Chapter Forty-Five: Off the edge of despair

 

Nagy's POV

Myself and Thunderchild sat alone in the mess hall of the Red Rose, the wind whistling desolately outside as the ragtag fleet of airships headed back to the Mist Continent, Regent Cid had been teleported across to the Illustrious shortly after it had been ascertained that the war was over. Thunderchild had looked ready to drop from exhaustion so I had invited him to rest on the Red Rose, when he declined, I offered him something to eat instead, this offer he accepted.

And so it came to be that we sat opposite each other on wooden benches with a table in between us, the gentle swaying of the airship almost sending me to sleep, every now and then I saw Thunderchild's eyes droop but he fought to keep them open.

"Why don't you rest?" I asked him gently.

He looked up from his food and looked me in the eye, I saw such pain and sorrow in those eyes that I was momentarily taken aback.

"Because I'm scared of what I might dream of." he replied, before drinking some more water from his mug.

Someone shouted something in the distance and there was laughter, Thunderchild flinched.

"How can they laugh, how can they laugh at a time like this?" he murmured as he eat a little bit more of a food substance I was reliably informed was a Chocobo wing.

A tear fell from his eye and landed on his plate, he quickly brushed aside the others as they began to fall but it was no good, pushing aside the plate and mug he bowed his head and wept openly on his arm, I put one hand on his shoulder.

"There was nothing that you could have done." I reassured him.

"But there was! I shouldn't have let Jara get involved in all of this!"

"She would have become involved anyway Thu, she wanted to be involved, she would have found a way."

"...all she wanted was me...and all this time I just pushed her away."

"It was a awkward situation, how were you to know she survived the Borg attack?"

He stood up, knocking the bench over in the process, and walked across to the window.

"To think I wanted to destroy all of this..." he said quietly.

"Not you...Fury."

"Fury, Thunderchild, what's the difference?" he cried, throwing his arms up in the air.

"What a stupid question, I..."

"It's not stupid Nagy! Even now, part of me wants to blow this airship into little pieces and kill the lot of you! I am STILL Fury! Nothing has changed except I have a little more self-control and a conscience!!"

"Even so...that is still a significant difference."

Thunderchild sighed and his shoulders drooped.

"I have the blood of thousands on my hands Nagy...innocent people, just going about their lives...and I killed them...each and every one of them."

"It wasn't just you..."

"I pushed the button! I took the Invincible to Treno! Kitiara and Yugami were just bystanders, just aides...it was I that made the plan, I that carried it out!"

I bowed my head, he had a point, no matter which way it was argued.

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"What can I do? The damage has already been done...I'm a mass-murderer...I have to be punished."

I looked up in alarm.

"Punished?"

"Yes...I will place myself under arrest and demand a trial..."

My mouth gaped open.

"Thunderchild, you realise that the most likely outcome will be your execution?"

"I know...and I welcome it. My sins must not go unpunished."

"This is crazy! You...you can't want to throw away your life like this?!"

"What life?! What life do I deserve for what I have done?!!" he shouted, smashing his fist into the wooden wall which made a splintering noise.

"What about Domino?!"

"What about her?! Do you think she deserves me as her husband!!?"

I grabbed Thunderchild by his shoulders and shook him.

"Isn't that a decision that SHE should make?!"

I never saw the blow coming, one minute I was standing upright, the next I was sprawled on my back in a pile of tables and benches. Thunderchild just stared at me as I felt pain across my chest.

"Oh my god...Nagy...I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"It's ok..."

"No it's not!! Can't you see!! That was him! Fury still lives!!"

I pushed part of a table off my legs and slowly stood up, nursing my chest.

"As long as Fury still exists then I cannot." murmured Thunderchild, I could see that he was shaking slightly.

"Thunderchild...don't do anything stupid..."

He sighed and rubbed the edges of his cloak.

"I already have..."

There was a sharp noise and he disappeared, I remembered having seen Fury use a similar tactic and I wondered for a moment whether he was right, whether Fury was still in there somewhere, whether Thunderchild could ever have peace.

 

Zidane's POV

"What a mess." commented Garnet as the coastline of the Mist Continent appeared in the distance. In front of us the Illustrious steamed ahead, under Regent Cids control, and behind us was the Lindblum fleet, part way along the journey we had encountered a couple of stray ships from Fury's old fleet, the genomes that captained them lost and confused. They were now being escorted under close guard in the middle of the fleet behind us. Regent Cid had mentioned sending other ships out to find the rest of Furys fleet before they became too disorganised and paranoid.

The army which had almost attacked Lindblum had now surrendered and was awaiting a return to Black Mage Village, the genomes within it in a state of severe shock, I couldn't blame them, I felt their pain too.

"I fear we could be feeling the shockwaves of these past few weeks for some time to come." I said quietly, taking her hand in mine.

"I'm glad we pulled through." she said, nuzzling my arm with her head. I smiled and stroked her hair with my free hand.

"Me too...but at what price?"

She nodded and I could feel her shaking.

"Hey!" I cried as I realised that she was sobbing "What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry...it's just, I was so scared..."

"More so than during the Eidolon war?" I asked, referring to the fight against Kuja and Necron.

"A bit...it's just...never before have I felt so close to total despair and have not been able to do anything about it. At least when I was with you then I could help you, and help fight against Kuja, and against Necron."

"But now...now there was nothing we could do except watch and pray." I said, voicing my own thoughts.

"Exactly," she sighed "It was as though we were merely spectators."

"I think we were..."

She stared at me quizzingly, forcing me to explain further.

"I think something quite momentous has happened here...but not to us..."

"To Thunderchild?"

"Yes, I think that all that has happened, happened for his sake, not ours."

"What do you think that means?" she asked me.

"I think it means that his story is not yet over...that this was just a preparation for something to come...a decision for him to make."

"Between good and evil?"

"Perhaps, it is not ours to decide...I just wish..."

"Yes?"

I sighed and rested my head on her shoulder.

"I just wish Kuja hadn't gotten involved."

 

Reigannas POV

"Rei!" called out a voice, I turned and saw Nagy walked down the corridor towards me.

"Nagy, what can I do for you?"

He shook his head.

"Nothing for me...it's Thunderchild."

"Ah."

I had expected this, I knew that there would be some consequences of the events inside the Crystal World, but I didn't know what they would be, now it seemed I was about to find out.

"I think he's turning into Fury again."

I nodded.

"It could be possible, the poison could work under extreme cases of emotion."

Nagy shook his head.

"I don't think it's the poison...I was talking to him just now, and he seemed...unbalanced."

"It's to be expected, after all that has happened to him."

Nagy looked away, something still seemed to be troubling him.

"You suspect something else?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Yes..."

 

Dominos POV

I knocked carefully on the door, not expecting for there to be anyone inside, but a voice answered.

"Come in."

I gently pushed the door open with the back of my hand and walked into the darkened room.

"I've been expecting you." said the voice coming from the figure lying on the bed in the corner, another figure sat in the chair.

"Please, close the door." said the other figure.

I did and then sat down in the last remaining chair, feeling somewhat more than uneasy.

"You called for me." I said, after a while.

"Yes," said the figure from the bed "I never got a chance to thank you for saving me."

I opened my mouth to tell her that it was ok, that I would have done it for anyone, but she interrupted me.

"I know I have done many terrible things...and yet, you have still forgiven me."

I leaned back in my chair.

"Kitiara, if people were to hold a grudge for all the things I have done in my life, I would be dead."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that before I broke free from his grasp, I was Lawrence's slave...I murdered in his name, destroyed entire cities, I have more blood on my hands than you and Fury combined..."

There was a stunned silence from both women.

"Then how do you live with what you have done?"

"I live in the knowledge that those who care about me, who really know me, have forgiven me...and that I can forgive them."

The woman in the other chair stirred, crossing her legs.

"Did Thunderchild ever tell you how we met?" she asked.

"I don't believe he did."

There was a small laugh from the bed and Xola continued.

"We were hunting in the Ramtops, a mountain region on the Discworld..."

I nodded, remembering Thunderchild's last flight in the Phoenix, his space fighter, that had taken us across the Discworld and out into space to Terra.

"I've seen it...albeit very briefly."

Xola nodded and continued.

"We came across this solitary man striding towards Lancre, all alone in the moonlight, he looked so...so..."

"Tempting." said Kitiara, finishing her colleagues sentance.

"Yes...very much so."

It sent a slight shiver down my spine to hear my husband being talked about like this, but I was intrigued, I wanted to hear a little more of Thunderchild's past, he rarely talked about his time on the Discworld, dismissing it as a life that was a lie...although seeing how his Discworld friends had stuck with him through this recent turn of events, I thought that statement was more than a little harsh.

"We stalked him to a secluded spot and then we jumped him...he was a strong one, no doubt about that...but not strong enough. Kitiara pinned him down, and I gave him the bite...the bite that should have changed his life forever...the bite that should have made him one of us..."

"Should?" I asked, wondering why Thunderchild had never mentioned he was a vampyre.

"It didn't work!" said Kitiara "For the first time in our lives we had found a resistant one...I tried next, and then Xola again, but no matter how many times we bit him...or in what place, he just wouldn't turn into a vampyre!"

Xola nodded.

"He should have died...with that amount of blood loss, he should have died in those hills...we left him, intending to return in the morning when we had feasted and felt stronger to loot through his remains...but come the morning, he was gone."

"I thought vampyres couldn't travel in the daylight?" I asked, putting their story aside for one moment to answer a question that had bugged me for some time.

"That's vampires with an 'i' my dear, a totally different, and might I say, inferior species." said Xola with the voice of one who has been asked this question so many times.

"For the most part." corrected Kitiara.

"For the most part." agreed Xola with a slight inclination of the head.

"Anyway...we thought nothing more of the disappearing corpse for some time, believing a wolf had stolen it in the night...then came the day we saw him again in Ankh-Morpork."

Xola laughed as Kitiara paused in her telling of the story.

"I thought he was going to pass out in shock." she said.

"He drew his sword and challenged us to a fight, we had no quarrel with him, as we were as shocked to see him as he was to see us. After a tense stand off that lasted some time, he backed down and asked us for our names."

"Having provided him with our credentials," said Xola "We retired to the Mended Drum and talked, about how we became vampyres, and why he didn't."

"He couldn't understand it either, as far as he knew he wasn't a vampyre, in fact he claimed that we were the first he had ever met...when we jumped him, he expected death, and for a time he blacked out, believing that he was doomed...but then he awoke, as the sun was beginning to dawn, alone and weak from blood loss."

"And still he made his way to the carriage stop in Lancre and back to Ankh-Morpork." concluded Xola.

"I had no idea..." I said after a moment.

"He used to come to Lancre, and the Ramtops from time to time to visit us...in fact it was on the last visit that he made that he spotted those mages that were to bring him to this world." said Kitiara.

"I was in Ankh-Morpork at the time." interjected Xola.

"I know...I had him all to myself." said Kitiara with a sly chuckle.

"What do you mean? What did you do?"

"Myself and Thunderchild had our moments...but after a while he just said he couldn't continue...said he felt that it wasn't right...but this was long before he met you. We became just good friends, that is not to say I didn't wish it could have been more."

I stood up, my chair scraping across the floor as I knocked it back, already I could feel my temper rising.

"Be still my friend," said Xola in a calm voice "Neither of us were to know that he was already in love, he himself did not know it, or have you forgotten that he had lost his memories of his former life?"

I stood still for a moment.

"He is my husband."

"This we both know," said Kitiara softly "And you need not worry of any competition."

"Then why were you all over him when he was Fury?" I asked, another question that had bothered me.

"I saw a chance for power...at first I thought that myself and Fury really could be a couple, and for a time I think that it is possible such a thing could have happened. He saw something in me, when we were taken off the wreckage of that airship, the Hildagarde wasn't it? He saw something in me there and then, he gave me special treatment, perhaps he felt sorry for me...perhaps he still loved me...or perhaps he just wanted to use me as a plaything...I do not know...but as soon as you came on the scene he lost interest in me completely."

"Don't you see Domino? Even as Fury, a cold-hearted killer, he couldn't help but still love you...especially when you were as cold-hearted as him." said Xola.

I slowly sat back down.

"What a mess..." I said after a moment.

"Yes...very much so." said Kitiara.

"Why were you so power hungry?" I asked.

Kitiara sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

"That is a question, the answer of which I may never know," she said "I guess I just wanted to be more than I am, to be as powerful as he...more so than he. I was not to see that my greed would be my undoing."

"I guess we all want to be something we're not." said Xola after a moments silence.

We said nothing more for a while, we just sat and thought about what had been said, my mind in a small turmoil over what I had heard, was it not bad enough that he had loved Jara as well as I, but now to find that he also had a place in his heart for Kitara? But such was not so, for she had said herself that he only had eyes for me...and yet, my heart could not help but worry over the way that Jara's death had affected him. Since our return to Gaia he had been so very reclusive.

Would Thunderchild ever be the same again?

Would I?

I thanked the two vampyres and left them to their world of darkness, walking down to the mess hall, and sustinence.

 

Reiganna's POV

Nagy's words troubled me, and so I walked to Thunderchild's quarters, suspecting that he had come here to get away from Nagy. Gently I knocked on the door, but it opened as I did, it would appear whoever had come into this room had decided not to bother locking the door behind them, or even close it properly. I walked inside, the curtains were drawn across the window and the room was dark and quiet...and yet, I could hear something....or someone...someone sobbing.

"Thunderchild?" I asked softly.

"Who's there?!"

"It is I, Reiganna."

"What do you want?" asked the voice, broken between sobs.

"I have come to see you...to see if you're ok."

"Do I look ok? Of course I'm ok?" he said, making me blink, it was almost as though he was talking to himself.

"I've just spoken to Nagy..." I said, walking a little bit further into the room.

"Who?"

I stopped suddenly, this was impossible.

"Nagy...your friend."

"I don't have any friends...I'm a killer! Do you hear me!! A KILLER!!"

I paused, not knowing how to reply...the damage done here was far greater than I had feared.

"Thunderchild...please, listen to me, you have many friends...you are NOT Fury."

"Of course I'm Fury! No I'm not! I'll kill you all!!" roared the voice, I backed out of the room and closed the door, as it clicked shut there was a heavy thump from the other side as though something large had been thrown at the door...I suspected that that was exactly what had just happened.

I walked a little way down the corridor and then collapsed against the wall breathing hard. This was a disaster! The strongest man I had ever known, a man who had fought not only his former love, but himself as well, a man who had helped save Gaia twice, was broken...broken by himself, by the memories of the crimes he had commited in a state that he knew that he could be in again.

Within my cloak lay several crystals, crystals that I alway carried with me in case of an emergancy, I knelt down on the floor and spread them out in front of me, hoping to probe Thunderchilds mind and spirit, to see what caused so much pain, to see how I could help him before hysteria claimed him forever.

I took one crystal and focused my mind and spirit into it, channeling it towards the man who I had just left.

And hit a wall of fire, I gasped as the heat tore into my senses and retreated back to my own conscience, dropping the crystal in horror.

The crystal itself was a dull black with cracks running through it, I blinked and picked it up again, I had never seen such damage done to a crystal that was so young in life, it was as though all the energy had been pulled out of it by an unseen force.

Selecting another crystal I closed my eyes and tried again, but it was like delving into a realm of madness, impossible to get anywhere.

"Oh Domino...what am I to do with him?" I said, using the genomes adopted name for the first time.

 

Mizrah's POV

I sighed and relaxed back against the wooden wall, watching the clouds go past as I stood on the bridge of the Red Rose, beside me sat Sam and Snikity, both were as silent as I, just watching the clouds scud past the ship.

"So...it's over..." I said after what seemed like an age.

"You really think so?" asked Sam quietly.

"Don't you? We've stopped Fury's invasion, Lawrence is dead, the war is over...we won."

Sam stood up and ran his hand over the rail between us and the sheer drop.

"I don't think anyone won this war Mizrah...just some people lost more than others."

Now Snikity spoke, with her head at a slight angle, watching Sam.

"What do you mean Sam?"

"Treno has been totally annihilated, thousands are dead, including some good friends of mine," he turned, looking thoughtful "Something monumental has just taken place...Gaia will never be the same again...we will never be the same again."

I nodded slowly, seeing the point he was trying to put across.

"Yes...I see what you mean...Nothing will ever be the same again...I may return to the Discworld but my memories of what I have seen during my time here will haunt me for my lifetime."

A seagull cried as it wheeled past the front of the ship, I looked ahead and saw a small brown line on the far horizon.

"Looks like we're nearly there..."

Sam nodded and began to walk off the bridge back into the ship itself.

"I'd better go let everyone know..."

"Sam."

He stopped and turned back to me expectantly.

"There's always hope." I said quietly, with a tear in my eye, I felt his pain, I felt the pain of all this world...I had only been on Gaia a short time, but I felt like it was my home.

He nodded and continued on his way, I turned back and leant on the rail, watching the sea below us.

 

Ash's POV

Jesse and James had fallen asleep almost as soon as we had gotten underway back to the Mist Continent, however I couldn't sleep, whenever I closed my eyes I thought of that brown-haired woman who had saved our lives. She had seemed such an enigma, and the more I learnt of her, the more interested I became.

Tiptoeing out of the room and taking care not to wake Pikachu, I began strolling along the corridor in a random direction, hoping to meet someone somewhere to talk to.

Before long I met just the person I was looking for, she looked harrassed but that didn't stop her giving me a smile as I walked up to her.

"Domino..." I began slowly, trying to think of the words to my questions.

"Yes?"

"Who was Jara?"

She grimaced slightly, making me feel suddenly very guilty, but the expression was only brief.

"Jara...was and is...me..."

I blinked, not expecting that as an answer.

"Perhaps I should have explained that better," she said, upon seeing my expression "Let me start at the beginning...a long time ago there was a planet called Terra...whilst people on Gaia lived in stone huts and poked each other with sticks...the Terrans were exploring the stars...then they made the genomes..."

"Made?"

"Yes...in laboratories, they made us to be vessals of their consciousness...in essence when a Terran died they would just upload their soul into a genome and live forever."

"Is that what happened with you and Jara?" I asked.

She shook her head quickly.

"No...not quite. One man, a man called Lawrence Verdion, the creator of the genome project, decided to make genomes as his weapons of war, his 'Angels of Death', I was one of them, when they finished making me I went on a rampage, killed all the scientists in the lab...but one scientist managed to transfer her personality onto my consciousness..."

"Jara."

"Yes...and from then on I was no longer a willing slave to Lawrence's every command, from then on I questioned his orders...it took some time but eventually I broke free from him...Jara, as much as I hate to admit it...she saved me."

"You didn't like Jara?"

She laughed, not in joy but in irony.

"Yes...but only out of jealousy...you see, before the destruction of Terra by a race of half-human, half-machine beings called the Borg, Jara was dating a young pilot in the space defence force..."

"Who was that?"

"Thunderchild...only his Terran name was Yissan Gojenta...they dated each other for some time until the Borg came and split them up, Thunderchild spent the next five-six years on a planet far away, and Jara...well...no-one really knows...but it must have been a side-effect of the personality transfer...some of my killing spirit leaked across to Jara...and she turned evil."

"Evil?"

Domino nodded.

"A year after I met you, Thunderchild was transported from the world he had crashed onto, the Discworld, to Gaia by Jara...but the teleport went wrong and he landed up on the same airship as me...it took us a little while to figure out who we were...I had suppressed the memories of my past as they brought me too much grief...but his return brought back Jara's past...their love...and before I knew it, I was in love with him...and he was in love with me."

"I take it Jara wasn't so happy."

Domino laughed again, her eyes gazing out of the porthole and into the sky outside.

"No...she was furious...she tried to kill me or take me as her slave many times...but each time, he rescued me...he fought her, to the bitter end...and they both died in the fiery inferno of Terra's core..."

"Died?!" I blinked, wondering how this explained their presence in the castle.

"Yes...both of them...I saw them fall into the crevasse as we escaped, but then...then he defied death and came back...and so, it would appear, did Jara. I don't know how...it was the same with Kuja and Lawrence, we all thought they were dead...four people returning from the grave...hardly seems possible doesn't it?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know...I died once...caught up in a battle between two foes...but the tears of the Pokemon around me...they healed me and brought me back to life."

Domino smiled at me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Yes Ash Ketchum...you have a valiant heart...it will serve you well..."

I looked down at my clothing, torn, ragged and dirty with blood in some places, and underneath I knew that I had lost a lot of weight during my imprisonment.

"It got me through that ordeal I guess..."

Domino ruffled my hair as I blinked away a tear...I felt...older now...having survived imprisonment and near starvation...

"You'll survive Ash...I did."

She turned and walked away down the corridor, the wind echoing with her departure...I turned and walked back to my room, her words ringing in my ears.

"I'll survive." I said to myself, in a strong tone of voice, my heart feeling stronger and my questions answered...if Domino and Jara could survive what they have been through...then so could I...

 

Dominos POV

The wind whistled forlornly through the corridors of the Red Rose as we slowly flew back to Alexandria, I walked slowly, my mind lost in retrospective thoughts as I rubbed the wounds from the last battle with Lawrence. It had been a turning point for me, the final nail in the coffin of servitude. I was free now, more so than ever before. But I couldn't help but wonder at what cost that freedom had come. Kuja was gone, sacrificing his life to save us and the universe. Mikoto seemed to one who was most affected by his departure, but then again she had spent the most time with him out of all of the angels of death, even me, his sister.

I paused by porthole and looked out over the sea between the Outer and Mist Continents, several seagulls floated past on the breeze as the sun glinted off the waves below. I sighed and bowed my head. I didn't feel any more free than I had last year, when I thought Lawrence was dead.

Shaking my head, I turned back to the corridor and continued to walk, my destination was Thunderchilds quarters. No-one had really seen or spoken to him much since we got back, and the last time I had spoken to him, he had seemed distant, almost emotionless...I supposed shock had a lot to do with it, Jara's death seemed to have affected him badly, and I'd be lying if I said it hadn't affected me at all, she was, after all, a part of me, as undeniable as my love for Thunderchild...and it had been her who had broken through Lawrences programming...twice.

Freedom at what cost?

The bitter words hung in my head as I walked.

At what cost?

I finally reached his quarters and put my hand on the doorhandle, but before I could push it down and open the door, a voice called to me from the end of the corridor.

"Yugami!"

I paused and looked up, it was Reiganna, beckoning for me to come over to her. I looked back at the door and decided that Thunderchild could wait for a moment, he had spent quite some time in isolation and I guessed some more time wouldn't hurt him.

"What is it Rei?" I asked her when I got closer.

Reiganna said nothing but opened the door to the empty quarters next to her and indicated that I should go in, I nodded and walked inside, sitting down on the edge of one of the beds, Reiganna checked the corridor outside before entering the room and shutting the door.

"Rei?" I asked again, a little nervous now.

Reiganna sat down on the bed opposite and then leaned forward.

"What I now tell you, I tell you because you love Thunderchild...because I know you care for him deeply no matter what."

My nervousness was rapidly turning into alarm.

"What?!"

Reiganna took in a deep breath.

"Jara Gedyens death and the reign of Fury has affected your husband more than you know..."

I frowned.

"I know he's deeply upset but..."

"He's not just upset Yugi...he's in real danger of losing control..."

"Losing control? Of what?"

There was a pause as Reiganna sought the right words, it was clear that what she was talking about was considered a delicate matter to her, and one that she was reluctant to talk about, but her care and concern for her friends over-ruled that.

"Of his mind...of his powers...everything."

It felt like a sledgehammer blow to the chest, for a moment I thought I couldn't breathe...Thunderchild was...was going mad?!

"I...I don't understand...I mean..." I stammered, trying to organise some kind of response to Reigannas revelation.

"Think about it Yugami...think what has happened these past two years. Thunderchild had spent his entire life, or so he thought, living on a world where he was a no-body, someone who just mixed with the crowds. Then suddenly he finds almost eighteen years of suppressed memories, including one of the girl he loved dearly...only to find out that she was some kind of evil mastermind and her real conscience was in the mind of a strange tailed creature...

"So...he kills his former love and marries the tailed creature, all the time coming to terms with the fact that the planet he grew up on and lived for eighteen years is now a smouldering wreck...then, through no fault of his own, an evil force takes over, clouding his mind and affecting his judgement. Do you know that it's now being estimated over two thousand people were killed in that attack on Treno...two thousand! He's got to live with that on his conscience..."

"Yeah...but so do I, I mean, I helped him destroy Treno...so did Kitiara..."

"It's not just Treno, Dom...do you remember those genomes we saw earlier on the ship?"

I nodded, the genomes in question had been just skin and bone, unable to walk unassisted, several of them had suffered mutilations, one of them had had her tail cut off and was now forced to crawl around on all fours until she could learn to walk without a tail.

"That was him...he did that to the genomes...and the thing that really bugs him, is that he really enjoyed it!"

I sighed and nodded.

"Thunderchild knows that all the poison did was remove some of the safeguards he had in place...emotional control and the like. He knows that part of him is and always will be Fury...and he knows that he was responsible for all the death and destruction that has plagued this continent over the past couple of months."

"So...what do you suggest?"

Reiganna paused again and then reached inside the bag she carried with her over her shoulder.

"I sought Thunderchilds mind in one of the crystals I carry around with me, to see how to help him more clearly."

"And what did you see?" I asked.

"Look for yourself." replied Reiganna, pulling a crystal out of the bag and passing it to me.

I stared at the crystal, it was in complete ruins, cracked up so badly it was a suprise it hadn't shattered completely, and it was a dull black instead of the radiant white that most of Reigannas crystals were.

"What the hell?"

"I've got five other crystals that went like that...they just burnt out whenever I tried to look into his mind and into his future."

"Why?"

Reiganna shrugged.

"Because I'm not meant to see it perhaps... but in truth, I do not know...that is one of the reasons I'd like to take him with me."

My sense of alarm came rapidly back.

"Take him with you?"

Reiganna nodded.

"Yes...back to the Twilight Forest...he needs time Yugami...time to find himself and balance out the love and the hate within him."

I opened my mouth to protest but Reiganna held up a finger to silence me, and lowered her voice while leaning forward, as if she was about to part a great secret with me.

"Yugami...your husband has power greater than I have ever seen before...the creatures in the Twilight Forest are in awe of him...well...half of them are, the other half are absolutely terrified of him."

"Terrified? Why?"

"Because of the time he destroyed that part of the forest to rid it of Jara's forces...and then promptly accelerated the growth of it a million fold...the Silver Dragons say they have not seen such power since the departure of the ancient race that used to live in the forest."

"And what of Jara?"

Reiganna nodded.

"It turns out she was half-alien, like Thunderchild...she spoke to the dragons before she left the forest...but I can't get them to tell me what she said...perhaps they will speak to Thunderchild."

"Perhaps..." I replied, still unsure.

"Yugami...listen to me, Thunderchild is at a junction right now...in front of him are two roads...the road into hate and the road into peace...and he's in real danger of choosing the path of hatred and death...is that what you really want? For him to turn into something even worse than Fury?!" hissed Reiganna, her voice raising slightly.

I shook my head quickly.

"No...but...but I don't want to lose him again...not so soon after I've got him back."

Reiganna took my hand on hers and squeezed it.

"Yugami...Domino...you have to let him go...I'm not saying that you can't come and visit him, but right now, right now all he needs his peace and solitude, time for him to work out the battle raging in his mind."

"Maybe you're right..."

She stood up.

"Shall we go and see him?" she suggested, I nodded and followed Reiganna out of the room and down the corridor to Thunderchilds quarters.

"Remember...he's not exactly himself at the moment."

I nodded and pushed the door open, it managed to open about half a foot before it struck something solid and got stuck, I blinked and then pushed hard against the door, pushing it backwards against something that lay behind it. Finally I managed to open the door enough for me and Reiganna to squeeze through.

What I saw, shook me to the bone.

The room had been totally wrecked, the bed lay on its side in the corner, the mirror was smashed into several pieces, the chair was upturned in another corner, the table was a mass of splinters on one side of the room, and in the middle of the room, curled up in a ball with the bedsheets gripped tightly in his hands, so tightly that his knuckles had gone white; was Thunderchild.

"Oh my god..." I whispered as my mouth slowly dropped open.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" yelled Thunderchild, his face angry and his voice enraged.

"We're your friends..." I began.

"I don't have any friends!!"

"We just want to help you..."
"Leave me alone!!"

I walked across to him before Reiganna could stop me and placed my hand on his shoulder, suddenly, before I knew what had happened, there was a blur of movement and I found myself spreadeagled against the far wall.

"Don't touch me!!" yelled Thunderchild, one hand outstretched palm facing towards me.

"But...Thunderchild," I said, beginning to sob "I'm your wife..."

"I don't have a wife...I don't have anything...why won't they leave me alone?!"

My tears were too much for him and he turned away.

"Why won't they leave me ALONE?!!"

He picked up the chair by its legs and began to smash it into the wall, Reiganna walked over to stop him but when he turned and went to hit her with the chair as well, she quickly backed away.

"All I want...is...some...peace..." he yelled, beginning fierce and angry but his voice quickly changing into sorrow and regret. He fell to his knees and began to cry.

"I'm so alone...why doesn't anyone want me?"

I choked back my tears and crawled across to his side.

"I love you Thunderchild."

"I love you too Domino." he replied, leaning his head on my shoulder.

I blinked.

"You're ok?" I asked him.

"Never better," he replied sitting up and looking at me curiously "Who are you again?"

That just started my crying again and I got up and walked over to Reiganna who held out her arms and gave me a hug as I cried on her shoulder.

"Why are you crying?" asked Thunderchild behind me.

"Will he ever be the same again?" I asked Reiganna, who nodded slowly.

"It will take time...but he's not lost forever...think of it as a nervous breakdown."

"What?!" yelled Thunderchild as he walked across to the bed and put it the right way up "Honestly...look at this place, it's a tip!"

We stood, watching Thunderchild as he sat down on the edge of the bed and started rocking backwards and forwards quickly. I could barely see him through the tears welling in my eyes, it shook me to see such a strong man brought down so quickly.

"Domino," Began Reiganna "It's a long and winding road...but he'll come back...but bear in mind that the experiences he has had will haunt him for the rest of his life, it's not something that time will heal...but it can help lessen the pain."

I nodded as Reiganna put her arm around my shoulder.

"I'll leave you with him a moment, I'll go and get my transport."

She turned and left, leaving me in the room with...with Thunderchild, although I was loathe to call him that, because this was not the man I married a year ago.

I slowly walked across the room and sat down on the bed next to him, he turned and stared at me, his eyes looking but not seeing, lost amid confusion and pain.

"You look sad." he said softly, in a voice that broke my heart.

"Yes I am." I replied.

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time Domino...always got time for you."

I looked at him suddenly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?!" he shouted, drawing away from me like I had just bitten him.

"I just..."
"Don't stare at me!"

"I wasn't..."

"Oh yes you were, I saw you! Staring at me like I'm a madman...They all think I'm crazy, but I'm not!"

I frowned.

"Who thinks you're crazy."

"All of them!"

"All of who?"

"What?"

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, this was getting me nowhere. I stood up and turned to face him, he stood up as well and for a moment we just looked at each other, I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath.

"Look, Thunderchild, I don't know if you understand this...or if you ever will...but I love you, I really, really love you, and it breaks my heart to see you like this...and I hope that somewhere deep inside you...you love me too."

For a moment I could see clarity in his eyes, and with a slow nod of his head he spoke.

"Of course I do Domino...no matter what...things are complicated, but I will always love you."

I gulped, and wiped the tears away from my eyes before nodding.

"Thank you." I whispered.

He stared at me.

"For what?"

I shook my head.

"Never mind."

There was a knock on the door and Reiganna opened it gently.

"GO AWAY!!" yelled Thunderchild as he backed away from the door.

"It's ok Thunderchild...she's a friend."

"I don't care who the hell she is! Get her out of here."

Reiganna smiled patiently and beckoned for him to follow her.

"Come on Thunderchild...it's time to go."

"Go? Go where?" he replied, uncertain.

"On a little journey...to make you better."

Anger took over again.

"There's nothing wrong with me! I'm not going anywhere!!"

"Come on Thunderchild." said Reiganna calmly as she advanced towards him. He swung at her in a fit of rage but she blocked his blow and swiftly executed a move which knocked him unconscious. As he slumped forward, Reiganna caught him and whilst supporting him around the waist, called out to someone waiting outside the door.

"Nagy! You can open the door now!"

The door slowly swung open and Nagys face peered around it.

"By the holy Nagy...what the hell's happened here?" he whispered in horror.

"Years of pent up grief and rage." replied Reiganna softly as she looked at Thunderchild.

"Silveria's waiting on the main deck." said Nagy as he bowed his head in respect to what was happening. "Do you want me to take him there?"

I shook my head quickly.

"No...I'll take him."

Reiganna looked at me briefly, as though she was about to tell me it was a bad idea, but a sharp look from me silenced her.

I walked across to her and cradled Thunderchild in my arms, he was heavy...but I could carry him.

And so we walked slowly down the corridor towards the main deck, occasionally passing the odd crewman who just stared in disbelief at what was happening. The walk probably only took a few minutes but it seemed to last an eternity, the minutes dragging on into hours.

We climbed the short steps up onto the main deck, Reiganna and Nagy walking discretely behind me. As I reached the top of the stairs, I could see Silveria standing, waiting for us, his feathered wings bent down as a sign of respect for Thunderchild, and I could see he wasn't alone. Mizrah, Snikity, Kitiara, Xola, Zidane and Garnet were standing in a semi-circle around him, and they all turned to look at me and I felt the tears welling up again but blinked them away.

Got to be strong...for him I thought to myself as I began to walk forward towards them.

The stares of disbelief spoke volumes without them having to say a word, all of them bowed their heads in respect, even Silveria. I heard a roar from behind me and turned to see a flock of silver dragons following the airship.

"They've come...they've come to take you..." I whispered into his ear even though I knew he couldn't hear me.

Reiganna walked in front of me, putting her dragon helmet on her head.

"Come Domino...it's time."

I closed my eyes, savouring the feel of his body next to me and then kissed him gently on the lips before laying him in front of Reiganna who had climbed on the back of Silveria.

"You will bring him back?" I asked.

"Of course...you can come and visit him some time...It's not the end Domino...not by far. Think of it as an intermission."

I closed my eyes again and nodded, fighting the urge to burst into tears as Reiganna called for Silveria to take off. Then I felt the wind created by the great dragons departure, his feathered wings beating swiftly as he floated away from the airship and joined the lead of the formation of silver dragons who flew slowly away into the sun rise.

Then I felt the echoing pangs of pain and as the semi-circle of people began to close around me with questions that I couldn't answer, I felt myself break down into tears and collapsed forward onto the deck, sobbing as though nothing else mattered...because, to be honest, nothing else did.

But, I kept in mind what Reiganna had said...it wasn't the end, that there was still hope.

Still hope.