Dynamo
Master of Plot Devices
Master of the Forum
Gender: 
Age: 18
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 1651
Reviews: 75
Country: A wizard did it.
113 Points
|
 Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: A New Fan Fiction: Final Fantasy 8 (Chapter 35) |
 |
|
(Wow, it's been, what, two weeks since I posted my last chapter? Sorry for the delay, I've been working my ass off for the past two weeks getting art projects finished and getting my portfolio ready for college. In fact, if my teacher didn't extend the time for my latest project I would have had to hand it in late. With all the work I have to do I definitely won't be able to post these as frequently as I used to, but I'll still try to make time to write them.)
Chapter 35:
The world came back in a dark haze. Tylor tried to focus his eyes and adjust to the bright light. He found himself lying in a bed. It was only when he took in his surroundings that he realized he was in the Infirmary.
Dr. Kadowaki came into the small room at that moment. “You must like this place because I see you in here almost everyday.” Her voice was edged with sarcasm.
“How did I get here?” Tylor asked.
“I found you lying on the ground when I came back. I tried to wake you but you didn’t, so I got one of the students to help me carry you into bed. You’re probably exhausted from the battle yesterday, that must be why you collapsed.”
Tylor knew that wasn’t the case. Ellone sent him into the past with her powers. “Well, I feel fine. I’ll just get going now.” He started to get up but Dr. Kadowaki put her hand on his chest and forced him to lie down.
“You’re not going anywhere until you get some rest. I don’t want you collapsing like that again.”
Tylor sighed. He couldn’t leave without telling her the real reason why he collapsed, and he didn’t want her to know. “Fine, I’ll stay here and rest.”
Dr. Kadowaki smiled. “Good, I’ll come back to check up on you later.”
She left the room, leaving Tylor alone. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. The battle with Xemnas had taken a lot out of him, and he was a little tired. In that thought he remembered the fight, how Xemnas plunged his sword through Tylor’s shoulder. He rubbed the spot where the sword had gone through and didn’t feel anything. There was no wound, no blood. It didn’t even hurt. He hadn’t paid much attention to it until now. He fell asleep before he could think more about it.
Tylor was suddenly awake. He never remembered opening his eyes. He was standing in a white plain of nothingness, a ‘white space’. He remembered coming here before and talking to the spirits of his swords, Armageddon and Apocalypse. He felt a presence that stretched out through the entire white space, like a warm breeze flowing in and around his body.
“You’re here. It’s good to see you again.” Tylor turned around to see Elena standing behind him. She looked exactly the way she did when he first saw her after the battle with Xemnas. Her violet eyes were almost hypnotic, holding centuries worth of knowledge and experience. “I suppose you’d like to hear some answers.” Her voice was soft and delicate, like the voice of a caring mother.
Tylor nodded. “I want to know everything.”
Elena closed her eyes and took in some air. She looked like she was collecting herself. “Of course, you have a right to know about your past.” She opened her eyes again. “I guess I should start from the beginning. I assume you know of Ultimecia?” Tylor nodded again. “She and I used to be the same person.”
Tylor raised an eyebrow. “The same person? What do you mean?”
“In a time, too long ago to remember, there was a sorceress of great power. Nobody remembers her name, or even if she existed in the first place. She was always seeking ways to become stronger. One day she discovered a way to split her being into two separate bodies, one of light and one of darkness. She thought that if she separated the good from the bad in herself the evil side would become even stronger.”
“So,” Tylor said, “are you saying that you are the light and Ultimecia is the darkness?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“What does that have to do with me, though?” Tylor asked.
“Around two decades ago there was a man named Eric. He betrayed his friends to gain power as Sorceress Adel’s knight. But something happened. Adel was contained and Eric was left without his mistress. Adel was the source of all his power, so once she was out of the picture he had nothing left. After spending weeks in the desert he was discovered by my other half, Ultimecia. She promised him the same thing Adel promised, to make him her knight and grant him unimaginable power.”
“I still don’t see how this has anything to do with me. I mean I know him and I are connected in some way, whenever Ellone sends us back in time I always see through his eyes.”
“You already know that once a knight is bound to a sorceress that bond can never be broken, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“Ultimecia knew this. She felt a great amount of hatred and rage inside Eric’s heart and thought the same thing the being before us did, that if the evil in his heart was separated from the good, the evil would prove to be the greater soldier. That is how Xemnas was born.”
“Wait,” Tylor said, “if Xemnas is the evil in Eric’s heart, then does that mean…” He trailed off, afraid of what the answer would be.
Elena continued, “I knew that if she had the strength, Ultimecia would cause destruction of unthinkable proportion. In order to keep that from happening I had to have a knight of my own.” She gave Tylor an apologetic look. “You were just an infant at the time, unable to think for yourself. Your life had barely even begun and by binding you to myself I decided your fate. I’m… sorry, Tylor.”
Tylor didn’t know what to say to that. But there was one question that burned in his mind. He had to know the truth. “What about the past eighteen years of my life? What about the life I had before all this happened?”
“I tried to protect you from my other half,” she said, “but Ultimecia was stronger than I. She placed both of us under a seal that sent us into a deep slumber. I was strong enough to resist most of the seal’s powers and remain conscious of the world around me. You were too young and couldn’t resist anything. The seal created a false world in your mind, where you lived an alternate life in a society so very different from our own. As you grew so did your strength, but the seal prevented you from obtaining most of the power you should have. During the time that Ultimecia possessed the woman you call Edea her powers had been reduced because it was spread across the plains of time and space. Not too long ago I felt a waver in the seal’s power and knew then it was my one chance to break free. The seal’s power was more focused on keeping me contained than it did for you. With the help of Armageddon and Apocalypse I was able to break you free and send you through time.”
“I see… So that voice I heard when I woke up in the infirmary, that was you?”
She nodded. “The seal kept me from staying within direct contact with you, but from time to time I could speak to you and give you some of my power through our link.”
“Give me power?” Tylor asked, “What do you mean?”
“During the battle with the monster in Dollet, your first encounter with Xemnas in Deling City, your battle in the town of Balamb and in Galbadia Garden against Cerberus. The powers you used during those battles all derived from sharing a portion of my power. The ability to cast magic and summon monsters to your side also comes from me. Every time I gave you some of my strength and you used it, our bond became stronger and the seal grew weaker. The more our bond grows the more powers we both gain.”
“You said Armageddon and Apocalypse helped you to break me free of the seal. They spoke to me before and said you were the one who forged them.”
She nodded again. “That’s correct. When I bound you to myself I knew that when you were strong enough to fight you would have to have powerful enough weapons to defend yourself from Xemnas and Ultimecia. Armageddon and Apocalypse are actually the souls of a pair of great warriors that changed the face of history for the entire world. Apocalypse came from the past and Armageddon from the future. I imbued their souls into the weapons you now carry.”
“There’s one last thing I need to know,” Tylor said.
“And what’s that?” Elena asked, head slightly tilted.
“My foresight. It’s not like I can see future events before they happen, it’s that I’ve already seen them happen. I’ve watched them play out on a video game I played during the time I spent in that… false world. Is it your power that has let me see?”
“Each sorceress grants a certain ability to their knight. Ultimecia granted Xemnas great strength. I knew that granting you strength as well wouldn’t protect you for long. I had to give you an ability that would give you an edge against him. In order to find what it was I had to look through the events in time and study the behaviour of other humans. As I looked through time the images were transferred into your mind and played out before you in the form of the video game you mentioned.”
“But if I was looking at future events then why didn’t Xemnas, Eric, you or me ever appear in the story?”
“Because we were not apart of that timeline. Ultimecia was the only one who appeared because she was controlling Edea with her power. Eric was present in the past, but by taking him into another plain of time and space and splitting him into two beings, he was removed from history.”
“If my gift of foresight is supposed to protect me from Xemnas it didn’t do a very good job seeing as how I never saw him.”
“Your foresight was not the gift I granted you, it was merely an advantage I gave to you in hopes that you would find some use of it.”
“Then what is my gift?” Tylor asked.
“Compassion,” Elena said.
“Compassion?” Tylor repeated.
“Compassion is something Xemnas does not understand because he has none. By giving you what he does not have you were able to see strength in many different forms. You befriend others and they fight by your side. You protect them and they do the same for you. You inspire hope to others and it gives them strength. You fight because you have something important to fight for, which is why you keep fighting no matter what. You never give up because you wish to protect the ones you care about. Xemnas doesn’t understand this because he has nobody to protect other than himself. His power derives from his own desires, yours comes from the will to keep others safe and preserve the steady flow of life. It is what makes you the light to his darkness.”
Tylor closed his eyes and sighed, his life was a mess. He had no real parents, no family. The life he knew before all this was a lie. His very existence was one giant complication.
Elena saw the hurt in his eyes. Her eyes held the same pain. She closed the distance between them and placed a hand on the side of his face. Her touch alone sent a warm calmness through his body, soothing his sorrow. “I know how you feel, Daimon. I went through the same thing you did when I was brought into existence. You are very important to me, and I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe.”
“That name… Xemnas called me that, too. Is that really my real name?”
Elena smiled. “Daimon means fate. You are the one who will decide the fate of the world and everyone in it. You have the power to change the course of time, to bring about an everlasting peace. The world Ultimecia sees has no future, or past. The fate of everyone you care about rests in your hands.”
Elena closed that last few inches and laid a gentle kiss on Tylor’s lips. It took him a few moments to realize what she was doing. He wrapped his arms around her body and kissed her back. With that brush of lips he felt something he had not felt for a very long time, safety. At that moment he believed that nothing in the world would harm him as he embraced the woman before him.
Elena pulled away. He was left staring into those violet eyes. “And most of all, you are my fate.” Her words echoed through his mind as the world around him disappeared… |
_________________
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. |
|
