Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Chapter Twenty-One ( Chapter 21 )

Alrighty, this chapter may look a bit different because I'm messing with the formatting a bit and trying different things. Anyways, thanks again for the reviews. The main part of the story will probably be done with in another 4 chapters or so. . .depending on how long I decide to make the chapters. By "main part" I mean the part of the story that takes place in Bella Maure. There'll be a few chapters after that. . .*chews lower lip* I have no idea how many, actually, as many as it takes to do what I want to do, I suppose. I don't think I'll finish this story in 25 chapters, as I'd anticipated before. . .maybe thirty. The reasoning, I was going to have the Bella Maure section and then an epilogue, but as I write I find that that would have to be a rather long epilogue and it would probably make more sense to just add it as additional chapters, so, at this point in time, I think that's what I'm going to do.

Well, hey! My reviewers should be happy though! You all keep telling me I need to make the story longer, right? Haha. In all honesty though, I keep giving you estimations like I really know. All my stories end up being longer than I'd intended. Writing a one-shot is like a chore and a half for me. Hehe! It's sad, really. Well, whatever the case, I stand firm in my belief that this story won't go on forever and ever, but. . .uh. . .Saying I can finish it in twenty-five chapters is pretty doubtful at this point in the game, so we'll just have to see. (I believe I've answered your question, Aison. . .in a very round-about sort of way.)

Also, I AM sorry for any confusion with shifting from one time and place to another, but I am hesitant to make a distinct separation between the two timelines since the general effect I was trying to go for was a sort of "fading" from one place to another, leaving for a moment a sort of "where am I?" feeling on the part of the characters, more than a snap of the fingers and boom okay here I am, different time, got it. I don't know if I've managed to achieve that, but I think more distinct separations would sort of counteract what I was going for, so I won't be using them. So I apologize for any confusion that might cause, but at this point in the game, it can't really be helped. *shruggs* Ah well, no worries, I guess.

I know my chapters recently have been very short, but I figure, I can write short chapters and update pretty often, or I can write long chapters and make everyone wait. (Okay, so in reality, I haven't ACTUALLY put that much forethought into it all, but it sounds better than saying, "I know I've been writing short chapters lately. . .uh, I'm not sure why that is.") Anyways, maybe this chapter will be longer. Let's find out. . .

*****

"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

by: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Twenty-One

*****

"CROW! DAMNIT, DO SOMETHING! JACE, COME ON! DON'T YOU DARE DISAPPEAR ON ME! You have too many promises to keep!" Raine pleaded, surrounded by their black world. "Please," she said softly. "Open your eyes. Your story isn't finished yet, you know."

She didn't know why she'd become so panicked over this. It didn't really affect her much, either way. As Jace reminded her, she WAS dead, after all, had already passed to the world beyond this one. It was a loophole that she'd managed to come back. But she had grown fond of the woman, as reckless as she was, as stubborn and as goofy as she could be, as annoying as Raine found her endless laughter, the way there was almost nothing that she seemed to take seriously. And, after all, she had a promise to keep as well. `I'll protect you, as long as you protect them,' she had said, and at that time, she had meant it as well…and she meant it now.

"You two are nothing but trouble," a voice sighed, and a shadowy grayish light pulled together to form a tall man.

Raine blinked up at him. He had his arms held across his chest. He wore a Galbadian Military dress uniform, but the style was old, a stiff hat and beige coloring, short-sleeved and decorated with awards of valor, and honor, and other such. He had a kind look to him, but there was also a sort of jovial sense of humor hidden within his smirking eyes.

"Wh-who're you?" Raine asked. "Don't take Jace away, not yet! Please?"

The man snickered. "I have no intention of doing anything of that nature," he informed her, point blank. "My name is Ethram Loire, or it was at one point. For the past while now, though, I've been a part of Crow. . .the reasonable part, if I might say so myself. When she died, we thought we were all ready to rest, but then she goes and gets herself stuck in limbo." Ethram rolled his eyes. "What a stubborn girl." He paused, letting those words sink in. "Anyway, the other half of Crow already came back to her to help her out, but we won't be able to stay forever, you know, since we passed to the other plane much more easily than she did. But we'll do what we can, for the time being. You'd better keep your promise to protect her, Raine. I made a similar promise to someone else, a long time ago. If I knew what would happen for it, I might have thought a little better, but. . .I can't say I mind it all too much. After all, I got to see my son again, if only through her eyes, and that was kind of nice."

"I don't understand. You're part of Crow? I don't understand at all," Raine blinked.

"Well, I suppose you wouldn't. But you'll figure it out on your own soon enough, and I'm hesitant to say more and knock fate off kilter again. So, for now you'll just have to deal with my little secrets."

Ethram kneeled down on the other side of Jace's fleeting form and sighed slightly, adjusting his hat. "Alright Irvine, you troublesome bastard, I'm coming already, so stop making so much noise," he said, and, kissing Jace on the forehead, the location known as the third eye, he faded into her form through that single point, and the black feathers became solid wings which wrapped around her, knocking Raine back in surprise, then spread wide, a pair of massive black wings, and then faded into the form and Jace dropped to the ground, after a moment, blinking up blearily, solid once again…or at least, as solid as ghosts tend to get. She had lost that flicker and seemed to be conscious, whatever the case.

Raine rushed to her side and looked down at her. "Jace?" And gasped when she looked into Jace's eyes. She had a certain look to her now…like she wasn't alone in there, and Raine knew it was because Crow had returned to her.

Jace yawned, sitting up slowly. "Morning Sunshine," she said with that negligent smile she had. "Looking colorful today. Or at least, a tad bit less gray."

"Huh?" Raine looked down at her hands. Just the barest hint of color, an almost pinkish hue to the skin. And she gasped.

"It was bad business, Raine, getting involved with someone like me. No turning back now," Jace informed her quite frankly. "Any regrets?"

Raine thought about it a moment, letting it all sink in, the fact that she was going to be stuck here in limbo too, at this rate. "None," she decided after a moment. "I made a promise, after all."

"Hn. That's just the way you should be. I wouldn't expect any less, from my brother's wife."

"You're brooding again," Irvine noted noncommittally.

"You're as observant as ever," Squall dead-panned.

"I know you probably don't feel like sharing, but…do it anyway," Irvine gave Squall a wry smirk, leaning his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his palms. "I can be as patient as I want to be…so spit it out already."

"I saw my mother before…Raine. She looked…really scared." Squall sighed. He'd given up arguing with the pony-tailed gunman. But before he could say more, she was there again, supporting Jace, who was barely able to stand, bloodied and beaten, tragic and woven out of time, head hung slightly and eyes shadowed by the brim of a black cowboy hat.

"M-mom," Squall whispered, awestruck.

Irvine blinked, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He couldn't see them, but…he could ALMOST see them. It was like a shifting of shadow, a section of nothingness that the light couldn't quite peek through, a vague and shadowy outline that flickered as the lights in the room shifted.

"S-Squall. S-sorry," Jace said in a hoarse whisper. "Just…there's a little more to say. It's…it's okay, right?"

Squall looked at Irvine and nodded. "Go ahead and show us the rest, Jace. Do whatever you've got to do," he said, giving Irvine a look that told the cowboy to brace himself, and, blearily, with a little stopping and stuttering, like riding bumper cars and getting continually hit from behind until your head is almost spinning, almost dizzy, but not quite there yet, the boys faded, once again, into the past…

Laguna, Kiros, and Ward. They were running more quickly than Squall realized they were capable of. Squall couldn't figure out where they were, didn't have time to take in the scenery. All he could manage to grab onto was Laguna's rather rampant emotional state. He was panicking. `Jace, hold on. I'm coming!' It was the only thought that Squall could grab onto that seemed even remotely lucid. Laguna's hands were wrapped tightly around his machine gun and his calves were burning, his chest, so raw that it felt like it might explode. He was chasing down a storm on pure adrenaline, when he stopped, Squall knew, his body wouldn't have anything left to give, and that's when he saw her…

Desperation and resolve, that's what he felt in his mother's heart when he found himself there again. Off to her right, she heard something like a grunt, then a groan, then silence. She didn't dare look, she already knew what had happened. "Maura! Help Xan!" she hollered. "I'm calling Crow."

Maura gulped. "We're all gonna die, aren't we?" she sniffled slightly but did as she was told. Jace did her best to cover the blonde woman while she rushed across behind her, fishing out the last phoenix down in their once plentiful stock. "It's the last one!" Maura called. "So try not to do anything stupid and reckless and well, anything that YOU wouldn't normally think twice about doing.

Jace knew, they had finally started to tap into Adel's seemingly endless resolve, started to wear into her like a wave into a stone, but it wasn't good enough; she knew as well as anyone that they would be the first to break. They hardly had anything left in them. And once GF between the three of them wasn't nearly enough. She only hoped Laguna and his friends were faring better than they were, and that Plan B was ready, just in case they failed. But she didn't want to think about that, refused to think about that. `No! I'm going home! I promised Irvine I would come back, so we can't fail. I refuse to let this bitch win. I'm Jace Kinneas, after all, I've lived through so much…I won't be defeated here, not like this.

She heard another groan and a weak "thanks", before the light faded from her eyes and the black-winged beast rose up. `Hit her with everything you've got, Crow. Don't give up until the very end.' Those were her instructions. That is what she had told the GF who had been with her since a trip through the desert that she almost didn't survive. And the GF, wordlessly told her that that is exactly what he expected she would say. Mission accepted. The colossal black-winged beast cast haste on itself, knowing that Adel's magic was surely to strong to allow her to fall under a spell as weak as "slow", and then started it's onslaught. Wave after wave of its special technique, known only as the "testament flare". It was a strange combination of "drain", "ultima", and "firaga", and as powerful as it was, it still wasn't enough. It managed to weaken Adel considerably, but…it wasn't enough.

"Damn! Why won't you just die!" Maura cursed out, under her breath.

"That's it. The rest is up to us," Xan said, using his gunblade to hold up his weight. He had maybe three attacks left in him, tops. If he was lucky, two of them would be overdrives. And Maura, she had a little more energy in her, wasn't as badly wounded, but they both knew that she couldn't take a hit from a spell as well as he could, so Jace tossed her a shell, in hopes that things would work out for the best.

Xan cast his last "flare gun" before a "demi" took him out, and brought Maura down to almost nothing. But she wasn't giving up. While Jace slammed into Adel with her "special ammo" (Nobody knew what it actually was, only that it seemed to have "random elemental attributes" and hit with the effect of low to mid-level elemental spells.), Maura used what was left of her energy to prep for her special as well, a little trick she called the "cold iron fist", which combined her fighting skills, and blizzara, the only spell she could manage to cast effectively, with a pure surge of adrenaline. And she also, was out. That left Jace alone, and running tragically low on ammo and energy. She dove behind a pile of crates to just barely miss a thundaga spell. `Hate those damn things!' she grimaced, wincing when she tried to move her arm. She fired off another round and reached to reload. `Damnit! Nothing left? Already?!? Shit!' she thought. And Laguna hadn't made it. It was up to her now. `But I won't give up, not until the very end.'

The small metal case at her back itched her skin. She knew what was there. A suicide bullet, only one, because you only ever needed one. `But will it be enough?' she wondered. And with a hard swallow, she realized, `it's got to be.'

She flipped open the case and dodged another spell as she loaded the last shot she had. `One clean shot,' she thought, an eerie calm coming over her, with knowing that this would be the end of it, the end of everything, as far as she was concerned. `I won't be able to see Irvy again. I hope, one day, he'll be able to forgive me. But I have to finish this. If I don't take her out now, then…this is my parting gift to you, Irvine, my little boy. I'm going to give my life, to give you a peaceful world to grow up in. That's my hope for you, my dream, a world without wars. I knew I'd never see it, but if I can do this, then maybe, just maybe, you will. I want a peaceful world, a world without Adel, for my little boy. For him, I'll sacrifice everything. And pulling back the safety, taking one last, deep breath, she aimed…and she fired.

"NOOO!!!! JACE!!!!!!" Laguna's voice called out to her, and it was the last thing she heard, her eyes going wide as she looked at him, in stunned and silent shock, as the bullet connected with Adel's chest and violently, with searing flames of pain that tore at her very skin, creating huge gashes and burn marks along the surfaces of her body, as her life energy was drained out of her, and forced, momentum and sorrow, into a single bullet, and she fell forward, and into oblivion, or, more accurately, limbo, and Bella Maure.

Squall could feel the hot tears falling down Laguna's cheeks. He knew, in his place, he would be crying too, and he knew his soul was, even from inside of Laguna. He'd just shattered, in that moment, knowing that he was only a moment to late to stop her from making this sort of sacrifice. Her body was limp and blood-covered, and then, with the next words, Laguna, for a moment, wanted to die too. It was Kiros who spoke them, a quivering voice and hardly a whisper. "Laguna. It's Adel. She's…not dead. Out cold but, who knows for how long. If that didn't kill her…" Kiros paused, taking a deep breath. "Laguna, what do you want to do?"

"I want to die," Laguna said, chocking on strangled sobs, but foregoing that, we really only have one choice, don't we? Get the Estharians here. We'll seal her. It's the only thing we CAN do…and it's still…not nearly enough."

Irvine and Squall awoke to the sound of a shattered scream, and for a moment, just an instant, they thought they were in the dream world, before they realized, the thing they were witnessing, was real…tragically and painfully real…

Okay, so, not very long, granted. I could have combined this and the next chapter and not tortured you with this cliffy…but, well. The format of the story changes at this point, since "Jace's story" is finished now, which means the vast majority of what's to come will now be occurring almost entirely in the present.

A/N: for anyone who I confused with the beginning of this chapter, with the Raine/Jace scene, let me explain. The first twenty chapters had two realities, "the past" and "the present", that scene was an introduction of a third reality, "the spirit realm" for lack of a better term. It's where ghosts and the dead are. Just envision endless, pitch black, with occasionally a light or shadow forming into something tangible (like Ethram), and you've pretty much got it. Uh, guess that's it for now.

Next chapter coming soon, I hope. The next chapter will probably be the last "Bella Maure" chapter, but I'm really just guessing. R&R. So, `till next time, happy haunting.

~Banshee Puppet~