Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Golden Silence ❯ The Reaper of Souls ( Chapter 11 )

Golden Silence

Lady Mars

Chapter XI: The Reaper of Souls

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX.

* * *

The opposing sides will clash: light against dark,

Each one leaving a timeless mark

On the hands of time of a place so clear,

A place that, for years, has had no fear.

In the light, the two fight almost endlessly,

But with one mighty blow, only one will exit in victory.

And he shall be the one in command,

Bringing final unity to the land

For they shall all finally learn what is right:

You should fear the darkness for it can swallow the light.

* * *

The two aeons stared at the serpentine being on front of them. This creature was a relentless being in his own respects and now they had to fight without Tidus.

"Any bright ideas on how we can get rid of this thing?" the dragon barked.

"I'm open for anything you have at this point," the bird replied back. The demon chuckled lightly.

"You really think you two alone can defeat me?" he asked, the words rolling off his tongue with a slight hiss. He shifted each one of his four legs separately too keep himself a float. "You are foolish, nothing can stop me. Not you, not your petty summoner, NOTHING!" The two aeons shifted uneasily; something needed to be done and quick, but neither knew what to do. "And the first to suffer under my wrath shall be this worthless ISLAND!" The demon charged a massive attack between the long talons on his hands. "Say goodbye to that worthless hunk of rock." He launched the orb toward Besaid. The energy radiating off of the forced the calm waters apart as it flew towards the unsuspecting island. The aeons watched in horror; there was nothing they could do to stop it. The island was doomed.

* * *

The beast moved through the quiet waters with smooth strokes. His powerful tail hurled him forward with great speed toward the island. He was running out of time; the attack was gaining on him and it had to be stopped. He tore up onto the shore as the orb threatened to overcome the beach. The beast turned his head towards the sea, extended his wings, and braced himself of the impact brought on by the attack. The area was washed with a blinding light but the beast didn't yield; nothing was going to stop him from protecting the defenseless.

* * *

Lulu stared in blind wonderment as the attack was launched; her instincts drove her to run, but she was rooted in place, unable to tear herself from the spot. She knew that they were doomed either way, but instinct told them to run anyway. She turned slightly to see Yuna clinging to Izzaru and Rikku clinging to Kihmarhi; they all knew what was coming and new what it meant. This was the time to accept death for what it was; there was no saving them now. She shut her eyes as it got closer, awaiting the inevitable. They waited long moments for the attack to hit, but it never came.

Wakka slowly cracked his eyes open; he knew if he did that the attack would hit him at that moment, but that wasn't what he saw. The long silver blade arced down from above his head to the sand below him. He looked down at the large foot sprawled out next to him. His eyes trailed up the chocolate skin, up to the deep brown band, to the ruby band that surrounded the blade. The top of the blade was flanked by another band and then a ring of pale bone hanging down against the stripes of maroon that stood out against the chocolate background. Wakka's eyes trailed up the rest of the muscular leg and onto the long curved neck. Another set of long bones dangled from another long black strip; from the longest bone hung the familiar symbol that Tidus always wore. The beast's large wings were extended and his head was swung to where its chin was facing the congregation on the beach. The stripes danced down its long face to the tip of his nose; his long pairs of horns extended back towards his wings, barley brushing the membranes. The beast's eyes snapped open revealing the ice cold blue eyes that hid beneath the many layers of eyelids. The dragon swung his head back around and let out a long, high pitched screech that echoed off of the surrounding rock faces. The echo lingered out over the sea when he stopped. The dragon folded his wings and stared out at the dark waters. The others watched as the dark mists started rolling back out to sea, revealing an enchanting glow that resonated from the dragon. The three sets of fins on the dragon's tail unfolded and refolded in anxiousness. His anticipation was rewarded shortly.

The green serpent emerged out of the black mists, angered. The dragon wasn't phased by the entrance of his foe.

"How, how, how can this be?" he stuttered. The dragon stared at the serpent and then swung his head down to look at Wakka. The blitzer backed up a few steps, unsure if what the dragon was going to do. The hot exhalations of the beast ruffled the man's hair and clothes. Wakka was paralyzed; this beast had practically landed on top of him and now it stood staring at him. Despite his mounting fear, something compelled him to get closer. He inched towards the large head in front of him, still unsure of himself. He meekly places his hands on the snout of the dragon and was surprised to find the beast's skin was smooth. Wakka ran his fingers over the smooth skin in wonder; this creature was not like anything he had ever seen before. The blue eyes of the creature glittered with a keen softness in the light it radiated. For the moments that he had his hands on the dragon, Wakka had a new sense of calm flooding over him; something about this beings aura told him that everything would be all right.

The beast pulled back from Wakka's touch and turned back to the serpent in the water.

"Life is a delicate balance between right and wrong." His melodious voice floated through the pin drop silent air. "An eternal fight between light and dark. Only one will be the victor, only one can ever be the victor, it is the law of the land. It is the law of the aeons that decrees me to fight till my death to protect my summoner. But how can aeon fight for his summoner when he has no summoner." The beast turned to Yuna. "Malady, are you willing to bear the burden of one last lost soul?" Yuna rung her hands, unsure if she could handle this. "If you are not willing, there are man others who can." The summoner nodded her assent. "Good." The beast went into a low crouch, staring at the other beast in the water. "This it your last chance to surrender unconditionally and crawl back into the hell hole you came from." The other demon didn't move. "No? Fine then, I will send you back MYSELF!" The dragon launched himself skyward with one clean sweep of his wings. The beast swung hard and landed in the deep water behind his foe with a mighty crash, sending the water up around his form. The other demon shifted around quietly, trying to get the upper hand on his opponent, but was drug under the deep currents by the force of the other beast. The dragon breeched the surface, the other beings tail clenched tightly in his powerful jaws. With a graceful swing of his neck, he threw the other up over his head and into the depths below him. The dragon beat his wings quietly waiting for the other to surface. He didn't have to wait long for a blast broke through the tide and flew towards him. He dodged left and hung there watching it pass him by mere inches. He turned back to the demon and growled. "YOU BASTARD!" The dragon howled, bearing his teeth with anger flashing in his eyes. He settled back onto the beach, setting his front legs between his back as he sat staring out at the open water. The other demon came out of the water, the liquid flowing off of his smooth skin. "How DARE you come here and think you can conquer without consequence. That is where your flaw lies; you never saw the error in you ways, Seymour. You thought that you could conquer all by becoming Sin, but we squelched that pretty well, now didn't we? And yet you persisted. Stealing souls? That's low, low even for you. I didn't think you could get any lower than you all ready had, but I was mistaken." Beside him, the other two aeons landed softly next to the third. "But you had to drag him into this. He deserves to be left alone after all he's been through!" Each word dripped with venom as it fell from his tongue. "And now it comes to this; this battle to do all, end all." The other demon nodded with a sadistic smirk on his face. "Smirk now for you won't have any reason to soon. You think that this is a game of light and dark. And you would be right, if I was as pure as you think I am, but I'm not." The white mist became tainted a grey color. "I am tainted. It's funny, you tried to stop me with fiends from stolen souls but they came to me willingly. They wanted to die, to get away from your hands. That's how I became tainted. I started absorbing their power; I became the reaper of souls. And now, now your power will be turned against you." The demon stepped back a few steps. The dragon stood up from its sitting position and took a few steps into the water. He locked eyes with his foe and spread his wings. A shower of white light exploded from the membranes. This flooded the area, blinding all but the three aeons and the one fiend. The darkness that once enveloped the area was replaced with a pure white light. "This is the end, the end of it all." The dragon took a few more steps into the water. His tail swung in long arcs remitting long arcs of orange power. The orange arcs gathered around his ankles intensifying while mixing with the power flowing out of his wings. The other being moved to make a hasty retreat to finish this fight later. "Not on your LIFE!" With a burst of extreme speed, the dragon lunged forward, power flowing into his veins. He folded his wing and wedged himself between Seymour's belly and the and. In one clean sweep, he pushed up on thick legs and ejected the demon into the air. The beast shifted in the sand, his claws digging into the soft sand, arcs of electricity dancing around him. He cackled as he watched his opponent collide with the water. "DON'T FEAR THE REAPER!" The electricity exploded from his body and into the water.

The air hung silently until the demon breeched the water, crawling up to where the dragon stood.

"You…" he wheezed. "You… will… pay… for… this." The dragon smiled cockily.

"And I'll be ready for you when you come." The demon cast him one last evil glare before dying. The pyreflies danced around the dragon before disappearing.

The dragon stood, sighing deeply. The battle had been won, the war was over. The beast turned back to his two companions and went to walk over to them, but stumbled. He shook his head to clear it, but the darkness that gathered around his eyes wouldn't clear. His watched as the sand rose too meet his falling body and then it all went black.

* * *

The man struggled against the currents that threatened to pull him under. It felt like he had been trapped in the darkness of the water for an eternity and he had to get to the surface to get air.

The first breath of air was so fresh in his lungs. There was nothing like the feeling of being back in the air, the sun, back in the life of Spira. But there was something off; something seemed different about his view. He heard someone else break through that water's surface, but he paid it no heed; he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts at the time to think about it.

"Jecht? Is that really you?" Jecht spun around to see Auron, but it wasn't the Auron he had expected. This Auron was the Auron he had last seen in the farplane before this adventure. This wasn't the Auron he expected to see. Stared at his friend, confused.

"Auron you're…"

"Jecht you're…" It dawned on them both at the same time.

"TIDUS!" Jecht dove back through the currents, his mind focused on a new objective. He came back up a few moments later, sputtering again, but he wasn't alone.

* * *

Yuna stood, craning her neck, trying to see anything. She couldn't see anything. She turned back to Wakka and shook her head. The redhead sighed; this was hopeless.

"Kihmarhi?" He asked. The Ronso shook his head he couldn't see anything. They were loosing hope fast.

"LOOK!" Rikku shrieked. The group turned to where the Al Bhed was pointing. Out of the mists they saw two lumbering forms. The all stood in shock as the pair approached; no words could describe the scene.

Jecht and Auron slowly waded out of the rolling tide; it had been a long way back for the both of them. They both looked tired, haggard, defeated. But the worst of all was the third member of the party.

Jecht chocked back the tears as he carried the limp, beaten up body of his son to the shore.

* * *