Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy Saga ❯ Blizzard Halloween ( Chapter 9 )

Final Fantasy Saga

Chapter IX: Blizzard Halloween

Ark, Gren, Eliza, and Rikku all walked out of the gym a bit shaken from the battle. Even though the latter three of them hadn't done much, the Yeti's howl attack had hit all of them with its shockwave, and as such was harmful to them all. Looking around at the outside, Ark did notice that the Yeti's defeat was having an immediate effect on the environment of the campus. People had already thawed and were looking around wondering what had happened to them, the snow was already beginning to melt, and soon all that would remain standing from Shiva's assault would be her palace. To really end it, Ark knew they would have to enter that palace and defeat Shiva, and that would give him his chance to beat her down good. A sly smirk made its way on Ark's face as he thought about fighting Shiva again, and he cracked his knuckles out of sheer habit.

"What do we do now?" Eliza asked, looking up at the palace of ice, the lair of the Esper they now had to face.

After a second where nobody spoke, Rikku answered Eliza, "We'd better find some way to get up there. We can't just take an elevator that high."

Gren looked at the structure for a moment and brought forth the question, "How can we possibly get to it? There doesn't seem to be any way."

"Now that the spell is broken, we can get some more help for all this. I suggest we go and talk to Laguna about everything that's going on," Eliza responded with a tinge of worry to her tone, "He'll almost certainly be able to help us somehow."

"She's got a good point," Rikku smiled and winked at Eliza, "So, who's up for a trip to the Administration building?"

* * * * * * *

When the group had gotten to Laguna's office, he was quick to assimilate the information of what had happened. They told him about Shiva, about the Espers, and about the battle that seemed to be going on for the Crystals. What they did not know was that Laguna had already been aware of all this, but that was something else for them to know at a later date. He looked out the window at the floating fortress of ice and thought for a few moments, and then looked back towards Gren, Ark, Eliza, and Rikku. Tapping a pen on the desk, he had the perfect answer, and found himself surprised that the young Rikku hadn't also thought of this.

"There's a student in our mechanics department, majoring in engineering," Laguna began, "He's quite a genius, we're going to ask him to stay and teach in the department after he graduates. He should be in the engineering sector somewhere, likely in one of the labs. His name is Cid, Cid Belmont."

"Oh no…" Rikku groaned and slapped her face in defeat, "Is there any other way, Laguna?"

"I'm afraid not, you're short on time and he's quick and to the point, he's the one you need," Laguna explained, smirking, he was well aware that Rikku and Cid had a history together.

"Who is this guy?" Ark asked Rikku, obviously catching on that she knew him somehow.

"He's my good for nothing brother," Rikku answered and shook her head, sighing with distaste, "Let's go and just get this over with, okay?"

"I'll accompany you," Laguna stood up and got his coat, a long coat made of nice blue cotton, and pulled it on over his rather slovenly, but at the same time obviously expensive, attire. "I want to see with my own eyes exactly what it is that he'll do to get you there, and perhaps even tag along for your battle with Shiva."

"You want to come along?" Ark asked in disbelief, scratching the back of his head and looking from Laguna to his friends for some kind of an explanation.

Laguna was happy to provide Ark with an answer, "Of course I do. This is my school, it's only natural that I wish to come and help you guys see it through to its fate."

"It was pretty simple to grasp that, dumb animal," Gren shook his head and shrugged, "When will you start to realize that the principal has a great deal of loyalty and care for this place? That's the only reason it works as efficiently as it does." Gren had things half right, but then that also meant he had things half wrong as well, Laguna was not going to let Shiva disturb the Crystal no matter what. That was his truest motive in all this, to survey her threat to the serenity of the Crystal.

After Ark cursed at Gren for a bit, Eliza shook her head, at their bickering most likely, and said with a smile, "Let's get on our way to meet Rikku's brother. If he's anything like her, I'm sure he's quite nice."

"Oh, you'll see," Rikku closed her eyes and sighed once again, "You'll most definitely see."

* * * * * * *

It would not be much longer before the humans made their attack, and Shiva was awaiting it anxiously. She would kill that girl, along with anyone who stood between Shiva and the freedom of any of her Esper brethren. It would be most interesting to see how the young warriors would handle themselves against the myriad of traps which awaited them once they entered this place, not to mention the army of Yeti's that would be laying idle, waiting for a good battle. It was also most amusing that if they managed to survive all of that, the real nightmare would be awaiting them when they arrived at her throne room and attempted to destroy Shiva herself. She was going to show them a new way to feel Hell.

Standing up from her throne, Shiva looked around the throne room for a moment to admire the beauty of it. The doors were intricately formed to have patterns which resembled the old Espers, the original beings from which all the other Espers were born. Angelic wings, flowing hair, tails, horns, claws, all were formed from one of the original masters. Were they alive today to see the condition their children were in, they would almost certainly be filled with genocidal anger. The floods were tiled, between clear ice cubes and ones which had such a high concentration of water that they were white, as if to make a checkerboard pattern. Pillars of spikes and bladed ice extended from the checkered floor to the ceiling, and statues of ice dragons sat idle like watchdogs over Shiva. The most triumphant work of art in the entire room, however, was the throne itself upon which Shiva was queen in this palace. The throne was nearly twenty five feet tall, with a pipe organ of ice extending from the back, which could be played by entering varying degrees of cold air. From the pipe organs, and the thrones, sides were giant blades of ice which resembles jagged lightning bolts extending towards the heavens themselves. She had created this hall without thinking, and yet to her it was so amazingly stunning and beautiful that it was eerie.

Her concentration on the room was broken when the doors swung open, and Odin walked into the room. Shiva's eyes widened at this sight, and she felt certain that she was dreaming, except that she also at the same time knew that this was real. Odin was even smiling, something she'd not seen in a very long time, and something she was very happy to be witness to. He wore his usual suit of armor, which he had donned when they became guardians together. Shiva, however, was in a white gown that seemed to perfectly accent her body, laced in all the right places to be enticing while only a certain degree of revealing. Walking a ways closer to Odin, Shiva asked in disbelief, "How is it that you're here?"

"I told you, Eliza has not enslaved me," explained Odin, reaching towards Shiva and touching her cheek, "I simply serve her because I owe her my life."

"You… you serve a human freely?" Shiva did not believe it, shaking her head, "No… you are blinded to the truth."

"It is you that is blinded, Reina," Odin snapped, "The time of the Espers is over! The time of the Tribe is over as well! This era is an era for humans, for them. It's their time in history, and we are nothing but ghosts."

"If we are ghosts, then why do I still feel this agony?" Shiva closed her eyes, tears gently sliding down her cheek. These tears did not turn to ice, they were warm in a place of cold, a silent miracle. "If they come… I will kill them… until all of those with the powers of the Tribe have been eradicated from this world, I cannot let myself move on and pass away."

Odin closed his eyes as Shiva opened hers, as if to perfectly match the change, and said to her, "They are even more than the Tribe. They have love, courage, and compassion Reina… if you try to fight them, if you try to kill them, those emotions will fuel their power and… you will meet your end."

Shiva turned around, and said in a very sharp tone, "If such is to happen for me, then I will be waiting for you… on the other side of death itself."

"Why won't you listen to reason?" Odin asked, opening his eyes as well and looking at Shiva's back, she could feel his eyes on her as if they were his hands. "Why can't you let go of the past and fight with me? We could accomplish so much, and their destiny would become that much easier for those young men and women…"

"Destiny?" Shiva asked, "What destiny? They have you on chains, shackles to come whenever they call, their destiny is no destiny but a fate. They will come, and it will be their fate to freeze to death in a whirlwind of ice."

"What we were to keep protected, what the Crystals hides, the mystery of the Crystals… those young men and women will not only uncover that mystery, but in doing so are going to make the Crystals no longer needed… what we were keeping from happening, they shall face, and defeat," Odin answered, "Do you know who told me this?"

"Who?" Shiva asked immediately, then adding before Odin could answer, "A human oracle? A human priest? Oh, perhaps it was the human who now controls you? Was it that little girl?"

"It was the man who assigned us the task of protecting the Crystal, the human who gave the Espers hope and purpose once again," Odin answered, interrupting Shiva's anger, "The man who was responsible for our race having hope, in a time when we were without hope. Who brought us on the brink of a golden age before the man in black had slain us."

"He told you this?" Shiva turned around in disbelief, "I had thought he was dead, though."

"Not dead, he has changed. He is a new man, a new identity, but he is still the one which guided us," Odin explained, "And he told me that the young woman you are attempting to kill, Eliza, is the one who shall fulfill the prophecy and bring forth the time of absolute peace."

Shiva stopped to think for a very long time. Looking at Odin, and reflecting inwards to look at herself, the closed her eyes again and whispered gently, "You have been deceived, Kalel."

"Deceived?" Odin asked, not even sure what it was that Shiva was trying to say to him, but even now he began to look at her differently, she could tell.

"Deceived, yes. The prophecy, every word of it, is a lie… and if the prophecy is a lie, then this girl is not a chosen one, she is just a slaver… you are blind to the truth, Kalel, but I shall open your eyes… she is going to die, you can either fight me, help me, or stay out of the way," Shiva responded coldly, and smirked, "But whatever you do, she is still going to die."

* * * * * * *

They finally found out from asking various teachers and students where Cid was, and Ark was happy to finally be at this point. Investigation and patience just weren't his style, and so looking around the entire engineering sector of the school for this guy was just plain annoying to him. On the other hand, it was also likely that something funny would happen between Rikku and Cid when they got there, given her reaction to the news that they were going to consult him for help on getting to the floating ice fortress. He was in one of the hangar bays at the air field, where students came in by plane most of the time, though some also came by boat in rare cases. He was pretty curious about what an engineering genius would be building in a hangar at the airfield, probably some kind of plane. If this guy was as smart as Laguna gave him credit for though, it was likely that there would be more to it than wings if Ark's guess was correct.

As the four students and the headmaster entered the hangar, they saw tons of Moogles hard at work building Cid's invention. Ark had guessed right, it was some kind of airplane, but Ark was probably also right that when it was done it would be more than just any other aerial device. Approaching the young man belting out orders to the vast number of Moogles, Ark carefully began to size the guy up. He seemed a bit older, likely a senior like Gren, and he was definitely pretty ordinary looking. Cid had short black hair and brown eyes, a rather skinny frame, and was wearing a white tank top and blue jeans. He looked towards the group and smiled a bit, jumping off of the top of the structure and landing on the ground in front of them. He then tackled Rikku and said in a very loud, high toned squeal, "Sister!"

"Hey Cid," Rikku giggled nervously, standing up with the brittle, but obviously stronger than he looked, Cid clung to her.

"What brings you around these parts?" Cid plopped to his feet and looked around at everyone, "So many new faces, great to meet you all!"

Rikku smiled and shook her head, Ark saw that despite her obviously finding her brother weird, she loved him. Answering his question, Rikku explained, "We need a way to get to the flying ice castle in the sky, and Laguna figured you might know how we could get to it, like with one of your inventions maybe?"

"If the Updraft were done, it could do the trick, but it's at least a few months from completion," responded Cid, looking back and forth.

"The Updraft?" Rikku asked aloud, and then moved her attention towards the ship which occupied the hangar, "That's a pretty dumb name for such a nice looking airplane."

"Do you have any ideas for a better name, then?" Cid asked, smiling and scratching the back of his head as he chuckled.

This was where Eliza stepped in and made a suggestion, "Well, what about Highwind? It's a pretty similar name, but I think it's got more of a ring to it."

After he took a second to think about it, Cid's face seemed to light up, and he said with what seemed to be a great amount of pep in his voice, "Yes! That perfect! Thank you! Um… what's your name?"

"I'm Eliza," she answered, pointing towards the others as she took it upon herself to make their introductions as well, "And these two are Gren and Ark."

"Great to meet you guys!" Cid answered, "But I'll have to build something new to get you guys up there. Something more crude than the Highwind, obviously, since I bet time is of the essence. Come back at midnight and I'll have something for you."

"So soon?" Ark asked, and looked around, "You can invent something and have it built that quickly?"

"Don't you worry about a thing!" Cid bounced a bit as he spoke, "I'll make sure it's safe, too. I wouldn't have you guys getting killed, especially with my dear sister among you. Just come back at midnight and everything will be taken care of for you."

"Thank you," Laguna said, turning towards the rest of the group, "You guys go back to your rooms and do what you must to prepare, or get some rest. It's been a long day, but tomorrow will be even longer."

"Not how I was planning to spend my Halloween, but it'll do," Gren commented as he walked out, and Ark turned to Eliza.

"Tomorrow is Halloween?" Ark asked Eliza, having completely forgotten about the upcoming holiday.

* * * * * * *

Eliza sat in her bed, looking up at the ceiling calmly as she thought about what was going to happen over the course of the next few hours. Shiva hated her so much, but Eliza hadn't actually done anything to deserve such hatred, all she had done was befriend Odin. Sitting up, as if the sight of her own ceiling was unbearable, Eliza looked out the window as it began to snow again. Shiva was getting powerful again, and if they did not defeat her soon the ice goddess would likely mount another attack on the school. This time the attack might be even worse, it could be more direct, lives could be lost because of the woman's hatred for Eliza. This was not how Eliza wanted things, but she had little choice other than confronting Shiva and facing the queens wrath.

Looking at her clock, she saw that it was fifteen minutes until midnight. Ark and Gren would be here any second to walk with her to the hangar, and then they were going to go and face Shiva for the last time. Eliza walked to her desk, upon which her mothers sword rested, and took it in hand. Every time she touched the sword, Eliza got a strange feeling in her entire body, as if she were shivering in the heat. The sword itself was absolutely beautiful, crafted of jade and ivory, not even made from any metal. The handle was jade and turquoise laced together, and the blade was ivory with swirls of green cascading up towards the tip of the blade, which was made of a single sharpened fragment of ruby. The sheath was black ebony, with a pattern carved into it forming angelic wings, and those carved areas filled with crusted gold. Taking the sword and walking out, Eliza met with Gren and Ark at the front of the girls dorm, Rikku already there as well.

Not a single word was spoken on the walk to the hangar. Not even Ark said anything, which was very strange. Eliza found the silence to be a combination of both eerie and comforting. There was little that Eliza found herself wishing to say, and she had a feeling that the others felt the exact same way. Laguna would already be waiting for them there, as would be Cid, and shortly after their arrival the most ferocious battle they had ever faced would begin. Eliza found herself wishing that there was another way to all this, she wished that Shiva could just understand that there was nothing binding Odin to Eliza, that they had nothing more than a bond of friendship. The walk wasn't even awkward, it was simply quiet, as if they all were unable to feel anything. Eliza perceived that everyone was just placing one foot after the other, that none of them felt anything except emptiness, and the more that Eliza thought about it the more she wished that this were an awkward silence. At least then someone might start talking and make it all feel better, but as it was now nothing that anybody could say would change how Eliza felt.

Finally arriving at the hangar, a few minutes early, Eliza looked at everyone who had gathered at this place to help defeat Shiva. Ark d'Speare, her best friend and the man closest to her, was ready for this battle more than any of them. With his broadsword slung over his shoulder, Ark did not have any hesitation in his eyes. Gren Ashforn, with two short swords ready, had the determination and spirit of a demon, and the cold gaze of a man who knew there was only victory or defeat. Rikku had only a single dagger, and an expression which brought forth a feeling of worry in Eliza just to gaze upon, but at the same time there was a lot of hope in Rikku's eyes. Then there was Laguna Loire, the principal and headmaster of the Mana Academy, with a machine gun ready and the will to protect the students of this school from any threat, even at the cost of his life. The final one who would take part in the defeat of Shiva, if indeed they found victory today, was Cid Belmont, the engineer who would take the others to the sky somehow. This team was a very formidable one, but Eliza was sure that even for them it would be no easy task to defeat Shiva. They were going to risk everything on this gamble.

"Is everyone ready?" Laguna asked, his eyes moving from each of them to the other, scanning the entire group. Everyone answered, the clock struck midnight, and so began the Halloween where either Shiva or the Mana Academy would meet an end.

* * * * * * *

When he saw how Cid was going to get them to Shiva's palace, Ark had to stare at it in absolute disbelief. A giant, mechanical catapult was set up on the airfield facing the palace. Loaded into it was a pod, big enough to hold the group, which would supposedly protect them from the impact of colliding with the fortress. This was one of the most insane, and one of the most awesome, things that Ark had ever seen. He leapt right inside, smiling and looking at the others anxiously, wanting Cid to hit the switch so the ride could begin. Much to his surprise, everyone else felt very nervous about being loaded into a giant weapon and fired into the fortress, but it seemed completely brilliant to Ark. It took Cid a little while, but he convinced them to get on and close the door, and then went over to begin operating the machine.

"Now, you might be dizzy for a minute after impact, but it should collide with enough force to penetrate the walls of the fortress!" Cid warned, beginning to operate panels, "Just close your eyes and relax!"

Ark looked up at the castle and smiled, he was going to tear Shiva right in half, and rip the castle walls down right around her. After a few more moments, the catapult fired, and sent Ark, Gren, Eliza, Rikku, and Laguna soaring through the air at an amazing speed. The pod collided with the side of the castle at an amazing velocity, shards of ice exploding and falling to the school below as they penetrated the wall and were now at the beginning of their battle. Ark leapt out of the pod, brandished his sword, and looked ahead at the corridor they were in. After a few moments the others joined him, and Laguna began to lead them ahead. Running behind the principal, corridor after corridor, the palace seemed endless. Until finally they came upon a room, rather than a hall, and within the room rested a single stone statue.

"The statue is a trap," Laguna warned, aiming his gun at it, "I'm not entirely sure what kind of trap, but it's definitely a trap." He fired, and the bullet bounced right off, then making the statue fire a blast of ice right towards Laguna. As the principal dodged back and forth, numerous waves of ice shooting towards him, it became obvious to Ark how the trap worked.

Ark explained, so nobody else got caught in it, "The thing is motion sensitive, Laguna's bullet triggered it to aim towards where the movement came from, and when he dodged it started to follow. We have to beat it without moving somehow."

Rikku smirked, "Everyone run past. I've got this taken care of."

"Are you insane?" Ark asked quickly, "Even working together this is going to be tough to defeat, what makes you think you can handle it?"

"Just trust me," responded the young woman, smiling as she flickered back some of her hair, "I can beat it, but you guys will just get in the way. Everyone run to the door on the other side and get out!" No sooner than when she spoke did Laguna dash through the set of double doors on the other end, and Ark followed, finding himself worried about how Rikku would manage to beat the thing. The group ran through another series of halls, coming closer and closer with each step to the throne room. He didn't know how, but Ark could feel it, there would be more obstacles but they would get beyond them and face Shiva.

* * * * * * *

Rikku smiled and stared at the statue for a very long time, shaking her head to test it. The thing didn't react to slight movement, only major movements, that was a pretty big weakness. Beginning to run towards the statue, Rikku leapt into the air and used her Limit Break, her special technique called the Mirage. As soon as she used it, three illusion versions of Rikku appeared, and the statue began to fire blasts of ice at all of them. Instead of attacking, Rikku began to dodge, the three illusions and the real Rikku all moving with rather intense speed. The machine was growing sluggish after a while, and that was when she knew that her idea was working. The thing was using a mechanical guidance system, even though it was made of ice, and so if Rikku made enough copies of herself she could get it to overload.

Making five more copies of herself, Rikku began to feel herself getting a bit tired, it did take some energy for her to execute the attack, and it took a lot of focus for her to keep all the different forms moving in enough of a pattern to evade the attacks. Dodging blast after blast, the machine was beginning to lose it, and its shots grew less consistent as time passed. Rikku smirked and made another set of copies, the room was filled pretty much entirely with illusions of her. She then took this chance to make an attack, moving in quickly and driving her knife into the machines eyes as they were about to fire. The charging of magical energy in the eyes was where the blasts of ice originated, and so they were also vulnerable just as it was going to shoot. The statue exploded, knocking Rikku back into the wall and breaking her focus, the illusions vanishing.

Standing up and looking at the broken statue, Rikku began to run through the hallways trying to catch up with the others. She had lost some of her strength from the battle, but was still in fighting condition. Unless she helped more, Rikku wouldn't be satisfied, and she had to help them more. For some reason she hadn't been frozen by Shiva's curse, and that meant that there were things Rikku did not know, even about herself. It was actually not long before she found herself caught up with the others, yelling as she approached, "Hey! Guys! Wait up!"

The others stopped and turned around to greet her. Much to her surprise, when Rikku got there Gren smiled to her and said, "Welcome back, it's good to see you made it."

"Um… thanks," Rikku blushed, "The thing wasn't that tough, nothing my Mirage couldn't beat!"

Before anything more could be said, though, Laguna burst into the next room and opened fire. There were dozens of Yeti awaiting them in the room, and Laguna shouted to the group, "I'll handle these, you guys go and face Shiva! The room just after this one is the throne room!"

Not having enough time to argue or anything, the rest of the team headed on, and Rikku wondered if Laguna could truly handle such a large group of them. She remembered just how fierce the Yeti had been in the gym, and this massive group of them was likely the source for all the ice which made this massive palace. Even if Laguna won, shortly after doing so the palace would probably begin to fall apart as they fought Shiva. This seemed like a lose/lose situation to her, but then if the rumors were true, all that Gren and Ark ever fought were such battles. This was truly her time to be witness to the strength of the two who had become the heroes of the Mana Academy.

* * * * * * *

It was time. Shiva watched the doors to her throne room swing open, and the would-be heroes of the day burst into the final arena. She stood up slowly as they stopped a little ways from the throne and looked at her, closing her eyes as she said to them, "It didn't take you long at all to get this far. I am most impressed. However… it is not through your own strength that you got here, but rather you were aided by destiny."

"Aided by destiny?" Ark asked, shaking his head and responding, "Sorry, but the only reason we're even here is you. And we're going to beat you here and now."

"You'll do nothing of the sort," Shiva spat back, "I'm going to take all your lives. I can feel the taint on your souls… you will all face an eternity of frozen hatred!"

With that, Shiva sent a blast of ice hurdling towards the foes she now faced. The group scattered like insects as the ice hit and made a blast of cold flames explode. Among them all, the first one to counterattack at Shiva was also the one named Ark, but it did him no good. She hit him right in the chest with a blast of ice, forcing him back and smashing Ark into the far wall of the throne room. Gren then attacked at the same time with Rikku, but Shiva attacked them as well with equally powerful blasts, slamming them into the wall right beside Ark. Walking towards them, she looked around for Eliza, but the young woman was nowhere to be seen.

The others seemed to have been defeated by the one attack, and so Shiva walked slowly but cautiously. Calling out in a half-whispered voice, Shiva said, "Eliza… Eliza Knight… if you do not come now, and face your doom, I will slay one of them."

As Shiva had expected, that made the young woman leap out, sword in hand, and make a very vicious attack. Eliza attempted to stab Shiva, aiming straight for her face. Shiva, seeing it coming, dodged to the side and slapped the young girl. Then, as Eliza landed, Shiva kicked her in the chest and sent her flying back. Aiming a blast of ice in her direction, Shiva made the last blow, slamming a powerful amount of cold into the girl, beginning to freeze her to death slowly. She listened to the young girl scream, smiling and walking closer and closer to her as she tortured her.

Finally, however, Shiva saw something she didn't expect. Or rather, she now heard something she didn't expect. The sound of a bird, but not just any bird, there was something familiar about this screech . Turning, she saw the young boy named Ark, his right arm raised to the sky. Above him floated the familiar Esper named Phoenix. How was this possible? There were two people who had come from the Tribe among these children?

* * * * * * *

Ark had no idea what he was doing. One minute, he was sitting on the floor almost unconscious, and then the next he felt this strange presence in his body. He had stood up, raised his arm, and simply felt something happen, and then this giant bird made of fire appeared.

"Human," the Phoenix said to Ark, "If you wish to wield my power, tell me… why is it that you wish to slay my Esper companion?"

"She's threatening Eliza's life, she came here looking to kill her, and I don't want that to happen," Ark replied, without any hesitation at all.

Waiting several moments, the Phoenix then moved over Ark, and a bright light began to fill the entire room. The Phoenix's voice replied, echoing through the iced walls, "You fight to preserve life, she to destroy life. Use my power well, human."

As the light dimmed, the Phoenix's power and what effect it had became very apparent. There stood Ark, with an aura of flame surrounding him. In his hand, rather than his normal sword, was a sword made out of fire. He looked at Shiva, who had ceased her torture of Eliza at this sight, and began to move forward. Shiva sent a blast of ice towards him but the flaming aura simply consumed it, the ice dissipating before it could even come close to Ark. Shaking his head and smirking, he found an intense feeling growing inside of him. He had power, not just a little bit of power, but a lot of power. Shiva had defeated him as if he were nothing before, but now Ark had the help of another of the Espers, and there was nothing she could do to defeat him without a fight now. He leapt into the air and brought his flame sword down. As Ark did so, Shiva summoned a sword made of ice, and the two blades collided.

The flame sword cut through the ice easily though, melting it in a matter of seconds, and Ark quickly landed the first blow. The tip of his sword raked across the ice queen's stomach, and she leapt back staring in shock and disbelief at what had happened. Clutching her wound, Shiva uttered in hatred, "How is this possible? An Esper choosing to serve a human? What the hell has happened to my brethren?"

"It's not like they've changed," Ark smirked, "It's just that you suck." He ran towards her and attacked again, this time she sent a very powerful surge of blue energy in Ark's direction. Colliding with the energy, Ark's aura was not quite enough to repel it right away, and so the ground began to shake and shatter. Energy flew in all directions, and Ark continued trying to charge against the tremendous amount of force pushing him back.

Suddenly, Shiva lost concentration though, and Ark managed to penetrate the powerful wall of energy in front of him. Getting in close, he impaled the ice goddess, and she still didn't even look him in the eye. He did, however, hear Shiva whisper, "What is… he… that man… doing here?" Looking back, Ark saw Laguna had finished all the Yeti's and entered the room. Slowly, a calm and awkward silence filled the walls. The aura around Ark vanished, as did the sword, and he simply stood there. Looking between Shiva and Laguna. Shiva walked closer, her steps slow and forced, but then fell to her knees, reaching towards the headmaster. "You…" she then fell down and began to evaporate, dying and becoming nothing more than a voice on the wind.

"What was that all about?" Ark asked, looking at Laguna with a strange expression, noting that everyone else seemed equally confused by this.

"She must have mistaken me for someone else," explained Laguna, "We have to get back to the pod. With her and the Yeti's dead, this palace will likely soon cease to exist."

"He's right," Gren walked up, a slight limp from his injury, "We had better get to that, it should protect us from the fall back down."

Everyone ran as fast as they could towards the area they had left the pod, and gotten there safely. Ark found himself amazed at what he had gained in that battle. He still wasn't sure why or how the Phoenix had shown itself to him, but he knew that with practice, he would likely become much stronger than he could ever believe because of it. This was yet another advantage he had gotten, though he was certain it wasn't enough to defeat Gren's Liberi Fatali as it was now. But with practice, Ark might finally have gotten the wild card he needed to beat his nemesis. Everyone sat in the pod and felt themselves beginning to fall towards the earth, colliding with the Biology building as they rocketed towards the ground. Looking up, Ark watched as the palace of ice slowly vanished, as Shiva had. It was over, the day was won, and they could finally have some warm weather again.

"Well, I'm sure Hojo and Aki are going to kill me for the damage to their labs, but at least the school is safe," Laguna got out of the pod and laughed, "You guys did very well, and as such I'll figure out some kind of an award for you."

"You don't have to do that," Gren responded, smiling only a bit, "We were glad to get this over and done with."

"Damn you!" Ark leapt towards Gren, the senior sidestepping and evading, and Ark continued, "We could get lots of food out of this!" Eliza laughed, and that was when Ark knew for sure that it wouldn't be long at all before things were right back to normal. Well, as normal as things around here ever got.

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: Thus concludes the shortest of the plot arcs in Final Fantasy Saga. I'm proud I managed to write such a long and detailed climax chapter, Soul Caliber 2 continues to hold much sway over my attention span. On another note, Jeepers Creepers 2 was quite an entertaining cheesy horror romp. Lots of harpoons. I recommend it, though not as much as Freddy versus Jason, the new king of cheesy horror. I'm sad but I don't have much to rant about, this chapter had some obvious foreshadowing and some more pieces to the massive puzzle that is the storyline, but nothing much important that wont be repeated.

Next Time: A young rose, a cold rain, a warm fire, and a simple day. Gren Ashforn has seen many sides of Ark, but none has puzzled him as much as Eliza Knight. Does Ark love her? Does she love him? Or is their relationship platonic? Taking it upon himself, Gren goes on a mission, though he may find that mission brings him more growth than he could possibly imagine. Don't miss the romantic tale of friendship, love, and honesty in Final Fantasy Saga Chapter 10: Young Love?