Chapter 34: Grave of all hope
Reiganna’s POV
I could see the forces of good and evil preparing for the battle in Oeilvert,
and knew that my help might be needed. I hadn’t tried teleporting in a long,
long time and hoped my skills were up to the task.
<Look after Doctor Tot, at the end of all this we may need him.> I asked Gallion.
He nodded.
<Where are you going Reiganna?> he asked
<To help an old friend.>
Focusing intently I closed my eyes and thought of the corridor in Oeilvert that I had seen Yugami running down and focused harder.
We ran madly through the corridors in Oeilvert, I was cursing myself for not being able to break free of Lawrence’s control beforehand, that it was all happening now.
I was lost in thought so much that I never saw the silver genome in front of me until I collided with her.
“Reiganna, what are you doing here?” I asked when we both picked ourselves up off the floor.
“I’ve come to help you, you might need it.” She said
“Oh?”
“Fury knows you’re escaping.”
I sighed.
“Aw crap.”
She nodded and took my hand.
“Come on Domino, we must flee before he gets organised. He has just fought Kitiara, I think she may be dead, and he is heading for the control centre.”
“Kitiara’s dead?!!” yelled Xola
Reiganna shook her head.
“I’m not sure, she might be alive, all I know is that they fought and only Fury came out of her room, and he has the crystal now.”
Xola stopped.
“Which way is her room?”
“What?!” I asked, skidding to a halt, the rest of the party did the same.
“Which way is her room? I can’t just leave Kitiara here to die.”
“Look Xola, she’s probably dead already!” I protested.
“But she might not be…look, you go on ahead I’ll catch up…just show me where her room is.”
Reiganna gave her the directions she needed and then told Nagy where the exit was in case they were unable to meet up again.
“Kuja, Yugami, and I will head for the exit. Zidane, you take Nagy, Xola, Sam and Garnet to get Kitiara.”
Zidane nodded and they ran back towards the previous intersection.
“Right…now come on!” said Reiganna, grabbing both Kuja and my hands and pulling us forward.
Fury’s POV
I saw the party split up in the control room, but it was of no consequence to
me, the party I wanted was heading for the exit and so I took steps to prevent
their success.
Domino’s POV
We approached the next crossroads and took the exit to our left but collided
violently with a force field, I stood up and blinked, reaching out I touched
the force field again which shimmered with a green light. Cursing I turned and
tried to run to the right but another force field blocked my way. As Kuja and
Reiganna got up I swore and kicked the floor.
“He’s on to us…blocking our options. Come on, we’ll have to go this way!” I shouted, taking the option straight ahead of us, leading us deeper into Oeilvert instead of out.
“What’s he doing?” asked Kuja.
“Trying to trap us!”
As I said that I heard a low chuckle reverberate in my mind. I swore again and ran with an increased urgency.
“He’s playing with us…can’t you hear him?!”
“Hear him what?” asked Reiganna.
“He’s laughing at us!”
Another chuckle, louder this time, it sent shivers down my spine.
“We’re in trouble.” I said, as another force field blocked our way out of Oeilvert and forced us to take a route deeper inside the castle, running down a spiral staircase I heard his voice whisper.
<That’s it…run you fools, run! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!>
“Damn you!!” I yelled, beating the wall with my fist as frustration and anger welled up inside of me.
“Domino?” asked Kuja
“I can hear him…he’s laughing at us!”
“I can’t hear a thing.” Said Kuja
“Of course you can’t!!” I screamed, turning on him “You’re not telepathically linked with him!!”
Nagy’s POV
We took the directions Reiganna had given us, I wished I had my sword with me
as we ran through the darkened and twisty corridors. It was very creepy, a
sensation not helped by the knowledge that Fury was watching us, that he knew
we were escaping.
We reached Kitiara’s room and Xola ran inside, there was a yelp and a sudden intake of breath from her, and as I entered the room I could see why. Zidane swore gently.
Kitiara was lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the room, it came from a stab wound in the centre of her chest, her skin was paler than its usual paleness and I could only see her chest rise and fall very, very slowly.
“Kitiara?! Can you hear me?! Please! Please wake up!!” cried Xola as she knelt in the blood next to her.
Kitiara’s eyes fluttered open slightly and she looked up.
“Xola?” she asked faintly.
“What happened?” asked Xola as she nodded.
“I was a fool…I’m sorry.” Said Kitiara sadly, she closed her eyes again.
“No dammit, you’re not leaving us!” said Xola as she shook Kitiara.
“I can treat her stab wound,” said Garnet “But I think she’s lost too much blood.”
Xola looked up a steely resolve on her face.
“Then do it…I’ll deal with the blood.”
Garnet knelt on the other side of Kitiara to Xola and placed her hands over the wound, she focused hard and uttered words of a spell. After a few minutes she lifted her hands and although the wounds scar was still there, the brunt of the wound had gone.
Kitiara stirred slightly, and Xola nodded, she picked up one of Kitiara’s fallen daggers and held it in her right hand.
“What are you doing?” I asked
Xola said nothing but drew the dagger along her left arm, creating a deep wound.
“Can you fix this when I’m done?” she asked Garnet
The girl blinked at what Xola was doing but nodded.
Xola bit her lip at the pain but nodded.
“Good.”
She placed her arm just over Kitiara’s mouth and whispered to her.
“Drink Kitiara...drink.”
A thought troubled me and I whispered it to Zidane.
“I thought vampyres were immune to most stabbings, physical attacks, etc.”
“Me too.” Agreed Zidane, and I made a note to ask these two vampyres just how she had taken so much damage.
Kitiara drunk Xolas blood, a slight smile coming over her face and then she opened her eyes.
“Thank you…my sister.” She said with a smile
Xola nodded and held her arm out to Garnet who healed it.
“I couldn’t let you die…you’ve been my friend for so long…I couldn’t let you die, not like this.”
Kitiara smiled again and nodded.
“Thank you.” She repeated herself.
“Can you stand?” I asked her.
She nodded and slowly and very unsteadily got to her feet.
“Then lets go before Fury arrives.” Said Zidane.
Fury’s POV
My concentration was purely on the three genomes as they were forced by my
force fields to run to where I wanted them to run.
“That’s it my little bird…fly into my cage.” I said with a smile before turning and walking over to the teleporter.
Dominos POV
Yet another force field blockade forced us to change course and ahead a large
double door lead into an area I’d never been in before. I pushed the doors open
and ran in, Kuja and Reiganna followed me. Too late I realised that that was
the only way in and out of this room and as the doors slammed shut behind us
and a force field winked into place around them I realised we were trapped.
There was a deep evil laugh in the shadows.
“Fury!” I yelled in anger.
“So…you’re here. Like moths to a flame you were drawn to me…and like the flames of hell itself I will burn you!”
I growled gently.
“Don’t be an idiot Fury…you can’t win!”
“Oh but I can genome,” came the voice from the shadows “You may have betrayed me…but I will destroy you. You mean nothing to me now.”
I looked around the room, it was fairly large and circular in shape, totally dark except for a circle of light in the middle. I walked slowly into the light and looked around more.
“Now let me see if you can fight as well as you run!” said the voice. I turned and saw Fury running out of the shadows, his sword drawn and aimed at me.
“Yugami!!” shouted Reiganna as she threw something to me, I turned and caught Draconus by the helm and swung back in time to meet Fury’s blow.
When our two swords met there was a sound like crashing thunder and sparks flew from the blades, we parted and began to circle each other, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
“I could have given you anything genome,” he hissed “Even the world…and I would have had you not betrayed me.”
“It’s not too late to come back Thunderchild.”
He swung his sword experimentally, eyeing up me as an opponent.
“Come back to what? To your lies, to your weakness… I am better than you!!”
He swung quickly and furiously at me, I tried to teleport out of the way but couldn’t so was forced to swing Draconus up to block the blow, and then I pushed back, forcing his sword back at him and making him dodge backwards.
“I think you will find I am more than a match for you.” I snarled at him.
“Don’t be so sure.”
I ducked as his blade sliced through the air where my head had just been, I wasn’t able to block or dodge the kick he aimed at me, which struck the side of my head making my vision briefly blur and the iron taste of blood enter my mouth.
Springing back up to my feet I unsteadily blocked the next blow and moved backwards to avoid the second.
Kuja’s POV
They fought well, it was to be expected for both of them I guess, Fury used his
sword skill to swiftly slice and cut at Domino, whilst the genome used her
advanced agility to dodge the attacks aimed at her.
“We have to help her!” I hissed at Reiganna, she nodded and summoned her trident.
We both ran forward to attack Fury but at the last second an unseen force threw us backwards, sending us crashing to the floor.
“Dammit!!” I cursed, pounding the floor with my fist.
My sister was fighting for her life right in front of me and there was nothing I could do to help her.
I don’t know how long we fought for, it seemed like hours but could only have been a matter of minutes.
One blocked blow brought us face to face, eye to eye across our swords.
“It’s time to meet your maker.” He snarled
“I’ve already met him, have you?”
Fury snarled and kneed me in the stomach, pushing me back and breaking the block, as I staggered he swiftly moved forward and swung his sword hard, smashing Draconus out of my hands and into the floor nearby. As I turned to get it he swung back again and there was nothing I could do to block it.
It all happened in slow motion, Draconus spiralled through the air and crashed into the floor, Domino turned and put her arm out to get the sword back. As she did Fury smiled and reversed the course of his sword, cutting back through the air directly towards her.
“Goodbye…Domino!” he yelled as the blade struck home, slicing straight across her throat in a fountain of blood.
“NO!!!” both Kuja and Reiganna screamed in unison.
Domino went white and put her hand up to her throat as Fury smiled and started laughing, she looked down at her hand and tried to say something but only a bloody gurgle came out, lost amid the blood now gushing out of her neck and mouth.
Then she slowly fell backwards onto the floor, her blood pooling around her as she lay dead.
Kuja ran to her side and checked her pulse but, predictably, there was nothing. Then he stood up and looked at Fury.
“You…will…pay…for…that!” he hissed
Reiganna’s POV
The doors to the room suddenly sprung open and Nagy and Zidane ran in, Sam,
Xola, Garnet or indeed Kitiara were nowhere to be seen. They ran at Fury with
their swords drawn and leapt at him at
the final moment. Fury raised an eyebrow and sent them flying backwards against
the wall with a telekinetic force.
“Welcome fools, prepare to meet the same fate as the pathetic genome there.”
Both Zidane and Nagy noticed Domino lying in her blood and Zidane cried out in anger, Nagy went white and ran to Dominos side, Zidane joined him.
“Domino…no.” he whispered.
“Why?” said Nagy in shock.
As we knelt by my sisters side, I noticed Kuja walking towards Fury, a determined look on his face. I looked up as a glow around Kuja amplified in brightness and intensity until it became unbearable to look at my brother.
It was then I realised that he had gone into Trance, red feathers spiralling around him as he immediately sent a bolt of purple energy at Fury who was caught unprepared and smashed into the wall.
Fury looked up at Kuja and raised an eyebrow.
“My, my…quite a temper you have there…I see I’m going to have to kill you too. Still, one tool amidst many, that’s the thing with you genomes, you’re not even worth the bodies you inhabit. Worthless fools.”
Fury sliced his blade at Kuja but an energy blast from the silver haired genome stopped the blade in mid-air and broke it clean in two. Fury stopped his attack and looked at the broken blade.
“Impressive…but unwise.”
Throwing the useless weapon to one side he advanced towards Kuja, I frowned, knowing that Fury unarmed was no match for Kuja…the man who had destroyed Branbul single-handedly while in trance.
“Kuja…be careful.” I cautioned him before turning and running over to the others. There was nothing I could do to help Kuja, but I trusted my brother could see the battle through victoriously, and right now I didn’t care if he killed Fury to do it, in fact I wished that man dead for what he had done to Domino. Nagy was still knelt by the side of Domino, and was crying very slightly.
“So young…so kind.”
“Come on Nagy, we have to find a way out of here soon, lest we be caught in the crossfire.”
Nagy ran his hand over Dominos eyes, closing them and saying his goodbyes before standing up and straightening his armour.
“What do you mean, crossfire?”
I turned and pointed to Kuja and Fury who seemed to be locked in a staring match.
“Kuja’s gonna wipe Fury off this planet before long, and I don’t wanna be here when he does.”
Reiganna shook her head, frowning.
“I don’t get it…Thunderchild has more power than this…he’s holding back…why?”
Kuja’s POV
The power which trance had given me made me feel unstoppable, indeed Fury’s
response to my attacks had been pathetic and now we stood barely six feet away
from each other, staring, waiting for the next persons move.
<You are so much like her.> said a voice in my head
<Like who?>
<You will die!>
I frowned
<What do you mean?>
<Your sister…you remind me a lot of her.> said a sad and weary voice
<You will die! You will all die!! I will rule the world!!> screamed the same voice in anger. I was confused, extremely confused but I began to think I could see a reason behind this split personality.
<Fight it Thunderchild…> I urged him
<I once went by that name> said the sad voice <And I killed my wife…>
<She needn’t have died in vain…please>
Furys head bowed, and for a moment I thought Thunderchild had won but then Fury looked back up again with pure hatred in his eyes.
<Thunderchild is dead…and you’re next!>
He swung a punch at me which to my utmost surprise, connected, but caused next to no damage.
“You cannot fight me, you cannot win.” I stated, jumping back and hovering out of his reach.
Fury’s eyes gleamed with a hidden force as he smiled at me.
“Then perhaps it is time to even out the odds.” He said