.”
I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder saying,
“Wouldn’t be. If you were going to ask me to go.”
“I’m asking.”
“I suppose I’ll accept then.”
“Can you promise me you’ll do whatever you can to settle this business with Skyevi without sacrificing yourself so that can really happen?”
I was silent a moment, the old dark shadow hovering over my mind.
“I promise.”
I sat down on my motorcycle and pulled my helmet on, wishing I’d blow dried my hair because nothing was worse than having a helmet on with wet hair; it got all weird and smelled like mold if you left it like that too long. That was all pending on what kind of material or padding the helmet was made out of, but since it wasn’t like a bike rider’s helmet with holes the material didn’t make as much of a difference; you were kinda doomed to moldy-head.
I had my gallery of pistols, half of them Valkyrie and the other half Exodus, along with my two katanas and Skyevi’s other relics. I pondered taking them all because last time I could of lost them all, but if we made it to HQ I’d need the Pendant, the Sword I always kept with me, and the Key of Seventh Heaven had proven itself helpful. The Blood Crystal though? I suppose I brought it simply for shits and giggles.
We were only up against normal Twi-LIGHT soldiers, because all the Special Agents had been “taken care of” back at Kiata. I think that got the message to Trenxi that we weren’t going to take his crap again. I was on the front lines, which I liked, and things were pretty much simple with on-motorcycle hack-slash-and-shoot fighting. Twi-LIGHT wasn’t ready for our onslaught, for we were able to burn though the forces with only injuries, no fatalities. Or at least that was how it was playing out on my quarter of the army. Although refreshing to have an army of twenty-five thousand following my commands, I was also a little out of practice.
When we reached the checkpoint that had been secured by Cloud and his soldiers, I got a call from Maaya. Terrible cell phone reception here in Nioglow…Twi-LIGHT was probably trying to scramble the satellites.
“What’s up?”
“Akhy!” Maaya said breathlessly, “It’s Niketa, erm, Lena. She’s gone.”
“What?” I asked sharply.
“I don’t know how she escaped exactly, the cell door was hanging open. I think she hacked the computer, but I don’t know how she could have. She’s probably on her way to Twi-LIGHT HQ.”
I nodded grimly but unsurprised saying,
“I’m on it.”
I put my second-in-command in charge and gave her the directions for the rest of the attack, while I sped into the depths of Nioglow after Lena. I slowed down when I was near Rei’s repair shop for I heard a motorcycle on a side road. I only caught a glimpse of the rider, who was in Exodus uniform, and confirmed it was Lena. I kept pace with her, hanging back a little.
She took the main gate upon reaching Twi-LIGHT HQ and made her way into the underground garage. I hacked the computer lock in the back and beat her to it. I was lying on my stomach under an eighteen-wheeler when she parked behind the truck. Trenxi entered the garage as Lena met him saying,
“You’re late. What kept you?”
“I was being held prisoner at Exodus HQ in Kiata.” She said sourly, “Akhyia knows our plans. I don’t know how much of our last conversation she overheard.”
“Probably enough, knowing her. Where is she now?”
“Leading a quarter of the assault here on Nioglow. So is Anan. Are you going to be able to hold them off?”
“Now that you’re here we’re going to lock down Twi-LIGHT.”
“You’ll only be trapped.”
“Don’t worry; I plan on obliterating Exodus after we obtain Akhy and Nimbostratus. Infecting them all with Evi poisoning that’s designed to kill in one hour should do them in.”
“You’ve been collecting that much Evi power?”
“Don’t worry; I have everything taken care of. Shall we proceed downstairs?”
“Sure.” Lena replied, sounding a little unsatisfied.
When they left the room, I crawled out from under the truck, and jogged to the door to hack the lock. Following Lena and Trenxi was harder than I though; mainly because there were so many straight-aways I had to hang behind so far I felt like I was getting lost a hundred times over.
I looked around the hall I’d just entered, and realized where I was…the place I’d started out, this hall lead from the Special Agents ward to the room Akiko had been transmitted in when I first woke up! I cursed, and jogged down the familiar paths I’d walked down with Cloud almost four months ago now.
I took the short-cuts so I stood at the top of the room on the platform that curved around the room roughly twenty-feet up. I looked over the railing to see two clear coffin-like chambers this time, attached to the techno color sphere in the center of the room with large and thick wires. I briefly saw the form of a young woman in the one clear coffin, but didn’t pay much mind to it. Lena went over and examined it saying dissatisfied,
“Surely my breasts weren’t that small.”
Trenxi sighed in an “I knew you’d say that” manor saying,
“The body you see before you is an exact replica of your old body. No modifications. All your memories have been downloaded into her.”
“So couldn’t you of altered it though? Surely if you can grow humans without souls you can make them look a little better.”
“Downloading your memories would have been harder, and the transferring your soul could fail if your body wasn’t exactly like it was.” Trenxi said exasperatedly, “It’s hard enough to replicate non-virgins, anyway.”
Holy shit; did Trenxi just say something that wasn’t in his usual monotone?
“But surely you could have done it.” She pouted.
“Try to be a little more careful with this body.”
“Is something wrong?” I heard Akiko asked coolly upon entering. Seeing her formed a lump in my throat, especially because she was wearing white. Akiko always seemed to wear white when we were younger.
“Nothing is wrong.” Trenxi said regained him composure. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Akiko replied.
Lena stepped forward and held out a small crystal. It was transparent; but when it shinned in the light given off from the sphere in the center of the room it reflected all the colors of the rainbow.
“Give Niketa control.” Akiko commanded. Lena obliged, and I could tell when Niketa regained control because she instantly tensed and looked apprehensive.
Akiko held out the crystal in the palm of her hand continuing,
“Place your right hand on top of the jewel, and your other hand below mine.”
She obeyed and the crystal began to glow as a silvery ghost-like shimmer exited Niketa and entered the jewel. When it stopped Niketa nearly collapsed, but regained her in time. She stepped into the empty clear-coffin as instructed and laid down with her hands laced on her chest. Even though I itched to act I remember what Katsu had told me before I headed down to meet with Cloud and the other two commanders,
“I know you’re going after Niketa and Lena. But you can’t act until Lena is completely resurrected, you must kill her then. If you kill Niketa not only will you sacrifice the real Niketa, but Lena’s soul would be able to take over another vessel of her kind. That includes you or Akiko. The only way to truly destroy Lena is to kill the body she’s resurrected in.”
When the coffin was closed, Akiko stood between the two and approached the sphere. She held out her hand with the Tear of Two Souls, and her hand passed right though the sphere and she retracted her hand, empty. Instantly, the sphere filled with silver light. It began to course in multiple colors, but in the end stayed silver. Trenxi was operating the controls as Akiko began a chant. I couldn’t understand a word she said, but it sounded vaguely familiar. Than I heard the one word; asenferrothshinkah.
What? That’s the same thing I heard in Neivila…
Silver light filled the two coffins, and did for about three minutes, although it felt like a small eternity.
Finally, it stopped and the two coffins opened. Niketa was shaking as she sat up, and I saw her for the first time. She looked nothing like I’d pictured her, but I’d kinda pictured her with devil horns and a pointy tail. She had dark brown hair, nearly back that was down to her waist. And, no surprise, icy blue eyes in distinct contrast to Niketa’s dark green eyes. She wore simple white cloths, which seemed to be the going thing for lab rats at Twi-LIGHT that weren’t soldiers.
She smiled triumphantly saying,
“It worked.” She looked up at Trenxi and stood adding, “Good work, I’m impressed.”
She stretched and laughed saying,
“God, it’s good to be back.”
Niketa looked up, her eyes meeting mine. She looked surprised, and I nodded hoping she got my message. She looked away, not giving me away. Luckily, Trenxi didn’t notice…Akiko did though. Her eyes met mine, cool and even. I snapped into action, and jogged around the overhead and jumped down to land on top of the large sphere, the drop was only six feet. I landed smoothly, drawing my katana and the other snapped into action.
Niketa reacted first, tackling Lena and holding an Exodus pistol to her head. I landed on the floor smoothly, jumping forward to attack Trenxi. The thing I didn’t understand but didn’t have time to focus on was why Akiko stepped aside. Trenxi blocked me with a double-edged sword, and I instantly cursed at myself for not noticing he’d had one with him.
Idiot!
I though with a curse as I ducked on of his long sweeping attacks, the sword was nearly five feet long making it…tricky to avoid. Nothing I wasn’t used to, but not something I was expecting. He side stepped my downward slash, and countered with a high strike. I blocked him with my katana, out sword making a metallic cling.
I stepped back, anticipating him to step forward for a sideways slash. I ducked under it, and stood behind him for a spilt second before running him through. For a second, he didn’t move, but he laughed saying,
“Haven’t you figured out that simple swords and guns can’t kill me? Attacking me like this is as pointless as trying to kill Skyevi with such things.”
He turned around too quickly for me to retract my blade, and I automatically drew Skyevi’s Sword left-handed to block him. Big mistake. Skyevi was still active after being bothered to power a soul-transfer, and the techno-color sphere exploded as my katana got red hot. My gloves were resistant up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and I felt the heat of the blade. The same kind of formless raw wind-like power that had cut through body armor and a bullet-proof vest came alive, thudding us all against the wall. Akiko had already ducked behind one of the computer terminals, so she didn’t get the rude jerking. As I hit, the scabbard of Skyevi’s Sword popped out of my belt and skidded away.
“You fool!” Trenxi cursed. “What were you thinking drawing the divine sword when Skyevi was active?”
“How the hell was I suppose to know?” I snapped.
“Sheath the sword!” Akiko yelled, reached out for it. She tossed me the scabbard, and I caught it a replaced the sword in its home. The chaos didn’t stop though; that was only the beginning. The familiar earthquakes that had accrued last time Skyevi was active were back, and the computer short-circuited so I didn’t know how powerful they were. They were no weaker than last time, though.
“It’s the Tear!” Niketa yelled. “The Tear of Two Souls is still in the sphere, if those things harmonize with Skyevi…”
“What the hell is the Tear of Two Souls? If it isn’t a Skyevi relic, what is it?”
“The Tear of Two Souls is a fragment. It’s divine, but not of Skyevi. Skyevi is a humanoid-divine type being, the Tear is either earth-divine or god-divine.” She called back.
“So if Skyevi is humanoid-divine and that thing isn’t what would happen if they harmonized?”
“I don’t know, Skyevi invokes all powers, regardless of whether or not they’re her same divine. I don’t think she cal tell the difference anymore. I do know that if she invokes a different kind of divinity the reaction could destroy all of Ragnarok, or more.”
I cursed, and struggled to my knees. I only started getting cut when I walked forward. I’d done a lot of running through hurricane force winds, and this was a helluva lot worse. I reached my hand into the sphere, and instantly lost feeling in my right hand. I had a fair amount of experience with fighting and working without feeling in my hands, but this wasn’t pleasant none the less. All thought it was all “pins and needles” I closed my hand around a small crystal, and instantly lost feeling in my body.
I never closed my eyes; and found myself in the same place I had been last time when Sora, erm, Skyevi had told me of the ‘weapons’ and asked me if I was done on Gaia.
“End of Time is a weapon, right?”
“Yes.” She replied, her eyes meeting mine. “As is Gaia.”
“Wait a second; did you just call the planet a weapon?”
She smiled weakly and bemused saying,
“A part of the planet. A failsafe. There are also weapons made by humans, such as what I have become. What lies beyond End of Time and me is the true enemy. The final weapon of my type of power.”
“But…I thought you were all that was left with power like that of the being called ‘Dead Divinity’.”
“No, Akhy. I am merely the opening act. Although I can still speak to you this way, the part of my mind that is human would be gone now, if it weren’t for you, my incarnation.”
“W-wait a second, are you saying I’m your incarnation and Akiko is your reincarnation?”
“How can I be reincarnated if my body never let go of my soul?”
“But, only reincarnation can invoke End of Time.”
“No, Akhy.” She said in a stern tone, “End of Time can only be invoked by me. My incarnations, Akiko and you, can merely bring End of Time to me.”
“And then…?”
“The weapon I tried to destroy will awaken.”
She was silent a moment before continuing,
“One of you will bring End of Time to me, and the other shall destroy End of Time, me, and the incarnation that comes. Both you and Akiko wield my weapons, so it does not matter who does which task.”
“But doesn’t that mean one of us will survive?”
“No.” She replied. “The one that destroys me and End of Time must take her own life before End of Time enters her as one final, temporary host to destroy Gaia the planet, and Gaia the force.”
“Isn’t there any other way? Some way Akiko doesn’t have to die too?”
Skyevi smiled softly saying,
“You have such a pure heart. But there is no other way. The best you could do is saving her the grief of having to kill you.”
“She doesn’t know who I am.”
“Do you think…Reluzera’s mere binds could stop Akiko from remembering everything after she is reunited with me?”
“I suppose not…”
“Are you not going to ask me whether or not you have your own soul?”
“I figured it was pretty obvious I didn’t if I’m an incarnation.”
She smiled weakly saying,
“Answer my question with the correct answer if you want to find an alternative.”
“Wait a second; you just said I’m an incarnation! You said there was no reincarnation, because you were never reincarnated and-”
She held up her hand for silence saying,
“I never said that my incarnations could not have their own souls and wills.”
“Just tell me one thing, is Trenxi part of the divinity of another weapon?”
“Reluzera…” She paused, “Was alive long before me, and has lived long after me. He is a part of something very powerful. And, yes, he is not a remnant of End of Time.”
“So what is he?”
“That is one question, not even I can answer.”
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